Spontaneous Friends

Last Tuesday night Heather and I decided we wanted to go to the Baseball game with Loud Crowd instead of going to Gospel Choir rehearsal. It was a big game against A&M, and we hadn't been to any of the baseball games yet. We went to the tailgate that was outside the stadium to meet up with some people and get some free food. Then Heather had her intramural softball game, so I went along to that and chilled. It was such a beautiful day! At first when we got to the game we thought we might only stay for a little while and then leave for GEA later on, but the game got so good we didn't want to leave! It ended up being a tie game, and went into extra innings until we finally made the home running play. It was awesome and I met and made a new friend Ogle, who was "the crazy guy with the big hair from Loud Crowd" that everyone seemed to know or recognize. I told him about Glee and he agreed to get together with us and watch the first season!! woot :) They should seriously hire me for fan recruitment haha

The weather was amazing all week long, and that next weekend there was a three day baseball tournament with another school that I'm forgetting the name of...probably because we went to the game on Friday and they sucked so bad, it was like 7-0 in the second inning. After about the 5th we decided to leave and start our Glee marathon :) which was of course fantastic. We only got through the first 3 or 4 episodes, but it was a good start. Saturday, we were planning on going to the baseball game again, and then maybe watching more Glee, but when we arrived at the stadium we ended up actually going to the women's softball game thinking that it would probably be significantly more interesting than watching that other horrible team play us in baseball. Right toward the end of the game, Ogle got a phone call from one of his friends asking if we all wanted to go to the Astros Game! Ogle said we had about 2 minutes to decide because if we were gonna go we had to leave pretty much right then. AHHHH! haha so after kind of a frantic moment, we said what the hell why not, and we all crammed into D.J's truck, and Heather, Kathryn, Ogle, Doug, D.J. and I drove 2 and a half hours to Houston to see the Astros. Talk about a weekend full of baseball. When we finally got there and found some sketchy cheap parking in what was basically the ghetto right next to the stadium, we bought our $3.50 nosebleed tickets which ended up being pretty bomb, right over 1st base and the perfect birds eye view. When we first got there the girls decided that we wanted to see if we could find some cheap food around the area before going in and spending a fortune on ballpark food. After some hesitation by the guys to let us walk around without them, and trying to figure out if it really was Dollar Hotdog Night, we walked down the street in search of food, the opposite direction of the sketchy parking area mind you.

We stopped and asked a few people if they knew of any quick little shops to grab a bite and after being pointing toward the first deli that we found and ended up being closed, we sort of wandered up and down the nearby 4 of 5 blocks by the stadium. It being about 6pm, among the 5 of 6 sandwhich deli places we found, every single one was closed haha. After getting pointed toward a supposed "Subway" by a somewhat creepy possible homeless man, and failed at finding that...and coming upon a creepy little building that was something like one of those cash now places, but had covered windows and only a creepy door with no signs, we decided not to go any further and turn back toward the stadium. We walked back and got to the game only 1 inning in. Luckily after failing to find food elsewhere, ends up it actually was dollar hotdog night so Heather and I each got a couple and picky eater Kathryn found something that she liked too.

The game was really fun, we had this adorable group of probably like...5th graders sitting in front of us. All them on their fancy cell phones that are worth like 3 times as much as mine haha talking and flirting and eating cotton candy. Well I had fun observing them...there's the psych/child dev. major in me LOL The astros actually played pretty well for the first few innings and we were ahead. I forgot how much fun it was to do the wave with such a giant crowd haha. Epic. We did end up losing in the end, but at the last inning, everyone was pretty much leaving, so we ran down to the lower level and got down about 20 rows back from the field right past 1st base. After the game we were all kinda freaked out about walking back to the car since it was super deserted by that time and we were pretty far over past most of the parking lots. Heather, Kathryn and I positioned ourselves between the first two guys and the last two guys we were with so we were surrounded. We ended up making it back just fine obviously, but it was pretty sketch.

The ride back was probably the best part of the day. We stopped and got some yummy snacks at a gas station, and I had one of those awesome new friend bonding conversations with Ogle. We were just sharing life goals and dreams, and I felt truly blessed to hear his testimony. I love it when people pour their souls out. Anyway, basically we talked the whole way back, sharing funny and serious stories. One of those kind of conversations that converts your friendship from a more acquaintance status to bff's :) Basically it made the weekend amazing and I made another friend that's going to be super duper hard to say goodbye to in a few weeks. It especially sucks because we met so far into the semester. Heather and I were both saying how we wished we would have gotten even more involved with Loud Crowd earlier on.

Tonight (Wednesday) Ogle, Kathryn and I met up to watch some more Glee before CrossTalk which is the non-denominational worship service on campus. I really enjoyed it. Any chance to sing worship music is an opportunity I like to take :) It was basically like a worship rock concert with a nice talk mixed in. Then afterwards we watched one more episode of Glee! Friday is Ogle's birthday, and tomorrow (Thursday) we are going with him and a bunch of his friends to see Owl City play at Stubb's barbecue in Austin. Should be awesome. Also another GEA event this Saturday!

I'm a little behind on posting these so the days I'm referring to might seem a little off...that's the reason for the (...day)

♥Chantal

Epic Adventures

Sometimes the space between my posts gets a bit long, but I really need the inspiration to write a good blog and I just wasn't feeling it this week. After today I am for sure. I've gotta start with last week, which was absolutely epic. Saturday morning Abel and Bryson drove Heather, Kathryn and I to Dallas to see Spring Awakening. After making a "quick" stop at the post office, (which ended up taking 5 times longer than it should have because the new guy was stuck trying to figure out things by himself) we went through the craziest drive through car wash EVER! Haha check out those weird colors! Everything was like...fancy electric stuff, none of those giant strips of fabric that slap the crap out of your car! :P

Once we finally got on the road it was pretty epic. The three and a half hour drive actually went by pretty quickly. I was sooo excited about the show I could hardly stand it. When we finally arrived we went around the corner from the theatre to a little pizza place and all had lunch. After that the guys left us to go to the show and they went off on an adventure of their own. We walked to what we thought was the theatre...and realized it was somehow the wrong place. I went in and asked where the theatre was and we were directed to go a few blocks down. We all thought the building looked odd for a theatre, and when we saw the actually theatre we were like..."that's more like it!" We checked in and got our tickets, freshened up in the bathroom, checked out the merch. booth and made our way to the backstage door :D We were 4th or 5th in line to get seated onstage, and at this point all three of us were getting anxious...

