Georgia on My Mind

Yesterday at 10:30AM, I said goodbye to my incredible fellow staff members and headed to Charlotte, NC with Diamond for my flight at 10PM. She wanted to avoid any traffic we might hit since we were taking I-85 all the way back and if there was an accident, we wouldn't be able to do anything except wait it out. It was better to be safe rather than sorry.

Since I left Georgia (and the South completely) a whole day ago, I felt as though I should take time to acknowledge all of the incredible people I met this summer. I know that if you're reading this, you're going to get mad at me for doing this, but I really need to.

I was originally thinking of writing a staff will, similar to the fourth year will, but I decided that since I want to go back to working with Duke TIP, I shouldn't do that until I am sure I am done. Instead, I'll just write things about the people I met. (Feel free to play this while reading: <3)

First and foremost, I want to thank my Allee Cats for being such an amazing group. I seriously don't know what I would've done without your silliness throughout term 1. You ladies are incredible... Please don't let anyone tell you different.

Sugar Cookies and Swag: You ladies are the craziest, but that is what makes y'all so great. Thanks for an amazing term 2. I couldn't have made it through without you.

Tim M: You were my fellow RHL. Thanks for dealing with my craziness all summer. You're an incredible spoken word poet and I know you'll do great things. Also, I better be seeing you once you move out this way.

Tim C: You'll forever be 'the stranger' thanks to the term 1 rules video. You are incredible and I am so excited that you'll be doing AmeriCorps at the same time as me, even if they are two separate programs. I hope I've inspired you to blog so I can stalk your experience there =P.

Carter: You were always kind of an asshole, but I think that's why I love ya so much. Thanks for always picking on me about Philly Cheesesteaks, even though you clearly have no idea what you're talking about. I hope you find yourself in Philly so you can have a real one and understand what I am talking about. Also, thanks for those nights on night duty. They were the bomb. Oh, and try not to scare any nice dogs, okay?

Steven: You always cracked me up, without even trying (TWO TOES! TWO!). Thanks for being yourself all the time and never caring what anyone thought. Also, thanks for being the new stranger and showing us your awesome dance moves. I still crack up thinking about the weird dance you did to walk out of the shot.

James: Even though you were new to term 2, it felt like I knew you all summer. You are incredible and I am so happy to have met you. Thanks for being the motivator for Hulk Smash during DAWGfest and keeping the kids excited. Also, thanks for making me laugh all of the time.

Vincent: You're the annoying little brother that I loved to hate. You were always getting into something, but it was all in good fun. Thanks for being a pain in the ass, but also keeping everything light on staff.

Garphil: One day I will paint you like one of my French girls and everyone will laugh. Even though you made us wait for you to go to lunch, I still love ya. I look forward to meeting up with you again soon (in Philly or DC!).

JD: I freaking love you. You are amazing and I don't know how I would've survived term 2 with you. I'm sad our time was so limited together, but you seriously made my term the best ever. I love ya and can't wait to turn up in TN with you <3

Becca: Even though we didn't spend as much time together as I would've liked, I'm glad that we had a blast together when we did hang out. Thanks for always having a smile on your face, but being sassy as fuck too.

Kris: You always said the funniest things and made me laugh without even trying to. Thanks for asking me to prom and then abandoning me. Also, thanks for singing 'YES' instead of 'Yeah!' with me so I wasn't so weird alone.

Emily: You are the sweetest person I know. I'm so glad we met this summer and got closer during term 2. You are an amazing human being... Please do not let anyone tell you differently. Also, thanks for watching Dr. Horrible with me and obviously singing along.

Diamond: UH-UH! You were with me from the start of my time at UGA and I seriously don't know where I would've been without you. Thanks for letting me vent to you and for swapping stories (you know what I'm talking about). I love you darling and can't wait to photograph you and Jordan's wedding =D.

Gianna: I honestly didn't think we would hit it off as much as we did. You are an amazing person and I am so happy to have met you. Thanks for the long nights on night duty and the silly dance moves at the dances. You helped to make my summer one I will never forget. I can't wait to see you when you visit so I can show you all things Philly and so you can fall in love with the city of brotherly love.

Desiree: You were the best RC buddy ever. I'm sad we weren't buddies for term 2, but I'm glad we had the same day off. You are one of the sweetest people ever and the least awkward out of any of the staff members (so don't worry about being awkward ever again =P). Thanks for being an amazing 'suitemate', even though you always locked me out of the bathroom. Hope to see you soon in DC, TN, or Philly.

Kaneisha: I'm sad we didn't get to know each other better, but I am still glad I met you. Thanks for bringing the sass right before lights out every night and for always making me laugh.

Olivia: Your snapchats were always the best, but I am not going to miss you snapping pictures of me eating. Thanks for being so incredible and for always being there, especially as a shoulder to cry on when I needed you most.

Sarah: Thanks for being our fearless leader. Thanks for always answering my questions, no matter how silly they were. Thanks for always talking through things with me, even if I figured out what I needed to on my own. You are going to be an amazing teacher and I know you kids will love you. Thanks for an amazing summer and for teaching me all about TIP.

Zach: You are the sassiest TA around. Thanks for signing with me since no one else ever knew what I was saying. You are the best and I am so glad I met you. I can't wait for you to venture up North so you can see Philly and understand the greatness of a Philly Cheesesteak. (I promise you it will change your life.)

William: You are amazing. I know you try to seem like you don't have a lot of feels, but I could tell you actually do. Thanks for the countless nights on night duty, especially the one with the vomit..... I am so happy you were there to help. Thanks for mario kart, Cookout runs, the BIG event, and TIPsync. Oh, and thanks for trivia too. You are incredible and I cannot wait to see you in Durham in November.

