There's No Place I'd Rather Be

So I was sitting in the same library when I started writing this blog about a year ago. I discussed the first big snow of the year and it just so happens, that might be today since it has been snowing for the last few hours. It's weird though since it hasn't been that cold this week which was nice for the last week of classes. But here we are, getting ready for finals, two very odd weeks. There are some really great things that happen during this period of time like my house's traditional Christmas dinner where our chef dresses up as Santa and gives gifts to all of the sisters or the simple fact that we have no school for a month. This year though is very bittersweet for me since I am taking next semester to participate in a different kind of adventure.

I chose to leave Lehigh for next semester knowing that I would miss things like the new pledge class that would enter my sorority, all of the fun things my friends and I would usually do in the spring as well as some of the interesting classes that may not be offered at another feasible time. On the other hand, I also have friends who are going abroad to study in interesting place like Prague and have their own set of interesting adventures and I don't know what Lehigh would be like without my complete set of friends.

It's a little bit scary, the prospect of leaving Lehigh for a short taste of the real world even knowing that I will be back in about six months but since I don't want to think about it anymore, I will think about new things, like the paper I should be writing right now.

Good times never seem so good

So I am working with a girl from a local high school on her college applications this semester. She and I have been working together since my freshman year of college which was her sophomore year of high school. Her goals have changed a lot in that time and she makes me laugh on a regular basis as we try to brave through the college application process together. One day she asked me what made it worth it and that got me thinking.

We all go to college to get a degree, a piece of paper that is supposed to somehow make our lives have greater value but really, I think it's the lessons we learned outside of the classroom that have enhanced our value. By moving away from home, we have to learn to be on our own and fight our own battles rather than letting our parents fight for us, even if the battle is something as minor the pile of clothing taking over the room. We learn to lead, we learn to follow, we learn to ask for help, and we learn how to deal with a wide array of different types of people.

I participated in a prospective student chat a couple of weeks ago and lots of students ask why I chose Lehigh or what makes Lehigh special and the truth is that I chose Lehigh because of the feeling I got when I was here, there was no doubt that it was the right place, the people would go out of their way to help me even though I was a junior in high school at the time. The advice I gave my younger sister as she navigates the process is that you can choose where to apply using all the facts like size and statistics but in the end, the real choice is made because of something inexplicable. I was more excited the day the Lehigh acceptance showed up than when I got any other letter and knew that it was going to be an amazing four years and I wouldn't trade the experience I have been having for anything in the world.

I am still having trouble coping with the fact that I am almost finished with a full two and half years, I wish college was longer just so I could spend more time enjoying Lehigh and all of the traditions it has to offer. Lehigh/Laf is next week :) and if you haven't heard about that, you will.

Now off to deal with my to do list.

I do my little turn on the catwalk

I have been thinking about what people wear and while most people might just jump to the assumption that this could all be about labels and designers, I was thinking more about the sheer kinds of things we wear around campus. This was mostly prompted by the very odd weather we have been experiencing.

For me, the second it gets cold, sneakers are the first thing that change yet all over campus there are tons of people still wearing sandals. Today, it rained and although it was kind of warm in the morning, it got colder as the day yet people were still outside in shorts and t-shirts. After almost two and half years, I still don't get it.

Unlike other schools though, the cool thing is that Lehigh kids tend to show their school spirit on a day to day basis rather than just at sporting events or other sanctioned functions. What I mean is that everyone is always wearing Lehigh gear and when you wear clothes from another school, people tend to give you funny looks. It is not uncommon for people to be dressed in brown from head to toe and while I feel that most schools might see that as taboo, it just happens to be one of the ways we show our spirit.

Walking around campus at this time of year is made more fascinating by the number of people who are in suits for interviews. Because of the timing of classes, many tend to go to classes dressed up and then work their interviews into the normal pattern of their day. Those are then juxtaposed with the others who roll out of bed, grab a pair of jeans and run to class.

I have now said what I can think of right now and really have to go study.

And I started staring at the passengers waving goodbye

Right now is kind of a scary time for me. I am almost halfway through my junior year. This means that I have passed my halfway point of college and it feels different. Rather than getting involved in new things, I find myself getting more involved in the things that I am already doing. I am also not studying at Lehigh this spring so I am spending as much time with my friends as possible before that time.

Finding my program for next semester was an interesting experience. I wanted to gain some more hands on experience than a summer internship could provide so I decided to go to Washington DC and intern there. It was one of those things that I found on a bulletin board and just took a chance on looking into and found the same excitement I found when looking at Lehigh's website after I got in.

I am a Lehigh tour guide and try to stay involved in admissions so I meet a lot of prospective students and seeing them as well as the fact that my sister is currently a senior in high school and I'm jealous. They have an amazing experience ahead of them where ever they end up but I would be even more jealous if they ended up at Lehigh. There are so many things to experience, there is no way to fit them all into one four-year experience.

