So, as you have probably all suspected, I've been at Davidson for over a week now. International Pre-Orientation and Orientation were so full of exciting stuff that I really found it difficult to sit down on my computer and blog (seems that everyone else here had the same "problem", too).
A picture of the (sort of) middle of the campus during the evening
Everything is so different here; even nature itself! The sounds I heard around were completely different to what I was used to at home; there were squirrels everywhere and - oh gosh - the cicadas here are so much bigger... Actually, everything is bigger, cars, roads, food servings...During orientation we visited places, met people, already came closer to some of them, discussed our summer reading book, played games, ate, partied, got excited, got terrified... And here we are now, first day of classes, gazing in awe at how much work college actually involves.
I ended up dropping Physics for a writing class for this semester, as my advisor suggested. Not long ago I finished with my Monday classes; Calculus III, Ancient Greek Philosophy and Introductory Organic Chemistry I... This will most probably sound nerdy, but I got really excited about the content of the courses. I was initially terrified about taking Calculus III on the first semester, but, at least as I could figure out from our introductory class today, it is built on a level my high school maths prepared me for. Philosophy felt more than common ground to me, but very stimulating, and Chemistry did neither seem too easy or too hard. HOWEVER - don't think that this will be a smooth and easy semester! A couple of studying hours per day, five to six days per week, per subject, times four subjects.... I'm already facing difficulties with time management, and I've not even taken up any activity nor started my work-study (I work at the Communications Department btw, possibly doing something among photography, web-designing, photoshopping, blogging etc.)!
But let's leave the depressing topic of time-management for now... Here's some fun pictures from the past week of orientation:
Me and Luna at the Library (the nerdiest place to take a photo)!
We had a little library tour, during which we also got to see the "rare books" room, with original old books. The atmosphere was unique up there and the most exciting thing for me was that we were actually allowed to flip the pages, touch the books, inspect them and get a real feeling of them!
One of the highlights of Orientation were the "Freshman Olympics", which concluded with a huge dance-off between residence halls. This is a happy picture of me, Lin from China (at the center) and Beza from Ethiopia (left)...
"and its hard to dance with the devil on your back, so shake him off!"
Tomorrow is my last day here in California. And when I woke up today I felt so sick...I'm so nervous! Of course I'm excited for the prospect of meeting all the people I have already talked to here through our pretty blog, and those who I met through the Class of 2016 Facebook group. Not to mention that I'm excited to meet my roommate: she seems like a great person, someone I know I can get along with! Yet all of this excitement doesn't stop me from being so nervous that I wake up wanting a trash can....
Personally, I'm terrified of Wednesday.
Why? Because of the way I was brought up, the place I was brought up, Davidson is going to be a huge change for me. I'm so used to being surrounded by people of the same ethnic background, eating the same Mexican food, switching from English to Spanish randomly and be perfectly understood (by most haha). But I am not alone! A friend who I have known since 2nd grade is going to Davidson with me (or well he's there now, he did STRIDE) and he knows my feelings. Everyone from our high school kept telling us to be prepared for the culture shock, which we both have already experienced during our college trip through the East Coast (explained in another post). So I mean its not like we're going to see something that we haven't experienced before...but this is going to be for 3 and a half months!! The longest I've ever been away from my parents was two weeks for the college trip! I'm scared shit-less.
Doesn't mean that I'm not super excited through!!! Personally, I've always dreamed on what it would be like to decorate my dorm and such, which my roommate is waiting for me so we can do together (I'm telling you she's cool!) Everything I touch cannot stay plain. I've already had to stop myself from decorating my new phone with stickers from work. OH! which is something else I'm sad about...
I work here as a Ballet Teacher's Assistant teaching little girls from ages 3-7. The teacher has actually been my friend since I was about...12? I'm actually waiting on her as we speak to pick me up to go buy some dance clothes and ballet shoes <3. But anyways, I've been helping her for a couple of years now and of course I got attached to certain girls. But eventually they leave, and at this moment there is one girl I'm attached to: Ruby. She's sweet, tiny, and hardworking. But the only way she gets all the steps down is if I help her! Lucy (the teacher) doesn't have time to do 1-on-1 which is what I do, and I feel so sad leaving her! Today is the last day I'm going to see her, if she stops dancing before I come back at least. Hopefully she doesn't.
