"Oklahoma. . . Where the skies are blue!"

Earlier this week, or I guess it was last week since today is Sunday, I was in the cafeteria at lunch time with a group of girls from the chapter. I was in line deciding what I was going to eat when a man from behind the counter looks at me and says, "I don't know this Phi Mu," I then told him that I was the chapter consultant. He looks at the girls around me and goes, "Consultant! Have they told you about the HAZING!?!?" Then he was like, "No no, I'm just kidding, they are a great group. So where are you from?"

I said, "I graduated from Oklahoma State; I'm from Oklahoma City."

His immediate response (in a sing-song voice) is, "OKLAHOMA WHERE THE SKIES ARE BLUE!" He then stops singing and goes, "I bet you didn't think I knew the song did you?"

I was just like, "No," and smiled. He was so friendly and talkative that I didn't want to tell him that he made up a line and sang it to the tune of "Oklahoma." We talked for a few more minutes and I then walked over to the table with the rest of the girls. They all turned to me and started apologizing and were embarrassed. I told them it wasn't a big deal. Maybe 2 minutes after I'd sat down, Tony--the ultra friendly cafeteria manager--came over to our table and sang the incorrect line of "Oklahoma" for me again.

The next day when I went to the cafeteria for breakfast, I was in line trying to decide what food to get when Tony comes running from the kitchen part of the cafeteria with small light bulbs sticking out of his ears and says, "I'm trying to have a bright idea!" I thought it was clever, the girl with me apologized and started introducing me to Tony. I was like, "Oh we've met!" He then started telling the other workers behind the counter that I was from Oklahoma, and they asked me if I was wearing boots. I laughed and said, "no," but that didn't stop all of them from coming around the counter to look to see if I had boots on. One of the cafeteria workers asked what brought me to North Carolina and the other worker told me that she lived in Oklahoma around Tinker years ago. So once again I spent a few minutes holding up the line in the cafeteria.

I just thought it was funny that I stirred up so much commotion at this little college that was about half the size of my high school.

Just Say 'No'

I am currently writing to you from Barton College which is in Wilson, North Carolina. It's okay that you've never heard of it, because even people from North Carolina haven't heard of it before. I arrived her today and before this chapter at was at College of Charleston.

I don't know if I have expressed my love for Charleston before, but it is the greatest place I have ever been. I love it! I stayed at a little inn right of Kings Street. My room was huge with a super comfy King sized bed and after they would clean my room they would put a door hanger in my room for me to fill out. On it, I would tell them if I wanted my next day's breakfast served to me in my room or on the back porch, what time I wanted my breakfast served, and if I wanted fresh orange juice, tea, and/or coffee. I'd never stayed somewhere before where they would call to let me know they were bringing my breakfast and morning paper to me. It was awesome!

While I was sad to leave Charleston and the fun girls in that chapter, I was excited about going to a chapter that I had never visited before. Please note, once again I did not get to sit next to a hot, single, young professional and either of the plane rides today. I sat next to middle aged, married men on both flights. Anyway, one of the girls from Barton College picked me up at the airport and she had a bottle of water waiting for me. (After being on the road for three months, it's small things like this that really make me happy) She kind of scared me at first, because she was like, "I've never gone to school from the airport before, so I'm not really sure which way to go. We might have to turn around a couple times." As we were leaving the airport and getting on the highway she says, "I don't think we need to go North," and she takes the exit that says North. Then a couple minutes later the highway splits again and she says, "I really don't know which one of these to take. I guess we'll try this one." She was so blase about not really knowing which way to go. Once we had been on the highway for a few minutes without taking random exits that we weren't sure of, I asked if she knew where we were and she was like, "Oh yeah! We're good!" Then she asked me where I wanted to go for lunch. This question kind of makes me laugh inside, because I don't have a clue of what they have over here. It's not like they have Sonic, Braum's, Taco Bueno like I'm used to. No, no, they have places called Bojangles, Biscuitville, and Moe's. Those are all chains that I've seen multiple places in the Carolina's.

