An Update on Mackenzie!

So... it's been over two weeks! What has Mackenzie been doing in Memphis??? Isn't that what this blog is all about? Where is she? Well, read on! At the end there will be a super-big announcement...

Me and the dumplings! Hard working working hard after hours in honors hall for our Mardi Gras Murder Mystery Party!!

Prelim stuff! Streamers, column-covers, and more!

And a trip home.... Look at that ice. YUM.

PRETZELS. SO DELICIOUS.

And of course, Spite and Malice. I forsee a lot of card games over Spring Break...

Mom and dad at a delicious steak and rib dinner! I think I forgot to try the ribs... I'm sure we'll have more. :)

And of course, DELILAH! I wish I had taken a picture of our new almost-cat, Marshall "Sprinkles" Socks. He's very cute!

THIS week (2/23-2/27) was homecoming, and it was a little... crazy. Honors hasn't recently done any homecoming events, so this was a first for me. Despite this, we did our best and did fairly well at some events! This is our homecoming banner. Rushed, unfinished, but I still really like it!

The team for Homecoming Olympics! In the back, Barrett, the middle, Keith, and me in the front! We had one more on the way, Jonathan, but we found out we won before he even got there! Wow. There's the Blue league and the Grey league. Blue is for serious serious HOO RAH homecoming and grey is just relaxed. None of the other teams for grey showed up so we won by default. Uh.... Go Tigers!

And yes... Henna! Hair dye! WOW! Yeah, I did it. It was a super strong smell but my hair is super soft now and it smells faintly like tea. I really enjoyed it. Well. AFTER it was done. See below...

We did this for about four hours. Yes, that is plastic wrap. Four hours of plastic-wrap-head. So worth!

The next day! Look at that, uh, red-ish-gold-ish tinge! It's really nice, though, I like it!

And for the announcement... If you've made it this far, congratulations!

This summer, from June to July, I'm going to be going to Washington D.C. to partake in an international relations internship and take some credit hours at George Washington University! I'll be staying at an apartment right down the street from Mr. Obama... 

"DC Internship Student Housing" is where I'm at!

According to statistics supplied by mom, only 75 students got into the Institute for Economics and International Affairs, so I'm pretty excited! After not receiving a place in the CLS program, I was really bummed out, and I still hadn't heard from FedEx either-- but then this happened! In about three weeks I went from no summer plans to BAM! Washing D.C.! Wow!

Click for a bigger image--- that's where I'll be! Mackenzie Clark from Dyersburg, Tennessee! 

Other announcements... Hmmm... Honors is doing really well! We're either going to bring a Medal of Honors recipient or M.K. Asante (young up-and-coming guy) or a Nobel Prize recipient from Nashville here for our Student Event Allocation thing.... I'm going to be staying on campus next year... May probably push study abroad to a summer instead of a spring thing... Talking about potentially graduating early...

Everything is just really crazy. GOOD crazy, but also super-crazy busy. I've made more Starbucks runs than I like to admit and put a good amount of my dining dollars (school food $$$) towards coffee frappes even when it's 25-30 degrees outside... But it's been good. Really good. College is GREAT!

This week in Mackenzie's life....

So many pictures today!! Going to be heavy on these because I need to get ready to head to honors soon for study time. :) 

I recently entered the Administration building for the first time. It's gorgeous! Columns, portraits, thick rugs and tiles.... Good to know my tuition is going towards something nice! :-)

A surprise stein that came in the mail for me!!! You can't REALLY use it to drink from but it's become a second home for all of my miscellaneous pencils and pens.  

After running out of coffee creamer (I go through it so fast!! Going to buy two bottles next time) and being too lazy to run to Kroger, this week I got a few frappes from Starbucks. They. Were. So. Good. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my own coffee, but this inspires me to make my own frappes! I DO have a blender...

Candid photo of Connor and I.... The couch at honors is notorious for pulling in sleepy college students and causing unplanned naps. It definitely hasn't happened to me, though, because I'm WAY too much of a responsible adult to let something like that get to me.

For this year's Anti-Valentine's Day party I baked two cakes (German Chocolate and Lemon) for the twins who didn't get cake on their birthday--- and I used the mustache pan!! It's remarkably easy to use and clean and, as you can see, makes a great mustache.

A picture from the party... Spin the bottle truth-or-dare type of thing. It was complicated, but SO SO fun. It's inspired an event in the future!

The remnants of our angry (single) bird pinata. There to remain for all eternity, smashed to bits by angry college students...

AND THEN THE NEXT DAY, volunteering! The event is called Wordsmith and it's a writing competition for kids 7th-12th grade. This year's theme was hunka hunka word-in-love. Yeah, I wore the onesie. It's my go-to thing to wear when I need to act crazy. :-)

Far away in the distance, a lone high school student climbs a tree. For what purpose does he climb? What sent him up into the wood? Was it for glory? For fame? Or a place on this blog?

