As The Semester Winds Down....

It absolutely blows my mind that I'm 8 days from being HOME and DONE with this semester! It definitely doesn't feel that close, probably because there is SO much that has to be done between now and then! And probably because I literally have not done anything except study it seems like lately. Yesterday I was at Evans studying from 11-4, took a dinner break, and then was at the MedSci Library from 7-2. A VAST majority of that time was spent working on the worst class to ever grace this beautiful campus -- Chemistry. BLECH!!

This next week is essentially devoted to studying. I'm done with classes, and have already taken 2 finals (chemistry lab and my education class). I have 2 finals, an optional final (that I haven't decided if I'm taking yet), and a paper that is standing between me and sweet sweet summertime!

Outside of studying, there are quite a few things that I'm looking forward to between now and when I move home. Tomorrow night I'm going to dinner with Allie and then it's an all praise and worship Breakaway. On Wednesday I'm running in an "Amazing Race" with Katie, Jen, and two other polo girls. The Amazing Race is kinda like a scavenger hunt across campus -- should be fun! On Friday I will take my chemistry final (AHHH!!!), but then as a mini reward for studying all week and surviving that class I have a Cho-Yeh party to go to. It will be the last time that I get to see a lot of the people who aren't going back to camp this summer, so that's kinda sad, but it will be good to just relax and hang out with those sweet friends who I don't get to see nearly enough! Saturday and Sunday will be devoted to studying for my math final on Monday, and writing my part of a group paper that is due on Tuesday. I have an optional final in Geography on Monday too, and so if I decide to take that I will need to study for that too. Essentially, I need a 94 on that final to get an A in the class. The highest I've ever made on her tests are 88's. I'm debating if it's worth taking the final which is known for being harder than a rock and taking away study time from math where I am also borderline A/B. Soooo we shall see. I haven't really decided yet. We will see if I have any brainpower left after chemistry on Friday!

So yes, I take my LAST final of my freshman year on Monday. Then all of Monday I'm packing up my stuff, and then I think Genny and I are spending our last night together being silly and goofy. My parents are coming Tuesday morning to help me load up all of my stuff into 3 vehicles (I've gathered A LOT of stuff....). I have to turn in a paper on Tuesday afternoon and once that is done, I will be heading HOME!!!

I'm excited to be able to relax at home. I'm excited to be able to spend my birthday at home (for the first time in 4 years I won't be having to study for AP tests!!). I'm looking forward to hanging out with Carley and going shopping for a dress to wear for Laura's wedding. I'm making some costumes for camp. I need to pack for camp aswell. I have Laura's bachelorette party weekend. I'm looking forward to many ice-cream dates with Renee. I'm excited to hopefully have time to just relax and not have to going going going going going.

But until then, I'm studying. And spending as much time as possible with these precious friends that I have made here this semester! I forget that everybody else is going home too, and not everybody is from Houston! Jen is from New Mexico. Katie is from San Antonio, but is spending the summer in Tunisia (Northeast Africa). Jana is from Houston, but is going to be getting a real person job after she graduates. It's funny, because these girls have become another "family" to me, and not seeing them for 3 months seems like a REALLY long time!!!

A Mother's Reaction

Before reading this blog, you should read this posting!

My mom called me to give me a much-needed study break from chemistry this afternoon, and was asking me about last night. I told her the full story (although I'm sure she had already read about it...), and couldn't help but laugh at her reaction...

PROUD?

I feel like most parents aren't proud when their daughter goes out on Northgate and hangs out at the bars and dance halls until 2:30 in the morning... I knew that they wouldn't be mad or disappointed, but I don't think "proud" was the reaction I was expecting that they would have.

I texted Jen, Jana and Katie and told them that my mom was proud of me for going out, and they couldn't believe it. Jen replied back "haha, I'm glad your mom approves of us making you stay out until 3am at bars!"

Oh goodness!

GIRLS NIGHT!!!

Last weekend when Jen, Katie and I were driving back to College Station, we were discussing how we all need to hang out more outside of the pool. Now that water polo is over with, we all had a bit more time to do just that!

At some point on the drive back, Jen found out that I had never been out on Northgate and so decided that she was going to be responsible for fixing that.

Northgate is the strip off of campus that has all of the College Station nightlife. There are several bars and dance halls, and is typically known for just holding all of the drunken college students at nights. Just the words “Northgate” makes me nervous, because that is not the atmosphere that I feel comfortable in. I would rather have a movie night and go to bed super early than even think about going out on Northgate. I know that some of my friends drink, and I don’t want to see them get completely wasted and then me think differently about them.

When Jen brought up that we should get a group of polo girls to have a girls night and go to Northgate, I tried to talk my way out of it as fast as I could, but eventually agreed. All week it was the talk of the polo team, and all week I just got more nervous. I knew that Katie didn’t drink, and that a couple of the other girls weren’t 21 yet either. I told Katie how completely nervous I was early on in the week, and she promised me that she wouldn’t leave my side and the second that I felt uncomfortable she would leave with me. I agreed that I would go, and tried to force myself to be as excited as the other girls were.

