#20 Decide why you love your school and don't be afraid to show it.

I love Mizzou. More than I love a great deal of things in my life.

It sounds cliche, but Mizzou really is my "Home Away from Home". As a first semester freshman, I wasn't 100% sold on the school and even questioned my future here a few times, but I could not be more happy with my decision to stay here.

Because, the longer you stay at Mizzou, the more you realize that it offers the ideal college experience that so many people-myself included-dream of.

We have the academics, the social scene, the sports, and so much more. You want to join a club devoted to mental health advocacy that doesn't care if you're not a psych major (like I did)? You can do that. Want to watch one of the best wheelchair basketball teams in the country tear up the court? Just hop over to the rec. Want to meet a guy with the most school spirited bow tie collection you'll ever see? Just pop into the new Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin's office.

Our campus is the most walkable of all the state schools I've ever visited (and the list is pretty extensive), and we offer over 280 different degree programs. Also, we were recently ranked the best journalism school in the country by NewsPro-RTDNA (Radio Television Digital News Association), and the article that broke the news is what inspired this blog entry.

Apparently, I love Mizzou enough to defend this title via a Facebook comment thread for almost two hours.

See, it all started with some bragging. I shared the article on the Facebook walls' of two of my friends, both of whom go to journalism schools that were ranked below Mizzou's on the list (#2 Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism and #4 Syracuse's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications). The debate was all in good fun but got pretty heated, eventually stooping to the level of comparing party school status and athletic successes. But hey, at least we can all agree that we love our schools.

Long story short, this made me realize something very important: why stay at a school that you don't love?

My family has experienced this first hand as of recent, since my brother just transferred from the University of Kansas (thank god...tigers and jayhawks have a hateful history, for those of you who aren't aware) to a school closer to home. Century-old college rivalry aside, my brother just didn't enjoy going to school there, plain and simple. So he left. And good for him.

If you're going to invest 4+ years and hundreds of thousands of dollars into a college education, why not enjoy yourself while you're there? I challenge every college student reading this to ponder the question of why they love their school. Is it your professors? The friends you've made? The beautiful campus? The sports teams? The lack of sports teams? Whatever it may be, I hope you can put it in words, or at least think of a defining moment when your presence at that school just seemed to make sense.

Katie and I rooting on our boys at the Georgia Dome

For me, that defining moment was just a little over a week ago at the SEC Championship game in Atlanta. My friends and I drove nearly 14 hours through ice, rain and snow to get to this game, and we ended up losing by 17 points.

But do I regret going? Not in the slightest.

While I stood in my amazing eighth row seats in an orange and navy dominated Georgia Dome and watched in awe as streamers poured down, celebrating a victory that I was not a part of, I initially felt the same emotion as all the black and gold-adorned fans around me: heartbreak. We deserved to win that game. It was only our second season in the SEC and we had gone nearly undefeated (let's not talk about the homecoming game and the haunting sound of the football hitting the Mizzou goal post that will forever ring in the back of my head), a record that nobody in the sports industry anticipated. The year prior, we were not only the new kids on the block but the most under appreciated team in the SEC. Nobody thought we had what it takes. But we proved them wrong this year.

It was this (almost constantly) repeated success throughout the season leading up to the championship that made me a bigger football fan than I've ever been. Typically, I'm the girl who goes to games for the social aspect, chatting with friends and wishing that I understood why people love watching men in tight pants run around and get shoved to the ground. Not anymore (thankfully).

Standing in the very spitired greek student seating section for so many wins in a row made me realize that I love football, but more importantly, I love Mizzou tiger football. Games are the one time when I truely feel a part of this enormous student body, the one time that I feel connected to every single person at this wonderful school.

So, you can probably empathize with our loss that fateful Saturday night. For a moment, as I watched the Auburn players hug and rejoice at center field, all I could think of was how cruel this world is. Cruel enough to make all of us Mizzou kids believe that we could win that game. I almost stormed out of the stadium.

