First Encounter with Snow Vlog!

Two kids in the snow
This is me and my brother chillin’ in the snow when we used to live in Baltimore, Maryland.

It’s been an exciting few days for me, especially since it started snowing! I grew up mostly in California and never really had any experience with snow. Of course I see snow in movies and online but other West Coasters may agree that we actually have no idea what this wet fluff is. If we haven’t been to Yosemite National Park or Lake Tahoe, then the closest one could ever get to snow is shredded styrofoam decor in a department store.

comic strip of snowmen
Calvin and Hobbes knew how to snowman

I made a short vlog documenting my first experience and a stroll downtown. Didn’t have time to make snowmen or snow angels or have a snowball fight, but I decided it’s better to take it slow and try them throughout the winter. Sorry about the video and audio quality, I know it’s distracting, but I hope you can still enjoy it!

How to Survive The Pre-Thanksgiving Break Itch

You can feel it in your bones – the need to get out, to put down your pencil, to print out the final draft of your ten-page research paper, close your computer, and breathe.

I feel it, too. The itch, the annoyance, the anxiousness that hits us every time we’re about to go on break. We students know that within days we will be home with our families enjoying a warm dinner, laughing with our siblings about moronic things we did when we were little (because we’re probably still sitting at the kids table, let’s be honest here), and attempting not to count down the days until we have to return for the daunting and unavoidable: finals.

Hope is a lovely place… but the stress from classes and extracurriculars hits you by this point in the semester. If you can’t scratch the pre-break itch, you might drive yourself crazy. Here are a few suggestions on getting through the last few class days before Thanksgiving:

  1. Don’t save all of your homework until the night before it’s due. You’ll be up all night, bitter that you’re in the library when you want to be in your warm bed at home. Instead, break the homework up the weekend before, maybe try to get a little bit ahead. That way, when you’re daydreaming about your grandma’s famous mashed potatoes and stuffing, you won’t be getting as far behind on your work.
  2. Use your favorite study spot. Everyone should have the place on campus that they go to and get the most work done. Mine varies on how willing I am to walk to the library as opposed to Lubbers.
  3. Have a Friendsgiving. Not only do you get to eat Thanksgiving food one more time than usual, but you also get to relax and spend time with your friends before going on break. A lot of halls will actually throw Thanksgiving dinners together (ie. Phelps has Phelpsgiving). I wasn’t able to go, but it can be the perfect study break and exactly what you need!

There are only three tips because, let’s be real here, getting over the hump between those two papers and one exam is pretty difficult. Only so much can be done to make it easier.

The first big Holland snow
In other news, in case you haven’t already seen or heard, the first big snow came to Holland this weekend! Here’s the view from my window.

Wherever you are, I hope you’re making it through the week to Thanksgiving. Take the time to be thankful for your education and the life you’ve been given, but don’t feel guilty for complaining about the fidgeting, restless feeling of just wanting to be home, because that’s something to be thankful for too.

Have a great week and happy Thanksgiving,

Brooke

An Inside Scoop on Owning a Small Business in College

LLC (The three-page document making your company legal)? Check.

T-shirts ordered? Check.

Fifteen boxes in the back of my SUV? Double check.

Whose debit card did we use again, anyway? Just kidding.

But we’re a discombobulated mess… sometimes.

The three of us live only three blocks apart, but now we know why people who work for businesses work in one location together for a reason.

Regardless, things are going well.

Can you think of the first time you found someone you liked who really liked you back? You begin to spend so much time with them that you begin to stop spending time in other areas.

If you start a small business in college, it’s almost a requirement to “date” your business.

You have to spend time with it, take care of it, and spend money… but it’s all for a really great benefit.

