So the school year is officially over. On the one hand it’s a relief because I’m done taking classes for awhile, but on the other hand it’s sad because I’m leaving behind lots of friends that have become almost like family and the campus that has become home to me. I’ve been home for a couple weeks now and am slowly adjusting to living under my parents’ rules and schedules again, but it’s been a bit awkward for everyone. Three days after I got home I started working full time, essentially doing construction work. It’s been interesting, but another tough adjustment after my relatively sedentary life and backward sleep schedule at OU. This summer I’m planning on working most of the time, taking some summer school classes after work, and for fun taking some time off to visit friends around the country. I’ve kept in touch with some of my close OU friends that live locally and have been hanging out with them on the weekends, which has been great. Other than that, I’m counting down the days until I go back, even before my younger siblings have finished school. The year was a big learning experience, and I learned some tough lessons, but I think the whole thing was the best experience of my life thus far. However your freshman year goes, I don’t think you’ll regret it at OU. See ya in the fall!

Perhaps a little late, but maybe just in time, I’ve finally figured out that talking with your professors really does help if you’re stumped on a lesson or falling behind in class. Trying to be strong and independent when you’re struggling in college won’t get you anywhere, and if nothing else, issues like sickness or friend troubles will make you struggle for sure. I always thought that talking to teachers outside of class couldn’t really be all that helpful, but when I finally did it here out of desperation I figured a couple things out: professors want you to succeed, and for the most part are willing to do whatever is possible to help you out; and, contrary to what I always assumed, trying to get help in a class feels good because it helps relieve some of your burden and gets the professor on your side. Just keep in mind that professors are people too. They’ve in your position before, they understand that the life of a college student is anything but easy, and if you go to them they’ll do what they can to make your life easier. I have personally gotten help from a couple professors, like excused absences and extended due dates, just by explaining tight situations I was in and asking if they could help me out. Take advantage of their assistance as much as possible.

Classes have been getting increasingly stressful for me. I was one of those lucky kids in high school that never had to worry about time management because things just seemed to fall into place—a self-proclaimed master procrastinator—but I've found that things don't work that way in college. Time management is absolutely essential in college, and with just a few weeks left in the year I'm realizing that I've dug myself into a hole by still trying to procrastinate. I can still recover and post decent grades for the semester, but at this point it's going to be incredibly hard. To all you procrastinators, start learning time management now. Crunch time in your core classes is the wrong time to try to learn time management, and core classes always seem to have major assignments or tests all at the same time. In a bind, you'll wind up either picking and choosing assignments or putting half-hearted effort into everything at once, but either way is stressful, messes up your grades, and starts a nasty cycle of procrastination that's hard to break. If you want to make any kind of decent GPA, you can't rely solely on strong test scores or other major grades to pull you through here like you can in high school. This has been the toughest lesson I've had to learn in college.

A couple hints for when you get into those kinds of binds though: each dorm has a 24-hour quiet monitored study area, which is where I spent most of my sixty-hour study marathon when I wasn't in class. The study area is nice—a whole wing of the 12th floor has dorm rooms that have been converted into study rooms, with tables, wood chairs, stuffed chairs, and white boards. There aren't any major distractions in there, so going up there helps you focus when you need to. Also, if you can find a friend who is willing to study with you, just having someone to stay up with you makes it a lot less painful to stay up all night. The past couple times I've pulled all-nighters, one of my best friends has come up and studied with me. We weren't doing things for the same classes, and we didn't talk too much because we were working, but just having that company there made it a lot more bearable, and I was actually more productive than I would have been by myself. Still, you should avoid the whole all-nighter thing if at all possible. It doesn't have to be "part of the college experience," and there's nothing rewarding about it.

And so life goes on at OU. I've settled into a comfortable routine, and for as much as I thought it felt like home here before, it's gotten way more comfortable and relaxed to where I catch myself thinking of my actual home as awkward and weird sometimes. I wouldn't say that life here is necessarily exciting anymore, but that's just because I'm experiencing fewer and fewer “new” things that keep me on my toes and what used to be exciting is becoming more and more normal. Even though I wouldn't call campus life “exciting” anymore, however, it's still always fun (outside of classes, of course).

Even though I live in Couch, I spend my free time in the first floor of Walker because there are a lot of great people that regularly hang out there, and at literally any time of day I'm almost guaranteed to find at least one friend down there (sometimes as early as 5 AM). We don't do much—we talk about anything that comes to mind, play and/or watch games of pool and ping pong, load up on junk food from XCetera, and listen to any one of several talented musicians rock out on the piano—but with the dynamics of the ten or fifteen people that come and go at different intervals, it never gets old and we always have fun. Everyone down there is really chill, so it's great to hang out there after a long day of class or a few hours of homework and decompress. The regulars in the bottom of Walker have become sort of like family to me—I can count on seeing most of them every day at some point, and I can be myself around them because I don't need to impress or prove anything to them. It's not a great environment for doing homework, and admittedly I spend too much time down there when I should be studying, but otherwise it is an ideal place to be, whether you want to relax after a long day or find something to do because you're restless. Next year I'm definitely going to miss the good times laid-back atmosphere I've found down there.

