Blog - Page 113 of 147 - Life at Hope College

NYKERK!!!

I can barely contain my excitement.

After almost a year of waiting (I started counting down the days the day after it occurred last year), my favorite time of the year is upon us.

NYKERK TIME.

Nykerk is a competition between the freshman and sophomore women in three categories: song, play and oration. It was started in 1935 by then Professor John Nykerk as the women’s alternative to The Pull. It has changed over the years, but the basic premise has remained (still a little confused? go here for more information).

What makes Nykerk different for me this year is that I am an oration coach! As a member of the Nykerk committee, I get an inside look at the behind the scenes work of Nykerk. As a freshman or sophomore participant, you aren’t aware of the work that the coaches and executive board do outside of practice to make Nykerk possible. Now that I have some insight into what goes on, I have gained so much more respect for my song and oration coaches (shout out to Alicia, Mara, Cara, and Zoey!).

The kickoff for the Nykerk season, the rally, was last Wednesday. Seeing the sophomores so excited and watching the freshmen get excited was so much fun. Even though Nykerk is a competition, the love and spirit of Nykerk is shared by all who participate!

To introduce the three areas of competition, the coaches perform skits or make videos. Check out this hilarious video, made by the freshman play coaches!

Practices for song, play and oration started this past week. From conversations I’ve had with other coaches, it seems to be going well so far!!

I’m purposefully keeping this post sparse on details, because I will be writing lots more on Nykerk in the coming weeks. I can’t help it; I have to let you all know how ODD-mazing Nykerk is! 😉

Are you in Nykerk? Let me know how it is going for you so far! Tweet at me or leave a comment!

-Rachael

Presidential Inauguration!

Last week, I had the great honor of attending the inauguration of the twelfth president of Hope College, John Knapp.

The service was held in Dimnent Chapel, and it was by far one of the coolest experiences I’ve had at Hope so far. All of the professors were there, along with representatives from colleges and universities around the United States and the world, with whom Hope has a relationship. Major donors of the school, the Board of Trustees, community members, and students were also in attendance.

In the middle of the inauguration, President Knapp gave his Inaugural Address. This is given by every new president, and is about the vision that the new president has for the future of Hope. In his speech, President Knapp talked about how he sees Hope emerging from it’s current role as a top regional college into a nationally recognized college. He highlighted that Hope already has the characteristics of top national colleges: bright students; top-notch professors, and nationally-ranked programs. I definitely think that in the years to come, we will see President Knapp’s vision take place.

The night before, I was privileged to attended a dinner for major donors of the school with some of the Hope College Student Ambassadors. It was so awesome to be around so many people who love Hope as much as I do! I was able to meet several of them and have some pretty neat conversations. If you ever get the chance to talk to alumni and/or donors of Hope, I would highly recommend that you take it!

The inauguration of a college president is pretty rare in the first place, but is even more rare to occur when you are attending the school. I’m so happy that I was able to see this historic event take place! If you want to take a look at some inauguration pictures, click here!

-Rachael

Fun Ahead

Fall Break is finally here!!!!!

I wasn’t sure if this week was ever going to end. I completed one group paper, two exams, and three papers, but I finally finished! This was definitely an exhausting week, but thank goodness fall break is here!

I’m leaving tomorrow morning with six other girls to go camping near Petoskey, Michigan! I went with basically the same group last year, and we camped at Sleeping Bear Dunes. I absolutely love camping and can’t wait to sit next to the fire and see beautiful Michigan scenery. The weather this week has been prime. I went running in Saugatuck this morning with a friend along Lake Michigan. I haven’t been running as much since I’ll be tapering this week in preparation for the marathon next weekend!

Even though this past week was crazy busy there were some cool events on campus. Last weekend Hope College welcomed its 12th President, Dr. John C. Knapp, on Friday, October 4, 2013, in a ceremony. Since I am a member of the Student Ambassador group I had the amazing opportunity to be apart of the celebration. On Friday afternoon I attended the President Inauguration Luncheon where I sat with former Hope College President, Gordon J. Van Wylen, and former CEO of Herman Miller, Max DePree. Both of the men were insightful and full of wisdom. I love the people around Hope, and the networking opportunities they provide.

