I Will Survive

Post number 6!!!

This topic isssss.......

How To......

...Survive Your First Week of College

Okay, I'm just going to be honest.  This first week, I don't think there was a point at all where I had a firm grasp on knowing what the heck I was doing.  Yeah, there were times that I was that freshman with the campus map. (But it's a map on my iPhone, so it was a bit more discreet than a huge piece of paper.)

Needless to say, I am absolutely no expert at this college stuff yet.

But I am going to tell you just a few things that I found handy to have or do (or not to have or do) that made this week a little more optimistic.

- Eat. There is a lot of walking and you're going to need energy for that.  If you stay up late watching New Girl and decide to sleep in and skip breakfast before your morning class, you will regret it. Not that I know from experience or anything.... 

- Have snacks for in between classes.

- Take the dang stairs.  Not the elevator.  Why?  You need to work off all the food. No one wants the Freshman 15.  Gross.

- Listen to music or remember to do something that is calming.  It's a stressful week and you'll need something to keep the nerves down.

- If you decide to put a white board outside your dorm door for people to leave messages to you, remember that there is a high chance that not all those messages are going to be sweet and nice.  Especially if you live on a coed floor.  Just saying..

- Talk to people. It's nice to hear from other freshman that you aren't the only one freaking out about something or not having a clue as to what's up.  And talk to upperclassmen too, if you can, because they've already been through what you're going through and can offer some pretty good advice.. (usually).

- Leave for class about 30 minutes (or a different time depending on where your dorm is) before class is supposed to start.  Sometimes the class buildings can be super confusing to navigate and you don't wanna be late for class.

- Sit on the front row in your class. Yes, you will probably look like an overachiever, but I've found that it is so much easier to pay attention and stay awake if you sit in the front.  You can also hear the professor better and I think it shows the them that you actually care about the class. 

- Be sure to see things and be able to give them your own opinion, especially in you live on campus.  What I mean by this: there are going to be certain groups (*cough* frats) that many different people have VERY different opinions about.  And some people will say one thing, while another will say the opposite.  Get opinions from several people, not just one person, and pay attention to what's going on around you and how certain people are acting.  You don't wanna end up at a party that you find out is not somewhere you really wanna be.  I do NOT know this from any personal experience, but from listening to people and hearing VERY different things about different groups, I could see how it would be easy for this to happen.

- Do your homework, and have your books on the first day of class because YOU WILL HAVE HOMEWORK ASSIGNED. Sad, I know.

I'm done. This week has been insane, but I've loved it :)

Go see how Victoria survived her 1st week of college!

The Joy of Nothing is a Sweeter Something

Heyyyy. So I forgot to post yesterday, so here is  the yesterday (Wednesday) post.

I nearly forgot about it again today. Until now.  And it's 2am.  I'm tired.  So guess what? It's gonna be a short blog post.

Go see what Victoria wrote.

What I'm Excited About

I'm excited about this weekend.  It'll be a four day weekend because I have no classes tomorrow and Monday is a holiday. I'm going to see the 1D movie with Victoria and some other cool people, I'm going kayaking, I'm going to not have classes, and I'm going to sleep. So excited.

And I'm just excited about life right now.  I love living in my dorm, I'm excited about my classes, hanging out with my friends is so much fun, and just living and moving forward and enjoying life. It's all exciting.

