This past week winter came early to Fort Collins with temperatures reaching -20ºC... yes that's celsuis. Despite the fact it was bloody freezing, it was a nice chance to get to see campus looking all wintery once fall was ending everywhere lacked a bit of colour. One evening Leif, Chrissie, Jack, Leni and Katie decided we wanted to go and see what downtown looked like after class, and what a bright idea that was! We ended up having a huge snowball fight, which some people like me not prepared with waterproof gloves, and had to walk home feeling extra chilly. By the time we got back to change before a little study session, my legs were glowing pink where I'd been pelted, not pleasant to say the least!
The next day Leif and I went on a little scout of a tattoo parlour where he was planning to get his own little design done. Since it was so cold on the walk back, we decided to go to Lucille's for a chai to warm up. We both knew it wouldn't just be a chai whem we saw the menu, and we felt like we were cheating on Caragh since she wasn't us. Sadly, I couldn't be there for his actually tattoo appointment the next day since I had to leave to meet my parents at the airport.
We headed into Denver, ate some good food then went to see the Black Keys at the Pepsi Centere. The highlight had to be some guy smoking a spliff in the middle of the arena, something I didnt realise I considered normal until I saw their faces! The weekend in Breckenridge that followed was stupidly cold and blizzard like, so what did the Puzzars do? Go in an outdoor hot tub... bright idea until you want to get out but have to face snow with no shoes on.
I couldn't spend much time with them while they were in Fort Collins because of my classes and crazy workload, but I did get to show them the Chi O house, something I'm pretty happy about :) On that note, it also got confirmed this week that the national president of Chi O is letting me be initiated early which I am so excited about :D I'm so grateful to Bree and Sara especially for their hard work in making that happen, and it was definitely worth it to hear my pledge classes reaction to the announcement after our Christmas photo taking!
Finally, the last dayof my parent's visit ended with a trip to Sundance! We brought along Leif, Caragh, Megan, Jonny and Carly... all fun and games until my dad posted a video of Leif and I line dancing without our knowledge. What can I say, after learning the dance to Footloose and it not being played, we weren't going to let that hard work go to waste!
In my last post, I told you all how I had a little drama to write about. Apparently that drama also caused me to lose my memory for the week after, since I've just spent 20 minutes trying to remember what I did that week and am none the wiser.
Monday night I came back from my weekly Chi O meeting with the intention of an early night... that wasn't the case. I came home to find my poor roomie Liv crying, having a panic attack and struggling to breathe while lying in bed. Cue me having to call the medical team, which resulted in three cops, three RA's and three paramedics flooding into my room and kicking me out while they checked her vitals.
Next thing I know, Liv was being taken to Poudre Valley Hospital. Thankfully, we managed to rally people together and Katie, Kate, Whitney, Ben, Adam and I all hopped in the car to join her. My first impression of a FoCo hospital was an interesting one, with a metal detector at the entrance and security asking me if I was carrying a knife. Everyone left around 11 and I stayed with Liv until she got discharged. Turns out she has a viral infection that came upon her all of a sudden, so thankfully she's okay now, nothing some roomie love couldn't fix!
Friday night was the Downtown Holiday Lighting Ceremony, so a few members of Team Commonwealth took a nice stroll up to Old Town to see the switch on. It was very picturesque, and the American vibe was amplified by the CSU Marching Band playing while cookies and cider were being passed around. Later Caragh and I went to chill with Jack, Leni, Chrissie and some of the others to watch The Inbetweeners 2. No better time to watch an English comedy set in Australia with natives. Even funnier when the Americans in the room didn't have a clue what was being said, what we were laughing at, or what was going on in general!
In other news, after Janny P searching high and low for Union Jack fabric back home, Caragh and I finally went to get our letters made. We decided we wanted matching letters for Chi Omega and Kappa Alpha Theta which are our sororities, and they actually look pretty good!
Continuing with the theme, Saturday was the World Unity Fair, which Leif had signed us up for. It was held in the LSC ballroom for the young people of Fort Collins and had stands representing various countries and cultures. We greatly misjudged how much of a big deal this was, so after a panicked meet up in the library we'd managed to figure out what we could do with what we had. That night I proceeded to cut out 17 pictures of the Queen for out games of "Spot the Queen" and "Pin The Crown on the Queen". I spent the next morning cutting out bunting online which is currently decorating my bed and proving to be more trouble than it's worth!
Considering we spent a total of around a dollar in printing to make the stand, we did pretty well. There was English money, landmarks, food, and of course Harry Potter. After the Vietnamese kindly lent us an extension cord, music was blaring too. However dodgy the taste might have been... S Club 7, 5ive and Steps mega mixes may or may not have been danced to throughout the day.
The highlight was the fact we had tea with biscuits and scones with strawberry jam next door. This caused issues for the Americans being too thick to distinguish between biscuits and cookies, but it played to our advantage since there was some left for us!
After a successful day, Leif, Jack, Jonny, Megan and I chilled out and played Cards Against Humanity for the first time. It got pretty rowdy, as can be expected for us lot, which resulted in a 4 hour breakfast/dinner recovery period in the dining hall on Sunday morning discussing DELTA SIGMA WINE, Team Commonwealth's new FRATORITY. More on that soon!
I knew the Americans took Halloween seriously, but I didn't realize how serious it was. This wasn't the time for a make-do costume from Poundland like this year, this had to take some serious dedication. However, due to our wonderful lack of planning ability, the day before Halloween we headed to the thrift store, still with no idea what our costumes would be. First stop though, a trip to Whole Foods, and oh my god I think I died and went to heaven! The craving for English foods has been very prominent lately, and the fact this place had "proper food" almost made it better. The fact that it sold baklava did.
Off we went to the thrift store, and I ended up leaving as a Greek goddess (props to Leif for finding that gem of a costume, which was a joke initially) and Caragh finally got her Woody from Toy Story outfit sorted. I completed the look on Halloween by writing "Andy" on the sole of her shoe in nail varnish for added effect. I was on point with outfit design since I helped Liv figure out an outfit from her wardrobe in 10 minutes too. I'm not quite sure where this artistic flair has come from, but it won't last long. Must be all the crafting that goes on in Chi O.
And so the shenanigans began, but I have to say, after all of the hype Halloween turned out to be a bit crap. I was definitely wishing I could have been at the SU even though we went to a frat party. That's one of the many things I miss about Keele, you don't have to constantly plan what parties are happening or where. Spontaneous nights out are usually the best anyway, and I know being away from the SU has really made me appreciate it's snakebite covered floors even more.
On the Saturday we booked tickets to go and see Cherub at the Aggies Theatre downtown. An hour to get ready called for the revival of the zebra costumes from the Chi O social, this time with slightly zombie looking makeup courtesy of Leif. Leif, Caragh, Ben, Jack and I went, not forgetting the one lone American, Whitney, who could handle another night out unlike the rest. It was such an enjoyable night, topped off by a late night visit to Alleycat for grilled cheese and a soy chai. Always a winning combination.
A quick update this time, but that's due to a crazy workload this week in trying to complete all of my assignments before my parents arrive. Especially since my next post involves a lot of drama to say the least, I'll leave that for another night.
We headed into Denver, ate some good food then went to see the Black Keys at the Pepsi Centere. The highlight had to be some guy smoking a spliff in the middle of the arena, something I didnt realise I considered normal until I saw their faces! The weekend in Breckenridge that followed was stupidly cold and blizzard like, so what did the Puzzars do? Go in an outdoor hot tub... bright idea until you want to get out but have to face snow with no shoes on.
