Top 10 Reasons I Love My SU Friends

Lindsey, me, and Alexis

Since this is most likely my last post of the semester, I wanted to post a little tribute to the people who have made it great, my friends.  I honestly didn't expect to have so many awesome people around this early on in my college experience.  I've included some pictures with a few of these people, as well as the top 10 reasons I love my SU friends.

1.  We are young.  Obviously we are literally young by virtue of our freshman status.  However, we're also young in spirit--and sometimes in behavior.  I particularly loved our coloring day towards the beginning of the year and hope we have a repeat soon.
2.  We fangirl.  We are not afraid to be enthusiastically in favor of something or someone, whether that's Jane Austen, Mr. Darcy, Harry Potter, Darren Criss, Tom Hardy, or Joseph Gordon-Leavitt.
3.  We love books!
4.  And writing too.  Well, some of us.
5.  We are those people.  Who sing in public.  Who giggle a lot in the middle of Benny's.  Who, if I wasn't a part of the "we", I might find a teensy bit obnoxious.
6.  We actually have things in common, enough that I can make "We" statements without engaging in drastically overblown generalizations.  The friends I hold most dear at Susquehanna so far are not friends of convenience or proximity,  even if they live conveniently close by (like in my room, for instance).  There are foundational commonalities.  These vary, of course, and can be any of the following and more: aforementioned love for writing and books, similar values, mindsets, or personalities, shared activities, shared commitment to God, shared support, etc.  I know that actually having things in common will make certain friendships last beyond relationships destined only for my freshman residence hall.
7.  We are different too.  Yet we have fun anyway.  We toss around disparate labels for ourselves, like "hipster," "Disney Princess," and "pessimistic panda," but that doesn't stop us from forming strong bonds.
8.  We can be ridiculous and deep.  In the course of one conversation. 
9.  We have seen a lot of each other.  Nobody has punched anyone yet.

Karen, me, and Kathleen

10. They let me eat their fries.  Enablers.

Me and Sarah

Minors!

I've been lucky to come to SU with a clear idea of what I wanted to major in: Creative Writing.  Unlike a lot of people, I'm not struggling with trying to decide what I want to study.  I am, however, considering what topics might merit minors.

Right now I'm a part of the Honors Program, which takes up a position of a minor.  I plan on adding at least one more minor.  Right now I'm thinking about adding an Editing & Publishing minor.  This minor is of practical interest to me, since as a Creative Writing major, one of the probable fields I'll look into for employment is publishing.  When I first started looking into the publishing of my own pieces, I discovered that I was interested in the industry itself, beyond merely a potential career as a writer.  I've also found, through critiquing in Introduction to Fiction, that I do have some skill at looking closely at a piece, ripping it apart, and having something valuable to say.

Another minor I'm considering is Religion.  I've yet to take a Religion course here at SU since I didn't get to form my first semester schedule.  However, I signed up for Applied Biblical Ethics not only because of my interest in the individual course, but to get an idea of the department as a whole.  I suspect I will probably end up adding this minor but 3 minors seems like an awfully lot.  Particularly, I'm interested in studying both Religion and Creative Writing since I hope to find a way to incorporate them. 

Perhaps the Honors Program will fall to the wayside.  Perhaps something differently will happen altogether.  Perhaps I'll be so enthusiastic about my religion courses that I'll want to double major.

There really is so much here at Susquehanna that I want to study.  I can only hope I have time to fit it all in!    

Things I've Learned From College #3

Buy rain boots.  You walk places a lot.  In the rain.  The very cold rain.  Which inevitably picks up at the most inconvenient moment, like when you and your friends walk out of your dorm to head to Deg for dinner.  Luckily, trekking all the way across campus at Susquehanna is not the same as, say, trekking all the way across campus at Penn State.  Still, it feels significant when your feet are soaked.  I never wore rain boots until I got to SU.  Now my rain boots and I are very close friends.

Plus, they even doubled as snow boots last night when those flurries finally stuck to the ground!

Winter Nearing, Fall Semester Disappearing!

The Fall Semester is wrapping up here at SU.  Meanwhile, December has arrived!  All of a sudden the weather has gone from manageably cold to numbingly so.  Last night, as friends and I left West Village, we were greeted by snowflakes!  Though not Winter yet, the various campus buildings sporting impressive Christmas trees have definitely given me that feel. I'm consistently struck by the immensity of the tree in the Blough-Weis Library.  My roommate Sarah brought a tiny, adorable fake tree for our room and a few Christmas decorations.  Likewise, many of my hallmates have also embraced the Christmas spirit when it comes to dorm decor.

