One Week Later

Today marks the one week anniversary of my arrival at Austin College. I've survived all my first classes, met lots of wonderful people, and gotten used to taking showers in a community bathroom.
I love it here.
Sure there are some things that I don't like, like taking showers in the previously mentioned community showers, the everyday battle to open my mailbox, and being away from my family; but there are so many more things that I like about life here. I've made friends with several very sweet girls on my floor and in my hall, and since AC is a small school we have a lot of classes together. We laugh a lot and I like how people keep their doors open so that you can pop in and say hi.
I LOVE my C/I (freshman orientation) class. It's called Just Justice, the coursework is super interesting and the professor is just plain awesome. She's been really supportive and helpful and she's just a really nice lady. My classmates are pretty awesome as well. They're the kind of people who enjoy sticking around after class to play spoons for hours on end. (Don't worry classes hadn't started yet.)  While I've heard others around campus talking about how much they like their C/I class, I've rarely heard anything about them liking the people more. We do. We hang out in between classes just because we miss each other.
It is work though. Please pray for me as I begin this semester, specifically that I'm able to manage my course load. I'm sure I will but your prayers would be greatly appreciated. 

 

You can take the girl out of the city.....

I'm a city girl. 
I didn't really know this about myself until we drove into Sherman for the first time last year. As we drove into this small town my heart sank. My whole life I had been dreaming of a college experience where cozy, one of a kind coffee shops, cool restaurants, and intimate music venues abounded. To my deepest disgust Sherman just seemed old and run down. In fact my first reaction to Sherman (and Austin College) was, "I hate this town. I hate this school. I am NEVER coming back here." 
My second trip to Sherman wasn't much better. Although I was beginning to love the school the town continued to abhor me. Where were the museums? The concert halls? The coffee shops!? Even after I decided that Austin College was indeed the perfect school for me, I just could not wrap my mind around the fact that I'd be living in Sherman for the next four years. The following two times we came up to visit after I made my decision, I experienced this nauseating sensation of my heart dropping somewhere between my toes. 
Today as we drove in, pulled up to the sketchy Super 8 Hotel (the typical classy accommodations Oglesbee's are notorious for), and then set out to find someplace to have dinner, that same gut retching feeling was almost overwhelming. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I was actually fighting back tears as I thought, "They're leaving me HERE. No mall. No frozen yogurt. No Clear Lake." 
We ended up going to this little restaurant called City Limits. It's actually a pretty cute place.  Clearly one of the town's favorite establishments, it was busy and it didn't take us long to discover why. The food was good, burgers and southern fried goodness, and the people were wonderful. There, as I devoured my chkicken fingers and fries, God began to work on my heart. 
Our waitress was a sweet, sweet girl was open and friendly and made me feel welcome and at home.  Every time she'd come by our table she'd stop and talk to me about what she liked and didn't like about her town. Her words were exactly what I needed to hear and I began to realize that God really did have something important he wanted me to learn the four years I'm here, and I don't think it's something I'll be learning in the classroom. 
I know there will be days when I'll miss city life, but I'm actually getting really excited about living in a small town for awhile. And that, is pretty awesome if you ask me.

Temporary "Lasts"

Moving off to college is a WHOLE lot easier than actually moving. Unlike a permanent move (like from Indy to Texas),  I've had my whole life to prepare for this. There are still new friends to meet, new places to explore, and new challenges to face, but unlike a permanent move I know that I have a safe comfortable home base to return to.

Don't get me wrong I recognize that something as extreme as going of to college changes the way things were and that I won't be the same person I was when I left and neither will my friends, but instead of intimating me and making me sad, this knowledge excites me! Because I've seen and experienced firsthand how a drastic change like moving can reap incredible blessings and seen God work in awesome ways through those changes moving to Texas, I am confident that He will do the same as I move to Sherman.  

This was also my "last" weekend to sing at CLPC. (Don't worry I'll be back, after all it's only temporary ;) ). In the meantime I'll leave you with this. 

Nail Polish and Socks

I've always been one to over pack. In fact once when I was about 8 years old I took seven pairs of shoes with me on a seven day trip, and so this whole packing for college thing has been a bit of a challenge.
Reducing my extensive nail polish collection to something almost manageable, deciding how many t-shirts and socks to take and, yes, dealing with the shoe factor, have been hard decisions for me to make! 

just the ones I'm taking with me

That's one of the big realizations I've had about beginning this new chapter in my life. Even though I've been given all sorts of wonderful advice and encouragement from many extremely wise people (on both things to do, and not to do) there are some things that others simply can't prepare you for. ....Like exactly how many pairs of socks a college student should own. There are things in our lives that aren't cookie cutter standard. These are the things that have to be discovered and explored on your own. They're the things that make everyday life an adventure, as simple as some of them may be.

Another Blog in the Bog

As the day of my departure rapidly approaches (AH!!!!!!) I've been giving a great deal of thought to what the best way of staying in contact with the people I care about might be. After considering the options I decided that maybe this (yes, another blog in the bog of mediocre musings) would be the most constructive. It's an idea I've been toying with for awhile and I figured that this was just a good a time as any to start.  

Now, I can't promise that I'll be posting very frequently, in fact I can almost guarantee that I won't, but I will do my best to share (however  sporadically) things I'm doing, thinking about or struggling with, along with random things I find interesting and ways you can be praying for me. As I share these stories and the day to day adventures of my life with you, I would encourage you to do the same for me with yours. (I"ll leave the means up to you, but please note that I am a BIG fan  of snail mail and baked goods. **hint, hint**). 

So there we go. First post completed.  :)

Now if only I could say that about all the packing I need to finish.....