SL 101

Joining A SORORITY!!

If you are in college and you have come cross the thought about joining a sorority but haven’t been fully convinced, keep on reading. Joining a sorority is an experience that you will be getting in college. You’ll think about the reasons for joining and the ones about not joining and if you think that being in a sorority is not for you that is okay. There have been situations where many young women go through the rush process and later on find out that it is not for them and they leave. 

As you enter the second week of school you will be seeing a lot of the sororities out on campus with their tables set up and seeing people talk to them. Take that chance to get to know them and who they are as an organization. Believe me when I say this but a lot of the times, their newest members are always going to be the ones that approach you or want to talk to you because they are also learning the ropes of how to recruit. They are also shy and scared that you will be rejecting them before they get to introduced themselves. 

Talking to the sororities during their tabling week is the perfect opportunity to get to know every organization. Ask them questions about their sorority and what has their experience been like, how has their experience in the sorority helped them, and what sources do they have to help everyone stay on track with their academics. These are a few questions that I would get asked meeting women who were interested in joining. 

Joining a sorority can bring you many different opportunities. There are leadership opportunities that you can apply for, scholarships, connections, career search, study groups/buddies, and the obvious thing that you will hear, lifelong friendships. A lot of these sororities take their academics serious in order to have you be the best student that you can. Don’t think that because you are in a sorority your grades won’t matter because they do. 

You might ask the people around you about joining a sorority or might have seen on social media about the negatives about joining a sorority. Some of the common ones are:

"You are paying for friends": If you are joining just to make friends, then you are going into this for the wrong reasons. A lot of the women who join are going to find a sisterhood, a second home, network, and gain connections to help them out when they graduate. Believe me when I say this, your chances of talking to everyone is going to be difficult. There are going to be members that you are not going to click with and that is fine. 

 "All they do is party": Not every sorority girl is a party girl. That is the stereotype that society has put on these women. One thing that I have stood by and have told the young woman who have joined after me is "You get to experience the sorority life the way you want to. If all you want to do is party, that is fine but that is the image you are painting for yourself".  

"There is so much drama": Yes. Unfortunately that is given. No matter where you go and when there is a group full of women, there is going to be drama. Every women is going to go through something. If you are always getting caught up in drama, you are going to want to step back and give yourself the time that you need. Surrounding yourself with individuals who start or love to see drama happening, you are going to want to step back.

SCS

 Self Care Day: 2

Beautiful Sunday for a beautiful self care day!!! Nothing feels better than to journal in the morning and plan my week. I will be starting a new journal as well and it has felt exciting to design the first month cover!! Sunday has really been a day to give yourself a refresh from the past couple of days and creating a week to look forward too!!

First thing on the list is planning your week. This can be done on your phone (calendar app), on an iPad, planner, or a notebook. The way that I like to plan out my week is to write down all my work shifts on my planner in red. Any hangouts with friends, I like to use pink. When in comes to planning all of the blogs, I use a blackberry jam color (oddly specific). These colors make it easier to differentiate all of my events.

College 101

 Syllabus Week📚

First week of school is always going to be the easiest week, at least for those who are going into their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year. If it is your first year, do not panic. Let the professors introduce themselves and the class. Your first day of the semester should be easy. If you already started college, then you must have experience how quick some professors go over the syllabus and then go straight into lecture. Congratulations, you have are no ahead that other most classes. If your professor did not do that, you will get to experience it in upcoming years. 

The first week is a perfect time to build your routine. Knowing when to take breaks, when to study, take lunch, or even take a nap. Start planning ahead as well. There are times when professors will state what exams or important assignments coming up, write those down in your planner or make a note of it in your phone. 

On syllabus week, you normally don’t have big assignments to worry about. The most you have to get done is take a syllabus quiz, introduce yourself in a discussion post, and/or get your textbook for the class. Most of these assignments are a week grace period but there are some professors that give more time in case more people get added. Finishing those assignments are easy to do and don’t take longer than 5 minutes to get done, get them out of the way before the deadline to let you enjoy the weekend. One tip I will give is to never buy a textbook from your university’s bookstore. The prices on these textbooks can be a lot and half 90% of the time you can find them at a cheaper price if they are being rented or bought on a different place such as Amazon. I have found most of my textbooks on Amazon and have rented them out or bought used since they are cheaper. There are going to be some textbooks or lab manuals you will have to purchase at the bookstore.