As a freshman, I've heard about many Susquehanna traditions that I have not yet experienced for myself.  One such tradition I'm anticipating is the upcoming Annual Christmas Candlelight Service.  Chapel service this Sunday will be a dress-down day, and afterwords people will stay to help decorate for the service (and eat pizza-yay!).  I definitely want to attend this decorating as well as the candlelight service itself. Usually on Sundays, everyone who attends chapel is right there on the stage.  It'll be awesome to see Weber entirely full!  Another Christmas festivity I'm looking forward to is InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's Christmas Party.  Hopefully I'll also be attending Lutheran Student Movement's last meeting of the semester, which includes a gift exchange and caroling!

Though I'm so looking forward to break--I practically require it--I am going to miss my friends here a lot, so it's nice that I will be getting a little bit of Christmas here at SU, with them, before my Christmas at home.

The only thing dampering my holiday spirit is end of the semester work.

I have two final tests, Intermediate German and Colonial Latin America.  In Thought class, I have to edit my final paper, which must be at least 8 pages.  Mine is about social media in Iran.  So far I feel pretty good about my first draft.  It focuses on The Twitter Revolution and speaks a lot to the use of social media--like blogging, for instance!--in the aftermath of the 2009 presidential election.  My Perspectives course wrapped up today, with a final class where we were treated to breakfast, but I still have to turn in a self-reflection about a group project we worked on. This, too, must be 8 pages, a seemingly magic number among college professors. 

The most important final project to me personally is my portfolio for Intro to Fiction.  Regrettably, I haven't been working on my two stories all that much since they've been workshopped, but I really hope to knock these revisions out of the park.  The rewrites are pretty extensive for both stories.  At the very least, I am starting and ending each story in a different place, even if I'm not quite sure where those ends are yet.  My first person story has evolved from a scene with a cheesy romance ending to a story that will be more real and messy and heartfelt.  My third person story received a much better reception, but it will change so as not to rely on a structural quirk.  Instead it will allow the reader to stay with the story and go forward.  It will begin right where the tension does, rather than taking the reader through background before letting them enter the conflict.  Perhaps this weekend I can lock myself away in my room and rewrite!

Frankly, just as I expressed in my previous blog entry, I still cannot believe this semester is almost complete.  I arrived here in August.  And now it's December!  The older I get, the more amazed and startled I seem to be by the passage of time.

Back at SU: Already Looking To Next Semester

After a short Thanksgiving break, I am back at Susquehanna.  Though I returned Sunday evening, and today is Tuesday, I still don't feel as if my focus has completely recovered, though it better come back soon since I'm approaching my first college finals (Should I be more worried about this than I am?) and have to throw together a PowerPoint and oral presentation tonight on social media in Iran, on top of other homework.  I have a feeling, though, that my focus will be further impaired, due to the fact that one of the few shows I watch while at school, Glee, is on tonight.   

It's strange to think that my first semester at college is almost over.  I'm almost 1/8th of the way through college!  I know, I know, that means I have 7/8ths left still.  Even so, I'm a bit nervous that this college thing will just start going faster and faster until, before I know it, I'll be graduating.  Sometimes it's still weird to think that I'm even here at all, after anticipating college for such a long time.

Speaking of next semester, I was very lucky when it came to registration.  Over break, I received an e-mail saying schedules were up.  To my delight, I was placed into all 4 classes I signed up for--and at the times I signed up for them too!

Here's what my SU spring will look like:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday:
Introduction to Nonfiction, 1:45-2:50 p.m.
Thought & Civilization, 3:00-4:05 p.m.

Tuesday/Thursday-:
Applied Biblical Ethics, 10:00-11:35 a.m.
Principles of Sociology, 2:25-4:05 p.m.

I also will have work from 9 to 1 on Monday and Wednesday and 10 to 12 on Friday. 