Then the alma mater began to play. I held onto the shoulder of my dear friend Katie and fought back tears as I swayed and sang along with an entire section of heartbroken college students. As I turned my gaze away from the field and instead focused on the people swaying around me, I had a sort of epiphany: this is what it's all about. Win or lose, we're still a team. A family. We all shared one dream, a dream of winning the SEC Championship title, but it doesn't matter that we didn't reach that goal. What matters at the end of the day is that we all share a love for the university that we call home. We all drove past flipped SUVS and semi trucks to get to that game because we were determined to support the team that we so passionately root for every week. OUR team. The one we feel a connection with.

Isn't that what college is all about?

#19 Don't be afraid to do it all

I have a full plate this semester. Actually, that's putting it lightly. I work, take 14 credit hours of class, and I'm in six different organizations. So you could say I'm pretty busy.

Here's the thing: being busy is a good thing. Although there have been multiple instances lately when I've wanted to pull my hair out, scream and go to bed until the world freezes over (it could happen), I wouldn't change a thing about my daily schedule. Yes, I wish I had the time to go to the rec as much as I want to and to actually be able to eat dinner with my friends at the house instead of alone an hour later than everyone else, but staying busy means that I'm constantly allocating my time and slowly but surely mastering those crucial time management skills.

SO many college kids don't know what to do with their free time. They have a two hour break between class and they watch Hulu or pin a million different recipes that they're never going to make. I, on the other hand, go to the student center and try my hardest to resist the temptations of social media and instead, spend my time studying or completing any work that I know that I need to get done.

The same goes for the weekends. Should you stay up reading your Econ book every Friday and Saturday night? Hell no, everyone needs to get out of the library and have some fun, but we have to remember that there are 24 hours in a day. If you're not working or volunteering or participating in some sort of activity for an organization you're in, you can spare a few hours every Saturday (and especially Sunday, everyone's favorite catch-up day) to get some school work or studying done.

My fellow Phi Mu Fraternity Executive Board members and I 

I give myself incentives. I say to myself "Niki, if you finish reading and taking notes on this Econ chapter, you can eat that mini bag of peanut butter M&Ms, or watch a youtube video. Giving yourself something to look forward to gives some sort of purpose to the tasks you're most dreading, and you feel that much more accomplished once they're over with.

Another tip: hide your phone while you're trying to get school stuff done. I do this a lot and some of my friends that go study with me notice, or just know I do it because they text me and wonder why I wasn't responding for a straight hour or two. I'm not saying you need to dig a hole for your phone at the bottom of your backpack, but throwing it in your bag's front pocket or simply putting it behind your laptop screen makes texting/tweeting/whatever the hell else you do on your phone less tempting. Out of sight, out of mind-trust me, it's true.

But back to the whole "stay busy" argument; I'm going to sound like a high school counselor by saying this, but I truly believe that students who are involved on campus do better in school, make more friends and are just happier all around. Being a part of multiple groups, or just more than one, gives you the opportunity to meet people whom you never would have gotten the opportunity to hang out with otherwise. College is all about meeting (and sometimes learning to deal with) people who are different than you. At a state school like mine, you're not going to find 30,000 white kids who are all from the same town (even though all the St. Louisians seem to make up half of this school and meet this stereotype).

I've had the privilege to meet people in the greek community, in the journalism community, and even the international student community, and I'm well-rounded because of it. I have friends who aren't the exact same as me, and I learn from them everyday. They help me become a better student and all around person, and I couldn't be more thankful for the way they've helped me get the best out of my college experience.

#18 Accept a job that is out of your comfort zone

Sometimes the best experiences come from the most unexpected situations, and working at the Chinese restaurant where I've been employed since May has been one of those experiences.

To be blatantly honest, I didn't think I was going to like this job. I took it because I needed it to get residency, and they were one of the only places that offered me a position. I don't speak Chinese, I didn't know that much about Chinese food, and I had never worked in a restaurant before. 

