I realized yesterday that I haven't written a blog update for almost 3 months. Shame on me! Here is my attempt at summarizing 3 months into one post. Better late than never!
New Family Member
One of the most exciting things that has happened is a new addition to my life- Sebastian! I adopted Sebastian Alexander (The Great) on August 15th and he has been such a sweet part of my life ever since. He was 10 weeks old when I adopted him, which means that now he is in the "teenage" phase of rebellion and texting girls against my wishes. ;-) He is also still growing into his ears.
Bringing him home from the shelter
Sebastian with his new family:
Godmother Katie, Father Ryan, Mama (me) and Godfather Dillon!
Sebastian with his USC Gamecock bow tie!!
Creeper alert: watch out world!
Snuggle bug
Ballerina kitty
Taking a nap while I do some homework
I heard a noise coming from my closet and look what I found! Ninja kitty.
Graduate School Classes
I began my graduate classes over a month ago and so far so good! I am only taking 3 classes this semester so it hasn't been overwhelming. One of the classes I'm taking this semester is Practicum. I'm assigned to work in two different offices on campus, each for 6 weeks. I'm currently doing my first practicum in the Office of Student Engagement and am loving it! The graduate assistants and the full-time staff that work in that office are great and I've been able to gain many hands-on skills that are very applicable to my current GA position. My current project I'm working on with their office is a promotional video about Peer Leadership. I love having the ability to interact and work with student leaders- I never cease to learn things from them! I was assisting the Office of Student Engagement with an event earlier this week and was able to get my first photo with Cocky (the USC mascot).
Part of the lovely Office of Student Engagement staff
HESA Fun
There are about 100 students currently in their first or second year in the HESA (Higher Education & Student Affairs) M.Ed program here at the University of South Carolina. My cohort had our orientation about a month and a half ago, and we were able to get our first cohort photo together:
Our cohort was divided up into smaller groups during orientation group. My orientation group was great- it was led by some fellow midwesterners and we had a lot of fun during the week.
At orientation, we also found out who our "spuddy" is. HESA has a tradition where a second-year in the program is paired up with a first-year in the program to be a mentor and support during the transition into grad school. My spuddy is Dillon! He is wonderful and I look forward to being BSF (best spuds forever)!
HESA has a group called SPA (Student Personnel Association) which sponsors different events during the year. Several of the SPA events going on this fall are HESA tailgates for the USC football games. CULTURE SHOCK ALERT! In the south, football is like a religion. People down here dress up for two occasions on the weekends: church and football games. Yes, this means no more "ISU t-shirt and jeans" to tailgate. My first USC tailgate consisted of a black dress, giant hair bow and pearls. Didn't seem natural at all to me, but that's what the women down here do. Below are some photos from HESA tailgates and other great memories I've had with HESA friends.
HESA tailgate with my good friends Katie, Ryan and Dillon
These lovely ladies and I had a "hair bow party" and made our own southern USC hair bows! :)
Sarah sandwich
This is Katie, the other girl in my cohort from Iowa. She is fantastic!
Meet Andy and Phil. We have informally started a first-year HESA band. The busyness of life has prevented us from doing much music thus far, but you haven't heard the last of us. We'll be bringing some #swag your way in the near future!
HESA friends. I'm so thankful to have such wonderful people in my life!
Harry Potter party! Lauren (on the left) had a HP themed party for her birthday and it was a blast!
Graduate Assistantship
While I began training for my graduate assistantship (GA) position in June, the other GAs arrived in July to begin our formal training. We had two weeks of full-time training for the graduate and professional staff, which was followed by two more weeks of full-time training for our staff members (Resident Mentors). It was a LOT of information in a short period of time, but the month-long training period allowed for relationships to be built and developed. I have learned an immense amount since beginning my time as a Residence Hall Director. I've been trained in risk and crisis management and have already had numerous opportunities to put those skills to use. I've also had the privilege of supervising and working with some terrific staff in my office. The students I get to work with consistently remind me why I decided to get into the field of student affairs. The ability to encourage and work with tomorrow's leaders truly is a blessing and I'm constantly changing and growing myself into a better person because of them. I also get to work with some pretty amazing other graduate assistants and professional staff within the housing department.
Ukulele party as part of an overnight experience training session with the housing department
My co-workers within housing- we have a lot of fun!
This was our bow tie Tuesday during training
Fellow housing GAs Ryan, Dillon and I with a few of the professional staff, Lori and Stephanie!
Visitors!
I've had two sets of visitors in the past few months, which has been wonderful. My friends Carolina and Pedro from Iowa State came to visit at the end of July. We were able to see a number of things around the city of Columbia as well as Charleston while they were here.
Carolina and I at Folly Beach
Pedro, Carolina and I after church
A few weeks after Carolina and Pedro flew back to Iowa, my mom was able to come visit for a few days. She arrived the day after I adopted Sebastian, so she got to spend a lot of time with the lil' man. We kicked off her visit by trying fried okra, a traditional southern food. I wasn't a fan but at least now I can say that I've tried it!
I think this is officially the longest blog post I've ever written. I have more to say but will save it for another post. I hope you're all doing well- I am looking forward to seeing Iowa folk in December when I'm back for Christmas. Take care! :)
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