Now that I am back at school, everyone is asking, “What did you do on Fall Break?” I answer with the simple answer, “I longboarded 62 miles over break with a backpack and some Bros.”
Here are my friends that I went longboarding with over Fall Break.
And that I did.
DAY 1: We started in the Beautiful town of Holland, Michigan. We left straight from Hope on a rainy Saturday. The weather eventually got better…it starting hailing. Myself, I preferred the hail over the rain because the hail didn’t make me wet. We stopped in Saugatuck for lunch at a Coffee Shop called “Common Grounds.” Then we headed on our way to South Haven. We made it there by 5pm and stopped by the infamous Subway. I don’t know which I appreciated more, the food or the dry building. Before the trip, we planned to camp at places so we brought our hammocks and sleeping bags…well we were wet. Outside it was wet….SO, lucky one of the people on the trip knew someone in South Haven, so we camped out in a dry condo instead. We did 31 miles that day and rested for the next 31 miles ahead of us.
DAY 2: We awoke. Some to sore muscles and others to small pains…but we were ready for day 2. It was time to “Push.” We left South Haven and made our way to St. Josephs. The weather was much different than the previous day. It was sunny and nice, but rather windy, with the wind against us the whole time. We rode along the hilly Blue Star Highway which was along the shore the whole time. We stopped every once in while and refueled Around 5pm, we reached St. Joseph and thus made it to our final destination: one of the guys on the trip’s house. We made it. We had another 31 miles under our belt.
The adventure came to an end the next day as the mother of the house that we stayed at offered to drive us back home to Holland. After the accomplishment of 62 miles and the soreness to prove it, we weren’t going to say “No.”
What a trip. What a break. 62 miles altogether. It was fun. Everything was not always ideal, but that is what made this adventure….adventuresome.
Did I just have a fall break? I did not do anything yet! I think the fall break was too short, but one of my friends cheered me up by saying, “Think about this, we have only three days this week!” Attitude matters!
I just feel it was weird that I had the Monday schedule today, and I will go to Thursday’s classes tomorrow. That means a lot. Normally, most of the professors set Friday as the deadline of assignments… Here comes the problem. I have tons of homework due tomorrow this weekend! And even two more midterm exams next week! My life is so rich.
I am not really going to talk about my fall break today because the main thing I did was… just sleeping all the time. It just reminds me that the Grey’s-Anatomy-Big-Bang-S.H.I.E.L.D Friday night is coming! Being a sofa potato for a couple hours is actually the best time for an engineer.
Let me think about something cool I did last week. First, we went to a Korean BBQ in Tunnel Park last weekend. Great food and people made the food even more delicious.
In case you didn’t know, Hope students didn’t have classes the last two days, giving us what we call fall break! I went home on Friday and returned this afternoon.
This was my first weekend home, so I was super excited. Yet I had my fears, what if I didn’t want to come back to Hope? What if home was so amazing that I never wanted to return to campus? So yeah, I was really excited and a little bit scared to go home for the first time since coming here.
I had an amazing weekend baking, going to a family-friend’s halloween birthday party, pumpkin picking, dinner out with family, catching up with a few of my friends at home, cuddling with my pets, and of course enjoying home-cooked meals. I love taking pictures, so here are some from my fall break!
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My fear continued to pester me as I soaked up home, and I grew worried that when I came back I’d become incredibly homesick. I tried to push it away, but there was no doubt that it was a possibility.
However, when my mom and I dragged my bags up from home and into my dorm room, I felt fine. I still feel fine, and I know this is where I’m meant to be. Hope isn’t necessarily home, the place where my family lives, but it is home, where I live. Yes, fall break was great and I love being there, but Hope is amazing for different reasons: it forces me to grow, has an amazing community, and awesome support. There’s no place I’d rather be.
Have a great rest of the week,
Brooke (contact me: brookelyn.wharton@hope.edu or @hopebrooke18)
Life is a work of art; you gotta paint it colorful. Can make it anything you want; Don’t have to stick to any rules. You don’t need a high IQ to succeed in what you do. You just gotta have no doubt. Just believe in yourself.
-Lindsay Lohan, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
Going to school far away from home can seem scary, but it can also be an experience that changes your life for the better! My friend Lucpup and I want to share some thoughts about living several hours away from home across multiple state lines. We are both so glad that we ended up here!
