Aryn's Blog

Scoops for Cambodia!

I have always wanted to work at an ice cream shop. I’m not really sure why—maybe the fact that I adore ice cream and have very fond childhood memories of staring at all of the flavors in order to pick the perfect one or maybe the big painted cows on the walls.

Yesterday GlobeMed had a fundraiser at Ben & Jerry’s and my dreams finally came true. Our members got to go behind the counter and scoop for the cause! We sampled and scooped for friends and anyone who came by. We received 20% of proceeds for the night! We’re still waiting to see how much that added up to but it seemed to be a great success!

Derby Days 2013

Last week was Derby Days, a whole week devoted to Sigma Chi fraternity. Sororities compete in events supporting the Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado.

Sunday was Powder Puff football. Alpha Phi won with flying colors!

Monday was Derby Runs where the girls chase after the boys to collect the most clothing as possible. Definitely an interesting one to watch.

On Wednesday we headed to World of Beers in Cherry Creek for Derby Dances. Despite the rain and the outdoor stage, everyone rocked the dances! We celebrated another win for the A Phi ladies!

There was a volleyball tournament on Thursday and a secret Kentucky Derby themed date dash on Friday!

On Saturday, people dressed in neon flocked to the Gothic Theater to see Kill Paris at Bright and Tight.

It was another exciting week of spring quarter!

Showing off Denver

One of the best things about Denver and DU for that matter, is that it is very centrally located. It’s a big hub and not too far from most states which makes it easy for friends to come visit! Two of our friends visited from out of town this weekend. One from Washington and the other from Montana. I was gone visiting my grandma for the weekend, but still got the chance to spend some time with them when I got back.

We all enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Snooze. It gets busy so we were forced to show up at 8am, but it was well worth it!

To burn off our pancakes we went for a hike in the afternoon at the Carpenter Peak Trail at Roxborough State Park. The trail was 6.4 miles out and back and we hit 7,160 feet at the top. The hike was mild but beautiful with gorgeous views at the top!

Great day with wonderful friends in a beautiful place!

Yoga Girls

One of my favorite parts about DU is that very few classes are held on Fridays. I always intend on getting a head start on my homework, but my Fridays are usually spent sleeping in, spending time outside, relaxing with friends, or skiing.

One of the alpha phi girls is a yoga instructor, so last Friday she held a class for us outside at Observatory Park, to decompress from the week. We downward-dogged and forward folded our way through the afternoon. It was wonderful!

Katie is a great instructor and is working toward her second level of yoga teacher training! We’re so thankful to have amazing girls like her in our sisterhood.

Cinco de Mayo

Spring was supposed to have arrived several weeks ago, but Denver seemed to miss the memo. With four consecutive weeks of snow, including a storm on May 1, most of us are searching for the normal spring sunshine. A snow lover and after spending most of our winter in South America’s summer I am thoroughly enjoying this weather, especially because it means great spring skiing!

Cinco de Mayo is always a spring highlight for the skier crowd and we celebrate with a huge tailgate on the Arapahoe Basin “beach.” Usually sunny and warm, this year was overcast with several snow showers. The weather didn’t get in anyone’s way though. We were dressed to the nines in everything from alligator suits to bikinis to jorts and fairy wings. There were homemade sombreros and footed pajamas, Elvis costumes and lots of neon.

We had several grills, a couch, and even a carpet! The truck bed turned into a dance floor and the loud speakers threatened our giant game of jenga. Our section of the beach was the place to be.

The party lasted all day with the first cars getting there before 6am! When the lifts closed at 4pm, we ended the day by sledding down on a surfboard! I didn’t think my freshman year could be beat but this may have taken the lead!

 

Orientation Leader

Every fall, the first-years come to campus a week early for orientation. Incoming students choose a topic for their Freshman Seminar class. Topics range from travel writing to tango, film to photography, and everything in between! Students spend orientation week with these classmates and participate in a variety of activities. I had a great time with my orientation group and am still very close friends with most of the people in my group.

During orientation week older students are partnered with each group. I will be an orientation leader in the fall and could not be more excited! We had our first training session last weekend. We got to meet the other orientation leaders or, OLs, design T-shirts, and play a few icebreakers that we can use with our first years. There are lots of great people and it should be a wonderful first week for the incoming students!

When the Estenson's Come to Visit

 I have a really amazing friend named Sam. He was my neighbor freshman year, is dating my best friend, and also happens to be the president of our student body. Sam’s sister also goes to DU and their parents came to visit this weekend. This has happened before, but this time they really outdid themselves.

They rented a house with a huge yard, trampoline, hot tub, and horse shoe pit. There was plenty of bedrooms and even a hammock to swing on inside! There was quite the variety of decorations and the owners seemed to have traveled a lot. The dining room had bent spoons stuck into the trim of three of the walls—we guessed it was some sort of good luck tradition but weren’t all that sure. There were wind up toys and political propaganda posters, animal print and tribal masks. There was plenty to look at and plenty to do!

Last year they when they visited they rented out a really cute apartment near downtown. The Estenson’s have all sorts of traditions and snacks they like to bring along. Last year they brought a suitcase with over 40 pounds of food. We thought that was a lot. Well this year, they topped out at 60 pounds! We did our duty as hungry college kids to scarf quite a bit of it down last night. We played games, jumped on the trampoline, hottubbed, and ate LOTS of food. It was a wonderful night and so nice to welcomed into such a wonderful family!

Springtime Block Party

Today we had an all sorority block party on Greek row. We have a lot of all-Greek events and individual sororities often have events with single fraternities but we have never had an all sorority event before. It was a great chance to spend time with the girls in different houses!

Alpha Phi’s house is on campus, not on Greek row so Gamma Phi Beta hosted us in their yard.

There was plenty of food—cornbread, salads, root beer floats, cookies, and lots more. We even had burgers! Who says sorority girls can’t grill? There was music and volleyball and an overall great time!

 

Although many students at the University of Denver do choose to go Greek, because we are smaller size there is not much bitterness between houses. I have a ton of friends outside of the Greek system, in addition to lots of friends in other houses and fraternities. It’s truly the best of both worlds and I’m very happy to be a part of it!

Pioneer Lacrosse

Pioneer lacrosse rounded out the regular season with a huge 12-4 win against the University of Michigan. It has been a season full of many wins, chants, and tailgates. We are ranked number 4 going into the semifinals of the ECAC tournament and play against Fairfield in New York tomorrow. 

It has been a season filled with student support:

  

The first round of the NCAA tournament begins May 11. Last year we finished second. Maybe this year we’ll go for the win! I’m hoping for at least one more game in Denver for some home support. Good luck tomorrow Pios!

Dress Up to Get Down

Saturday night Alpha Phi had our formal downtown at the Magnolia Hotel. Spring has finally come, at least temporarily, and we were able to go jacket free! We got ready and took pictures then headed downtown to the venue.  As a special treat the seniors got to take limousines!

It’s hard to believe the four of us were neighbors in Freshman dorms 3 whole years ago!

It was a beautiful ballroom! We enjoyed a delicious chicken dinner and more picture taking.

Two DU students came and DJed and the night was filled with good music and lots of dancing.

It’s always fun to see everyone all dressed up!