Ignorant Historian

Like the new look? So do I! The pink was starting to really get on my nerves. Thanks, Summer! Holiday blog makeovers are 25% off her already reasonable prices.

I’m surprised I’ve never told this memory, but it’s a very formative one for me. It is my first day at college. In high school I wanted to be a meteorologist, so I decided to go to the University of Oklahoma because they had a good program. OU isn’t very far from where I grew up, just 3 hours, but it’s not a common school for people from my high school to go to (only 1 went the year before, and he wasn’t someone I was close to).

All summer long, I was excited about going to college. Why wouldn’t I be? I just knew it would be the best days of my life. Shopping and packing were exciting to me. I tried to pretend to be sad to leave my family for their sake, but really, I was excited to go. I always planned on leaving the state for college, and that dream was coming true.

The day I was to move into my freshman dorm, a Thursday, was a busy one. That very day was also my mom’s first day of school (she was a teacher), my dad’s last day of school (he was a master’s student and had a presentation that night), and my grandparents were flying back from visiting my cousins. My dad and brother were able to get away to take me to Oklahoma, but had to leave early so my dad could get back for his evening class.

Moving into the dorm was exciting. Sure the hallways had a strange odor, but I could get over that. Yeah, the closet had a layer of dust, but that’s easily fixed. Of course, there were strange stains on the ceiling above my bunk bed, but that’s nothing that a few more glow-in-the-dark stars couldn’t cover. Here I was living out my dream.

It took us most of the morning to get all my things in. There were some helpful upperclassman that helped us out and would say “hi” to me by name as they would pass me. But once everthing was unloaded and we went to lunch, it was time for my dad and brother to head out, and I went up, alone, to my room. As they drove away it hit me for the very first time that I was completely alone in a foreign place.

I sat in my room completely stunned. I worked on getting my computer put together and hooked up to the Internet, so at least I had something to do. I wasn’t expecting my roommate to come in until later that evening. I hadn’t even met her, but I was hoping she would become a good friend.

My roommate did come back and we got to talking some. She didn’t seem like she’d be a bad roommate, but she was loud and outgoing, and she already knew most of the girls on my hall plus all her friends from high school living in other dorms. She invited me to come with her and her friends to a frat party. I’ve never been a partier, so I made some lame excuse of being too tired from moving to get out of going. (I didn’t yet have the guts to say a flat-out “no.”)

That night I lay in bed, staring at those stains and wishing Monday would come. On Monday classes would start, giving me something to do and a chance to meet someone who didn’t already have a huge group of friends. Yes, college was something I was looking forward to, but I was dreaming of the days where I would already have a group of friends, not those first days where I knew no soul.

No, the story doesn’t end there, but that’s all I’m going to tell for now. I know, I’m a tease. Come back next Saturday and I’ll continue the story!

Other School Day Memories:

Kindergarten and 1st Grade: Kisses and Skunks
2nd and 3rd grade: Spitwads
3rd grade: Laundry Chutes and Floppy Disks
4th grade: Watching Whales
5th grade: Bad Grammar
7th Grade: Teacher Review
8th Grade: 100 Marble Pick Up
9th Grade: Science Nerd
10th Grade: Playing in the Rain
11th Grade: Pink
12th Grade: Sleepovers on a School Night
College Junior Year: Kidnapping and Frozen Custard
College Senior Year: Why Procrastination Might Not Be My Thing

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I’m thankful that God led me to the University of Oklahoma. Though I never did get a degree in meteorlogy, it was exactly where I was supposed to be.

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