Spring Break is legendary in college. You, my late-high school readers, probably know that better than anyone else, with all the Spring Break movies and Girls Gone Wild episodes and other fun media stuff. To some, it's the most highly anticipated break of the school year, providing a taste of the glories of summer. My Spring Break wasn't going to be a wild trip to South Padre Island (which, according to one source, was officially the hottest Spring Break destination in the world this year), but I was going to make a trip up to Boston to visit a good friend who goes to school up there. Then I discovered that I booked my plane tickets a week early. Oops. By the time I caught that, I couldn't find anymore flights to Boston for Spring Break week, and so stayed home. Moral of the story, keep up with the OU academic calendar. A lot of people don't, just taking things like midterms and three-day weekends in stride as they come along, and I fell into that and for some reason got my dates confused. It's tricky to find an actual academic calendar versus the multitude of event calendars on OU's website. Just to make it easier on you, in case you care, the academic calendars by semester can be found at admissions.ou.edu/calendar.html. You don't have to monitor it closely by any means, but glance at it now and then. It could help you plan stuff and save you some problems.

Spring break at home wasn't all that bad though. I relaxed a lot, which I needed badly; I got a new haircut, which I also needed badly; I got to hang out with a few old friends and swap college stories, which was pretty cool; and, best of all, I got a job for the summer at a construction certification lab. Basically, this place uses practical testing methods to make sure that windows, doors, and walls meet building codes, and that they can hold up to the elements. In plain English, they build things and then destroy them with fun toys like air cannons and airplane propellers, and that's what I'm getting paid to do this summer. It's not going to pay as well or be as cushy as the internship that I was denied (moral of that story, keep your grades up), but I enjoy hands-on work and think that this gig will ultimately be a lot more fun. Now just seven weeks or so until summer. Can I make it?

Greetings, readers. As usual, life is jam-packed here at OU. Since I last blogged, I've gotten caught up in a new, fairly unusual pastime—wheelchair basketball. One of my best friends here is missing his leg below the knee and is on the OU wheelchair basketball team, and asked me one day if I'd like to go to practice with him just for fun. I got strapped into an extra chair, and joined in a 2-on-2 game with the other team members that had made it. Needless to say, I wasn't much good. Wheelchair basketball is played with all the same fundamental rules and regulations as regular basketball, including 10-foot goals, and in a wheelchair you're not only that much shorter, but you can't use your legs to help make the shot. Getting up to speed, back and forth on the court, is tough. My hands had wicked blisters all over them afterward. It's hard to get around people too, between essentially being three feet wide in all directions and not being able to dodge people nearly so easily in a chair as on foot. I went to a practice the next week as well and did a little better, but felt lost because I was playing full 5-on-5 basketball with people who had been playing for years. Now, as long as I have time and there are extra wheelchairs available, I usually make at least one practice a week. It's fun, it's different, it's a challenge that I actually relish, and it's a great way to de-stress and get a workout. Hanging out with the team has gotten me a couple good opportunities too. We hosted a tournament a couple weeks ago, and I ran the shot clock all day and made $50 for it, which was awesome. The following weekend, I got to travel with them to a fundraiser tournament hosted by my friend's small town three hours away in Kansas, which was a great change of scenery. Several local businesses and organizations assembled teams of people who, for the most part, had never been in wheelchairs before; they played a tournament against each other to find the best teams of bumbling, frustrated able-bodied people, which was hilarious; and the winning team got to play the OU team, which, needless to say, was a one-sided slaughter. All in all, I've now got a great new recreational outlet, as well as a newfound respect for anyone who relies on a wheelchair to get around.

My birthday was at the end of January, and for the first time in six years I took time out to celebrate with my friends. We didn't do much, just went out to BJ's for a nice dinner, but it was great to eat off-campus for a night and hang out with my friends without having to worry about anything else. Simple though it was, I had a great night just chilling and taking it easy.

The next day we got a decent snowfall here. Being from Texas, I don't see snow too much and get excited whenever it does fall. We probably got an inch or two of accumulation in the grass, and the start of accumulation on the pavement, so going to class wasn't too miserable. It mostly melted away the next day, but while it was here it was nice to see the campus a little differently. Ice storm cleanup crews are changing the scenery as well, but not nearly so positively. Now that the piles of fallen tree limbs have been cleared out, crews are coming back and cutting down all the trees that were severely damaged in the December ice storm. I never realized how many big, old trees we had on this campus until now, noticing stumps all over the place that are over three feet wide. It's kind of sad, really. A lot of the victim trees were over a hundred years old, planted under the administration of OU's first president. South Oval is a lot more sparse-looking now, and is going to be a lot hotter in the summer months without those big trees to shade it.

