First 24

Well, I'm here. At college. Yippee. Huzzah. Mission. Accomplished.

After a 7 hour drive, my family and I arrived on campus. My little brother stayed home, but the rest of the 6 of us were here. The car was so crammed...

Pulling onto the campus itself was a bit more than a little stressful... Downloading the campus map on my phone and trying to figure out real world compared to the drawing on the internet of streets and such was...less than fun.

My two roommates and I showed up at about the same time. We all said hello, and, good news! I don't think either will kill me in the middle of the night and blame it on my socks...

My older brother, little sister and Dad were so wonderful and ran back and forth from the car to my new second floor dorm room with all my junk.
I was so afraid I would have a gigantic amount of stuff, and my roommates wouldn't... thankfully, we all had a gigantic amount of junk. So it was good.

My parents and brother went to Walmart to pick up a few more things, and my sister stayed and helped me organize my things. She decided that she did not like the way I had folded my shirts, and very decidedly moved them from the shelf I had originally placed them on, folded them "The right way" and put them in the shelf she thought was best. It was in that moment that my stomach dropped a little at the thought of saying goodbye to my hilarious and strong-willed little sister.

My family returned with two bags of extras, and my sister made us wait to say goodbye because she "had to make sure this looked good.". I love her. so much...
A few minutes passed, and my sister's mission was complete. The 5 of us walked outside, and I hugged my mom who was beginning to tear up. Then my sister, then my brother, my dad who prayed for me, again my mom, and then my dad again. I hugged everyone once more. Mama started to walk to the car, while my sister teased my dad that she "got the last hug.". "Bye Mel," she said finally, "Don't flunk out. I love you!"

I was tearing a little, but they were still there! It was okay.
But then...
They all got in the car. Without me...
And they pulled out of the parking space.
The car accelerated, and I realized that they were really going.
And I was alone...
Mama waved. Dad waved. I waved.
The car turned.
I couldn't see them.
And suddenly, I couldn't breathe.
I stood there until I couldn't see the car anymore.
There was a group of guys waiting for the bus watching me. I smiled at them weakly.
'This is normal' I thought. 'This is good. I'm okay. This is natural. This is college. I'm fine."
I walked back into the dorm hall, down to the hall bathroom, walked into one of the stalls, locked it, leaned against it, and cried.
Not much.
But that empty, lost feeling got a hold of me for a minute and I couldn't stop it.
It only lasted a minute though, until I told myself to stop. I whimpered a little, bit my lip. Then I stood up straight, wiped my eyes, took a deep breath, held it, and let it out.
I could do this thing.
It'll be okay.

I went back to the dorm and talked with my roommates as I continued unpacking. I joked about all sorts of things and I pretended that I wasn't scared.
After an hour or so we were called for dinner. Our dorm met up with our brother dorm and walked over to the Rot, (the dining hall). I found my cousin, and I hugged her so hard. Plus the two other girls I met while I was up here for a College For a Weekend retreat-type-thing. They remembered me. I felt cool.

After that, I met a few new people, and we all headed over to the Vine's Center (another building on campus) to watch Star Trek. I sat next to a guy I had met just then and the roommate who'd I'd hung out with all afternoon. Our other roommate had met up with some of her other friends and we couldn't find her during the movie.
My friend from home, (other than my cousin, the only person on campus I knew when I arrived) showed up about halfway through the movie and the guy I was sitting next to moved down so my friend could sit with me. I was exhausted, and looking forward to getting back to the dorm. So, when it ended, I walked with my friend and my roommate to the bus stop. My friend had to take the bus back to his dorm, so we said goodnight and made a lose plan to hang out the next day. My roommate and I managed to walk in the opposite direction of our dorms and by the time we realized our mistake and walked back in the direction of the dorms, we had almost walked the length of the campus. Yeah. It was my fault. I'm not good with maps...


Today, in the Vine's center we had all sorts of booths set up. It was a get-to-know the city type thing. It was really helpful, because I got information about banks in the area, churches in the area, a buttload of coupons, and information about possible job offers from places looking specifically for college students.

I have met many new people, but I feel a little creepy giving them nicknames and writing about them on here, so I'm just going to leave it at, "I've met new people!"

And that's about all for now.

The first 24 hours of college?
Complete.