I'm excited to see what I think of my new classes and my new schedule; obviously, I hope to think of them favorably.  I also wonder what else next semester will have in store, like new people I'll meet in my classes and perhaps new friendships.  I plan on getting involved in some different ways next semester.  For example, I might start going to Lit Club.  I wanted to be a part of it this semester, but it conflicted with my schedule.  Also, I want to participate on a reading board for Susquehanna's literary magazine RiverCraft. 

But even more so than next semester, I am looking forward to Christmas break.  It will be an adjustment, having such a long stretch of time at home, but it will be a welcome one.  Especially after enduring these upcoming weeks of projects and portfolios and finals.

Approaching Thanksgiving Break

As I start this blog entry, I'm about 3 hours away from Thanksgiving break, which can seem a little unfair as I know people who got to leave on Monday or over the weekend.  Me and many of my fellow students have talked jealously of other schools, like Penn State, where break started on Friday.  As much as I might whine about the shortness of this break, however, all in all I had a pretty good weekend that I'm glad I didn't miss.

Friday night was the 80s party at TRAX.  My friends and I began getting ready early, mainly because we didn't have much else to do.  I didn't have 80s clothing, so I borrowed a pink Star Wars shirt and gray leggings from my friend Karen.  Annie lent me fluorescent socks to add to the 80s look.  The most quintessentially 80s aspect of my appearance was my hair, which Karen wrangled into an impressively enormous side ponytail (the enormous part came naturally, sans any teasing).  When we first arrived at TRAX, which was admittedly early, the place was pretty empty, but soon things picked up.  We danced our night away to 80s tunes and belted out "Living On A Prayer" and "Don't Stop Believing," among other songs.  

Saturday my friend Jill picked me up to go shopping, and we headed over to the mall on the strip.  I bought the most adorable pajama pants at Maurice's.  It was significant that I bought anything, since usually on shopping trips I'm the one who goes away empty-handed.  Later that night, my friends Karen, Lindsey, and I headed over to Charlie's Coffeehouse for a "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving."  This was my first time at Charlie's, much to the shock and dismay of my friends.  Somehow I had never gone any of the times other people on my floor had.  I was very impressed with the atmosphere and enjoyed having a soft pretzel as I watched Charlie Brown force his dog into making his friends Thanksgiving dinner.  That same night, I ordered some Dominos and stayed up late with my friends talking.

The low-point of the weekend occurred when I experienced my first fire alarm at Hass, approximately at 3:40 something in the morning.  I must have been asleep for about a half hour when it sounded.  It wasdisconcerting, though my first thought was that it was my alarm waking me.  We dashed out of the building.  I was wearing slippers and fell on the steps.  Luckily, we all got out alright, though it was pretty cold and spirits weren't exactly jovial.  On the bright side, I was wearing aforementioned adorable pajama pants.

Sunday improved from there and was, all in all, a relaxing day.  I went to chapel service at 11.  Chaplain Radacke performed a great one-person play about Christ the King.  Afterwards, a friend I sat by at chapel accompanied me to brunch in the caf.  Later, Karen and I went to see our friend Kathleen in her band concert, which was really great.  Then the three of us and a friend from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship headed over to the Church of  the Nazarene to help with Christmas decorations.  We assembled a fake tree and decorated it.  We also got some really great food while we there; the sugar cookies were delicious. 

Monday almost felt as if it was part of the weekend, since I only had one class, compared to my usual four.  I had a great time going to Lutheran Student Movement, and I also got to watch some of my favorite TV show Freaks and Geeks with my awesome roommate Sarah.

Even though I do wish our Thanksgiving break was longer, I had a good time with the days I was here that some other students weren't.  Now bring on break!

Where to GO? Looking at Study Abroad Options

A unique part of Susquehanna’s Central Curriculum is the Cross-Cultural Experience requirement, which is generally fulfilled through a semester or a few weeks abroad.  In Susquehanna lingo, these are called GO long programs and GO short programs.  GO stands for Global Opportunities.

I thought it might be interesting to record how I might be interested in fulfilling this requirement as a freshman and see if any of these are what I end up doing later on in my SU career.  Right now, I am leaning towards going away for a full semester, though shorter, service-oriented trips have also intrigued me.  One of the things I must keep in mind when choosing a location is affordability.  I should also consider that I might not have the chance—or quite such a convenient chance, at least—to travel in the future as I do now as a college student.   My older brother often cites not doing a semester abroad as one of his college regrets.  Right now, however, the thought of going away for a semester is frightening, especially when I’m still adjusting to life here. 

