I’ll Miss This!

(I wrote a post like this on my personal blog, but wanted to share here, too!)

Last Friday night was my very first exec retreat for my sorority. (For those of you that don’t speak “Greek” the exec retreat is where the president and all the VP’s plus advisers meet to discuss new ideas for the upcoming semester). I am proud to now be a member of the exec board, serving as the VP Communications. Going into the retreat, I was nervous. Would they like my new ideas? Would they think I’m doing a good job? What will it be like? Well, by the end of the night not only was I no longer nervous but I realized that that night would be one I’ll never forget.

Although the night was serious for the most part, when you put a bunch of girls in a room together for a long period of time, you can’t expect to not have any fun! There was lots of laughter, lots of funny things said, and many good times shared. I can honestly say I was amazed at how much fun I was having. There is something truly special about a group of powerful women all sharing ideas and brainstroming together and having fun while doing it. I am lucky to be a part of this group of amazing women.

After the serious part of the retreat was over, we stayed up for hours talking. Talking about boys (you’re never too old for that!), swapping stories, and talking about why we joined this amazing chapter that we are so lucky to be a part of. As I was sitting there, I realized it didn’t matter how tired I was, it didn’t matter that it was 3 AM. These are the moments that I know I’ll look back on one day and say “I miss that.” One day I’ll miss staying up late, talking and laughing. I’ll miss being able to walk down the hall and see any one of my amazing sisters. I’ll miss this…

Luckily, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon and I can only imagine the amount of memories I’ll have like this by the time I graduate. As hard as it can be being away from home, these amazing women make it easy, and for that I am so lucky.

Patrice is an intern with College Lifestyles (TM). She is a journalism major at William Woods University and is a member of Alpha Chi Omega. She LOVES her sorority and is so thankful she has found her best friends through joining Alpha Chi Omega!

The Dish on a CL Intern: Patrice’s 15!

1. Name: Patrice Basso

2. Dream job: I want to be a modern-day Carrie Bradshaw! I LOVE her & her writing is so brilliant! I basically want to be my own version of her! I wouldn’t mind raiding her closet, too! I hope we wear the same shoe size
   

   I could totally pull this off...!

3. One word to describe me: generous
   
   
4. Favorite movie(s): Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Notebook, Sex & the City, Confessions of A Shopaholic, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, I Love You Man. I’ll stop there! lol

5. Favorite TV Show(s): 90210, Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, One Tree Hill, Desperate Housewives, Jon & Kate +8 (pre divorce/craziness!)
   

   I loved this show back in the good days! The kids are SO CUTE!

6. Favorite Color: Pink!
   
   
7. Coke or Pepsi: Pepsi, but really neither.I go to Starbucks for my caffeine fix!
   

   I'll take this over Coke or Pepsi any day!

8. I can’t live without: My iPhone! or Facebook! lol And of course my family & friends.
   

   What did we do before iPhones!?

9. Pet peeve(s): Negativity (even though I am sometimes guilty of this myself!), bubblegum (I can’t stand the smell, weird I know).

10. This makes me smile: My amazing Alpha Chi Omega sisters!
    

    Me & some of my beautiful sisters & best friends! (I'm kind of hiding in the back lol)

11. If I had 1 million dollars I would: Donate to the American Cancer Society to find a cure, donate to the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation, and put a lot in savings!

12. Cats or dogs: dogs, but I’m not really an animal person.

13. When I feel blue I: talk to my mom or one of my sorority sisters or blog. Sometimes writing my feelings makes me feel better!
    
    
14. My friends say I am: funny, sweet, fun to be around, a great writer.

15. Anything else to add: I have my own personal blog, Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman. My family, friends and sorority sisters are the most important people to me & they are the reason I am who I am today! I LOVE being a part of the College Lifestyles family, and am excited to watch it grow even more than it already has!
    

Patrice is an intern with College Lifestyles (TM). She is a journalism major at William Woods University and is a member of Alpha Chi Omega. She LOVES being a part of the College Lifestyles family & is excited about our new additions to the family!

