Still Standing

Intersession was a nice break from TIP. Even though I was on campus and surrounded by my staff, it didn't feel like they were my staff members anymore. Instead, they felt more like friends. We spent our intersession visiting the longest (still standing) covered bridge in Georgia, climbing an iron horse, visiting redneck beach, and going tubing in Helen. The days blurred together, but they were a blast. I feel like I really bonded with many of the staff members who were still on campus.

Sliding Rocks are awesome!

When we went to the covered bridge, we discovered some sliding rocks. One of my RCs and I decided to slide down them into the water. It was definitely an experience I am willing to repeat. (Hopefully during one of my days off, I'll make it back there.)

Iron Horse

The iron horse was exactly what it sounds like: a giant iron horse. It used to be on UGA's campus, but people hated it so much, they would set it on fire. Now, the iron horse resides in the middle of a field and people visit it and climb all over it. (Which is exactly what a few of us did.)

On the last day of intersession, we headed to Helen (about an hour or so away from Athens) to go tubing. It was a group of five of us that decided this would be a good idea. It was $5 per tube for two hours (more than enough time) to float down the river.
We were driven by bus to the put in point on the river and then had to make our way down the river.

Tubing in Helen with the best!

An RC and I strapped our tubes together so we could float down the river together. It was by far the best and worst decision we could've made. We got stuck a bunch of times on rocks, but together we made it through! At one point, a small child was stuck on a set of small rapids. The RC and I tried to help the kid over the rapids, but old man river tried to take us as sacrifices. The RC was pulled down and the rocks were so slippery they kept falling. It was quite the comical situation. A few moments later, old man river struck again. We were stuck on a rock and I got off of my tube to help move us. It was a big mistake. I wound up falling all over the place and wiped out in the middle of town. (The river flows in the middle of town and there were a TON of people outside eating lunch.) Luckily, I will never see those people ever again.

Once the falling and slight humiliation ended, we floated down the river with very little trouble thereafter. For the most part, we had a really relaxing day. A few of us have some battle scars (bruises, pulled groin muscles, cut up knees, etc.), but for the most part, it was a good day.
After old man river let us go, we headed back to Athens for trivia.
Trivia night was great. A ton of us went and decided to call ourselves the Mortal CombaTIPs since we had a few non-TIP people there. One of the TAs from last year, William, came back for trivia and to hang out for a few days. I was so happy I was able to see him. Our team came in third place and took home $15 house cash. WOO! Can't wait until Wednesday to use it on a few pitchers. (I can already foresee needing them...)

So happy to see William!

After trivia, we headed back to Myers to get ready to go to the bar for one drink with William. We headed to Manhattan's downtown, which was basically a dive bar. (THERE WAS FREE POPCORN!) I grabbed my first Creature Comforts beer called Athena. Creature Comforts is an Athens brewery and I definitely recommend the Athena. (Side note: Does Creature Comforts exist in the Philly area? I definitely prefer it over Terrapin...)

Wednesday was spent with staff members switching rooms and moving back into Myers hall. It was a lax day. The next morning we had training. The pouring rain was enough to cure the drought in California so the admin staff drove to the building in which we had training. Our OC was able to come as long as they brought the office laptop, which was part of the reason why we drove.
Training went fairly smoothly. Most of the academic staff is new, but only two RCs are new to the staff. Luckily, the RCs are not new to TIP, though.

After lunch, Res staff had an afternoon of team building. I made a video (with some help from the OC and APA) for the RCs to watch before heading to the staff lounge to complete a task. (See video 1.)

I set up the staff lounge as if there were lasers everywhere. It was a blast. (Again, I had some help from the APA.) I think the staff really enjoyed the little team building event.

After the mission impossible scenario, everyone met in the piano room for more team building. Our next activity involved moving a hula hoop around the circle of RCs without letting go of the hands they were holding. Once they made it around the circle in under forty-five seconds, we upped the anty: Two hoops around the circle in opposite directions in under one minute and fifteen seconds. My staff was so on the ball they did it in one minute and nine seconds.

Our last bonding activity of the afternoon was the human knot. At this point, I was able to jump in and participate. We split into two circles after one giant circle was just a big mess. The circle I was not a part of untangled themselves fairly quickly. The circle I was involved with took about a half hour to almost untangle from. Sadly, we did not untangle, but we saw how we needed to do it. (It was just damn near impossible because of the tight spaces.)

The rest of our meeting involved picking days off, RC buddies, and committees. It was a pretty chill afternoon.

