Excuse me while I remind myself…
Don’t you hate being reminded of something you THOUGHT you already knew? I don’t know about the rest of you, but it humbles me every time.
I have been ridiculously excited for the past few months about moving into my new apartment this weekend. I had planned everything around a June 1st move-in date.
God giggles at my plans.
I found out yesterday that the people who are currently in the apartment have no intention of moving out until the last minute of their lease (May 31st). If you have a calendar handy, you’ve probably already surmised that this is a Saturday. June 1st, the day I have started paying for the apartment, is a Sunday.
However.
My roommates and I are not allowed to move in until the apartment maintenance people have replaced the carpets, repainted the rooms, and made repairs. Which I assume they would not do on a Sunday. Or even get done in one day. No one ever seems to be in a rush when they do these things.
The issue: I am only permitted to stay in the dorms until tomorrow.
This leaves me a transient for at least a few days. Can’t move forward, can’t move back. Can’t go home for this time period because home is too far from work. Work is imperative because of the whole “money” phenomenon…
Thank goodness for Big Sister’s couch!
Alas, plan your life in pencil. And pray A LOT.
Because the awesome, loving God we serve DEFINITELY has a sense of humor!
A few college tips
A couple of you have asked me to write a little about college. Its ALLLLLLL about survival skills, my friends! Never in my life have I better understood the phrase “broke as a college student”. That may also be because this is my first and only time to ever BE a college student…
But I digress.
So, in no particular order, here are some tips for surviving college. Feel free to pass them on to anyone you may know who is about to enter the craziness. These are what have helped me survive.
1. Avoid the campus bookstore at all costs! They charge you sometimes $150 for a single book and when it comes time to sell it back, they will only give you $25-$30 for it. My suggestion is that the new student make as many friends as possible with people of similar majors and organize some sort of annual book swap. This would, of course, assume you also have books to swap with people, which brings me to my next tip.
2. When buying books, buy them online from Amazon or something OR occasionally you will find the book at a Half Price Books store. MUCH cheaper. You will, undoubtedly, have to visit the campus bookstore before all of this because they have the lists of what books you need in which class. Just stay strong, and DON’T buy them there. Unless of course, you want to pay a ridiculous amount.
3. Most dorms you stay in will force you to buy a meal plan alongside paying for your room. I will just tell you, the food most cafeterias serve is NOT worth the price. And it sometimes moves. On its own. However, most cafs have a salad bar or cereal or sandwich option. Those are money, my friends. And even if you’re not hungry, GO ANYWAY! Otherwise you are just wasting your own money. Take some dry cereal or fruit or a drink to go. Store it in your room. Trust me, when the late-night hunger pangs hit you, you’ll be glad for your hoarding tendencies.
4. Wear your jeans! I know in college, people are tempted everyday to just slide out of bed and go to class in sweats and a ponytail. Ponytail, I get. Sweats, try not to. If you spend the extra half-second it takes to pull on a pair of jeans, it could save you from the dreaded Freshman Fifteen. Sweats, with their elastic waistband, don’t exactly let you know when you’ve had one too many desserts or potato chips. Jeans, however, don’t lie. Its against their moral code. Wearing jeans (with their at-times unforgiving waistband) will give you a gentle reminder every now and then to maybe skip on the dessert bar and have some fruit instead. You’ll walk away from freshman year with your same-size waistline, and won’t have to spend the next three years moaning about the weight that won’t come off.
5. Join groups or intermural teams, even if its just for one semester. Its so easy to just sit around your dorm room thinking that because you’re in college, people will come to you. Its not really like that like it is in random movies. Go out and get involved! You’ll make awesome memories and meet some new best friends!
(As a side note, two of the girls I’m moving into the apartment with are people I met while playing powderpuff football… And no, I’m not really that tough.. or athletic.. It was actually quite comical.)
Well, there you have it! My top five tips for surviving college! The whole “study and get good grades” thing is understood. (p.s. going for extra credit in college is MUCH more socially acceptable than it was in middle/high school)
Lastly, blogging during class?
I plead the fifth.
Hello out there!
Ok, ok, I know I did not get near the amount of traffic/commenters that more established blogs get daily. But the few comments/messages I did get were VERY appreciated!! Especially since some of them came from women whose blogs I have been reading now for a while. A long while.
I admit, I sat at the computer, staring it down in anticipation, and becoming thoroughly over-excited when a new comment or message came through. I think something sounding alot like the Cookie Monster giggle was involved.
Ahem.
I thought that in this, my second-ever blog, I would tell you a little bit more about myself and my situation, for any who are remotely interested. If not, I totally understand. And may I suggest Spider Solitaire as a fun alternative? My current high score on medium level is 1290. I kind of suck at it.
As you have probably read elsewhere, I am a senior at a university in Texas. It is a Christian school with at-times RIDICULOUS rules, but overall its been a good ride. My major is communications and minor is business. Since school is pretty expensive and I am pretty broke, I am putting my nose to the grindstone to make sure that my May 2009 graduation date holds up. Therefore, the next year of my life should be fairly insane. This blog is my way of inviting you along for the journey.
After graduation, if you don’t hear from me in a while, I would highly suggest sending search parties. There is a good chance you may find me wandering around somewhere, cross-eyed, tousle-haired, and muttering something about pythagorean theorums.
I am not married, and looking at my past history with men I have doubts of it ever happening. Its gonna take one awesome guy to change my mind about that! (Please Lord, please please please let him be out there somewhere!!) But in the meantime, I have an amazing family to be with! Its actually quite entertaining discussing the different aspects of them, because my dad and his side of the family are VERY Texan. Accents, home decorations, hunting, morals, you name it. On the other hand, my mom’s side of the family is very, well, “quirky” is a good word. Family get-togethers should be tv specials.
In about a week or so, I am moving into my first apartment!!! Ok, its on-campus, and alright, its with 3 other people, but let me have my moment! I am moving in with three of my very good friends which I am EXTREMELY excited about! Especially since the first roommate I had turned out to be a little disappointing.
Well that’s me in a nutshell! Writing all of that out gave me plenty of ideas for future blogs, so I feel better about coming up with stuff! Again, comments/messages are always a thrill for me, so please feel free!!
And I’m not guaranteeing the Cookie Monster giggle won’t rear its ugly head again.
Anyone want to give a girl some tips?
Well, here I am. Blogging.
I am already so lost.
I started this blog as a brain-dump, and a way to finally have some credence with the blogs I love instead of just being a “lurker”. Also, the women whose blogs I have been reading for so long inspired me with their stories. If I can be a small part of that, then my confusion right now seems totally worth it…
I am a college student living in Texas, completely broke as well as completely bewildered by the fact that I have many, many people asking me the exact, set-in-stone plan I have for my life.
I generally respond with a quick change of the subject.
One of my favorite quotes is one that I have heard pretty recently, and it has become my mantra: “If you’re going to plan your life, plan it in pencil.” Thus, the name of my blog. (Whoever first said that quote is a genius in my book…)
Anyone who has read this or has any tips for blogging, site decoration (free is my favorite price), or any other tidbits, I would be completely in your debt!!
Which is kind of a theme of this time period of my life.
*****Edit: I will totally admit that in true college-student fashion, I made this account and wrote my first-ever blog while sitting in class. My momma would be so proud…