Get Fit for the New Year… by Tweeting?

With the New Year quickly approaching, now is a great time to focus on getting in shape and getting fit. I don’t know about you, but I could definitely use the help getting fit for the New Year. W0uldn’t it be nice if we could afford not only a personal trainer, but a personal trainer to the stars? How much would you pay to have a body like Heidi Klum, Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Alba, etc?

Well, now you can pay nothing and have your very own celebrity personal trainer. Well, kind of. Trainers to celebrities such as Halle Berry, Kristin Cavallari, and many more are now on Twitter and offering YOU some of their best tips! So before you hit the gym, just check your twitter page for some great work out advice from some of the best trainers in Hollywood that keep their clients looking great!

So, follow these celebrity trainers for the latest advice on how to look great, and you’ll be looking amazing for the new year in no time!

• Follow @DavidKirsch (Trains Heidi Klum and Anne Hathaway)
• Follow @MsMandyIngber (Trains Jennifer Aniston)
• Follow @HarleyPasternak (Trains Lady Gaga, Eva Mendes and Vanessa Williams)
• Follow @madfit (Trains Ashlee Simpson and Kristin Cavallari)
• Follow @ramonabraganza (Trains Jessica Alba and Halle Berry
• Follow @Jarret Del Bene (Trains Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port)
• Follow @ValerieWaters (Trains Jennifer Garner, Jessica Biel, and Hillary Swank)
• Follow @Teddybfit (Trains Cameron Diaz & Jennifer Lopez)
• Follow @JillianMichaels and @Mytrainerbob- the trainers from The Biggest Loser.

Some of their tips include:

“Pledge to keep your cheer clear. If you have to drink, make it white wine or a vodka and soda. Nothing pink or frilly, please!”- @DavidKirsch

“Its totally cool to indulge, the key to staying in shape is being consistent. So move your body for an hr today. worth it”-@MsMandyIngber

“You ever consider how many of your meal choices are foreign dishes? There’s really no such thing as “healthy american cuisine”.”- @HarleyPasternak

“Not every workout has to be a 10, it’s okay to have some 5s… Just don’t take too many ZEROS!”- @madfit

“Stay away from high sodium foods ! It causes the body to retain extra fluids.”- @Jarret Del Bene

“Instead of thinking about things you DON’T want to do, focus on the POSITIVE changes you desire.”- @Mytrainerbob

“30 minutes in the gym is better than no minutes at all !!”- @Teddybfit

So, what are you waiting for? Start following these high price trainers & get their expert advice for FREE!! What better way to kick off the new year than to get advice on getting fit from some of the greatest personal trainers?

Patrice is an intern with College Lifestyles (TM). She is a journalism major at William Woods University and is a member of Alpha Chi Omega. She is looking forward to kicking off the new year right by focusing on getting fit!

“True friends & true hearts that’s all that counts in life”-Uptown Girls

Life Lessons From a Chapter Advisor

Our Alpha Chi Omega Chapter Advisor, Judy, is responsible for making us one of the top 6 chapters in the Nation! She has been our chapter Advisor since 1993 and she has changed our chapter for the better! Like any great advisor she has a lot of really great advice. Last year, at the beginning of my freshman year she sent us all her “Life Lessons”, and looking back I probably should have taken more of them to heart! Anyway, when I came across them again last week, I thought who better to share this with than the lovely readers and fellow interns of College Lifestyles (TM)! No matter where you are in life, in college or not, I think these are great life lessons to take to heart! So, without further ado, her are Judy’s Life Lessons:

Always be one time.

If you want to cheer yourself up, try to cheer someone else up!

Control your attitude or it will control you.

You want to have class in victory and have class in defeat.

You can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.

You can keep going after you can’t.

Success is a by-product of doing things well.

You have three choices in life – give up, give in, or give it your all.

You have one chance to make a first impression.

You can’t cross the finish line if you haven’t started.

Do a random act of kindness each day.

Do not protect yourself by a fence, but rather with your friends.

You do not lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not

leadership.

Love has nothing to do with looks, but everything to do with time, trust,

and interest.

