Nashvile, TN -----> Marion, IA

Hello everyone,

I'm sorry that I have not updated you all for such a long time. It's official, I'm back in Iowa. I've been home a little over a week, and it's hard to feel like I'm home at all. As much as I enjoy spending a little time with my family, "home is where your heart is", right?
 Last Tuesday afternoon I finished my last final. I packed all I could fit into my mom's van (driven by my uncle Ed and aunt Shelby), and sat slept in the car for 12 hours, and I made it home around midnight. Here I was, thinking I didn't leave anything important behind, but I've seem to have left a large portion of my heart.
Who knew I could fall in love with a place that I took for granted the whole first semester of college?

This year has been fantastic. I know some of you are reading this and thinking about the times I've called you complained, but that's not the case.

What I see when I walk out of the lobby everyday

It's true, there are times where I felt really small in the big 'ol city of Nashville. There were times when I really just needed friends who knew me better than I knew myself. When I first arrived at college, I thought that's what I'd quickly find, but that's not what I was in store for at all.

What did I find my first year of college?

I found a place where no matter the weather when I woke up (picture it at least 15 degrees hotter than Iowa at all times), I felt blessed at my view when I walked out the front door to my building.

I found a dorm building that ended up being a family to me. We made family dinners, teased each other about dates, spent countless hours watching How I Met Your Mother in the lobby, celebrating dozens of birthdays, helped each other study for tests, jammed out on our porch, and even spent a few nights dressed up in costumes or all classy together.






In addition to my amazing dorm, I found myself placed on a hall with some amazing women. The 2nd floor was seriously fantastic. We were the only girls in the building, but we held our own. I don't think there could of been another hall in Belmont that had more love than we did. I woke up countless mornings to find notes on my door. All I had to do was tweet that I was craving chocolate, and someone would arrive within minutes to save the day. We bonded over "sleep"overs in the hallway, heart to hearts and life stories shared during our weekly bible study, and all of our mutual love for food. We sang in the shower, had garbage can races down the hall, made silly dancing and lip syncing videos, and more. To top it off we even had our own "sorority" with secret sisters and meetings. It was truly a blessing getting to know all of these amazing girls.

I found that it wasn't always easy living with someone so different from you, but it is definitely worth it. I found a roommate that taught me a lot about music and life. If it wasn't for Megan I would not have known what "shipping" was, or "feels". I learned about many bands that I'm now pretty hooked on, such as Marianas Trench, This is All Now, and The Summer Set. Because of Megan I've been to Waffle Houses, and learned the art of putting on makeup in the dark. Lastly, I learned the importance of sleep, because if it wasn't for Megan and her sleeping needs, I would of slept way less in college.

The group that went cliff jumping!

I found a lot of adventure. I think you all know how much I love adventure! Within the first few weeks of school I went rock climbing for the first time. I also took a trip with my lovely dorm and went cliff jumping. 60 or 65 feet! (I can't remember exactly.) I went to a concert at 4am on a a whim with a friend, I witnessed a dance off between two guys at 2am in a waffle house. I grabbed my pepper spray and learned how to use the public busing system, and  I got in one of my school's fountains for a victory lap after playing a all-nighter fusball tournament with my friend Kelly. Lastly, I hit up a few parties (as the sober one), got familiar calling cabs, and babysat a few silly drunks along the way.

I found some amazing friends. It took me a little while to stop comparing them to my amazing IA friends, but once I did, I realized how amazing they were! We took shopping adventures, studied together, went of coffee dates, vented about life, had dance parties, had movie nights, went to basketball games, traveled with each other on spring break, and most of all laughed and loved a lot.





I found more music than I even thought I would! Being in Nashville I obviously expected a lot of music, but I got more music than I could of even imagined. Belmont is probably the one school in that you can look up the majority of the student body on itunes and Spotify. I became a fangirl of a few of my classmate's bands like "Judah and the Lion", "Marshall Cunningham", and "Mignon Grabois".  So not only was I blessed enough to be surrounded by all of my talented classmates, but I tried to make it to a few "celeb" concerts as well. I hit up a live Reba concert at 4am, went to see my RA open for GRO (Green River Ordinance) and met them. I also went to a Jocelyn house show due to my roommates persuasion, and an Augustana acoustic show that changed my life. They even filmed an episode of the show "Nashville" on my campus where the guy who plays "Avery" performed live in the middle of our lawn.

The girls I went to church with every week

I found myself getting closer to God and growing in my faith. Somewhere between my christian campus, the hundreds of kind people who's faith beamed out of them like the sun, my understanding the bible class, my floor's bible study, church hopping, and finally finding the church I attend now- I can honestly say God is very present in my life. My church is Ethos. I attend with a group of amazing people, sing some moving songs, and am surrounded by some pretty amazing people. Even now that I'm home, I started listening to my church's podcast, so I don't miss any of the great sermons.


On top of all of this stuff, I found:
-A love for line dancing
-A fashion sense
- A love for baking/cooking
-A love for "Cupcake Collection" cupcakes
- Respect for Circle K runs at 2am
- A love of Waffle Houses
- Slight (and I mean slight) understanding of how Nashville roads work
- A love for pretty much ALL of the food you can get in Nashville (Burger Up, Las Palentas, Chagos)
- Respect for home-cooked meals
-Love for people who accept you as family even though you're not blood related
-Some amazing teachers who are also great people.
- A LOVE for getting mail / packages and checking my mail box.

I found a whole new world at Belmont in Nashville this year, and I can't wait to see what other things I learn and what other treasures I find in my next 3 years at Belmont. Thank you all for coming along for the ride with me. You're all amazing.

Here's to a great school year and an amazing summer!