As everyone gets ready to pack up their childhood memories and head off to college something that I’m sure is weighing heavily on your minds (other than what to do with all of this new found independence) is how am I going to share a room with a complete stranger? Well one of my very good friends Jon and I were discussing it the other day and here are some of his thoughts about preparing for the transition…

When you finally decide where you are going to college one of the toughest decisions you make is who you will be living with. Not everyone has the choice of living with someone they know from home or someone they met through Facebook(which I do no recommend). Many incoming freshman just choose to go random and be open to the experience of meeting new people. The lucky ones get put into a freshman dorm with a roommate they like, then the not so lucky ones consider themselves helpless and just try to deal with it for a year. Now this may be far off for all you but it should give some insight into how to approach things for next year.

Finding a roommate for your second year of school is a difficult task. There are those who loved there living situation freshman year and chose to live with the same people. There are people who want a completely new set of roommates and there are those who have been left alone by roommates moving on to greener pastures with off campus apartments such as Sweet home or the Villas. So what is the perfect roommate? Here is a little check list:

Friendly (not necessarily friend)
Similar or same major
Hardworking (May motivate you)
Good Hygiene (Only if you are into that showering thing)
Neat (Unless you don’t care)
Want to live where you want to live
Same year (So you continue your tenure together)
Responsible
Trust Worthy

All these things are very important. You share your living space a place that most people now call home. So when you are thinking it would be so much fun to live with your good friend from home or from camp think about it before you decide. I have seen the best of friendships go sour. It takes understanding, patience, and team work to live with someone. So before you decide to live with your best friend, take a step back and think about what you are getting yourself into.

…But as I’ve said before, bad roommates are not the end of the world. Like anything you learn to handle it and make the best of the situation!!!

Lately I feel like my day’s have been consisting of the same thing over and over again. Class, tour, library, sleep, rinse & repeat. It’s getting down to crunch time and all over campus you can tell that everyone is feeling the pressure. The libraries have begun to fill up, there are more and more of us sleeping on benches outside and seniors are counting down the number of lectures until they’re done with their undergraduate work. Today was the last Wednesday of the semester and as for me, I’m holding on to every day, wishing we had just a little bit longer.

I have been trying to ignore the fact that commencement is right around the corner due to the fact that when the diplomas are handed out, two of the girls that have become the older sisters I never had will be packing up and heading off to their respective graduate schools; one heading back south to New York City, the other to Cleveland. I never realized how much our friends make up our experiences here at school until recently when I have been faced with the reality that they won’t be here next year. I have always been someone who is quite independent and relied very little on people in my life however, these two girls have helped me through a lot of rough spots this year. They are not only a huge source of guidance but they have helped shape a lot of how I approach situations now and not having them here is going to be a big change for me. I recognize the fact that it is just me being selfish, trying to keep them here, as they are both amazing people who will do awesome things with their lives but I would be lying if I didn’t admit that there wasn’t a huge part of me that wished we could all just kind of freeze time and stay in this moment for a little while longer.

I say this because anyone who may be getting ready to head off to college come the fall, keep in mind that you may be leaving behind people who respect and admire you. So as weird as it is going to be for you to be in a new place, meeting new people and experiencing things you never have before, even those of us who are staying behind will have some adjusting to do.

As we head into our last full week of classes one would think that my weekend would be busy getting to know the textbooks that I have tended to ignore for the last few days, but then you would be wrong. My weekend was full of different things but looking back it was probably one of the best weekends that I have had this entire semester, I’m just going to pay for it this week when I am trapped in the library until all hours of the night but that’s okay.

Friday night was our Spring Gala and although I had some real reservations about going, it turned out to be an amazing time. The manor where it was held was beautiful with an awesome courtyard area to just kind of hang out. Not to mention we all looked fabulous!!

Then Saturday was the nicest day of the year! The temperature got up to about 85 degrees!! So after my morning tour I had an Orientation Aide welcome lunch, to get to know the rest of the staff that I’ll be working with this summer. It actually rested a lot of nerves that I had about working with all of these new people. The ones that I did get to talk to seemed really cool and I think that we’re going to get along really well. Which is always a good thing considering we are going to be spending an awful lot of time together in the coming months.

