The Sratty Archaeologist

During the Summer of 2013 my mom and I went on a British Adventure on Tauck Tours. We spent roughly three weeks travelling down through the countires of Scotland, Wales, and England.

AXiD Class of 2016

There's something about recruitment season that makes me very nostalgic. We've just finished up Formal Recruitment and it now COB week and this post is a message to all the women who are considering going Greek.It's been almost 2 years since I joined my sorority and looking back, it has been one of the best choices I've made in my life.
Coming to college I was determined to "recreate" myself. I wanted to become more outgoing and find somewhere to belong. I had great friends but I wanted to be able to form even stronger bonds with the people I met at school. Naturally I was drawn to Greek Life. During my first semester I began to see what each group was like and then I met some of my now sisters out an about on campus. I fell in love with their confidence and kindness and knew I wanted to be just like them: An outgoing, well know leader on campus. Most importantly, I wanted to find a family and a home away from home at school.
When formal recruitment came around, I was so excited but oh so nervous. I was terrified. Would they want me? Would I receive a bid? Formal was a wonderful albeit tiring experience. I met women from each of the five houses on campus and my choice got harder. All of these women were beautiful, confident, and welcoming. I met so many people that week that I am still good friends with despite our different houses. In the end, my choice to rank Alpha Xi Delta as my first choice was clear. Their motto of realize your potential spoke to me deeply. It made me believe I could become a "somebody," a leader. These were the women I envisioned myself spending the next four years with.

Since signing my bid I have realized my potential. I've served the chapter in numerous positions and am currently our chapter President. I've been to leadership conferences around the country. I've realized my potential and then some. Best of all, I've been blessed with wonderful sisters who are nothing but supportive and the best friends a girl could ask for.

Take a chance and go Greek. It's a time commitment, sure, but it's something I wouldn't have ever wanted to miss out on. I'll only be at Lycoming for another year and a half. I plan on treasuring every moment with my sisters. My greatest hope for anyone who goes Greek is that they find their home and an incredible support system that will provide memories for them to cherish well after college days are gone.

"Fresh and young, or hair turned silver. It matters not to me. These are all my cherished sisters, true friends in Alpha Xi."

At the end of my trip to Sweden I spent a world-wind 48 hours in the capital of Sweden, Stockholm. We stayed at Hostel Dalagatan which was far from the major attractions of the capital city but was in a safe neighborhood and conveniently located next to a pizza place, across the street from ICA ( a supermarket), and near a nice park. The hostel was incredibly clean and the people very friendly. Rachel, Julie and I had our own private room with our own bathroom and shower! This is not your typical hostel ladies and gents! The room was small but it worked perfectly for us since we were almost never in the room except to sleep! The only issue we found was that since our room had no windows, it was pitch black. This didn't help us get our early start adventuring as we hoped for. We slept until 10am on our first day there!

After some planning we decided to purchase the Stockholm Card. Basically the Stockholm Card is a necessity for tourists. You buy your card based on the amount of time you want  (24hr, 48hr, etc). For that time period you're able to use all public transportation free of charge, and you have free admission to the majority of the museums. It's a great deal. For our 48hr the card cost us 675SEK, which roughly equated to $90. Which although it was pretty steep for us, compared to what we would have spent on all the travel, museums, and other expenses, this was an incredible deal!

Our gateway to the city!