Here are the tips we’ve developed to keep you on top of your schoolwork, social life, and business:

  1. Keep a planner. If you can specify certain hours for homework vs. business work, your time will be spent effectively.
  2. Don’t multitask. Complete one task at a time, and work on it until it is finished. Being able to check tasks off of your list is rewarding.
  3. Create an elevator pitch. People will want to know about your business, but they don’t want a two-second answer or a thirty-minute conversation. Create a concise and repeatable way to explain your purpose.
  4. Delegate tasks. You have a team for a reason. Separate out roles to ensure that everything is done, but you don’t have to do everything.
  5. Separate your personal and business accounts. Running grocery money and business money off of the same card can be confusing.
  6. Sleep. You won’t want to. You may feel like you can’t. Do it anyway. You’ll feel better in the long run.
Reign Outfitters
Photo Credit: Haley Menzies Photography

Saugatuck Dunes State Park: Hiking in the First Snow of the Year!

The first snow of the year!

Along with thirty other students, I climbed into a Hope van and drove to the Saugatuck dunes for a morning snow hike with the Outdoor Adventure Club.

Driving the road to Saugatuck
The trees on the drive to Saugatuck.

The day of the first snow of the year is my favorite day of fall. The flakes come down in chunks, and in Kalamazoo they usually melt when they hit the ground. But in Holland, which is closer to the lake, the snow seems to be sticking.

Walking the dunes in the midmorning felt like walking through Alaska, or Tibet, or Narnia. The lake hasn’t frozen yet. The juxtaposition of the waves and the snow gave a different sense of the place than in the summer. It felt like the two opposite seasons were being joined together.

The snowy Saugatuck dunes
The dunes in the snow are, like, super cool.

The pattern of winter and summer is woven throughout life. Summer represents birth, winter represents death, and then the world is reborn again. But in the beauty of winter, even in the bitter cold and the sopping wet sweatshirts, we see that all of life is beautiful.

Sydney and Gabby on the snowy beach.
Sydney and Gabby enjoying the snowy beach.

So as I sit here typing in the my warm third floor room in Voorhees, I can look out the window and see where trees used to hold leaves. A few weeks back, the leaves fell off, leaving the trees bare and ugly. But now, the trees are outlined in white snow. Even apparent ugliness and death can be beautiful in the right perspective.

Attending the 2015 GLCA Conference at Hope

This past weekend I attended the GLCA, or Great Lakes Colleges Association, conference here at Hope, whose mission is to “take actions that will help strengthen and preserve our colleges; and by being a leading force on behalf of education in the tradition of the liberal arts and sciences.” This was my first time attending the conference, but I had heard great things from my friends who had gone to prior conferences. Students from 12 other colleges like Albion, Denison, Ohio Wesleyan and Kalamazoo came to Hope to spend their weekend hearing from guest speakers and attend workshops.This year’s theme for the conference was “Student Success: The Politics of Institutional Culture,” which couldn’t be a more relevant topic to discuss right now with what is happening at several universities in the states. Student success among students of color in mostly white institutions is a common problem and can lead to struggles in how students succeed academically, socially as well as the overall campus climate, whether it is welcoming or unwelcoming.

I don’t have the right words to describe how I felt seeing so many students of color on Hope’s campus other than to say it was pretty cool. It doesn’t do that feeling justice, but really, meeting students from other colleges was the highlight of my time at the conference, if only for the simple fact that we all shared a same bond of knowing what it feels like going to a college where we are underrepresented. Another highlight of the conference was when one of the guest speakers, Dr. Terrell Strayhorn, spoke during dinner on Friday night. I’ve heard from many guest speakers throughout the various events and lectures I have attended at Hope, but Dr. Strayhorn’s speech resonated with not only me, but everyone in the room. One of the major takeaways from what he spoke about was when he stated that we must be proud of what we are good at. If you are good at math, say you are good at math. If you are good at singing, then be proud to say you are good at singing. Too often we doubt ourselves and our abilities of what we can’t do, but why not be proud of what we can do? I urge you to think about your gifts, your talents, and the next time someone asks you what you are good at, hold your head up high. I know I will do the same!

Picture with Dr. Terrell Strayhorn
Group picture with Dr. Strayhorn!

On Saturday afternoon, I and a few of my sisters went to support our Theta sister Rudy who was presenting her research on the challenges, lack of support and resources students of color experience in their field. Even though Rudy’s research centered around the healthcare field, I was still able to think about the challenges I have faced thus far in my own English field and how much support I have received throughout the past 3 years. Either way, it is important for all of us to think about these questions as we continue our education and think about how we are receiving (or not) the support and resources we need to be successful.