Now, being a junior means that I have to get back to the piles of work that I have to do. :)

She Used To Be My Enemy

I have been thinking about how to write about this for a very long time and to be honest, I am starting it without knowing 100% where it's going to go.

Today, I decided to write about my number one reader. I don't think I ever told this person that I was writing this since it just kind of happened but since she found out from a relative, I am pretty sure she checks this on a regular basis and hasn't become a follower for fear of embarrassing me. She may not comment here, but she still tells me what she thinks. Haven't guessed who this is yet?

It's my mom.

My mom constantly reminds me that it was a good idea to leave the people I went to high school with and try living in a new place where I couldn't run home every time I had a problem (like that pesky thing called laundry). She is endlessly supportive and puts up with me which I don't always understand. In my mind, she is an amazing parent and I couldn't ask for a better mom, she keeps me grounded and I trust her with everything.

Facebook for parents is becoming more popular and I will admit that I made them for both of my parents. My mother's initially started after my trip to India because it was the best way to show off all of my pictures. Now, she keeps in contact with her own friends but still has full access to my facebook. With all of the things that are broadcast about the questionable things that happen and then get posted on facebook, it makes me think, would I want my mother to see that? She will not only see it, she will comment on it. Sometimes in college we forget that there is a real world outside the bubble that we experience everyday but things like that keep me grounded.

Yes, sometimes parents drive us crazy with the seven billion ways that they can reach us (just ask my sister, it seems to drive her crazier than it does me) and we forget how support they really are but they never cease to surprise us.

College changes our relationships with our parents and in my case, I would like to think it's for the better. Eh, my mom will probably tell you that too since claims I got nicer when I went to college. She also will probably laugh at the title but also not realize the song its from. I really didn't have the energy to be creative with the title and most of the other lines in that song were too long, too weird or way too sappy and then she really would have not been happy with me and I have to see her in about a week.

But beyond where we should have gone?

So I am sitting here, in Linderman Library,trying to imagine what college would be like without all of the technology that runs my life. Today, I woke up to the alarm on my phone, and then checked my facebook before putting on my iPod to walk to class. I know other people who use their computers to take notes but I am still committed to being the one to hand write all of my notes since it actually helps me retain all of the things that I am writing. My next class requires not one but two calculators to make sure that I can actual do the work without it taking what I deem to be forever. All of this and I have checked my phone for e-mail, texts and time updates probably about a dozen times.

Without the technology that we have today, I would not have been able to have done all of my work for the first half of the week by Monday night without seeing my group members since it was all done via e-mail not to mention that I am available constantly by phone. I know and remember a time when cell phones were not anywhere near as popular as they are today but now, it seems pretty near impossible to function without one.

I guess I was thinking about this to really ponder if education has gotten any better as a result of all of this technology. I mean, for the most part, we still have classes where we meet face to face with a professor. The professor might be easier to get a hold of but when we have problems, we still want to schedule time to work out to see them in person. I guess what I am trying to say is that sometimes all of this technology is overwhelming (and the "Ten Things I Hate About You" quote comes to mind whenever I say that word) but I still have to look for moments when I know that humanity will win out and technology won't win. Video chatting is great and all but it's not as good as seeing someone.

Okay, so I think I lost my point a little in there but I have to go give a tour now and then the rest of the day is a little insane but good bye for now.

that it´s all for the best?

Everyone I have talked to about the simple fact that I write this has told me that I should write about something different. I guess I will touch on the two main things that most people suggested that I talk about and then as usual, see where things go.

First, my summer experience with Lehigh in Ireland. There are tons of universities that have study abroad programs but it appears that Lehigh is unique in the way this program is offered. It was six weeks of research, and four weeks of classes all while living in Galway. I LOVED GALWAY. It was a beautiful city with a lot going on without too many people. I will eventually go back which is different than I have felt about a number of other places I have been to in the past. The other groups that were there didn't seem to have the one point professor there like we did and their accommodations were not as nice as ours. It was a really good adventure and it seemed that we had a lot more fun than a lot of the other groups.

Second, my younger sister is applying to college this year. While I was moving into my new room at Lehigh, she was traveling the east coast with my dad. She is looking for a very different school than I was when I was at this point in the process. Granted, I guess I always knew I was going to end up at Lehigh but it's interesting to hear her critique of everything about the schools. I am a tour guide on campus and I know that my tours can really shape the perceptions students walk away from Lehigh with and to be honest, that idea terrifies me. I really believe that everyone has to find their own deciding factor that causes them to fall in love with a school. My sister came back from all of these college tours and reminded me that no one wants to hear about why security features were started at the school even if it is part of the school's history.

