This is my very last blog for UNC ever. I graduate the day after tomorrow. I could sum up the whole year or college experience, but I think my previous blogs can speak for that. Major things have happened this year though. I got engaged for one. That's pretty major. I made a bunch of new friends this year. I got a job. I'm finishing a job (this one). And of coarse I'm graduating. This has been incredible. This isn't the end of the best time of my life, but it's certainly a part of it. I'm happy to say that I don't regret anything that's happened. I've been impacted by all of it and it's made me into a man I'm happy to be. I'm pretty sure I've learned more at college from life than I have from my classes. Classes are ending but life isn't so the learning will continue I'm sure. I don't know what to say really besides these things. I feel like I should have one giant piece of wisdom to contribute after the past four years, but that might be the wrong expectation. Before college, I think I viewed it as the years that get you up to speed with the real world and once you leave college things pretty much calm down. Today I don't know if that's true. It almost feels like college built up this momentum that will continue for awhile after it's over. This isn't an anxious demanding momentum, but a thrilling momentum that carries on. How long this will last, I don't know. I've recently discovered that I don't try to think about the future too much, but immerse myself in the present. I'm glad I do. Wherever you are in life, I'd encourage you to not look at it as a season without definition or purpose, not as a transition or phase, but as a specific time that has opportunity to be something. I think that's what made college so good for me and I think it will make the next stage of life better too. It's been great. If you read this, thanks for reading. God bless.

Today was the last Monday of classes in my college career. College is ending and the next stage is beginning. Like I've said before, Allie and I are moving back to Greeley next Fall so we've started looking for apartments. Your freshman year you're required to live on campus, but after that you could get an apartment if you wanted to live off campus. There are lots of options and opportunities in Greeley as far as places to live. You should look around if you're interested. For the past two years I've lived in a place that...has a lot of character. It really isn't a bad place, it's been fun and feels like home now. College is a fun opportunity to live in circumstances and places you're not used to. You obviously don't want to live in a place you hate, but sometimes you don't get everything you're looking for and you warm up to it. For example, last year the boiler in our house kept overheating and this burst of steam would erupt from the boiler room and it sounded like a freight-train was in our house. It was terrifying. This happened once a month for awhile until we got it fixed. The point is, the stories of the boiler are some of the funniest to tell and my old roommates and I can look back and laugh about it later. Life won't always bring you perfect situations, but nothing tells you that you can't find a way to enjoy them. Obviously there are going to be circumstances that are sad and stressful, but find others to share them with and talk to. You can find such a great community of friends here. A great support system that will be there for you when you need them. We call moving out of our parent's house independence, but we're still very much dependent upon others. It's okay to need help, so take it when you can. Make friendships and share life together.

Soon will begin my attempt to sell back my textbooks. Every year, college students dish out tons of cash for textbooks and soon, at the end of the semester we search for a place to sell them back. This could be profitable at the local bookstores, but there are other options as well. If those local places don't offer you more than $3.50 for the book you paid 70 dollars for you could look around for other things. There's usually a van that you'd expect to be selling burritos to construction workers that is parked near campus offering students more prices for their books. I've had my best luck online. Sometimes I've even made money on my books. It's not hard to find a place to sell your books, I'm sure you already know a variety of sites. When you go to college, be creative with your money. The less you spend, the more you save. Shop at thrift stores. It's not gross, you actually get some sweet stuff there (especially if you're shopping for an ugly sweater party). Use coupons, they work. As I've said before, take advantage of all the free food you can get. Search around before you buy your textbooks. Ask the teacher if an earlier edition ("cheaper edition") would work for the class. These are some of the main lessons I've learned about saving money as a college student and I'm sure you'll discover some of your own as well. Happy Easter!

It was really nice out today. I played some frisbee golf with my friends. We almost hit a random stranger twice accidentally. Luckily she wasn't too mad. Again, it's getting so nice out. I can't believe that there's only four weeks left of school. Less than a month until I graduate! I don't know if I told you guys yet but my fiance and I got a job working with the Navigators on UNC's campus! It's so cool to know that classes will be over and I'll still be around to hang out with people and do fun college things for a couple more years! Planning a wedding and getting ready for our new job is pretty crazy. It can be a lot of work not to mention all the classes we're taking, but it's worth it. I'm going out with a bang. I'm so glad I don't have a lazy schedule. Sometimes it sounds appealing, but everything I'm doing throughout the week is so good. When you come here you'll have plenty of an opportunity to have a life outside of class. Make sure you take advantage of it!
My best friend Max is back from Canada for a few weeks! That's been fun. We used to be roommates and while he's here he's staying at my house. It's very nostalgic. It doesn't really feel like he's been gone because he's one of those friends where you're the same even after a considerable time apart. You'll probably make a few of those friends in college. Don't take them for granted! It's easy to let friendships like that go, but if you stick to it they'll last.

