go blue aimee

Starting off with a Bang!

2008-11-01T17:06:00.002-04:00

When bands come out with a second album, they often have to watch out for the “sophomore slump.” Fortunately, that same logic doesn’t apply for my college experience! My freshman year was so much fun that I thought it would be impossible to top, but, as usual, I was wrong. I’m more than halfway through the fall semester of my sophomore year, and I’ve never been happier.
I have felt more joy in the past few months than I have in my other nineteen years of existence. Yes, there are classes to go to and homework to do. Yes, Michigan football isn’t looking so fantastic. And yes, I know that the arctic-like Michigan winter is fast approaching. But I am feeling so great this year, I don’t think those little things can shake me.
So why all the smiles? One of the reasons is that sophomore year has given me more opportunities to take classes that I love. I just declared a Psychology concentration with a minor in Urban and Community Studies, which will hopefully prepare me for the School of Social Work in a few years. Instead of just fulfilling LS&A requirements, now I can take classes that I find truly fascinating, like Developmental Psych, Social Psych, and Intergroup Dialogues. Trust me – it’s a lot easier to roll out of bed and trudge to class when it’s a subject you love!
Also, I’m a Dance Marathon dancer captain this year! Last year I was a dancer, and it was one of my best college experiences. This year, I decided to take the next step, so now my awesome co-captain Rachel and I are leading a team of dancers. I can’t wait to raise money for our family and get to know them better. A few Sundays ago, UMDM had a Pumpkin Carving event and we got to meet our family, and our kid, Christopher. They are so much fun, and we’re planning on going to one of his indoor soccer games, which will be great.
Those things have been fantastic, but the greatest influence on my life this year, by far, has been New Life Church. I just moved to South Quad from Couzens Hall this year, and was feeling a little lonely and isolated from people I had met last year, so this has just been such a blessing. I’ve met so many fabulous people, and I have never felt more loved in my whole life. Even when the world is crazy around me (final exams, drama among friends, etc.), I have found somewhere and something that can give me peace always. It has been so refreshing, and nothing has ever brought me so much joy!
So basically, my sophomore year is awesome so far! I’m just hoping that it stays this great, but I have a feeling that (for the most part!) it will.

And the Winner is...

2008-04-04T16:22:00.001-04:00

As if my opinion actually mattered, I’ve decided to give out my own little “Best of Ann Arbor” awards. I’ve been here at the University of Michigan for almost a whole year, and I’ve seen and done so much! Just thought I’d pass down a little bit of my knowledge…
Best Dorm Food: Bursley’s Cafeteria. I don’t live on North Campus, but if I did, Bursley would be my savior! It’s big, spacious, open all day long, and has great food. What could be better?
Best On-Campus Food: Beanster’s (at the League) or The Blue Apple (in Bursley). Don’t get me wrong, there’s usually nothing wrong with cafeteria food, but every once in a while you need a break. Both of these places are amazing because the food is fresh and not greasy, and the sandwiches are FABULOUS. Even better, they accept Entrée Plus, so you don’t need any real money. A piece of advice- I highly recommended the California from Beanster’s. Try it and you will know!
Best Coffee Shop: Espresso Royale Café. Whether for studying, catching up with friends, or just a cup o’ joe, ERC is my favorite place to go after class. There is always a hustle and bustle and fun music playing in the background, so you can go there to study, but also have fun. It’s a great break from the deafening silence at some of the libraries. But if the study environment isn’t what you look for in a coffee shop, it also has a lot of big comfy chairs to chill out in so you can spend hours talking to your friends there.
Best Clothes: Urban Outfitters. OK, so it isn’t very original, but there aren’t too many clothes stores to choose from within walking distance of campus! But the clothes are cute and unique, and there are always plenty of little knick-knacks to play with and books to read when you don’t have enough money to buy anything.
Best Little Place You’d Never Find: Getup, this teeny tiny vintage store I found wandering one day, the kind of store that you’d never notice until you already knew it was there. You have to go up these sketchy-looking stairs to get there, but the shop is really cute and whimsical once you’re inside. Everything there is one-of-a-kind and reasonably priced as well. Cheap + Fun = Awesome!
Best Study Spot: The Dude! That is, the Duderstadt Library on North Campus. I have to take a bus to get there but it is SO worth it. It’s so much easier to focus when you aren’t on Central, and Pierpont Commons, which is attached to the Dude, has a lot of food for when you need that 2 am study break.
Best Place to Relax: Relaxing? What’s that?!? Well, with finals coming up, there isn’t much downtime, so you’ll have to discover this one on your own!
Of course, this list is all just my opinion. Ann Arbor has so much to offer! There are hundreds of delicious restaurants, tons of great places to grab some coffee, and an almost never-ending number of study spots. When you come to the University of Michigan, explore and experience everything. You never know what you’ll find!

