It has dawned on me mostly in the past couple of weeks, as spring has shown its colors through the winter wonderland that recently was Bozeman, here I stand with but a month left to my freshman year of college. Shocking is one the foremost words that come to mind under this situation. Barely a year I was doing what every upper classman in high school is doing now: senior trip, prom, signing yearbooks, and most of all laying awake at night pondering on the endless possibilities the future could hold. I feel as though I have grown up so much since then, but on the other hand, I know that a year from now I will be looking back on myself saying “jeez I was young and stupid.” I guess it is only natural. Although I have been away from home for a year, it is getting to be that time when I am actually on my own. I am looking at houses to rent, cars to buy, and the jobs necessary to take care of all the financial weight I will be obtaining with all the possessions and the lifestyle I am preparing to live. I can honestly say it seems as though I just arrived at MSU as a timid freshman a couple months ago, but I am more than adjusted and used to the scheme of things. I will shortly pack up my dorm room and say goodbye to North Hedges for good. A good, bad, proud, and unsettling feeling all at once.

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Yesterday was the last day that Bridger Bowl was open. At least the last weekend day that it was open, therefore the last day for college students. I woke up like any other day, and packed on my layers that one would generally think of as necessary for a day at the snow-covered mountain. However, when I stepped outside to feel the temperature in the mid seventies, I knew that I was to not only expect to shed layers, but also a slow, warm, sticky day to end the season. As bad as the conditions were, I truly had a great time (Besides the part where I landed on my face as the result of a feeble attempt at a front flip off a jump that was probably too small). It was warm enough that everyone got sunburned on the mountain, and when we got back to the dorms we returned to see people tanning in front of the dorms, and playing sports out back in swimsuits. It was a bizarre, but awesome day at MSU. I’m afraid I think it is only a tease in the grand scheme of things, but all the same it was a good preview to summer, and what the last couple of weeks at school will hopefully turn out to be. Sometimes all it takes is a nice sunny day, and a good time outside of the dorms to remember what an amazing atmosphere Bozeman really has.

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After spring break things did not slow down as we had expected them to. Instead we were hit the full force of class loads, workloads, and all of the other things that we had forgot about over the break. It was hard getting back into the rhythm of things but there is only just under two months of school left. I just declared my major as Graphic Design, which relieved some of the stresses of which I had been experiencing throughout the year. However with that weight off of my shoulders I realized how competitive this major is, and that I have to meet a gate at the end of next year in order to move forward in this field of study. It excited me though to think that I am almost done with all my core work and can focus on what I want to do with my life. This is exactly what I was looking forward to in college, and what I have been aspiring towards for this entire year. So as I have learned in the past few weeks, the stress you may experience at times is rewarded later on.

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The past few weeks I have noticed a lot of high school students walking around campus just as I did a year ago marveling at the beauty of the buildings on campus, the mountains in the distance, or the more physically mature college girls walking around. These students are going through the same process that every prospective college student goes through, they are shopping for the best fit. In addition to campus tours, students are given the opportunity to spend a night with a current MSU student in order to get a better feeling for how the campus environment operates. I personally think this is a great experience which every high school student looking for a college should take advantage of. Over the past few years a lot of students from my high school have taken interest in MSU. The odd thing about this is that my high school is conveniently placed in New Hampshire -- 2500 miles away from Bozeman. In all the hordes of students checking out MSU I recognized a student from my high school who is a year younger than me looking at the campus, and apparently one or two students from my high school have already committed to MSU. This is exciting considering that there are four of us here from my graduating class, two or three from the year before, and more New Englanders happily on their way to Bozeman.

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This week unfortunately I am sick. The flu has hit me for the first time since I can remember and I don’t like it, besides the fact that I have to miss classes I lack the ability to do just about anything except for sleep. I have been working for “The Exponent” a schoolwide newspaper and I generally work late on Wednesday nights in order to meet publication deadlines. However this Wednesday I could hardly handle myself leaving me with no option but stopping early and leaving my work for the editor in chief to complete. Maybe it is just my age but I am very stubborn and proud, and therefore not happy to leave a job undone. I suggest for anybody who gets sick during school to take a lot of vitamin C, load on liquids, and fight any virus before it gains home ground inside your body, because it can make for an especially miserable time at school.

