4th North

I live on the 4th floor, and while I was less than excited about the fact at the beginning of the year, I've come to realize that living on the 4th floor does have it's advantages....

Caruth 4th floor may have smaller rooms, but they're COZY AND UNIQUE. They feel homier to me.

SEXY LEGS and built in EXERCISE . I rarely take our sketch elevator and the 4 (on laundry days 5) flights of stairs are definitely helping me fight the freshman 15.

I have AMAZING NEIGHBORS.

Living on the 4th floor allows you to open your window CREEPER FREE.  3rd floor and below, you can hear  and see everyone outside and they can see and hear you. AWKWARD.


Speaking of windows, we have a GREAT VIEW. It makes me really happy. :)

 I've also gotten a little wiser over the past few weeks. For example, I now know that.....

Saturdays are LEFTOVER DAYS in the cafeteria (or caf as we refer to it). If you ever get the soup, EVERY DAY is leftover day.

You don't do LAUNDRY on a Saturday.....EVERYONE does their laundry on a Saturdays. 

FRENCH-TOAST STICKS  turn any day into a GREAT day.

Rooms are for SLEEPING
libraries are for STUDYING

Unless you want to fight the ENTIRE FOOTBALL TEAM for a chance to eat, the pub (the restaurant-ish place on campus) is OFF LIMITS around 7:00

and last but not least

coffee has a lot of CAFFEINE, which can be your best friend.

19

BUT WHAT IF I DON'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS?????

Although I dislike "what if?" questions, I think this is one that haunts every college student before moving away. I can't say I was ever REALLY worried about it, SOMEONE has to like me right? But it was a doubt that lurked somewhere in the back of my mind those last few weeks at home before moving away.

No more.

I've mentioned before that I've met some absolutely wonderful people here at AC but today they proved just how truly wonderful they really are. Yes. Today was my birthday and, honestly, last night I was feeling a little down. As I revealed to a friend that night, it was kinda freakin me out being away from home on the day that for the past 18 years I've ALWAYS  spent with my family. How do you even celebrate birthdays in college? For the first time since I've been gone I was feeling homesick and so instead of looking forward to my birthday with excitement and anticipation, all I could feel was this sense of anxiety and fear.

That feeling of loneliness was still pretty heavy this morning when I woke up and started getting ready for my day. I was glad that I hadn't been thrown into the fountain at midnight like some of my friends had threatened, but I was still bummed that my special day wasn't going to hold anything particularly special.  Guess who was wrong?

When I opened my door, I was greeted by a about 1000 post-it-notes that my fabulous roommate and hall friends had made for me.

When I got back to my room after class, I found that my friends had been hard at work and that my door was now even MORE colorful.

AND THEN some sneaky friends of mine kidnapped me to go on a Target/Starbucks run so that Brianna could round up everyone in the basement for a surprise party!

Oh, I got friends all right, and darn good ones too.

 

5 minutes

In high school five minutes didn't mean a whole lot to me. It was just a worthless, awkward increment of time. Now, five minutes equals anywhere between 4-7 pages of required reading. Five minutes holds the key to being on time, tardy, or absent. Five minutes can mean adequate sleep or exhaustion. Five minutes is roughly one and half youtube videos, two sentences of a paper or blog post, and one coat of nail polish.  Shoot, those same five minutes are often the deciding factor of whether or not I get lunch between classes. (There isn't a break in my schedule on Mondays and Wednesdays. Thanks, I appreciate your sympathy.) Five minutes is a lot of time.

Before going off to college I had very little respect for those unappreciated, awkward increments of time. 5, 10, 20 minutes, they were never enough to start a new project, but they were also too long to sit and do nothing. No more. Over the past three weeks I have begun to learn just how precious a commodity my time is.

I've always been good a managing my time, but I will be the first to admit that time management at the college level is a far greater challenge than most freshman realize. At home, you have a foundation of family schedule's to work with. In college, it's all up to you. You manage your time, every last minute of it. No one cares if you stay up till 1 or get up at 4 to finish an assignment. No one is bothered if you skip lunch or *gasp* class. (Relax, I've been attending my classes faithfully.)

A popular saying goes, "Good grades. Social Life. Adequate sleep. Pick two, welcome to college."  While this silly saying is kinda ridiculous there is some truth in it. Yes. Some days I don't sleep as much as I should. Some days I choose to go to dinner with friends instead of studying. But by the same token, there are just as many days when I choose to forgo a fun outing with friends in order to study or get some much needed rest.  So as I've begun to learn how to make the most of 5 minutes, I'm also learning how to balance my time, every last minute of it.

The Next Four Years

***As part of my freshman seminar class, we had to write an essay about what we expect from ourselves and Austin College over the next four years. Here's what I wrote.***

What I Expect From Myself and Austin College in the Next Four Years.

