Surfin' in the USF

In August, I talked about going to college.

COLLEGE 

Once again, I say college. I did dual-enrollment, but that was living at home. I know other bloggers on here (hey, Lili!) blog in college, even with other responsibilities. I only hope I'll be able to juggle it all as well as they do someday. I never realized how difficult the transition would be for me. The actual schoolwork isn't so bad, but suddenly I'm procrastinating my time a lot more. 

In the first week, I tried to really put myself out there socially. I went to almost all of the events, hung out with my floormates constantly, and had a minuscule amount of "me" time. All I wanted was to watch some The Big Bang Theory, ya'll. I finally did, but was developing procrastination issues. 

But here's what's been happening so far.

I've been trying new things...

Like rowing! Okay, I quit it recently, but I stuck it out for a month. I woke up at 5am Monday to Thursday EVERY week. The practices lasted unofficially from 5:45 to 8am, possibly a little longer. Land workouts (running, core, the machines, calisthenics) and water workouts (technique on the boat) happened every week. Surprisingly, rowing has more to do with the legs than the arms. 

Not like that though.

I quit because of back issues along with other things, such as money and time. It was for the best, but I'm glad I tried it. 

But today (I'm writing this on Wednesday), I actually tried a pilates class! I have no strength whatsoever, but I tried it. I'll be doing even more fitness classes next week! 

I've made extreme progress in my TV shows.

Probably not something I should be proud of, but it's as if all that "me" time I was lacking came back in full force and I binged watched several shows I was behind in. And it's possible that I watched two seasons of Big Bang in one week. 

I read and received some pretty great books.

HELLO, Killer Instincts! I was a little nervous to start it since I LOVED the first book, but this sequel. Wow. THIS SEQUEL. It blew me away and got me really motivated to make time for reading. 

I also received the gorgeous German version of Where She Went by Gayle Forman, which I don't understand, but it'll look pretty on my shelf. Cut Me Free by J.R. Johansson came digitally to me and man, I'm excited. As well as a print version of Soulprint by Megan Miranda, thanks to Bloomsbury. 

But I think the letter from Emma was just what I needed. 

I had many breakdowns.

I'll try to not spend too much time in this negative portion, but I think that it's important to say that I cried. A lot. It's embarrassing how much I did in these last two weeks. Depressing phone calls to my parents, feeling overwhelmed, hating change...it all happened. And again, I wonder, WHY IS THIS NOT PORTRAYED IN FICTION? I give major props to Fangirl because it is the ONLY book I've read (or heard of) that has done this. Rainbow Rowell writes Cath's transition perfectly in my opinion. Props to them. Now let's get more out there so I can feel normal. 

Food and I have an even more intense love/hate relationship.

Well, first you have emotional eating. Then you have proximity eating (meaning, I'm in my dorm, the banana nut cheerios and peanut butter are RIGHT THERE). Dining halls and dining dollars (stuff you get with your mandatory meal plan that gets you "free" food on the onsite restaurants...hello, Jamba Juice and Chick-Fil-A!). And no homemade meals. And a college student's budget. I go to the gym, but I've definitely had anxiety about weight. 

But I know who my friends are.

I've had difficulty with people here. Mainly, one girl on my floor. I've never had a bully before, but she's a semi-one. While we were undeniably close in the first few weeks, I realized she's not someone I want to be around, especially under that treatment. At the same time, I've gotten texts and calls and even visits from my friends back home. I never communicated my problems here with them, but I believe they sensed I needed them. 

I've also gotten lots of support from bloggers (you know who you are). 

Next week, I'll be doing more fitness classes. I've already done Zumba and Pilates, but I want to try something I've never heard of before. I'll hopefully try out the fencing club. I'll be trying out this other Christian organization. I'll be motivating myself to get on top of visiting blogs and working on my own...but not feeling guilty if I fail. I'll be pushing myself, but still maintaing my TV shows, let's be honest. 

I'm still getting used to USF and pushing down fears of doubt, but at least it's normal. (It IS normal, yes?) And there's your super long catch-up post. If you made it through, congrats! 

Is transition this hard for you? What was your college experience? 

Review: ROOMIES by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando

Title: Roomies
Authors: Sara Zarr, Tara Altebrando
Publication date: December 24, 2013
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers

It's time to meet your new roomie.

When East Coast native Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment, she shoots off an e-mail to coordinate the basics: television, microwave, mini-fridge. That first note to San Franciscan Lauren sparks a series of e-mails that alters the landscape of each girl's summer -- and raises questions about how two girls who are so different will ever share a dorm room.