Since Saturday was so nice some of my boyfriend’s friends were having a cookout at their house. It was a nice time to just throw around the football, sit around with some hamburgers and hotdogs and catch up with everyone. They are a great group of people that I have really gotten to know in the past couple of weeks. The bbq, the warm weather, friends…it all just made me that much more eager for summer to get here, only 8 more days!!!!

I think Spring has officially sprung here in Buffalo!! We have had several days of absolutely beautiful weather and it has made this week five hundred times more enjoyable!!

I have spent the beginning of this week doing a lot of administrative stuff. Monday was Discovery Day here at UB which, in case you haven’t heard of it, is basically like a smaller scaled Open House. I wasn’t able to help out throughout the day as much as I would have liked to due to my class schedule but I did have time to do a tour towards the end of the day which was awesome!! Then Tuesday was just a crazy day of running from one thing to another. I did however get a chance when the day died down to buy the rest of my boyfriend’s birthday presents. Let me tell ya, I wish it were my 21st birthday on Friday with the stuff that he’s getting. One of the things that we did decide to do for his birthday was attend UB’s Spring Gala Friday night. Basically Gala is like a college version of a prom, and I am actually really excited about it. I got to go out this past weekend and get a new dress and some really awesome new shoes that I am totally pumped about!!

The other thing that I did on Tuesday night was I had my first staff meeting with our RA/AA staff on South Campus for the 2008-2009 school year. I got placed in Michael Hall in the Quad (tentatively) but I think I got really lucky. The other RA’s on the staff seem to be really cool people and I am really looking forward to getting to know them when we all get back for training in August.

Since the beginning of this week has been filled with errands and other random things I should really crack down and get started on some work, especially since there are only a week and a half left of classes!!! It’s crunch time… :-/

Ah this weekend has been non-stop activities but all that means is that the days until the end of the semester are that much closer!!

On Friday afternoon the SRU ((Student Recruitment Unit)) had our last training of the year on South Campus. Before training our STARS adviser and I headed to Wegmans to pick up some last minute things and it was awesome to have a chance to catch up with her. She has been an awesome source of encouragement and guidance this year and since this is her last year in the Office of Admissions because she’s finishing law school it was nice to have a few seconds alone with her before she heads out. Training was also a little more relaxed than it usually is because there wasn’t too much information that we had to get since the year is winding down. We got a chance to do an activity similar to “The Amazing Race” where we got a clue to a spot around South Campus and each new clue had a new place that we had to visit. For me, it was a cool opportunity to be reminded of what I was moving back into next year when I head down to South, for some of the other SRU members, it was their first chance to see some of the buildings on the campus. Overall it was a great time even though towards the end I got a little emotional. Since it was the last training of the year, that meant that it was the last training for many of our graduating seniors. Some of which I have become incredibly close to over the last year and am not sure what I’m going to do without next year. But graduation isn’t for a few more weeks so I’m going to put off thinking about it as long as possible.

Then on Saturday was Porter Hall Council’s last big program, Hallympics. It was suppose to be a huge field day with games and a barbecue going on for most of the afternoon but due to the cold and rainy weather up here in Buffalo the last couple of days it kind of ended up just being a quick BBQ thing. It was disappointing to put so much work into a program and then have it flop because of the weather but we still had a turnout of about 100 people so I guess we can’t be too disappointed. Since no one really played the games we just awarded the trophy that we made to the Residence Hall with the highest attendance which happen to be Porter. Let’s hope next year’s Hall Council can have better luck with it.

Now it’s freezing in my room and I’m pretty sure every article of clothing I own is somewhere on my floor or drapped over a chair so I’m going to go do some major cleaning as well as finding a blanket to wrap myself up in. Let’s hope one is hidden under the layers of clothes…

Today marked the only test of my week and one would think that that fact would lighten my load a little, unfortunately that is not the case. These past six weeks have been some of the most exhausting weeks of my college career and I feel like it’s not just me because even just listening to friends vent a little, the general consensus is that everyone has been under pressure lately. I think we’ll all be able to get by as long as we keep reminding ourselves that there are only 19 days left until the last day of classes.

