Steph

Dear Freshman Year Steph,

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Stephanie

During Welcome Week each year, the freshmen each write a letter to themselves that they get during Senior Week. Most people forget about this, but I remembered, since I’ve been an Orientation Guide for the last two years. I got it at our Champagne Toast the other day, and I realized that I was a pro at writing letters to myself back in the day. I wrote one to myself both junior and senior year in high school, at the beginning of my freshman year, and after I joined Alpha Phi, and they have all been really great letters in different ways. I had a lot of concerns in my letter to myself from Welcome Week, which is totally understandable for that point in time for a student. So…I thought I would share a bit about what I was scared of, and how it turned out. (Freshman Steph will be in bold….just to clarify.)

From the Welcome Week Convocation I learned that I need to get more sleep already… I’m so glad that I was this honest with myself so early, but the sad thing is that I never really took that to heart. I slept very little over the last four years, and the only thing that it did for me is provided me with a coffee addiction.

My concerns are that I won’t make new friends that will last forever, and that I will fail. Again, I was really straightforward during that week I guess. In the end, I did make friends that I think will last forever. Of course, it took some to find them, and it wasn’t always easy. But, during my college years I found some absolutely amazing people who I love, and I’m positive that Twitter and Facebook will allow us to all stay together even after we leave each other. As far as the failing thing goes, I didn’t. I don’t know exactly how to define what “failing” would have been for me….but I guess that since I am graduating tomorrow, and since I truly embraced my years at Butler….I didn’t fail. Success!

Right now it’s so awkward and I feel so little… Feeling awkward and little is the essence of Welcome Week. It’s awesome time, but it really kind of sucks as a freshman. It isn’t until later years when it’s really amazing and just the best week that ever existed. Embrace college…and it’ll be fine.

I am so afraid that this will turn out to not be the right place for me… Well, it was the right place! I couldn’t imagine spending my college years anywhere else, which is why it is hard to be ready to leave right now. Butler helped me grow into the person that I am now, and I’m so grateful.

We graduate today….which still feels completely unreal. Class of 2012….you’re great and it’s been an amazing four years.

The Butler Class of 2012

Tagged: alpha phi, class of 2012, freshman year, friends, senior week, senior year, Welcome Week | Leave a comment

College – It’s been real.

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Stephanie

The other day…I moved out of Alpha Phi for the final time. It was bittersweet, because I made so many memories there, but I know that it is time for me to move on now. As I packed up, I kept thinking about how much I have loved my college experience, and how fortunate I have been to have an outrageously positive college experience. Since I am all about Instagram these days (stephmflint if you would like to follow me), I just kept taking pictures of everything around me…all day long. They’re things I’m going to miss about Alpha Phi and my college life….or things that I have loved during my time here.

My collection of Starbucks cups. I am a Starbucks queen, basically. I hung out there almost every day during my final semester here, and I became a pro at getting great beverages at low prices. One of my tricks – save your plastic cups. They give refills on tea and coffee for 55 cents, which really comes in handy during weeks when you need Starbucks basically every day. I had an impressive collection of cups this semester – every variation of tea that I love…so my options were endless! (Just don’t forget to wash the cups out – ants seem to love to feast on leftover tea. Gross, I know.)

My view. Each year during room picks, everyone cares about every aspect of each room. The side of the house that it’s on, what the bathroom looks like, if it is a hot or cold room, the list goes on and on. The one thing that isn’t mentioned, however, is the view that comes with the room. When I lived on the 3rd floor, I couldn’t see out my windows. Last year, I lived on the back side of the house all year, so I saw our backyard. This year, I hit the jackpot as far as views from a room go. I saw the street, the gorgeous tree in front of our house, and our front yard. Not only did it come in handy on rainy days to see if I needed rainboots or an umbrella, but it was also just hands down beautiful.

