Northern Exposure

I hope that title got at least a few smiles from my Michigan State gals. After my visit to Irvine, I headed back east (are you understanding my travel pattern yet?) to Michigan State. I had visited MSU in the fall for a recruitment visit so I couldn't wait to be back on the M.A.C.

Little refresher... They were my fourth visit ever so I was incredibly impressed with how patient they were with me as I was just beginning to get a grasp of how this job works. I was under the impression that Michigan was always cold but that was definitely not the case in the beginning of September. We were stashed away in the basement with about a bajillion fans blowing hot air around as the Delta Gamma Chapter members (not to be confused with the Delta Gamma sorority) recruited their butts off upstairs. I'm not kidding when I say the first day I walked to the basement, I felt like I was back in the South it was so hot and humid.

Previous President of MSU KKG

P.I.K.E.S.

Fast forward to this semester and I swear when I got off the plane, it was like the wind had been knocked right out of me. Very much like when I went from San Diego to Syracuse, I again was going from So Cal to East Lansing, Michigan. I don't think this needs any explanation but for the record, 30 degrees is not warm and is definitely not a heat wave.

Fleur de Lis PJ's- how cute is she!?

 If it didn't get so gosh darn cold, I think I would truly up and move to Michigan in a heartbeat. The chapter members I have been able to meet and spend time with are so amazing. They're the type of girls you can walk into a room and they instantly have a conversation with you about the most recent episode of the Bachelor or will invite you to their workout class that afternoon just because they're nice girls. They really know how to make a girl feel welcome- must be a Mid-Western thing :)

Birthday Girl!

 

 

Delta Province Meeting

<3

And what better way to spend my Valentines Day than with the MSU Kappas? I think the doorbell may have rang  about every 30 minutes with flower or card deliveries for the girls. Love was definitely all around and it was sweet how cute parents, boyfriends, and the Greek system in general was when celebrating Valentines Day. Too bad it fell right after the start of Lent... seriously though, such a tease. Or at least a tease for those who gave up sweets- I was not one of them so I was happily eating my single gals treat of froyo :)

Swirl with Reeses

 

When I was there in the Fall, the girls were explaining to me how close they were to the Pi Kappa Alpha Chapter. In fact, it's kind of crazy how many brothers/cousins/uncles/twins are in either Kappa or Pike. Naturally, the bus boys are Pike's too and after learning about the Pike firetruck in the Fall, it was one of my goals to get a picture on the firetruck. Within minutes of me expressing interest, Tyler (one of the Kappa/Pike twins) immediately made a quick phone call to one of his brothers and invited me over to the house to get a picture. Let me just say, this thing is OLD. It rarely ever leaves the garage but from what I can gather, one maybe two of the brothers learns how to drive it and passes it down to another brother and so on every year or two. Unfortunately the insurance had JUST expired (go figure) so I couldn't technically go for a ride on the truck but still, they put the siren on for me and I pretended to drive. It was fun but I think I'll leave the whole sexy Firefighter/firetruck thing to the boys.

I also got my butt kicked during my visit. Not physically but in a Bar Method workout class. I like to think of myself as decently athletic. I've been playing some sort of sport for almost my entire life and I played field hockey throughout college on the club team. Don't let the skirts fool you, field hockey is a tough sport. Bar classes though are unlike anything I have ever done. Writing about it now is making my body hurt... It's a class that combines yoga, pilates, isometric training, stretching, dancing and well (excuse my language but really there's no other way to get this across) it's a class that kicks your ass. Or at least that's how you feel afterwards. The classes are expanding all over so if you can, try one out. You may not be able to walk upstairs for a week but hey, pain is gain sometimes?