First Day at College

Well, I'm currently sitting in the dorm room that will be my place of residence in the coming months.  I'm not really sure how I feel yet.  The first day so far has went pretty well, but I'm already feeling a bit homesick.  The only problem I'm really having right now involves dinner.  The dinning hall is open right now, and I'm starving, but I'm extremely nervous about going to eat by myself.  When I came back to the dorm after my parents left, my roommate wasn't here, and I haven't seen her since, otherwise I would ask her to go with me.  Judging by how quiet the hall is, most people aren't here.  I have no idea where everyone's gone since none of the welcome week stuff is going on right now.  I'm exhausted and just want to eat.  Hopefully I can make it through a meal alone without feeling completely stupid.  Maybe I'll even make new friends.

I had a strange burst of confidence earlier today while waiting for the convocation to start.  For once I realized that most of the people here are strangers (since at least half the people were standing around alone), and for once I didn't feel awkward as I stood there quietly by myself (in a dress even, which I'm not usually comfortable in).  I'm trying to remember that feeling before I go down to the dining hall.  Maybe I'll find someone to sit with down there.  Maybe I'll end up eating alone.  Either way, it doesn't really matter in the long run. Neither option is going to hurt me.  I just have to keep telling myself that.

After dinner we have a residence hall meeting.  I'm not sure what exactly it will be about, but I'm suspecting some "getting to know you" games, which I've never been a fan of.  Then, playfair is after that.  I have no idea what that is either, but I'm guessing it's more "getting to know you" games.  I'm so exhausted that I just hope I can make it through it without collapsing.  If I make some friends out of it, then even better.  Now, I think I'm going to head down to the dining hall.  We'll see what happens...

My Mind Just Isn't Getting a Break

I've been freaking out about college so much lately that all I really wanted was something to happen that would get my mind off of it.  Well, I got it today, but it wasn't at all what I had hoped.  I don't want to talk/write about it now, since things are still happening, but I'll just say today isn't exactly a great day.  I'll say more later after I know more about what's going on.

Honestly, it hasn't even really gotten my mind off of college.  Now I'm just anxious about two different situations.  Speaking of college though, I really need to pack.  I just have no idea how I'm going to transport all of this stuff to Indianapolis, and I don't know what exactly I should take with me or leave behind.  The next few days should be interesting...

Edit: It's hours after I've posted this, and I just found out my Aunt Sharon has passed away.  There were pretty much no doubt that it was coming today, but as you can guess, it's still sad news, especially with it being so close to me going off to college.  I'm assuming I won't be able to be home for the funeral, which won't help me with getting closure or anything.  I just wanted to add this on, so people would know what I was talking about earlier.  I didn't want to mention it then while she was still in the hospital, and we weren't completely sure what would happen.  I haven't mentioned it anywhere else online yet.  I kind of vaguely tweeted about it, but I'm trying to be careful what to tweet because I don't want people who know her (especially family) see my tweets before they find out some other way.

Closer to College and The Princess and the Frog

I started my senior year of high school exactly a year ago today.  That fact has made me think about starting college a lot today, which is actually not really different from any other day lately.  I only have six days until I move into the dorms!  That's crazy!

Anyway, the most exciting thing I've done today is watch The Princess and the Frog.  I'd forgotten how good that movie is since I'd only watched it once before.  I've been convinced to take it to college with me since it and Beauty and the Beast are the only animated Disney movies I own on DVD, and I'm going to take them both.  And Tiana has officially made herself my second favorite Disney princess.  (No one can beat Belle though.)

That was really about it today.  Haley and Autumn were over for a bit yesterday.  Haley and Regina filmed themselves singing One Thing since One Direction's having this contest thing.  And Summer's coming over tomorrow to spend the night.  I guess that makes me feel better about doing almost nothing today!

Random Acts of Kindness

Have you ever had some complete stranger show you a random act of kindness, and it stuck with you for a long time because you didn't even know this person?  Being so shy, I tend to stay disconnected from strangers.  Sure, I've had people perform stereotypical acts of kindness such as holding the door open or things like that which are all acts that are more than easy to perform and are pretty much just expected of everyone.  They don't really stick with you because chances are they'll happen to you more than enough times over the years.  I'm not trying to say anything bad about these acts of kindness.  They're definitely important and things that everyone should do.

But then there are random acts of kindness where a complete stranger goes above and beyond what's expected of them.  If you have a moment like that you'll remember it forever because it kind of shocks you that someone did that.

Like I said, I tend to distance myself from people, even people I know.  I don't really have any brilliant story where someone did something like that for me, which isn't surprising considering I keep my interactions with people as small as I can when out in public.  Even sadder though is the fact that I've never really done something like that for someone else.  I wish I could say I had, but I would be lying.

The best moment I can come up with where a complete stranger did something nice for me isn't really that mind-blowing, but I'll share this story anyway.  It was at LeakyCon last year.  (I have a feeling I'm thinking of it now because LeakyCon 2012 is happening now, and I'm sad I'm not there.)  It's no surprise that people at LeakyCon were absolutely great.  Harry Potter fans are just amazing.  But there was one woman dressed up as McGonagall who was walking around with a big bag of chocolate frogs.  And these weren't the chocolate frogs that you buy either.  These were homemade chocolate frogs that she'd made herself.  They even had a marshmallow filling.  What was she doing with them?  She had made a ton of this candy so that she could walk around the convention and just give them out to people.  She came up to my dad and me and just offered us some.  She was such a nice person, and her and my dad talked for a minute or so.  (Remember, I'm socially awkward, so my participation in the conversation was nothing more than me thanking her for the candy.)  I still remember that though.  I don't know how difficult it was to make those chocolate frogs, but I'm sure it took a decent amount of time, especially because of how many she seemed to have made.  And why did she do it?  Just because she wanted to hand them out to some complete strangers.

Obviously, that wasn't the most impressive moment ever.  She didn't do anything life-changing, but it was nice.  It's definitely a moment I've remembered, and it's not something I could see very many people doing.  It's just too bad there aren't more moments like that.

Not Quite as Panicked

I'm not quite as panicked about college as I was yesterday.  I got an email confirming that my textbooks are at the bookstore ready to be picked up, and my roommate and I have gotten it worked out as far as who's bringing the fridge and who's bringing the microwave (although we still don't know if we're going to have a TV or not).  That little bit of success has left me feeling more prepared, although I'm sure I'll start freaking out again in the next couple of days.

Other than that I've had a normal and boring day where I do almost nothing.  LeakyCon also started today and seeing all the tweets from people there has made me really nostalgic about last year.  It's too bad I couldn't be there this year.  The ironic thing is it's actually much closer to me this year (in Chicago), but it's much too close to college starting.  If I'd gone, coming home and then almost immediately leaving for college would have been hectic.  Plus, I need all of the money that would go towards LeakyCon in order to pay for college...

Anyway, I'm off to read and scroll through Tumblr some more (because what else have I done recently?).