One program that’s listed as a “low-cost semester program” is in Budapest, Hungary.  I really would like to go someplace in Europe, and the idea of going somewhere in Central Europe, rather than more typical destinations like Paris or London, is intriguing.   What I also like about the possibility of studying abroad in Europe is that you can basically get to anywhere else in Europe once you’re there. 

However, when people ask me where I might want to go, my usual answer is Prague.  The city in the Czech Republic has somehow captured my imagination, though I need to do much more research on it.  I suppose it’s really a superficial fascination—I’m just struck by the beautiful pictures I’ve seen of it.  I also find the course options a bit more intriguing than those in Budapest; they include Script Analysis, Czech Short Stories, East European Cinema, and Contemporary Czech Culture: Alternative Literature, Music, and Lifestyles.  Still, it’s more expensive than Budapest and a bigger program. 

Then I start wondering if it’s a mistake to focus on Europe.  Places like Stellenbosch, South Africa are also plenty intriguing, as are schools in New Zealand. 

A different option altogether would be doing the Washington, D.C. Internship Semester.  It would be affordable and wouldn’t provide much of a culture shock, but it would still provide me with an experience of city living.  It would also provide internship experience.  I would classify it as one of my more practical options.   

Another issue with studying abroad is where I’d like to stay: in a homestay, apartment, or a dormitory.  I have heard homestays provide a more authentic experience, but I’d already be out of my comfort zone enough; immersing myself in a family of another culture might be too immersive.

All in all, there’s an awful lot to consider.  As someone who seems to relish opportunities to stress out, this requirement can be a source of worry.  When I actually get to have this cross cultural experience, though, I think I’ll have a much different perspective. 

   

"The Most Important Era in American History You Never Heard of, And Why It's So Important"

James Loewen has a habit of turning “common knowledge” on its head—revealing facts to be nothing more than oft-told fables.  His most popular book, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, does just that, exposing outright inaccuracies as well what gets glossed over in order to provide a biased and bland historical narrative.  The summer before my senior year of high school, I was assigned the book in preparation for my AP U.S. History course.  More so than the falsehoods Loewen used as examples, I was struck by his desire to overhaul the teaching of history as a whole.  To make it less about memorizing and more about doing, students investigating and interpreting, and most importantly, discovering that history is not a definitive subject in the least.

When I visited my high school over Fall Break, I saw my AP U.S. History teacher and was excited to tell him that James Loewen was scheduled to speak at Susquehanna.   He asked if I planned to attend. 

Honestly, I hadn’t at the time, but I’m glad I went.

James Loewen’s lecture, “The Most Important Era in American History You Never Heard of, And Why It’s So Important,” focused on the nadir period of race relations from 1890 to 1940, a time of the Ku Klux Klan, lynching, construction of Confederate monuments, and most interesting to Loewen, sundown towns. 

Sundown towns were towns that purposely kept themselves all-white; minorities were restricted from the towns after nightfall.  Loewen shared with us his investigation on sundown towns, which to me seemed pretty extensive.  However, Loewen requires more research if he hopes to find sundown towns across the country—he requires us, college students and everyday citizens, to open our eyes and explore.   He asked the audience in attendance to try to find sundown towns on their own, an intimidating proposition.  What I classify as an impossibility Loewen views as my own capability—and the capability of all my fellow attendees. 

In person, Loewen proved to be of the same passion and philosophy Lies My Teacher Told Me espoused.  Perhaps this lecture shows one of the main differences between college and high school.  In high school, I read this man’s words.  He was a book, a summer assignment.  In college, he stood in front of me.  He was a person.  And just like his book, he had a lot to say and just as much to ask of us.

The Social Evolution of a College Freshman

Being a college freshman is weird.  There’s no way getting around it.  You can call it good weird, bad weird, or in between, but no matter how you slice it, you’re still dealing with establishing yourself socially.  This is even weirder considering where you last were: a high school senior.  I was pretty grounded in my group of friends by that point.  I wasn’t going out and looking for other people to get to know, though if those people came along that was fine as well.  College, however, is going back to the beginning.  I haven’t been back to the beginning, at least to this extent, since 2^nd grade, when I moved to Pennsylvania from Virginia.  Since then, I’ve been able to carry elementary school friends into middle school, then middle school ones into high school.   I’ve always had someone—and while those high school connections haven’t left me, I still, in some ways, came to Susquehanna with a blank slate (excluding my wonderful roommate who I had met at a summer writing workshop).   

