Explaining Aggie Tradition: The Aggie Ring

Throughout the course of the next few years, I feel like there could be several blog postings explaining traditions here in Aggieland. Considering it's Aggie Ring Weekend, I figured this would be a great place to start!

In order to get your Aggie Ring you must have completed 90 credit hours, 45 of which were taken at A&M. It's a big deal. The Ring itself is known to have secured jobs just with a handshake. It's pretty awesome!

Yesterday, Katie and Emily received their rings. I went over to the Former Student Center with Katie around 5:15 to see her get her ring. Lots of smiles, excited giggles, and plenty of pictures later, Katie had her ring! Emily had gotten hers a bit earlier, but I was able to see her too while I was there and be excited with her.

Later that night was Katie's ring dunk. Essentially you take a pitcher and fill it with your favorite beverage (most do alcohol of some sort) and drop your ring into the bottom. You then chug the pitcher as fast as you can until you catch your ring in your teeth. It's known to be crazy (and gross).

I had never attended a ring dunk until last night. Oh my goodness. They were right, it is VERY crazy and gross! Katie dunked her ring in Sweet Tea. It took her about 5 minutes, she threw up twice in the middle of it, but eventually she finished the dunk and got her ring back! It was fun to see her dunk, as well as hang out with some of the polo girls outside of the pool.

The Aggie Ring is a fun tradition, and as of right now I should be receiving my ring and partaking in this tradition in the Spring of 2014!

What a Difference 24 Hours Can Make

Wow. I'm completely blown away at what a difference a day can make! Yesterday I was a mess. Within a matter of hours I had convinced myself that I didn't like A&M, that I hated school in general, that I didn't want to be an education major at all, and that I was upset with everything involving college, classes, or school as a whole. I had had a horrible morning with one little thing after another (lets see, in the first 10 minutes of being awake I had walked into a sliding door that hadn't opened, realized my favorite spot on campus for breakfast was closed, and found that somebody had locked their bike to my bike, resulting in me running across campus in order to make my 8 AM). I hadn't slept well the night before, waking up every 30 minutes all night. It just wasn't my day. I cried in front of so many people which I absolutely hate doing. I got into a fight with my best friend, first time that had happened in 2 years. It just wasn't my day.

Today has been a COMPLETELY different story! To start out, I slept a solid 10 hours without waking up once.  I figured out how our biology lab worked and went through the entire biology-filled day without stressing (that in and of itself is an accomplishment!). I hung out with my camp friends for a bit, then came back and spent some much needed time in my room. I did laundry, cleaned, and danced around to some music with a carefree attitude. I goofed around with Rachel. I went to water polo and laughed more than I had all week. We scrimmaged against the guys team, and at one point I had burned my defender and scored on their goalie. Immediately following a "dang that one is fast. And she has a sass to her! I can't keep up." the guy who was defending me switched with their sprinter. All I could do was laugh. Afterwards, Jen and I rode our bikes through campus enjoying the cool weather and the sprinkles before I head back home to work on homework. I reread the chapters for my reading class that has previously given me uber frustration, and then took the online quiz. I think I might have missed 1 or 2, but overall -- I felt good! I then realized I knew more to calculus than I thought I did, and think I might be able to make it through that quiz tomorrow!

Tomorrow is going to be a wonderful day as well. I don't have class until 11:30-- HOLLA! Then I'm coming back and power napping before working on a speech that I have to give next week. My topic for the speech -- Beauty and the Beast! Heck to the yes! Tomorrow night I'm going with Katie to get her Aggie Ring at 5:30, and then supporting her with the rest of the water polo team at her Ring Dunk! (The Aggie Ring is a huge deal here. After getting your ring, it is tradition to "dunk it". Essentially you put your ring in a pitcher full of your favorite drink, and then you chug the entire pitcher to get to your ring!). I'm looking forward to a fun night with some precious friends! It's going to be a blast!

Wow -- what a difference from yesterday!

Of course.

I just typed a very thorough and well-written blog post, only for my internet to randomly shut down and the draft not save before I could publish it.

Y'all this describes my day.

I'm not even going to try to rewrite it.

Roommates: Such a Blessing

Let me just say, living with my roommate this year has been such a blessing.

I'm not sure how much I have blogged about Rachel, so here's a bit of background. She's a freshman civil engineering major from San Antonio, who is a camp counselor, loves kids, and most importantly loves Jesus!

Let me just tell you, living with her has been one of the most uplifting experiences. Our room runs just like camp does -- naptimes are an every day thing, Needtobreathe is constantly playing, our mirrors are always decorated, Scripture is everywhere, encouragement is daily, and God is forever present! Living with somebody who is so uplifting has been one of the Lord's biggest blessings this semester. So thankful! I love living in this kind of environment!!

