Back in the Saddle

Recently at College Fashion's Kaleigh posted 3 tips for dealing with homesickness at college and I must say it made me feel tremendously better. Yes, I still have some low points where I really wish I was at home but now it's not nearly all the time. Now I feel like I can do this, I'm going to pick myself up and jump in. So in addition to the three tips here are a few things I did to shake my "wish-I-was-home-blues"

1. Find at least one really good friend you can talk to. Find someone that you feel comfortable around, someone who you can have a serious conversation with. Once I found a good friend that not only wanted to hang out but understand and felt the same way as me it really helped. 
2. Go do something fun. My friends and I (my newly acquired ones) went to see an Improv show and it was amazingly fun. We went to a concert and then stayed up all night laughing and talking. 
3. Do your homework. Focusing on school will keep you from thinking about home. Especially if you have a million pages of reading like I did. 
4. Look for little things to look forward to, it will make a long week seem a little shorter. 
5. Find a familiar face, if you can. It's nice to see someone that will remind you of home, that way you can talk about home with someone else. 
6. Call home, and talk about some of  the highlights of the week. Your parents want to hear about how you're adapting and it will be nice to hear their voice. But don't talk about the negative stuff, they're already worried about your don't give them another reason. 
7. Know you're not alone, tons of people across the world (myself included) are going through the same thing you are. It's not stupid or childish to miss your mom. It took me a while to realize it. It's natural and it's okay you just need to learn to cope. 
8. Do something crazy but not too crazy. I just mean do something you might not normally do. I signed up for co-ed flag football and that's not something I would have done at home. It's nice to know that in college these people don't know you, you can start off with a clean slate. 

I hope that helped because it certainly helped me. Until next time. 

Reality Check

To be perfectly honest I've only been here for about four days and I really really want to go home. I'm being a huge baby about this because I only live about two hours away but this was so much harder than I thought it would be. I thought it would be easy to leave my parents and their absurd rules behind, I thought it would be easy to pick up living on my own but here's the thing: It's not. I'm going to push through this and I'm going to stick it out of course. I told myself early I wouldn't be one of those people who came home at Thanksgiving because she couldn't handle it. No, that's not me at all. I will admit to all of you that it's hard. I miss my mom so much and every time I call her I try really hard not to cry. I haven't gotten into the swing of college yet so I'm hoping that once the fun starts (and hopefully it will very soon) I won't wish for the next two months to be over. 

Things I Miss About Home

1. My Mom, I can be such a baby about my mom but she's very seriously my best friend and I talk to her about everything. I will not let myself call her everyday even though I really really want to. 
2. Food., this kind of goes with the first one. I like college food and everything but I actually have to go and get it. No one makes it for me and sets it down in front of me and makes sure I eat right. I have to do that myself. 
3. My brother. 
4. My mom
5. My dad
6. My mom. 
7. My mom doing my laundry. 

Okay so I just really miss my mom.

Stress Test

I'm not even at college yet and already I'm ready to explode. Honestly. I've been packing for days and days and my room looks like a war zone! My stuff is everywhere and I can only hope that I have everything that I need, but that's not even the terrible part. Oh no. What's really stressing my out is that I got about five e-mail from the different organizations that I'm already part of telling me about the special dates and mandatory events that I need to be at. Of course they're all at the same time on opposite sides of the ridiculously large campus! But the good news is that I've already got it pretty much under control. So if you run into this problem here's how I dealt with it. 

How to Balance Activities on Campus

Decide What your Top Priority Is

If it's a sorority or a sport you have to figure out what is going to come first. 

Don't be Afraid to Ask for Compromise

The advisors are there to help you so don't be afraid to e-mail and ask if it's alright to be a little late to a meeting. Or ask if it's alright to skip it altogether, not all meetings are mandatory. 

Sometimes Enough is Enough

You can't do everything, it's not possible. It's difficult for me to accept that as well but it's the truth. There's no reason to over stress yourself, sometimes the best option is to just let something go. 

