The making of a professional sorority girl.

After meeting each other for the first time at Leadership Seminar a few weeks ago, the 2012-2013 Alpha Delta Pi Leadership Consultants were reunited in Atlanta last Tuesday. We overcame our first travel-related obstacle together by successfully fitting 11 people and 26 suitcases in our two rental cars. Whew! After unloading the cars at Executive Office, we were invited downstairs to receive our new goodies from the sorority.

Here are some of the fabulous things we got to help us get through the year:

• A new iPad, affectionately nicknamed the "PiPad" in these parts.
  
• A PiPhone (which I used to take this picture).
  
• A very official nametag.
  
• A binder designed by our Violet Sister (see below).
  
• Our very own Ritual Book!
  
• Fun folders and office supplies, including sticky pads, paper clips, highlighters, etc.
  
• A padfolio with the crest of Alpha Delta Pi.
  
• Legit business cards with a card holder.

When I first found out Brett was my Violet Sister at Leadership Seminar, she told me she had stalked my Pinterest to see what kind of stuff I liked. I can tell from this binder: It just screams Megan, don't you think? :) She also sent me a beautiful engraved bracelet at Executive Office accompanied by a turtle card. It was such a nice surprise!

Thanks, Violet! :)

After opening up all our goodies, our boss gave us the best gift of all: Our August schedules! I'm not saying where I'm going quite yet, but I will say I'll be visiting five campuses in three different states during the month of August, and I couldn't be more excited.

Stay tuned for more updates from our training here in Atlanta!

I'm back!

Hello all! I can't believe I've only written one non-SCSBC post in the past two weeks. After two weeks on the east coast, I'm finally back in California and hoping to make blogging (and blog reading) a priority this week before I jet back to Atlanta again for more job training. Here's a quick review of my stint in Atlanta at the end of June:

I flew to Atlanta on June 25 to begin job training for my new position as an Alpha Delta Pi Leadership Consultant, which included attending our biannual national leadership seminar. I was also privileged to attend this seminar as an emerging leader for my chapter two years ago, so it was neat being back at the same hotel with many of the same programs and facilitators. I wrote about my experience with the IMPACT program two years ago on the ADPi Leadership Seminar blog here if you want more details.

The 2012-2013 Leadership Consultants for Alpha Delta Pi. (I'm in the yellow dress.)

As an incoming LC this year, I went through the other program offered at Leadership Seminar: the Adelphean Compass. We also squeezed in some extra training sessions before the seminar, which you can read about in my second post for the Leadership Seminar blog. After the conference ended on Sunday, we had another day and a half of training to learn about expansion, or the process through which a sorority seeks to establish a new chapter at a university. Although I was pretty absent from my social media during the week, I did try to keep up on my Instagram:

24:35.

Friday, July 1 - Saturday, July 2

That's how long it took me to travel from Atlanta to Kigali: 24 hours and 35 minutes. With the six-hour time difference, that means I left at 5:45 a.m. and landed at 12:20 p.m. the next day.

Photo courtesy of Pinterest.

 

My trip began when my lovely (former) fellow intern drove me to the airport early Friday morning. When I had called United to confirm my reservation on Thursday, they told me I needed to check in at the airport a minimum of 90 minutes before my flight. Because my flight was at 5:45 a.m., I arrived around 3:45. But the ticket counter didn't even open until 4:30 a.m. Gee, thanks United representative. I guess the 90-minute rule is bunk, though, because I didn't get to the counter until almost 5 a.m., and they still gave me my boarding pass. Success!

My flight from Atlanta to Washington-Dulles was short and uneventful; I was able to sleep the whole time. (That's one benefit of getting only two hours of sleep the night before a trip.) I had a four-hour layover in D.C., during which I obtained my remaining boarding passes and checked my carry-on. (Ethiopian Airlines has stricter restrictions for carry-on luggage, so my suitcase wasn't small enough for the cabin.) There were five other Mizzou students on my flight, so we slowly congregated at the gate until it was time to board. I was glad to get to meet the other students before we left the States, because I had to miss the classroom sessions in Columbia while at my internship.

At 11 a.m., it was time to board the plane for our 13-hour flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! Let me just say that foreign airlines are so nice. A Mizzou student who did the Rwanda program two years ago told me she doesn't like any American air carriers after flying internationally. I think after this trip, I would have to agree. (I'm excited to see what Emirates Airline will be like on my flight back to San Francisco!) The seats on Ethiopian Airlines reclined farther than usual, the food was much better than expected (and actually quite good), the stewardesses were very polite and very pretty, and the movie selection was amazing - and free! I watched The King's Speech (finally!), The Resident and A Good Year. The rest of the time, I was thankfully able to sleep.

I didn't need the eye mask, but the mini-toothbrush and toothpaste came in handy!