As for life in general, school is tough this semester. I have a ton of homework in three important core classes. Sometimes there really aren't enough hours in the day to do it justice. I'm rearranging my priorities like crazy, and even then I'm just barely staying ahead of my workload. Hopefully as time goes on I'll be able to adjust more and be more productive, but for now I'm swamped and exhausted. Ah well, such is college. I'm a bit disappointed in our break schedule, or lack thereof, this semester. The only breaks we get are for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which was one week into class when we didn't really need a break, and Spring Break, which is coming up fast but still a ways off. In the fall we had at least one day off each month, but we're not so lucky this semester. Gotta say, I'd love a break right about now, even if it was just for a day.

And that's my exciting life at OU over the past month in a nutshell. Hopefully you've all applied to your respective schools of choice by now *coughOUcough* and are either waiting on or celebrating your acceptance letters. Good luck as you finish up the semester, study hard, make good grades and all that good stuff, and Boomer Sooner.

Ah the wonders of being a college student and, for the most part, not having to prove anything to anyone. This past weekend was three days long in observation of Martin Luther King Day. My friends and I were bored and wanted to try something other than just hanging out, so Sunday night we packed a few blankets and some food and went camping at Turner Falls an hour down I-35. It was literally that spontaneous. Two of my friends made a trip to Wal-Mart for a $25 tent, some hot dogs, and s'more fixings earlier that day, then called me up and told me to get a blanket and the warmest clothes I had.

We got to the park about 9 pm, found a good campsite, and started setting up. Two of my friends pitched the tent, while the other two and I went out trying to find firewood. As it turned out, there was no legitimate, long-burning wood to be found anywhere somehow, so we returned, found a bunch of twigs and grass, and kept feeding that stuff to the fire so we had just enough flame to cook our hot dogs. It could have ruined the whole trip, but we were so excited to be outdoors that we made almost a game of finding more stuff to burn.

When we were finally ready to sleep, I used some of my math skills to quickly figure out that five people wouldn't fit in the four-person tent we had, so I went to the car and crashed in the backseat. As it turned out, even though I was a little cramped and a window was open because we couldn't find the keys to shut it, I had the best night of my friends. After I crashed, two of my friends were messing around and fell on the tent, breaking it. Two of my friends came and slept in the front seats of the car, while the other two braved the eighteen-degree weather in the remains of the tent.

The next morning me and two other friends went and explored the park some, while the other two stayed asleep. We were walking alongside a river that was actually frozen in several spots. It was really cold. The scenery was awesome though. The highlight of our outing was "Outlaw Cave," which was about ten feet tall inside and had a window overlooking a waterfall (not sure if it was the actual Turner Falls, but it looked great regardless). Soon after we headed back to camp, packed away the few thing we had, and left. We came back to Norman and ate a brunch at IHOP, dirty and reeking of campfire smoke. Then it was back to normal living and responsibility and all that good stuff. But what a weekend! Everyone kept telling us how stupid we were to be camping in that kind of weather with no sleeping bags and a too-small tent, and they were probably right, but we didn't care and managed to have a blast. Plus, if nothing else, this just gives us all a fun college story to tell sometime in the future.

Happy new year all! It's been awhile since I last blogged, and for that I apologize, but I'm picking it up a bit now. Since last time there has been a good deal of stuff going on here. Just to touch on November a bit, the first part of my Thanksgiving break was ruined by a research paper that I'd put off until the last minute and spent 60 hours working on, only sleeping five of those hours and missing out on a day trip to South Padre Island to get that paper finished by the deadline. Moral of the story: don't put off major assignments that are worth 25% of your course grade, it'll ruin your day.

After Thanksgiving it was mostly smooth sailing in my classes. We were wrapping up our final units for the semester and starting to review for finals. I didn't have finals week too bad - I only had three finals I had to take. A lot of people weren't so lucky, and there were a bunch of people running on no sleep that week. To make it more chaotic though, we had a massive ice storm that Monday that cancelled all the day's finals so that they had to be rescheduled. They were rescheduled for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or January 14 if those days interfered with travel plans. I actually had a Monday exam for Chemistry, and in wanting to get home opted to take it January 14, so now I'm studying old material that I haven't seen in a month. But I did survive finals week just fine.

