End of the Semester

Well, a whole semester has come and gone and I keep trying to look over my shoulder and figure out where it went.

Around here, especially in my dorm, there are advertisements everywhere for study sessions and tutorials on how to ace your finals. This is all well and good, except that the posters are designed to scare you (not cool).

"Come to the study session to learn how to annihilate your exams without liquefying your brain!!!! College finals are not equal to high school finals."

"You think your finals will be just like your high school finals?"

So I studied really hard. I made hundreds of flash cards. I practiced and practiced my short answers for Gender and Communication. I had two hours for each exam to do my very best.

My studying may have helped me, but I wouldn't say that it helped THAT much. I already knew almost all the terms as I was making the notecards. I just figured: better safe than sorry.

Anyhow, Monday morning came around and....

Gender and Communication: 12 multiple choice, 12 short answer; 30 minutes to finish (I feel I aced it)

Anthropology: 103 multiple choice; 20 minutes to finish (Also feel confident)

Writing and Literature: poetry game (aced--we did it together!)

French: "Easier than Chapter 5 test" <--words of the professor; 30 minutes (ACED!)

The only one I had difficulty with was Precalc. Of course, math has never been easy and THIS math was on the verge of being beyond me and after mid Chapter 5 it WAS beyond me (There are only six chapters). I should be alright, though. There were plenty of things on the test I understood. Except the guy next to me kept making stupid noises and burping and it smelled terrible and he smelled terrible and I was just glad to get out of there!

I'm very confused about how those were more difficult than my high school finals. In actuality, I believe they were easier (with the exception of precalculus, of course--although my math finals in high school weren't easy peasy either).

Still,

Tip # 11: Study hard. There's always the possibility that finals will beat you up. But, relax. There's no need to freak out and get overwhelmed. That will only make it more difficult to retain what you're trying to study.

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On a brighter note:Christmas!

Brandy, Rachel, and I had an ugly sweater dinner and exchanged gifts in Brandy's dorm after we played a few rousing games of Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader, Disney Edition." haha.

Last weekend, Emily came down. Linds and I made a fireplace out of paper and bought a tree. It looked so cute. We all got stockings and filled each other's up.

It was a really great time. We opened presents, watched Bridesmaids, went to the Rave Cinema to see New Year's Eve, and then hung out with Lindsey's friend Jeff (a Chip :P) and went to his cousin's apartment (she goes here) for an ugly sweater party! :D

Even after all that fun...I can't wait to go home.

So, last thing until next semester

Tip # 12: Find time to spend with friends and have a good time. Especially during the week before finals (and maybe even the week of), because, I repeat, you need to relax a little bit in between studying.

More fun

Saturday, November 12: I volunteered at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. There were kids everywhere! There isn't much to say about it except that I had fun helping the kids and talking to parents. Everyone was really nice. To me at least...a couple kids got yelled at. What can you do? My station was a MESS after it was over. The kids had thrown streamers and scissors and glue and paper and boxes all over the floor! I was very tired after that.

Sunday and Monday, November 13 and 14: Emily came and visited! It was so awesome to see her! I can't wait until she's back for good in January! We basically just sat around and watched movies. Sunday night we went to go see Footloose (the third time for Lindsey and I), because Em hadn't seen it yet. She liked it and we danced all the way out to the car. :) The only downfall of her visit was that I got next to no sleep for a couple days, but it was so worth it!

Thursday November 17: Lindsey, Brandy, Rachel, and I all went to go see Breaking Dawn at midnight! Brandy and Rachel wanted to get there at 10:30 to wait, but Linds and I were like 'no way' and went at 7:30 to save spots. We were the second people in line and the first for our theater. By 8:45, the line was all the way to the door and Lindsey and I got to say "told you so" (we didn't really, of course). But we got the best seats in the theater, even though Lindsey was so excited when they seated us (at 10:10, ahem Brandy and Rach) that she ran right past the door to our theater. Ahahaha. But anyway, it was a much better movie than I thought it would be and Lindsey and I were super pumped all the way home. Brandy didn't like it very much, but she never said why. I agree there were some things that should have been done differently, but hey-I would probably make mistakes if I was remaking a book into a movie too, you know? Poor Rachel got a migraine a little over half way through the movie, but she didn't want to leave, so she just kind of sat there with her eyes closed. She said she would have to go back to see how it ended. I felt bad that she had just sat there, but she seemed to be okay with it.

