Stop. Continue. Start.

Hello my loyal followers! OH wait, I don't have any. Greetings Merrill and Marissa and 2 other people!(: I know you're super eager to hear what I have to say this week. (Haha.) Drumroll please. Okay that's enough. I was kidding, you know. I like to be sarcastic. Anyway.

The main thing I want to stop doing is eating at Gibbes. Just kidding. Maybe. Not really. Let's be real, Gibbes let me down every time. But it's so conveniently close! So realistically, will I keep going back? Yes. Dammit Gibbes. You mock me.

The REAL thing I want to stop doing is procrastinating. Shocker, right? I know, novel stuff. But on the real, procrastinating is a legitimate battle. Here's a glimpse of an assignment period in the life of Jo:

Step 1. Give self false hope that I can successfully complete an assignment in one day, or in only a few sittings.
Step 2. Proceed to procrastinate on said assignment.
Step 3. Realize I fucked up after it's already too late.
Step 4. Cram.
Step 5. Soft sob.
Step 6. "I'm never doing this again."
Step 7. Repeat.

Or, an alternative assignment period mapped out by an example:

Young Jo has two assignments. She has a super fun photography project due in a week, and an incredibly tiresome essay due tomorrow. Guess which one she chooses to work on?

So, as you can see, my life is a constant cycle of doing next to nothing and then doing everything in a period of like two days, or of putting my priorities in the wrong order. Ideally I'll stop doing this so I don't start getting grey hairs before I'm 30. In actuality, will I ever be that person that's always prepared and then some days before assignments are due? Probably not. But there is a happy medium.

-A slight disclaimer that while I do procrastinate often, I have it down to a science and manage to get overall solid grades while always completing my work. My success with procrastinating doesn't help towards the cause of me ceasing to do it.-

The main thing I want to continue doing is going to RUF and its peripheral events. I love the people there, and am already forming great friendships with tons of them. They also talk about faith in a way completely contrasting what I grew up with, and it's really refreshing. I feel like I grow a lot as a person by being involved with them.

I'm also playing and singing (yikes) with their band tonight for the first time, which was decided last night because they needed another person. (I'd never played with them before, or even practiced with them for that matter.) Wish me luck!

And last but not least, the thing I want to start doing is writing (for more explanation refer to personal challenge idea). Okay, technically, I started writing two days ago, but I want to actually start writing. And keeping up with it. And enjoying it while I'm at it. I know I've scarcely begun my composition, but I can already tell I'll enjoy doing it if I allow myself to enjoy it. I might even incorporate photography into the project, because it could both visualize my ideas and give me something I LOVE doing to add to it and look forward to.

The selfie(s) that best describe my week technically happened last week during my time at home as a refugee from the floodpocalypse, but the blog got pushed back so I'm sharing them now. I have to share two for you to get the full effect.

These selfies were taken from the FRONT ROW OF FURY. AT SCAROWINDS. Yes, you read that right. Front row of the tallest and fastest giga coaster in the world. So basically, in other words, I have peaked. My life has hit its prime.




This is the before picture. Notice the utter dumbfounded joy. Also notice how soaking wet we are. It rained the entire first hour we were there. (Disclaimer: don't ride a rollercoaster in the rain. It feels like bullets.) Also my sister photobombed.(:

This is the after. Notice how totally and completely awestruck my friend Ben is. Also, though it's hard to tell, we were completely dry by this time.


After we got off the ride, I saw a guy in a squid hat and said "I love your squid hat!!" as he walked by. He yelled back, "I love you!!" Then, a few more steps forward, I looked down and found 10 whole dollars on the ground! The entire night was just fan-freaking-tastic.

A Young Jo Infiltrates the Campus

I've been connecting with the Carolina community since I got here. It started off with little things, like going to meals with people I didn't know, to getting to know the students in my classes. But things really kicked off when I brought out my guitar.

I've played guitar since I was 7. I started because my Dad "wanted me to have musical influence," aka  forced me to. But I kept playing because I loved it.

