FAMILY! I miss you so so much.
I have been so incredibly busy this first week. Rush has been happening everyday, I have "dates" with my new besties, and my first day of classes!

So, lets start with my first night. The first night getting here and staying alone there was an "ice cream social" My roommates and suit mates decided to ride our bikes over and see if we could have a great time and meet new people. At first, it was kinda awkward and we ran out of things to talk about so I suggested going around and introducing ourselves to some new faces. Everyone hesitantly agreed and slowly followed me to find a normal looking bunch of people. I saw a group of mixed gender (so no guys thought I was trying to hit on them or something) and jumped in on their conversation and introduced myself. I got a ton a names and numbers that night, but only a few of which that I remember. This first group happened to have a couple girls that live in Anacapa ( a dorm right along the shore that is clear across campus from me) that I really clicked with. I met Birkley and Jessica, who are roommates that are super nice and easy to talk to, and their next door neighbor Caitlin. Once Caitlin and I started talking, we couldn't stop. We have sooo many things in common and we instantly clicked and started making plans for the rest of the week. I found out she, too,  was rushing the following day so neither of us could stay out all that late. Most everyone at the social tried to cruise over to Isla Vista to see if they could experience their first "college rager", but not Caitlin and I. We talked and talked and seriously had such a good time. It has been so nice to have a best friend already that I feel so comfortable around and that is just like me. We met up the next morning and went into get our name tags and schedules together and there I met her friend from high school, Kathleen. Kathleen is way cool as well, but Caitlin is still definitely the fav ;)

Now for rush. It has been the most exciting, stressful, and downright weird experience I have ever gone through. The first day we had an early morning breakfast and all met in a big lecture hall. Once everybody had eaten (and of course all scoped out the fellow competition) and got settled in our seats the president of all the houses came up to the stage and told us the ground rules for rush. We watched a video made by some of the sorority girls to reiterate the CRUCIAL rules of absolutely no contact with any fraternity guy, no speaking to sorority members outside of rush, no going to any parities, no use of drugs or alcohol, and no speaking of your experience at each house to your fellow rushees.

My friends from my "walking group"

After the introduction we split up into seperate "walking groups" with a older sorority member called a "rho-gam". We went to all 9 houses this first day, referred to as 'Unity Day' and talked to 4 or 5 girls for 5 minutes a piece. Some of the girls I spoke to were very natural and went by really fast, while others were very awkward and forced. We started the day at 7:30AM and didn't end until 11:30!!! By the last house I honestly wasn't even trying to talk or act pleasant, I just wanted to get out of there!! When we had visited all nine houses, we then were asked to rank our houses in order of which we liked the most to the one we HATED.
The next morning we got our schedules for the day. Luckily, I was asked back by all the 7 houses I liked. A lot of girls only got asked back by 4, 2 of which they tried to drop the night prior. I was thanking my lucky stars that I did not have to show my face at the house I was at last on Unity Day because those girls probably thought I was the brattiest and most boring girl known to mankind. Anyway, this day was house tours. This time a girl invited you in by name, one by one, and escorted you around the house, passing you off to her friend after about 10 minutes together. This day you got to check out the immaculate rooms(they spent an entire week before rush week just purely scrubbing the whole house), the snack kitchen, always fully stocked, and the costume closet. Yes, every house has a fully stocked walk-in closet just to dress up, AWESOME! This day I fell in love with two houses; Alpha Phi and Delta Gamma. The houses are literally mansions and the girls are so easy to talk to and sooo beautiful. Holli, you would have loved Delta Gamma(DG)'s interior decor. EVERYTHING was nautical and they even dress in striped red white and navy. Again, at the end of the day we dropped our least favorite two, and awaited our schedule for the following day of rush
The next day was Yom Kippur, apparently it is a big day with the Jewish Folk, so we took a day off of rush. It was my first, of what I have soon learned, very seldom "free" days. Caitlin and I decided to check out the beach, which is a 45-65 second bike ride from her dorms, then go run a few errands around town. The beach is seriously so beautiful. It is sooo empty, aside from a few guys playing frisbee to one side of us, and a few surfers out in the water. The weather was hot, but the wind was cool..leaving us with a very peaceful setting to just soak in our new life.