And finally, after a morning of volunteering, dinner with Morgan at Mellow Mushroom.

All-in-all I can say it was a pretty great week. Besides having trouble sleeping (working on that) and an application due (really working on that) and several tests next week (you get the idea), it's been pretty great. Next week is our second annual Murder Mystery Party that I'm helping two dumplings plan. They're doing a GREAT job! So proud of my dumplings. Another one is planning homecoming activities-- he just picked up the packet and starting working out all the details himself! Fabulous students. :-)

What else is new? I've been harping on the management at the apartment to get the internet fixed (it's been almost a month since the initial email and LET ME TELL YOU sparks are about to fly!) and I'm GOING to harp on them about leaving an amazon package right outside my apartment door. Just on the ground for anyone to take! Augh! I mean, they have keys to the apartments, right? Why not just open it up and toss it in???? I didn't even get an email to TELL me I had a package!! Pardon while I rip ALL of my hair out.

Also, there's a winter storm coming. It's name is Neptune, apparently, and when I checked the temperature outside it was around 28. Tonight and Monday it's going to rain, And Monday afternoon snow/ice, and then it's going to get down to 16 tomorrow. University of Memphis is notorious for not closing school, but I hope it does cause this ice is gonna be crazy.

Okay, gotta get ready to go soon! :-)

The Bright Side of Life

Memphis had its first REALLY REALLY cold day. I saw a few posts about people wearing blankets, but I never thought someone would be so kind as to donate one to the don't-drive-here pole!

That 2nd should be a 5th. I'm very excited because one of the dumplings is donating a parrot pinata... a PARROT pinATA!

Choice shots from freshman year. Need choice shots from Sophomore year to finish this heart. I figure I'll print some when I'm home next... Probably the weekend of the 21st. :-)

Some new decor for my tablet... Made with Tetris stickers! Very vibrant, very fun. Easy (kind-of) to remove. 

Dumplings and I out for dinner! We actually had two more tables filled but this is the one I was at. From the left: Paige, Dominic, Keith, and Lauren! Dumplingsssss

I just realized that this was actually Paige's plate and not my own. Whoops! Anyway, these burritos are like five bucks and that is like half of it. Oh my goodness.

This last Saturday (so, yesterday) there was an event at the Memphis Botanical Gardens that I went to with Morgan. The food was really good, but knowing my stomach, I just nibbled. Luckily there was a Wendy's about two minutes away so after sampling everything we drove over and I spent 2 dollars on a more filling meal. 

The menu! The things we tried were crossed off and the check marks were the ones I liked. Overall pretty great! 10/10 would recommend. We got in free because we're UoM students and bought a 20 dollar food ticket that we split. 

I don't usually put the pictures first but I figured I'd change things up a bit. Things have been pretty great in Memphis. Honors is planning a ton of fun events in the next few weeks: An anti-valentines party, volunteering at a writing event on campus (called Hunka-Hunka Word-in-love!), and a final fundraiser for Up Til Dawn that we're calling Balloons for Babies! Then next week we've got a Mardi-Gras murder-mystery party that I and a few dumplings are planning. ;-)

I'm meeting with someone on campus tomorrow to discuss an internship opportunity for the summer of 2016. At least, I think it's the summer of 2016. It's in Washington D.C. at George Mason University. It seems pretty fun!

I'm also trying to solidify my dorm plans for next semester. I mean, I have plenty of time to change my application, but still trying to work out what's going down. I think that's the worst part about college-- waiting for people to get back to you. Waiting on application results. Waiting on emails. Things either move too fast or too slow!

Classes are going well, too. Well, I mean, some are super boring but I try. 

Everything's been pretty great. I figured it'd be a little harder cause of winter and cold and other reasons, but it really hasn't been so bad. I might even get to use my mustache baking pan this week. And I maybe even finish my laundry.

Keep Moving Forward

The first honors student council meeting of the year! SO many people, oh my goodness!

A new friend, Morgan, and I going to see a movie that SAC (Student Activities Council) was putting on!

So much to do....

And this is just the language! >__<

Poster for the Superbowl party!! We had everyone vote on either side with sticky notes. :)

Treats for the party!

And extra cookies...

The final product!

So school has been okay! It's been colder here, though, and I'm not really big about that. Luckily I have a really thick jacket.... from Chile or something.

Haven't heard back from internship yet! Not too worried though... I've been really busy with honors and schoolwork.

I'll keep y'all updated on what goes on but for now it's like the same thing every day and it seems like the only thing that changes is what classes I go to and how good my coffee is.