Surviving the First Semester of College

I seriously don't know where summer went.  Doesn't it seem as though it was just beginning? Now I can feel the tendrils of fall creeping in on the wind.  Around this time four years ago the cool temperatures sent nervous jitters through my stomach and I felt like I was either going to throw up or pass out. I was heading to a little liberal arts school in upstate New York where I knew no one.  Today I'm getting excited butterflies.  I'm looking forward to returning to my beloved school for the last year.  Any nerves I have are related to the fear that this year will go by way too fast and soon I will be wearing a cap and gown taking some pivotal steps into adulthood.

But I don't want to think about the future for the moment.  I want to talk about the past and my transformation from a lonely scared freshman to a confident senior.  I've met so many new people and had amazing opportunities and experiences that I would have never imagined three years ago.  As the oldest child in the family, (and I mean truly the first born.  I have one younger sibling and two very young cousins), I've always been the first to do things.  Let me tell you, being the guinea pig can be pretty nauseating. So I thought I would help those other first borns (and worried younger siblings) feel a little better about their new adventure with some tips I learned over the years.

1.  Meet as many new people as possible.

In my opinion, college is the best time to meet people.  If you're like me, and are planning on heading off somewhere far away you may not know many people.  In this case, it will be easier to find new people to hang out with.  Chances are other people will be in the same boat and everyone will be looking for a whole new group of friends.  No one will have any previous friend groups, so you will all be free to meet and hang out with whomever you want.  If you do know the people heading to your school try to make friends with others outside of your group.  Meeting new people will give you so many new connections and perspectives.  You will make lifelong friendships at college.

2.  You're going to feel a little uncomfortable for a while.

Get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable.  College is a new place and change can always be difficult.  If you don't know anyone upon entering the first semester, or even first year, can seem a little strange. Everyone is trying to find their niche of friends and sometimes it takes a little while to settle. At some point, you will miss your best friend from home. For me it happened during orientation. My family had just taken off to head back home and I was surrounded by new people and experiences. I missed the familiarity of my best friend. It didn't take long for those feelings to subside.  While I will always miss my best friend, I've made so many new friends that I feel comfortable and happy around.  Remember to never give up. By sophomore year you will have a solid friend group to count on no matter what.

3.  Find friends that compliment your lifestyle and have similar interests.

The beauty of making new friends and starting at a new school is finding people that care about the same things you care about.  As a kid, you were friends with other kids because you went to school together (and you probably liked the same Barbie or something).  At college you can find people who share your interests.  You can find that person who shares your love for obscure indie music.  One important part of making friends in college is finding people who share your lifestyle.  If you're not into partying find other people who don't party.  Choosing friends that compliment you will help you be happier throughout college.

4. Call your mom (but don't rely on her for everything).

 Up until this point, you have probably relied on your parents for almost everything.  They feed you and cloth you and give you most of your love.  No matter how much you think otherwise they love you and are on your side.  If you have a problem or are just feeling down about something give them a call and they will undoubtably talk you through the tough time.  This being said, college is also a time to get off your feet and do things for yourself.  Relying too much on your parents won't allow you to grow into an adult.  Think of college as the beta version for adulthood. You have to work out some of the bugs but you can only do this if you do it on your own.  I try to call my parents once or twice a week. This works for me. My best friend at least texts her mom every day.  Find a schedule that works for you and makes you and your parents feel happy.

5. Have fun and be safe!

College should be fun.  Sure you have to do a lot of classwork but you gain a whole new social life. There will be no other time in your life when you can meet tons of new people while studying anything you want.  However, there can be such a thing as too much fun.  This is your first time being out in the real world on your own.  Remember to be responsible with you time and yourself.  There is no need to ruin an amazing experience!

Also, as one last thing.  If you think you are having a problem fitting in to the college environment make sure you take full advantage of the resources on your campus.  Every campus has a counseling center filled with people who are ready to help you make the transition between home and school.

I hope you all have a great year at school.  I know I'm looking forward to seeing my campus in a couple weeks.  Good luck!

ox Caitlin

Maine Summers

There really is no place like home.  I think we often forget how beautiful our own backyard can be.  Over the past year I have traveled around the world to some of the most unique and beautiful places but every time I come home I realize that no matter how lovely those places are, my home is pretty spectacular.

