Anticipating College {A Guest Post by Meg}

I have been home for a week now and I'm still jetlagged! I've been waking up super early every morning and it hasn't helped that I haven't really given myself a day to veg out and push myself back into a routine of normalcy.

It turns out my family left my boxes from college in a corner of the house and when I arrived back at the house, one of the first things my mom told me was "You really should start going through all of your stuff"! Well, I've been making my way through the boxes, figuring out what to sell, donate, keep at home, and what will be coming back with me in just around six weeks.

Six. Weeks. That sounds absolutely crazy to me! I am definitely excited to go back down to Tempe and be with my friends (and be busy!) again, but as I started on my school supplies box, I realized I'm a bit nervous about the next semester.

Meg, who blogs over at The Audacious Queen, has some similar feelings about anticipating the start of this new chapter of her life! I am thrilled for her to be guest posting here on TSP - we've actually been pen pals for a while!

The Audacious Queen is mainly a fashion blog, where Meg posts everything from outfits of the day to some of her favorite trends and great shopping discoveries. She also occasionally sprinkles in an opinion/lifestyle piece! Meg's blog is super cute and classy, so y'all should definitely go check it out!

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Hello everyone! My name is Meg, and I'm the one behind the blog The Audacious Queen. I'm so excited that Mikkaela asked me to guest post for her blog! I love getting the emails saying a new post is up. She's one of the first blogs I started reading, and one of the first blogger friends I made. We actually met through a pen pal program, and I've been so lucky to be able to talk to her and get blogging tips, as well as share anything I've learned over the past few months!

Today though, I'm going to talk about college and the excitement of something new. I just finished my senior year in high school, and graduated last week. In the fall I will be a freshman at Baylor University and I cannot even begin to contain my excitement! I've known since December that this was where I was going to go, so as you can imagine, these past few months have been going by super slow.

However, as I sat through my graduation ceremony last week and watched my fellow 450 classmates go receive their diplomas, it really hit me that I may never see most of these kids again. That was the first time that I really got emotional about graduating. Walking off the football field of my high school and pulling out of the parking lot was pretty sad, because I realized that I'm a high school graduate.

When I woke up the next morning, I sat in bed for a while and thought about the fact that my primary school education is done. I don't ever have to deal with anything high school related again. The drama, the people, it's all in the past. I don't have to try and hang out with the same people I've been tied to for the past four years, and some for even longer. It's scary to know that many relationships will dwindle as this summer goes on, but also exciting because with college comes new friendships.

I'm going to orientation in less than a week and I'm looking forward to that. I'll get to make my class schedule, see my actual dorm room, and meet many of my future classmates. College brings upon the unknown but I really think it's something I'm ready for. So many fellow adults in my life have offered similar advice; take advantage of everything. How many other times in your life do you get to be completely independent but yet in control of your responsibilities? You make your own schedule and decide how to spend your time and what activities you want to take part in, but it's not as serious as the work world, because in college it's your own time you're operating on.

It's also a time to create yourself. You pick your friends and how you want to be defined as. There's nothing holding you back from trying anything new, and I didn't realize how true that was until now that I'm a graduate. There are already people that I used to talk to every day that have disappeared from my life, and that's okay because it makes room for new friends that will want to stay. It really is the beginning of your life, they all say, so do what makes you happy. That doesn't necessarily mean that it will be easy for me to go halfway across the country and leave behind everything that I've grown so comfortable to. But, like my parents told me in comfort, I've been growing wings for the past 17 years so it's time to put them to use.

As I embark on my journey of freshman year, there will definitely be times of ups and downs, tears of joy and tears of laughter, and pictures I'll want to keep forever and some that no filter can fix. I'm looking forward to this new experience, and I'm excited to use every advantage that I have over the course of the next year. Like high school, it's what you make of it. So for any of you reading that are about to begin something new, whether it be a school year or a job, or even going out with a new group of friends, I'll tell you what I've been told countless times over the past week.

Welcome everything with an open heart and an open mind, because you can only make a first impression once. Don't be too judgemental of anything and always flash your million dollar smile. Be excited, my friends. Be excited and positive.

Xoxo

Meg

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Great post! My freshman year was amazing and I'm so excited to start the next one! Are you gearing up for school in the Fall?