Thanksgiving

This last break was simply amazing. I got to spend all my time with my family the whole weekend. The first day I got my hair done and just relaxed. I had time to just lie around and have time to myself, and it was the best thing ever! I haven’t had that since I can remember. Wednesday I simply spent with my brother and mom. We baked and went bowling, and it was really fun! I won the first game of bowling, but then I went downhill from there. I was just there to have fun though. Thursday my mom made food all day as we watched the packer game. The packers kicked butt! I got to spend time with my dad and brother as the packers played. It’s our special bonding time. We played games after we ate, and we had a good time. Friday I did NOT go black Friday shopping. That just scares me; there are too many people in one place. There are some crazy people that go crazy for that day that push people out of their way, and I definitely couldn’t handle that! My mom works at Fleet Farm which is a retail store, and she tells me scary stories about crazy people that want specific things. The weekend I went hunting with my brother, and I played golf on playstaion 3. I was addicted to that game over winter since there’s nothing to do outside, so we started to play again. I was terrible! We was overall a great weekend! I spent some quality time with the family without working. It was a good break away from everything. I did miss my roommate though; I never would’ve thought I would until poof! She was gone. We texted a lot which made things better, but it was weird not seeing her every day. College really does make you begin friendships that will last your lifetime. It’s cool to finally see that. I miss my parents a lot, and I thought before I left that I didn’t care about them. I love them with all my heart, and I don’t know what I’d do without them. I love going home; they make me so happy. My brother is my best friend, so we always have a good time too. I have an amazing home life, and I also have an amazing friendship with my roommate. Things happen to become more visible when you leave. It’s really cool!

Digital Cable

I got a TV for college thinking that I could relax and watch some shows when I don’t have anything else to do. We received an e-mail a couple weeks ago that Wartburg is switching over to all digital. My TV does have digital channels, but the only ones that Wartburg allows us to have are the hundred channels. We were told that we needed to get a cable box, so we walked over the knight’s village to get one, and nobody was there the first time. We got one a couple days ago, and we hooked it all up. We called to activate it, but it was already activated, so it should’ve been working. The guy tried to fix it over the phone, but he couldn’t. Now there’s a cable guy that has to come to our room to try to fix it. These boxes are new; you’d think that they’ work. We’re attending a forty thousand dollar school, so to me, I think we have the right to have channels and not have to put up with someone having to come out here to try to fix it. We’re paying enough just to be here, why should we have to pay someone to fix something that’s not even our fault? It’s irritating to have to go through something like this. Why’d we have to switch to digital when there are all these problems with these new digital boxes? It just doesn’t make any sense to me! It’s driving me crazy!

Packer games

Almost everybody knows that I love the Green Bay Packers. My whole basement is decorated in all packer stuff. It’s the coolest thing ever! I have a packers lanyard and everybody yells at me when they see it. I’m from Wisconsin originally though, so it totally makes sense. Ever since I was a little girl, my parents have dressed me in packer clothes. I’ve been to 3 games in my lifetime, and it was the best experience of my life. Seeing the team that I grew up loving and grew up knowing all the players was really cool. I moved to Minnesota seven years ago, and one of the main reasons why our family didn’t want to move was because it was “Viking country”. The good old Packer-Viking rivalry just shivered down our bodies. This past Monday when they beat the Vikings 45 to 7 was awesome! I had to work, so I couldn’t watch the game. My dad kept me updated though. Not only am I a die hard packer fan, but what am I really getting at? Watching the Packers play every weekend was a time for me to bond with my dad and brother. We watched the game every weekend, and it was just weird last year when my brother left for college and wasn’t there. I still watched the games with my dad, and it was a good time. We talked about the game and just life in general. It game me that father-daughter time that every daughter needs. My dad and I have always been really close, so having this time together was really meaningful. We had moments where we’d be screaming at the TV, but it was okay! Last year, I went all out for Christmas, and I bought my dad and brother tickets to go to a game. It was the game against the Giants that they HAD to win in order to move on to the playoffs. The packers ended up winning in a good game, so since the Packers won the super bowl, I told my dad and brother that it was all because I paid for their tickets to go to that special game. It may seem like something that means nothing as I watch the games with my dad and brother, but it meant a lot to me. Now that I’m at college and don’t have that luxury, I miss them a lot. I still watch the games, but it just makes me realize how I loved having that bonding time with my dad.

weekend of NO WORK!

