It's our final blog post of the year... aw sad.

I'm sure you're wondering if I ever got registered for housing and classes. No worries, I did. I will be in my little haunted Room 11 next year.

I'm taking 15 credit hours next semester. Luckily, this is the max amount of hours I will ever take again. Summer session I am taking an online spanish class and an online astronomy class, meaning I get still get to participate in my cousin's wedding. I get to hand out the bubbles.

So besides me stressing over school work, sorority work (planning May Day) and real work (whom I got notification from earlier today that I might be off the schedule forever... awesome) I did get to go to the Plaque dedication of the 1936 Gainesville Tornado.

I'm incredibly superstitous... the early morning before strong winds and lightening knocked down a tree behind my sorority house, so I had to go. I got up at 7 am and showed up at 8 as the youngest person there. 75 years ago, the Square was destroyed but the majority of Brenau was untouched.

Like I said, I'm incredibly superstitious.

So enjoy the final fruits of my labor and watch my video!

End of the Year Round Up

The close of my second year at Brenau is rapidly approaching.

I forgot that housing registration began today! I was planning on going today since I want to stay in the same room next year... yeah, totally forgot about that. I like my little haunted room, and I really doubt anyone else is going to take it. Especially since members get first pickin' in the sorority houses, and no one in my house wants the smallest single room in the existence of Brenau.

Registration is also coming up, and I need to take a summer class. I'm obsessively checking CampusWeb to try and figure out when exactly I can register... still not sure! Why post the dates? That makes life simple....

May Day is less than 20 days away, and I'm in charge of planning my sorority's open house. I going to be honest, I'm lazy and am going along with the theme of our centennial. And I may have been inspired by my May Day outfit.

SEPC (Southeastern Panhellenic Conference) is this weekend! I'm excited to go, but in order to have fun I must get everything done before I leave campus! I'm having motivation issues on that part.... really I want to get everything done before my birthday on Wednesday.

Whoa. My birthday is in less than 26 hours. I had almost forgotten about my own birthday. It's been so freaking busy that it took me until last Wednesday to realize I was not in my typical gloat-y birthday mood. But it's all good because I fixed that this morning ;D

PS: if you haven't seen the Honey Badger video, and you don't mind obscenities, please go watch and fall in love with the Honey Badger.

QEP? The P stands for Pass!

So if you didn't hear, Brenau passed it reaccredidation. While I am pleased at such a thought, I was disappointed that no men in suits asked me about our QEP.

In honor of such an event, I made an advertisement to celebrate my blog.

I chose to use minimum text to bring in the curious cats. Element of intrigue.

The Gag

The Gag's reputation precedes it. For one, it is actively called "The Gag" and ID cards are often referred to as "Gag Tags." This can only imply that the food is terrible.

As a vegetarian and someone with food allergies, I have to say that I agree with the name. In my two years at Brenau I have gotten violently ill after eating there more than a few times.

So you would assume I refuse to eat there.... except that I don't. I refuse to eat their salads and vegetables (as those, respectively, were the things I got the sickest from), but the cereal is typically safe. And it's typically the only thing I can eat since "vegetarian" is not in the Gag cook book, and when it is, it's not done right.

If you ask nicely the Gag staff will cook you something special. This something special is almost always brown rice and salmon. I used to have them make me Bocca Burgers. First semester of freshman year, I literally ate a Bocca Burger twice a day every day. Now just thinking about it makes me feel woozy.

I know I'm not the only person who shares these woes. Luckily for us, there are multiple dining options! The Tea Room is almost fantastic- I would give them a higher rating if they knew what a vegetarian was. And then of course there's always off-campus dining, and by always I mean always.

So my question for you: Where do you eat more?

Bucket List- The Brenau Version.

I think Bucket Lists are silly. Why? Because if you don't do one thing - it sets you up for disappointment in the afterlife. Oh dear God I never grew that victory garden. This afterlife already sucks.

In light of that, I did create a "bucket list" for Brenau, and it even has a catchy name. It's most of the things I want to do before I graduate.

As a freshman, I participated in the gold refined by fire ceremony. I wrote down my most important goal and tossed it in the fire. Supposedly this goal is guaranteed to be fulfilled. After this ceremony, I went back to my dorm, chattered with my room mate and we each created a list of things we wanted to do before we graduated.

One of my goals has already fallen through- to win the title of Miss Brenau- but the rest of my goals look promising.

So here. I made you this video. WATCH.

Brenau, How nobley we see thee....