During orientation weekend, panic set in.  At least for me.  I needed friends.  I was starting all over.  I couldn’t do this.  Could I?

The next step in social evolution for me was making friends with the girls in my hall.  We live together, after all, so it’s pretty natural for us to join together, especially in the face of friendless-ness.   Once we bonded, especially over the first non-orientation weekend, it was such a relief.  I didn’t expect to have a group of people to hang out with so quickly!

However, another step eventually comes, and it seemed to hit a lot of my friends at the same time as it hit me: realizing a need for relationships outside of the hallway.  Friendships with the people you live with are great, but I think everybody feels that need for a change of pace.  After all, you see a lot of those friends from your floor.  You do live with them, after all. 

I think I’m at the point in my social evolution where I’m hoping to branch out and am getting to know other people.  Right now there are a lot of acquaintances, people I say “Hi” and “How are you?” to if I see them as I cross campus, people who fall into this category of potential friends.   The next step, if I take some action, should be translating acquaintanceship to friendship. 

This step seems to require a bigger leap than the others, but I think it’s probably one of those things that happens naturally with time.  As a freshmen, I would guess friendships evolve, expand, shift, and include new people.

Of course, sometimes my patience isn’t all it could be in this regard.  It’s easy to want those closest of close friendships right away.  A friendship like you have with your best friend back home.  A dynamic like your group had in high school.  These things don’t happen overnight, however.  They require cultivation.  Evolution.  Not spontaneous generation.  

But that’s alright.  Spontaneous can be shallow, and right now, I’m not seeking friendships that will be blown away come next semester.  Like most freshmen, I think, I’m looking for friendships with roots.

Things I've Learned From College #2

The top bunk is not such a scary place.   Before arriving at school, I feared rolling off a top bunk.  I've since discovered that to be an irrational phobia.  If I didn't roll off a normal height bed on a regular basis, why would sleeping higher up suddenly send me flying off the mattress?  Admittedly, it can be a pain to climb down from the top bunk in the morning, especially if you have an alarm to turn off.  A big plus, though, is that when people are hanging out in your room, nobody is going to be sitting or eating snacks on your bed.   The top bunk is not communal property.  It’s your own. And that’s a pretty valuable thing.

Catching Up: The Hodgepodge Post

Excuse this post for being a hodgepodge of things, but I wanted to catch this blog up on what’s been happening lately for me at SU.

One of the major things for me and the rest of my freshmen friends right now is registration (which happens to end today).  This was our first time picking our own classes at college and then navigating the registration process online.  I’ll admit to being pretty excited, especially about seeing which classes would be offered next semester.  The classes came out online and in a newspaper supplement students received in their mailboxes. My degree audit in tow (a degree audit shows you what requirements you still have left for your degree, including requirements for your major and Central Curriculum requirements), I began picking out classes.  After some contemplation about how many courses I should take, whether I wanted to take any courses for the Editing & Publishing minor I’m thinking of declaring, how I felt about night classes, etc., I came up with the following courses: Introduction to Creative Nonfiction, Applied Biblical Ethics, Principles of Sociology, and Thought & Civilization.  Two would be on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the other two on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  

Whether I’ll get into those classes will not be discovered until a later date, however.

I also didn’t get to share what my first Halloween at Susquehanna was like.  I had meant to be Wendy, to match a friend dressed as Peter Pan, but I had procrastinated getting a costume.  My friend Lindsey and I walked into town on the Saturday of Halloween weekend, hoping I could buy and piece together something from a thrift store.  Alas, we had slept in too late and the store was closed.  In the end, I simply went as a hippie, wearing a tye-dye T-shirt my parents had bought for me, my somewhat tattered, bell bottom-y jeans, and a scarf from Lindsey as a headband.  That Saturday we went to the TRAX Halloween party and had a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, actual Halloween, which fell on a Sunday, was spent doing schoolwork.  

This past weekend I went on the InterVarsity Fall Conference, which was at Refreshing Mountain Camp near Lancaster.  InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is one of the religious life organizations on campus that I’m really happy to have gotten involved in early during my college career.  Though I love SU, getting off campus for a short period is always great.  I got to spend time with two friends on my floor in Hass and got to know other people from IV a bit better.  Of course, I also got to experience plenty of prayer and worship.

