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Break Recap

Well, classes are back in action for students, and I’m enjoying living the college life without having to attend classes. Like always, it takes a little time to get back into the swing of things. I thought I’d just share with you a little about my break. During break I spent a lot of time with family and some time with my high school friends. My friend Lindsey and I did some painting while we were home.

My friend Lindsey and I with one of our many crafts

Also every year since 6th grade my friends Abby, Lindsey, and I have taken Christmas pictures together. We normally take over 200 pictures with different outfit changes. I’m not even sure what sparked this fun Christmas tradition, but we have done it over ten years now. It’s fun coming home from college and having a sleepover with them and catching up on each others lives. This year probably will be our last year we will be able to take the pictures because next year we will be scattered all throughout the country and will probably not have many days off during the holidays with our new “real” jobs.

Abby, Lindsey, and I taking our annual Christmas pictures!

While on break my dad and I took a quick trip to Juarez, Mexico together to visit the non-profit organization, Amigos en Cristo. We cooked a Christmas dinner for all of the staff members and their families. We also were able to attend the kids Christmas party. The kids sang Christmas carols in Spanish and performed cute Christmas skits.

Me with some of the kids at the community center

It was nice to spend time at home and rest after a long semester. I’m glad to be back at Hope and cannot wait for what is store this semester!

Skiing, UP, Cats, and Snow :\

Welcome back everyone!

I don’t know about you, but my Christmas break was just what I needed. It was a time full of relaxation and family. So wow. It was a whirlwind. I’ll give you a little walkthrough using some photos I took.

My boyfriend, Jeff, and I went to the Holland Crazy Bounce! Let me tell you, it is a crazy good time. Admission is really cheap, and there are a ton of bouncey houses and slides and obstacle courses. We had a blast. One of my favorites was the TIGER SLIDE. Above is me sitting on the tigers paw. It took many attempts to get up there!

My boyfriend was super lucky and went to Mexico for part of break. So what did the little Eskimo stuck in Michigan do? Of course, I dug out his mom’s truck and his car! After the record snowfall in Holland, there was a lot to do after only a week of leaving the cars. I had to shovel a lot :\.

Upon arriving back at Hope, I got my car stuck. Four times. Here is one of my escapades. Don’t ask why I was so close to my house ! ;).

Please tell me, what is winter break without a good animal cuddle sesh? I spent a lot of time cuddling up with my cat, Simba!!!! It’s something you don’t think about often at school, but I MISS MY ANIMALS!

I went to Goodwill over break and got some photo frames for $.50 each. I gave them a little paint job to match my room and added photos! Ok, I didn’t add the leopard. That was already there.

All of my relatives live in the Upper Peninsula, where I am originally from. We took many trips across the Mackinaw Bridge. Look how pretty the Ice is!!!

My grandma lives in a really tiny town named Engadine, Michigan. They opened a new restaurant there, so here we are trying out the new Pine and Dine!

My stepdad has a lucrative amount of ties. He claims he can tell them all apart but I really don’t believe it. There has to be multiples in there somewhere. My mom and sister decided they were not only going to count but organize the ties. They gave up halfway through. There were over 300 ties. PUH-LEASE. Really ? How could you ever need that many.

I did an amazing amount of skiing over break. I love to XC ski, as I was the captain in high school! Last year I had hip surgery and had to sit out the season, so it was nice to finally get back out on the snow!

My dog gunner with his stuffed animal dogs — Gunner with his friends

For Christmas, we got my dog some friends. He definitely needed them. And now he cuddles them all the time!

Boyfriend brings rose and chocolate — Jeff brings me a rose and chocolate!

Oh, I just have to brag a little that my boyfriend showed up with MY TWO FAVORITE THINGS. A rose and Godiva chocolate. Good job, Jeff.

ANYWAYS! How was your break? I hope successful and relaxing! Do you have any questions about what it’s like to go on break as a Junior in college?

Please please please. Email me about anything! I love to hear from prospective and current students! Email me at amanda.porter@hope.edu, or tweet me @hopeamanda15!

