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.