Sing Season!

Posted on February 4, 2015 by hank_dehay

By Aaron Harder

My first experience with All-University Sing was when my sister participated in it while she was at Baylor. I thought it was cool and entertaining, but certainly it would never be something I would do. I was the athlete, the guy who played sports, and thought there was no way I would perform in a musical act.

Man, I was so wrong.

Tryouts While I did participate in sports at Baylor as a track athlete, I eventually left the team because it was becoming too much of a time commitment. I spent the next year of college volunteering at different ministries and hanging out with friends; however, I felt like something was missing. I had some friends try and talk me into doing Pigskin, a smaller version of Sing, I was already committed to a few things and said no.

I then saw how much fun my friends were having being involved with Pigskin, so I decided to join Sing Alliance that next spring. While it was way out of my comfort zone at first, I really enjoyed being involved in a Baylor organization. Participating in Sing was also really unique; you just cannot get that experience anywhere else.

AllianceFriends Bottom line is: I love doing Sing because of the unique opportunity it presents and because of the friends I made during practices and performances. Sing not only gave me something to do, besides sitting on my couch, it was a ton of fun! So if you decided to come to Baylor, truly consider doing Sing at least once, you may really enjoy it!

Finding a Friend

Posted on February 3, 2015 by hank_dehay

By Jaziah Masters

Most new college students are extremely anxious about one thing: making friends. This was especially true in my case. I was the only person from my high school to come to Baylor, so quite naturally I was extremely nervous about making new friends.

Fear not! I was able to meet a bunch of wonderful new people and making friends was not hard at all. Welcome Week was huge in this endeavor. I could go into a spiel about the wonders of that great opportunity, but that is a blog post for another day!

WelcomeWeek Even though I’m almost a year and a half removed from Welcome Week, it’s safe to say that potential friends are around every corner. Recently, I was sitting outside a classroom waiting for my Spanish class to begin. I looked up and I saw a girl walking toward me. She looked familiar so I waved, and she waved back. She sat next to me and we began to talk. Apparently she thought I looked familiar as well. It turns out neither one of us had known each other beforehand (which was pretty embarrassing I must admit). The conversation could have ended there, but before I knew it, we were holding an actual conversation.

Now I’m no small talk expert, but we really got along well. She told me about her struggles taking Korean, and I told her about my struggles in Spanish class. Eventually, we both had to get to class, but in that short amount of time, we really bonded! You’ll also be happy to know that whenever we see each other around campus, we can correctly identify each other!

This story reminds me of two things. One, making friends can be pretty easy, even natural, sometimes. And two, freshmen year is not the only time to make friends in college. Even looking back at my time in high school, some of the people I spent the most time with senior year, I didn’t even know freshmen year. You’re never too old to make friends, just be sure you recognize them after the fact. 😉

My Favorite Memories of the Fall Semester

Posted on December 16, 2014 by alicroom

By Marisela Martin

Hey y’all!

Well the semester is winding down, and as I sit here writing, I get the opportunity to reflect on this semester. The last day of class is coming up, and it is bittersweet. Feels like just yesterday I was moving into my campus apartment, learning how to cook, and now I’m getting ready to pack my things up and head home for break!

The best memory so far from this semester was attending the first ever traditions rally at the new McLane Stadium!

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I mean just look at this beauty! And our Baylor football team has definitely opened this stadium with a great season!

There have been the ups and downs with classes. From studying to writing long papers, there have been moments where I have been overwhelmed, but hey school is school! You also can’t forget Homecoming, the start of the basketball season, good times with friends and my favorite tradition, Christmas on 5^th! Fall semester is definitely a whirlwind of great moments and moments that test you.

However, finals are here, and it’s time to put my head in the game! So wish me luck because I will definitely need it! Until next time, Sic ‘Em and Happy Holidays!

The Mockingjay – Part 1

Posted on November 26, 2014 by alicroom

By Lauren Woods

This week, I had the privilege of attending the midnight premiere of The Mockingjay with a group of friends here at Baylor. In my opinion, there’s something thrilling about being at a movie premiere. For the last six years, I have attended the premieres of Twilight and The Hunger Games series with my friends in Minnesota. It’s cool to see myself in a new setting with new friends but still keeping old traditions alive.

