My First Day of College

Sorry about the exceedingly lame blog post titles. I can't ever think of anything creative...

Anyway. I have so much I want to tell you guys, theses last few days have been crazy. But, since I have been so busy, I haven't had much time to write about all the stuff I've been busy doing! Weird how that works, huh? So I've decided to restrain myself to one of my most unique experiences thus far, my first day here at Wellesley.

The morning started with moving into my dorm. It wasn't nearly as hectic as I anticipated, we waited for about an hour after the dorms opened so we wouldn't have to deal with the rush. Plus I'm on the ground floor (I mean, really ground floor, the first floor is above me) so I didn't have to wait for any elevators. Our room was bigger than expected, but of course that was before there were three people and all of their stuff in it (I'm in a triple). It doesn't seem that big anymore... One entire wall is windows, which we all love.

Most of the rest of my day was spent wandering the campus with my mom. I went and got my ID card, I went to the greenhouse and got a free plant, and I attended random seminars, none of which really provided any important information that I didn't know already. It reminded me of the first day of middle or high school when in every class you go over mostly pointless information about the class and learn the same rules 10 different times (sorry teachers, but its true).

Finally, the time came for my mom and I to say our final goodbyes. In the back of my mind I had been dreading this moment all day. However, in the end it was surprisingly (and blessedly) not dramatic. I had another event I needed to go to in a few minutes, so it was pretty hurried. In a way this informal goodbye was reassuring to me. It made me realize that she is still my mom, she will still be there for me, and there is really no reason for a big goodbye when I can talk to her on the phone any time.

We still had a lot we had to do later that night. (Our theory is that the school is trying to keep us so busy our first week that we forget to be homesick.) Once we were walking back to our dorms after a presentation somewhere and it was dark outside. Our campus is beautiful, so walking through it, even in the dark, is a wonderful experience. As we were walking, suddenly I heard an exclamation and I looked up. Across the street from us, slowly meandering down the road, was a deer. The moonlight was shining brightly through the trees, and behind the deer was the beautiful chapel we have here on campus. It was an incredible moment, and it made me very happy that I get to live in this place for the next four years!

Once we were back at our dorms, we had a meeting for our residence hall staff to explain to us what to do if we're on fire and that sort of thing. (We also had a small dance party, learned our dorm cheers, and all of our RA's sang a spoof on Call Me Maybe. This is college after all, boring meetings just aren't their style.) They made sure we knew what to do in the case of a fire alarm, and told us that whenever we evacuated the building for a fire alarm, we had to grab our towels. The towel would allow us to keep the smoke out of our faces, open hot door knobs, that sort of thing. (When I think about it now it sounds really stupid, I should have figured out what was going on...)

After that we were finally able to go back to our rooms. It felt very nice after a long day to relax a little bit. My roommates and I were standing in our room talking when it happened. What happened, you ask? The fire alarm went off. Our RA came down the hallway making sure we all got out of our rooms and making sure we had our towels. Everyone in the building filed outside to the place where we had been told to wait during a fire alarm,  but we were urged to keep going. It wasn't until we were halfway across campus that I realized this was no normal fire drill. We marched across campus shouting our residence hall cheers at the top of our lungs and, sure enough, soon we arrived at the lake. The moon provided just enough light for me to see that there were already several girls in the water. My roommates and I looked at each other, found a place to put our towels and cell phones, and joined in the fun (fully clothed, just in case you were worried.) While totally not something I would normally do, it was the perfect way to end my first day of college. You have not experienced crazy until you have been in the middle of 600 screaming girls all wading into a dark, sea-weed filled lake. The water was warm, and the moon peeking through the clouds provided the perfect lighting for the occasion. I don't think I will ever forget what it felt like there in that water, with my new roommates by my side, surrounded by darkness and unfamiliar faces. It was surreal and, surprisingly, wonderful.

A lot has happened since that night which has been equally as strange and wonderful. That will have to be a story for another time I am afraid, because I have to register for classes in the morning and it is getting very late! But things are going well so far :)

The Last Time

As I prepare to leave for Wellesley in 2 days (2 days? What?!) there are more and more things each day that I am doing for the last time, at least for a few months. Today was the last time I got to babysit my little cousins, and probably the last time I get to see one of my best friends in the whole world, Kelly Klos. Tonight was the last time I will eat dinner with my parents. Tonight is the last time I will sleep with my cat, and tomorrow morning will be the last time I wake up to the sound of my cockatiel singing. Tomorrow night will be the last time I get to sleep in my bed. Tomorrow will be the last time I get to eat home cooked food, or not have to use a communal bathroom, or have a bedroom to myself. Tomorrow will be the last full day I spend in Minnesota!

There is only one thing that makes me feel better. Soon, rather than doing everything for the last time, everything I do will be for the first time! And I just have to remind myself, that is precisely why I am  moving somewhere new for college.

But why does leaving have to be so bittersweet?

God's Sense of Humor (Plus Some Blog Updates)

If anybody ever tells you that God doesn't have a sense of humor, don't believe them...

Let me start from the beginning. Last Saturday I lost something very important. I looked EVERYWHERE in the house for it. I actually had trouble sleeping because I was so annoyed with myself for losing it, and I was trying to think of anywhere else it could have gone. I distinctly remembered placing it in a specific place on my dresser, and it was no longer there. (I'm sure you all know how that goes.)

The next day at church I kept praying about it. The sermon was about how God backed the Israelites into a corner at the Red Sea, and they thought they were going to die because they had nowhere to run to. And we all know what God did in that situation, he kindly moved the Sea out of the way for them so they could escape their seemingly hopeless situation. I thought, perhaps He is talking to me and He will provide a solution to my problem too! (The item I lost was not a big deal, but at the time it seemed very dramatic to me.)

Well, God did answer my prayers. About an hour after I got home I found what I was looking for. Well, you're asking, what does this have to do with God's sense of humor? I found the item in my Bible case (where I would have found it if I had thought to open my Bible the night before instead of just frantically searching the house). I think He was trying to tell me something...

Also I just wanted to point out a couple of things to you guys that you may not have noticed about my blog. If you don't want to worry about having to check for new blog posts, there is a place on the right side of the page where you can subscribe to receive all new posts in your email. Just follow the instructions, you will have to click on a link in an email they send you to confirm the subscription. I tried it myself so it should work fine, just let me know if you have any problems with it. I also added a tab at the top of the page with my contact information in case you want my email address or my new address at school. (I did not want to publicize my phone number, if you want it you can ask me personally and I will give it to you.)

Only 5 more days until I go to Boston! (I don't know why I am still working on this blog post, I should be packing...)

The Beginning

As most of you probably know, I am moving very soon to Massachusetts to attend Wellesley College. In fact, I leave one week from today. I am so excited to start this new adventure, but there are also many things that make leaving hard. Probably the most difficult thing for me is leaving behind all of the people here that I love so much.

I am bad at keeping in contact with people that I don't see every day. I know that I won't often remember to email or call or send a letter to most of you. So, I came up with an idea - if I started a blog to talk about the experiences I am having, that would allow all of you to find out what is going on in my life (even if I do forget to personally tell you about it).

That being said, I named this blog 'correspondence' for a reason. It means an exchange of letters, not just one-way communication. So my hope is that this would inspire you all to keep in contact with me, too. I want to know what is going on in your lives. I want to hear how you are doing. I would love it if you would take the time to write me a letter, give me a call, send me an email or a text, or even just comment on this post. 

The hardest part is not leaving behind a place. It's leaving behind the people that are there. So if all of you would make an effort to keep in touch with me, I'll have a piece of home with me, no matter where I go.