Reporting to you live from the Jerz

Thanksgivnig break has finally arrived... and after 3 months of being away from home, and about 4 days of being away from school, I'm already missing Tulane!! Especially the warmer weather... IT'S SO COLD HERE!! Still, it's really nice to be with family and old friends. It's been soooo hectic since I returned from NOLA. I landed around 12:30 Monday night. My mom and I had one of those cliche movie embraces at baggage claim (very emotional for about 5 seconds) and then we came home and stayed up talking in my kitchen until 3 a.m. I guess you could say it was nice to reunite!! It didn't feel weird coming home at all. I thought I was going to feel so foreign in my own home, but it was just like coming back from vacation. I took my suitcase upstairs and crawled into my cozy bed! The next day my twin came home. Now THAT was emotional. I have not seen my twin since I left for NOLA, so seeing her was quite a treat. On Wednesday I got to see all of my friends from highschool at the 2nd Annual Mountain Lakes High School Graduate and Senior Luncheon. It was so fun to see everyone back in the cafeteria where we had spent so much time as seniors. There was a lot of delicious food, and I got to rep Tulane and recruit a bunch of fellow Lakers. I also got to see a bunch of my teachers, many of whom I wanted to thank for preparing me so well for Tulane.


And then yesterday was Thanksgiving. I always spend it with my family (Mere, my mom, and me in the photo on the left), and our family friends (shout out to the Kennedy's for always hosting the craziest, most delicious Thanksgiving ever!). Otherwise... there's not much else to report. I am, however, looking forward to the Kennedy's daughter's wedding on Saturday! It's gonna be a party.

In other news:

The Tulane woman's Club Lacrosse team did very well this past weekend at Emory's Play Day Tournament. I believe we only lost one or two games out of five. Our team is so much fun!! We had to drive to Emory, which is about 7 hours, but the girls made the ride go by so quickly. And we met some pretty cool teams once we got to Emory as well. We set up a lot of games for next semester, as well as recruited some more teams to come to the New Orleans Mardi Gras tournament. I'm really psyched for that. But for any of you guys interested in lacrosse, Tulane has an awesome club program. Our mens and womens teams practice and travel year round. The good news, though, is that the commitment is what you make of it. We just want as many people to come out and play as possible.

That's it for now! But I hope y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Officially Saturated

This past weekend was so much fun!! For the very first time since August, I saw a fellow Laker (person from Mountain Lakes)! And, even better... I saw her in NOLA!! She is one of a handful of prospective students from my area who came to check out Tulane. Ali came into town on Wednesday... and it was so exciting when she finally called me and said she was on campus, and in awe of it! Her enthusiasm resonated through the phone and, hearing her, I felt like I was a prospective student again, curious and enticed by the unknown. I remember that my first steps onto campus were ones of possibility, were steps into a world of what could be, or rather, what should absolutely be. I think so many prospectives get that same feeling when they first see the campus. The next day was a little crazy. Ali and her dad went to the French Quarter. I went to my classes, worked out, gave a tour, and then finally met up with my Laker Prospie and her dad! We walked around campus for awhile and then they took me out to dinner. I, of course, recommened Jacques-Imos (see ealier post for restaurant detail). On friday I invited Ali to join me for my last class... Religion and Politics. It's a pretty small discussion based class... so I think she got a really good feel for a normal class at Tulane.

After class we went back to Monroe (my residence hall), where Ali got to meet a lot of my friends and other students at Tulane. She was so wrapped up in conversation with everyone that I went to go do my laundry and hair while she learned more about Tulane. We both got ready together and then we went to the Boot for her to meet more people. Everyone embrassed her so warmly! It was so nice to see her so comfortable with students. Afterward Ali came with me and my friends to Fresco's, a restaurant within walking distance from campus. We went back to the Boot afterward... and then to a couple fraternity parties. We made it an early night, though, as Tulane's Campus Preview Day started in the morning and was an all-day event. Tulane's Campus Preview Days are hosted by Green Wave Ambassadors, and are days for prospective students to learn all about the school. On CPD's, we have lunches, tours, and panels. I love, love, love mingling with all of the prospective students and parents!! It's so much fun. Everyone is really eager to learn about the school... just as the GWA's are eager to inform people about the school and NOLA.

