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School starts Monday!Who’s ready?Who’s terrified?Who’s nervous?

Who’s totally psyched?!  This girl.  Yes.  All of the above.  The first day of school always greatly freaks me out. 

In fact, I don’t think that I have ever been ready for the first day.  It always goes like this. 

The night before, I don’t sleep.  I get sooo nervous that I take a series of sleeping pills that in turn makes me jittery so I am wide awake. 

I get dressed in my every day outfit of jeans, a t-shirt, and shoes that will never match.  I have my schedule printed.  I have my books in my bag. 

Then, about an hour before my first class starts, I go to Kum N Go and buy myself a huge coffee (to stay awake since I didn’t sleep the night before). 

I find a close parking spot and listen to rock music so that way I am all set to begin classes.  The teachers usually pass out the syllabus the first day and then ask us to play icebreaker games.  The problem is: I AM NATURALLY SHY! 

So, I sit there, jazzed up on caffeine and wait for people to approach me.  This usually backfires and people then think I am stuck up. 

It takes me the rest of the semester to break that first impression and be myself.  By the time I make friends, it is the first day of school for the spring term and nobody is in my new classes. 

This year, I am going to try to turn that all around.  I will not take sleeping pills but I will take coffee.  I will say, “Hi” to at least two total strangers.  Further more, I will report back to let you all know I am still alive.

Wish me luck!  And have a great first day!

P.S. if you see me say HI!

This past week has been a flurry of meeting new people and figuring out who I want to be as the new semester draws closer.I had a friend over last weekend to my parent’s place while we were house sitting.  My parents happen to have an amazing swimming pool fully furnished with multiple flotation devices of all sizes and shapes.  In addition to floaty’s, anybody can discover the joy of 17 multiple colors of noodles.  They have volleyball court for the pool,  different types of game balls, a tennis racket, and a diving board.  My parents have collected hundreds of types of pool entertainment.So when my friend came over, she brought her camera and we kept having to jump out of the pool to take pictures of us in the pool.  My fiance, who was grilling burgers during this escapade, suddenly asked, “Why do you girls take time out of swimming for pictures?”Seeing as how I didn’t have a camera, I was curious too why we seemed to be wasting fun time to take a picture of it.  ”Well, I am going to put it on facebook.” My friend said.”So you are ruining real life to help improve your internet life?”"Yeah!  Cuz once you get facebook your finally cool.”Its true.  I never really realized it.  But the second last semester I got a facebook, I suddenly had all sorts of friends.  In fact, my friend who came over to the pool party was one of my first virtual friends.  How is it that we ignore real friends who call us to message back friends who post on our wall?  How is it we have passed up hanging out with people and creating moments to snap photos to show to our other friends??Kinda odd when you really think of it.Oh well…At least I’m finally cool.

School is less than a few weeks away and I am sure everybody is checking and double checking their schedules to make sure everything runs smoothly.  Freshmen at orientation seem undoubtedly excited as they tour the halls and point out to their parents the classes which their college adventures will begin.

 Parents stop  us regularly with a worried look to make sure their precious children are all okay.  They want to know what the teachers are like, security,  and the overall education.  

 Friends of the upcoming students ask questions such as, “are the girls hott?”, “what’s there to do?”, “Dude, are the classes hard?”.  SO many questions, concerns, excitements.  It is literally like recreating puberty for everybody involved in NSO.  

With that in mind, even us returning students are having our own questions.  We have changed our majors, changed our minds, changed our close relationships, changed our locations, facebook status’s, and everything we use to know.  Nothing is the same but nothing is really that different. 

So what’s a kid to do when there are more doubts than events?  What’s a guy to do when he has changed his major twice and even more confused about what he wants to be?  What’s a girl to do when she is wanting to pick a fulfilling career that is entirely decided upon by the major she writes down on a sheet of paper?  

Ask an advisor.  Yeah… 

I have tried to come up with my schedule six times for this fall.  IN fact, I am changing it yet again.  Nothing seems to fit, nothing looks right, and I am not sure if I setting myself up for success or failure.  See an advisor.  Get it done.  

They can tell you that physics is probably better face to face than online.  They can show you why one class may be better long term for your major than another.  Even though not many like public speaking, they can explain the benefits of that vs. group communication.  They can place you in a math class where you won’t feel like running out of the room because exponents and formulas confuse you.  

They are the ones who say, “It’s gonna look like this and help you the most. Take this class at this hour, this class on this day and this class will finish your degree”.  Bam.  Done in less than 20 minutes.  

See ya in a few weeks!