When we got back on Sunday, I hosted an overnight student who’s interested in Creative Writing and Journalism.  I tried to give her the inside scoop on Susquehanna life.  I’m hoping she had a good experience here and that I conveyed all SU has to offer.

As far as academics go, I recently had a workshop in Intro to Fiction that went really well.  I just had my conference with Dr. Bailey today to discuss my story (which is probably going to be one of the longest stories of the bunch for the second time; my inner novelist just isn’t allowing anything under 10 pages).   Soon enough, my dorm room will be turning into Rewrite Central.   In my Thought class, which I take for the Honors Program, I’ll be leading my class in discussion on a section of The Persepolis next Monday, a fascinating memoir told in graphic novel form.  Of course, I’ve also endured exams since last writing, but that’s not nearly as exciting.

All in all, things at Susquehanna are going well, chugging down that track to Thanksgiving break.

Visiting Writer Steve Yarbrough and Creative Writing at SU

A huge part of being a Creative Writing major at Susquehanna University is reading and being exposed to authors you may have never read before—or so it seems from my Intro to Fiction class.  I’ve gotten to read plenty of short stories, and though I haven’t connected with all of them, there has been true love in some cases.  Robert Boswell’s “The Darkness of Love,” for instance, has me eager to buy one of his short story collections.  Though I’ve read it before, “Lust” by Susan Minot was even more poignant this time around.   

One writer whose work I’ve gotten to know has been Steve Yarbrough, one of Susquehanna’s visiting writers.  Our class read his short story anthology Veneer.  I particularly liked “Bohemia,” a story set in Prague that explores a woman’s issues with her boyfriend and body image. 

On Monday, Steve Yarbrough spoke to my Intro to Fiction class, sitting between me and my friend Lindsey.  I got the chance to ask him a question relating to one of his stories, “The Rest of Her Life,” and listen to him talk about writing.  Of particular to interest to me was the discussion on setting and how the place he grew up factored into his stories.  I tend to skimp on setting, so I am trying to be particularly attentive to such discussions.  Hearing about his process was likewise intriguing.  Previously I’ve heard that you should finish your first draft of a novel before doing nit-picky editing, but Yarbrough uses the revise-as-you-go option, which I’ve learned is just an effective method.  Whether it’s the method for me, however, has yet to be discovered. 

Yesterday I attended Steve Yarbrough’s reading.  He shared a short story about a writer and the best friend whom inspired his lauded novel Hard Cash.  It’s hard for me to keep track of a story without the written text in front of me, but Yarbrough’s story was interesting, nonetheless, and even provided some laughs.  At the reading’s end, I was excited to get his signature on my copy of Veneer.

Steve Yarbrough emphasized during his reading that Susquehanna is a very special place for aspiring writers, and though I haven’t been here very long, I’m inclined to agree.  I know Steve Yarbrough is one of many authors I will be able to meet and learn from here in the coming years and one of countless writers I’ll be exposed to through reading in my classes. 

On a related note, I cannot wait until I find time today to sit down and work on my new, third person short story for Intro to Fiction.  It has helped so much to have fellow Creative Writing majors in my dorm to gripe with when the going gets tough, to inspire me, and to celebrate with when I’ve finally found something that’s going well.   I love the community I’ve felt so far in my Creative Writing studies at Susquehanna, and I hope I only experience that more as my education progresses. 

Homecoming: College vs. High School

When I returned to campus last Tuesday, the immediacy with which I was thrown back into college life made it seem like there’d hardly been a break at all.  Luckily, I got a relief from the work over Homecoming Weekend.

I'll admit I was curious for quite some time about what exactly college Homecoming would be like.  At my high school, the Homecoming dance was a big deal--at least to many girls.  Dresses and dates seemed to be a major topic of conversation as early as two weeks into the school year.  Corsages and boutonnieres were bought.  Elaborate plans were made beforehand on the group you'd go with, where you'd take pictures, where you'd go to dinner, etc.  