The airport in Addis Ababa was not as glamorous as the airline, however. Unless we wanted to go back through security, our options were limited to sitting at one of the three gates. So we sat at our departure gate until it was time to board. The flight to Kigali was also short and uneventful; I woke up only to eat (again). Once in Kigali, I got my passport stamped! This was more exciting than it probably should have been because most of the countries I've visited haven't stamped me. The agent didn't ask for my immunization card, however, which was disappointing considering I only got it for this trip. At least I'm protected from yellow fever!

Photo courtesy of Pinterest.

Finally, we got our bags (it was such a relief to see my suitcase come around the conveyor belt - remember this?) and our adventures in Rwanda began!

Stay tuned for a recap of the past few days. (We finally got Internet in the apartment tonight!)

And this is why I don't check bags....

So, I'm usually not a complainer. (Or at least, that's what I like to think.) But despite all the amazingness that Grand Convention was (more on that tomorrow), there were quite a few things that went wrong this weekend (namely, today). So if you don't like to read complaints (and who does?) please skip this blog and wait for my much more positive report tomorrow. I don't want to lessen your opinion of me.

(Also, as a journalism major, I have to apologize for the irritating amount of parenthetical phrases in the last paragraph. And for this one.)

All photos courtesy of Pinterest

1. I don't like to check bags. There are several reasons for this, but primarily I (a) don't want to pay for checked bags and (b) don't like waiting around for them at the baggage claim. Because sometimes they never come around the carousel. Like tonight.

The story: I packed my carry-on like normal and arrived at the gate in Phoenix, where I was told the flight would be very full, so the airline would be happy to check my bag for free. Because I was the only one in our group who was carrying on, I figured I would have to wait for their bags at the baggage claim anyway and should just check my bag. Bad decision.

Long story short: The carousel for my flight stopped without producing my bag, so after visiting both AirTran luggage offices multiple times and waiting around for approximately an hour, an attendant finally brought my bag over. I guess it got left behind at the gate and was put on the wrong luggage cart, so I had to wait for the next flight to land at that gate before they would bring my bag up. Or something like that. Yay.


2. Sketchy cab driver. Like, really. Of course, I had told the other interns to head home because I didn't want them to have to wait with me for my bag (and of course, my bag showed up about five minutes later), but the rest of the interns were arriving a few hours later so I knew I could catch a cab with them. And this driver was sketchy. He wanted us to sign our charge voucher before we even left the airport. Excuse me? So you can write $200 on there and stick EO with the bill? No thank you. So I was distrustful from the beginning. Also, the child lock on my window was activated, which prevented me from protecting my face as we drove 70 mph down the freeway. My left ear was freezing.


3. Small disappointment. Looking back to Convention, my chapter didn't win the award we were hoping for (whomp, whomp), which put a little damper on the weekend. But speaking of awards, I have to remember that everything has a silver lining. And for all the things I've been complaining about, there are a lot worse things that could have happened....


1. My bag could have not come in at all, and then I would have been in a little pickle before leaving the country on Friday. Or, I could have been on an international flight and stuck in a foreign country without any familiar clothes (eek!).

2. The cab driver could have actually overcharged us. Or kidnapped us and made lampshades out of our skin. Ew.

3. We could have not won any awards at all (and win awards, we did). And we're still up for the TOP LION of Alpha Delta Pi, the Golden Lion, at the next Convention!

So in retrospect, all the little things that went wrong really don't mean anything when I think about all the great things that I have in my life. What if I didn't have the chance to go to Phoenix this weekend? Or what if Alpha Delta Pi hadn't given me a bid? Or what if I couldn't even go to college in the first place?

I'll stop now before I get too mushy, but basically, I am thankful for a lot! Despite the negativity that began this blog. And now I shall sleep.

Good night!

Extra innings.

Well, it was really only one extra inning.

But we continued our streak of let's-get-out-of-the-house-and-do-something-fun activities tonight with an Atlanta Braves game! (Btw, we did end up going out last night, so we've successfully tried something new every day this week!)


If you're ever looking for something fun and reasonably affordable to do in Atlanta, I would recommend a baseball game. The baseball stadium is pretty easily reached by both driving and parking by the stadium or taking the MARTA (we did a little of both tonight), and student tickets are only $10. So bring your college ID, buy a foam finger and practice that tomahawk!

Go Braves!

The last few days.

Quick recap of the week (so far):

All photos courtesy of Pinterest

Sunday: Poolside for several hours with the interns. I even got a teensy bit of a tan! (Quite an accomplishment for me, especially because I didn't get burned at all.)

