The Final Post!

Well... It's about that time of the year!

So much time has gone by since my last blog but everything that has happened has blended together!

My first semester has gone pretty well. I've locked in some solid grades and finally got a hang of my "college study methods." Where... when... how long... etc..

Two weekends ago I went home and surprised my sister at her play (yes, she's a thespian & had a school performance!). And then I went to my old high schools basketball game and supported my former teammates and little brother in their games! It was really fun and it was the first time I was reunited with my friends that are still in high school. Unfortunately, I had to miss the Citadel game.:(

Last weekend (thanksgiving break as a whole), I went home and then had to drive 9 hours to Maryland. That is where my whole family lives except for my family (aunts, uncles, cousins). It was really nice to see everyone because I haven't seen them in a really long time. It seems that every time my family goes to see them I am never traveling with them (last time I was in Cancun instead (; ).

Now, it's the best time of the year! Christmas is my favorite holiday and it will be the first time I've ever had a break where I actually have absolutely no homework since we'll be in transition between classes. It's going to be sooo nice to relax in my own house, my own bed, and hang with my old friends! I'm really excited to have a long break to destress after these stressful last few weeks of classes.

I'm hoping to do well on my finals. The studying will be worth it because once it's over I get to go home for CHRISTMAS!

I'll miss U101! Thanks for a great first semester! Y'all really helped the transition. :)

College #5

Well it's about that time of year when everything I've done blends together...

Fall break was SO fun! Like I said last post, I went to Edisto beach with a former sorority sister... (by BFF from AGD dropped out over fall break so she's no longer in it :'(...sad). We went with eachother, her roommate, her suitemate, and another one of their friends. So, I had the opportunity to meet new people and bond with them which was really fun. Her brother also went, who graduated a few years ago with a few of his friends and they were really funny and made the trip super fun!

We stayed in a beach house right on the water. I've stayed at the beach plenty of times, but this house had no sand dunes or bushes or anything. When high tide approached, the beach disappeared and the whole backyard was the ocean. It was so cool (and also a bit painful because the huge seashells the come with high tide took over our tanning sand). It was really, really nice to get away and be with people other than who I'm with everyday in the dorm life. Break flew by and I would do anything to go back again. We even lucked out with the weather! The whole week before it was freezing and rainy, and the whole break it was sunny and 75! (I almost didn't pack shorts because I was anticipating the cold... good thing I did!)

I've only had one test this week and now its Halloweek! My best friend from home that goes to UNCC is coming down to celebrate with me on Friday so I'm extremely excited to see her! It'll be nice to see a familiar face (especially since I didn't see my family over fall break). And I might be having a friend come visit me on Saturday too! (I'm not really sure... She texted me saying she was randomly and that was it...) It will be a little bit crazy though because my roommate and I never have guests and the one weekend I do, she does too. So, finding places to sleep will be interesting, but fun nevertheless!

The weeks going by pretty quickly and the countdown to Thanksgiving break continues!! I can't wait!

College #4

Safe to say the past few weeks have been hectic! Last Friday I made the impulse decision to go home because I felt myself getting a little irritated being crammed in a dorm. So, at 3:30 on Friday I texted one of my friends who also lives in Charlotte, asking if she happened to be going home, and to my surprise, she said yes! So I asked for a ride and she said, "Sure, I'm leaving in 30 minutes!" Sooo I quickly texted my mom to make sure they would actually be home and told her not to tell anyone, except for my dad, of course. So an hour and a half later I arrived in Charlotte and walked into my house and surprised my family. I woke up my Granddad (aka my best friend) and of course, we cried, and it was the cutest thing in the world. Sunday night came along and my mom was like, "I don't think you'll be getting back to school anytime soon" and I doubted her and was like no way, I will soon! So Sunday night I said goodbye to my siblings because I didn't know if I would be home or not, and surprised them when I was still sleeping on the couch when they got home. That went on for a few days, and then they dropped the idea of saying goodbye and just expected that I would still be there (which I always was). So I had a really good time at home! I got some shopping done, some quality family game nights, and got to see some old friends which was fun for sure. It was weird being home and not having any of the friends in my grade home, so I was looking forward to getting back to campus and seeing my college friends. Although, I will admit I got used to being home after a few days and got readjusted to living in a home versus a dorm.

