something to look forward to.

This week is the last week till my first major break from school, a.k.a Fall break

(my favorite season of them all)

This past weekend some of my hall mates from Freshmen Leadership and I were asked to take part in this photo session for student life on campus. We went to the top of the Blue Ridge Parkway, had a picnic and took part in a little photo shoot, what made this evening so amazing was not only spending time with some great people but the fact that after a little hike up, I was able to look over the mountains and stare at the sunset. 

Enjoy some of the awesome photos!

I'm in my second home at school, the lovely Starbucks studying for my first big test in Communication Disorders. I'm admitting this, college is so hard.

I am finding comfort in this iced coffee, Ben Rector music, phone calls with my momma, Grayson's 16th Birthday Wednesday, football games with Daddy, and the fact I get to see my best friend Sarah McGlynn. All of this is happening or will soon happen in the next couple of days.

Thank you lord for upcoming fall break, conversations with friends, coffee, and sweet sweet Ben Rector.

Happy Monday- 

I am weak.

I looked though my photos today from my experience in Colorado a year ago. sitting next to me was one of my friends and she looked at the photos and said to me "Sydney you look so different", in what way I asked; She said to me "You look happy there". Its Eleven at night and I am sitting in Starbucks trying to study but the one thing on my heart is the words "You look happy there", like what? 

I am unhappy, because I know I am not the person I used to be. A year ago I was the happiest I had ever been because I was surrounded with people who loved the lord, wanted to know me for me, cared to hear my stories and who honestly saw me how the Lord saw me, as a daughter of the King. When I think of that time in Colorado I think of that as the real world, how the world should be, and the world outside of my time there as a fantasy world, that I am stuck in.

I strived my whole life to be this person who was perfect in every single way. I strived to be the best sister, daughter, niece, granddaughter and friend. What I found was that I wasn't perfect in any way. The one thing that has made me who I am through my whole life was Jesus. 

I am being honest in saying that I want to have that hunger and thirst for the Lord that I had. Before I left for college I was mad at the world, lost some of the best friendships I had, took my anger out on my parents with words, and would think to myself, "I can't wait to leave". I take those words back because what I have found in the past month that I have been away, is that I am weak.

I have learned a lot about myself in these past weeks and especially in the last couple of days that I want people to see Jesus through me and know that I am a daughter of the King. I have not shown that lately and I hate myself for that because if Jesus could come here and die for me, shouldn't I live for him? YES.  

Whee Football. Lookout. and a little Snuggling

pumpkin spice lattes, flannel shirts, my birthday (cough cough.. October 21), and the leaves changing colors are what make Fall my favorite time of the year. BUT, what makes Fall the best is The Boys of Fall a.k.a Football Season.

This past weekend was the first home game in the Whee, and football season started off right. My long time friend John came for the weekend and went to the game with me and my friends, it was so great to catch up on everything that has happened in the two years since I have seen him.

I have had many great college weekends so far, but I am not gonna lie when I say that this weekend was AMAZING and UNFORGETTABLE. On Friday night John came from Tennessee spend the weekend and I had the chance to show him around the Whee, we went to Starbucks and sat at a table outside and just talked about everything. We came back to the dorm to see that some of my hall mates were still around and were going to Starbucks, so we went again.. standing outside during a nice night in the mountains, we decided to take John to the Lookout. We drove in his jeep with the doors off, so much fun. I am pretty sure Tori and Jenny were more excited than anyone. Seven of us were curled up at the lookout with our Starbucks and blankets. We then decided to take the view up a few notches and drove up to the airport, where we laid out a blanket and had a huge snuggle party out on the edge of the hill and looked up at the stars. 

After our snuggle party on the edge of a mountain we headed back for movie night. 

A perfect end to a sweet Friday. 

Saturday= TAILGATING AND FOOTBALL

 

This weekend was such a blessing, not only to have my friends by my side but to also be able to watch a good game a football. 

This coming weekend will be the first time I've seen my family in five weeks and I could not be more excited!