There are of course PLENTY of other reasons that I'm nervous and scared to leave like leaving my family behind, my friends, my boyfriend!, and my job, but I know I can totally do this! Cause OMG I made a huge accomplishment making it to Davidson, which to me triumphs over all of my fears. I worked my ass off for this, so I'm making the best of this!
*I'm probably going to talk about the pains of leaving my family and boyfriend....most likely while I'm waiting for my second flight on Wednesday. Yup, my flight is 7 hours because it makes a stop in Atlanta Georgia...
So this is my last full day in Mississippi, yet, somehow, I am not fully packed. I have SO MUCH CRAP. (I won't bother you guys with pictures) But I can't seem to get the last little stitch done. I am getting SO emotional. So it turns out that my mom is moving to Charlotte now, which I am still on the fence about. My dad, however, is staying here. This SUCKS. He is literally my favorite person in the entire world. I don't know what I will do without him. We are driving to Davidson together tomorrow. I will probably be bawling the whole time. I am SUPER excited about going to college, but right now, I don't want to go. At all. And it sucks because it's like I cut a whole year off the time I have with him. I have always been the "independent child" in comparison to my older brother. I very infrequently get home sick...but this is COLLEGE. I feel like a five year old who trying to drive an F150...like I don't even know how to get in the truck in the first place...let alone drive it! I can't see over the dash. I don't know how I got here....like just totally moving away. Tonight is the last night I will ever be in my house again. EVER. Am I being extremely dramatic?? I'm sorry. And then there is my brother..but it's okay because we spent practically all summer together.
I know meeting all of you guys will help me get over this though! But forreal...I have a shitload of stuff I should be doing right now.
The journey to Davidson has begun! I am currently in the Munich airport by myself, where the stop of my connection flight is. I am leaving Munich in about 2 hours for my final 9-hour flight to Charlotte. My excitement is indescribable; I can't believe this is actually, finally happening. No more jokes, guys - The time has come!
Today is the day! It's 1am here in Nashville and I'm determined to finish this post. I'm hitting the road in about 12 hours. Last 12 hours to ponder what college life will be. Last 12 hours to roam around my room, the house, and the neighborhood until I come back in about 4 months. College life is still all a mystery. I've only heard mere rumors and tales of how college is the best part of your life but also one of the most stressful times. However, after I get to Davidson on Sunday and start college life, I guess the mystery will dissipate.
It's funny how we always want to grow up fast. Don't you remember the times when you were out at a restaurant and your parents embarrassed you or pissed you off, you automatically defaulted to the sentence, "I can't wait until I'm away at college!" In fact, you screamed it with so much passion. Don't you remember the times when every single day seemed to be the same in high school. You wake up around 6am, go to school, go to practice (sports/instruments), go home, do homework, and then go to sleep (what little that is was). Days blended together and you needed something new so you thought, "I can't wait until I'm at college." Well, now that's all gone. No more pestering parents tampering with your temper. No more high school days and nights. We're going to be in college! But wait, it really just hit me about a month ago. I am going away to college. I'll be 7 hours away from my home and what I've always known. I remember it distinctly when a sharp pain shocked my heart. I broke down. I'll be leaving people I love behind. I take for granted seeing my mother in the kitchen every day cooking meals when I got home, my father coming in through the door after a long day at work, my siblings annoying me with every pet peeve, and every single friend passing by in the hallways. Looking back at it closely, I really will miss these memories even though they weren't something I really though about at the moment of occurrence.
I'm so sorry for not being an active participant this summer but I've been really busy filling my days with wonderful memories with friends and family. At the beginning of the summer, I compiled a list of activities I wanted to venture out and do titling it "Summer 2012 Bucket List!" To my surprise, I actually completed 19 out of 28 items plus more that weren't on the list to begin with. A lot of them were new experiences and I'm glad I got to do them all with at least one good friend.
