The Bucket List

What could be more so college than a suite-wide bucket list? This was one of our first moves during The Nest's first week together. On our giant cork board that covers the wall of our common area, we tacked up a map of L.A. along with a list of must-do things for our freshman year at USC. While some of them are completely far-fetched and ridiculous, most of them are an assortment of L.A. activities that we have decided we want to do together. Together we hope to have all of these adventures and more!

(The Nest cork board)

(The Bucket List)

Without futher ado, we'd like to present the Nest Bucket List:

1. The San Diego Zoo

2. A trip to San Francisco

3. Disneyland

4. Target run- Snack shopping!!!

5. Wild Animal Park

6. "Let's go to the beach, beach" ♫

7. Make Emily serenade us

8. Go to the gym (life weights!)

9. Boyce Avenue Concert at the House of Blues

10. In-N-Out Burger

11. L.A. Kings Game

12. Millions of Milkshakes

13. Post up for celebrities

14. Travis Garland Concert

15. Shopping- Always

16. The Grove

17. DISNAAAAYYYY cruise with the homies

18. Sawtelle Olympic- Dole Whip

19. Shooting Range

20. Skiing (in Tahoe)

21. Build snowman (not so L.A.)

22. Go to Lemonade

23. Hiking

24. Justin Timberlake Concert

25. Go to Arielle's Concert (one of our suitemates!)

26. Have a dance party

27. Go to the Ellen Show

28. Get a second ear piercing

29. Universal Studios for Halloween

30. Dodgers game

xoxo

Julie and Gabby

Welcome to the Nest!

Since our first day at USC it has been clear that our suite is awesome. And not just in the way that everybody gets along fine and manages to stay out of each other's ways. On our first night living in Parkside, most of our suite mates sat down on the floor in one of the rooms as we went around sharing interesting facts and details about ourselves. Quickly we learned that immense variety was present in our talents and experiences, but that we also had a great deal of similarities in our interests. We have singers and actors, bilingual students and artists, engineers and psychology majors. We instantly clicked.

(One of our first nights as The Nest)

After our first day together, we decided that we needed a name for our collective group. Our name needed to describe our suite as a whole and convey the coziness that we hoped our home away from home would offer us. After much debate over names such as "the lair" (too sinister), and "the warehouse" (too cold), we eventually settled on "The Nest."

Our next move was to meet the other people on our floor, so we invited them to our suite with sticky notes on their doors, introducing ourselves as The Nest. Soon, we had people coming over to hang out all the time. The suites around us even began to follow our lead, coming up with names for themselves as well – our favorite is "The Valt" (All it needs is "u" – how clever!).

(The door of The Valt)

The layout of The Nest is fairly simple. We have four bedrooms, with two people in each, and a common area with a table and chairs. The common room is where most of us sit to hang out and talk. All of our friends come over to visit with us and tell funny stories about their days. Our common area is also home to some of our so college lists, like our communal bucket list and our list of #classic things people have said so far.

With so many people visiting our suite, we have even adopted several of them into The Nest. It all started with our friend Alex (who lives in another dorm), but the list has expanded to include a few Valt members and our friend Ryan from down the hall. Our adopted members hang out with us at all hours and even join us for game day and adventures around Los Angeles!!

(The Nest's first outing to L.A. Live!)

The Nest, and all of our adoptees, is truly one of the greatest blessings for us at USC. We are so lucky to be able to come home to such a close group of friends and have such a great group to call up to grab lunch or dinner. We have family dinners together, go tailgating together, go to games together, and even get on national TV together!

 (Game day with The Nest)

xoxo

Gabby and Julie

Move-in Day

Even though it was three weeks ago, we can't help but back track to talk about all the fun we had during welcome week, the week when the Nest was created. 

On August 21st, that fateful move-in day, my mom and I woke up extra early at the Vagabond Hotel. After coming to L.A. a few days beforehand to adjust to the time difference and get some exploring in before the start of school, I was ready to finally meet the people who I would be spending my whole freshman year with. But we had some logistical issues to sort out first...namely getting to Parkside...with all of my stuff.  While a bit more limited than the average college student in terms of what I could bring, I still had two huge bags and two carry-ons. Not to mention the fact that we didn't have a car and had to bring all of my luggage from two blocks North East of campus, to the South West corner. 

(The long trek home)

So the solution? We ended up hijacking one of the giant orange rolling bins (okay, we asked for it nicely!), and taking it the mile walk back to the Vagabond. You can imagine how strange my mom and I looked, carting that thing down Figueroa! SO college!

(The struggle was real)

But three hours later I finally started moving in: unpacking my clothes, hanging up my pictures and Audrey Hepburn posters, and setting up my earring tree! Everything was going smoothly except that I had yet to see my roommate. Illusive and mysterious, she had managed to put all her stuff in the room during the very short lunch break my mom and I took, and was gone before we got back. It wasn't until later that afternoon, when my mom was getting ready to leave for the airport, that Sarah finally made an appearance! Not only is she one of the funniest people I know, but she loves Bubble Tea (or as L.A. people say- Boba!). 

(Roomies!)

