The Housing Conundrum.

For the past year and a half, I've been living in the dorms at school. Freshman year I absolutely loved it. It was a ton of fun, things to do, people to see, the college experience ya know?

This is our room. It's a pretty good setup.
I didn't notice my photobombing roomie until
after I uploaded this, so sorry Jess! Love you!

This year I feel like I'm just tolerating it until I can upgrade. Don't get me wrong, it's not that bad. I like my roomie and we've got a cool room and it's still fun and all, I'm just a little bit sick of living in a 12 foot square. I'm tired of climbing a ladder to get to bed and sharing a bathroom with 30 people. I want my own bedroom and a kitchen.

So next year it's an apartment! Only I'm still not sure where I'll be living, or who I'll be living with. My current roommate is going to live in the on-campus apartments, which are really nice but really pricey. It'd also be nice because it's close so I wouldn't have to drive to class, and like I said, I like my roomie! Money isn't a huge issue, but I don't want to have to take out more loans just to pay for housing when I could live off-campus for way cheaper. Plus it'd be nice to have a little more freedom and not having to worry about moving back and forth between campus and home. And I'll be 21 next year, so....

The lottery for the on-campus apartments starts Monday, so I kind of need to figure it out soon.

Oh and another issue, my friend that I've talked about living with off-campus happens to be a guy. Not my boyfriend, but a guy that's a friend. I don't see this as an issue, but apparently a lot of people think it is. I talked to my mom about it and she actually seemed ok with it...at first. So now I'm waiting to hear back from my parents, because while I don't really need their permission to live anywhere, I don't want to make them mad. Plus they help me pay for stuff. It'd be really great if they would call me back in a timely fashion, since I do kind of have a deadline here.

Either place would turn out fine, but I'm just not sure what to do yet!

Parenting?

I've realized that as I've gotten into some major-specific classes, my assignments get more and more...what's the word...interesting.

I started raising a child today. His name is Ben and he is three months old.

For my Human Development class we have to raise a virtual child, from birth to age 18. Ack.

It tells you your initial situation (I had pregnancy complications and my baby was born way early and had to be hospitalized for a week) and then it gives you a bunch of situations and you have to decide what to do. My child is probably going to be really screwed up because I have NO FREAKING CLUE what I'm doing.

To paraphrase one of the questions, "You want your child to develop curiosity and interest in things, how do you do this? Pick one of the following:

• You deck out his crib with the latest baby gear, like red and white rattles, etc
• You hold him, talk to him, and interact with him as much as possible
• You give him lot of audio stimulation, like talking to him and listening to music"

Umm...they all sound pretty good to me. I picked B.

Another example: "Will you breastfeed your baby?

• Yes, he will only be breastfed
• Yes, but we will supplement with formula
• No, we don't see the need to"

Again...ummm...B?

Remind me never to be a single parent.

Hopefully this kid survives. We'll see how it goes. I don't think I'm quite ready for this whole parenting thing.

Back to the grindstone...

I actually think I'm going to enjoy my classes this semester.

All of them.

That's a first. I usually have a couple good ones and a couple terrible ones, but if the first day means anything, I think they are are going to go well. I haven't had my Monday-only class yet, since this Monday was a snow day (YAY!!) and next Monday is MLK Day (YAY!!!), so I don't know about that one, but so far all my teachers seem great and all my classes seem interesting.

Hopefully it stays that way, because I can not get up for 8 AM class if it's not going to be a good one.

Oh yeah, that's the crappy part of my schedule. I have to be on a bus by 7:30 three days a week or leave to go to an elementary school by 8 am the other two days. I'm going to have to become a morning person. I also get done at 4:45 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and have a night class on Mondays.

This is why I need my classes to be amazing.

But these first couple days of class were really encouraging because for once, I actually felt like I belonged there. I'm so excited for the rest of the semester. All of my classes are Child Development/Family Studies/Education something, so I really feel like I'm finally in the right major. I feel like I'm on the right track and taking my life in the right direction.

And it only took me a year and a half of college to figure that out!

Life.

I've been kinda lame about updating this lately. I just really haven't felt like writing anything.

Today I've decided that life is crazy. Everybody needs something to keep them grounded, keep them sane. Something enjoyable that gets them through the day.

For me, that's running. It's just therapeutic. I can't really explain it, unless you're a runner. Then you know exactly what I mean.

That's the one part of the day that I can just have for me. I don't have to think. I don't have to deal with anything. I can just go and tune out the world for a few miles.

It's amazing.

The only bad thing is that afterwards, I have to come back to the world and do homework.

Tip of the Day: Don't wear flip flops if it's rainy. They have absolutely no traction. I definitely slipped on mine and fell in a puddle this morning right in front of a ton of people. And then I had to go to class with my leg and the sleeve of my sweatshirt completely soaked and muddy. It was great.