Well I’m off to start packing and crossing off things on my long “to-do” list.

The professors lined up for Inauguration

Dimnet Chapel ready to welcome Dr. Knapp

Fall Break in 3, 2, 1…

It’s almost fall break!

I am so excited, you guys.

Seriously.

This is how excited I am:

That girl on the right is my best friend Katelin and in 36 hours I will be on my way to see her! I even get to go watch her run cross country at one of my favorite courses on Monday. Fall Break is gonna be awesome.

I’m also looking forward to celebrating my grandma’s birthday with my family on Sunday. It’s my friend Kaitlyn’s birthday the same day as well! Since she’s at college, too, I won’t get to spend the day with her, but I know she’ll have a wonderful day!

So... Which one is older? — So… Which one is older?

I have two midterms to take tomorrow and then Saturday I get to leave to go hang out with my wonderful friends and family and eat at a bunch of my favorite places around my hometown (Chick-Fil-A, anyone?!). This in combination with the absolutely beautiful day we were blessed with today in Holland honestly just make me want to sing, so here are a few of my favorite songs to get you through your last minute studying tonight or just to enjoy!

(This last one is the band I saw a few weeks ago!)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend with whatever you are doing! Thanks for reading! Make sure to leave me a comment, drop me an email at kathryn.krieger@hope.edu, or tweet me! My twitter username is @hopekathryn17!

The Final Stretch Until Fall Break! (part 2)

Good morning to you all! Here’s my mid-week/almost end of the week update! It truly has been one of those hectic weeks you have in college. Papers are due, presentations are due, and there are a plethora of exams you need to take. But hey, Fall Break is TOMORROW, so I should just stop complaining, right? Pretty soon, I’ll have 5 days of relaxation and sleep…

Well not in my case. My bestie Amanda and I are going to be busy this Fall Break with work and studying. My mom is opening a new coffee shop! GRAND OPENING is SATURDAY! This is something we do every break. I remember last year during Winter Break, we planted ourselves in the library everyday doing work just to stay on track. That’s what you get with being a science major right? Well, anyways, here, take a peek at what I have done this week, and what’s in store for me for the rest of the day and tomorrow!

MONDAY was my last day being at Holland Hospital for my psychiatric mental health nursing clinical. I can’t believe it has been 8 weeks. Time really flies when you’re at school. Remember, live each day as if it were your last, and take advantage of the time you do have!

TUESDAY: Instead of being at the hospital for our clinical, we had a four-hour lecture in preparation for our exam THURSDAY (TODAY!) It was great to wrap things up!

WEDNESDAY: So, yesterday was probably one of my better days. I got a bunch done, and I felt good about it! So, I worked out in the morning, worked, had four hours of class, then I went for a 5.35 mile run. SCORE! Talk about a great stress-reliever.

But seriously though, after that run, I felt like I could do anything. After, I ate and worked some more being a TA. After, I studied for my psych exam for a while which is TODAY. I am ready to tackle that sucker.

THURSDAY (TODAY!): Right now, I am working some more (yeah, I work Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday), then I am going to have lunch, then it’s off to my EXAM! I’ll probably do more work after because I have some grading to do. Oh bother.

FRIDAY (TOMORROW!): FALL BREAK. But before leaving, I have my pathophysiology exam. It’s going to be tough, but with studying, and having faith, I will survive like I did last time.

I know, there is so much room for complaining, and I take advantage of it. But hey, I’m just a college student with college problems, like exams back-to-back! Ultimately, this is what I really want to do in life, so I am working very hard to achieve my goal! If you have any nursing questions, or questions in general about college, SEND ME A MESSAGE! I’d love to converse with you about upper education!

If you haven’t already, follow me on the Twitter. CLICK HERE! It’s another great way to see what college life is like!