Monday: Sushi at Harry & Sons (again)! I broke out of my California Roll/Spicy Tuna Roll shell and tried some Spicy Hamachi. Definitely a repeat dish. We walked the mile-ish from Memorial Headquarters (good for us!) and stopped for Ben and Jerry's on the way back for some ice cream on the patio. Yum.



Tuesday: Ladies' Night at Wired and Fired. I didn't participate in the pottery making because (1) I didn't want to have to ship my pottery home or pack it to Africa and (2) I spent way too much money at Express last weekend. (Thanks a lot, coupons! You are so conniving.) But it was fun watching the other girls create their various masterpieces!



Currently: We planned to visit the Opera for some 18+ fun, but it is storming something fierce outside, so we'll have to see what happens. (Luckily, we were able to hit up Starbucks right before the downpour began, so I'm happily sipping a grande, no-fat, non-whip Peppermint Mocha as I type. Just in case you ever feel like bringing me some coffee, that's my go-to drink. Just saying....)

The life of a Southern belle.

Wow. I was doing so well at first: I blogged five times during the first week I created this site. Yet, it has now been nine days since I've written again.

Tonight, I draw inspiration from this blog by fellow Alpha Delta Pi sister Emily Snowden. The Southern belle posted this humorous piece when she visited California as a traveling Leadership Consultant for our sorority. Now, I will comment on things I have found unfamiliar in the South as a California girl (for 11 years of my life).

1. Oversized tees. Fellow intern Haley swears this fashion is all the rage at Samford University, so when the lovely ladies of Executive Office offered us some extra T-shirts from Grand Convention 2009, Haley and I picked out shirts that were two to three sizes too big for all of us. The result:

Haley is the super-excited one second from left. She was so proud of us Westerners/Yankees (except Brittney - this Alabama native knows what's goin' on).

2. ...

Well, that's all I can think of right now, actually. (The fact that is 1:30 a.m. might be contributing to my lack of ideas. I'm actually very elderly in spirit; my ideal bedtime is around 10 p.m.)

However, I can think of a few things that have not surprised me about the South.

1. Sweet tea. Luckily, this is something I was introduced to long ago. My grandmother (who lives in Charlotte) used to put two cups of sugar in every pitcher of sweet tea she made. Yum yum. She has since lessened that amount slightly in the interest of health, but I continue to follow her recipe when I make iced tea at home in California. Last summer, I lived alone in Missouri while I was working, and I literally consumed a pitcher of sweet tea every day. Sometimes I had to make two. Oops. I'm also one of McDonald's best customers, solely from the amount of $1 sweet teas that I order. (I usually ask for no ice so when I get home, I can pour it into my own glass and have twice as much.) I am getting spoiled by the availability of sweet tea at Southern restaurants, however. It will be a sad day when I have to return to putting four packets of Equal in every glass of iced tea in Columbia. :(

2. Y'all. As you might remember from the previous paragraph, my grandmother is from Charlotte. Therefore, my dad lived in North Carolina from birth through his college graduation, so I am used to the Southern accent. He also says "cain't" (because he cain't say can't).

3. Yes, ma'am. On a similar note, I love the typically good manners of Southerners. After hearing Haley and Brittney "yes ma'am" so politely around the office, I want to cringe every time a "yup" or a "for sure" comes out of my mouth. It wasn't unexpected, however. After all, I grew up around my cousins calling their parents "sir" and "ma'am." (They also tried to call my mom "ma'am," but she insisted on "Aunt Patty." What a Yankee.)

Finally, here are my thoughts on Emily's blog (referred to earlier in this post):

1. Avocados: Yes, they are wonderful and ubiquitous. In Missouri, it especially amuses me that anything with avocado as a topping is automatically "California" (such as a California Burger or a California BLT).

2. Terminology: As a NorCal girl, I agree that "hella" is prime slang. However, I prefer the less offensive adjective, "hecka." As in, "Yo Emily, that girl is hecka sick." :)

3. Croakies: Excuse me? I didn't even know what these were until I read your blog. And then I had to ask my roommate, who spent a summer down under doing this same internship. She explained it, but I still don't understand. Sorry.

4. College football: I'm sorry you had a less than desirable football situation. I, for one, love college football. But I understand that aside from Cal Berkeley and USC (in their good years), we don't have quite the athletic fervor of the SEC or Big 12. (Which is actually a big reason I chose a Big 12 school, and why I pressured my little brother to choose Georgia over UCLA for his upcoming college experience.)

5. Lilly: Again, who? I hadn't heard of Lilly Pulitzer until I saw your planner in my room. Now that ADPi has a Lilly print, I'm surprised I hadn't heard of her earlier. She is much more popular than I had imagined (even in Columbia). I did vote for ADPi about 15 million times, though. You're welcome.

And that's all for tonight, folks! Sorry for the astronomically long post; I'll try to update more frequently in the future to save you from these novels.

