Appreciation and Surviving

I'm still alive.
Barely.
It's not the 60+ pages of reading per class that has me down, or the assignments in Algebra (on the contrary, I find most of the reading riviting and the algebra slightly fun because it's easy-so far), and I can't begin to say how much fun I have learning to respond to other people's writing in Advanced Writing. No, it's not my classes that have me flinching in fear.
They are hairy, they are small, and the arctic pressure wash inside is almost painful. It's the showers.  I'm not a germaphobe. I've never flung to the side of a mud hole in soccer and I've considered dust bunnies my friend. I'll play with my cats and dog and eat a sandwich after, without washing my hands. But this is a different matter. It's other people's hair. Long hair, blond hair, red hair, moose hair on the shower wall practically lines the tiles. And refuses to wash away. I spend a quarter of my allotted time staring into the dark space, fighting to overcome the urge to not shower for my urge to feel hygienic. Though thinking I'll feel hygienic after a shower in there seems to be counterproductive. I spend another half of my time trying to fling enough water at the walls so I can see stop feeling like the walls are lined in fur rather than tile. I have seen the janitor in the bathrooms, his bright yellow sign warning that he is in there and we are not to enter. So I have to assume that he cleans the showers at least some of the time. So does the hair grow back? Or do the girls sense the tiles are finally clean and rush forth to make it otherwise? Needless to say, going home this last weekend was amazing. I've never missed a clean shower so much. I will never ever take advantage of a shower without hair ever again.

I'll be posting a piece I wrote for Advanced Writing soon, after I edit it. My professor didn't want to rush through it in the 6 minutes we had left because he said "it's too good to rush through." I took this as a sign that he didn't hate it. Score one. Now I have to brave my armor for Wednesday's read through and listening to what people thought. I've never had to do that before, aside from kids in my Literary Arts class vague "Yeah, that was good." This group seems a bit hardcore. It's going to be interesting.

Time to get back to work: 60 pages of reading for one class, several more for another, studying to do in astronomy, a math assignment to do, and a 'personality quiz' to take for my FYE class. Should be fun!

Starting Fresh

My friend wasn't kidding when she said if I looked around, it would be hard not to find at least one party a night. I haven't had to look. Already, someone has come in offering to go take some shots, someone talking about a hockey party, a basketball party, and some other random party someone else found out about though someone in another dorm. It's my second night at BSU and classes haven't started yet.

I am starting to realize that knowing what goes on in a college and actually being at a college and having it all around me are two different things. I knew that there would be partying. I now know that I don't look like I drink (whatever the heck that was supposed to mean) and that while everyone is telling me to go socialize, there is no point when I'm the only person who isn't drinking.

When I look out my window I see the setting sun, a horizon of dull salmon drifts across the sky; a similar but more colorful fog to what I awoke to at seven this morning. Looking a little lower, it looks like a field of dark leaves stretch to mingle with what is left of the setting sun. Something closer to home (or the dorm), is a car park, the place my yoga class is supposed to be (I say supposed to be because no one really knows where it is. The instructor isn't listed on the BSU website either), and a highway. Not exactly a lake side view (that's on the other end of my dorm), but from the ninth floor of a twelve floor dorm, it's not exactly looking into the bowels of a leech either. 

I'm excited to start my classes. Right now, it feels like there is too much down time. I wonder if the partying will slow any once the semester begins. I'm going to assume not. I'm sure I'll be begging for down time by the time I have to start studying, but for now, going to class would be a nice break in the monotony. Luckily, my friend and her kids will be coming by to see the dorm tomorrow and to go for a coffee at Dunn Bros. I'm going to try track down the non-existent Yoga classroom and my other Ed Arts, Stuttgart, and Hagg-Sauer classrooms.

So I'm starting fresh. Something I've always wanted to do (while living in one place my whole life is nice, it also left me begging for a new face, one who didn't watch all my embarrassing moments growing up). Let's see how long I survive.

In the Beginning

Enter: freshman college student, struggling writer, and idealist.
I've started this blog as a window view into my new experiences as I throw myself through college, attempt to travel the world, and struggle to write my way into the unknown. I'll be posting new pieces as they come to life and now and then interrupting with my two cents worth as the world spins madly on.

I'm about to enter a college that has been so highly recommended, so highly regarded by those who fed my obsession with literature and writing. This is not the only reason I chose to attend Bemidji State. No, just because this college has been talked up since (almost) the day I walked in to Lincoln High as a freshman, doesn't mean it was the top of my list. Almost. I decided on enrolling into one of the nation's highest ranked schools for earning educational degrees (as the announcer claimed at orientation) for several reasons.
One: it's on a lake, so the campus is very pretty. Great place to write and be inspired by while sitting under a giant tree. It's the closest thing to the ocean I'll get to in MN.
Two: there are hills. The closest thing to mountains I'll get in MN.
Three: It's close to my family (my grandparents, parents, brother, his fiance, and their beautiful daughter Jade) but not so close that I might as well just live at home.
Four: I can major in English education and also earn a fine arts degree in creative and professional writing.  I've found not a lot of schools offer fine arts degrees.
Five: Eurospring. Ah. Traveling. If I could make a career by traveling, I would. I've been to Europe once before on the German Trip my German class went on a few years ago. We went through Germany (of course), Switzerland, Austria, France, and the northern tip of Italy. Italy by far is the most beautiful country I've ever seen, though the Alps we saw in France were pretty threatening and looming with beauty themselves. They definitely took the majority of the 2000 pictures I took on that two week trip. 

So here I am. About to enter a world of studying, studying, and more studying. And hopefully learning. Should be an interesting first week. I haven't been able to breath a word since I had my tonsils out about six days ago. Literally. I hope that by time I move in on Friday I'll be able to mutter a word here and there. Don't want my roomie to think me rude.