Taking a Break

Today has been eventful to say the very least. Woke up this morning at 6:45am in order to board the bus by 8:00am fully clothed, bathed, and feminine (hair, makeup, perfume, deodorant, etc.) Let me just say that I would give anything to roll out of the bed and head to the bus without having to do all of the grooming. It's excessive. Boys don't have to do it. Ever heard of Title IX or Equal Rights? If y'all are socially acceptable during your nastiest days, then it should be fine for me to leave the house without my "face" on. Just saying.

Dejanae and I at 7:45am this morning. Awesome.

Dejanae and I at 7:45am this morning. Not Awesome.

Ok, so I woke up, bathed, put my lipstick on (it was poppin), added a spritz of perfume and out the door I went. Took the bus to SROW for our "State Meeting" aka the time set aside for you to introduce yourself to all people from Mississippi. We did the usual spill: Where are you from? What year are you in school? What's your favorite thing about Orientation?  After the State Meeting, we attended an educational session. Dejanae and I chose to go to "Ready, Set, Intern" hosted by 2 people from GA Tech. They did a great job. When we left Dejanae said "Do you feel like we just left church? Like, they were talking straight to us." She was right. I never lost interest in the meeting at all. We asked questions, learned a lot about the process, and got to meet some pretty incredible people from around the South.

Once the session was over, our team met up at the bus and went to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. We had a BLAST. (I know that sounds really cheesy, but it's true.) This was many of our first racing experiences. The best thing was that they actually had cars on the track since there is a race soon. They were test driving. We also got to witness amateur drag racing. I've never been the biggest NASCAR fan. Quite honestly, the only opinion I had of NASCAR was that I really enjoy sleeping through the races on Sunday afternoons. The tour of the speedway was intriguing, and I may actually have to watch a race. I doubt I'll own a complete set of NASCAR commemorative plates or post my favorite driver's number on my license plate, but I wouldn't be opposed to viewing a race. I did see a good handle-bar mustache today. Regret of the day: not getting a photo of this. Sorry readers.

Ok, so we leave the speedway and go back to the outlet mall for Firehouse Subs-round 2. Their staff was elated to see all 24 of us back in line again. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up there again tomorrow. Seriously.

After lunch it was time for the T-shirt Swap back at UNC-Charlotte. T-shirt Swap = mad craziness. Check out this photo footage.

I know all of you are supremely jealous of this experience. I walked away from the swap with 3 t-shirts. Alabama, Dalton State, and Southern Miss. It was hard work. But that's what I get for trying to channel my inner-OL. My tale should've been on top of the steps with the rest of the professional staff, but no. I just HAD to be in the middle of the madness. It was worth it.

After the swap we went to another educational session. The next one was put on my Southern Mississippi and was about keeping your fiery passion for students lit and not hitting a burn-out phase. This was a great testimony given by USM's Orientation Director. She did a great job.

So now it was time for mine and Dejanae's presentation/educational session. AHHHH. We get to the room and it is, no lie, 88 degrees in there. The air doesn't work, the door doesn't have a stopper, and we have a packed room. Body heat added another 10 degrees to the room. Once we got into the presentation, time seemed to fly by. We had a lot of great questions and positive feedback from schools. It was an excellent learning experience. NODA/SROW is down. NASPA to go on Monday. Say another prayer that it goes as smoothly as today's did. And pray for air conditioning. We'd greatly appreciate that, and I'm sure our participants would as well.

Block F = Our Presentation Slot

We are now back at the hotel taking a break until dinner reservations at the Melting Pot. I will be sure to blog about our dinner experience, but I wanted to take time to update my readers on our day so far. I'm so looking forward to taking a shower and putting on girly clothes. We have been doing the uniform thing all week. It will be refreshing to be able to put on my heels tonight.

I'll be back to update later tonight!

-BC