20 Things I Can't Wait to Do at Chapel Hill

Less than four weeks before I go back for round two as a Tarheel! Here are some things I'm really, REALLY looking forward to! :D

<3

1. First hugs with my best friends

Girls, sorry if I tackle you to the ground. :*)

2. Getting to know my new roommate

Woohoo!

3. Grabbing a turtle mocha on Franklin Street

Caribou, I'm comin'!

4. Reading a brand new piece at the first Wordsmiths open mic

Question is, which one?

5. Visiting my last italian professor

Sorry, Tessa, I might be a bit out of practice...yikes

6. The obligatory first trip to Buns with the gang

Dem fries doe

7. Celebrating a certain someone's 19th birthday

There may be chocolate involved...

8. Applying to work at the Design Union

Is it chill that my portfolio is 80% fandom graphics?

9. Dining hall cake

Don't judge me! The banana fudge cake is amazing!

10. Going on another adventure to Boston Market

The mac & cheese is worth the 40 minute bus ride

11. Hearing everyone spit at the previously-mentioned Wordsmiths event

#newshit

12. Late nights discussing summer adventures and future plans with my favorite people

Cards Against Humanity, anyone?

13. The season premieres of Supernatural and Grey's Anatomy, and the release of TRXYE

Fangirling will happen

14. Stories from the bestie who is GOING TO ENGLAND

I expect #Sherlocking pics. You clue for those looks, girl.

15. Clubbing

Because cute boys.

16. New experiences

I want to do so much; it isn't even funny.

17. Late night walks to Wendy's

Blaring new music, obviously.

18. New professors

Can you guys top Sassy Professor for most Facebook statuses this semester?

19. Being in that environment

I'll take feminism for a thousand, Alex.

20. Everything else

I'm so ready.


With love,
Laney

Testoderm and Febreze

{via}

There are Testoderm coffee cups and a spray bottle of Febreze in an awful scent on the windowsill in our bathroom. Somehow this perfectly describes our suite and the people that live here and come to hang out. Not that we are impotent, smelly people. Nah, we are just weird. And slapshod. And made of everything needed to keep going on. Or just weird.

Today I said goodbye and hello. Is it odd to say that I have found a new definition of Tarzan's "Two worlds, one family"? Because I have. Pain in leaving one behind is joy in greeting another. I know that I am only two hours away. That I could hop on an Amtrak and be home before dinner. But it doesn't work that way. I have a life here, and it consists of tests and papers and readings and remembering to shower and Testoderm coffee cups.

This is something I have to get used to . . . this letting go. It sounds ridiculous, but when I leave people for long periods of time, I catch them walking in strangers. Talk about them to friends that are here now. Wonder if they're worried. I think social media makes it worse as well as better; possible to talk but never touch. But at least we can talk. And Facebook. And text and email and tweet and Pinterest and Tumblr and YouTube and Snapchat and Facetime. That's something other generations never got. An I love you with a click.

Sending all my 'I love you's from Chapel Hill to the people in Mooresville with clicking the 'Publish' button on this post. All my love from the windowsill and the Febreze and the Testoderm coffee cups.

With love,
Laney

Back to School Thoughts

So in a day I will be in the car on the way back to Chapel Hill, bags packed with Christmas gifts, an empty agenda, and a jumbo box of Whole Grain Cheerios. I’m ready to go back, because I’ve had a very good break, and I can’t wait to hug my friends again and set out on doing better this semester.

See, these past three weeks have been awesome. I worked a lot and made a good deal of money for my college fund. I got to hang out with each of my favorite people—teachers included—sometimes multiple times. I had a calm and enjoyable New Year, and a fantastic Christmas. The Scandal and Supernatural mid-season finales were crazy, and the Sherlock series 3 premiere (AT LONG FREAKING LAST!) was the most perfect reflection of a fandom that I have ever seen on TV. I had long talks with good people, and plenty of time to watch Grey’s Anatomy with a bowl of ice cream and my new favorite sweats. So I’m prepared to go back.

