Roanoke College

Roanoke College is a small liberal arts college in the foothills of Salem, Virginia.

Averett University

Averett University is located in the middle of Danville, Virginia. It is largely a commuter campus, and has gone through many transformations. It started as Union Women's College, changed into a junior college, a four-year coed institution, and became known as Averett University in 2001.

Concord University

Concord University is nested in the hills of Athens, West Virginia. The town is .7 square miles, and brings an entirely new definition for "college town."







The town outlawed fraternity housing by creating a law that no more than 4 unrelated people under the age of 25 could live in a household together. The university responded by creating fraternity specific floors in the residence halls.

University of Virginia at Wise

My first visit was at the University of Virginia at Wise. The school has about 2,000 students, of which 750 live on campus.



The drive into town was on switchback turns through the Appalachian Hills, passing many roadside stands with some of the South's finest.





Be careful, the "electrical" devices will catch you.



Since so many students commute to campus, there wasn't a large fraternity presence. I was put up in a mobile home a few miles from campus, and given a room to myself. I'm told this is a luxury.




The campus itself has beautiful architecture, and everything feels new.

Mountain Retreat and a Trip to Charleston

Waterfall hikes seem to be the choice activity for the summer, only this time we played in the water for awhile longer. We rented Fun-yaks, the inflatable kayaks, and spent a few hours playing on the river on our way to the retreat center.



We had scheduled programming on the retreat, as well as some goal-setting and group dynamics work. Luckily, instead of meeting in a room, we took a hike and had our discussions on the top of a mountain overlooking the waterfalls.







After returning to Charlotte and spending a few weeks getting readjusted to office life, we took a trip to Charleston, South Carolina. My fraternity was founded at the College of Charleston in 1904, and I have spent a considerable amount of time in the city, but we made a point of finding new things. Coming into the town, we stopped at the graveyard where the founding fathers of the fraternity are buried. The ladies working at the graveyard pointed out a few other notable gravesites to visit, including a group of Confederate soldiers who were moved from the Gettysburg battlefield. The city of Charleston was where the first shots of the Civil War were fired, and even to this day there are strong feelings against the "War of Northern Aggression."



The city itself is grounded in 300 years of history, and the architecture shows it.





Including an Urban Outfitters housed inside an old theater.





After spending some time checking out the downtown area, we took some time off at Folly Beach, and found a surfrider sign, even though there is nothing to surf outside of hurricane season.

Appalachian Mountain Adventure

After arriving in Charlotte and settling in at work, my roommates and I decided that we needed to get out of our town house for a weekend and explore other parts of North Carolina. We packed up the truck, and set out for a weekend of camping in the Blue Ridge mountains.





After finding most campgrounds full, we decided to drive to the Pisgah National Forest in the Blue Ridge mountain range. The Forest Service campground had spots open, so we set up and started hiking.






We ended the hike at this fire lookout tower. You can see us climbing the stairs.



We woke up early the next morning and drove to Chimney Rock State Park and hiked the Hickory Nut Falls trail.





After cooling off in the falls, we hiked 626 steps up to the top of Chimney Rock.