The End of the Year

Finally, its summer. I have been home for two days now and am starting to settle into a summer routine. I still have about 20 boxes of unpacked stuff from my dorms in the garage that I am trying my best to ignore. Although I am thrilled to be done with freshman year, it is a really weird feeling. Leaving my dorm room was pretty sad, but I'm almost certain I'm the only one who thought so. Its just strange to think that that was my little home for a whole year and in three months a new freshmen will be moving in. Being away from school for three months will be so odd. Not seeing my friends constantly, eating home-cooked food every night, washing my clothes whenever I feel like it. It will definitely be different, but I'm ready. Knowing that this is my last blog, I was thinking back to the first one that I wrote. I was still packing up everything for school, with one or two weeks left before move-in. I was nervous and excited and scared. Now, I am just so thankful for the year I've had and how wonderful it has all been. I've met some great friends and really found a niche where I belong. As cliche as it sounds, I really couldn't have asked for a better year.

Last thoughts

It is so weird to think that this is my last blog of freshman year. I have so much to do before I leave though! Thankfully I only have one more final, but my roommate and I still need to clean (which is saying a lot considering how little of that we have done this year), put our furniture back to where it started, and somehow bring our very heavy refrigerator to the drop off center. If I succeed in doing the last without seriously harming myself I will be surprised.
It is hard to believe that this year is really over. It seems so long ago that I first came into this room and met my roommate. We were both so nervous! And then there are my friends. In the beginning of the year I was sure I knew who my closest friends were going to be, and I was wrong with almost all of them. I am so thankful for the group of friends I have now! I am so ready for vacation to come that I haven't really thought about leaving that much. I just really realized last night that I won't see my friends here for almost three months. Thankfully I have wonderful friends at home as well, so I won't get lonely.
I have enjoyed writing this blog so much. It has enabled me to take a step back and see what is going on in my life. Freshman year has been a whirlwind of experiences, and I can say honestly say that I have enjoyed it (which would have been such a relief to hear at this time last year!). If you have been following along, thanks for listening. I hope you got a glimpse at what it is like to be a freshman at college!

My Last Weekend

This weekend was the last weekend before summer, which is weird but wonderful. It was also my birthday, so my parents came down and they took my sister and I and our friends to a beach house about 20 minutes away. It was a great way to spend our last weekend. It was cool because this was the same place we stayed the night before we moved into the dorms, so it was a great way to leave school as well. I remember sitting at the beach, trying to focus on my book that I was reading, scared to death about the next day. Would I make friends? Would my roommate and I get along? I loved coming back with my new friends and a year of college under my belt. It just made me extremely grateful for the awesome year I have had. Anyway, the beach house was wonderful. We had numerous walks on the beach, made our birthday cake from scratch (and miraculously, it was a success!!) and I even learned how to dig for sand crabs. On Sunday my parents helped my sister and I pack up everything in our dorm rooms that we could live without for a week and took it home with them. Its extremely weird. My room is mostly bare, and it just reminds me that I only have 5 days of my freshman year left. Two of my finals are today and one is Friday, which means I should probably get some last minute studying done... :)

I started out my blog with a list of advice for moving into the dorms. As this is one of my last posts of freshman year, I would like to include another list for surviving, and enjoying, your freshman year of college.
1. Try to enjoy your classes. No, this is not going to be possible with every course (take Pre Calculus for example...) but it will help a lot. Some of my professors have been really interesting and smart people and have unique things to say.
2. Always be open to meeting more people. In the fall I thought I had my group of friends cut out, but it turned out that I hadn't even met some of the girls that I'm closest to now.
3. See the silver lining around campus dining. Although it is not the most appetizing thing in the world, you do have to live with it for an entire school year.
4. Try to stay in contact with your friends from home. I am so thankful that I have done this with some people, and so sorry I didn't with others.
5. Write down a list of the funny things that happen to you and your friends. A girl suggested this to me in the fall and I didn't do it, and now I really wish I did.
6. Take time alone. You don't get much privacy living in the dorms, especially the first few weeks. It helped so much when I just read alone or listened to my ipod outside.
7. Keep an eye on your leftovers. My roommate and I found out the hard way that eventually they start to smell, which spreads really quickly in a dorm room.
8. Balance your weekends at home and at school well. If you go home too often you won't get involved and connected at school. At the same time, if you are really home sick, take the time to drive home, even if it is only for a few days. Trust me, it makes a huge difference.
9. Get a goldfish. They will keep you company for awhile, but won't live long enough to become a problem. I bought a beta fish, which live longer, and even though I'm over the fish-phase it is still here.
10. Join a bible study, club, music group, or anything else to get connected. It helps so much and gives you an interest in your school.