During Florida State's Spring Break (March 7-11), a group of interns and students traveled to Tuscaloosa, Alabama to serve at the University of Alabama with their Chi Alpha students. We left Monday morning and drove about 7 hours from Tallahassee to Tuscaloosa. We arrived in town that afternoon and had the opportunity to meet some of the students we would be staying and working with for the week, as well as some of the staff members. Our team also met the XA team from Louisiana that was visiting around the same time. We spit up and went to some of the houses where we would be staying and dropped off our stuff and relaxed for a few minutes. We met at a student's house and the guys made tacos and cheese dip for us for dinner. After we ate, we went to campus to hang out and play video games with the students.
Tuesday was Mardi Gras and the Louisiana team decided to buy traditional King Cake and serve it in the Student Union. We hid a plastic baby in two pieces of the cake and the students who found them were told if they showed up at the event that night, they could win a gift card to a local restaurant. We also had a bottle with Mardi Gras beads and students were able to guess the number of beads in the bottle. Students wrote their name, phone number, and guess on a slip of paper and whoever guessed closest to the correct number was called and told if they came to the event that night, they could win a iTunes gift card. That night, one of the students from Louisiana made gumbo and served it to the Chi Alpha students and guests. One of the students that found the baby in the King Cake was there to claim their gift card (the other student had a prior obligation and wasn't able to make it). The student that guessed the correct number of beads was also there to claim his gift card and also brought a friend. We had a great time hanging out with the students.
Wednesday, we went back to the Union and tried some of the conversation-starters we use at FSU to talk with the UA students. We set up a whiteboard with a question and asked students as they walked by if they would like to answer for a free cookie. We were able to start a lot of conversations with the students and invite them to the Chi Alpha service the next night. After we were done at the Union, we went back to the Chi Alpha building for lunch. That night, we ate dinner with the campus pastors at U of A, their children, and our host students. We had a great time hanging out with them before heading to campus for a game night with the students.
Thursday, our team went to the U of A football stadium. One of the students that went with us is a huge fan of their football team and really wanted to see the stadium. It was a great tour and was cool to see the sky boxes, press room, etc. that you usually don't see. After our tour, we headed back to the Union to connect with more students. The weather was chilly, since it had rained the day before, and overcast, but since it wasn't raining anymore, another intern, a student, and myself went out on campus to hand out flyers about the Chi Alpha service that night. After we were done, we went back to the Chi Alpha building and ate lunch. One of the staff members offered to take us to Gigi's cupcakes to thank us. The cupcakes were amazing, with icing as high as I've ever seen it. I got one with caramel icing (I think it was called a Caramel Sugar Momma or something like that); it was the best (and biggest) cupcake I've ever had :) We went back to our host homes to rest for a little while before the Chi Alpha service that night. Our team met at the Chi Alpha building for pizza before the service, then headed to campus. The building where we were holding the service was flooded by the rain the day/night before. Although the maintenance crew worked hard to dry out the room, it still smelled damp and dank when we got there. Luckily after we were in the room for a while, it wasn't as noticeable. The U of A Chi Alpha had invited a band and drama group to do the service that week. It was a great service and there were some new students that we had talked to earlier in the week.
Friday, we loaded up our stuff and met at the Chi Alpha building for breakfast and to say goodbye to the staff members. One group of people left to head back to Tallahassee, while another group went to play disc golf. We were able to find a course close to the campus. It was fun, but one of the most difficult courses I've ever played. Nearly the entire course was in the woods and the layout had us climbing up and down hills, crossing streams, and crawling through brush. One of the girls ended up loosing her driver disc and a few others had theirs go in the stream. We were able to retrieve the ones in the stream, but we never found the lost disc. Afterward, we went to Dreamland BBQ for some yummy BBQ and banana pudding before heading back to Tallahassee. The drive back seemed to take longer than the drive there, partially because of the traffic of U of A students going home for Spring Break. My car got back to Tallahassee around 9. We passed the time with Suzi aloud reading from UnChristian, the book we were reading for our internship. Her reading aloud definitely helped pass the time and made the book enjoyable.
Our team had a great time in Tuscaloosa and were very grateful for the opportunity to serve there. We met a lot of great students who are very on fire for God and have an awesome desire to reach their campus for Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment