Captain Hard Time’s Buffet was our next stop, no more than a ten-minute drive from the church. As we shuffled into the building, we were pleasantly surprised by (and took a few Snapchat pictures of) the restaurant’s entrance. The walls were so completely covered with portraits of black men and women that only small slivers of pink wallpaper were peeking from beneath. In the dining area, chandeliers filled the room with a romantic glow and soul food set in silver platters were lined up against the wall. Each table was draped in white cloth and delicately decorated with a bouquet of white or red roses in a tall glass vase set at the center.
Of course, hungry students couldn’t care less for interior design. Some of the students’ family members who were living in Chicago came to share a meal with us as well. We dug into macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, dumplings, collared greens, salmon croquettes, stuffing, potato salad, peach pie, and so on, and washed it all down with water or sweet tea.
By the end of the hour, the Phelps Scholars were full and happy. The owner of the restaurant jubilantly spoke a few words of thanks and an invitation to return next year. Mr. Brown and Prof. Vega herded us to the center of the room where we took several memorable photos.
Keep in touch for Step 3: Magnificent Mile, Chicago.
Midterms are in full swing at Hope this week, and they’ve made this week really, really busy. Not only does it seem like every professor makes 58 extra things due this week, but half-semester classes end with big exams, new half-semester classes start with unfamiliar professors and workloads, seniors are taking the GRE and applying to grad schools, applications for committees and programs are due, and everything else that could possibly be stressful is happening as well, plus the rest of life rushes on as we know it.
Midterms can be really, really hard, mostly because they kind of slap you in the face. So far this semester, a lot of us have been chugging along on our work, not really ahead, but feeling like we are in pretty good shape, and definitely not behind. Sometimes the beginning of the semester can trick you into thinking that the next few months will be a piece of cake. Then midterms happen and they remind you that you are in college and college is hard.
How do you get through midterms without losing your mind? Sometimes it seems impossible, but in reality, it’s very doable. Many people before all of us have done it, and many will continue to do it afterward. These are my best tips for making midterms more manageable!
Get outside.
Check out these beautiful trees on Hope’s campus in the Pine Grove! I posted this photo to my Instagram a few days ago.
Holland is so, so beautiful this time of year. Even if you just take a stroll through campus, make sure to pay attention to the fall colors and the beauty that surrounds you before all the leaves fall and it’s too cold outside to really enjoy it!
Go somewhere different.
I am usually a Lemonjello’s person, but this week I’ve been doing homework at JP’s just to get into a different environment. Going somewhere different that still feels like a studious environment can help me feel more excited to get work done.
Make a new playlist.
I like having good playlists to listen to while I work (or just to drown out noise around me), but a lot of times I get stuck on the same old ones I’ve been listening to for months. Making new playlists can definitely make studying more enjoyable. Here’s the one I’m working on at the moment!
Contact an old friend.
Talking to a friend from junior high or high school can really help brighten your day! It is fun to catch up on what is going on in other people’s lives and get to know them more, especially if you haven’t spoken in a while!
Take time to rest.
Make sure to get enough sleep and take adequate breaks while you work. One reward I happen to really enjoy is going to Applebee’s for half-off apps at the end of the day, but sometimes I reward myself with a nap or even a quick trip to grab a cinnamon roll from the Windmill for lunch!
“So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.”
Every year the Phelps Scholars go on the Chicago Trip, a day-long event that is meant to give students a little taste of Chicago culture and a little break from college. All that’s required is to sign up, dress up, and hop on the bus.
It’s about a two-hour trip from Scott Hall to our first stop: Trinity United Church of Christ, a church that takes pride in their African-American heritage. A flock of students, either drowsy or adrenalized, make their way to the Tomb on the bottom floor at 8:10 a.m. We fill the two buses waiting for us just outside the door and listen, more or less, to Mr. Brown’s or Professor Vega’s quick speech. Without further ado, we were on our way…
We were given chocolate or blueberry muffins, danishes, apples, granola bars, and tiny water bottles. They sure do know how to treat a college student.
Step 1: Attending the church service
Although this was not my first Sunday service, it was my first time attending a black church and that certainly made all the difference. The first thing I noticed about Trinity were 1) how warm and hospitable everyone was and 2) they knew how to look good. Although most of the members wore the typical dress shirt and slacks or the dress and heels, a few members donned radiant traditional African-American wear. The church in itself was gorgeous; there were two green banners streaked down from the skylit ceiling, framing a giant wooden cross, a floor and balcony with pews that stretched around the rotund room, a full-blown band in the center, and several pews in the front solely for their 100-something choir.