At school a lot has been going on too! I had my second biology exam and it was extremely hard... But I've got a lot of my school work balanced pretty well and my teachers have been pretty lenient and understanding of the workload.

And big/little reveal was today! It was so much fun. I got to dress up as Meredith Grey from Grey's Anatomy in my light blue scrubs, and my big wore the navy scrubs so she's my resident. I LOVE Grey's so it was a pretty perfect night.

I'm looking forward to fall break now! I'm going to Charleston with a girl in my sorority and her friends and family, so it will be really fun! And it will make going home for Thanksgiving more special because I won't have been home for like a month and a half which will be the longest time so far.

Also, can't wait for the football game this weekend! It's been way to long!!!

College blog #3

All is still going well.

Nothing much has happened over the past few weeks.

Two weekends ago I went to Carolina Point. I had to miss my sorority semi-formal which I was upset about because it would have been really fun and I would've been able to meet a lot of people, but I'm glad I went to Carolina Point.
Carolina Point is a "College Life/Young Life" camp in the mountains. Theres no cell service, which was nice, because I definitely needed a getaway for a little bit. It's a Christian Club, so there were devotions and stuff like that. I've never really been into going to church, so I was a little out of place at that time, but it was interesting to listen to all that they had to say. There was also a lake with a big water blob, volleyball, basketball, ping pong, bubble soccer, kick ball, and a lot of other fun activities which kept the days interesting. There were also relay races and stuff, college vs college. USC, UNCC, Gardner Webb, Charleston, Charleston Christian, and other colleges were there, so the competition was fun, especially since USC was the largest by far. I think that trip was really needed since life has been kind of hectic, and we had a lot of time to sit in silence and reflect on our lives after the devotions, which were really cool because they turned off every single light at the camp at 10:30 at night and we were able to just stare at the stars. Also, on the last day, we went on a hike to the top of the mountain and had the most amazing view in the world, which I really enjoyed.

This past weekend was parents weekend! Again, very much needed! Both of my parents came and it was really nice to see them. I had a lot of catching up to do with them since it's really hard to text or explain life via phone call everyday. I got updated on my 4 siblings lives, as well as my Granddads, and theirs, and was able to finally tell someone all about my days. I had a student ticket and a ticket to sit with my parents at the game, so I got the best of both worlds! I was able to sit and have fun with my friends for half the game and then went to sit with them at half time, and was the parent sections savior since I brought them all sandstorm towels. ;) The weekend continued to be awesome because I had someone who was willing to pay for my restocking of food, eyebrow threading, as well as some new USC gear, which is always good. I also got to eat real food!!! Without worrying about how to pay for it/get to the restaurant! Definitely a major perk of having your parents in town, having a car!

Now I've got to get through this week and figure out how to get all my work done, and then I get to go on my new member retreat as well as sisterhood retreat with AGD! I think it'll be really fun, although it's going to be in the mountains again and it will be really cold... and I might have to miss Luke Bryan :( but, at least I'll have something to keep me occupied again! And I'll meet a LOT of sisters that way too.

And next weekend my friend from Wofford is coming to the USC LSU game! I'm not sure where she's going to sit... being that she's an LSU fan (I won't sit with her) but it's going to be nice to see a familiar face and catch up on all her college drama as well as mine! (We're not very good texters)

So life's been good! I'm finding I live for the weekends. Haha.

We'll see what kind of crazy stories I can make to share in the next blog!

College Blog #2

Well, a bit more time has gone by and it seems like nothing much has changed, except for the stress levels!

Exams started this week and although I'm trying to stay ahead of time on my work, it's still very overwhelming. I was aware of my three tests this week on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, but the last minute "you have one paper due Wednesday and a 7 page paper due Friday" was a little uncalled for. Take all that and add the Biology Lab Report due Thursday before class which I spent two hours working on and was still not able to figure out, and one can for sure imagine the stress. But, I'm trying to stay ahead of the game and just trying to make it through this week!

The weekend will be fun... I'm going to the College Life retreat to Carolina Point which I'm really excited about! I'm not a huge fan of going to the actual club meetings every week so I haven't been to many, but I'm really excited about the retreat and getting to know more people and enjoying everything it has to offer. I've had a lot of friends in the past go to Carolina Point over the summer, and even a few that have worked there since it's in NC (which is where I live), and I've heard great things about it! So we'll see how that all goes! It will be a good stress relief from the rough week I've had.