Friends, I've had too many. Too many who were so close to me. They've shaped me and pushed me to do what I did. They are great. There's a Girl Scout song, "Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other's gold." I plan to keep my old friends and I hope that I don't lose touch with any of them. I am definitely excited to meet new friends at Davidson! Even though I am excited and I try to carry that on with me, I couldn't resist the thought of leaving my old friends. I've known most of my friends for 6 years. I've known my best friends for 7 and 8 years. They were the hardest to see go and I couldn't stop crying profusely when I realized it was the last few minutes I'd be seeing them before we all leave for college. There are still so many emotions that I can't process. I'm just letting them go haywire for the time being. Hopefully, I can sort it out soon. I bet once I step on campus, it'll all make sense. As I always say now, "All is well!"
Bye Nashville and all associated with this wondrous place. I love everyone! Now Davidson here I come! :D
By the way, I finished packing (did it all by myself) and put everything in the car around 10pm last night. To my surprise, it all fit! Good job me!
I see Tees of green, red trousers too, Lying in the room, in suitcases of blue,
And I think to myself,
How's that new kind of world, I'm going to?
This is pretty much the situation of my room right now. I'm leaving Crete tomorrow and Athens on Saturday early (like VERY EARLY) morning. Going by plane, I've only got one stop at Munich, and after that, it's 9 hours to Charlotte (and to our scheduled Davidson airport pick-up - yay)! I'm worried about the time zone difference though. Greece is UTC + 2:00, while Davidson is UTC - 5:00; that is, I could be off to some serious jetlag, given that I'll probably won't get any sleep on Friday night (what's the point of sleeping when you have to be at the airport at 4:00 AM?). My only chance (and what I will most probably end up doing) is to get a good amount of sleep during my 9-hour flight!
Plus, here's a clever tip I heard helps you avoid jetlag (you've probably heard that already but, ok...): Once you arrive in a new country, however tired you feel do the best that you can to only go to sleep at the local time you would normally go to sleep... Like, even though a Davidsonian 4:00 PM is a Greek 11:00 PM, I should wait until the Davidsonian night comes to go to sleep. That way, one has already synced themselves to their destination's local timetable by the next morning! Well, yeah, this could seem pretty obvious to anyone reading this beside me, but I still am excited to try it out and see if it works!
So, let's get to what's happened in the past week... Most of the time, I've been labelling my clothes for Davidson's laundry... White, and light-coloured clothes were not a big deal, as I only needed to use a black laundry marker. As for black clothes, and particularly those with no white tags/washing instructions, my GENIUS self thought of bying some thermo-adhesive light-coloured patches, which my mum and I cut into pieces and ironed onto the clothes, before labelling them with my laundry number. Yup, simple as that, except from that I was kidding about that genius thing...
Wow, a sock.
It's so strange; I've asked a few people, who are also off to their first year in college, how they feel now that it's only a matter of days until they start, and most of them seemed to show the same, extremely surprising, attitude as I did:
I'm sooo NOT excited about packing all that stuff...
I'm confused, because, although I'm crazily excited (as well as terrified, for various reasons I will explain some other time) about the journey and what I'm going to find there, in the last weeks I have lost the tiniest bit of motivation to do any of the required preparations, such as packing. I guess I'm still just like a little kid, excited to be going to Disneyland and not caring about what it takes to get there... This is bad, and I should feel bad.
