Heading into J-term I didn't have many expectations. I figured I'd be studying a lot, sleeping even more, and socializing some. I planned on starting to learn to play the guitar and reading whatever my heart desired. I was going to get updated on the world and American politics-- I figured that since I'm now in a country where I can vote without my name getting on a list that could end up in the wrong hands, I should try to understand what is going on, even if I don't end up voting. I wanted to be super intentional with whichever friends were here, and I planned on setting a good routine.
Its not like none of this happened! I have started to learn to play the guitar again, I have studied.. ish, I've gotten slightly updated on politics, and I'm halfway there to getting a good routine of Jesus, eating, exercising, and studying.. still working on the sleep part. Now my socializing skills have shot off the charts! For the first week and half I slept great at night, took naps, read, and was on my way to getting rested after who knows how many months of being worn out. And then I started hanging out with the friends who like to do stuff at night. Almost only at night, and late at night. I had been hanging out some with a great group of friends who cook together and play games and just hang out, but those nights were usually over by 10.. and then I started getting those calls at 10.. 11 to play music, run to IHOP or some other obscure plan, and my nights started getting longer. And it really helps that I had an 8'clock class with a couple of those goofballs, one of which sat in front of me distracting me as he drew the best drawings of Nazis, monks, and the professor and the other one walked into class 20-40 minutes late every single morning.
When these late nights started up again, I had just figured out my swimming routine-- afternoons, for J-term at least. This of course got ruined and I swam afternoons half the week and nights the other half, and this just confused my whole life. When I got less sleep at night, because I was at IHOP or playing music at Chris' pool house or being creepy with Celia till 2 a.m., I was in great need of naps during the day. Nap time is around 2 p.m., or at least an ideal one is. Problem: that's when I had been planning in swimming. So of course I swam instead of taking naps--big mistake. Not that I regret starting to swim again, but I should've been making sure they were both happening. And the rest of the time I was awake I was studying, cooking, at basketball games, socializing with my sane friends, or sitting in Celia's car talking about everything on the face of the planet. My J-term ended up being far from what I expected. I wasn't getting the sleep I wanted, my routine of what you expect to be the basics of life now was being ruined by facebook messages and calls to play music or eat. My sleep routine was worse now than it had been even in the fall. And that was pretty bad. I can tell you I spent 8 of the last 10 nights at IHOP or Steak and Shake till at least midnight, usually closer to 2.
It probably sounds like I'm whining about how my J-term ended up being. But I loved it. And I hate to say its over. I have to move out of Andersen's apartment and back into the dorm tomorrow, and though I'm so excited to be back with my roommates, I absolutely love the girls in this apartment. I love how if its not full of people, its full of the most unexplainable laughter. And those late nights, I wouldn't give them up. I'm one of those weird people that's willing to give up a little sleep at night--to a healthy degree-- to spend time with friends. Of course I have to take care of myself and make sure I'm getting enough sleep, and that's why I can't keep this up. But for now, it was great. Most of what I "wanted" to happen over J-term didn't, but it was worth it. I set expectations and goals easily for myself, knowing that I will most likely not accomplish them. Maybe I let go of goals like getting rested, reading, and setting routine too easily, but for now it hasn't posed itself as too much of a problem.
I didn't try to take control of J-term and make it what I wanted, I just let it happen.. I said yes and I loved it. I took the initiative on things like Jesus, real food, swimming, and studying, but I just let the rest of it happen. I made some new friends and so many great memories. Spoons, mustaches, optical ...., "I got jokes," HEY, "look at my arms!!!" Just a few of the things that keep me laughing about J-term. Its not like we're all dying with J-term. I'm not that fatalistic, but then again, J-term is over. Back to semi-normal schedules. I probably won't have class with those guys again. None of us will have the same amount of free time or energy, and we won't see each other as often. Of course late nights will happen just as before, but not as often.
And the masses will return. There are maybe a dozen people that I will tackle when I lay eyes on them, but I don't want the crowds in the PAC or the lines in Cobo, or the obnoxious mobs of frat boys. I have loved campus as it was during J-term: quiet, calm, and all mine. I'm a selfish person, I know, but I liked always having a place to put my bike and there always being several comfy seats to choose from in Barefoots and there always being an empty piano room in the Bowld. I loved being able to ride my bike around campus and maybe once having to go around someone. The parking lots and sidewalks were almost always all mine. I could go crazy and no one knew it. I did find myself once or twice riding in a zig-zag pattern singing off key to The Tallest Man on Earth at the top of my lungs. No one was in sight, I felt free. There weren't crowds of people whose eyes were judging me, and I took advantage of that. J-term: when there are less people to think about me, my cackle-esque laughter, and all else that is weird about me. I just decided that that's why I love J-term.
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