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

Going Home!

No, I am not leaving college, but I did go home this past weekend! Many of my friends were going home, and after doing half of my math test, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to go home and relax!

Friday!

I drove home after lunch (couldn't miss out on J2), and arrived in enough time to go to Magnolia's football game! I hung out with my long time best friend Marshall, and I got to watch my oboe -buddy Brooke and Marsh's little sister Baylee perform in the band! It was really nice seeing everyone again and knowing they are doing great! 

Marshall being goofy!

My oboe buddy Brooke! She did great conducting the band for a portion of the marching show!

Little BG all grown up!!!

Saturday, I did a ton of homework and hung out with my friend Emily! She goes to that other school ;) jk A&M is O-K I guess! I always saw the play my sister had put a lot of work into, Inherit the Wind. She was publicity crew head, and I thought the play was great!

Now on to Sunday! I hung around the house, trying to relax as much as possible, knowing I won't get to do that very much this week. I was able to see my BIFFLE Sar-Bear, and we pigged out on delicious Double Dragon 2! She told me about some of the friends she had made and about how classes are going! Sarah looked super cute as well, but unfortunately we didn't take a pic together :( next time! I then drove to Rice to hang out with my other Biffle ABBI :) I swear, she knows EVERYONE at Rice, I met at least 20 people in the two hours I was there! She showed me around her dorm and campus, and we had some awesome coffee drinks at the local coffee shop! 

Abs and I :)

It was awesome hearing about all of her college experiences in person! I can't wait until Sarah and Abbi are able to come up and experience the UT life, but in the meantime, I will be back in Magnolia for homecoming, in less than two weeks! 

Oh, and the drive home to ATX was HORRIBLE! Traffic wasn't bad, but the Chinese and coffee wasn't a good combo, so I felt like I was going to throw up AND the sun was in my eyes most of the time. Luckily when I got back, my friends Eric and Andrew were super nice and made me feel a lot better! I also got to eat some weird poppyseed cake!

Last thing: OU weekend!! Ahhhh, texas is going to lose... But oh well! That's all for now! Wish me luck on my chemistry test on Thursday! -Katie

Chugging Along...

Whew! I finished my first college test! I reached my goal, and I know what I need to improve on, so I am happy. I also turned in a draft of a paper for speech, presented my Star Trek speech in my speech class, and now I am prepping for my first math test! I played a ton of frisbee this weekend, ate Indian, Taiwanese, Amy's Ice Cream, and Mediterranean food!

(Indian food)

I also did a Color Run wih Juliana and Eric! The essence is to run/walk a 5K while getting covered in Holi Powder (basically a dyed powder). IT WAS AWESOME! I ran about half of it and walked the rest, it was 9am so I was tired! I look forward to doing it again!

Before

After!

I think I have mentioned it before, but J2 food is delicious. The other day, the desserts at J2 were just all so good, that I had to take a picture. 

Chocolate chip cookie, cake, Rice Krispie with M&M, and chocolate ice cream! FRESHMAN 40 HERE I COME!

Lastly, every week Sephra, Eric and I draw a picture on this whiteboard, so I wanted to share it with you! Last week was pirate ship themed, this week it's MERICA!

Enjoy!

-Katie

EXPO and ASME!

This has been an intense week! Tuesday and Wednesday was the huge career fair called EXPO! I visited quite a few companies: Baker Hughes, Bechtel, GE, Jacobs Engineering, Caterpillar, Public Works for Houston, Evonik, Union Pacific Railroad. Almost everyone said, "oh you are a freshman, well cool that you are here, but we don't accept freshman". It was the response I expected, vbut it was nice getting the FaceTime and experience with the companies. Evonik was the only one that seemed genuinely interested in me, and I just applied online to their summer intern position. I also saw a company at EXPO, but didn't know anything about them so I didn't talk to them the first day and they were not there the second day. They are called Steger-Bizell, and they are a construction/infrastructure company located in Austin, and quite small. I called their office yesterday asking about an internship, and the receptionist got me to leave a voicemail for the President/founder! So nervewracking! The last company I really really really liked who wasn't at EXPO but spoke at the ASME meeting was Accenture! They are a consulting company, and their job is to go to other companies and improve their systems: whether it be through different machinery, a new computer program, how the company is structered etc. They do not accept freshman (of course) but I met with them and told them of my interest and they said try next year! As for now, I will be applying to companies online and seeing where that gets me!