This past weekend I was out hiking with my family around Acadia National Park and it reminded me how much I love living in Maine.  With the moderate summers and the rocky coastlines Maine comes alive in the summer.  A beautiful view is only a ten minutes drive away and nature is right out my door. The more time I spend away from my home the more I fall in love.  Absence makes the mind grow fonder, after all.

Sometimes our homes are associated with work and stress.  We get bogged down in the every day and the routine that we don't spend the time to appreciate the world around us. I know it is hard to put everything down and enjoy the environment we live in, but sometimes it's helpful to take a day.  Just breathe for one day and enjoy your hometown.  Vacations are great but learning to take a good stay-cation without thinking about life is just as important.  If you are wondering what to do during a boring weekend take a moment to enjoy your hometown.  The experience will truly make you appreciate your home more than ever before.  Plus, you can reduce your stress level without spending tons of money and time traveling!

ox Caitlin

How I made the Blogger templates work for me (without learning to code)

Up until this point, I never felt my blog wasn't personalized enough for me.  I was using many of the different blogger templates but there never seemed to be enough options to customize my blog so that it was unique to me.  Everywhere I looked I saw beautifully designed blogs and I wanted to stand out just like them.  However, I always thought that you needed to be able to code and artistic to make major changes to your blog.  That all changed today.

I finally decided to take the time to learn how to make my pre-made blogger template work for me. I was able to create a personalized banner and some social media icons without ever needing to code.  On top of this everything I have done here I did for free!  Today I thought I would share what I have learned and some of the websites I used to help others struggling with their blog design.

Header

• Over at Dana's blog, Wonder Forest, there are some great tips for creating a stylish header without being an artist. 
• I used pixlr to create my banner.  I don't have any graphic design experience and this program was pretty easy to use.  Plus it's free!  
• When creating your banner make sure it is the right size for your blog.  Mine is 650 x 250 pixels and it fits well into the simple template in blogger.
• If you use the templates on blogger they will be right justified.  I wanted mine to be centered and Elaine's explanation on centering your header was the most helpful. 
• If you want to center the navigation bar as well, this site was helpful.
• As always, if you do use images it is important that you have the rights to those images.  You can find many free images online.  Also their are tons of paintbrush shapes to choose from and you can download more all over the web.  I used the ones found on pixlr. 

Social Media Icons

• Here is the tutorial I used to create the icons above.
• Many of the tutorials I came across used PicMonkey to make their icons but in some cases you may need to subscribe to get full access to all the tools. 
• I used pixlr again to create my icons.  Again it was free!
• http://www.image-maps.com is where I made the icons work.  The mapping tool has been updated since the tutorial was written but everything is still pretty strait forward. 
• Again, I found vectors the most helpful when creating the personal graphics but you can use whatever shapes you would like.  

After this point, I just used the normal customization tools to tweak the other fonts and colors on my blog and viola!  I now have a customized blog that I can call my own.  

I know these are just tips and sometimes learning to use a graphic design program can be tricky but I hope I have helped you create a blog you love.  If you have any questions feel free to ask.  I'm not an expert but I will try to help. 

ox Caitlin

If I Stay Review

Goodreads | Amazon

My interest in If I Stay, by Gayle Forman, wasn't sparked until I saw that the movie was out.  I'm the kind of person that won't read the book after seeing the on screen version.  This is the reason I have yet to read Game of Thrones.  I just can't seem to get myself to read something that I've already seen. I guess the plot has been spoiled.

The novel focuses on Mia, a senior in high school and a musician aspiring to go to Julliard.  Her plans are suddenly changed when a seemingly normal ride with the family on a snowy day turns into a fight for her life when the car smashes into a truck.  Now Mia is trapped in a state between life and death where she can see what is happening around the hospital and can relive peaces of her life before the crash.  Along the way she sees the people she loves, including her boyfriend Adam, try and give her the strength to live.  Mia must decide if she has enough to live for now that her parents and younger brother are gone.

