Hello!

I hope all of your weeks are going well.

Yesterday was a very fun day for me. It started off with a great Spanish class and then an awesome chapel service. I had a good time at lunch and then finished off my day with a statistics presentation that went pretty well. Our stats group spent about ten hours working on it on Sunday, so I am very glad it is now over. After statistics, a group of friends and I went to Subway then studied at Starbucks. We accomplished quite a bit of work, and then did a quick Meijer run. After, a group of people hung out in the Voorhees lobby on the couches. Grace and Amy were practicing a song for their ministry class on Grace’s guitar. After they finished practicing, we sang some worship songs together. I really enjoyed just chilling with everyone in the lobby. It was not a planned event or anything; people just came and joined in the singing.

Religion is not forced upon anyone here. Chapel is not required. Some people choose to attend spiritual events on campus and others do not. Hope provides a lot of spriritual opportunities such as Bible studies, speakers, and retreats. It is cool that not everyone is the same here. I have made a variety of friends at Hope.

However, I still keep in close contact with my friends from high school. I spent two hours skyping people from high school last night. It is cool to hear about each other’s college experiences. I sometimes think “what if” I had gone somewhere else, but now that I am at Hope, I am so incredibly glad I am here. The people and atmosphere here is so great; I am so glad I decided to come to Hope!

*CoLLeeN*

So we had to take a little study break while we were at Starbucks, so why not play on photobooth?

 

Hi Everyone! 

I am sitting in Lemonjello’s coffee shop right now. It is clear and sunny out. I am soaking up the nicer weather, and I am ready for winter to be over. The sidewalks are starting to clear up; grass is starting to become visible. Thank goodness! 

Life is going quite well here. This week has been very busy. It feels like forever ago I was home, but really it was only a week ago. Since I have been back, I have had a Student Congress dinner, intramural soccer game, and on Wednesday night I went to the last home basketball game with some members from Student Congress. Since it was senior night and the last whole game it was a “whiteout” and students who were wearing orange received a FREE whiteout Dew Crew Shirt. The Dew Crew is the student section at the basketball games. It is a fun place to sit during the game and cheer on the players. Hope lost in over time to Albion, but it was a great game and they had a good come back in the second half. I am sad the men’s season is over, but I am going to be able to go to the women’s last home game on Saturday.

This weekend should be a lot of fun. I am going to a benefit Concert tonight, the women’s game tomorrow, and cranking out a lot of homework some where along the way.

Speaking of homework, I better start working on it now. I hope you all have fabulous weekends!

CoLLeeN

WHITEOUT GAME =]

 

Winter Break is now over. I am glad to be back at Hope. It is weird because now college seems to be more like home than my actual home. I now have friends here that make it hard to leave Hope. However, I love visiting home, it is just feels weird to be away from Hope now. I guess that is a good thing though!

While on Winter Break, I was able to visit my sister at her college in Wheaton. It was great to spend time with my whole family. We ate out a great Italian restaurant and had a lot of fun together. Also, while on break, I made several Starbucks runs with people. It was great to catch up with my friends from high school. And of course, I visited my home church and loved it. I miss my church so much while at school.

I loved being home, but it feels so good to be back. I received a package from my mom before I left for home and now I can eat some of the yummy treats she sent me. I am also looking forward to going to JP’s tomorrow and studying my head off, because I did not get a lot of homework done over break. Oh well, at least I was able to relax. Well, I hope you all have great weeks and make some time to relax!

Until next time,

CoLLeeN

Valentines Day Package that I can now enjoy thanks to my mom =]

 

 

Hello Everyone! 

Life has been crazy busy here at Hope College. This past weekend was filled with a lot of fun; as is every weekend. There was so much happening. 

On Friday night, I participated in SAC’s (student activity committee) dodge ball tournament. I played on a team with some people from my dorm. We had a lot of fun together. We lost every game but one. So we did not come in dead last. However, we did WIN best costume and received some Hope College socks for winning. The judges loved our tie-dye apparel. 

On Saturday night, we night we went out to dinner at a delicious Thai restaurant. Then a fundraiser dance was being held for a Spring break mission trip to the Dominican Republic. Spring break mission trips are really popular and quite a few students go on one. I hope to go on one next year. 

And then Sunday was also a fun day because of the Super Bowl Party! In the classroom in the basement they set up a projector and we watched the game on the wall and had big speakers in place. We shoved food into our mouths and watch the Packers win the game! The weekend was a lot fun!

Until next time,

Colleen

Thai Dinner!