I know this is really short, but that's all the exciting stuff that has happened since last blog. So, yeah.

I have a test on Tuesday in Precalc...not excited. I can't wait for this semester to be over so that I can be done with that class. I'll miss French a little (mostly Philip and Mary) and I wish my Writing and Literature class wasn't ending! Other than that, I'm ready for a new semester.

Oh! Something cool: I'm taking Psychology next semester and, as an honors student in the class, I have the opportunity to take a lab where we teach behaviors to rats and research the results. Even though it will not be anything breakthrough, I get to go into the fancy research building that students aren't allowed in unless they're doing research (:D), and it will be really helpful for applying what I learn in class. Plus, how many people can say they've done research with rats?

At first I was like "not mandatory? It's at 11 in the morning, when I don't have any classes until 4? Rats? No, thanks." But then I thought about it and I decided it would be a really neat thing to have done.

So, THAT's it.

Love you guys!

A Break from Work

Recently, I've had time to stop working non-stop and spend time with my friends.

For one, the last weekend of October I went to Kalahari with Shawn for our anniversary.

It was nice to get away from Western for a bit and not think about working hard. I couldn't even look at homework because I didn't bring any with me. I left my laptop behind too, so I could completely enjoy my time away and the time I had with Shawn.

We spend quite a while at the waterpark on Saturday. It was a good time. We rode the waterslides, some of which are not for the fainthearted! We also got pictures with a little tiger cub named Jada. She was only ten weeks old and so cute! I have to scan the picture in. We made pottery and spent nearly all night in the arcade. It was great and I needed it.

Yesterday was Brandy's birthday! I spent most of the day with her, except for when we were in class. Her parents invited me and our friend Jenni (Rachel too, but she had class) to dinner with them at Red Robin and then they wouldn't even let us pay for our own meals! It was very kind of them. They invited us again to dinner tonight with Brandy's grandparents at Texas Roadhouse, but I declined, thinking that Brandy should have some strictly family time for her birthday weekend.

After that, we came back to my dorm and picked up Lindsey and Celeste and went over to Burnham hall, where we made Sugar Scrub. It's an organic exfoliant. Brown sugar, honey, olive oil. I haven't used it yet, but I'll let you know.

Then, we went back to Brandy's dorm because she wanted to watch Vampire Diaries and I was going to get ready over there, because we were going to Wild Bull. Wild Bull is a saloon, more or less, which becomes a club at night. Since Brandy was turning 18 and could never get into clubs before, Jenni and I agreed that she should go for her birthday. Jenni's friend Jessica came too. Again, Rachel was supposed to come, but she said something came up so she ended up not coming with us. As far as clubs go, this one was pretty mellow. Thursdays are college night, so it was mostly people our age there. Still, I wouldn't have gone with anyone else I know here at college. They played loud music- the Top 40 hits, pretty much. It's funny because it's pretty country in the saloon and restaurant area. It is near Western after all. Oh well. Either way we had a good time just dancing together and getting some time to enjoy life outside of school.

Brandy told me it was her best birthday to date. I could tell she had a really good time.

I'm so glad I was part of her birthday and such an important one too.

I really hope she and I are friends forever. She's great.

So, Tip # 9-Get away for a little while, so you don't go crazy.

Also, Tip #10-Don't go do things, especially clubbing, without people you trust.

Even if nothing happens, you have that support, because if something WERE to happen that made you uncomfortable, you want someone who can help you escape the situation.

That doesn't just go for the club. No matter where you go, scary things can happen.

I don't even walk to The Den Party Store for a Den Pop after it gets dark unless someone else is with me.

That's all for now. I've got one last midterm paper to write.

Oh yeah, my midterm for Gender and Communication is 5 papers! 4 of which are 2-3 page papers analyzing articles Dr. Wong gave us. The 5th is a reflection on how the class and the papers I wrote have changed the way I view and react to gender. Sound fun?

Not really, but I have been careful to not procrastinate. That's why I only have one left.

I can't say the same for some of my classmates. The midterm is due Tuesday and everyone was saying yesterday in class that they haven't even started writing any of their papers.