Bad things do happen to good people.

Most of the time what you are looking for is right in front of you.

Carelessness is the root of failure.

Being kind is more important than being right.

Money doesn’t buy class.

Ignoring the facts does not change the facts.

A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.

Set your goals high.

That’s it! Hope you learned something from these, or were reminded of something you want to do more often. I know I did!

Patrice is an intern with College Lifestyles (TM). She is a journalism major at William Woods University and is a member of Alpha Chi Omega.

“True friends & true hearts that’s all that counts in life”-Uptown Girls

Break the Silence: (Domestic Violence Awareness Week 3)

In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, for the month of October I’m posting about Domestic Violence Awareness once a week!  Missed the first two? Check them out here and here!

This week, I wanted to wait to post until after a really special event regarding Domestic Violence Awareness: Take Back the Night. Take Back the Night is an event dedicated to sexual assault and domestic violence victims. Here’s a little history from the Take Back the Night website: From the late 1970′s through present day, Take Back The Night events have been held by college and university women’s centers, YWCA’s, rape crisis centers, community centers, high school student groups, battered women’s shelters, and other organizations dedicated to helping women achieve safety and empowerment. Events have been held in England, Belgium, Australia, Canada, the Caribbean Islands, the United States, and likely other corners of the globe.

Every Take Back the Night ceremony is different, but I really wanted to share about the ceremony I went to because it was geared toward college students. A college student from Mizzou, Colleen McDevitt, decided to interview rape victims and put together a short film to get the word out there about sexual assault.

This is her video, “I’m a survivor of Rape”:

(You might wanna pause it & let it load. It takes awhile to load, but completely worth watching.)

Collen, Katie, Katlyn, Ellen, and Bonnie have brought up a very important issue through this video, and one that applies to most of us at College Lifestyles- the prevalence of sexual assault among college aged women. It is something that is more serious than you might think, and really common; Women ages 16 to 24 experience rape at rates four times higher than the assault rate of all women, making the college (and high school) years the most vulnerable for women. All 4 of these women in the video were 18 or older, and 3 of the 4 were in college at the time of their rape. The statistics are alarming of how common college rapes are; The most recent large-scale study, including students at both two- and four-year colleges, found 35 rapes per 1,000 female students over seven months (rape was defined as “unwanted completed penetration by force or threat of force”).

One thing that stood out to me about the women in the video was the fact that they all knew their rapist. A couple of them were dating their rapist, or their rapist was a friend. A couple of the girls from the video were at Take Back the Night to talk about their experiences , and they made a great point; they pointed out that often times we think of rape as the stranger that jumps out from behind a bush and rapes you. The truth is, though, that being raped by someone you know is way more likely; the statistics show that ninety percent of college women who are victims of rape or attempted rape know their assailant. The attacker is usually a classmate, friend, boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, or other acquaintance (in that order). The women in the video not only knew their attacker, but they trusted them.

We as college-aged women need to be aware of this. It’s scary how common this is. It could happen to one of us! Know what to do if this happens to you or your friends. Like I mentioned last week, Love is Respect has an online chat feature, or you can always call the National Domestic Violence Helpline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE). The most important thing is if your friend has been raped to support them, and not treat them like they did something wrong. And if you have been raped or think you may have been raped, talk to someone you trust and get the help you need.

To learn more about Take Back the Night, visit the Take Back the Night website.

To learn more about the video, check out Colleen McDevitt’s blog or join the facebook group.

Statistics from Center for Problem Oriented Policing.

Patrice is an intern with College Lifestyles (TM). She is a journalism major at William Woods University, and is a member of Alpha Chi Omega. She feels strongly about domestic violence awareness and is enjoying spreading the word.

Love Doesn’t Hurt (Domestic Violence Awareness Week 2)

Since the month of October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, and it’s really important to me since it’s my sororities philanthropy, I have vowed to post about domestic violence once a week for the month of October here at College Lifestyles (TM). If you missed last weeks post, check it out here. Since that post was a lot of facts, this week I wanted to focus on teen violence. As I mentioned last week, the statistics are scary how common domestic violence is in teens.