Jake: You are seriously one of my best friends. You killed roaches for me, listened to me freak out about life, hugged me when I cried because I was stressed out, and were always willing to actively supervise with me (even though you just wanted to bust TIPsters...). Thanks for helping with the residential stuff when you didn't have to and for always knowing how to put a smile on my face. You are an amazing person and I do not know what I am going to do without seeing you everyday.

The rest of Academic Staff: Thanks for going above and beyond all of the time. You helped to make Res and AC Staff feel as one instead of divided. <3

Now that I have all the feels, I think I'm going to stop writing. I seriously cannot imagine what my summer would've been like without the amazing people I met at TIP. I love you all so much and cannot wait to see you again. TIP is love and you all taught me that firsthand. Thanks for the memories and I'll be seeing you soon <3.

TIP Plague is real... and so is pink eye....

Everyone is dropping like flies here at UGA. Between bronchitis and the sudden pink eye outbreak, I am absolutely terrified to touch anything here. I hope that everyone starts to feel better before TIP prom on Thursday.
So let's recap the last few days....

Friday: I drove the Pharmacology students to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Headquarters in Atlanta. I had never driven that far since being here, but it all worked out.
The CDC was very interesting. I learned a decent amount about prevention of diseases and learned that only one disease has ever been eradicated from everywhere: smallpox. The next disease that the CDC is working on eradicating is polio. It has been eliminated from the US, but is still very prevalent in India. After our mini-tour of the CDC, we headed to Emory, a gorgeous university nicknamed the Harvard of the south, to eat lunch. There were not enough sandwiches for myself, Carter, and Zach, so we headed to Chipotle to grab burritos and burrito bowls. It was a damn good decision.
When it was time to leave, we drove back through a monsoon. It was terrifying because a) I didn't know where I was going and b) I couldn't see where I was going either. We made it back safely, though (no thanks to Carter and Zach who ditched me and I had to figure it out on my own.....).

Love my kids!

Best Staff Ever!

The Hunger Games Dance was that night. The kids LOVED it. I did my hair in a big bow and sprayed it pink in the front and blue in the back. Jake shaved his beard into a cool shape and dressed up as Seneca Crane. The kids thought that was the coolest thing ever. JD and I used gel in his hair to slick it down, which made for the perfect addition. (It took days for it all to wash out, though, and he had to use Dawn dish soap AND olive oil to get it all out... WHOOPS!)


Saturday: It rained for a good chunk of the morning, which I slept through until I heard a pounding on my door. I checked my phone. 11:07AM, two missed calls, twenty group-me's, and two text messages. What the heck was going on? I got to the door and saw Vincent standing there. He was asked to wake me up and bring me to the conference room for an emergency staff meeting. Whoopsies... I suck at waking up when my phone is on silent....
When I got downstairs, we were discussing options for the afternoon. The DAWGfest UF tournament was rained out so we needed a plan b. I was half asleep for most of the meeting, but I was awake enough to agree that trivia was our best bet. The kids would compete as RC groups, but the scores would be calculated by DAWGfest team to make-up for frisbee.
After lunch, we took the kids to the MLC 101 for trivia. There were fifty-six questions, which didn't seem like a lot at first, but as time went on it felt like there were entirely too many questions. The kids enjoyed it at first, but began to loathe it after a while. My girls had fun, even though they were not the best at trivia. Oh well, it took up time and the RCs had fun, especially making fun of the kids' answers to the questions. After trivia, we headed back to Myers to prep for the Gwinett Braves Game. YAY for not being rained out!
The kids seemed to enjoy the game. I enjoyed being there, but did not actually watch too much of the game since the RCs were told to supervise (which was fine with me). I had my first footlong hotdog, with cheese of course, and also had Dippin Dots for the first time, all for free. Yay for Braves bucks!
We left the game around 9:30PM and were back to Myers by 10:45PM. Lights out was at 11PM and then night duty began.
Night duty really wasn't bad at all, until about 1:45AM when we were informed that a student had vomited in her room. William, a TA, and I went to investigate. In my 3+ years of residence life, that was the first time I had ever had to deal with vomit. Guess there's a first time for everything, right?
We quarantined the student for the night so her roommate could sleep without potentially getting sick.
After the incident, I headed to bed around 2:30AM.

DAWGfest!

After our ground pound

Sunday: I was exhausted, but woke up at 9AM to drive kids to the Methodist Church downtown. It wasn't that bad, but all I wanted to do was sleep. After dropping the kids off at church, I helped choreograph my kids dance for TIPsync. They decided to do 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' theme song since I was born in Philly. (I told them I wasn't born in West Philly, but they still wanted to do it.) The dance was simple, but also hilarious. They had a blast creating it and were super excited to show it off that night at TIPsync.
After practicing, I picked up the kids from church and then we headed to lunch. When we got back, we all got ready for DAWGfest in the mud (YUCK!) and had our inspirational meeting on the balcony. I painted everyone's face with whatever design they wanted and then we headed outside to HULK SMASH.

Kris, Carter, James, and I repping HULK SMASH

Our team was not very athletic nor very full of spirit at the beginning. We found out we were in last place for sportsmanship and spirit so we decided to kick it up a notch. I had a pep talk with my girls to get them to lead cheers and to make everyone feel like winners. They took my talk to heart and cheered for all the teams and got the rest of our team involved. I was so proud of them for being positive role models and using their "fourth-year privilege" for good.