Warning: I am feeling a wee bit obnoxious right now
So I have been wanting to write another blog for FOREVER...but everyone kind of stopped writing. I was sad :( Now I am on service odyssey. So let me talk about that before we have to leave the Union (yeah biatches...I am at Davidson right now) Service odyssey was one of my best decisions this summer. I had been getting EXTREMELY anxious and nervous about everything--especially the people. The people on my Odyssey trip are AMAZING! I probably won't continue all of these new friendships into Davidson, but I really love this group. We debate and we're all intelligent and HILARIOUS. Like I am just so happy. I am sooooo ready now. I didn't even know I could feel this ready. We are this great like diversity. Sure we clash, and we have to sleep on hardwood (SUCKS BALLS)...but over all Odyssey is just such a great pre-orientation thing. We get to ask our leaders like every question imaginable, so feel free to ask me some now. I could go on and on about this. So as aforementioned, I am in the union. I think the WHOLE football team just came in. I think pre-seasons are moving in this week. So if you can't do noise, don't study in the union. It echoes. I AM SO EXCITED. Okay...well I hope maybe this has calmed your nervous tummies. If not feel free to shoot me some questions.
So the time has come to get ready to head off to school -- and of course that means packing, and in turn, shopping. For those who somehow haven't heard of the unbelievable tropical heat in New Orleans (it regularly breaks 100 in summer and rarely drops below 60 in winter) now you know. I'm a little scared for North Carolina. Occasionally it sometimes snows. Snow. Cold. Slippery. Bad. The people saying it's just not that cold really don't help, except to make me feel like a wimp.
"I have one winter jacket and i think i used it once. . .and wore a tank top under it haha."
Really? Just Really? I also know that when 60 degree days come around I'm bundled up in my ski jacket. (Because skiing is the only time that snow is acceptable for more than half an hour) So of course I may be going a TEENSY bit crazy withhhh boots...and blazers...and more boots...and well, more boots. It better get cold. I am PREPARED! Says the girl who wears flip flops year round. Literally. Even when it means my toes turn blue.
But there's one more aspect of the cold that terrifies me...
Erik and I have decided we're setting up surf trips -- well, I did, and sort of dragged him along with me, he has no clue what he's getting into. I've never had to surf with a wetsuit in my life though. In fact, it was only after I survived winter surfing in Florida without a wetsuit that I finally got some cred -- cause I'm a lousy surfer, although I do try. Cold water, like really really cold water, scares me.
Anyways, gripe over. HEY EVERYBODY IT'S SAFE TO READ AGAIN I'M NOT COMPLAINING (ish) I PROMISE I'LL BE VAGUELY ENTERTAINING (In a I totally feel your pain this is me kind of way) FOR THE REST OF THIS POST. K. We cool? Good.
Some silly packing problems I've faced. (Silly meaning dumb Liv dumb)
The giant Abbey Road Poster, that's framed, that I impulsively bought in a fit of hipster-ness. Not gonna fit on a train.
Guitars. I want to bring more than one. So badly. Somebody talk me out of it quick. Please!
Shoes...is it totally unacceptable for me to bring a separate bag for shoes? Am I allowed to bring my crazy heels that I never wear but that make me happy just owning them?
Ummmm...my closet...is huge...and stuffed...HOW DO I CHOOSEEEEEE?
Where do I stash all my workout stuff? My car is like a rolling gym. Literally.
Speaking of my car...any chance I can stash that in a suitcase? Sadly, Apparently not.
Being just finished with the Library 101 assignment (I really can't get how it was supposed to take only 45 minutes!), I finally feel relieved... Oh, wait a minute! - I'm leaving for Davidson in two weeks but this doesn't seem to have "sunk in" yet. I feel totally unprepared, with everyone around me (and by "around me" I mean in our -beloved - facebook group and in our - even more beloved - Meow! team) talking about preparations, packing, books and dorm-shopping, while I only know, like, which clothes I'm taking with me?! Seems that, enjoying my last weeks in my country, recovering from two years of IB and finally having nothing to do but take driving lessons (the minimum driving age here is 18), has gotten me almost completely out of the "packing mood"... I'll hopefully slide back into it by the end of the weekend (I don't think this will be hard consdiering how exciting all this process is)!
Why I titled this "Full Moon", you ask? Well, apparently, yesterday was not only a night of full moon, but also a night of full moon in August!In some places of the world, this is called a "Red Moon" and it is truly an amazing sight. Luckily, I got to see it from an equally amazing point of view, as well: my father, my cousin and I joined the local hiking club in an excursion, in which we would ascend up to the a peak from which we would see the moon rising. The route was not hard and, as we ascended, we also got to enjoy the beautiful view before sunset (see the picture above)...