Looking Forward

Happy October, everyone! Now that it’s fall and the summer atmosphere is gone, the stresses of school are kicking in. Something surprising that I have noticed going on recently is that people are already figuring out housing for next year. I have friends that have already signed leases for next year! Doesn’t it seem like we just got back to school? How could we already be figuring out next year when it’s only October? Well, even though it may seem premature for upperclassmen, it is a wake-up call that people need to start planning things in advance. This pertains not only to housing situations but also planning for any study abroad opportunities, volunteering, studying for graduate programs, etc.

For me, junior year is the year where things start to become overwhelming, but in reality everybody is going through the same thing. Fortunately, I’m already planning on housing next year so that ball is already in motion, but for people who are interested in studying abroad, informational meetings are approaching. I am interested in going to Vienna for a May Term next year, so I was able to get some information on it and am mentally getting prepared for filling out all of that and making the correct steps towards applying for the program. When you sit down and think about all the things on your plate from classes, personal things, your major, and anything else going on in your life, it is a little discouraging because there are just so many things to think about at once. People say to live in the moment, but that is only true to an extent because planning and organizing for long-term aspects in one’s life is necessary to think about now, no matter how far in advance it may seem.

For instance, I have tests, papers and normal homework as well as a job, meetings and intramurals and all I try to do is get through the week. It’s extremely difficult to tackle those in addition to figuring out things months in advance when you are already stressed out to your limit with day-to-day responsibilities. Although there are times you want to just have a pity party, you have to realize that it is difficult, but well worth the time and effort and even frustration in order to get ahead in life. Also, you’re never alone in this process—you have advisers, helpful professors, friends, family and other people you have made connections with that can help and hopefully relieve some anxiety and set you on the right path. I know there are times when you feel like you have to figure out your life on your own, but everybody is in the same boat and there are numerous resources at our disposal to get us through all of this with as little pain as possible.

With that being said, planning has its benefits. For example, planning for a May Term in Vienna is stressful, but how cool will it be if it happens and you end up in a new country with so much history? Also, won’t you be glad you got a jump-start on some things before deadlines come up and you realize you aren’t prepared? Yeah, I’d rather be stressed now and slowly work away at some future organizing than have an anxiety attack later on. Hopefully this post hasn’t stressed anybody out but simply brought to your attention that looking ahead is always a bonus. Something that I love planning in advance for are breaks, so getting ready for Fall Break this next weekend is making me super excited! I hope everybody has a great break and I’m sure I’ll update you on all of the fun things that happen to me in my next blog! Have a great week and safe weekend everybody!

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

The Final Stretch Until Fall Break!

We are entering another week! It sounds crazy right? Time has been FLYING, and that’s a understatement. Here’s my theory: the days are so long, but the weeks are incredibly short! I just want to let you all know what I did this past weekend, and I want to give you an update of what is coming up this week!

FRIDAY: Friday was just such a great day. Why? NO CLASS! I was super productive that day. I worked out, did a lot of homework, and cleaned. I also ran some errands which was nice. I also got the Vienna Summer School application, so I filled that sucker out right away! The application wasn’t open to the public yet, so I felt honored! Friday night was the Homecoming Hoedown, sponsored by one of the best organizations on campus, SAC (which I’m in!) There were hay rides, animals, line dancing, great food, and of course, friends!! Here are some pictures of my closest friends! After the hoedown, it was time for bed.

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SATURDAY: How did I start my Saturday? By working out, of course. I went with my friend Nate, and our workout killed us. After about one hour after our workout, we went to the Taste of the South, a Homecoming event made possible by our own President Knapp! Here, alumni and students sampled southern cuisine, and let me tell ya, it was out of this world. After I ate food, I did homework with friend Hannah and her friend Lauren who is a med school student at MSU. It was fun talking about medical stuff. It always gets me going. After a couple of hours of homework, I went to Grand Rapids, Michigan for ArtPrize 2013 with my friends Erica, Tara, Tess, and Abby. It was so cool to see all of the art entries from all over the United States. I took a bunch of pictures, but my phone decided to freakout and deleted them all. But, I salvaged some, so no worries! Here they are!

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The panda was my favorite entry. Why? It was cute and it is my favorite animal, hands down. We also ate dinner at the Cottage Bar. They had really good burgers. I recommend it! I had the Tijuana burger and it had guacamole in it. YUMMY!

