How To: Pack for Spring Break

My Spring Break is next week, and like I do for every vacation, I made a packing list.

I divided it into Beach Wear, Beach Gear, Clothes, Toiletries, Other, and Don't Forget.  I figured this was the best way to categorize all the things I needed.

I'm going to Gulf Shores with 10 girls and we are all super excited! We are leaving Saturday and coming back on Thursday, with plenty enough time to recover for class on Monday. I got a book that I plan to read the entire week while laying out.

I'll post a full recap of all our adventures when I return!

xx, C

Sister Spotlight: Mary Clare

I haven't posted in a while, but I'm back now! I want recognize my BFF 4EVA Mary Clare! We only met less than a year ago but it seem like we will be friends forever (and I hope we are).  We met on the first day of school of Freshman Year going out for Boy's Bid Night and have been friends since.

Us and our other bff, Claire, are known as the Trio (full trio post to come soon).

I'm living in the Delta Zeta house next year with Mary Clare and we are very excited about it!! Room 105!! We have a Pinterest board for possible room themes called MC^2! We also have a shared photo album with the same name for all of our sassy selfies! Our signature pic is a shared drink pic, pictured below!

Traveling Turtle: Home

I'm from a city right out of New Orleans, so naturally every year I celebrate Mardi Gras. Classes were cancelled Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. My friend from Memphis had never been to New Orleans so she came home with me.

Friday

We went to a small parade in my hometown. We hung out with my parents and their friends, pretty uneventful, but still fun.

Saturday

My friend and I meet up with a girl and some other girls in our sorority that lives right off the Endymion Parade route. We has some crawfish and king cake before we headed off to watch the parade. It was tons of fun!! I loved hanging out with my sorority sisters outside of planned events!

This is my big, she is pretty cool :)

 Sunday

We went to the Thoth Parade Sunday morning. Every year we watch it in the same spot; in a really nice area that isn't too crowed.

(We also met some nice 610 stompers)

Monday

Since my friend has never been to this area before, we decided to go on a swamp tour! There is one 15 minutes from my house. I've taken tours before so it was fun to see her experience it for the first time. We only saw one tiny tiny alligator because its too cold for them to be out. But, we did see some huge hogs!

The boat we rode

baby alligator

Mardi Gras Day

Another one of our friends drove down to spend the day. We decided not to go to the city and go to Biloxi instead. It was a good way to not sit in traffic and be crowed but also still experience Mardi Gras Day!

Traveling Turtle: Tunica Falls

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day I grabbed two of my friends and went hiking at Tunica Falls! Tunica Falls is a natural area, about a hour and a half away from Baton Rouge, that has beautiful waterfalls and views. It feels you are not even in Louisiana anymore! Doing this hike was one of my semester goals and I have been wanting to go for about a year, so I was very very VERY excited it was finally happening.

Overall, it took us about 3 hours to hike. We didn't do the entire thing, we just saw the main waterfalls. Some parts were pretty steep but all in all super fun

It was a perfect day, not to hot, not to cold, all I needed was a light jacket.

Took this with a selfie stick but it broke right after :(

Six Ways to be PREPARED for This Semester

It is always better to be over prepared than underprepared! Here are six things you can do to make this your best semester yet. I get super nervous going into a new semester with new teachers.
Here are some things that I do to make sure I am ready!

1. Print out the Syllabus (even if you're not required to)

Most syllabi have the entire semester outlined with due dates and all that good stuff. They have the teacher and TA's office hours listed, and basically everything you would ever need to know about that course. Print it out!!! Stick it in the cover of your binder, in your folder or tape it in your notebook. If you have a question of when something is due, you can access it before asking your teacher and them responding, "Did you even read the syllabus!" If you can access quickly while in class, then when a teacher changes a due date or office hours, you can quickly write it down instead a hoping you just remembering or losing the sticky you just used.

2. Write down important due dates from the syllabus you printed out!

Get out that snazzy planner you haven't been using all break! In my planner I use different colored marker for different events. I use pink for all my sorority events (geaux DZ!). I use blue for school stuff. I mix it up every now and again but it just makes it easier for me read, when I see something written in black I know that I have a dreaded math test on Friday. I also write down school holidays and my sorority events.

3. List all things needed for each class

I make a lot of lists so maybe this is just a me thing. I like to write down each class I'm taking and what I need for each class. When I get the item I need I draw a line through it. This is helpful for me so I don't get what I need for each class mixed up.

Math

Buy Online Access Code

Buy used textbook from Tiffany $25

Get HUGE notebook

Sign up for wiley.com

Interior Design

Sign up for tophat.com

Buy used textbook at bookstore

Get small notebook

Communications

Find used textbook

Buy small notebook with folder pocket

4. Make a tentative schedule for each day of the week

I like to write down my classes for each day of the week along with when I am going to lunch/dinner/gym. This helps me keep on top of things before I completely memorize my schedule and habits.

Monday
6:30 Wake up
7:30 - 8:30 Communications
8:30 - 9:30  Landscape Architecture
11:00 Lunch
5:30 Dinner

Tuesday
8 Wake up
9 - 10:30 Geography
10:30 - 12 Interior Design
12 - 1:30 Math
1:30 - 3 Accounting
5:15 Dinner
6 Meeting

Wednesday
6:30 Wake up
7:30 - 8:30 Communications
8:30 - 9:30  Landscape Architecture
11:30 - 12:30 Math Lab
1:00 Lunch
3:00 Workout
5:30 Dinner

Thursday
8 Wake up
9 - 10:30 Geography
10:30 - 12 Interior Design
12 - 1:30 Math
1:30 - 3 Accounting
5:30 Dinner
7 Workout

Friday
6:30 Wake up
7:30 - 8:30 Communications
8:30 - 9:30  Landscape Architecture
11:00 Lunch
1:00 Workout

5. Write down your goals

Two posts ago I shared my "Semester Goals" board. (I recently hung this up in my room and I'm very excited about it!) I am really aiming to get a 4.0 GPA this semester so that is my main goal; while also trying to be more organized. Writing down what you want to achieve makes you more motivated and able to achieve it. Especially when you see your goals everyday.

6. Take a deep breath

This semester is going to be what you make it, so make it great! Take a deep breath, it will be fine. Stay of top of your assignments, study before you need to, and don't procrastinate!

xx - C  

Traveling Turtle: Breckenridge

I recently traveled to Breckenridge, Colorado to ski! I left on January 3rd and came back on January 8th! It was such a fun experience and I can't wait to go again next year! 

Every year LSU takes a group of kids (about 2,500 students) to a different ski resort. This year it was in Breckenridge. I got to ski for four days straight and my body definitely hurts from it. My family and I go skiing about every other year; so it was fun to experience skiing with college kids and some of my friends.

The town of Breck is super cute! There are a lot of places to shop and eat on Main Street. The slopes are really nice and groomed as well. Most of the blue slopes were not to steep. I know how to ski but I am not an expert, so I stuck to mostly blues. The first three days it was sunny, the last day it was snowing all day, but it made for good #freshpow. Although I did attempt a black diamond (not a good idea) . I somehow got stuck in the tress by going the wrong way. It took my friend and I 30 minutes to get out, but we survived!!! But it was all fun and made a good memory!

Every night we were there, we got to go to an event. The first night a band from Louisiana, Bag of Donuts, played at one of the concert halls. The second night, a band played at one of the bars. The third night, The Expendables Band played at the concert hall.

Overall, it was a very fun experience; 10/10 would recommend Breckenridge!

The beautiful view

About to go down the black diamond

girl down

xx - C