Group picture with our sister Rudy
Thetas supporting our sister Rudy at her presentation! #thetalove

After a long day of attending workshops and participating in important discussions, it was nice to end the day by going to Images. If you didn’t know, Images is a multicultural showcase with dances, singing and skits that Hope students participate in. What I love about Images if that highlights the many different cultures that make up our campus. A lot of my friends and sisters (Alexis, Ashley and Rudy–good job ladies!) were in a few of the dances, so I wanted to show my support for all of their hard work they put forth the past few weeks! Below is a video I took of my sister Qian performing in Images in a “Vietnamese Hat Dance,” which depicts both women’s grace as well as daily activities of the Vietnamese people.

Thanks so much for reading! 🙂

The Visiting Writer Series: Tim O’Brien

Hello, Readers! Hopefully your Thursday is grand and you’ve had many adventures today, or at least a good cup of coffee.

Did you all know that I’m an English major? If not, now you do, and the event that I’m going to be writing about is one that I’ve looked forward to and geeked out about (to the blank stares and misunderstandings of my friends and family) for basically the whole semester. This event was put on by the English Department this morning and was an event in a series of events called the Visiting Writers Series.

This series invites authors to come to Hope to read and talk about their poetry or writings. This is a lost art form, I think, and am excited that Hope has events where this is praised. In the past for this series, there have been local poets and authors that have graced Hope’s campus, but this morning at 11 o’clock in the Knickerbocker Theater (which is in the building next to the Anderson-Werkman Center), the VWS hosted Tim O’Brien, author of the famous book, The Things They Carried. How cool is that?!

Look there he is! Wowowow too cool, I'm still not over it!!
Look there he is! Wowowow too cool, I’m still not over it!!

The Things They Carried has become one of my favorite books, as I read the book for fun, and recently have been reviewing it in my Creative Writing class. The theme of the fictional short stories in it are about the Vietnam War and the experiences of the soldiers in the war. Quite honestly, it is one of the most gorgeously worded books I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a lot of books. The language in it uses the best imagery and combination of words. If you haven’t read it already, RUN to read it now. You won’t be disappointed.

Tim read only one section of the book called “Ambush”, but described the writing process and culmination of different stories to get to the final product of the story. It was beautiful and heartbreaking to hear his own thoughts and references of the war in reference to what is going on in the world today concerning ISIS and the recent attacks in Paris. It was humbling to realize that war does not just affect the people involved, but embeds its memories into everyone that knew someone involved in war.

In light of current events, it is important to think of war as something concrete, and not as just an abstract word that we can’t put an image or idea to. This book helped me to understand the implications and actual meaning of war, while reading an incredible piece of literature. I highly recommend it.

It was an awesome treat to be able to attend this event this morning. I am thankful for Hope and their provision for the opportunity to experience such a fulfilling event.

Until next time, Readers!

Questions about what I wrote? Check the bio and get in touch!

To-Do List

I always thought it would be easy. I always figured I’d just be able to do it. But as usual, I was wrong.

This upcoming May, I have been given the opportunity to lead a missions trip to Cap-Haïtien, Haiti. Coming with me on this trip will be a combination of students from Hope, friends of mine from Pittsburgh, and some adult leaders from, well, all over the place, actually. Like I was saying, I guess I never thought about the consequences, both good and bad, that can result from leading a team of college aged kids to a third world nation. My closest friends and family would tell you that I have a bad habit of over thinking just about everything. As you can probably imagine, there have been quite a few things that have weighed heavily on my conscience regarding this trip. It starts off with something simple like:

  1. What if these people don’t have as much fun in Haiti as I tell them they’re going to? Or…
  2. What if we miss our flights? Or…
  3. What if nobody wants to come?