My Best 30 Hours

2008-03-20T18:59:00.001-04:00

Last weekend was probably the best 30 hours of my life. No joke.
So in my past blogs, I’ve been writing a bit about the Dance Marathon, but during the past few weeks, it has been hitting us full force. Weekly meetings, dance choreography, writing more letters – and then it all culminated at the 30-hour-long Dance Marathon.
UMDM raises money for pediatric rehabilitation all year long, and it ends the year with the Dance Marathon, when dancers stand for 30 hours straight. The day before it started, I was terrified. I kept asking why I was going to torture myself like this. Going without sleep for thirty hours is one thing, but standing for that long? Ridiculous, right?
I walked into the Indoor Track and Field Building at 10 o’clock Saturday morning with butterflies in my stomach. But I was immediately overwhelmed by how much there was to do. Crafts, games, great performers and speakers (Mike Hart, anyone?), a late-night rave, lip syncing competitions, and of course, the infamous line dance, that we would learn step-by-step for the next day until it was over 10 minutes long. I thought that I couldn’t last, but encouraging words from my friends, teammates, and morale captain made the time fly by. By the morning, my feet were sore, my back needed a serious massage, and I could barely keep my eyes open, but words can’t describe how great the experience was. Not only did I get to bond with a great group of amazing people (Team OO!) and raise money for children (Over $450,000, thankyouverymuch), but the Dance Marathon showed me how much this organization actually helps. After 29 and a half hours of standing, a boy came up to the stage and played Five For Fighting’s “Superman” on the xylophone. Tears were streaming down my face while I thought of what a hard time kids like him have every day, and I felt so privileged to be part of a group that would help give him a better life.
At 4 o’clock Sunday, tired and practically delirious, all of the dancers collapsed onto the floor and made their way home. Before an hour had passed, I was dead asleep in my bed, not moving until late the next morning, but the weekend was definitely worth it. The Dance Marathon was the highlight of my year, and I can’t wait to do it again.
Exhausting? Yes. Draining? Oh, yeah. Emotional? Of course. But how rewarding was it? Beyond words.

P(Fun on Valentine’s Day) = 0

2008-02-15T10:15:00.004-05:00

When most people think of Valentine’s Day, they picture chocolates, flowers, romantic candlelit dinner, all the usual clichés. Most people, however, don’t imagine spending their Hallmark-holiday taking a Statistics exam.
Well, that’s how my day went! Actually, it’s been more like a week-long marathon event. Every day after class, I trudged through the falling snow and sub-zero temperatures to Expresso Royale, where I could attempt to get some studying done. It goes without saying that I chose a coffee shop over the UGLi for the social scene; studying is so much more enjoyable when you can sip a chai tea and chat with your friends while pretending to do work.
But don’t get me wrong. I DID work hard for this exam! Office hours, study sessions – I did it all! But I’ve come to learn that over-studying is my biggest downfall. Everyone needs time to relax, or your brain just burns out. Especially with Spring Break coming up, when the professors are relentlessly piling on the projects. Great Books midterms, Psychology projects, and homework galore!
But back on topic.
My romantic Valentine’s Day dinner consisted of Ramen noodles while feverishly reviewing my Stats notes. Then the REAL (note the sarcasm) fun came when I had to walk from Couzens to the Chem Building to actually take the exam. On a good note, though, the test ended up being a lot easier than I thought it would be, so at least that was a nice little gift!
After a Valentine’s like that, the weekend couldn’t come soon enough! My real Valentine’s celebration will be on Saturday night, when my church group is having its annual dance. I can’t wait to get all dolled up and dance with my best friends. Because that’s what Valentine’s Day is all about, right? Relaxing (absolutely no Statistics involved) with the people you love!

