A Katie's-Eye View

The World the Way I See It

Archive for category college

May already?

May 2

Posted by Katie in college, life | 3 Comments

This semester is finally drawing to a close, and as it does, I remember thinking about how much easier this semester would be, since I was taking less hours than I ever have in a long semester. Boy, was I wrong! This has been one of my most difficult semesters, and is definitely the one that went by the fastest! I have enjoyed it a lot, despite its challenges, due in part to having some fun scheduled right in, in the form of regular Thursday night hangouts with some of my best friends. :)

I am kind of sad about this being my last real semester of my undergraduate career. As I sit in my favorite classes, it dawns on me that this chapter of my life is almost over. :( I know I’m a nerd, but I’m sad that when the fall semester schedule comes out, I won’t be looking at it to pick my classes. I’ll be pretty busy in the fall, though, so I guess it’s a good thing I’m graduating in August! :)

Wedding planning has pretty much stalled, thanks to the whole school thing. I’m looking forward to starting to really get in to it this summer. :) I have some good ideas for all of that stuff, which is good, since the date is quickly approaching!

Next Sunday is my birthday, and I guess I’m pretty excited about it. I’ll be 21, which is cool, but I’m definitely more excited about my upcoming Ireland trip than I am about my birthday! I can’t wait to explore Ireland with some lovely ladies (Courtney and our moms), but I’m not sure that the Emerald Isle can compare with Texas in the spring time…I do love bluebonnets! :)

Well, I’m definitely putting off a homework assignment by writing this blog, so I should probably go ahead and do that. :) I’ll be writing a lot more this summer, though! :)

Day One

Jan 19

Posted by Katie in awesome, college, learning | 2 Comments

And so it begins…my last full semester of college. Sure, I’ll have two classes this summer, but seriously, those don’t really match up to the intensity of a full semester. I had my 8 am class this morning, where I found out that I’m pretty sure I’m going to like it, despite the terrible timing. The class is aerobic walking (which sounds funny), and it is made up almost entirely of women. There is, as of today, one lonely male. Maybe he’ll find a girlfriend, if he doesn’t already have one. One of my coworkers is in the class with me, as is a friend that I’ve had in several classes before. It should be a great way to get exercise and have fun, too.

My other class today was 20th century America. I’m pretty excited about this class, although I know that it will be quite a bit of work. Nevertheless, I am really looking forward to it! I still have three more classes to go before I’ve been to all of them, but I think that they have great potential as well. There is one that I am looking forward to a little less than the others, but I won’t say which one, just in case it turns out to be fun.

Our new roomie, Brandi, moved in last weekend, and so far she’s fitting in great! She is a lot of fun to hang out with, which is always a plus! I hope to spend a lot more time with my friends this semester, since I’m taking fewer hours. We’ll see how that goes!

Well, I’ve got a paper to write, so I’ll wrap it up for today. If I have a chance, I’ll update again at the end of the week so that I can tell you how my other classes are going. Oh! I almost forgot! My church is doing something really cool! We’re having 10 different goals in 2010, some of which will be community service-type things. The next one is a book fundraiser for a local Headstart pre-k class! I’m really excited about this, and can’t wait to kick it off! Check out our website for more details! You can find it at http://glenrosebaptist.org.

Later gators!

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Day One

Aug 24

Posted by Katie in college | 1 Comment

Dallas Baptist University. August 24, 2009. First day of school.

The nice thing about this semester is that there is no reason for me to be awake at 7:00 am for any reason. This is a new development in my life, as for the past 9 years, I’ve had to be awake at or before 7:00 at least twice a week during the school year. I really enjoyed waking up at 9:00 today, but not nearly as much as I will enjoy waking up at 9:30 tomorrow!

