In the Land of Many Horses...

I am now at Eastern Kentucky University. The flight in was beautiful. We flew over what felt like hundreds of horse farms and riding centers. The grass was so pretty with the white fences everywhere. It is warm here, but definitely not as warm as the deeper parts of the South... it almost feels cold being 70 degrees! Before I came here I spent some time in New Orleans, so I will recap that first.

Jennica (another ELC) and I arrived in New Orleans on the 23rd after we were done at LSU. The picture to the left is a picture of us putting a kite (our logo as Thetas) around Mike VI. Mike IV is LSU's live mascot. He lives in a multi-million dollar home next to the football stadium. He was sleeping when we got there and the chapter member we were with yelled his name and he came out so we got to take a picture with him!

We were also fortunate to find a ride through a chapter member who was heading that way anyway. The drive was around an hour but since she grew up in New Orleans we learned a lot about the area on the way down and also about the devestating effects of Katrina. It was interesting to learn all about hurricanes. Children here begin learning about them at a very early age in school and how to track them/what to do if one hits. I was surprised it was taught as early as it is in school there, but it makes sense. I also learned that tornados are a common element to hurricanes, who knew!

We pulled into the French Quarter, where our hotel was and it was just beautiful. It looked like Paris, you almost had to stop and remind yourself that you were still in the US! Our hotel was wonderful (Place d'Armes) and it had a great location. We put our stuff down and explored the area a little while we waited for Jenny and Justine (another ELC) to arrive.

When they arrived we all went to dinner and met up with a FIJI (Fraternity) consultant who was visiting Tulane. We met him at a conference this summer and all became friends. We also went to Burbon Street. It felt like the Amsterdam of the US, I didn't know there was a place like that here!

The next day we walked around and got acquainted with the area. We went to Cafe du Mond and had Beignes (spelling?) which were just fried dough with a fancy name. We listened to some jazz and went back to the hotel to relax. Later that night we went to a quieter part of the city that mostly locals know about and went to a jazz bar. It was nice and less touristy.

However, while we were at the hotel I started feeling sick with a head cold and soon enough it was a full blown fever. The entire next day I could hardly do anything and my fever kept going up. I was afraid it was the Swine Flu because of how bad it was at LSU. I went to a Walk in Clinic and had a bacterial and viral infection that was causing "flu-like symptoms". I took the antibiotics and by the afternoon of the next day I began to feel a little bit better.

On the last day we went to a place called, The Court of Two Sisters, where they served a huge brunch and had jazz music playing. It was nice with a lot of Creole/Cajun foods. That night we went to a bar that had only candles for light and music. It was nice to say goodbye to the city that way, even though I couldn't stay for too long.

Soon enough it was Thursday and time to head to Lexington, Kentucky. I was still feeling a little sick but was able to make it here. When I arrived the chapter members picking me up from the airport had a sign for me, which was really nice, and were very welcoming. The school just put all Greeks in two towers for rooming. On the first floor of the sorority tower are a bunch of guest rooms, so I am in one of those for a couple days. It's nice to have space to spread out, even if I am living in dorm life again.

It is recruitment here (again!) and has been fun. It is a much smaller recruitment (200 people going through instead of 2,000!) which is a nice break. It actually reminds me of OWU and how recruitment was there. It is much more relaxed than the previous recruitments I have done so far. Recruitment will last until Monday and then on Tuesday I head back home to NH!

That's all for now, more updates later!