Craziness and Chuck E. Cheese

2008-02-01T16:28:00.001-05:00

My planner has never looked crazier! Every page is filled with classes, homework assignments, test reviews, meetings…the list is never-ending. It’s overwhelming, but I’m hoping that I can handle it. I mean, after all, it’s only a month until “Spring” Break.
For example, the Dance Marathon, as usual, has been a blast! We’ve been writing tons of fun letters to our kids, and I actually got a chance to volunteer at the hospital a few weeks ago. A few others and I made pillows with some of the kids there. It was awesome- and I can’t wait until I get a chance to do it again. And then last weekend, the rest of Team OO and I took our families to one of the most fun places ever: CHUCK E. CHEESE! After spending the last month in a state of perpetual stress (the stress that comes with orgo tests is hard on everyone…even though I’m not in the class!), it felt amazing to just take the afternoon to eat pizza, play skee-ball, and win cheap prizes.
Now, though, I’m back to my real, college life. But as much as I complain about how busy I am, I can’t imagine my life any other way. I can hardly remember before I was here. During my Great Books discussion, I was staring out the window and saw a group of high school students and tour guides wandering around the Diag. And to think just a year ago I was one of them!
As cliché as it sounds, college really does open up a whole new world. Where else can you spend one day going to Chuck E. Cheese with a bunch of kids and the next at a roundtable discussion about global warming sponsored by Focus the Nation? And outside of clubs, everything is totally different. I finally feel like I might be, maybe, growing up. By choice, I’ve watched the presidential debates, I’ve discussed Plato even when I didn’t have a paper due on it, and I’ve learned about the issues surrounding the University and our country.
Well, maybe I’m not ready to be totally grown up. I have to admit, Chuck E. Cheese is WAY too fun!

Back to the Real World

2008-01-15T16:30:00.001-05:00

Winter break went by WAY too fast, but I have to admit, it is nice to be back! I came back to Couzens and it was right back to how it was last semester – lots of fun, loudness, and, of course, insanity! My friends from the hall and I spent Wednesday night catching up, talking about our holidays and New Year’s, watching movies, and trying to forget that we had our first day of class the next day.
So Thursday morning it was back to the daily grind, with class bright and early at 9 am! Most of us are in the honors program and have take Great Books, so we struggled to put on our layers and layers of warm clothes (on a side note, long underwear has saved my life this winter!) and made the trek over to the Natural Sciences Auditorium for our first lecture of the year. As interesting as it was, Plato’s “Theory of Forms” definitely was not what I wanted to be doing first thing in the morning!Thursday was an incredibly busy day! I had all four of my classes, starting with Great Books. Then I had Honors Psychology. I’m thinking about majoring in psychology, so I was really excited to get into this class! We jumped right in; by the end of the session, we had already started our first project, in which we have to do a group study about stress in college (it shouldn’t be too hard – as soon as Organic Chemistry has a test coming up, I know that I’ll have plenty of test subjects!). Then I had Stats. After Calculus 3 last semester, I’m hoping that the math in this class will be almost relaxing! Then “mon cours de français” (I guess I didn’t forget everything over break!). By the time I was done with class at 4, I was beyond ready to just chill out!
When I have long days like that, I’m even happier to have the great friends that I have here! It was so nice to come back to my dorm room and have a group of people there to relax with. Before classes really get started, I love having the time to talk about nothing and watch Seinfeld for hours.
The evening was a total girl’s night – a bunch of friends and I sat and talked about the break’s inevitable drama, and then spent hours getting dressed up for a night of dancing at Necto (a club in downtown Ann Arbor). I had such a great time, and it was an excellent way to start the semester!
It’s a whole new year, but everything at the University of Michigan
exactly the same, and that’s just fine with me!

Home Sweet Home

2007-12-19T16:28:00.000-05:00

Ah…there definitely is no place like home! Exams are over, and I get to just sit back and relax until the next semster starts. It’s so weird to be back here, sleeping in my old room, seeing my old friends, going back to my old job. The strangest thing is that it feels like I never left. I just slipped back into my pre-college life. Of course, my friends and I all have tons of crazy stories about our experiences the past few months, but overall, we’re the same as we were. It’s good to know that the rumors aren’t true; when you go to college, it doesn’t mean that you’re leaving your old friends behind!
But as much as I love my friends from back home, I miss my college life too! I mean, here, I have to go to sleep at a reasonable hour and I can’t just go next door to talk to my best friends. But I do get real, homemade food! And best of all, no homework for three weeks!!!
I can’t get over how strange these past few days have been! I feel like I’ve become a totally new person since I started going to Michigan last August, but in so many ways, things are still the same. I haven’t lost my old friends, I’ve just made a whole bunch more. I haven’t grown apart from my family, I’ve just made a new one in Ann Arbor. During the holidays, you really start thinking about the importance of your friends and family, and I don’t want to sound cheesy, but I wouldn’t have survived the semester without them!
So I wish everyone happy holidays. Enjoy the break, and have a great New Year!