When everything was said and done at 4:30PM, we headed inside. I jumped in the shower and then headed to dinner with TIPsync committee so we could set up for the event before everyone arrived.
Vincent and William were MCing the event and Jake, Allison, Jalisa, and Zach (all TAs) were judging the competition. Carter ran the music, as usual, Kris tallied the votes after each act, and I photographed everything. We made a pretty good team.
The event ran super smooth and the staff even had an act. We let the kids pick the song (Wannabe, Tik Tok, or Threw It on the Ground) out of a hat. We told them we would make up a dance in five minutes and then perform. Luckily, the kids picked Tik Tok so there wasn't much planning involved. This time instead of me being Kesha, Carter was also Kesha. We called ourselves Kesha, Kesho, and the rest of Kesha. It was great. Someone filmed it so hopefully I will have the video to post soon.
After the event, the kids just wanted to get back to Myers for free time. We ate up some of their time by telling jokes. The kids were furious. We only took about about fifteen minutes total, but it really upset them. Oh well....

How's My Driving? 867-5309

Batmobile

Monday: I was on med pager, which was silent all day until dinner. One student had what she thought to be a concussion and needed to go to the clinic. I drove her and Gianna there. It sucked because we were both running real life Mario Kart for an evening activity and were worried we were not going to be back in time. When I got back to Myers, another student had to go to the clinic for pink eye. YUCK. I ran around and got everything together for the activity and called Jake to see if he and William could run it for us. They were happy to assist, thankfully.
When I got back, I was able to catch the kart making and the first race. We pelted the first racers with water balloons and had a blast. Halfway through the race, Gianna called and needed to be picked up from the clinic and taken to Walmart to get prescriptions. I'm sad I missed the rest of the program and that Gianna missed all of it....
Since William and Jake were so sweet to help, I bought them both Reese's and milkshakes from Chik-fil-a (since one of the students missed dinner we had to stop there). They were ecstatic for their free food. Gianna and I were super thankful for their help and could not (and still cannot) thank them enough for all that they do for Res Staff.
Tuesday: I went to Chik-fil-a with Sarah and experienced my first breakfast sandwich with chicken and biscuits. I do not know how I lived without them for so long. We went to the busiest Chik-fil-a in the world (which is not an exaggeration, but rather a fact) because they test out everything new first. It wasn't actually busy when we went through the drive-thru though.
After breakfast, we stopped at Office Max to get the termbook stuff situated. We saw the mockup and it looks great. I can't wait to see the finished product on Friday!

Prom-posal from Kris!

When I got back to Myers, I headed to ECV for lunch and then to Snelling to meet the Pharmacology class to drive for their field trip to Walmart. (They were doing a scavenger hunt for medications and food for patients.)
After the trip to Walmart, I took a power nap and then actively supervised the lobby from 4-5PM. We headed to dinner with Kaneisha's RC group and finally decided that we were going to do a 'spa night' for RC group night since our driver was sick and couldn't drive us to a restaurant (everyone has this damn plague....).
RC Group Night was fun. We ordered food, relaxed, watched the Fantastic 4, and painted our nails for Prom. It was a great bonding experience. After group night, I noticed a prom-posal on my door from Kris. It was so cute. Too bad she won't be at prom. (She's leaving TIP early since she is moving to Savannah for a new job.)
Jake and I actively supervised until 9:55PM when I ran into a student freaking out on the floor. I pulled him aside and asked if everything was alright, but he didn't really want to talk to me. He is dealing with a lot, but I told him that I am resource if he wants to talk. I think that made him feel a lot better about the battle he is facing.
Now I am on night duty, counting down until 2AM. All I want to do is go to sleep and then see my kids mock trial tomorrow (even though it is my day off....) and then go to trivia and hopefully get margaritas. I am in desperate need of a break and alcohol. The rest of the week is going to be rough since Saturday is the last day with students and Sunday I leave for PA. Holy shit... It's actually almost over.......
Until next time,
A
PS: Here's most of my kids performance at TIPsync.

12. 11. 10.

When I first started this post, I had 12 days left in Athens.... Now I only have 10 days left. Holy shit. It's very hard for me to believe this is happening. I'm ready to go home, but I'm not ready to leave all of the incredible people I have met here. I'm going to try not to think about it until closer to the end of my time.
Sunday was another long day. It started at 9AM with driving a few students and an RC to the Methodist church downtown. After driving, I worked on TIPsync advertisements and printed them.
Once I finished this, the students at church were ready to be picked up.
When I got back to Myers, I actively supervised until 11:45 and then met my girls for lunch.
We ate lunch and then everyone got ready for TIPstar.
This term, Desiree and I decided to do a Zumba activity. Zumba for three hours did not seem like a bad idea at the time, but oh man was it a workout. I wouldn't call it a mistake, I would just say it was much more difficult than I anticipated it to be.
The students had a blast. There were three different rotations and the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves. After about a half hour of Zumba, we moved to group dances including the wobble, cupid shuffle, and the cotton-eye joe. The kids had a great time with this part. We even taught them a new way to do the cupid shuffle and I think they are going to do it at the dance on Friday. Fingers crossed they remember how to do it!
After three hours of Zumba, I was exhausted. I ran back to my room and showered so I wasn't gross for dinner and the movie.
At 4:45, my girls and I met for dinner. We ate at OHouse and then went to the MLC to watch the Lego Movie. It was AWESOME. I seriously didn't think it was going to be that good, but it had me laughing out loud for most of it. I definitely recommend seeing it.
After the movie, we announced the prizes for the winners of the BiG Event. Third place won Hawaiian Punch, second place won a pineapple, and first place won a big spoon. The kids LOVED it.
Immediately after, we announced the teams for DAWGfest. I am on the Green Team again this term. WOOHOO! We had our DAWGfest meetings and decided that we are going to be Hulk Smash. I AM SO FRICKIN EXCITED FOR THIS SUNDAY! I GET TO BE THE HULK!
After the meeting, the kids had free-time until 10PM and then were in bed by 10:45PM.

