Wow, freshman year of college is over. I am officially 1/4 of the way done with my undergraduate life. Mind blown. It was fun, but I’m glad it’s over with. Over the past 8-ish months, I’ve had so many great experiences and good times. From making college buddies to coping with my roommate.
I think my fondest memory from this roller-coaster year would be the weekend that I spent with my best friends in the world. On Friday, I accompanied Allie O’Neill to a Taylor Swift concert, and that was SO much fun. Lot’s of good memories made. The next day, my best guy friends; John Shaw, Tanner Davis, and Michael Curry went down to Kings Island for the day. Although the lines were longer than when we went just a year ago, it was still a blast.
I have learned so much this year. I learned how to best study for a legitimate test, that aliens DO exist, and that the most important thing about college is time management.
I could make a list of all of the people that helped me through my first year, but that would bore you, so I’ll spare you the pain. This year has been fantastic in my development as an adult. I’ll see you all next year, and have a fantastic gosh-friggin’ summer!

It’s coming to a close, the second semester of the school year. I am ready for it to be done. Anderson had a party last night for everyone on campus, but particularly the seniors. They brought in food from restaurants in Anderson such as Fazoli’s, Arts, Riviera Maya, DQ, and many more. And guess what? It was all free! Drinks, food, music, a rockwall, and trampolines. Everything was free and I had a great time! A group of friends and I went down to check it out and we ended up having the best time!

I remember blogging about this same event last year, but last year has nothing on this year! There were a lot of people there, many more than I expected. It was one of my favorite ways to blow off some steam before I start studying for the 6 finals I have to take.

When you first move into your dorm freshman year, you are too excited to realize that you brought so much crap with you to college. Now that the year is 99.9% over, I have begun to pack up my dormitory, and I have come to the realization that I brought so much stuph here. So much, that it doesn’t even fit into 4 full-sized suitcases…
Among the things that don’t fit: My stereo, my laundry detergents, my shoes, all of my school supplies, my bedspread, my CD’s, and other rather important items. How I will get all of these objects home, I do not know.
The part that is really weird is that the room is completely bare now that I’ve taken all of the posters down. If I walked into this room, I couldn’t tell you that it was my room. Come to think of it, it is kind of creepy.
Well, although it’s quite odd to be sitting here in my dorm, bare of life and personality, it’s still pretty exciting. I will be going home in less than 10 hours, and I couldn’t be more excited.

I am celebrating quality all-nighter bonding time with my long time friend Bekah Leiter. Sprawled about on her floor with colored pens strewn about the room and to-do lists pasted on the walls and each others’ notebooks, we are ready to kick it into high gear.

But God sometimes has other ideas for productivity.

Catching up onto the exciting life of my dear friend, who is soon to be a graduate, was certainly an important use of time. In fact, took a few hours to really get through to our dreams and goals, as well as our short-term meanderings to get to those lofty locations.

For now, that means she is headin’ down South to Florida to try life where the sun smiles more frequently, and where she will be looking to use her recent degree in Accounting,  business ethics, and Christian faith to be a really wonderful accountant for some lucky people (shameless plug). She is excited, she is nervous, and she is uncertain- yet aren’t we usually?

I am living in some unknowns. But luckily, in times of uncertainty, I DO know I have a very kind and  purposeful God that I believe is helping me along, and His plans for my well-being  and growth are something I can be certain about, and that is a lot of weight off me!

So while we try to attend our finals we are choosing to put aside concerns or even exciting dreams in order to take the next right step. To do the only thing we really can do in the moment- eat breakfast food, listen to the birds (that probably had a nice slumber at some point) chirping to remind us that it is a new day and, on the contrary, we have not slept yet. I’m unapologetic. We feel productive, well-caught up on each other’s news, and are ready to face exam week! Cue “Eye of the Tiger”… my go-to motivation jam song. J

Well kids, it’s that time of the year again. That magical time when you stay up until 3am with nothing but a laptop and a cup of coffee to keep you company. That wonderful time of the year where your performance on one test determines 20% of your final grade. That’s right, it’s finals week!
It really isn’t that bad. If you plan out a strategy for studying, then you will be just fine. Granted, I don’t plan out any such strategy, but I do just fine. This semester, I have 5 finals in total, 2 of which I couldn’t study for because they were “skills based”. My other 3 were long, but not that terrible to take. If you actually showed up to class and payed attention to the prof, the final is a cakewalk. But the best part of taking finals in college is that once you’re done, you can get up and leave! You have no idea how fantastic it is to just get up and walk out of the room. It’s epic.
So all in all, finals week is really not that much of a downer. Considering that right after you are done with all of your tests, you can start packing up to head on home for the summer. My room is already packed up and ready to head on back to the ol’ homestead. So get excited, we’re almost done!