Every semester, we have convocation. Basically we sit in Pearce, all dressed up and listen to a faculty member say something about anything.

Oh yeah, and we pretend to sing along with the Alma Mater.

Written to the tune of "The Lorelei," students now barely remember we have a school song.

But it's not just the Alma Mater we've forgotten about. Plenty of traditions get put away, only to be dusted off once or twice a year.

Other chants, like Humpty Dumpty and the Classes Song are worn out during orientation week and then never really heard from until an Evening of Class. The Crow's Nest is often forgot until an Evening of Class as well.

So why do we suddenly dust off these traditions at an Evening of Class? Is it maybe because we realize another year has past, and we are one step closer to graduation? One step closer to fondly remembering our times at Brenau instead of living them?

Speaking of living traditions, don't even get me started on yearbooks....

A Requested Internet Love Letter to Katie Barth

I love blogging. I love blogging so much I posted a facebook status about it. Two people commented on it!

The status is here :)

Now, that seems like no big deal. BUT! This is why this is special:

I'm Greek. Not "Opa!" Greek but like Wham-Bam-Thank-You-Ma'am Greek. And (are you ready!?) both of my friends who commented are Greek.

You are probably still thinking, Yeah so what who cares?

Well I care! Because they aren't my sorority sisters. They're both from two different chapters on campus. So why is that special?

At other schools, girls aren't as lucky as Greek Brenauians who have friends in all chapters. At Brenau, we firmly believe in Greek Unity and we at least attempt to uphold that. Granted, we have some work to do. But it is so much better here than at other schools it's almost amazing.

In fact, Brenau Greeks are so different... I don't know if I would have been Greek if I had gone to another school.

So I LOVE seeing other Greeks be my friend :) In fact, one of those Greeks was our very own Katie Barth. She wanted me to write her a love letter to the internet.

So because I love being unified with other Greeks, and because I have a secret undying love for Katie Barth, here is her love letter.

Dear Katie Barth,

You are cute and precious and I love that you have feelings because I have feelings and I'm showing you that I have feelings right now.

And I am not going to lie sometimes I stalk you on facebook and wish we could have a feelings party. We'll play Taylor Swift and cuddle stuffed lions and that's as far as I've gotten so far.

I like that we are friends. I want to continue to be your friend.

Also I follow you on Twitter.

Love, Your Friend and potential stalker, Alyson C

Okay, enough of me being gooey and sappy and weird.

Basically if you didn't want to read all that goo, I love how our Greek Community is set up. It is one of the things Brenau did completely and absolutely right. No way they can mess this up *knock on wood* I probably wouldn't be Greek if I went to another school. Well maybe. But I like it here. Granted some things are ridiculous, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

OMGOMGOMG

Dear Everyone,

The QEP just got a facebook and friended me!

I can't decide if I'm creeped out or if I think it's funny.

Interview with a returning student

One of my edge sisters, Kegan, took a semester off. Happy to be back, she agreed to be interviewed about our good ole alma mater....


A: Are you glad to be back at Brenau?
K: Yes. Very glad

A: Has Brenau changed in the semester you have been gone?
K: Yes and no. People have obviously changed, and classes have changed an phi mu has changed it. It just has a different feel.

A: How do you feel about the QEP?
K: I know it exists but I don't know exactly what it is. I don't know why you need to know what it is because nobody really focuses on it.

A: Do you feel Brenau is going downhill?
K: Hmm. I feel like it's changing in a direction I don't want it too, and other students don't what it too. It's turning from something I wanted to be part of into something it's not. Like possibly going coed. I came here because it wasn't co-ed and I could focus.

A: Do you have any advice to our administrative staff?
K: Survey and inform the students before attempting to improve the school. This way, there won't be riots on facebook....

A: How do you feel about the Sorority Housing Project?
K: I do not like it at all! It defeats the purpose of us living together as a sisterhood. While it promotes greek unity, it takes away from our sisterhood.

A: How do you feel about the change to Miss Brenau this year?
K: I liked the set and how they used the stage. I also liked the new opening number. It was very "Brenau." Gay Hammond did an amazing job with the program.

A: Do you think you'll return after graduation, like on May Day?

K: Probably to see my chapter, both the alums and the members. And to see if girls from my year came back.

A: Any final thoughts about Brenau?
K: I love that Brenau isn't just a community, it's a family. And I'm glad to be home!

Christening Post: Sculpture Fairies.