More on the ice storm though. It was a mess. I finally ventured out of my dorm Monday night at about 7 PM, several hours after the ice had stopped falling, and found carnage. There were trees down everywhere to the point that it was nearly impossible to walk anywhere, and I could still hear trees falling all around as I walked to the Union for a burger from Crossroads. One big limb actually crashed about fifteen feet from me, where I'd been walking moments before. That was a little unnerving. I got to the Union and found that Crossroads, the only 24/7 restaurant on campus and a place that I had grown to depend on, was closed. Laugh all you want, but it was kind of saddening. So I walked back and fought the massive crowd at the Caf, and heard bits of news about the rest of the area. OU hadn't lost power because, as I learned, we actually have our own power plant. The rest of Norman wasn't so lucky, and a great many local apartment dwellers were complaining about the freezing temperatures and general inconvenience brought on by the lack of power. I learned later that 513,000 homes and businesses throughout the state had lost power. I actually didn't even know Oklahoma had that many people and was a bit shocked. By the next day crews had cleared out the sidewalks, so we were able to walk and take our exams, but it was still a disaster area. I never really appreciated how many trees the campus had until I saw them all torn apart by the ice. Wow.

A few days later, after the rest of my exams, I went home, which was a bit of a culture shock for me now that I've gotten so used to independent living. I really loved the free laundry and home-cooked meals, but living under my parents' rules was a big adjustment. For Christmas I got, among other things, a nice new backpack, awesome computer speakers, and pool and ping pong equipment so that I can play said games even when the RSA office is closed, which will be really nice. I went hunting for the first time, which was quite an experience. I visited the handful of friends I still keep in touch with from home. And now, at long last, I'm back at OU, which feels so much more like home to me now. I'm studying for my Chemistry exam now, and in general gearing up for another semester. Until next time, good luck with choosing colleges and getting through the semester.

Greetings, faithful readers. So, what's the biggest thing that's happened since you last tuned in? Probably Halloween. What an experience. Halloween definitely gets a renewal here at OU. Throughout the whole week there were different costume parties and other themed events, sponsored by the university, fraternities and sororities, local organizations, and even individuals. People wore costumes to class on Halloween, which was really entertaining. Some of them went all out. Among the highlights were the comic book version of Wolverine from X Men and the main character from V For Vendetta. Halloween night I got together with some of my friends for some good old-fashioned clean fun. We dressed up in none-too-elaborate costumes and went to a friend's apartment to bake brownies and pumpkin pie, then we ordered pizza and chilled for the night, watching random things on TV. It was simple, not too tiring, and overall pretty relaxing, and I enjoyed it.

In celebration of Halloween, one of my Engineering Orientation classes organized a trip to a haunted forest just outside of Tulsa for the Friday after Halloween. That was a trip! Thirty-five of us loaded into university vans and drove two-and-a-half hours for what was really a fun experience. Picture a traditional haunted house spread throughout a 40-acre forest, and that's what we did. While we rode through in carts, masked people jumped out at us with chain saws, corpses, etc. The best part of that trip though was afterward, when some of the scary creatures came out for a break and we encouraged them to chase our professor around. It was hilarious to watch our 6-foot tall, usually-stern professor screaming like a girl and trying to hide behind her 5'8" husband! Just goes to show that professors are people too I guess.

For that engineering class, also in celebration of Halloween I guess, we did an interesting group project: we had to drop a pumpkin 5 stories and have it land intact. The pumpkin had to be at least 30" around and couldn't be altered in any way, the container it was in couldn't have any length dimensions over 15", and part of the grade was how fast the project hit the ground. It was a tough project, but it was fun in the end. We went out to the local regional airport a few minutes away and dropped the projects off a 5-story tower. Four out of twelve pumpkins survived completely intact. My group's pumpkin was almost undamaged-just a few barely-noticeable cracks in the bottom. The judges would have called it a success if people from other groups hadn't been bitter and pointed out those tiny cracks. Ah well, the key was the presentation and actually having done the project. We wrapped our pumpkin in part of an old mattress pad and put it in a 5-gallon bucket full of marshmallows, then duct-taped the whole thing shut. It was a fun afternoon anyway. Who doesn't enjoy dropping stuff five stories and watching it go splat? Seriously.

Otherwise, I've been getting a good dose of culture. I went to OU Musical Theater's production of The Scarlet Pimpernel, which I must say was awesome. There was humor, suspense, and surprise, all performed live by singing students in 18th century costumes. I also went to the OU Orchestra's opera Rusalka out of curiosity with some friends. While I didn't enjoy that as much as The Scarlet Pimpernel, it was amazing to see how much work and musical talent went into the whole thing. While attending fine arts performances may not be the ideal way to spend a Friday night, it's something different to do, and it's definitely worth it.