Our advisors had unintentionally scheduled our trip on the same day Trinity celebrated Men’s Day and invited guest preacher Rev. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson for the sermon. The service was filled with rambunctious music, clapping, and dancing. The men were called up at one point and almost all of the Phelps Scholars men joined the ceremony. In a rare moment of silence, members’ babies participated in a dedication ceremony. The babies were lifted and shown to the congregation in Lion King fashion, and the congregation erupted in loving cheers. Rev. Dr. Dyson’s sermon was filled with passion and received continuous approval from the crowd.
The service ended with a call to the altar, praying, and hugging.
My hands were turning red from clapping to the beat.
No one feels like getting anything done, but papers are due tomorrow and exams are looming ahead and pre-labs and readings and writing workshops—all the usual work—are piled up on the floor next to where you’re watching your hall mate slide down the stairs penguin style.
Others join in, you add some pillows, laugh until your abs hurt almost as much as if you were the one sliding down the stairs and then back to your text books.
But first you have to watch the video recorded in slo-mo and break out in laughter a bit more.
College is a lot of work, but it isn’t all work and no play.
It can’t be. If it were, we would all be crazier than we already are.
One of the most fun experiences so far this semester has been getting to know the girls on my floor and watching the first year students make this place into their new home. I got to watch them come out of their shells and start being their awesome, crazy selves with the rest of us returning students as they settled into life here at Hope. And together we get to make it through the stress that is this midterm week, the relaxing weekend movie nights, the weekly craft nights, the random study breaks that may or may not be recorded for future reference, and all that comes in between.
Thanks for reading!
~Erin
Feel free to check out my Instagram (http://@e_delaney333) or Twitter (@HopeErin18) for some thoughts and lots of pictures about life at Hope through my eyes.
This post is not about how to get sick in college. It’s not hard. Colds spread around campus as the wind blows. This is what to do when you get sick in college.
You do the math. Sore throats, runny noses, a dizzying and total lack of energy + 9-5 college classes + work + homework = a disaster.
Here’s what you should do when you get sick in college:
Go to bed. Put down the books and pens and climb up that loft. It doesn’t matter if it’s 8:00 p.m. on a Friday night. Just go to bed.
Take the medicine your mom or dad would’ve given you. Cough drops, Vitamin C, cold & flu relief, etc.
Drink some tea. My favorite for colds and sore throats is lemon. Don’t underestimate the power of teas.
If necessary, go to the Health Center. They’re on campus for your needs and to take care of you when a check-up is needed. They’re also giving out flu shots!
Don’t you dare go to things. If you’re sick, promise yourself one thing: that you’ll say no to whatever type of invite you get. You’re sick, you can’t be out in the cold at an apple orchard or running through a corn maze. You’d just get sicker and be more miserable. Stick yourself to the futon, grab a snack, and watch some Netflix.
Toast. This one might seem dumb, but I find when my throat is coated with all sorts of the wrong stuff, toast helps take it down. Trust me and have a slice of toast for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Water. Keep drinking water while you’re sick to keep your body hydrated and at least a little bit energized.
I hope you remember some of these things the next time you get sick, whether or not you’re in college. And please don’t underestimate toast and tea. They are honestly what gets me through being sick.
My tea bag says “smile” 🙂
My tea bag told me to smile, even when I felt a million miles away from flashing a grin. So I did, red nose and all.
Two weeks ago, I went to Chicago with a couple of my friends. I have not been to Chicago before, so I did not know what to expect. I have visited cities like Los Angeles, Denver, New York, San Francisco, Boston and Minneapolis, so I was preparing myself for a “typical” American city. I was totally wrong. Chicago has its own culture, uniqueness, and style, compared to rest of the big cities in the United States.
I will not speak about what we did, and where we went because I think that would be boring. It is too narrative from my point of view. I will use more creative way of describing Chicago by picking three symbols, which represent Chicago´s culture, uniqueness, and style the best.
I picked Millennium Park, Trump Tower and Navy Pier.
Why Millennium Park?