The first day I ever stepped foot on Brenau's campus, I was enamored. I drove through sorority circle with my mother, and at that moment I had decided. This is where I belong.

That was Winter Weekend 2009. Ever since, WW has been very special to me.

So you can imagine my surprise when one day, while walking to class, I discovered something horrible. Something so incredibly bad I thought it was... well I wasn't sure at all what I was thinking. But I took a picture!



Seriously. What the hell is this! This atrocity is one of four unnecessary statues added to the campus... just in time for Winter Weekend.

Students were outraged, including myself. The lovely Donna Gibson, who sends out "This Week At Brenau" was given the horrendous task of being the messenger for this ludacris email:

Visit from the Sculpture Faeries

After witnessing a flurry of workman-like construction activity Thursday morning, students, faculty and staff on the Gainesville campus awoke Friday to the sudden appearance of four giant metal sculptures at strategic locations, all courtesy of Andrew Crawford, the metal-working Atlanta sculptor who had crafted the “Violin” piece in front of the Burd Center 10 years ago. The pieces, which already have generated some spirited discussions on campus, all have interesting histories, including appearances in other museums and art shows around the Southeast. Crawford loaned three of the pieces to the university on a “year lease” and sold the fourth to Brenau “at a very good price,” he said, “Because I really feel I am part of the university and I love being involved with the school.” He’d just started his career, he explained, when Brenau commissioned the piece to adorn the front lawn at the Burd Center. Against the backdrop of the building’s stain glass window, it is part of one of the iconic images of the campus now and one of the most-photographed spots in Gainesville. “That commission was very important to me,” he said. “It really launched my career.”

The university acquired “Pure Americana,” or the oil can with wings for we who are sculpture-impaired, which now sits outside Simmons Visual Arts Center. He built the model for it in his shop one day when he decided the oilcan on his work bench looked like a bird. The big piece he later built from the model to open an exhibit at the Mobile Museum of Art in Mobile, Ala. It’s been around to exhibits in other museums including the past two years in Chattanooga – so the piece has nothing to do with soaring gas prices or the BP spill last summer that covered thousands of birds with oil. Nor is the “Battleship” standing on end some kind of anti-war statement. Crawford’s work, he says, isn’t about imagery and symbolism as much as it is about objects, “looking at stuff” from a variety of perspectives. Thus a broken ball peen hammer, with a few minor changes becomes a “Bull” and another becomes almost a cartoonish rocket in a piece called “Launch.”

Are we five? What the hell is this!? I can barely grasp the major BS that this email is coated in.

Luckily, three of the statues are on loan. Unluckily, they are loaned to use for a year. That's right, instead of donating actual money to help our debt, we got statues in inconvenient places. In fact, we were dumb enough to pay for one of those statues. I don't care if it was for a very good price. Unless it was free, we didn't have the budget for that. And if we did, I would love to see a copy of Brenau's annual budget.

Seriously, where are my tuition dollars going? I would love for them to actually go to my education. Like restoring the building we have classes in, like the historic Owens Student Center (fka Butler Hall) that flooded last semester. Obviously the plumbing needs some help. How about restoring the buildings we live in? I recall a hall this year that had a rat infestation... and a flood.

So please, hear my cry alums who wish to donate, SPECIFY where your donations belong. Please do not let them run rampant. And please do not write your check out to "The Brenau Sculpture Fairies" (Unless of course, you are paying them to remove such travesties.)

Intorduction

Hello World and all who inhabit it!

This is my blog. It's about Brenau. Why? Because I go there.

Actually there are other reasons. Brenau is a huge part of my life. It's where I live, eat and breathe for the vast majority of four years. I've almost made it through two, and it has made a gigantic impact on my life.

I'm sure you are wondering "How so?" Well Brenau is changing. Which is unfortunate. What I wanted from Brenau is changing, disappearing. Despite my love for my alma mater, it makes me angry. Infuriated almost. There are so many things that I never knew could hurt me. Strange things. Formal Wear. Artwork. Boys. Everything. My whole world has become my college.

So, my title. "But that doesn't say anything about Brenau...." False my friend. Brenau is up for it's accredidation renewal. Meaning a group of randoms from some stuffy somewhere will be parading around our school, asking questions.

Specifically, what our QEP is.

If you didn't know, our QEP stands for Quality something Plan, and if you are asked, it is "Critical Thinking."

See where I'm going?

Since my main demographic for this blog is entirely of Brenau students and maybe my mom and dad, you will relate to basically everything I write about. I'll try to be vague.

Try.