FINALS WEEK

FINALS WEEK IS HERE

Its about time this week has come. Im overjoyed and thrilled to finally be done with my first semester at college and to not have to worry classes and everything for a whole 3 weeks. This semester was filled with many ups and downs, probably more downs than ups based on the adjusting period that was filled with home sickness and the struggle to keep up with classes and the time to be able to find the apartment with friends for next year. Here are some recommendations for some freshman for the first semester:

1- Make as many friends as possible as soon as possible
2- Join as many clubs and get out and do things, as much as you can
3- never forget what you have back home, but don't go home every weekend, it won't do you any good
4- Be yourself, everyone else is taken.
5- STUDY STUDY STUDY, you're not gonna have Mom and Dad around anymore to tell you all the times you need to be studying anymore
6- Enjoy yourself and all that Western, Kalamazoo, and all the wonderful things they have to offer

These Next 2 Weeks

Last week was thanksgiving that was filled with endless family moments, loved ones and close friends. Each year my family holds whats called a "Miss-fit Thanksgiving" which is where my parents all invite all of their friends over to our house who don't have family close by to celebrate with them. This year has been the second year that we have hosted this and its the second year that we have had a house full of screaming football fans and turkey craving souls. This year my boyfriend Roma got to join in on all the fun and see all the craziness take place right in front of him. After my families thanksgiving we headed over to his sisters house and had dinner with them and had a great time there too. being there, all i could think about was finals and how much I need to do good on them and how much 25% of your grade can be affected at the time. I haven't been able to get a good night sleep in  while knowing how fast time flies here and how fast this is coming. I just wanna know everything going to be okay

Rants on Rants on Rants

For the past few weeks I have been in the process of looking for apartments and looking for apartments to live with people in. Let me tell you, this is the most stressful thing I could imagine. And to add to that, Finals weeks, going gluten free and so many other things that I'm trying to regulate and keep a hold on all at the same time of trying to keep my sanity in this whole thing. I have decided that since I have been having alot of problems with my stomach that its time that I should look into other diet options and I decided to look into what all the hype about going gluten free is. I have looked up studies that have said that people who go gluten free have changed their lives for the better and that people who don't eat gluten don't have to take allergy medicine anymore. I have only heard great things about it and I can't wait to see the results of how much better it makes me feel. One thing that does suck about going gluten free is having to watch everything that you eat, and having to have the self control not to eat those chips that are sitting in my dorm room, or to go out and have your favorite meal at a your favorite place that is the definition of gluten.

ESPN GAME DAY

Holy shit. ESPN is here. Today. This week. Campus has been crazy this week with the setting up of port-a-potties, the huge ESPN truck rolling in with the sports center news casters inside coming here to campus today to do a bunch of pep rallies all around us all day, continuing on through tomorrow and up until the big game day that this has been all leading up too on Saturday afernoon at 3:30 when WMU being 10-0 and faces off Buffalo thats 2-8. (Sounds like its gonna be an easy win). In all the years that Western has been around never have they ever had this great of a season, or have had the chance to be this talked about on national TV as much as they have been this year, in all the other years combined. I feel so lucky and honored to go to a school that has such great morals behind every game and every player that is involved in the Western experience. The motto "Row the Boat" and its morals behind it and the school itself and the great characteristics that it brings out. Lets bring in a great game on saturday and have some fun with ESPN being here. Go Broncos!

Election Week

This week is Election week and to say the least, its stressful. I feel anxious, I feel pressured, I feel the chaos around me and I can't wait for it to be over. This being my first election to vote in, I feel that this is a hard one to vote in because the candidates are so divided and so abrasive and just plain sloppy. Nothing more bothers me more than when people feel the need to try and change your opinion or mindset, about anything in general but more specifically on politics. There is a reason that I believe the things I do and I don't want you coming around and throwing around all these potentially invalid facts at me to try and change my mind. Nope. Nu-uh and goodbye. If I wanted to vote, I'd go vote. If I don't? Then I don't want too. Many people have come at me this week and wondered who I wanted to vote for and why. Why does it matter to anyone? If I say I'm voting for Hillary, people are so fast to say "OH you want a criminal in office?" If I wanted Trump to win I got "OH you wanted some racist piece of shit in office?"  Or if I wanted the third party to win Id get, "Oh you're basically throwing away your vote" If I don't vote, then I got "Then you throw away your right to complain about whoever wins" And tonight will be the results and then its the next four years with that person

