College Life

I've been at college for almost a month now, and I'm loving every second. Each day has become routine. The alarm goes off, I hit snooze once or twice until I finally decide to wake up. I pull my glasses out from the pouch hanging off my bunk and grab my contacts to put them in so I can see. I sit up and stretch, hit my head on the ceiling, and then climb down the ladder to the floor. I grab my shower caddy and towels, and open the door only to be blinded by the ever bright hall lights. Putting in the code to the bathroom, I walk in, set my things down and turn on the water to heat it up. After my shower, my flip flops squeak down the hall until I get back in my room. Each walk is a gamble, as I'm praying that there on no guys on the girls' floor to see me in my towel. If my roommate is still sleeping when I get back, I take my hair supplies and make up back down to the bathroom to get ready without having to wake her. If she's already up, I start to get ready in the corner that has become my little dressing station.

Each day has its own schedule. Mondays, I have two morning classes and I'm done by noon. Tuesdays, I'm in class from 12:15-3:00pm, only to have a final class later at 5:10. Wednesdays are a little busier; I have three back to back classes ranging from 9:55 to 12:55, followed by my last class at 3:20. Thursdays are the same as Tuesdays, and Fridays are the same as Mondays. In addition, I work an average of ten hours a week; a light work load, but it keeps me busy nonetheless.

Why do I share all of this? Well, partly just so you know what has been going on in my life, but also just because I felt like writing about it :)

The past couple of weeks have been an adjustment, but for me, it's been a pretty easy one. Some girls are homesick, but I'm sick of home. I've visited maybe twice, but my visits were pretty brief....after all, I had moved out to get away. I feel like I fit right in here, and I love the community setting. I love walking down the halls hearing something like, "Julie! What's up?! How was your class?" Or "Julie, are you free? Let's do dinner!" I love not being told to go to bed, but rather I can stay up late if I'm needing to do lots of homework. I fully understand that for some people, it's a struggle to stay on task and manage time efficiently, but for me, it just comes naturally. I'm motivated to do well and prove to my professors  that I mean business and will take their class seriously.

However, college hasn't been 100% perfect. I must admit that I hadn't been to church or a youth group until last night when I went to Campus Focus. As a result, I began to lower my standards. I'm surrounded by profanity and I often find myself forming a word only to question what I was about to say. I'm also surrounded by relationships, making patience very difficult. In fact, I'm pursuing a relationship right now knowing all too well that it is wrong. Out of this, I'm realizing just how important it is to stay rooted in your faith. I haven't read my Bible in quite some time and my prayer life is lacking.

Then I went to Campus Focus. Campus Focus is a group of college students (not even a group, there's hundreds of us!) that meet Thursday nights at the Chapel. The worship reminds me of a summer youth conference and the speaker is just like listening to a youth pastor. Last night, was my first real time spent with God since I've been here. If anything, I was discouraged in myself. I never thought I would start to fade so fast. BUT, God is still pursuing me and I'm ready to pursue Him right back. There are so many beautiful spots on campus that I could sit outside and do my devotions every morning. I'm excited for where God will lead me. I'm excited to get a bible study going with some of the girls on my floor (there's so many of us that go to CF and two of them have daily bible verses on their door!), and maybe even have that group grow into a residence hall bible study. Who knows what God has in store with all of this? But I do know that He has a plan, and I'm ready to take part in that.