XOXO

Hope Habits at Home~ Differences Between Hope Life and Home Life

Now that I’ve been back at Hope for almost a week, I’m giggling about this draft I wrote a while ago. Throughout break, I made some pretty hilarious realizations regarding the differences between Hope life and home life.

As the cliche says, old (and relatively new) habits die hard. Here’s a few of the struggles you may face as a college student when you’re home for long breaks at a time.

December 14, 2013:

My first “freak-out” happened when I didn’t wear shoes when I took a shower. As a side note: This isn’t to say that everyone wears shoes when they take a shower in college — the janitors keep the bathrooms SUPER clean, so it’s not really an issue. But, at the beginning of the school year, I got into the habit of wearing my flip-flops, so I’ve simply continued to do so.

December 15 – End of break:

I continually asked my parents if it was okay for me to eat certain foods from the fridge in my kitchen. This must stem from sharing a fridge with my roomie at school, but it has made for some hilarious situations — especially when my parents replied once with, “Yeah… you live here, remember?” It turns out all of the yogurt and fresh fruit in the fridge is fair game for anyone to consume.

December 27, 2013

I was home alone and up in my room and I heard a loud “THUNK THUNK THUNK” coming from the main floor of my house. I was about to pull a Buddy the Elf and call my parents to help me determine the noise, but it turns out the “evil noise” was just the washing machine. I forgot how loud those things are.

January 2, 2014

I couldn’t remember how to turn on our television in the basement. As embarrassing as that sounds, I still haven’t mastered that. It takes about four remotes and the hokey pokey to turn it on (meaning it’s an extremely complex situation) and although my brother has shown me twice, I am not the master of using remote controls. Even more embarrassing, I actually can’t remember whether or not I ever learned how to turn on the TV before I left for college, so that’s kind of an issue as well.

Have you ever encountered silly situations like this or seen your older sibling do similar things? With me being the oldest in my family, it’s a first-time situation for us. If you’ve run into some funny situations, tweet at me at @hopesophie17 and let me know what happened!

If you have any questions or comments about anything at all, please feel free send me an email at sophie.guetzko@hope.edu.

Just Arrived in France!!

Hi everyone!! This is my first of many blog posts from Nantes, France this semester! The last two days have been INSANE! I’m so happy to finally be here!

If you follow my Twitter account, then on Tuesday you saw the drama that was my flight schedule. Early that day, my first flight from Des Moines to Chicago was canceled due to the cold weather. The airline wanted to put me on their next available flight to Chicago, which was on Thursday. At that point, I was faced with the decision to arrive late to my program and miss part of my off-site orientation, or drive to Chicago. My parents decided to drive me to Chicago and I notified the airline. However, later that day, the airline decided to book me on a flight on another flight for Wednesday. I spent Monday night trying to figure out if I was actually going to Nantes the next day or not! Eventually, I got my original itinerary back, minus the flight from Des Moines to Chicago.

On Tuesday, my parents and I braved the cold as we drove me 6 hours to Chicago. Ten minutes into the flight, the captain came on the loud speaker and asked if there was a voluntary doctor on board. Uh oh. Everyone started to panic a little bit because of course, that’s never a good sign! About an hour after that request, the pilot came on the loud speaker again; this time to announce that we would be making an emergency stop at the JFK airport in New York because a passenger on board was very sick. He assured us that after the medical personnel came on board to get the passenger it wouldn’t be long before we left. The stop ended up taking 3 hours. Yes, 3 hours. I notified my parents, who freaked out because they thought they would not be hearing from me until I got to France! Because of the delay, I arrived 3 hours late to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. I quickly got through customs and practically ran to the train station in the airport where I had to take a train from Paris to Nantes. Almost immediately, I met some other students on my program. It was such a relief to be with other Americans!

After the 3-hour train ride, I went to the program center with the several other students who were on my train. I made some friends and was then taken by my host mother to my home for the semester, where I am right now!

This weekend, I will be doing an off-site orientation in Tours! I will update again after that! So much is happening so soon! It’s a crazy, beautiful trip already 🙂

A bientot!

