No sweating the missed exits

So, senior year… what a bundled mess of stress.

Nothing really goes as planned, ever. Who was going to tell me how many curve balls this world was going to throw me?

Going through heartbreak is one of the hardest things I’ve ever been through. And I've (almost) been through college. Crazy to say I only have one more semester to go. Nothing has ever been this challenging for me emotionally.

So, what did I do about it? Cry. A lot. I’m human, I can’t help it.

Thank goodness for the friendships I built throughout college. My two closest friends are now my roommates. They bring so much support, joy, and warmth into my life.

Who else brings me happiness? My lovely dad.

He has always been there for me. We are like two peas in a pod. Or we would say, “like coffee and creamer.” (we don’t actually say that – I just know he would agree with that comparison and think it represented us).

This boyfriend of mine was a major part of my life, and it was hard getting back on track after he was gone. So, I turned to my roommates, my friends, my brother, and ultimately my dad. He knew exactly what I was going through and knew just how to help.

It felt like I had so much more free time to myself! It was great. Or so it seemed up until I got bored. I turned to journaling to write down my feelings. Pencil to paper is so healing. I feel like I wrote more this week than in my communication courses.

I turned to music in my free time. Blasting Taylor Swift in the shower is a must. Turning up to Olivia Rodrigo in my car rides to work is unmatched. Don’t Blame Me, 22, Bejeweled, I Did Something Bad. Logical, vampire, favorite rime, happier, and 1 step forward, 3 steps back.

Looking back, maybe it was necessary to take time for myself. To really focus on my academics, my friendships, and my family. Suddenly, I had time to hang out with the closest people in my life! The best part of the work-life balance in my opinion.

Recently, my dad visited me to have a father-daughter day! We drove to lunch first then to Selinsgrove after. But, this was no regular trip.

Remember when I said that things don't typically go as planned? Well, that fully applies for this outing. We were on the road for longer than expected. Why? We missed an exit! We got so invested in our conversation that we lost track of the signs on the road and drove right by our exit. I’m taking this as a positive. To get so distracted by a quality conversation with your favorite person is such a blessing.

This 30-minute drive to lunch quickly turned into a 2-hour drive for lunch! And it was to a BBQ joint on top of a mountain overlooking the river called Skeeters. What a great, picturesque view, accompanied by even better food! What an experience this was. But, let me tell you, the destination was so worth it. Worth the time and distress. Because there’s something great waiting at the end.

This stage of my life is definitely the car ride on the highway with multiple missed exits. It feels like nothing is going as planned. I’m sure I’ll get to my BBQ joint soon. It will be okay.

— Kathryn Henriksen, a senior communication studies major at Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg with an emphasis on organizational communication, is interning with the Office of Marketing and Communications this fall. She is a native of Pottstown who loves Andy Grammer, Nutella, and all 10 seasons of Friends.

#BloomOnward #HuskyLife

Life is best with balance

School can be a lot at times. I know, who can’t relate?

Not sure why it took me three years and six semesters to realize that college is way more than just going to classes. It’s important to invest yourself into the campus culture. You know as they say … get involved, put yourself out there, meet people.

By the end of last year, I found myself active in three clubs. Something almost impossible for me to make time for in high school with my 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule. Then my day ended with field hockey practice and games after school. It felt like I only had time for homework afterwards.

I figured college would be different. But this different?

I love how college offers so much diversity, allowing you to pick up new interests, join clubs, and build friendships. However, this can all end up being a lot by your senior year. Somehow, year after year my classes and extracurriculars added up to be a little too much for me to handle. After a day on campus, I would barely have time to talk to my roommates.

Even as a senior in college, I can’t seem to get this down. I thought I could handle all of the clubs and classes alongside my internship and job. Some people — like my boyfriend, Ben — can function off three hours of sleep.

But for me, I NEED the eight hours.

I knew some changes needed to be made as I got to the second week of classes. I got a calendar to write down my day-to-day schedule. I made it a priority to schedule time for rest. College is a time for discovering yourself and that comes with realizing what’s best for you. For me, I was overwhelmed and wrote down my classes and club meetings on my lovely TJ Maxx calendar, which I use every day.

