I'm a College Kid: Ten Things My Second Year of College Taught Me

Please excuse me for just a moment while I make amends for neglecting my blog for the last few months.

It's okay, little bloggie blog. I promise I still love you. It's just been a really, REALLY long and rough semester. Please forgive me.

And to you, my loyal readers (and by that I mean my grandma, shoutout to you grandma, I love you!): my apologies for falling off the face of this cyber world this semester. To say my life has been in shambles would be an understatement. This semester has kicked my butt. And my legs. And arms. And stomach. And face. And everywhere else. But thank goodness it is now over (and has been for about a week now, but I still don't think I've fully recovered). So with that, I will give you:

Ten Things My Second Year of College Taught Me

1. The Quarter-Life Crisis is real

Everyone always made fun of me when I told them I was going to undergo a Quarter-Life Crisis when March 12, 2014 came around, aka the day I turned 20. Well guess what everyone? IT'S A REAL THING. Quite the conundrum.

When I turned 20, I kinda freaked. I was no longer a teenager, and things happen in your 20s. You graduate. You get your first real job. You might get married. You might have children.

Dear goodness, that's a lot of pressure if you ask me. In just 10 short years, I could have hit most of my major milestones, and that freaks me out. But then again...

I'm in my 20s. I'm in one of the most exciting times of my life. So far, my 20s have not failed me, and I'm so excited to see where these 10 years take me.

2. Work sucks, but it doesn't have to suck

I worked for our school newspaper, The Exponent, this year as a copy editor. Goodness, was that a roller coaster of a job. Some nights, the only thing that got me through was a 44 oz. Den Pop, bless its heart. But then, something happened. Maybe it was the warm weather. Maybe it was my resignation of the fact that work was work and it had to be done whether I liked it or not. Or maybe it was magic. But the fact of the matter was, in the last few weeks of my time there, I actually enjoyed spending my Monday and Wednesday nights in the News Room on the second floor with my fellow co-workers, slaving over the news, ensuring that our peers were well-informed each day. Suddenly, I had friends at work and it actually became fun. Like the time we ordered Moe's late at night and the delivery guy had to come 3 different times due to dropped burritos and forgotten queso. Or that time my editor, Jake, and I faked everyone out that we were dating when we weren't. Or when we all went to Pizza Hut and got psyched for stuffed crust. Or when we had our end of the year celebration at one of the girl's apartments and got to see the senior staff win their superlatives. So sure, it took some time, but I guess I have to confess that I'm gonna miss that place a little bit.

3. There's always room for making new friends

Besides my Exponent friends, I made a couple friends this year who I now include in my circle of best friends. First, let me tell you about Sarah and Elaine, who are quite the pair. They were roommates this year and Jess and I didn't really become friends with them until this past semester, but goodness are they great people. Sarah is quite the interesting young lady. She always has something interesting (and usually bizarre) to say and is constantly making me laugh. She was my dance partner in crime this year and always up for some spontaneity. But along with this, she's hard-working and open to listening to my rants or breakdowns. For that, I am truly grateful. Oh, and her Snap Chat game is unmatched.

Elaine is also an interesting character. She's pretty quiet around those she doesn't know, but she really opened up to us. She's super intelligent and has her life put together, let me tell you. She always laughs at her jokes before anyone else has the chance to think about them, and she has the uncanny ability to find coins on the ground. She also has crazy road rage and is able to eat more desserts at one sitting than I though humanly possible. She despises drama, and once she made me a PowerPoint of all my favorite things when I was having a bad day. I love these girls and miss them already. I can't wait to see them again!

And then there's Sydney. She and I knew each other last year, but we didn't become close until we had classes together this year. She's an El Ed major like me and probably one of the most sarcastic people I've met. We are always talking about something ridiculous and we can tell each other anything, knowing there's not judgement. I'm lucky enough to go on her family's RV vacation this year, so watch out world.

4. I've officially reached the tipping point of growing up

This year, I've signed a lease for an apartment, worked at a job, bought couches, got a Crock Pot, and applied for another job for next year and got that. If that doesn't signify growing up, I don't know what does.

5. Spontaneity can lead to the best memories

Goodness, the number of random, spur-of-the-moment decisions we made this year. Most of the time it had to do with food. Usually ice cream or slushies. Or buying lottery tickets. (Once I won $10!). Once Sarah and I went with our friends Corey, Matt, and Elliott to Ball State to see a volleyball game. But the best one was when Sarah and I went to Sigma Tau Gamma's formal in Indianapolis with two guys we didn't know (don't worry, we knew other guys in the fraternity) because they needed dates. We ran around the mall at closing time a day before we left searching for dresses, survived the hour-long drive listening to screamo music, and actually had a good time when all was said and done.

6. There's strength in numbers, especially when it comes to complaining

As I said before, this semester was a struggle and half. I took my Block III classes this semester, and everyone in education said it was one of the hardest. They weren't wrong. The projects seemed never-ending, the discussion posts were overwhelming, and throw on some snow days on top of that, and you have a disaster on your hands. My goodness. But, with that being said, I grew closer to several of the girls in my major through that experience, even if that sense of camaraderie only came from complaining with one another about how stressed we were. I managed to make it through, and it helped knowing we were all in the same boat. We education majors stick together.

7. Lol @ dates

You know the romantic ideal where guy sees girl, girl sees guy, it's love at first sight, and everyone lives happily ever after?

Turns out that's not how it works out in real life.

And thank goodness for that. Because if that's how it did work out, I could be on the fast track to marriage right now (remnants of my Quarter-Life Crisis are sneaking up on me as we speak; expect hyperventilation soon). Sorry, but I'm not about that life. Instead, I have some pretty awesome stories about the handful of dates I went on this year (most of which belong in the "What Not To Do When Taking A Girl Out" chapter of the fictitious novel "How to Be a Decent Guy.") Because if there's one thing I love collecting, it's stories. I will spare the names of these "men" to prevent their public humiliation (I'm not Taylor Swift, after all), but fair warning to all the dudes out there: step up your game lest your failure to treat a lady right leads you to a life as a perpetual cat lad-- er, I mean man.

8. Things really do happen for a reason.

People come into your life and they go. Opportunities are presented and you can take them or leave them. But all of this is what is supposed to happen and I am the person I am now because I was supposed to be this way.

9. Purdue is still where I was meant to be.

Goodness, I love being a Boilermaker.

10. It still holds true that the most important things I learn in college aren't academic.

Now, who wants to see a random collage of pictures from this semester?