All in with Althea

Welcome back to All In Althea for possibly the very last time.  Last time I ended my blog I mentioned that it was bittersweet and it's not that this time I don't feel the same but the senioritis has gotten to me, and I don't care about writing a long farewell post for my blog.  Dead week is often known for being the chaos before exam week but for me thats often not the case. I usually have many classes canceled and it's really up to me to lock in and get what i am supposed to do done. I see that many other friends and peers have hardcore dead weeks, especially all my friends in STEM. I wonder why its like this for me. Could it be my major or classes or professors or is it senior year or honestly just pure luck? I am definitely not complaining about it believe me I just think it's weird to see everyone so busy whereas I have more of a laid-back schedule for dead week.  I also don’t have that hectic of a finals week either compared to many others. On Monday I have my ...

Welcome back to All in with Althea! As the title says, it is indeed crunch time. With three weeks left of the semester, it's really time to lock in and get through these last few weeks. I have started to make what I would call an academic game plan to get through the final bit of this semester. I also wanted to share a little bit about my Thanksgiving Break. It started out pretty chill for the first few days. I just hung around with my parents and Ruby (when she did come around). It really started to get hectic on Monday and Tuesday through the rest of my break even up to working an early shipment shift at 7 am on Sunday.  Some break highlights include seeing the Broadway Musical “Some Like It Hot”, the new “Wicked: For Good” movie and obviously Thanksgiving day and eating delicious food even as someone who is not a huge fan of Thanksgiving food. My meal consisted of Mac and Cheese, Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes and of course homemade pumpkin pie.  My mom is a hardcore no Chris...

Hi everyone! I hope you all are getting through this week. I am so ready for this week to be over, and then I can go home and enjoy my break. I know for me that the week before a break from school drags on.  My plans for Thanksgiving break include first getting some hours at work because I desperately need money. I also plan on catching up on my senior thesis/capstone because that presentation is quickly approaching and I honestly have neglected this project which believe me I know is pretty bad.  My more fun plans include going to see the new Wicked: For Good movie with my mom and Ruby which I have practically been waiting for all year since the first movie was released last November. I also plan on seeing my childhood best friends Ashley and Alli. Our plan at the moment is to watch the Dancing With the Stars finale. This Sunday, my mom also found cheap tickets to the Broadway show Some Like It Hot which is touring and will be in Columbus for a few days and although i have ye...

Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well and staying warm in this snowy weather.  This weather has definitely got me in the holiday spirit. With the snow on the ground I am so ready to go home and decorate my room for Christmas, bake cookies, build gingerbread houses and watch holiday movies. Another thing I love about this time of the year is the holiday menu at Starbucks. I personally could drink an Iced Cookie Latte with Oatmilk all year but it being a limited holiday drink makes it more exciting and special. I know that Thanksgiving has yet to happen so maybe I should slow down on my excitement for the holidays but I wanted to talk about some of my favorite holiday memories.  My sister Ruby and I are typically the only young people around on Thanksgiving due to the fact of my cousins living in New Jersey and my dads sister doesn’t have kids so that means Ruby and I are usually bored out of our minds. So we've created a tradition these past few years of eating Thanksgivin...

Hi all, I hope you are all doing well. I don’t know about you all, but I am stressed. It is over halfway through the semester, and I have so much to do that I am quite literally drowning in schoolwork. I knew coming into this semester that six classes and 18 credit hours while doing my capstone would be no joke, and I am correct. Not only that, but I have been so busy with extracurriculars as well, and I’m sick, which is nothing new, just not great on top of my chaotic school schedule right now. This week has mostly consisted of trying to stay afloat and not hit my breaking point because any minute, I feel like I will snap.  I have the longest to-do list of assignments every day, and I am so behind on so many things, including my Capstone. This week alone, I’ve had two decently sized and important presentations. My strategy right now is just to take it day by day. I truly am just waiting for Thanksgiving Break so that I can finally have a break from school and responsibilities....

This week's post is gonna be a little different as I wasn't really sure what to talk about.  This month being liver awareness month which I know sounds pretty goofy but it gives me some reflection on the past four and a half years. I am not gonna talk about the downfalls of my health that I've mentioned several times over in my blog (but go check those posts out if you want) but this time talk about the triumphs I've achieved throughout college. One thing that I have overcome that would be probably my most prominent struggles I have faced is even attending college. I have probably missed more hours than I can even remember and or think of. That hasn't stopped me from making it through college. My professors here at Ohio Northern have been unbelievably helpful and kind. It is really hard even for many adults to understand and I have received more support than I could ever imagine here at Northern. It is moments like this that makes me think everything happens for a r...

  This week has been crazy, as usual. Wednesday especially. Not only did I have my classes, but right after my first class at 11:00, I had to run to the Freed Center classroom to have our client meeting with Switchbox. Only to get there, and the meeting had to be cancelled, but life and work happen, I understand. Then I had to lock in to get some school work done since I have many other obligations this week. This was my opportunity to get some schoolwork done.  After I did some school work, I headed to my second class, and wouldn't you know it? I had to run back to Freed for my advising meeting after that, for my last semester classes, and important senior information. And wouldn't you know, I had to run from that to the pharmacy building for an Alpha Phi Omega executive committee meeting. So finally, once that meeting was over, I didn't have to run across campus for something else.  I had more to do, though I still had much schoolwork to get done, and I pretty much work...