When we first walked in and were seated I was disappointed and frustrated because we were in the far upstage seats, when I had specifically told the lady I talked to at the box office when I called that I wanted the seats closest to the edge of the stage, near the audience. Luckily I was so excited, any negative feeling I'd had vanished pretty quick. I knew it was going to be an amazing show no matter what. Because we're so close to the actors I knew it really wasn't going to make any difference how much sides and backs of people we were going to see. I was actually very pleasantly surprised how much we did see. There are many moments in the show where cast members were actually dancing and singing right next to the seats and facing the sides of the stage. I loved the fact that there are cast members integrated into the seating too! It was super cool to have cast members take chairs from next to you for a scene and then put it back and sit down next to you afterwards. After crazy dance numbers like The Bitch of Living and Totally F***ed they were breathing sooo heavily when they sat down. It really was a unique experience to get to see a professional show THAT up close and personal. Truly amazing. Part of the rules of sitting onstage are that you're not allowed to sing along. This was quite a struggle for me. There were many times during the show that I wanted to jump up and dance and sing with the cast, or even just stomp my foot or bop my head around like the rest of them. It was like going to a rock concert and having to sit completely still! AHHHH!

After the show we stopped by the merch table. I decided to get the Guilty Ones t-shirt and I got a copy of the script! Totally cool :) Then we ran around the building to stage door. Unfortunately we were too late to catch most of the actors but we got pictures with a couple of them.

The guys came back and picked us up, and we headed to the mall. Heather, Abel and Bryson went ice skating while me and Kathryn chilled at a little mexican restaurant inside the mall. After shows like that I get in this mood where I don't really want to do anything active. Actually my brain was going 100 miles an hour and it would have been a perfect time to blog, but unfortunately I had no way of doing that. It's always hard for me after shows like that because it makes me miss the stage A TON. So we just chilled and talked and had some chips and salsa while the others skated. After that we drove around Dallas getting a little lost and stuff trying to find Dicks restaurant. Despite the fact that the guys had their fancy iphones leading the way we ended up in the total ghetto of Dallas. We saw a handful of cop cars within a few blocks and all there was were barbed wire chain link fences, and what looked like old empty warehouse buildings. It actually sort of reminded me of West Side Story.

Eventually we found Dicks. This is a restaurant where the waiters and waitresses act totally rude to the customers by being sarcastic, insulting them and just being "dicks" in general. They make these GIANT paper hats for everyone, that have individual and specific insults on them. One word...Hilarious. Our waiter was so funny and we did our best to dish it back to him. We gave him such a hard time and it was a blast. It was a great weekend, and on Sunday which was Easter, I spent the day hanging out with my girls. :) We mostly chilled in my dorm room all day and Heather and I chowed down on some serious candy! It got pretty crazy once our sugar high hit us and we made the craziest video EVER!

You should check it out it's posted on Heather's blog: http://eaumarcos.blogspot.com/2010/04/thursday-was-kind-of-crazy-evening.html

OR my facebook: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=381935379409

♥Chantal

Sewell and Boko's

With the weather being absolutely amazing, we've been spending a good amount of time at the park lately. Last tuesday afternoon Heather, Kathryn and I met up between classes and chilled on my beach towel for awhile. Wednesday night I pulled an all-nighter Skyping with my old friend Cameron who I hadn't really seen or spoken to in 3 years. I love reconnecting and I am so blessed to have his friendship back after so long :)

Cool fountain on campus and that's the awesome theatre in the background!

Thankfully on Thursday I have a good solid 3 hour break between classes. Boko's Living Room is one of the most brilliant things about Texas State. First of all Boko is the bobcat mascot, and they have this amazing room in the LBJ student center with a bunch of couches and then a few tv rooms off of that with more couches. With your student ID you can rent out blankets and pillows to take a nap! It's this amazing dimly lit quiet place with a few study desks and there are always at least 5 or 6 people in there just passed out. I have taken quite a few afternoon naps in there myself and it has become one of my favorite places on campus. However now with the weather getting so delicious, taking a nap out on a blanket at the park is much more appealing. On friday afternoon a bunch of us went out to Sewell by the river and chilled for a few hours. There were tons of people out and it really was a gorgeous day. I brought my laptop out there to write a paper, and I actually could pick up a strong signal from the campus WiFi, which was awesome! The most amazing part of the day was when I finally decided to call the Dallas Performing Arts Center about Spring Awakening tickets. It opened there last Tuesday and is running through Easter Sunday. I was going to try to get onstage seats but called with the expectation that by now they would have already all been sold out. Earlier in the week I had been trying to figure out how in the world we would get there considering Dallas is four hours away and we don't have a car. I called an found out that they had quite a few for this next Saturday left! $25 for ONSTAGE seats to one of the most AMAZING musicals of all time! I was shaking with excitement. After exploring all the options, and talking to some of our friends, Abel graciously offered to drive us :D

As soon as Kathryn arrived at the park I asked her if she wanted to go, and got on the phone with the theatre again and purchased three onstage tickets...that's right. I ALMOST PEED MYSELF WHEN I GOT OFF THE PHONE! Ok not really but I was THAT ecstatic. Plus we basically got the three BEST possible onstage seats you can get! We'll be right at the edge of the stage so the actors will be mostly in profile and we won't have to worry about seeing too many backs or butts :P

Soaking up the Sun!
This place reminds me of one mile :)

Pretty! Maybe inspiration for my next painting!?!