The Hunger Games saga will definitely keep you on the edge of your seat. I recommend this new movie to anyone and everyone who enjoys action and thrillers! The entire experience included eagerly waiting in line for three hours and eating more chocolate than one should truly ingest. It was a Thursday unlike any other here in Waco, Texas – one that we all will remember for years to come.

Spontaneity, Stars and Christmas Sweaters

Posted on November 14, 2014 by alicroom

By Cody Frohman

I am convinced that college is the most spontaneous and flexible time in life. There’s no other period when you have both the desire and ability to drop everything to do something crazy and fun with little to no consequences. This week has been a week of spontaneity and flexibility, providing the perfect break in the semester before we head into the last round of tests before finals.

On Tuesday, in the middle of one of the busiest weeks of the semester for me, two friends and I drove up to Dallas to go see a hockey game. None of us are avid hockey fans, but we knew this short trip would be a blast and the perfect opportunity to take a break from school. Homework and studying plans were postponed in favor of the fun this short trip would provide. We left after we all finished work and started driving. We made an obligatory stop at In-N-Out (since two of us are from California) and then arrived at the American Airlines Center to watch the Dallas Stars play and hopefully win. Unfortunately, they lost, but it was still a ton of fun to break our normal schedules and do something different and memorable.

The rest of the week was back to routine and school until Saturday night when a group of friends and I decided to dress up in Christmas sweaters (and other ridiculous outfits) and drive around Waco listening to Christmas music until we found something to do. We settled on walking around Target, where we decided we should make the most of our trip and do a Secret Santa gift exchange. We all drew names and walked around the store, picking the most inexpensive, ridiculous gifts. We bought our gifts, exchanged them and went back home to watch Christmas movies. It was the most random pre-Christmas celebration, but I know it’ll be one of my favorite memories from this semester.

Whether you go all the way to Dallas or just to the Target on Bosque, don’t take school too seriously and let the spontaneity of college pass you by. Make the decision to do fun and exciting things, and take advantage of the years you have in college!

Thanksgiving Feast

Posted on November 12, 2014 by alicroom

By Cody Frohman

I love everything about the fall and holiday season. I especially love the food. I take Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner (and their surrounding meals) a little too seriously and always end up eating to the brink of sickness, which I then do all over again for the next few meals.

With that being said, one of the best Thanksgiving meals I have ever had wasn’t at home or created by family members who had been cooking Thanksgiving dinner for years, but was cooked by a group of college students. Every year, the different life groups at my church in Waco put on what we call “Thanksgiving Feasts,” which are huge parties that are a blast with a ton of food. We all cook as much as we can and invite everyone we can. There are all the traditional Thanksgiving foods you can think of, along with dishes that people have grown up eating all over the country.

We start preparing a couple days before. First, we decide who is going to make or bring what, and then we start inviting people in our classes, residence halls and other extracurricular activities. As the day gets closer and we all start cooking, the anticipation increases and it all becomes more and more exciting. Now, if you can imagine, this is quite an interesting experience, as 15 or so college students try to cook an entire Thanksgiving meal for 50 plus people with a limited amount of kitchen supplies, space and knowledge. And yet, somehow, it ends up being amazing.

It’s almost exactly like this…with a little more foil and 10 times more food.

After all the cooking is finished and everyone arrives, we eat, play games, eat more and have a great time just hanging out with old and new friends. I love how my college friends can take something like Thanksgiving dinner and turn it into something that is reminiscent of home and tradition, but with an entirely different spin. Now that we are away from our families, we get to transform old traditions to make them our own and start new traditions of our own.

Our Thanksgiving feast is coming up in a couple weeks, and if you’d like to come eat and hang out with us, we would love to have you! You can email me at Cody_Frohman@baylor.edu to get more information about the best Thanksgiving dinner of the year (almost guaranteed)!

Hang In There. It’s Almost Thanksgiving!