I now have time for quality time with my roommates, Sophie and Annie. Baking cookies in my apartment with my two favorite girls is an essential part to my time here at Bloomsburg. I tend to think I can do it all, but I know I’m not a superhero. Humans have limits. And, crazy enough, we are human. It’s necessary to have a social life and time to yourself!

Have fun while you can and make the most out of these four years with your roommates. These are the times you’ll remember. We spent time on the little couch in our living watching horror movies anxiously stuffing Pop-secret popcorn into our mouths are the nights. As someone that’s terrified of gory horror movies, watching the Chainsaw Massacre absolutely traumatized me.

All three of us would congregate in the living room and kitchen area catching up on our days like we haven’t seen each other in years. A core memory of college. Enjoying family dinner as we all cook our own little meals together on Mondays. This recent week featured two versions of stir-fry and homemade tacos that lasted us all week!

Sophie, Annie, and I realized that a great hack to being a college student on a low budget is cooking meals on Monday and eating them throughout the week! We love to meal prep and act like adults in our little kitchen. Doing this together on Mondays is a new tradition of ours we look forward to. It gets us pumped for the week as we encourage each other.

Make intentional time for yourself. You might not think you need it, but college is also a time of self-discovery. Some self-reflection is important to find your true self. I value my time in college for allowing me to experience self-discovery. When I reflect, I consider how I feel in the morning, before my class, after an exam, and at night when the day is complete. When the emotions reveal themselves, I better understand my needs. Journaling with my precious BIC pencil in my little pink notebook helps to ground myself in the mornings. De-compressing on my dark brown couch after a long day of classes at 4:30 p.m. calms me down.

Putting on my favorite TV series, FRIENDS and mindlessly scrolling through TikTok allows me to escape but also laugh hysterically. FRIENDS has always been there for me. It’s literally in their intro song, “I’ll be there for you.” They do not fail. They make me laugh when I’m already happy, cheer me up when I’m down, and comfort me no matter what. At this point, it is background noise as I do my homework or scroll through Instagram and TikTok. My recent obsession on TikTok is funny videos like the @sturnoliotriplets late at night.

Times like this allow me to enjoy life’s purest moments. It brings me joy and peace during overwhelming times. I’m having fun while having time for myself. I can perform better in my studies, hangout with friends in my free-time, exercise at the rec center, and chat with friends on my way to class. It may seem like a lot all at once to try and balance everything.

Annie always says to just do “one thing at a time.”

Life is best with balance. I would see my roommates sitting on the couch with their stir fry and realize I might be too busy if I don’t have intentional time to eat and chat. My senior year is supposed to be fun and more relaxed. I am going to make that happen. My last year at Bloomsburg is looking like the best yet!

The next chapter comes sooner than you know it! I didn't believe them when they said that time flies in college. But now that I’m a senior, there’s no truer statement.

— Kathryn Henriksen, a senior communication studies major at Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg with an emphasis on organizational communication, is interning with the Office of Marketing and Communications this fall. She is a native of Pottstown who loves Andy Grammer, Nutella, and all 10 seasons of Friends.

#BloomOnward #HuskyLife

We did it together!

Coming into my last semester, I was beyond excited to finally live with my four best friends. I think to myself now, with little left of my time here at Bloomsburg, where did the time go?

It’s times like these I wish I had a time machine and could hit replay. All my roommates live at least two hours away from me, and I’m going from seeing them every second of my days to parting ways to go back home. It’s a bittersweet moment, sitting down and taking everything in.

This entire year brought me so much closer to my best friends, which I did not think was possible. It made me realize that yes it is sad, but finishing college with my girls is a beautiful accomplishment ... and now, we'll smile and say “We did it together!”

I feel so proud of myself for pushing through the hard times and continuing college after taking my semester off. Looking back, I wouldn't have developed and grown these bonds with these girls if it were not for coming back. I could never imagine a life where I did not pick up these last two years of memories, laughter, love, and tears. If you have the chance to live with your favorite people, don’t pass it up.