Now at first I thought, why is the world so obsessed with dying teenagers recently.  I mean I love a good tear jerker every once and a while but I thought the world would have been satisfied for a while with A Fault in Our Stars.  (Not to say that I didn't love that book. If you want to know what I thought I wrote about it here).  Then I proceeded to read the book in one day. I was able to read this book quickly probably due to three things.

1.  I haven't read something in about two weeks so I was hungry to get my hands on something else to read.

2. The book was addicting. It is the perfect concoction of drama and cute romance to keep you going.  I loved the point of view because while the book is told in first person narrative it has many elements of third person narration because Mia can see everything while she is in the limbo between life and death.  This take on narrative allows the reader to see the events but also gives us an opinion on those events.  I felt pulled in by both the plot and Mia's commentary.

Then there is the tear jerkiness of the whole plot that makes it addicting.  I cried multiple times and no matter how much it hurts we all know sometimes you need a good cry.  Plus, crying is always better when its for books and movies.

3. The book was an easy read.  If you read a book in six hours you undoubtably skim a little and if the book is easy to read you are able to skim that much faster.  I know it's not good, but I skim and skip over sections of books.  In the case with If I Stay there were bits of narrative I was simply not interested in knowing about.  This was especially true in the later half of the book.  Whether this makes the book good or bad I'm not sure, but I do know that these sections were not long enough to warrant putting the book down for more than five minutes.  That must say something about the books merit.

I think this book was a good quick read.  I would say it's an easy beach read but I ended up crying.  Unless you are alright with the public seeing your tears you might want to stick to reading this on a rainy weekend day.  Also here is a peak at the movie trailer if you want more incentive to read this book.

ox Caitlin

Bits of Happiness

A bog orchid from my time doing research this summer. 

I'm a worrier and as a worrier I spend a lot of time being anxious about things that I can't control. This anxiety often overshadows my current happiness and sometimes I find it hard to appreciate the good things that are happening around me, so I thought I would share some things that made me happy this week in order to put everything into perspective.  Life really is better than it may seem!

1.  I started getting into my blog again.  I began planning everything out more and trying to make my blog a bigger better place for me to spend my time.  Blogging has always been fun for me and for a time that fun got muddled in the jumble of life.

2. I finished Cinder by Melissa Meyer this week after setting it aside for far too long.  Seriously, I only had about a chapter left.  I don't know why I put it down.  It's a great book.  I posted all my feelings about it here if you are interested.

3.  My sister and I played tennis this week.  We both played in High School but it's been over a year since I've picked up a racket.  It felt great to be back on the tennis court even though I lost by quite a bit.

4. I got to spend a whole afternoon in an antique and used book shop on Thursday with my mom.  Recently I've found out that I love combing through antique shops for treasures.  There are some weird and beautiful things hiding under the dust.  Also I'm always up for some used books!  It's scary to think that those old books might be gone some day.

Books for miles!

Can't you just smell that old book smell?

I wish I could have gone home with all the books.  Some of them had such beautiful bindings.  Others needed some love.  Sadly I could only grab a few bargains, including one book with some very funny notations from a  previous owner.

5. Today I spent the morning at the farmers market.  Ever since spending Saturday mornings with my host parents at the farmers market in Australia, I have gravitated toward these markets.  I tried to go every week while I was at school in the beginning of the summer and enjoyed going today.  The farmers market is filled with a great sense of community and it's a great way to support the local economy.  Plus, they aren't all just veggies.  Many of the markets I've been to have a variety of crafts, baked goods, and prepared food.  Today I got some yummy indian chutney with my veggies and my mom got some hand made wooden spoons.

Yum Chutney!

These are some highlights from my week.  It's so important to remember these little glimmers of hope  for those times when you are feeling down.  I find that it has really helped me to write down what has made me happy.

What made you happy this week? Don't worry if it was something small.  All the bits add up!

xo Caitlin

Cinder Review

Goodreads

Cinder by Melissa Meyer has been on my radar for a while now.  If you frequent any book blogs focusing on young adult fiction you will have undoubtably encountered this book. You've probably also read it by now, but I thought I'd share my opinion just in case you haven't gotten your hands on this gem quite yet.

