Hello again. I usually write my blogs on Monday night and then post them on Tuesday after I get back from weighing in. I decided to write today's blog today mostly because I needed to gather my thoughts on what I was going to write about today. I hope that you enjoy!
Weight Loss Update: I just got home from the Medifast center and have just completed week 8 of my weight loss. I am now down 38 pounds in 56 days. Every month we do a Body Exam to look at my BMI and other things like that. My BMI is down and much of the weight I lost has been pure body fat. I am extremely happy with my progress and hope to continue to work on it. My goal is 87 so if you ever hear me say, "The Road to 87" that is what I am referring to. It is supposed to take me 44 weeks to get to 87 pounds and I am almost halfway there in 8 weeks!
Also, last week I posted that I was going to start the Insanity workout. After doing more reading about the Insanity workout I decided that I need to work my way up to that intense of the workout. I am going to do some other interval training workouts before I start Insanity. If any of you have any workouts that have been working out for you please let me know because I have been trying to find something to start!
Today's topic is my Journey at SJU. My journey started 3.5 years ago and in 2 weeks I will be done taking classes there. It feels like just yesterday that I was taking my campus visit. Saint John's was the only campus that I visited and once I got there I realized that it was where I wanted to be.
My Freshmen Year: I arrived with a truckload of stuff and got set up at my new "home." I met my Freshmen roommate who was Willie Versen. He was a great roommate. We had very different schedules. I would do all my homework during the day while Willie did his in the middle of the night with his friends. I would get up to go to work at Kennedy Community School and he would just be going to bed. Overall Willie was awesome and I am glad to have shared my freshmen experience with him. As far as classes go though, that was a different experience. I came from Senior Year at Rogers where I did the biggest senior slide imaginable. I make the joke that I did more homework in my first two weeks at SJU than I did my whole senior year but it might actually be close. The first couple of weeks at SJU kicked my butt. I dropped Calculus and thought that I had failed college. I was skipping class just because I could and highly considered transferring to the University of Minnesota to pursue journalism (For those of you who don't know, I love journalism and love to write as well.) I decided to stick out my freshmen year at SJU and it turned out to be the best decision of my life. I met some amazing people who I will call my friends for the rest of my life.
Sophomore year: Sophomore year was a completely different experience. I decided to live with Sam. Sam is my best friend and so I knew living with him was going to be a great time. I was dating Cassidy and still was poor (like all college students) so I was going home on the weekends to work and see Cassidy. Even now I barely ever drink. The one negative to not being at SJU on the weekends was the social aspect. I felt like I knew no one. I felt out of place. The good thing was that my classes were great. I was really enjoying my major and everyone in my classes. I made all my friends through my classes since I knew that I wouldn't be making them on parties on the weekends. Sophomore year was also the hardest year of my life. The night we lost Megan was the worst night of my life. I tried to go to class the next day but left halfway through. I emailed my teachers and gave myself the week off. For those of you who go to college, you know that taking a week off of school and trying to catch up is extremely difficult. I kept constant contact with my professors who were beyond amazing with understanding my situation and helping me out. They allowed me to makeup everything and keep me on track. It was then that I knew I made the right choice to attend SJU and to stay there through everything. When I got back on my feet Sam and I got an offer to move in with Sam's freshmen roommate Andrew and some of Andrew's golf buddies. Now I knew who they were but I barely knew anything about them. We decided to accept the offer and move in to the town homes for Junior year. I didn't know it then but it ended up being one of the best decisions I ever made.
Junior Year: Newly 21 with a new outlook on life I moved into the town homes in August of 2012. I still barely knew Andrew, Dom, or Tommy but I felt right at home. It was a whole new experience too. No more sharing rooms in the dorms and sharing a bathroom with 20 other guys. No more RA's (we had them but they were our neighbors and loved us). Nobody to watch over us, but us. The year at the townhouses was crazy. Being 21, going to the bar was a new experience. Sam and I were 21 the whole year so as we went to the bar more and more people started turning 21 and joining us. I was finally starting to meet some of these people that I never met on the weekends my first two years. These people didn't just become drinking buddies, they became friends outside of the bar. We did homework together in the library and went out for coffee. The roommates and I pulled pranks on each other and became more like brothers than anything. We played video games and watched sports. We argued like brothers but forgave each other 2 seconds later. I had the time of my life. I valued my time a lot more at school and decided to spend many more weekends at SJU, even though I would still come home more than most people. The roommates also accepted Cassidy like she was a part of the 446 family. Even today they talk about her all the time and it meant the world to me that they enjoyed hanging out with her and that she was accepted as one of us when she came to visit. Junior year was the best year of my college experience.
So here we are, Senior Year. I am writing this from Rogers because I now commute to school as many of you know. Once this semester is over I will be student teaching in the Monticello School District. This semester has been crazy. 22 credits was a lot to handle but I knew that living at home was going to help me focus more on my studies. Some days I leave for school at 8 and don't get back until 10:30 that night. It has been a crazy experience but I have loved every second of it. My favorite day of the semester so far was Tommie/Johnnie game. Johnnies FINALLY beat the Tommies in football and we got to storm the field. Storming the field and having an experience like that has always been on my bucket list so I was glad that I got to cross that off.
So for every professor and student at CSB/SJU I want to thank you. Thank you for making my college experience so great. Thanks for helping me through my classes and for being my friend. Thanks for holding the door open for me and giving me a smile as you walk by. It is people like you that let me know that I will be successful when we all graduate in May. I don't have time to list everyone but you know who you are. Whether we had a conversation at the bar or you were in one of my classes I love you all. I can't wait to see where the future take us all.
If you made it this far on my blog congratulations! This has taking me forever to write and I know it got a little wordy. I haven't decided on the topic for next week yet but when I know you will know.
Today is December 3rd. Don't wait a month to start a "New Year's Resolution" Get started today and get a head start on your goals. I used to keep pushing mine off but look at me now :)
Thanks for reading, you all mean the world to me.
-J-