SUNDAY: Today was a lazy day, but fun! My friend Joey and I had breakfast, I did homework, had a FAMILY DINNER with some of my friends. It was amazing! The food was great, but the company was better! Hope College’s own Chelsea Barfield was there! (click her name to get to her blog!) After that, we all went to the Gathering together. Now, it’s time for bed.

AHEAD THIS WEEK: This might be my longest week yet. I have a presentation on Monday, and an exam on Thursday and Friday! I’ll be sure too give you all a mid-week update! Make sure you follow me on twitter!! CLICK HERE! God bless to all!

Off-Campus: ArtPrize

Beyond the vast amount of fun things to do around Hope’s campus and downtown Holland, there are occasionally activities off-campus that you just can’t pass up.

The first one I’ve encountered (besides the Hope-Calvin volleyball game): ArtPrize.

Last Thursday, my First Year Seminar class all piled onto a Hope bus and had a field trip to the festival (want more information on what a First Year Seminar is? Click here.) My FYS is photography-driven, and my classmates and I had a blast taking pictures of the art and buildings in downtown Grand Rapids!

My classmates Amanda, Chris, and I at Art Prize for our FYS field trip! (Yes, we're sitting on a piece of art. But we got permission.) — My classmates Amanda, Chris, and I at Art Prize for our FYS field trip! (Yes, we’re sitting on a piece of art. But we got permission.)

And then, we just couldn’t stay away. My four besties and I piled into my friend’s CR-V and made the 37-minute trip to Grand Rapids for some Friday night fun.

The backseat trio of Karleigh, Dalila, and I headed to Grand Rapids-- notice the practice of our selfie taking skills is top-notch, :) — The backseat trio of Karleigh, Dalila, and I headed to Grand Rapids– notice the practice of our selfie taking skills is top-notch. 🙂

We had a great time wandering through downtown Grand Rapids to admire the art. Here’s a sneak peek of some of my favorite shots from my field trip and from our visit last night:

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We had a great time wandering around to check out the art. So much of it is so inspirational, it’s a great way to get your creative juices flowing!

My besties and I below this pretty cool piece of art. The canvases were shaped in a heart figure and it was full of inspirational quotes and bible verses.

ArtPrize is definitely a place you’ll want to stop by as you’re traveling through your adventure at Hope if you haven’t been there already. There’s so much to see, so much to do, and the food this year was pretty awesome, too.

Want to keep up with what’s up around Hope? Follow me @hopesophie17 on Twitter and Instagram or send me an email at sophie.guetzko@hope.edu.

Have a great Homecoming weekend!

The Broke College Student’s Guide to Good Food

Look, we’ve all been there. We all have those days where nothing in Phelps or Cook looks appetizing, and the Kletz is closed. Luckily, there’s an abundance of great places to eat out around Hope’s campus, but one thing that college students always seem to be short on is cold hard cash, so I figured I’d make a list of some of the good places to eat around Hope that just happen to have some great student discounts.

1. Subs ‘n More

No list of great places to eat can go without at least a subtle nod to Holland’s best sandwich shop. Subs ‘n More serves pizza, subs, breadsticks and salads, and they’re all out of this world. The perfect size to get a sub in is 7″, and that’ll run you just over $6.00 dollars.

Location: 8th Street across from The Peanut Store.

Hope Student Discount: Free drink with Hope ID!

2. Froggy’s

Froggy’s is a cool little burger joint in Holland that serves both burgers and hot dogs. They also feature local sodas, which can honestly be a little pricey. An average meal will run you close to $8.00 dollars, but if you go on Tuesdays, you can get a burger, fries and a drink for $4.00 dollars! Not a bad deal, huh?

Location: 8th Street on the same block as the New Holland Brewing Co.

Hope Student Discount: 10% off with Hope ID!

3. Jimmy John’s

Chances are that if you’re from anywhere in the U.S.A you’ve been to Jimmy John’s. If that’s the case, you probably already know how awesome their subs and chips are. A meal including a sandwich, chips and a drink will run you just about $7.00, and that’s not a bad deal.

