Posts Tagged ‘Roommates’

10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Coming to APU:

Megan Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

1. It is really easy to make friends. The major difference between Azusa Pacific and other schools I looked into before applying to colleges is the people. If you try and sit alone at lunch, someone WILL come up to you and ask to sit with you. You have to really make a conscious effort to be lonely and bored. People are always surrounding you and they are the friendliest group of college students you’ll probably ever come across. Stressing out before getting to APU about friendships is unnecessary. All the freshmen are in the same boat, you will make friends faster then you can snap your fingers! Spend some alone time before coming to college… cause it might be a while before you get that again.

Alpha Group Bonding!

Alpha Group Bonding!

2. College is not like High School. The school work is challenging and time-consuming. Busy work is less common and tests and essays are more common. Don’t expect to be able to get off the hook easily and don’t expect for A’s to be easy to come by. Good grades DO take effort in college.

3. Roommates are one of the Best Parts about College. I spent endless hours worrying about what roommate I was going to be randomly assigned to and come to find out she’s the best roommate I could have ever asked for. 99% of my friends are completely happy with their roommate, whether they are now best friends or they just get along well living together. I wouldn’t have spent so much time worrying if I knew the reality of what I was worrying about. Choosing to get a randomly assigned roommate may be out of your comfort zone, but its worth it. Meeting someone new who you live with for a year out of your life is a priceless experience.

Roommate Love.

Roommate Love.

4. Facebook will Destroy your Life. Yes, you heard me. When it comes to homework and Facebook, Facebook always wins.

5. School Pride is Necessary. It is perfectly acceptable to know your school is better then every other school on the planet. It is perfectly acceptable to wear face paint and deck yourself out in the school colors to football games. It is not only perfectly acceptable, it is expected. College is not like high school. In high school there are few school-spirited people, in college- you are PAYING for this education, be proud of your school.

APU PRIDE.

Showing our APU PRIDE during a hall hike.

6. There is Nothing like Mom’s Homecooking. I promise you that no matter what college you end up going to, you will miss homecooked meals. Enjoy them while you can, for as long as you can. Eat the entire plate and lick it while you’re at it. Cafeteria food and fast food restaurants will never, ever compare.

7. Community Bathrooms are Part of the Experience. I remember having horrible visions of having to share bathrooms with 40 other girls. Being here, the bathroom situation is not a big deal at all. There are always open showers and stalls and faucets. It is a good way to see all my hallmates throughout the day and catch up with people while getting ready for class or getting ready to go to bed.

8. Bring Summer, Winter AND Crazy Clothing. Just a couple days ago it was 90 degrees, now its raining. I wasn’t aware this was Florida… but whatever the case make sure you pack a little bit of everything. Even if you live close it is best to just bring everything you might need for Summer and Winter weather.

Also, make sure to pack some random, crazy clothing. Every week each hall has a night that they go to the Cafeteria to eat a family dinner. Every week is a different theme, and there is often other events going on with different themes as well. You want to make sure you have a good variety of crazy outfits in the likely change that you will need it. Its not always easy to run out and buy an outfit for these events. They happen often and you probably won’t want to spent the money on an outfit you’ll only wear once in your life. From cowboys to animals to tie dye, college thrives on making average things UNaverage.

OLD LADIES Themed Hall Dinner

OLD LADIES Themed Hall Dinner

9. Sleep is a Privilege. An average night of sleep is about 5-7 hours for me. Depending on how much homework and studying I have to do, how much I have procrastinated, and how many activities are going on that night. It is hard to really prepare yourself to have less sleep then you are used to in high school, but if it is possible to prepare yourself, do it. In the end though, I like to think that a good college experience and having fun is worth missing sleep over. You aren’t paying for college to sleep a lot right? You’re paying to learn, get a diploma, and have fun.

10. Organization is Key. In order to make sure that you have time for everything and you have your priorities straight, it is absolutely necessary to get a planner or calender of some kind. My planner saves my life. Write everything down that you want to do or need to do and then make sure your priorities are straight on what is necessary for that day. Homework often gets forgotten about and then it is not done until 3AM, you don’t want to be that person falling asleep in class the next day. You are going to want to make sure your homework is done well, you have time for yourself and having fun, and time for God.

Busyness

Kelsey Bjugstad Thursday, February 11th, 2010

Ahh! It’s been such a busy semester! My unit load is the same, but my classes are harder this semester. Harder doesn’t necessarily mean bad though, all of my classes are interesting.  I decided I’d rather take classes that are a little bit harder where I learn a lot than take super easy classes where everything is simple and irrelevant.  Some days I feel like I regret this decision, but in the end I know it’s going to be way more beneficial.