One of my best friends in high school was in an abusive relationship, and I witnessed it, as did several of our other friends. I had no idea what to do, and imagine that most high school students today would share my confusion. That’s why it’s so important to spread the word that there is something you can do to help, and it could make all the difference. That’s why this week is focused on teen/dating violence. If back then, I would’ve known I could have helped it may have changed things for the better.

Here are a few facts just to get an idea of how serious this. Statistics from loveisnotabuse.com:

• 89% of teens between the ages of 13 and 18 say they have been in dating relationships; forty percent of teenage girls age 14 to 17 report knowing someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend. (Children Now/Kaiser Permanente poll, December 1995)
• Nearly 80% of girls who have been physically abused in their intimate relationships continue to date their abuser. (City of New York, Teen Relationship Abuse Fact Sheet, March 1998)
• 1 in 3 teenagers report knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, kicked, slapped, choked or physically hurt by their partner. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2005.)
• Nearly 1 in 5 teenage girls who have been in a relationship said a boyfriend had threatened violence or self-harm if presented with a break-up. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2005.)
• If trapped in an abusive relationship, 73% of teens said they would turn to a friend for help; but only 33% who have been in or known about an abusive relationship said they have told anyone about it. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2005.)

Scary, isn’t it? This is a serious, prevalent problem. It’s often assumed that only married couples or older couples suffer from domestic violence, but this is not the case. So what can you do?

If you think your friend is in an abusive relationship, talk to them. Be prepared for them to deny it, but make sure they know you can be trusted. Recommend they talk to someone like a counselor, teacher, or someone they trust. Give them a hotline they can call if they decide they want help. A good national helpline is loveisrespect.

Love is respect is a National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline sponsored by Liz Claiborne. One of the greatest features of loveisrespect is their live chat. They have peer counselors that will chat with you online 24 hours a day to help you with whatever you’re going through. They also have an 800 number in case the chat is unavailable for some reason.

Think you’re being abused? Chat with the counselors and they’ll help you with what your options are. Worried about your friend? Loveisrespect has tips on how to talk to them. Not sure if your relationship is good for you? Take the quiz at loveisrespect to see if your relationship is healthy. Liz Claiborne also teamed up with dosomething.org to create the program MADE, Mom’s and Dad’s for Education to Stop Teen Dating Abuse. They have a special page dedicated to Teen’s. What can you do to get involved? What do you do if you’re being abused? This page covers all that.

Loveisrespect also has a lot of awesome celebrity involvement; Martina McBride and her daughter have teamed up with loveisrespect to get the word out about teen dating abuse and educate both teens and parents on ways to stay safe. She is currently on tour with Trace Adkins,  calling it the Shine All Night Tour. Also, Lauren Conrad has teamed up with Mark to create the m.powerment by mark campaign, in hopes of educating young women and spreading awareness about the potential for abusive relationships that could change their lives. They created the Have a Heart necklace, available on meetmark.com with proceeds going to the m.powerment fund, trying to put an end to teen domestic violence.

This is such an important cause and one of the most relevant to people in our age group. Statistics show that women ages 16-24 experience the highest rates of dating violence. This includes all of us college students plus our younger sisters, cousins, friends, etc. We can make the change and put an end to this!

If you or a friend is suffering from domestic violence, call the National Teen Dating Violence Hotline at  1-866-331-9474 | 1-866-331-8453 or chat with peer counselors live at loveisrespect.org.

Patrice is an intern with College Lifestyles (TM). She is a journalism major at William Woods University and is a member of Alpha Chi Omega. She is passionate about Domestic Violence Awareness and loves doing her part to spread the word!