Anyway, I brought my guitar here. It's sort of my safety blanket. I can play it and if I'm going through something I see the most clarity while I'm playing and singing. But when I got here, I was nervous to rake out the guitar. It's kind of a vulnerable thing, to play in front of people. Especially for me, since I'm bad at expressing when I'm upset, so I express it through music. On top of that, I wasn't confident in my ability, or in my voice. So, I hesitated because people were always around. Always. Whether it was the roommate or people down the hall, there would always be people to listen.

But, as the days went on, I wanted more and more to play. And I decided I needed to get over the fact that people would hear me, because privacy lacks heavily in college. So, one day, I started to play. I forced myself to leave the door open. Tons of people stopped by, and said I sounded great, or made these adoring faces as I walked by. My RM poked her head in on that first day and exclaimed, "I thought you were a radio!" Anyway, with all of these people coming by, I learned of other people that love music. My (now) friend Jon came in and jumped in on a duet with me, and it was one of the most fulfilling moments I've ever experienced. Since then, I haven't turned back.

One night, there ended up being about 15 people in my room listening to the sound of my guitar and the voices of me, Jon, and a girl I had just met harmonizing. The musical effect was tangible, and I loved it. Simply leaving the door open while I played had opened me to getting to know all of these amazing people through music. So, I expanded. I'll bring my guitar out to play on the horseshoe, and I've met tons of cool people simply by immersing myself into the campus rather than hiding behind a closed dorm room door while the roomie's away.

Then came the org fair. I knew I wanted to sing. I saw the Cockapellas table, and they seemed perfect. I found the perfect song, and I even practiced in front of people. Then came auditions. They loved me, and a guy even ran up and high-fived me after I finished my audition. But, there were a lot of people. So many talented voices. So, a few girls and I exchanged numbers so we could get together in case it didn't work out. We all heard back the next day, and it turned out none of us had even made callbacks. Out of sheer what-the-hellidness, I got an idea. I emailed Cockapella, and asked if there were any way I could contact others that didn't make it, to expand our group and just have some cool people to get together and sing with.

I expected maybe one or two replies once the email was sent out, if any. But now Awkapella, which is our temporary name, is a solid 17 members strong. Originally, I thought there'd just be a group of about 5 of us to hang out and sing every now and then. But, that's hard to do with 17 people, and it's hard to find a place we can all meet and sing. So, we're becoming our own club. And I guess I'm one of the leaders of it.

Outside of music, I knew I wanted a church group. At first I tried the Shack, and they were nice people, so I went for a few weeks. But I never felt like that was my home. Then my friend (or you know, girl I'd met a few weeks ago but the future looked bright) introduced me to RUF. I went to worship one night, and I knew I'd found where I needed to be. That week, they had retreat sign-ups. I hardly knew them, but I figured that'd be a good place to start. Why not. So I went. And I had a blast. And as if I didn't already feel at home enough, they played "Rivers and Roads" (my spirit song, essentially) before worship one night, and it was like the final shove telling me this was home. On top of that, we had the world's best ever sober dance party the last night. There was no going back.

Since then, I've kept attending RUF. The people are great, and I've met some amazing friends. I also go to Freshman small group on Thursdays now, where I get my fill of puppy love with the gigantic mound of affection, Bentley. (He's an 11-month old St. Bernard that's good as gold.) Beyond that and Awkapella kicking off, I do really want to go to Carolina Productions. But I've been super busy with the beginning of the year, and new members can join anytime. So there's no rush. However, though I've been busy, I don't think I'm over-committed. (The hectic-ness of the now comes from being a freshman and still figuring out the ways of college.) After weeks of sampling clubs and groups and churches, I think I've finally found my fit.

Beyond the USC community, I feel like I've even connected to the broader Carolina community of Columbia. My photography takes me all sorts of places, and I've traveled into the ghetto more than once by myself and come out to tell the tale. This might not be the best life choice, but I've gotten awesome shots from doing it, and met nice people from all walks of life. You never know what'll happen if you travel to Where the Sidewalk Ends. (I mean this both figuratively and literally. On my last adventure, I ended up so far out I just had to walk along the edge of the road.)

So. Do I feel like I've done enough to become a part of this community? Most definitely. When you get to the point when you can be excited to see people you know many times a day on a campus this size, I think you're set. All it really takes is putting yourself out there, and leaving the door open.