I know that my schedule sounds pretty sweet so far, but you should know that I am taking 15 hours of upper level political science and English classes, and that, although today is the first day of school, I already have to read the Constitution, chapter 1 of my Constitutional law textbook, and all of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by various points this week. Not to complain, just to put things in perspective. :)

Well, I have a lot to do tonight, so I’ll end now. I do want to say, however, that this year looks like it will be awesome!

Forward and Back.

Dec 31

Posted by Katie in Creativity, Mission Trip, Passion, Photography, awesome, college, dream, learning, life, list, writing | No Comments

Wow. 2009 is just a matter of mere hours away. How did this happen? How was it just the start of another semester, and now that same semester is long gone? Seriously, these past few months have been the quickest moving period of time I have ever experienced. And boy, were they full! I mean, looking back, there was so much crammed into them that we should really only be in October now.

Here are some major highlights, just so you know what I’m talking about. I went to IL, had a couple of friends get married, started the semester, gotten a new roommate, seen many friends get engaged, had more friends get married, gone to Korea, hung out with friends, written papers, done projects, worked, taken millions of tests and quizzes, gone to the symphony, celebrated holidays, spent time with family, written a letter to the editor, gotten addicted to two shows, seen friends that I hadn’t seen in forever, helped plan/ prepare to be in a wedding, worked out, etc.

You have to admit that that is quite the list, especially since it all took place in a matter of months! There are some things missing from that list, though. Things I should have done, but didn’t. There are people I wish I would have called, books I really wanted to read, days when I should have gone out to take pictures, adventures I didn’t go on, and more. But really, I will do my best to make 2009 a year where I do all the things need to do (well, not all. I would like to have a reason to go on living!).

Here are a few things just off of the top of my head that I really want to do in this new year:

1. Learn how to cook. Not just easy stuff, but medium to hard level stuff.
2. Read a LOT. For fun, not just school.
3. Finally pull off that 4.0 I’ve been wanting. I know, I’m a nerd.
4. Accomplish something in the save the world category. I’m working on this right now, actually. I will write all about it when I have something definite.
5. Write something really good. Something memorable.
6. Go somewhere I’ve never been before.
7. Blog more often.
8. Go to Austin
9. Take more pictures
10. To be determined at a later date!

I guess that’s all for now, I’ve got a few things already on the agenda for 2009…my cousin is getting married, one of my friends is going to Denmark, and I’ve got my first 4000 level class coming up. It should be a good year. :)

today

Dec 2

Posted by Katie in college, life | No Comments

It was hard to wake up this morning. Really hard. I faced the prospect of getting out of bed at 7 and going to work with little to no enthusiasm. So I got up at 7:20. I slept hard last night, probably to forget how frustrating the night before was. See, the Internet decided that my dorm room wasn’t really the best place to work. At least my side of the room wasn’t. I didn’t know before last night that the Internet could flicker like the flame of a dying candle, but trust me, it can.

Normally, the lack of functional Internet wouldn’t be a problem. Last night, though,I needed the Internet to do a good third of my homework. Lucky for me, I have a wonderful boyfriend who was willing to come up at 11 to take me down to his townhouse where my chances at connectivity were better. I get there, and find that this is indeed the case. Unfortunately, I also discover that I left part of my homework on my desk. In my room. Across campus. I did what I could, then had Mark take me back.

I went to sleep hoping that when I woke up the situation would be better. It wasn’t. This discovery was saddening, but I didn’t have the time to mourn, as I had to get to work rather quickly as a result of that delay in wake-up.

Work was pretty good this morning. I had a few people call who were slightly sad that it was the morning, but nothing too bad. Work is always better when the callers are friendly.

New Testament went pretty well, except for the fact that I had to fight to stay awake. I really like that class, so I managed. We talked about the crucifixion in the medical sense, which was really hard to hear. It is so easy to forget that Jesus suffered like that for us.

The breakthrough moment came after NT, as I finally got my English paper turned in! :) Well, I have to go. More later.