1st Official Lecture Week📚

Don’t try to rush and understand the very first lectures that are being taught. I have done that a couple of times and it has confused me. Look over the lectures before the start of your class. Read over the slides to give you an introduction of what the lecture will be about. Once class starts take notes or annotate. When doing this, keep in mind of what is important, topics you don’t understand highlight or underline, topics you want to revisit and study more, and bookmark these slides to go back and review. After your lectures are over, give yourself a break until you have established a time to study. With all the notes/annotations you made, review them by active recall. This will help you understand the topics more and better prepare for quizzes/tests or midterms. For better studying resources, make a study group. Topics are easier to understand when your peers teach it to you as well. Makes it less confusing than a professor teaching. Even searching up a YouTube videos helps!! 

WIML: ⛳☕

 CSULB Day<3

No I am not back in school if you were wondering. I accompanied my sister to her university to check out her classes and location. Walking around CSULB brings me back memories to the first time I was walking in that campus in middle school. Best believe that I will be talking about CSULB more often here!! The volleyball games are coming up and I can't wait to go with my sister!! First thing first, I will be purchasing a sweater from CSULB to show my sister support the same way that I show my cousin from UCLA support. Now I do have a few sweaters in mind when I went to the bookstore and I will be waiting patiently for that sweater. 

With all these crazy hot days, a good latte or matcha just makes the day even better. These are the kind of days that my sister and I enjoy. Well, whenever there is a latte or matcha involved. One thing about us is that we are always happy to try new coffee spots around the LA area. With any coffee shop that I go to I like to try their coffee first and on the second time visiting I'll try their matcha. If I go back to the same coffee shop more than twice, I like to try other drinks on their menu as well to spice it up on any day. One thing that I look forward to are the fall drinks. There is a specific drink that I am looking forward to in fall and I am itching to get my hands on it!! If you have any recommendations, let me know!!

Mini Golf

Mini golfing has been one activity that my siblings and I enjoy. This past weekend we went mini golfing and we made it into a mini competition. It was way too hot to be golfing before 5 so the best way to kill time was going to the mall. Heading to the mini golfing area looked beautiful with the sunset but arriving to the place was chaos. I was happy to find parking right away but the place was packed. Luckily we found a course that didn’t have a lot of people and the course level was a bit challenging. My siblings and I really enjoyed a good challenge. Let me just say, I found my own tips and tricks when using a putter. I was able to make 3 holes in ones and I have never felt so proud. We are still in summer and I recommend you go mini golfing with friends, loved ones, and family. Enjoy the late summer evenings/nights as summer is coming to an end.

SL 101

 

sorority talk!!

Entering college is all about experiences. What you give in college, you will get back. That is something that I like to live up to no matter where I am at. Especially when I joined a sorority. If you are thinking of joining one, do it. You are going to be hearing a lot of reasons as to why you should and shouldn't join one but I am here to talk to you about my experience of being in one. Everyone's experience is different when being in one but there are a couple of things you get to learn more about and skills that you get to practice. 

SororitY History & What is a Sorority?

A little bit of sorority history, they began to be known in the mid 19th century. Women started to create these organizations to provide support networks for higher education. The very first sorority was Alpha Delta Pi which was founded in 1851 and it was firstly introduced as a secret society for women. A lot of the sororities that you see on TikTok and Instagram are obviously not a secret society for women but a support system and each sorority has its own core purpose. A lot of them having those purposes be sisterhood, academics, service/philanthropies, and leadership. Most sororities now are categorized into different national networks/councils (connections to a larger organizations). There are 4 different councils:

1. Panhellenic Council: Traditional governing, social sororities that manages structured recruitment and live in missions that provide philanthropic support to different causes (including women empowerment, domestic violence, breast cancer awareness, court appointed special advocates for children) and so much more. Made up of 26 women's-only inter/national member organizations.

2. National Pan-Hellenic Council: Governs a lot of the historically African American fraternities and sororities. Established to provide unified voices and platform for cooperation. This is most commonly known as the "Divine Nine" (4 sororities & 5 fraternities). Highly focused on community service, leadership, and academic excellence.

