Meu aniversário está chegando! ...how the years fly....

That's right, my birthday is just around the corner, and I am super excited! It is hard to believe that another year has come and gone so quickly. I've heard that as you get older, the years seem to pass more quickly, but I am just coming to realize how true that is. I went to a high school graduation today, and as I watched my friend walk across the stage, I thought..."Wow, that was me just a year ago." A lot has happened in the last year...I graduated high school, became an adult, traveled to Brasil for the first time (and fell in love with the people and the country), I got my first and second tattoos, started and finished my first year of college, lived away from home , and of course many other minor things. It almost doesn't seem possible, but yet it is. The cool thing is: I'm so looking forward to all of the new things that will happen in my 19th year of life!

Done!

I am officially done with my first year of college!! I never thought this day would come. Today was truly a great day. I spent the night with one of best friends last night, and she rode up to school with me today. I took my History final, which took me an hour. Then I sold my books, got my financial aid stuff set up for next year, finally found someone to do my room check-out...who happens to be a very nice Brasilian guy....and my hero for the day! After finishing up everything on campus, Fleda and I went to a really cool coffee shop in Middlesboro. It is freakishly like Starbucks...which is totally fine with us! We had some delicious iced white chocolate mocha lattes, and then I drove us up to the Pinnacle overlook in Cumberland Gap State Park. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend going up there. You drive up a mountain for about 4 miles, and then walk up to the overlook. It's really nice because the walkways are nicely paved with hand railings and interesting signs to show you where you are in relation to the three states. (Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia) We walked a little off the trail, as well as hopping a rail to climb on some pretty awesome rocks. The view was absolutely breathtaking. It reminded me how much I do truly love where I live. We managed to find our way back to my car, and then headed back to K-Town, where we had dinner, and then went back to her apartment. Oh, and did I mention I am done with a year of college??? Yes, today was definitely a good day.

These pictures aren't actually from today. I took them the last time I went to the Pinnacle in the fall. Just to give you an idea of how cool it is though....

Where is my RA??

Between finals and moving out, life has been crazy busy for me the last several days. Last night, my mom and my brother drove up to campus to help me move out my stuff. Now my room is basically empty, with the exception of the few things I needed overnight and today. I had a form slipped under my door one day telling me that I needed to schedule a check-out inventory with my RA before I leave. Sounds easy enough, right? Turns out, it's not so easy. I have gone to her room and knocked....no answer. I put a not under her door yesterday morning...still nothing. Everytime I look down the hall to see if her light is on...no, it's off. And, I realized that I don't think I have seen her car recently. Hmmmmm. So, I would schedule my check-out with my Resident Assistant.....IF I could find her! Can't I just hand my keys to someone and go home?! Do they really think I'm going to walk out of here with the desk, or maybe a mattress?? No, I'm not. I just so desperately want to go home.

Studying and Guaraná

I just realized that I have not written in a while. There are good reasons for this. I had four tests this week. Four. Is that really necessary? I had one on Monday morning (at 8 a.m. by the way) which I'm certain I did not do well on. Then, Monday night, I spent 5 1/2 hours in the library with a study group for my test on Tuesday. I was pretty confident for that one. Wednesday night, I spent another 4 hours studying for the test on Thursday....I totally aced that one! Yay! And, Thursday night/Friday morning I spent a couple hours studying for my test on Friday. Basically....I have studied too much this week. And I'm definitely over it!
On a lighter note, I'm going to be doing some cooking today......comida brasileira! Yummy! I'm super excited about it. I'm making chicken stroganoff, with rice and beans. I have only made it once, and I keep saying I will make it again. Soooo, today is the day! I'm also going on a search for Guaraná today. I found two international grocery stores, so I'm gonna check them out. I called one of them last night, and the lady on the phone had no clue what I was talking about. That could be due to the fact that I pronounce Guaraná like a Brazilian. I don't know any other way to say it. Anyway, she finally just said "no". I was thinking, "yeah, you have no idea." So, I'm going to make a trip out there to check it out today. Hopefully I will find it! I've been craving it for an awfully long time now. (sigh)



FYI: I found Guaraná today! I only had to go to one store. (Not the one with the clueless lady.) I was ecstatic to see the green can! I can assure you that I will be frequenting that place :)

Procrastination. And, by the way, "How is the weather there?"

I'm a procrastinator. I know this; my family knows this; my friends know this. It's no secret. In fact, by writing right now, I am procrastinating. This is how my day started......My alarm went off at 7:10 this morning. I immediately hit the snooze button. No surprise there. Nine minutes later, it goes off again. I hit the snooze button again. Somewhere in the back of my head, I know that I have to be in class at 8 o'clock. It's 7:19 at that point, and I very easily convince myself that I can make it through one more snooze cycle. When my alarm goes off at 7:28, I hit the snooze button first. (To silence the unbearably loud version of Simple Plan's song, "I'd Do Anything") My roommate says in a very mumbled and sleepy tone "I'm not going." So, I contemplated not going to class. It was like a war inside my brain. The good side, you know...the one that cares about homework, grades, and actually getting a degree in college...said, "You know you have to go to your Diagnostics class. Today is the lab. You actually really like the lab! Think about all of the blood smears, hematocrit tests, and white blood cell counts you will get to do today! Plus, you really don't want to miss something, and then have to play catch up next week, right??" This was a very good argument. The bad side....the one that cares about sleep, and...ummmm.....wait.....no, just sleep...said, "8'clock is an ungodly hour to have a class. They can't expect you to get up that early and actually make it to class every time. Isn't your bed really warm and comfy right now? Forget about being behind in class, you can figure it out next week. Your roommate isn't going, you can be behind together!" While my brain is having this fight, at 7:32, my cell phone starts ringing. This is also an unbearbly loud volume. I grab it, and see that it is a text message from my mom. It reads..."How is the weather there?" I know what you are thinking. I was thinking the same exact thing. It was something to the effect of...."It's 7:30 in the freaking morning. Not only do I not know how the weather is here, due to the fact that I haven't been outside yet, but I also do not care what the weather is like here." I closed my phone, dropped it back on my desk, and began to doze off again. At 7:36, my cell phone starts ringing yet again. This time, my mom is actually calling me.