One of the kids drew me

Monday was not a very exciting day. I honestly cannot remember what happened except for my blind contours program. The kids enjoyed themselves and learned a lot. It was a fun program, but it got really loud at times since the kids were talking a lot.
Tuesday was the day that I realized I only had 12 days left here. Everyone was really sad about my realization, but we have to face the facts at some point....

JD and I visited Vet Med

Tuesday was also my RC Group Night. Gianna and I took all of our girls downtown to Pitaya and Starbucks. I scored an adorable purple dress for $5, but it unfortunately not TIPpropriate enough to wear to prom. When we got back to Myers, one of my girls was asked to the dance by the guy she has a crush on. It was adorable. He gave me a package slip to give her and she went to the Med Room to get a 'package' and he was standing there with a sign, asking her to the dance. She actually cried. It was adorable.

JD and I visited Vet Med

Decades Day

Wednesday was my day off. Gianna and I drove to Atlanta. We left around 10:30AM and got there by 12:15PM. I was so excited to be there since I was going to see my best friend from South Africa, Sarah. Gianna dropped me off (it felt like my mom was dropping me off for a play date) and then Sarah and I headed to lunch at Friday's. It was so nice seeing her. We chatted as if no time had passed, even though it had almost been a year. (Terrifying to think about... It feels like just yesterday we were in the Loft cooking dinner together and grabbing white chocolate kit-kat bars from Spar....)

Jack Daniel's Lemonade

Sarah <3

We sat talking for hours, but it felt like time had flown by. Around 4PM, we headed to the Dekalb Mall to meet Gianna. Apparently there is a North Dekalb Mall and a South Dekalb Mall... Whoops! Sarah and I drove over to the North Dekalb Mall once we realized we were not outside of the same Macy's....


When we got back to Myers, Gianna and I headed to dinner. After dinner, we headed to trivia at the Blind Pig to spend our $25 house cash from last week. I had two Yuenglings and then split two pitchers with Jake, Chase, and Prashanth. (Apparently none of the girls ever want beer at trivia...) While we were playing trivia, I was super caught up in the Union game, which they had on the TV. I saw Ryan a few times, which was SO COOL and I pointed him out to everyone at my table. It was funny. Oh, and I got to see the Union win 3-1. WOOHOO! Our trivia team wound up coming in third place this week, which means $15 house cash for next week. WOO!
As soon as I got back from trivia, I passed out. I was so exhausted (and a bit drunk) that I just couldn't keep my eyes open.
Thursday, today, marks 10 days until I am back in PA. HOLY TOLEDO. WHY IS TIME FLYING BY!? I seriously cannot believe it....

Today has been pretty unexciting. I woke up at 11AM and got a few things done before heading to lunch at ECV. After lunch, Gianna and I went to Walmart for transport duty and bought 30 things of Play-Doh for $15. It was glorious. After Walmart, we picked up headphones from radioshack for a student and then headed to the bank to convert $20's to $1's and $5's. When we got back, it was just about to be free-time for the kids. Carter and I ran TIPsync screeings until 4:45PM and nearly died because the acts are hysterical this term. I can't wait to see them all come together on Sunday.
After the screenings, I brought my girls and Kaneisha's girls to dinner.

All the twins

Quadruplets <3

My girls were picking on me at dinner about Jake, asking me if he was my boyfriend. They still do not understand that guys and girls can be friends without dating.... Oh high school....
When everyone was done eating, we headed outside and my quadruplets and I took pictures together for twin day. Yay spirit week!

After our photoshoot, I sat in the office and worked on my dance-posal for JD, one of the RCs. I made a bow and arrow out of paper and a paper airplane to put the arrow in since it wouldn't actually launch. I planned on asking her to the dance during 9-10PM free time.
At 7PM, I ran a playing with clay program with Play-Doh. The kids loved it because they were able to mix a bunch of colors together to make a giant mess of colors. They had a blast, but they were SUPER rowdy. Who knew teenagers would get so excited about Play-Doh?

Play-Doh Tower

My masterpiece

At 9:15PM, I sent JD to the balcony. I changed into all black to look like Katniss and stood in the lobby. I shouted to her and said "I have a very important question to ask you!" and then tossed the plane to her. Sadly, it didn't reach. She came running downstairs and I tossed it to her again. She saw the arrow that said "JD, will you volunteer as tribute and be my date to the dance tomorrow? -A" and said "Yes!". WOO! It was so cute. The kids loved it and a few caught it on video. Hopefully this will kill the 'Allee and Jake' rumors that have been going around. Damn me getting along with guys better than girls....
After putting my kids to bed, I headed out to night duty. Carter and I already took a cell phone from a kid who was FaceTiming. (They are not the brightest kids.....) Hopefully the last 40 or so minutes are quiet.....
Tomorrow, I am driving to the CDC for the Pharmacology class field trip. I'm excited to leave UGA again.
This weekend is going to be hectic so I probably won't be blogging again until Sunday.
Until next time,
A

The first Saturday of the term should be canceled from here on out...

