Crazy Traditions...

Hey everyone! So, it's been a good and busy week so far. All of our students are officially moved in! We had our Graduate School Orientation yesterday - and let me tell you...I have never felt so good about being at an institution than the one I'm at. Absolutely everything about orientation was so incredibly encouraging. There is just a very strong spirit on this campus. I feel there is such a great balance of faith and education. I honestly have never felt so proud to be a part of a school before. Wheaton is much much more scholarly that I realized - so much so that I'm a little schocked that I was accepted...I mean my grades were decent, but these students are amazing! Anyway...classes start tomorrow and we are very excited and we've been very encouraged by older students and by our professors. So...anyway...it's just a very joyous time right now and our hearts are very full with gratitude that the Lord's allowed us to be here.

So, the thing about Wheaton - and I was attempting to explain this to my good friend Kat earlier today - it is a very different school. I feel kind of like I'm in a weird bubble. In many many different ways...specifically though for this blog entry, I just wanted to share with you all what Scott and I just witnessed. Apparently Wheaton students have a lot of "traditions" that take place each year. Particularly at the beginning of the school year and most are geared towards "welcoming" the Freshman class. Today was the "Mastadon March." They've named it the "Mastadon March" because we have a huge Mastadon on campus named Perry - his bones were found in a man-made lake in Glen Ellyn about 60 years ago and he's proudly displayed in the science building now...kind of a cool exhibit. Anyway, the Freshmen were getting ready/learning a song for their "All School Communion" tonight (another tradition) unbeknownst to them that they were about to get a BIG welcome from the upperclassmen (and apparently some faculty and staff as well). I was sitting outside the Student Rec Center when I see TONS...HUNDREDS of students pouring out of the dorms with the most ridiculous costumes on...you name it, there was one there. There just aren't words to describe what all I saw. So, I saw the costumes, but Scott actually saw what happened. The freshmen were outside and this HUGE parade of upperclassmen came marching down the walkway, led by two of Scott's bosses - one on a double decker bike pulling his 18 month old in a cart behind him, and his other boss the VP of Residence Life (or VP Student Life one) following behind in the back of an orange convertible - white suit/giant glasses - daughters dressed up in crazy costumes with him. There was also a big "mastadon" in the parade and following them were the probably at least 1500 students behind making all kinds of noise and chanting "We love Freshmen" and making all kinds of noise.

For those of you who haven't heard us rave about the food service here...it is AMAZING...AMAZING...AMAZING. Well the food service even went all out too. They had several stations set up outside and the entire school had a picnic outside. There was a line for gyros, a line for hamburgers, popcorn, sloppy joes, fresh grilled chicken breast sandwiches (which I had - YUMMM), and a line for grilled corn on the cob. The food service here makes EVERYTHING from scratch, from their bread, to their pastries, to smoking their own ham for deli meat...just unreal. Anyway, they had this parmesan butter for the grilled corn - holy cow. Just...no words. *lol*

So we had a grand time tonight! We feel like we just got a good taste of what Wheaton life is really like with students here and how involved the staff is. SO much fun.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that strange yet delightful experience with you all. Wish you could have been here to see it. Crazy. Well, I've got class tomorrow bright and early - YAY!!! So, I'm going to try to enjoy my last night of "freedom" for the next two years. :) Wish I had something exciting planned, but I think I'm too tired to really do anything. :) I'll just enjoy the peace and quiet.

An update :)

Last week was a SUPER fun week! Mom, Dad, & Shea came up to visit Thursday and stayed until Sunday. We took the Metra into the big city, took them to downtown Naperville, out to Giordano's to eat some Chicago style pizza, drove them all over Wheaton & neighboring suburbs, and had a blast! :) It was so much fun to have them up for the weekend. We think they liked it here too...we're expecting them to be frequent visitors. :)

Shelley & Kyle also stopped by for a couple of days - they came Sunday and stayed until Tuesday. It was so great to have them here - I'm really missing my girls. We went to the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Science & Industry Museum - WAY COOL :) They had TONS of props from the movie...including the Weasley's Flying Ford.


And probably the highlight of Scott's week - they took us to a White Sox game and we won!! WOOHOO! It rained off and on, but all in all we had a great time. :) And yes...Shelley and I are basically wearing fancy garbage bags that say "Sox" on them. *lol*


So yesterday was a day to get some things done. I picked up mine & Scott's books. I'm pretty pumped about it, but pretty nervous as well. Not sure what I've gotten myself into. I haven't been in school in 5 years and this time I think it's going to be a bit more demanding...from the looks of it. These are just my first semester books! Except the giant DSM - it's a basic reference book for Psychologists/Psychiatrists/Couselors...it has just about every disorder you an think of...and lots you didn't know existed in it. Anyway...classes start....um..next week? Yikes. I am excited....I am excited...I am excited...*must keep repeating*

What else is going on? Well, I'm going to buy a Wii Fit today - good times! WAY excited about that. AND I'm going to start taking Zumba classes today. I have definintely gained some weights since moving...well since moving back from Poland. I decided yesterday that something must be done. So, I'm drinking more water, I'm going to TRY to drink less Cokes *I'm super addicted*, and I'm NOT going to keep chocolate ice cream in the fridge. NOT going to do it. I really need to buy new clothes because several of mine do not fit me anymore...SO I decided I won't buy new clothes until I need to buy SMALLER sizes and not bigger ones. No new clothes for me for a while...maybe that'll be motivation. :) I know I'm not super overweight, but I was very healthy and pretty fit when we moved home and I FELT much much better. Gotta get back to that. My plan is to turn over a productive leaf today. I'll let you know how that goes! :)