3. Multicultural Greek Council: governs cultural based sororities and fraternities (Asian, South Asian, Middle Eastern, & Lantix as examples). Promotes diversity, heritages and education. Raise funds for education, social justice causes, and charity work.

4. Professional/Special Interest Councils: Governs academic based sororities and fraternities. Most common seen in college are STEM or professional focused.

The most common sororities that you see on social media such as Alpha Phi, Pi Beta Phi, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Chi Omega, Phi Mu, Alpha Chi Omega (to name a few) are under the Panhellenic Council. Sororities under this council tend to be the most known, do not let that stop you from getting to know the other sororities under the other councils!!

My reasons for joining

Before I started college, I knew I wanted to join a sorority. Well mostly towards the end of my senior year of high school. I didn't really have a preference as to where I wanted to join but all I knew was that I was joining one. I remember getting a video of a "Sorority House Room Tour" on YouTube and clicking on it to see what it was like to live in a sorority house. Little by little I started to watch more videos regarding room tours, big and little week, and lastly a day in my in xyz sorority. Watching these videos got me excited to joining an organization that would support a campaign and raise funds for what they support. As soon as I entered college, I had forgotten about joining a sorority and in my spring semester is when I decided to officially join a Panhellenic sorority. When I joined I had a little bit of knowledge of what I was getting myself into and thought that I was going to get haze but lucky for me, the sorority that I joined has a no hazing policy. Really happy for that as the women that I joined with didn't go through any of that process. 

Is it worth joining?

This is a question that is very debatable and honestly it really depends on the person and their reasons for joining. There are some women who want to join a sisterhood for support and advice, some are transfers and are starting life somewhere new, growing connections and networking. There is a variety of reasons for joining but it all comes down to your reasons. I have met women who want to join a sorority to go to frat parties and a lot of the times these women get rejected but that is a topic for another blog post. I personally think it was worth joining as I got the opportunity to work alongside other women who do things differently and it really helps when you collaborate with a bigger group. But lets be real, there is going to be drama. No matter where you go or what you plan on joining, any club or organization that is mostly women based, there will be drama and it is normal. Do not expect this is to be perfect with no drama whatsoever because that does not exists. 

Self Care Sunday💐🤍

 Self Care Day

Sundays are often seen as reset day and getting to catch up on any pending tasks. To me there is more to that. Sundays are also my self care and mental health days. These are moments to give my skin and hair a a break from products that I used constantly throughout the week. From Monday - Saturday, I'm constantly adding something to myself to make me look a bit more awake or presentable. This goes from styling my hair to adding makeup. If I am wearing clusters I take them off to give my lashes a break before starting a new set if I am planning on wearing the upcoming week. Same thing goes for my hair. Giving my hair a break from heavy hair care product and heat exposure (such as curls).  

As a mental health day, I do so much more than just taking a break from products. Journaling and reading are also two things that I incorporate into my Self Care Sunday. By doing these, it gives me a break from being on my phone. With all my notebooks lying around, I started to use them and write journal prompts as a form of self care. Working on these prompts have given an opportunity to clear my mind from everything going around me. The best places to look for journaling prompts are Instagram and Pinterest. These 2 platforms work best for any form of self care prompts and self growth. Starting a little bit self care journaling in the mornings is a perfect way to start a Sunday morning. 

College: Preparations

College

My time in college has been one of the most memorable moments that I could have experienced. Meeting new people, joining clubs and organizations, spontaneous trips with friends, relationships, education, and growth. College is a time where you learn more about yourself and what best impacts your future. These are the times where you want to do everything and anything. Meet new people, explore your campus, join clubs/organizations, explore the city, etc. Live it to the fullest because these 4 years will not come back. 

Advice/Preps

If there is one thing that I can tell my college freshman self is to organize everything you need before the first day of class. You definitely got to plan ahead. Not a lot of college students use planners and I can tell you that a planner saved my life. This helped me by organizing any big midterms, exams, papers, or projects that classes required. Best way to differentiate is to color code your classes when making these labels and writing down the important assignments. I have seen TikTok's about college students making an assignment tracker on Google Sheets or Excel to help them complete all of their assignments and that is another perfect way to prepare for the semester. 