I wasn't sure what I was going to do this past weekend because Heather was going to be in Austin at the ultimate frisbee tournament. Her team from Wisconsin came all the way down here to play which is super awesome because Heather got to see them all and play with them! So she left Friday night, and I ended up having a little Disney movie marathon in my room, while I Skyped again. It was awesome, I watched Mulan, Hercules, and Jungle Book. Saturday I ended up sleeping most of the day from pulling another all-nighter haha. But then Saturday night I met up with Kathryn for some quality girl time and we went to the budget movie theatre and saw When in Rome. It was hilarious and adorable. The perfect chick flick with substance, and boy oh boy was the leading man in it good looking. WHEW!

Anyway, Sunday Abel and I drove to Austin to hang out at the ultimate frisbee tournament and watch Heathers team play! It was out at this huge field and it was quite the event. There were 32 teams from all across the country. Over the course of the weekend Heather's team played UCSB and UCLA and beat both of them! Haha. They placed 12 in the tournament! I had only heard about ultimate frisbee before and had only learned a little about it from Heather when I met her. It was really cool to watch and figure out how it's done. I also got another chance to just chill outside in the beautiful weather and relax which is amazing, and making me very excited for the summer to get here!

When we got back I went to my Theology of the Body session which was awesome as usual. Then it was time for mass. This Sunday was the start of holy week. I think Palm Sunday is one of my favorite masses of the year. It was a good weekend. And I'm sure I will be blogging with great VIGOR when Saturday is over.

♥Chantal

Happy Spring!

I love Spring! This bipolar Texas weather is such a tease though. I was so spoiled over Spring Break because of the beach and it was a beautiful 70+ nearly the whole time. This weekend was the first day of spring. Unfortunately it was freezing cold and in Austin where I was for the GEA Gospel Fest it was raining most of the day. Luckily I had a good reason to be inside for most of it I didn't have to deal with the ickiness. However, today it is beautiful again, and it is supposed to be in the mid to upper 70's all week. Hallelujah! Tomorrow both Heather and I have the afternoon off and she has canoeing class out on the river so we're going to meet and lay out and maybe swim! I need some more sun, my tan seems to be fading already! haha.

Last week was rough, being the first week back at school. I've decided that I have not been applying myself as much as I could and should this semester. My study habits have been sliding, which I suppose is understandable in my situation. Being in a new place, surrounded by new friends and possibility for adventure! It's hard to pass up those opportunities to study. I am realizing how far into the semester we are now that spring break is over. I have about 7 weeks left here in Texas, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. In a way it seems like I've been here for quite a long time. I am comfortable, have established an awesome group of friends and this place quickly became home. On the other hand, when I think about how soon I am going back to Chico, I realize how fast the past 2 1/2 months have flown by! My mom actually booked my flight last night. May 12th. I have till then to do as much as possible, and there are still so many things I want to do!

I am having such a great time here, but I am also really looking forward to being back home this summer and having a blast. I'm coming up on what should be my senior year, and I can't believe how quickly college has gone by so far. But I am really excited about the future and what's next. This adventure has made me realize how much I love NEW things. The anticipation, the shock and the assimilation.

Gospel Fest was amazing this past Saturday. I have really come to love these people and I am so glad Heather and I decided to join GEA together. I really look forward to every Tuesday night, at 8pm belting my heart out, and then walking back across campus with Heather practicing our harmonies, with not a care in the world of who can hear or see us. We have so much fun. :)

Sundays are becoming a favorite day of mine as well. At 5pm I have Theology of the Body sessions with a lovely group of people including the majority of my BA family. Then we have about an hour until mass, so we had dinner together. Love them. I get to see them every Monday night too for 4th Day, which is like a weekly extension of BA, and I love seeing everyone. Even though I don't have a lot of time left here, I'm going to make the best of it. And hopefully there will be many more postings for you to read about my exciting adventures as I go. Actually, I can guarantee that there will...

♥

Chantal

Let Go, Let God

New opportunities always present an interesting dilemma. I find myself asking questions like, is this something that found me for a reason? Is this the best decision for me? Did God put this before me because it's something that I'm meant to do or is he providing me with the opportunity to simply learn and grow from making the actually decision itself. I've always struggled with making decisions, whether it's something as what to eat for lunch, or deciding on where to go next in life. Over the past few days I have been conflicted with this, but last night at GEA rehearsal, someone said something during closing prayer that spoke to me. Let go, and let God.

Being the virgo that I am, I will admit I like control. I feel at ease knowing what is coming next and what I can do to keep things running smoothy and as expected. As I've gotten older, and through meeting people and experiencing new things I have learned to let go more and let life just happen. Sometimes that's all you can do because in reality we have little control over life. Last night when I heard that, and again today after talking things out with Heather, I realized with certain things, including this new possible opportunity, I need to let go. Instead of stressing over the fact that there are so many unknowns, I need to trust in God that if it's meant to be for me in my life right now, it will work out.

As for spring break goes, I know I havn't blogged in forever and I honestly have more to say about the past week than I could possible type on here in a reasonable amount of time. Basically we arrived in Port Aransas on tuesday evening. From then through Sunday morning my life consisted of hanging out with 11 of the coolest people that I've met here at Texas State. Lots of time on the beach, laying in the sand, and swimming in the ocean. The weather was just right for the most part, despite the waves of weird haze that came in and made it impossible to see more than 40 feet away. Playing and laying in the sand during the day, and meeting lots of awesome people around bon fires on the beach at night, it really was the perfect college spring break. Beer pong, and maybe one too many shots of rum were among the activities...Over all it was a great week, and a trip that I will never forget. Living in a tiny two bedroom condo with 11 people is something that a bunch of 18-21 year olds are good at embracing. I have a million pictures but here are a few to highlight my spring break 2o10. See my facebook for more!

♥ Chantal

Airport Anarchy

I am praying that my flight experience back to Texas will be less insane than it was getting here. But I've already run into a few things that have been proving otherwise. Getting through security and onto the plane on Friday was fine, however soon after we boarded the captain came on the speaker and said that he had noticed one of the 'pins' holding the Co2 tank for one of the emergency slides had been pulled. He wanted to make sure it was still safe, and that the slide would not deploy spontaneously in flight so the passengers who were seating in the rows near the slides had to de-board the plane while it was being looked at. At first everyone was fine feeling assured that our captain had only our safety in mind. After about a half hour later he came back on to announce that we were waiting for the mechanics to come up with a diagnosis for what was going on. He said that at some point one of the catering staff probably tripped the pin while supplying the plane, and that if the slide deployed unintentionally it could seriously hurt passengers.