So Needed

I know it's only Saturday, but can I just say that this weekend was SO needed?

On Friday I got to have a lazy afternoon before driving to the Woodlands where I met up with Laura at the Cheesecake Factory. After plenty of food and lots of chatting, we walked over to the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavillion where we had tickets for the Kelly Clarkson concert. There were 2 bands that played before Kelly Clarkson, and we had a lot of time to just be silly and goofy and laugh at each other before she took the stage, at which point we sang and danced to EVERY song. But seriously. We knew every single one!

I headed back to Houston at that point where I enjoyed getting to sleep in my own bed. This morning Mom and I went to the Berry Center where there was a HUGE craft show, and we both enjoyed looking at all the crafts and figuring out how I could make them for cheaper :). We then headed home and met up with the boys where we ate plenty of bar-b-que from Carl's. I think we all took mini naps at that point until the Aggie game was on TV. For it being our first game in the SEC, I think we played pretty darn well, and within the next two or so years, we are going to be a force to be reckoned with.

After the game we headed to La Hacienda for a quick dinner before I hit the road back to College Station. It was a beautiful evening which made for a perfect drive with my windows rolled down, my radio cranked, and a gorgeous sunset in the sky! I loved the wind whipping through my hair and getting to sing to some awesome Jesus songs at the top of my lungs. I unpacked once I got back, and worked on calculus homework. I also got to have a phone date with Carley for a good 45 minutes!

This weekend was SO needed. I got to spend time with my beautiful "sister" Laura, and enjoy time with my family. I got to drive with the windows down and talk to Carley. I enjoyed good non-campus food. It was just what I needed to provide me the rejuvination to get through this next week which is going to be super busy and chaotic. Here's a glimpse:

Tomorrow I have Kyle Field Clean Up, Church, and LOTS of homework to get ahead for this week. Cho-Yeh is on campus Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so when I'm not in class during the day I'll be helping out there. Every night we are having get togethers too to meet new potential staffers and just see each other and have fellowship. Water polo also starts this week -- AHH!! :) And on Friday, 3 of my good friends get their Aggie Rings - so that day will be full of festivities and celebrating them. It's going to be a BUSY week, but I'm excited because hopefully it'll be a good busy! If I get as much done tomorrow as I'm hoping, then it shouldn't be too stressful! That's a big "if" though... We shall see!

I Stand Corrected

In reference to my blog from a few days ago entitled "Sleep is a Funny Thing"...

I stand corrected.

7 hours of sleep is great for one or two days. This has been my amount of sleep this week...

Sunday: 2 AM- 9 AM
Monday: 1 AM-8:30
Tuesday: 2 AM-6:45 AM (ouch)
Wednesday: 1 AM- 8:30

7 hours of sleep works wonders until you have a night when you don't get much sleep, aka Tuesday night when I was up studying until 1:45 in the morning and then was woken up at 6:45. Then I had no extra sleep from prior in the week to use as a "reserve" almost to catch up on. Luckily on that one day I ended up getting 3 naps in. But geeze, I was done for that day without those naps!

So, I stand corrected. 7 hours is great, but 8 is okay too. Essentially, as long as I don't get in bed before midnight, then I'm okay. Last week I was getting in the upwards of 9 hours of sleep a night, plus I wasn't doing anything except sitting and studying/ watching Army Wives for hours on end trying to finish the 4th season DVDs. This week I have been at the library, the Rec, Breakaway, Kyle Field Worship... it's been a busier week!

But all in all, I'm still a girl that needs sleep to function.

More Effective

When I was younger, I was never into cleaning. Dusting/vacuuming/cleaning the bathroom -- it just wasn't my thing. When I got into my high school I atleast began to keep my room some what picked up. Once I got to college, I definitely became a lot more organized and dilligent about keeping stuff clean.

Nothing has ever served as more motivation to clean than my biology lab did today.

Last week we were given an augur tray to take home. Once home we were to swab anything that chose, rub the q-tip in the tray, seal the tray, and then bring back to class the next week.

I chose to swab my door handle, and oh my... that thing ended up disgusting. The tray was meant to culture whatever was put inside of it, and I was expecting some type of bacteria. But bacterias, yeasts, and molds? And one of the bacteria was known to cause diseases? Oh gross. Other people swabbed phones, money, toilet seats, keyboards - the list of cultures we had grown in the last week was extensive. And to believe we are constantly interacting with all of those cultures? Gross.

Needless to say, I got back home and thoroughly scrubbed most surfaces in my room. The doorknobs, locks, light switches, handles, rails, desks, fridge, microwave, desks, etc has all been disinfected with anti-bacterial stuff. My room smells lemony fresh!

So, if you ever need a way to effectively motivate somebody to clean, just take a week to show them what cultures and diseases are already present - they will be quick to want to get RID of them!