'Tis the Season...for Final Exams!

2007-12-06T17:14:00.001-05:00

In my last post, I said that I couldn’t believe that there were only a few weeks left in the semester. Well, I definitely underestimated how long three weeks could last! With finals just around the corner, the stress that comes with registering for next semester’s classes, and all of life’s normal craziness, the last few weeks have felt like forever. I (and everyone else at Michigan) have been studying like crazy. I’ve got to be honest, it’s really overwhelming, but it helps that everyone else is just as busy as you are!
So I could spend this whole blog post complaining about the upcoming week, but I figure that ‘tis the season to be jolly, right? Why complain when there are so many cool things going on as well? As the semester comes to a close, there are so many great things do to and see in Ann Arbor, and in between studying, I’ve had a lot of fun times!
Last Friday, GROOVE put on a show at the Michigan Theater. It was a blast - My Dear Disco (an Ann Arbor-based band that is AWESOME!) performed, and GROOVE, which is a lot like Stomp, was really cool to watch and listen to.
Then on Saturday, Dance Marathon held a PJ Party at the Union. It was so fun to chill out with my teammates and my family. And my pod (POD 7!!) won the sleeping-bag relay race!
Sunday night, my friend Laura performed in the POPS Goes Wild concert, where the orchestra played popular music from movies like Tarzan, Jurassic Park, and The Lion King. I felt so cultured going to an orchestra concert, but it was a blast!
Coming up tonight, as a much needed study break, the IM Football team from my church is competing in their final game. I’ll definitely be there cheering my team on!
So as you can see, there’s so much more to do in Ann Arbor during December than study! Even during Finals, everyone needs a break – whether it’s a movie night in a friend’s dorm room, dancing at a nightclub, chilling out with a warm cup of coffee at Espresso Royale, or maybe grabbing free food and watching Super Bad at UMix tonight.
Well, hopefully my complaint-free blog post is helping to spread a little bit of holiday cheer! Happy Holidays everyone!

Final Exams? Already?

2007-11-28T15:55:00.000-05:00

The time we've all been waiting for is finally here- the end of the semester and that means a long, relaxing Winter Break! Well...almost! I can hardly believe than in less than three weeks, I'll be done with all of my final exams and on my way back home with my family. As cheesy as I'm sure this sounds, it seems like just yesterday, it was Welcome Week and I was wandering aimlessly around campus, desperately trying to find my way from the Hill to the Union (which took about an hour the first time I tried to do it!).

I may be just a freshman, but I've already experienced so much at the University of Michigan. Honestly, college is a whole new world! There were so many things that I thought I knew, but were completely shook up within a few weeks of life in Ann Arbor.

I thought I knew what it was like to cheer on your team, but high school football games are nothing compared to the match-ups in the Big House. The Hot Dog Man, ridiculously complex versions of "the wave," and screaming "Hail to the Victors" until your voice gives out make Football Saturdays the highlight of my week, even if we did lose to Ohio State!

I thought I knew what I wanted to do with my life, but that's definitely out the window! Coming in, I had my heart set on journalism. But even within the first few months of college, I've had a chance to test out my skills and I've found that it wasn't the thing for me. So at least for now, I have to answer the constant "So what's your major?" questions with an "undecided," but there's nothing wrong with that. Everyday at Michigan I find more and more things to spark my interest, and I know (or at least hope!) that I'll be able to find my passion soon!

Finally, I thought I knew people, but you never really know anyone until you share a community bathroom with them! The people in my dorm have become my family, bound together by long dinners in Couzens' cafeteria, late-night hallway "study sessions", and Thursday nights watching "The Office." I can't believe that I was once worried about making friends here- I already love the people I've met in my hall and at my church so much!

The one thing that I really hope I know is how to ace my finals! Of course, there have been a few bumps here and there (i.e., stressful calc exams, but that's another story!) but overall, this semester has gotten off to an amazing start, and I'd love it to finish strong. So my next few weeks, along with everyone else's, are going to be filled with late nights and constant studying. Wish me luck!