Rachael

Pursuing the Nursing Major

Hey readers! This past October, I posted a blog regarding the ins and outs of the nursing major here at Hope College. If you want to read that, click here. It’s information heavy (maybe); just a fair warning! But what I want to do now is to post about it again, because I’ve met so many people from the incoming class of 2018 pursuing this major, which is just awesome! Again, I am super biased. I think this is the best major at this awesome school.

Although I think it’s one of the best majors, I’m not going to sugar coat anything, but I’m also not trying to scare anyone away! I am just being honest as a nursing major. But let’s get going!

HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS!
If you know this is something you want to do, you can pre-apply to the program. How cool is that!? Before applying, there are requirements (of course). Two of the most important being your acceptance to HOPE COLLEGE and your ACT score of 28, or SAT critical reading score plus math score equal to or greater than 1260. Then, you obviously have to apply. CLICK HERE for an extensive explanation of the details. For you seniors who fulfill these requirements, I strongly recommend trying to apply early! Remember, everything is due February 15th (all items must be received by this date!) Good luck to those who apply!

TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS!
Don’t fret! Just because you don’t pre-qualify doesn’t mean anything. Actually, not many students who pre-qualify decide to apply, because they may change their minds. Anyways, if you are interested in the nursing major, there are certain classes you should be taking your 1st semester of your freshman year. Don’t worry though, because the nursing program has very specific classes you have to take, the department established a 4-year plan, which is so awesome. This really helped me out because it is super structured, and I like that! You don’t register for classes until the summer, but you should take these classes:

IDS 100: First-Year Seminar (FYS)
English 113: Expository Writing
Language II (2nd year level)
Kinesiology 140: Health Dynamics
Biology 103: Cellular Biology

So those are the recommended classes you should take, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to follow that structure. There is usually more flexibility in the first two years for classes. Here is the program plan, CLICK HERE! (*The bolded classes mean that they are only offered during that semester). Students can also get credit for some of these classes either through AP exam scores and IB exam scores.

THE APPLICATION PROCESS:
Applications are on the department website, found HERE. Applications are due October 1st of your fall semester. Then, students must apply for the TEAS test, or the Test of Essential Academic Skills. Don’t fret, this is a test that measures your abilities in academia. There truly is not way to study for it. But, I’m not saying you shouldn’t study for it. There are tools you can utilize to study for it. Just google TEAS test prep! Anyways, you’ll take this test, then the department will have you write an essay. Then from there, you just wait until February 15, which is when you receive your acceptance letters!

UPON ACCEPTANCE:
If you get accepted to the program, congratulations!!! If you don’t, IT’S OKAY! IT’S NOT OVER! The same application process will occur, and you will have to re-apply for acceptance in the fall semester of your sophomore year. Many students re-apply. But if you are accepted, it doesn’t end there! You must maintain your GPA, get drug tested, get a background check, and sign up for a medical CPR class. I know it sounds a lot, but it’ll be fine. I mean, I survived, and so did everyone else in the program. So YOU CAN DO IT! From here, you will be automatically declared as a nursing major and will receive a nursing advisor. Then, you can start planning your semesters!

Okay, I know that was information dense and full of words without pictures. I know its not fun, but I hope it helps! If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask! Thanks for reading!

Christmas Break in a Nutshell

Welcome back everyone! I hope everybody had a safe and relaxing break and were able to spend time with family and friends. I don’t know about you but I had a lot going on these past few weeks. Here’s a breakdown of what was going on with me back at home:

Friends

Like most college students, we don’t have much opportunity to hang out with friends from home during the year, so I spent a majority of my time with my closest friends from California. We did a ton of stuff such as having a pizza night at my friend Melissa’s house, where her dad made homemade pizza in a cabana outside near her pool. We all went to a place called Creamistry that just opened up around town. Basically it’s an ice cream place that makes their ice cream by using liquid nitrogen—obviously something we wanted to see in person, but unfortunately it wasn’t as good as we had all hoped it to be.

