Here, there and everywhere

Right after the debut of my esteemed blog, my spring "travel season" started. (My previous blog entry highlighted Neil vs. the Airport.)

As someone who works on a college campus with students, I'm not sure where these chunks of travel come in. And since my packing skills usually leave much to be desired, it's a wonder I make it out of the house in one piece. My travel schedule is not really a typical one as I am not always traveling for work. I have the pleasure of mixing business and personal travel- and adventures always ensue.

In my last blog entry, I was off to meet my parents in Tunica, MS via Memphis, TN. When I arrived in Chicago for  my connection, I volunteered to take a bump for a travel voucher (always have to be ready for that next trip!) and then my new flight was delayed. Mom and Dad, being on vacation, were totally flexible and killed time in Memphis waiting for my arrival. We arrived in Tunica, the Las Vegas of the South, for our weekend of gambling, food and family bonding. Live blogging this trip would have been run giant entry but they don't allow phones at the table. It was hard enough to get funny tweets out in between bathroom breaks and shuffling. The weekend was successful in catching up with Mom and Dad as I did not come home a millionaire.

A week later, I was back on the road heading to Camp Oak Hill in North Carolina (and drove through a town named Virgilina - you guessed it, it straddled the boarder between Virginia and North Carolina. Creative.) to work with the IFC community of North Carolina State University. I was excited to work with just a group of men through a leadership development program about their fraternal experience. My observations include:

• Fraternity and Sorority Advisors will have jobs for a long time to come. We can address issues with one group of men only to start over again in a few years. (I often say we work in the move Groundhog's Day.)
• Fraternity men in large groups are dumb. And this does not change when you are an alumni. My IQ dropped as well
• Boys smell.
• All the male facilitators slept in one large cabin - I don't think I could have survived cold air sleeping quarters. (I'll take the military style showers at Lambda Chi Alpha over giving up my own room any day).

After survivng the NC State fraternity community (and hopefully touching a few lives along the way), it was back home to cram a weekend's worth of activities and life like things into a few hours. I did manage to get most things accomplished, including dinner and drinks with friends, with a few tasks rolling into tonight.

I'm looking forward to the next round of travel which includes three weddings and a bachelorette party all between now and May 19. That, combined with dog sitting for the Beauregard and wrapping up another semester, I'm sure many more life lessons will come!