"What Starts Here Changes the World" - As Soon as You Get Out of Bed

Oh, hey there. My name’s Britny, my favorite color is purple, I really like hamburgers, and in case you didn’t know, I AM A FRESHMAN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN.

Just, you know, fyi.

Like, the hell guys? When did that happen? When did I go from being the 12-year-old, rock-music-obsessed, Ellie-Nash-wannabe kid who didn’t really know what she wanted to do with her life, but knew she wanted to write and set her sites on a college she knew hardly anything about…to being an almost 19-year-old, still-rock-music-obsessed adult-type-thing who still doesn’t really know what she wants to do with her life, but knows she wants to do something in entertainment who is actually AT SAID SCHOOL?! I am just at a loss. What is my life right now.

Not that it’s like, a bad thing. I think I’m making it sound like a bad thing - it isn’t though. I’m freaking ridiculously excited to be here. Like, woah.

Anywho. I live in a building called Littlefield, which I’ve vaguely covered info in the past. It’s the oldest and smallest dorm and it’s gorgeous and everything about is perfect. Except it’s washers and dryers.*

Also, Littlefield is kind-of adorable because it has all of these traditions. Like, we’re ladybugs - the Littlefield Ladybugs. How adorable is that? It’s freaking ridiculously adorable. And we have our own colors - green and white (which I don’t really understand, but whatever). And we have all these programs that we do every year. And a “brother dorm,” which is both kind-of cheesy and also kind-of cool.

My dorm room is not nearly as small as I thought it would be and my closet is huge, by dorm standards, but also by regular standards because I can walk into it and I can’t even do that at home. My roommate is also nice - her name is Zoe, she’s an undeclared-but-leaning-toward-pre-med major who is very quiet but who (I learned after several days of near silence) thinks Johnny Depp is attractive and likes 70’s rock music (Boston being her favorite band at present). Both of which are great qualities for a person to have. We get along in a nice, however quiet, manner.

Basically every day that I’m not too lazy to leave my room to eat, I eat in the Kinsolving Dining Hall, - usually with Melany - which is surprisingly good for something associated with the term “dining hall.” I especially like their hamburgers. I could probably eat one every day and be ok with my life.

As for my classes, my schedule is relatively nice (I have no classes on Tuesdays or Thursdays), but I’m conflicted about how I feel about almost all of the classes themselves.

My American Studies class is awesome. It’s all about studying American culture, through music, fashion, cars, etc. We are currently studying swing music, which is difficult for me to concentrate on because there is so much talk of Benny Goodman.** If I don’t ace this class, I will be extremely disappointed in myself.

My Race in the Age of Obama class that I spent so very much time whining about is actually not as bad as I thought it would be. There is a lot of reading of books I don’t want to read involved and I would really rather my Friday discussion cohort was…anyone but who it is, but other than that it’s nice. The instructor for the Monday and Wednesday lectures is a very cool, very funny, and very loud dude. All is well there.

Then things get complicated. My Psychology class, which I am not above saying I was terrified about, is weird. It’s HUMONGOUS and therefore a bad environment for people who daydream and doodle - *cough* myself *cough cough* - and there’s all this experiment nonsense required in order to get a grade, which I don’t fully understand. But the teacher looks like Jim Lee and is quite funny and anti-establishment, which I like. He also shamelessly plugs the fact that he does open-mic comedy, which I find amusing. And the course work doesn’t seem like it’s going to be too bad. I just don’t know. So many feelings.

And then there’s Theatre. I’m fairly certain I’m going to hate this class, but I have no real reasons why. I think it’s either A) that the teacher has this weird attitude that isn’t quite rude but is very, very close, B) that the pace of the class is much too fast for my easily-sidetracked-brain to keep up with, or C) that it’s theatre, which I’ve learned I love a lot more if I stay away from it. 

Oh and! I said my schedule was nice, and it is, but staying for an entire Psych class and then getting to Theatre on time every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday is actually physically impossible. They are far away from each other and the transaction is supposed to take place AT NOON. Lunchtime. When everyone on campus decides it’s time to roam about. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Someone needs to teach me to Apparate. Right now. 

Moving on. Briefly, some other things I have discovered since I have gotten to college:

• There is no classy way to get onto, or off of, the top bunk of a bunk bed. It cannot be done. You must look like an uncivilized animal in order to do it at all.
• UTLA - UT’s semester in Los Angeles program - is something I absolutely must do. I already pretty much knew this, but the more information I get about it, the more true it becomes. It has to happen. The end.
• I cannot explore things without a parent present. Like, it’s so weird. I’m not capable of going out and doing fun, exciting things without one of my parentals along for the ride. I blame this on never having done it before - because even when I’ve done cool things, like gone to concerts and book signings, one of my parents was there. Because I have cool parents. I have to fix this problem. And soon. I live in too cool of a city not to explore things.

On a final note, I would like to say that, in the midst of all this madness, I still find time to spend hours on Tumblr, fit something related to Harry Potter into my day at least once a day, and count down until September 20.*** So, no worries - I will never let education get in the way of my fangirling. I have priorities.

*I HAD A LAUNDRY DISASTER. And I actually probably shouldn’t blame it on the poor appliances, because it was almost certainly my laundry-inept self’s fault. Anyways, the gist of it is that I basically broke the washer (there was still water standing in it when I took my clothes out) and then NO DRYER ON THE FLOOR would dry my clothes. I ended up having to hang them in my closet for THREE DAYS, periodically drying parts of them with my blow dryer (I have a pathetic life), until they were finally totally dry. It was very stressful, as I’m sure you can tell by all the caps lock. Also, I will never do laundry ever again. Ever.

**Shoebox reference. Wolfstar rules my life now, by the way. It’s rather nauseating.

***GLEEGLEEGLEEGLEEGLEEGLEEGLEE. I AM SO EXCITED THOUGH. JUST. JUST…AHHH!