I Love College

…There are many reasons why this is so: The endless social engagements, everything being within walking distance from my apartment, the exciting football games, the bad food and the even worse beverage choices. College life is wonderful. Today, I discovered my favorite reason why I love college: The stress-free decision-making lifestyle I have become accustomed to. My life is on autopilot when I’m at school. Take a look at my routine for this quarter. Mondays and Wednesdays I wake up, workout, shower, eat breakfast, go to class, return from class, eat dinner, do homework and go to bed at some un-godly hour. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, go to class, return from class, workout, shower, eat lunch, do homework, eat dinner, do more homework, and eventually crawl into bed. Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are my random days. I’m not kidding – my days rarely change. Perhaps this indicates that I’m too organized and obsessive compulsive, but I believe routines give me a steady road to walk on as I travel to graduation.

I must confess I’m making it seem a tad easier than it really is. When professors assign 200-300 pages of reading per class per week, homework can take hours upon hours to actually get completed. And as you saw from previous posts, papers are no walk in the park either, but I’m talking about actual life. I do have a life outside of the English Department at Ohio State (though not a very active one at the moment thanks to my desire to save a year's worth of tuition ). The biggest decision I made today was deciding what toppings I wanted to get on my Red Mango frozen yogurt – I went with bananas and strawberries. Once I realized this, I became extremely light-hearted. I didn’t have to focus on family issues, events I had to attend, or what who was saying about whom. I just had to decide what fruit topping I was craving. On days when you do not have three papers, two books, and a project due, this life can almost be too relaxing. Your body begins to go into sleep mode…all day long. Even while writing this riveting blog post, all I want to do is crawl under my blankets and head off to dreamland. Tonight, I ate dinner while watching Harry Potter with my roommates. There was no late night news program keeping me from digesting my food properly, there were no phones ringing off the hook, and with the exception of a neighbor wanting to borrow a game controller, people were not running through our house at warp speed. It was just the roommates, some good food, and Harry Potter. Spring brings the calm.

Days like today make me think about what life will be like when these days end. When I move back home, I will not have steady routines like I do now. I do not want to say my home life is stressful because mom will get upset and, in reality, it is not a fair assessment. Home is just much faster in every possible way. Actually, the entire East Coast moves at a faster pace than Columbus, so my main goal is to enjoy the calm before the storm. There is so much activity in NJ between this person fighting with this person, this person having a baby, this person getting married, and these six baby showers, two communions and three funerals that must be attended or the family will be shamed. The nice thing about living on my own (8 hours away…with no car) is that I just have to focus on my life and me. And my life is telling me to slow down! I snapped a picture on my cell phone today of flowers growing on a tree on the Oval. I’m literally taking the time this spring to smell the flowers. I love enjoying the blue sky after so many months of gray; I love hearing the birds chirp outside my window (even if sometimes they sound as if they are killing each other); I love walking down High Street seeing people wearing shorts, tanks, and sunglasses. Most of all, I love the light as a feather feeling in my soul now that I have started classes and have a good sense that all of them are completely manageable. Life is wonderful and stress free in Columbus, Ohio…for now.

I want to challenge all of you this week to take three deep breaths and reflect on all of the beautiful sites this world has to offer. You won’t believe how much you will be able to see once you stop and open your eyes.

<3 Peace and Love <3