Washington and Oregon Recap

Hump day, hump day:)

Here is a recap of my 10 day trip out to Oregon and Washington!

We started out July19th at 4:00 am. My younger brother actually woke up,got dressed, grabbed his bag and pillow and walked out to our Suburban and went back to sleep. We drove 17 hours that day all the way into Billings, Montana. The next day we drove to Pasco, Oregon.
Sunday we finally arrived in Canon Beach, OR after 2, 119 miles of driving. We spent the next 3 days surrounded by family!

Monday, we got up bright and early to go check out tide pools! My favorite species we got to see were the puffins, but they were so high up on Haystack Rock that you couldn't see them without a telescope!

Monday we walked around downtown Canon Beach, it was really quaint!
Tuesday some of the family got up at 6 and went clamming, I however did not because my bed was too warm!
 Tuesday we went Kayaking up the coast about 30 miles around an island in the middle of a bay. It was a lot of fun! Unfortunately, I got sun burn pretty badly, and part of me looked like I colored on myself with a red marker. Thank goodness for aloe. I had a great time and hung out with relatives I haven't really spoken to before.

Tuesday night we had our culminating banquet! I'm sure many of you are wondering what kind of reunion is this? 3 days long? Well it is a reunion for all of the descendents of my great great great- grandparents John & Anna. They had 8 children who lived long enough to have families. My siblings and I are fifth generation. This reunion was the 10th reunion we've had. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to know about my heritage, and know  a good portion of my family.

Wednesday morning we got up and drove to Seattle. We got to eat dinner with my mom's good friend, her husband and her one year old. My siblings and I had fun playing with her one year old who was adorable!

Thursday we explored Seattle, including the Space Needle, Monorail,  and Pike's Public Market.
Pikes Market was fun! We got peaches and cherries, fresh donuts and a picture with a scary looking fish. I also picked up this print for my dorm. We used to get t-shirts, but I think as I've grown up I appreciate some form of art more.

myself, my younger sister aVj & aRv my little brother (yes all of our names start with A) 

aVj & I in front of the original Starbucks!
That night we headed to Safeco Field to watch the Mariners play the Twins. While I'm a Brewers fan myself, my mom and grandparents are fans of the Twins. It was pretty fun!

We drove Friday and Saturday, stopping in southwestern Minnesota to visit my great-grandfather, and finally heading home Sunday morning. Sleeping in my own bed by myself was heaven!

A HUGE thank you to my blogging friends who guest blogged for me this past week! It was a huge time saver for me! 

Where have you been/going this summer? I have 29 days until I'm back at school. I am ready to go back to my life at school!

Stay tuned as to why you should read Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In

xoxo
aVe

Guest Post: Emma Tilton

Ah! I am leaving the West Coast today for my sweet Midwest, and I have to admit my style is definitely more suited for the classy down South. 

One of my friends from Her Campus is going to be finishing this week of guest posting off for me with a cute outfit post! I love Emma's blog, and y'all should really check out her blog!

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Collegiate Chic: A Guest Post by itsemmaelise

While my personal style doesn’t always reflect the preppy, Southern atmosphere that I grew up around, I believe there is still something to be said for wearing plaid or pearls, and channeling your inner Blair Waldorf every so often. With that in mind, I took to my most recent addiction…Polyvore.

Scholars Summit by itsemmaelise

I found this cotton dress on ModCloth, and it just screams “collegiate chic” in my opinion. A meeting of the minds with other intellectuals is always a bit more exciting when you’re wearing some cute, scholarly hues! This plaid number combines navy dignity with golden confidence, from its black-piped upper all the way down to its pleated skirt. For a cute twist, I styled this dress with some suede pumps and a thick, gold-chain necklace!

What are your favorite preppy chic looks? Let me know on Twitter! And don’t forget to check out my own blog, itsemmaelise!
<3 Em
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She's amazing! I love this outfit, perfect for an internship or a formal lunch!
Even for a sorority tea or the weekly meetings!

Stay tuned for a recap of my trip this week!

xoxo

AV

Guest Post: Kriselle from Born and Raised In Cali

It's hump day already! I am still out west with my family, but one of the things I love about Her Campus is all of the bloggers I've met, and who I can ask to guest blog for me! 

Today Kriselle from Born and Raised in Cali is going to talk to you about small, private colleges! 

Enjoy!

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Hey there, everyone! My name is Kriselle and I blog over at bornandraisedincali.blogspot.com feel free to stop by my blog any time [: I am also going to be a sophomore in college at a small, private, Christian school in Southern California called Vanguard University.

Speaking of private schools, that’s what I’m here to talk to you about today! Yay, haha.

I don’t know about you, but where I’m from, many people don’t really consider private universities for college because they’ve either never heard of the school before, or they see the sticker price and automatically think it’s too expensive to even try applying there. So most don’t and end up at state-run schools. (And due to popular belief, not all small universities are religiously affiliated).

Now I’m not saying state schools are bad, but if you live in California like I do, state schools don’t always mean getting out in four years. It also means less financial aid due to the economic situation California is in.

