Back to School

Summer is over and we are just getting back into the groove of things here at PLU! The second week of classes have started and the homework piling up again. C'est la vie.

I had a great summer vacation, visiting my family and friends back home, but I was definitely having serious PLU withdrawals during the three months I spent away. I missed my roommate, neighbours, wingmate, co-workers, classmates and the PLU population in general!

I also missed the PLU campus! It is so beautiful!

This year I was a part of the International Orientation process that helped me during my first year here. Orientation involves several information sessions specifically to help international students, fun activities and trips to get acquainted with the area around PLU and the available transportation.

Intl Students waiting for the bus!

We took a trip to downtown Tacoma to get the new students familiar with the surrounding area! We had put together a photo challenge for the new students. They got a map with locations where they had to get pictures of their groups! It was very fun and people got pretty competitive!

Photo: David Chen

Some of the great Orientation Guides!
It was awesome working with such wonderful people!

During orientation we took a trip to Paradise Bowl, the local bowling alley, where we knocked some pins! The new students are very good bowlers!We also took a trip to some of the local flavors of Garfield Street, Rayna`s and Ferrelli`s!

Photo: David Chen

 We were mostly hanging out in the Diversity Center! This room is filled with comfy chairs, couches, pillows and they often have snacks. This is a place where students come to hang out, have discussions, sleep or do homework!

A fun game of Apple's to Apple's in the Diversity Center!
Photo: David Chen

President Krise and his wife invited all the new students and staff to his house, the Gonyea House! It is such a beautiful place and they always have wonderful food and drinks! We never miss an opportunity to dress to impress and the new students looked great while having conversations with the President and mingling with other new students!

Many of the Intl students at the Gonyea House.

We had the highest number of new international students in 10 years! To make it better they are a great group of people that I was privileged to get acquainted with. It was very sad when orientation ended and we were no longer together everyday, but I meet many of them around campus and they seem to have grown accustom to the PLU way of life. I’m so proud of you guys!

With such a big group of new Scandinavian students, we have also restarted the Scandinavian Club again! We had our first meeting of Fall 2013 a few days ago and it was a great success! Many domestic students and international students gathered to get to know each other, more about the club and to join us in sharing some tasty Norwegian waffles! Yum!

Kindra making waffles!

Madeleine :)