One of the biggest tips I will give you is one that I am glad I did with my sorority sisters. We went to campus together to look for our classes before the semester started. If this is your first semester (or 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year)) at college, I highly recommend you do this as it also helps you get to know your campus a little better. For any commuter who is going to check out the location of their classes, this is a perfect time to check out what parking structure is ideal for you. Me personally, I would always park in the structure that was the closest to my last class of the day.

Supplies

One thing about college is that it is nothing like high school. You do not need a notebook for every class you take or a binder. A laptop, iPad, maybe 1 notebook will be fine. On your first day of the semester you will see that a 90% of the students uses either a laptop or an iPad to take notes. The remaining 10% will use a notebook to take notes. It is always good to carry a notebook and a couple pens/pencils, you'll never know when they will be needed. Depending on your major or classes that you take, a notebook might not be needed. 

If you are a science, exercise science, math, or kinesiology major, an iPad is ideal for classes as there will be lessons where you will need to annotate. If you are a communications, psychology, business, engineer, computer science, finance, liberal arts, political science, or criminal justice major a laptop will be the most ideal. I have seen students from the listed majors have a laptop, iPad, or both to take notes or do their assignments in and I can tell you right now that it is also a preference in which item you want to use. Some people prefer an iPad because it is lighter and easier to take with you. Others prefer a laptop as it is easier to be have an overview of all your tabs being open and it is easier to be working on reports/essays/papers. 

Night Before

Prepare your backpack/tote with any supplies that you may need. Have your iPad/laptop fully charge. If you are staying in campus for a long period of time, it is handy to have you chargers with you. The chargers can be for your phone, laptop, iPad, headphones, etc. If you're taking lunch, have that ready too. Sometimes getting food on campus can be a bit pricey. For my college women who are commuting, please please please have an mini emergency bag with you at ALL times. Carry any hygiene products that you use because you never know when you or someone else will need it. I always had one and I think I barely used it for myself but I was always prepared to help others. Always have cash with you, it is a lifesaver!! 

WIML

Weekly Workouts

I hate Mondays and this may be straight to the point but I had to say it. I can't sleep in and I love sleeping in. As much as I hate Mondays I do not let it get the best of me. Every Monday is a reminder that I have the opportunity to restart my routine for the rest of the week. The best thing for me to have the rest is by working out. I've been trying to stay consistent going to the gym 4 times a week but it has been hard thing to keep it as a habit due to my current work schedule being very wonky. I do plan to go before or after my shifts to not miss out on my routines. Mornings I attend the gym and in the evenings I do at home Pilates. Discipline starts from day 1 and I refuse to slack off. The best way for me to be motivating myself is to reward myself at the end of the month with either a new workout set or any workout apparel to get me excited for the following week.

Gym Routine

Throughout the 4 days of going to the gym, there is a split schedule that I like to follow so that I do not overwhelm my body with an excessive amount of exercises at the gym. This is a way to perfectly balance upper body and lower body workouts. The schedule that I have planned out makes it easier for me to follow through specific exercises that I want to do and what machines I want to use. This is how I have my workout schedule planned out throughout the 4 days.

1. Monday: Leg Day (Hamstrings + Glute), Cardio (Stairmaster)

2. Tuesday: Arms/Shoulders (Biceps + Deltoids) , Back, Core, Cardio (Treadmill)

3. Wednesday: Leg Day (Quads + Calves), Cardio (Stairmaster)

4. Thursday: Arms (Triceps), Chest, Core, Cardio (Treadmill)

At Home Routine

On top of the days that I attend my morning/afternoon gym sessions, I like to do at home Pilates as it has low impact exercises that have helped me work on core strength, stability, posture, muscle control and breathing. I personally haven't taken an in person Pilates class but I do find the at home Pilates videos to be a perfect start if you're interested in attending classes in the future. The videos that I like to follow along can be found on YouTube but I have my preference on 2 instructors. Pilates by Izzy and Melania Antuchas are the instructors that I like to follow along. Pilates by Izzy are perfect if you are beginning your Pilates journey. All you need is a yoga block, small weights ( I use 3 lbs.), yoga ball, and a mat. Melania's videos are a bit on the intermediate level but if you like a good challenge, I recommend her! You will be using a yoga block, weights, resistance bands and weights. If you have any recommendations on Pilates instructors or recommend any Pilates studios in the LA area, let me know as this is something that I want to try out!