In general, we're in the middle of Fall now, and for the most part it's great. The trees are beautiful, there are tons of fallen leaves everywhere that just make me feel happy for some reason, the weather is finally resembling late fall/early winter, and it's completely dark out by 6 PM. The only problem is the relentless wind. You know the starting line of the musical and state song: "Ooooooooooooklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plains?" There's a reason there's a song about that. The wind is brutal, especially on a bike. If the wind hits the dorms just right it creates a nasty cyclone effect, which I experienced just today as I rode my bike up there to lock it up and the wind stopped me dead. I don't know much about local seasonal weather, but hopefully the wind dies out soon. I don't know that I could take that when it's below freezing outside.

As for classes, the semester's definitely winding down. We get this Friday off to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Oklahoma's statehood, next week we get off Wednesday through Friday for Thanksgiving, and after that there are only three weeks left in the term. I had my last Chemistry lab last Tuesday, so now we're just going to lecture. I'm writing my last big paper for my writing class right now (it's a doozie though), then we just have one not-as-tough paper due by the end of the term, no exam, and several days of class that my professor's opting to cancel up until then. Teachers are already talking about finals and the end of the term, and even though it's a month away it feels so close, and I know it's gonna come before I know it. And so has passed my first semester as a freshman at OU. Pretty incredible. It's been a blast. In case I don't blog again before Christmas, happy holidays to everyone, and good luck in the college decision process that you're probably up to your necks in right now.

Well, all is good in Norman, and we're all about as settled in as we're going to get I think. The biggest thing I've done since I last wrote was going home for OU-TX weekend. It seemed like a good time to go home and start bringing up fall and winter clothes. Besides, living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area I was close to all the Red River Shootout festivities, and staying in Norman would have probably been boring because apparently nearly everyone in the school is gone that weekend. We got Friday off for the occasion, so I left out of here Thursday afternoon. I had a few friends stay at my house with me, and we basically spent the whole weekend visiting other friends and going to different OU-TX parties. I didn't get tickets because they're really hard for freshmen to come by, but a couple of the friends staying at my house had third row tickets. They had the most amazing time of us all, needless to say. I didn't realize until that point that I actually kind of missed home. As much as I love it at OU and didn't think it mattered much whether or not I went home, it was great to just go and relax with my family.

The weekend before the Red River Shootout, I got an interesting opportunity through my engineering orientation class: we got to go out and build trebuchets. We were divided into teams, and had about 6 hours to design and build trebuchets with fairly limited resources. When we went and tested them, they were being judged for distance and accuracy. My team won the award for most accurate, being the only ones able to hit the target they set out for us, and for our accurate shot we got $10 gift cards to Target. It was a long day, but I had a pretty good time trying out my engineering skills.

Otherwise, it's definitely fall now. It hasn't gotten out of the 70s in weeks, and everyone I know from Texas is loving it. Today is the coolest it's been-it hasn't gotten out of the 50s today, and it's been drizzling. After classes I just came back to my dorm and napped. It's a perfect day to sit around doing nothing. Fortunately I don't have a lot of homework due in my classes anytime soon. Last week I finished a really tough six-and-a-half page paper for Expository Writing, I've taken midterms in all my classes that have midterms, and now we're mostly just starting new units across campus. It's been a good break from the stress of reviewing for tests and getting major assignments turned in. I'm counting down to Thanksgiving Break now, where I'll go to South Texas and spend time with some of my extended family I haven't seen since last Thanksgiving. And for lack of a wittier way to wrap it up, that's about it for now. Until next time!

And so time passes at OU. Time jam-packed with activities. Since I last wrote, I've been to 2 football games, seen a talk from a powerful former national leader, been hypnotized in front of an audience, and gone to a career fair. Other than that, I've just been extremely busy with life. There's never a dull moment here (outside of class anyways).

So the first of the 2 football games I mentioned was against the University of Miami. This was a big game-Miami, while no match for us, was still supposed to put up a big fight. We ended up blowing them out, 51-13, which pushed us up to #3 in the NCAA football rankings. The crowd was nuts-that day we broke the record for football game attendance with 85,200 fans in the stands, which are only supposed to seat 82,000. I don't know how the math worked out, but it was pretty crowded. That was a morning game and I now have to say that I definitely like the afternoon games better. When the game starts at 11:30 AM you have to get up pretty early to get seats, and then you bake in the sun the whole time. It was pretty rough, and everyone who went came back pretty sunburned. Still, it was all worth it to see Miami get pounded.

Well, a victory like that calls for celebration. My friends and I had five pounds of ground beef that we were planning on cooking after the UNT game but forgot to take out of the freezer. So we busted out the meat, made a ton of hamburger patties, and cooked them all on a George Foreman grill in my bathroom (so we didn't set off the smoke alarm in my room). That was an adventure. Two patties at a time, about ten minutes each round, and trying to empty the grease catcher every time we took the burgers off. It was crude, and messy, and a little gross, but soooo glorious. Those burgers turned out really good too. We also had chips, queso, lemonade, Coke, and cookies. There was too much food for me and my friends, so then we invited our hall mates to join in. It was a big hit all around. The whole hall smelled like burgers, never mind my room. It was great to have a "home-cooked" meal again. We're definitely doing that again!

