The test

  Studying in college is so much different than in high school. Today I had a biology test. I thought I was prepared for it. I studied and reread the chapters, looked over the powerpoints and did the crosswords my teacher had provided us. I knew I was cramming this in but I had so much other homework over the course of the week and weekend and thought I knew all I needed to know about photosynthesis and respiration. So after about four straight hours of studying I decided my brain was done and had every bit of knowledge I could cram into it.

  In high school I could study for a test for an hour at night and about ten minutes the class before and pull off an A or B. I was good at last minute studying because I paid attention in class. I have learned that this doesn’t work in college but unfortunately I put myself in this situation. In the morning I woke up so nervous and went to my 8:30 class. I focused on the lecture but in the back of my mind I was freaking out about my upcoming test. The thoughts of “I am going to fail this” and “I should have studied more” were flying through my brain. After my class it was off to Biology, as I walked and studied I was dreading taking this test. I sat down at my seat and still studied more trying to memorize as much as I could. Once the professor said it was time for the test a sudden calm came over me as I realized I could do nothing about my situation now but try my hardest.

   On the first page I knew all the answers, and the next, and the next, and the next page. It was the last page the stumped me but as I chose the best answers and wrote them down I felt good about my test. I might have freaked myself out over nothing, I won’t know until next week. In the future I need to develop better study habits, future as in this week, but I walked out of the class feeling good about my photosynthesis and respiration test.

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Florida weather is always better

  I knew that when I left my home to move to college I would be leaving my comfort zone. I would also be leaving my family, my friends and everything that I had grown used to in Florida. Particularly the weather. In Florida we have three seasons hot, hotter and not as hot. Our “winter” falls into the season not as hot. Sure on some days it gets pretty chilly and people walk around wearing their scarves, beanie’s, boots and jackets but by noon it’s hot again and the layers come off for fear of mild heat stroke, even in December and January.

  This week at RU has been a completely new adjustment for me. I knew exactly what I was getting myself into moving to the mountains of Virginia, I just didn’t expect it to be cold in September! By cold I mean 60s. I know by most people’s standards in the North °60F is not cold, but in Florida that is our winter and that is normally the coldest it gets. I walked out on Tuesday morning wearing shorts and flip flops ready for the day, to my surprise the air was crisp and chilly, I hadn’t checked the weather forecast because it is still September and I was not expecting the weather to be cold. Luckily I had grabbed a jacket last minute. I had no time to change because I never wake up on time in the morning, so I walked to class quickly the whole time shivering and hating myself for leaving the beautiful tropical climate of Florida. It only takes me about three minutes to walk to class but it felt like twenty. I wanted class to take as long as possible because I didn't want to go back outside into the cold unprepared. So when class ended I braced myself by the door and made a beeline for my dorm. As soon as  I got back into my dorm room I put on the warmest clothes I owned, made a steaming hot cup of tea and curled up under a cozy blanket until I had to leave for my next class.

  The rest of the week I tried to dress for the weather but I realized my wardrobe still consists mostly of “Floridian” clothes. I have a few sweaters, long pants and long sleeve shirts but I will have to make major wardrobe update to keep from freezing, my thin cotton shirts won’t do. If this is only the beginning of Fall I am going to freeze in the winter.

 

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Water

  This Monday night my roommate and I went to Walmart for a couple of things we needed, like water and school supplies. My car was parked at a perfect parking spot in location to my dorm. I knew the second I moved it my spot would be lost but I could no longer drink from the water fountains. Inside Walmart I made the decision to get a 35 pack of fully sized water bottles. After checking out we got into my car and headed back to campus. It was around 9:30 and at this time of night we were both sleep deprived and barley awake from the long day, I probably shouldn’t have been driving but we got there and back safely.

  On our way back to the school there was, of course, no parking in the parking lot closest to our dorm. So we headed to the next closest one. That lot was also full. In a second of panic I looked at C and said “I have no clue where any other parking lots are” so I drove around a little until she pulled up a map.   When we eventually found a spot, after getting lost once, it had been thirty minutes later and we were on the opposite side of campus. This wouldn’t have been a big deal if we hadn’t bought a 35 pack of water. I was going to leave it in the trunk and only take a few bottles to the room when my roommate offered to carry it back to the dorm. We took the bags we had bought and our backpacks along with the case of water out of the trunk. As we headed out of the parking lot we looked how far we had to walk and let out a big sigh. We had to walk down a huge hill, climb three sets of stairs and stop to get some food from the cavern.  The whole time stopping every couple of minutes to readjust the water bottles that were falling out of the case or the bags that were starting to make red marks on my arms. The whole time the few people that passed us stared at us like we had two heads. My roommate carrying a case of water and me with Walmart bags on my arm, I would say pretty normal, although we both were sighing and complaining basically the whole way to our dorm.

   When we finally reached our dorm, on the third floor, we were exhausted and threw the bags and water on the floor as fast as we could. There were a few girls in the common room who looked shocked at us coming down the hallway, I started laughing at the situation because I was imagining myself and C running through campus with a huge case of water and Walmart bags, it was a pretty funny sight. When we got into the room I soon realized that I could have just pulled my car up to the dorm building and dropped off the water, it would have made the situation easier but the story and the adventure were fun.  I guess the lesson is to not go to Walmart when you are tired and also to not buy the biggest case of water.

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The Hills

I moved from Florida to Virginia to attend RU. There have been many differences in both the weather and the surroundings but the main one for me are the roads. Driving in Virginia compared to Florida is definitely a different experience, for one we have absolutely no hills in Florida. If we do have hills they are nothing compared to the hills and mountains up here. I was driving this week around the area surrounding the campus and was amazed at how scary driving on the hills was. I was actually nervous and I am not a nervous driver. I went with my roommate to get food late at night and we got lost. We ended up going down the road farther than we expected and we went over some pretty big hills. As my car climbed the hill the road disappeared in front of us and it felt like I was on a rollercoaster. As we went down the hills the car felt like it was almost vertical with the road. I was scared having rarely driven on hills, plus it was night time and I couldn’t see as much as I wished I could. All I saw was the headlights shining on the top of the small mountains over and over again as we climbed and descended at least five hills in a row. During this adventure I kept thinking my car, all though fairly new, would not make it up the hills. I was worried we would be stranded in a part of town I didn’t know with no idea where we were. I won’t be driving on that road until I have more experience with hills or it’s daytime.
                                       

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