I am officially enrolled in James Madison University so the Fall 2011 semester. I just received a letter confirming they got our deposit which I was unaware my mom sent. This confirmation made me so happy because it finally feels like reality. I don’t know how the idea got stuck in my head that I would love JMU, but I think it had something to do with my sister’s husband mentioning how everyone he knew who went there had so much fun. I’ve always wanted to go to Virginia for college because I wanted to go south but not at far as North or South Carolina. Virginia seemed like the perfect in between state. Then when I started searching for colleges I had specific criteria that I was looking for: large town campus, at least 15,000 students, no more than 6 hours away, and enough of an academic challenge. Luckily I visited JMU in September to learn that I should apply early action if I really liked the school. As it turned out, I loved the school, the campus and the people. My tour guide told us you know the school for you as soon as you step on campus. Luckily I felt just like that and knew immediately this was the perfect school for me. Feeling this confident that I wanted to go there I applied early action and put off applying to my back up schools. Luckily I found out I was accepted to JMU before the deadlines for the other schools so I didn’t even have to bother applying. A lot of people give me a crazy look when they hear I only applied to one school, but I was so convinced that this was the only place I could really see myself. Now there are only 5 months until I will be calling JMU my home.

What I will miss about home

As graduation approaches, the reality of college gets scarier and scarier. Don’t get me wrong, I cannot wait to get away from home and experience college! But I was just thinking of all the little things that are going to make a HUGE difference. First of all, sharing a room with a stranger could obviously be a really fun thing or really awkward/weird/bad thing. What are the chances that you get paired with someone you are 100% compatible with? I am an only child so I have never shared a house let alone a room with anyone else. I’ve always wanted a sibling/roommate to hang out with but you basically have no space to yourself to get away. Also, if you really don’t like your roommate, you can’t get away from them. I’m just praying I get someone I get along with and that doesn’t stay up till 3 a.m. when I want to sleep. Another thing I was thinking about was the showers. I’m going to miss having my own shower that I don’t have to wear flip flops in or carry my shampoo (ect.) back and forth to. I guess it’s something you get used to but I will definitely miss the privacy of my own home. Another thing I will miss is my puppy. She sleeps with me every night and I have to leave her and only see her on breaks. I’m worried she won’t love me as much after leaving her for so long. I wish I could bring her with me so she doesn’t forget me! I would also like to bring my car. I don’t know the area where my college is but it will be inconvenient to not be able to jump in my car and go wherever I need to. It’s also going to be weird to not have a kitchen right downstairs with the food you’re used to. This is going to be especially difficult for me because I live off of soy burgers and other non meat products. I really doubt my college will serve these foods so I’m going to be living off salad. Another sad thing about going to college is not having my mom right there to talk to whenever I need her. I talk to my mom about everything and always want her opinion. Even if I stayed close to home and went to UD she still wouldn’t be there to talk to. That will definitely be the hardest thing to get used to but that’s all part of growing up. Things are going to change so much next year and I’m excited and really scared at the same time.