The flight was supposed to leave at 1:35pm, and by the time 3:00 rolled around and we were all still sitting there on the plane, people started getting anxious. Some said that they were already going to miss their connecting flight and were looking at their iphones and blackberries to see if any other flights were available. People were generally friendly with each other, but also frustrated with the situation. One boisterous woman began to joke that the airline should turn "lemons to lemonade by serving us free cocktails!" hahahah.

The captain kept saying that it was better to be safe than to end up in the air in a situation where we could be in serious trouble, and everyone could understand. They finally announced that they were going to have a whole new slide shipped from Atlanta for it to be replaced and the flight was delayed to leave at 8:30pm. I was scheduled to arrive in Charlotte at 8pm! If I would have stayed with that flight I wouldn't have arrived in Atlanta until 11pm and they were giving out hotel vouchers because there wouldn't be anymore flights to Charlotte until the morning. As it is I was only going to have barely 2 days to hang out with Amy J, and I wasn't ok with having to sleep in Atlanta and miss out on that time. It was ridiculous how they were helping people figure out alternatives. They had one, under-qualified woman helping a huge line of people and it took almost an hour to get to the front of the line when there were only about 7 people ahead of me. Even better was that once I got to the front she was no help at all. I had just missed a flight 10 minutes before that was going to Atlanta!

I prayed for patience and strength as I tried my hardest not to break down crying. I turned my

survival mode on and walked up and down the terminals, and asked one of the delta ladies at the terminal of the flight I barely missed and she told me about a flight that was also headed toward Atlanta. I met her a little while later at the other terminal and got a stand-by ticket, and noticed another guy from my original flight doing the same. We had no problem getting on, and there was a connecting flight right to Charlotte that same night! What was with that lady? She didn't even offer stand-by! Anyway...I ended up getting here around midnight and Amy

picked me up.

Oh, except...because I changed flights so last

minute, my bag was not able to be transfered to my plane. So guess where my bag was? Yep, on that original flight not scheduled to arrive in Charlotte until 10:30am the next morning. Luckily I was staying with a girlfriend is just about the same size as me hah. The weekend went very well, I explored the city while Amy was at work on Saturday and then we went out to a really yummy dinner.

She rented a car for the weekend so we could get around more easily, and she had a bunch of

things she really needed at the mall, so we spent

the whole day shopping! It was awesome :)

Plus we went and saw Alice in Wonderland

in 3D!

Last night we watched the Oscars and made cookies :) And had some fun with the self-timer on my camera :P

I've been praying since I woke up that my travels back to Texas today will be much more seamless. However, after I checked my bag and waited in the enormous security line, they stopped me and found my Klean Kanteen in my bag, which I forgot to empty. GAH! They made me go back out and empty it and come back through the scanners lol. A minor bump in the road really. Then I arrived at my terminal to find that my flight was on time and everything looks good. Right? Wrong. As soon as I sat down, this middle aged man walked up to me and told me that he was just about to leave on his flight, but noticed me when I walked by and wanted to tell me that he thought I was really beautiful. At first I was flattered and he seemed harmless so I smiled and said thanks. He asked a couple harmless questions about what I was doing in Charlotte, but when he found out I wasn't from here, he appeared disappointed and proceeded to tell me that he was hoping I was from around here so he could take me out to dinner. AHHHHHHH!!!!! LOL He left and I shook it off. Ew. Then about 10 minutes ago, as I was beginning to write this posting, I hear that the flight is delayed because of possible thunderstorms? So I went to the desk and got a backup flight that will get me into San Antonio only an hour or so behind schedule. Continental Airlines has already proved to me MUCH more helpful and customer service friendly than Delta.

♥ Chantal

Sleepless In San Marcos

Sometimes no matter how much I try to leave enough time for things, it just doesn't happen. I was planning on doing all my laundry earlier today and packing, so when I got back from Midnight Rodeo tonight I could hit the hey, and be all ready to leave in the morning. Somehow one thing lead to another and here I am at 4am, waiting for my laundry, with hardly anything packed...I'm getting picked up in about 5 hours...Oh dear. I guess the guys have been training me well, with the whole getting no sleep thing, cause I think I'm gonna make it through just fine. I will be very glad to take advantage of sleeping on the plane and during my layover in Atlanta. I will arrive in North Carolina around 8pm tomorrow, and will be taking a taxi to Amy's apartment. I am SO excited to see her! We're going to spend the weekend exploring the city and she's gonna show me around the children's theatre where she's working :) As soon as I fly back to texas, Heather, Juan, Abel, Michael, Joey, Bryson, Brent, Kathryn, Me, and I think two others will be heading to our beach condo in Port Aransas for the week! I am stoked. It's going to be the craziest, best spring break trip ever!...I hope :)

Even though I'm going to be exhausted from sleep deprivation tomorrow, I had a blast with my BA family tonight! A bunch of us went to a Julliard performance on campus, which was awesome! Then we headed over to Jones dining hall for some people to get a quick dinner. I had already eaten so it was apple slices for me. Then we headed to Austin for Midnight Rodeo! I hadn't been out country dancing since last time we went, which was my first time! I cant believe I waited that long! It's sooo much fun! We tried to get there before 11pm because ladies are free, but we hit a horrible accident on the highway, which set us back a little bit. We also took a couple wrong turns because of Michelle, my BA mom and her epic fail at giving directions! haha It was a good time though. Once we finally got there, it was past 11, so we had to pay $5 but still not bad :) I didn't realize that so many people from the CSC and BA were going to be there! I guess a lot of them go all the time! It was awesome, I danced almost the whole 3 hours, with all my family, and also some strangers but they're always so nice.