Friday was a long day. I was on student transport which meant I had to take a student to a mosque since he is celebrating Ramadan. Since I am a woman and am not Muslim, I had to wait in the car and another staff member, Terrance, took the student in the Mosque and listened to the service. I just sat in the car and called Tess to catch up since we haven't had a phone conversation in a while.

Hipster TIPster

When we got back to campus, I took the student back to his class in Aderhold. I was sporting flannel Friday and was wearing jeans, which was a terrible idea for the Georgia heat. Oh well...
At 4:45PM, I brought my RC group and Kaneisha's RC group to dinner. They all tried to rush through their dinners so they could get ready for the dance, but I decided to take my time since they did not need two hours to get ready. They were not happy about it.

Around 5:35PM we headed back to Myers to get ready for the Hipster Tipster Dance. My girls mostly decided to wear dresses and not really go with the theme, but I decided to go all out. I did two little victory rolls on top of my head and then curled the rest of it. I decided to wear high-waisted shorts that I made from mom jeans I got from the thrift store with a black v-neck and my orange flannel. The kids LOVED it. They said I looked so hip. It was pretty funny since I would wear that outfit without question.
The dance was a blast. The kids had so much fun, even though the lights were pretty much completely on all night. (Tate was apparently struck by lightening a few nights ago, causing the lights to get messed up...) Speaking of lightening, there was a huge storm and we had to drive 180+ people back to Myers from Tate. It wasn't a far drive, but since we had only seven vehicles, it took a bunch of trips to get everyone back safely.


After lights out, everyone met on the balcony for pizza and to hang out for night duty. Gianna and I were exhausted, as was everyone else, but we were the unlucky people on night duty until 2AM. Everyone headed to bed around 1:30AM, leaving Gianna and I to force ourselves to stay awake.
I finally passed out at 2:30AM and then woke up at 9:30AM to drive to Bear Hollow Zoo for the Vet Med field trip.
The Bear Hollow Zoo is a place where they rehabilitate animals and take care of them since they cannot be released into the wild. The kids had a very hands on experience and learned a lot about the animals.
The zookeeper took us 'backstage' in between two enclosures: the beaver enclosure and the alligator enclosure. We were able to get pretty close to the beaver, which was SO cute, but it was behind the fence.
After the behind the scenes tour, we headed to the reptile house and pet an indigo snake. It is endangered and is very rare to see anywhere anymore so it was pretty cool to see it up close and personal.
The last stop was the bear enclosure. They looked like giant dogs. It felt like we could get closer to them than at a regular zoo, but I could be wrong.
We headed back to Myers around 11:55AM and then headed to lunch.

I dressed in all black and was prepared to kick the TIPsters asses at Ultimate Frisbee at 1:30PM.
After lunch, we had the Staff vs. Student game. Staff Infection dominated as per usual. 13-6 was the final score and the kids were pissed. Oh well. =) I even played a bit and contributed to the team by catching and passing the frisbee. WOOHOO!

Proof that I helped!

Staff Infection

The kids had free time until dinner and the BIG event committee headed to dinner early so we could prep for the event. We had the strangest conversations at dinner, but we had a great time. (Most of the conversation consisted of Lilo and Stitch....)
After dinner, we set up for the event. Surprisingly, everything went super smooth and the kids had a blast. Also, NO ONE WAS SENT TO THE HOSPITAL! YAY US!
We actively supervised from 8:45PM-10PM and ran into a few issues.
1) I smelled hookah on the third floor and couldn't track it down. I notified the appropriate staff members and we eventually tracked everything down.
2) A student had a medical emergency while I was walking around and needed 911 to be called. I froze and then ran downstairs to grab the appropriate people. I felt as though I didn't do my job correctly, but Sarah reassured me that I did everything I was supposed to do. The worst part about the situation was that it was my student and I thought I had let her down. Luckily, she is alright now, but it was still terrifying in the moment.
After the insane incident, I had my RC group meeting, sadly missing one student, but my girls were very calm about the situation. When I left the meeting, I broke down and cried in the hallway and a few of my girls came out and reassured me that everything was okay. They are seriously the sweetest.
I stayed up on night duty with everyone since I had to check on my student at 3AM anyway and tried to sleep after that. I woke up this morning feeling like shit, but I got up to drive students to the Methodist Church anyway. Here's to hoping I start to feel better before TIPstar!
Today is going to be another crazy busy day, but I should be able to sleep tomorrow for most of the day (if no one has to go to the clinic....).
Until next time,
A

Days are long, but the weeks are short

Tomorrow is already Friday. The first Friday of the term which means HIPSTER TIPSTER DANCE. I can't believe the kids have already been here for almost a week.... Holy Toledo.
Let's recap this week:
Tuesday:
I went to breakfast with my girls at 8:15AM. This time, we sat in the right section of Snelling. After breakfast, I had to bring a student to class because he had forgotten his bookbag in the med vehicle, Haymitch, the day before. I dropped off med pager to Kris at 10AM and then fell back asleep until 1:15PM. I jumped in the shower and managed to only be five minutes late to the BIG event committee meeting.
We planned everything out and even made "We want YOU" invitations for all of the RCs and TAs to help out with the event. Surprisingly, we had almost all of the stations filled by Tuesday evening and almost all of the team leaders designated by Wednesday night.
On Tuesday night, Gianna and I hosted a joint group night in the 3rd floor kitchen lounge area. Our girls voted on "Clueless" and loved it. They ordered an absurd amount of food from Choo Choo's and Papa John's.  They also had popcorn. It was a giant food fest.
Nothing exciting really happened after that.
Wednesday:
My day off! I slept for a good portion of the day, went to lunch at ECV, and then went to Walmart to get supplies for the BIG event. We grabbed seven family sized bags of Rolos, three hula hoops, and three packs of Oreos. Oh! And four yards of white fabric for the flags.
When we got back to campus, Emily and I watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog, which is NO LONGER ON NETFLIX. WHAT!?! Also, a bunch of people had NO IDEA what it was. How sad! (Note: If you have not seen Dr. Horrible, look it up on Youtube. It's great.)
After Dr. Horrible, we watched Not Another Teen Movie and a few RCs and TAs popped in and out as we watched it.
At 6, we headed to dinner, carefully avoiding the kids. At 7, we headed to trivia at the Blind Pig.
Jake and I split a pitcher and then wound up getting a free pitcher. Our team, Just the TIP, wound up taking second place and getting $25 house cash for next Wednesday. Go team! (Go Dawgs!)