Us laying out on the beach

The following day was my first day of class! it is literally a two mile bike ride with a constant slight incline so my booty and legs are going to be soooo nice come christmas time. I just had a section from 8AM to 9AM so it was a pretty easy first day. I kind of just tried to check out where my classes were for the following day, but that wasn't very successful. I just managed to make myself more sore and 100% lost. We had 'Pillar night' Thursday and Friday where everybody dresses very nice in dresses and heels and the houses talk about the philanthropy they are involved in as well as their 'pillars' that they stand for. Again DG and APhi where the number one houses that stood out to me, so the voting was pretty easy when narrowing down just the top two for Saturday AKA 'Preference Night' or 'Pref Night'. (I know I know, so many freaking names haha)

Pillar Night #1

 Pillar Night #2

I also had my first full day of classes and lectures Friday which was quite interesting. My Math professor, D.A.Y.R.L, as he likes to be called. (here is why http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6ziA2n1OT0 1:16 on is what he kept replaying over and over) He is super funny and even did a little strip for us as class started. Needless to say, I was thoroughly entertained and learned no math whatsoever. In addition to being a weird funny guy, he is exactly like Nigel Thornberry from the nick show The Wild Thornberries. His thick english accent is great and I semi enjoyed his class, until we started learning and doing homework.....now its like my least favorite, but whatever! Anyway, my next class is Anthropology which I LOVE. It is so interesting and I love how passionate my little latina professor is and how sassy she is. (and the only little bit of homework I have had for that class makes it that much more enjoyable). My chemistry class is just chemistry, not much to comment there...

Saturday is pref night, the last night of rush before you are actually in a sorority. Each house does something very special and is supposed to make you feel loved and like you HAVE to be apart of their house and be their 'sister'. Of course, a lot of it is fake and really they have to cut 50% of the girls by the end of the night. I went to DG first and they gave us fondue and lays and we had a one on one discussion with the girl that we got closest with throughout the week. After talking to this girl and having her help you through your decision on which house you will be choosing by the end of the night, you go into a different room where the girl that has become your friend wrote you a note and reads it aloud about why they care about you so much and what makes you so perfect for the house. It was super sweet and I left the house feeling so torn. Although it may not seem like a big decision to you, it definitely was for me. These are the girls that I am going to be spending most of my time with for the next four years, and who will be my potential life long besties. I then headed over to Alpha Phi where they did a similar ritual. The girl that called me in, Natalie, was one of my favorites that I had met all week. She was super funny and bubbly, but was also able to have a serious conversation that actually mattered. We had some Martinellies and some more DELICIOUS desert and talked over some of my concerns and my exact wants in a house. She was sooo helpful and made me feel so comfortable and at home. We then all went outside and Natalie stood me up, held both of my hands and talked about all the things she loved about me. It felt so real and I felt such a bond to her. I know it sounds stupid but we both got tiery-eyed and I knew which house was for me in that instant. Caitlin happened to be in that time slot for Aphi so we were able to walk over to our deciding room together. We both knew how amazing APhi had gone and were definitely putting them as both of our number 1 slots. 

Sunday was the day we found out which house chose us back! Around noon we all met and got a letter from our "rho-gam". Alpha Phi chose me and Caitlin! When we found out, everyone sprinted over to the Aphi house and there was music everybody was so happy and instant best friends becuase we now all had this invisible but strong chain linking us all together. We headed up to a mansion in Montecito (where Oprah owns a house) and had a massive pool party with food and a Dj and just got to hang out with my new girls.

my pledge class

caitlin and i in front of our new letters with our "bid day" shirts and hats on

us with our 'bids' welcoming us to Alpha Phi

at the pool party

me being the only one sporting the one-piece (wohoo!)

Natalie and I:)

In conclusion, the first week was ridiculous, but in the end so worth it. I love you all and am so excited to update you on the next weeks festivities!!!

XOXO, 

      A Baby APhi!!!!

Move In!!!!

HOLY CRAP! Seriously guys, this has been the busiest last couple of days in my entire existence. I tried to take a lot of pictures so that you can picture these places as I talk about them, but I didn't want to take too many and come off as that creepy-camera-girl. So.....first things first. I got here a little before Mom on Friday evening(it took FOREVER) with traffic so I really did not even get here that much sooner and I left like eight hours before, so ridiculous. The reason we drove separately was because I really wanted to attend the UCLA vs UCSB soccer game. UCLA is top ten nationally for soccer and I know SB is up there too so of course we were in store for a good game. My original plan was to pick Kyle up and go with him, but he ended up having a tournament in san diego for his own soccer team, so that didn't work out. But, I met a girl at orientation named Aphie, I know, weird name, that I stayed in touch with and I found out that she moved in Friday so I was able to go with her and her roommate. It worked out and was sooooooo fun. Everybody gets so wild and crazy and literally tortillas get thrown EVERYWHERE. I had sort of heard about the tortilla tradition of throwing tortillas on the field whenever we score a goal, but I definitely did not  understand how big of deal this turned out to be. In the "loco zone" everyone was getting pelted with those suckers. Whenever UCLA's players were close to the loco zone, fans would try to throw them onto the field to make them slip on them, but when we scored a goal, oh my goodness.... it was a mexican's heaven. I tried to take a picture of the ridicuousness, but my phone actually got pelted with tortilla as I snapped it so I missed my photo op, so I found this one...