Ciao!

I went shopping.

For those of you who only know me through this blog, that was probably not a very exciting title. For those of you who actually know me, you probably thought, "What on Earth did Megan need so badly that she couldn't just buy online?"

Well, we Alpha Delta Pi women have a very exciting Grand Convention this month in Phoenix, Ariz., which of course requires a few new additions to my wardrobe. The other interns and I took advantage of our day off Monday to visit Atlantic Station for some serious shopping.

My favorite purchase of the day? This floral sweetheart dress (above)!

I'm not sure if it will be up to par with my fashionable sisters' "semiformal" wear, but with the right heels and attitude, I think I can make it work for the opening banquet! Bonus points: It was on sale (of course), and it is something I will actually wear again!

Extra bonus points: It has pockets!!

I also needed a cocktail dress for the formal awards dinner (cross your fingers for the women of Alpha Gamma!) and white shoes for the opening processional. Diana (luckily) found an appropriate formal dress for me (also on sale!), but the white shoes proved a little trickier to decide on.

The first pair I found (to the left, in white) had a low heel and was cheap: two big pluses for a girl who's used to wearing sneakers on a daily basis and likes to keep her wallet full. However, after some consideration and peer pressure (and a few laps around the store to practice walking in the 4-inch heel), I splurged an extra Jackson for some "sensible" shoes (below) that I can hopefully wear into my first real job in the spring!

With my bags and boxes in hand, I felt relieved that I was able to get everything I needed for Convention so easily. (The three extra pairs of eyes really made the decision-making process a lot easier for me. My fellow Pi sisters also consoled me when I experienced buyers' remorse. Thanks, girls!) And the shopping was well worth it when I finally got the chance to eat at Moe's Southwest Grill (a chain resembling Chipotle and Qdoba)! The Homewrecker burrito with chips and salsa for only $5 made my day that much better.

Sorry for the incredibly detailed blog. And sorry it was all about women's apparel (and Mexican food). I'll try to include some more scintillating details about my internship in my next post!

A new way to worship.

Tonight, I had my first experience at a non-denominational worship service. I am usually pretty reserved about my faith (despite what writing this blog might insinuate), so I was a little nervous about attending at first. The service was pretty much what I expected, though, and I would definitely go again!

A few of the other interns and I attended Passion City Church, a local church focused on a university-aged audience. I was particularly excited when I learned Passion is the home of Christian musician Chris Tomlin! Unfortunately, he's on tour so he wasn't singing tonight, but Kristian Stanfill was more than an adequate substitute.

Courtesy of Kristian's Facebook page - not from the service.

That was the first thing that surprised me about the service: the music. I expected a lot of songs, and I expected them to be amazing, but for the first 45 minutes I felt like I was at a concert. (Not that it was a bad thing, just surprising.) It was great to be somewhere where the congregation sang so passionately because I didn't have to worry about anyone hearing my less-than-pleasant singing voice.

Overall, I enjoyed the service. It was different than what I'm used to at my home church, but the messages shared during the sermon were the same. I found I could relate to the anecdotes, and nothing in the service made me feel uncomfortable or hesitant about my own faith. I still plan to practice my specific denomination, but I really enjoyed my time at Passion, and I will probably be back again before the summer ends.

And then there were five.

It's Memorial Day weekend, which means our Southern girls (Haley - Knoxville, Tenn.; Brittney - Mobile, Ala.; and Courtney - small town, La.) have places to go and people to see. The rest of us, who hail from California to Texas to Connecticut, are now searching for fun (under-21) things to do in the city this weekend (within walking distance because all the cars have followed their Southern belles away).

Last night, Haley (and her Scion!) was still with us, so we drove down to Atlantic Station to check out the nightlife.


Unfortunately, the few places we could find that were still open were not age-appropriate for all of us. So we piled back in the car and drove around the city guided by our smartphones, until our stomachs got the best of us and we stopped at Neighbor's Pub in the nearby Virginia Highlands area for some delectable desserts.

Our first "night on the town" was quite an adventure, but we still have 5-7 more weeks to figure it out. And I know we will.

Welcome to Atlanta!

Okay, so it's "Welcome to Miami," as my fellow interns pointed out just the other day. But I'm in Atlanta, so I'm going to adapt the lyrics for now.

Welcome to my blog! I will (hopefully) be chronicling my adventures during my internship in Atlanta this summer...


then my study abroad trip to Rwanda...


and then my job search when I get back to school (University of Missouri) in August.


I would like to point out that I wanted to call this blog "Megan in Motion" to reflect my constant travels and life changes, but the other interns in the room all laughed at me. Well look right to see my new alliteration! Ha! (Edited to add: I used to have a widget in the right column called "Meet Megan," but I've updated my blog since then!)