Happy Halloween!

One of the more important things I've learned recently is that everybody makes bad decisions from time to time. And that's ok. College is about experiencing life and figuring things out. You make mistakes, learn from them, and then have a good story to tell when all is said and done.

I'm not condoning wild risky behavior or suggesting irresponsibility or anything like that. I'm just saying, stuff happens, and you just gotta roll with it. Move on, it'll all be ok.

On a semi-unrelated note, today is Halloween! I'm so sick of candy already, and I don't even get to go trick-or-treating anymore. Sad day. Oh well. I'm going to my first frat party tonight though, so that will be...interesting? (By the way, I'm really not a party girl.)

I talked to my mom on the phone this morning and she told me to be safe and responsible. Thanks mom, I'll try =)

Untitled.

A few weeks ago, somebody asked me why I believed in God, and I honestly couldn't give them an answer. No one had ever asked me that before. I had never had to explain it to anyone, it's just what I believe, what I grew up believing.

I told this person that, and I got the response that it was because there wasn't a reason. It was just because I had grown up blindly believing in something with no basis for it. (This person, by the way, is a self-proclaimed atheist and thinks it's completely stupid to believe in anything without proof.)

After thinking about it for awhile, I realized how true and false that response is.

It's true because there isn't always a reason, but there doesn't have to be. That's faith. You shouldn't need proof or facts to back up what you believe in.

It's also completely and utterly false, because I have every basis to believe in God. Not because I can't think for myself or make my own decisions or just do what my parents do. It's because that's what I do believe and I have no reason not to.

I've come to learn that people let you down. They're not always gonna be there for you or do what they say they're going to do. That's not the case with faith. It will always be there, no matter what. You can't always believe in people, but you can believe in God.

For those people who are always trying to explain everything and the only reason against faith is that there is no proof, well look around. Look at everything and see how amazing and complex life is. Sure, there is insurmountable evidence supporting evolution, but life today happened basically because prehistoric life forms gradually got more complex and sprouted legs and moved to land. Yes, it's because of evolution, that's pretty much exactly how it happened, but why? What caused that? No one can explain it, and that's part of the beauty of faith. Yes, it happened, we don't know why, but it did. Something caused that to happen, and it might as well be because of God.

And for all the people who doubt because of all the bad things in the world, look at all the good things. Look at the good people in the world, the people who are working to make a difference in the lives of others. That's God at work.

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed by faith, our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible."

-Hebrews 11:1-3 NRSV

So think for yourself, make your own decisions, but don't think everything needs some concrete evidence or proof to make it real. Accept other's viewpoints and keep an open mind, and never underestimate faith.

Broomball!

This is officially the greatest sport ever.

It's pretty much like hockey. You play on the ice and try to score goals, except you use these sticks with rubber ends (not actual brooms) and use a ball instead of a puck and there's only five on a side.

Oh, and you just wear normal shoes. No skates.

And you play at like midnight, because we have to go after the real hockey team is done with practice. Our game was at 1:20 last night/this morning. Getting up for 8:30 class today was oh so awesome. Totally worth it though, it's super fun.

It's pretty intense too, I have some sweet battle scars and bruises, but I didn't fall this time! I did accidently shove a kid into the wall like three times. And I got to play the whole game since there were only two girls, and for coed you have to have 2 girls and 3 guys playing at a time (or 2 guys and 3 girls). Girls' points are worth 2.

We won 2-0. Heck yes.

Tip of the Day: Hmm...play broomball?

Survival.

Surviving college is not all that hard, at least so far. You just gotta know some stuff.

Like don't sit by people with laptops in lecture classes. I spent almost the entire 50 minute class period watching the guy I sit by play solitaire and the kid in front of me play some game where you throw turtles.

I sit in the second row.

Also, I found out sometimes it helps to study someplace other than a dorm room. There's just something about that I can't focus on anything. Go to a study room if you want quiet or the dining hall if you need background noise. I can't do anything in complete silence. It drives me crazy. I always bring homework to breakfast, especially if I don't have anybody to go with. It's nice. My new favorite place though is the Coffee House. Bring your laptop, grab a mocha, be productive. I was there for like 3 hours the other day studying for my biology test.

And finally, you gotta learn to outsmart the weather. You know how in movies when it's really windy and the umbrellas turn inside out? That totally happened to me today. Also, it's probably not a bad idea to invest in a pair of rain boots. Chuck Taylors do not cut it.

Tip of the Day: Well, I already had like three, so we'll call that good.

Back to school...sort of.

Today was our first day back after fall break. It was kind of disappointing. It even rained all day, which I think that means we shouldn't have come back to school.