What I learned in art school

I skyped with my friend, Ryan, from home for about an hour when I got back. It was nice to catch up.
Around 11:45PM, I headed to the balcony to hang out with everyone who was on night duty. We decided to snapchat like CRAZY, causing Jake to delete the app. We then continued to annoy him by texting and facebook messaging him religiously. Poor kid.
Thursday:
I was woken up by a knock at my door at 9:44AM, one minute before my alarm was set to go off. It was Diamond dropping off the med pager stuff.  My day off was officially over.
I had to pick up Steven and two kids from the clinic at 11AM. They both needed prescriptions so we headed to Walmart to get them filled. During this time, I chatted with one of the kids about Jake, their TA, and gave him ideas of how to torment him in class. The kid loved it and decided to call Jake the 'Tomato Tornado' (Jake told us about this at trivia the previous night) when he got back to class.
After Walmart, Steven and I took the kids to lunch at Snelling. I grabbed a turkey, cheese, bacon, and onion sandwich. It was so yummy! (But not as yummy as it would've been with roast beef... Too bad they ran out of it before I got there =[) After lunch, we escorted the student to his class and took the other student back to Myers since he was quarantined. 
At 4:45PM, I took my girls and Kaneisha's girls to dinner. My girls decided to write "Allee <3 Jake" on my white board before I left because they think that Jake and I are a thing. They kept picking on me about it all night and I just laughed because kids don't understand that guys and girls can be friends. Silly TIPsters.... We've decided to keep telling them it isn't a thing (since it's not) and then he will do a grand Promposal for TIP prom to humor them. It should be hilarious.

(i)Phoneography

(i)Phoneography

After the kids came back from evening study, I ran my (i)Phoneography program. It went over EXTREMELY well. The kids loved it and said it was their favorite evening activity so far this term (even though they've only had two others, I'll take it.). First, I "lectured" the kids about iphoneography and gave them TIPs (get it!?) and tricks. Then, we went outside for about an hour or so of the program and then we came back in and the kids edited their pictures. They showed me their edits and I was incredibly impressed.
From 9-10PM, Jake and William came on rounds with me to actively supervise (and bust TIPsters). Luckily, no one needed to be busted. My kids, however, kept bugging me about the whole "Jallee" situation. Damn kids.
Now, I am on night duty. We are again snapchatting each other, but this time we have added drawings. It's great. I was turned into a cat, Carter was turned into a snake, and Steven was set on fire. It's been an interesting hour and a half.

Vincent has been acting like the annoying little brother to Steven and it has been hilarious. He just took Jake's Kindle and sat on Steven's lap. They began wrestling. It was pretty damn funny. And now he just left as if nothing happened.
Tomorrow, I am on student transport. Hopefully that means I won't have too much to do. I need to finish up a few things for the BIG event, but other than that, my day shouldn't be too hectic.
Until next time,
A

Please stop doing push-ups in the hallway....

Terrified dog button=best button ever!

Today started out at 7:45 for me. My girls decided to go to breakfast at 8AM so I was able to sleep in for a little bit. We headed to Snelling as a group and grabbed a table. There was another camp in the dining hall as well, which made it super crowded. This caused us to sit in a different area in Snelling than usual, which then caused me to get in trouble by my supervisor, in front of my kids.
I'm not saying it wasn't justified, but I just think it could have been handled a bit differently....
After breakfast, we headed back to Myers as a staff and Gianna, James, and I decided to make buttons of the terrified dog from move-in yesterday. We were only able to make four since the printer was out of ink, but tomorrow we are going to make more. It's going to be great.

Steak night at OHouse

After the buttons, I decided to take a nap.... a very long nap. I woke up to a phone call from Terrance at 1:20PM to take a student to the clinic.
When I came back to campus, I watched a few episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and then picked up Gianna and the student from the clinic. We had to pick up medicine from Walmart so it took us all through free time and then a little bit into dinner. I felt bad because my girls had to be taken to dinner without me on the second day. Luckily, I got there around 5:15PM, so I only missed about a half hour with them.
Tonight there was an interesting choice for dinner. I grabbed a salad, steak, mac and cheese, and potatoes. I think I was feeling ambitious because I had missed lunch, but oh well.
After dinner, I met with Desiree from 6-7PM to plan our evening activity, Scenes from a Hat. We had our program in the lobby and the kids seemed to enjoy it... Some more than others. Sadly, it didn't go over as well as it did with Term 1, but that's okay.

