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!

Today I would like to emphasize the importance of locating and taking advantage of free food. In college you're going to be hungry, it's just how it is, and you're going to need food for that hunger, another fact of life. The nice thing about having as many students here as we do is that there are many events and activities that involve free food. College does cost money so anything that's free is usually good. Some things that are free are not good. For example, free punches, never take someone up on free punches. Same goes for free flu. If someone offers to give you the flu for free, don't do it. I know it sounds intriguing, but it's not fun. Anyway, lots of things that are free are really good. For example, free food. On campus there are BBQs, lunches, samples, charitable events, fundraisers, and sometimes people just giving out free food. The more you do this, the more you save. Right now I'm at work and I'm eating Skittles, Doritos, and cookies. Did I pay for any of these? No! How great! Just one of the many benefits of college. This is something you can practice at home.

Senioritis has set in. I'm getting anxious to be done. College is great, but I'm glad I'm ready to move on. I've made a lot of friends here and there are a few that I'm sure I'll continue to be in contact with for a good deal of time after college is over. My best friend Max graduated and moved to Canada last year so it's been good to see that him and I can still keep in touch. I'm trying to stay focused on the here and now. If you're at the end of high school you might be able to relate to me. I'm focusing on the importance of what I'm doing now and the classes that I'm taking. It's easy to let my thoughts get carried away because who knows what it'll be like. Not only will I have no school, but I'll be married soon after! Anyway, just like moving on from high school, there's going to be friends that I won't see as often anymore. I might even lose touch with a few (aside from looking at their status on facebook). It would be easy this week to day dream and just relax, but next week is going to be pretty busy so I'm going to try to get stuff done this week in preparation for next.

It's stayed so warm this week!!! I know, I know, this blog is starting to become a weekly weather update, but seriously, it changes the college atmosphere so much. There's people outside who aren't just walking to class. When you run into people outside, you're far more willing to stop and say hi.
So I've been too busy to cook recently and this has forced me to explore more places to eat for cheap. I've been pretty successful. I've found that one trick is to order an appetizer and save the leftovers if there's enough. Also, buy really quick and easy food for in-between meals. This could be healthy or not. You could buy any kind of fruit that would work on the go or you could buy a bunch of candy bars if you wanted to. Today I only had a couple minutes in-between things and I just grabbed a carrot and took off. Not bad!
This semester has been busy so I've also gained a good perspective on how important it is to find time to rest. Don't schedule yourself for stuff from morning until night. You'll get burned out quick, especially if you have a ton of homework. In my opinion college is 70% the social experience and 30% the school experience. It's important to do well with the school stuff because it'll impact your future, but I'm sure you've heard that from your parents many times. What I'm saying is, the stuff you're learning in classes is for a job you enjoy and that comes later, but the opportunities you have outside of class are only available once. Take advantage of it while you can!

Ok, a tip for Psychology majors. If you're looking into studying it, definitely take Theories of Personality. It's good stuff! Really interesting! It is so warm today!!! I love flip-flops and t-shirt weather. I should have warn shorts...maybe tomorrow. Anyway, I'm such a fan of warm weather and I'm really really really looking forward to spring. Plus there's a lot more stuff to do outside on and off campus during warm weather. There's more inter mural sports, there's slack-lining, there's frisbee and frisbee golf, there's just lounging around outside. SOOO GOOD! Can't wait! The cool thing about outside on campus is there's really no limit to what you can do with friends. It's a great part about college!!! Hope you're excited for it.

Winter has been sticking around for awhile. While the public schools around Greeley closed for a couple days last week we stayed open. It wasn't too bad. Most college students either have a car or live on campus so getting around wasn't too bad. I've started to develop some senioritis. I think this might be in part because of the bitter cold. There's not much to do outside so classes feel like the main thing in the day. There's just under three months left and then graduation! Like I've said over and over it'll be bitter sweet. It's nice to see that college is survivable. I remember the years leading up to college thinking that it was going to be this near impossible experience, but it was far from that. It's been really good. I haven't felt overwhelmed or burdened by my entire college experience. The classes are challenging at times, but leave room for a social life. Every major is different of coarse and have their different levels of difficulty, but overall you'll survive for sure if you go here. I'm taking the last class I have to take towards my major. That's pretty wild. It's a bit surreal and feels like classes are just going to start up again after the summer. I think that's what it felt like my senior year of high school. I felt like it wasn't really over and I would just come back the next year. Even with work after college I wonder if it'll feel like a vacation with no classes to take. We'll see won't we? Thanks for reading!