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Once again midterms are already here for some and creeping up on the rest of us MSU students. As a freshman I experienced the stress that accompanies midterms last semester, and see myself as more prepared for this semester. The papers, tests, quizzes, projects, and presentations that are all too common to this time of the year are, however, fighting their way through the shadow of which the beautiful weather has cast upon. Two weeks into this weather the snow has diminished to say the least, exposing the brown grass and shielded fields we so commonly associate with spring. As gorgeous as the weather is and as distracting as it can be, myself and everyone else can understand the importance behind this shell shock of assignments. I personally have just realized the power of the library. Every resource needed to complete studious action is literally at your fingertips. And to become focused and motivated it is nice to head over there at nighttime and sit on one of the quiet floors. For me, personally, and a lot of other friends I have talked to, going to the library is a good way to insure your study habits. I enjoy the library. It is a powerful tool for students looking to find an effective study environment. I only wish I wasn’t too stubborn to realize that during the first semester.

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This past week has been absolutely gorgeous in Bozeman. Every day has consisted of 40 degree or above weather, most of which is sunny with just a few small flurries. It makes for a nice walk to class in a sweatshirt rather than the normal bundle up my mornings generally consist of. I have been able to run outside comfortably for the first time in months and the previously covered asphalt is starting to show through the snow. Of course I do expect it to snow more and have my doubts as to how ready winter is to be over, but this break in the weather has made for a nice week on campus. As well as beautiful weather this week is Valentines Day. Just like every other holiday or special event there is plenty of effort and enthusiasm across campus, as well as events such as the Hannon date auction, and a dance or two to partake in with that special someone. The glimpses of what Bozeman will be in a few weeks, and the enthusiasm towards Valentines Day has created yet another exciting week of school at MSU.

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This past weekend I hurt myself playing hockey. The Hellcats (MSU’s less than recognized hockey team) had BYU of Idaho as a hometown guest this weekend. Home games make for probably some of the best times I have had playing hockey. We came into the weekend confident in our ability to beat this team, and with a mindset to work on the errors we find to be re-occurring during our play against stronger teams. At the end of the game we were winning 11-1 and with one minute left I took a weird hit which resulted in a shoulder separation to the degree of small tears in my AC something or another ligament. I figured come Monday I would go to student health services and get a bag of ice with some ibuprofen, due to limited capability on their behalf. However I could not have been more wrong. Not only did I get to see a Nurse Practitioner, I also got to visit with an orthopedic surgeon to decipher the severity of the tears in my shoulder. I got a full set of X-rays, a sling and a prescription for 800 Milligram tablets of Ibuprofen. I am very pleased with my visit to student health services, and confident in their capability as a clinic. I can gladly say I received more than I had expected from them.

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During the summer and fall in Bozeman the rumor was that the famous force of winter in Bozeman had dwindled over the past few years. Although this is seen as a relief to some people who might cringe at the thought of a long, cold, winter and several feet of snow this news was discouraging to most of the out of state students I know. We would all be happy if there was ten feet of snow everyday. By the end of October snowboard and ski season was certainly the most exciting thought on the minds of MSU students. Now in early February, this winter holds no disappointment in the minds of my peers. Bridger, Big Sky, and Moonlight ski areas have all been great this year. I have seen better years, but I have no complaints. This has become the western winter that I was used to when I was younger. Coming back from Christmas break to the weather we had hoped for was a nice treat. Another addition to my life at MSU is the new Gym and P.E. facility. They have been working on it since the beginning of school and long before that. I have to admit I didn’t expect it to be stellar, just updated. However now that I have been there I am being completely honest when I say it is the nicest fitness facility I have ever witnessed: two stories including a plethora of weights, cardio machines, racquet ball courts, basketball courts, group fitness sessions, and a swimming pool. It’s amazing to me that when I go to the gym I see all sorts of people I never used to see at the gym who are now working out. MSU has made everybody’s new year goals more accessible with the addition of this complex.

