Imagine Dragons

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Elaine

This year there was a special start to Spring fest with the Imagine Dragons concert. It was quite exciting because it was a gym full of TU students and many other people from around town. The whole gym was packed. I tried to get as close to the front as I could. It was really cool because I got nearly all the way up to the gate at the front. The show was fantastic because the band played all of their great songs and some that I hadn’t heard before. The concert was really amazing, especially since it was free for TU students. I was thoroughly impressed! The people in the band seemed very humble and not used to such large crowds. One of my favorite things was that for the encore, they all came out wearing TU t-shirts. It was really cool!

Spring Break!

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Elaine

I couldn’t go home for Spring Break this year because I had rowing practice. It was great to be rowing because in the beginning of the week the weather was really nice, and I just enjoyed being out on the water! However, the best part of the break for me was being able to see my parents! I am very close to my parents and not being able to see them in nearly two months has been hard because last semester I somehow managed to see them every month. Anyway, they came to visit me at the end of spring break! We had so much fun because we got to explore Tulsa.

We went to the Gilcrease Museum, and to some of the restaurants that I had heard had amazing food, and went shopping! In case you were wondering some of the best places to eat are: McNellie’s, Mod’s, The Coffee House on Cherry Street (as I have said before), Tally’s, Elote Cafe, The Brook, and The Phoenix. Although we only went to McNellie’s and Elote Cafe while my parents were here, I would recommend all of them! There is a lot of great food in Tulsa.

The Gilcrease was really cool too because students get in free, and it is always fun to look at new exhibits. It is slightly different from the Art Museum in St. Louis (where I’m from) because the Gilcrease has more art and artifacts from the American West. I also had fun shopping at the mall, but my mom said that her favorite place to shop is still Utica Square (which is really convenient because it is so close to campus). I really enjoyed having my parents here, and I look forward to seeing them again.

The Coffee House on Cherry St.

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Elaine

There is a really fun area here in Tulsa called Cherry St. (It is similar to the loop in St. Louis, if you have ever been there). One Saturday night my friend had her birthday party at Genghis Grill. We had stir fry, which was great because I haven’t eaten a lot of that since I have been here. They also brought out cake for the birthday girl and it was delicious. We were all going to drive back to campus when my friend Kate asked if we wanted to get some coffee. She decided that since none of us had been to The Coffee House on Cherry Street, that was the place to go. The coffee they gave us was in these adorable little mugs and they put the whipped cream in the shape of a leaf.

There was also a guy there whose moustache was quite impressive.

We were obsessed with the food and the drinks and went back the next day for breakfast. We decided that it was such a fun little place that we would go back every month just to enjoy it. So if you’re looking for a great place to eat you can try The Coffee House on Cherry Street.

TU service day

Posted on March 4, 2013 by Elaine

Service Day was last week! This is one really cool thing about TU. There were many different places that people could go to volunteer. Basically, you signed up to volunteer for the morning. Then you got assigned a time to show up, and buses would take you to your location.

My sorority got to go to a church and paint the walls. I had rowing practice that morning, so I did my service with the rowing team. We went around campus and checked all the yellow bikes (the free TU bikes students can check out for the semester) to make sure they were still there and see if there was anything wrong with them. I had a great time with my friends doing something to help!

Study Hall

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Elaine

As a rower, I am required to do a couple of hours of study hall each semester my freshman year. Most of the time I am surprisingly really productive, but other times I have no homework so I just sit here… like tonight. In this situation I find myself distracting my friends as they try to actually be good students. It is especially enjoyable and funny when someone yells to the whole room and asks:

“Hey anybody want to buy a pizza for $7.99? It’s a really good deal!”

Then as his comrad (the pizza guy) on the other end of the phone doubts that he completed his task he replies:

“Yes I asked them. I asked the whole room!”

I also planned an event to watch Mulan this weekend. That is my favorite movie, but I haven’t seen it in a long time so this weekend will be amazing! After a long week filled with 3 quizzes, a paper, 2 blog posts, and at least 100 pages of reading I think I am ready for a nice relaxing weekend. Next week, I look forward to the beginning of February and many fun events on campus.

Two Dinners and Lights

Posted on December 12, 2012 by Elaine

Today was wonderful! How coud it not be when you have two dinners? I had a final in the morning. It was my last final, and it went well. Then I went to lunch at the caf with some friends. After that I went to the gym with my roommate. Next I went out to Subway with my friends, but I didn’t eat anything because I knew I would be having two later. My first dinner was at the Hillel House. We celebrated the fourth night of Hanukkah (and ate latkes and some really good cookies that have nothing to do with Hanukkah.)

The Menorah!

