Beach, bicycles, bug bites, Hollywood, and hurricanes

This weekend was a frenzy of college fun.  Friday was Armstrong's annual beach bash with some friends followed by dinner and hanging out with more friends.  Saturday was an adventure on Skiddaway Island, oh and the best part of the whole weekend I met one of my Savannah based heroes Stratton Leopold!  He owns a delicious and charming vintage ice cream parlor down town, but more importantly he is a famous Hollywood producer!  Ever heard of Mission Impossible III?  Sum of All Fears?  Captain America?  He was such a nice guy and we snapped a pic!  Nancy and Daniel were amazed at how happy I was, but for those of you who have known me for a while you know just how much I love movies and know what a thrill this was for me.  The shoppe is also filled with cool movie memorabilia!  I could have spent hours in that one place!  However, I did have to be a little practical this weekend so Sunday was well laundry and studyday.  This whole week is actually and will actually be a study week, they don't time in college when it comes to giving tests.  I do have to say though I love my classes and most of my professors!  Tonight I took a break to ride bikes with one of my friends and unfortunately we both got eaten alive by mosquitos, but we had fun!  Now I am trying to read up on an apparent hurricane/tropical storm named Irene coming Savannah's way!  No worries though I had already planned to come home this weekend, but still exciting stuff!  For some few final updates I turned in my recruitment stuff for rush week so we'll see if I get a bid keep your fingers crossed, and I started my medicine and so far so good and no sickness but I am just on my first week dosage and will have to continually up it until I get to my full amount so hopefully it'll work and be without the negative side effects, but that is on me and what I choose to eat (aka less carbs more protein!) Well I hope everyone has a great week!  Can't wait to come home for a visit this weekend and see everyone but also to go to church when you're used to going every Sunday it really throws off your rhythm to miss one or two.  Miss and love you all xoxo Ashley!

Back to school, back to school

Classes have officially begun here at AASU and so far I love them.  To say the least Monday(the first day the began) did not go so smoothly.  If yall know me yall probably know that when crazy things happen they happen to me.  Class starts at 8:30, I leave my building at roughly 8:10, by the time I get to my car it is around 8:15.  I go to unlock my car...nothing.  Internal dialogue: "funny, I bet something is wrong with the key".  Get in crank (8:17)... nothing.  "no way try again"...zip.  "bad word"..."one more time"..."string of bad words".  8:19..."Nancy can you take me to class my car won't start"  Nancy:  Sure I will be right down!  (Nancy is my friend who is absolutely wonderful and saved my butt on Monday)  Anyways one would think that is where the story ends, but lets not be silly this is me we're talking about.  I go to get in I feel something snag my pocket but I am already in forward motion and before I can react...RIIIPPPP...."more really bad words"... "Nancy I just ripped my pocket"... Nancy:  "It will be ok".  I get out of Nancy's car 8:29... Nancy:"ohhh you can see the hole"..."bad word"... anyways I pull my shirt down and fix everything to cover the whole and walk in while simultaneously realizing I left my purse in my car.  Not necessarily a catastrophic event but none the less the cherry on top.   Not to worry my car battery was drained by a light we must have accidentally hit and turned on while moving and I became very well acquainted with the university's police who are rather friendly and helpful (not sarcasm true story and they are funny!).  Other than that little matter of drama I love my professors and classes though there is already quite a bit of work involved.  For the most part I stay busy and I love my time here but I will admit that on the occasions when my thoughts aren't occupied by friends or one of my classes I miss everyone at home, but I will be there in a week and I think those weekends here and there will help a lot.  Beach bash 2011 is Friday (its a school organized event ps not a crazy party) and I am excited for that.  I have made some really great friends to go with and I am sure I will meet more there!  I hope everything is going great back home and I love and I miss yall! xoxo Ashley!

Day 4 and more

Mornings are pretty routine with me already.  I wake up do a little planning on what needs to be done for the day, make coffee, eat breakfast in, and then normally try and figure out how to facetime with my sister even though its not working very well yet.  I am still having fun and so far everyone I met has been extremely nice.  I have already made one trip to target and wal mart, so today's adventure is to kroger to get ready for my new diet.  I've been doing a good bit of research on insulin resistance and the medicine they put me on.  I will put it this way it is an eat healthy or suffer the wrath of the consequences diet.  I really don't get the freshman fifteen syndrome I've always heard about.  So far I have eaten fairly sparse and when I do eat its apples or lean cuisine or the Galley's surprisingly good salad bar.  Plus walking around is the main activity.  Yesterday I walked all my class routes and met up with some new friends for dinner, and the two nights before that were spent walking around campus.  Which who wouldn't want to walk around Armstrong?  It is absolutely gorgeous!  Columned buildings, oaks draped with spanish moss, and all kinds of beautifully colored and uniquely shaped plants and trees.  There is something peaceful and laid back about this campus that I love.  Don't get me wrong in the day it is hot and humid but in the evening it cools down and the nightly storms are prefaced by pleasant breezes perfect for walking around in and enjoying.  Tomorrow classes start which I am pretty excited about because it means more people to meet and it probably won't hurt my brain to start functioning again.  Since it is Sunday and I don't have a church yet I am writing my blog while listening to the southern gospel station on Pandora.  I hope you all have wonderful Sundays and miss you and love you all!  Here is to another fun college day!

