Being in college and living away from home can be really tough at times. With all of the work, class, homework and everything else, life can get pretty hard.
BUT…
It is also a great way to prepare for the World Race!
So, here is my list of ways college is preparing me to live in 11 other countries for 11 months with people I have never met before. 🙂
1. You want to go… you need the funds!
College is really expensive. Tuition, rent, food, books, gas, school supplies, clothes, eating out and everything else… it all costs money, mulahhh you know what I mean. It is so exciting to have the opportunity to go on the trip of a life time, but it costs money… (there is a support me tab on the left if you feel led to give!) The funds that I raise to go on twr (the world race) will be my whole years supply for food, lodging, travel expenses and everything in between!
2. Everyday may not be a good day, but you can still have a good attitude.
There are days that I wake up and I have a million and one things to do and I don’t feel like doing any of them. Not one. That doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy my classes or that I am not excited to be learning about things that are really cool BUT sometimes I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to learn. I want to be in bed, asleep, or at the gym, working out or anywhere but work and class. We all have those days and I am learning how to look at my world through a thankful lens. Everyday, no matter where I go or what my circumstance is I want to put off that feeling of anxiety, defeat, tiredness and stress and JUST DO IT!
I am sure that while on twr there will be days that I just want to go home and hug my mom and watch a really good movie with my best friends. There will be days where I question why I started all of this in the first place and there will be days where I have to go somewhere or do something when I don’t want to. God can change that heart and that attitude if you let Him.
3. Living in a community with girls does not look like a slumber party every night…
I love my house. I love living in community with 5 other girls. There is usually someone around to watch a movie or just sit and chat and that is amazing! I truly am so thankful to have the opportunity to live with amazing Christ following women… HOWEVER… It is also one of the hardest things I have ever done in my entire life. 20 years and a big family has not prepared me for this. There are days when I come home and want to be completely alone and its just not possible. Long story short… living in close community with girls does not look like a slumber party.
There will be amazing days on twr. I am confident that we will all become pretty close and some nights will be filled with laughter, joy and heart to hearts. I am also confident that there will be nights when I want to be alone and it just will not be possible. It will still be hard, even though the community will be filled with Jesus freaks like me. God is going to teach me so much and I am so excited!
4. Sometimes you work (a lot)… and it feels like nothing came from it.
Some days, there aren’t enough hours in a day to accomplish everything that needs to get done. Some days, I get nothing done when I have everything to do! But most days, I work…. a lot… and when I lay my head down on the pillow at the end of the night I still feel like I didn’t get anything done that I needed to. Sometimes that can make a girl feel like a little bit of a failure. On a daily basis I ask myself what I need to get done? What did I need to get done yesterday that I forgot about? CAN I ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING AT ALL!?!?!?!?!
The World Race is going to be amazing and there will be days when it feels as though my team has been working really hard and still, at the end of the day, it feels like I did not do enough. It might feel for a while like nothing is coming from my prayers and I’ll be frustrated. And then God will remind me that He is the Creator of the universe and that this actually has nothing to do with my abilities.
But still… some days in college feel like this…
5. Sometimes dinner is Jelly Beans.
I know that seems a little silly, but when you are running from class to class and all you have in the pack is Jelly Beans… that’s what you get. And then sometimes you get to actually have a real meal, its just not a normal meal. For example, because I have not gone grocery shopping in almost a week and a half, I have no food. So, my dinner was rice with steamed broccoli, baked brussell sprouts and guacamole (okay, and jelly beans). College teaches you to be resourceful and creative with what you’ve got.
I can just see it now, sitting in my tent somewhere overseas and my team is looking at dinner saying, “how we making this one work?” Because that’s life! No matter where you are or how old you are, you have to learn how to get by when your running low on variety!
6. You cannot be prepared for everything.
So yesterday my car battery died at work and I had to learn how to be an adult and get my car started and get it home. Luckily I have an amazing roommate who saved my butt, but it was kinda scary being on my own and having to figure it out. I am a daddy’s girl… when anything goes wrong I call my dad and he gets me out of trouble. However, in this case my daddy was 45 minutes away… so I had to put on my big girl pants and figure it out.
Problem solving skills on the race are probly crucial. I have this idea in my head, and I may be wrong here, that I am going to get somewhere and have an issue and want to call my dad to come get me out of whatever is going on… yeah I dont think that will be possible while I am in Thailand. (Thank you Jesus that Lisa is moving to Thailand so I will at least be comforted by the fact that I know someone on that side of the world.)
7. Making friends is not always easy, especially the best friend type.
When I first moved away from home all the way to Milwaukee (45 minutes away, not a huge deal) I had like 3 friends from high school with me… I had to learn quick how to make new friends. I had to put on a brave face and go to church alone and small group alone and even travel down to the dining area in the residence hall by myself sometimes. I learned that I can do it. I can be alone and be confident in who I am and what I am doing and then not settle for being alone. But it took me stepping out to find friends. My best friend Lindsay is not my best friend because I sat in my room all the time and waited to meet godly people.
Going on a trip like this with people that I don’t know kinda scares me. The thoughts race through my head… “what if they don’t like me?” “What if I am too insane for these people?” But hey… too bad! HAHAHA you are stuck with me! I am so excited to meet everyone that I will be living with next year. God is going to teach me so much about everyone I am with and about myself and I am extremely excited!
(two of the leading ladies in my life… I am the one in the middle. 🙂
So there you have it… 7 ways I THINK I am being prepared by my time in college to take on the world!
Thanks for reading!