“Life is too short. Grudges are a waste of perfect happiness. Laugh when you can and let go of what you can’t change. Love deeply and forgive quickly. Take chances. Give everything and have no regrets. Life’s too short to be unhappy.♥”

Domestic Violence: No Joking Matter

My sorority, Alpha Chi Omega’s national philanthropy is domestic violence, so this is something that means a lot to me. Last year for our philanthropy week, one of the fraternities who participated made a banner with the Joker from The Dark Knight and put “Why so serious? Because domestic violence is no joking matter.” Clever, and kind of funny, but really true. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, so what better time to get the word out!? I’m doing my part here at College Lifestyles (TM) by posting weekly for the month of October about Domestic Violence.  With domestic violence being in the headlines a lot lately, (Chris Brown/Rihanna anyone?) it’s really important that everyone gets the facts because it really is no joking matter!

Even though this is my sorority’s philanthropy, I don’t know all the facts. So for this weeks post, I turned to someone who knows a lot more, Amy Zoldak, an Alpha Chi Omega alumna who has taken it upon herself to learn the facts about domestic violence and in May, started a weekly effort to promote domestic violence awareness via social media. So read what she had to say, and I guarantee you’ll have a better understanding.

Q: What do you think is the number one thing people need to know about domestic violence?

A: That domestic violence does not discriminate. It doesn’t care what color you are, how old you are, where you live, whether you are rich or poor, gay or straight.  It was  also a huge surprise to me when I learned the prevalence of teen date violence.

Q: Can you elaborate on that? The teen date violence? Is that really common?

A: The statistics are scary. Here’s a couple examples: One recent national survey found that about 1 in 10 female high-school students and about 1 in 11 male students said they had been hit, slapped, or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend in the past year. 1 in 3 teenagers report knowing a friend or peer who has been hit, punched, kicked, slapped, choked or physically hurt by their partner. (Liz Claiborne Inc. study on teen dating abuse conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, February 2005.) Overall I think that the time a woman is at the greatest risk for domestic violence is between ages 18 and 24. For more information, I recommend these sites: http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/faq/dateviolfacts.asp and http://www.loveisnotabuse.com/statistics.htm.

Q: What should people who know someone possibly involved in domestic violence do about it?

A: Yes that is a great question and a really hard one. I have been grappling with it and trying to learn as much as possible.
Here’s what I think. First if you are a bystander and you see or hear it, you should say something. Doesn’t matter what you say, even just knocking on the door can stop someone and make them stop and reconsider. Great video on that from @bell_bajao
If it is a friend or relative, the best thing you can do for them is reassure them that you are there for them and that you love them no matter what that when they need you, you will be there I think it helps a little to develop empathy for the friend who is being abused. I read Crazy Love earlier this summer by Leslie Morgan Steiner. It is a first-person story about how she came to be in the relationship and how she got out.

Q: Interesting! Do you think sometimes the blame gets misplaced on the abused for staying with someone who abuses them?

A: Absolutely. I also think that if you are a strong confident sort of person who doesn’t take nonsense from people, it’s hard to imagine why someone would hit someone else and also why someone would stay. Crazy Love does a good job of intertwining the story with the mechanics of an abusive relationship, things that she didn’t see as warning signs at the time in retrospect were quite clearly warning signs. Violence always starts out small and escalates… the abused one feels like she can fix him or she’s the only one who loves him or that love will overcome the other obstacles. Leslie’s story is esp compelling because she was 2 years out from graduating Harvard when she met her abuser. It’s not a matter of being smart or not. Here’s a video of her reading from her book.

Q: My next question is about the whole Rihanna/Chris Brown debacle. It obviously brings up a lot of coverage for domestic violence. Do you think it has hurt or helped people’s perception of domestic violence?
A: hmm. Interesting question. I think any time domestic violence is discussed publicly it is probably a good thing. I think the music community too seemed to take the situation very seriously. I heard that Chris lost invitations to perform at awards shows.
It is always disheartening to hear things that you hear… like “she deserved it” or “why doesn’t she just leave him?” but in the big picture, for an issue that was not that long ago never discussed in public…at least there is public discussion and you do hear a lot of education and positive programming (meaning actual facts and figures and stats), particularly from Tyra Banks and Oprah, actual domestic violence awareness not gossip and speculation etc.