Two out-of-state students who found a home with this art in West Michigan.
Where are you from and how far is that from Hope?
Lucpup: I’m from Wayzata, Minnesota, which is about 11 hours from Hope if you include the Chicago traffic.
Kathryn: I’m from Princeton, Illinois, which is about four hours away from Hope unless it’s really snowy.
How did you end up at Hope?
LP: I came to visit two friends and asked my dad to pay for the plane ticket because I wanted to see them. I told him that I was interested in actually going here but I wasn’t. That was a lie. Sorry Dad. And then I fell in love with it and so now I’m here.
Kat: My family has been coming on vacation to Holland since I was 10. When I started looking at schools, the first thing I thought of was where I would want to live and Holland was my first option. I wanted a small Christian school and I remembered that there was one of those in Holland. Hope was the first school I visited and I knew within the first 20 minutes of my visit day my junior year that I was going to school here.
What is the best thing and the worst thing about being out of state?
LP: The best thing is learning about how Michigan people do life. What are Michigan people called?
Kat: Michiganders.
LP: Michiganders? What’s a gander?
Kat: A goose.
LP: A goose?! Anyway, the worst part is not being close to any of my friends. I’m making new friends, but they’re not my old friends. And I don’t really like the roads and the driving here. Why can’t I just take a left turn?
Kat: The best thing about being out of state is that it has made me really be independent. I actually have to remember to put gas in my car because my parents can’t come rescue me when I run out of gas. The worst thing is that I have to think really far ahead with planning trips and things to bring to school (or not bring) and stuff like that which can sometimes be overwhelming and I forget stuff. And I can’t just go home to my kitchen to make my famous grilled cheese all the time which is kinda rough too. Also I want to affirm Lucpup in her left turn problems because I think I almost killed us today trying to turn left.
What do you miss the most about home?
LP: I miss Caribou (Coffee). I miss knowing where I’m going for drives and not getting lost every time I go for a drive.
Kat: I miss my family and the cute little bakery that my friend’s mom opened (but we have good ones in Holland too) and my favorite pizza place and always having a surefire parking spot in my driveway.
LP: And the nearest Crocs store is in Chicago.
What is your favorite thing about West Michigan?
LP: Lake Michigan.
Kat: I think it’s just really cute.
LP: It is really cute and they have all these cute little small towns, you know?
Kat: And I’ve wanted to live here my whole life so this is kind of like a dream come true for me a little bit, which is pretty cool.
In closing, we’re really glad we live here. (LP: “I am really glad I live here. It’s kinda nice here.”) Hope has been such a good place for both of us and we really really love West Michigan, except for the left turns. We are currently on a GPS-less adventure and found this fun frog-themed coffee shop in Grand Haven, which is about 25 minutes away. Look at how much Lucpup likes the coffee!
8 shots of espresso. I guess they call it Jumpin’ Java for a reason.
Thank you for reading! Keep up with me on Twitter (@hopekathryn17), Instagram (@kathrynekrieger), or via email (kathryn.krieger@hope.edu).
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
We’re halfway through Fall Break already and what a break it’s been! Home-cooked food, family time, and cider mill doughnuts. But before coming home to enjoy all those things, my sister and I had to make a stop in Grand Rapids to see an event that we’ve been looking forward to all year.
The event? Art Prize.
This event takes up 3 miles of the city of Grand Rapids, but the whole city prepares for it. From September 24-October 12 there will sculptures in the streets, amazing art pieces in museums, and a very unique feel to the city.
The key question to ask when it comes to Art Prize is really “What is art?” because here, anything goes. Take a look at these pictures to see what kinds of pieces they had this year!
We thought these bobbing bunnies were real men in bunny suits! Turns out they were only mannequins…phew!
This piece was to show all the different ways our community can create peace.
It’s amazing what some people can create!
This red string represent all those who have been sex trafficked.
The battered doors represent the victim’s brokenness. So thankful that this artist, and Hope Collage are bringing awareness to the disturbing realness of sex trafficking.
“The time is now.”
Painting over darkness. Symbolic.
As you can see, art can be ANYTHING. Anything goes! Bringing awareness to a subject such as sex trafficking, posing a thought provoking question and creating interactive art are all part of the unique vibes that flow throughout the city during this time. It’s amazing to see what young and old artists alike can come up with to cover the city with beautiful expressions of art.