From the first day, it was very obvious that this job was going to be way different than the previous ones I've had. All the other employees spoke Chinese except for two, and they clearly preferred to use their native language than English. I felt really uncomfortable butting into their conversations to try to speak to them in English, so I kept to myself most of the time. I worked hard and stayed quiet.

But eventually, I didn't have to figure out a way to speak to them without interrupting. They just started  including me in their conversations. We talked about everything. Food, movies, cultural differences between our two countries, even marriage equality. The day I stayed twenty minutes past the end of my shift because I was watching movie trailers with my coworkers online, I knew that I had finally found my place.

I started feeling included. I started to feel like I was accepted, even liked by my coworkers, and it's amazing how much more enjoyable my job became. No, I did not enjoy disinfecting urinals and scraping rice from the depths of booth cushions any more than I already did (which was not at all), but I no longer dreaded going to work.

Work was still something I had to do, but I realized that I might as well have fun while I was there. Lord knows I have a million funny stories of things that customers have said and done, and of the countless observations I've made about Chinese people, but the most important thing I got out of my work experience was a belief in the idea that, at the end of the day, we're all the same.

Sure, I might not like duck as much as my Chinese coworkers, and we might celebrate different holidays and spend our free time talking to friends back home in different languages, but we all appreciate a good laugh. We all enjoy going to the movies and stepping into a world completely different than the one we know. We all appreciate a sunny day and something sweet for dessert. We're all people, we all breath and speak and work and love. We all have goals and dreams for ourselves, and at the end of the day, it doesn't matter that we come from two completely different places. 

#17 Live with your best friend

So, this summer has been interesting.

This is my first full summer away from home, and I have to admit, it hasn't been easy. I'm trying to gain residency in Missouri so I can start paying in-state tuition and save a heck of a lot of money, and to do so I'm working two jobs. And taking College Algebra. Woo.

I knew this summer was going to be hard for me, especially since the only time I've spent away from home during summers past was at camp, and that's my home away from home. When you spend your days at the same place, with the same awesome girls, you tend to forget you're a whole state away. However, this summer I was pretty aware of the six hours separating me from my friends and family back in Chicagoland.

There's a silver lining, I promise.

Katie and I enjoying the Missouri capitol museum

I've survived this summer thanks to one person whom I'm eternally grateful for, and that is my dear friend/roommate/long lost twin Katie.

We're from the same area, have the same major, love the same teams and even drive the same car. But that's not why we get along so well. This girl is one of the sweetest, most caring people I have ever met. She puts her friends and family first, and lets their worries consume her own. Her compassion is what has helped me stay sane these past two months, and living with her has taught me the true value of our friendship.

Katie and I exploring Devil's Icebox in Columbia, MO

So, I say go for it. Room with one of your best friends, because you won't regret it. If it's someone that truly understands you and accepts all your weird quirks, then they will make the perfect roommate. No fights, no tears (except out of laughter) and you can even share clothes if you're lucky. And take adventures to sonic for your first Oreo milkshake (can you believe she had never had one?!).

Katie and I checking off an item on the Mizzou bucket list

I was blessed enough to meet someone in college who has helped this town feel like home, and I couldn't be more happy with my decision to spend this summer with her. If you're just as lucky, I hope you consider it. It just might make your friendship even stronger.

Katie and I throwing up our sorority hand sign in front of the Missouri state capitol building

#16 Let "distance make the heart grow fonder"

I'm a Momma's girl. Always have been, and always will be. So naturally, being six hours away from her hasn't been a walk in the park for me.

Last weekend was my sorority's Mom's Weekend, and it couldn't have come at a better time. Finals are swiftly approaching, the weather-until today-made me believe it was already summer, and my Facebook and Twitter feeds have been exploding with last day of school and "Going home!" posts.

Ugh. We have two weeks left. But that's exactly why I appreciated her visit; she's the best motivator I know.