Q: Ok last question. There were rumors that the Rihanna/Chris Brown thing was mutual. Like she hit him so he hit her back. Do you think that makes situations any less serious if it is something like that?

A: No. In fact it’s probably more serious. I just feel like there is no room in any relationship for physical violence.
I didn’t see Chris Brown needing medical attention. Just sayin… I think that a lot of what goes on in an abusive relationship is about control. The abuser abuses so he/she can have control over the abusee, and occasionally also because he/she cannot handle their emotions/rage. So it’s possible that the abuser pushes and pushes the victim until she lashes out in some way (hitting, yelling, etc.) then that somehow justifies retaliation. (this is just speculation, I am not a therapist and I have not done research on this topic). Like it’s not my fault, she made me hit her.

For more information about Domestic Violence, Amy recommends these websites:
www.ncadv.org -the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

www.ndvh.org – National Domestic Violence Hotline

http://www.caepv.org/- the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence, and their executive directors blog is http://www.domesticviolenceworkplace.blogspot.com/.

To join in Amy’s weekly effort against domestic violence, follow her on twitter @Amy_Z.

If you or a friend are in trouble and need help, call the NDVH national domestic violence hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE)
and the National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline is 866-331-9474 and you can chat online with a peer counselor at http://www.loveisrespect.org.

Domestic violence is serious, now is as good of time as any to get the word out! Join the fight against Domestic Violence today!

You Had Me at Hello!

To be honest, my first recruitment week was kind of disappointing. Not just because of the crazy busy schedule and the lack of sleep. Overall, I was disappointed in the whole process. I didn’t get to participate like I wanted to, it wasn’t what I expected, and it had me questioning at times my decision to join the sorority in the first place.

However, everyone kept saying throughout the whole week how in the end it would all be worth it; all the tears, the disappointment, the frustration, the lack of sleep, all of it wouldn’t matter by the end of the week. I had my speculations; I didn’t know if I could just forget about all the disappointment and move on. But they were right. The last night, pref night, it was like someone flipped a switch and suddenly nothing else from the previous week mattered anymore. When I looked around the room and my saw my sorority sisters I was reminded of how much I loved them despite it all. When we performed our ceremony, and I looked around the room at my sisters with tears in their eyes,  I couldn’t help but tear up as well. This is the place I’m supposed to be; these are the people who I’m supposed to be with for my four years of college. It was great to be reminded of that unique, very special bond we share.

Bid Day the next morning was even better. Gaining 29 new sisters in one day is so amazing. I was so proud when they were running out to us, in our shirt. I was proud to be an Alpha Chi, proud that these fabulous 29 women chose us because they saw something great in us. It’s a really unique experience, and it’s something really special.

Our Bid Day shirts this year said “You had me at hello” on the back. While this may be a stretch (they didn’t quite have me at just hello!), it was a great reminder of how special our bond is. Later, when we were taking pictures of our class, I looked around at my sisters who joined with me and thought about all that we’ve been through in the past year together. There have been ups and downs and good times and bad, and these are the women who have seen it all. They’ve been there for me when I was sad, and me for them. And that is worth more than words.

These pictures are really special because in the first picture, we hardly knew each other. Most of us had just met hours before. And this year, I can call each one of these girls my sisters and my friends.

Patrice is an intern with College Lifestyles (TM). She is a journalism major at William Woods University and is a member of Alpha Chi Omega.

“Love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don’t, and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said that it’d be easy, they just promised it’d be worth it.”

Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Tweet!

So most likely you’ve at least heard of Twitter, maybe even checked it out or know someone who “tweets”. Well, here at College Lifestyles we are big fans of top 5 lists, so I’m going to tell you the top 5 reasons why you should jump on the bandwagon & join Twitter!

5. It’s a great source of news- both entertainment and world. All the major news sources such as CNN, NBC, etc. have twitter pages, including entertainment news channels such as E! What’s great about getting your news from twitter is that it is, for one thing, it is straight to the point. With only 150 characters to work with, you get the facts without all the extra “fluff” you might get on TV. Also, it is real time, pretty much immediately. Since people can tweet anytime, anywhere, you can find out about things such as a plane crash or earthquake as it’s happening, or right after it happens before the news even begins to pick it up.

