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

online group. You can meet other students who have also been accepted and ask any questions you have about Hope.

Have a great week!

***Colleen***

 

Hey everyone!

This will be my last post while I am at Hope for the semester! I cannot believe I only have one more day. This semester has been extremely fun. I am so thankful the great people I have met, and I love my new friends. I cannot believe I did not know any of these people just four months ago. I feel like we have been friends for much longer. I cannot wait to see them again after break. I enjoy my roommate and the dorm I live in. We have so much fun together. It was kind of sad saying bye to everyone. Not many people are left on campus, and it is so weird. My roommate and I will be the only ones spending the night on our side of the dorm tonight. That’s okay though because we have been having a lot of fun together. In just this past week we have…

• Eaten at a Chinese buffet
• Watched movies
• Blasted our music and danced around
• Worked out at the Dow
• Eaten all our meals at Phelps together
• Studied together
• Gone out for coffee

Needless to say, we have hung out a lot together recently. I do not know what I would do without Elyse. For all of you prospective students, do not be worried about being matched with a bad roommate. Hope did a really good job with pairing people together. The people who live around me all really like their roommates, and our section of the dorm does so much together.

I really hope all of you have a great break and are able to relax!

Until next time,

CoLLeeN



Hello everyone!

Break is SO close! I cannot believe my first semester of college is almost over. Time has gone by so fast. Finals week has actually been a lot of fun. On Monday evening, from 9:00p.m.-11:00p.m. there was a free study break breakfast for all students. It was a good time and definitely a nice study break for everyone. Also on Monday night, Cool Beans, which is the coffee shop on campus, had free coffee from 11p.m. till 1:00a.m. It was another nice perk to staying up late and studying. Over the past couple of days I have been in a major study mode. I spent 10 hours at JP’s coffee shop downtown. I really like the variety of places there are to study around campus. The library has also been pretty busy. However, just because it is finals week does not mean that there is no room for fun. Last night we had a “penta” Christmas party, which was my me my roommate and the triple next door. We did secret Santa, ate some good food, and just chilled out together. My mom sent us all reindeer headbands and treat bags. After our party, we went back to studying. It was a lot of fun and definitely a well-deserved break.

Today, I plan on studying some more for my last exam, which is Anatomy at 9:00 a.m. on Friday. I kind of sad to leave everyone for break, but I know we will all see each other very soon.

Have a great break!

***Colleen***

Penta Party with our reindeer headbands!

 

 

Oh, just getting ready for some more studying



Wow! Can you believe there are only 17 days left until Christmas???

I definitely cannot. People are really getting into the holiday spirit around here. Down town Holland looks so pretty right now with all of the lights lighting up the streets, and the snow here is gorgeous. I knew there would be snow in Holland, but I didn’t know people meant more than a couple of inches. It has been snowing almost every day lately. It is a good thing I like the snow. =]

Today in my first year seminar class, my professor gave us each a couple of books as a Christmas gift. She picked them out based on what she thought we might enjoy. First year seminar class is required for all freshman. I really have enjoyed mine. I have been able to meet a lot of friends because of that class. My professor really knows me and takes a genuine interest in each of her students.  Today, she threw a little holiday party for us. I am so grateful I had her as a professor, and I am excited to read the books she bought for me. I plan on reading them after finals once life begins to slow down a little bit more. Everyone is getting anxious for break, but I am enjoying my last week before I go home.

Have a great week!

***CoLLeeN***

 

 Hope’s Beautiful Winter Campus!

Hey Everyone!

I hope you all are enjoying the Christmas season. Life is good here. The past week flew by so fast. This past weekend, I went to Grand Rapids with a group of friends. We ate out at a Mongolian Barbeque restaurant. The food was so awesome. After, we walked around Grand Rapids and admired the pretty lights. We also hung out at a coffee shop for a while.

We took a picture by the huge tree in the downtown.

On Saturday, I accomplished quite a bit of homework and chilled with my friends. We went to a dance on campus. It was a neon dance, and people were decked head to toe in crazy bright neon clothes. The dance was a lot of fun and everyone was having a good time. 

Here is my friend Sarah and I before the dance.

On Sunday, I went to church and then did some homework with friends at JP’s coffee shop downtown Holland. Later on that evening, people from our dorm decorated the lobby for Christmas, and it was so much fun. We played Christmas music and had a good time together setting up all the decorations. I really like my dorm. It has a “homey” feel to it. Also on Sunday night, there was a campus wide snowball fight in the pine grove. It was totally epic. People were running around the pine grove having a blast and throwing snowballs. I am glad I participated in the snowball fight. It was a great end to an awesome weekend. 

Until Next Time,

**CoLLeeN**

Hey there!

Happy December 1^st! Holland had its first snowfall of the year today. The snow is absolutely gorgeous and the campus looks even prettier. I was so excited when I woke up this morning and saw snow. I bundled up with my boots, mittens, scarf, and winter coat. Winter is here. Here are some of my favorite things about the Christmas season:

• Christmas lights
• Christmas music
• Snow
• Hot chocolate
• Warming up by the fireplace
• Making snow angels
• Red and green together
• Candy canes
• Peppermint flavored lattes at Starbucks

The past two nights I have had Student Congress meetings, and on Monday we set up the Christmas tree in Martha Miller. It was so much fun. Our Scott Hall representative, from Korea, had never set up a Christmas tree before so it was cool to see his reaction. I really like the diversity Hope has on Student Congress.

Well the first week back has been good so far. We decorated our room to prepare us for the Christmas season, and I must say I think it looks awesome!

Have a great week and enjoy the Christmas spirit!

Hsiang in front of his first Christmas tree

Happy Monday Everyone!

This past Saturday at Hope, the student activities committee (SAC) hosted a charter bus trip to Chicago. SAC puts on different fun activities throughout the year and this is one of them. The trip was a lot of fun and 3 charter busses from Hope came and helped populate the Chicago streets even more. The lights festival was taking place on the magnificent mile and there were wall-to-wall people during the festival. We could not even walk down the streets because there were so many people.

Even though the stores were crowded, we still had a lot of fun. Once we got off the bus we ate at Buca de Beppo, which is an awesome Italian restaurant. We had some great food! Then we ventured through Michigan Avenue and hit up different stores. While we were in Chicago, I was able to see one of my friends from high school who attends college in Chicago. I was so glad I got to spend some time with her. We did get to see a tiny glimpse of the light festival, but because there were so many people, it was hard to get a good look. After we finally made it through all the people, we had a good dinner together and left Chicago about 8 p.m. I had such a great time, and I hope to go on the trip next year.

Here we are on the bridge

Lunch at Bucca de Beppo

Hello Everyone,

I hope your week is going well. I do not know where the time is going. I have been very busy these past couple of days and would just like to inform you of what has been going on. Tuesday evening Student Congress was invited to have dinner at President Bultman’s house. We all dressed up for the occasion and the President and his wife had a delicious meal planned for us.

This was our menu for the evening….

• Apricot Salad
• Rolls
• Glazed Chicken
• Potatoes
• Green Beans
• Apple Pie

We had servers serve our food to us. I felt like I was at a restaurant. We were able to spend time to talk and get to know the Bultmans better. After dinner, they allowed us to explore their home and look around. The house was so incredibly cool. The house had a lot of character to it and definitely contained a lot of Hope spirit. They were so hospitable to us. They greeted us each individually and asked a little about ourselves. I cannot believe how nice of people they are. I never would have imagined that I would be able to meet the President of Hope College, yet alone in my first semester of college. It was a great evening and I am thankful I was able to participate in such a fun night.

Have a great week!

Pictures from dinner