Pieces of Me

Starting brand new is a hard thing. Not only am I in a new city, going to a new (much larger) university, and living alone for my first time, but I'm also trying to figure how to balance everything. I want to spend time making new friends, exploring the city, having fun, but I also need to be putting a lot more effort into my studies than I did in undergrad. This isn't to say that I didn't put forth effort in undergrad, I did, I just need to start putting a lot MORE forth now that I'm on a 2-year track straight into my future career.

One of the other things I find I'm putting effort into is making my new apartment well... mine. Every piece of furniture is new to me (nothing is actually new). The space is full of all my things, nothing shared. I go grocery shopping and know there's room in the freezer because the only food in there is mine. I did laundry today and had to make multiple stacks while folding based on which room things belonged in. I've never had this much room to put... things. While this all sounds great and not worthy of complaints, and while I can't complain because I do love my new place, I miss the roommates I had throughout my years at CSB.

I miss coming home from class and sitting and doing nothing with my freshman roommate, perhaps watching "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" on repeat. I miss sophomore year when we we sat in our pathetic excuse for a hallway and talked about nothing, or how I'd come into the room to find "Friends" on in one of the bedrooms, or how it took us until the end of the year to figure out why Kate was always coming home so late on a school night. Junior and senior years it seemed there was always something cooking or someone watching TLC, Project Runway, Top Chef, Survivor, or the Office. There were always 2 who stayed up late and 2 who got up early (until student teaching claimed Ash's social life). There were always guests on the weekends and funny quotes posted on the walls after hosting a party. There were always memories.

Not having that here makes me feel a bit lonely, but I realized there are still pieces of these memories that have followed me. I realized this when I went to pull my supper out of the oven and noticed all the burn marks on my oven mitts from the many times Erik started them on fire. I found some of the recipes I accumulated over the past few years and knew that I'll think of Allison until the end of time every time I bake caramel bars. While moving, I found the witch Sarah gave me that I'll never stop putting out for all of October and November. Half the DVDs I bought I did so to watch with Kendra. I still wear my "MaryAlice and Alyssa Day" t-shirt. I have magnets on my refrigerator that I watched Steph make on the floor in front of the TV. I joined an ultimate frisbee league because after we learned that's what Kate was always up so late playing she asked me to join the team. And sometimes I play Pink's "So What" just to remember the time Ash and I had our own dance party and started running up and down our hall to the song because we didn't have any dance moves left but wanted to keep moving.

Not only have these memories followed me, but they've become pieces of me which I'll never leave behind.

My past roommates are now off on their own adventures in the cities, Duluth, Virginia, Tennessee, Seattle, Denver, Iowa, and North Dakota, and I can only hope that in our future lives we'll still be creating these memories.