To any incoming freshman, I promise you're going to meet your best friends here. Living in Elwell my first year, I was terrified it was never going to happen for me ... but now I’m blessed that Bloomsburg brought me girls I'll talk to for the rest of my life, way past graduation.

— Sarah O'Leary, a senior communication studies major with an emphasis on interpersonal communication, is interning with the Office of Marketing and Communications this spring. She is a native of Scranton and is an avid Harry Styles fan.

#BloomOnward #HuskyLife

Miscommunication and roommates … a bad mix

Communication. It’s an easy concept, but not everyone does it right.

Communicating effectively with people is a difficult thing to do, yet we do it everyday. I learned this my sophomore year through the mistakes I made. As a senior now, I'm still learning more about it; which is to be honest and open about what I want to say. To build and maintain relationships, it’s important to know how to communicate with people.

Sophomore year, my two roommates and I moved into our first apartment together. We all were so excited. The idea of having our own place with no rules to follow seemed like a dream. We couldn't wait to get out of our shared dorms and finally have a whole apartment right across from campus to ourselves with our own rooms, big kitchen and living room, and most importantly, our very own bathroom.

Over the summer, we constantly talked about what cute decorations we were bringing all the way from painted canvases to stylish throw pillows. We shared dinner ideas we were planning on making like cajun chicken Alfredo pasta, movies we wanted to watch for movie nights, mainly comedy of course, and many other fun activities we wanted to do all year.

A few weeks into the semester is when things started to get weird. One of my roommates and I noticed our food was slowly disappearing, and both of us weren’t eating each other’s food or even our own.

We soon realized it was our other roommate. My roommate and I were annoyed, because we were sharing but she had no snacks or anything in the pantry, so we just assumed she wasn't sharing, but she was still eating our food. To avoid having the awkward conversation of asking her to stop eating our food, we decided to go food shopping and just have her pay her half if she wanted to continue to eat the groceries we got. Well, she didn’t want to pay her half, so it worked out for us that she wouldn't eat our food again since she didn't pay for it.

It was a simple fix just by communicating with her that if she didn't have food herself to share with us, it wouldn't be fair to eat ours. Instead, we had to figure out a whole plan so we would avoid that awkward conversation. I wish I would've known that communicating effectively of course can be awkward, but it can be important for getting the message across.

From this experience, I’ve grown as a person and learned to just be open and honest when communicating with others more importantly, with my friends. Living with other people besides your family is difficult, especially when it’s the first time. You never wanna be “that person” who complains about the dishes, or having to clean, or your food going missing. But when it comes down to it, the only way to solve those problems is to communicate effectively.

Sophomore year was a learning experience for me. I learned instead of being afraid of awkward conversations, to just let someone know if they’re doing something that’s not fair to me, because they might not even know they’re doing it in the first place. This creates an understanding of one another. Effective communication.

If you’re moving into an apartment next year with roommates, definitely have those awkward conversations about how you want to live together and how you’re expecting the year to go. Just so there’s a full understanding of what is expected of each other.

I wish my then roommates and I could've talked about this kind of stuff before dealing with it then and there, and ending up losing friendships because of it. Miscommunication is what ruins friendships, when it's so easy to just sit down and try to understand each other’s feelings. Looking back, I wish the situation was handled better. It set the tone for how the rest of the year was going to go since we didn’t feel comfortable or know how to communicate effectively.

Since then, I’ve been able to learn from this experience of miscommunication by being honest and understanding of other’s thoughts in an effort to prevent situations like this one in the future.

— Samantha Bergan, senior mass communications major and English minor

#BloomOnward #HuskyLife

Roommates for life

Winter break is a strange chapter in every college student’s career.

We take a sudden break in the life we just spent three months adjusting to. It’s like we finally get into our routine, the game, and then we are forced to take a half time. We look forward to seeing our families, but at the same time we feel sad about the family we’re leaving behind in Bloomsburg.