I didn't bring my camera, because it's so bulky! It's sorta out of date I guess. It still works great but its just too hard to carry around especially when I'm on the dance floor. I need something more pocket sized. I realized that during that 2 week gap in my blog I forgot to post about our "snow day" here! So here are some pictures from that experience. Basically, we all ditched class and watched movies, and it was amazing :) I was so excited that it was snowing I made Heather come outside and take pictures of me...but she wasn't the least bit excited that the snow had followed her here to Texas :P

Dunno if I'm going to have internet in Port A, so my next posting could be more than a week away, unless I feel so inclined while I'm at Amy's :)

♥

Chantal

Everlasting

Everlasting are the memories that I made this weekend.

Everlasting is my love for God and all he does for me.

Everlasting are the friendships I've made that will never die.

Everlasting is my appreciation for my entire Bobcat Awakening #30 family.

Everlasting is my faith in how much BA can impact lives.

Everlasting are the times I will look back and smile on this past weekend.

Everlasting is my new understanding and appreciation for fellowship.

Everlasting are the emotions I felt pour out from my heart.

Everlasting is my immense love for my BA parents and all their love and support.

Everlasting is my faithful relationship with the Lord.

Everlasting is my passion to always remind myself what I learned over the past 3 days.

Everlasting is love for praise and worship.

Everlasting are my thanks to those who helped push me to go to BA.

Everlasting is the indescribable presence of the holy spirit.

Everlasting is the impact that the BA Staff has had on so many lives.

Everlasting are the laughter and tears of joy that were shed this weekend.

Everlasting is my thankfulness that God led me to this amazing experience.

And most importantly,

Everlasting is God's undying love for every one of us.

This weekend just proves how amazing God is. His will and His love and His power in this world is incomprehensible. I've learned so much and grown so much closer to Him, and I am so grateful for BA for helping me do that. I will never ever forget this weekend and all the wonderful loving people that I've met and now call family.

On Friday afternoon Heather and Bryson dropped me off in the parking lot where we were meeting for Bobcat Awakening. One of the staffers ran up to the car as I got out, greeting me and insisting on taking my bags over to the sidewalk. They were all dressed in different crazy sport outfits and they were all so energetic! From that moment I knew it was going to be a good weekend. The staff was so welcoming and amazing, we were instantly family :) There are many things about an Awakening such as this that are supposed to be kept secret so that people will have the true genuine experience, as I did, completely unknowing to any events of the entire weekend until they were actually happening. All I can say is, this weekend was the first time that I really felt like I wanted to stay in Texas for the fall semester, because that would mean I could be a part of BA again, but next time as a staffer. If I did happen to choose to stay, BA would be one of the main reasons. I also felt for the second time since I've been here, truly homesick...missing my family and their hugs and company.

I have so much love in my heart from this weekend, it's overwhelming. I am so excited to uphold the promises that I made to Him this weekend, in how I am going to glorify Him in my life from now on. I have so many memories and moments and a loving support group to remind me of that and keep me on track. Even though I've been back for a few hours, and have shifted back to my life that includes my cell phone and computer, when I close my eyes I still feel like I am in that room with all those people. So much love, I can't even describe. I never want it to go away, and I know as long as I keep close to God and live my life in his image everyday I wont. Of course I will have bad days, and moments when I forget about His love and support, but that's what all these memories and notes and letters are for. To remind myself, and remember and always keep him close to me.

Some of the things that I learned this weekend are:

♥ Being a Christian is a daily choice. Every person and situation you encounter is an opportunity to share God's love in the way you live your life.

♥ It's easy to get caught up in the demands of daily life, and keeping to schedules and deadlines, but in the end what really matters is being on God's watch and going by his time. No matter how busy and stressful life gets, always make time for the Lord.

♥ The only love that will never die is God's love. When relationships fail and love dies, you can always rely on God's love to carry you through.

♥ Getting stressed and anxious about things in life that ultimately we cannot control draws us further from God. We must fully submit ourselves to Him and trust that He knows what's right for us.

♥ No matter how far you stray from the Lord, you can always know and trust that God will be at your door knocking, waiting for you to answer and invite him in.

♥ I know if I do my best, God will always do the rest.

♥ Heaven is not a hotel for saints, it's a hospital for sinners.

♥ Love comes in many forms. But agape is the greatest of all love because it is selfless and requires/expects nothing in return. This is the love that God has for all of us.

This is my BA Family. The Enchanted Roses :)

LOVE YA'LL!!!

♥ Chantal

Monday Mania

I had a fabulous weekend, and probably didn't get as much sleep as I should have. Mondays are my longest day of the week. I have class from 9am till 2pm, and then again at 5. During that 3 hour break I get lunch and go to the rec. I had a test this morning, and I think I did pretty good...but I was pretty tired in class, and actually caught myself nodding off in between test questions hah...oops!

This weekend was amazing. On friday night a bunch of people went to Midnight Rodeo in Austin, which is like a country bar/dance hall/concert venue, and we saw Aaron Watson play! He's a 'texas country' singer. He was awesome! We got a picture with him and I bought a shirt too. His fiddler player was SOOO CUTE too. Dang he was eating it up though...smiling at alll the ladies for the camera hah. We took so many pictures of him lol. That definitely wasn't the best part though. Two-steppin' is my new favorite thing!!! And one-steppin' for that matter, which i didn't even know existed. Basically I got to dance a ton with a bunch of random cowboys and it was SOOO FUNN! They were all so nice and I picked it up pretty quickly so I did tons of turn combos and it was a blast! I can't wait to go back again, and Friday night is ladies night, meaning we get in FREEE!!! Next place I gotta check out is Cowboys in San Antonio! From what I hear it is HUUGE, like 10 times the size of Midnight Rodeo, and just as much fun!

Then on Saturday Gospel Expressions had an all day gospel fest at Baylor University in Waco. I don't know if I even have words to describe this experience. It was 5 or 6 College Gospel Choirs all coming together to perform for each other and together and just to praise God through music all day. And that's exactly what we did. We had a four hour Gospel Fest Concert at the end of the day, where we worshiped and praised the Lord together and shared it with each other and anyone who attended. There were so many tears and hugs, and fantastic music. There was no doubt in anyones that the holy spirit was present. Wow.

Yesterday, Valentine's day was pretty chill. I've had a Valentine for the past 3 years straight, so I wasn't sure how I would do. But actually, I had a good day. I've never really understood the whole "boo hoo it's valentines day and I'm single thing." You can celebrate any kind of love on Valentine's Day! Family, friends, anyone can be your valentine :) I just relaxed, did some laundry and watched the Notebook with friends. It was nice.

Today was super busy, but Monday is almost over and the week always flies by. Can't wait to figure out what we're doing this weekend! :) Besides my choir concert on Saturday afternoon.

♥Chantal

Sleet

Today we had sleet. I had heard of it before but never really knew what it was exactly. Now I know!

As it was falling, I called it "baby snow" and "wannabe snow." The thought of it snowing exciting me so I tried to convince myself that it was hahaha. Officially sleet is defined as "precipitation in the form of ice pellets created by the freezing of rain as it falls." So hail right? When it hit my jacket and I looked closely, it looked like tiny hail! And you are probably wondering what the difference is between sleet and hail as I know I was. Sleet occurs usually during winter when the air in the clouds is warmer than the air below, and as rain falls into the colder air it freezes into small ice pellets. Hail however occurs usually during summer storms. It starts as rain too, but goes through a series of "updrafts" through the cloud, moving from the warmer lower part to the upper colder part and freezing, and then coming down. As hail falls, it collects moisture and goes through the same process in another cloud so the more updrafts the larger the hail.

I know that was random...and honestly I don't really have anything else to write about right now. Hmmmm...

Oh! So this Saturday is the Gospel Fest at Baylor University in Waco, TX. GEA (Gospel Expressions Association) is going and I am so excited! It's a whole day of gospel music and worship. I just know it's gonna be one of those days here in Texas that I'll never forget. :)

So that's my exciting news for the week. It is also one of me and heather's friends birthday this weekend, and they are going to Midnight Rodeo in Austin friday night. We're trying to decide if it's going to be worth getting practically no sleep for, basically on the same day as our gospel choir trip. I will probably blog this weekend to let ya'll know how it goes!

ps. Heather and I both thought Lent started today hahaha so we've been talking about what we're giving up and had our "last milkshake" last night, and we even showed up at the Catholic Student Center today for Ash Wednesday service. Whoops! LOL But shhhh! No one is supposed to know. We totally knew it wasn't till next wednesday :/ Yea...haha

♥

Chantal

Dark Chocolate

Dyed my hair "dark chocolate brown" yesterday!

My roommate Sara unfortunately got in a car accident middle of last week , which totaled her car. But she didn't get hurt, and she got to rent a car to have for awhile till she finds a new one...and she got a convertible seabring! It's so amazing. So she drove me and Heather around in it yesterday to run some errands. Yay for Target and the Outlet malls! I had some things to return and exchange. And I FINALLY got a couple pairs of pants that arnt shredded on the inner thigh from wearing them so much:P haha. Yay for jeans from Charlotte Russe!

Dyed my hair and then just chilled for awhile! I still can't believe how dark it is, it hasn't completely hit me yet. Then we were up last night (or I guess this morning) till 5:30am! It was pretty ridiculous but we had fun. Lots of King's Cup and Beer Pong haha :D I was having fun singing disney songs at the top of my lungs to everyone at the party...hehe.

BEFORE...

AFTER!

Let me know what ya think...!?!?!

Today is the super bowl! And God knows with all the guy friends me and Heather have made, we'll be watching it :P But we both have two tests coming up this week....So probably gonna be studying at the same time! HAHA

♥Chantal

Rain Rain Go Away

It has been a rainy couple days in San Marcos. I've always enjoyed the rainy weather actually. I like the idea of cuddling up inside and reading a book, or going out to the movies on a rainy day. Even putting on some rainboots and going out and splashing around in a few puddles can be fun. Walking 20 minutes back and forth everyday to and from class isn't quite the same. I'm not complaining really, just saying after 3 days in a row of it, I'm ready to break it up with some sunshine :) It's hard to see that in about 6 weeks I'll be tan, and in my swimsuit on the beach. However, that is the reality...and I am definitely okay with it.

Coming up on the end of my 3rd week of classes at TX State. Weird. It's already going by so fast! I have tests coming up next week too...two of them actually, and one more the week after. Luckily, most of my classes are just lecture/reading, and tests. Yay for no busy work! I have definitely managed to fill up that "extra" time however. I am already involved in 3 on campus organizations :D Gospel Expressions Association, The Loud Crowd, and The Psychology Association. Plus I am signed up for a retreat with CSC, the Catholic Student Center, and I'm going to a couple events there too. Pretty sweet if I do say so myself. Besides all that I'm usually in the dorm hanging out with friends, or at the rec. I am SO enjoying the rec being right next to my building. No excuses not to go :) I have a group exercise class almost everyday of the week. Gotta get the beach body ready for spring break!!! :P

It's my huge long break in the middle of the day, so I'm gonna go do some pleasure reading in Boko's living room. One of my new favorite spots on campus. A low lighted area with couches, and tables and a couple tv rooms, where you can rent out pillows and blankets and romote controls and chill or take a nap between classes. It's Brilliant.

♥ Chantal

Ecstatic...

What a great day!

I am so excited about so many new things right now! Forget about "getting back into the groove," am in my own new and completely amazing groove right now. So many exciting new things happened today, and so many things to come in the next couple months that I am sooo looking forward to! I feel sorta silly posting two days in a row, but when I'm as excited as I am right now, if I wait, it just isn't the same to write about in a couple days when the high has worn off. Plus, I'm sure it's a lot less exciting to read.