I am learning this semester that sometimes you have to go out with friends just for the friends, not because you particularly want to do what they are doing. This goes with movies, dinner plans, etc. And every time, even though I’m not thrilled about the activity option, I always have a blast when I do hang out with friends, and so I was hoping this would be the same way.

So last night (after texting other girls because I had no idea what I was supposed to wear or bring when going out on NG), I kinda got dressed up, and looked semi cute for the first time nearly all semester. Katie and I drove over to Jen’s apartment where we were meeting the rest of the group, having no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

Kimbre (polo freshman) was already there when we got there. Jana had called Jen quickly after saying that she had to run home to get lemons and that she and Emily (her roommate that hangs out with us a bunch) would be back in a bit. I didn’t even want to know what those were for. When Jana got back she came in with a couple bottles of alcohol, and I was like “oh great… they are planning on drinking before we even go out!” Katie must have been able to tell that I had begun to minorly freak out, and reminded me to take a deep breath. It was going to be okay.

Jana surprised me by pulling out two cans of lemonade and tossing one to Katie and I while saying “don’t think I forgot about y’all! I brought something that y’all could enjoy too”. I smiled, and for the first time all night thought that maybe this would go okay.

Jana offered Kimbre a shot and Kimbre tried but couldn’t manage to drink anything but a sip of it. The rest of the group took one, and Katie and I got a kick out of their faces. Supposedly it was supposed to taste like birthday cake and chocolate… but from the look on their faces it didn’t taste like that AT all!

After that, we decided it was time to head over to NG. Jen lives right behind it, so we were able to walk there and not have to drive (which made me really happy!!). Supposedly it was early still (it was 11:30….) and so we walked through some bars. Jen, Jana and Emily took two more shots, while Kimbre, Katie and I just laughed. I loved just watching people! The most interesting people were there! Another girl from the polo team and her roommate met up with us, and so being in a group with 7 other girls, I felt completely at ease. The camp counselor side of me definitely kicked in and I was doing headcounts and making sure I knew where everybody in our group was all night.

After walking through some of the bars, the group tried to teach Katie and I about all of the bars and the different atmospheres, “just in case we ever wanted to know”. Luckily, we skipped the gay bar! PHEW!

We ended up at Daisy Dukes, a dance hall that plays 5 country songs and then 5 rap/pop/i-don’t-know-what-to-call-it songs. I got asked to dance on a couple of the country songs, and I picked up two stepping fairly fast! When one guy asked me how much I had had to drink and I replied “Nothing, it’s just not my thing”, and swung me out and walked the other direction, I laughed as I walked back to my friends. Katie and I were experts at finding the most awkward ways to dance to songs that didn’t involved dirty dancing, and it was fun to just laugh and be goofy with them. Emily wasn’t a huge dancer, and neither am I, and so we would tend to sit off to the side and watch everybody else. People watching is so entertaining! Before we knew it, the last song of the night was playing – it was 2:30 in the morning!!

I was so glad that Jen, Jana and Emily didn’t drink too much that night. They acted like themselves all night and didn’t go crazy. It very well could have been just because they knew how uncomfortable I am with alcohol and how uneasy I was about being on Northgate – but whatever the reason, I was relieved they only drank a bit. We went back to Jen’s, and then Katie and I took Emily and Jana home. I’m sure they could have drove themselves, but when I asked if they would ride with me, they knew it would make me feel better and didn’t even argue.

I got back to my dorm around 3 and was shocked to find so many open parking spots… guess a lot of people were still out! I immediately ran through the shower because I REAKED , and then climbed into bed. Overall, it wasn’t a bad night! I had more fun that I was anticipating, and I realized that you can have a good time even in those situations. It is possible to have fun on Northgate and be completely sober. It is okay to have friends that drink, especially when they know their limits. It definitely helped being in a group of girls, and being able to use the line “GIRLS NIGHT!” when a guy wanted to dance and you didn’t want to.

Would I go back again? I think I would, depending on the group of girls. I love these so much, that even if they would have drank too much, I would have rather been there knowing I could drive them home. Overall, not a bad night! Now off to study for the rest of today!

"You Make Me Proud"

I am a people-pleaser through and through. I never want to disappoint anybody and never want to let anybody down. Sometimes I am too hard on myself because of this, and I stretch myself thin to where I'm just constantly exhausted.

I am always a person who thrives off of encouragement. When I took the 5 Love Languages quiz (highly suggest this!), my top 2 were physical touch and words of encouragement - absolutely no surprise!

When somebody takes the time out of their day to send me a quick bit of encouragement, it absolutely makes my day. Luckily I'm blessed to have Carley and Laura - two brilliant friends who are incredible at providing me that!

