"Through crimson stars and silent stars and tumbling nebulas like oceans set on fire. Through empires of glass and civilizations of pure thought. And a whole terrible wonderful universe of possibilities."
Wow! It's been almost a month since I've updated - sorry that time has gotten away from me!
Things are going really well in college. I'd be lying if I said I hated it - I'm learning so much, and not just in my classes. Sure, I can now explain to you how to tell if early hominins were capable of bipedal locomotion based on the location of their foramen magnum, and I've learned to analyze world affairs based on liberal and realist perspectives. But I'm learning more than just academic information.
I'm learning how to deal with being lonely, for one thing. I always thought I was such an independent person, and I still believe that. I can spend hours and hours on my own, wandering around campus or walking along the bike trails with my music or sitting in the gardens writing. But some days I feel like I've spent just a few too many minutes on my own and I start to get a little lonely. That's okay - it's important to know how to be by yourself, because at the end of the day you've only got yourself to live with. And I prefer to be by myself most of the time, so that helps. But some days are tougher than others, especially when your friends start pairing themselves off with men, and they start to wonder why you're not with someone. Truth be told, I don't know that I have anyone in my life I want to spend that much time with. Maybe someday.
I'm also learning not to talk to strangers! College kids are extremely friendly, sometimes a little too friendly, and I oftentimes find myself in situations I didn't mean to get into.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I'm learning that not everyone likes the music I like. This is a big deal, because I spend roughly 70% of my day listening to music - I listen while I'm getting ready in the morning, I have my earbuds in when I have time between classes, Pandora is always running in the background. But my roommate hates Dave Matthews Band and doesn't know who Bob Dylan is. My friends don't want to hear about my obsessive love with the Avett Brothers. I just ignore them - if they don't want to hear the music, they can put their headphones in :)
Some stuff I'm really loving this week:
1. Tuesday nights!! From 7 to 8:30, I sit down, shut my phone off, and take some time to chill by watching:
Glee!
AND
The New Girl, starring Zooey Deschanel. Adorable!
2. Moleskine notebooks. I use them for writing my NaNoWriMo plot ideas, songs I hear on Pandora that I want to remember, and just about anything that passes through my head that I feel is important enough to be documented.
3. ADELE! Particularly this song, "Right As Rain."
Hope everyone is having a great week! Happy Sunday, and happy fall!
What a great three day weekend. Friday I got some MUCH needed 'alone time' as my roommate went back to Columbus for Labor Day. So that was great - I ate a pizza, I watched 'Easy A', I saw Bailey, I worked out. Good stuff.
And Saturday was jam packed! It was the first Husker game of the season, so campus was a-buzz with excitement, and for the first time, I got to be apart of that! A good friend of mine has season tickets and ended up having one extra - so she asked me to come along. And it was so fun! After the game we went back to another friend's to celebrate her birthday with burgers, bonfires, and boatloads of fun!
Now I'm back on campus and, after having a great dinner with a new friend from class and a very productive newspaper meeting, I'm am just sitting in one of the lounges finishing some homework and listening to the Bathtub Dogs (for those of you who aren't college students living at UNL, the Bathtub Dogs are an all male a capella group formed on campus. They practice in Neihardt, and it's just great, if you ask me.)
Some great things that I'm really loving this week (in no particular order):
1. "Grace is Gone" - Dave Matthews Band. I love this man. And I love this song.
2. Hand sanitizer. I got the cold first, and now my roommate has it. Here's to not getting it again!
3. GLEE Guys on Love Songs. Please just listen to Chris speak at the end. He really captures how I've felt all these years about "Toot It and Boot It"
4. The Lincoln Farmer's Market. Good music, good food, good people. I like hanging out there Saturday mornings.
(This is not a picture of the actual farmer's market, by the way. This is just from the internet.)
5. This website. Just doing some planning, you know ;)
Well! I did it. I am an official college student now! Are you proud of me yet?! I'm actually a little proud of myself.
College is great fun. I don't know if anyone has told you otherwise, but they were wrong. It's fantastic here. I can come and go as I please, and I learn responsibility on my own. Already in these first few days, I've been learning to take initiative, speak up when I have something to say, accept the fact that I can't do everything, learn to say no politely, and learn to properly address professors. I've also learned how to study for three and a half hours straight, take a break for dinner, and then study for another two (That's the fun part, let me tell you).
So here's a rundown on my classes:
Intro to International Relations - My professor for this class is very passionate, and loves to hear our opinions, which is something a little new to me. I have only been in a handful of classes where the professor engaged us in conversation in order to hear OUR side of the story. But it's great! So far this week we've watched Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, and done a lot of reading from the textbook.
Intro to Pre-History - Not really sure what to think of this class so far. Our professor told us the first day that our final exam was optional, and then today we had to interview random people around campus about 'the past.' So the jury is still out on this one.
French 202 - I signed up for this class with the knowledge that the professor was going to be the woman in charge of the French department. In fact, it is a fast paced man from the Congo who loves 'get to know you' activities. He is hilarious! It's nice to get back into French again. (Hopefully a Study-Abroad trip will come out of it, too!)
University Chorale - This is the time of day where I get to spend time with the music students, AKA a bunch of kids who love singing and sharing their feelings. It's kind of nice having something familiar.
Intro to Philosophy - My professor is a Japanese woman with a British accent, so a lot of the time I feel like I'm at Hogwarts. Philosophy is going to be TOUGH! I've had a lot of reading so far, and I have to spend a lot of time focusing on it. However, once I finish the reading, I always feel more accomplished and a little smarter, too. So this is going to be a good one.