So besides a bunch of random good things happening today, like finally finding my geography classes workbook and a plain black binder, that they seemed to be out of everywhere, Heather and I went to the Gospel Expressions rehearsal tonight. I am making so many new friends and connections here, it's addicting! First off I'll start by saying, I have always wanted to join the gospel choir at chico state, but because I am always in a show of some sort and have rehearsals for that, I can never make the week night rehearsal times back home. I was so excited about joining, and neither of us really knew what to expect. As people started showing up, Heather and I realized we were the ONLY white people in the whole place. Now obviously, this didn't matter the either of us, but talk about a culture shock. The gospel choir in chico is probably closer to half and half, and Heather said there isn't a single black person (sorry I hate using the politically "correct" term African American) in her gospel choir back home in Wisconsin. HAHAHA. We were both SO excited we couldn't stop smiling, and feeling like we stuck out like a sore thumb, we weren't really sure what to do.

Everyone we met tonight was absolutely fabulous. As soon as we walked in that room we had person after person walk up to us and say hi, shake our hands and introduce themselves. I have never met such an incredibly friendly group of people in my entire life. And that is saying something, because I must say, Chicoans are pretty fabulous, and all the people that I've met here in Texas have been soo great to me and so welcoming :)

Honestly it was like an instant family. That's even what they called it. It was amazing to see how much love and compassion, and faith, and spirit could be packed into one room. By the end of the night we were getting hugs and praises for joining them. We have a gig lined up for every weekend this month! Our first is this saturday, so me and Heather are going to go and at least watch, if not do our best from what we learned in one night. It is so uplifting and humbling to sing with a group of people like that. Just some of the most gorgeous voices you have ever heard :) I am SOO thrilled and ecstatic about all of this.

I also went to the Catholic Student Center to turn in my application and $ for the Bobcat Awakening Retreat that is happening later in February. So I am all signed up for that! I found out about some more of their events, such as worship/open mic night on thursdays and a free lunch they have every tuesday. So I am also excited about getting involved in some of that and meeting some more amazing people there!

Plans for Spring Break have sorta been figured out as well! I am planning on going to see Amy J. which she doesn't really know about yet, the first 3 or 4 days of my break. Then a bunch of the guys that me and Heather have made friends with are going to rent out a condo/cabin on the beach at Port Aransas for the rest of the week! EEEEEEE!!!! We are so exciting! It's probably going to be about 8 or so of us and I am sooo stoked. With it split that many ways it shouldnt be too bad as far as the price goes. But I will be in search of a cheap plane ticket to North Carolina so I can see by bff Amy! With all the raving she's done about Charlotte I am really excited to check it out. Just hope all the plans work out :)

That's all for now folks! But YAYAYAYA for things working out and all the exciting adventures that are to come! I am SOOO EXCITED!!!!!

Getting in the Groove

I was shocked to see that it had almost been a whole week since my last posting. It's good that I am staying busy though. I still haven't quite gotten into the groove of the semester yet. Luckily, most of my classes are tests and a few papers, and not too much homework, so it's ok if it takes me a few days to get into my reading and all that. I have my first homework assignment for the semester due tomorrow. Still have a textbook coming in the mail, and I have one more thing to buy, besides a plain black binder for choir, which they are out of the bookstore and I blanked out on getting when I was at walmart yesterday...

This weekend was my first nights 'out' in San Marcos. Talk about craziness haha. My friend Heather joined the ultimate frisbee club team here, and all the ultimate frisbee players were having a party on friday night so we went to that. It was a pretty chill house party with like 2 kegs, but everyone was really friendly and awesome, and we had a blast. Then saturday night, we were going to a black light themed frat party with some of the people we met the night before. We got there, and it was deserted, obviously that party had been cancelled, so we found another, but it was a white trash theme, so were were in the wrong outfits haha, but it was still sorta fun. Because I was up till 4am both nights, after class today I came to my room and took a 3 hour nap. It was amazing.

I am super excited for this thursday night because Heather and I are probably going to Dillinger's, which is the only bar/club in town that is 18+. So we are going DANCIN'! I'm stoked about that. I wore my boots out the other night again, and I got my first couple little scratches on them, which is one of those things where it was going to happen eventually because they are shoes and they arn't going to stay perfect forever. Good thing I have my polish though :) And the scratches give them character right!?!? :/ Still not sure how I feel about it I guess.

We've been talking a little bit about spring break. Some of the guys might be getting a condo on south padre island, but the plans arnt solid yet. I am hoping I can fly to see Amy J. for at least a couple days in North Carolina, and then maybe fly back and go with the guys to a good spring break hot spot down here :) Crossing my fingers that I find something awesome to do though.

That's all for now. No pictures this time, cause I'm feeling lazy, but check them out on my facebook for sure! :)

♥ Chantal

Friends and Boots!

Last week might have started out a bit lonely, but this past weekend was everything but that. With all the students coming back, and having my exchange orientation, I've had no problem meeting people and making new friends. Ever since I met Heather, one of the other exchange students (she's from Wisconsin) and found out she lives right down the hall from me, AND we have a class together, we've been hanging out a ton. We decided we needed to be social this weekend and so we went out to the lobby of the dorm and hung out where there were people coming in and out and playing pool and ping pong.

Within an hour or so we had met a handful of people and started hanging out! Eddie (the magician) or "magic man" as some people like to call him, is who drew us to the crowd. His card tricks are insane and SO legit. I was freaked out at how crazy they were, and he totally gave us his business card haha. Too bad I won't be having my birthday while I'm here! :P We met Jesse at that point too, and pretty much ever since we've been hanging out. He took me and Heather to the huge outlet malls on sunday, and we all went shopping crazy! Well...mostly I did :) But how can you resist such good deals!?!? I spent a somewhat controlled amount of money, but definitely got a ton of stuff for it. I bought a pair of jeans and two pairs of shorts for $12 total. Got a really nice jacket from Lucky that was originally $130 for $30! Also at the Pacsun Last Call, I got 7 tops, a skirt and a dress for $45 total! Unfortunately we didn't have time to go to Cavender's, which is THE boot store. And I couldn't spend anymore that day because boots were the most important and I had to save some money for them :P

So we went on Monday! hahaha! It was amazing. I knew they were going to be pricey. It being like the NICE boot shop, with the REAL deal. But that's one of those things that lasts forever! And there was NO way I was gonna come to Texas and NOT get boots!! I mean seriously...So I told myself I could get some in the middle price range, but only if I found the PERFECT ones :) I totally did! I LOVE THEM!!!! They were $160 which is in the lower middle range, but they have the good soles which will last! I got the bottle of leather conditioner too because if I'm going to spend that much money on something like that I am going to keep them nice.

