Visits upon Visits!

It's just what the title sounds like! I had a visit from my little sister, Jennifer last weekend! It was awesome!!! I picked her up from the bus and off we went! We did so much so here is just a quick list!

Jen's Visit

1. Boba Tea (tapioca asian drink)
2. Big Bites Sandwiches
3. Ultimate Frisbee
4. Hang out with the guys until 2am
5. SLEEP
6. ASME tailgating fun!
7. Football game against Kansas State (we won!)
8. Quick tour around UT
9. Jen slept from 7:30PM-8:00AM
10. Mass at the Univ. Catholic Center
11. Meet up with mom in Giddings!

Future longhorn? ;)

The following week I had a calculus test, a chemistry test, and RIVALS WEEK. Let me explain. Rivals week is when the Engineers team up against the Business school and compete in a variety of events. Sunday was field day/kick-off(Engr. won), Monday was a Whose Line is it Anyway (Comedy) competition (Bus. won), Tuesday was Capture the Flag at the Capitol (Engr. won), Wed/Thurs I studied/took my chem test, and Friday was dodgeball and closing ceremony. The Engineers totally destroyed the business students when it came to participation, we generally had 50-100 students show up, and they had 20-40. At Capture the Flag, we weren't even able to split Eng/Bus. because they didn't have enough people to compete! During dodgeball, there was one gym of 20 engr. vs 20 business, and one gym filled with 60 engineers playing against each other! It was awesome! Ultimately, the Engineers stole back the title from the business school and were crowned CHAMPS this year! I loved being active and meeting new people, it makes going to school so much more fun! 

In the midst of all this, my BIFFLE SAR-BEAR (Sarah) came in town! She was only here for 2 days, but we also crammed as much in possible so here is the list!

Sarah's Visit

1. Dodgeball (Sarah was the last one on the Mech E vs everyone else game, pretty funny)
2. Sneak into Calloway House (Private dorm) and play pool!
3. Eat some delicious Pluckers (2nd time that week)
4. Play frisbee until 1 am! (Side Note: 8 random people joined us throughout the evening and it was really strange)
5. Sleepppppp
6. Eat legit thai food from thai spice (Sarah got something that wasn't the Chinese version of a chicken nugget, I was so proud)
7. Go to Mt. Bonnell!

For only coming up Friday afternoon and leaving Saturday afternoon, I consider it quite the success how much we were able to pull off!

I am so glad that Sarah and Jen were able to experience my college life and meet some of my new friends! Oh last thing, Sunday evening, since I had my car parked nearby, we drove to Chuy's and I was able to show Sephra, Eric, and Jimmy the wonders that is Chuy's! Such an austin-y place! Anyways, this week is pretty chill, I hope to get my work done before my parents come in town this weekend for the game, whoo! That's all for now!

-Katie

PS my Halloween was pretty crazy, ASME competed in a Chariot Race, and I rode in the cart! Long story short, some army ROTC guys were jerks and I ended up taking one of the guys pulling our chariot to the ER to get stitches on his foot.

It's been awhile...

Wow, it has been awhile since I have posted anything! I have just been busy as usual, class, homework, tests, friends, TV, going home, Texas Football, and food!

First thing is first, Texas BEAT OU, thus proving that OU sucks. During OU weekend, I played 4 hours of frisbee, woke up early enough to watch the game, then did homework. I went to Wendy's with Jimmy and Alex after the ridiculous amount of frisbee, here is a pic of them!

After that long long weekend, I had awesome school. Well not that awesome, I don't really remember doing anything special... OH WELL.

The following weekend I went home for my Dad's birthday and homecoming! I was so happy to wish my dad a happy birthday on his actual birthday, and give him his awesome new UT burnt orange fishing fancy shirt! I also was able to help Jennifer get all dolled up for homecoming. It only took over an hour to get her hair all curled, but it was worth getting to see her off and be hands on a part of her life!

I also got to see my beautiful best friends! The biffles: Marissa, Sarah, and Abbi reunited in Magnolia at the football game and had a great sleepover and then waffles at Marissa's with even more friends! I missed everyone so much and it was great finally getting to see them all in person! Only a few more weeks until Thanksgiving, when I will see them all again!

I had to get back to campus pretty early on Sunday, because ASME is building a chariot to race in the Red Bull Chariot Race Competition, and I will be the one in the chariot! We are building a killer bunny, pictures to come :)

This past week of school has been pretty chill, it feels like every other day I have to do a lot of homework, but Thursday and today (Friday) I don't have much! Next week will be more hectic, I have an Mech E sketch quiz on Tuesday and Math test on Friday! Woohoo!

 This weekend has already started off on a great note! I watched Slumdog Millionaire on Thursday evening, and today after classes, Eric Andrew and I decided to go on an adventure! We began with Geocaching on campus! We found this super relaxed nice place near the alumni center, but unfortunately we could not find the geocache. Our adventure continued by catching a bus down to Sixth Street! We were looking for a cool mural, but once again could not find it! So we walked from W 6th St. (Dirty 6th) past South Congress to E 6th St. for some delicious Amy's Ice Cream! I was lucky enough to witness an awesome event. The worker at Amy's took a young boy outside, gave him a bowl, the guy walked to the other side of the street, and flung the ice cream to perfectly land in the bowl! It was AMAZING!

