1 Down, 11 to go ... whoopie.

It's official.
I finished my first year of college at the University of Michigan. It was the most exhilerating, exciting, and extremely difficult year of my life. I had some of the greatest times ever and some times that weren't so great as well. But overall, I am satisfied with my first year of college, except for maybe the grade point, but that's negotiable ... over the next three years at least.

Through it all though, I don't regret it, any of it. I checked almost everything off of this list, which I am very very proud of : D
Allow me to elaborate some of the list:
1st Year of College to do List

• pass my classes. I'm hoping for a B-C average :S
  perfect. Right around a B-/C+ I believe :S ... I mean, whatevv.
  
• stay up 'til five am with my bffs ;P
  bahahahaha! The first Saturday there, my roommate and her friend and I went out with some of the girls on the floor. We started at a school sponsored event, went to a club for the first, and last time all year, left and went to two frat parties- one was out of beer so the girls wanted to leave (the three of us don't drink), and the other was a disgusting and revolting foam party on Lincoln. We then left there, walked around, met up with a few of Claire's (my rooommate's friend) friends. We returned to their dorm room (Victor=drunk and smelling strongly of cologne) we hung out and they walked us back. We strolled into Betsy at about 4:30 something and went to bed at five. Whooo!!
• study all night in the Library (I have a feeling this will happen a lot).
  I believe the latest was actually 12 am maybe? I can't study there much because I peoplewatch and eavesdrop wayy wayy too much : P
  
• make midnight coffee runs.
  Thank God for Diag : ) ... I'll miss it next year : (
  
• make midnight snack runs.
  Ditto on the above sidenote : (
• make midnight runs.
  10 pm?
  
• puddle some more :D
  hahahahahha evidence
  
• meet lots of new people.
  uhm I'm pretty sure my facebook jumped to 50+ more people. I'm one of those people that goes back and adjusts my friends ... not add them to look at their pictures and stalk.
  
• attend a few parties here and there.
  Probably a few more than I thought, but they were good guys (Phi Delt) and we always had a pretty chill time : )
  
• go to a football game & tailgate.
  Tailgate? No. Frat Part? Yes. Wow drunk people are crrrrazy hilarious and I'm glad I got to watch it all go down : P
• scream nasty, horrible, un-Christian like remarks to the opposing hockey team at home games.
  ... guilty. Oops. Sorry God : ( ... and State for saying those horrible things : P hahahah
  
• attend a protest.
  HASH BASH!!!
  
  
• go to a club.
  once again, first night. First and last time. Oy vey.
  
• go on spring break to somewhere extremely warm during February.
  ... Hillsdale? Okkay I guess I didn't fufill this one...
  
• schedule no 10 am classes.
  Nope. All 9 ams : ( ... except for Wednesday's which were 11:30 : D ... averages out right?
  
• meet Michael Phelps (hey, a girl can dream).
  ... and that's what I did- dream. And then he toked up. And that wasn't a dream. ... But my neighbor met him AND got her picture taken with him: )
  
• do something wild and crazy ... I haven't quite come up with it quite yet. It's going to be one of those things where I just say, "Hey, this is something wild and crazy and I just know I have to do it."
  HASH BASH!!!! : DD
  
• join a crazy club, like Squirrel Watching.
  hahahah or watch them from my third story room as the fatty clings for life to my screen while I study for Bio with Missy and scream like someone was attemping to break in.
  
• Become fluent in Italian.
  fluent may be ... exaggerated. Extremely exaggerated.
  
• Get a tattoo.
  CHECK!!!!
  
• Have a damn good time.
  always.

_________________________________________________________

So now, as I look back at the weekends full of studying all day and going out 'til three, at the times walking up and down State Street with my girlfriends, gaping at clothes we cannot afford. Or even walking to class and seeing sorosstitutes wearing clothes that we cannot afford (you know: the typical leggings/spandex "pants", UGG boots, North Face jacket - the long one, not the short, and their Blackberry and Starbucks in hand). I will always remember the gross dorm food, trudging to snow in 30 below weather, splashing to class in brightly colored rainboots, turning bright colors during fall football games, watching the UM football team's record season: worst season ever (hey, Michigan, Lions, think they have the same recruiting strategies?), or the basketball teams most successful season and makiong it to the NCAA tournament since 1998. What about when we witnessed the greatest comeback game in history vs. Wisconsin?

Or perhaps when President Obama won the elections and the massive mob of 1,000+ people marched around campus with police escorts. I won't forget that in college, Halloween isn't about candy anymore at all ... rather, another substance and a lot of less ... clothing, or morals. I've learned so much in the eight months I spent in a2, and no, not the alcoholic one : )

I've learned that college is not spoon-fed, by any means. I've learned how to step up and take responsibility. I've learned how to dispose of chemical wastes in a laboratory, how to make new friends, and how to lose old ones. I've learned that high school was full of immature wannabes (all high schools) and that college is about being who you want to be, who you truely are. I've learned that I don't study enough, even though I do it 27/7 ... wait. Shoot, I'm only allowed 24 hours a day (yeah, tell that one to the prof's). I've learned that a 20 minute nap is the best remedy for anything and that in the end, the only person you can ever really fully trust, is yourself.

These are lessons I could not have learned anywhere else.
Go Blue!!!