Everyone here knows, new boots=breaking them in! So excited to go out to one of the 18+ country clubs and learn how to 2-step! woohoo! A huge step toward becoming a true country girl :) Then on monday night, we were gonna all go bowling, but we got there and the wait was so crazy, that we all decided to leave and go play football on one of the fields on campus. It was like almost 10pm at this point but we played till midnight when the lights at the field went out. It was a blast and it was exciting to finally be making friends!

Classes started today, but I only had two. Tomorrow I have four, and I have a good sized to-do list I've gotta take care of on campus. Ordered my books online late last week, and I'm hoping they come soon. Really excited that classes are starting and things are getting busy on campus. I am so excited to see what adventures are to come! I am going to join the Loud Crowd, which is like the crazy spirit club, that goes to all the athletic games. It looks like SO much fun! There is a basketball game tomorrow night that I might go to too!

Tonight I went to the Rec center which is SO close to my dorm it's amazing. I took the Dance Cardio Crazy class, and it kicked my ass, but in a totally good way, it was soo much fun and I already know I'm gonna be feeling it tomorrow. I am pumped about some of the other classes they offer too! It's so nice having it so close to my dorm!!!

That's all for now. I'm gonna try to post a little more often so these arnt quite so long! haha.

♥ Chantal

Eat 'em Up, Eat 'em Up...

...GO CATS GO!

I'm all moved in! I love my room, it's so cute! And my bed is up so high, I have a birds eye view, hah. I was alone my first night, but I got everything set up and all put away. I've been giving everyone Skype tours! Took a massive trip to Target to get all the other random stuff that I needed for my room. My roommate Sara came back yesterday, and last night I went to the basketball game with her to watch her cheer and get my first taste of the TX State school spirit. It was a lot of fun.

That is my roommate Sara, second from the left :)

Today, I went exploring on campus. Walked all from way from my dorm, which is on the far left side of campus, to the LBJ building, which is like the BMU at Chico State. Got couple TX State shirts for myself and a cool keychain for my dorm key. :) I walked through the library breeze way which is a lot like Chico State's too. I went to the center/quad area of campus where most of the buildings are. It's really foggy today, and was sort of misting, but I got quite a few cool pictures.

This is the giant library
The Psychology Building :)
Go Bobcats!

Pretty!

And this is the LBJ Student Center

More pictures on my facebook, if you're friends with me on there check them out!

Sara leaves for Cheerleading Nationals in Orlando super early in the morning. They get to go to Disney World! I'm jealous. Then my other roommate Becca should be showing up tomorrow to move back in! So then I'll have her to hang out with this weekend. Yay!

This weekends mission, find boots...Cowboy boots of course! :D That shouldn't be too hard here though. They're everywhere!

♥ Chantal ♥

The First Tales From Texas

First off, here in Texas:

Safeway/Winco=H.E.B (they're everywhere!)

San Marcos=pronounced San Marcus (with the southern drawl of course)

Blanco=the name of my dorm hall, also the name of a nearby city, pronounced Blank-O (haha)

Hobby Lobby=I just like the name of this one, its like Michael's, but bigger (duh it's texas!)

**EVERYONE says ya'll, no matter how strong their accent.

Supposedly people are gonna think I'm a crazy person when I say "you guys"

More of that to come in later posts I'm sure...

Day 1: I'm not counting the night I arrived because all I did was pass out on the bed. My first real day here was Thursday the 7th. Went to the campus, and met my tx state exchange coordinator. Went to a bunch of the offices, asked questions and got some things figured out. Drove all around campus, found my dorm and both dining hall and the rec center right next to it! We drove around San Marcos and that combined with the 5 of 6 times we've driven through it on the way to somewhere else, I have gotten somewhat acquainted with where things are and what direction they are in relation to the campus. Pictures to come soon. We also drove around New Braunfels, which is a very German town, still strong in its culture. Location of the famous annual Wurstfest. Also home to Schlitterbahn, the largest water park in the country. Definitely going to check that one out!

Day 2: Slept in late again. It was a chill day. Actually very chilly in temperature too. Since I got here, it's been colder than it has been in 20 years. It's been getting down to the teens over night and not much more than the high 30's during the day. Went to Costco on the edge of San Antonio and took my first shopping trip to H.E.B. They feed me very well here :)

Day 3: Went to San Antonio and met up with some other cousins. We went to the Institute of Texan Cultures. Basically a museum/exhibit about all the different cultures that settled in Texas. There's a lot. It was really interesting. Then we drove around downtown and went by the Alamo, and drove by the River Walk, which actually doesn't have any water in it right now because it's being cleaned. So I will be exploring that more later. Saw dozens of Air Force guys in uniform downtown there. Mmhmm! :P

Day 4: Slept in once again, but not so late this time. We went to Austin and met up with my cousin April, Connie and Oscar's daughter, and her husband. Got a manicure with April and then we all went to a late lunch. Was hoping we would go explore in the city more, but I have plenty of time for that. Really looking forward to Tuesday, when I check in and move into my dorm. Earlier this week I found my roommates on facebook and have been chatting back and forth with them a little. Got my schedule, and figured out where my classes are, but I will have a lot of exploring to do once I get on campus. Its very spread out and hilly. Lots of and lots of stairs. Good news for my legs and butt! haha. That's all for now, but you'll hear from me once I'm moved in! Here are some pictures!

Flying over the clouds and fog on my way to Texas!

Thought this looked really cool.

Snowy Mountains!

Fun extremely hilly road.

Down the street from my cousins house.

My home for the past week. Thanks to Connie and Oscar :)

Lots of critters out here right in the backyard!

♥Chantal