It's a wonder to me how people can truly wait until the last minute. Do you want to write 5 papers in a day or two? I finished my first paper on October 25th. I promise you I'm not as stressed as the other people in my class. :)

The Sweet Sound of Friendship

Alas, my roommate has left me until January. With a variety of sicknesses, she fell too far behind to catch up before mid-terms and dropped the semester. For now, I'm alone in my little 12x12. Of course, I have been for awhile now.

Lindsey hardly ever goes to lunch with me on Mondays and Wednesdays, and for awhile she wasn't coming with me to dinner either. That left me to eat with myself.

So,

Tip #7-It's okay to eat alone.

People do it all the time. I see random people sitting all by their lonesome, listening to their iPod, working on homework, reading...it's fine.

However, I don't have that problem anymore, usually, because I have a routine now!

Brandy, the girl I roomed with at Orientation and who is in my Writing and Literature, and I have become good friends. Every Monday and Wednesday I have dinner with her and a bunch of other people. Same place. Same time.

On Mondays, it's usually just Brandy, Maribel (another girl in our class), Rachel (a friend of Brandy's), and myself. However, just yesterday Reegan (another girl in our class! :D) joined us. It was great. After that we went to Sweetwater to get doughnuts and we had a really great time.

Wednesdays, it's Brandy, myself, my friend Aaron (from the Amtrak!), Rachel, and whoever we know who shows up! It's great. We spend HOURS in the caf!

Either way, it's great to have fallen into a routine other than class and homework.

--

So, I've signed up for a Bronco Buddies program, where I am a pen pal/mentor to a 4th grader in Illinois. Her name is Kayla, but her friends call her KK, and she's great so far.

I'm super excited to hear back from her, as I just sent her my first letter after receiving hers.

In the Spring, the other Bronco Buddies and I are all taking a trip to Illinois to meet our pen pals! It'll be great. :)

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Today was the opening of priority registration (for the Honors Students) and I was very excited to have nearly first pick of classes for the semester.

Then a problem occurred: "You are not permitted to register at this time."

WHAT!?

So, I went to the Lee Honors College and very politely, but slightly frantically, told them my problem. They got me in with an adviser right away. Except, he didn't know why I couldn't register either. No holds on my account...nothing.

Finally, he starts asking around. Well, after about 20 minutes, the head lady at the office, overhears our dilemma and comes up to me and says "do you need Momma's help?"

Apparently, that's what people call her around there.

So, I go into her office and she opens up my info and says "ah ha! Here's your problem. Your Honors Code isn't here." -_-

No one thought to check that?

Turns out, they were all looking at my FALL info, not my SPRING info.

I guess when I went to go see my Major adviser, she somehow erased my code from the system.

"Momma" helped me out in two seconds.

So,

Tip #8-Don't freak out if something isn't how it's supposed to be. It will get fixed. No one wants you to suffer.

That's all for now!

Love.

Smarter Than The Average Freshman

Lately I've been thinking about how much harder my classes are than the people I talk to.

I'm in Pre-Calculus, while a sophomore I know is in Algebra and nearly everyone else took Stats.

I have a Comm class full of juniors and seniors, as I have mentioned before.

My FYE class is Honors, so we're doing a ton of work there, while the general FYE class does next to nothing.

All in all, I began to worry a little that I took on too much too quickly. What if I couldn't get through all the homework? What if I can't keep up and I'm forced to keep failing because I'm dragging behind and no one is stopping to wait for me to get up?

Yesterday, that changed.

I realized that the whole reason I ended up in these classes is because I'm capable of doing the work. No one here wants me to fail and if I have a question, they don't hesitate to answer it. I am prepared for long hours of homework, because that means I'm getting something out of my expensive education.

Here's why I came to this revelation:

Not only did I score 100% on my first essay in Gender and Communication (I'm the only freshman there!), I was complimented, in a humorous way (at least, I thought it was funny).

We had to get into groups to discuss a theory and come up with a skit to show an aspect of it. There were supposed to be 6 to a group.

Sean Stemas, who is a nice guy and says hi to me when he sees me outside of class, counts us and says "Well, we only have five," he thinks for a short moment and then points at me, "that's okay, you can pick up the slack." I must have looked surprised or confused, I certainly felt that way, because he added, "well, you always have to best ideas."