We also had some Jacuzzi nights in which we talked about nonsense, but being together and in some warm water made it a definite highlight. Also, a huge perk of being from California is that you get to go to the beach at anytime of the year, including the day after Christmas, which is exactly what we all did. Fortunately, Melissa’s mom lives right on the beach so we had a guaranteed parking spot, which is awesome! I find it hilarious that people back at school are telling me about all the snow and I cannot relate because I’m playing Frisbee at the beach. That is something I definitely miss about home and being in a warm climate. In addition, another warm activity that Melissa and I took part in was going fro a hike in a region called Peter’s Canyon. This is always a blast because there’s a specific bench that overlooks the entire canyon that we sit on and just talk about literally anything. It’s so nice to just be able to talk with my best friend without all of the commotion of our other friends because then the two of us and can just catch up.

Finally, the last thing we were able to do as a group was hang out at Melissa’s and play poker and Catchphrase and enjoy being together again. Since some of us won’t be back home for summer, this was the last time we were all together until next Christmas break. Although it’s a huge bummer, I’m super thankful for Facebook and Skype because we all stay in contact no matter what.

Breaking Bad

You know how there was a huge buzz about Breaking Bad and how everybody was watching it? Well, I jumped on that bandwagon this break along with everyone else. My parents were the ones that started watching it in my family and once my uncle got all of the seasons for my dad for Christmas, we were hooked. Even though I was skeptical about the series, it turned out to be very good and it was also great because it was the “thing” to do every night as a family. I don’t know about everybody else’s families, but mine can rarely agree on a movie to watch or a series to watch together, so finding Breaking Bad was fun because we actually all looked forward to seeing it.

Christmas

Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year, not for presents and stuff like that but because it is the only holiday that all of my friends and family are home. For instance, it has been a year since my brother was home because he no longer has summer breaks, so it’s definitely great when we are all home together. As for the actual holiday, Christmas is fun because of the small traditions my family and I have. For example, Christmas Eve we go to church and then have a nice meal together and just relax. Then on Christmas morning, we all wake up and open stocking-stuffer presents, get cleaned up and eat breakfast and then work on opening the presents under the tree.

We manage to make the act of opening gifts a whole-morning ordeal, which I enjoy a lot. As far as presents go, I hit the jackpot this year. I got a lot of winter clothing and an awesome new pair of snowshoes that I really love and are doing a darn good job keeping me dry in the snow right now. Also, I got the usual pair of socks that most every person gets on Christmas, but they are a necessity and I secretly love getting them. After the chaos of presents is over, my family and I usually just hang out for the rest of the day and watch any movies we received, started books that we got or eat cookies. It’s a blast! Once evening hits, we have a family dinner again and then watch a movie of some sorts and then call it a night. It’s always a bummer when the day ends because all of the excitement has ended, but nothing lasts forever, which is a perk and just gets you excited for when it happens again.

New Year’s

Celebrating New Year’s is always really exciting. For some people, it’s an excuse to get drunk and make poor decisions while others such as myself choose to just have a good time with friends. This year I went with three of my closest friends down to Huntington Beach at my friend’s apartment and we literally just played board games, drank some fruity smoothies, went in the Jacuzzi, listened to music, walked around the beach and watched the ball drop in New York. It wasn’t necessarily the most exciting evening, but it really doesn’t matter what you do as long as you’re with some awesome people and just enjoy the last moments of the previous year. I hear stories from other friends that their New Year’s was crazy because of too much drinking and whatnot and frankly, I have no interest in being part of that, so having a chill night with my best friends is always my go-to thing to do.

Brother Time

My brother and I have been close our entire lives, so obviously it’s difficult when we are separated due to school. However, it has gotten more difficult the past two years because he is in medical school in Chicago and no longer has spring and summer breaks to go home. Therefore, I get to see him when I occasionally go to Chicago or when we both travel home for Christmas. Therefore, when we do get to see each other, we do a ton of stuff. For instance, we always manage to play at least one or two rounds of ping pong as well as make the effort to play Frisbee outside in our neighborhood. We’ve been doing these two things for years, so it’s a tradition that we make it happen at least once while we are home.