Take last night for example. I'm going to be real for a second and admit that I had a bit of a stereotypically girly, emotion-driven breakdown. I'm stressed about finals. But even more than that, I miss my friends and my family, and thinking about how I'm going to be away from them for almost the entire summer makes me really sad. And whenever I'm feeling like crap, I text my Mom. Thank god I didn't call her because I would have been sobbing in the middle of the student center basement.

She sent me a super long response that was everything I needed to hear. She reminded me that I will get to see everyone a couple times, and that people will visit. She told me she's thankful that I'm staying the summer to save us money, and that she's proud of me. And honestly, that's the best thing a parent can say next to "I love you".

Mom and I enjoying ourselves at a friend's Christmas party last December

There's just something special about my Mom that makes me get so emotional when she says these things. I can't even begin to describe it, but she's just that one person that always knows how to make me feel better, and I'm eternally grateful to have her in my life.

So as you can assume, I was ecstatic when she finally got in around 2 last Friday. We went to dinner, to a comedy show, shopping in the Ozarks and out to dinner again, but I probably could have sat in the hotel all weekend and talked and I still would have had a great time. I don't know if it's because I see her so little, but I could talk to my mom for a whole day straight. We just get each other, and nothing is ever forced between us. I trust her and she trusts me, and I think that being in college has really made that apparent.

As cheesy as it sounds, we're even closer now that I'm a state away. We talk everyday and if I don't hear from her for a little while it seems like something's not right. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

So, don't feel embarrassed if you need to talk to Mom. Or Dad, or Grandma, or your best friend. Whoever it may be that you have the closest relationship with, chances are that when you no longer get to see them everyday, you're going to realize how much they mean to you. It's like we go the first eighteen years of our life spending each day with the same people, and then suddenly they're not there anymore. And it's kind of scary. But it doesn't mean that they can't "be there" for you.

I have an extremely close knit group of friends from back home that I know I can call anytime. No questions asked, if it's 2:00AM and I'm crying on the other side of the phone, I know that they're going to drop what they're doing-even if it was sleeping-and calm me down. And there are not enough thank yous in the world to express how grateful I am to have them. The same goes for Mom. So don't let those relationships disintegrate when your friends and family aren't physically there for you anymore. Relationships like that are the most precious gifts that we receive in life, and they should never go unappreciated or forgotten.

#15 Participate in as many philanthropic events as possible

I love to dance, and most people who know me are quite aware of that. I also think it's important to give back/help organizations that are devoted to issues that I care about. So, signing up for Dance Marathon and Relay for Life was a no-brainer for me.

These events were back to back weekends in March this year, and although it was hard not getting to catch up on sleep like I usually do every weekend, participating in both of them was extremely rewarding and worth the lack of rest.

Dance Marathon, for those that don't know, is an event that has become very popular on numerous college campuses across the country. At Mizzou, it lasts 13.1 hours and the money raised by everyone involved goes towards the Children's Miracle Network Hospital on campus. Basically, it's a huge dance party from noon-1:06 in the morning, and it's all FTK-"For the Kids".

Ever since I heard about Mizzou's DM from my summer welcome leader this past July, I knew I wanted to be involved. My cousin who graduated from Indiana University danced at IU's DM while she was there and I remember  thinking it sounded so hard to have to stand for that long, but my cousin was cool and older than me and thus I naturally wanted to be like her and do it once I was old enough.

Yes, standing for 13.1 hours was hard. I wasn't actually that worried about it until about hour six, when you realize you're not quite halfway and everyone's initial adrenaline rush seems to wear off a bit, but the DM Steering Committee planned plenty of activities-and meals!-to keep me going.

While I loved the Zumba lesson, dance crew performances and especially the free Andy's custard, I have to say that seeing the kids that we were helping out there on the dance floor really made the experience worthwhile. Even though one girl was confined to a wheelchair, you could tell she was still feeling the music as she sat and gazed at all the people dancing in her honor with one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen.