It is official. Wednesday was the best day I have had at Hope College. I went to a friend’s house in Holland, and we all went to the beach and had an amazing time. I was able to hang out with fellow blogger Andi, and it was a lot of fun. We took some great pictures at the beach and explored along the lake. The water looked so pretty. The snow was fun to plow through. I have never seen this much snow before. After we finished playing in the snow, we went in the hot tub and enjoyed a home cooked meal. So yummy!

My hometown has had three snow days this week! I am a little jealous, but at the same time I like to get things done and have class. One day off was the perfect amount of time to chill and relax.

Tomorrow, I just have one class and plan on doing some homework, so I do not have as much to do over the weekend. I am super excited to catch up on some much needed sleep this weekend.

Have a magnificent weekend!

Photos from the beach

Gorgeous View

Snow up to my waist!

YES! YES! YES! I am so excited right now. Why? THERE IS NO SCHOOL TODAY! My three classes have been cancelled. Once the news got out that there was no school at 10:30 p.m. last night, shouts of excitement automatically swept through Hope’s campus. So instead of working on our homework we played games until 3 a.m. and it was a ton of fun. We also had a snowball fight outside our dorm and came back inside and drank some hot chocolate. Today I slept until 11. It was so nice to sleep in and not worry about anything. However, I still have some homework I need to finish at some point today, but my procrastination skills are kicking in right about now.

No need to worry, I will complete my homework eventually. =]

Besides this snow day, things around here have been going very well. I am enjoying my classes and professors this semester. JP’s coffee shop is still my favorite place to study and hangout. I have been there everyday this week and absolutely love it!

Well, I am going to work on some homework and play in the snow. I hope you all have a great week, and if you were lucky enough to have a snow day today, enjoy it!

Until Next Time,

Colleen

SNOWBALL FIGHT!

LOOK AT THAT SNOW!

Hey Everyone!

I have some exciting news. My friend, Sarah, from next-door made Hope’s tennis team! Wahooo! She has been attending the practices and workouts for several months now, and her hard work paid off! I am so excited for her and cannot wait to go to Hope’s tennis matches. My friends and I are going to cheer like crazy whenever she plays! She found out she made it last Wednesday night so we celebrated by getting some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream from the Kletz. It was so much fun.

I really do enjoy my friends at Hope. I love the people I have met. We have so much fun together. We work out together, do homework, go out to eat, grab coffee, brush our teeth together, basically anything you can think of. I love being surrounded by such fun-loving people. The community at Hope is definitely different from anywhere else I have been. I have only lived here since August, but I already know I am going to continue to be friends with the people I have already met.

School is going really good this semester. I’ll keep you update about what has been happening around campus soon!

Have a great week!

Hello All! I hope all of your weeks are going well. Things are again starting to pick back up at Hope College. We have now had a full week of classes. I am looking forward to my classes this semester. I am also glad I am going to be mentoring 11^th graders at Grant High School with five other Hope students. A typical day here has started out with me doing Insanity with a friend or someone in our dorm’s basement. After Insanity, I shower and get ready then go to class. After class, I usually do homework with some friends. We like to go off campus and study sometimes, or we will study in each other’s rooms. I miss not hanging out in the pine grove. It is now covered with snow. I am not use to all of the snow. It definitely looks different from home. In my opinion, the campus actually looks even better with snow. I cannot wait until I find some time to actually go out in play in the snow.

That’s all for now. Have a great week!

CoLLeeN

Hope’s beautiful winter campus!

Home Sweet Voorhees

Hey Everyone!

I hope you all had great breaks! I had an excellent break. I loved hanging out with my friends and visiting family. I visited family and Chicago and Michigan. While I was in Michigan, I stayed the night with my friend from college. We had so much fun together. She introduced me to her friends from home, and we enjoyed sushi and Starbucks together. When I returned from visiting family, I hung out with friends and we made “awesome” ginger bread cookies together. It was definitely great to have time off, but I am glad to be back at school.

I am slowly but surely getting back into the swing of things here. Today I went to chapel in the morning after class. It was a great first chapel of the semester. I am really excited about my classes this semester. I am taking Spanish V, English 113 “Rethinking Your Health”, Statistics, and an independent study for Spanish and Leadership. So far my professors have been great. I see some familiar faces in my classes, and I have already met some new people. I really want to meet some new people this semester. Yesterday in my English class, my professor told us that every class period we would be interacting with one another. I am really excited for her class. She has a lot of passion for English and wants us to get acquainted with one another. I have a feeling I am really going to enjoy this semester!

Until next time,

Colleen

My friends!

Making Gingerbread cookies

The Finished Product