Sailboat

First off, this blog is not about a Sailboat... I am currently listening to Sailboat by Ben Rector. This song honestly describes my life and how I don't know where life is going to take me, so right now I feel like a sailboat.

you guys should really listen :)

so...... back to the main part of this blogpost..

This weekend was full of adventure, and A LOT OF HOMEWORK. 

Early morning I went to Panther town for a day of hiking and waterfalls with one of my best friends Simms. Im 100% sure we spent more time trying to find Panther town than actually hiking. Everyone we asked told us different directions, and the worst part was our GPS wasn't even helpful. After finally getting there, we hiked for a little while till we reached the waterfall and on the way to the water I ACTUALLY PEED MY PANTS, I laughed so hard at Simms trying to get down these steep hills, because I always try to make my own path even if that means climbing up some steep hill of rocks or running down wet patches of mud. 

Simms and I LITERALLY talked about this trip all week, not only because we were going hiking but we went to Mellow Mushroom in Asheville after. A Mighty Meaty pizza was the best way to end the day of hiking. Once I got home I had plans to go to my friends cabin and spend the night with some of my best friends, on the way home I didn't recognize really where we were, come to find out we were headed to Greenville, SC. So I hopped in the drivers seat and now on an hour and a half drive back to Cullowhee. Totally worth the extra miles because I had some of the greatest conversations with one of my best friends.

Sunday was one of the craziest days of my life, so my friend Sophie fell down some stairs, and we embarked on a 4 hour trip to the hospital, the crazy thing is that when she fell she scraped her face and it was in the shape of a heart. the first thing that came out of her mouth when she saw the mark on her face was, "Jesus Loves Me". Luckily she wasn't seriously hurt and that we found humor in the whole day even in the Dunkin Donuts drive thru; to the point where we were all in tears laughing.

Sunday after our trip to the hospital consisted of Starbucks and finishing my geography paper about Place Ethnography. I interviewed Everett Warren who is a medical student at UNC- Chapel Hill. He went to Tanzania this past summer and had the opportunity to deliver babies. I interviewed him on his experience in a place different from where he lives, and what he got out of his trip there. 

This week is the first football game against The Citadel, and I am in charge of helping run Catamount Nation, which is a student organization that supports athletic events on campus. I will also be visiting the Skyland Care Assisted Living Center this week to set up my schedule for volunteering this semester once a week. 

Ginger Adventures.

Last night the whole 9th floor of Scott went out to celebrate the birthday of one of my sweet sweet friends Catherine "Giraffe" Linton. I will never forget the Saturday night at 3 am when Catherine and I were hanging out in the hallway as I was sipping on some coffee (shocker i know!) in my giraffe coffee mug. Catherine looked into my cup and nearly peed her pants with amazement that there was a little giraffe sitting in the bottom of my cup. Hence the reason I call her Giraffe now. Catherine is such a sweet girl, who is always making everyone around her laugh, she always makes the effort to stop and say hey to you, and she has the coolest style..... in general she rocks my socks!

So the whole family in the Whee got dressed up and headed to celebrate Catherine's special day!

Enjoy the pictures :)

 

 

After our delicious dinner at Bogart's we went to Jack the Dipper, I have not had more of an obsession about anything till I found Jack the Dipper (the reason why HOMEMADE WAFFLE CONES!!)

Off campus you always see this light, that rotates like a lighthouse, called the Lookout. Simms drove us up there to experience for the first time the view of the Lookout. On the way up this steep hill, we RAN OUT OF GAS! So we called up out friends and while we waited we saw the amazing view up on the mountain.

I can't wait to see what this view is like during the daytime!

So like I said we ran out of gas and my sweet friends came to our rescue and for 8 girls, opening up the gas can and filling the car up was more than a challenge than I thought. 

My thankful journal was filled with exciting events from this wonderful night and I am so thankful for the friendships I have made over the past month.

I am in the process of working on my geography project where I interview someone on a place that has a special meaning to them, based on their experience, all thats left to do is to type up my final paper. I will also be volunteering at a nursing home for my Communication Disorders class. I will start my volunteer work very soon hopefully.

Happy Hump Day!

Did I mention we had a fish funeral yesterday?!?

#RIPbiatch