DM participants sign "the board" pledging to stay the full 13.1 hours

Two friends and I in front of our team banner

My sorority sisters and I showing off on the dance floor 

Relay for Life was no exception.

The following weekend, which happened to be St. Patrick's Day, I pulled an all-nighter (from 6pm-6am) for the American Cancer Society, and it's the only time I can ever say that getting zero sleep has paid off.

My Nana passed away from cancer in 2005, and ever since I have been a big supporter of the American Cancer Society. When a close friend of mine lost her grandpa not long after I lost Nana, we got a big group of girls together and went door-to-door singing Christmas carols and carrying a box for donations. We gave all the money that we received to ACS and donated it in our lost grandparents' names.

It's one thing to spend a couple hours caroling, but it's another to spend a whole night walking a track and fighting the urge to close your eyes. I knew that participating in the event would be hard for me, and I was a little bummed that I wouldn't get to celebrate St. Patty's Day with my friends, but Relay for Life had been on my bucket list for eight years and I knew that I would regret not doing it.

I'm really glad that I listened to that little voice in my head urging me to participate. Watching all the names of the people that relay participants had lost to cancer flash across the screen was indescribibly emotional, and listening to a few survivors speak about their fight with this terrible disease was equally inspirational.

So, I know that I'm always going on and on about "getting involved" and I'm starting to sound like more of a school counselor or administrator with every blog entry, but it's true: giving back is extremely important, and there are a million ways to do it in college.

I guess the point is the same. Take advantage of all the philanthropic opportunities you have at school because giving up a couple Saturdays a year is going to make a much larger impact than you could ever imagine.

Me selling some pizzas to fundraise for ACS

Luminaries set out to honor those who have battled cancer

#14 Surprise someone

I know not everyone likes being surprised, but come on. It's so fun.

Last year a bunch of my friends surprised me after dance practice on my birthday. They were holding balloons and popped out when I turned the corner, about to walk out to what I thought was my Mom's car waiting for me in the parking lot. Instead, they took me out to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. It was simple yet meant so much to me. It took a decent amount of planning, and it showed how great of friends they truly are.

As a way of repaying my friends Leslie and Lauren for being two of the girls involved in that surprise, I decided to visit them at school without telling them beforehand.

Now, I can't go any further into this story without giving major props to my friend Madison. When I heard back in December that she had friends that go to school in Iowa a lightbulb went off in my head. Madison has friends in Iowa...she has a car...and likes to take road trips...hmm... I got a little excited. Thankfully, she is a pretty amazing friend and was more than willing to take the four hour trip north to help me put my plan into action.

Again, I have to stop and acknowledge another friend. My good friend Shannon also goes to school with Lauren and Leslie, and I couldn't have pulled this off without her. I needed at least one person to know I was going to be there so I could figure out the logistics (where we would stay, how we would meet up with the girls, etc.) and she was more than willing to help (and give us a place to sleep). She rocks.

Leslie and I right after I showed up at her door

So here's how it all went down. Madison, her roommate and I drove up to Iowa two weekends ago and dropped all of our stuff off at Shannon's dorm. Thankfully Leslie lives just a few floors above her, so Shannon knocked on her door and there I was, standing in front of Leslie with a bow on the top of my head (I was her belated birthday present).

I won't bore you with any more details, but what I want you to know is that seeing the expression on my dear friends' faces when they saw me made me the happiest I've been in months. Actually, I can't remember the last time I was that happy. It was incredible. Leslie hugged me for a solid minute and a half, looked at me, touched my face to check that I was real, and hugged me again. The same happened when I surprised Lauren, except there were screamed swear words involved and she jumped on top of me in a koala-type hug. Leslie cried. Lauren freaked. It was fantastic.