My room. So much happened here. So many late nights just hanging out, so much messiness, so much Nickleback and Prince, and just so much fun. I took this picture as we were moving out and taking down everything…and it just felt wrong. It felt like we had never been there at all. But while I was being all nostalgic and sad, I realized….what filth we had been living in. The general consensus is that if we had been raising children in that room, social services would have taken them away from us. But, somehow we lived there for 10 months, and survived. After this experience, I really think that my body can handle anything at all. So bring it on, world, I survived Room 11.

Being a Phi. I’ve talked a lot about Alpha Phi this semester, and how much I’ve loved it. But really. It’s been unreal…and amazing. I’m so glad that I will still live in Indy post-grad, and that I will be able to run into my girls at Target, or that I can have them over to my new place for dinner. I love my pledge class, but I’ve spent four years with them, and we’re all kind of ready to move on to our next stage in life. But for the younger girls, I am going to miss them just as much…and I’m going to be kind of jealous that they get to keep experiencing Butler. I took this photo right before I left….because it was one of my favorite things at Alpha Phi. During Polish Week before Recruitment, we all got together and made a ton of crafts to dress up the stairwells at Phi. It was great sisterhood event, and I just love how it let us leave our mark on this house that we made our home.

Tagged: alpha phi, college, friends, greek life, nostalgia, room 11, senior year, Starbucks | Leave a comment

The Evolution of my Blog

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Stephanie

As a senior, I have spent a lot of time this semester looking back to what I was like as a freshman. A great way for me to see this is to look back at my blogs from my freshman year…which are interesting to say the very least. I’m happy to say that my writing style has changed a bit since then, and that I’ve most definitely grown up in the last four years. So, I think that it is only fitting to take a walk down memory lane to my freshman blog… roast style. I was a decent blogger then, but I might as well make fun of myself for something, right?

I loved smiley faces. This one I totally get – because I still love smiley faces. But all of mine ended up as emoticons in the blogs – which is really rather random…and childish. They all look so excited, and they are the only type of photo/excitement in my old blogs. At least I had something fun in there? Which leads me to my next point…
I never posted photos. Now, I love posting photos. I do blogs that are mostly photos sometimes. But back in the day, apparently I did not know how to use a photo upload feature. C’mon freshman year Steph, step it up a bit….be a real blogger.
My blog topics were totally unfocused. Basically, my freshman year, I wrote about what I did everyday. I’m sure it was helpful for some, but who really needed to know that I went to The Old Spaghetti Factory and that they gave me a Chinese food box for my leftovers? Yeah…no one. Good try, freshman year Steph.
I was really excited. All the time. Really. I gather this from all of the “Whoohooo!’s” that I see in my old blogs, and from all of the exclamation points. Apparently, my freshman year, I walked around and yelled at everyone all the time, or at least that is what it looks like from my blog.
I was extremely long winded. This hasn’t completely changed, but it has a little bit. Back in my freshman year – I wrote a few marathon blogs that just trail on forever and ever…like this one. I’d like to think that now I’m a bit more concise…maybe??

I give myself a hard time, but at least I tried…right? We were all freshmen at some point, and I guess I was kind of cool back then. Need proof? Check this photo…by far my favorite from freshman year.

My favorite photo from freshman year... still.

Tagged: blogging, freshman year, growing up, roast, senior year | Leave a comment

It’s official – I’m done!

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Stephanie

Today was the last day of finals, for my last semester in college…a day that I never thought would actually be here. Granted, I did finish my finals on Friday night, but since then I have been hanging around campus working on other things and still being rather productive. This is what my final finals week looked like:

Monday – I finished classes, went to work, and gathered my thoughts and got my life back together after Meghan’s wedding. It took awhile to figure out what the rest of my week would need to look like to get everything done.
Tuesday – It was our reading day, and I spent it studying for my only test final (in International Marketing) the next day.
Wednesday – I studied all morning, took my last test (EVER), and then went to work at my internship. That night, I worked my tail off on my Personal Marketing Portfolio for my Marketing Management & Strategy class.
Thursday – I worked more on my Portfolio, taught myself how to use Illustrator (with the help of my friend Michael) for the design part of my Portfolio, and went to an IndyHub event for the BBA. Working on my Portfolio was pretty intense…I even used two computers simultaneously, one for writing the content, the other for designing the layout. Impressive, huh?
When one computer just doesn't cut it....
Friday – I worked at the BBA, and wrote my final paper (EVER). Of course, I couldn’t decide what to write it on, and I actually started over from scratch after I had written almost half. It’s a wonder that I got it done on time – but I did….which is all that matters.

Now that finals are over, all that I have left to do is work at the BBA and graduate. It’s a beautiful thing. Not having class commitments, or any school commitments – absolutely amazing. It might be nice if I wasn’t working too, but I really don’t know if I could handle that, or if I would know what to do with myself. Most likely, I would go stir crazy a day into it. So, I’m finishing out my college career the way I have spent every other year, by staying busy….and trying to enjoy every minute. I have a few blogs left before I sign off for good – so be sure to check back to see what I have to say before I officially leave campus.

Tagged: BBA, Butler Business Accelerator, computer, finals, marketing, senior year, studying, wedding | 2 Comments

My last hurrah…. Senior Week.

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Stephanie

The time that I’ve been dreading all semester is here….and everyone is moving out. Tomorrow is the last day of finals, so it feels like there are 5 people on campus, and all of those people are studying, which really stinks for the rest of us. It just doesn’t feel like Butler anymore, but I am excited for the very last part of my college career…Senior Week.

Senior Week is one of those things that not everyone knows about. Only the seniors participate, obviously, and then they all graduate so they aren’t around to tell the underclassmen what happens during the week. There is a senior class council that plans events for the whole week, like going to a Pacers game, having inflatables and other fun things on the mall, and taking trips to Broad Ripple and other places around Indy. It’s also a great time because it is just what we have always wanted – to be on campus, all together, without school. Yeah, it only lasts for 3 days…but that’s something, right?

I haven’t been looking forward to this week until now, because I didn’t want all of my underclassmen friends to leave. But, turns out, they had to. I couldn’t stop them. My two junior roommates, Brooke & Katie, moved out over the last few days, along with about 65 other girls in my house. So now all of Alpha Phi is empty, and I guess that all there is to do is enjoy this next week. I’m pretty lucky, since I get to spend it with our entire class, and we are a ton of fun as it is. I just decided that even though I’m super bummed that my time here is almost over, I can’t do anything about it (since I didn’t fail any of my classes…yet), so I might as well just have the best week ever. Here goes!

The Alpha Phi Senior Pledge Class

Tagged: alpha phi, college, college life, moving out, senior week, senior year, seniors | 1 Comment

Senior Year Wedding Bells…

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Stephanie

Last Sunday, my friend Meghan got married. It was an absolutely beautiful day, and it was both the beginning and end of so many things.

It was part of the end of us all being together – all the time. I’ve been best friends with Meghan, Lauren, and Liz for the last 3 years… and even when we don’t live together… we are either next door or just down the street. But now, Meghan lives in Michigan, and soon Lauren will live in Bloomington, and Liz will live in New York. So this was the first step toward that…and I’m not quite sure if I’m ready to let them all go yet. Just because I love them so much.

It was the beginning of Meghan and Sean’s life together. They’ve been together forever, and they’re perfect for each other. It was just so sweet to be able to share their special day with them…because they’ve been together ever since I have been friends with Meghan. They’re great, and I love them both.

It was the beginning of the time when all of our friends will start getting married. While we were waiting to walk down the aisle, I looked out into the crowd and saw so many of our friends and people that we know. This is when I realized that I’m not young anymore…and instead of going to weddings for family and people that we don’t really know, now we will be going to weddings for our friends. It’s just a strange and sort of surreal feeling….but it’s kind of exciting at the same time.