Location: 8th Street near The Outpost.

Hope Student Discount: None.

4. Papa John’s Pizza

If there’s one thing that every college student loves, it’s pizza. Papa John’s isn’t really the best option out there, but they have a pretty good deal for Hope students. You can get a large pizza for $7.00 dollars, which isn’t a bad deal. If you want delivery, it only brings the price up to $11.00 dollars.

Location: Delivers.

Hope Student Discount: Large Pizza for $6.99

So there you have it, a few places to eat when you just can’t stand what’s on campus. Make sure you go to the Dow though after to work off all this great food!

As Told By Instagram (Part 2)

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a lovely week so far! I am leaving to go to Indiana for my brother’s wedding tomorrow and I am so excited! I love being in Holland but I can’t wait to see my family and celebrate such a great day! In the meantime, I wanted to share some more pictures from school so far. These are all from my Instagram page!

September 9

For graduation, one of my most wonderfully influential high school teachers gave me this little print. I love to sing more than almost anything else, so this is just the perfect thing for me. I have it on my desk so I look at it every day and it’s a great reminder of my love for music (even when I’m frustrated) and also of one of the best ladies I know.

September 13

My cluster and the one next door, also known as our “sister cluster” or “cluster pair” (we share an RA), had a pizza and movie night together! It was great to unwind from a busy week and spend some time getting to know the girls I live with a little better!

September 14

On a beautiful Saturday in September, the Phelps Dining Hall on campus closed for lunch so that we could all go out to Windmill Island to eat an outdoor lunch with Holland community members. It was really nice to get off-campus for an afternoon and go somewhere that was new to me! Windmill Island is so cute and I really enjoyed the beautiful day God blessed us with.

September 14

The same night, a church in Holland was hosting Jenny & Tyler, one of my favorite bands, and Jake Ousley, a YoungLife musician, opened for them. I got to talk to Jake and he was so nice and fun! It was a fantastic concert and I had such a great time! This was one of my favorite nights in Holland so far!

September 14

That day was just topped off with this. One of the girls in my sister cluster, Alicia, works at a bakery downtown and sometimes she gets to bring food back. She brought me this adorable, delicious little cupcake and it was so good, especially since I had been craving cake all day!

September 18

Both dining halls on campus had a Willy Wonka day at dinner one night. There was a chocolate fountain and so much candy. I was way too excited and I may or may not have overestimated how much candy I could eat in one sitting…

September 18

Conveniently planned on the same day as Willy Wonka dinner to make sure that we all got our daily sugar intake, we had a progressive sundae night in Dykstra. We all started by getting a bowl of ice cream in the lobby and there was a different topping in every cluster so everyone walked around and met all the RAs and some lovely ladies from other clusters! Dykstra is pretty big and there were a lot of clusters I hadn’t been in yet, so it was nice to see the whole dorm!

September 20

Downtown Holland had a Live Mannequin Night, so all the store windows downtown had people in them! The theme was children’s books, so stories like Where the Wild Things Are, Harold and His Purple Crayon, and The Chronicles of Narnia were all represented. This one at the Model Apothecary and Drug Store was my favorite: Caps For Sale!

September 21

I had this big empty space on the wall above my bed, so I printed out a bunch of pictures and hung them up! It was a bigger undertaking than I expected, but it was a good Saturday afternoon activity and I love the way it turned out!

September 25

While my parents were in town, I took them to Captain Sundae for their first time and we all really liked it! I got the Mermaid sundae, which has a warm donut in the bottom of it! Delicious.

I’ll cut it off here before this post gets way too long. I’ll have more pictures to share with you all soon!

Tomorrow one of the choirs I am in, Collegium Musicum, is singing at the Presidential Inauguration luncheon and then my aunt and uncle are picking me up to take me to Indiana for the wedding! I’m missing my first Hope Homecoming, but that’s okay since it’s for such a great reason. I’m looking forward to an awesome weekend! I hope you all are too!

Please leave me a comment, send me an email at kathryn.krieger@hope.edu, or tweet me at @hopekathryn17! Thanks for reading and God bless!

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