college graduation & traveling | life update vol. 6

Hi there! The last month or so has been crazy busy. I graduated from college, moved out of my college home and I’m now preparing to go on a 24-day trip through Europe. This post will mainly be a photo update as I truly don’t have the time to write a sentimental goodbye to Lawrence yet…but I wanted to make a quick post before I go abroad.

Leaving KU

I made this video summing up my college career and my time as a Jayhawk. Below is the text I was going to have as a voiceover, but it didn’t flow with the music so I just wrote it out on its own but still wanted to share. KU is so very special to me and I’m sad to be leaving, but I know I’ll always have Lawrence to welcome me home.

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I’ve always known I was going to KU. My childhood was spent learning how to say Rock Chalk and go Jayhawks, and my Saturdays in fall were spent at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence – followed by Pyramid Pizza or a donut from Joe’s. I mostly read a book or played games instead of watching the football games, but I still soaked up every single tradition and very quickly became a passionate KU fan. I remember watching the 2008 national championship game in Allen Fieldhouse, then storming Mass Street after with my family at only ten years old. Waving the wheat, singing the alma mater, doing the rock chalk chant – these were all traditions I loved and knew from a young age. From my first official tour in junior year of high school, I knew immediately that the journalism school felt like home. I started school and dove in to getting involved, joining a sorority and meeting some of my best friends along the way.

I chose to major in strategic communications and loved it, but I found my real home working in athletics. My life came full circle when I started working for the football team in my second semester of sophomore year. Countless photos and graphics later, I’m so proud of the work I’ve done. When I came to the University of Kansas as a freshman, unsure of myself and a little scared, I didn’t know how much I would grow. KU has taught me how to be independent, how to fail and bounce back, and how to be confident in myself. I know I’m going to miss Lawrence so much, but I know I will always return home grateful for what I’ve learned. Thank you, KU – Rock Chalk.

College graduation

I graduated from KU with my major in strategic communications in the journalism school and a minor in sport management. Here are some of my favorite photos from that day!

Europe trip

I’m going on a trip with EF Ultimate Break this June! I never got the chance to study abroad so this is my college graduation trip and I’m so excited because Mexico is the furthest I’ve ever been out of the country. I’m visiting London, Amsterdam, Paris, the Swiss Alps, Venice, Florence, Rome, Barcelona and a few other stops along the way. I’ll be sharing photos on my Instagram throughout the trip, then I’m planning on having recaps of each city on my blog and making videos once I return. If you have any packing tips PLEASE share – I’m only bringing a carryon and a backpack and I’m struggling a little!

 

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Graduated with my best friends by my side and wouldn’t have had it any other way 🤩

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Thanks for reading and following along on my adventures!!

xo, Hannah

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A Guide to Sorority Slang | Sorority Recruitment 101

I’ve been sharing an ongoing sorority recruitment series here on Hannah With a Camera. Click here to read more posts about recruitment and sorority life, or comment below if you want to see a specific post on the blog! 

Sorority recruitment is confusing enough in itself, let alone the world of Greek life and what every little term means. Today in my sorority recruitment series, I’m filling you in on the sorority slang you’ll hear the most during recruitment and beyond! (If you haven’t read my other article yet on how to get recommendation letters, read it here.) 

Recruitment: This is also commonly referred to as rush week, but formally referred to as recruitment. Recruitment is the week-long process in which every sorority chooses their new members.

PNM: A PNM is a potential new member. This is what the girls going through the recruitment process that are not yet in a sorority are referred to.

Panhellenic: The Panhellenic Association is the organization that is comprised of 26 sororities in total that hosts recruitment. My university has 13 of the 26 Panhellenic sororities on campus, which is a pretty common number.

Preference day: This is the last day of recruitment in which girls will typically go to up to three houses for the last rounds of recruitment. After going to each house, all the PNMs will then rank their sororities in order of what they want to be in most.

Bid: At the end of recruitment, each sorority will extend a bid to every PNM that they want in their house. PNMs will only end up with one bid at the end of the week. For example, if the PNM ranks Sorority A, Sorority B, and Sorority C in that order on preference day, then Sorority A can extend them a bid. If Sorority A doesn’t want to extend that PNM a bid, then Sorority B will have the opportunity to extend a bid to the PNM.

Suicide: This term is used on preference day when a PNM only chooses one house. This means that if they don’t get a bid from this sorority, then they won’t be in a sorority at all. (At the University of Kansas, they are unable to go through informal recruitment or repeat the recruitment process until the following year.)

Rho Chi/Gamma Chi/Rho Gamma: These are terms used to refer to your recruitment counselors. Several schools call them by different names and these are a few of the Greek names used to refer to them. Your recruitment counselors will be girls that are disaffiliated from their sororities for the week and they will be your primary point of reference to help you navigate recruitment week. They’ve been through both sides of recruitment, so be sure to ask them questions throughout the week to help you decide what’s best for you.

Disaffiliation: Your recruitment counselor will disaffiliate from their sorority during recruitment week, meaning they’re supposed to take any trace of their sorority off of their social media. The PNMs are not supposed to know which sorority each recruitment counselor is in, in order for the PNMs to have an unbiased experience.

Maximizing your options: I heard this so many times during recruitment from my recruitment counselors! We were always told at the end of each day when we were preferencing, or ranking, our sororities in order of which ones we wanted to be in. To maximize your options, you should rank the maximum amount of houses instead of just putting the ones you only want to be in and leaving out the ones that you didn’t like as much. You might not have had a great conversation at one house, but if you come back the next day and talk to a different girl, you could end up loving the sorority.

Bid day: Bid day is the day when each PNM figures out which sorority extended them a bid. The PNM then becomes a member of that sorority.

