It may be far away, it may be close, it may be with you, but at the end of the day, people always have that place that they call home. 

I have many homes. Ohio State is definitely one of them. My home is Dayton is another. However, most of these days, the home that I have been thinking about most is my home in Toledo, Spain. Yes, that is Spain and not Ohio.

I received an email this morning that asked for alumni of my study abroad program at the Fundación José Ortega y Gasset to send in photos from our experience to the faculty to help celebrate the Fund’s anniversary!

I thought I’d share some of my favorites. I miss it so much. 

Get excited. Photos to come!

So, today of all days, I was overcome with a feeling of homesickness. No, not my home in Dayton. Rather, my home across the ocean—Spain. I miss the hot weather, I miss the language, I miss the culture. I even miss the yellow, arid Spanish countryside where nothing grows except for sparse trees that dot the land. 

I miss Toledo and the Fundación where I stayed with some of my best friends. The winding, Arab-influence, walled-in roads that act more as a maze than a road system. The smell of tortilla española and jamón wafting through the city from open windows. I miss the people, so kind and generous. I miss O´Brien´s and watching la furia roja take down yet another one of the world´s great soccer teams.

So, today, when thinking about my summer plans for this year, I didn´t know what to do. It hit me that I can´t just go across the ocean again and experience the best summer of my life again. I am still in denial because I am going to show up to the airport in May with my passport and realize that I don´t have classes to take or a ticket to Madrid.

Part of what made my experience so influential on my life was the ability to gain communication skills, to actually practice what I had been learning for nine years: namely, the Spanish language. My friends and I were on our own; we were in charge of our own lives, the makers of our destiny while in Europe. My friends and I formed a small family, one complete with support and love. We kept each other going in both good and bad times. We experienced the culture together. I miss that small network. We did what we wanted, learned what we wanted, and went where we wanted. Nothing was off-limits.

I wish I could have stayed there for longer than six weeks and Europe for two more. I want to live in Spain, to experience its customs for years and years.

Often, when I get frustrated with life or school, I joke that I am going to drop out and become a travelling bum in Europe. :)  It sounds like a perfect option right now-haha. Necesito irme otra vez a España, mi país maravilloso 

Tonight was one of the most extraordinary experiences I have been a part of here at Ohio State. I, along with 170 other amazing women of Delta Zeta Sorority, joined together to celebrate Theta Chapter’s 100th anniversary on Ohio State’s campus. When one thinks of 100 years—a century—the concept of that much time often overwhelms the mind. To that extent, I had a hard time grasping my last year in DZ let alone 99 others years before it. 

Tonight I was provided with a glimpse into the lives of my sisters. We heard over six decades of history. We learned what the house was like in 1944 from a sister who recounted tales of Ohio State during World War II. Women had to take their ration tickets to the house cook to receive food. Wow. The rich history of my sisters truly is inspiring. We heard of the shootings at Kent and how Ohio State and Delta Zeta were impacted in 1969. We heard about how our sisters watched the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and later watched the outbreak of the Gulf War. 

In understanding what it means to be a Delta Zeta, one has to also understand what our predecessors experienced. For it is their experiences which have shaped the chapter that we have inherited. They comprise the spirit of Delta Zeta. Tonight I came to understand exactly what the line “to those closer ones, love that is ever steadfast” from our creed truly means. It means that every single woman who has touched the life of Delta Zeta has also touched mine. 

We heard many stories from alumnae—one for each decade: 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, and now 2010s. That is over seventy years of Delta Zeta-Theta Chapter history to be recounted and recognized. Every woman’s story impacted the way in which I view my sisters. What made the event even more special is meeting alumnae and hearing their stories. From giving them house tours and learning all about their time spent in the same house we now occupy to hearing their more “classic” college stories with DZ, every single story I heard tonight solidified the reason that I joined my chapter. 

I saw bigs and littles from the 1970s reunited in my living room. All stories were heartwarming. I LOVE being a Delta Zeta.

From laughter to sisterhood to tears to reminiscing. That is what tonight encompassed. That is what I experienced. That, more than anything, is what Delta Zeta means to me :)

Lately, I’ve been considering what exactly sisterhood means. For all intents and purposes, a definition from a dictionary could provide me with an answer; however, the definition of sisterhood in relation to Greek life differs vastly from that of biological sisters.