Okay so as usual, I am very distracted right now so I have to go but this was the first week of classes so it was insane.

The Time is Right...

So it has been a whole semester since I starting writing this and I have found myself at finals time again. I have to say this may have been the most stressful finals period yet, but I still have two tests to go.

The fact that this year is over is both relief and a very scary idea. I am halfway done with my college experience.

To be honest, I just got really distracted by the Lehigh 2013 facebook group. They talked about GC which I love since it really is probably one of the best things I could have gotten involved in here. The truth is that my favorite things about these groups are the lies that somehow get spread around about Lehigh. There is nothings bad about these lies, it's just interesting to see the way that these incoming students perceive different things and then seeing how the students like myself who are current students have to redirect them to the reality of the situation. It makes me laugh.

Okay, this has been enough of a distraction, it's time I get back to work for finals. Soooo close to being done, I can taste it!

Tried My Best At Moving On....

It's been a while since I have updated this but sometimes it's rough! School is starting to wind down which makes everything even more stressful since there are tons of projects. I feel that in other semesters, I have had a combination of papers, final projects and final tests but this semester is different. Rather than having group projects to end class, my classes this semester have final group projects as well as a final exam. I like the idea of more available points but it does make for more work.

My first post on this blog was about my love for finals period and the serenity that comes over campus while everyone studies. This semester will be more stressful because of my test schedule but I still look forward to spending more time in the library with my friends and using all of my extra dining dollars. :)

This week will be very very very long. The second to last week of classes marks Greek Week, the most fun week of second semester. First semester, we have Lehigh/Laf and it's second semester equivalent is Greek Week but personally, I am more involved in all of the activities of Greek Week. There are all sorts of competitions throughout the week and everyone is psyched for the ending of classes. The problem with the next week is that it is the last week that non-finals can be administered. Personally, I have a huge test Wednesday and a paper due Friday. I am really going to try to finish all of my paper before Thursday morning which gives me time to study as well as to enjoy the last few days of Greek Week before going into finals mode to make sure that I do well on my finals.

Okay, random note. While I write this, I am watching a show called "Platinum Wedding" and I think it's a little insane that this couple spent 1.2 million dollars just on their wedding. I think that I would rather spend that much on a very nice house instead.

I Need to Find a Place Where I Can Breathe...

I should probably take the time to mention that the titles of all of my blog posts are all song lyrics. Some relate to what I am thinking about and others are just parts of the songs stuck in my head.

So as usual, I am writing here to take a little time to myself while I push off other work that needs to get done. Today, I have to write a paper. I was thinking about where I would write this paper when I realized how much times change when you get older. I have a five to seven page paper due tomorrow. I am not worried and have no doubt in my mind that I will be able to finish it and have it not be the worst thing that I have ever written. One of my favorites? Probably not, but it won't be horrible.

When I was younger and things had to be typed, that was the hardest part for me. I could hand write a page but then the typing was like torture. This was back when rough drafts were written on paper and the final drafts were typed. That was also the formula, one rough draft, one final draft and that is it. You only edited the rough draft to make it the final draft. But back the typing. My mom used to type my papers, but not like other parents that typed the whole paper and would make corrections as they went, no, my mother typed in all of my grammatical and spelling errors so that I would have to learn to correct them.

In the years that followed as I learned to type my own papers, I discovered that each version was different from the others, not just in the grammar but in the way that I wanted to express myself. I realized that each time I sat down to write left me in a different mind frame than every other time. It still tends to be fairly obvious to see that I have stopped working on a paper for a while and then come back to it because the writing is more strained. I could start working on this paper and with the twenty minutes I have right now but the reality is that I will end up rewriting everything I had so it's not worth it. There are countless drafts that started out as one thing and became something different entirely as I gave myself time to think about exactly what I wanted to say and gave myself some idea of the contents of the paper.

I was also never one of this kids who could write off an outline. That was miserable. Making outlines for things that were already written, fine but trying to use them to guide what I wanted to say was impossible and any good essay I ever wrote was never off an outline. Writing is something that requires mechanics and creativity, but early on, we get the mechanics and it's time to just work the creativity, especially in thinking for yourself while analyzing.

The expectations of us changed all the time throughout our schooling. We went from being worried about our spelling and trying to just write a few sentences, to trying to write a whole page skipping lines in cursive to now, where we think about five-ish pages being no big deal. When did this happen?

My seventh grade English teacher may have been the only one to push us with us actually realizing that he was making our writing better. From my class of thirty, he gave about ten of us a separate project. This was a project more like the ones that I have now in college. It was a fairly open ended prompt about xenophobia. It was supposed to be ten pages long. Granted, at that time, we had a few weeks to do this rather then the days we have to do the same type of paper now, but I remember struggling to understand what he wanted from me since it wasn't spelled out exactly but with time, I realize that that forced me to be a better writer. It was a constant battle after that with every English teacher being different, some helped the creative part and wanted us to learn for ourselves. Others were very specific in what they wanted and grades reflected sticking to that.

