This is me....
How can my senior year of college nearly be over? With the realization that I have only a semester left, I am starting to panic.. (and the parents and coming in hot with the WHAT IS THE STATUS OF YOUR JOB SITUATION? questions)
This week is exam week, and I am actually really enjoying it. I only have to take 2 exams, and they aren't until the middle of the week, so I have plenty of time to study. I thought I would take a minute to reflect and celebrate the things I have loved about this semester... and maybe a few things that have been less than ideal.
#1 My beautiful apartment!
I have loved living off campus for the first time in my college career. It is in a great location and I have loved decorating it. However the best thing about my apartment isn't having my own giant room and bathroom, it isn't having a great big patio with rope lights, or even having an awesome living room filled with tons of comfy furniture and a giant flat screen tv, it's the people I live with.
This year I have been blessed with the privilege of rooming in a beautiful place with 2 of my best friends.
Sarah and Megan make life at Traditions so much fun. We constantly have a cake in Megan's cake dish, enjoy late night movie marathons and laugh all the time about ridiculously silly things. They are caring and considerate and best of all clean! :)
#2 Alabama football!
This year I went to 6/7 home games. (I missed the homecoming game against Ole Miss, because I took a road trip to North Carolina with mom for Katrina (Taitt) Martin's wedding... which was sooo worth it!!) The games were full of spirit and excitement... and I made it onto the jumbotron TWICE this year! I sat with different groups of people throughout the season and always enjoyed finding Sarah out on the field during half time.
Dad and Harrison came down and tailgated at the Penn State game, a first experience. We did it to the nines, with the tent, chairs, food, and a flat screen tv. Only problem was the fact that there were 200,000 people on campus, it was 98 degrees and then it rained. Hahaa... oh the memories.... Another highlight was having Ben and Dana & Mom and Dad coming down for the Georgia State game. It was so fun to have them all here, and take them around my city and show them the campus!!! I was also able to go to one away game, which was one of my favorite experiences this semester.
#3 Ceramics class!
Now I know some of you may find this surprising that ceramics ended up on my list of GOOD memories... because I will admit that at the beginning of the semester I was a big complainer about being in ceramics. However, as the weeks went on, I began to get the hang of it... and yes, even though I left class looking like a filthy homeless woman, I was having so much fun I didn't really care.
I made 4 tiles, 11 bowls, 5 candle lanterns, 4 pinch-pot fruits and vegetables, 6 mugs and a pouring vessel, 1 serving tray (that didn't get to be glazed because of a devastating crack down the middle), 1 slab tea pot, 1 lidded form, 2 large coil pot vases, 26 Christmas surprises.
So, does that sound like a lot to you? Because it should! It is a TON. I have been in the clay lab everyday for the past 3 weeks, on top of our 6 hours a week in class, in order to complete all of these projects and little extras.
The best part of the class, besides the gratification of making something completely special and new, was the friends I made. Granted in most classes you make friends that you may talk to in class, but once the class ends, so does your friendship. Not this one. I enjoy these girls so much, and we have so many friends in common, we couldn't believe we hadn't been friends before now.
I will definitely miss ceramics class with Courtney Phillips and Stacey Brantley next semester.
#4 Holiday parties!
I'm sure by now you know that I am an avid list maker and planner. I have had the joy of planning and hosting several parties this semester. The Top Parties of the semester in my mind are Kate's birthday bash, Halloween and our pre-thanksgiving feast.
Since Kate has been in Auburn the past 3 years we have not been able to celebrate her birthday like we'd like to. This year since she is now at school in Birmingham, we planned a big party for her in Tuscaloosa.
Guests included: Thyra Downs, Brittany Breeding, Jess Mann, Sarah Selleck, Tom Coiner, Brandon Hand, myself and of course Kate. It was a perfect group! We had a special dinner at Iguana Grill, made a visit to Innisfree Irish Pub for some birthday fun, then came back to the apt. for a delicious red velvet cake!
That weekend I was able to wear my costume TWO more times and boy was i EXCITED about it!! Once for the Rocky Horror Picture Show with Megan....
...and then again on actual Halloween, with my family. All of that plus a scary movie marathon made this Halloween my best yet.
**Side note: NEVER WATCH THE MOVIE "AUTOPSY" .....just trust me on this one.
The pre-thanksgiving feast was thrown together at the last minute, and was so worth it. Sarah had not seen Ashlyn and Tyler since their wedding in August,
which is so beyond crazy! We had them over for a little Thanksgiving feast, great conversation and card games. It was sooo great to finally catch up with these two! Oh how I have missed them. We will definitely be having them over again soon for a rematch in Spades! (and we WILL win!)
As for the things that I didn't really enjoy this semester, I'm not going to give a story, just a title and a picture... it's better this way, I think.
#1. Auburn football, Auburn fans, and Cam Newton
#2. Same as #1.
(seriously... the hate got so bad at one point that several of my friends and I had to block Auburn people on facebook to avoid seeing annoying statuses.)
Looking forward to Christmas break, my NEW camera that I bought refurbished from woot.com, and going to Germany with my International journalism class next semester.
Until then,
Roll Tide!
Katie
