My Dorm!

I've officially been moved into my dorm for 4 weeks today! That seems absolutely crazy to me. I keep calling it "home" in conversation with friends. "Hey! I'll be home around 4 today!" Wait, I forgot. This isn't actually my home, but it certainly feels that way.

When I studied abroad (The Island School), one of the things we focused on as a community was sense of place - meaning knowing, appreciating, and being aware of where you are in the world at that time. The idea surrounding this concept that stuck with me the most was that home is where your toothbrush is. You often hear, home is where the heart is or home is where your mom is or the like. But, for me the toothbrush one rings the most true. I love my home in Michigan, but I've created my own little niche here and this is where I'm living, spending and investing my time, energy, knowledge, and spirit. So, where my toothbrush is, is home.

So as a tribute to my home, I thought I'd show you my dorm! Here are some photos. With my last dorm purchase made today (a butterfly chair from Target) it's officially unofficially done. Enjoy!

Covering Insecurities

Here's my APU update for all of you! I've officially been on campus for over two weeks (feels like forever) and I'm loving it so far! My roommates, Jamie and Meaghan, are really great girls that I get along well with! We had so much fun putting our dorm together and are enjoying getting to know each others' weird quirks and personalities.

So, one really cool thing we did tonight was what APU calls "Hermony" where all the girls from the three different residence halls that house the ladies of APU came together on Trinity lawn for some serious bonding. It started with worship all together and there is something really incredible about a bunch of soft, female voices lifting up praises (How He Loves by the David Crowder Band to be specific).

Following worship, one of the RA's launched into a speech that she claimed would "give it to us straight." She had all of close our eyes, and then asked who had ever looked at a girl and found some quality about her whether it be her looks or possessions or attitude that made us feel inadequate or superior. Yes, it felt a little like Mean Girls...who has ever felt personally victimized by Regina George? But, when all of us opened our eyes, we saw that every single girl around us had her hand raised.

It is interesting to see in our culture how many girls have insecurites - and most of us have the same ones. Much of the RA's discussion was about finding our identitiy in Christ instead of finding our identitiy in comparison to others. Guess what women! We are not defined but what we are not! We are defined by what we are to HIM - beautiful, perfectly made women that were sewn together intentionally by His plan and definition.

After a powerful slam poetry bit along similar lines by another one of the RA's, we gathered in random groups and discussed what burdened our hearts as far as these insecurites lie. In my group, I confessed that when I see a girl that I think is prettier than me, I'm terrified to approach her and be her friend. Another girl, stated that she immediately judged girls that she thought were better looking or better dressed as self-centered or even slightly pompous.

After that, we partnered with a girl from our discussion group and told her an insecurity that we have about the upcoming year and vice versa. For me, it's loneliness. I'm worried about making friends. For my partner, connecting with the people around her. We both had very similar concerns. Then after writing our worries down on a big sheet with about 40-50 other girls, we dipped our hands in paint and covered the other girl's worry or insecurity with our handprint - a symbolic way of saying, "I will be behind you on this. I will help you out and I see your need."

This piece of community effort was one of the most refreshing things I had ever been apart of, and I'm loving this atmosphere at APU so far. More to come later as more amazing things happen in my college life.

Tails of a College Cheerleader

Got all my cheer gear! We're completely
Nike'd out with backpacks, shoes and clothes.

Well, who knew Hunter would actually grow up and go to college?

Ok, probably everyone due to the fact that college has been my conversation topic of choice since I was two.

Dad and I moved the majority of my stuff into my dorm on Tuesday, August 21 so I could be (mostly) moved in by the time cheer camp started the next day - Wednesday. I dropped him off at the airport on Wednesday morning, got breakfast with some of my new freshmen teammates and ended the day with a meeting and team dinner for the first day of cheer camp.

Speaking of cheer camp....

Camp was probably one of the roughest things ever to hit me mentally and, more so, physically. We started actually working on Thursday morning where we started it off light - yeah, right. Our personal trainer, who I have a love-hate relationship with because the workouts are tough but she's one of the coolest people I've met so far, kicked all of our butts with a 6-mile morning run to start off the season followed by a little more conditioning. We continued the remainder of the day stunting with an amazing stunt coach - John Blake - who didn't just kick our butts, he kicked a little bit of everything with the most intense stunting sessions I've ever been apart of in my life.

The freshmen on the team! 

Before lunch, due to a little lack of food and my weird blood sugar issues, I slyly threw up in a nearby trash can on the way to lunch without anyone seeing (score!). After dinner, we ended the day with team bonding games and what we liked to call Story Time, where Coach Rosie put 10 minutes on a timer and one at a time girls shared about what makes them...well, them - their life story, their faith, their cheerleading history, etc.