9 and r0w

This week Western is 9-0 for their football team. Last week, the Broncos were 8-0, the last time that Western was 8-0 was in 1941. This Tuesday we played Ball State who was 4-4, we knew we had this game in the bag. My Business 1750 Professor always starts out class by telling us "How about them Broncos!" and the lecture begins for the first 20 minutes being about our ranking in the confrence and how great he thinks we are, how great we actually are! He some how relates it back to business by mentioning the fact that our tuition he thinks is gonna go up next year and our acceptance rate is gonna go down and what that means for us as students that go here. (I hate talking about that part)
Some of my favorite memories are watching the Broncos on tv and at the home games, what a great way to start out my career as a Bronco myself. There has been talk of P.J going off to Norte Dame and being their head coach. I hope that doesn't happen, I feel that he has built a family with this team and he treats them like their his own. I have much respect for him and all the beliefs he stands for and that the team stands for. The next game we play is next Tuesday and there we will go 10-0!

Times changing

This week has been filled with many ups and downs. One being my roommate getting the flu (thank god I didn't get it) and the weather has been the definition of up and downs. with one day it being 30 degrees and snowing like it was yesterday, today with it being 54 and windy, and with last week having days that were 80 degrees. Welcome to Michigan! I tell all my friends from Chicago here and as I'm talking to my Grandma who's lucky enough to live in the State of Florida, where their lowest temperature is 60 degrees.. If only we had that.. But something I love with all my heart is the beautiful fall days where the sun shines through the leaves and the beautiful days where cider and donuts seems to always hit the spot. Those are the days that I would miss being in anywhere else but Michigan. I love all the different holidays and seasons that change it up and make it all worth while, yes you get the days where you wish you were anywhere but Michigan, that bring us some of the worst weather and the coldest days where even the hottest hot chocolate doesnt keep you warm. But Michigan, I love you.

Best Friend

What does a best friend mean to you? Does it mean someone who is always there for you when you need them? Is it someone that loans you money when you're a few dollars short for these pair of shoes you've been obsessing over for the longest time? To me, my best friend is my boyfriend, Roma. He's always been there for me through everything, through the though time of adjusting to college, to the many break downs about stress and how "you always think the worst" well yeah, I can't help it. He has always supported me in my dreams and what I feel is best for me, even if he doesn't agree, he will let me know everytime I might not be making the best decision in mind, and I love that. I love him. In the past, I've had some pretty bad relationships and he's made me forget about all the hurt and all of the wondering they made me do, wondering if I was good enough or what I was missing that the other girl down the street was that I wasn't? Roma has made me feel beautiful day in and day out even on my worst days. Nothing has made me happier than he and his smile do before.

Weird Times

This is a weird time for me. Ive been trying to figure alot out of what things mean to me and who means what to me. I also have been thinking about transferring due to money issues and I don't know if thats whats best for me,  if there might be something else thats better for me instead and whatever that is? Im not sure and I have no idea what is best for me. I don't know when I will figure that out or how I will figure that out. I know I am stressed and that things are hard for me, maybe Im just getting homesick or maybe I just won't figure it all out. I know that I need to soon and that things aren't the best right now, I want them to just get better and know that they will get better soon

Hurricane Matthew

The news had made it seem like it was the end of the world when Hurricane Matthew came rolling in across the coast or the Caribbean, Haiti, and the Southern tip of the United States.  I called my grandma the day before they said it was supposed to hit, the day before they wanted to evacuate everyone within a 50 mile radius of the coast. Due to the high winds reported and the anticipated damage that category 5 hurricanes seem to bring us. The elements of the storm consisting of 157+ mph winds,  and the most sever conditions known to man. My grandma told me that all of her neighbors were evacuating to their family members houses scattered around the country. I wanted to be there to help her or to be able to be able to do something to help. My grandma is older and needs help more with everyday stuff, regardless of what she tells you. She then proceeds to tell me that she's going to stay with some friends over in Kissimmee and that made me feel better. Since my grandma had always calmed me down during storms when I was little, I thought it would be nice if I could comfort here and she would always sing me "Rain rain go away" song and the skies always seemed to clear up. It was my favorite.