When you really care about people, it's really hard to be away from them. As obvious as this seems, I never realized the significance of this statement until I got to college. At school, I don't have any of the people I spent everyday with for eighteen years by my side. I don't get to smile and wave at them in the hallway, or sit with them at lunch. I don't get to run up to their locker and share the most recent piece of high school nonsense with them. I don't get to walk home with them and vent about all the things that are stressing me out.

I miss that. I missed my best friends, and although I spend a lot of time blogging about how important it is that out of state kids don't dwell on how far they are from their friends and family, sometimes you just have to admit that you're struggling with it. Sometimes the best cure is a hug from your best friend, and it means so much more when you know that they weren't expecting it. 

So, if you ever get the chance, plan a surprise visit to your friends' school. You may think they don't miss you as much as you miss them, but you have no idea how rewarding it is to realize that the feeling is 100% mutual the second they're back in your arms.

Leslie, Lauren, Shannon and I after the big surprise

Leslie, Shannon and I with our guy friends that I also surprised

Out of Stater Tip: Don’t compare your college experience to anyone else’s

We’ve all been told not to compare ourselves to others, but I think this phrase takes on a new importance in college.

Our generation has acquired an obsessive need to document every single fun moment they have and share it publicly. We call this social media. And yes, while it is fun to see what your friends are up to at other schools and keep up with their life through their facebook account, I think we’ve all had that moment of jealousy.

Why can’t my school be more like that? She’s probably having so much more fun than me. 

It’s sad, really. That the people who matter to us most, the people who we miss on a regular basis-thus the appeal of seeing how they’re doing from the pictures they post-are the ones that often make us feel bad about ourselves. But it’s the reality.

I took an online survey about social media the other day for extra credit, and was honestly embarrassed by some of my answers. They asked me to choose how often I feel sad or think about how much fun people are having while on Facebook, and I hadn’t realized how often that was.

The thing is, we can’t help it. This is the natural effect of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and any other social media site. And personally, I think the effect is even harder on those of us that go to school far from home.

It’s one thing to see pictures of your friends enjoying college life at school, but it’s another to see tweets like “So good to be home” on a regular basis. The fact is, the majority of the kids we went to high school with are going to be able to go back more often than we are, but we can’t let ourselves get upset over it.

Sure, your best friend might have been home two or three times already since second semester started. Maybe even three or four, and you’re at one or even zero.

Who cares?

At the end of the day, staying away from home for longer will only make it easier to be away. When you constantly go back, it makes it even harder to return to school and get back into the swing of things. When we go home, we get used to seeing the people that we miss, and when we get back on campus and realize that they’re not going to be there, it makes us miss them that much more.

So I guess the moral of this entry is: BE STRONG MY OUT OF STATERS!

You’re your own person, and there’s no reason to base your happiness at school off of how your high school friends are doing. They’re at different schools and having different experiences than you, and that’s perfectly fine. In fact, I think it’s fantastic. It may be overused, but I think distance really does “make the heart grow fonder”, and any true friendships you have will be stronger after your time apart. The longer you spend away from your friends and family, the more you appreciate them and the more special the time you eventually spend with them is.

Being different and going to the school where none of your friends are going is going to open so many doors for you. It gives you the opportunity to branch out, meet new people, and have your own experiences that will teach you things about yourself that you never expected to learn.

It might be scary, but it’s worth the risk. So don’t sweat the small stuff. Your friends might be just as jealous looking at all your pictures, looking at you being all grown-up and independent J

Out of Stater Tip: You're going to miss your friends, but don't let it ruin your semester

As extremely cheesy and unoriginal as this may sound, my friends mean the world to me. And I mean that in the most sincere way possible.

I consider myself extremely blessed to have such kind, intelligent, fun and supportive people in my life, and naturally their absence in my everyday life does not go unnoticed when I'm at school. I've continued to be friends with many of the same girls that I met when I was five, and in jr, high and high school I added even more people to my diverse group of friends. I formed a lot of strong friendships at the end of senior year and spent nearly everyday with them during this past summer before I left, and that made it even harder to leave.