If you have the chance to go to Grand Rapids during this time of creativity, I highly encourage you to do so! Below is the link for Art Prize if you want to learn more about it, or if you just want to get a map of the venues. Hopefully you get to enjoy it this year, but if not, there’s always next year!
Happy October!!! As this week wraps up I thought I would write about the perks of living downtown during my Senior year. First of all, after living in dorms for two years and an apartment right on campus Junior year, I was ready for moving somewhere more off-campus yet still “on-campus.” A bunch of friends and myself thought it would be best not to live off-campus because signing leases and having only a few of them around next semester (one is graduating early and the other is doing an internship in Chicago) would make things complicated. Also, since none of my friends or myself are RAs, we had to stick with apartments instead of cottages like some of my friends are in. Therefore, we were limited in what apartments and housing were available to us and considered living downtown. When we finally heard back that we were living there, it was really exciting because there are a bunch of bonuses to living further away from campus:
Close to all of the shopping and restaurants downtown
WE LIVE BEHIND THE WINDMILL RESTAURANT
Not as loud because underclassmen aren’t running around outside at obnoxious hours
Not on a meal plan so you can eat whatever and whenever you want
Lot more living space compared to dorms
Some apartments have air conditioning–a bonus during those hot, move-in days
Nice view of the downtown area and events going on
Feel more independent
These are just a few of the obvious upsides to living downtown but there are plenty more! The only downside I have quickly realized is that it’s further from campus so I have to allow more time getting to class. Also, with winter approaching, it will be a hassle trudging through all of the snow to class, but it’s definitely worth it to live somewhere awesome!
If you’re currently attending Hope and reading this blog, I suggest looking into apartments downtown as soon as possible and searching for roommates because it gets stressful and overwhelming very quickly. All of the apartments require a certain amount of residents, so securing a group of people to live with is key. Also, I have friends that decided to live off-campus for their Senior year and they had to start looking for houses in the fall and start thinking about signing leases before Christmas break. It’s definitely something everyone needs to start thinking about to get your top choice!!
With that, I hope you all have a relaxing weekend and enjoy the rain. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @hopeleslie15
One thing I’ve realized about myself over the past few months is that being spontaneous is not my strongest suit. However, spontaneous moments also tend to be the times that I make some of my greatest memories and have a lot of fun. Take, for example, my cliff jumping adventure this summer:
One of the coolest things I’ve ever done!After my first jump with my friends Alexis and Grace!
Cliff jumping is one of my favorite things I have ever done, and I almost didn’t go! I’m so glad that a few of my friends were able to talk me into it and get me to do something out of the ordinary that day.
Last weekend, my friend Lucpup and I took another spontaneous adventure, but this time it was pretty different than my cliff jumping…
Around 11:30 on Saturday morning, Lucpup revealed to me that Golden Corral is her favorite restaurant. Of course, I asked her where the closest one to Holland was, and to my shock, she didn’t know! Naturally, I looked it up right away and found that the nearest one was about 45 minutes away, just outside Grand Rapids in a town called Walker.
There was no hesitation. We knew we were going.
I had never been to Golden Corral before, so as we were walking to my car, Lucpup told me, “It’s really not even that good, but that’s what makes it good.” This ambiguous statement captured my attention, mostly because I was about to drive an hour and a half total for a restaurant that isn’t even good, but it was an adventure, so I didn’t really mind.
We got stuck in traffic on our way to Golden Corral. Maybe everyone else was on their way there, too!
We got to Golden Corral, and Lucpup was very excited. I quickly discovered that they served something called “corn soufflé” and my enthusiasm immediately rose as well. I even drank Dr. Pepper, my beverage of choice, for the occasion.
Wow, thanks for the memories, Golden Corral!
Lucpup and I had such a fun day on our Golden Corral expedition. I am thankful for her friendship, her love of buffet mac and cheese, and her laughter while I freak out about traffic that isn’t even that bad.
Want to know what other exciting journeys I take (I’m going to Chicago and Indianapolis this weekend!)? Keep up with me on Twitter (@hopekathryn17), Instagram (@kathrynekrieger), or email me at kathryn.krieger@hope.edu! Thank you for reading!
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
This past Saturday was not a typical day here at Hope College.
Saturday was the 117th Pull competition between the classes of 2017 and 2018.