The thing that is keeping me going is that I have decided to make an impromptu trip home in two weeks. It’s my sister’s 18th birthday and to keep my sanity for finals I need this trip home. I love college and everything that it brings to my life. My friends & boyfriend, my job, my classes, they are the reasons that I am so happy up here however, nothing replaces going prom dress shopping with my sister for her senior prom. Or sitting down in the morning with my parents and catching up for a little bit over a cup of coffee. Or going to one of my brothers basketball games, or my sister’s swim meets. Those are the moments that makes every other stress in life seem bearable and since I haven’t really been home since January, it’s time for me to take even just 48 hours to myself and head back to Albany.

And I think that’s important to remember when choosing a college. When I left for school I didn’t blink twice, I was out on my own for the first time in my life and LOVED it. But there comes a point where sometimes you need to be with the only people who have known and been there for you throughout your entire life and who you know love you no matter what.

So instead of 19 days left until the day of classes my countdown is shifted to the 16 days that stand in the way of me and a few nights back in my own bed, snuggling with my kitten and that makes me quite excited.

Today is going to be a little rough. I was in the library until about 2 o’clock last night trying to get work done ((especially that Meredith Grey paper , it’s NOT turning out to be as much fun as I thought it was going to be)). Which, in turn, did not make me a happy camper when my alarm went off at 6:45 this morning to remind me to register for classes. There are two ways that you can register for classes here at UB. One being an on-line registration program that we have the other being a program on the telephone called BIRD. Personally, I always use the BIRD program. I hate fighting with the Internet that early in the morning ((did I mention registration opens at 7 am)) and having the pages load so slowly because everyone else is logging on at the exact same moment that you are. Not as many students use BIRD so it makes it easier to get into it, plus rumor has it that you can log onto BIRD earlier than you can get onto the Internet program. Now don’t take my word for it but all I know is that at 6:55 I was logged in and already signing up for my classes.

Anyways, I’m pretty excited about my schedule next semester. I got into a Sociology of Diversity class that only had 3 open seats left in it which was helpful. Other classes I’m taking are Family & the Law, Biology ((a stupid pre-requisite for one of my majors)), Violence in the Family, Music ((the last of my General Education requirements)), and my UB 101 class. Oh, did I mention that? The UB 101 teaching assistant position that I applied and interviewed for I got offered the other day so that was another exciting thing! I am still waiting to hear about the Research Assistant position and a possible teaching assistant position for a Psych 101 class. I loaded up on a full schedule so that I have the opportunity to drop classes if I end up taking one of those different jobs. I’m just excited because as of right now I’m looking at only have one, one hour class on Monday’s and no classes on Fridays!!

I guess I should crawl back into my cubicle for another hour of reading before my tour this afternoon. I have to say, for a week that was suppose to be somewhat relaxing, it’s not turning out to be what I thought. But hey…tomorrow’s Friday, at least I have that!!!

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!!!!!
I hope that no one got too bad of a prank pulled on you. My Sociology professor tried to pull one with our exam grades but it didn’t go over too well.

My only test of the week was taken this morning which definitely takes some of the pressure off in terms of work that NEEDS to get done. I can spend the rest of the week moving in between different assignments and don’t have to feel like I am tied down to one project until it’s done. I’m going to start chipping away at a paper that I have to write for Psychology of the Personality where I am psychoanalyzing Meredith Grey from the popular drama series “Grey’s Anatomy”. It should be quite an interesting and I’m actually kind of excited to get into it.

Other than that I have been birthday shopping for the 5 million birthdays that take place in the month of April. One of my best friends turns 20, my boyfriend turns 21, my sister turns 18 and then another one of my best friends turns 22. All in consecutive weeks. You try and think of gifts for them all ((suggestions will be welcome)). Especially since we all know how much I just ADORE going to the mall *sarcasm* I am one of those people who has taken quite a liking to on-line shopping. Thanks to a fellow blogger, Maddie, Overstock.com has become my new best friend.

The weather here has such an attitude lately. It was 61 degrees when I left my room this morning and now its 38 and rainy…welcome to Buffalo spring time.