This will be my last blog post of the year!  Wow.  Time flies.  I can't believe that this year is actually coming to a close.  I am having such a hard time staying focused to study for exams...I just want to play with my friends before we all have to leave to go home!  I had two finals yesterday, journalism and biology.  Both went pretty smoothly except my biology one was given in a different room than we are usually in.  The room felt like a sauna.  It was so hot I thought I was going to have a heatstroke.  Also it was right after I ate lunch so I was really sleepy.  But it wasn't that awful, I survived.

We also had room picks on Tuesday night for Theta.  I am rooming with one of my good friends and another girl who I absolutely LOVE and will hopefully get to know better.  We were able to get one of our favorite rooms in the house so that was definitely exciting.  I also was able to sign up for a bottom bunk in the cold dorm which is awesome.  The way our house is set up, we have desks, dressers, and closets in our rooms but we all sleep in a big room on the third floor.  It's kind of like summer camp.  There is a big room full of bunk beds and that's where all of us sleep.  Its called the cold dorm because it is always cool (with the windows open) and dark, so even if you want to take a nap in the middle of the day you can go up there and find some peace and quiet.  I'm really looking forward to moving into the house and getting to know the other girls on a deeper leve.

Today I had the day off which was nice.  I had one of my big bros over for lunch at the Theta house because he is leaving to go home tomorrow.  I'm not going home until next Tuesday so I have a few more days left to savor.  I have a mass communications exam tomorrow and then I have my music final on Saturday morning.  My roommate isn't leaving until Tuesday either because she has a final on Monday so I just decided to stick around and hang with her for a day or two more.  I have SO much stuff to pack up so I will need the time.  Also our RA just informed us that our room will be used as a tour room for students during the summer...wonderful.  That means we actually have to clean.  We are two of the messiest people in existence and never clean our room, so this should be interesting.  I'm just not ready to leave yet.  I'm scared of being a sophomore and growing up.  Last weekend when I went home I was dreading coming back to school but now I don't want to leave :(  I wish we could stay and hang out and just not do the whole schoolwork part of it :)

This summer I will be nannying for two little girls who are our neighbors.  They don't get out of school for another month by the time I get home so I will have some time to relax and get my ducks in a row before work starts.  My clothes are all over our house - in tupperwares in the garage and the basement and thrown in my closet - so I need to go through them and get rid of stuff I never wear and try to get that organized!  Also it will give me some time to maybe find a night job at a restaurant or something and to hang out with my friends that are about to graduate from High school and those that are home from college.  My dad and I are taking a week to go fishing in lakes and ponds around the area and enjoy the hopefully beautiful weather.  I really like fishing and I haven't been all year so that will be a lot of fun to get to spend time with my dad.  I'm sure my mom and I will take some shopping trips and do some movie nights together too :)  I've missed her a lot.

I am really looking forward to coming back to school next year though.  The past month or so has been rough with so much schoolwork and just trying to make it to the end of the year.  This year has been very eye-opening.  College is an experience unlike anything else in life.  Living on your own, making your own rules and trying to decide who you want to be is probably the hardest thing you will ever have to deal with.  You just have to take it one day at a time and learn from your mistakes.  Everyone is here to learn and to grow and sometimes its nice to know that you're not all on your own.  We're all in the same boat.  You'll have days where you just don't want to get out of bed and face the world and days where you can't help but tell everyone about that awesome grade you got on your paper or that you finally declared your major.  You just have to milk it for all its worth and stop worrying about what other people think.  These four years are your life and what you make of it.  If you constantly worry about what other people think or waste your time trying to be someone you aren't you won't be happy.  Its only until you discover who you are and the person that you want to be, regardless of what your parents or friends or professors may think that you will have so much happiness and fun that you never even knew existed.  College is so much more than just classes and finals and parties and a degree.

"It takes courage to grow up and become who we really are.  All our dreams can come true...if we have the courage to pursue them."
-- Walt Disney