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! :)