I think this is the first time that Van Doren has been quiet on a Friday night. Everyone has packed up their bags and gotten on a bus that will take them back to the place they call home. I'm sitting in my room staring at the pile of laundry that needs to be folded and thinking about what I need to pack to go home. It's Thanksgiving break! I couldn't be happier to go home. I love this campus so much, but after a week as crazy as the one I had this week, it's time for a break. I'm excited to see my family and friends from home, but I can't help but think about how much I'm going to miss everyone I've met here so far. I'm even going to miss the cold walk to the Quad in the morning...just because I love the Quad though. I'm going to especially miss my boyfriend, Ross. It'll be weird not seeing him every day like I've been lucky to do here on campus.
Going into this year, I had no expectation of making instant connections with people, but it just so happens that I did. I'll miss waking up to texts from friends asking to go to basketball games or to get lunch at the Ike. How can a whole semester have gone by already? This definitely isn't like high school. I'd have to guess that it's because I actually had a choice in where I went to school this time. When you are given the power to choose something for yourself, you like your choice a lot more than if someone made the decision for you. And this place is no exception. University of Illinois, I love you. Every bit of you. Except CMN 101. But that's besides the point. I'll be back and ready for more in a week, but for now it's time to go home and get a good night's sleep, take a shower without flip-flops on, and to get a good, home-cooked meal. Peace out Chambana.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
Rejuvenated.
It's official. I'm back to writing my blog. This time it isn't for school though; it's for myself. Writing has always been a hobby of mine and recently I've been feeling like something has been missing in my life. It became clear one evening in a Panera Bread that the only way to fill this missing gap was to start writing again...so here I am at 1 a.m. writing my blog instead of writing my Spanish essay like I should be doing...what can I say? I've been inspired.
(Work needs to be done on the formatting but I'm more concerned with writing at this time of day.)
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I've been having one of those stressful days, you know, the ones where you're so stressed out that you can't get yourself to do your homework and just stress yourself out more because you're falling even farther behind. It all started when the monsoon hit Champaign earlier this afternoon, wiping away the 75 degree temperatures that were short-lived. I was so stressed out today that I felt sick after eating a light dinner of broccoli and mac and cheese. I sat down at my desk after coming back from dinner just to struggle through writing a paragraph of a Spanish essay and was about ready to call it a night when I realized there was still a chance the day could be saved.
Running. It's my passion, it's my life, and it's my go-to activity to relieve stress. So at 10:30 I decided to trek over to the ARC (our school's workout facility) to run. When I entered the ARC, I was so surprised at how many people were working out so late and how happy the atmosphere was. What did they know that I didn't? I would soon find out that I was in for more than a work-out, but also a valuable lesson. I found a treadmill on the first floor of the ARC and just started to run. 5 miles later I was done, and feeling much better about myself. I had burned almost 500 calories on my run, what wasn't there to be happy about?
However, looking around at the people around me, I realized that many of the people who go to the ARC at 10:30 at night aren't going to burn calories, they're going to burn stress. They go to melt the stress away. As gross as it is I thought about sweat and how it was like the stress being melted out of my system. People go to work-out late at night because it's therapeutic, and as college students, they need a chance to get away from all of the homework and other time consuming activities.
Maybe this is why the ARC is such a happy place. It's a place to leave all of your stress and forget about everything that's going on in your life temporarily. Oh and the endorphins aren't that bad either :P
(Work needs to be done on the formatting but I'm more concerned with writing at this time of day.)
_________________________________________________________________________
I've been having one of those stressful days, you know, the ones where you're so stressed out that you can't get yourself to do your homework and just stress yourself out more because you're falling even farther behind. It all started when the monsoon hit Champaign earlier this afternoon, wiping away the 75 degree temperatures that were short-lived. I was so stressed out today that I felt sick after eating a light dinner of broccoli and mac and cheese. I sat down at my desk after coming back from dinner just to struggle through writing a paragraph of a Spanish essay and was about ready to call it a night when I realized there was still a chance the day could be saved.
Running. It's my passion, it's my life, and it's my go-to activity to relieve stress. So at 10:30 I decided to trek over to the ARC (our school's workout facility) to run. When I entered the ARC, I was so surprised at how many people were working out so late and how happy the atmosphere was. What did they know that I didn't? I would soon find out that I was in for more than a work-out, but also a valuable lesson. I found a treadmill on the first floor of the ARC and just started to run. 5 miles later I was done, and feeling much better about myself. I had burned almost 500 calories on my run, what wasn't there to be happy about?
However, looking around at the people around me, I realized that many of the people who go to the ARC at 10:30 at night aren't going to burn calories, they're going to burn stress. They go to melt the stress away. As gross as it is I thought about sweat and how it was like the stress being melted out of my system. People go to work-out late at night because it's therapeutic, and as college students, they need a chance to get away from all of the homework and other time consuming activities.
Maybe this is why the ARC is such a happy place. It's a place to leave all of your stress and forget about everything that's going on in your life temporarily. Oh and the endorphins aren't that bad either :P
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