Scenes from a Hat

Around 8:30PM, I had to pick up a sick student from her RC Group Night downtown with Jake since he wasn't busy. I brought her back to Myers and was able to see the end of our activity. I wound up telling the kids not to quit their day jobs....
After the activity, we had to actively supervise the kids until 10PM. Jake wanted to bust some TIPsters so he came with me on my rounds. Luckily, there wasn't anything too crazy.
At 10PM, I met with my girls. We planned our group night for tomorrow, which is going to be watching a movie (possibly Mean Girls) and ordering food. It's going to be a nice bonding experience.
Around 10:30, one of my girls came to me with a cut on her leg. Apparently she cut it while she was shaving and needed a band-aid. We headed down to the med room and saw a bunch of guys in the hallway. They were supposed to be in their rooms at 10:30, but many of them were not abiding by that rule. I told them to go in their rooms, but a few sassed me and asked who I was. I was wearing my blue lanyard so they knew I was at least an RC. I told them I was Allee, an RHL, and it put them in their place. One kid, however, was doing push-ups in the hallway.... I never thought I'd have to tell a child to stop doing push-ups in the hallway, but there's apparently a first time for everything.
After lights out, I headed to the balcony for Night Duty. I'll be here until 2AM.
Tomorrow, I don't have anything to do until 4PM. YAY ME! Hopefully I can have my committee meeting for the BIG Event tomorrow at some point.
Until next time,
A

Fireworks & Booze, Training, and Move-in

This weekend has been interesting. For the first time in over a year, I was going to be able to see fireworks. Our day started off in orientation at 10AM. It was basically the same thing as term 1, but with a few new staff members. We did ice breakers before lunch with the Academic Staff. We did puzzle games that involved ordering ourselves 1-8 in nine squares. It was an interesting game. Then, we played a peg game that is usually played at Cracker Barrel. (Apparently it's a big deal down South.... I've only ever seen like one....) My group did pretty well with the peg game. We had two people directing us while we rearranged ourselves. It was very helpful since only two people were speaking rather than an entire group yelling at each other (which is what the issue was for the other group...).

Table at Cali n' Tito's

After lunch, the RCs and Academic Staff split up to do area specific training. The RCs were sent to a room, without our RLC Sarah, and had to watch a ridiculous video with instructions for our next activity. Basically, we were assigned a mission to discover the secret of beating the TIPsters as a staff.
We were told to meet at the staff lounge and to knock four times. Sarah opened the door and the room was covered in red yarn like lasers. We had to wear sunglasses and get everyone from the door to another part of the room without breaking the 'lasers'. Surprisingly, we were able to do it without breaking the lasers. Go team!

Cuban Sandwich

After this, we went our separate ways until 6PM when we met to go to Cali n' Tito's for dinner. (Funny that we went to a Cuban restaurant on America's birthday, but who cares.) I had a Cuban sandwich and remembered to order it without jalapenos this time. Definitely a good choice.


After dinner, we headed to Zach's apartment to celebrate the 4th.... and boy did we celebrate.
It was nice that we started drinking early because I was sober by the time I made it back to Myers around 1AM. We had a blast playing Never Have I Ever and an insane game of Truth or Dare. It was fantastic and it really brought the RCs and the AC Staff together (the people that were there at least....)
On Saturday, we met at 10AM again and planned out our duty schedules for the next week. After that, we planned our evening activities and went to lunch. We had a few more things to go over and then we had time to make the new rules video for the student orientation. Before we did that, we worked on door decs for about an hour. 
The rules video only took about an hour, maybe an hour and a half, to film. It wasn't that bad, but the editing was going to be annoying.

Selfie after the prank

Most of the staff headed to dinner at 6PM, but Emily, Garphil, and I waited a little bit so we could pull a prank on Carter.
We decided to make his room full of 'lasers' so he would have a difficult time getting around his room. This took about forty five minutes to do, but it was so worth it.

After dinner, we anxiously awaited Carter's reaction to his room. Sadly, he did not see it until about 2AM, when most of us were asleep. Garphil saw his reaction, but he said it was anti-climactic.
We finished our door decs and I headed to bed around 11PM, but I was traumatized by a cockroach that was on the wall in my bathroom. I called Jake crying since I knew he would kill it.
I then proceeded to have an existential crisis and wound up crying about a million things to him for no reason. I eventually went to bed around 1AM so I wouldn't be completely dead for move-in this morning.
I woke up at 7:15AM, slightly confused as to where I was for some reason. I guess I slept like a rock and thought I was at home. Regardless, I headed downstairs at 7:30 to prepare for the invasion of TIPsters.
Everyone hung out in the lobby until 8:30 when our first shifts started. I headed up to my floor and sat outside of my door until 10AM, rereading The Fault in Our Stars.
I had various shifts until lunch at 1PM and then I had to help hold down the fort during the parent meeting since Sarah, Rachel, and Jess were all running the meeting.
Of course shit hit the fan yet again, but we figured it all out (for the most part).

Perfectly timed snapchat

One of the most hilarious snapchats ever happened during this time, though. Carter and Steven were outside and a dog was tied up. Steven went to go take a selfie with the dog and Carter scared it right before it happened. The picture was so perfectly timed that I nearly died.

We headed to dinner at 5PM as an RC group and had a blast. My girls are hysterical and I can't wait to get to know them better.
We had a student orientation in the MLC after dinner and then had our first group meeting when we returned to Myers. This time, I did not cry.
Tomorrow, we are meeting at 8AM for breakfast. WOO. Then, I am on med pager all day and have night duty. It's going to be another long day.
Hopefully I can blog again tomorrow night.
Until next time,
A
PS Here's the Rules Video we made....

