Today is the 3-year anniversary of the day that Alex and I got engaged.  :)  Just thought you might like to know.  

SO.  I have officially completed my first week of "College: Round Two."  It has been quite a week. 

I am already finding myself sleep-deprived due to my staying up until 3am doing homework and then attending classes at 9am, but I'm also quickly adjusting to my new schedule and learning to manage my time more effectively.  I'm not confident that I'm going to be able to handle working, as well, but that remains to be seen.

I've found over the past week that I need to be much stronger, physically, to succeed here.  I got winded just walking up the stairs one day (it was 4 flights, but that's still no excuse), I hurt my wrist playing a game in class another day, and yesterday we did an exercise in my Acting class where we had to use our ab muscles, and I started shaking like a leaf--it was so embarrassing, and today I can really feel the effects.  I'm such a wuss anymore, ever since I moved here and stopped hiking and running and lifting weights every day, and I definitely need to get back into a regimen of working out again, STAT.

I'm also finding that I'm much more shy than I ever realized, for some reason.  Starting classes in the second semester of the year is proving to be an additional obstacle to this end, as most of the students in my classes already know each other, and honestly, they haven't been incredibly welcoming thus far.  I know it's just gonna take some time, but I'm worried that they might be even more distant when they find out how old I am...  Most of my classmates are 18 and 19 years old, and just yesterday I overheard a conversation where a few students were talking trash about one of their classmates.  They were saying how she had been complaining about being older, because she was 22.  And one kid said, "Oh, she's 22?  That's not that bad.  I thought you were gonna say she was like, twenty-FIVE or something!"  And they all proceeded to bust up laughing, like 25 is so OLD!  Heh.  Won't they be surprised when I come into class on my birthday next week and I tell them I'm turning 30!  Heh.

I have made a decision, though.  I really just don't care!  I was sitting quietly in my Theatre Movement class yesterday and all of a sudden I came to the realization that I am here for such a short time, and I am paying to be in these classes (like, a lot), and I vowed to myself that I am going to get as much out of this experience as I possibly can.  I have no reason to be shy and I refuse to be intimidated, and I'm going to speak up, bust my butt, and learn as much as I can possibly stuff into this little brain of mine over the next 3 semesters. 

Now if I can just figure out how to get Alex to clean the house, I'll be all set!  :p 

xo.