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I come from a land down under ;)

Watch out for all the photos and blogs post about my semester abroad in Australia!
It's all said and done, it's real, and it's been fun
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} As the year is finally coming to an end I would like to take this time to thank all of you for coming and reading my blog. This has been a really exciting year filled with growth, experience, and love. I was able to do so many things this year and I was so happy that I could take all of you along for the ride. I hope that you have enjoyed reading about my experiences as much as I have with writing about them.


To all my friends who are graduating college this year I say farewell with all the love in my heart. You are all such wonderful people that I am so thankful I was able to have in my life. You all have touched me and helped me grow and I will always be thankful for our amazing memories. You leave ready to take on the world and I challenge you to question all that is around you and go out and kick up some dirt and let people who know who and what you are about. Great things will come to all of you. I just hope you always remember to have laugh and know that life is not about how many hours your work or what your job title is. It is about how you live your life and about how much love you give to others. Always remember that when times seem rough and you long for your college days know that they are right there with you, always in your memories ready to be replay again and again. Remember to have fun and live life to the fullest because you only get one shot at it and you want to make it worth wild. I love you all and wish you only the best. Thank you for being in my life.

Now onto you incoming freshmen, everything you know is about to change. You are going to find yourself questioning everything you have ever known. You are leaving behind a time and place you will never know again. Which is really the point of going off to college, you get the chance to really see what you are made of. By leaving the comforts of home you are leaving a lot of things. You are leaving behind your moms or grandmas great home cooked meals. You are leaving behind friends you have known for a lifetime. You are leaving behind a bubble of security which is has extended all that it can and is ready for you to burst out and explore new places. Leaving all this can be very scary and you will find yourself lonely at times yearning for the comforts of home and friends that know you better than you know yourself. And what you need to know about that is, is that everyone feels that way at one point in time during the first year or another. These same fears will be spread all along your new dorm, for everyone is leaving home for the first time and everyone is feeling a little out of place. There is a caution to this fairy tale life you are about to come into that is college and that is something that many people do not talk about. As you start to make new friends some of your old high school friendships may start to weaken. You need to know that this is okay. That you will not stay best friends with everyone from your home town, you are going to grow and change some much within your first year of college and so will those very same friends that you have known all your life. It is okay to let each other change and grow. If it is a real friendship you will make it through everything just give it time, space, and a lot of understanding. And lean on those new friends you meet at college for again they will be going through all this as well.

Now here is some advice, take what you want and leave the rest 

* Laugh as much as you can while you are here and do as much as you can

* Join clubs and teams on campus its the best way to meet new and amazing people that you never would have otherwise

* When you are old enough go out to the village and have a fun night, go the Dill Street long enough to see what the inside looks like but go and stay at the Locker Room all night. Get Carters and Greeks as much as you can. These nights will be some of the best nights so make them count,

* Go to TIS and buy as many BSU t-shirts that you can I think I own them all, they are cheap and are a good thing to just throw on when late to class 

* Get to know your teachers. They don't want you to do poorly in their class so if you get to know them they might even give you a little extra help

* Know that your GPA only matters to the first job you will get right after college. After that they ill go off your work record. This doesn't mean you can slack off but what it does mean is that it's okay if you don't have a 4.0. Life is all about balance. I'll keep my 3.0 and all memories of  the wild nights that kept me from a 4.0

* Know that if you ever feel lonely the people you love most in the world are just a phone call away. Stay in touch with them because in the end they are the ones who you can always count on

* Take all your core classes as soon as you can...I am kicking myself now for putting some classes off til my last year. 

* Study abroad...trust me on this...if this is the only thing you do out of this list it will be well worth it.

* Go to as many free things BSU offers as you can wheather its a speaker or a comic it will be worth it 

* Live off campus at least after your second year. It will give you a good taste of what it feels like to be really grown up and you will learn how to budget your money. 

* Go vist other colleges and your friends at those colleges

* Get a job 

* Stand up for what you believe in, even if you are the only one standing.

* Go to Sunshine Cafe at random hours of the night.

* Know that sometimes it's more important to stay up and watch old movies with your friends then to study for a test that is next week

* Also know that it's okay to stay up and making memories even if that means that every now and then you will sleep through your first class :)  

* Be open minded to others. The great thing about college is that everyone is so different than the people from back home. Everyone here come from very different backgrounds and very different lives. It will be good for you to see how other people live and how they see the world. 

* Most important thing to remember is college goes by in a flash, before you know it it's done and you will look back and wonder where all the time went. Enjoy yourself, have fun, make mistakes, question the world around you and open yourself up to being questioned. Laugh until you cry and love until it hurts.

but trust me on the study abroad thing....

 

Thank you all so much. 

Much love 

Cheers 

 

Quote of the day:
            If you're feeling frightened about what comes next, don't be. Embrace the uncertainty. Allow it to lead you places. Be brave as it challenges you to exercise both your heart and your mind as you create your own path towards happiness, don't waste time with regret. Spin wildly into your next action. Enjoy the present, each moment, as it comes; because you'll never get another one quite like it. And if you should ever look up and find yourself lost, simply take a breath and start over. Retrace your steps and go back to the purest place in your heart... where your hope lives. You'll find your way again

Published Thursday, May 07, 2009 7:08 AM by lcdixon

Comments

# re: It's all said and done, it's real, and it's been fun @ Thursday, May 07, 2009 5:37 PM

testing

mljlive

# re: It's all said and done, it's real, and it's been fun @ Saturday, June 13, 2009 1:45 PM

These are great tips for those entering college, especially the one about living off campus.  I lived off campus starting with my sophomore year and I loved it.  I got into a bit of trouble budgeting my money but in the long run it was a good experience.

Good luck on your future endeavors.

FantasyBookReader

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