Fall break was wonderful. I was productive, and I got to relax and spend time with my family. I started my break by heading out of Ada around 10:30 am since it's only a one-and-a-half-hour drive home. During the drive, I was of course listening to the new Taylor Swift album, The Life of a Showgirl.  Once I got home and got some coffee, I went to pick up my friend from her house. We got to hang out all day and catch up on what is happening in each other's lives.  Saturday was my productive day of the break. My mom and I decided that my room and closet were out of control, and normally I wouldn't agree, but this time I did easily agree. We deep-cleaned the entire room and closet, including vacuuming, dusting, and quite literally took everything I owned out of my room to figure out how we should organize my space, and it only in the end took about three hours, which I would say isn't too bad.  On Saturday, I was also able to get some errands done, which felt nice to comple...

As it turns out, as excited as I was for the homecoming festivities, I ultimately had a spur-of-the-moment decision and decided to head home this past Friday. I don’t normally talk about my mental health, but the past two weeks have been rough mentally with my anxiety. So I decided it was best that I go home this weekend and hang out at home and see my parents. I think, although I had some FOMO, I made the decision that was best for me at the moment.  While at home, I got to enjoy many things I miss about home, including a couple of home-cooked meals, time with my parents, and the comfort of my own bed.  During my trip home, I also got to see the new Taylor Swift mini-documentary. This documentary was only in movie theaters this past weekend, so when I figured out I was going home, I asked my mom to join me. The documentary ran about an hour and a half with no previews beforehand. It started by premiering her new music video to “The Fate of Ophelia" and then ran through every ...

Hi all!! I hope you all have had a great week.  I started this week with my dad coming up on Sunday for Kappa Alpha Theta Dudes Day. I love it when Theta gives us the opportunity to show our parents and loved ones a sneak peek into our college life. This year's dudes day consisted of a cornhole tournament and just hanging out with our dudes. My dad and I opted out of the cornhole and didn't eat at the house, and instead went to the new Route 69 brewery in Ada for a late lunch. I would recommend checking it out if you haven't already. My week has been nothing less than jam-packed per usual. My Monday had something planned every hour of the day, starting at 11 am all the way until 7:30 pm. The rest of the days this week were still busy, but nothing compared to what Monday was like.  I am so excited for Ohio Northern's upcoming Homecoming celebrations this weekend. In Theta, we usually participate in the parade and have a get-together with our alumni. This year, we are hav...

                                                                                                                                       I turned 22 this past Tuesday! Something you may not know about me is that I'm a big birthday person. I love my birthday, celebrating other people's birthdays, and giving birthday gifts. Basically, birthdays are my jam. I just love it all. Well, anyway, as mentioned in the title of this week's post, it's “My Taylor Swift Year,” meaning in pop culture, fans of Taylor Swift and others have basically coined the term based on her song called “22,” and wouldn't ...

I am so tired, actually, scratch that, I am EXHAUSTED. I know I sound dramatic, but recruitment took everything out of me. It also doesn't help that once again, I got sick at some point during this time. As mentioned several times throughout my blogging journey, I am no stranger to not feeling 100% healthy a lot of the time. I swear it's from a million combinations of potential answers, but meeting so many new people and being constantly surrounded by people, not only in class but also in the recruitment, my immune system was bound to become overwhelmed.  Besides getting sick, recruitment was so much fun! I got to meet and talk to so many amazing people throughout this recruitment season. I love the ONU Greek life community so much, and every girl I've met is so sweet.  Getting sick wasn't the only thing that went wrong for me because that's just my luck. If you know anything about me, I am the most clumsy and uncoordinated person ever! Saturday morning, I was walki...

Hey, I hope you all have had a great week! This past week has been crazy for me, as I've said the last two weeks, and it looks like it'll be that way for a little while longer. I really don't want to complain, though, since I know at this time next year I'll most likely be missing these moments that I'm currently living. That being said, my goal, as I may have mentioned previously, is to really make the most of this last year at Ohio Northern. This has included me joining three new clubs, PRSSA, Delight, and, as mentioned before, the art club. I know this probably sounds crazy, but I thrive off being busy, and my thought is, when will I ever get to be a part of any of this again, so I'm going for it.  My school update of the week is that we started our Social Media Strategies and Campaigns group project. After the clients' presentations, we were asked to rank them in order of our wanting to work with them. I was fortunate enough to receive my top choice, a c...

As the fall semester starts, there are many opportunities to join new clubs and organizations, and sorority recruitment is my personal favorite.  I personally love it because to me it gets me out talking to new people and learning about others, which I wouldn't normally do. If you're not familiar with our sorority recruitment works or how it works here at ONU, I will break it down. Rush here consists of three nights of going to different houses and talking to the girls already in the sorority. The three rounds consist of Philanthropy, Sisterhood, and Preference rounds in that order. Philanthropy round is the most chill of the three formal nights; each chapter shows a video about their national philanthropy, and it's a good night to start getting to know the PNMS (Potential New Members) as they all make their way to each of the four houses, whereas the next two nights get more serious as both the PNMs and sororities drop each other and figure out where they see themselves fo...

Welcome back to All In With Althea! I honestly missed being able to update this blog; it's like a visual diary, and I love being able to share my life in this way!  My first week back has been hectic to say the least!  I started out by moving in last Tuesday for Klondike's Crew to help move in the new freshmen here at ONU. After that, I immediately got sick with a fever that night (thanks, chronic illness), but that's nothing I couldn't handle, even though it did still suck. I then just rested up and was back to “better” by Friday. Then, throughout the rest of the week, I was able to adjust back to campus life and get on a consistent schedule. I then had a very busy Sunday. I first went to the Welcome Fest, where all the campus organizations and clubs attend to recruit new members, and I helped out at the Art Club for my friend, since we are working on reviving the club. Later Sunday night, we as a Greek community at Ohio Northern came together to hold Greekpalooza, wh...