I had just an awesome Friday and Saturday. I hung out with some great people. Friday I hung out with Sarah and Emily, and we went to Cedar falls to have a full night. We first went to pick up our shirts from the haunted house; the lady wasn’t very nice! We then went out to eat at Old Chicago which was the best pizza I have ever had. It was just perfect and absolutely satisfying. After we ate and took some pictures of course, we got cookies at the cookie place in the mall. I got a cookie sandwich thing that had two cookies with frosting in the middle. It probably wasn’t very good for me, but it tasted really yummy at the time. After we ate, we went to a movie. We couldn’t decide on one because none of us are decisive, so Sarah and I played rock, paper, scissors. By doing that, we ended up going to Puss in Boots 3D. It was so cute! We came back and watched a movie in my room with a bunch of other people. Overall, it was a really good Friday night. Today, I went to the Luther game. Everyone knows that my brother plays football there, so it’s hard for me to pick and choose who to cheer for. I did decide to wear Wartburg apparel and wear my brother button. I thought that was just perfect! I had to make Kellie come with because she was going to work on homework all day. She’s done that every Saturday since we’ve been here, and I had to make her live a little. Emily came with also. We had a great time! After the game, I met up with my brother and his roommate. I ran to him and hugged him even though he told me not to because of what I was wearing. He’ll live though. I also hugged his roommate; he’s like my second brother. Last year, he came to our house for all the breaks because he’s from Arizona. We talk like we’ve known each other forever! I met my brother’s new girlfriend, and then we went out to eat at Mabe’s. It’s the best pizza place ever! We shared a barbecue pizza which I’ve never had before, it was a good first experience. We then went back to Wartburg after I gave my hugs and said goodbye. This weekend was a terrific weekend, I stayed out of trouble like always, and I didn’t have to work. This is one of the only weekends that I haven’t had to work at all. I don’t really know what that’s like. I’ve learned today that it’s good to get out and do fun stuff with your friends. It’s good to take a weekend off once in awhile and just live your life like you want to. It’s crazy how much you miss with working all the time, but it’s like a necessity if I want to do things that cost money. I have to have money to do the things I want to do, and I need money to pay my college off. It’s just the way it is. Working is good, but I think too much isn’t the best either. I need to find a happy medium.

New exciting Roommate! :)

I have this new roommate named Abby. She was actually supposed to be my roommate to begin with, but her first roommate called and complained. Abby and her old roommate Lexi put on their housing sheet that they wanted to room together, but housing made a mistake. They had me rooming with Abby, so of course Lexi complained. We met each other the first day we go here, but it wasn’t really friendship until we were both experiencing bad roommate issues. She’d text me randomly and say that she couldn’t stand her roommate anymore. She came to my room one time crying because of her roommate. I was experiencing similar problems, so we just kind of stuck together. Now that we’re roommates, we’re perfect for each other. We are so much alike; housing paired us up perfectly before we got switched. We have the same sleeping patterns, and we share our stuff. It’s like we’ve been friends for forever which is an awesome thing! I know I can count on her for anything, and she always makes my day. There’s never a dull moment when we’re together, and I can stay happy rooming with her. The other day we went to Waterloo to get groceries and to eat. We walked in this Chinese restaurant expecting it to be a normal place to eat. We walked in, and it’s the fanciest place ever. Abby and I just looked at each other and giggled; there were even flowers on the tables. It was almost romantic. On the way home, Abby took the correct exit, but the exit split into two. She went the wrong way heading towards Cedar Falls instead of Waverly. I was laughing so hard, but she didn’t think it was very funny. She got back on the road, and took the exit to go towards Waverly again, but this time she did the same thing. She went the wrong direction on the exit. At this point I was almost dying I was laughing so hard. She was like panicking and saying “what do I do?!” ten times a minutes. She just made my day! I love having a roommate that I can actually have fun with. Having a room to yourself is okay, but it’s much better to acquire a stable friendship. Coming to college, I had the expectation to have a fun roommate, but that didn’t happen at first. I thought I had to worst luck ever, but I heard from a lot of other people that their roommates weren’t the best either. I felt a little better, but then it got to the point where I couldn’t handle it anymore. I’m so glad I got to move out and move in with someone I enjoy being with. Living with someone else is already a challenge, but living with someone so close that you don’t particularly like is not fun at all. Living in a dorm, I feel as if you have to get along with the other person in your room, but I just didn’t. It was so stressful, and I felt as if I was always worrying about it. Now, I have nothing to worry about. I can think about all the fun and excitement will be going on when I get back to my room. I enjoy coming back to my room; I’m always greeted with a smiley face. I’m generally always happy anyways, but it helps to have someone there encouraging a good day. We would both like to be RA's next year just because we both had such bad experiences with our first roommates. We both think that people that experience the bad can help others more than RA's that had perfect roommates. It'd be a good experience for us both to share our experiences to the new freshman that are struggling with their own roommates. Having a roommate isn't fun at times, but sometimes you have to make the best out of it. It's just the way it is!

