Reflections on another semester – DONE.

Today, I finished the last math class I will (hopefully) ever have to take. I still feel like I just started. I did a LOT of work, but is it bad to say I feel like I haven’t learned anything? Most of the information in ALL of my classes, not only math, just went way over my head. I feel like I was shot out of a rocket and have just been flying through everything since January.

I’ve spent the last four months so distracted, I don’t know how I managed to end up with a 3.5 GPA. (For now. I still have to get through finals to know the grades that will go on my transcript.) In January and February, I was consumed with planning the trip Mike and I went on. There was a lot to do! I was searching for the cheapest possible hotel, going out every few days to search sale racks for outfits that wouldn’t make me feel like a loser (Eh, I felt and looked awkward the whole two weeks anyway), compulsively checking Accuweather for upcoming storms that never happened…and generally, I was so excited that I couldn’t stop bouncing.
I spent most of March in Kentucky. The first week of it was spent here, packing and cleaning. (Or better yet, procrastinating when I SHOULD have been packing and cleaning.)

When I got back from Barbourville, I stayed out as much as I possibly could (while mourning the temporary loss of Mike AND my babies!), sometimes just going to the mall to window shop, other times picking up things for our new apartment in Cookeville. After I got my acceptance letter to TTU, my focus shifted to schoolwork, because I want to get the best grades possible, in order to pick up a scholarship or two.

Now I’m broke, worn out, and almost done. This semester was easier to get through than the last one, but it’s still taken a lot of work to get through it with my sanity intact. I’m both nervous and excited to see what the next school year will bring! A new state, new living situation, and HOPEFULLY some new friends. I never quite understood how I got through this school year without making one new friend at school. Everyone I talk to outside of class was either found on Craigslist or someone I knew from before.

My teachers were tough this year, but they pushed me to try to move past my slacking ways (which didn’t completely happen, haha). I loved having Mrs. Whitney for both Speech and Mass Media…I never thought I’d get through a speech class and pass it (let alone end up with an A), but she made it interesting. I’ll never forget the one day I was really stressed out about money (it happens at the end of every month), and she stayed past her typical hours just to listen to me.

Mr. Soiseth’s Food Science class was mind-numbingly boring and the hour dragged on, but at least I got to have a class to write in. And his tests were easy. He was sympathetic to my missing-the-bus situation, but I still won’t miss him much.

Ms. Ellefson got me through math. I liked her, but it was weird being taught by someone who’s only 3 years older than me. It was hard to see her as a kind of “authority figure.” More than that, I’ll miss Danelle, the woman who sat next to me and always asked to see my cat pictures. She was cool, and so supportive when I told her about my crazy-impulsive school choice. I’d like to stay in touch, but most women around my parents' age don't get too much into Facebook.

There’s probably more that I can leave without looking back to. I’ll happily say goodbye to the bus creatures, though Tennessee no doubt has some creepers of its own. I won’t miss FIVE MONTHS of snow. I won’t miss the school that I’ve attended for 9 months where no one my age looked at me twice…

Summer will be a welcome break. Like I said on facebook, I’ll be BUSY. Garage sales, cleaning out my apartment, and FINALLY moving. But it’ll be nice. I’d much rather be busy packing than busy studying. And the crappy stuff (cleaning out my mom’s house, planning another bus trip, and saving money) will be easier when I remind myself of the good things to come. :)