The following weekend we faced Utah State here. We were expected to blow out Utah State, and we weren't disappointed-54-3 when it was all over. This game was interesting for me though. First off, I got to go on the field before the game to be recognized for being a National Merit Scholar. My 173 counterparts and I walked on, got to shake hands with President Boren, and lined up across the center of the field for a couple minutes. That was an interesting experience-the stadium looks a lot different from down there. Then, I got to sit in the handicapped section, also called "Row 0," with a handicapped friend of mine. We were seated right next to the north end zone, so I had a great up-close view of several of our awesome touchdowns. I was also right by the cheerleaders, and got to see just how much better they are in college than high school. There was no comparison-these guys and girls had way more skill than my high school squad could even dream of. I have a whole new level of respect for male cheerleaders now-those guys are strong like you wouldn't believe! They were holding girls up by the feet with one arm extended straight up. It was incredible.

The week between the two games was eventful too though. First off, Colin Powell came to OU, and I got to see him speak live. Wow. It was awesome. For being such a powerful man, he wasn't arrogant at all. I didn't feel like he was "making a speech," but rather just talking to us. Joking about his wife, his car, and the things he does now that he's retired. I am really glad I got that opportunity, and especially glad that I got a seat in the overfilled Catlett Music Center. That Friday night I got another cool opportunity as well. There was a hypnotist show put on, and I got hypnotized. Man was that wild! I wasn't sure that I was under because I was aware of what I was doing the whole time, but the stuff I was doing I'd never do ordinarily. For some reason it just seemed like what I ought to have been doing, so I did it. Among other things, he made me forget my name, act like a second grader, and think I was an orangutan. What a trip! Afterwards, my friends and I went and played volleyball in the dark. Sure makes it interesting when you can't really see the ball.

This week, the week after the Utah game, I went to an engineering career fair. There were 150 companies there looking for engineers. The whole thing was on the floor of the Lloyd Noble basketball coliseum. I went through in my one nice set of clothes-button-down shirt, dress pants, dress socks and shoes, and even a tie-and worked my way around the hundreds of other students there. I visited several different companies, gave them a resume I'd worked on in my Engineering Orientation class, and talked about the possibility of getting an internship this summer. Most of them said I probably wouldn't get one since I was a freshman (which I sort of expected), but a few seemed pretty interested in me regardless of my age. If I'm really lucky, I'll get some phone calls within the next couple months and get some interviews set up. Regardless, though, it was a good experience and I'll have a much better chance of landing an internship next year. Afterward, I got invited to a reception with reps from a few companies and only a hundred or so students, so it was much more relaxed and I got to talk to the reps a little longer. While there, I came across a possibility I hadn't considered-the Navy. I talked to a representative from the Navy and told him I was considering getting my Master's degree in nuclear engineering. He told me that the Navy can really use nuclear engineers for their ships, and that they'd be willing to pay me a lot of money to go to school if I worked for them afterward. It's something I definitely should consider now.

Otherwise, there's no more denying that we've settled into the semester. Classes are getting insane, and it's way harder to find time to hang out with my friends (but we still manage). I've had a test in Chemistry, which taught me that I need to go to all the lectures AND pay attention; I just finished a Calculus test, which wasn't nearly as bad as I expected; and earlier this week I turned in an "easy" five-page essay for Expository Writing. I can't believe I've already been here a month. It feels like so much longer because of all the stuff I've crammed into it, and yet it feels so much shorter because I've had so much fun all along. The weather is starting to get a little cooler, and everyone's excited for fall to come. Other than that, the next home football game isn't for several weeks, so I'll have to figure out what to do with my Saturdays. We're now a quarter of the way done with the term, which is blowing my mind. And that's about it.

Until next time, Boomer Sooner!