4. You’re not alone! Have you ever been sitting on the couch, by yourself, watching your favorite TV show & all the sudden something super climatic or exciting happens and you wish you could talk about it with someone?!? Well on Twitter, you can. Once, I simply tweeted “Whose watching Brother’s & Sisters tonight?!” and I got a bunch of responses and was able to vent about my show! Or take for instance, the American Idol finale, something that has millions of viewers. Want to know what America thinks about the result? Millions of people were tweeting live about the finale, and sharing their thoughts.

3. Great way to network your blog & meet new people. Do you have a blog, or have you thought about starting one? Twitter is a great way to promote your blog, and to find other bloggers who share your same interests or who could turn out to be great “blog friends”. Also, not only can you connect with bloggers, but chances are you could connect with sorority sisters from other schools! Through twitter, I’ve gotten the chance to know a bunch of fellow Alpha Chi’s & even people who work at headquarters!

2. Celebrities! Need I say more?! Ever wanted to ask your favorite celeb a question? On Twitter, you can & they might even answer! Justin Timberlake (@jtimberlake) holds Q & A sessions on twitter & answers questions of his fans! The Jonas Brothers have also held a Twitter chat with fans as well. Other celebrities on twitter include Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) Demi Moore (@mrskutcher) Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) Nicole Richie (@nicolerichie) Barack Obama (yes the president!) John Mayer (@johncmayer) Joel Madden (@joelmadden) & many, many more. See here for a complete list of celebs on Twitter. On Twitter, you can keep up with their latest happenings & maybe even see exclusive pics!

1. Opportunities! You never know what you might find on Twitter, including great opportunities. For example, I found out about this fabulous College Lifestyles internship via Twitter. Twitter is a great way to get a message out to mass audiences, so several companies use Twitter & may be tweeting about great opportunities. Another great example of an opportunity is free stuff! A lot of authors & companies hold contests via Twitter & give out free stuff. For instance, Meg Cabot (@MegCabot) has given out books for free to her Twitter followers! Also, it’s a great way to learn about philanthropy & charity opportunities! Through Twitter, I learned about Spirit Jump, an organization who boosts the spirits of seriously ill people. Using the hashtag #charitytuesday, you can find out about all kinds of amazing projects & ways to give back! Other projects include #militarymonday, dedicated to giving back to military families.

So, have you signed up for Twitter yet?! When you do (because you know you’re going to now!), make sure you follow us @collegelifestyl & us fabulous interns: @patrice0x0x @kaitortot @trimblyton @MarisaWoodham @KMWein!

Patrice is an intern with College Lifestyles (TM). She is a journalism major at William Woods University and is a member of Alpha Chi Omega.

“Love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don’t, and believe that everything happens for a reason. If you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said that it’d be easy, they just promised it’d be worth it.”

Getting to know Greek life part II

Here are more fun facts about four more CL intern sororities.

Kappa Alpha Theta

• founded in 1870 at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana
• first Greek letter organization for women
• colors: black and gold
• flower: black and gold pansy
• symbol: kite and twin stars
• philanthropy: CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate)

• CL intern members: Brynne

Delta Delta Delta

• founded in 1888 at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts
• colors: silver, gold, cerulean blue
• symbols: pansy, pearl and pine
• philanthropy: Children’s Cancer Research; partners with St. Jude Children’s Hospital
• CL intern members: Devon

Alpha Phi

• founded in 1872 at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York
• third Greek letter organization founded for women
• colors: bordeaux and silver
• flower: lily of the valley, forget me nots
• symbol: ivy
• philanthropy: Cardiac Care and Research
• CL inter members: Marissa

Alpha Chi Omega

• founded in 1885 at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana
• founded at the same school at Kappa Alpha Theta
• colors: scarlet red and olive green
• flower: red carnation
• symbol: golden lyre
• philanthropy: Alpha Chi Omega Foundation
• CL intern members: Patrice

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