Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

I recently had Orientation at BGSU, where I will be attending college in the fall. Overall, it was a pleasant experience: I had some questions answered, found out more about the campus, and made some new friends. Through finding out more about the college, though, I began to have more questions. For example, I took the AP Tests for English Language, English Literature and French Language, and BG hasn't counted any of that credit yet, which is making me nervous. I don't yet have a French class in my schedule, and I'm planning on minoring in French, AND I'm stuck in a Freshman Comp class until my AP credit rescues me. The academic advisors weren't very helpful in answering these questions... but hey, I'm supposed to be a little confused at this time in my life, right?

In less than 2 days, I can start checking my MyBGSU portal to see if I've been assigned a roommate. I'm anxious to find out what she will be like. After all, she will be the first person I'll share a room with for awhile. Plus, we have to figure out who's bringing what to our dorm room. I'm actually a tad obsessed with that detail right now-- all the money in the checking account I just opened is burning a hole in my pocket! I'm dead set on buying a mini-fridge, and I've already picked out the perfect one (it had to have a separate freezer, be under 5 cubic feet in volume, less than 36" in height, and consume less than 1.5 amps of power). I've found other things as well, but I wouldn't want to bore you.

Speaking of boring, I had to go to the dentist today. It was a new dentist, whom I'd met before, but wasn't well acquainted with: he is the father of one of the boys on my brother J.'s soccer team (he actually always mixes up me and my sister, L., who is 5 years younger than I am). I did not have a pleasant experience. I know what you must be thinking: "Going to the dentist is never a pleasant experience." Well, going to my old dentist was actually a pleasant experience. The décor was tasteful and pleasant, the people there really seemed to care about you, and there wasn't much invasive poking and prodding. This new dentist's office I went to today was very drab (it looked like the place had not had an updated paint job since the '70s); the dental hygienist who worked on me was perky, in an obnoxious, fake way; plus, right after she told me that I had inflamed gums, then poked me repeatedly in the gum with her little metal tool. It was awful... I really want to go back to my old dentist. I don't know why we changed, honestly. I was also thinking of changing my Optician, but what if I can't find one better than the one I already have? I don't know what to think.

As a side note, my dad really wants to go camping over July 4th weekend. I (and the rest of my family, it seems) really want to just stay home. My family has been away from home over the Fourth for the past few years, and since this is the last summer before I go off to college, it seems like we should enjoy those traditions we do at home, rather than spending 4 days in our RV at a nearby campground. I've tried conveying these things to him, but he is extremely stubborn, and it would be over his birthday (we haven't found him a gift yet, because he is extremely hard to buy for-- he returns basically everything he receives, just like Rachel from Friends). Besides, we're going on a European excursion in less than 10 days, so it seems like we should focus more on planning that vacation than trying to pull together a camping trip at the last minute. Maybe it's just my skewed teenage logic, I dunno....

Another side note: my mom is frantically trying to potty train my little sister, N., before my mom, dad and I go to Europe. Plus, she's almost 3 1/2, so she is getting a bit too big to be wearing diapers. N. is being extremely stubborn about this matter, however, which makes the whole process much harder. My mom even bribed her with her own dry erase board, but N. doesn't even feel ashamed when she uses her pants rather than a toilet. My mom's getting so desperate that she's considering buying this book online that's "Guaranteed to Potty Train Your Child in Three Days Flat!" (it smells like a scam to me...)

Well, write you next time-- I'm going to hang out with my friend, C., whom I haven't seen in awhile.

Graduation (and other things)

Okay, so yesterday I graduated high school. People make a huge deal out of it, and until recently, I had no idea why-- I mean, isn't it more of an achievement to graduate college? But yeah, I guess I didn't really think about how big of a transition this is compared to switching schools in the past. Going into elementary school was kinda scary, just because I hadn't been to school before. Then my transition to middle school was kinda uneasy because I was nervous about remembering locker combinations for the first time (I had three that I had to remember, too: my regular locker, my band locker and my gym locker). Then going into high school I was nervous I'd get lost, because my high school was so much bigger than my middle school or my elementary school. In the end, though, these worries are very trivial, and I basically got over these fears on the first day. Plus, my family and friends were there to support me. Now that I've graduated high school and I'll be going off to college soon, I'll be all on my own for the first time in my life: no parents or siblings to support me, and not even my friends will be there for me, since we're all going to different schools. My friends and family won't be too far away, since I'll be going to college in-state, but I'm still anxious about all this. Sure, college will be awesome-- if I'm able to make some friends there, and not miss my family too much. I don't want to be the college student who comes home every weekend because she doesn't want to hang out with people from her college. I want college to feel like home to me... though that might be hard with the 15'x10' room that I have to share with another human being. It's a difficult time right now, but one thing that's keeping me going is that I got through tough transitions in the past, and I'm able to laugh at my foolish worries, so I hope I can laugh about this later. 

Aside from that, my grad party is in less than a week, and my dad chose this time to remodel the whole kitchen. Well, he actually says that he's not remodeling the kitchen, he's just:

• replacing the floor
• painting the walls
• staining the woodwork and cabinets
• putting knobs on all drawers and cabinets
• replacing the countertops
• changing the lighting
• replacing all the large appliances

Yeah, he's definitely not remodeling the kitchen. Anyway, all this non-remodeling is driving me nuts. My dad's been sanding the cabinets and everything so he can stain them, and the sawdust has gotten into every nook and cranny in the entire house. That makes for a whole lot of daily dusting. And wood stain smells nasty... but the new floor is in, and that looks really nice! I think it will look really good when it's all done, but I kinda doubt we'll get everything done in time. Especially since my dad dismembered our deck this weekend, and is apparently intending to rebuild that before the party as well. Let's just say I've been spending a lot of time at Lowe's lately.

Anyway, I should probably do something constructive today, since I have basically just slept all day. Until next time, dear readers!