This is especially true for my Christian Life, Faith, and Ministries class. ‘CLFM’ is a required bible class for all undergrad students. My professor warned us the first day of class to drop if we weren’t going to take it seriously and actually do the work. And he repeated that frequently. I’m so glad I stayed though! ‘CLFM’ doesn’t always have the best reputation because it’s a required class, but it really depends on the teacher. Mine makes the class so interesting! Actually, fellow blogger Ellie recommended the class to me :). I know I couldn’t do it justice by talking about everything we are learning about. Let’s just say the class is an hour and half long and I’ll think only 45 minutes have gone by. That is so much better than my three hour classes :).

Speaking of three-hour classes… that could also explain some of my busyness this semester. I planned out my schedule so I would have Fridays off this semester, which I love! The problem with not having Fridays is I have to make it up somewhere. For me, that is 7:30-10:30 Monday and Tuesday nights. I have a Philosophy and Fundamentals of Bio Lecture on those nights.  I’ve never been a big fan of Mondays, but I’ve definitely gained a new dislike for both Mondays and Tuesday. At the same time, my Philosophy professor’s goal is to teach us AND keep us awake and my Bio teacher lets us out a little early, so they are both do-able.  I just need to get some sleep Sunday nights, which doesn’t seem to happen all that often :)

My roommate and I (and another hallmate who often has slept over in our room) often stay up watching movies and TV shows pretty late. She has every episode of Friends, which I’d never really watched before now. We try to keep this habit going only on the weekend… but we sometimes just put it on to go to sleep, knowing we probably will watch the whole thing.  It’s a choice I make though; everyone can decide when they want to sleep.  I love staying up late and can rarely fall sleep before one but it gets hard to get up at eight in the morning.

Another reason I’ve been so busy is that I started working this semester! :) It’s an on-campus job, which is really nice when it comes to days off and finals week.  I also just really enjoy the office I work in, but it’s been a little overwhelming trying to adjust.  Its only 4 and half hours a week… but it starts at 8 in the morning, and that kills me :) On the plus side, I have discovered breakfast in the Caf is amazing. I get up a half hour earlier so I can get breakfast before work. Omelet’s and lucky charms cereal completes me. :)

In light of all of this.. I’ve been having a lot of fun too!!

Last Friday our hall had an event called GYRAD. GYRAD stands for Get Your Roommate A Date. Basically, you get your roommate a surprise date for a fun group date.  A lot of girls went with friends but a few brought their boyfriends too.  We went to Downtown Disney and played a game called  “Are You the Freak I Seek.”  Our RA organized a game where a few APU people dressed up in strange costumes and had passwords for us. The goal was to get all the passwords by finding all of the ‘freaks.’ The catch was that we had to perform a task for each password.

Activities included making giant pyramids, doing the ‘Single Ladies Dance,” introducing yourself to someone you didn’t know, singing Backstreet Boys and even a fake proposal. All of this was in the middle of Downtown Disney. We definitely drew some crowds and made some Disneyland visitors laugh :). It was a lot of fun and a great way to spend a Friday night with the 3rd North girls and their dates.

We are a talented bunch :)

We are a talented bunch :)

Last weekend we had a hall event called ‘Lazy Dayz.’ We all slept in and then our R.A. and R.A.R. (Our resident advisor and her roommate) made us pancakes :) It was nice to have a relaxing day with the girls in my hall. We ended in by dragging pillows, mattresses, and blankets into the Study Room and watching a Chick flick.

This Saturday I attended Mugs and Muffins. Mugs and Muffins is an event for all Trinity girls.  We’ve had two other ones, and everyone has really enjoyed them.  We always start with worship, although I missed most of it because I was running late. Have I mentioned I don’t love mornings? :) Then we have a speaker come. We had an admissions counselor and a science professor, and both had really great stuff to say! There is something about being able to just hang out as girls and talk about God that make getting up early (well… okay, 10:00) so worth it. This time we had the RD of the Shire/Mods. She was so great! She talked about getting through our fears with some great example! :)

Well.. back to the busyness of classes :)

-Kelsey

no place like home.

Ellie Kipps Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

When you are an english literature major, little things like fascinating words and retellings of ancient stories can just about make your day.

When you are a biblical studies major, little things like word studies and new readings of ancient stories can just about make your day.

So now you see why I became both. This semester, like last semester, is already proving to be incredibly daunting and epically exciting. My days are mostly made up of studying intense literature and scripture, dappled with hebrew here and there. And I really could care less what anyone calls me coughnerdcough, I love it. I love school. And any of my readers know that.

