It's hard to sum up this semester. I really have no idea how to recap my college career. I could always give the facts, but I'm not sure how to put an enlightening twist to them. I suppose...I will just start with the facts, since that's all I know. I started college in Moorehead Minnesota. I always wanted to come to MSU, but I received a soccer scholarship there and not here. One reason for that is that we don't even have a soccer team. I spent a year in Minnesota and the first semester I really like it. I made some great friends on the soccer team and had a great dorm roommate. My studies were mostly on Biology. I thought that is what I wanted to do. My second semester was when my life became confusing. I'm not sure if it was because I made new friends in my dorm, or I broke my arm snowboarding, but the girls I had meant on the soccer team weren't exactly friendly anymore. My studies weren't going well either. I was getting great grades, in fact I had a 3.8 GPA. The problem was that I was practicing soccer twice a day, then go to work from 4 to 9, and I still was passing my classes with exceptional marks. I decided that I didn't want a degree without an education. I also decided that I didn't care for soccer as much as I used to. I wanted more than just an easy for years that in my future I would look back on and think of "the good times." I chose to come to Bozeman for my sophomore year of college. I thought that here I could get a degree as well as learn a few things (like snowboarding and biking) that I could take with me for the rest of my life (or until my knees give out).
My second year of school was not exactly school. I only took 2 classes in the Fall and one in Spring semester because I was trying to get residency. I worked full time at Wells Fargo. It was awful, I've never been so unhappy in my life. I think it was because I was having to do math everyday. Well, that and I hadn't made many friends, yet. That winter I took up snowboarding and realized that I had made the right decision to move to Bozeman. I have the tendency to get bored easily and I knew that to get a degree in less than a decade I had to find a place that would keep me entertained.
My third and forth year of school I really enjoyed. I, first off, quite Wells Fargo and got a job selling clothing at Shoefly, as well as serving at Riverside Country Club. These were much happier jobs for me, and I ended up meeting some great friends. My studies were challenging and enlightening. I felt that I was truely learning how to be a better writer and text analysis. My favorite class was definitely Dr. Thomas's American Literature. She had a way of getting excited about the stories we read that made the whole class replicate her energy. There was one class where she reenacted an early American play. She jumped up on a stool and recited the lines of one of the more dramatic characters. I thought that if she could get so pumped about a play that she has probably read a million times then I need to see what she saw. It was also in my third year that I had 2 class, in the same semester, with Dr. Morgan. They were like two opposite people. One was understanding and a good influence, the other told me that I shouldn't be an English major. This statement really had an affect on my confidence. It wasn't until I meant a student, a very smart student, who was a senior. He told me that Dr. Morgan had said the same thing to him, as well as hundreds of other students. Hearing this showed me that there are obstacles in life and people you will meet that you have to overcome. I wasn't going to alter my education, an education that I greatly enjoyed, because someone told me I should. Anyways, on to my senior year.
My senior semester, this is where the tale gets tough. This semester I have learned more about life and at the same time became extremely confused. I have started recognizing the times throughout my daily routine in which I go back to where I started. Such as, the other morning I got out of bed and was looking for my sweatpants. I checked the dresser, the closet, the laundry basket. Low and behold, they were under my pillow on my bed. Simple acts such as this, remind me of all the things I've learned this semester. I think I will tell one last story that has the possibility of summing up my senior year and then this blog will be Katamshud.
Just this last Tuesday my boyfriend, whom I've been dating for quite awhile, left to go to Europe for a few months. I decided that before he left we had to go on one last trip. There wasn't much we could do in one weekend. We didn't have time to drive that far or money to fly, so we went to Yellowstone. We stayed the night in West Yellowstone and then drove into the park in the morning. Now, we've all probably been to Yellowstone at least a dozen times, but it was important for me to revisit it. I thought that by going back I would better understand the things I missed the first, or second, or fifth time. The ordinary act of driving through Yellowstone started to have more meaning. I think it was because Cam was leaving that I felt the need to focus more on the time we spent together. This caused me to start living in the present. I needed a fixed time in order to live in the moment, otherwise I would have spent my day like any other. The trip through Yellowstone was a sort of playing field where I got to practice all the lessons of T.S. Eliot. I realized that Eliot's Four Quartets, as well as all the other novels we've read this semester, are connected to our everyday actions. This semester was about advancing our lives. Just like the presentation that our group performed today, we are all graduating to a new a different life. This semester will help us with the transition into our new life. T.S. Eliot talks of exploration and I think that, being seniors, we need to grasp the concept of exploring. Our life has the ability to flourish with our degree. Most of us will move away from Bozeman and, in doing so, take on a new lives and new experiences. To the graduating seniors, I say, we will always have Capstone with Sexson.
Just for the record, I don't care for this truthful story of mine. My fiction beats the hell out of my truth.
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