As the countdown to college begins, life at home becomes increasingly complex. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives . . . and each other. Even though they've never met.

I thought it was fitting to read this since I was transitioning to college myself only a couple days after I finished. To me, this was actually realistic. While Elizabeth, called EB throughout, is from the East Coast, she's moving to California for college. I thought this unlikely considering her familial situation until she mentioned all the loans she's taking out. Because if I can barely go to college IN state, then how could she go to college OUT of state? When authors casually have their characters go out of state, making it seem like all the tuition is the same, it makes me grumble about the story.  Thankfully, that didn't really happen here. 

On the other hand, we have Lauren, the first born out of many who is trying to have enough money to go to the same college just a little bit away and in the same state. I felt THAT was really realistic. I didn't have this SUPER connection with either of them, but homesickness-wise, I knew where Lauren was coming from. I think I even liked her more than EB, but both had their positives. 

The romance is where I cross the line from one roomie to the other. Lauren's romantic prospect outweighed EB's WAY more. Way, way more. Lauren actually knew her guy before, they had a realistic rough patch, and I could see the connection between the two. For EB, that wasn't the case. It felt too much like insta-love for me. I kept going back and forth between whether or not EB should've even had a love interest because it seemed useless. But I can see the authors wanting to portray a different side, kind of like a summer fling. Their feelings for each other felt too rushed though. 

Because I just moved to college, I liked how the authors made the whole transition for each of the girls relatable. It's stressful. Emotions are running high. Conflicts arise. Fears heighten. Everything just seems a little too MUCH at once. Lauren is dealing with insecurity, change, and homesickness before she even leaves home. EB is dealing with leaving everything behind, her family, and unmet expectations. They have problems with each other. They have problems with people around them. THAT'S NORMAL. For me, I felt like I became snappier through the transition because of stress and the newness of it all. When I had a rooommate glitch, I just finished the book, which meant I had gone through EB and Lauren's glitches. I can't say how much that actually helped me, to have read someone else's problem's, even though they were fictional.

I might have problems here and there with the story, but overall, it was just what I needed.

Verdict: Realistic, fun story of two future roommates before school starts. 

To promote the book way back when it was first published, they had people tell their roommate stories. What was your roommate story? 

College: Where the Crazies Are

I go to a local college about thirty minutes away from where I live. I'm part-time college and part-time high school*, taking only a couple of classes. One of which is Composition 1. It's a small room with only a few rows on each side of the room. We have a projection screen and a dry-erase board. I sit in the second to last row on the end and can basically see the whole room except for the two people who sit behind me.

If you have ever gone or are going to college, you know there's a variety of people. In my composition class, you see it very clearly. Let me describe a few people to you: 

The Hippie. She always has her short, black hair in pigtails, wears some form of tie-dye every class, and has a huge, colorful peace sign tattoo on the back of her neck. Seriously, her tattoo has rays of rainbow coming out of the peace sign. She's also very loud and very annoying. I don't think my professor (let's call her Ms. Oak) even likes her. We just submitted our paper in a week or two ago and she has non-stopped asked for it. Every Tuesday and Thursday: "Ms. Oak, when are we getting our papers back?" And EVERY time, our professor replies with the same day (we always get our papers back after two weeks, no more or no less). 

Well, she asks again on a Tuesday and Ms. Oak says next week. On Thursday, guess what happens. Just guess. That's right, she asks, "Are we getting our paper back today?" 

The girl next to me and I rolled our eyes in unison. I then found out that the Hippie made her paper 10 pages instead of the 2-3 page limit. Goodness. 

The Kevins

You know, I really do try to get along with everyone. I befriend the shy people, I stick by the loud ones, I suck it up when I’m around slightly annoying people. I even give multiple chances to people who have ditched me occasionally. But then there’s some people who I really don’t want anything to do with. One group of people who fall under that category is the know-it-all’s.

Oh, everyone has that certain someone in their life. If you don’t, you’re either very lucky or an a know-it-all yourself. Because I know at least three people who are under the category of being a royal pain.

Let me introduce you to my college class on one particular Thursday. We were assigned randomly in groups to do a project. Individually, we had to save six out of sixteen imaginary people. As a group, you had to fight for the people you wanted to saved. My professor (I’ll call him Dr. Paul) told us that we also had to give in a couple times though. With seven people in a group, it was impossible to have all of the people each of us wanted. He also instructed that if there was a conflict on a person, we vote and majority wins.

One punk in my group decided to buck against that statement.