More Snow, Is that Possible?!?

So it’s snowing...what's new? In my four years in going to school in Wisconsin, I have never seen so much snow ever and I'm from Minnesota! The snow is just piling up everywhere, people don't even seem to know what to do with them selves and I don't blame them because even I'm having a hard time taking it all in. I will admit though, Ripon has never looked so beautiful and picturesque. This is by far the best winter that I have ever experienced. Yesterday my friend Trish and I decided to go on a little photography tour of the campus and we took pictures of some of the beauty that is the Ripon campus. Not only were we graced with snow, but we also had an ice storm that covered all the sidewalks and branches, giving the trees a pristine appearance. Now the campus may be pretty, but the condition of my car is far from that. I am so scared to go down to Storzer parking lot and see how much snow it is under. I'm really worried that I will not be able to move my car becuase it is stuck under so much snow. I'm really not looking forward to having to go down and have to move it. I predict that it will be a diffcult ordeal. I hope that everyone is staying warm, wherever you may be! Have a great Monday :-)

~Leila

Cupid has left the building!

So Valentines Day is over and done with and even though I didn't have a boyfriend to spend it with, I instead got to spend it with my closest friends. Last night we were quite a sight for sore eyes, completely bundled up in our winter gear, trudging through the snow to go and eat at Roadhouse, the best pizza burger joint ever! It was, let’s just say the perfect valentine’s meal. After gorging ourselves with pizaa, fries, burgers, and cheese puffs, we headed back for some movie watching and a chocolate eating frenzy. My best friend Trish and I enjoyed watching some Lost and Eli Stone, and then after we indulged in watching "The Count of Monte Cristo," a perfect Valentines movie! Today being Friday, I'm really looking forward to sleeping in and hanging out with friends this weekend. Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day, have a great weekend!

Red Hawk Spirit!!!

This week has been a pretty crazy one for me! On Monday, a very prestigious scholar in the communication field came to work with the senior communication majors and to also do a presentation for the whole campus on Elizabeth Cady Stantons "Solitude of Self" speech. Her name is Sue Zaeske and she was an amazingly interesting and intelligant women who we all learned so much from. She met with each of us and gave us her opinion on our forum papers, and she gave me a lot of positive feedback on what I wrote, which was really exciting for me. Tonight, my friends and I will be cooking dinner from our friends in the Merriman Fraternity and then we are all going to tonights basketball game. Today was Ripon Spirit Day, which means that students could win prizes if they were spotted on campus with Ripon/Red Hawk clothing on. Tonights basketball game is against Lawrence University which happens to be our biggest rivals, so it should be a really intense game! I'm really looking forward to that. Tomorrow is Valentines Day and I think it's going to be a girls night in, watching movies, painting our toenails, and other silly girly things. It should be a good time! Happy Valentines Day to everyone :-)

Leila

I'm always looking for an excuse to dress up!

Yay! Its the weeked! And boy am I looking forward to this weekend. Tomorrow night is Merriman's Valentines formal and I am really excited because I will be going with all my friends. I love any excuse to get dressed up and have fun! Aside from that I'm looking forward to just being able to relax, especially after having finished writing a big long paper last night. Due today was my paper proposal for my senior seminar course. I am doing an analysis of the "I Am African campaign created by the Keep a Child Alive Campaign. I think that it will be a really interesting topic because I am trying to understand what messages the campaign spreads about Africa and Africans. My paper isn't due until March 6th but I have already started doing alot of research to fill up the 20-25 page requirement!!! This week went by so fast! I like to think that after Wednesday the week just disappears. We are having such crazy weather too! It's been snowing like crazy. They actually had to shut the campus down early on Wednesday and that never happens! When its this cold, I just love to stay inside and watch movies, maybe sip some hot cocoa. Maybe that's what I will do this weekend, hopefully you'll get to do the same ;-)

Have a great weekend

Leila :-)

P.S. The picture is of Trish and I on the bus to Merriman Valentines Formal!

Baby it's cold outside!

Today was one of those days where I could have laid in bed all day, but unlucky for me I have things like class and work to attend too! Today is going to be a busy and hopefully really fun day. One of my sorority sisters has organized a murder mystery game for our house to play tonight and I'm really looking forward to seeing how that will turn out. I think it's going to be a lot of fun for all those involved. Last night I was a total political nerd and watched the State of the Union Address with my sorority sister who is also very interested in politics. It was a good time, picking apart the speech piece by piece. Today in my senior sem. class we will be doing review for our comprehensive exams and also working more on planning the forum that we will be planning later on in the year. Aside from class and meetings, I'm really looking forward to watching Nip/Tuck tonight! Gotta love Tuesdays! :-) The weather men are predicting really really cold weather tonight, all the way in the negatives with freezing rains and winds. I'm not looking forward to that drastic change in weather. I was getting used to the 30* weather! Stay warm everybody!

~Leila :-)

Back to School!

Its been forever since I've written so I have a lot to catch you up on! Soooo, this is my last semester at Ripon College! Aaahh :-0 I can quite believe it! This year has gone by so fast and I'm having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I have to get a job and move out of my families house so soon. So far this semester has been going great. I have two classes...yes you heard me right, two classes. Aaah, taking all those extra credits is finally payin off! I'm taking a French class about food and literature (not to shabby) and my Communication senior seminar class. Other than school, I'm still very involved in sorority and working in the admissions office. Meaning that I haven't been a hermit senior at all ;-) Right now, I'm in the process of studying for my senior communication comprehensive exams (written and oral) and planning a forum on Elizabeth Cady Stanton's "Solitude of Self" speech, that will be put on by the seniors in the comm. department. I'm also starting to search and apply for jobs! Oh man, so nervous about that. I actually had my first interview last Friday at Wells Fargo Financial and I think it went pretty well. They're going to let me know sometime this week if they want me to come back for another round of interviews. I'm excited to see what will come out of this interview, I'll keep you all posted! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday!

~Leila

Gobble Gobble, the turkeys gone!

I'm back to school after a wonderful Thanksgiving break! It was so nice to go home and see my family and eat amazing food, but I'm glad to to be back at school! Unfortunately final season is upon us, so this is really crunch time this time of year! I have so much work to finish in these next two weeks that I'm not to sure how I'm even going to pull this off! I have all sorts of papers and presentations to do, so I've resorted to creating the master "to-do list" to keep me organized. My favorite thing about coming back to Ripon after Thanksgiving break is seeing all the new decorations that are put up on campus. It was a most pleasant surprise my freshman year to see how much Ripon got in the winter holiday spirit, putting up trees in every building on campus, wreaths, and lights. It was a simple but wonderful pleasure my freshman year and it continues to be even as I'm a senior! Over the Thanksgiving break, my best friend Trish came home to celebrate the holidays with me because she lives in Texas. It was great to bring her home and have her experience my crazy family's Thanksgiving traditions. We had a lot of laughs around that table. I also got to see a lot of my friends from high school which was really fun. On Friday we attempted to go shopping early but didn't end up at the mall until 11am! We went to the Mall of America, and boy was that a shopping adventure! It was packed...reminder to self, never go to MOA on "Black Friday!" It's never a good idea, I didn't even get any shopping done! Over the weekend we checked out some movies too. We saw "Enchanted," which is the cutest movie ever! I suggest everyone go and check it out. We also watched "Stranger Than Fiction," with Will Farrell, a movie I can definitely add to my favorite movie list! Over all, It was a super Thanksgiving! I ate more than I should have and I had a great time with my friends and family. Hopefully everyone has recovered from their tryptophane overdoses and are having a great week! Wish me luck during this two weeks before finals crunch time!!!


Leila