Oftentimes we are too busy and running too ragged in order to take the time to pause and tell somebody that we are proud of them. We don't think it matters, or we think that they already know that we are proud of them. You know what though? Sometimes a person just needs to hear that. People need to hear that we are proud of them, that we appreciate them, that they are valued and treasured, and that they are doing a great job. People thrive off of that. It really doesn't take too long in order to send a quick message of encouragement, and it so often makes that person's day. It is worth the 2 minutes it takes to send it.

I had a friend who graduated from A&M last year who played water polo and also worked at camp. For several years I looked up to her and wanted to be just like her. I would go to tournaments to watch her play, and would always meet up with her for lunch when she was home from school. I was slightly disappointed that we wouldn't ever get to play together, but was so excited to be a part of something that she talked so highly about and loved so much. She came to watch us play water polo last weekend, and it was so good to see her! A few days after the tournament she just simply told me that she loved watching me play and that she was proud of me. It MADE my day. She was the girl who encouraged me to stick polo out last semester when I wanted so bad to quit. When she said that she was proud, I know it meant more than for just playing decently that weekend. It was for diving into polo and getting involved, for finding friends in a group that I previously would have been wary of. For embracing new experiences, but sticking to what I believed in.

Not nearly enough in life do we let people know that we are proud of them or that we appreciate them. We say "thank you" when somebody helps us out at work, but those words are often emotionless and just polite. Take the time to let somebody know that you do appreciate them and that they are valued in this life. Life is all about relationships -- we have to foster the ones that we have! Don't hesitate to tell somebody you are proud of them - it just might make their day!

Learn Something New Everyday

You would think with finals just around the corner that the things I would be learning would be revolving around chemistry, geography, math, multicultural education, and english. Well -- although I did (hopefully) learn a lot of chemistry last night at MedSci, I also learned a new random fact!

I met Emily at Evans last night at 7:30 to rework old chem lab quizzes before our final that is this afternoon. Then at 10 I drove over to MedSci to meet Jana, and worked on chem lab and regular chemistry from 10:20 until about 1:50, at which point I began to pack up my stuff. Jana was packing up too, knowing that the library closes at 2. What I did not know though, was how do they actually enforce the closing rule? Because I know some people were really in the zone studying, and probably weren't paying attention to the clock. (One of my all time biggest fears after hearing this happen to a friend is getting stuck in the library when it's not open). So how do they let everybody know it's time to leave? They flicker the lights!

For some reason, I thought that was THE coolest thing ever. Maybe because I was overwhelmed with chemistry by that point. Maybe because I was up until 2 the night before. Maybe because I was delirious. I don't really know but it was stinking cool!

Guess you really do learn something new everyday!

The Magical World of MedSci

To say today was stressful is a vast understatement. Three different teachers found ways to make me uber frustrated and irritated through their comments (example: "I am teaching perfectly fine, you guys just don't know how to learn"). I had class from 8-12:30, came back for lunch, then was studying from 1-5. Left at 5 to go to a math review session, was back around 7, and then did math homework until 8. I made a quick run to Target for essentials like toothpaste and shampoo that I have been running very low on. I headed over to Breakaway which was amazing as usual, and then I met Jana at MedSci.


For me to study, I have to be "in the zone". I used to LOVE studying at Evans Library, but I find that when I study by myself I tend to get distracted a lot more. Emily (freshman, elementary ed major) and I are great study buddies (even when we aren't studying the same thing, we keep each other focused), but she works until 6, and then goes to bed by 10 so on nights like tonight where I had places I had to be, studying doesn't necessarily work. I have surprised myself to find that I actually do get a lot done at night, but I'm just not good at keeping myself awake. So when Jana asked me to meet her at MedSci tonight to study, I decided it would be worth a shot.

First of all, MedSci is short for Medical Science Library. Yeah, I know, sounds like a place filled with extremely smart people. It's out on West Campus so I drove over there after Breakaway and got there around 10:30. I didn't realize how late it had gotten because I was being SO productive! Jana and I were great study buddies, we both stayed focused, but also got to enjoy each other's company.

I was able to review 5 chapters for my geography test in the morning, finish a math homework, read and annotate an education article, review 4 labs for my lab final Thursday, create a "I don't know this information" list for said lab final, and read over/begin to understand what I'm supposed to be learning in chemistry! It was WONDERFUL! At one point Jana got up to go grab a drink and when I looked at my phone it was 12:58... whoops! The library was open until 2, but I was feeling pretty accomplished and could feel the tiredness kicking in. I was so proud of myself for all that I got done in the magical world of MedSci!

I drove back to my side of campus, ate a quick dinner (yep, somehow missed that tonight), and made sure everything is in order for registration for Fall 2012 classes tomorrow morning.

It was a crazy day, but I feel like I got SO much done tonight that it was definitely worth it!!

Good Thing Horses Don't Have Skin!

Just because I NEVER want to forget this conversation!

Prof: "Wow! How did you get so sunburnt?"
Me: "I had a water polo tournament this weekend that was outside"
Prof: "Good thing the horses don't have skin so that they cannot get burnt!"

Uhh.... gotta love people that are too smart for their own good!