it's this kind of thinking that gets me bad grades...

I love coming back from a long break and realizing just how much I really do love school. Way too often I get stressed about schoolwork and getting everything done and going meetings, only to overlook the people that make the college experience worthwhile.

Even though the semester only gets more and more hectic, I've decided that I need to make people a priority, whether that means taking time to chat with the person next to me in the coffee line or post-poning homework to go to a campus event. Even studying in the library instead of my room can totally brighten my day--besides, you never know how many cute guys you'll run into!

I don't want to look back on my college days and regret not putting myself "out there" more and taking advantage of being surrounded by thousands of people my age. I want to grow as a person, and that's not going to happen if I hole up in my room and write papers all day.

Yesterday I was studying for Spanish when my sister called, and said, "Hey, let's go do something. I'm so bored, but I look cute today, so we should go somewhere!" I love the way us girls rationalize. And I thought, "You know, I do need to do something fun!" So we spent almost two hours slurping fat-free smoothies from Panera and laughing so hard that half the restaurant turned to give us their raised-eyebrowed looks. I may not have gotten all the studying done that I should have, but I had a great time catching up with my sister. Those are the kinds of things I'll remember years from now, not how hard I worked for a grade.

So, that's my goal for the rest of the semester--to make friends (old and new) a priority. And now on to some much-needed Spanish tutoring!