:D

Weekend at Karlie's

I just a great, rather relaxing with Karlie and Brittany, and for a little bit Kallyn.

We sat around and did homework, watched baseball and football, and ate a lot. :)

We also did some shopping, which was good and bad-it got us out of the townhouse, but we bought food! Haha.

It was nice to hang out with people outside of my dorm. As much as I enjoy Em and Lind's company, it was nice to see someone else. Plus, they weren't home this weekend.

I will definitely be over there a lot more often now that I know how awesome it is.

I bought some Bronco Pride and a Den shirt. :)

I was a sale spender though. Everything I bought was on sale, except the stuff at the dollar store, but let's be real-everything is a dollar. That's like being on sale. :P

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I cleaned the fish tank when I got back tonight. That was...fun. Not really. It was really dirty and the whole bathroom smelled like fish. I had to use a huge spoon to scoop them into cups so I could pour the water out of their tank. I couldn't catch them, so Lindsay's sister had to do it. But I cleaned it and poured them back in.

I listened to some music while I unpacked all my new stuff. Now it's off to bed.

Classes start early tomorrow. I'm going to an art exhibit too, for a cultural event. I went to the play "References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot" at the University theatre. It was really good, though not what I expected.

It was a very small room with chairs lining the walls and the play was in the middle of the room. It was actually a really cool experience and I'm glad I went.

I met up with Philip, from French class, there and we both agreed that it was 'sensational.'

I don't doubt that this week will be boring, but with any luck it will be like last week-little homework. If that's the case, then if Shawn doesn't come out next weekend, I'm going back to Karlie's. It's likely that will happen-Shawn's been taking a lot of time off work lately. Hopefully I won't spend as much money next weekend. Haha.

Motivation

Class, Class, Food, Homework, Class, Homework, (movie?), bed.

Every day.

By the time I've done everything I HAVE to do for the day, I don't have any motivation to do anything else. >.< Emily is the same way. So we spend our nights watching movies and going to bed early. A couple days ago we were in bed and asleep at 9. Haha. We're so lame. :P

Lindsay joins us, of course.

I think Philip, a guy from my French class, and I are gunna be friends. We talk every morning we have class and we just added each other on Facebook. So yay. :D

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I'm mostly blogging because I haven't in awhile and I know you guys want to know what's going on. Nothing. That's what's going on. I don't even mind at this point, because I would feel bad about saying I had too much homework.

I have so much homework. I think I've said that already, and how that's okay with me because then I'm not bored.

I thought there would be a bunch of clubs I want to join, but there isn't really anything that is interesting to me and anything that sounded kinda cool I couldn't get any information on. Once I can balance my homework time a little better, maybe I'll go out around campus and just start talking to people. O.O

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I went to advising for Speech Pathology on Wednesday, so I'm officially a Speech Pathology Major with Elementary Ed minor! YAAAAY!

The adviser said that even though I'm only a freshman, my unofficial transcript and my personality have her convinced that I'll make it into the professional program to get my bachelor's. So, that was nice, because other than that my day wasn't so great.

I'm glad I'm on track and I'm so happy to know that she'll be there to help me every step of the way, so I'm not just blindly trying to get a major. That's nice.

Well, I think that's it.

So, Tip #6-Keep pushing through. It may not be AS exciting as everyone said, but give it time.

CentralxWestern Weekend

Whoa!

So, we rocked. Our football team did, anyway. Haha. All I did was stand and cheer and clap and whoop and sing the fight song over and over-cause we kept getting touchdowns!

In the first quarter, one of our guys intercepted at the Chip's 30 yard line and took it all the way to our 5! I wish I'd caught it on tape. It was amazing! We would have gotten a touchdown right then, but a central guy caught him from the side. They showed the replay, like, three times. :P

That was a look into how the rest of the game would go. We continued to make awesome plays and Central continued to let us. They did manage two touchdowns-how, I'm not sure.

With a final score of 44-14, I'm surprised the Chips didn't just go home crying.

All in all, I actually enjoyed to football game, to my surprise. I think it's because I really wanted us to win-I mean, we couldn't have let Central beat us!

Shawn and I got mega burnt. We didn't put any suntan lotion on, because the weather said it was 60, felt like 51. So, now we both have raccoon faces, because it was so bright at the game (it was at noon, so the sun was right above us) and we never took our sunglasses off.