We are not connected by blood. Rather, we are connected by vows and by ritual. In assuming sisterhood, we accept the rich traditions with which we were founded. We agree to assume over one-hundred years of history when we agree to join into a sacred bond. So, what should we look for to act as a guiding force to frame our future as sisters? We should, at the most basic level, look to our creed. 

For example, the Delta Zeta creed reads: 

To the world,
I promise temperance and insight and courage,
To crusade for justice,
To seek the truth and defend it always: 
To those whom my life may touch in slight measure,
May I give graciously
Of what is mine; 
To my friends,
Understanding and appreciation; 
To those closer ones,
Love that is ever steadfast; 
To my mind,
Growth; 
To myself,
Faith
That I may walk truly
In the light of the Flame. 
— Dorothy Mumford Williams, Alpha Zeta (Adelphi University), 1939 

I would hope that entering into a sisterhood would encourage members to live up to the values that its founders intended. In my chapter’s case, temperance, insight, courage, justice, philanthropy, love, knowledge, growth, faith, and endurance. All of those values consist of values that the women of Delta Zeta should strive to live by, to attain. More often than not in Greek life, this unfortunately seems to not be the case. 

Many sorority women and fraternity men enter into Greek life blinded or enticed by the stereotypes of Greek life in the media. “Frat” parties—I hate that word. “Frat guys”… not fraternity men. Also, one of my biggest annoyances. We should acknowledge certainly that fraternities and sororities are social institutions; however, the social aspect of Greek life was not what the original founders intended for their members. They intended what we often market ourselves by: service, philanthropy, scholarship, leadership. So, where have all of those values gone within our community? Many sorority women and fraternity men that I know live by the values of their institutions. I admire and respect them for those very reasons. That being said, there exist many, many members of Greek life who are apathetic toward their chapter’s history and values. Those men and women simply join to party, to meet—and yet again I must use the terms—frat daddies or slampieces. Joke about it however much you want. I even laugh at TFMs or TSMs, but that is because I realize that is so much more to the community besides making sandwiches and doing laundry or owning seventy Vineyard Vines coozies. There is more to Greek life than the O. Socalizing, networking, and meeting new people is central to Greek life, yes. But, also central is exactly that by which we market ourselves by. Greek men and women are involved, they are student leaders. I have met so many outstanding men and women through many student organizations with which I am involved. They want to make a difference, that much is clear. They should be the role models which chapters hope to become. 

This post may seem fairly pessimistic, I acknowledge that. However, when I look and see fraternities and sororities raising money for great philanthropic causes, when I see my own sisters building houses with Habitat for Humanity, when I see other chapters with fantastic grades, I am encouraged. Why? Because that demonstrates to both Greek and non-Greeks that we live by the standards by which we were founded. That we have assumed the responsibility of leading, of learning, of serving. That we, in essence, are paying it forward and leaving a legacy at the University. That makes me happy. That overshadows all of the pessimism I feel about Greek life. 

As a Delta Zeta woman, I am proud to be a member of my chapter and my sorority nationally. My chapter, on January 11th of this year, celebrated its centennial on campus. That means that at Ohio State exist one-hundred years of history, one-hundred years of role models, and one-hundred years of extraordinary women carving the path of Delta Zeta which my sisters and I now carve ourselves. The fact that we—as all members of a national Greek community—are those forging the futures of our chapters is an immensely important fact to realize.

We are the present. We are the future. We are the faces of our organization. So, we must take up that responsibility. Furthermore, we must own it. OWN the leadership. OWN the service. OWN up to the basic core tenets by which you were founded. Live the ritual. Support your sisters. Support your brothers. SUPPORT your community as a whole. For it is through a combination of all of these things that the true definition of sisterhood and brotherhood will emerge. 

I have been challenged to blog more often. Being the competitive person that I am, I have accepted this challenge, risen to the occasion. 

The topic then shifts to: what subject do I cover in this post? I think I am going to talk about leadership, since I have noticed a lack of it in my life lately.

Leaders inspire others to greatness; leaders find the strengths in those whom they lead; leaders influence lives around them; leaders leave a legacy.

