April 2015 ~ Springpear

Apr 16, 2015

Skiing

12:38 PM friends, fun, ski, skiing, snow, snowboard, snowboarding, us, usa 1 comment

It was kind of a rash decision, but the Friday before Springbreak, Martin, Micky, Brett and I decided to go snowboarding (and for me skiing). We left around 3 PM, right after our classes, and arrived at Mad River Mountain less than an hour later. After getting dressed in the car, Micky and I left to get a pass for the lifts and to rent a snowboard and skis. When everyone was ready, Brett left for the stunt park and the rest left for the slopes.

Because Micky was pretty new to snowboarding, we started at the green slopes. He was not even that bad, but let his fear get the best of him. This meant that he was going slower than Martin and I were intending to go. Because of this, we left him after a couple of rounds. We did some harder slopes and after that, left for the stunt park as well.

Later on, we all ran into each other again and decided to warm up a little and get a drink. I bought new gloves because it was -15*C and after that, we continued snowboarding & skiing.

At 8.30 PM, the slopes closed for an hour to get repaired. Everyone went inside the bar/ restaurant for dinner and waited it out. After this break we all went to the stunt park, after almost 2 hours and promising him a * of the year award, finally got Micky to grind. We stayed on the slopes until 2 AM, after which we went back to campus.

Martin wearing the ski pants I borrowed from B

Brent, Micky and Martin

Martin & I in the skilift

Me, Martin and Micky

Brent, Micky, Me and Martin

Big/ Little Reveal

12:00 PM big, family, little, pig, princess, reveal, sigma kappa, socks, sorority, usa, wittenberg No comments

After weeks of getting to know our sisters, and right before Springbreak, Sigma Kappa had its Big/ Little reveal. On this day, every pledge member got to know who their big sister would be and with that who their Sigma Kappa family would be. The pledge class had to wait in the basement while the other members finished some last preparations. Every little got one/ multiple socks to wear.

After a while, groups of five were asked to come upstairs. All the bigs had a blanket in front of them, and only their socks were visible. We had to find someone with matching socks: whoever was wearing those, would be our big. My big is Maddy, a sweet girl that is already a great friend. Seeing as she already had a little, I not only got a big and a grandbig (CMay), but also got a twin (Sabrina) and a niece (Amanda).

I'm proud to be a part of the "pig"/ "princess" family.

The socks we had to wear - our big would wear the same socks, which is how we could find out who our big is!

Littles their socks

Waiting on the reveal!

Behind every blanked is a big, about to be revealed!

Bigs! Maddy is standing behind the dark blanket

Me & My Big!

CMay, Maddy, Me & Sabrina and Amanda! - The "Pig" family!

Sigma Kappa Family

Dad visits! - Springfield, Cincinnati and Indianapolis

11:25 AM cavaliers, cincinnati, concert, indiana, indianapolis, maroon 5, museum, ncaa, ohio, pacers, reds, sports, springfield, travel, usa, wittenberg 1 comment

We got back to campus on Tuesday, in the late afternoon. We had dinner in the CDR and I went to class after. I did some homework after class and got to catch up with some of my friends.

After my 8 AM class on Wednesday, we left for Cincinnati. We started our day in the Signs Museum, just outside of downtown Cincinnati. This relatively new museum was filled with old neon signs (which are a big thing in the U.S.) and information about these signs. We didn't stay for too long, but it was fun to learn some more about something so typically American. We spent most of our day wandering around downtown Cincinnati, hanging out around the Reds stadium and having a snack in one of the many sports bars surrounding the stadiums. We left during the afternoon to watch the Imitation Game, a great movie that still leaves me speechless. We once again had steak for dinner (my mind was set on eating as much meat while my dad was visiting as possible), this time in an Outback Steakhouse.

Thursday we spent in Springfield. I had some classes that I had to go to, and my dad wanted to see some more of campus. I went to my morning class and joined my dad in the library to do some work. Ross, one of Neo's host parents, picked us up at 12.30 PM for lunch. Ross and my dad got along well, and it was fun to see that Ross knew basically everyone in the restaurant we visited. After lunch we went back to the library, had dinner in the CDR again and after that I went to my night class.

