Book Buying Evils

First, I'd like to begin with the word of the weekend from my day-by-day calender courtesy of a good friend.

gipsying-party: a party who meet to frolic in the open air

-- -- --

I like to compare buying books for college classes to selling your soul. Usually when one goes shopping and buys something and feels accomplished, one leaves the store feeling good about themselves. However, after buying the books I need for this semesters classes, I felt sick and annoyed. Those books cost so much money, and most of the time, they are either hardly used or the owner doesn't really even bother with them.

One of my books cost $109. It's for Intro to TV Studio Production. But I believe the cost of this book will be my motivation to read that book and learn it and get the most out of it for this semester. And I love the professor that I have for that class, so I'm putting my faith in him that this is a good choice for a book.

The other frustrating thing other than the cost of books is the process of buying them. Today was a horrible day to go stand between rows and rows of books and other flustered college kids. It's been raining, though I see the clouds breaking a little right now, and it's humid. Michiganders are used to humid weather, but that doesn't mean we aren't miserable when it is humid. Of course, the best part of that is it's January and there's little snow on the ground. We have April weather right now. So as long as you don't move much, it feels wonderful.

Anyway, the bookstore, which is more like a warehouse in the basement of the student center, was hot, humid, crowded and loud. It was so hard to find the books I needed, and I couldn't find help when I needed it. I stood there, looking up at the books I needed which were on the very top shelf, and well out of my reach, for about five minutes before I finally just pushed a ladder in front of the shelf and got them myself.

By the time I finally left, I felt like I needed to take another shower.

Not to mention, I had a long walk back to my car, carrying a bag of library books, and two bags full of purchased books. Want to know the worst of it?

I don't even have all the ones I need. The books for one of my classes were all gone.

This is a depressing day.

Looking Back

I can't believe how quickly my first year of college went. I still have a week and a half left, but its basically over now.

At the beginning of the year, I really hated college. I missed my family and my high school friends, and I didn't like being two hours away from home.

I was really "depressed" at the beginning of the year. I felt like I didn't have many friends, and I spent a lot of time in my room with my roommate.

However, my life changed when my friend Sara from down the hall told me about this group she joined called Drive Safe Kalamazoo. It's a safe ride program run entriely by students.

Anyway, I joined it, and a few weeks into it, I was already friends with several people in the group, including a few members on the exec board. After Christmas break, I threw myself into DSK, and I volunteered almost every weekend, and sometimes twice a weekend. Then I applied to be on exec board for next year, and I got Co Director of Recruitment, Retention and Recognition.

When I got to know the other people in DSK, I finally felt like I had found a place where I belonged. Not to mention a lot of the people in DSK like country music! People talked to me, I talked to other people, and one of the things that made me most happy was that people knew my name. I always have more respect for people who manage to remember my name.

There are a few things about this year that I wish I could change, but that's not possible, and like goes on. But I'm glad that things got better as the year went on, and I'm actually enjoying my time here. Next year will be even more amazing.

I've learned a lot this year, and I think I have changed a little bit as a person, but not in a bad way.

Not to mention, the sun is shining today and the snow is melting!!

Have a wonderful day.