JMiloveU - First Year!

Oh my, where has the time gone?! Before I go off on my sappy and emotional blog post about the past three amazing years I've had at James Madison University, I just want to give a fair warning to readers... this will be a sappy and emotional blog post recounting the many memories I have created at my undergrad school (not to mention, i will allude to the upcoming year and the many more memories i hope to make). Anyways, I'm really supposed to be packing up my room and the rest of my belongings to get ready to move back down to JMU this Thursday... but after maybe 30 intense minutes of packing, I think it's that time again to procrastinate a little and reminisce about my life at JMU for the past three years. No, I will not go into extreme detail because that will just bore everyone... but, down memory lane we go! (:

ps - i'm sorry, but i'll be using JMU jargon!

First Year!

some of my frog group! 

coming to JMU was the best decision I have ever made. and I'm not saying that in a joking manner, this is completely serious. JMU has given me a safe haven, a second home, adventure and endless possibilities. my first year of college - haha i can really say that i remember it like it was yesterday! my first experience in a dorm and sharing a bathroom with 12 other people (yikes!) was something completely new to me. all the advice i received before moving in, probably couldn't have prepared me for what my first year of college would be like. 

People say "you will meet the most interesting people in college", and oh goodness, were they right! I never could have thought that i'd be meeting so many different people with different backgrounds, experiences, outlooks, personalities... they've all shaped me in some way shape or form! I was placed into a "FROG" group with people from my dorm and they were my first real friends at JMU. We lived together, ate together, went out together, and eventually i found myself becoming closer and closer to some of them (like staying up until 4am talking!). I met my RA and now we're best friends! I wish i could really go into detail about everything i did and all of the people i met, but this blog post would really drag on and on... I'll post pictures instead (:

most of the FROG group (:

so, let me explain the above picture... i think my first year at JMU we had the most snow we've ever gotten. i mean, i think it snowed in October around Halloween... whut? but the weather down in Harrisonburg is definitely a trip. we don't really have transitional seasons (spring and autumn), we definitely just jump into below freezing winters with high winds or scorching hot summers with temperatures rising up to the high 90s. I think this picture was taken during the biggest snow storm we had at JMU before we all headed off for winter break, i don't know why i was wearing shorts... but i do remember trying to sled down hills on the lids of storage containers. that... was not the brightest idea... 

my suitemates! (: from left to right: Lauren, Kathleen, Caroline and Melanie (my actual roommate). we shared the common room and in the beginning of the year we were extremely close, but as things go we all slowly grew apart because everyone became involved in their own activities. i really do miss these girls and all of the weird and interesting memories we created in the suite. we had a giant wall calendar (pictured behind us) and a wall for random notes, funny/stupid phrases, decorations we stole from around JMU and pictures of hot people we'd see around campus... haha we even had a cat at one point that we decorated to match the seasons or the holidays. our suite was always festive and made it a point to decorate the common room to make it a little more home-y (:

above are the ladies of my VSA family (: from left to right: Mary (my semibig), Amber (my big!!) and Han (my grandbig). They welcomed me into their family even though they had no idea who i was. They've been my support system for the past three years i've been at JMU. Although I don't attend VSA gatherings as often as I'd like, my vsa family is always there to listen or help me no matter what. they were the first student organization i was part of that made me feel so included and excited to be part of something. I was even part of the exec board my sophomore year (saving that one for later!). anyways, i know my family and i don't talk as much as i'd like to... but when it comes time to partying together, we are the best looking family! hehe

my first birthday away from home, and of course i had to throw a big birthday party to celebrate! turning 19 is a sortof big deal, duh! my sister came up for the weekend and Melanie's sister came up too (: ignore the red cups though... i promise we were drinking water! anyways, my theme for this birthday was: "Classy, not trashy, just a little nasty" which meant dresses and skirts for the ladies and button ups for the fellers. A lot of my friends came up from other colleges and it was so great to have all of my friends at one place to celebrate (: it's definitely become a tradition of mine!

So, I wanted to move onto sophomore year... but i think this post is long enough and i do have to get back to packing. My first year at JMU flew by. I was faced with difficult challenges that tested me in ways that i never knew were possible. i dealt with so many conflicts that i thought were myths or could be easily fixed, but with so many different personalities and so many different people... the best way to do anything is to communicate. I think that's probably the biggest thing I learned that year, communication is key! Communication will help you fix problems, understand people better and is the first way to meet new people. JMiloveU!