As a junior, I’ve gone through these hellos and goodbyes for two summers and three winters. I can tell you this as a fact, it never gets easier. Bloomsburg has become my home away from home and I have all of my friends and roommates to thank for that.

Everyone has their stories about their freshman year and sadly a lot of them end in friends drifting or going their own ways. For me, the exact opposite occurred. My four roommates are all people I met during my freshman year while living in the residence hall. My other three best friends also all live together and are from my floor in Elwell.

We are all in constant touch and see each other whenever we have a free moment. I’m not sure if fate is a real thing, but sometimes I like to believe these people were brought into my life as soon as possible, to stop anymore lost time. I’ve also gained a lot of amazing friendships during my years. How many people get to say they’ve gained more positive relationships then they have lost?

There is really something about being roommates with another human during college that in a way, bonds you for life. I have consistently had one person living with me for three years and as of senior year, four. Kelsi and I always joke about being roommates for life.

I like to tell her that when her and her husband get married, I will be living in their basement and babysitting their kids. She promised to make her kids call me “Aunt Megan.” I am still amazed that I’ve only known these people for three years. Even when we met freshman year, I would wonder how it seems like I’ve known them forever. I feel as if this thought is common amongst a large portion of new college students, or at least I hope it is.

As we return from the winter break that seems as if it lasted months, we get back into the game. We all pull up to the apartment one by one and call each other to let them know we are here. Giddy squeals and hugs are sure to follow and then come the stories that we have been dying to hear about in person while we were forced to separate for five weeks. No details are ever held back and a million personal questions are asked. We all start to redevelop the strange talk and mannerisms we each took with us when we left. The catch is right when you get back into the swing of things, summer knocks on the door.

— Megan Hawbecker, junior mass communications major #HuskyLife

How fate landed me the perfect roommate

When I look back at the summer going into my freshman year, the first thing I think about was waiting to find out who my roommate was going to be.

Like most of you, I have never had to share a room or living space before, let alone share it with a complete stranger. I am actually the youngest of three, and the only girl, so the idea of having to share my space with another girl was completely foreign to me.

You have two options when it comes to roommates:

• you can find one on your own through the Bloomsburg University Class of 2020 Facebook group
• you can decide to let fate work its magic and see what happens

I went with the second option.

I know that some freshmen are hesitant because of the rumors they hear, or horror stories online of psycho roommates. To be honest, those stories are few and far between. I have to tell you though, deciding to have a random roommate was one of the best decisions I could have made.

Here is the story of my freshman year.

It's kind of ironic, actually

My roommate friended me on Facebook (remember this was three years ago!) and we started talking over FB messenger, and then eventually started texting.

The process is a little like the first stage of dating — you get to know each other by asking basic questions, trying to get a feel for their personality, hobbies, interests, where they're from. You move on to the important stuff, the roommate stuff — do they like the room hot or cold, do they go to bed early or stay up late, do they like going to the gym, are they into the party scene.

My roommate was a summer freshman, which was cool because she was already familiar with campus, knew the shortcuts or different ways to go to class, had her own group of friends, and knew what to bring for the room.

The reason I say that my story is ironic, because I think part of the reason I chose to have a random roommate was to branch out and new people, which is exactly what had ended up happening.

Flashback to accepted students day

I met a girl who was the same major as me and we immediately connected and started talking. Little did I know that when she would message me on Facebook months later, the day we moved into the dorms, our rooms were a few doors down from each other. On that same day we went around the hall, meeting our neighbors and the people who would soon become our best friends.

There was a group of about 10 of us that were really close. My favorite part about being so close to them was the atmosphere in the hall. We all kept our doors open and bounced around from one room to another when the boys got rowdy or we just wanted to go somewhere else.

Each of us had our rooms set up so differently that we kind of used them for different purposes. The boys next to me had the perfect set up for a movie room — there were tons of bean bags and fold up chairs. The girls down the hall had a really open room so that was a fun hang out room.

What you will find is your own way, and your own wings to connect with others. Each person has their preference of random roommates versus chosen roommates.