Being a bridesmaid in a wedding the weekend before finals is the perfect way to procrastinate studying…or doing anything productive at all….while having an absolutely great time. When we got back to campus after the wedding it was like we had been in entirely different world for a week… which we had. We got to hang out with great people, be dressed up, and celebrate an awesome day with an amazing couple! Here are a few more photos…

Tagged: finals, friends, growing up, moving, real life, senior year, wedding | 1 Comment

Events on Events on Events: The Life of a Butler Senior

Posted on April 28, 2012 by Stephanie

At Butler, everyone loves to honor and appreciate the seniors…which I love. For the last few weeks, we have had special events all the time, which has made life busy but obviously really fun…

Top 100

This year I was fortunate enough to be selected as a part of the Top 100 Students at Butler, along with one of the other bloggers, Olivia! It is such an honor to be a part of that group of students, and they held a wonderful dinner to celebrate the program and to announce the Top 10 men and women at Butler. I think the night of the dinner was when my parents and I started to realize that I’m almost done….and that the last 4 years have just flown by. Also – a special Congratulations goes out to Olivia for being named to the Top 10 women!

Lauren, Meghan, and I at the Top 100 Banquet.

Senior Brunch

At the end of Alpha Phi’s Senior Week we always have a brunch for the seniors and their parents. We eat the traditional Saturday brunch that we have loved on for the last 4 years, our littles each say a few nice words about us, they sing some songs that are special to Alpha Phi, and they give away a few senior awards. It was just an all around amazing time to spend with my sorority sisters and our parents, because they all hear us talk about Alpha Phi, but I don’t think that they ever really understand what the sisterhood means to us all, until they see it at an event like the Senior Brunch.

Lauren and I at our Senior Brunch at Alpha Phi.

Senior Wills

Every year during Senior Week at Alpha Phi, we have a time where the seniors hand down all of their Alpha Phi attire, memorabilia, and anything else random that we have accumulated over the years. Some people give away everything, but I really wasn’t ready to part with some of my things just yet…so I kept some of my favorite shirts and sweatshirts. Partially I kept some because I like them so much, and partially because I wouldn’t have any other clothes to wear if I did. But I did pass along quite a few good things, like my A Phi license plate, a Sarah Palin calendar, and some crafts I made over the years.

Everything I passed down during Senior Wills.

Tagged: alpha phi, blogger, brunch, events, family, senior week, senior year, Top 100, wills | 2 Comments

The Post-Grad Life

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Stephanie

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not ready to graduate. I have one class left in my undergraduate career, and I’m just waiting to become an emotional wreck when the underclassmen start leaving to go home for the summer, and then again when graduation is officially over. I’ve loved college… a lot… but there is one thing that is pulling me through this emotional and kind of scary time in my life: My future. I’m staying in Indy…and I couldn’t be more excited. Of course I would love to stay in college forever, but I’m sure that I would eventually get tired of it and be ready to leave. And truthfully… real life is pretty awesome. I’ve had a couple of glimpses into real life through my internships, and I really loved them all. Going to breakfast, lunch, and dinner for meetings or just to visit…going on business trips… and having real life responsibility… it’s all really awesome actually… and deep down inside… I’m pumped.

Alpha Phi - my home from the last few years.

Something else that is going to be awesome about my post-grad life is having my own space for the first time. I’ve lived in a sorority house for 3 years, and even though I’ve had some amazing experiences there, I’m excited to have my own room. And to decorate it. It will be different not being able to see my friends pretty much anytime I’d like, but that’s what brunch/lunch/dinner dates are for… and I can’t wait to have them… all the time. I’ve come to the conclusion that I shall become a Cafe Patachou regular… because everything in life should be enjoyed along with an omelet, cinnamon toast, and amazing coffee. Basically, I’ve decided that my post-grad life will be fabulous, and that I will survive even though everything I do won’t revolve around Butler anymore.