Now time for the exciting part! All week I prepared to run for the position of Freshman Representative of American Society of Mechanical Engineers. There were six kids running and two positions available. We each had to give a 1-2 minute speech, followed by 2 minutes of questions, then we left and the group talked about us for 2 minutes. I was last to go on, so my nerves had definitely built up by that point! My hands shook the entire time, but luckily I knew a few familiar faces in the crowd and seeing them helped a lot. My friend Eric was actually blocked from my view by an Afro(hair), so Eric leaned way over in order to see me. When I saw him doing that, I almost started laughing, but it was nice knowing that my friends really support me! Anyways, all of the members of ASME had vote sheets and could choose two candidates. They turned in the vote sheets, and then we had weird meat pies for dinner. Near the end of eating the president announced the winners, "Katie Dennington and Jeremy Kien"!!! Ahhhhh! I got it! I am so excited! I get a fancy ASME polo shirt and a name badge! I was added to the officer email list, and our first officer meeting is next Wednesday! I will attend the Student Engineering Council meeting representing the freshman of ASME next monday! I can't wait. The officers in ASME seem really cool, which is why I decided to put more energy into ASME then SEC(as for right now). That's all for now!

Katie

OHHH chem test in t-minus 2.5 hours

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

EXPO!

Yesterday I attended a workshop to be prepared for the 300+ company career expo that happens here at UT for engineers only next week! I definitely got some valuable information, and I realized how much work I need to do to prep for it. I know I am only a freshman, so it is a very long shot that I could get an internship, but my motto is, if you don't try there is NO chance you will succeed, so always try! I am also going to volunteer for Expo and work as a Corporate Liason, it is a good thing for a resume ;)! Training for that is on Thursday! As for now, I am picking out an outfit, reworking my résumé, and narrowing down the companies!

-Katie

Student Orgs!!!

So UT is amazing in the sense that there are over 1,000 student organizations you can join. But then it also kinda sucks, because you have to pick and choose which are the best to join and what fits your schedule! To help me keep semi-track I am making a list:

Student Org Palooza:

American Society of Mech. Engineers- paid dues, got shirt, applied to be freshman representative to the SEC (haven't heard back results). You get free food at all the meetings and various corporate sponsors come and give presentations. Already attended the freshman meet n great and the Chevron/Chikfila meeting!

Student Engineering Council- overarching engineering group. I joined the "freshman eng. council" portion of the group, because you have to do all sorts of crazy stuff to be a "member-at-large". They put on the engineering wide events, volunteer at local science places, free food. The usual. They haven't had meetings yet, but I really hope that I can get involved in this group!

GirlAdvocates!- Organization that advocates for younger girls. They have events that are aimed to teach girls more about the sciences, tutor at a local middle school, or mentor a younger girl in middle school during her lunch. This is the only non-engineering group I am looking at. I want to be a mentor and I know starting early on enough and putting the "fixed" lunch into my schedule, I can continue with it over the years. Need to pay the $15 membership fee and there is another meeting next Wednesday.

Engineers Without Borders- Org made up of students and professionals! They have an irrigation project in Peru (near the Andes) and a water sanitation project in Panama. This type of organization is honestly the reason why I am in engineering, so I am going to attend the next meeting that focuses on Panama and try to find out more about the projects/how it works. Once I decide, I have to pay dues!

That is my running list, at the moment! Then there are the things that I have to keep up with:

• Register with Engineering Career Assistance Center
• Hopefully attend EXPO 101
• Attend EXPO (huge career fair)
• Volunteer at EXPO as a Corporate Liaison (if they choose me)
• Look into Study Abroad options (fair on monday)
• Girls Volleyball vs Penn State @ Gregory Gym
• Complete stuff off my Bucket List!
• MAKE ALL A's, or maybe one B. As long as I have a 3.5...

Ok that's all, honestly this list is more for me than anyone else. But I figured I might as well post it!

-Katie