Friday ran very much the same minus the puking, plus a black eye.

Just a few bumps and bruises from cheer camp.

Saturday, we stunted early in the morning instead of working out. And then, my favorite part of cheer camp, we all loaded up into cars and drove out to Hermosa Beach to do beach workouts with our trainer Bri. On the beach, we literally had a crowd watching from the pier as 20 cheerleaders in sports bras and Nike Pros worked out on the beach with their trainer blowing a whistle. After the workout, we had the day to enjoy the beach (my first time in the Pacific Ocean!).

Cheer camp lasted until Sunday, August 26 and ended with the whole team attending church together.

What's Going On Now:

At this point my mama flew in to LAX and I'm currently in the midst of running errands (more dorm supplies) and shopping with her! I'm so happy that she could be here and she'll be staying through orientation. So, that's what we've been doing so far! Orientation starts on Friday and that's when all the fun and activity will start. And when my really quiet hall of just me and my RA will fill with a ton of girls moving in.

I'll keep you posted on more! Keep praying for me!

2,160 Miles: Day 2

...And We're Off Again!

On our second day across the country, we departed from North Platte, Nebraska with the intention of just driving as far as we possibly could. This mindset left us deciding to make it all the way to Las Vegas - our original Day 3 destination. I'd say it's pretty impressive that we made it from Grand Rapids, MI to Las Vegas in 48 hours. But, that's just me.

Colorado

The Drive:

• 15 hours
• 1,014 miles
• 5 states: Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada
• Approx. $90.00 for gas

Other Info:

• HOLY COW! Driving through Colorado was absolutely amazing. There was nothing more humbling than driving through God's massive creation. I mean, sure I've seen the ocean and so many other parts of His world, but there was something spectacular about feeling so so so small in comparison of it and simply surround by it. 
• For a long while, Iowa was pretty boring. Absolutely no color anywhere - mostly just a lot of dust. But after a few hours in, we were surrounded by the greatest color of red. There were giant rock structures,  lots of curvy roads. It was just great. 
• Driving through Arizona at night through the mountains was purely terrifying. All you saw around you were the dark, giant masses of the mountains, and the roads were especially precarious and (as it had just down poured in that area) slippery. 
• WE LOVE VEGAS! We got in late, so got ice cream and fell asleep watching the Avengers. Perfect end to a really big driving day. 

Utah

Vegas, Baby!

We made it to Vegas! I'm going to post more information about the second leg of the journey a little later in the day, but first a little sun and spa for dad and I!

The photos are of Colorado, the most beautiful state I've ever driven through. The mountains were unreal.

And of course, the picture of my dad is him holding up his giant ice cream sundae we got from ILLY in our hotel in Las Vegas.

2,160 miles: Day One

...AND WE'RE OFF!

After much anticipation and counting down, my dad and I finally hit the road this morning! Our destination: Azusa California on Tuesday, August 21st. We left Grand Rapids, MI this morning a little before 7:00 a.m. (Eastern Time) and arrived in North Platt, Nebraska at 8:00 p.m. (Central Time). We made it way farther than we thought we would. We planned on stopping in Omaha, Nebraska but actually drove five to six hours past it. Tomorrow, we haven't really decided an endpoint. Before we started the trip, we planned on stopping in Denver, CO, but because we drove so far today, we are only 4 hours away from Denver, instead of the originally planned eight. Right now, we're going to get as close to Las Vegas (our scheduled 3rd night stop) as possible. 

Here is what our complete journey looks like:

Our Drive Today:

Logistics: 

• 15 hours
• 914 miles
• 5 States: Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska
• Approx. $85.00 for gas

Other:

• Crossed the Mississippi River!
• While driving 80 mph on the highway (shh, don't tell my mom...in my defense it was a 75 mph speed limit.......), I almost got passed by a semi-truck. That is one seriously fast truck. No big deal, just a million pounds of death machine passing me. Needless to say, it was terrifiying.
• I decided that Iowa is absolutely gorgeous. The hills, the farms, the grass, the windmills, and the beautiful blue sky, it was just beautiful. 

Keep praying for us! We were so fortunate to have made it this far without any issues, and we know that God's hand is on our car. Please pray that it stays that way! 

Dorm Decorations:

Paint Swatch Calendar

I found this on Pinterst! It worked out so well, and I'm so excited to put it up in my dorm. Instead of buying a whiteboard or bulletin board calendar I'll use this!