time management

I feel like it’s so hard to balance your time in college. It’s like if I’m not in class or studying, I’m working. I sleep, eat, go to class, do homework, study, and work. There’s no happy medium for doing other things that I actually enjoy doing. My studying is paying off with getting such good grades, but it’s just getting tiring. The days that I don’t have class in the morning, I have to work. I don’t get a day to recuperate on sleep during the week. I stay up late doing school work almost every night, so it’s hard to find time for myself. Time management is actually going well, but it’s still overwhelming. It’s just as if I’m always doing something to make my time worthwhile. I try so hard not to get stressed out, but sometimes it’s difficult. I make other people’s days, and sometimes I don’t stop and try to make time for myself. I have time to work out almost every day, and that makes me feel a lot better. Working out gives me the time I need to myself letting all the bad things out. It allows me to release the stress and get away from “school” for awhile. Since I’ve gotten a new room and roommate, I feel like my stress has gone away for the most part, and my days have gotten 110 times better. I get so much more accomplished, and I’m not worrying about what’s going on around me. I work in the Mensa and at Cold Stone which may seem like a lot, but I don’t think it is. I work in the Mensa every Tuesday and Thursday morning for two hours and every third weekend. It’s a way to get some spending money. Cold Stone in Cedar Falls is a place for me to go to get away from campus. It’s good to expand yourself outside of just Wartburg, and by working there I get that opportunity. I’ve made some good friends there already, and I enjoy my job. It’s not like I dread going there when I work. I like it, and I’m getting paid to do something I enjoy. It’s not stressful, it’s my happy place. It’s my place to forget about school for four or five hours and focus on something else. Working keeps me sane, and I feel like it helps me get through the rough weeks. It keeps me busy all the time, so I’m never just sitting around. Working also makes me have to manage my time better, and it teaches me to be more responsible. Even though I feel like I can’t manage my time, I think I do well. I’m doing really well in school, and I get my stuff done. I get at least 7 hours of sleep every night which is really good compared to most people. I find time to hang out with friends, and I stay happy. I’m a happy girl, and I think everything that I do is all for the better. It may seem like I’m way too busy and have no time to do anything, but I think it’s all going to pay off in the end.

Emily's Birthday

Today and yesterday I had Emily’s birthday all planned out! Yesterday I had the plan to invite all her friends and have cake. I went and ordered a cake so it’d be personalized of course. In the beginning of the week is when I started to tell everyone, and I tried to invite everyone that knew her. I wanted it to be special for her, and I wanted her to remember it. Yesterday came along, and I called her telling her not to go anywhere for the next half hour so she’d be in her room when I had to go get her. There was quite a few people that showed up, and when most people were there, I went to go get her. I went and go here while everybody else hid to surprise her. I yelled when we were coming, and everybody popped out and yelled happy birthday. I could just tell that she was really excited and happy to see that so many people cared about her. We had the cake, and she hugged everybody and left. It was an awesome feeling knowing I made someone’s day. I’ve always been optimistic, and I’ve always had the saying that every day is a happy day. Knowing that I made her day was a good feeling. Today it was her actual birthday, and we had a plan to give her the gifts that we all got her. Just last week she told me not to get her anything and if I did she’d be mad. Well, we didn’t really listen to her. Last night we decorated her door at one in the morning, and she woke up to that surprise. After our chemistry exam, we went to lunch. As we were all leaving the Mensa, she said her goodbye’s since she was going home for the weekend. The three of us all knew that we’d see her again before she left. I went to the bookstore and got her something small, and then I went back to my room to wrap everything. Sarah and Kellie met me there, and we all walked to her room together. We got there with a piece of cake and her gifts. She was upset at us for getting her something, but at the same time she was happy. I think she hugged us all like five times in the matter of 6 minutes; it was awesome! I thought she was going to cry she was so excited. It’s always a good feeling knowing you mean so much to someone. She told us that she doesn’t know what she’d do without us and that we all mean a lot to her. We’re special to her; she knows that we’re here for her. I know we made an impact in her day which makes me feel good inside. I know I made her birthday at lease a little better. What would someone do for me on my birthday? It’s a good question, but now she knows. She knows that she means a lot to us since we went out of our way to make her day special.