Posted on November 7, 2014 by alicroom

By Torie Abbott

It is a wonderful time of year at Baylor Nation! With the conclusion of Homecoming festivities, the red cup Peppermint Mocha relaunch at Starbucks and daylight savings time this past Sunday, November is in full swing and winter is just around the corner. The semester is half way over, and most students are looking toward end of the semester projects and finals.

One of the most time honored Baylor traditions is the All University Thanksgiving Dinner. Located in the Burleson Quad, this on-campus dinner is put on by the Junior Class Officers. This year, the dinner falls on the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving, from 5-7 p.m. The entire Thanksgiving meal, turkey and all, is free of charge for students with the swipe of a Student ID.

I have loved this Baylor tradition since my freshman year! Thanksgiving is a wonderful time for food and family. For college students, however, this holiday occurs away from the friends they have made while at school. The dinner gives students the ability to have a Thanksgiving meal with the friends they have grown to love so much while away from home. It is just one of the ways that Baylor University makes its students feel so at home.

Shamelessly Addicted to Coffee

Posted on September 18, 2014 by alicroom

By Emily Martin

Coffee has gotten me through a lot of rough days during my Baylor career, so I guess it’s a good thing that there are about a million coffee shops in Waco. This past weekend my best friend (and her adorable puppy named Dixie) from Texas A&M came to visit me, so obviously we had to try (literally) every coffee house in Waco.

Disclaimer: DON’T DO THIS ALL IN ONE WEEKEND. Seriously. We were so jittery and my heart was beating so fast that I thought I was going to die. Space out your coffee shop visits. Maybe just do one per weekend? Trust me, you’ll thank me later.

First, we went to Common Grounds. CG is my all-time favorite place to study in Waco because they have great drinks and the atmosphere is different from any other coffee shop I have ever been to. Also, the people who work there are extremely inviting and kind. They even know my order, which is a plus for me!

The second place we went was the Olive Branch (located underneath Spice Village). This is my favorite place to go to for breakfast. They have amazing pancakes and even better coffee. Their 254 roast is to die for! Hannah and I ended up each buying a pound of it so that we could have it at home. So on top of already being hyped up on Common Grounds and Olive Branch coffee, my car even smelled like a coffee shop because we left out bags of coffee in it.

We decided to take a little break from our Coffee Excursion and headed over to Junque in the Trunk, a little antique store on La Salle that is only open Friday to Sunday. Of course when we walked in we were offered free Dr Peppers (who can resist that??), so we gladly took them and poured even more caffeine into our bodies. I had never been to Junque in the Trunk, but it was definitely worth the visit! We also visited Magnolia Market, the shop that Joanna Gaines (from HGTV’s “Fixer Upper”) owns. Her shop is worth a visit! I love the show Fixer Upper because the couple met at Baylor and are doing some pretty amazing things to the homes of Waco.

Back on the Coffee Tour, we headed over to Outdoor Waco to test out their coffees. I was surprised at how good it was! I didn’t know how it would be since it was made in a bike shop, but I ended up really enjoying it! Plus, while you’re there you can walk around and check out their shop.

Our coffee day came to an end at Dichotomy, a small coffee shop in downtown Waco. Their coffee was a little pricy, but it was tasty! Hannah and I both got iced mochas, which I would definitely recommend. I would also recommend going upstairs to sit and enjoy your coffee. They have a balcony that is really pretty.

We may have missed a couple of places, but I honestly don’t think that either of us could handle another ounce of caffeine that weekend. On the positive side, however, Hannah now wants to transfer to Baylor because she loves Waco so much…mission accomplished.

I Love This Place

Posted on May 14, 2014 by alicroom

By Courtney Roberts

Walking around campus these past few weeks, I’ve been stopping more than usual -stopping to take it all in, talk to passing friends and enjoy the warmer weather. I’m becoming quite sappy. When I think about everything that has happened during my Baylor years, I’m caught up in a wave of emotion. I feel happy, blessed, thankful, proud and overjoyed at the friends and memories I’ve made. I always seem to think, “I love this place!”