Homecoming here wasn’t an occasion of such drastic importance—or nearly as much contemplation.  Dates didn’t feel necessary, nor did any other real form of planning, besides a friend’s Facebook reminder over break to bring a dress and shoes.  The dress didn’t even require endless searching; I just used my Homecoming dress from senior year.  My friends and I prepared ourselves in dorm rooms and in front of bathroom mirrors, then tottered over (well, except for me, who had worn sensible but adorable silver flats) to TRAX, the on-campus club. 

My high school dances usually involved strings of sappy slow songs, but this didn’t occur at college.  The entire night was non-stop dancing.  It was fun and casual, and at least from my perspective, not the same source of drama that high school Homecoming can be.  Despite the Semi-Formal label, some guys even showed up in jeans, becoming symbols in my mind of the No-Big-Dealness of it all.

I realize that calling something No Big Deal may make it sound like a bad thing.

But it really isn’t.

It’s a good thing.  A fun thing can be No Big Deal.  It just means that it’s not something you have to lose any sleep over.

Thinking about the differences between college and high school Homecoming makes me think of the visit I made to my high school during break.  My high school started renovations my senior year and made its biggest changes over the summer.  Walking through the completely different lobby was nothing short of bizarre.  As I got further into my school, it began looking like my alma mater—but it was still strange, the notion that I didn’t go there anymore, that I shouldn’t have been in that hall.


I had fun visiting, but it’s not where I belong anymore. 

Events like Homecoming and that visit have emphasized that college is not high school.  And for me, that’s turning out to be a pretty good thing. 

Things I've Learned From College #1

I thought it might be fun to sprinkle this blog with some short entries on the topic of "Things I've Learned From College."  These probably won't be academic-focused, because let's face it, I'm learning a lot academically and this blog shouldn't be a textbook.  Mostly, I will concentrate on things I'm learning about college life, whether that involves living in a dorm, scheduling classes, or being independent. 

Things I've Learned From College #1:
Never forget your cell phone charger at home.  Ever.  I brought my charger home with me during Fall Break.  I thought it was packed securely in my laptop case on my way back to SU.  Not the case.  Luckily my parents found the charger and sent it to me in the mail.  Even so, as a college student and a teenager, those phone-less days, well, they were trying times.  So a word of wisdom--to everybody else out there, and mostly to myself: always check that you have your cell phone charger with you before heading back to campus.             

Journey to Susquehanna Part 2



Me before my student reading
at the Writers Workshop

To recap, Journey to Susquehanna Part 1 shared my love for creative writing and my first experience at Susquehanna.  I adored the school, but I was only going into my junior year.  It was too early to be sure about anything. 

As a junior, I came for a formal visit.  It was my first time seeing SU during the school year.  I had read that it was important to visit when students were there to see if you liked the vibe.  I was not disappointed.  My love for the school was affirmed, and it only increased when I participated in my second Summer Advanced Writers Workshop.  At the end of that program, I didn’t want to endure another year of high school.  I wished I could simply stay on campus and start my college life.



Unfortunately, the week ended, and I was off to my senior year.  Susquehanna was obviously on my application list.  No matter how excited I got about other schools, I had a gut feeling I’d end up here; there was something that struck me as homey whenever I was on campus.  Still, I applied to seven colleges total.  I was applying to a lot more places than most of my friends.  When many had already settled on their college, I was still in agony, no sure idea of where I’d end up.  It was stressful to think that I didn’t even know what state I’d live in the next year: Ohio, New Jersey, Vermont, North Carolina, or Pennsylvania?  When it was finally time to hear back from my last few “reach” schools, I wasn’t dying to be accepted as much as I was dying to know.

Even once all the decisions were in, my decision wasn’t yet made.  My options came down to three schools: Susquehanna, a small private college in Ohio, and a state school in North Carolina.  The North Carolina school was eliminated first because of distance and an unimpressive financial aid package.  To make a choice between my last two schools required a trip to Ohio.  My other option was nice, and it had everything I wanted, in the general sense, but the campus lacked that same feeling that Susquehanna gave me.  A certain chemistry, so to speak.  Even my parents preferred SU.

Speaking of my parents, they are big reasons I can come to a school like Susquehanna and major in Creative Writing.  A lot of parents try to push their kids into profitable fields or certain molds, but my parents have always allowed me to pursue my individual dreams—even if that comes with some risk.  They've supported my creative endeavors my entire life, just as they’ve supported my older brother’s and just as they supported me in my choice of college.

