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.

fall break

This weekend was just awesome! I didn’t have time to even thing about homework, I was just so busy! It was fall break, and I didn’t have any biology or econ to think about since we just took exams. It was a perfect weekend. I got home Wednesday night, and my mom made me my favorite meal. I love seeing my family; since being gone I realized how much they mean to me. I’ve always taken them for granted, simply because I’m so used to seeing them every day. They mean everything to me; I don’t know where I’d be if I didn’t have them! It’s just crazy to think about. Friday was my dad’s birthday, and my brother came home. It was a wonderful day. I was happy that the four of us could be all together again! The weekend consisted of me working with my fellow cold stone employees and hanging out with my family. I miss them so much, but there’s really nothing I can do about it. I call them every once in awhile, but I still think about them constantly. Some days I wish those thoughts would go away, but oh well. Fall break was a good break to get away from campus. Being on campus is fun, but it gets tiring after so long. I feel like I caught up on some sleep and I can actually function normally again. Sleeping in dorms isn’t the easiest thing to do when people are being loud all of the time! It doesn’t help when you have a crazy roommate either. Speaking of my roommate though, I finally got to move! Apparently your parents have to call for anything to be done around here which I think is totally not right! I was complaining for so long, and nothing was being done to help my situation. I couldn’t move, and I was being offered anything. Last Tuesday, I had an incident where she locked me out of my room while I was showering. This little incident threw me over the edge, and I had my mom call to see if anything could be done. I couldn’t live with her anymore! That same day, the director of Centennial called me. I had to come visit with her, and that same day, I was told I could move whenever I wanted. I was moving in with one of my friends, and I could move whenever. Why couldn’t this be done when I was complaining at the beginning of the semester? My situation was a bit serious with my roommate; I just don’t understand why my mother had to call in order for a anything to be done. I’m attending a 40 thousand dollar school; I didn’t think this would have been a problem. It’s upsetting, but I did finally move Sunday night when I got back from fall break. I was happy with that; I didn’t have to spend another night with my crazy roommate. Overall, fall break was great! I spent time with the people that mean the most to me, and I got a new room!

Social Change Wheel

Right now, I’d put myself in the socially responsible daily behavior and direct service section of the social change wheel. In high school, I was in National Honor Society, so I had to volunteer and get involved in the community. I never really knew what it was like to volunteer your time to someone or something else other than yourself. The united states especially is so selfish, and I never though about those people who are in need. I participated in meals on wheels, blood drive, kids against hunger, adopt a grandparent and habitat for humanity. Doing these things inspired me to keep up the community work and the volunteering. Here at Wartburg, I signed up for VAC so I could know about the volunteering opportunities. I love helping other people, and it makes me feel ten times better about myself. I haven’t done anything yet with an organization I was a part of in high school, but I plan to in the future. I’ve volunteered for the county at the haunted house, and that was a lot of fun. I adopted a grandparent back home, and I still go visit her. Just this past weekend, I went and saw her. I got her address at the nursing home so I can keep in touch while I’m away at school. She’s like my own grandma now, and it’s really cool! I never would’ve though I could build a relationship like that with someone that I’m not related to. It’s a fantastic feeling. In the aspect of being socially responsible in my daily behavior, I say hi to pretty much everyone I pass by and I pick up after myself. I try my best to at least smile at everyone including those people I don’t even know. I make sure I behave myself and abstain from alcohol and follow the honor code. I don’t do anything that I’d regret the next day, and I live every day as if it were my last. How would I want people to see me if it was my last day?

Winter!

Winter is coming so fast; it’s just crazy! Just like last week we were all wearing shorts and t-shirts. The leaves are falling and the trees are becoming bare. It’s a sad yet happy time of year. I love when the leaves change colors; it’s so beautiful! I love the weather when it’s about 75 degrees outside and not windy. The past couple days it’s been bitterly cold, and it’s driving me crazy. I’m just not ready for winter yet. I don’t really know what to expect since I’m at college for the first time. My roommate is already playing games with me with the heater. Every time I turn it down, she turns it back up. We don’t agree on a happy medium temperature. Fall is fun because you get to enjoy those last days outside in the nice weather. You can still go outside in a sweatshirt and be comfortable. When it starts getting too cold to where I get cold in a sweatshirt, I don’t ever want to go outside. I’m so glad there are skywalks that go to the academic buildings so I don’t have to freeze going to class. I’m glad I’m not attending a big campus where I’d have to walk a mile to each class; that seems insane to me. The weather change is good, but sometimes I wish it’d just stay nice out! I don’t play in the snow anymore like I used to, so I feel like I have nothing to do during the winter time! There isn’t anything fun to do outside like there is in the summer. I’ll miss running outside and being able to just sit outside. I love the outdoors, so winter just isn’t much fun for me. Right now is perfect when I can walk outside without freezing, but what happens when December comes around? I can drive home on weekends if I want to right now, but I can’t in the winter because of snow and ice. That’s just not cool. Right now we can walk everywhere in Waverly because it’s so nice, but it a month we wont be able to without freezing. I just don’t like that. Winter is no fun, and I wish it could stay spring all the time!

Haunted House

Last night we volunteered at a haunted house between Waverly and Cedar Falls. It was quite the experience! I went with Sarah, Kellie, and Emily, and we all had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. When we got there, it was a little awkward. Most of the people that were working there have worked there every day since they’ve been open. Everybody knew what they were doing, and we just kind of stood there until someone told us what to do. Sarah got picked first for her job, and then it was Kellie. Emily and I were left, but we got put at the same place. Emily and I were both clowns. We weren’t only clowns, we were creepy clowns. We got to wear clown like costumes with creepy masks. Our job was to come out and scare the people that walked into our room. Sometimes we didn’t succeed, but most of the time we got people to jump or scream. The people’s facial expressions were the best! There was one other boy that was in the room with us, and it was a good time. During the time that nobody was coming through, the people around our room came and talked to us. Some of them were so weird! We had one boy in the room that stared at us and had an obsession with light bulbs, but he was so funny! He made my night. I had a fantastic time. I got to meet a lot of new people and be with my best friend. Sometimes we’d just giggle because one of us did something embarrassing. I love to spend time with my friends when I know I have homework to do. It’s a good day to get things off your mind for a little bit, and it’s just a good way to get in a good laugh. I don’t know what I’d do without friends! Last night was fun and scary all at the same time. Sarah gets really scared with haunted houses, so she was hugging us and making us feel needed. It was good! We ate afterwards, and they all made fun of my driving. We had a wonderful night together, and it’s 110% better than going out partying and being stupid. It’s good to volunteer and give your time to other people. The proceeds go to the county and the organization that sets up the haunted house to better improve the haunted house for the following years. It feels good to give your time to others.