I'm sure plenty of people were partying, but it was quiet here in the valleys.

Shawn and I watched some netflix-Arthur (the original, not the one with Russel Brandt!) and fell asleep around midnight.

Kinda lame? Oh well. :D

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Sunday was quiet for us too. We were both kinda achy from standing on those bleachers and we decided to just hang out in the dorm and watch some more netflix. We did go to Meijer, because I needed more milk. We ended up buying soda as well, and microwave mac and cheese, and aloe for our poor faces, and he got himself a filtering water bottle and Saving Private Ryan, which we watched when we got back. Yeah.

We went out again for dinner, except that everywhere we wanted to go was either closed or too expensive. Eventually, we just went to the Grotto, which is the bar and grille right off campus, by The Den, where we went for Den Pops after dinner. :)

First Week Finale

And the first week is OVER!

I have managed to do most of my homework, so the weekend is pretty much free. YAY!

Sort of..

I still have two assignments for Precalc-due Monday-and I have to read Chapter 2 of my Gendered Lives book (only 12 pages, but it's boring).

That will take longer than you think.

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I expected to have more friends by now...or at least potential friends. However, class is already...well, class. I haven't had a chance to take to anyone. No ice breakers, no syllabus okay feel free to chat before you go, nothing. I figured as much, sorta, but I'm pretty much alone except for Emily. And Lindsey to an extent.

I guess I'm okay with that, but it will be a long year if I don't start making friends.

The closest I came was today, waiting for Anne-Marie (the French Professor) to show up, I chatted with this guy named Philip. But I don't know if that will go anywhere.

There's Aaron too, who I met on the train, but I don't know about that. I'm not sure if we'll be friends. I mean, we've played WoW together, but I'm not entirely comfortable hanging out with him for some reason. I don't know...

Anyway, so I need to find things to go to on campus to meet people, I just don't know where or when I'll be able to-during the week I have so much homework I can't do anything else. Maybe on the weekends. I'll figure something out.

--

I tried to nap today, since I was feeling very unwell this morning when I woke up at 8 (late! I nearly missed my bus). I think I'm catching a cold and my cough is getting really bad. But I couldn't sleep.

Emily and I ordered some Asian food from "Buddha's Belly," a place I found out about at Bronco Bash (which was otherwise not fun, I'm not sure why. Everyone else seemed really happy about it). It was good, but not as good as Asian Garden back home. I invited Emily to come eat with me there some time. :)

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I'm getting along really well with Emily, as well as Lindsey (and Celeste, when I see her), which is great. But sometimes I feel like she and Lindsey don't like me as much as they like each other. Haha. And Emily's friend, Maddy, spends a lot of time here and she makes me uncomfortable, sort of, for reasons I can't explain.

ANYWAY!

I feel good about being friends with Emily, since we both came in to it expecting not to be friends (in the sense that we lived together, but didn't have to be real friends).

We've been cracking up all day.

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ABOUT CLASS (that's interesting-ish and I haven't already talked about)

Precalc Lab: It's a T.A. who "teaches" the class. He really just answers any questions we have and shows us how to do problems that someone in the lab didn't understand from the homework. And the thing is, even if I don't have any questions, I still have to go, because there's a quiz every Wednesday (the only day we meet).

Here's the kicker-my T.A. is Chinese; he moved here two years ago. He even told us to talk to him like is a 5 year old, because he doesn't understand when we talk fast or use big words. His accent is pretty heavy, so I don't even know what he says sometimes, but I feel bad that I don't understand, because I can tell he's trying to enunciate.

Heroes + Villains: This was a weird professor with poor taste in movies. We watched part of the movie version of our 'textbook' and it was...awful. I don't want to go in to detail, but if you're curious-rent The Decameron. :/ Beware, though. It's a lot of nudity and a ridiculous plot.

Here's a link to the IMDB for the movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065622/

Needless to say, I switched out of Heroes and Villains and got in to Peoples of the World. I haven't been to the class yet, because it's Mondays and Wednesdays and I switched Wednesday night.

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No tips this blog, sorry.

First Day of Classes

Well, as first days go this one is great.

My classes are well spaced apart, the buses are on time, and my teachers seem pleasant.

