Carolina Priceless Gem

WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD

“Celebrate we will because life is short but sweet for certain.”

--Dave Matthews Band

            After what seems like a mere week and a half, my freshman year is coming to an end.  As I look around the room that I have called home for the last 8 months, I am reminded of how easy it is to fall into a routine and how easy it is to call a place home if you are with the people you love.  I fear I let the year slip too quickly through my hands but as I take down the pictures strung about my room and pack them away in a box for the summer, I am reassured by the faces smiling back at me.  There are so many new people and places in these pictures and I find beauty in each one.  

            During my senior year of high school, I can vividly remember parents coming up to me and raving about how fun college was.  I can’t remember one single person telling me how hard or intellectually rewarding it would be. I certainly had my fair share of fun but it was a real shocking hurtle when I realized that my brain was not in fact God’s gift to the world.  Admittedly, I wanted to rip out my hair each time an exam approached and I had to lock myself in the library with gross coffee and musty study carols but the nights with friends, the Target runs, the attempts at physical runs, and the glory that is Chapel Hill masks all those cruddy study schedules.  Maybe that’s what it’s really about; maybe those parents from high school weren’t trying to leave out the challenging memories of college but instead the good times from school overwhelm the rough ones.  My freshman year was certainly as a testament to that sentiment.

            As I am sitting on my naked bed waiting for my RA to come check me out and watching my roommate pack the mess that remains her side of the room, my mind is certainly overwhelmed by the good times we’ve shared in this room and the good times I’ve had this past year.  While I am certainly ready to get the heck out of dodge and escape the torture that is exams, I know I’ll be ready to return to this new home and to the people I love when the time rolls around once again at the end of the summer! Overall, I would say freshman year was a success!!

Favorite memories from the past year:

Bid day

My fabulous hallmates

My suite!

My sorority sisters

Greek Groove

What I expected college to be like:

Outrageous Frats

Serenading Boys

The reality of college:

Me in my empty room:

Status of Mackenzie’s side of the room:

Love ya. Miss ya. Mean it.

Kane