#marqu18

Marquette University President Mike Lovell accepts the #IceBucketChallenge and calls out Marquette alumnus and actor Danny Pudi, Dean Amhaus of the Milwaukee water council and the entire freshman class. Learn more about this cause at http://alsa.org/

Marquette men's basketball and Marquette soccer are also among those who have taken the challenge, and Marquette women's basketball recently took the #ChillinforCharity Challenge.  

Hey! Well I’m glad you came to me girl face.

When you say books, do you mean buying books or where to put them?

If you mean buying, go to your class schedule on Checkmarq, scroll to the bottom and you’ll see a link that says view booklist (or something like that).

Click on it and it’ll show you the books required for your courses. You can buy/rent through Marquette,  but it’s usually more expensive to do that. I look through Amazon  or Chegg first to see if I can get the books I need for much, much cheaper. (Look into an Amazon student account here)

If you’re talking about storage, your desk has a shelf that can hold books and you usually get a bookcase in your dorm, too!

As far as hanging up things in your dorm.. it’s a struggle. Everyone says that command hooks work. WELL FOR ME THEY DIDN’T. AT ALL. 

Instead, I learned that blue painter’s tape usually works the best, and try to keep your decorations light… No glass either. We had lots of broken glass in my dorm from falling frames. Oops. 

Alright, just kidding, I'm working like 30-summin' hours a week because DURING THE YEAR I TEND TO GET POOR. 

Anyway I thought I'd let you guys in a lil' bit on how my summer is. 

Hot.

Yeah. That's a concise summary of my whole summer. 

Okay but besides that, it's been nice to have time to really sit and collect my thoughts. 

You know how you have to leave someplace in order to miss it? The old adage expressed in a rock ballad by Cinderella, "You don't know what you got (till it's gone)?" 

True. So true. I really miss walking everywhere and being surrounded by people who are so different yet similar enough to where you feel like you kinda know them already. 

But here is a real live vid of me and my classmates coming back to campus in August:

But for those of you wondering, here is my summer in brief pictures.

My roommate next year, Kassie, came to visit and it looked like this:

I then showed a two year old The Lion King for the first time and it looked like this:

I paid a visit to me old stompin' grounds (high school) and it looked like this:

I even tried some of the Oprah Chai and it looked like this: (Warning: funny chalk art to follow)

As you can see, I've really had an adventurous and spiritually strenuous summer vacation. 

Honestly, I'm so ready to be back splorin' the old MKE.

Cheers, ya'll. 

Send me questions, I'm obviously decaying from boredom. 

Being home from college has taught me many things: the importance of daytime documentaries on the bio channel, how much more adult-y I became over the course of the year, how much time there really is in a day despite my previous stupor in its perceived brevity, and, of course, how much I am unhealthily obsessed with Harry Potter.

Since I've already discussed Harry Potter on this thing, I should maybe focus on the "adult-y" part.

What constitutes as an adult? My answer to this has, to say the least, evolved over the years. When I was a baby, I probably didn't understand the concept of age, time, or maturity, so I can guess that I had no answer and instead opted for my bottle. But as I learned to walk and talk, I'm sure it had something to do with having babies or having a job. Then, I escaped into the abyss that is pre-teenhood (?) and I can assure you it involved a decaying age and paying bills. That, mind you, laced with some melodramatic quote or angsty song by some stupid band with an ironic name. You know, cuz. 

But now as I stand on this great precipice staring into my inevitable transformation into my own adult-y-ness, I have concluded that being an adult, being a true adult is defined by your ability to place others and their own ideas, concerns, and fears before your own.  I believe that this also walks hand-in-hand with realizing that you have no answers, nor even half of the answers to the things you thought you would when you were a child. (I mean, I still don't understand the financial aid process or why people like beer. Beyond me, truly.)

Not having the answers is something I'm growing more comfortable in accepting. What am I going to do when I graduate with a degree in French and who knows what else? I'm not sure, yet I don't really care.

As a growing adult, I am realizing not simply the importance of education, but the rarity of it. How lucky I, a woman, am to have the opportunity to study openly and without fear of imprisonment or death. For me, part of being an adult also includes your awareness of your place in the world. 

So, for all of my new FRESHMEN following or reading this blog, I will leave you, as I am known to do, with a quote from mister John Green. A quote that I never get tired of. 

"Study broadly and without fear. Learn a language if you can, because that will make your life more interesting. Read a little bit every day. But most importantly surround yourself with people you like and make cool stuff with them. In the end, what you do isn't going to be as interesting as who you do it with."

And for all of you asking, "What should I even do with my life?" I give you this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lkn8MS3n8Q

Happy Summer, all. 

Today marks my last day in my dorm... What?

Yes, it is over. Tomorrow I will be moving out and Saturday, I will be driving home.

It's bittersweet, really. I haven't been home since Christmas, and I miss my friends, cats, and family like crazy. (Not to mention Nashville) 

But on the other hand, I really am going to miss the crazy antics that come when you have thousands of almost-adult children with too much free time. 

Thinking back on where I started this year and where I ended up, I can honestly say that this has been the largest transformation I have undergone in such a small period of time. 

Marquette has taken me from my small corner in Milwaukee, to the South Side at a middle school (WHERE I SOMEHOW DIRECTED A MUSICAL?), to Chicago, to New York, and I've made friends from Rwanda, France, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, and many, many suburbs of Chicago. 

I hate to see this year go, but I cannot wait to see what my Sophomore year brings. 

So, to the Class of 2018 let me give you my advice for how to have the best Freshman experience ever:

Say "yes!" to more things.

Then, give those commitments everything you've got. 

Show 'em who's boss and make a lasting impression. 

For those of who new, here's a quick recap of my year: