Dear college self...
You're about to board ship on this adventure called college. You won't know what to expect from each day but you'll learn to rely on your faith, friends and family. You'll experience death and birth, marriages and divorces. The sophomore slump is a real thing and can get you down. You'll walk into the dinning hall and walk out without eating anything because none of the food looks appetizing. You'll wonder what you're doing with your life and why God put you here. You'll spend hours trying to solve world problems, but not getting very far. You'll spend too much money going out for meals because meals bring people together and Denver has so many good restaurants. You're going to spend time crying, sitting on the floor wondering if you'll actually be able to pass human physiology. You'll go to parties and everyone will ask you why you aren't drinking. You'll have professors who just don't want to give you the time of day and don't agree with your ideas. You will get rejected from positions you really thought you were qualified for.
But.......You're going to meet people who will rock your world! People who will inspire you every single day. Every single one of your roommates through 4 years will teach you a whole lot about who you are and what this life is about. You'll travel to some 20 countries to experience what life is like around the world and you'll see that everyone laughs and smiles in the same language. You'll realize we each have something unique to offer to this world. You'll spend hours out hiking, skiing, running, rollerblading and sitting in the park for picnics. You'll procrastinate papers until the hours before they're due because planning a trip or catching up with a friend is more important. You'll have professors who want to help you accomplish your dreams. You'll learn a little bit of everything from Islam to determining the time of death of a person at a crime scene. You know the class you didn't think you'd pass? Well you'll pass it and be fine! You know the research paper you wrote the day it was due? You'll get a B on that and be satisfied. You know the time that you never thought it would work to study abroad for a year? Yep, that'll work out too.
Freshman year 18 year old Erin wide-eyed to do everything Erin,
You are about to sleep an average for 4 hours per night and you won't even drink coffee or soda. You'll study engineering and work extremely hard, but you'll be constantly rewarded with low grades in calculus. You'll volunteer and tutor students who are only a year younger than you. You'll ski with strangers on the weekends and go to hockey and lacrosse games. You'll travel with the lacrosse team to California and make memories off the ice with the skating team.
Sophomore 19 year old Erin with no real direction,
You're living with your best friends in 506 Nelson Hall with a bathroom, kitchen and the big green couch. You'll make memories by making midnight crepes and attempting to make cake pops. Friends will come fill your room to watch sports. Friends from home will come and visit and you'll spend hours rollerblading around Wash Park. You'll continue going to church and turning it into an event of going out to brunch or strolling the Pearl Street Farmers Market. You'll struggle with where to study abroad after having to fight for it.
Junior year 20 year old nomad taking it all in,
You had no intention of ending up in Chile to study abroad, but thanks to God that is right where you were meant to be. The boys will become your best friends and Wednesday morning baking sessions with the girls will be a necessary tradition. You'll learn a whole lot about life that you never really thought you'd experience. You'll be reaffirmed that just because people make "poor" decisions it doesn't make them a bad person. You'll then head off to Italy to realize your dream of studying abroad for a year. Here you'll live with people who will test you. You'll travel all over and spend many days not knowing where you'll spend the night. You'll sing karaoke and eat lots of pizza and see sights from history you only thought you'd read about.
Senior year and 21 years old experiencing firsts and lasts,
You'll go to your first NFL game and it'll happen to be a Broncos win. You'll be a running coach, lacrosse coach, and figure skating coach. You'll babysit for families that will turn into feeling like your own family. You'll ski over 35 days spending weekends in Steamboat. You'll make new friends and reinforce other relationships. You'll attempt to kill the Hank the mouse that lives in your house. Stellas will become a regular spot for you to get homework done but if friends come you'll just end up talking and laughing. You'll spend most fall weekends watching football with friends. Thursday nights are time for Howl at the Moon. You'll turn down a job offer with Teach for America because it just wasn't right and you'll be worried sick about what happens after graduation.
The moral of the story; I would do college again if someone were to pay for it. I would do it all...the all night homework sessions with chips and guacamole, the midnight runs to the grocery store, the crying because of the uncertainty of the future, the early morning wake ups to go to the ice rink in the dark and cold, the spring break trips the road trip across the country the year abroad the 3 weeks in Costa Rica, the volunteering for organizations around Colorado, the missed meals the bad meals and the meals you ate way too much at, the weight loss the weight gain, the afternoon zumba classes, the pumpkin carving, the cake making, the Saturday morning keg and eggs breakfasts. People have long told me that college is the best four years of your life and if they were then it was a hell of a ride. These formative years turn you from a bright-eyed child into a big kid. You may not be an adult yet, but you'll have grown and developed into someone you're supposed to be. Laugh at the mistakes and give more hugs than you know what to do with because it'll all be over and you'll never get the opportunity to live the same life that you did! Take chances, put yourself out there, and love the people you're around. All the mishaps and misfortunes will be the uphill climbs on the crazy roller coaster of college. The twists and turns will come around every corner but so will the smiles and laughs. So you can choose to scream and cry and not ride the roller coaster or you can buckle up, throw your hands in the air and face it head on with a smile on your face!
You're about to board ship on this adventure called college. You won't know what to expect from each day but you'll learn to rely on your faith, friends and family. You'll experience death and birth, marriages and divorces. The sophomore slump is a real thing and can get you down. You'll walk into the dinning hall and walk out without eating anything because none of the food looks appetizing. You'll wonder what you're doing with your life and why God put you here. You'll spend hours trying to solve world problems, but not getting very far. You'll spend too much money going out for meals because meals bring people together and Denver has so many good restaurants. You're going to spend time crying, sitting on the floor wondering if you'll actually be able to pass human physiology. You'll go to parties and everyone will ask you why you aren't drinking. You'll have professors who just don't want to give you the time of day and don't agree with your ideas. You will get rejected from positions you really thought you were qualified for.
But.......You're going to meet people who will rock your world! People who will inspire you every single day. Every single one of your roommates through 4 years will teach you a whole lot about who you are and what this life is about. You'll travel to some 20 countries to experience what life is like around the world and you'll see that everyone laughs and smiles in the same language. You'll realize we each have something unique to offer to this world. You'll spend hours out hiking, skiing, running, rollerblading and sitting in the park for picnics. You'll procrastinate papers until the hours before they're due because planning a trip or catching up with a friend is more important. You'll have professors who want to help you accomplish your dreams. You'll learn a little bit of everything from Islam to determining the time of death of a person at a crime scene. You know the class you didn't think you'd pass? Well you'll pass it and be fine! You know the research paper you wrote the day it was due? You'll get a B on that and be satisfied. You know the time that you never thought it would work to study abroad for a year? Yep, that'll work out too.
Freshman year 18 year old Erin wide-eyed to do everything Erin,
You are about to sleep an average for 4 hours per night and you won't even drink coffee or soda. You'll study engineering and work extremely hard, but you'll be constantly rewarded with low grades in calculus. You'll volunteer and tutor students who are only a year younger than you. You'll ski with strangers on the weekends and go to hockey and lacrosse games. You'll travel with the lacrosse team to California and make memories off the ice with the skating team.
Sophomore 19 year old Erin with no real direction,
You're living with your best friends in 506 Nelson Hall with a bathroom, kitchen and the big green couch. You'll make memories by making midnight crepes and attempting to make cake pops. Friends will come fill your room to watch sports. Friends from home will come and visit and you'll spend hours rollerblading around Wash Park. You'll continue going to church and turning it into an event of going out to brunch or strolling the Pearl Street Farmers Market. You'll struggle with where to study abroad after having to fight for it.
Junior year 20 year old nomad taking it all in,
You had no intention of ending up in Chile to study abroad, but thanks to God that is right where you were meant to be. The boys will become your best friends and Wednesday morning baking sessions with the girls will be a necessary tradition. You'll learn a whole lot about life that you never really thought you'd experience. You'll be reaffirmed that just because people make "poor" decisions it doesn't make them a bad person. You'll then head off to Italy to realize your dream of studying abroad for a year. Here you'll live with people who will test you. You'll travel all over and spend many days not knowing where you'll spend the night. You'll sing karaoke and eat lots of pizza and see sights from history you only thought you'd read about.
Senior year and 21 years old experiencing firsts and lasts,
You'll go to your first NFL game and it'll happen to be a Broncos win. You'll be a running coach, lacrosse coach, and figure skating coach. You'll babysit for families that will turn into feeling like your own family. You'll ski over 35 days spending weekends in Steamboat. You'll make new friends and reinforce other relationships. You'll attempt to kill the Hank the mouse that lives in your house. Stellas will become a regular spot for you to get homework done but if friends come you'll just end up talking and laughing. You'll spend most fall weekends watching football with friends. Thursday nights are time for Howl at the Moon. You'll turn down a job offer with Teach for America because it just wasn't right and you'll be worried sick about what happens after graduation.