Dorm Decor

Photo Credit// Great Interior Design

So today I finished up my college shopping and then visited my best friend in her dorm. Lucky for her she's about three weeks into school and already has a really solid group of friends and a very well decorated dorm. It's seriously cute and it got me thinking about some really cute things I could use in my dorm. So here's the list I came up with.

1. Bookends

These bookends would not only look cute on your desk but they would help keep your textbooks nice and neat! 

2. End table 

Put a photo frame of your besties to light up the room and make yourself a little less homesick.

3. A Wind Up Alarm Clock

Good for the environment and good for getting you to class on time!

4. A key holder

Hang it up right by your door so you never set down your keys in your room and then forget about  them. 

5. Wall Decals

You just peel and stick! Simple, easy and cute. Plus it's easy to clean up when you move back home for the summer. 

Bookends, Table, Clock, Key Holder, Decals

Apocalypse Now

Today I finally finished my summer reading. Two weeks before class starts, I'd say that's pretty good. I know what you're thinking. It looks boring right? Admittedly the beginning of the book was a little hard to get into. I had my doubts about a book that talks about how to save the earth and what we should and should not do. I don't like being told what to do especially by a book. I love the earth as much as the next guy but I was not ready to give up bottled water and pre-packaged food. At the risk of sounding fake and cliche this book changed my view on modern culture. 

The book is just so real. When you read Colin Beavan's words on the page you become part of his world, his struggles, his thoughts; they're things you can relate to. The book is more about what we can do and not what we shouldn't do. It's about making our lives better making us happier and learning to live together in this world. It wasn't just about saving the rain forest or the animal life it was about making people aware of the changes we are making on this earth. This passage in particular really got to me:

 "Here's the big question I have about progress: If we can have better and better cell phones, but they are not accompanied by better and better understanding of ourselves and our place in the universe , can we say we have progressed? If we are born and then spend our lives moving from one toy to the next, without ever answering the big questions, have we progress or have we simply been distracted? Perhaps, if we really examined our lives, we'd come to the conclusion that our purpose is to make sure we can all ride around on Jet Skis during vacation and in SUVs the rest of the time.  So be it. It's our life. It's our planet. As long as we make the collective decision consciously instead of blindly, then all well and good."

I've never heard anyone say anything like that. He's basically saying that if we want to destroy our planet we can, but we had better be doing it on purpose. Inspiring. It's a wonderful book and I'm not usually into books of this nature.

However, if you're not into environmentalism here's some other very good books you can read to pass the time.

1. Eat, Pray, Love

2. Half the Sky

3. The Glass Castle

4. My Horizontal Life

Late Bloomer

Photo Credit // Yildiz

In about two weeks I'm going to leave the comfort of my warm bed and loving parents to embark on the greatest journey of my life. I'm leaving for college. I know that most of you are probably already in college and for that I envy you. Unfortunatly The Ohio State University is on a quater system and so I won't walk into my first class (Spainish 3.66) until September 23. So until then I'm stuck at home watching Full House reruns and checking my facebook status every thirty seconds even though I know that no one is on. My life right now is a pathetic spiral of Xbox games and online shopping. However, this late start did give me the oppurtunity to spend some time with my mom.

Honestly, I hope all of you have a good relationship with your parents. I know that they can be naggy and nosy and altogether annoying BUT who else is going to have your back when you don't have two nickles to rub together and you need textbooks or food? That's something to think about isn't it?

In the mail today I finally got my Amazon.com order for The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: College by Joshua Piven. Most of the time I don't get into books that claim to be able to help you "get the most out of your college experience", however, this one is not only helpful it's delightfully charming and humorous. It can really help you with any WORST case scenario. Anything from how to decorate your room when your broke to how to survive class when hungover. I look forward to putting some of these tips to use! 

For those of you that are stuck at home like me please enjoy this playlist. These songs have helped me battle the stuck-at-home blues and I hope they perk you up a little too. 

Music Playlist at MixPod.com