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Break is over, Christmas is over, and classes have begun again sending us quickly into the routine that us freshman are far more accustomed to now than we were the last time we left home headed towards Bozeman. I was excited to go home to New Hampshire prior to break, and it was very nice to go see everyone, considering I hadn’t been home since August when I had left for the Fall semester. As expected my vacation consisted of mostly work. As a freshman it is not impossible to work, however to find time for the hours it would take to really be worth it is hardly convenient. For me it was a little different, and maybe even uncomfortable to go home. The attitude and outlook that was mine in high school is now as distant to me as the east coast is from Montana. And to accompany that thought I have come to the conclusion that I am one out of maybe two or three students from my graduating class who is satisfied with their academic experience whether it be due to curriculum, social anxiety, or just the placement of one’s school. I almost felt bad talking about MSU to those who were dreading the start of their spring classes, because whereas I was excited and enthusiastic about returning to Bozeman most of my peers that I spoke with of the subject were less than excited about returning to their schools. Home is home, and always will be, but for the time being I am very comfortable with MSU in every way possible. I know I will always be able to go home, have a roof to sleep under, and the support of my family. But I had no hesitation, reserve, or a single doubt as to whether I was ready to return to MSU and begin classes.

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During Thanksgiving Bozeman is a very quiet place. By this time most freshman are a bit homesick so they venture back to their roots for a couple days before coming back to MSU. I personally stayed in town and my younger bother came to visit for the holiday. The last few weeks of school have been fairly demanding and a bit stressful so the week we have off for Thanksgiving is a good time to take a break and refresh before the semester’s final stretch. After Thanksgiving there are about three weeks left before Christmas break and a very heavy workload. Despite the abundance of work over the last few weeks it is not unbearable. It kind of puts an end to all the work I have done over the last semester. Now that I am only a few weeks from going home and my first semester of college is all but done, it amazes me how quickly it went by. It still feels like just yesterday that I arrived at MSU, and although I’ve kept very busy, and partaken in activities I never thought I would, it still seems like I have been here no time at all. All and all I am excited to go home and visit everyone I haven’t seen in four or five months, but I am not sure how the MSU experience might have changed my outlook, attitude, and personality. This past semester has been great for me, and despite my feelings of achievement it has only been one semester and I have several left to go, all of which I am excited to partake in.

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Since I got to school at MSU the hype has been Cat/Griz. The University of Montana(Missoula) comes to Bozeman to play the Bobcats. I never quite understood the gravity of this event until I waited in line for an hour and a half the other day in the freezing cold with a few hundred other people to get a ticket. At Montana State there are football games then there is Cat/Griz. All the upper classman I know, and those who I stood next to in the ticket line, are more than enthusiastic for the game. I thought it would be terrible standing in line for a couple of hours for a ticket, but it was actually a lot of fun. On Saturday night before the box office opened there were a fair majority of campers outside of the field house to get tickets, and one of my friends who did camp said that was a great time. So despite the fact that I have never experienced a Bobcat Grizzly game, the attitude and buzz around campus are more than encouraging of this weekends events. I have a few friends in Missoula who I’ve been cordially bashing about the game since the beginning of school and they are going to be here for the game as well as a large part of the rest of their school. I have never been the biggest fan of going to football games but as far as I can tell this week appears to be inevitably a good time.

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The campus is about a fifteen minute walk from downtown, a little less if you are feeling motivated. Every once and a while it’s nice to get off campus, and explore the rest of Bozeman. Downtown is a fun place to go a few times a month and either go to dinner or just wander around. Most of the shops are either higher-end outdoors stores or clothing, and jewelry of some sort. The shops are interesting I suppose, however as a freshman in college who is hardly interested in spending the money I don’t have I enjoy downtown more for dinner once or twice a month. My personal favorite has always been the Mackenzie River Pizza Co. I still think it’s probably the best pizza I have ever had the opportunity to indulge myself with. It’s always a busy spot, especially on Friday and Saturday when you get the weekend warriors in town. As much as I love Mackenzie River I have recently discovered a new favorite which is surprisingly enough a small sushi place off of Main Street called Dave’s Sushi. Before I came to college I would gag at the thought of sushi, however after one of my friends persuaded me to try a small piece of his I was interested to try more. Now I can’t get enough. One night I went with some friends to Dave’s, and with the suggestion of a friend of mine who has lived in Bozeman for a while I ordered a plate called “Widespread Panic”. As reserved as I originally was towards a dish titled widespread panic I was pleasantly pleased with Dave’s and would now highly recommend this spot to anyone experimental enough to try sushi.