Very quickly these simple issues turn into much more extreme anxieties, (I guess you could call them that), inside my head:

  1. What if we get stuck in Haiti? Or…
  2. What are the odds someone gets malaria?

You get the point. My mind starts playing tricks on me, and as many of us know, if we’re not careful we can become paralyzed by our own thoughts. It’s funny how 6 or 7 months down the road when I’m writing an email to the Haiti team after a successful trip, I’ll laugh at the idea of these anxious notions. Taking all of this into consideration, I can come to the conclusion that I’m totally stoked to be going back to Haiti.

Haiti
Haitian Swag

As Thanksgiving fast approaches, I know the holidays can be stressful, and for a whole lot of different reasons. I know personally, school work this week really has been piling up. So other Hope students out there, I’m with you. Turkey and your own bed is just around the corner, keep that in mind.

Maybe you’re in my Mom’s spot. Wondering how you’re going to host a Thanksgiving dinner in less than a week, while taking care of that deadline at the office.

Or, on a less serious note, you’re in chaplain Jerry Root’s shoes. Where that golf game you played over the weekend was just “alright”, as he would put it.

Wherever you’re at, take a deep breath, and just thank the Good Lord for allowing you to be. What a privilege it is! My encouragement this time around is to realize that the greatest gift you’re going to receive this year is another day to live. In my case, it’s the gift to lead. Don’t over think it, as Nike would say, just do it. But really, whatever’s in your way, whether it’s a David, or a Goliath, have confidence that He who is in you is greater than anything you’ll face in this world.

Happy Thanksgiving! Cherish the time with family. Eat lots of mashed potatoes.

With love,
Steve

Why I Love Lemonjello’s

Those who know me know that I can usually be found at Lemonjello’s (LJ’s for short and for the reason that I’m still unsure of the socially acceptable pronunciation of the name). I spend far more of my waking hours at LJ’s than I do at home; often, on days when my first class is at 1 p.m., I’m camped out in LJ’s from about 6:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. I’m most productive there and also most caffeinated there. I almost never leave without having consumed two cups of coffee. There are a lot of great reasons that I go to LJ’s, but the productivity part is what keeps me coming back so early in the morning (even though it can feel like quite the trek from my house first thing in the morning!) and staying for so long.

LJ's
Pre-blog post. This is cup of coffee #2 for the day.

Here’s my list of reasons why I love LJ’s:

  1. LJ’s has the perfect amount of white noise to allow me to get my work done well without getting distracted by conversations around me.
  2. Refills on coffee are only 50 cents. You can get three cups of coffee for less than $3. Not that I would know.
  3. LJ’s has punch cards (a punch per cup of coffee, and after your 10th punch you get a cup for free). These are great for multiple reasons, one of which is that you can get all your punches from plain cups of coffee and use your free cup on a large, expensive latte if you so choose. Another is that on Tuesdays they give you double punches, so you can fill up a punch card pretty quickly if you choose to go to LJ’s on the right days!
  4. Their trademark mugs are yellow. Yellow is my favorite color. Everything tastes better out of a yellow mug.
  5. Their muffins. Oh my lanta. Go before about 8:30 a.m. and you’ll find muffins that are still warm from the oven. They are so good.
  6. Day-olds. If you get to LJ’s early enough in the morning, you can score a leftover muffin from the day before for $1. What a deal and a tasty breakfast!
  7. Sometimes they have Santa Lucia blend. I grew up in an Evangelical Covenant church, so this blend of coffee brings back lots of fun memories for me (Santa Lucia is a big deal for some churches like my old one, where we had an annual Santa Lucia breakfast!).
Coffee
I got way too excited when I noticed the Santa Lucia blend last week. Christmas is coming!!!

8. Free wi-fi all the time. It’s not on a time limit so it never runs out, and you don’t have to purchase anything to get the passcode. I mean, I always purchase something anyway, but it’s nice that it’s free if you’re just coming to meet a friend or something like that.

9. Lots of local products and eco-friendly methods! I’m pretty sure I heard one time that LJ’s only takes out one bag of trash per day because they put in a big effort to be sustainable!

10. Plain and simple, LJ’s has great coffee.

Where’s your favorite spot? Let me know on Twitter (@hopekathryn17), Instagram (@kathrynekrieger), or send me an email at kathryn.krieger@hope.edu. Thanks for reading!