The conversation....
Me: (sigh) Hello?
Mom: I sent you a text message.
Me: I know. (yawn)
Mom: Well you didn't answer me. What is the weather like there?
Me: I have no idea.
Mom: Are you still in bed?!
Me: Yeah (long yawn)
Mom: Don't you have class at 8? Do you know what time it is?
Me: (sigh) Yeah
Mom: Well there have been tornadoes touching down in Tennessee. The wind is really bad, and they are calling for more storms. So you just need to beware of the weather.
Me: uh-huh. Ok.
Mom: I'm serious, Julie. Be careful.
Me: Ok. Bye.

I hang up the phone and then lie in bed for a few seconds, when yet again, my alarm goes off. I turn it off and then sit up. I get out of bed and stumble to the bathroom. I get ready, and throw some clothes on; grab my stuff and then walk out to my car. Once I got into my class, and we actually started doing things, I enjoyed being there. I did a really nice blood smear. (My teacher said it was perfect! yay!) Overall, it was a good lab. Well, I screwed up on a white blood cell count, but it was no big deal. My teacher told me that she and I would work on it together next week. So, now I'm out of class and I am sitting in my dorm room. I thought of all of the school-related things I should be doing. Studying for my history test for tomorrow; finishing my quizzes and questions for Laboratory and Zoo Animals on Blackboard; studying for my diagnostics test for Monday; studying for Anatomy/Physiology test for Tuesday; etc. It was at that moment I remembered that I did not write yesterday. All of the other stuff quickly seemed less important. I gave in to my undying commitment to procrastination, and wrote this.

Last Semester of Life in the Dorm

That's right.....I'm moving back home after this semester. Yay! Clearly, I'm very excited about this. I have been talking to my mom about wanting to live at home next year for a little while now. Finally, I decided to talk to my dad and step-mom about it last night. I must say that I was very prepared for the conversation. I had a list of pros and cons in my head, and as soon as I was asked for them.....I quickly layed them all out. I had an answer for every question they had. Overall, it went really well, and I was successful. My parents could see that I put a lot of thought into the whole thing, and it is something that I really want to do. In preparation for the switch, I have been spending the night in Knoxville on Sunday nights. (In addition to the Wednesday nights that I also spend there.) I have 8 o'clock classes on Monday mornings, so I wake up at about 5:30 a.m. to allow plenty of time to get to school. I left my house at 6 this morning; stopped to get gas; and still made it to school at 7:05. And, I really didn't speed excessively. (I always drive at least 5 mph over when I am on my way to school anyway.) I really have been trying to control my speed. After getting that one speeding ticket, I toned it down some. Anyway, I said all of that simply to point out that I was very happy with my travel time this morning. It definitely reassurred me that commuting to school won't be as bad as it can seem. I'm definitely happy with my decision.

My First Time....No, Not That.

So I've considered starting a blog for a little while now. I always talked myself out of it, but I finally decided to give it a shot. We shall see how it goes. Hmmmm.....what to write about first?? Let's go with: school. (Since that seems to practically rule my life these days.) School is.....well...school. Sometimes I have a particularly good day of classes, and I am glad I am here. However, there are other times when I want to be anywhere but college. I suppose that happens to all college students, but I never realized how overwhelming it can be sometimes. If you are close to me at all, you probably know that living on campus is not my favorite thing. The idea of living on campus is great! In fact, I would LOVE it if it weren't so far away from home. Kinda defeats the purpose, huh? I just miss my close friends and my family. I'm seriously considering living at home next year. It would be one hell of a commute, but I feel that it is worth it. To change subjects (rather abruptly, I know)...I must say I am a pretty blessed girl. I have a wonderful family. They drive me crazy sometimes, but they do more for me than I could ever deserve. My friends are fantastic! Oh, let me clarify.....my "amigos de verdade" (in Portuguese), meaning: real friends. I depend on them more than they know. And though they are few, they are truly irreplaceable. I wouldn't have it any other way. My faith plays an important part in my life; though even I forget that sometimes. Of course I make mistakes. Who doesn't? Oh, that's right....nobody. (This is totally random.....but let me just say: somehow I just exited out of this page, and I was not done writing. After cursing my computer....I found that Blogger automatically saves your drafts every few seconds! Whew! Thank you technology.) Well, for my first time, (feel free to laugh) I'm feeling this is a sufficient blog. I'm gonna try to keep this up, and see how I like it. Does anybody read these things anyway?? Oh well. If nothing else, it's theraputic for me.