by Bethany Porter – Thursday, January 10, 2013
I will give any future college students a heads up now: never order your textbooks less than a week before classes start!
It is a bit difficult preparing for the semester when my home is so far away and what stands between me and a smooth transition back into college and dorm life is a security check and airplane ride. There was no way at all that I could squeeze in any textbooks to bring back to campus with me, so I had to ensure that my books would arrive while I was in Kirkland. I scarcely fit all of my clothes, Christmas gifts, and restocked goods (compliments of my nurturing parents) into my two large suitcases which barely made the cut to be checked in each weighing nearly fifty pounds. I then proceeded to lug around my limited two carry-on baggage which each were filled to the brim and felt more like sacks of rocks that pulled me respectively in each direction with every step labored towards my flight gate. However, when I stepped back out into the cool Pacific Northwest air, I breathed in the fresh possibilities of this coming semester.
Now that I have delighted you with an anecdote, I shall now indulge you with a personal look into my preparing for spring semester outside of all that exhausting airport nonsense!
It all starts back late in the previous semester when current students, one class at a time, register for their classes. Being the freshman that I am, our bracket was the last to register and you can only hope that a required class of yours is not full. What I just recently did was make a chart of my schedule to see any free time that I might have for things like meals, private music lessons, work, or any other extracurricular activities. After that, for the classes I plan to keep on my schedule, I place orders on required textbooks. The best place for tight-budget students like me I have realized is either Amazon.com, Half.com by Ebay, or this smaller company called Abebooks. Do not wait until a week or less to order your books if you can help it! It will save you from much stress! (Some of the upperclassmen are probably laughing right now at my urgency. Remember, I am a college freshie!)
I also am setting personal boundaries for the new semester to save myself from unhealthy stress. I am the kind of person who wants to be involved in everything. I realized last semester after making myself sick from stress and lack of sleep, that I must set limits! My mama isn’t here to do that for me! Whether it is the amount of time helping with campus ministry, attending Life Groups, random volunteering or even the amount of social escapades taken, I must set healthy boundaries.
The most difficult part was leaving home again, and saying goodbye to best friends and my loving parents. There was a slight sliver of doubt as I kissed my mom for the last time for months and walked off independently. Is this right for me? Evergreens flew by the car window as I made my way from airport to college life and I truly felt not like I was leaving home to come back to a foreign place but that I was coming back home.
Bethany Porter is a freshman at NU majoring in Music Ministry. She is currently involved in the NU PUSH Prayer Team, Choralons, and leads a life group. This “busy bee” spends her free time writing and dreaming big. Follow her on Twitter @bethanne93.
Posted on Thursday, January 10, 2013 by Bethany Porter
Share on Facebook