Fast forward to this fall

I will move into my first ever apartment with six of my friends, and guess who my neighbors are? Some of my neighbors and best friends from freshman year. Talk about ironic.

— Kate Armstrong, junior communication studies major #HuskyLife #ProfessionalU

A month into college, how are those sea legs?

Going from high school to college is one of the biggest life changes I have encountered. You go from having almost eight hours straight of classes Monday through Friday, from early in the morning until about 3 p.m., to classes scattered throughout the day with plenty of free time in between.

After four years, you have finally mastered the routine of going to bed at just the right time where you won’t be too miserable in the morning and getting up when you have just the right amount of time to eat, get dressed and do some last minute homework you’ve been putting off for the past week.
College throws you for a loop the first day of class and the semester following.

Like I said before, in high school you had a constant routine but in college, well, that’s a whole different story. My freshmen courses were from anywhere between an 8 a.m. class on Monday, a 1 p.m. class on Tuesday and a 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. class on Thursday, where does a routine come in?

You will also find that you have so much spare time on your hands! In high school, you were in class for eight hours straight, what do you do with yourself? This is where you start to make some friends and get to know your roommate. A few weeks before I left for college, I got into contact with my future roommate who I have never met before.

We discussed who was bringing what, what were her likes and dislikes, and how we would decorate our room. It seemed like everything was going to work out and we were going to be great friends! The day we moved in, we hugged and laughed like we have been friends for years.

After we got our room decorated the way we both liked, we started to compare schedules, they were the same except for one class! In my head, this was the ideal situation, I had someone to get lost walking to classes with and a convenient and fun study partner.

During the first couple of days before classes start is where you really start to get to know the people in your hallway. People will pile into rooms or gather on the floor of the hallways and talk until about 3 a.m. Who wants to get sleep when you have so many new faces to talk to and no parents to tell you it’s time to go to bed?

This is where you learn about other peoples’ life styles, where they come from and if you might become friends with this person. Early on I found out that becoming friends with your CA or older students in your hall is very important.

Every CA has to create a “program” for the students on campus to help people get to know each other or to inform students of what else you can do on campus. My CA had a program where we all had to go see a magician in the Kehr Union Ballroom, and it was the coolest thing I have ever seen. Before attending that program, I had no idea what was in the Kehr Union and that events like that even happened at Bloomsburg.

The person that was running the event lived in our hallway and made sure that we had front row seats! That was the beginning of my involvement in Program Board. It was a great start of college before classes and homework and it relieved some stress of not living at home.

I don’t know about you but for me, high school made me terrified for college courses. They would tell me that the books were extremely heavy, the professors didn’t care if you passed or failed their classes, and that you would have piles of homework and 20 page papers to do every week. I found this to be mostly a myth.

Yes, sometimes the books that you have to buy can get rather large but most of the time, the professor doesn’t care if you bring the book or not, sometimes, you never even use the book. Most likely, the classes that you were placed in are general education classes and if you already know what you want to major in, this can be super frustrating. Even if you haven’t declared a major, you don’t have a choice in the classes you want to take for your first semester and maybe chemistry, for example, isn’t your strong suit. I was put into a Chemistry 101 class my first semester and did horribly.

Don’t get me wrong! I did great in chemistry when I was in high school but of course we had to sew together little moles to look like the element we chose from the periodic table and do a report on it…big difference. In Chem 101 we had to balance equations and study all of the elements on the periodic table. That class was a struggle for me.

On the other hand, I had a Principles of Cultural Anthropology class that was amazing! The course content was very interesting but what really got me, was the anthropology professor. He had traveled all over the world visiting different cultures and studying them. He treated us as equals and obviously loved his job. Even though you were in a classroom of about 200 students, he made you feel like you were the only one in the room that he was telling his adventures to.

Now don’t panic! The school didn’t lie to you when they said they have a small ratio of faculty to students, because they do. Your general education courses will be much larger because the demand for the class is very large.