The point of my spiel is that it's not going to be easy to leave your friends, and it's even harder for us out of state kids (especially when you're six hours or more from home). The hard truth is that if you don't go to school with them, you're probably not going to see them. And it's rough. 

I think when you're in high school or any school before college really, you take seeing your friends everyday for granted. Even if it's just once a day in the hallway, you get that quick face-to-face time on a daily basis, and obviously that's just not possible when you're multiple hours away from each other. College makes you appreciate hearing the voices and seeing the faces of the people that mean the most to you.

To be perfectly honest, I went through a short period of time when I missed my friends from home so much that I almost felt depressed. I'm slightly embarrassed to say that there were a few quick, quiet tears shed. But my problem was that I was letting my jealously get the best of me. I would see the pictures of my friends that all go to the same school with friends whose schools are nearby going to visit, and all I could think about was how much I wanted to be there. How unfair it was that they could see each other so much easier than I could. They looked like they were having so much fun and I would sit in my room and wonder why I couldn't have that much fun.

Then I realized that I needed to grow up. I couldn't let a couple facebook photos ruin my whole day. I was spending too much time sulking and not enough time going out there and forming new relationships with the new people all around me. I was allowing myself to remain closed up and was completely blind to the fact that I had so many wonderful potential friends at my fingertips.

So my advice is this my fellow out of staters, as one of my favorite Girl Scout songs says; make new friends and keep the old. Because you can have both without having to chose one or the other. 

Tips:

*Make an effort to stay in touch. My friends and I have an enormous, ongoing Facebook chat where we all share college stories, funny youtube videos, and reminisce about the good old days. It helps us keep up with each others' lives and feel like nothing has really changed.

*Remind yourself that you're becoming more independent. Personally, I think that if you're like me and the first time you go back and see all your friends is Thanksgiving break then you're becoming a much more mature person. Not going home all the time makes you stronger. It builds character, honestly.

*Join as many activities/extracurriculars as possible. I'm going to sound like a high school principal when I say this, but getting involved is a super easy way to make friends. Greek life isn't for everyone, but it ended up being quite a blessing for me because I've made my best friends in college through my sorority. So just try it. Rush. Join a club. Form an intramural team. Run for hall president. It doesn't matter what it is, but if you find something that interests you, just go for it. You never know what could happen.

*MOST IMPORTANTLY, be open. My biggest regret from my first semester is not opening up to the people on my floor. They always seemed like really cool people to me, but I was too engulfed in my "friend sickness" to take the time to get to know them, and when I finally got over it, I was too afraid to try and break into the close-knit group that had already formed. The truth is that everyone is essentially in the same boat when you're a freshman. Nobody knows what the heck they're doing, they've never been to college before. Nine times out of ten, if you take a chance and put yourself out there, people will be more than willing to get to know you.

#13 Show some friends around your home turf

Alright so I guess I need to stop acting like I'm from the city of Chicago when I'm actually from the suburbs, but I can't help but feel a connection to the city. When both of your parents lived there and made sure that you were exposed to the city from a young age, it's hard not to love that never-ending sea of concrete along that ocean blue lake.

So during break, I was lucky enough to have the chance to combine two of my favorite things; visiting the city I love and reconnecting with beloved old friends from camp, one of which couldn't remember the last time she had been to Chicago. So naturally, my fellow suburbanite Lindsey and I had to play tour guide.

Although we might not be true "chicagoans", I felt like a pretty experienced city-goer walking down the crowded streets of Michigan Ave. Ever since my Mom first let me take the train down by myself as a senior in high school, the city has brought a sense of freedom and energy that I've yet to find anywhere else, even in college. I think the feeling comes from being confident that I know my way around certain areas of such an overwhelmingly large urban area. When I'm downtown, I let myself succumb to my five year old tendencies and pretend that I actually live there.