The weather here can be pretty off and on. This weekend I was walking around in flip flops and a T-shirt and yesterday it snowed. Today it was back to being a little bit nicer. In a few weeks the weather will start getting regularly warm and I can't wait. Four weeks of classes left until finals week! Can't wait!
On another note, can I just reiterate how important it is to take advantage of free food. I just had some awesome fudge...for FREE!
Anyway, today I wanted to talk about the value of "chilling". "Chilling" can be many different things for many different people. This is anything that lets you relax and feel refreshed afterwords. For me, this is hanging out with friends. This could be a group of people hanging out at a restaurant and getting coffee, or watching a movie. This could also be "guy time". That is "chilling" but with guys. This usually involves video games that involve firearms of some kind. Last night, a group of guys and I just hung out and played video games till midnight or so. It was great. Afterwords I felt so relaxed and energized! Maybe you "chill" alone. That's okay too. Do what you need to do to take a break away from classes, work, or whatever. This is essential in college. You'll get burned out quick if you don't know how to "chill". This is a two for one deal too because when you "chill" with people you are also taking advantage of the great opportunity here to interact with tons of different people. I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you're not hanging out with people at college, you're missing out on half or maybe more that half of what college is all about.
Take care.

The week back from spring break can go two different ways usually. It's either really refreshing to be back at school doing classes because you've had a whole week to do other things. On the other hand spring break can be a teaser to summer and makes you only more anxious for summer to start when you come back to classes and school. Thankfully I feel more refreshed than anxious to be back. I can't believe that there are only a few weeks left of college. Last week was a blur so the rest of college is going to be like five or six blurs in succession. My fiance and I had an interview the other day and it went well. It's possible that we'll be working in Greeley so it will be nice to have a chance to continue a lot of our friendships with other people while working instead of taking classes.
To be honest, I'm surprised I'm as dedicated as I am to doing well in my classes my senior year. I think it's just the reality that I really want to graduate and if I don't pass my classes, I don't graduate. My classes aren't that hard which is good. There is one class thought that is by far the hardest I've had. It's really interesting. Theories of Personality. It's a psychology class. It's a class that requires a lot of dedicated studying. I don't mind it. It's worth it. It feels good to work that hard and see it pay off. The material is challenging too. It's hard to fully grasp it and that's what the teacher is asking of us. He's a great teacher too because he respects us so we can respect him too. Don't get the impression that this is rare here. It's not, a lot of teachers are good like him. This just happens to be one of the classes that stands out.

Spring break was last week and it was amazing. This blog isn't really about UNC, but life at UNC gives you lot's of opportunities to do things in places you've never been before. Lot's of people go with friends to lots of different locations and do lots of different things during spring break. Some just stay here in Greeley. I went with a group of about 40 people in the UNC campus group the Navigators to South Padre Island to team up with 700 other people. The island is one of the top spring break locations in the US and some 20,000 to 40,000 college students go there a week during spring break. We helped run a free van service till about 3am around the island so that the people wouldn't have to drive around drunk. We also gave out a few thousand pancakes outside one of the most popular bars on the island so that they could get some food in their stomach to balance out all the alcohol. It was such a cool opportunity and very intense. It gave a good perspective on the contrast between fun things to do in college and dangerous things to do in college. There was a lot of both there. Take care of yourself when you start college. The reality is that it can be really easy to get carried away with something and that has the potential to get out of control and hurt yourself, others, or both. It may mean you have to decide to do something other than what all your friends are doing that night, or it may mean you have to be bold and convince a friend to not do something they'll regret. I know you've heard this from other people, but I've seen this first hand and it's not just a cautionary thing. It's something you'll need to be mindful of your whole life. I hope all of you had a great spring break and thanks for reading. Take care!