Art and the Search for Meaning in Life - This is my Honor's Seminar, and on the first day, our professor spent a lot of time talking to us about how this should be a 'sanctuary from the outside world' and we should 'be able to share our feelings without being afraid of judgement.' AKA "Let's share our feelings with each other." But I don't really mind because it's mainly a reading and writing class - and those are my two favorite things!
EN Thompson Forum - This meets once a week at 5 in my residence hall, and it is going to be challenging! It's a mostly conversational class, as we discuss world issues and prepare for upcoming lecturers who will give presentations at UNL. I am not a very vocal person, nor do I enjoy confrontation, so this class could be difficult. I do think, though, that with a mere 11 kids in the class, I will find my voice and share my opinion.
So those are my classes! My residence hall is great, too, and my roommate is very sweet. We get along well and are starting to get into a better routine now that we've been living together for a few days. She stays up later and sleeps later than I do, but I've learned how to use my phone as an alarm clock so as not to wake her up.
Other interesting things I've learned since being at college:
1. I can kill two birds with one stone if I workout while listening to news podcasts on my iPod. That way, I have a great idea of what is going on in the world without having to click though a lot of worthless links on the newspaper websites.
2. The food in the dining halls is actually very good here. Surprise, right?! So far Mini-Pizza day has been the best :)
3. Neihardt (my residence hall) has great study rooms: Two beautiful, big parlors decorated in Victorian-era furniture, a courtyard with iron wrought fences and decorative chairs and a big, expansive lawn, and (my personal favorite), a long hallway that has been dubbed "the Harry Potter hallway" because...well, just because it looks like a Hogwarts hallway.
Kind of like this! Except instead of those benches on the left, there are desks along the hall.
The second day was the hardest adjustment - my roommate had just moved in and I was sort of mourning the loss of my personal space. However, there were a few things I did to combat that, including:
1. Plastering this poster along the wall and putting a chair in the back corner under my lofted bed to create a sort of "Adrienne corner" where no one can disturb me.
2. Taking long walks around our dorm, finding secret hallways and exploring little parlors and rooms. This was what I did oftentimes when I felt homesick at Bard. The scenery there was so pretty! It's pretty nice here too.
3. Listening to this song. And yes, I realize this isn't a song that really discusses any of the feelings I might have had about going to college, but for some reason, listening to it on repeat was very soothing for me.
It's probably because Darren Criss is the lead singer. Whatevs.
4. Using Tumblr, a website that one of my close friends Amy recommended to me. It has funny pictures and videos and animations on it - searching "Harry Potter Funny" in the tags gave me lots of amusement.
5. Calling on the telephone. Cosmo recently came out with this study about how texting people isn't as comforting as calling them on the phone (and no, you may not judge the validity of the article just because it is from Cosmo. Jeez). So I've spent quite a bit of time talking to my parents and my best friend on the phone. Hearing their voices is soothing.
Overall, college is so great so far! I'm learning a lot about time management, especially since I thought I had great time management skills before - college just fine tunes them, I suppose. I love the people and the atmosphere here, and I am so grateful for this opportunity!
Tomorrow I leave to go live in the big, scary world all by my lonesome. I'm so excited, and a little nervous too, mainly because my roommate doesn't know who Bob Dylan is (if you don't either, shame on you! Go here and have a listen. You'll love it!) Yeah, I know it's a small thing. But I grew up with Bob. He's a legend, an icon. And it's weird to me that not everyone knows (and loves) him.
I'm so excited to move, though. I can't wait for this independence, the chance to live on my own and make my own messes and learn to clean them up, too. I can't wait to meet new friends, and I plan to take this second chance seriously - I want friends with ambition, compassion, intelligence. I don't want to settle.
Tomorrow I leave to go live in the big, scary world all by my lonesome. But really, I won't be alone. I'm taking the love and lessons that my parents gave me, everything from knowledge on how to reset my computer when the Internet won't work to knowledge on how to say, "I'm sorry, I'm busy!" This is the song that will remind me of them the most while I'm away:
"Where You Lead" - Carole King and daughter, Louise Goffin
I'm also taking friends who love me and care for me, and want me to do my best and live my boldest. They have taught me so much, allowed me to grow and change without judging me, and have continued to let me know how much they would do for me, just by being there when I need them.
Over the years, I've also collected a handful of important movie and TV characters that have taught me lessons in humility, tolerance, and compassion. They've taught me how to love, how to get through disappointment, and how to forgive others. Clearly I can't leave them behind! I'll be taking the following with me to college:
Lorelai and Rory Gilmore (the Gilmore Girls), who have taught me to dream big, travel often, read insatiably, and talk to your mother!
Brooke Davis and the cast of One Tree Hill, who taught me that above all your friends are more important than money and fame, fortune and winnings. Treat them with kindness and respect, and use them as your ultimate source of comfort and love.
Dr. House, who taught me to question everything and believe that above all, people lie. It is up to us to figure out why they're lying and what or who they are trying to protect.
Harry Potter, Ron, and Hermione, who taught me about love, friendship, loyalty, and doing the right thing even when it is the toughest thing.
And finally, there are some pretty influential musicians that I'll be taking with me, too. Musicians whose music has gotten me through some of the greatest and toughest times in my life: Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews Band, Bonnie Raitt, Sonny and Cher, The Avett Brothers, The Band, Paul Simon, Billy Joel...I could go on and on. But I won't, don't worry.
So somehow, I feel as though I'm not going at this alone. And that, my friends, is a liberating and exciting thought.
I'm just a regular girl who is trying to live a life worth remembering. Getting interested in things like playing the ukulele, eating a record amount of Red Mango, roadtripping, and watching One Tree Hill.