Completion and Reflection or, Conflection

Apr 29

Posted by Katie in college, learning, life, list | 2 Comments

As this school year comes to an end, I look back and wonder how on earth the time has passed so quickly. Seriously, there is absolutely no logical explanation for why school is almost over when it was just last month that we were starting the semester. Know what I mean?

I’ve learned a few things this past school year, no doubt about it. Not the school-type things, at least not for the purposes of this post, although I did learn quite a bit (some recent additions being the subjunctive tense in Spanish, what a worldview is, the fact that Paul wrote 13 books of the Bible and that John Quincy Adams was perhaps the most moral president we have ever had).

For your general enjoyment, here is, in no particular order, a list of things that I have learned this year:

1. It is harder than you think to stay in touch with friends from high school.

2. Sometimes people you’ve only known for eight months become your family away from your family.

3. Living with someone else takes adjusting. You have to learn how to come together in just the right way so that you are both happy. When it happens, you are grateful, when it doesn’t, your life becomes awkward.

4. Sometimes the best plans are the ones that change when you least want them to.

5. You know that you have someone special when he drives around a parking lot for 30 minutes waiting for a parking spot just so you can go to a museum.

6. There is nothing like a good movie watched late at night when you should be asleep to encourage bonding between roommates.

7. You know when you spend a lot of time with people when you start sounding like them.

8. Become friends with international students if you want to meet some of the nicest people on campus.

9. Family is really important and every moment you can spend with them should be highly valued.

10. There is no time like the present to be forced into considering the future.

11. Grades are not everything. If you mess up, so what? Get on with it and do better next time.

12. No matter what happens, no matter how busy you are, there is always time for walking around the pond and taking random dance breaks.

13. Sometimes, you just have to eat in the cafeteria. Get used to it.

14. Power outages are fun while they last, but once they are over, it is back to reality.

15. Don’t ever think that you know what is coming next…God’s plans for your life are definitely not what you have in mind for yourself.

16. Developing a hobby or two is very important. You have to make time for yourself.

17. Having no money is a fact of life. When you get it, use it well.

18. There is nothing like an unexpected letter, note or email to brighten your day.

19. If you think it’s windy now, wait until tomorrow.

20. Never go to Walmart on an empty stomach.

If you read all of that list, I have to admit that I’m impressed. I think this post may have been a little long, but hey, there is a lot of learning involved in this life of mine.

Confession

Apr 4

Posted by Katie in college, honesty | No Comments

Whenever I don’t do as well as I wanted to on something I’ve written that I feel is pretty darn good, I feel horrible. Horrible. This feeling, for most people, is reserved for really traumatic events, events that stick with you through the entire day, and sometimes even longer. This is the way I feel when I get a paper back with something that declares my writing to be sub-par.

Many people would say that I am overreacting, and, if I were anyone else, if this were anything else, they would stand basking in the light of their correctness. However, for me, this response is not overreacting, but a completely rational, completely natural response.

When I write, I almost without exception pour myself into my work. Nearly every word is used with a purpose, every sentence and paragraph considered. Writing is my passion, and I feel that it is deserving of all the attention that I lavish upon it. This is the reason that when I get a grade or comment on writing that makes all my work for naught, I feel horrible.

This post is not so much a compliant about a grade that, in all fairness, I shouldn’t be too broken up about, but is instead an explanation of why something so small as a grade can make me feel so awful. It may not make sense to anyone else, but to me, there can be no other way of life. I have to write, and it has to matter to me.

Moving Forward

Jan 16

Posted by Katie in college, learning, life, love | No Comments

There are times in my life when I feel like nothing new is really happening, when everything is just sort of chilling. During those times, I feel complacent, but not excited. Fortunately for me, this is not one of those times.

This time in my life has been a time of moving forward. It’s been exciting and new…like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. Going off to college, making new friends, and, of course, finding Mark. It’s been one new experience after another, and they have all helped to move my life forward!

I can’t wait to see how each and every day develops during this forward-moving phase.