For example, almost every single major on campus needs to take a psychology class and therefore more people need to take that class which will equal a larger classroom size. Once you get into the classes that a geared toward your major, the class size will dwindle. I am currently taking a class that has eight people in it.

Even if you have a very large class, make it a habit to visit your professors during their office hours even if you don’t have any questions. Professors do care that you do well in their class and they truly want you to succeed during your years at Bloomsburg and beyond. You never know when you may need a reference letter or 0.10 of a point to make it to Dean’s list. If they see that you are trying your best and are putting your time and effort in, they are more than likely to help you either study for the final, or give you an extra credit assignment.

All in all, freshmen year will be terrifying for some and a breeze for others. Just know that you have people around you going through the same experience or have already been through it. Take the time to make friends and get to know your campus and professors.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions, even if you might think it’s stupid, chances are, there are many other people with the exact same question but are too afraid to ask. Enjoy the time that you have here and make the most of it because it will go by faster than you can imagine.

— Chelsea Underhill, senior marketing major #HuskyLife

First semester is in the books

The first semester has quickly drawl to a close. The library was recently crowded with people studying (cramming) for final exams and people holding their breath praying that they were able to obtain the grade that they so desired.

An update from the last blog: I finally visited the burrito shop and it did not disappoint! I have been to ready go burrito more than once and it may be my favorite restaurant in downtown Bloomsburg. I also ate at Steph’s Subs and Balzano’s. Both were enjoyable but so different. Steph’s Subs is more laid back and on the lower priced side where as Balzano’s has a more mature crowd and is on the pricier end. The food is worth the price though, as it is Italian food that will remind you of your grandmother’s home cooked meals.

Taking Advantage of Opportunities

As soon as you step foot onto campus, many opportunities become available. It is simply finding the opportunities that are of your interest. The activities allow you to meet new people and aid in adjusting to campus. I have participated in a variety of activities on campus including the Color Run, Bocce Bash, Best Buddies, and the Penn State Hershey Primary Care Day. The color run was a morning run where dye colored your clothes. It raised money for cancer while providing a fun outing with friends.

Both Bocce Bash and Best Buddies are opportunities to interact with special needs adults. They are rewarding experiences and provide friendships with not only the other students on campus who participate but the special needs buddies as well. At Penn State Hershey Primary Care Day, pre medical students were exposed to the lives of medical students and what it is like to be in the field of primary care. All the opportunities allow for you to meet people with like interests and make the transition to college smoother as you begin to form a family and support system on campus.

Adjusting College Classes

College classes are different than high school classes, but they are not scary or unmanageable. College classes are about time management above all else. Classes only meet about three hours a week, which means that there is less time in class than high school, but the same amount of material still needs to covered. A person must be ready to learn at a more rapid pace and devote some time outside of class to developing a deeper understanding. This time is available though, as the classes do not meet as often. A person is able to succeed as long as you manage time well and devote time in between classes to completing work. You can still have free time on nights and weekends as long as during the day you treat the day as a normal school day that lasts eight hours.

Dorm Life and Roommate(s)

It is an adjustment to move into a place with so many people close together and not know the people. At first it is strange to walk to the shower in a robe or towel with people all around, but soon the fears disappear and it becomes routine. The key is to leave your room and meet the people in your hall. They are your support system, neighbors and family for the next year if you get to know them.

Most people in the halls want to get to know you, you just have to give them the opportunity! You may not be best friends with everyone, but someone one the floor most likely can be that best friend. Do not be afraid to sit in the lounge, stop by and talk to the person with their door open, or participate in dorm events. These people are adjusting to college just like you and there is no better way to adjust than to form a family.

Reflecting Back and Looking Forward

My first semester was a success to me and more than anything a learning experience. College is about learning, but there are also times that one needs to take a break and have fun. Grades are important, but one needs to focus on being well rounded: get good grades, volunteer and engage in clubs. I feel that I have started a good balance and hope to continue to maintain the balance in the future. I think that college can only get better as now I feel fully adapted to college life.

— Morgan Lewis is a biochemistry major with a pre-medical studies concentration.

#FutureHusky #HuskyUnleashed