Big/little: In your first year of being in a sorority, you will be assigned a ‘big sister’ and you will be the ‘little sister.’ (In Alpha Delta Pi, this pairing is referred to as being a diamond sister.) This is an older girl in your sorority that will essentially be a mentor to you throughout your first year of being in the sorority, and she’ll be someone to turn to if you have questions or you just want someone to hang out with!

Philanthropy: Each sorority has a charity or organization that they support through philanthropy events to raise money for the organization.

Legacy: A girl who has an older sister, mother, or grandmother that has been in a sorority. Typically this does not mean much in terms of guaranteeing you a spot in that sorority except past the first day. If you don’t end up in the sorority that you have a legacy tie to, don’t stress! Just because your mom was in that sorority or your sister is in one at a different school doesn’t mean that you fit in that chapter now, 20 years later. Different sororities vary on which relatives count (i.e. step-mothers, cousins, etc.).

Sister: The term a girl in a sorority will use to refer to another girl also in her sorority. If you talk to several different girls during one round of recruitment, one will often introduce the next girl to you as her sister–don’t take it literally! If you do, no sweat. It happens more than you’d think.

Active: A woman who has been formally initiated into her sorority.

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments! Are you going through recruitment at your university?

xo, Hannah

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Preppy College Dorm Room Tour

I’ve been meaning to do this post since August when I first moved in, but I’ve never had a room this clean since the initial move in! Honestly, the only reason there isn’t a bag thrown on the floor or a sock somewhere in these photos is because my mom came up this past weekend for Mom’s Weekend with my sorority. So while my room might look somewhat like #goals currently, it’s definitely not that way all the time!

Dorm Room Tour | Hannah With A Camera

I have the Peyton bedding in Royal Navy from Pottery Barn Teen and I absolutely love it. (It’s on sale in the pink and light pool colors!)  My all-time favorite color scheme involves some variation of coral, turquoise, and navy, so this was a perfect way to combine them. I also have a long body pillow in coral (on the left). My roommate Jordan and I are in the same sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, so we hung our flag from bid day up over the window.

Dorm Room Tour | Hannah With A Camera

I have this strand of photo clips from Urban Outfitters that’s been great for hanging photos without sticking holes in the wall. Before college, I printed out a ton of photos from Mpix and I definitely recommend using them for printing photos! The tea towel of Lawrence is from Tammy Smith Design–it came in a print version too,  but I like having the bigger size of the tea towel to hang for decoration. She has a ton of cute drawings of other cities as well and if you’re from a big city area, that’d be a great way to have a little piece of home in your dorm.

Dorm Room Tour | Hannah With A Camera

I used washi tape to put up the photos on my wall and the majority of them have stayed up since August. The two canvases on the left are from my friend Abby (top) and my big diamond sister Mackenzie (bottom). I painted the ‘h’ canvas myself. In the space under the canvases on the left, I had a Hogwarts travel poster (this one is similar), but it fell from the command strip recently for some reason! On my desk I have a lamp with two outlets on it (which has definitely come in handy), my alarm clock, a couple decorations, and a plastic organizer from Target with 3 drawers to hold my jewelry.

Dorm Room Tour | Hannah With A Camera

Dorm Room Tour | Hannah With A Camera

Under my bed I have a butterfly chair, another organizer with 3 drawers to hold some random craft stuff, my dresser (provided by my dorm), and some more boxes on top to hold random things that don’t have a specific category to them. I also have a shoe hanging organizer to hold random things like command strips and nail polish.

The majority of these have come in handy, but I definitely didn’t need it all. Keep an eye out for an updated post of my college dorm essentials!

Thanks for reading!

xo Hannah

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Thursday Threes

I’ve been way absent from posting on here lately, partly because college life has been so full of activities and partly because I haven’t been putting it as a main priority. However, I love writing and want to put this blog back in the forefront of my life!

If you’ve been following along on my Instagram you can see all that I’ve been up to lately. In August, I went through recruitment at the University of Kansas and I’m now an Alpha Delta Pi and loving it! The best part about being an ADPi is being able to feel comfortable with all my sisters and at my house.

One: Back in September, I went to Late Night with my sisters from ADPi. Late Night at KU is a pep rally for basketball season and this video showcases how big of a deal basketball is at my school. The picture below is me and my roommate Jordan (and best friend since fourth grade), who’s also in ADPi.

Tuesday ThreesTuesday Threes

Two: The Ellen Show came to campus! As a long time fan of Ellen this was so cool to be on her show. The Royals (KC’s baseball team!) made it to the World Series for the second year in a row and our fans are incredible, so Ellen chose to send Jeannie and her team to KU for a competition to win tickets to the World Series Game One. You can watch the video here, and if you look each time the camera swings over the crowd you can see my sign. My friends and I had a running joke after this that it’ll be easier for us to get on the Ellen show than to ever go see the Ellen show. You can see me in the picture if you look to the left of the kid in the crown.

Tuesday Threes

Tuesday Threes
from left to right: Jordan, my roommate, Jeannie from Ellen, me, and Jayden, who’s also in ADPi

Three: Halloween meant the end of a very long homecoming at KU. Homecoming is full of different events to celebrate KU’s tradition and my sorority paired with another fraternity, Alpha Tau Omega, to create a float, a banner, a mural, and participate in several different other competitions. We ended up getting second place and it was worth it. I dressed as Taylor Swift (an easy go-to costume for me) and went out with a few of my friends.

Tuesday Threes

Tuesday Threes
from left to right: Dayton, a K crew girl/Royals girl, Natalie, a hippie, Jordan, a Sporting KC player, and me, Taylor Swift

Thanks for reading!

fixed monogram

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