Cinder is a cyborg living in the futuristic New Beijing where cyborgs and robots are treated as second-class citizens.  She lives with her stepmother, who basically owns her, and her two stepsisters (sound familiar yet?).  As a skilled mechanic, she dreams of earning enough money to some day escape.  This all changes when the details of her mysterious past begin to surface, and she suddenly finds that her life is threatened by a horrible secret. As you probably guessed there is also a handsome prince and a fair amount of drama associated with him.

Now before you start rolling your eyes behind your computer screen let me ask you one question. How much do you really hate Cinderella stories?

I feel like we go around saying Cinderella stories are so cliched, but then we keep writing and reading  them. No matter how much we are tired of the cliche we also love its familiarity.  We love to hear stories about the underdog who manages to make her dreams come true.  We also love pretty dresses and princes on white horses.  Put these two things together and you have a Cinderella story!

But really, the pretty dress is important!

If you like a dash of sci-fi with your (not so) pretty dress and handsome prince, Cinder is the book for you.  Not only is Cinder a cool, bad-ass version of our favorite blonde Disney princess, but her story deals with issues much more important then going to the ball.  Cinder looks at a world in which a whole class of humans are given fewer rights than others simply because they are different (in this case half robotic).  If you haven't noticed, society continues to have issues with inequality.  Reading books from the point of view of the disenfranchized allows those who are privileged understand how inequality effects everyone.  Because of this, books like Cinder allow us to escape our current world while still allowing us to apply what we've read to our own lives.

So, in some ways Cinder is just another Cinderella stories, but it is also highlights important issues that will follow human society.  Plus let's be honest, cyborgs are so cool.

The Five People You Find in a College Dorm Kitchen

You would think the first thing your mother would teach you before leaving the house was how to properly nourish yourself.  Feeding and clothing oneself should be the more important thing our parents teach you, with basic hygiene and manners coming in at a close second.  However, you only need to spend a day in a college dorm kitchen over the summer to realize that the eating habits of 18-21 is strange and probably quite a bit unhealthy.  

Now maybe I just have unreasonably high standards.  My mom has always provided my sister and I with good meals.  Even during the breakfast skipping days of high school she made sure we shoved something into our still sleeping stomachs before heading out the door.  So it was strange for me to come into a house where the kitchen that was rarely visited by people.  

Over this summer I have deduced that there are many types of people you will meet in your college dorm kitchen.  Each of them, including yourself, will have questionable eating habit but you will undeniably judge each other no matter what.  Here are the five most common people I encountered.

Number 1: The humus eaters.  These people can somehow manage to survive solely on humus and carrots.  They will show up around meal times, haul out their family sized tub of humus from the fridge, and proceed to eat a few carrots before putting it all back and heading out the door.  How they manage to survive on mashed chickpeas and carrots without going insane is beyond me. 

Number 2: The microwaver.  He's the kid that goes home every weekend and magically comes back with a weeks worth of mom's best food.  You will envy his endless supply of home cooked meals. It will make you question why you decided to go to school so far away from home.  No matter how much you hate leftovers, you probably hate cooking for yourself more. 

Number 3: The take-out grabber.  Between the microwaver and the take-out grabber, you will never be able to use the microwave to defrost your frozen veggies.  Rather than being annoyed, though, you will be in constant wonder.  Where does this kid get the money to buy all this food?  All those five dollar foot longs and pizza deliveries must add up.  

Number 4: The popper.  You swear she only eats popcorn.  If you wondered how the humus eater survived you will undoubtably question how the popper hasn't waisted away to nothing at this point.  You will probably never understand her, but you will hate her because while she is taking in minimum calories the seductive smell of her eating habits has tempted you every night this week.  Damn you Orville and your buttery goodness!

Number 5:  The real cooker.  These people are slaving away in the kitchen from 5 to 8 every night with the hope of reaping the rewards of a home cooked meal.  Of course this is their first time cooking so failure is imminent.  They will likely set off the fire alarm at least once a week, forcing you out of the house when all your wanted was to take a nice nap.  This will surely ruin your plans to go out and party with your friends.  (Although let's face it, you were probably going to watch Netflix anyway).