At my university, it costs almost 40,000 dollars per year to go to school. Most people I know (as well as myself) get enough financial aid to cover more than half of the fees, if not all. I’m one of the lucky ones who gets 99 percent of my tuition and fees covered with financial aid. My school gives hefty academic scholarships, ranging from 10,000 to 16,000 dollar scholarships! If you get the highest academic scholarship (it is 19,000 I believe for the incoming freshman class), you have enough to cover tuition and then some! You can put that towards something like housing.

Money aside, there are so many other pluses in going to small private schools! Here are some others:

·         Smaller Class Sizes: At my school, the biggest class you can possibly have is less than 100 students, and that is pushing it. My biggest class so far has been roughly 50 people, and it was a general ed class, so major-specific classes don’t have more than 30 people per class most of the time.

·         Networking Opportunities: If you develop close relationships with professors or staff members over time, they can do things like write recommendations for internships or refer you for jobs! You can actually do this at any school, but because class sizes are smaller, it is usually less intimidating to approach professors this way.

·         Personalized Help: Professors want to know you! All the professors I’ve had so far like to ask and know how their students are doing in classes or in their personal lives. They want to help you in any way possible. My professors will pray for you if you just ask them to! Sometimes they’ll even invite you over to their house for some coffee!

·         Graduating in Four Years or Less: Private schools encourage their students to graduate in four years or less! My school makes it really easy to graduate a semester early if you really want to. I even have friends graduating in three years or less because my school takes full advantage of AP/community college credit. The only time students take longer than four years to graduate is if they spent extra time at the community college level, if they are double majoring, or if they are taking the minimum amount of units every semester/quarter.

Those are the top four perks of smaller, private schools. I could talk about other pluses forever, like the school paying for you to go to conferences where you need to fly there or the music department paying for your dinner at the famous Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles after winning a weeklong competition (true stories). Private universities aren’t for everyone, but give them a shot! You might just run into many open doors [:

If you have any questions, feel free to stop by bornandraisedincali.blogspot.com, my blog and leave a comment or look for me on any of my social networks (displayed on my blog)! I’d be more than happy to help you in your college journey [: 

Hope y'all enjoyed this as much as I did! 

How is your July coming along? Can you please help me slow summer down? 

xoxo

AV 

Guest Post: Amanda Cross

Monday already? I am at a family reunion in Oregon this week so I asked some of my blogging friends from Her Campus to blog for me while I'm gone! 

These next two posts are going to be about college, choosing your college and than what to do for welcome week!

Amanda Cross from amandajpcross.com is going to give you some advice on welcome week! 

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School is fast approaching for many college students right about now. My University is having move in day on August 18th, and as a sister in a sorority on campus it is a tradition that the Registered Student Organizations get together and help out on Move-In Day. Move-In day at our school is the start of a week-long time of class bonding, free things, and events meant to keep our minds off homesickness. Here are my five ways to enjoy Welcome Week!

1. Do all the super cheesy get-to-know-you activities. At my school during our Welcome Week we had an event called Playfair in our HPER center. I am not a hardcore exerciser, and the games used a lot of energy, but they also were so fun that it made the time fly by faster! I know that you don’t normally want to do these cheesy activities but they are a good way to make friends on campus. You may think your academics ground you to your campus, but that is a fallacy - it’s good relationships that ground you to your school of choice.

2. Go on a tour of campus: If your campus is extremely large or you are from out of state and haven’t really had a chance to view your campus as much as you’d like to, going on a tour during welcome week will help tremendously! It may seem like one of the lamer things to do during welcome week, but it’s also one of the more practical things to do because it allows you to see where your classes are. After welcome week is over classes begin, and that is where the true magic begins!

3. Get all the free stuff: Free stuff is everywhere during welcome week. From free food to koozies to pens to coupons to area stores and restaurants. Even if you don’t think it’s humanly possible to use all the things you get it will still be fun to go up to all the places offering free things and get to know them and their companies.

4. Start off on the right foot with your roommate: Welcome week is a great time to get to know your roommate! You don’t have to do everything with her, but go to a few welcome week activities together. Also make sure to establish a roommate contract with her this week - it’s not everyone’s favorite topic, but you will appreciate this later if someone leaves dishes in the sink for five days straight.

5. Get to know Registered Student Organizations: Welcome week is the perfect time to get to know all the organizations on your campus! From Greek life to clubs for your major to random student organizations you are just interested in. There will more than likely be a Registered Student Organization fair that you can attend to do this all in one swoop. Get to know the people at the tables of the event; it will help tremendously when you decide to go to a meeting and know a friendly face or two!

Welcome week is a week put on by your university to help you adjust to college life in a fun and exciting way. These events are meant to quell the initial homesickness that you may feel as a college student after you leave home for the first time. This can only happen if you get out and go to the events, so be proactive and have fun!

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Like what you read? Check out Amanda’s blog at amandajpcross.com!

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I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did! 

xoxo

AV

 PS Stay tuned for more!