Making Friends

We have actually started to make some friends from the departments that we have been in so far and this weekend we had the chance to hang out with some of them and had a lot of fun.

On Saturday we went over to one of the professors from the pharmacology departments house and had mutton biryani. It is a traditional Indian dish made of spices, rice, and lamb. It takes about a day to make and they special order it from a person in Loni. When Courtney and I were in the pharmacology department the guys were appalled that we hadn't eaten it yet or even heard of it before so they said that we all had to eat it sometime. It was really good, probably one of my favorite things that we've eaten so far in India. It was quite spicy so it was best when we mixed it with some curd (a sour cream/yogurt type thing) and it actually ended up tasting very similar to a chipotle burrito bowl (which I have been craving recently) so that was really good.

We ended up just sitting at his house and talking for quite some time about a lot of random topics. One of the Indian guys knows quite a bit about America so we talked about America for quite a while. I think he knows more about America then we do, which is fine. We all also just joked around for awhile and they made fun of us for a variety of things. It was a great afternoon and I am so glad that they invited us over and made sure that we had this traditional Indian dish.

Saturday evening Courtney, Jill, and I went over to one of the ophthalmology resident's (Tanvi) room and talked with her for quite some time. It was really nice of her to invite us over and just chat about life with her. We learned more about India and the marriage customs as she is engaged to be married in January as well as her plans for after she is done with her residencies. She is a really awesome person to talk with so we had a great time just having some girl time.

Sunday night all of us went back to Tanvi's room and we brought pizza from the London Twist and she made us pasta. The pasta was so good especially since we haven't had any while we've been here. We spent a few hours in her room just chatting again and talking about all sorts of random things. It was a really great evening and so I hope that we continue to hang out with her during our remaining time because she is so sweet and just an amazing person to talk with.

What the biryani looked like 

Pasta and pizza

Beginning of Summer

Now that I have 4 weeks of summer to reflect on I have done quite a bit so far. I don't have quite as many pictures as the end of the school year because I have been slacking on my picture taking so I apologize for that. Here's a bulleted list with some explanations of things that I've been up to so far this summer:

• Watched my dad graduate from Hawkeye and then went out to eat at Peppers
• Went to zoo brew with Courtney
• Made dinner with Courtney, Meron, and Emily at Meron's house and watched the Bachelorette
• Had happy hour at Granite City with Courtney, Meron, and Emily and caught up on how our rotations were going
• Went camping with my family for Memorial Day at Saylorville (it rained most of the weekend which wasn't that cool)
• Started my rotation
• Went to Minnesota to visit Chris and met some of his friends and hung out with him
• Hung out with Erin, Marc, Courtney, and Chris at Jethros, Blue Moon piano bar, and the farmers market (was also my first farmers market of the year)

I've had a pretty good summer far I just wish it would be a little nicer outside and not rain quite as much. Some other highlights include watching the first season of Arrested Development on Netflix, getting to the 51st level of Candy Crush. 

End of School Year Rewind

Since Traci recently reminded me that I haven't posted in quite some time I decided that I would do a couple recap posts of what I've been up to lately. I really don't have an excuse of why I haven't blogged. I mainly just forgot about it.

The end of the school year was full of a lot of time spent with friends, which was really nice.

For relays weekend it was great to spend time with friends who came back to Drake and just seeing people that I haven't seen around Drake in awhile. Intervarsity sponsored a free taxi service and so Courtney and I helped out by passing out cards on Thursday night at one of the bars. We had some nice conversations with people and all the students were really excited and appreciative of the free taxi service and the ability to get home safely. The actual relay events were also a lot of fun and the weather was really nice so that is always a plus.  I also went along with some friends to all 4 campus bars, which was something that Courtney, Erin, and I have been talking about for the past year. We finally did it and had fun. I also ran my first (and probably only) half marathon on the Sunday of relays.

I also spent quite a bit of time with the ladies from yellow house. We did a lot of random hanging out those last few weeks of school, which was a good time. I'm really glad that these girls came into my laugh during pharmacy school because otherwise these last couple of years would have been quite a bit worse.