As a freshman I knew what the Pull was about. I had read about it, experienced the hype, witnessed the intensity building as rally banners were hung, practices started and the rope was run around campus. However, all of that did not come near to preparing me for watching the actual event.
I do not know how the Pull team does it. For three hours they push themselves to the limit. The Pull is truly something that you can only experience at Hope–there is nothing else like it. The intensity of it was overwhelming and so cool to watch!
Enjoy!
~Erin
Ps: You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram for more insights and pictures of life at Hope through my eyes 🙂
Hello everyone! I would like to talk about something very close to me, my sorority, Theta Gamma Pi. I rushed last semester and I can honestly say that it was one of the best decisions I have ever made. As a Theta, I believe in loyalty to my sisterhood, leadership and service, as well as embracing and acknowledging diversity. Being surrounded by other strong women who value these same beliefs makes me a stronger and better person. Getting to know each one of my sisters has been such a blessing.
I love being able to spend time with my sisters! Last Friday, I went with my sorority to go camping at Warren Dunes campgrounds in Sawyer, MI. It was my first time camping, so I wasn’t sure if I would be all that comfortable sleeping in a tent with 11 other girls. Turns out though, I had the best time! We were all able to fit in one big tent with no problems. That left for us to bond even closer by playing fun games and sharing stories. We did the usual camping traditions, like starting a fire and eating s’mores too!
Our awesome fire perfect for roasting s’mores!
The next day, we spent most of the morning packing up our tent and of course, eating breakfast! We decided to check out of the campgrounds a little early and head over to the beach that was about 10 minutes away. I wanted to climb the huge sand mountain, but ended up turning right back around! I spent most of the time in the water, which was freezing cold, but after jumping right in it felt like nothing 🙂
The sand mountain I decided NOT to climb.
As if my weekend couldn’t get any busier, after leaving the beach and arriving back in Holland, a few of my sisters wanted to go apple picking! If you have never tried Crane’s apple cider doughnuts, you are truly missing out. I did not know Crane’s actually had an apple orchard and was excited to go see for myself. When we got there, we had made it just in time because it was 10 minutes before closing. I have never picked so many apples that fast before! In the end, i had about 8 lbs worth of apples and only paid $8! If you ever have the chance to go apple picking, GO.
My beautiful sisters and I.All of the apples I picked!
I know there are a lot of pictures in this latest post, but I will have to end with just one more. I have way too many beach photos on my iPod, but I can’t help myself. Holland beaches are just too pretty. So, here is one of my favorites I took from my fun-filled weekend. I hope you enjoy the rest of your week!
“For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), It’s always our self we find in the sea.” ― E.E. Cummings
This weekend I had the unique Hope College experience of attending The Pull. It’s one of those things where everyone tells you, “You don’t understand it until you’ve seen it.” I thought I got it; I thought I knew what awaited me as I grabbed my water bottle and took off for the bus with a few of my friends. After all, it’s tug-of-war, what’s not to get?
Just like they told me, there’s little way to put into words exactly what goes on at The Pull, so I took quite a few photos to share with you and guide you as I write.
A feeling of anxiety overcame me as we walked down a forest path, marked with red arrows on the ground and banners sporting words like “kill”, “psycho”, and of course “Even Year”. As we continued, a horn blew and the shouting commenced.
The first banner into the entrance of The Pull
A tree on the walk!
Another banner!
Banner again!
As we reached the river, the full scene was finally brought into view.
“18 Annihilate” Banner in front of the river
A panoramic of a section of the pull!
The view from across the river!
A full line of boys and their moralers were before me, along with an audience watching them. Their faces were tormented and my mind twisted as I closed my eyes, trying not to imagine the pain they were going through.
A girl from my sister-cluster, Rebecca, and her puller, Nick!
A large view of the pull!
I’m a bit of a wuss, and I couldn’t stay to watch the whole thing…it honestly made my stomach turn. However, there’s a lot you can take away from seeing something like the pull. The moralers and the pullers, their team as a whole, experience a bonding that I can never describe or experience. All I can say is that watching them support each other gives me so much hope and reassurance. Our strength to persevere in times of hardship, our ability to bounce back, recover, and care for those around us is outstandingly evident in The Pull. While Even Year might not have come out on top, they went out there and they did it, which is something not a lot of people can say.
Have you ever been to the pull? What did you think?