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Last night was my first MSU Halloween experience. Without surprise it was the most active Halloween I’ve had since sixth grade. The past weekend there were Halloween bashes at a few places around campus, and that was about where I expected the celebrations to end. However, the past week in the dorms has been more or less dedicated to building the best Haunted house or decorated floor. My floor in North Hedges turned our lounge into a successful haunted house, as well as decorating our lobby for all the elementary school kids who came to Hedges to trick-or-treat. After all the young trick-or-treaters left around eight, a group of us headed over to Hannon, one of the all-female dorms to check out a haunted house they had set up. As pessimistic as I was originally towards this haunted house, it was actually pretty impressive. They followed the theme of the movie Hostel, which was definitely unsettling but fun at the same time. Now that Halloween is over I am pretty disappointed, it was nice to have an entire week where everyone was in the spirit for Halloween, and willing to work for an exciting Halloween.

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We’re a few months into school now. Most everyone has become accustomed to the campus, college life, and the MSU community in whole. Although it’s only October we have already witnessed a few snowfalls, which have more or less kept the mountains covered for the last month, so most of the school is getting pretty excited for the up-and-coming ski and snowboard seasons. Coming up soon is the ever so famous Cat/Griz football game where we play Missoula, our biggest rivals. As well as the biggest MSU game of the season, the Rockies made it to the World Series, and are in the process of playing my own favorite, the Boston Red Sox. Along with these two huge games, the MSU Hellcats hockey team will begin their home season this week in town, which hasn’t got all the hype of Cat/Griz, and the World Series, but is exciting on its own. This fall has been very entertaining for both casual and diehard sports fans. Next Wednesday is Halloween. As you can imagine, spending Halloween with seven hundred of my closest friends in the dorms is going to be a great time. There are several events and parties already set up for this coming weekend prior to Halloween to celebrate. One thing about MSU is that every weekend there is always something fun to partake in, and even though technically we are too old to trick-or-treat, I am still excited for the events taking place as a substitution for the childhood ritual we all loved at some point in time. Despite all the fun to be had on the weekends, the past few weeks have been fairly vital to the academic success of MSU students as well. We have just passed midterms and although the couple of weeks that midterms lasted for were certainly challenging, they were in no way, shape, or form impossible to complete. However, I am relieved now that they are over. So far fall at MSU has been great, time is starting to fly by, as a student here you are always busy, especially if you want to be, which is making this year move very quickly in my eyes.

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As a native of Peterborough, New Hampshire, Montana State was a dream to me until a few months ago when I actually moved into my dorm on the 11th floor of North Hedges. All my friends who stayed close to home and are now attending the University of New Hampshire couldn’t understand why I would have the slightest desire to go to Montana. To them Montana is just a great place to go to the rodeo. The wild-west cliché is still the conception ingrained in the minds of most students from my high school. What is missing from their impression of the state is how vastly different from New Hampshire it is in every aspect. Out my window I can see mountains in every direction, most everything is open, and lacking the feel of congestion all too familiar throughout New England. In just two months of being a student of Montana State, I have gone fly-fishing, hiking, camping, whitewater rafting, shooting, and not personally but a few of my friends have already hiked up Bridger Bowl, (the mountain twenty minutes from campus) and gone snowboarding, … a month before Halloween. I didn’t feel like I would have the opportunity to partake in any of these activities, considering I am a freshman without a car. However, MSU is a great, and easy place to meet all kinds of people also looking to have fun. A ride is the least of your problems if you want to get of campus and see what else Montana has to offer.

Because I had spent time in Montana before, and even lived here I was well aware of the outdoor recreation. My fear and unease were focused on the infamous “College Workload” I have always heard of in a slightly negative light. There certainly is plenty of work to be had, and if you don’t play your cards right the majority of the week can easily be spent on classwork. But, what you don’t hear about the workload is that it’s completely different than what it was the year prior in high school. On several occasions I am urged by professors to create questions, opinions, and theories, rather than give a right or wrong question. I rarely have found myself bored with my work, frustrated, but not bored. I came to Montana expecting it to be different and exciting. Different and exciting would be an understatement because my position, my outlook, attitude, and work ethic have changed already due to the experiences I’ve had since I arrived in late August. I’m sure my friends back home are learning a lot as well, and having fun. But, I don’t think they could quite fathom my college experience thus far. Now that I’ve seen what the last couple of months had to offer I am excited for the rest of my freshman year at Montana State.

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