In addition, another thing we always do is play tennis. Both of us played in high school and in intramurals in college, so it’s fun to see who has improved or gone downhill since our last match. Don’t tell anyone, but I’m usually the victor. In addition, Brian and I tend to get a smoothie at Jamba Juice or make something together such as cookies or soft pretzels. This Christmas, we just got a smoothie because my mom was hogging the kitchen making Christmas cookies and awesome dinners, but I’m not complaining. Finally, the last huge thing we always do is just talk and watch movies. Since we got Breaking Bad, we seriously just watched a ton of that, which I’m completely fine with. I’m super bummed that I won’t get to see him until next Thanksgiving unless I happen to be in Chicago, I always love looking back at pictures to give me those memories of the stuff we always manage to do and the time we get to hang with each other, away from the stress of school and life.

Well, that just about wraps up everything that’s been happening for me this winter season. I hope everybody enjoyed their breaks and are ready for a new year. Talk to you all later!

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @hopeleslie15.

New Year, New Me: Choosing my word of the year

I’ve never quite mastered the concept of a New Year’s resolution. For some reason, it’s never really appealed to me — maybe because it’s hard to keep up with, or because I feel bored after a while.

My sophomore year of high school, my mom introduced me to a new way to start off the new year. From then on, it’s made for a new and amazing way to kick off the celebration of another year of our lives.

We choose a word each year instead of a specific resolution. This way, there’s no pressure — there’s just a general focus. It’s been amazing to see how my life attracts specific situations that apply with the word I chose each year. Not only that, but it also changes the way I react to the situations I face in my life.

At the start of each year, my mom and I make vision boards that support our word. We often write it in the center of the board and then add magazine clippings that go along with it. It’s super easy and super fun — all you need is some poster board, glue, and some old magazines.

Here’s how to make your own vision board:

1. choose a word that you like (or something you think will apply to you throughout this year).

2. flip through your magazines, and if you see something you like, cut it out — regardless of what it is. Even if you feel just a LITTLE bit like “I like that,” cut it out. You can always recycle it later.

3. collect your clippings into a pile and paste them onto your posterboard.

4. you’re finished! (Typically I Mod Podge or laminate them to keep the board nicer, but it’s good to go no matter what.)

Last year, 2013, I knew I would be facing a lot of change in my life: making my final college decision, saying goodbye to my friends, and beginning a new chapter in my life. I chose the word embrace in hopes that I would keep in mind that these changes are natural and are a part of growing up.

This year, I have chosen the word abide. I crave to dig deeper in my faith and grow deeper in my roots with Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Have you chosen your word yet? I’d love to hear from you if you have (and I’d love to hear from you even if you haven’t!). If you have questions or comments about anything at all, please send me an email at sophie.guetzko@hope.edu or tweet at me @hopesophie17.

Happy, happy, happy New Year!

The do’s and don’ts of packing for breaks!

So, uh… I might have overpacked for Christmas break a little. Or… A lot. Yeah, probably a lot. I’m a notorious over-packer and I definitely stuck to my ways when I packed for Christmas. When I packed all my stuff back up on Saturday to make the trek to Holland (which hasn’t ended up actually coming to fruition as of yet), I realized how much stuff I brought home that I didn’t even use. It’s a little ridiculous. Here’s my list of things you should and should not bring home for breaks during the school year!

DO: Some clothes. Emphasis on the some.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll probably have a ton of clothes that you leave at home after moving to school. This means that you don’t have to bring nearly as many clothes home for break as you think you need to. I brought a ton of nice stuff home for Christmas and ended up probably not even wearing half of it. Most of the time, you’ll probably just want to be in a sweatshirt anyway! I would suggest bringing 1 or 2 nice outfits for special occasions during the holiday season, socks and the like, a few tops and sweaters, and enough jeans to get you through. Remember, you can do laundry way more often at home than you did at school!

I would bring a pair or two of boots, some comfier shoes like moccasins or Toms, workout shoes if you’ll need them, and one or two pairs of dress shoes (maybe a flat and a heel). I think I brought over 10 pairs of shoes home for Christmas… That’s really not necessary. At all. You don’t need to do that. I would also bring a few pieces of jewelry that you know you’ll wear and a couple of scarves, but you probably won’t wear too many over break… Like I said, I ended up just dressing really comfortably most of the time! I also brought my laundry home for my mom to wash, so I ended up just having a ton of stuff at my house.