Because Millennium Park represents the diversity and different cultures in Chicago. The diversity of different art pieces and architecture styles in Millennium Park greatly illustrate Chicago´s diversity and different cultures. In Chicago, there are communities from all over the world. The Spanish community is the biggest one, but Eastern Europeans, Middle Eastern, and people from Asia have relatively big communities as well. The significant difference between Chicago and other big american cities is that in Chicago the different nations are living the life like they would be in their respective home countries. They are not just people who moved to the United States and they are losing their natural cultural values. They are not “Americanized.”
Why Trump Tower?
Trump Tower symbolizes Chicago’s power as a town. Chicago is a hometown of Blackhawks (hockey), Cubs (baseball), White Sox (baseball), Bears (American football) and Bulls (basketball). Some teams are doing better than others, like the Blackhawks who won the Stanley Cup last year and who are predicted to be one of the top teams in NHL this year as well. The White Sox are not as good in their league compared to the Blackhawks, but the point is the support and power of people that create Chicago. People are extremely proud of their teams and the city. In the addition of the sport teams, Chicago has a huge economic power as well. O’Hare is one of the busiest airports in the World. Also, worldly know companies like State Farm, Boeing, United Airlines and another 35 gigantic firms have headquarters in Chicago, which proves the humongous Chicago’s economic power.
Why Navy Pier?
At Navy Pier people get to understand Chicago’s nickname: The Windy City. Even the skyscrapers do not stop the strong wind that is coming from Lake Michigan, so there is no surprise of this simple, but exact nickname.
With that being said, Chicago is a city that I would love to live in and I would encourage everyone to visit it! This city is worth your time.
Hopefully your weekend has been great! I just wanted to give you a little glimpse of what I’ve been up to this weekend. (To give you a hint, birthday’s in the Drez (my house name is VanDrezer, aka the Drez) are fantastic!)
So this weekend was my friend and housemate’s birthday! My other housemates and I wanted to do something special for her, so we spent last week devising something that would catch her off-guard, since she’s a planner and likes to be aware of what’s going on. We were so excited to surprise her!
The idea we came up with was to “kidnap” her, where we say we’re going one place, but then we end up going another place. So she and I had originally planned to go to The Brewery downtown for a late dinner, but instead, my friends met us on our way to The Brewery and surprised her to take her to Buffalo Wild Wings. So where she thought it would be just the two of us for dinner, our whole house got to go and celebrate her birthday with her at midnight! It was so fun seeing her surprised, but the fun didn’t stop there!
I’m not sure if I’ve told you all this before, but my house is chock full of crafty cooks. Our house is always full of homemade cookies, homemade cakes, and yummy dinners made from scratch… Betty Crocker would be very proud. So what we decided to do to continue our friends birthday is make her a home cooked dinner of spaghetti (cooked to perfection in the crock pot – a college student’s best friend) and raspberry vinaigrette salad, complete with baguette bread. As I write this, I can smell the sauce cooking and see my housemates chopping the lettuce and it makes me excited to eat the food we’ve worked on together to prepare! Here’s a pic of our delicious meal:
SO MUCH GOOD FOOD! And it was so fun to make with our house, too. 🙂
And what’s a birthday without a cake?! We are made a yellow cake with fresh fruit on the bottom and a homemade whipped cream – it’s one of her favorites. Check it out:
This cake was so simple, but so delicious!
It’s the best celebrating birthday’s, but especially with food and friends that you love!
At first, the times I am off-campus sound like the worst times to do homework. Times off-campus should be spent exploring or having fun or drinking really good coffee, I tell myself. However, throughout the past year, I have found that sometimes getting off-campus is just what I need to get motivated to get my schoolwork done. A change of scenery is always good, and sometimes when it’s nice outside, that change even involves being outdoors. However, when it starts to get chilly outside, one of my favorite spots to work off campus is Holland’s Barnes & Noble store.
Staked out at Barnes and Noble for the afternoon.
Perks of Barnes & Noble:
There are books everywhere that you can use and then put back. It’s like a smaller library with less Hope students around, which tends to be less distracting. You can get really sidetracked when you run into a whole bunch of friends at Van Wylen Library. Suddenly you’ve been at the library for two hours and haven’t gotten anything done. Not that I would know from experience or anything.
There is a Starbucks in Barnes & Noble. Said Starbucks serves snacks. Enough said.
Little kids and old people tend to be there. Also enough said.