This is just at any one low point in the game, there will at least be this many on the ground. Whenever players didnt have the ball on that side of the field these people's soul purpose was to clean up all those freaking tortillas, it was so weird but so fun! I had to go out the next day and buy myself some cheap onnes to be ready for the next game!! 

Us standing in the ticket line with five zillion other freshman and their parents

My actual view, not great because I was a little late due to parking (it was PACKED) so these are literally the only open seats in the whole stadium. I am so glad that I went and got to experience that!

Anyway, enough about that.. So Saturday Mom and I had a ton to do. We got my bike, my access card, register my bike, get my parking permit, and we got to move in! I came into Santa Catalina to get my parking pass and asked one of the guys helping me if I could just take a quick peak at a triple so I knew what kind of space I was working with. He told me to ask a lady at the front desk and she was like, "you can just move in..." I was like "YES!" It was so nice to be able to pick the best bed, closet, and desk. It was also such a blessing to not have to wait in any lines for elevators and to be able to speed out all of=ver the room while figuring out what goes where. 

 The view front my desk, I enjoy it. I also do my makeup here so its nice to do it with natural light to ensure this sexy beast comes out of her room one uniform color rather than super blotchy, very helpful.

 My bike! I love it and have already used it so much riding EVERYWHERE. Honestly I have no idea how anyone can gain 15 pounds their first year. I have not had any time to eat because I am always walking places or riding this thing! But its okay because I feel cute on it...although my legs do burn going up some inclines, but we don't need to tell anyone that..

 This is Mom's nice rear. Just thought I'd share ;)

 So I am going to talk about meeting roommates, floormates, rushing, the first night alone, and everything tomorrow, because I am exhausted, but these are my friends! The one most left is named Shelby, she is a second year and is in our walking group for rush. The next one over is Kathleen, also in our walking group. The one closest to me is Caitlin, who I reeeeeally like. We have so much in common! We met last night at an ice cream social and haven't been apart since.

and I just wanted to brag that this is a picture I took of my lunch....magical. And even better, there is left overs!!!!!

Love you All and miss you a ton!

XOXO

Gossip Girl

haha just kidding, I have just always wanted to write that hehe :)

Kelsie <3

The Final Day

So the day has finally arrived....the last day i get to call Murrieta a home. I remember Holli telling me, "It's so surreal leaving for college because you drive out of the driveway realizing that you will, from this day forward, forever be a guest in the place you once called your home". I have always thought about that fact and have been so excited to no longer call this place home, but to move on to bigger and better things and be all alone on my own. I have been so ready to make my own rules and decisions, have no curfew, and be "all grow'd up". Now that this day has come, my mind has already been quite drastically changed. I am so nervous to leave, to forever be a visitor, to be my own boss and decide my own life from here on out. I can barely do laundry or make myself eggs in the morning, let alone be able to be completely on my own! I am somewhat dreading the sun rising tomorrow morning, I wish I could have just a few more hours to be in the comfort of my own cozy bed with my messy room and booger infested dresser by my side (like where am I supposed to put all of them now, on my roomates pillows?). Aside from all the aspects I am nervous and NOT looking forward too, there is also a lot TO look forward to. Meeting new friends, exploring a new place, and major personal growth are just a few, but before and of that good stuff can happen, I have to figure out how to fit all of THIS into my little honda civic....

and too bad that is only half of it...I already know and have accepted that the roomies are not going to be the biggest fans of me because I might possibly take up all the empty space. Mom and I will definitely have to get creative in placing my things in our cars and in my dorm, but I have faith it will all work out :) It has been very nice to have Dad home the past two days so that Mom and I could go and get all our last minute things while he watches Jaxon. He was also nice enough to prepare my "last supper"...

We enjoyed, my favorite, salmon along with mashed yellow squash, a salad, and of course a little bubbly lemonade to celebrate! We then spent some family time in the spa with the wild Jaxon, I sure am going to miss that ball of energy. I really appreciate everyone making my last day here a special one, and yes, you guys have done good enough to make me want to come back from time to time.. ;)

To conclude my first post, I want to thank all of you for everything you have done for me to get me to where I am headed. Holli and Brittany, you have set the bar so high as such great examples and I have always strived to be more like you academically, spiritually, and emotionally. Mom, you have been the best support system and best friend I could ever have dreamt. There is no way that I would be able to attend UCSB without all of you guys' help, even though you did not purposefully help me attend a non-BYU school...I really do appreciate it. I love you all!

                                  XOXO,
                                      Miss. Santa Barbara Bound!