It's February Eve! And it's getting cold. I'm really ready for summer or at least warmer weather. I was at a loss for what to blog about this week when a friend (Eric!) suggested I talk about what there is for couples to do in Greeley. Maybe you and your girlfriend or boyfriend are thinking about coming here. Maybe you're single and you hope to have a girlfriend or boyfriend after you get here. Either way here are some options. A personal favorite for me is going for a walk. There are lots of great parks in Greeley that are really nice to go to. Some of them have bodies of water and lots of trees. Very nice! If you two are an active couple there are lots of intermural teams you could join. We have a great Frisbee golf coarse on campus. Frisbee in general is a good relaxed sport to play and there's lots of open space for many other games. Fun! You could go out for coffee at one of our many coffee shops which are also a combination of chains and independent places. For a dinner date there are lots of great restaurants to go to as well. Some are local and some are chain restaurants. If you're into movies, there are a couple nice movie theaters here as well. If you like doing art projects together there are some crafts stores nearby. Yum! Old town Greeley is fun to explore if you like window shopping. Classy! Overall a good date has some spontaneity to it and requires your imagination and Greeley gives you a lot of options that you can work with. Single or not, it's fun to do stuff with other people and you won't have a hard time finding something to do.

It's week 3 and I'm back into the swing of things. My first test and paper of the semester is coming up this week and I think it should be pretty easy. I care about how well I do here at school, especially considering this is my last year, but to be honest, I really care about my relationships with other people too. In the past almost four years I've grown to know a lot of people really well and every year some of them leave UNC. In a sense, I'm one of the next to soon leave the student world here. I'm sure I'm going to continue to be in close contact with a lot of the people I know from here now, but I don't know how different it'll be not being a student next year and being married. Both Allie and I are hoping to have a lot of time with friends, but with the more responsibility that comes with work and marriage it won't be exactly the same I'm sure. Don't get me wrong, I'm so excited for the next step in our life and I'm still really looking forward to it. It's interesting to think about all the things that we'll be responsible for after college. It's almost a shift in responsibility from classes to responsibility in everyday life. I have no doubt that there are plenty of things that I'm just going to have to experience in this next stage of life. There is no way I can prepare myself for those things. I know that my character is going to grow because of this. A reassuring thought is that that's kind of what starting college was like. If you told me four years ago all the things that I'd do in college I probably wouldn't believe you. Individually, college really shapes you into who you are. It's great because you learn so much about yourself and who you want to be and who you want to be around. Everyone could try to tell you what college life is like, but like I've said before, it's different for everyone. If there was one assured constant for everyone, it would probably be this: Nobody comes out of college exactly the same as they were before they went in. So I could tell you to "get ready for it", but you can't be. It's nothing to be scared of, but it's something that you have to experience to understand. I hope you're excited for that because you should be.

Week 2 and things are looking good. I didn't want this semester to be a deflating balloon class-wise where I just take a bunch of unnecessary classes. I wanted to be a little challenged but not so much that I don't have a social life. That's why I decided to take on a second minor in Psychology. I think I've found a pretty good balance. I only have 12 credits, but the classes are fairly engaging. One of my professors said I should know the material like I'd know an intimate friend. Well I only have time for one of those and that's my fiance so we'll see how I do in that class haha. Navigators is going really well. In case you haven't read my blog before I'm involved with this group called the Navigators. You could call us a "Christian group" and we are, but that's kind of cliche these days. I think a better description of us is "a group of people who want to know Christ better and help others to do the same". There's lots of great groups on campus you can check out. Work at the Visitor's Center is still going well. I've been really grateful for my job here. If you can, I'd definitely suggest trying to get an on campus job wherever you decide to go. It's reasonable hours for a student and UNC knows you're a student so they're flexible about working around your class schedule. I hope you're doing well. Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you son.

Today starts the beginning of my last semester. I like the first days of classes, they're fun and you get to figure out who your teachers are and guess what the class is going to be like. I've only had half my classes and will see the other two tomorrow. I'm looking forward to this semester. I want to finish strong and be involved in just as many things as usual. It feels weird to start the last classes I'll have in college. I'm not in any hurry to graduate, but it's the college life that I really enjoy. The classes are good too, but after 16 years of going to school I'm ready to move on. I could spend this semester reflecting back on how college has been so far, but if I do that too much I might miss this experience. A word of advice. College can go by really quickly so make sure you don't waste any of it. Don't be so absorbed in your classes that you don't meet new people. Challenge yourself to try new things and be smart when you do. I can't tell you how glad I am that I tried things that didn't seem fun because a lot of them became some of my favorite things to do. Try getting to know people you'd never talk to. There are all kinds of people here. You have such an opportunity to learn things from other's experiences. This might be hypocritical, but don't let other's opinion's of college affect the way you experience it. Everyone's experience is different so be optimistic because part of college is what you make of it.