Nesting

I have always heard of pregnant women "nesting".  Well no worries I am not expecting but I am finding myself doing and enjoying things here the dorm that at home would have been an absolute hassle.  I am organizing and cleaning and just making my own little system to make things here more comfortable.  One very important thing that would have been helpful to know last night is that you have to turn on air conditioning before it will work, but now that is settled so far so good.  I am going to our carnival tonight and I am meeting up with some people I have met.  I do have to say that if I could I would go back and shake fifteen year old Ashley's hand and say well done for deciding to go on that trip to California.  As crazy as I thought I had gone when I stepped on that plane I realize now just how much that experienced prepared me for this one.  I will never be able to recreate the greatness of those ten days but perhaps I will get to have an even better year here.  Mom and Dad are doing pretty well with everything they went out to the beach for the day (I was invited but I figured it would be best to stick around here and socialize) and I think they are liking this place, which is good because that will make visits more fun.  Life here is still going to be full of adjustments, but something tells me I have found myself in the right place.  I still love you and miss you all at home though!

First Night

Today was pretty busy!  Move in went very smoothly they sent lots of help and everyone was very friendly.  I am not gonna lie college is going to be adjustment but I know it will be good for me.  I met up with one of my friends that I had met at orientation and we walked the campus and had a good time.  Mom and Dad will be saying goodbye tomorrow and that will be hard.  They have been really good though.  They did an awesome job of setting my room up and helping me get everything I need.  I'd write a sappier post, but I am in that stage where if I let myself I could get sad and I know I just need to stay positive.  I will post room pics soon!  For now though I have to say goodnight!

Last goodbyes, last minute details, and my last night

Along with the previous two days I am trying to squeeze in some final quality time before heading out and it is to say the least sad.  I know I will be coming home here and there, but at the same time there is something so final about college.  It is only inevitable to feel that a significant door of your life has closed.  18 years of daily seeing the same people, places, and things is gone.  Instead it's a new horizon (luckily on my horizon there just happens to be a beach).   Dad asked me this morning if I was excited or if I was dreading it.  Excited was of course my reply.  How could I not be?  For me college is the ultimate adrenaline rush.  Picture yourself getting onto a roller coaster blindfolded.  You don't know what is up ahead but you know something is coming.  You can feel it going uphill then you feel it going down hill then back up again but what then? A corkscrew, loop-d-loop, or another drop off?  Thats how college feels to me right now.  I have no earthly idea what is waiting ahead for me, but the fact is I can't wait to find out.  I have dealt with the sadness and for right now it is gone, although I do believe it will rear its ugly head come thursday afternoon when my parents drive away, but I am quite at a peaceful place with this.  Just like my life here has established its own unique rhythm, it won't take long and I will have established one for my life at AASU as well.  Thats the good thing about being human we have the ability to adapt.  Just like when I got on that plane 3 years ago to go to California crying, scared, and anxious something in me knows I have to do this just like I had to do that.  I just pray that just like that experience was the greatest ten days of my life this will be the best year of my life.  As long as I stay true to myself, my salvation, and my beliefs (which as stubborn as I am I'm not necessarily concerned) I know I will be fine.  I just have to do as Ms. Frizzle used to say on the magic school bus "take chances, make mistakes, and get messy" (well more so be messy much to my mother's chagrin).  Let's go finish some packing!  Love you all!

Packing

Its kind of bittersweet to be packing up my room.  Bitter in that I know I will miss everyone back home and lets face it the space of my room, private bathroom, and closet, yet sweet because college is an exciting experience and luckily for me AASU is located in the fun and gorgeous city of Savannah.  With only six days left I find myself taking stock of things as I pack up the contents of my life into storage boxes, and I have come to one conclusion.  I. am. one. lucky. girl.  I have enjoyed 18 years of the best family anyone could ever ask for, a loving community, being raised in 3 different churches that have loved and prayed for me, spent so many great times with the funniest people you will ever meet, and all of these things have made me who I am today (which as cliche as that is its true).  No this Summer has not been what I planned, but I can honestly say its been what I have needed.  I have learned that things happen (like stitches), I can't control everything (a particularly difficult lesson for me), and that life is what it is and situations just happen and its up to me to decide how I react to them.  I am definitely going to miss everyone so much, but I know Armstrong is where I am supposed to be.  I will probably post a lot this week just because thats always how it is when you get a new blog!  Love yall and goodnight!