College Commentaries- Part 2

I had made a decision and now all I had to do was wait...

The rest of my Senior year in high school flew by and before I knew it I was wearing a mortar board on my head and had diploma in hand. Tears where shed and promises of not loosing touch were whispered. Pictures were taken and parties were attended. We were no longer "high schoolers" and the open road streched before us.

The summer between my Senior year in high school and Freshman year in college was pretty uneventful. I spent a lot of time working and even more time with my friends, getting every last bit of time in with them before we all parted ways. But mostly I anticipated. Anticipated getting out of Dunbar, going to the city, living with a roommate and how fun and hard college was going to be.

Mom and I went shopping and bought dorm room stuff as well as school supplies. I had purchased a double loft from a friend of a friend at Stevens Point who was moving out of the dorms. I painted it in fun colors.

Half way in to the summer we had Freshman orientation. Mom, dad and I made the trip to Point to sign up for classes, tour campus and get information on extracurriculars from all of the campus groups. Little did I know that the attractive Junior I'd met in a basement party when I was a Senior in high school (and lied to regarding my status in college) was the President of a fraturnity and he was manning their booth the day of Freshman orientation. He recognized me and laughed as I passed by with my head hung low and bright red cheeks. According to what I had told him when we met I would be a sophmore- definitely not at Freshman orientation!

About 4 weeks from D-day I received a letter in the mail from the University. It was the contact information for the girl who would be my roommate and our room information. Her name was Carrie and she lived in Oshkosh. Our room was 306 Watson Hall- yes a smoking room. I don't remember who contacted who first but I remember our conversation going really well which made me all the more excited to go.

Everything was packed and ready to go. I was going to be driving my truck- packed to the gills and mom would ride with dad in their truck which had the fouton and double loft. The night before move in day my friends took me out to party one last time together. Needless to say I was in no shape to drive the next morning and was pretty under the weather moving all of my belongings to the 3rd floor. When we arrived Carrie was already there and had most of her things put away. Dad was going to put together the loft frame as mom and I were hauling boxes. 2nd trip up, dad informs us that he has left all of the connectors (nuts & bolts) in a bag on his workbench in Dunbar. He would need to run to Menards before we could put the loft together and move the rest of my stuff in. After a lot of cussing, dinner and a -whole-nother day the loft was put together, the fouton was in, all of my stuff was put away and mom and dad, with tears in their eyes, were on their way home. It was just me and the new roommate... and she seemed different from me in a lot of ways. I wondered if I was ready for what the big city was like and secretly missed quiet little Dunbar. I only hoped that we'd get along...

The College Commentaries-Part 1

College was definitely one of the greatest times of my life. I still talk about it often and relive it quarterly, on girls weekends!
High school, was high school. I was part of the popular group in school. With only 26 kids in my graduating class it was kind of hard not to be in the popular group- the entire class was the popular group!
I was mediocre at best- getting good enough grades to get into a few decent state universities. I remember the day the letters came in the mail. Thick is good, thin is bad, is what we were told. They all came, one by one and each one was neither thin nor thick. The heartburn rose in my chest as I fumbled to open the envelopes with my parents as the audience. UW-Green Bay: Congratulations and welcome! UW- Oshkosh: Congratulations! UW-Stevens Point: Congratulations and welcome! Holy shit- all three. The only three I had applied to. Now the big decision came- where should I go?
Green Bay was nice, I toured it with my parents and the underground tunnels were a definite selling point in the frozen tundra. I didn't even visit Oshkosh because too many of my classmates were attending. I felt it would be too much like living in Pembine and I was trying to get the hell out of there. Stevens Point, I toured, sans parents with my friend Breia, her boyfriend was a Freshman and we were able to stay with him for a weekend. I got to see behind the scene Stevens Point and I fell in love. A small, homey campus with very fun basement parties. My mind was made up. Didn't help that an attractive Junior hit on me and believed me when I said I was a Freshman. I toured with my parents as well and was given the thumbs up- as long as I didn't bring home "one of those DNR agents in training"!
I had made a decision and now all I had to do was wait.....