It doesn’t tend to be super-busy, with the exception of Sunday afternoons, which can get a little crowded for the size of the cafe in the store.
It can be really beneficial to get away from campus for a couple of hours every once in a while.
Drawbacks of Barnes & Noble:
There are not as many books as there are at the library, so you just need to come with more preparation.
There is a Starbucks in Barnes & Noble. Said Starbucks costs money.
Little kids and old people tend to be there. They are adorable and can be incredibly distracting.
It doesn’t tend to get super busy, so if you’re easily distracted by conversations around you (I call it accidental eavesdropping), you can get sucked into the ones near you pretty easily.
You have to make the time and find a way to get off campus!
I don’t go to Barnes & Noble super often, but when I do, I’m usually pretty productive! It’s a great place to get things done, and it’s nice to get into a new environment that still feels studious!
“So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
Last September, when I came for my overnight recruitment visit to Hope, I had no idea what to expect. I had all sorts of emotions, and for the most part, I was very nervous. Long story short, I had a great time, and Hope won my heart over. However, out of all the awesome events that occurred that weekend, my favorite of all was the SAC (Student Activities Committee) sponsored dodgeball tournament.
Playing dodgeball on my Friday night at Hope was never part of the plan. In fact, my overnight host, Toby Blom, got a last-minute call to join the team. As a prospective student-athlete, I’ll never forget what it was like to play dodgeball in front of some of my future peers, in arguably the nicest basketball arena DIII has to offer. To top it off, our team the “Jungle Cats” ended up winning the tournament! My teammates (all juniors at Hope) started a “He’s in high school” chant that echoed through out Devos. It was a great experience!
This past Friday night, I had another chance to play with the Jungle Cats. The only change was that this time, I was the one hosting an overnight recruit! It was so much fun to see the same experience I had last year from a different perspective. It helped that The Jungle Cats, for the third year in a row, won the tournament. We did our best to re-create the champions photo from last years victory with Boone, the goalkeeper recruit who is visiting me this weekend.
I’ll never forget that feeling of knowing Hope was the place for me. Where else in the country can you win a dodgeball tournament on your recruitment visit?
I hope everyone enjoys their weekend, I know I’ll be enjoying mine! The men’s soccer team is taking on Adrian College today at 4:30 at Van Andel. Hoping to find our way back into the top four of the MIAA!
I remember seeing a number of Scott Hall residents donning black sweats and streaking their cheeks with black paint. They did it again Wednesday night, this time announcing that they were going to be playing possibly their last game.
Lately I’ve been lacking in team and sports spirit, so I decided to liven up my night by watching the Scott Hall vs. Cook Hall co-ed flag football team. Little did I know it was a couple blocks down 13th Street, so I shivered my way in the cold darkness of the night with a couple of friends.
Eventually, we heard a screaming crowd in the distance and saw the sharp twinkle of field lights: this turned out to be the Hope vs. Calvin men’s soccer game. We passed the bright colors and vibrant atmosphere into a more-or-less shady field behind the big game.
Mysterious, isn’t it?
I was greeted with a tiny, four-level bleacher that just about reached my shoulders. As for the crowd, let’s just say that there were more players than spectators. It was a sad sight at first (and I secretly regretted giving up the second best alternative: using the time to study for my biotechnology quiz), but as the game started, the seating arrangements and the number of people made the excitement of cheering for our teams that much more infectious. I forget my frozen cheeks and contributed my voice to the chants.
In the first few minutes of the game, Scott Hall’s team, PSP, scored two touchdowns.
PSP! PSP!
On the downside, that was as good as it was going to get. Our players got butterfingers and often missed passes. The other team was quick on their feet in both scoring touchdowns and grabbing bands from our belts. I also had to leave 30 minutes in to study for my quiz, but I heard later on that one of our players had to go to the hospital to check out his arm. The same guy who collided with him bumped into my roommate, another PSP player, which consequently flung her into the air and across the field (she’s fine).
Scott Hall usually loses because our players are freshmen with less experience and bulk while other dorms had physically intimidating upperclassmen who actually knew the rules. We ended up losing by 40-some points, but our players came back flowing with adrenaline and elation. The few, the proud, the Scott Hall Co-ed Flag Football Team. I loved the atmosphere and would go watch it again if it hadn’t been PSP’s last game.