With the help of merit scholarships, I was able to pick Susquehanna, the school that I loved, which didn’t only seem to have stronger academics and more opportunities but just felt like my school.    

I’m happy to say now that I’m here, it still feels like my school.  Like right decisions and no regrets and a home away from my home.

Making it to Fall Break



Me in a
lovely Susquehanna
 sweatshirt
at the retreat

Before and even at college, I’ve heard this advice for freshmen: “Don’t go home until fall break.”   I’ve followed this advice, and now I’m eagerly looking forward to tomorrow, when I’ll be on my way home for the first time since my parents dropped me off August 26^th.

Orientation was inevitably awkward, but soon the third floor of my residence hall Hassinger (affectionately known as “Hass”) provided me with great friends.  At Susquehanna I’ve already had many late nights of giggling and talking—and as many late nights trying to finish homework.  I’ve written my first college paper and survived my first nail-biting exam.   I’ve raved at the club on campus, TRAX.  I’ve had my words workshopped by my peers in Tom Bailey’s Intro to Fiction class.  I’ve started my assistantship in Advancement Communications, which has meant writing articles, interviewing professors, doing research, and starting this blog.  And I’ve gotten involved, going to Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, Lutheran Student Movement, and even a Religious Life retreat at Mountain Dale Farms that allowed me a weekend off campus and one of the best views of the stars I've ever had.

Up until this weekend I viewed Fall Break with a certain amount of apprehension.  Home is home, and I love it, truly, but it’s so different from here.  A friend of mine compared college to a constant sleepover where you have to do homework.   So far, I agree.  There’s always that world waiting right outside your dorm room door.  At home, I open my bedroom door to a usually empty hallway with some laundry machines.  Not exactly as thrilling.

I’ve come to realize, though, that a break from the constant whirl of people will be a welcome refresher.  I look forward to spending time with my parents, meeting up with friends from high school, and catching up on all the TV I miss now that I actually have a life.  I want to be relaxed and renewed when I return to campus on Tuesday.   My shock at actually being in college is starting to wear off, and now I’m thrown into the reality of the situation.  Now I’m thrown into making that reality the best it can be.

I am finally excited about Fall Break.  In fact, I'm depending on it. 

That long Winter Break, however...

Journey to Susquehanna Part 1

Towards the beginning of Perspectives (a required 2 credit freshman seminar course), the students in my class shared life maps of how we ended up at Susquehanna, which seems like a fitting way to start this blog.

I’ve always wanted to go to college, as far as I can remember. And just like I’ve always wanted to go to college, I’ve always wanted to be a writer.

My elementary school years were spent drawing and writing stories. In second grade, our teacher had us write weekly in a Weekend Journal. I always wrote more than the other students and was thrilled by the teacher’s encouraging comments. Stunning literary talent isn’t exactly evident whenever I comb through that old journal. What is evident is the torture I put my parents through in quests for Backstreet Boys apparel and my family's enduring love for pizza.  My passion for writing increased tenfold when I wrote a story about a superhero teacher, the student who discovers her secret, and the giant lizard villain they must defeat. I showed it to my third grade teacher, Mrs. Bechtel, who I remember as one of my favorite all-time teachers. She had me read my story to the class and put it in the school library.  I was hooked on writing and the idea of publishing, even though this experience meant hearing about my third grade lizard story all the way into middle school.

It also meant I was never one of those kids that wrote in secret. From that early age I was known as the Writer Girl—a shallow generalization, sure, but one that was pretty okay with me. This perception didn’t vanish in middle or high school, since both eras were spent getting serious about my writing. In middle school, I attempted my first novel, and I’ve been writing novel-length works ever since.

When I needed something to do the summer after my sophomore year, I started searching for summer writing programs. I found a summer writing workshop for high school students at Susquehanna University. That is when I first became aware of the school’s stellar creative writing program, though I had certainly heard of SU before.  During the one week program, I fell in love with the campus, met the girl who is currently my roommate, experienced my first real workshop with Tom Bailey as my teacher, and felt what it was like to be surrounded by people who loved writing as much as I did.

I was sold. I was going to study Creative Writing no matter where I went. I was also sold on my love for Susquehanna—though I wasn’t positive I’d come here yet, and wouldn’t be until late my senior year.

Look forward to the other parts of “Journey to Susquehanna," since I have already rambled about myself far too long for one post.