But beyond school *I know…. I didn’t quite believe such a thing could exist EITHER!*, I love my home, here at Azusa Pacific University. Way back in my first or second post on this blog, I made a little film showing my roommates. My good friend and last-semester roommate, Rachel, decided that for her the best route was to transfer to another school in order to be educated in a very specific branch of academic: sign language linguistics. So Stephanie and I were curious to see if we’d be getting to get another roommate, and what she’d be like and all that jazz. Turns out we got one! Her name is Michelle and she’s a brilliant theatre major wanting to go into psychology. So our little home is complete again.

And when the days are long (as being a double major, they can often be despite loving what I’m studying), I love love love to just come home to my little apartment and be with my amazing roommates. Living with someone who you wouldn’t, especially when we decided last year to room together, name as your best friend, but a person that you get along with and you just enjoy their company, has been so so so good.

Stephanie and I have grown close in a very different way this past year, and even now I almost feel like our relationship encompasses more than a friendship, because when we meet together in our home there is no pressure to be anything, no need to plan fun activities, or anything. It is just being, studying, cooking, living around each other. We’ve gotten to know the littlest quirks of our personalities and how to laugh about them. We have learned together how we work best, what we need from each other on good and bad days, how to care for one another deeply, but also have our ‘own’ lives. Unspokenly we miss each other, need each other, and actually despite all the little random arguments and frustrations that crop up when you are living in tight quarters with another person, we really like being together. There is no pressure to go out of our way to hang out, but we want to. And that’s just a kind of joy that I’ve never really experienced before.

So some of you may be worried about your dorm assignments for your freshman year, and I’m not going to say that it is perfect. But I can say that you will find your way, that even if your roommate freshman year and you don’t mesh perfectly, you might find that you learn really important lessons from that experience and that maybe your next-dorm room over neighbor will become what Steph and I have become for eachother (Steph was my next door neighbor freshman year, curiously enough :P). And maybe in your sophomore, junior, or senior year, you’ll find yourself standing in your apartment feeling like, for this moment, there really is no place like home.

…and fire…

Ellie Kipps Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Living in community can be challenging from time to time… it can also include amazing events. This event was not one of them. Haha. Just kidding.

Every monday night my Resident Advisor, Josh Pena (who is great), makes a bonfire by the pool in our firepit and puts out music and smores stuff and hot water. It’s really as simple as that. But it’s great fellowship and a chance to meet neighbors. Unfortunately I’m sick currently and being out by the fire made my voice which is kind of gone weird sounding. Check it out:

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Beach Trip

Kelsey Bjugstad Monday, September 21st, 2009

My hall’s awesome RA* (see note below) Megan planned a trip last weekend to celebrate our first week of classes. It was really nice to be able to go somewhere, forget about homework, and most of all, celebrate at the beach!!

About 20 of us piled into cars and took off to Huntington Beach!!

By the time we got there half of the group wanted to go eat but I stayed with the group heading towards the water.

The half that wanted to go straight to the water!

The half that wanted to go straight to the water!

I’m from Northern California and while we have some beautiful beaches, they are usually very cold and windy. Especially because I lived pretty far north. Only brave kids got farther than their ankles in the freezing water and I wasn’t one of them. So the idea of a warm beach was extremely exciting!! It has been a really long time since I’ve been to a warm beach. It was weird to see all of the girls go so far out into the ocean and swim in the huge waves. I’ve been taught never to go above waist level because of the horrible sleeperwaves in NorCal. It was really fun to just hang out in the sun too.

We laid out on the beach for a while and then switched with the other group and ate at BJ’s. BJ’s is a really good restaurant that has delicious deep-dish pizza and Pizookies. Pizookies are huge cookies baked in a deep dish covered with vanilla bean ice cream and they are amazing.  A bunch the girls in the hall are planning a trip to go there (and the beach) soon!

Overall, it was an amazing time to get to know the girls in my hall better, hangout at the beach, and have some amazing food.

Our entire group!

Our entire group!

*Resident Assistant- An upperclassman who is in our hall all year to support, counsel, and love on us.

What a week!

Ellie Kipps Saturday, September 12th, 2009

Hey Blog Readers! It’s Ellie and I’m soooo excited to be back blogging this year talking about the undergrad experience, now from the eyes of a sophomore (which, have you know it… means wise fool… which I might have to write about at a later date). These first few weeks of getting settled in and starting classes have been a whirlwind, but I’ve been so so so blessed with encouraging mentors, challenging and enlivening professors, a RA who basically rocks my socks, and my roommates who, honestly, I almost get choked up about how blessed I feel to have them as the people I share life and a home with for this year. So I made a little video to just show a little bit of my life right now. Sooooo here it goes!

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