Not Your Typical Freshman 15

Tonight I leave, because first thing tomorrow I'm going on a 6-day retreat for Campus Ambassadors, my college Christian group.  The retreat's called Infusion and everyone says it's really awesome.  Please be praying for us-safe travels, health, and that God speaks to us!  But I thought that I should get my entry about my first semester of college out of the way, because I have no idea if I'll have Internet access over the coming week.

So when I left off, it was the summer before I started college.  I had a week in between camp and college and I tried to spend it with my friends.  I was getting more and more nervous as the day to leave for college got closer.  It was funny because I'd been looking forward to college forever-getting out of the house and out of the sometimes repressive atmosphere of such a small high school.  But I hadn't gone to any orientation and literally knew nobody on campus. 

I attend a secular school, when all of the other seniors in my church went to Christian colleges, which I found too expensive.  A lot of people thought I wouldn't fit in there, but God provides! 

I was dropped off in my dorm room Thursday with my fish, Felipe, and was essentially on my own.  Everyone else who was on campus was there for one of the special programs, like Honors, so they had meetings and dinners and ways to connect with each other.

Rather than describe how it was at college those first few days, I'll talk about how I "plugged in."  I'll admit that I have a terrible sense of direction, and I was walking around campus my first or second full day there when I came across a bunch of tents set up for organizations and clubs on campus.  I decided to check it out-some of them were giving out free stuff! 

And one of them was Campus Ambassadors.  I filled out one of the little cards and talked to the people at the table, who seemed really nice.  I'd known from looking online that there were two Christian groups on campus-CA, and BASIC, but they both had their main meetings Tuesday nights, so I'd thought I was going to switch back and forth until I figured out which one I liked better.

During the first week of classes I was determined to step outside of my comfort zone and meet new people.  One of the ways I did this was by asking to join tables at meals.  I made some great friends that way, but Monday or Tuesday I "happened" to sit with some girls who were leadership from Campus Ambassadors.  Having befriended them, I chose to go Campus Ambassadors that first week-besides, they were giving out free smoothies!-and loved it.  They brought up a missions trip they were doing to the Dominican Republic, but I never thought I could afford it...(my church ended up giving me half of the money :) ).


I could go on like this, but I think it would be more interesting if I made my own personal "Freshman 15" list of things I learned and/or enjoyed about my first year of college, in no particular order.

1. It's easier than I thought to "plug in."  I know that my personal experience is probably not typical, but God will provide a way for you to find the "right" people, if that's what you really want.
2. One of my pet peeves-people who leave their clothes overnight in the dryer and then turn it on the next morning for another 45 minutes.  Not necessary!
3. If you ever have the opportunity to take a missions trip, take it!  It changed my life in so many ways-I'm sure I'll end up blogging about it at some point, but to make a long story short, they blessed us way more than we did them and I miss them and think about them every day.
4. Professors are usually great about giving help if you take the time to ask.  I never learned the subjunctive tense in Spanish because we taught it every other year to the upper-level classes, but both of my professors gave me the extra help I needed to "get" it.
5. With greater independence comes greater responsibility-no parents means you're in charge of doing laundry, making sure you're up in time for class, etc. I did well with that but some people just can't handle it!
6. You learn if  your walk with God is really yours or your friends'/family's when there's nobody there to make sure you're up for church.
7. Sometimes people in the dining halls give you less food if you're a teenage girl.  Not fair!
8. Some people really will never grow up-might as well get used to them now!
9. Just because you're at a "party school" doesn't mean that everyone goes out and gets wasted on the weekends.  To quote my eighth grade history teacher, "Life is full of choices!"
10. There really is an albino squirrel at my college-I'd thought he was a myth!  (Of course, the picture won't upload.)
11. "Free" is my new favorite word as a poor college student!
12. People told me I'd never get through a semester of college without coffee-well I made it through two.
13. I've learned to have an open mind-just because something is different doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad or wrong.
14. Not necessarily because of college, but I've learned a lot about myself based on experiences with other people this past year-forgiveness and what it is to miss somebody, for example.
15. Life is full of awkward moments-sometimes you just have to let it go and hope everyone else does too!

Well that's it for now!

Edit:
The DR team (mi familia!)