Central Western Weekend

I knew we were going to win, and so did all of the sports analysts that reviewed the game. It was a cold fall day that had rained on and off all day. The hour an a half car ride from Grand Rapids to Mount Pleasant seemed to be one of the longest rides ever, but finally I see the signs that say "Central Michigan University Welcomes You!" I already hated it there. I hated it before I became trained to hate it in my defense,  when I was a looking into colleges during my senior year one of the ones I toured was Central, and I hated it. It was located at the corner of cornfields and dead-grass all year round it seemed, just like it was the day of the big game. Logan,  Zac, Alyssa and I are walking between small spaces that are filled with Maroon and Gold everywhere with a hint of Brown and Gold that was scattered through out the huge crowd. Walking around I felt things anywhere from anxious about the big game to the aggression that rose over when the crazy fans got in our faces saying things like "sink the boat!" or "F*** Western!" I'd as myself it was really that serious, it wasn't. Little did central know they were about to lose for the 3rd time in a row on their own field to us, the big bad Broncos. As the game begins the stadium is FULL, loud and chaotic, Central scores a field goal within the first 5 minutes of the game, then within another 6 minutes, we score, and we actually score a touchdown. The second quarter rolls around, and the domination begins and the scoreboard reads an easy 31-3, at the end of the second quarter many people start to flood out of the stadium knowing that we stood our ground and we weren't letting anyone mess with us. Third quarter comes and goes and the gap between the two scores on the scoreboard grows bigger as the student section for the Chippewas grows smaller. The scoreboard now reads 41-3 and the Western Student Section is insane. The game ends up being 49-10 and the Broncos win again for the 3rd time in a row on Centrals home field.

Classes

At this point we are a month into classes and I have mixed feelings about that. Being a first semester freshman in college is one of the biggest changes a person will ever go through. Especially if that person is all the way across the state like me. Being from the Eastside, alot of people around here are used to all the wind and used to all of the lake affect, to seeing the constant "small craft advisory" notification that streams across your phone everyday for weather alerts. One thing that I have had some fun with here is hearing all of the different things people from the west side of the state do that the east side doesnt. Some of my friends always make jokes about how weird the things that we do over there are such as the different stores and restaurants that we have. It simply "Must be an East side thing" is what they always say if its not something thats common around here. I love being from the small little suburb of Detroit called West Bloomfield, all of my family is from there and its my hometown

And the Second Week Begins...

The first week of classes started last week and I couldn't have felt more lost, I had no idea where my classes were at, I still had trouble putting names to faces and meeting people I had stuff in common with... But then the second week starts and I run into someone that would what I didn't know at the time become my best friend, Logan! She lives down the hall from me and couldn't be more friendly and just like me at the same time and I couldn't feel more comfortable with someone I had just met, a unfamiliar feeling had come over me that I had not experienced in such a long time and it was a feeling I can't explain, but it made me feel at peace. As the week went on and the closer we got we had found more and more we had in common, the more and more we got along! At this point I call her my best friend and I couldn't have felt more grateful and lucky to have shared this freshman experience with me and her boyfriend Zac who also I consider one of my good friends. Together, all three of us would make a trip to get "Den Pops" and those are these sodas or different combination of drinks you can make for very cheap, so almost everyday we would make a run out there and laugh and get closer and closer and build into who now I consider my best friends, and for that, I am thankful!

Something New, Something Old

                        

There was something very familiar about the atmosphere when I walked onto campus for the first time since orientation, it had been the smell of the other student's excitement mixed with the anticipation of what this year has to bring for all of us individually but at the same time us for a whole as the class of 2020 rings in. Being in a crowd of all of the unfamiliar faces reminds me of the familiar feeling of anxiety, many times throughout the summer the thought of how it would go, who I would meet, and where this experience would take me made me question everything. Through the process so far I have made some life-long friends, met some inspiring instructors and will forever be grateful for the experience to be a Bronco!