My friend Lauren had a super smart idea – She just picked out the things she wanted to wear over Christmas break and wore them at school the week before, so the stuff that she took home as laundry is also the stuff that she wore over Christmas. What a cool idea! I wish I would have thought of it! And remember, you might be getting clothes for Christmas too, so you’ll have even more to wear!

DO – Your musical instrument (maybe).

If you play an instrument, ask yourself these questions: Is my instrument small enough to practically bring home? Do I have a place to put this instrument at home? Do I need to practice over break (yes)? Will I practice over break (probably not)? Will I need to play this in church or somewhere else over break? If the answer to these questions is yes, you should probably bring your instrument home. You could probably (or definitely) make an exception if you have another similar instrument at home that you can use over break. For example, if you have an electric guitar at school and a few at home, you can probably just leave them where they are. Singers are the lucky ones… We get to take our instruments with us everywhere anyway!

DON’T – Your coffeemaker

Was this obvious to everyone except for me? My parents didn’t have a coffeemaker at home, so I really wanted to bring my Keurig home for break. That’s probably really dumb, but I actually thought about it. Thank goodness that my roommate talked me out of it!

DO – Makeup & hair stuff

You probably don’t have multiples of this stuff at home in your bathroom, so your blow dryer, curling iron or straightener (whichever you usually use), and every day makeup are probably smart choices to throw in your duffel bag.

DON’T – Makeup & hair stuff you don’t use often

Don’t pack a bunch of extra makeup that you only wear on occasion. If you even use it at all over break, it will probably only be once, so choose wisely. If you always curl your hair for special occasions, you might want to think about leaving your straightener at school, or vice versa. If you don’t use something on a regular basis, you probably won’t use it over Christmas break.

DO – Prescriptions

Do not, do not, do not forget your prescriptions at school. This includes everything from medication to contacts and glasses. If you forget this stuff, it can be hard (not to mention expensive) to get them over break!

DON’T – Too much shower stuff

I left some perfectly good stuff in my shower at home when I left for school and no one else uses it, so if I was smart, I could have left a bunch of my shower stuff at school and just used what I had here. I ended up with like six bottles of body wash in my shower at points during break. Why? I have no idea. Seriously. No clue. Stuff for your shower is usually relatively cheap, so if you leave it at school, you can pick some up while you’re home and leave it in your shower to use for weekend trips home, spring break, summer, etc., or take it back to school with you! That could save you a trip to Meijer in January at school.

DO – A couple of books. Maybe.

One of my classes next semester is a continuation of one I had in the fall, so I brought my textbook for that home so I could work ahead for it if I got bored. I ended up not doing it, but it’s a relatively small textbook, so it’s not a big deal. I’d also definitely recommend bringing your Bible. I forgot the one I usually use and I was pretty sad about it, but at least I have one on my phone and another one in my room at home. I just like to use the same one most of the time so I wish I’d brought it!

DO – Stuff you don’t need anymore.

If you have stuff you can sell or that you’ve realized you don’t need at school anymore, breaks are a great time to bring that stuff home. I sold some of my stuff at my local Plato’s Closet store. Many communities have Facebook pages where you can sell stuff to other people in your town, so that’s a good spot to try to unload some of the things you don’t need anymore. You never know who might want to buy your stuff!

So in case you guys still didn’t believe me, I overpacked. A lot. Remember that thing about having six bottles of body wash? Yeah…

Oh, speaking of packing, my Green Bay Packers lost yesterday… Well, on second thought, maybe we shouldn’t talk about it. I’m a sad panda.

Anyways, I hope you have all had a restful, relaxing, blessed, and super enjoyable Christmas break! Let me know how it was! Leave a comment, tweet @hopekathryn17, or email kathryn.krieger@hope.edu! I love hearing from you guys! Thanks for reading!

So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

Galatians 6:9-10 MSG

Winter Wonderland

It’s so great to be back at Hope, folks! I have settled and moved back into my apartment, and bought my books for the upcoming semester. I only needed 3, but the total was still over $300 with used books, and I even tried looking on Amazon. Oh, the struggles of being a poor college kid. Anyways, as my title suggests, there is so much snow here in Holland. I came a day early to try and beat storm Ion. Yeah, the stinkin’ storm has a name. Luckily, I made it back before the sky started dumping massive amounts of snow. Ok, just look at this radar picture, courtesy of Weather.com.

