COLLEGE, WHOA!

I am alone in my dorm. Probably the only time that will ever happen.

I can't believe I'm in college. That's SO crazy.

I don't even know where to begin..

I wrote the first few sentences of this blog post after the first few days at college had passed and I haven't been able to return to writing until now. That just shows you how busy I've been these past two weeks.

College has taught me so much in the short time I've been here. I honestly thought that it would take some getting used to, maybe a touch of homesickness or missing loved ones, but I owe it all to my awesome university for planning and packing in as many wonderful events as possible for the first few weeks of school so that our brains would be focused on fun and not on missing family members.

One thing I've learned is that time spent on campus feels like it passes by way faster than it actually does. I love my school. My friends, the ones I talked to before I arrived here or the ones I've met recently, are awesome. And living in a dorm is so not what I thought it would be. It's WAY cooler. I think of my little dorm room as my home now. Yes, the closet space isn't ideal, but living with your now couldn't-live-without-ya best friend, what could be better?!

I'm so excited to see what the Class of 2018 will accomplish at my school. As we continue on this journey that we have now recently begun, I cannot wait to see what sort of experiences & memories the next 4 years with my fellow classmates will include. These times will not only continue to strengthen our friendships, but will also challenge us and make us improve in many areas of our lives.

I'm finally able to finish writing this at home (because this is the only time I've been able to take some time for myself!) and it feels like I'm vacationing in my own house. Walking into my bedroom today, I felt like I've come back a changed person. And while that may be true, it's kind of an analogy to our own lives. We can never go to a place and feel exactly the same way we did as when we first experienced it. No matter how much we long for the past, the only thing that is constant is that we are always changing. Each second of the day, what we consume either through media or the world around us, it affects us and we evolve into the person we are meant to become.

I was explaining to my sister today how college is a place where you can go and it's not like high school at all. I can't believe I was in high school less than 6 months ago! I'm so thankful that I'm no longer at that point in my life anymore. College kids accept and actually embrace differences. They're like "Oh, you're weird? Join the club!" I love it. No longer am I an outsider, or feel awkward (well, that part's still true, but not for the same reasons). As one of my new friends would say, "You do you." Just be yourself, because that's something no one can judge or criticize you for.

I think one of the best decisions I ever made was deciding to attend the school I go to now.

I am grateful for the opportunity to even be able to continue furthering my education at a higher level. Lessons are not only reserved for the classroom. You have to learn lessons for life as well, aka "the real world", and what better place to do it than college?

I will definitely write a more detailed blog post soon about all the crazy and inspiring things that have happened on campus recently!

I hope you have an amazing rest of today & enjoy your Labor Day Weekend! I certainly am going to do exactly that, celebrating with pizza and a movie night with my sweet family! :)

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I Love Ya Tomorrow

You're only a day away..

Whoa. That's scary.

(So FYI, read this post if you wish, but this will mostly be a post for me where I'll rant and write out things I need to say, and it will just happen to end up on the Internet to be there if anyone wants to read it, because I needed somewhere to vent and all my friends are either asleep or also packing!)

I'm moving to college TOMORROW and tonight will be my last night at home for awhile.

I'm kinda sorta maybe freaking out over the fact that I won't have my family as close by as they have been for the past 18 years of my life. It's the first step I take towards starting my independent life and I'm really excited, but also super nervous about that.

I woke up this morning BEFORE 8 am, like what?! This is the last day I have at home, and I'm up that early? Crazy!

Anyway, I'm currently listening to When Will My Life Begin from Tangled because that's how I'm feeling. I feel that I have so much to do today and I have no idea how I'm going to accomplish it all before I leave tomorrow morning!

I'm gonna work really hard today, running around my house packing and organizing, hoping that at the end of the day I'll be so tired that I'll fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. I really need sleep, and last night I slept a grand total of less than 5 hours. So yeah, that's why I'm writing this bright and early with a bottle of Diet Coke by my side. This probably will be the norm in a few weeks...cause in college, caffeine will be my best friend. I just don't want to say goodbye to summer. I'm not ready! I want (at least) another month, mostly because I'm still not caught up on Grey's Anatomy yet!

Moving tomorrow has made me so nervous about everything! I'm excited, I really am, but I'm also driving myself crazy with worry and I'm overthinking every little thing! I have no idea what to expect and maybe that is what makes me so jittery. New friends, a new atmosphere, and feelings that I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to handle. I know every single year thousands of incoming freshman transition from living at home to living in a dorm, but at this very moment I feel as if I'm the only one who is going through this. I need someone to reassure me that everything is gonna be okay. I feel that when I finally move in tomorrow and unpack, I will have such a heavy burden lifted off my shoulders.

But then there's also the question of whether I brought too much or if I'm not bringing enough. Usually, I overpack, but judging from everyone's Instagram photos, my collection of dorm "stuff" isn't nearly as big as theirs. I have this nagging thought in my head that I'm forgetting something, so tomorrow afternoon I will definitely be making a Target run to buy any last minute things that I forgot or lost in the shuffle and excitement of the day. Let's hope I don't forget too much, because let's face it. I'm on a college student's budget now. I can't buy everything I need, or want.

Since the soundtrack has come out, I've probably listened to this song more times than anyone wants (or needs) to know. It could be quite embarrassing. But, Let It Go is such a wonderful song! For almost any problem I'm going through, this is the one I turn to because of what the lyrics say. I really need to stop looking back and start looking forward. Tomorrow is when I start the next 4 years of my life at a university that I've called home for quite awhile. I have a few friends I have already made via social media, but there are also dozens of other people that I can't wait to meet. So, I should listen to this song once more, and think of the memories I'll experience here in the upcoming years and hope that its message will sink in.

Wow, I think after someone reads this post, they might just burst into song because I listed quite a few here!

I really cannot believe that TOMORROW is when I start my next chapter in life with some brand new friends at my new home away from home. Seriously, everything about my life as I know it is about to change and  I. CAN'T. WAIT. 

So, with that said I'm off to pack some MORE and hopefully accomplish and check off a dozen things on my to-do list!

Have a wonderful day & amazing weekend!