Fall break was amazing. It was kind of crazy since practically everyone went home, so it was pretty empty here. I think there were like 3 girls on my floor that stayed. I wasn't here very much though, so it wasn't bad.

I also had a bio test today, and I answered 20 of the 50 questions with "e, all of these." So hopefully our teacher just really likes having questions with that as an answer, cuz that kind of made me nervous.

Oh, and apparently our dorm is haunted, so they're doing ghost tours tonight. Can't wait!

Tip of the Day: Don't listen to the weather report. Open the window instead. I checked online this morning and it said it was 61 degrees out. It definitely wasn't.

Procrastination...

I have a 4 page English paper due tomorrow morning. I have one paragraph done. It's 10:11 pm, central time.

It's going to be a long night.

It's not that I try to put stuff off. I really don't. It's just really hard for me to sit and focus on something, especially if there's no pressure to get it done. And let's face it, homework is rarely fun or interesting. So I put it off as long as I can.

Either that or I start and then get too overwhelmed with too much stuff to do and just quit.

I got overwhelmed and quit and went on a run about 2 hours ago. It was a nice break and wonderful stress relief. But now I'm supposed to be writing a paper and I can't even think straight enough to crank anything out. So I'm blogging and facebooking the night away! It's much more enjoyable.

I'm going to fail at college.

Actually, that's an overstatement. I'm actually a really good student, I just have really bad study habits. I did this in high school too. I could never bring myself to start big, important assignments in advance, and usually started them late the night before they were due. I almost think I work better at 1 am. Or it could be I'm just so out of it by then I don't really realize what I'm doing....

:sigh:

Ouch.

I just wrote UNL a check for $484.86.

Yay education.

It was weird because I never write checks, and I definitely never write them that big. It's kind of depressing to think of your bank account getting $500 smaller in about 30 seconds.

It's even more depressing that the first big chunk of my hard-earned money from working a crap ton over the past 2 1/2 years went to pay for books and a parking permit. And that was after scholarships and loans and what not kicked in.

I keep saying I need to get a real job, but I kind of really don't want to. Maybe after football season...

Tip of the Day: Play intramural sports. Good times, good times.

It's cold!

Now that it's fall, Nebraska has decided to be freezing. Lame.

I love winter, don't get me wrong. Just not in October. And not without snow.

And it really sucks since being in college means you have to walk across campus for every class.

Time to break out the scarves and hats and Ugg boots! I'm so glad I'm a girl.

Tip of the Day: Dress warmly. And wear layers, cuz it's always hot inside of buildings, and freaking freezing outside.

Football, friends, and psychology.

I officially love living in the honors dorms.

Last night we were all hangin out, watching the Huskers epically fail at attempting to play football for the first three quarters of the game. I guess the guys got bored and somehow started talking about somebody's psychology homework and were arguing something about olfactory senses and stereotyping white people.

Meanwhile, the two girls in the room were screaming at the tv like that would magically make us win the game.

It was hilarious.

The Huskers totally dominated the fourth quarter, by the way, and I'm sorry for ever doubting them.

Tip of the Day: Watch football.

Homework!

So this is the first time I've actually had legit amounts of stuff to do.

I've literally been spending like 5 hours a day on homework since Saturday. It sucks.

I had a 5 page paper (3 hours), a powerpoint/research project (5+ hours), a French presentation (1 hour), an online quiz (half an hour), and a biology lab write up (1 hour so far and I have half a page done...it was a 12 page lab and we also have to graphs and explanations...it's due tomorrow...fml).

And it sucks because I didn't even leave all this stuff for the last minute. I've been working on all of it for days.... ugh.

Sleep is overrated anyway.

Tip of the Day: Don't take BIOS 101. The class is great. The lab is horrible.

I need to update this more often...

I just don't have much time or interesting things to write about.

I went with some friends to learn how to waltz at ballroom dancing lessons. Epic fail. I am the most uncoordinated person. Ever.

I did go to the world's largest corn maze last night though. That definitely counts as interesting. Six of us from my floor went with like all the guys on the floor above us.

The maze we went through was supposed to take like two hours. We made it through in 37 minutes. Apparently we found a short cut. Ooops?

I'm ok with it though. It was f*ing cold outside. I literally could not feel my feet. And then I could feel them and they hurt. And corn mazes are kinda creepy in the dark, especially when the losers in your group run ahead of you then hide in the corn and scare you.

Not cool.

It was super fun though. We got hot chocolate and a hayrack ride and a fire afterwards. And we didn't get lost!

Our next great adventure? Roca Berry Farm for pumpkins and haunted forests!

Tip of the Day: Go on an adventure!