So, I would love to keep talking about this but alas, I must go and take care of some things before I start my paper.

I Can Take Most Anything

So I have been lacking on the updates lately but I guess I just haven't had anything really good to say lately. Right now, I am using this post to push off studying for my test tomorrow for a little while but it's all good since I worked ahead in my other classes over break to make this week easier. I guess we do learn more from past experiences. Last spring break, I remember coming back from Spring Break and feeling swamped but this year I did more work than I would have liked over break but I am back and more relaxed than I expected to be. I'm glad that I used all the travel time to get ahead. Plus, it gave me time to actually think my homework all the way through. I always have to really think though my reading responses, but this week felt different since I had hours and hours between reading the prompt and then actually writing rather then prompt only being release the day before I have to write the response and not having the time to ponder. So today, the post was a little short, but as I said, I still have a test tomorrow.

You May Say I'm A Dreamer...

The last few weeks have been insane. My entire house is getting to know our new girls which has been all sorts of fun. Plus, it's the time of the semester where tests start. I honestly think I have a test just about every week of the semester until after finals. I guess it's better this way though because that means that I have more time to focus on each class individually rather than trying to cram information for all of my classes into my head for all sorts of tests in one week and instead I have time to put into really studying to understand the information.
I feel like second semester this year is going by a lot faster than it did last year. I will admit that this time last year, everything was still really overwhelming, trying to balance all of my activities from first semester, and classes and Greek Life. But now, I am so glad I learned to manage everything because I really do love everything I am doing here. I am soo excited for Greek Week and for the weather to get warmer. The more time I spend here, the more I realize that I am a West Coast girl through and through. If given the chance, I would continue to choose Lehigh as the institution at which to further my education, but after this, I will probably head back to the sunshine (I'm not such a fan of the cold) and just come back to visit. Plus, then all of my friends who live in cold places will all have an excuse to come visit.
I now have to get going. I have a paper due tomorrow that I really need to finish up before I can study for my test Friday. I'm excited to have less tests next week but honestly am not that stressed about all of it right now.

I was sitting in the classroom...

So there are things that I really don't understand. Why people wear high heels on cross country flights is one thing, but the one I was thinking about today was how all of the professors I end up loving end up getting chalk all over themselves during class. In high school, my classrooms all had whiteboards so we used the stinky markers rather than chalk. Granted some teachers ended up with marker all over their hands, but it is nothing compared to how covered in chalk my teachers can be now. Last spring, I had one professor who always wore dark colored clothes, she had to jump to reach the string to pull the screen down and by the end of every class, her clothing was covered in chalk. Having her, lead me to finding my major. One of my current professors is even worse. He gets so into his lecture that he will touch his clothing (today a dark colored zip up sweater) or his face. So, yes, he ends up with chalk all over his face and in perfect finger marks across his sweater. I feel like I really going to get a lot out of his class. Maybe that should be how I find professors in the future, based on how much chalk they can accumulate on themselves by the end of class. I really feel like they let it happen without knowing because they get really into what they are saying and trying to explain. These professors are passionate people, if they weren't they wouldn't be teaching.

The Dawn is Breaking

Today is the start of all sorts of things. Today is bid day. Today is the first day of classes of my fourth semester at Lehigh.

Today being bid day is bittersweet. We have some really great girls joining our house but at the same time, we know that others were disappointed. My pledge class is no longer the "newbies" or the babies as the older girls used to call us. I will no longer be the youngest in my family. Our pledge class really realized how far we have come in the last year this week. With recruitment, everyone was in the house working on putting together the various rounds so our house spent a lot of time together. We realized how different we were now both individually and as a collective pledge class from when we joined a year ago. I realized that the Greek system, specifically my house, has altered me in ways that I know I can never truly understand or appreciate. When I started at Lehigh, I felt like a very small part of a very very big place. Campus doesn't feel so big anymore when I always see girls from my house everywhere and am only without them in one of my five classes (and no I did not intentionally plan my schedule to be with them :)) Some of my best friends have come from this last year in the house. I have no idea if these girls have any concept of what they will realize that they are missing. I know I didn't. I didn't have any clue how many fantastic friendships and other opportunities I was missing until I realized this week that I had them already.

On the other hand, today was also the first day of classes. This is the last semester in my first half of college. Scary thought. It's going by so quickly. This semester's classes offer new challenges, the question is, can I meet them? Some are going to be less interesting but unfortunately completely necessary while others are more for fun and maybe filling a random requirement. It will be an interesting semester to say the least.

Now I have to go do my homework that is due for the second day of classes.