“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

1 Corinthians 10:31

 

A Visit from Lauren Taylor: Becoming a Community Centered in Christ

This past Thursday night, my sorority had the opportunity to spend an hour discussing being a Christ-filled community with our new Hope College chaplain, Lauren Taylor.

Lauren comes from Wheaton, Illinois, where she attended college and then took to Princeton, New Jersey, for seminary school. She has a lot of stories to tell and words of wisdom to share; if you’re ever around campus and have time, I recommend speaking with her. I’m not going to disclose any of those stories here, but I strongly encourage you to have a conversation with her.

Lauren spoke with us about the resurrection of Jesus in the book of Luke. She explained how when Christ rose from the dead, so did we; We are revived and renewed because of Jesus’ experience. Therefore, God commissions us through Him to be the light of the world. More importantly, we’re commissioned to spread this light and His word beyond the walls of the church and into our other communities, and those beyond.

She challenged us, wherever we go in life, whether it be a new town or a new country, to find a Christ-filled community where we live inside and outside of the walls of the church. Faith should be a priority.

A lot of this conversation we had was in context of our sorority and how we can better take our Christ-loving community and spread it around campus. However, it’s so much more than that. There will be life after Hope College and these communities will continue to exist. We need to take our light and spread it to every corner of our lives, to every place and person that we touch. Our faith does not stop when we exit the church doors; it needs to be omnipresent.

As we say at the Gathering:

“No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where its light can be seen by all who enter the house.”
—Luke: 11:33

— Brooke

I’m Writing This Blog From My Favorite Study Spot

Happy Sunday night, Readers! It’s been a crazy week, and an even crazier weekend full of homework, so what better subject to write about than the thing that got me through it all? That’s right, I’m talking about STUDYING and the place that I get it done best!!! Riveting, I know!

Last week I put out a post about the library and mentioned somewhere in there that I like a certain cubby on the third floor for times when my homework is especially overloaded and I feel like I’m drowning in paperwork. Honestly though, I only go there for emergency situations (aka research papers) and have an even better study spot that is more up my ally.  Take a gander at this beauty:

Top view of the best study spot I’ve ever had.
Front view of….my desk!

Readers, let me introduce you to the best study spot I’ve ever had: my own little cozy cove in my room on the second floor of my cottage. Truly, it is a dream study spot. Warm, cozy, quiet, secluded, nice view of… well, my parking lot (but still). Let me explain to you just how wonderful this little study spot is.

First off, if you can’t tell from the front view picture, my desk is in a little cutout of the wall that only comes with old houses with lots of character. Charming, am I right? I know. Second, the desk itself that came with the room fits PERFECTLY inside this cutout of the wall, like it was built especially for the cutout. This, on top of the fact that the desk looks like C.S. Lewis wrote The Chronicles of Narnia here, is just a very inspiring place to get homework, and basically anything else, done. Now that you have the general aesthetic of the nookish corner that I spend so much time in, lets take a look at what I surround myself with on my desk.

As you can see from the top view, I have a great big calendar for my busy life on my desk. (Whether its to keep track of my life or just to look at because it’s pretty is actually undetermined.) I like to stay organized with my life, and I can do that here on this probably-too-big desk calendar. I also surround myself with books of literature and poetry on my desk in case I get bored with my actual homework. This is quite often. Flipping through something awesome always inspires me to do and be something great, so I keep them there for inspiration. (As you can tell, I’m reading The Old Man and the Sea – great book, by the way.) I also keep pictures, notes that people close to me have written me, and trinkets on my desk for boring times when I just need something interesting to look at. For me this is a giraffe and the Statue of Liberty in a jar – but hey, that’s just me.

This is the place that I get the most done. It is the best place ever, because as soon as you get in your PJs, put on some Vance Joy, and get down to writing that 8-page research paper, you’re so inspired that the paper only takes you an hour to write. I’m telling you, this room, this study spot, this DESK is amazing. My favorite study spot on campus by far.

Do you have a favorite study spot? If not, go get one and stick with it to make it your own. It’s very satisfying.

Until next time, Readers!