The selfie that best describes my week is:

This best describes my week because I'm with my camera, which is an accurate depiction of me basically all the time, and because I've been trying to look at the world from a new angle and a new perspective.




A bonus selfie:

BECAUSE BENTLEY. <3

Clearly I'm New Here

This blog is purely for a University 101 (aka How To College) class in my first semester at University at South Carolina. If you stumbled across this while looking for something remotely interesting, I apologize. However, if you find the completely and utterly freshman-ness of this blog humorous, feel free to stick around.

A quick description of me: my name is Jo, I'm obviously a freshman at USC, I love to laugh, and I expect the unexpected. (As you probably should with this blog.)

Let's kick this off with Three Things I Expect to Challenge Me This Semester. (Keep in mind I'm picking a top 3 out of an estimated 129,563,702.)

1. Walking.
This challenge has many different angles. The first reason it'll challenge me: I have a piece of crap    ankle. Slipped and fell on a hill, broke 2 bones and tore 2 ligaments, had physical therapy for a year. Fun times. Moral of the story-- still don't have prime flexibility, and I look like an 80-year-old man when I hobble out of bed in the morning before my ankle gets going, or if I have been walking for extended periods of time. So I will literally be struggling with all of the walking physically. (The more, the sore.)
I will also struggle with all of the walking in not the action, but where it's taking me. I hardly know my way around campus, let alone Columbia. So will I get lost? Most definitely. Have I already? Certainly. Why? Because I'm a freshman. Shall I scream it from the rooftops? I AM A FRESHMAN AND I DON'T KNOW WHERE I'M GOING OR WHAT I'M DOING. Which is completely normal and expected. Upperclassmen still expect us to have some magical mind GPS so we always know where we're going, though.
The last way I'll struggle with walking is timing. Even if stuff seems close, it can take a while to get to on foot. (I learned that one day on an "exploration of Columbia" that ended up taking over 4 hours and gained my friends and I 8.5 miles for our walking quota of the day.) So, properly timing when I need to leave to get to class or anything could definitely take some trial and error.

2. Blackboard.
Honestly why professors on the first day all expected us to know how to use Blackboard and upload assignments is beyond me. Learning how to use it and remembering to check it (lots of reading assignments I should've done already and didn't, whoops) has already proven to be a struggle. Hopefully I'll get my life together so this challenge won't become a persistent issue.

3. Procrastinating.
On a scale of 1 to cliche, clearly this challenge's level of basic-ness is off the charts to the infinite degree. But it's true! It's hard to sit yourself down and lie to yourself that you willingly want to read a textbook about horned ants and wonder cabinets other than going to a party with your friends, or Midnight Marble Slab, or just about anything else. But, if I don't study or do the assignments, or wait too long to start them, it'll definitely start to show once grades start rolling in and exams start climbing in my window and snatching my free time up. If I don't let procrastinating get the best of me, I can still have a good time and get decent grades and not have my head explode while I'm at it.


With all of those challenges, I have a lot of questions to go with them. One question I hope to have answered by the end of the semester is "How much beer can I drink and not walk like a noodle?" Totally kidding.  I want to have answered where my favorite places to go in Columbia are. I'm not talking night clubs or anything. I'm talking museums, outdoor activities, stores, attractions, etc. And I'm going to answer that question by doing a hell of a lot of exploring and going places with friends. My current exploring plans include taking on Main Street, floating down the river in a tube, and doing a self-guided (and self-invented) tour of graffiti in Columbia. I actually plan to go this Saturday, because the rain will make it that much more fun, and as an added bonus I could wear my new rain boots. (They have whales on them!!)

And last but not least, a selfie that describes my week:

Why does this describe my week?
A.) The lovely human pictured with me is my fabulous sister who I was very excited to get to visit this past weekend.
B.) The awkward soft smiles just encompass the awkwardness of this week: Got lost many times in many places, got caught in a downpour, got locked out of the bathroom for a solid 12 hours by our suite mates... I could go on to write another whole blog.
C.) Although SO MUCH did not go to plan this week, my face summarizes my reaction to all of it: comfortably numb.




I'll leave you, people of the internet, with this: Freshman year is awkward. Life is awkward. Embrace it.