As the time passed and we reached the top to eat some do-it-yourself dinner and enjoy the "red moon", I took a few moments to fully grasp the sight of it. I was thinking that I am going to miss the mountains and the sea of my country but, most of all, I was contemplating about how, however far away North Carolina is from my home, I would be able to see the same moon from there that I was seeing that night. "Okay, stop being so poetic, Natalia, people see the Sun every day, it's no big deal!"... Well, it is, in a way; when you are away from some place or someone, the moon is so far away that you can always look up knowing that you see it essentially from the same point of view as they do. It might once again be my abstract and romantic way of thinking, but I think of this as some kind of communication with any person in the world you need to connect with.
So, I was very happy to find out that, in this special year, there are two full-moon nights in August; the next one is on the 31st, our first Friday of classes at Davidson. By that time, all of us 2016'ers will probably be on campus, surrounded by many new people, terrified and simultaneously excited as hell. I don't know if my excitement will keep me from caring about seeing one more red moon instead of doing whatever college students are supposed to do on Friday nights... but in case that it doesn't, I'd be curious to see how the orb of the night will look from the other side of the ocean...!
(This doesn't really look red, it's because this picture was taken after it had risen)
More pictures from our walk can be found on http://pezopories.blogspot.gr/2012/08/blog-post_2.html... It's in Greek, but the pictures matter the most! :)
*I'm listening to Crazy Cool by Flamboyant Bella. The lyrics kinda make sense with this...kinda :P
Well I feel that I have to share this somewhere because I am incredibly happy about this...
In the world of MP3 players, the beloved iPod takes the king seat in most of the population's pockets. However, for some of us, another more Microsoft-y product sits in our pockets playing our favorite tunes: The Zune. Here are some pictures of different models (yes, they come in multiple models and colors!)
My family are Zune people: everyone except my mom who is pretty terrible with technology have one, and except my oldest brother who swears by his iPhone....
Both my dad and one brother have the Zune HD, the one to the left. However they are different sizes and have different memory capacity. My other brother has the Zune in the far far right, the white one. The original one! Except his is the original grey colored one. And I used to have the one in the middle of the right picture, the 120GB black top. But my clumsy-ass dropped it within the first year, so for the other two years of its life it's screen was cracked. I say it added some character to it! But recently it died (another bad fall in the middle of my high school's science building) I have been saving up money for some months now (books and stuff is my number one priority) and I finally ordered another one! Its the same model as my old one, just with less memory, an 80GB red top! It made me so happy that I stopped watching my recorded Olympic swim race staring the great Missy Franklin (well I paused...) to sign for the package and then add all my 4859 songs to it!! I was as happy as a clam! (which I don't understand how they can be happy but ehhh...)
<<<<<<Here's a picture in all its glory!
"Luna...how on earth is this even related to Davidson and the point of this blog?!"
I will tell you how! Without my music I would probably lose my mind on my 13 hour plane ride over there. I would pace back and forth in my room during those restless nights that I can't sleep due to homesickness if I don't listen to the music my mother and I sing to at the top of our lungs when we drive around. I am a dancer at heart, I need music. As you can see from the titles of my other posts, music is very important to me. Why? It calms my nerves, my anxiety and simply makes me happy! I walk everywhere and either listen to a song or sing one to myself (kinda weird maybe?)
I don't need to pop no pills, The music's where I get my thrills! When I shake, I shake it like I should, 'Cause baby I rave good!
Except I don't rave...haha!
But yes, music saves me from the world, and silence. Because at times I can't stand the silence. Am I weird? I'm probably over thinking this. All I know is that I'm currently using my new Zune, listening to this song, and making a playlist for my airplane ride in the 22nd of August....progress!
Once this is done I should work on alcohol edu since I just finished librarby101 yesterday!
Chin...Para los que deciden de atrasar lo importante pagan con su tiempo libre...
Damn....for those who decide to put the important things last pay for it with their free time....