Ok, so my first football game here was pretty much better than I could ever have imagined.  The day started out with some hiccups—we were supposed to have a tailgate party of sorts, but that fell through.  Then I decided I wanted to get body paint because the first game of the season is kind of a big deal, so I walked 45 minutes or so (way further than I thought) only to find that the store that carried body paint had moved.  So I hitched a ride back and wandered around.  It was wild.  Tailgate parties lined Lindsey St. (which runs right through the middle of campus) as far as the eye could see, with tarps and generators and big screen TVs and every kind of food that you can put on a grill.  The streets were closed down to let people walk toward the stadium.  Tens of thousands of people from hundreds of miles around were parking over a mile away and walking in.  People everywhere were holding up signs asking for tickets.   I didn’t recognize the area around the stadium for all the people and festivities, and the whole time the hot humid air was buzzing with excitement.  I finally got into the stadium, which took awhile because we had to show school IDs to get into the student section.  I sat with some friends on the top row of the student section, and with the setting sun beating on us I looked around.  What a sight—the field was surrounded on all sides by solid red and white.  The football team came out, and the cheerleaders started the Boomer Sooner chant.  Wow.  To be there in the middle of 85,000 people screaming “Boomer Sooner” at the top of their lungs was incredible.  Then there was the game.  It was pretty much like high school football on crack.  Ten times the energy, ten times the noise, infinitely more spirit, and players that, if I didn’t know any better, could have been pros.  We played University of North Texas.  It was supposed to be an easy win, and we weren’t disappointed—first touchdown on the fourth play of the game, 49-0 at the end of the first half, and an ending score of 79-10.  This was a big deal to a lot of the people from the Dallas-Fort Worth area because UNT’s new head coach came from Southlake Carroll High School, which dominated football around the area and throughout Texas for years.  So beyond being excited for our radically high score, a lot of people loved being there to witness Coach Dodge’s first loss in 56 games.  All in all it was an amazing day.  I can’t wait for the rest of the games this season!
Enough about football for now though.  The night before the game I went to the girls’ soccer game with some friends.  While much less crowded and energetic than the football game, it was still exciting.  We played Alabama A&M and ended up beating them 8-0, tying the school record for the largest margin of victory in girls’ soccer.  I screamed myself hoarse at that game, which made yelling at the football game the next day a little painful, but it was worth it all in all.

Finally, some more rambling notes on school life.  Classes are picking up pace, but I’m getting into a routine so it’s not too overwhelming.  I’m also starting to pick and choose from different social organizations.  Some of them weren’t quite what I was hoping they’d be, but I’ve found several good ones, most notably the St. Thomas More campus ministry.  I have a couple good friends that are in there with me, and we go Wednesday nights to talk about handling tough issues we face at school.  Since I figured out that I don’t eat in the cafeteria nearly as much as I thought I would, I decided to change my meal plan to where I have 6 meals a week.  It seems like it’d be hard to get by on that, but I’ve got plenty of food in my room, and at any given time there’s usually an organization giving out free food anyway.  It’s been raining here a lot this week, and the sidewalks are really muddy.  Not a lot of fun to bike through, especially when you add in walkers who are weaving in front of you as they try to avoid the mud.  I’ve nearly run into several people on my bike.  Other than that, OU’s feeling more and more like home every day.  The surrealism of being on my own is wearing off, and now I can fully appreciate life here.  It’s awesome.  Tomorrow I’m going to a foam party that the Union Programming Board is putting on, and then there’s another football game Saturday.  I’m having the time of my life!

Wow.  Where to begin?  These past two weeks have been amazing.  It’s been a totally different experience from anything else I’ve done, knowing that you’re completely and totally on your own, completely and totally accountable and responsible, and most of all, completely and totally free.  I know that now, trying to sum up the most eventful and radically different two weeks of my life all at once, I’m going to forget stuff, but I’m going to try and get enough of it out.  This’ll probably be my longest blog by far just because there’s so much to say.
Move-in day was a breeze for me.  Between me, my family, and the upperclassmen volunteers that were helping move people in, we got all my stuff to my dorm in one trip.  It seemed smaller than I remembered from the tour, but all my stuff fit in just fine, and within an hour everything was essentially set up.  About the time I finished setting up, my potluck roommate got here and I met him for the first time.  He’s a pretty cool guy—I got lucky for going potluck.  My family and I went and ate lunch in the cafeteria, then about noon they left.  I’d been anxiously waiting for that moment for I don’t know how long, and when it finally came it felt amazing.  I was free.  Really, truly on my own.  I rode my bike all over campus to get to know my new home, and the whole time I couldn’t stop smiling.  Wow.

My first weekend on campus was packed.  It seemed like all the school’s organizations were putting something on, and I wanted to do it all at once.  There were giveaways outside the dorms, booths for different activities and stores, free food all over the place, and then tons of upperclassmen waving at and welcoming everyone they saw.  I met up with some of my friends from Camp Crimson, and we ventured all over the place taking it all in.  Saturday night was the most memorable—OU brought in a band called Kunek (sort of a cross between The Fray and Coldplay) and the up-and-coming comedian Daniel Tosh, both of whom we got to see for free.  That was a great night.  Sunday, I was so tired I slept until about 2, and then we had a floor meeting in the dorm as well as a community dinner in the cafeteria.  That weekend is a blur now, there was so much packed in, but OU did a great job of making sure we enjoyed every minute of it.