When I think about what a leader is, I think of people in my life—friends, mentors, coaches—who I aspire to become, to emulate. A role model sets a positive example and leads or guides others to want to attain more. Role models do not necessarily share the same strengths or qualities, nor do they necessarily approach the similar situations in the same manner. However, despite these differences, they realize the same result: they inspire others to find out their potential and work towards maximizing it. I took the StrengthsQuest test, and some of my top strengths are achiever, significance, and input. How those two characteristics translate into what I would role model? I am a very focused and driven individual, and I like to challenge those around me to realize their potential as well. Whether in organizations or just with friends, I love getting to know people and helping them find out what their strengths are in order to help them to utilize them successfully and with purpose. What I hope to be for the students is a person they can talk to and a person who can encourage them to grow and develop, to challenge them to create a better version of themselves while in college and leave a legacy here. I want to show them that they can achieve what they want at Ohio State, that they can use their strengths and become involved in something, just as I have and continue to do.

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL :)

These past couple of weeks have been trying ones. Weeks filled with meetings after meetings after meetings coupled with papers and homework, but—as always—I push on. I ask myself a lot these days why I do everything that I do and for what purpose do I pursue them?

The question, as all that occur during mid-college crises :), has brought forth a multitude of answers both simple and complicated.

Why do I push myself? Why do I take on so much? Why don’t I sleep :) haha? Why do I spend every minute of my day doing something? Why do I not feel productive if I don’t?

Really, in all of the answers that I came up with, all of the pros and cons that I made, the one constant that remained in all of the answers was friends. I do what I do for the friends that I love. In sitting here before walking to my Spanish class, I began to realize the monumental role that the people I have met over the past three years at Ohio State have played in my life. My development as a person has been augmented, shaped, and accelerated by those around me; if it weren’t for my friends, I would have missed out on opportunities whether they be networking, shenanigans-ing (haha), forming lasting bonds and relationships, or just having someone to talk to when you’re feeling down. My friends do all of this and more, and—for that—I will be forever grateful.

This is cheesy and I know it is, but it’s true. The original intent of the this blog was to discuss my travels this summer throughout Europe. It served its purpose relatively well. Well, at least when I decided to stop gallivanting across the continent for a moment or two and actually write something. Now, my travels have ended, I am once again back in school and back in America. So, the new purpose of this blog will to be to act as an homage to my friends. For whatever purpose all things which you have bestowed on me will be reflected in my stories, in my songs, in my words. All of YOU are responsible for crafting who I am. So, take it or leave it then :). Haha. All of those whom I can count on whenever I need a smile or an encouragement or words of advice I consider essential to the human experience, to my experience.

Countless memorable nights, nights we can’t remember, 12-hour van rides to Iowa to New York to Illinois, two-poke, Harry Potter, Grey’s freakouts, boy freakouts, grade freakouts (am I sensing a theme? haha), DA, international Skype sessions, dinners before meetings, endless practices, caipiras, language barriers, shopping extravaganzas, tg’s, sisterhood, hugs when family members died, friendship, football games, Ohio State spirit. ALL of these things and countless (literally, I could sit here all day and keep typing, but class awaits) other memories just in the last three years have come to define my collegiate experience. Now, sure, there could be some memories of just me sitting in a library studying, but instead they are collective memories filled with loved ones, filled with you.

I want to say thank you.

For love. For respect. For pride. For whatever reason. Most of what I do, I do for all of you. 

This is like a Griswold family vacation. The engine in our train broke, so we sat outside on a terminal in God-knows-where Germany for an hour, trying to make out bits and pieces (mainly numbers) of what the overhead announcements were saying. Clearly, with our combined languages of: English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French, we failed. Haha. Cutting straight to the chase, we are now on a train bound to Berlin, but we were sitting on the floor of the hallway because the train was so full before half of my very crowded train jumped onboard. People literally stepped over me once or twice in an attempt to get to the WC. F this. F this hardcore. Clearly, the travel gods hate us. Here’s to hoping that the rest of the trip goes well. I might be invoking some help from the big guy upstairs should things continue to go the way they have been.

PS- we got to Berlin two hours late. I took a shower. More blogs to come later.