4th of July!

Saturday morning was spent planning duties and evening activities for week #1 followed by a meeting with the Counselor to discuss student issues. After this, the staff was free to complete door and hall decorations and enjoy the holiday. A few staff members and I went to get pedicures since we had completed all the prep for arrival day. (BEST DECISION EVER!)

When I returned to Myers, I took a nap and then went to dinner at Cheddar's where I was able to get a $5 giant frozen margarita (Happy birthday, America!). After dinner, we met up as a giant group to see fireworks in the Publix parking lot. It was definitely a great way to end training before students arrived.

Sunday was the day from hell. The room was not set up by conference services for check in and the conference hosts did not show up until about five minutes before students were due to arrive. To say I was freaking out is an understatement. My staff stepped up and helped wherever they were needed and my RHLs and RPA were basically my saviors. I probably would've had a giant freak out without their assistance.

Once the students started to arrive, hell broke loose. I guess that's what we get for having such an easy first term, right?

First there was a leak in one of the rooms that the TIPsters were going to occupy. Luckily the TIPsters and their parents were very very sweet, but I still felt horrible about the situation. We wound up having to move the two students in the room to the second floor, which is the floor where the female students reside. (The two TIPsters that needed to be moved were male...) This should only be temporary, but even still, it is quite inconvenient for everyone involved.

After this issue was resolved, we had a few grumpy parents giving me a hard time about not providing the students the wifi information. (It is definitely not my fault that your kid needs to take an AP test/final during TIP...)

Oh, and then a student ripped out a light from the hallway. WHO DOES THAT!?

Anyway, the parent meeting went much smoother than last term. I was on the ball and was ready for the questions that were thrown at me. I think the parents were much happier about leaving their children with us since they have already had a month with them whereas that was not the case last term.
After the meeting, I returned to Myers Hall. A ton of TIPsters still had yet to check in and by the time dinner rolled around, about ten were still missing. We called RCs and found out that some of the students just forgot to check in with me at the last table. (Yay for teenagers!) We were still missing a few kids because of traffic so the admin team skipped dinner to wait for the kids to arrive.

So excited to be stuck together
on Arrival Day

When 5:45PM rolled around, the OSD, AC, CO, and myself needed to leave for the student orientation meeting. We were still missing a few airport kids, but everything was falling into place. (Aside from one TIPster who did not arrive from the airport until 11PM, everyone was on campus who needed to be!)

The meeting ran extremely well and there were very few questions. I met with the fourth year students and talked about being positive role models. The students understood their responsibility as the big dawgs on campus (see what I did there?) and kept saying "yes ma'am" to me. It made me feel like I was actually kind of in charge (for once...).

I returned to Myers Hall and ran into a few more student issues. A set of friends in an RC group wanted to switch rooms so they could be roommates. I had to explain to them that this was against policy, but they would not listen. They kept coming up with hypothetical scenarios (most of which involved milk for some strange reason...) to try to get me to say yes.

After this, I ran into one of my male RCs who invited me to join his RC group meeting. It was nice to feel part of a group again. Here's to hoping a few RC groups adopt me!

Once I returned to the office, there was an issue regarding a student needing to be moved. Luckily it was not one of the students with whom I was speaking prior. I brought in the two RCs that would be affected by the change and tried to figure out which student would be best suited for the switch. After one failed attempt, we came across the clear answer. This student had a really good friend in the other RC group and was ecstatic about being in that group for their last year.

This issue was resolved with very little hiccups. I returned to my office and my glass soda bottle I had from term one shattered soon after. It wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't having such a shitty day, but that was the cherry on top. I had to clean up all of the shards (with help from the OSD) and I started crying. I was just so upset about all of the things that happened during the day that I couldn't hold it in anymore. I was slightly embarrassed, but quickly got over it.

After the mishap with the glass bottle, I met with my staff on the balcony to go over a few things before everyone headed to bed. I was much more stern than usual and I think I freaked my staff out a little bit. I just wanted to make sure everyone understood the importance of answering their phones and doing what they are supposed to do. I think these kids are really going to test us this term so everyone needs to be on their toes and prepared.

When I woke up this morning, I felt great. I don't know why, but I finally felt refreshed. Hopefully this feeling lasts longer than just the morning.

The rest of the day should be pretty relaxed. It will involve TIPstar planning, making buttons, and an admin meeting. We just found out that our site supervisor will be visiting us from Main Office on Thursday and Friday. I'm excited, but also a little nervous. Fingers crossed it all goes well!