Top 20 Moments of Semester #1 at UW-La Crosse

The last three and a half months have been full of adventure. After starting life at a new school surrounded by new people, new professors, new experiences, and new opportunities, I've experienced a lot of "moments." I have compiled a list of moments which may be experiences, realizations, or accomplishments to sum up what my life has been like during my first semester at a new college.

Here we go:

1. Knowing that I would do things EXACTLY the same if given the chance to rewind to September of 2007 and start over.

2. Loving the fact that I only came in contact with 9 smokers while making my way around campus the entire semester.

3. Being taken out by a skateboarder--I broke my arm. Yes, skateboarding is the way to get around at UW-La Crosse. The sidewalks can be a scary place. Okay, I was kidding about the whole breaking my arm part.

4. Spending $101.25 on a calculator and realizing it was worth every penny.

5. Receiving a 94% on my third statistics exam.

6. Receiving a 99% on my fourth statistics exam, which was the highest in the class.

7. Passing my statistics class with not only an expected C, but an AB! If I put my mind to something, I can accomplish anything.

8. Deciding that I will have no career that has anything to do with statistics, despite the fact that I do actually know what I am doing.

(Side note: statistics was the biggest pain in my you-know-what all semester)

9. Being reminded once again that in life, there are no coincidences; I made an immeasurably beneficial resource on campus the second week of the semester.

10. Developing a highly effective and routine study schedule.

11. Being completely surprised by how different people can act two hours south of where I formerly went to school. That's right, people are not always that friendly.

12. Falling madly in love with The Rec.

13. Realizing I spend more time in the library than my own bed.

14. Deciding that I will not decide what I want to do with my life until I absolutely have to.

15. Getting offered an internship on the spot at a place I was applying to volunteer for.

16. Staring to volunteer every week doing something I love.

17. Having a person dressed as a gorilla and a person dressed as a banana run through my music lecture two days before Halloween.

18. Being asked to TA a class by my professor for next semester. UW-La Crosse started to feel like home for me that day.

19. Deciding that it is okay to not work as often as I would like.

20. Keeping the weight I lost over the summer off, yay me!

Despite many hardships over the past three and a half months, transferring has been the best decision I could have ever made. I am incredibly thankful for how much my life has fallen into place and how many opportunities I have had presented to me. I chose to focus on the more positive moments of the semester because when I look back, I do not want to think about all the struggles that I endured during this time in my life.

Give Thanks Everyday

Thanksgiving is the one day every year that people give thanks. They appreciate what they have rather than spend a day thinking of things they do not have. On this one day of every year we give thanks, we are grateful, and we appreciate the things we have.

Call me crazy, but why do we not do this every day? This summer, I added something to my daily routine. Every single night before I go to bed, I count three things I am thankful for. It could be something as simple as having a good day or getting a good grade on an exam. But...I would say 99 percent of the time, I am thankful for my family and friends. I can honestly say that this one part of my daily routine has made me a happier person. Instead of focusing on the things that I want that I think I need or how life could be better--I focus on the things I have and how great life is.

One of my favorite quotes is:

"The most important things in life are not things."

Here is what I am thankful for:

1. A God who loves me unconditionally no matter what.

2. A supportive, encouraging, and wonderful family: parents who will do anything for me, a brother who is passionate about life, and a niece who brings constant laughter to a room full of people.

3. Incredible, wonderful, amazing, beautiful, caring, thoughtful, and compassionate friends.

4. Two horses that are happy to see me no matter what type of mood I am in.

5. A safe place to call home.

6. My dog who always makes me smile.

7. College that is giving me not only a great education, but also sleep deprivation.

8. My health, mind, and body.

9. Living in a world that is surrounded by so much beauty.

10. My passions, talents, and hobbies.

Today, give thanks and be grateful. Let today be the first day of a new habit. Give thanks and be grateful everyday. Happy Thanksgiving!

Leave a Piece of You

Wouldn't it be amazing if every person we met we were able to leave a piece of "us" with them?

Think about it for just a second. How are you making personal connections with those whom you come in contact with? I am not talking about friends and families either.

I'm talking about strangers.

I'm talking about acquaintances.

I'm talking about the people you'll never see again in your life.

Have you ever met someone that impacted your like in a way in which you felt compelled to tell others about this person/experience? Maybe you had a really neat cashier who inspired your day. Or maybe someone you meet randomly shared a personal story with you. Perhaps, you interacted with a stranger who made you smile. Whatever the case may be, ask yourself this: How can you make yourself be the person that other people share stories about because you impacted their life?

Here is my point: 1) Strive to leave a piece of you with everyone you meet; 2) Never be afraid to make personal connections with strangers; 3) Be you, be real.

I had a really neat experience while I was waitressing one evening. The reason it stands out to me as much as it does is because one of my best friends, Jessica, told me that she absolutely loves how I am never afraid to make personal connections with people after I had told her the story. It was not until she gave me that compliment that I really started to appreciate this skill in myself.