These past two weeks have been especially wonderful. As school winds down, I’ve gotten to spend more time with friends, wander through Cameron Park and goof off more than usual. I celebrated my 22^nd birthday, went to numerous end of the year parties and attended my last class ever. It’s going by much faster than I thought, and I’ve found myself taking quick pictures of things on campus in a bout of nostalgia. If I could take a picture of the Pat Neff bells playing “That Good Old Baylor Line” one last time, I would!

It’s funny to look back at where I was four years ago, experiencing major senioritis as I was about to graduate high school and not giving much thought to what my life would look like at Baylor. To be honest, I almost didn’t go to Baylor. I was torn between the University of Oklahoma and Baylor, and I didn’t make a decision until April 30, a.k.a the day before I had to make a decision. I was definitely throwing caution to the wind.

But, I’m glad I didn’t have many expectations going in. Baylor blew me away. I was amazed at how easy the transition to Baylor was, and I frequently called my mom to tell her about all the things I was doing and how I was never coming home. Before long, I had a big group of friends that I hung out with most of my waking hours. We did all kinds of shenanigans together, from sneakily climbing into Pat Neff’s bell tower in the middle of the day to hanging a 15-foot-long balloon arch between the outside of our friends’ windows at Penland. Eventually, I buckled down and learned how to study, but that is a different story.

To make a long story short, there is no way to succinctly tell you what an impact Baylor has made on my life. I’ve made friends and memories that I’ll cherish for a lifetime, and I know so many of my peers will tell you the same. It’s been a crazy adventure, and I’m confident that this is just the beginning!

Below are a few pictures of my favorite Baylor memories.

Celebrating my birthday with some friends from church!

Kappa Alpha Theta’s member class of 2011. These four years have been such a blast with them!

By far one of my favorite Baylor memories was getting to study abroad in Florence, Italy, with the Baylor journalism department. You can read about it here!

After graduation, I will be working in the Texas Capitol as a legislative aid for a state representative. I’m thrilled to be working in such a fun place. I have no clue what life will look like in this next season, but God has provided so much already. Finding this job and finding a place to live in Austin just seemed to fall into my lap. I consider myself abundantly blessed when I look at all that has happened this year, let alone these last four years. But, I know that I’ll be back for football games in the new McLane Stadium, and I’ll make it a point to stop by campus when I pass through Waco.

I love this place, but “the old has gone, and the new is here!” So goodbye, Waco. Hello, Austin!

Finding Home Away from Home

Posted on May 5, 2014 by alicroom

By Patara Williams

Every once in a while, I need some soul food, aka momma’s cooking. Every once in a while, I need to jab my brother in the stomach – sibling love. Every once in a while, I need to escape the worries of assignments, papers and tests.

As much as I hate to admit it, sometimes…I just need home.

I thought I had it made…my family lived 90 miles away. Not too far. Not too close. Just right.

In my earlier years, when I needed a taste of the home-life, it only took an hour and a half to get there. But for some of my friends, their issue of family and spatial proximity was not as fortunate. Three-day long breaks aren’t enough time to go home to Colorado let alone Nigeria or China to see mom, dad and siblings.

That forced them to figure out ways to fill the distance and feel the love, like:

Skype, FaceTime, Oovo, etc.
Call with that good ol’ fashioned telephone
Spend time with friends and their families during school breaks
Snapchat
Write letters….
- Who does that anymore? Email…

My little brother (who I call Little Brother) caught me taking a selfie while on FaceTime…awkward.

Or you can have your parents do what my mom did last Thursday….

Move to Waco O_o

Now don’t get your panties in a bunch. Living a few miles from mom isn’t that bad. Now that my mom and little brother are right here in home sweet Waco, I can look forward to good cooking, sibling rivalry and five mile drives to get away from the worries of college life. So, when finals week rolls around and I can’t find a study portal in the library, off to Mom’s.

Finding a home away from home won’t be a difficult task. The challenge will be allocating time toward family and friends and maintaining contact despite a hectic and exciting life away from home!

Embrace your years as a college student, but don’t neglect your family and old friends. It’s far too easy to become overwhelmed and consumed with the college life. Cherish family. Cherish friends. Cherish home.

I hope that Baylor will be your home away from home.

Sic ‘Em

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