So no, I never actually finished chronicling my Iceland adventures, on the internet anyway. And no, I am not in Disney World. I currently reside, and have been residing in, Charleston, SC for the past three weeks. Here is the low down of how wonderfully amazing my life has been since I arrived.
August 10th: Move-in Day: snuck in (I wasn't really supposed to move in early but gave it a shot anyway- it worked out!) and successfully moved in all of my five bags of belongings without much trouble. I have to say it was strange to comprehend that most all of the things I needed to live away from home fit into a total of five tightly packed bags. After a good amount of nesting, my mom and I were able to relax and spend the next couple of days exploring or running errands together. I think this was the perfect way for me to get a last taste of family because, though I don't always admit it, my mother and I are similar in the way that functioning in a perpetual state of motion and business helps us to cope with potentially emotional situations. I love my family but I am glad that it was her that got me settled in while also just being a friend. Thank you.
August 11-18th: Srat Rush: {AKA the most exhausting week of your life}: I never really thought that I would be the "sorority girl" type. I just think I have always had this misconception that any girl in a sorority had to be perfect. Perfect hair, perfect friends, perfect resume, perfect socializing skills, perfect makeup, perfect reputation, perfect everything. Where exactly I was taught this, I know not. What I do know is that when arriving to the city of my dreams I just wanted to nest. (I'm a big nester). This meant that I needed to nestle into a group of friends with whom I could dependably count on. A family away from home. Going through the recruitment process, however foreign the strange rules or etiquette were, I realized that I love people. Yes, people can suck and they will be mean or weird or distant but then there are so many freaking cool people that chose to go to school in Charleston. The girls I met and the instant friendships I made will be so fun to figure out where they go.
Anyway, my ah-mazing Pi Chi leader, Molly, asked me a very important and crucial question when I was deciding between three incredible sororities... "If you were to pee yourself in a room full of the girls from one of these srats, who would you feel most comfortable doing that in front of?"... Zeta Tau Alpha was my answer. I am now a srat girl and I love love love wearing my five point crown to let anyone and everyone know who I am proud to be a part of. These women are WELCOMING, POWERFUL, LOVING, PASSIONATE, and absolutely CRAZY. I cannot get enough.
August 19th: Back To School Special: Classes started and I am now officially in college. The overwhelming feeling of being a part of the traffic on the collegiate sidewalks really enveloped me and, in a strange way, was a huge comfort. Going to school out of state is a gamble, I know that, but I still think that the perfect ratio of being anonymous in a crowd of people but then running into a friend absolutely exists here at the College of Charleston. I wouldn't get the same amount of new friends if I had opted (more like tried in vain for) to attend the University of Texas. It is a top notch school and I am forever proud of the ridiculous amount of smarty pants friends I have that go there but I would have felt like just a number. My largest class here is maybe 50 students. The face-to-face interaction between every professor and their students is so much more intimate here. I am taking Communications, ENG110, FYE:City of Light, A Study of Paris, and an Intro to Sculpture class. I am not sure how I got so lucky but here I am.
***So although you are mostly up to speed with the reasons I love it here, you have not truly begun to understand how much I love my roommate.***
Everyday: Emma Emma Emma: Born in China (not actually Chinese), raised in Boston, this girl is everything I REALLY was afraid she wouldn't be. She is becoming my other half and my partner in crime. Emma says "wicked" like its no big deal and calls a water-fountain a "bubb-lah"(like no, sorry, you are incorrect). Though she is incapable of dealing with wheat, we have become incredibly creative as to finding rockin gluten-free pizza, investigative in knowing who is having half-off sushi, and architectural in building the wonderful pyramid of cereal in our room. She listens to Grouplove like its her religion, doesn't laugh too hard at me when I try to play guitar, and is completely comfortable in telling me when I need to get my life together. You would think that it just really couldn't get better than this... you would be so so wrong. My friend Emma loves Jesus. My friend Emma is genuine. My friend Emma goes to church with me and rocks out to some Bible-loving band with me. My friend Emma is my roommate and I am so blessed that she is not an axe murderer, an obsessive-cat-killing psycho, or really just anyone who is not her. Praise the Lord to high heaven for that.
So as you should have noticed it by now, this is truly the place where all of my wildest dreams are about to come true. (like no pressure or anything). But really though, when I'm here I don't feel like things are happening to me or that I am waiting for things to happen to me, I feel empowered to know that I am the one making my life in the image that I want it. One right decision at a time. I am not naive to think that sometimes it will suck to be so far away from home or that I won't have a fight with one of my friends or that I won't be consumed by the amount of studying I need to do at some point. All I'm saying is that I look forward to that. I look forward to the obstacles here because it only gives me a chance to overcome them in a place that I now consider home and a place that I consider paradise.