                Just a week ago I embarked on the final leg of that long journey between childhood and adulthood.  Like any explorer, I begin with a preplanned and well charted course.  I have had enough education and experience to plan much of this course, using bits and pieces of others’ experiences and knowledge to further prepare for the adventure known as “college”. Yet, like all explorers, I recognize that my planned course is subject to change.

                 This is uncharted territory after all. Unforeseen obstacles will undoubtedly force me to alter my calculated course, compelling me to look at my new world with new eyes.  As I discover new interests and passions, my course will change direction.  I may even arrive at an entirely different destination than I originally planned, but that uncertainty is what makes this adventure unique.

                Over the next four years, I expect to be challenged and stretched as I continue to explore and expand my world. I expect to review and reconsider what I have known, wrestle with the new and unfamiliar ideas I encounter, and, in the end, walk away with a broader, deeper understanding of the world.   

                Along the way I will acquire the tools and understanding needed to be a successful and active member of society. Not one who sits passively by, but one who actively engages in the world around them.  If, at the end of these four years, I reach my destination without discovering a way to make my world, the part I interact with everyday, a better place, I have failed.  What my major is, how many “A’s” I earned , where I get my first job—all of those things will not matter if I do not have the power to generate positive change around me.  

                At the end of these next four years, I will be a different person. My perspective will be different, my beliefs will be solidified; my passions revealed, my potential discovered. That is the real purpose of this journey.

Just a Little Sparkle

Well today was exciting. I AM NOW CARUTH HALL PRESIDENT!
Oh wait right. You guys want to hear about the new addition to my face.


Well....




I've been playing with the idea of getting a "nostril piercing" for quite awhile. (Actually I had decided a long time ago that I wanted one, but was always too chicken to see it through). So this afternoon, with the overwhelming encouragement from a few friends, I decided that today would be just as good as any other. (Besides, aren't these the sort of crazy things your supposed to do in college???)


After the decision to put a hole through my nose had been made, the first thing we mature, responsible college students did was to google "tattoo parlors in Sherman, TX".  That's how we found this lovely place called Modified Design. Ya, that's right. One quick phone call later, my three friends and I were off.


Let me just say, I have never been that nervous in my life. The feeling was similar to the top of a roller coaster. I made the choice to be there. I want to be there. But it is scary as all get out while your riding. I have also never felt more out of my comfort zone. Here we were four little girls in the middle of a tattoo parlor in the middle of Sherman. It was just great.

Lindsey: the photographer/videographer

Hannah and Susie. I was nervous. They were delighted.

Cody was cool though. He answered all our questions and explained everything. AND he was good at what he does. It didn't really hurt. I thought it would, but I've had shots that hurt WAY more.

Anyway that's pretty much how it went down. I'll post the video Lindsey took, but I personally find it kinda boring. However, I DO think you all will appreciate the wall art and just seeing how ridiculously nervous I was.  The first video is the warm up and the second is the actual dirty deed. (don't worry there's no blood and you'll probably be amazed how fast it went. I was.) 

And yes. I am pleased :D

Sledding? In Texas???

As I've mentioned before, Sherman is a small town and there's not a whole whole to do here, so you have to get a little creative. So when one of the RA's in our building announced that she and her cluster were going to be box sledding this afternoon, my cluster decided to jump in too.*

Susie, Lindsey, yours truly, Kelsey

*WORD OF CAUTION: If trying this at home be sure to wear long pants

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

As I mentioned before, classes started Tuesday. I was excited. I had survived registration, probably one of the most stressful days of my life, and I had successfully navigated my way through the first half of my first day of being a REAL college student.
So I was feeling pretty good as I strolled into my Spanish class. I was about 15 minutes early, but "Hey, no problem," I thought, "I'll just wait until someone else shows up and then we'll waltz in there together and impress the professor with our promptness." Sure enough about 3 minutes later one of my friends walks up and asks if I'm taking Spanish. After the mutual "YES! That's awesome" we decided that it would be in our best interest to go on into the classroom. As we did so, it did strike us a little odd that the lights were off and that we were the only two there.

But just when we were beginning to worry two upperclassmen walked in and sat down behind us. Eager to meet people and make new friends my friend and I quickly engaged making dazzling conversation. After awhile though, we all began to look around uncomfortably. All of our clocks read 12:30, the time class was meant to start, but we were still the only four people in the room. 12:35, still no one. Where was the professor? Did we have the wrong room? Were we really the only four people in the class? Panic set in. Fanatically my three companions whipped out their smart phones and began to double check times, room numbers, and the number of student's signed up.
"Room 206?"
"Ya"
"It says it's full."
"Really?"
"Ya!"
"I don't understand. It SAYS Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday....."
"What?"
"Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday."
"Wait a minute...."
"....Oh."

The End.