My last tour didn't end until 5:45. I was so tired. But I had to get energized because there were two huge parties at night. The first party I went to was a party called Saturate. It is an annual fraternity party that is actually ranked nationally as one of the best college parties of the year. It was by far the most unreal event I have ever seen. As a registered party, there was a lot of security. But once I got inside, it was like a whole different world. Every single room was painted and decorated to a tee. The themes were Hook, Casino, 007, cocktail, Beerfest, Studio 54, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and Willy Wonka. And all the fraternity brothers were dressed up for their assigned room. For Hook, one of the guys actually dressed up as Tinker Bell. It was hilarious!! Then we went to another fraternity party down the street. They had a huge stage with an band that played old 80's cover songs. It was so cool and I descirbed to my sister as the exact scene from Animal House when the band is playing in the basement and EVERYONE is dancing/singing to the music. That's the only way I can described the second party. It was so much fun. Not to mention that it was a gorgeous saturday night... not a cloud in the sky and the perfect temperature for a short sleeve dress... in NOVEMBER. I love Tulane!!!

Riding the Homecoming Tidal Wave...

A lot has happened at Tulane since my last post! Last saturday concluded our week long Homecoming celebration... and it was amazing. Tulane knows how to celebrate, so, unlike many other schools, Tulane doesn't just squeeze all of the excitement of Homecoming into one day... we have an entire week of events sponsered by USG and the Homecoming Tidal Wave Committee.

It all started on October 21st with a lighting ceromony and an introduction of the Homecoming Court. We also got to see step show performances (just like in Stomp the Yard). The rest of the week consisted of lots of free food and entertainment. I of course was eating it up (no pun intended)! Thursday there was a Tidal Wave Homecoming Music Festival: Hullabalooza. Groovesect, Sister Hazel, and Sugarcult each played for an hour or so... right on the LBC (Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life) Quad. It was unreal. On Friday we had a huge parade with the marching band, cheerleaders, and Homecoming Court. They all marched down McAlister Drive (it's like Tulane's Boulevard... dorms and Bruff and the LBC are all along McAlister). The Court members were throwing out Tulane Mardi Gras beads to all the students in the crowd. Then there was a pep rally and fire works. It got me so pumped for the Homecoming game the next day!

The game started at 2, but, like I said, Tulane knows how to celebrate, and students and parents and faculty and alumni started to arrive to the Superdome around 11 for the Tailgate. There were so many organizations with tents that Tulane actuaully took up two whole parking lot levels for the tailgate. Like always there was a live band (they play such good music... ie oldies, the Tulane fight song, Louisisana line dances, the Cupid's shuffle). The live music and the free food really amp everybody up for the game. So after eating some more free food... we all went into the Dome. It was such a good game! We played Memphis and were doing really well in the first half. Unfortunately, we lost by one; however, it did make for an exiciting game!! At half time the Court was presented and the queen and king were crowned. I was really excited because the President and Vice President of GWA were announced the 2007 Homecoming king and queen... yay for Green Wave Ambassadors!! So the game concluded our long week of Homecoming. It was so fun. And the gorgeous weather made it all the more enjoyable (it was 75 and sunny on saturday, after an atypical week of low 60's!).

Homecoming week was also special/so chaotic because my mom and grandma came to visit for Parent's Weekend. We had such a blast!! I hadn't seen either of them since August, so it was such a thrill to be able to reunite in my all time favorite city, New Orleans. We went to such good restaurants (Jacques-Imos, Cafe Amelie, Brennan's, LA Pizza Kitchen), and we went shopping downtown and on Magazine Street... i got some really cute clothes!! My mom and grandma also got to meet a lot of my friends! My mom even tailgated/went to the game with us. It was the perfect weekend.