Friday, after my classes, we left for Indianapolis. As soon as we arrived we checked in, dropped our bags, got dinner and went straight to the Bankers Life Fieldhouse to see a game between the Indianapolis Pacers and the Cleveland Cavaliers (NBA). We had great seats and while it was a shame that Lebrun James could not play, the game was great. The Pacers won.

On our way back to the hotel, we noticed that Maroon 5 was playing THE NEXT DAY in the Bankers Life Fieldhouse. We were already planning on spending Saturday wandering around Indianapolis, but now it seemed that we were staying there another evening too. We spent the day seeing monuments, the NCAA Hall of Fame and the Indiana State Museum. We finished our day by having dinner at Hooters and seeing Maroon 5 perform, which was a dream come true for me. The drive back was a long one because of the horrible weather, and we got back around 3 AM. We had a sleep over in my dorm room, which was a lot of fun.

We had to get up early because we had no idea how long it would take dad to get to Columbus again, but still had time for breakfast at Panera. After that it was really time to say goodbye to my dad.

The Signs Museum in Cincinnati

The Great American Ball Park (Cincinnati Reds)

Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati

Cincinnati

Just had Nacho's in a sportsbar in Cincinnati

Wittenberg University New Residence Hall

Texas Steakhouse in Springfield, with Sarah and Vicky

Wittenberg University

Dinner! In Indianapolis

Bankers Life Fieldhouse, home of the Indiana Pacers

Indiana Pacers

In the Bankers Life Fieldhouse, home of the Indiana Pacers

Indiana Pacers vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

Civil War Monument in Indianapolis

Indianapolis

NCAA Headquarters

Maroon 5 Concert in the Bankers Life Fieldhouse!

Maroon 5

Dad visits! - Chicago

8:09 AM break, chicago, dad, gapyear, iceskating, millennium park, museum, restaurant, usa, vacation, weekend No comments

I was beyond excited when my dad told me that he was going to visit me. I couldn't wait for him to see where I was currently living, for him to meet my friends and for him to get a taste of what my life in the U.S. was like. I was also a little excited to eat food that wasn't form the CDR, to leave campus and get to see some more of the U.S. My dad arrived Friday afternoon and after giving him a first glance at campus and at my room, we left to have dinner together. I didn’t realise how much I had missed my dad until I saw him again.

We didn't make it a late night on Friday, because early Saturday morning we wanted to drive to Chicago. The drive took a little longer than we had anticipated, because the Ohio weather had decided overnight that it was time for quite some inches of snow. During the drive, we made a few pit stops, one of them being the Waffle House for some breakfast. It was my first time ever eating there, and it was endearing to see that people from the village that we were in all came there to have a cup of tea or coffee and to chat a little about the weather. We made it to Chicago in the afternoon. Our first stop was an outlet centre, to get the shopping out of the way ;) We bought way more than we were planning to, and found gifts for most of our family members. The drive and the shopping had tired us out a little, so we once again didn't make it a late night, planning on making the most of the following day in Chicago.

Sunday was amazing. It was freezing outside, but in the sun the cold didn't seem so bad. We spent a good part of our day in the Millennium Park. Not only did we walk around, enjoying the skyline, sculptures and the Bean, we also went ice-skating. It was fun to finally ice skate again (I realised that I did really miss this) and it was even more fun to do so with my dad. After a while we got tired and decided to hop onto the underground to get to the Museum of Science and Industry, one of the best museums in Chicago. The museum was incredibly large and had many interactive exhibitions that could keep my attention all day long. When the museum closed, and we had to leave, we decided to go out for dinner and to see Kingsman in a movie theatre close to our hotel. It was a busy but fun day.

Monday was our last day in Chicago and we made sure to make the most out of it. We were so intrigued by the Museum of Science and Industry, that we decided to go again. We had barely seen half of it on Sunday, but had seen most of it at the end of Monday. We also got to see a documentary in the ONIMAX theatre in the museum on D-Day. I had no idea about some of the behind the scenes actions and strategies that were used on that day, and am still impressed by how precise the plan of invasion was. To make this experience even cooler, we got to see one of the very few U-boats that were captured during the war. I cannot get over how interesting it was to see one of them in real life, and to learn more about their role and about how big their role in the war was. After the museum we went to the Watertower, where we got dinner and where we were trying to find a gift for mom and Jules. We spent our last night in Chicago catching up.