So I messed up and didn't tell her a type of food I wanted, so of course she goes, "There's a Panera Bread up here, you wanna go there? I love Panera Bread." Everything in me was screaming "just say no!" But I couldn't do it, so once again I ate Panera.

That's about all I have for right now. I would like to say that while I tell you all stories about being stood up, held hostage, and eating at my least favorite restaurant of all time, I just want to add that I still love my job!

Held Hostage

At this point, I have done my fair share of eating out, eating on campus, and eating in a sorority house, but last night was the first time girls had me over to their house and made dinner for me. It was a lot of fun! The girls' house was super cute, and the food was really good. They just made lasagna, salad, and bread, but it was all good!

The girls who had me over were so much fun. One of them was the most talkative person I've ever met in my life! (Which is hard to believe, because I have some pretty talkative friends!) Plus, she said everything about three times as loud as she needed to be talking and she had a super strong southern accent. Several times I had to wait a few minutes to respond to what she said, because I was trying to figure out what she said. When I first arrived at her house she asked me what I wanted to drink and I when I replied with, "water is fine," she goes (now remember she's pretty much screaming and has the strong southern accent!) "Oh girl! You don't just want water! We have grape Kool-Aid, Sun Drop, Coke, and Sprite! Oh and I'd offer you wine, but I learned with our last consultant that y'all can't drink with us." I wish I could have recorded her talking, and I'm sure my typing all of this out is really doing it no justice at all.

After we ate, we then watched tv for a little while, and then I had my meetings with each of them. When I finished up the second meeting, Chatty Cathy then goes, "well, I'm gonna go to bed, do you care if Michelle takes you home later." I said, "Since we are finished with the meetings I can just go back to my room now." Chatty goes, "No no, I don't want you sittin' in that room by yourself all night." I responded with, "Well it is 11:15," but no one caught on to the fact that I was ready to go back to my room, so I ended up staying at their house until 12:40 a.m. I was beginning to feel like they were holding me hostage. I had really had so much fun with them, but I was so ready to go to bed. Needless to say, I was excited when they finally deemed it late enough to take me back to my room.

Stood Up

I'm at UNC-Greensboro right now. It's a pretty campus, but all of the campuses around here are. Anyway, when I arrived here on Thursday night the president took me to dinner. We went to Panera, which really wasn't bad. I finally found something I liked. On our way to dinner, she mentioned that she had to work on Saturday morning from 9 to 1. She told me that she works at the Zoo and she said I could get in for free with her, and she asked if I wanted to go. I told her I would like to go and that it sounded like fun.

So last night when I was hanging out in my dorm room by myself I remembered that I'd told her I would go to the Zoo with her today. I called and left her a message telling her to just give me a call and let me know what time she would be picking me up this morning. She didn't call me back last night, but I figured she was just out late since it was Halloween. So I woke up this morning at 7 so I could be dressed and ready to go by 8:30, since she had to be at work I figured she'd be picking me up around 8:30.

I was all dressed and ready to go by 8:30, but she never called to say she was picking me up. So I decided to work on some reports and check my e-mail, thinking she'd call soon. She never called, so I didn't get to go to the Zoo. It kind of made me sad, because I was really looking forward to getting out of the dorm room and getting some fresh air and taking pictures. Instead I spent my morning sending e-mails and finishing reports, which was kind of nice too, because now I am completely caught up on all my work.

I get to come home in 23 days! I'm super excited. I'm already planning on waking up really early the day after Thanksgiving to go do Christmas shopping! I love my job, but I love getting to go home too! On the topic of loving my job, I get to back to Charleston, SC next weekend. I can't wait! It is the coolest place ever! Great shops, great food, great scenery, and the girls in that chapter are a lot of fun!

There's my life in a nutshell right now!