Tagged: alpha phi, apartment, Cafe Patachou, internships, real life, senior year | Leave a comment

What Not to Wear: Butler Style

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Stephanie

At Admissions events, the prospective students and their parents always ask us about the same things. Safety on campus, the dorms, Greek Life, our majors, etc. But a few months ago, I had a conversation with a future Butler student and her Mom about something completely new: what people wear around campus. This might sound like a silly topic, but I absolutely loved it, and I felt that it was something that I should share with all of you before I graduate in a few weeks. So I will go over the wardrobe “staples” of an average Butler student… or just the things that I see basically everywhere.

Butler clothes – We are all pretty proud to be students here, and we love to show it! So Butler sweatshirts, tshirts, sweatpants, and everything else from the Bookstore are always a staple.
Greek Letters – About 1/3 of campus is Greek, and you can definitely tell just by walking around campus. We love our lettered shirts, and anything else that shows off our house.
Sperry’s – A lot of people at Butler are preppy, and we show it by wearing Sperry’s of all kinds. They are also really comfortable and they go with basically everything…which always helps.
Uggs – Winters here are cold, so girls wear Uggs all the time. I’ve never been an Ugg person…but most people on campus swear by them.
Vera Bradley – I obviously love Vera, since I interned there last summer and since I have an outrageous collection of the bags, but I definitely think that other people on campus are fans as well. They sell Vera in the Bookstore, and you can see the gorgeous prints brightening up campus basically everywhere you go.
North Face…everything – Again, winters here are cold, and North Face jackets, hats, gloves, etc. obviously help with that. There is also a North Face store at the Fashion Mall, which I absolutely love…

Even though people wear all of these brands/types of clothes a lot…everyone on campus has their own style. So, if you are a prospective student, or better yet…a future Butler student, when you go to college…do your own thing. Around here, a lot of people have a very J. Crew style or Anthropologie type style…but don’t be afraid to do your own thing and to be completely different.

: One of my favorite pictures that shows off the many different styles of Room 11 – my room.

Tagged: bookstore, Butler, clothes, dressing up, fashion, greek life, Vera Bradley | 1 Comment

Finals… Let’s do this.

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Stephanie

All semester, I have felt outrageously confident and relaxed. I have post-grad plans, I have a relatively simple semester, and I’ve really enjoyed myself for the last few months. Then this week came. This is the week before finals…aka my last last week of classes ever…which is traditionally the worst week of the year and this semester is not any different. I’m prepping for finals…kind of. I’m working and finishing all of my on-campus jobs. I’m finishing projects for classes. I’m writing papers. And this weekend, my best friend Meghan is getting married. You know….no big deal. I was feeling like I could really make all of this happen and live to see graduation, but then I made my to-do list for the next two weeks, and it looks like sleeping will not be high on my priority list for awhile.

Figure out family plans for graduation
Write paper for my marketing capstone
Finish presentation for international marketing
Finish marketing capstone project
Create design for marketing capstone project
Write paper for my leadership class
Study for my international marketing final
Finish things for Meghan’s wedding

I already pulled my first all-nighter of the end of the semester last night, and I think I can do it again, maybe a couple of times. I only napped twice today, and I only had one cup of coffee, so I’m pretty much primed and ready to tackle and conquer finals. Together with my John Mayer, 90s Pop, and Jason Mraz stations on Pandora, the Starbucks gift card my mom gave me last weekend, and the Alpha Phi study room, I will survive the next two weeks. Better yet, I will beast the next two weeks. I have a big presentation, a big project, a big paper, and a big test….so my finals are kind of perfect in terms of capping off my college career in a very well-rounded way. So, last finals week ever…..LET’S GO!

My study station - complete with coffee in a bowl since we were out of cups.

Tagged: alpha phi, classes, finals, marketing, pandora, senior year, Starbucks, studying, tests, wedding | 1 Comment

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