Oh and I'm excited that the new Foy Vance album came out.  It's really good.  :)

~~~

Okay goodnight! :)

What Time Is It? The Time of Our Lives!

Late again. You might as well get used to it.

Day #4!!

Today's topic is....

First Day of College

It's slowly beginning to sink in now: the responsibility; the need for balance; the excitement of entering a new world.

And today helped me face these things even more.

Today I had my first day of classes at my university. It's so hard to believe that college is starting! This is real!

I'm just going to give you a basic summary of how this day went for me.

It all began when I woke up by the dreaded and annoying sound of my alarm at 7 o'clock this morning. I got ready and then headed down to the cafeteria with my roommate for breakfast. 

After that we both walked up to the technology computer doctor place to get our computers fixed. I ended up being there for 2 hours. Woohoo. But my computer can use the wifi now :)

Then I went to the campus health services place to get cold medicine. (I would get sick on the first week of school.) The nurses were all so nice there! It made me happy.

Then I went back to the cafeteria to meet a friend for lunch.

I went to another cafeteria with another friend so she could get lunch.

I went back down the campus to get meds and soup from my mom. (She had to come into the town so she brought me some get-well noodle soup.  Presh right?)

Then I walked back up to where the cafeteria was to mail a whole stack of letters.

Then I walked back to my dorm with my friend so she could eat her lunch and so I could crash.  By this time I had basically walked all over campus.  And I have a sprained ankle so my foot felt like it was going to fall off. (Okay just exaggerating a tiiiiiiny bit there..)

Back in my dorm I drank some fruit punch Kool-Aid and my day instantly got better.

I then went to my first class at 2pm. (Yeah, my schedule is spoiling me.) It was college algebra.  I'm allergic to math, so this class wasn't too exciting, but the professor really seemed to care about us knowing the material and seemed to want to help if we have trouble (which I'm sure I will), so that was really nice.

Immediately after this I had History of Western Art.  Now, first off I was pretty nervous about this class because I had the bright idea of looking on Rate My Professor and the professor for this class had some pretty bad reviews.  And then I found out that it is pretty much one of the hardest classes of it's kind. Yikes.

But I ended up liking it.  A lot.  The professor seemed actually pretty cool, funny and she appeared to care about her students and their success in the class. Now, she's not going to hand out grades.  This will be a tough class.  But I'm excited about it.  I love art, and I love history.  So this class seems like it might be my happy place.

After that I was starving and so I went to the cafeteria and got some food and met a pretty cool person that is majoring in art. (I'm thinking about doing something with art so it was neat to be able to talk to someone who is actually doing that.)

Then I came back to my dorm and crashed and did math homework.

So it's been a long day.  But I really did enjoy almost every minute of it.  It got me super excited for these next several years.  I'm sure it's going to get tough, but all adventures are, and they all are worth it in the end. 

I think this year is going to be so much fun! And I'm so happy that I am going to a college with some of my best friends and also meeting new friends. It's wonderful.

Alright.  That's it. :)

Happy Monday!

Go read about Victoria's first day at college! (We're going to the same college by the way..)

I Don't Care! I Love It!

Okay so this is really late. But here is the 3rd entry of the blog challenge with my best friend, Victoria! Go look at her blog.

Today's topic:

Summer Bingeing

What was my guilty summer pleasure?

*cough* 

It was food........ *cough* Okay it was food.  My guilty summer pleasure was food.

When I went to Ireland I ate. And ate. And ate. And ate some more. It was glorious.

I discovered that I love food. It makes me happy. Yeah, call me a fatty if you want.  But it's true. Food is good.  And I eat healthy.... usually. And exercise...... on occasion.

But anyway, over the summer I ate food.

The consequence of this bingeing?  I got a food baby. :( Oh well. It's not like I had rock hard abs to begin with.  But I don't really care. I love it. *Jams out to Icona Pop*

But hey, my college has a gym! Woop woop!

Oh! Which reminds me! I moved into my dorm today!! *Happy dance*

Isn't it cute?! ;P

I'M SO STINKIN' EXCITED ABOUT COLLEGE!!!

Classes start Monday! :O

Happy Friday!!

A Whole New World

Day #2 of the blog challenge!! Victoria and I decided to blog every other day (so Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) because it takes a lot of motivation to blog everyday and requires certain blondes to not fall asleep while they should be blogging. Yeah, I know. But I was so tired!

Visit Victoria's blog to see her entry on the prompt.

Today's topic is......... *drum role*...........

Do Something New and Blog About It

Yesterday I did something new! And exciting! I rode with some friends and went to a city outside of Atlanta where one of my friends volunteered and did some mission work over the summer.  

I was informed that this city is one of the most dangerous cities in Georgia.  But it filled with what seemed to be some of the most interesting and amazing people living lives that I'm sure would be filled with fascinating stories.  This city is the home of numerous refugees, making it filled with many cultures and many different languages. 

This experience was completely new for me.  I had never been to this city.  I also had never been around so many people from so many different countries and cultures at once before!  Being in this city was almost like being in a different country, and it was amazing!

While my friends and I were there we rode around while my friend who stayed there this past summer was our tour guide. We drove through many different apartment complexes, some 100% refugee occupied and others only partly occupied with refugee people. We then ate at this restaurant that had food from this country that I don't remember the name of and I tried some chicken something. Note: even if you order non-spicy, it's still spicy. But super good :)

After that we went to a farmers market filled with foods from all around the world, and the workers there were from many different countries.  I had been there before, but it was still fun and exciting.

From the farmers market we went to what was the best part of the day: one of the apartment complexes that my friend worked in this past summer.  We visited one of the families she taught English to, and we all got to meet the children that she knew.  They were so precious! I honestly wished I could have stayed there for much longer.

