Week One

Time in the Office

    The first week of work was fantastic, but definitely a little bit of an information overload. We each got our own desks and are able to decorate them the way we want (so if you want to send pictures or notes :] ). We were assigned our own laptops to take with us on the road, and we jumped into learning policies the very first day! We also spent a lot of time preparing for National Convention, which was in Virginia Beach. We spent hours stuffing packets for attendees and getting their registrations bags ready. We had Wednesday off for the Fourth of July and attended a BBQ at the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity headquarters. The leadership consultants from that fraternity were in attendance, so we were able to chat with them about their college experiences and what they are looking forward to on the road. One of them is actually from Kansas too! Thursday was back to work! Friday was spent the day loading up the truck that was taking everything to Virginia Beach for the National Convention. Of course that had to be a super hot day! We were all exhausted afterwards, but excited for Convention!

Hanging with the Girls

    On Friday we were all exhausted and headed home. We felt very lame, but it was nice to relax and go to bed early. The next morning we woke up early for breakfast and then went on a wild goose chase to find everyone's bank. It was quite interesting! We drove around town following our GPS and Google Map findings of Jenn's bank, only to find that her bank isn't in Indiana! After finally coming to this realization we headed to downtown Indianapolis to hit the mall and meet up with two other staff members, Shannon and Rachel. Shannon is in charge of the Alpha Sigma Alpha Foundation, which is a foundation tied with the sorority that raises funds to put on leadership workshops for collegian members and give scholarships to sorority women. Rachel is our Alumnae and Volunteer Coordinator. She keeps alumnae records up to date and helps volunteers to help collegian members. The mall was amazing! I wish we had malls like this in Kansas! We had a great time shopping for blazers and white shoes for Convention. It was very nice to have a day out with the girls and get to know Suzanne, Jenn, Stephanie, and Melissa better.
    I will admit that before I arrived in Indianapolis I was so worried about how the other Leadership Consultants and I would mesh. I am a more reserved person and I was afraid it was going to take us a long time to bond. Lucky for me, I was wrong! Jenn and Melissa are "chatty Cathys." This was great for me because they would start conversation about anything and everything. They could talk for hours if you let them :) . Jenn is the nicest woman I have ever met. She has a strong faith and is so humble, even though she deserves credit and praise for all of the wonderful things she has done. Melissa has a great sense of humor and she is extremely intelligent. She has great common sense and seems to be able to deal with life situations with ease. Stephanie and Suzanna are a little more reserved but still amazing women (I will talk more about them next blog). I love hanging out with all of them. I have a good feeling that we are going to stay friends for a long time.

Other Thoughts...

    I will admit that time has flown by, but I still have had my moments of missing home and missing my friends and family. I think the hardest thing for me so far has been the thought that I am missing out on my sister starting her first year in middle school. I always wanted to be that older sister who took my sister shopping for back-to-school clothes, was there to talk about problems with friends and the boys she likes. I know that I will only be away for one year, and we can always talk on the phone, but it's just not the same. I hope she understands that I wish I could be there more than anything, but that this job is also very important to me. I have even missed my two troublesome brothers while here :) .

Just some questions I have been pondering on:

-What do I want to do after I have completed my year as a Leadership Consultant?
-Why has God given us the roles in life and put us through the difficult situations we have experienced? What were we meant to learn from these things?

 

Suzanne, Stephanie, Me, Jenn and Melissa in front of Alpha Sigma Alpha National Headquarters before we began packing