Unlike the first days I'm used to, however, I already have homework-and it's not to get my syllabus signed by my parent. :P I have four French exercises to do, two chapters to read for Gender and Communication, as well as a three paragraph paper to write, and sections 1 and 2 for Precalculus. Luckily, I don't have any of these classes again until Thursday.

I spent around five hours doing my homework today, because I'm a good girl and I finished it all tonight. Because who knows how much homework I'll get in my Wednesday classes, you know? Although, there IS only two and I only meet with them on Wednesdays. Still, it's way to early to slack now.

I wish I had more to say about my first college classes, but they were relatively boring in that they were classes. Haha. The only kinda cool thing is my Gender and Communication class is mostly Juniors and Seniors and they were pleasantly surprised to find a Freshman in their midst. One of them even said "good for you." Whatever that means.. :P

Lindsey, Emily, and I-and maybe Celeste-are going over to the Bernhard center at some point this week for supplies we learned we nee

d for class. For example, I need a binder for French because my textbook is actually a bunch of loose paper with three holes in them...also, Lindsey

wants to buy some work out clothes because we all plan to work out together. :) We're hoping to start tomorrow. We'll see how that goes and, of course, I will blog about it.

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Making Friends...

So, today in Precalc I happened to sit next to a guy, named Gavin, who was a Freshman, just like me. We both agreed that the lecture today was a waste, since it was all review of real numbers and the Cartesian plane. At one point, with twenty minutes left of class, he began to draw a cow on his knee, which I found to be rather cool, since I was feeling overwhelmed with being a "big kid." It was nice to see a bit of juvenile fun. So, just as I was about to whisper that I liked his cow he saw me looking and said "like my cow?" and I said, "it's very square" because the body he'd given it had sharp corners. xD Well, anyhow-we both laughed and then he said "you want one?" and I said sure, but on my arm. Because not only was I wearing pants, it would have been more than inappropriate for him to draw on my leg.

There he is. Gavin drew him really fat, since I 'complained about the square.' lol.

College is gunna be awesome. xD

That's really all I got-I still need to finish my essay and read my text.

Move-In and Fall Welcome

So, I moved in yesterday. Nine AM.

It was easier and harder than I thought. Things fit okay, I didn't pack too much after all..sort of. There's nowhere for my cooking stuff, but I expected that to stay in the tote. What I didn't expect was to not really have anywhere to put my tote. Haha.

Right now, everything is cluttered and in the wrong spot-unpacked, just not put up. This is because Fall Welcome began yesterday at 5:30 (Emily didn't get here until two something). Today, and every day this week, it's pretty busy. So I have 40 minutes here and there to try to come back and put stuff up, but so far nothing seems to have gotten done. My goal is that before I leave on Friday for home, I will have my room as it should be. One can hope.

Anyhow, moving in.

We started by lofting the beds. We lofted Emily's as well. It was easier to do that I expected, but the ease of it scared me too, because I had to climb up there and sleep and I wasn't sure of how sturdy it really was. Also, there isn't a real ladder, so I have to use the slats on the side of the bed (the foot of it, really). It's okay, but I ripped some skin off my foot last night trying to get up there to go to bed. Getting down is harder, but fortunately my futon sits in a way I can step down on to it. Yay! :D

There were a lot of trips up and down the stairs to bring everything in, then we have to put things together-my futon (Dad did it by himself-thanks Daddy), my bookcase (Shawn did it-thanks Baby), my cube grid (I did it, but it was too wide, so we had to rebuild it up and Shawn did it-three times cause it kept falling apart-thanks Baby, again).

I'm not sure where the time got to, maybe part of it was that we went to get some sandwiches for lunch, but when Emily arrived at two, all my totes were still packed up. D: So we waited for her to get settled and unpack a little before we began pulling things out of my totes. I had more stuff than here, but not THAT much. She has more shoes than me...

It was a bit difficult to decide where to put things, as we were limited to a 12x12 space with two beds, two desks, two dressers, a bookcase, two fridges, a cube stand, and a futon.

Yeah.

Plus, the TV had to go on the left wall, because that's where the cable plug was! D: D: D:

So now that futon is in the middle of the room, facing the TV and even though it all fits nice enough, there isn't really...space.

So

Tip #3-Have a couple ideas for how you want to set up your room, and discuss them with your roommate. Also, don't bring too much stuff!