My other dinner was at my friend’s house. She is from Nebraska and apperently pizza from Nebraska is the best so we had some, and I have to admit that the hamburger pizza was amazing! Although I am a sucker for desserts, and for dessert, they had homemade ice cream and brownies. Everything was so good!

Avery showing off the pizza

The last thing we did was go to Rhema Bible Church in Broken Arrow (a subarb of Tulsa). They have two million Christmas lights on dispthat are so pretty. They had a bridge of lights that was very cool. The trip there was definately worth it!

tunnel of lights

New Member Retreat and My First Race

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Elaine

Some fun things have happened recently. First was the new member retreat for Kappa, (see pictures below). The second is that I got to participate in a race for rowing called a regatta, but I’ll talk more about that later.

The retreat…first, the car I went in had a very difficult time getting there! Our GPS led us to a factory and a very creepy small house on a hill. When we finally got to the house, it was huge and we laughed because we were the second ones there and when other people arrived they said they had gotten lost too. We also ate a lot, which is one of my favorite things to do! Then we played a game where we had to guess who our bigs were based on clues. (A big is kind of like a mentor with which new sorority members are provided to help guide them through anything they might have questions about.) I refused to go first because I am shy and that makes me uncomfortable, but when I heard the clues I knew it was my big. Next we went upstairs and the seniors talked to us about what it means to be a Kappa, and because it was Kate’s and my birthday, they brought us cupcakes. Then we got to make up a song about Kappa. We decided to make a song based on Taylor Swift’s song Love Story. It turned out really cute. By the end of the night I was really glad that they had this event because it was so fun and it was a great thing to do on my birthday.

The other thing was amazing was the regatta. It wasn’t exactly a real regatta with medals and things but we raced Kansas in a scrimmage. Since I am more of a coxswain (the person that steers the boat) I don’t typically race in the boat, but someone got sick and I did get to race. It was really exciting because based on times our boat won 3rd which would have meddaled if it were a real race. I also was really excited to spend the whole day with my friends and get to see the experienced rowers. Because it was parents weekend my parents even got to see me row, which is awesome. All and all it was a pretty exciting race for me. I unfortunately don’t have pictures from this so just trust that it was soooo fun

Sometimes in college…

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Elaine

you walk into the hallway and there are a whole bunch of your friends out there just talking and laughing and you decide to join. It will only be for a few minutes you tell yourself, but then you end up talking to your friends for an hour and the homework you wanted to get done just has to wait awhile. There are so many funny and nice people here to talk to that sometimes you just end up getting a bit distracted. This month I had to interview one of my teachers for my business class. I asked him what was the best advice he had. He told me that while school is important and you should work hard and get the best grades you can, but you have so many opportunities in college that you will never have again so take advantage of them. If your friends asks you to go to QT with them (and they will) or there is a speaker that you really want to see or one of your teachers invites you to their house for dinner, take time out of your super busy schedule to enjoy this experience

Finals are coming!

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Elaine

This week has been very hectic because it is the last week of classes before finals. Everyone has tests and papers due this week which makes for a bit of a stressful environment, but it is interesting to see how everyone handles it. Personally I had a paper due right when we came back and that same day I had an oral presentation for English. The next day I had homework and a quiz in math. Wednesday was my last hectic day: I had a 10 minute french oral presentation that had to be completely memorized. Over the week I de-stressed by going to an event put on by one of the RAs. She had pumpkin muffins and cider, and we decorated things to put on our doors. I got a lot of bows, but they were all red and I decided I needed some Jewish representation because I am Jewish too so I made a “Happy Hanukkah” sign for our door to go with the Christmas decorations. My friend, Nicole, and I also decided to make masks to destress. They are for the masquerade function being put on by Kappa. I made three. I like two of them and then the other I don’t think is the best, but someone else said they liked so ehh it’s good enough. Nicole who had a test and a project due the day after we made the masks said they went great, and she feels really good about them. I think while it’s important to power through the work don’t forget to take a bit of time for yourself to relax. It’s been a good week overall!

Introduction

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Elaine

Hello My name is Elaine, and I am a Freshman here at Tulsa. I am from St. Louis, Missouri. My Major is energy management currently. I am also hoping to double major in elementary education. Also, in my MIS (managment of information technology) class the other day a woman came and talked about majoring in MIS, and I thought it sounded really interesting becasause she talked all about working in groups and thinking about new inovative ideas. It was quite fascinating so I might minor in that. I’m glad I have time to decide. I am also part of the rowing team here. I walked onto the team, and it is a large time commitment (20 hours a week) but I think I would actually be really bored without it. I also joined a sorority when I got here. I just joined because I thought it woudl be a good way to meet people. I never actually planned on joining, but the first night I just clicked with a couple of the girls in my house, and I decided that it would be fun to try. There is also a girl in my house who is on the track team so during philanthropy weeks we go to dinner after practices, which is good support.