Some other highlights of the end of the school year included:

• VEISHEA: introduced Courtney to the celebration and also hung out with Isaac, Carina, and some of their friends
• Had my cousins bridal shower in the great town of Castana
• Courtney's parents were in town and we went to the Flying Mango (a restaurant where we have wanted to eat at since freshman year)
• Mother's Day picnic with my family and grandparents
• Pinning ceremony: all the of the pharmacy students got a pin and nametag before we went to go on rotations
• P3 party bus: after our last final most of our class went together on a party bus
• Finished my classes and took my finals now I'm done with classes forever

I think those are the only big things that happened in the last few weeks of school or at least what I can really remember. It's crazy to me that the school year ended 4 weeks ago and that I won't be in school anymore. It still hasn't fully sunk in to me yet. Here are some pictures from the end of the school year events:

Courtney and I at the parade

Siblings at the parade

Erin, Laura, and Nikki downtown

Some of the members of the old FYS reunited downtown

Chris and I at the relays

Pharmacy girls during relays

Erin, Courtney, Nikki and I at the library

Friends after the half

Family after the half

Grandma and me

Chris and me

At Flying Mango

With the mothers

With the grandparents

Family

Party bus

Pinning Ceremony

The start of many lasts...

I've been doing quite a bit of reflecting lately with friends as it begins to hit us that this really is the end of our college career in the classroom. As pharmacy students we've had a rather long period of saying goodbye to Drake and our friends.

I feel like I had a lot of "lasts" last year with the end of being a DG collegian such as: last formal, last night living in DG, last time being a student with many of my friends, last chapter, etc. As I said goodbye to a lot of my friends when they graduated it seemed like I would be at Drake forever. I mean I still don't graduate until May 2014 (which still seems like a long time from now), but now I'm realizing the year went rather quickly. It's still very strange to walk on campus and see people wearing letters that I don't know, or to walk across campus and feel really old since I don't recognize the majority of the student body anymore.

Now it's just starting to sink in that this really is my last week of classes. I will never again be a student going to class everyday, sitting in lectures, or going to labs (unless I decide to go back to school which is very unlikely). I won't be seeing the same group of students that I've been in class with pretty much everyday for the past 5 years.

Courtney and I were talking about all of this tonight at her house and just reflecting on our friendship and also just our Drake experience. I told her that I really don't think it'll feel real that I'm not a student until everyone is on rotations doing their thing and we don't see each other in class everyday. I was also joking/serious that it won't feel like it is really different until October when she's not in Des Moines with me anymore and we can't just call each other to hang out on the spot anymore.

It's also just strange to reflect back on these past 5 years at Drake. When people tell you it goes by fast so enjoy every minute you really don't believe them. Especially when you're having a bad week or are super busy with tests/projects/papers/etc it seems like this college experience will never end. But now I see how fast it really goes by. It seems like just yesterday sometimes when I was moving in freshman year and didn't know anyone. Now I really feel like Drake is my home and I can usually walk anywhere and see at least 1 person that I know (or at least recognize).

I also don't really think that I've changed that much since I was a freshman at Drake. I feel like the same person, but then when I reflect back on the past 5 years I see how much I've changed and grown. This has been a time for me to really figure out who I am and what I believe in. It really has been a time of me just being able to live life with people who have different beliefs, backgrounds, etc. and really learn from them and try and understand them better. College has really taught me so much about who I am and I think I'll be leaving Drake a much more confident person and someone who is much more sure of themselves. Not that I have things figured out by any means, but I at least am on my way and am much more comfortable with who I am.

So here's the a week of many more lasts: the last day of Monday classes, Tuesday classes, etc., the last time having a test in college, the last time sitting next to the people who have been there for me these past 5 years, the last....

I'm so thankful for my "Drake Experience" and all of the people who have been a part of it. For all of the times I hated pharmacy school (and I'm sure they'll be many more in these next couple weeks) I'm very thankful for the chance to be a pharmacy student at Drake. I'm also very excited/nervous to start my first rotation in a couple weeks and to learn so much more about what being a pharmacist really is about.

Thanks for reading through my mess of reflections and hopefully some of it made sense. Right now I feel like my brain is just a jumble of emotions/thoughts/etc. with studying and preparing for rotations that I'm not sure if it really makes any sense.

God is full of jokes

I thought that was an appropriate title as today is April 1. Also bare with this post as it could be a lot of rambling, but I wanted to get my thoughts down and I sort of planned the post during my drive home so it may make some sense.

 Today was the first official meeting of Drake Greek Intervarsity. I've blogged quite a bit about it over the past year, but today the small planning group of us actually expanded and we had a real meeting. We were expecting 1 or 2 additional people to our small group of about 6-7 and there was actually about 20 people that came. We were all pleasantly surprised. It just goes to show that God takes your dreams and desires and does things with them that are so much better than you could have imagined.