Side note, I just got a new camera lens and SD card for my mom's old camera, so I have a tonnn of photos. But the adventure was not over. Andrew was thirsty for a geocache and decided to search for another. We found this little park next to a small creek and began the hunt. Eric and I gave up pretty quick and decided to climb a tree instead. No worries Mom or Dad, I was only 4 feet off the ground haha! After about an hour at this small park, Andrew finally figured out where the geocache was! 48/51 people had logged online that they found the geocache, so we were glad to add to the success rate. After finding that one, of course Andrew had to go and find another! 

BUT, the adventure isn't over yet! We were no where near a bus, so we just had to start walking, and we decided to not use out phone GPS to get back to campus. Eventually we ended up seeing the Capitol and heading towards that! But we couldn't just walk by the capitol, so OF COURSE we went inside! Andrew has never even been inside the capitol, so it was quite an event! We found some janky ice scoopers in the basement, cartwheeled (unsuccessfully) everywhere, and generally goofed off!

 Formatting is super janky on here, sorry for the weird picture layout! Anyways, I am going to head out for some non cafeteria food dinner, then frisbee! Fun!

-Katie

And it just keeps getting crazier!

Well, I have finished my third week of classes and first FULL week of classes! (Holidays). I am exhausted! I have been attending student org meetings, going to class, homework, hanging with friends, prepping for EXPO, and most importantly, PLANNING when and how I can fit all of these things into my schedule.

First off, EXPO. I fixed up my snazzy resume, and waited over an hour for a counselor in the Engineering Career Assistance Center to read over it. I am thankful that I did though, he gave me very helpful advice, and I am much more confident in my résumé! My outfit for expo is almost ready, I have the shoes, blouse, and skirt, but I really need to figure out something to cover my shoulders. I COULD wear a cotton cardigan, but I kinda feel like I should buy a dress jacket.. The struggle! I have practiced my introduction and handshake on a few people, so all that is left is research which companies I want to talk to! I am also volunteering at EXPO as a corporate liaison, so I am excited for that!

Second, MY FIRST COLLEGE TEST! Next Thursday, I have a Chemistry exam from 7-9PM! I am all caught up on our assigned/graded assignments, and this weekend I will be doing the supplemental worksheets she just gave out. Then I will go to as many TA office hours as possible (of course I have to squeeze that in along with class, finding time for EXPO, and running for ASME freshman rep). Anyways, wish me luck!

Pix of BEVO for your viewing pleasure!

This past week, I have turned in my peer mentor application for Girl Advocates, got trained to be a Corporate Liaison at EXPO, unfortunately missed the ASME ice cream social, tried out the Kinsolving Dining Hall for the first time (J2 for lyfe though), went to the Texas/Ole Miss game, we lost :( had some yummy barbecue from ASME and more yummy Pita Pit and Fuzzy's Tacos!

 Sephra and I at the Ole Miss Game! It was her first ever UT Football game!!!

Saturday was game day, so after sleeping in, Sephra and I got all ready and spent the day tailgating and then going to the game. Sephra is the best football watcher ever, she doesn't know every little detail, but she gets into it, dances, hoots and holla's and is an overall good time!

Sunday, I woke up once again at 10:30am (so niceeee) and did my math homework and looked over my voice/speech class readings! I grabbed lunch with Eric and Andrew, then hung out in their dorm for like 5 hours doing a crap ton of homework. (Mainly prepping for my chemistry test). Amanda and Jimmy saved us from our deaths and we went out to dinner! The tower was a beautiful orange celebrating the 130th birthday of The University of Texas! I video chatted with Marissa, and now I am off to do laundry... yuck. Oh and more homework.. double yuck. That is all for now! Thanks as always for reading until the end!

Katie

Labor Day Weekend!

After the football game on Saturday night, I quickly packed and cleaned up my dorm because I was heading home for the weekend! I know I know, L-A-M-E, but it was my Mom's birthday on Monday (Labor Day) and I could not miss that! Sunday morning after walking across I-35 to get my car from out in the boonies, I picked up a fellow Mechanical Engineering friend, Austin, and we headed back to H-Town! The ride was quite uneventful, lots of discussing classes, a quick Buc-ee's stop, and jamming to some music. When I got home, I talked a little to my parents and sister about things I haven't put in my blog, then did homework for a good 2-3 hours. We then went to my Tia's house to celebrate my mom's birthday! The great thing was my Grandma who lives in Laredo and my cousin who lives in Chicago both came to Houston to celebrate! I was able to tell my Grandma more about college in person, and I heard that my family actually reads my blog, so those were both super nice! We had great food, and then almost set the light on fire with a cake covered in FORTY-NINE candles! Yep, actually 49, it was pretty crazy. My mom blew out all but 4 of them on the first try, so I consider that a success! When I got back it was more homework (Chemistry), wrapping presents, and sleep!

