So who's calling Ashley?

Those were the closing remarks of our last meeting on Thursday. It is true. I am usually late to wherever I am going. But really, who would be late for China?! I created a video of our last meeting to let you see what we did and who all will be in the videos to come. Hope you like it!

As you can see, we had a short meeting about any last minute details. We talked about money, passports, visas, breaking the law, flight plans, heightened security, roommates, and anything else that we had questions about. They all made fun of me because I didn't know how travelers checks worked. Give me a break! I've never been out of the country! Anyway, after we talked a bit, we walked over to the fitness center to weigh what we had brought. No one went over! We all stayed under the 44 pound limit. My carry-on bag weighed more than my actual luggage. YAY! That will be fun to carry around. Now we are all just excited and ready to leave! It's almost unbelievable that we will be leaving in a couple of days. Ahh! But seriously, someone call me and make sure I am awake at 3:30...

Peace Out!
Ashley

Get Excited! China in 8 Days!

So, my name is Ashley Johnston, and I was given the task of taking the internet with me to China.

The Great Wall prior to my arrival.

Let me tell you a little bit about what is going on here. Before you graduate from Centenary you have to complete a May Module. This is a shortened course that, for most people, takes you out of the country. This is meant to expose you to a new and different culture from your own. There are many different modules that you can choose to go on. Some are local, some are in the country somewhere, and some are in places such as Italy, Greece, France, India, Ecuador, or China. They are different every year. I chose to go on the module to China! Each trip has a course load that goes with it. On this module, we will be researching different topics, creating a presentation, and presenting that to our fellow China travelers. While in China, we will be keeping a journal and writing about different topics that we are assigned by our wonderful professors, Dr. Prickett and Dr. Webber. I will also be updating this whenever I can in order to post videos, pictures, and just tell everyone what we are doing. My parents are pretty excited about this.

Here's where we are at right now. We have had 3 meetings so far to prepare us for our trip. These meetings have been where we have filled out forms, talked about luggage, learned a little of the language, learned what is expected of us, asked questions, gotten answers, learned about money, learned what not to say, and pretty much just hung out with each other. There are 9 students, 1 staff member, and our 2 professors who are going across the world. One of greatest things about Centenary is that I know all of the people going on this trip. I have had classes with them, been in a club with them, lived down the hall from them, or just hung out with them. So basically, I am going on a trip to China with a bunch of friends. We have been getting a ton of information preparing us for what is to come. I have gotten my Hepatitis A shot and my tetanus shot just to be on the safe side. We have been given DVDs that give a little bit more information on the country. I have created a countdown on my Facebook that tells me, down to the second, how long I have until the trip. We have been assigned our topics, and (hopefully) everyone is working on their presentation. This week is finals week for us, so I don't know how much we really are working on those.

What is to come: On Thursday, we have our last official meeting before we leave the country. At this meeting, we will have our completely packed luggage. With that luggage, we will walk all around campus while asking last minute questions of our professors. This little exercise is to make sure that we fully understand how much we are taking on the trip. We are allowed one bag and one carry-on. This means that I can only bring roughly 4 outfits with me. Yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about that yet. Luckily for you, I will be bringing my video camera, so you all get to see how many times we wear the same things. After our meeting on Thursday, we will just be waiting for Wednesday morning to come around. We have to be at the Shreveport airport at 4AM! From there we are flying to Atlanta and then straight (16 hours) to Shanghai. I'll let you know how THAT goes. I will post something after our meeting on Thursday to let you know who all is going and all of our last minute information. Until then...

再 见 (or goodbye in English)

简体中文版 (Ashley)

Finals are upon us! Everybody run for cover!

Finals are here and I feel surprisingly unprepared for them. It doesn’t seem like we’re anywhere near done, but apparently we will be in about seven days. It’s mildly mind-blowing. I’m excited about not having to go to class anymore, but I’m also petrified about having to take my final exams (mostly Organic Chemistry). I suppose we will all do what we always do: procrastinate, cram and hope for the best. Yay college!

So what has happened for the past few weeks? Simple answer is a lot, I suppose. So far, we’ve had all sorts of award ceremonies and honor society inductions and this that and the other. It’s all fun stuff. Biggest things for me though, I was accepted into Order of Omega, which is an all-Greek honor society. It was a great honor whenever I found out, and it makes me happy because I feel it sort of recognizes all the hard work I’ve put into school and Greek life. It’s always good to feel validated. Second honor society I was accepted into: Alpha Epsilon Delta, pre-allied health sciences honor society. That was a fun one to join, and I’m hoping to work with a lot doing service in the community and for Centenary and such things. I’m also looking forward to help plan next year’s Crawfish Boil, which is always a huge event that is a big hit with both students and professors. Third (and last) honor society for me this month: Omicron Delta Kappa, national honor society. This one I really didn’t think I’d get into, seeing how according to the information I had about them, they only accept the top 3% of applicants, and though I work hard, I know there’s people on this campus who do a lot better than I do. But I got in, and it was good, and now I’m in three different honor societies. Talk about overwhelming.

Also, Theta Chi (finally) initiated the New Members that joined this semester! That was a fun night. Initiations always are though. This initiation was special for me, seeing how it was the first time I had to act as President, which was a big change in responsibility from being Historian. I was really nervous I would mess up, but thankfully I did not and it turned out well. We also had a few Brothers visit in from Northwestern, and they got to participate in Initiation and the subsequent celebrations. Speaking of the celebrations, it is an old standing tradition for us that while we are off doing our Initiation thing, the ladies who spend a lot of time with us will decorate the House and make signs and banners congratulating those who have been newly initiated, and this year they really went all out. The place looked really nice, and they even made us cookies! If you ever want to get into the heart of every Theta Chi on this campus, just bake us cookies. Trust me we love cookies. So to those ladies that helped out, thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. We love you (and your cookies)!

Speaking of moments in Theta Chi, we also put our four graduating seniors through Alumni Ceremony, granting them Alumnus Brother status. That was fun and bittersweet for all of us. Also, it was kind of rushed, seeing how we followed that with Initiation, and we were all anxious to get that started. Either way, it was carried out successfully, so congratulations are in order to Alumni Brothers Davis, Fagan, Martin and Olson. May the future hold nothing but wonders for you guys, and remember that Theta Chi is for life, so we expect to see you all around!

Anyway. This has been my attempt to procrastinate, and I think it has worked pretty well. I really should get back to my books, but I’m sure I’ll have a chance to post one last time before the semester lets out, so I’ll see you all next time!

Much love,
Marco