Home Sweet Chicago! *Under construction*

So, I'm having trouble getting my video to post. Looks like I'm going to have to step away and come back to it later. Don't want it to get the best of me. :)

Here's a little look into our first trip into the city! We hopped on the Metra about a three minute walk from our apartment and bought a 10 ride pass to share between the two of us. Looks like we'll be going more on the weekends b/c you can get an unlimited Metra pass for only $5 for the entire weekend! Anyway, yesterday we just tried to get a good idea of how to get around and some easy places to get to...it was definitely a fun and full day! :) WHOA! I just noticed that the date says "Jun 28, 2157" That's hysterical! Fixing it would be a big hassel...so I'm just gonna leave it that way. *lol*

Downtown Wheaton

Hey everyone! So today we have had about 15 students move in *YAY!!!!!*. The final count for today should be 17, but we haven't seen them all yet. We absolutely love it! It's part of Scott's job to try and connect with the students moving in...let them know he's their new GRA, get some paperwork from them, etc. Today was a RIDICULOUSLY hot day so we decided to make some yummy strawberry lemonade *recipe courtesy of Kell* and walk it around our buildings as students and their parents unloaded their things. I also made muffins and Scott and I will be delivering them tonight once he gets back from a meeting. :)

Last week, Scott and I took an evening to walk to downtown Wheaton. These are some of the pics that I got on the way. Here we're on the Prairie Path *one of the longest bike trails in the country - goes right through downtown Wheaton*. The second picture is a miniature golf course that is part of the apartment complex in the pictures.




The Metra runs right along downtown.

And here is the main Metra station in Wheaton. There's another one right across from our apartment, but this is the main station.

Tates Homemade Ice Cream - yummm-o! Wheaton is full of little specialty shops like this in the downtown area.

The popcorn guy sells freshly popped popcorn in this alley for I think 75 cents a bag. You can also buy candy by the piece in his alley. :) It really is an alley, someone just happened to put an *oning...auning...awning???? - good grief* you know what I mean - over it and it became a popcorn shop. It's as wide as the door and that's about it. :)

This little wine shop always seems to be full of people in the evening tasting different wines and looking very sophisticated. :)

And here is Suzette's Creperie...haven't been there yet, but it's definitely on my list. From what I can tell they have authentic French food...crepes, Croque Monsieurs, and such *yum!* They set up a booth at the French Market on Saturday mornings downtown and make fresh crepes for people and sell fresh croissants as people peruse around the market. :) OH...and apparently they have Jazz bands there fairly often in the evenings. AWESOME.

And speaking of Jazz...last Thursday night Scott and I checked out the Thursday night Wheaton Municipal Concert in Memorial Park. So supposedly it was a summer long thing...each Thursday night the city would bring in a different band/orchestra/some form of entertainment. We happened to catch the last one last Thursday night and the Wheaton Jazz Band played. We went with our new friend Keila. Keila invited us to church last Sunday and we had her over for dinner the following Thursday and decided to go check out the concert together. It was a good time. :)

And here is a silly video that I tried to take of the band...but it didn't turn out so well because we were talking in the background. *lol*

So, that was our week last week and our day today. :) Oh, we did visit a new church today...believe it or not I found and advert for it on Facebook and thought it looked like one worth checking out. So Scott, me, and our friend Hannah and her 19month old Cooper went this morning. We really enjoyed the service. The three of us got there about 40 minutes early though due to false advertising on their website...which wasn't a huge deal. There was this fantastic little coffee/breakfast shop across the street and we went over for a breakfast muffin and Scott and I were able to have a nice chat with Hannah. :) I think we'll definitely visit it again, we think it's really important to get involved with a church and we don't want to take too long looking around for one. Not sure exactly what we'll do next week - I do know that I'm super excited about Mom, Dad, & Shea coming to visit us for the weekend! YAY!!! :)

Now, it's time to go pass out some muffins! :)

New Apartment Pics!!

SO our apartment is FINALLY getting there! We've spent the past couple weeks trying to make it look like a home and I think we passed the test last night when we invited a student over for dinner and she said, "WOW! You guys have made it look so homey in here!" :) It does feel much more like a "home" now. There's still a couple things I'd like to get on the wall, but we're getting there. :) So, here's another quick tour of our place... our new living room complete with curtains, new slip covers, a new rug, and a cool new Target sofabed...

Scott putting up our curtains...plus a new addition - a hibiscus plant

Here is our updated bathroom...new shower curtain, and a new wall shelf...

Our bedroom...really hasn't changed much...I'm thinking I'd love something on the wall across from our bed...which you can't see in this picture.


And the room that's made probably the most progress...our guest room...new curtains, a cleaned-up bookshelf, a new comforter, and some new pillows.


This was my first try at pillowcase/pillow making. The bigger one is just a pillow case over a little travel pillow and the little long one is my own pattern I guess...as far as shape goes. Plus it was my first actual pillow that I've made. :) YAY!

Naperville

So, last week was a good one. We spent the week making some big changes to the apartment...as far as seating, putting up curtains, buying plants, etc. We also explored a bit more. On Thursday night (I think) we took a trip to a neighboring suburb, Naperville. VERY happenin' little place. AND apparently has an Independent Film Festival and loads of other fun things to do throughout the year! :) Here are a few pics from our trip...we ate lunch at a fun place with Mexican food: Potter's Place. After dinner we scouted out the Italian Geleto store...it was perfect! Just like eating ice cream from Galeria Dominikanska in Wroclaw...that's some good ice cream. :)


That store is called "Sugar Monkey Cupcakes." hehehe