How is this much snow even possible? Ok, here is what the National Weather Service states: Holland is going to get 2-5 inches of snow tonight, and a possibility of 3-6 inches by tomorrow evening. Not to mention this arctic air we are getting, wind chills will drag the temperature down, and there is going to be so much drifting snow. Yeah, holy cow. Mother nature, way to make an entrance in the new year, you diva.

In the midst of the weather chaos, I took one of my best campus photos ever. And I can’t wait to share it with you. Although winter storm Ion is scary and causes potential danger, look how pretty Hope College is.

So if you are going to make your way out tonight, please drive with extreme caution. I want every student to make it back to this campus safe and alive for the new semester. If you are delaying your travels until tomorrow, please still drive with caution because Ion’s winter storm warning doesn’t end until tomorrow night! And, if you are already here, let’s build a snowman!

It’s crazy to think that spring semester is starting in 2 days. Break flew by, but in general, time flies by. Before you know it, it’ll be May and it’ll be time to part again. Best of luck to the students this coming semester, and my excitement continues to grow as time ticks because pretty soon, the Hope College class of 2018 will be here!

Please make sure to follow me here on twitter. And check out my Instagram, @marvsolberg. Stay safe out there, everyone!

Looking forward to spring semester!

I don’t think I’ve ever been excited to start school back up after Christmas break.

Until now.

Part of me is dreading getting up for an 8:30 class four days a week and doing countless hours of homework and studying, but for the most part, I cannot wait to get back to Hope in a couple of days. I’m even looking forward to my classes, as weird as that seems. Some of my classes this semester are continuations of classes I had last semester, like music theory and aural skills. Others are totally different, like German (so pumped!) and macroeconomics. I feel like I have a very cool mix of classes this semester, so I think it will keep me super interested and excited as I deal with what seems like a ridiculous load of credit hours. I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about a set of classes in my entire life. The only thing that would make it better is if I could have fit in an education class with a field placement with a music teacher… But that would put me at 25 credit hours so I guess I can deal with waiting one more semester for that.

I am also so so so excited to go back and see my friends! Since I live in Dykstra, which is a cluster layout, I literally just have to walk out my door and there is almost always a friend out there to talk to. It’s definitely something I’ve taken advantage of while I’ve been at school. Having to actually make plans with people while I’ve been home for Christmas break just seems weird since hanging out kind of just happens at school. Anyway, I’ve really been missing my friends from Hope and I am so pumped to see them in two days! They’re all so great and I can’t wait to make more memories with them this semester!

I’m also looking forward to continuing my voice lessons this semester. I had so much fun with them last semester and I really feel like they’re paying off and I’m growing as a musician so hopefully that will continue into the spring! I love to sing and knowing you’re improving at one of your favorite things in the world is just one of the best feelings.

I think I also speak for a lot of Hope students when I say WE CAN’T WAIT FOR CHAPEL. Chapel is so great and I can’t wait to get back into it next semester. It’s so cool to worship with such a huge group of my peers. I think Hope’s chapel is especially outstanding because it’s not required, but it’s packed every single time. I think that says a lot about Hope’s student body and where individuals’ priorities are. That was one thing that really impressed me when I first visited Hope my junior year of high school and it’s still one of my favorite things about the school and our student body!

Probably most importantly, the closest good frozen yogurt place to my house is an hour away so I’m feeling a little deprived. Looking forward to some Orange Leaf and Peachwave fro-yo when I get back to Holland!

Oh, and I almost forgot! Ingrid Michaelson, Bob Goff, and Andrew Ripp are all coming to Hope this semester so I’m super excited about every single one of those! They’re going to be so great!

I am also really hoping to get to meet more prospective students this semester! If you’re on campus, I would love to meet you and answer any questions, show you around, grab lunch in Phelps, or whatever! I love to talk about Hope and share my experience with people, especially high schoolers! Please feel free to drop me an email at kathryn.krieger@hope.edu, tweet @hopekathryn17, or comment here! Thanks so much for reading!

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

Philippians 3:12-14

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