Then came Monday.  The start of classes.  I’d gotten so used to hanging out and doing whatever I felt like over the previous 3 days that I’d almost forgotten I was actually here to go to school.  That first day was a system shocker.  I started out with Calculus 3 at 8:30 in the morning, then after a 2 hour break I attended Expository Writing, Understanding Theater, and Chemistry Lecture all in a row.  Monday was mostly spent going over class expectations, yet it was still exhausting.  It hit me then that it was all up to me now.  In high school, once you’re at school (which is non-optional), you just float around following your schedule.  Here, I realized that it was my responsibility to attend classes on time if at all, and that there was no mindless drifting between classes.  That’s a lot more responsibility than you’d expect, and where I knew it going in to college the significance didn’t hit me until Monday.  So I finished up Monday, and went to get my books.  After some bargain shopping around the numerous bookstores in Norman, I had all my books for a grand total of over $500.  That hurt.  And so, mentally, physically, and financially exhausted, I went back to my dorm and stayed there the rest of the night.

The rest of the week was pretty overwhelming, kind of like any first week of school because of the end-of-summer shock.  I started to feel slightly homesick, which was the last thing I ever thought I’d feel.  I didn’t know what it was at first—I just had a sense of something missing or something I ought to be doing, and it was weird.  It passed soon enough though, and by the end of the week I felt at home on campus.

The classroom experience varied widely.  My calculus and writing classes both have fewer than 30 students, so it’s an intimate setting that’s good for learning, talking, and asking questions.  Then, to the other extreme, there’s chemistry lecture.  It’s a class of 300+ students and a professor with a thick accent reading verbatim from a PowerPoint.  That’s more the college course I’d expected, and it is really tough to stay focused.  Other than that though, the professors seem to enjoy their jobs and do a good job of answering questions, interacting with the class, and making sure their students can succeed.  I really enjoy my Understanding Theater class despite it being a required general education course because the professor is exciting, outgoing, and interactive, regardless of there being 160 students in there.  College classes are kind of like high school in that there are some you like and some you wish never existed, but getting through them isn’t too bad all in all.  There is a lot more homework—the semester is just barely kicking off and I already have a good amount every night from each class—but I’ve found it’s not that hard to motivate myself to do it.  When most of your friends are in class and there’s not much else to do, knock out a subject in an hour or two.  I’m having less trouble now making myself study than ever (but that could be because I’m still fresh from summer—we’ll see how that goes in a couple months).
There’s plenty of stuff for anyone to do for fun in their downtime.  Personally, I like to go to the first floor of my residence hall (Couch) or to the student union and play pool.  It’s fairly easy to find people to play with, everyone’s willing to take turns at the tables, and it’s a great way to meet people and relax.  I also enjoy napping, hanging out with my friends doing nothing, walking around campus, or sitting outside to take it all in.  Other popular activities include going to the Huffman Center to work out, going outside and playing any number of impromptu games from basketball to ultimate Frisbee, and chilling in the TV lounges.  You can do pretty much anything you want, and I guarantee you’ll find people that are willing to do it with you.

Other random notes about campus life so far:  I don’t have a car, which is sort of a downer, but it’s easy enough to catch a ride if I ever need one, and on the plus side I don’t have to fight for parking.  Parking here isn’t great, and some people will put off car trips just because they don’t want to give up their parking spots.  I do have a bike, which is a great way to get anywhere on campus.  Places that may be ten to fifteen minutes walking distance don’t take much more than five minutes to bike to.  I really appreciate my bike, and have a number of friends who would probably trade me their cars for it.  Even after two weeks of living here, I still lose my sense of direction in the elevators.  Depending on which side of the elevator lobby you get in on, you come out facing a different direction, and I for one really don’t pay enough attention to keep it straight on my way up or down.  I like to think of it as keeping things…interesting.  The Couch elevators can be scary, lurching and making loud noises, but they still work and no one’s died on one yet.  Again, it keeps things interesting.  I don’t eat in the cafeteria nearly as much as I thought I would.  I’m not really sure why, but it’s okay because the cafeteria is a really quick way to gain the Freshman 15.  I try to work out several times a week, running and lifting weights.  It can be hard to motivate myself at first, but in the end I always feel great after a tough workout.  My roommate usually comes in pretty late, but I’m starting to get used to it and can ignore it more and more so it’s not as bothersome when I’m trying to sleep.  I have a decent stash of snacks in my room, which come in really handy when I’m doing my homework or else when I’m just hungry and don’t want to leave the room.  I like doing my homework in the study lounge on our floor because it has fewer distractions than my room and I can spread my books out all over the place.  And that’s about all I’ve got for now.  I love it here and I’m really glad I chose to come to OU.  It’s a great, friendly, comfortable place (aside from the humidity), and I’m really looking forward to the next four years and all the things I’ll be able to do in them.  Now I’m getting pumped for tomorrow’s football game, the first game of the season.  That’ll be the subject of my next blog.  Boomer Sooner!