Reflecting on My Sophomore Year

Last year, I used a Random Friday post to talk about my freshman year of college, but I decided to do it as a normal post this year.

Academically, I've completed 68 credits (and I'll be at 72 by the fall, thanks to the course I'm taking this summer). I'm well on my way to graduate on schedule. I didn't make the Dean's List either semester because I've started getting B's. I even got a C in ethics last semester, which will haunt me forever. If I have the time fall semester senior year, I might retake it and see if I can get at least a B.

I've taken two courses for my history minor now: Revolutionary Europe and History of America in the 1960s. The latter was definitely my favorite.

I also developed photography skills this semester (pun intended), and I've started writing poetry and I worked on my prose skills.

I worked a lot of hours at the athletic center front desk - 12 hours a week in the fall and 9 hours a week this spring (6 of which were all in the same day). Ideally, I hope to work 12 hours next semester as well but it'll be only 3 days instead of 4. I'm also going to be working the front desk of my dorm on Sunday afternoons, and I'm glad to be earning extra money. (In case you weren't aware yet, I'm saving to fly to Illinois for a week over Christmas break and visit my friends and hopefully see Hamilton in Chicago.)

I didn't get along well with my roommate. She wasn't great at communicating, and I felt like she was often a bit annoyed with me, so I didn't push things. 

Former roomie Elise (from freshman year), another friend, and I tried for an on-campus apartment, but we didn't get it. The other friend, who I was going to room with in the apartment, didn't want to move to my dorm and I didn't want to move back to hers, so I ended up getting a single room for next year.

I'm gonna do a quick month-by-month recap of the school year.

August: Got back to school; had only two days to move and settle in as opposed to a whole week. It felt frenzied and I didn't like it.

September: Went to Red River Gorge with three of my friends on Labor Day. We swam in the river and relaxed on the beach. The theater department put on "The Diary of Anne Frank," and I went to see that since my former RA was Miep.

October: Homecoming dance. My mom visited for fall break - we stocked me up on groceries, shopped at the mall, and ate lunch at Shakespeare and Co. Taylor Swift came to Lexington, and the concert was amazing.

November: I had little time to read. I went home early for Thanksgiving and got to visit my BFF at her university - I even stayed overnight. 

December: I read in my first fiction/poetry reading. I tackled my third finals week. I had one portfolio and three exams. Christmas was super quiet; my aunt and uncle came over for dinner. I babysat a bit over break.

January: Back to school! I finally got a good section of chapel buddies although Mary-Courtney quickly abandoned me when she became a chapel checker. (And the girl behind me sang loudly and poorly and always put her smelly boots on my seat.) I also got on a horse for the first time.

February: All I remember is cold...and then one Sunday that was warm enough I could wear shorts. I also remember finishing Gilmore Girls and watching Fuller House on Netflix. I also applied for my first internship (which I didn't get).

March: Went home for spring break. We went to the VMFA where I met Degas's "La Petite Danseuse." It was everything I imagined it would be.

April: The crazy busy month as always. I saw Sophomore Musical and the theater department's production of As You Like It. Legacy Games happened; my class came in third. I attended Highbridge (my school's annual short film festival). I read in the fiction/poetry reading.

Other random happenings:

~In walking to a professor's house with some classmates (she was hosting class at her house that day), I had to hop a fence. Never again. I'm too short and I wear flip-flops too often to do that.

~I went on several late night drives with Julia - both just to drive and listen to music and chat, and also to Sonic.

~I was, for a short time, the assistant stage manager for SoMu.

And now I look forward to my junior year. I'm excited for the classes I'm taking next semester, and there's a couple classes that'll be offered in the spring that I'm dying to take. I can't wait to have my own room, and I'll be in the same suite as Mary-Courtney and another friend. And I can't wait to see what God plans to do in my life.