But, I’m scared. I know that I have learned a lot from first semester: what libraries are too easy to fall asleep in, when to stop eating the brownies, how many hours it really takes me to fill out a study guide while reading a chapter, etc. But at the same time, I’m afraid that I will make equally stupid mistakes this time around, and I just can’t afford to do that. Honestly, though, one of my resolutions should be to ask for help more, because I tend to internalize things and assume I’ll figure them out later. Oftentimes I do this, which helps me learn on my own, but there were plenty of days when a Professor or Counselor could have made quick work of a pressing problem, and I should have gone for help. I should have. I will this time, and I am hoping that it makes a big difference.

Beyond the studying, I am hoping desperately that this semester I will not experience the withdrawal I did in the first semester. Not of substances, but of people. The intense missing of everyone back home whom I couldn’t hold anymore would hit me at random: before bed, in the middle of studying, out with friends . . .

I was feeling extremely homesick for the home I had found in other people. The thing is, though, my friends at school were so tender when I was feeling lost, as they often felt similarly, and I have built a home in them, too. It’s funny how the understanding that you are not the only one whose best friend is hours away, whose brother is applying to college, whose favorite people haven’t been seen in months, brings people together. I have so much love for the people at UNC that kept me from breaking down, and having them to go back to will make everything so much better this time around.

And of course, I have missed the Wendy’s and the Krispy Kreme. Very important.

Here’s to a better semester following a lovely winter break.

With love,

Laney

5 Amazing Things I Got to Do in 2013

So the year will be over in exactly four hours and forty minutes, and I'd just like to share some awesome things that have happened this year due to my New Year's resolution from last year:

Say YES more.

I know. I know. I'm a Jim Carey movie. Hear me out, alright?

Last year I decided that being an introvert shouldn't keep me from going out and doing scary/weird/new things. I resolved to say yes to more things (not everything, cuz that just gets Zoey Deschanel mad at you), and as a result, some pretty cool stuff has happened this year. Let's get started.

5. Random Acts Scavenger Hunt of Kindness

So Misha Collins (aka Castiel from the CW's Supernatural) runs this nifty little charity called Random Acts that essentially raises money to spread kindness. On March 10th this year (i.e. the Random Acts Annual Melee of Kindness) my best friend Suzi put together a scavenger hunt in which the goal was to spread as much kindness as possible. Our two teams baked cookies for strangers, left kind notes on random cars, handed out water bottles at the Y, and so much more. And, when I accidentally left my phone on someone's car and thought I had lost it forever, the woman who owned said car drove all the way to Verizon Wireless and turned it in for me.

Karma?

In any event, I was so happy to have been a part of something so fun and special. Thanks Suz!

4. Graduating (Class of 2013!)

Now, I know that graduation wasn't really a 'choice', per say, but saying yes to moving on, to growing up, and to Chapel Hill was a big step for me. This day was incredible, and as much as the weather was predicted to be bad, not once did it rain on our parade :) I got all my last hugs in, gave letters to two incredible teachers that changed my life, and got to spend a week with relatives I hadn't seen in over 7 years. Not bad for the last day of high school.

Suz and I (Photo cred to my dad)

3. Meeting Andrea Gibson

In November I got to see my poetry idol with my suitemate and roommate from Carolina. We hopped on a bus (er . . . two buses) to Durham and stood in a crowd at the Pinhook bar to watch Andrea perform. This is something I never imagined I'd be doing (and loving), but there I was, five feet from this incredible woman and artist, on the verge of tears from how happy I was. After the show she autographed my Yellowbird CD of hers AND we got a picture!

Daww. Yay for crappy iPhone photography!

2. Making New Friends

So this seems like a given, but in college where there are 20,000 other people and lord knows if they're serial killers, making five incredible new besties this semester was huge for me. Max, Alicia, Crystal, Rosie, and Aitza are the absolute best, and I can't wait for many more months of fries and ice cream with these girls.

#turnup #not

1. Poetry Open Mics

This one was HUGE for me. I never thought I'd be reading my own poetry in a completely new format for strangers every month, but that's what I've been doing since September thanks to the UNC Wordsmiths. So far, I've read "Stories", "Breathless" and "Carry On", and I have no words for the incredibly kind feedback in response to my writing. Fantastic young poets and poetry fans alike have told me such nice things, and I have so much gratitude towards Wordsmiths for letting me continue to perform during the open mic portion of their monthly poetry slams. Nothing has helped me improve my confidence and creativity more than this outlet, and I can't wait to start the new year reading at the January slam.

(Photo cred to Will McInerney)

Happy New Year, everyone!

With love,

Laney