The first place we took Jane was the restaurant Dick's Last Resort, which is sort of a PG-13 version of Ed Debevic's  (another Chicago classic). Both restaurants serve all the American staples-burgers, fries, etc-but they're known more for the waiting staffs than the food. At Ed's, the waiters will jokingly be rude but never to the point where I couldn't handle it as a young kid. Dick's, however, I'm glad I waited to eat at until after I turned eighteen. Not only do the waiters take every opportunity to be as rude to you as possible, they write especially crude insults on paper hats and force you to wear them. While this might not sound like the ideal dining experience, it's actually pretty fun and the creativity behind some of the insults are so impressive that you can't help but laugh.

Next up was ice skating at one of my favorite touristy spots, Millennium Park. The rink has become a great Chicago Christmas tradition that lasts until mid March- weather permitting-each year. The waiting in line part wasn't so fun since it took over and hour to get to the front...and then the zamboni came out as we were finally ready to skate, but once we got out there it was definitely worth it. I've never skated alongside a more beautiful view, especially as the sun was beginning to set and the final rays were reflecting off the forest of skyscrapers around us. I proved myself to be a slightly more experienced skater, and spent most of the time towing Lindsey behind me via my brother's old Adidas backpack.

Once our feet began to thaw, we walked around the park and showed Jane all the highlights. First up was of course the stainless steel sculpture Cloud Gate, known as "The Bean", created by artist Anish Kapoor. Our inner tourists really came out as we spent at least twenty minutes taking every kind of picture we could come up with, just like the throngs of people around us. We took more cheesy pictures in front of Jay Pritzker Pavilion, where our photographer intuition led us astray as Jane was yelled at by a park officer for standing on the ledge. Thankfully she wasn't too embarrassed to take more ridiculous pictures around the park, and was up for checking out the line for the "Willis" (*ahem*Sears) Tower's Skydeck. Unfortunately, it was way too long and we had a train to catch, but thankfully we had time for a quick Garrett's popcorn stop.

There's something special about reconnecting with old friends, especially in a setting such as Chicago. And, meeting up with my friends from camp is particularly special since I see them even less than my high school friends. Getting to spend time with these two wonderful girls was truly a highlight of my break, and although it was hard to say goodbye I know that they're the type of friends that are here to stay. I think it's really important to spend as much time with friends like this when you're home from school because it reminds you how thankful you should be to have them in your life. College is all about meeting new people and forming more friendships, but I've never been the type to let go of old friendships to welcome new ones, and I never will be. These girls helped me get through all of the challenges that came with high school, and they were the people by my side through all the experiences that have helped shape the person that I am today. I'll never forget all our good times together and all that they've done for me, and I can't wait to see what the rest of college and beyond has in store for us.

Throwback

So I was feeling nostalgic and reading through some of my posts from last spring/summer on my private, meant for venting-tumblr, and this post from June 21st made me think, maybe not all of the writing on that blog is crap after all! I think a lot of what I wrote here remains true, and this was my way of being mature and moving on after high school ended.

Lessons.

There are so many reasons why things happen, and it takes a while to realize them (if you’re actually lucky enough to find them out).

I know there’s a reason why you came into my life.

All of these new friends, really.

We were meant to become so close so fast, and to want to spend so much time together this summer.

It’s all a learning experience, and I’ve already learned from you and the rest of them.

I’ve learned that sometimes people come in to our life to help us figure out what we want, even if we don’t want the same things as them.

I’ve learned that, unlike my prior belief that this was impossible, guys can be just as good of friends as girls can.

I’ve learned that taking a chance and doing something that scares you can really pay off in the end, even if it doesn’t quite pay off in the way that you’d hoped.

I’ve learned that, as much as it may hurt or confuse you, sometimes things just aren’t meant to work out the way you really want them to. Everyone has their own complicated set of thoughts and feelings, and sometimes they just don’t match up with yours in the way you want it to.

I’ve learned that the people who are worth your time are the people that you’re not afraid to act weird around :)

I've learned that everything really does happen for a reason.