USA USA USA

Cervezarita

On Tuesday, we watched the USA game at a bar called Moonshine. It was nice because a whole group of us was able to go together and just hang out outside of Myers. I decided to drink since it wasn't too expensive and tested out vodka and coke. Surprisingly, it was pretty good, but it kinda snuck up on me....
After the loss, I closed my tab and realized I was only charged for half of my drinks. It was an awesome feeling considering the bar was full of sorority girls and I kind of looked like an outcast compared to them... Regardless, I was happy about not paying full price. Go me!
Once we left Moonshine, we headed to Fuzzy's, a Mexican restaurant down the street. I grabbed chips and a Cervezarita, which was just a frozen Coronarita. It had a LOT more tequila in it than the Coronaritas I was used to, but it was delicious.
After we left Fuzzy's, I broke my sandals. I was really upset, but changed my shoes once we got back to Myers. Once we were all settled, we hung out and played Werewolf. Two girls who worked the Myers desk came and hung out with us as well. We had a blast.
On Wednesday, we went to lunch at ECV and then went shopping at Half Moon Outfitters, right up the street from UGA. Since my sandals broke, I decided to invest in some nice Chacos. Sadly, they did not have my size in the color I wanted, but I was able to order a pair from another store. I was really excited.
After Half Moon, we headed to the thrift store to grab clothes for the 4th of July, since a few of us had forgotten our patriotic clothing at home. I found a red shirt and also decided to grab two pairs of mom jeans to cut into high waisted shorts (which I still have yet to do...)
We headed to dinner at OHouse and then to trivia at the Blind Pig. Our team did not do so hot, but we still had a good time. After trivia, we headed to Zach's apartment to drink some more and to play Uno. It became a very intense game very quickly so we decided to move onto a more exciting game called Family Business. It was basically a game of killing each others' mob families so we got really into it. I still don't fully understand it, but in time I think it will make more sense.
Today, new staff members moved in. I took a few people to get their IDs and also worked on door decs for the staff as well as for my new girls.

Around 3, I got a phone call that my Chacos were in and I asked Jake to drive me to pick them up. I bribed him with a milkshake from Cookout and he was sold.

Yummy Bruschetta

Everyone on staff who was on campus headed to dinner at Transmet downtown at 6:30. It was a cute little place that had delicious food. (It tasted even better because it was free.... since TIP paid for our dinners!)

BBQ Chicken Panini

After dinner, a bunch of us decided to grab milkshakes at Cookout and then headed back to Myers to play Werewolf. It was so much fun because we played with new cards and with some new staff members.
Tomorrow is our first day of orientation. Luckily, our day doesn't officially start until 10AM....
Hopefully we will get a chance to see fireworks!
Until next time,
A

Beef o'Bradys and Mama's Boy

PBR in Miller Lite cups

Sunday night was trivia night at the Blind Pig Tavern. Our team, Just the TIP, did not do so well. (And only two of us had been drinking....)

When we left trivia, we headed to Insomnia cookies and grabbed a bunch of cookies. Half of our group went to Kroeger, a local supermarket, and also grabbed cookies. The bottom line is that we had a bunch of cookies when we got back to Myers and decided to play Ultimate Werewolf.
Around 2AM, we all headed to bed.

On Monday, we headed to lunch at ECV as a group. Apparently, I am the only girl who ever wants to do anything, so it was myself and five guys. Everyone was making fun of me about not wanting a 'Philly' cheesesteak from the dining hall, but it seriously cannot be called a Philly cheesesteak if cheese whiz isn't even an option.....
Anyway, we sat around at lunch trying to figure out what to do since it was Nick's last day (he's one of the TA's who is going to Georgia Tech for Term 2). We couldn't think of anything super exciting so we decided to get a big group together to play Ultimate Werewolf. It was pretty funny. I got to be a werewolf, the seer, and the bodyguard (along with also being a villager a few times....). We had a lot of fun playing and just hanging out, but once werewolf got a little old, we decided to play a game with jellybeans.
Steven had a box of jellybeans that had two flavors per color. One was a normal flavor, the other was a gross flavor. It was basically jellybean roulette and it became a giant competition. It was hilarious to watch and kind of terrifying to participate in.
After the rousing game of jellybean roulette, we just kinda sat around until dinner, which we again went to at ECV. I was mocked again about the Philly cheesesteak thing, but this time it was "Allee says this is the best cheesesteak she's ever had.... Even better than the ones in Philly!" and it was to the chef. I nearly died laughing because that's definitely not true, but I let it go.

After dinner, we headed to Beef o'Bradys for another game of trivia. This time there were only five of us, but it was still a lot of fun. Carter and I split two pitchers of Yuengling (yay!) and were again the only people drinking. We lost trivia, but did not come in dead last, which was pretty exciting.
When we got back to Myers, we played Ultimate Werewolf again and had the Myers desk workers join in. It was a blast.
At 1AM, we decided to head to bed.

Scrambler with cheese grits and a biscuit

Strawberry lemondae

This morning, we headed to Mama's Boy for breakfast. It was DELICIOUS. Probably some of the best food I've had since being in Athens. (This was the second time I've been there and it was just as yummy.)

After breakfast, which was more like brunch, we came back to Myers to watch the rest of the Argentina/Switzerland game, which was pretty boring up until the 118', when Argentina scored. The game is still going on, but it's going to be over fairly soon.
Around 3:30, we are heading downtown to watch the USA game. I'm so excited!
Tonight we are going to yet another bar for trivia. I think it's a Mexican-themed bar, which means margaritas!
We have zero plans for tomorrow, but I'm sure it will involve trivia....
Until next time,
A