Roadtrip, Training, Decorating, Orientation: My life the past 3 weeks

It has almost been a month since I last blogged... Oops. But I have a legitimate excuse this time! The past 3 weeks, I have barely had time to breathe, let alone blog. But it has been a fantastic few weeks.

Three weeks ago, I packed up my new (old) Subaru Legacy, Flo, and took off to make the trek back to Wheaton with my parents once again. On Friday, August 9th, I arrived back in Wheaton, moved into my room, and was reunited with my lovely staff team. The following Monday we left with all the other student leaders on campus (around 270 in total) and headed up to HoneyRock, Wheaton's camp in the northern woods of Wisconsin. The following week consisted of training, team bonding, and in my case, lots of coughing and feeling miserable due to a persistent cold (I'm still not 100%, I still have a slight cough). But despite being sick, it was an amazing week of bonding with my staff team and getting to know them better, learning about what it means to be an RA and a part of resident life, and lots of fun camp activities, including jumping in a bog and getting filthy with my fellow RAs, as seen in this gorgeous picture.

Smabe City '13-14. These people are pretty great.
Also, apparently I'm incapable of looking intense/terrifying. But that's okay. 

Once we got back from HoneyRock last Saturday, we had very little free time. Every moment not in training/staff meetings was used for preparing and decorating the floor. I have realized even more that I am NOT an artsy person. But it was still a lot of fun decorating the floor, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. A huge shout out to Andrea who made a ton of flowers for me, and also Gretchen who came and helped me set up. I love you both. You're amazing. But anyways. Training has been great. It's made me even more excited for this year and the opportunities I have to work with the 30 girls on my floor. Nerves are still present, but I'm just so incredibly pumped to see how God works on 3South this year. A few girls moved in during the course of the week, but the biggest rush was on Thursday; 11 of my 18 new girls moved in on Thursday afternoon. The rest came of the freshmen came throughout the day on Friday, all the sophomores moved in yesterday or today except for one girl coming tomorrow. So just like that, within just a few days, 3South went from feeling completely empty to full of life once again. 

3South before and after decorations. So many hours put into this, but it was so much fun. I LOVE how it turned out, and I think the girls do too :). If you're in Wheaton, come by and visit!

Already I have been blessed by my floor. My sophomores have been so extremely helpful, the freshmen have been patient with me as I sort out this whole leadership thing. I definitely still have a lot of learning to do, but I am confident that this floor will love me though thick and thin, and I will do the same to them. 3South has been my home and my life the past two years, and I am so extremely blessed to have the opportunity to lead this amazing floor this year. 3Southers, if any of you are reading this, I love you SO much. GAH. This year is gonna be great. I can't wait. 

Well. This is pretty short, but I just wanted to give a brief update on what's been going on in my life in the past few weeks! Classes start Wednesday, so hopefully soon I'll get back in the swing of school and settle into my regular schedule and can blog some more :)