It was a really busy Friday night and I had a table of 6 "older" people come in. My immediate reaction was, "Great, I'm going to work super hard for them and get a bad tip because older people are not good tippers." Once I greeted them and got them beverages, they told me they were celebrating a birthday and that I would need to bring them ice cream and a knife to cut their cake. All I could think at this point was, "Great, now they are going to sit for a while, take up my table, make me do extra work, and I'll still get a bad tip." Regardless of what was all going through my head, I put on a positive attitude and embraced what my job was, and that is: to be a good waitress no matter what or who I am dealing with.

As the night carried along, these people were absolutely fabulous customers. They were fun, wanted to know about me outside of being a waitress, laughed at my corny jokes, cracked jokes with me, and sincerely appreciated the work I was doing for them (which does not happen that often with this job). Once they began eating cake, I asked the lady celebrating her birthday if I could ask how old she was. She told me she was 93. I told her how amazing that was and told the entire table about a 12-year old girl who was tragically killed just days before. Half of the table was from the local area, half was from out of town and were shocked by the news of the story I had just shared with them. When I finished my story, I looked at the woman celebrating her birthday and said, "I view growing old as a privilege and I think it is amazing that you are out celebrating your 93rd birthday because it really is remarkable. Not everyone will be able to say they did that; no one knows if they will have the privilege of saying that." The entire table gasped at what I said and told me that I was "one special young lady." As I parted ways with this table who celebrated a wonderful birthday, they told me how I was a phenomenal waitress, mature for my age, that I would go far in life, and how I had made their birthday celebration that night extra special and one they would never forget.

This experience for me was unique and emotional and as the table was leaving, I found myself thinking, "I do not want them to leave, I wish they would stay the whole night so I could get to know them more." One of the ladies came up to me, gave me a big hug and thanked me again for making their celebration so special. This table made me love being a waitress and if everyone treated waitresses the way they treated me that night, I would not even want tips. They did leave me an incredibly large tip, but I would not have cared if they left me anything. That table felt like family to me. They left just as big of an impact on me as I had made on them. That night was no about making money to me, it was about impacting people and having people impact me.

Life is all about making not only an impression, but an impact. We should all strive to build these remarkable connections with people as we go throughout our daily lives. If we do this, we will have great days everyday, feel better about ourselves, and make a difference in the lives of those around us.

Working in Small Groups

In college, I have had the opportunity to work in groups. I think it is fair to say that I am not the only person who has had to do this. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch has a short list of simple guidelines to follow when working in small groups. I found it useful, and I am sure that many others might find it useful as well.

1. Meet people properly

2. Find things you have in common

3. Try for optimal meeting conditions

4. Let everyone talk

5. Check egos at the door

6. Praise each other

7. Phrase alternatives as questions

It is a short and simple list. Hopefully many people begin to use it.

What I've Learned About Life in 22 Years

About three weeks ago, I celebrated my 22nd birthday. I have had a lot of life events occur recently that have made me realize that I have learned quite a bit about life in the last 22 years. In honor of my birthday, here is a list of 22 things I have learned. My list is slightly longer than 22 lessons, but these were my most favorite. Here is the list in no particular order. Except the first one definitely is my number one.

1. Life is better when your top priorities are: God, family, and friends.

2. Never regret. Chalk up all "mistakes" as a learning experience and be more careful next time.

3. Don't ever by afraid to start over. Embrace, cherish, and use your God-given talents.

4. "Love all, trust few, do wrong to no one." --Shakespeare

5. Be nice to everyone--always, no matter what. You never know what types of struggles or needs a person may have.

6. Don't complain. It only makes the situation that much worse and does not solve the problem.

7. Be early and show up to everything. This is your life.

8. People are capable of bad things; even people you know and trust.

9. Take risks and embrace the outcomes.

10. Every choice has a consequence--some positive, some negative. If it is negative, don't make the choice. Or, if you can't accept the consequence, don't make the choice.

11. People are going to let you down a lot in life. Don't be the one letting others down.

12. Life gets better. If you're young and reading this...trust me. It gets better.

13. Respect those who serve you.

14. When you find that one friend who knows ANYTHING and EVERYTHING about you and loves you anyways--hold onto them.

15. If you want friends, be a friend. Friendship is a two-way street.

16. Growing up is a privilege.

17. Don't give into peer pressure. You'll respect yourself a lot more later in life because you had the backbone to say "no."

18. If you don't want anyone to know...don't do it.

19. Asking for help is a sign of strength.

20. If a friend walks out when you've made a mistake they were not your friend to begin with.

21. Take care of yourself: get sleep, eat right, exercise, keep your mind and body healthy. We only have one shot at life. Live it healthy.

22. When we endure something tough, our character and self-esteem are strengthened.