--

So-Fall Welcome is nice, but I wouldn't say it's super fun. I'm starting to skip out on stuff that doesn't sound interesting, which I guess is bad, but I'm really miffed about my room being unorganized. Besides, it's hot and hilly here and I keep having to walk back and forth (ugh).

However, everyone is really nice and I feel comfortable talking to people, not that I was worried about that. I don't feel like I've made any friends, per se, but I definitely could make friends out of the acquaintances that I have. :)

Like, last night Lindsey (one of my suite mates-the other is Celeste) and I walked down the hall and talked to a few people on our floor and the friends they had in their dorm, and then we all went on an adventure to the basement to check out the laundry lounge. Ooooh, right? Yeah. It was okay. I mean, laundry isn't that exciting, but you know.

SO

Tip # 4- Speak up. People are just as nervous as you are about making friends. Just chat and be yourself and people will respond positively.

--

Emily and I are getting along well, though I haven't gotten to see much of her today. Part of it is that I'm in the Honors College and she isn't, so we're going to different events, but part of it is also that we have to stick with our group, and she and are in different groups.

We're planning on meeting up later for games and the stadium and a carnival about Sororities, though, so I'm excited for that. I think we might actually be friends.

--

My first night away from home was easier than I thought. That may be that it still hasn't hit me that I'm moved out and away. Or it could be that I'm going home on Friday. Either way, I only cried a teeny tiny bit before falling asleep and sleeping alright. I would have slept fine, if not for the scary creaks of my loft bed and the heat!

so

Tip #5-bring lots of fans!

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Well, I think that's everything. Plus, I really should get to work on cleaning up this room so it's nice looking. xD

Love.

Moving Out

Greetings Readers,

The time has come for me to leave home and go to college. This idea has excited and frightened me for quite a while now.

I have decided that blogging about my college experiences will allow me to make better sense of them (as writing has always helped me in the past), let my family know how I'm doing and, hopefully, help other college or college-bound kids understand and cope with life away from home.

Today is Wednesay. I move in to Western Michigan University at nine A.M. Monday morning.

I am terrified.

I will miss my family, the familiarity of my home, and my boyfriend of two years-Shawn.

It feels good to know that I will have free reign of my life-no more asking if I can go out or stay out late. I just can. However, the one person I always want to go out with is staying here, two hours away from Western.

It is sad to say that I have no true friends at the moment, but it's true. Yes, I talked to a lot of people in High School, but they were unreliable, selfish, and, sometimes, just stupid. I know I will make friends in college, people who are as eager to learn as me and want to make a difference in other people's lifes with their degrees. People who want to help you and let you be there for them. People who actually care about your feelings and want to hang out with you.

I'm not worried that Shawn and I will call it quits because of the distance, or because we're both busy and can't see each other much. That doesn't mean I won't miss him, just like I'll miss Mom (so called Mamooska henceforth) and my stepdad Curt, my sister Jordan, my grandparents, my Dad and stepmom, Dar (who I will be calling Mom from now on). Of course, they aren't going anywhere. Shawn is family and I know he isn't going anywhere either.

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It's been terribly expensive to get everything I need for college. Luckily, my parents have not hesitated to get me what I need and then some. I now have a great laptop and T.V., as well as a new mini fridge with freezer, thanks to Mom. My older sister, Nicole, gave me her futon from when she was in college. My Grandmas (Mamooska's mom and Curt's mom) have bought me bathroom and cooking supplies, such as toothbrush cases and first aid kits and cooking pots and pans and spatulas. Everyone has been very helpful.

Even with four days until move in, my long list is still not entirely checked off. Tomorrow and Friday, Mamooska is taking me shopping for the rest of it.

So

Tip #1: Don't freak out just because you don't have everything packed and ready to go.

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Okay, last thing.

My roommate's name is Emily.

She seems really great, but I'm not counting on anything right now-since we haven't loved together yet.

She seems even more excited about meeting each other and what not than I am-and I'm pretty excited.

I got lucky. Haha. I'm aware.

I know a lot of times roommates don't get along, but they have to make it work.

So

Tip #2 Your roommate doesn't have to be your friend.

Well, that's all for now.

I'll blog again on Monday and let you know how the move-in went.