Move-in day was definitely a crazy and exhausting day...but it was only the beginning!

xoxo

Julie

Alpha Chi

The Classiest Girls Wear Lyres and Pearls

(USC's Alpha Chi Omega house)

Sororities and Greek Life can either be a very big deal at a university or they can merely exist. I am fortunate enough to attend a university that has an incredibly strong Greek System that builds upon the strength of the Trojan Family. Coming to school here, I was apprehensive about this foreign place becoming my new home. Who would be my new friends? Who would I rely on for support? Who would help me to grow into the person I am becoming?

(The ladies of AXO at the mixer)

In an effort to find this at USC, I registered for formal recruitment but soon  I decided that the stress of rush and my first week of classes was too much. 

Then...I found my family. 

(The girls when I received my bid!)

After going through a process called Continuous Open Bidding, I was offered a bid at Alpha Chi Omega's Epsilon chapter at USC. Not only did the first girls I meet feel like instant friends, but walking into the chapter's house on campus made me feel truly at home. I had always heard the cliches that sorority houses feel like home and that the sisters truly feel like family, but I was able to see in such a short time, how true those words really are. Talking to my new sisters, I feel like they are old friends that I have known forever. I am excited to get to know all of them better and grow closer over these next four years. 

(Julie, Kaeli, Nicole, and me tailgating at USC's first home game this year)

Not only is AXO an incredible group of women, an extremely strong support system, and my new family 3,000 miles away from home, but becoming a part of Alpha Chi this past week has led to some of my best memories so far on campus. Whether traveling to Urth Caffe in Downtown LA with Kaeli, Nicole, Nina and Julie, or attending the Phi Sig mixer last week, themed "Fratty Shack," or even just sitting down to eat dinner in the house with my new sisters, I find myself having an incredible time. I am building bonds that I know will last a lifetime. The girls in the house have such kind hearts and have made me feel so welcome that I am incredibly lucky to have met them and have the chance to get to know them better. 

(Alison, Jenny, Julie and me before "Fratty Shack")

(AXO loves Lilly Pulitzer!)

I can't wait to participate in more events and take advantage of the opportunities that AXO offers. I also want to thank the sisters for welcoming me into their family and helping me to find a home at USC. Kaeli, Nicole, Nina, Chelsea, Annie and Jenny (just to name a few, out of many) have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome and I am forever grateful for the kindness of all of my new sisters. 

AXOxo

Gabby

First Game Day at SC!

GAME DAY! GAME DAY! GAME DAY!

Fight on for ol' SC

Our men Fight On to victory

Our Alma Mater dear, 

looks up to you

Fight On and win

For ol' SC

Fight On to victory

Fight On!!

Coming from the east coast - far, far away from the traditions here at USC - we were extremely unsure what to expect at our first game day. Bright and early this past Saturday we got our first taste of what a game day is truly like here. Outside the window, families set up tents, satellite dishes, and grills, prepared for a day of tailgating and the football game that night. Campus seemed to be cloaked in Cardinal and Gold as students, parents, faculty, and alumni flashed the victory sign, and "Fight On!" could be heard around every corner. The excitement was palpable.

(Gabby and Julie in their game day attire)

In our room before tailgating, we dressed in our USC game day attire, tied our hair up in red bows, and painted our nails red and yellow for the game. We were so ready.

Tailgaters were gathered on every available inch of campus, especially on McCarthy Quad and in front of Doheny Library. Cheers resounded from the various tents, and people began making their way over to the Los Angeles Coliseum for the 7:30 kickoff. We headed over to the stadium with our fellow suitemates and a few other friends. We couldn't wait to watch our first USC football game! 

(The LA Coliseum is HUGE!) 

 (Julie loves USC Football!)

Arriving early (5:00 to be exact) has its benefits because we were lucky enough to land seats in the second row at the game!! We had awesome views of the plays on the field, the band during half time, and the Song Girls right in front of us! 

(The Nest gets on TV!)

We were featured on the big screen four times and even made it on national television - although we might have been preoccupied with a cockroach on the ground at the time. Oops! We promise we aren't bad fans - we really loved watching the game and got super into it! We have the fight song ingrained in our brains from hearing it so much at the game, and our arms were sore the next day from waving the fight on sign so many times during the game. Even though the Trojans may have lost the game, we kept cheering 'til the end. We had so much fun!

Next game day is Saturday, September 14th! Fight on!

xoxo 

Julie and Gabby

P.S. Our first game day experience was so college.

So College in SoCal

Welcome to So College in SoCal, our so college blog about all things life at the University of Southern California! We've only been at USC for two weeks but are already loving what it means to be a part of the Trojan Family. College life means a lot of different things to different people but to us its all about spending time with our new family, "The Nest," as we affectionately call our suite in Parkside and all of its adopted members. Not to mention having fabulous adventures in L.A.! We even have a collective bucket list of all the things we want to do this year. Although its just the beginning, there is no doubt in our minds that this year is going to be GREAT!

xoxo

Gabby and Julie

 Fighting on in front of Tommy Trojan!!

Gabby and Julie take on our first Game Day at the LA Coliseum - so college.