It's so crazy to think how all of this started and so awesome to be reminded that you never really know what small seed you are planting that God can use to grow into something really amazing. I never would have thought that my sophomore year at Urbana when Beth Ann talked about starting a Bible Study in DG that 3 years later we would be having a greek intervarsity meeting with representatives from 4 different chapters. If you would have told me that even last year when we got the idea to actually start something this would be the result I wouldn't have believed you.

It really shows me how much God is needed and wanted in the greek system. People are obviously looking for something and it's great that they're reaching out to a Christian organization to find that something. It also shows how much God can use people to really do his work. Today I was also reminded just how much God uses people where they are at and pieces us all together to make something awesome. Thinking about the DGs before me that were involved in Intervarsity, the people who went to DG Bible study with me, the people who met last year at Drake Diner to talk with Beau, went to Greek conference, and have been planning Greek IV this past year all came together and God used us to bring others that we know together for a common purpose and that is just so awesome. It's also crazy because it really was just people inviting their friends because we haven't gone to each of the chapters yet to tell them about it.

I'm glad that I've been able to be a part of this growth and see the group change even though it can be strange at times since I'm not really a part of the greek system anymore. I love that they still welcome me and don't find it to awkward that I'm still hanging around.

I'm still just in awe of how much God still surprises me and how awesome he really is. I also can't wait to see how much more he uses this group to change the Greek system at Drake and make it a place that really shows God's love to each other and is a community that really blesses those around them.

Spring Break-Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Friday was another disappointing and cold day at the beach. The moms (along with Kara for part of it) ended up staying out at the beach for probably about 3 hours while the kids went parasailing. After laying on the beach for awhile we ended up going back to the condo and watching some tv and reading. It was a pretty uneventful night-we watched the ISU game and they won so that was excited. We all also dreaded packing and leaving Florida for cold Iowa. We also had a little birthday celebration for Carina since her birthday is Saturday when we'd be in the car.

Saturday we all woke up got ready and packed up all of our stuff. We were all disappointed to be leaving and really wanted to stay. We ended up leaving the condo around 10 and were on the hunt for a waffle house for some brunch. We didn't have much luck finding one as the first one we saw a sign for was torn down and being rebuild and then the 2nd one was really busy. So we ended up going to cracker barrel instead. It was really good and I had some biscuits and gravy. Then we really hit the road and had an interesting car ride. At one point there was a lot of traffic and so we were stopped in the road. Our cars ended up entertaining fellow travelers around us and we also took some nice selfies in the backseat. The weather ended up not being as bad as our parents expected and there was just some rain in spots and snow in other spots, but nothing too bad. We ended up getting to Des Moines around 9 am.

Spring Break-Thursday

Thursday was another beach day. It was pretty nice out, but was a little chilly since it was pretty windy. When we left the beach for the day there was sand everyone. We then headed to a restaurant called Friendly's Tavern and Courtney, Carina, and I got the endless crab. I've never had crab before so it was an interesting experience for me. It was pretty good, but not my new favorite food. I probably won't ever order it again--I think I prefer it in things like crab cakes then by itself. I am glad though that I tried it since I was on the coast and that is really where it would be the best. I forgot my camera in the room when we ate the crab so I don't have any pictures of me eating it, but know that I did! After supper we then headed to the beach to take some pictures and watch the sunset.

Spring Break-Wednesday

On Wednesday we headed to a shopping area called Johns Pass and shopped for the afternoon. Most of the stuff was the typical touristy things, but there was also some neat shops that had jewelry and purses that were really cute. I didn't really end up buying anything but ice cream and a wine slush, but it was still fun to walk around and see everything. We also were on the boardwalk and saw some dolphins swimming in the ocean so that was pretty exciting.

Spring Break-Tuesday

Tuesday was the nicest day while we were in Florida. After running in the morning we headed straight to the beach and spent the whole day at the beach. It was really nice and I think we all got a little burned, but we didn't care since it was sunny all day. We then all headed up to the condo and got dressed up to go out for supper. We went to a restaurant nearby called the Conch and it was really good. I got crab cakes and coconut shrimp so was very adventurous for myself since I don't normally like seafood. It was really good. Here are some pictures from the day since there isn't really much more to say about laying on the beach.