Be Safe!

In my last post, I talked about getting involved and participating in the fun activities coming up around campus this second half of the semester and now I am here to tell you just what this week has in store for you. This week is Safe Sex Week brought to you by Kappa Psi, SNPhA, and GSA. So, I just wanted to give you all a little head’s up on what all events are taking place. Starting off on Tuesday, Kappa Psi will be having a bake sale in the Student Center from 12-2 pm and will also be giving away some free goodies. So go get yourself something sweet and get some free things in the process. Also, if you went on spring break and happened to bring the “fun in the sun” back with you in your pants then make sure to stop by Carlisle Room C this Thursday from 11-1 pm and get yourself tested for any and all STIs for free! If you get tested, you can also enter the raffle for free goodies as well. Finally, do not forget to submit any questions you have about sex and relationships in hot pink box in the Res Hall by the column. These questions will be answered by a professional speaker coming in Thursday from 7-9 pm in the Whelpley Atrium. And of course there will be free food at this event! So don’t miss out on this sexual week!

 

With Safe Love,

Meredith

Boost

As most of you have probably already realized, February is coming to a swift end. Soon, we will all be enjoying a week free from school. Some of you all might even get the chance to enjoy some warmer weather down south. I personally love spring break, but it seems to end in about two days. That week goes by so fast that suddenly I am back in class. However, this made me realize that there are a bunch of fun events that are going to be popping up on campus in these next few months. I don’t know about you all, but my moral could do with a good boost right about now. The cold weather and stress of school is not the best combination on my mojo. I suspect I am not the only student on campus feeling this way. To help you get out of this funk, I suggest that you attend many of these wonderful events that are going to be coming up. I also suggest that you read your emails and not just delete them immediately. I know sometimes it is just easier to clear everything out by just going through and pressing delete, but I encourage you to read them so that you can hear about these opportunities to have some fun. I know trying new things can sometimes be scary, but you have to step outside your comfort zone every now and then because real life is happening outside of the zone. I challenge you all to step outside of your own zone at least once this semester and see what happens.

 

With love,

Meredith

Warm Up

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I honestly cannot believe it is already February. Even though it is still freezing, March and April are right around the corner just teasing us with the thoughts about warmer weather. However, it is still really cold so I wanted to help you all out by giving you a way of warming up. While most people would say to just wear more layers and to fatten up around the edges for insulation, I suggest that you might as well find a boyfriend or girlfriend. Let’s face it, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and nothing warms the soul more than actually having someone to be with on Valentine’s Day. Plus, it would create a sense of love all across campus and ultimately warm us all up. Just think of your new love interest as your treatment from having withdrawals of your addiction to want to wear shorts and flip-flops. When the warmer weather finally arrives, do not feel bad if you suddenly have the urge to detach from your boyfriend or girlfriend. This just means that the “heat of your love” is too intense to go along with the heat and humidity of living in Missouri. I guarantee that this plan will warm you up over the winter or I will refund you in full and pay for the return shipping cost.

 

With love,

Meredith

Staying Ahead

As most of you know (or at least I hope you know) it is a new year which means new years resolutions. For most people losing weight is the most common new years resolution. However, mine has been to be more focused on school. Last semester, I found myself falling behind. I was having to chase time in order to maintain the grades that I was at least decently happy to have. So this semester, I have decided to stay ahead of my classes. I finally caved and decided to use Microsoft Outlook to schedule all my school work and events. Even though I am usually not capable of using technology, I realized that without being organized and having reminders that I do not use my time to its fullest. So, I have put all my exams into Outlook and I am ready to tackle this second semester. Other than being organized, I suggest being prepared before going to class. I have recently started to do various things, whether it be reading or taking notes ahead of time, before I go to certain classes. This has helped me to have an understanding for what I am about to learn in class that day which has ultimately prevented me from walking out of the classroom not knowing anything about what just happened. These are just a few tips that I have found to help me with my new years resolution to tackle this school semester. However if your new years resolution was to lose weight, I cannot help you there whatsoever.

With love,

Meredith

Finals….

Its that time of the year again. Where everyone buckles down on studying just to pass a class. I certainly am no stranger to the late nights of little sleep just so I can squeeze out that grade on the final I need. It amazes me how determined everyone on campus gets during finals week. Not studying is never an option for our school. Or rather, it is an option, but typically one that is not taken. The students on campus do not accept defeat. Instead, we all fight to stay alive. The only thing that irks me during finals week is when I know hard everyone here on campus is studying for numerous finals and then I see people who do not go to our school posting on Facebook about how they have no finals. It seriously makes me want to slap the mother out of them. I’m happy for them that they go to an easy school that treats you like you are still in high school, but please quit posting it to Facebook or Twitter. All it does is remind me of how much more difficult my life is at this moment than yours. So, if you could refrain from reminding everyone about your brilliantly easy life, I can probably refrain from putting my fist in your face. Also, many of you know or at least have seen the people touring on our campus during finals week. I understand that this is a good time for them to tour since the campus is literally flooded with people, but when these people come to our campus they probably think they found the source of the zombie apocalypse.  I actually feel bad for the kids touring. There is no way seeing my tired, decrepit face is helping them with the decision to come here. However, seeing them does remind me of why I chose to come to this school in the first place. It reminds me that I am here to do what I love even if it means a little extra work than normal people my age. So, I wish you all good luck with finals and have a restful winter break.