I have been fascinated with automobiles for quite a long time. I could tell you the specifications for nearly every single GM vehicle, and could tell you EVERYTHING about the Chevrolet Corvette. I don’t know if this is irony, but I was the kid who could never afford a car. While all of my friends either bought cheap cars or had mommy and daddy buy one for them, I was stuck riding the bus.
But I’m completely over that now. As of last Saturday, I am the proud co-owner of a 2001 Ford Ranger SLX. That’s right, I have a first car!
I can honestly say that I have never been so excited in my entire life. I’m not sure if it is because of the fact that I have been anticipating my first car since age 13, but whatever the reason, I am excited. The truck is a dark green color, regular cab pickup. The interior was quite literally perfect, very little damage. Plus, it has rolling windows!
My brother and I share the truck now, because we both needed a vehicle to get to and from work. It’s rather difficult to get my mother, sister, brother, and me to and from different jobs with one vehicle.
So I finally have my first car, and I am friggin’ STOKED!!! And the best part is that nothing screams summer like an American pickup truck with the windows down!

My sophomore year is coming to an end and it still seems surreal. Just last year I was finishing my freshman year and the year before that I was graduating high school. Time flies when you’re having fun, right? Looking back on this year, I have learned a great deal from my studies and the people that surround me. You think that when you go to college you already know most of what there is to know. You assume you have a good grasp on who you are and what you stand for and that nothing is going to change that. While the roots of your core beliefs may stay similar, you are going to undergo change.

For example, I have become a leader. I have learned how to express myself and my views. My love for myself has overcome my fear of other’s opinions of me. I have also learned why fear is the opposite of love. Fear prevents action while love is the root of action. You do things because you love doing them or you love what you are acting for. As I finish my last blog for the year, I wish you all a relaxing summer and another year of discovery.

• Dativus Cheap Thrills (and participating in many of them!)
• And Boosters’ Encore- watch out American Idol!
• Tri-S trips: I’ve gone to South Dakota- Wounded Knee Reservation, and a Dance/Religion/Philosophy/Yoga focused trip to India
• Late night heart-to-hearts with my hallmates
• Or simply dancing in the bathroom with them as we brush our teeth
• The introduction of the Raven X-Press Café in a major academic building that features healthy food options in a “Hartung Happy Meal”
• MP freshly baked cookies
• The friendly MP ladies and banter of the Haven workers staff
• My conversations with the Martin Hall Janitor, whom is an angel for putting up with my late night crafting projects
• The professors!!! Especially, but not limited to: Professor Spaulding, Professor/Abby Knowles, Professor Reed, Professor Barlow, Professor Berky, Professor Ranfeld, Professor Imafuji, Professor Lisa Pay, Professor Tai Lapan, “art mom” Robyn  and so many others I cannot possibly list them all…
• But additionally, the stand-alone category of all of my dance professors whom are so endearing to me that make up my beloved dance family of whacky wonderful supportive people. I love being able to brag about the only major that gives its students individualized gift bags for finals, holidays, and remembers birthdays. One that coordinates its own highly attended weekly Bible studies, Dancer dinner nights, study sessions, and bases entire living arrangements around the flock of dancer tribe- we totally took over Martin 3 East! Represent!
• And on that note:
• Fall into Dance and Spring into Dance continue to raise the bar for excellence, creativity, and inspiration in our amazingly diverse and talented community of performing dance artists
• All nighters that turn into quality bonding time, fast food junk consumption, and slap-happy jokes that forever return to conversations for a good cheap laugh.
• Any time Pastor Todd Faulkner preaches. And his impersonations of Lord of the Rings are pretty spot on!
• Alacritas’ delightful gimmick of Rent-a-Puppy: a dollar is worth five minutes of quality puppy affection!
• Dorm rules- and breaking them: I don’t think I’ll ever outlive my notorious capacity to hoard illegal pets… :/
• Climbing trees around campus!
• Dancing in the Helios fountain as a campus accepted event
• 10:07 worship on Tuesday nights!
• Mocha Joe’s coffee, loitering endlessly until I was hired
• Watching my friends succumb to Ring by Spring, and being so excited about it!
• And so many things I cannot possibly begin to name them all!

So many good things happened this past week that I simply can’t blog about them all! Here is a highlight from the end of my last week of classes: I went to see the midnight premiere of Iron Man 3 with a bunch of friends from Dunn and Boosters. I tell you, I was a little leery coming into the theatre. Sequels for me are never as good as the originals but I decided to go into it with an open mind and hope for the best.

We got there around 11:00 and there wasn’t that much of a line but once it hit 11:30, people were spilling in the doors and the line for our movie stretched into the concessions lobby! I’m not going to spoil the movie for you, if you were wondering, but I will say that my original belief that sequels are never as good as the originals still stands. Iron Man 3 wasn’t bad, in fact it was decently entertaining but the first Iron Man still holds a special place in my heart.

It’s that time again! Elections were held for the future officers of Anderson University’s womens social club Alacritas. This was a very exciting night for me because I was running for the officer position of Vice President. This is a vital poition for our club because the chief responsibility is to get students to join our club and to run the week of Surge for the club.

Want to know the exciting news? I got it! I am now the vice president of Alacritas! The other officers elected that night are as follows:

1. President: Kara Myers
2. Vice President: Emily Congdon
3. Chaplin: Michelle Bentley
4. Secretary: Shannon Hebel
5. Treasurer: Laura Cooper
6. Social Coordinator: Chelsea Duehmig
7. Service Coordinator: Kourtney Brubaker

And there you have it folks! The new officers of my club! It was a great night and there were many qualified women who stepped up to run for office. Congratulations to all and good luck to all of the other clubs while they are going through their election processes.