In the morning, as per Dennington tradition, we sung Happy Birthday and gave my mom her gifts! Jennifer and I got her a UT shirt and a nice laptop case! My dad bought her a new mac laptop earlier this month and tickets to the Kathy Griffin Show in Houston! It also happens to be Jennifer's boyfriend, Stevie's birthday, so we made Mom breakfast and Stevie brownies! Jennifer is out celebrating with him right now, while I was busy doing even more Chemistry and my math homework! I was able to have a free hour (sorta) so I took the opportunity to catch up on Pretty Little Liars! For anyone that watches PLL, I do NOT believe Ezra is A. End of story. Then back to the chemistry/math grind, and finally 3 arrives and it's party time! We had some great hamburgers cooked by my dad, and I got to see a lot of my family members! Unfortunately, the festivities were cut short for me, and I drove back to Austin that night!

As soon as I got in town and texted some friends, I was bombarded with dinner invites! I swear being social goes hand in hand with eating food! So I said sure, and got some yummy JCL food! I happened to run into "the Luis" again and asked him all about his weekend! Eric, Andrew, and Alex also joined us for dinner and afterwords we proceeded to do more yucky math homework. Oh, I also set them straight on the difference between blog and tumblr, two totally seperate entities. Anyways, pretty boring, and I went to bed by midnight so I could wake up bright and early to go to 8am discussion! 

Today I actually met a lot of new people! I joined the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and attended the freshman meet and greet for that organization! A lot of kids from my FIG were there, as well as kids I met through orientation and new people as well! In my General Engineering (helper math class), I met even more people and specifically a fellow girl Mechanical Eng. who seems really awesome! Classes are going great, and I have been on top of my homework, so nothing to complain about! Sorry, there aren't really any pictures in this one, so if you made it to the bottom of this post, I am impressed. Thanks for reading!

-Katie

PS Today I also discovered a "Girl Advocate" mentor program for college/middle school students, so I think I am going to try and get involved with that!

First Day and Game Day!

Just as I expected, the past few days have been CRAZY! Full of going to class, meeting even more people, hanging out, staying up late, and of course homework! My teachers all have been great so far. My math teacher, who I call Gus, is easy to understand and willing to stop and answers questions during lecture. He constantly says the words "Spicy" "Yes" and "Ooooooook". We are going over material I have learned already, so I decided to count how many times he said "Ok" it was 50, in half an hour. My chemistry teacher is also really great! She has a million different grad/undergrad students to help manage our class of 250, and is constantly creating videos for us to watch in order to learn better. Both of those teachers have me doing homework every day, but that is the life of an engineer, so I can't complain. My Mechanical Engineering teacher, Prof. Wood, is really chill and seems to have everything under control. He teaches general mechanical engineering, drafting, and computer drafting. My last teacher is for "Voice and Speech for Smarties". She is a theater teacher who is down to earth and super excited to be teaching the class. We will be doing a lot of presentations in her class, so I am looking forward to the semester! My "First Year Interest Group", a class of 20 kids who are in the same Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering class as well, seems to be a good group of kids. The upperclassmen mentors and tutors are super excited to begin and introduce us to campus. I am already in a group text message conversation with about 5 other kids, and we met up to work on a chemistry assignment the other day. I am so glad I have my "FIG", or else I would practically know no one in Chemistry! On a side note, I have to wake up at 6:30 am EVERY morning to eat breakfast at 7:00 am, to get to class across campus by 7:45. I meet up with some friends, Eric and Andrew, for breakfast. So far, we haven't been late, but we already have predicted that we are going to push the time farther and farther back throughout the semester, until we are finally late to class, and then we will have to go back to the original meet up time! I have also made a few other friends (mainly band kids) who have been super fun to hang out with! I went to the bowling alley last night with them, it cost $4.25 to bowl one game (AMAZING). Unfortunately for me, I suck at bowling and didn't even break 50. Yeah, 50. I had several frames where I got gutter balls. Actually, every frame I got a gutter ball... Oh well, maybe one day I will practice and be better! Anyways, college has been amazing so far, and I now understand fully why people say it's the best time of your life!

The first football game of the season was also today! Univ of Texas vs. New Mexico State University. My horns had me worried, we went almost an entire half before scoring, and even then we let the other team score before we did! Oh well, we ended up beating them 56-7, so I am ok with it! I had a lot of fun dancing in the stands, yelling "Give 'em Hell Give 'em Hell GO HORNS GO" and singing "The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You". My seats were seriously the best as well. I am just above and to the left of BEVO and to the right of the band! And only 10 rows up! The student section stood all the way up until the 3rd quarter, at which point we were already killing the other team, so many people began to leave. LAME. I of course stayed until the very end of the game, and it was a good thing I did, because Texas scored one more goal within the last minute and a half! It pays to stay, and that's all I'll say. It was weird seeing the band, and not being a part of it, who knows what I will do next year. But for now, I had an AWESOME time at my first official Texas football Game!