 

With love,

Meredith

Remember the Ribbon

This week on campus you might notice people wearing red ribbons. That is because this week our campus is recognizing and raising awareness for AIDS/HIV. The official World AIDS Day is December 1st, but many organizations have come together to make a week full of events to lead up to this day. IPSF, SNPhA, KY, and GSA are all sponsoring this week. As someone who helped to put this together, I would encourage you to try to attend some of the events. Today, Kappa Psi is hosting a blood drive from 10-3 and there is a lunch-n-learn with Dr. Wilson at 12. I know needles freak some people out, but there is a shortage of blood and your donation could save someone’s life. Tomorrow wear your Support Love shirts to get a free rainbow waffle from GSA from 10-12. There are many other events, but that is just to name a few. I apologize for this post sounding like another email, but I feel so strongly about AIDS/HIV awareness that I wanted to dedicate this post to the cause. So, I hope you all attend the events or at least buy a ribbon and wear it on your book bag to show your support.

With love,

Meredith

See Ya!

Before I start my usual rant, I just want to warn you that this is going to be a political rant. However, I am not going to be picking a political side or even mentioning names. I just want to discuss something that is happening. Recently, twenty states, including Missouri, have started petitions to part from the United States of America. First off, to the people who are doing these petitions, I want to say calm down. Just because you do not like who is running our country, does not mean you have to threaten to leave America and do other crazy things. Second off, I want to say to my fellow classmates to be a little more politically educated. Some of you are supporting this movement and saying horrible things about your own country when you do not even know what you are talking about. On several instances, I have heard students making statements that are not true and make no sense. When you say things like that, other people might actually believe you. Then our whole campus will be a bunch of politically idiotic people. Finally, to these people making these petitions I want to say: how dare you. It is utterly appalling to me to see that when people do not get their way, they are willing to ditch their own country. Some of these states wanting to “leave” are even the ones who use to claim to be the most patriotic state, but all I see is a bunch of pansies who cannot deal with change. This is America. One of the greatest countries ever and you abandon her just because you “know” how the next four years are going to be? You all sicken me. People have fought and died for this country and everything we stand for and you all are willing to throw that back in their faces. Four years is going to come and go just like it always does. We all need to learn to deal with change even if we do not like it. The point I’m trying to mainly make is that the situation is what it is. You cannot change it so you might as well live with it.

 

With patriotic love,

Meredith

Zzz…

I remember as a kid always fighting with my mom and dad about taking naps. On several accounts I would fake cry and scream hoping that they would let me come out, but I always wore myself out and ended up napping anyways. Now that I am in college, I wish I could go back to the times of daily naps in the afternoon. When we are younger, we take for granted the amount of sleep we get. We fight and do anything we can to get out of sleeping when our parents tell us to go to bed. Now, I fight for every fifteen minutes of sleep I can get. This school takes a lot out of us as students. We are pushed to study as much as we can to get that grade we have been stressing out about. All of this adds up to a less than perfect sleep schedule. Most weekdays are full with tests, quizzes, and homework and less of sleep. I find that I ration my time to try to fit in even a thirty minute nap in between my labs and studying time. If there is one thing STLCOP has taught me, it is time management of not just school, but my whole daily routine. Sometimes I will try to eat a meal faster just so I can sleep or get some studying done so that I can sleep  later. Thankfully, we all have the life saver that comes and goes all too quickly: the weekend. I cannot express how much I love a weekend where I do not have tons of things to study. It is my salvation to catching up on some much-needed sleep. However, the weekend always seems to end too soon and not everyone gets the chance to get more sleep. I just wish we could all go back to the days of kindergarten where everyone laid down on their cot, watched a Disney movie, and fell asleep. In fact, I think the school should make a double sacred hour. One hour would be for meetings and the other hour would be for everyone on campus, including faculty, to take a nap. But for now, that idea will have to remain a dream in my limited amount of sleep.

 

With love,

Meredith

Good luck

I don’t know about you all, but for me this has been one eventful week. From a successful Boofest to tons of meetings, I have not gotten a chance to slow down and make a great blog post. Thankfully, today I can. It has recently come to many attention that many students are about to enter what we all like to call “Hell Week.” It happens to us all once or twice a semester and it is one if the most stressful times besides finals. It is a time when people have to crack down on their time management skills and get their priorities in check. So to all of you students about to go through Hell Week in the next couple weeks, I wish you good luck. I know it’s going to be so crazy and take everything out of you, but I know you all can do it. I’ve seen some pretty amazing accomplishments done by students and going through this stuff is one of them. So just keep your heads up and take it one day at a time and remember to always take deep breaths. I believe in you all.

With love,

Meredith

Care Bears

As promised, this post will be a more positive one. Even though the evil hag inside me is telling me to just be mean, I will attempt to shut her down. I think something that really sets our school apart from many colleges is how much we all care. We have many organizations that do great events by raising awareness, fundraising, giving their time, and things like that. There are many students who devote a lot of their own time doing things for others on and off our campus. But we care in more ways than just in organizations and clubs. I would have to say that there is a deep concern for other students around our campus. The great thing about our campus is how much people want to help each other. Everyone is willing to pick each other up when things are getting down in the dumps. I know that some of my friendships I have made here are some of the strongest relationships I have ever had. This is all due to the fact that these people have always had my back. They have been there through all the hard tests and quizzes to pick me up and help me move past a bad grade when I just want to wallow in my sorrow. With our school being so challenging, I think it would be impossible for someone to go through the program without making some kind of connection with someone whether it be a student or a professor. Most of the professors are even there to pick us up as well even if you just failed their quiz. I think that is the awesome thing about our school. That even though it sometimes stresses us out so much our hair falls out, at least there is someone there to try to pick up the pieces.

With love,

Meredith