From this new experience I learned that there is a whole mission field right here in Georgia.  I mean, I already knew this, but I had never experienced it to this extreme.  I got to see a whole different world in my own state! And I got to meet some amazing and adorable and spectacular people.

Soooo I really encourage you to do something new. Explore your home town.  Meet knew people.  Seriously, there is a whole new world just around the corner! (Or down the interstate.  However you wanna look at it.) 

Of course if you aren't up to something massively drastic, try a new cooking recipe, go work at your local soup kitchen, clean your room, random dance...

Anyway, my point is, do something that you wouldn't normally do. (But don't do anything stupid or dangerous. Use your brains people :P) It's nice to get out of your regular routine every once in a while and see and experience something new... :)   

It's a Beautiful Day and I Can't Stop Myself From Smiling

I have some fun and exciting news!!! Well, it may not be as fun for you as it is for me. But just clap your hands and pretend like you are jumping for joy.

My best friend, Victoria, and I have decided to do a month long blog challenge together! What this means is that everyday we are going to each blog about the same topic but with our separate stories and spin on it. (Besides on weekends.  Who want to do anything productive on weekends?) Go check out Victoria's blog here. 

We are both new to the blog world and so we are hoping out of this experience we will become more comfortable with blogging and become a teeeeny bit more experienced.  Okay and we're also hoping more people will look at our blogs.  Because right now I have about as many followers as Lucy did believers when she first told people about the wardrobe: none. 

So what's the first post? I'm so glad you asked :P 

We decided to go with a happy post for the 1st one.

10 Things That Make Me Happy :)

1. Chocolate. Chocolate makes me happy. nuff said.

2. Jesus makes me happy.  I absolutely love when I'm down or just having a stressful day (like today. I stepped in dog poop on the way to my car and didn't realize it. Until I got in my car. By then it was already in my floor board and smashed into the peddles.  "ew" is an understatement.) Jesus gives me such joy because I know He is always going to be there and He is always going to love me. And through Him I can find the positive in negative situations. (Like bleach. If you ever have to scrape dog turd out of your brake peddle you will thank Jesus for bleach.)

3. My best friend (Victoria) makes me so happy! She's pretty much the most bubbly person I know and is so much fun to be around.  She's also always there when I need to talk about anything serious.  She's just awesome.

4. My family. I love them.  They do annoy me sometimes, but I wouldn't want to change them for anything.  They are always there and my two younger siblings bring life to any dull moment.  It's going to be so weird when I move out to go to college.  We're all so close! 

5. Trees make me happy, as weird as that sounds.  When I went to Ireland this summer, some of my team told me I was a hippie.  But seriously, I really do enjoy trees. They are pretty and seem to be always changing, but they never truly change what they are. (*deep*)

6. Music makes me happy. Especially music by Ed Sheeran, Mumford & Sons, and The Lumineers. So good! 

7.  Another thing that makes me happy is art.  I like to look at art by other people, and I also like to paint and draw.  I by no means am an expert artist, but there is just something about holding a paint brush or pulling a charcoal pencil across a piece of paper that just clears my head and make me content.

8. Traveling makes me happy. I love going to new places and doing new things and meeting new people. I suppose the world in general just makes me happy. 

9. Helping people makes me happy.  I really and truly cannot stand to see someone in misery or distress. 

10. Writing makes me happy.  I like how when you write, words seems to have more value. It's a whole different and wonderful realm of expressing yourself.  The possibilities are endless.

Alrighty, those are my ten things that make me happy! If you want, add a comment with things that bring you happiness. I'd love to hear them!

Happy Monday!   

Love Shake Down My Walls

 Honestly, I don't even know where to begin.

So I guess I'll just start.

On July 5th I left my small home town to go on a mission trip to the land of Ireland,  and I just returned 2 weeks ago.  I went with a wonderful team of 12 people that I had never met before, and by the end we became a close family.  I wasn't really sure what I was expecting when we got over there, but I know what happened on that trip I wouldn't change for anything.

I've heard people say before that when someone goes on a mission trip, usually they are changed and effected more than the people they went to go help and share Jesus with.  I wasn't sure if I believed that before I left, but I certainly believe it now.

From the minute my team and I arrived, I think I then began realizing how much I need to just put my trust in God and not in myself or in my plans.  For an example, I knew we would be sleeping on the floor, however when we arrived at training camp they informed us all that we would be staying in one of the pastor's gardens.  Until we arrived, we had no idea that in Ireland, the people call "gardens" what we would call "yards."  This was not my plan, but it was God's plan.  And I just had to live with it, and guess what! I loved it.  We all loved camping in the garden.  It was beautiful and so much fun.

While in Ireland helped with  two kid's clubs and lead a drop-in center for youth.  The experience was amazing and lovely.  The people in Ireland are wonderful, and I loved getting to know them and getting to hang out with the youth there.

I think this trip not only helped me grow so much closer to God and just be in awe of how awesome He is, but it also helped me come out of my shell.  I'm so much more comfortable talking to people now, people I know and people I am just meeting, and I enjoy it!  Realizing that God is in control of EVERY circumstance and has a plan for everything and everyone, helped me calm down and just surrender to Him.  I still have panic attacks on occasion, but I don't worry as much because I take SO MUCH comfort in knowing that God has my back. :) And this is so nice knowing with college about to start!

All in all, it was the most amazing experience I had ever had. This trip made me realize my love for the world, my love for art, and most importantly how extreme God's love is for every single person.  JESUS IS AMAZING.