A series: Freshman year part 1

After doing my writers workshop post on writing the story of my life I've decided to do series about my college years. As a few of my commenters suggested I have a lot I could write about on these topics. So lets start with September of 2003 where it all began.

Back row left to right: Megan, Andrea, Mandy (roommate), Me
Bottom: Lauren and Ashlee

The summer before college flew by, I worked at Joanns and spent as much time with friends as I could and slowly they all trickled off to school. We would cry each time someone from our group would leave and wait for the next person. I was one of the last to move to my college since we were on quarters and started later in the summer. My mom and grandparents went to my move in day (my dad couldn't get the day off work). My roommate had already been there for two weeks training for the equestrian team. She had picked the bed by the window and all the better stuff in the room. She wasn't even there when I started moving in. Slowly other girls on my floor started showing up and we all seemed equally nervous. Soon my mom and family left - I stood outside and cried for a little while wondering if I could do this or not. My roommate came back around this time, met my family quickly and then her and I started chatting. The girls across the hall from us started moving in and I went to offer them some linen spray for their sheets - that is how I met my first good college friend Andrea and later her roommate Lauren.

That night our RA Charity had us all meet and say what our major was and tell something about ourselves that was interesting. My roommate as I recall said she liked to vacuum and I think I blabbed about loving Bon Jovi. All of the girls seemed nice and I figured we'd all get along (which we did). The next 3 days were our orientation, signing up for classes and getting to know the tiny campus. Our whole floor would go and eat dinner together mostly every night and we soon learned who had cars and who liked to go shopping since we were close to the two best malls in the area.

The first night of orientation my roommate went out and got drunk (just a small sign of how bad this year would be) and the second night there a friend of hers came to visit, her best GUY friend from high school. Of course she was no where to be found and out drinking again. I called and called her to no avail and had to entertain her friend till she came back. He was 6'5" wearing tight jeans, boots and a western shirt and was apparently in town for some kind of cowboy convention. We made small talk and watched TV and I'm sure I probably acted like I had homework to do or something. He mentioned being in town for a while and left soon after.

Classes started and I was trying to get used to this major life change as well as having a social life and making friends. My roommate wasn't around much as she was on the equestrian team and always at the barn but about a week later her guy friend was back and we all decided to go out dancing that night. I remember he drove a Mustang which I thought was super cool and he was again in a cowboy-ish outfit that night. I was oddly attracted to this guy but didn't know much about him. We danced the night away and headed back to the dorms around 2am - I wanted the night to continue, but we couldn't have boys stay the night so we sat out in his car and talked. He walked me to the door and kissed me goodnight and that's when it began.....from that day on we were an item. I wasn't expecting to get into a relationship so quickly into college, let alone a long distance relationship.

During this time as well I met my close knit group of college friends: Sarah, Megan, Andrea, Lauren, Ashlee, Val and Charity.

Stay tuned for part two coming soon!