I also have to incorporate the sorority/suite-mate that's moving out/boy/family drama and it just elevates the situation that much more. But, I can't say it wasn't expected! It's college!

All will be fine and I haven't lost my mind yet, so that's good!

And I'm really excited for parents weekend too! It will be good to be with my family for a little bit and the football game this weekend was so fun so I'm excited to have my parents experience the hype with me.

Soon enough, it will be midterms, and I'll be home for fall break, and then it will be Christmas! It's crazy how quickly time is flying...

Also, the crazy dorm life has calmed down a bit, besides my suite-mate leaving (which will probably help eliminate the craziness for the time being). It's nice to have a community in my dorm where I look forward to "going home" and being with my "family"

Go Gamecocks!!!

College: The First Few Weeks

COLLEGE: The First Few Weeks

So I've been in college for about three weeks now and it progressively gets better. At first, it was weird, because I was here for sorority recruitment and it was all girls in a CoEd dorm, which got a little overwhelming, but it was a nice initial way to get to know my floor. Living in Columbia Hall, rush week was definitely exhausting, since no dorm could possibly be any farther away from Greek Village. Recruitment is stressful enough, and having to walk in the heat every day for two weeks was definitely at the bottom of my "Most Fun Activities" list. However, with a long waited anticipation, rush week finally ended and I got a bid from Alpha Gamma Delta. Yay! Out of my final two choices, Alpha Gam was definitely my preferred pick so that was extremely exciting for me. We went to Tin Roof afterwards and just listened to a band play music and take the typical "sorority pics" with our letters. Kinda awkward of course because lots of forced girl flirting (I thought recruitment was over...) but all in all it was fun! Now, I'm only having to march down to Greek Village once a week for chapter meetings (as of right now) so things are starting to look up with that! However, our "Pearl Pal Dates" aka girl flirting to find a "Big" are starting up soon, but hopefully those conversations come more naturally. Enough about Greek Life...

Living in Columbia Hall, although tight and a bit worn down, has been a great way to meet people. Always leaving our doors open, I'm pretty close with a lot of people on our floor, and have also found the people who I won't be close with. I've gone to a lot of sporting events with the girls on my floor (when I can since Greek life and classes interrupt a lot) and they've been a lot of fun. We also hang out on the weekends and go to eat with each other a lot which has been good. I will admit, living in a dorm, although a great way to meet people, has not been the highlight of college. Growing up always having my own room, and in my most recent house having my own room in the basement, I've had a lot of privacy. I'm not a big fan of my tiny bed, my tiny room, or my tiny amount of privacy, but it's a good way to meet those initial friends on campus. Let it be said that I can't wait to have an apartment next year (hopefully). 

Class wise, I'm enjoying myself! I love the freedom I have to leave if I need to, and also the personal time I have between classes when I have those awkward hour breaks (I finally get some privacy since my roommate and I have pretty different schedules). High school always made me feel like I was trapped since I knew I'd HAVE to sit in numerous classes for 7 hours each day with no breaks. Ugh. And I actually enjoy going to a lot of my classes! The teachers are fun for the most part and make class time go by pretty quickly. 

I also haven't missed my family too much...(well I have, but I'm not crying everyday like some people do) but I am going home this weekend to go to the UNC vs USC football game and to enjoy labor day with them, and I am really excited for sure (although I'm sure I'll be ready to get back to campus since none of my friends will be home). I'd also like to note that I'm super excited to see my granddad, who lives with us, and frequently calls me telling he needs me to bake him more brownies (he's my best friend).

University 101, although I hate hate hate walking from Columbia Hall to West quad at the end of each day on Tuesdays and Thursdays ( :( ) has been nice to have because it's a relaxing and laid back class that doesn't cause too much stress like the other classes. It's also nice getting to know my classmates and have a GroupMe with them in it rather than just being in a big room full of people who I'll probably never personally connect with. I really liked hearing about everyones life lines and learning more about each individual. I also like the cookies we get too (doesn't make me feel bad eating them since I know I'll work it off on my hike back to good ole Cola Hall). 

This is a really long blog... but I guess I have a lot to say since this was a pretty big transition. Hopefully this is kind of what you guys were looking for. :)