College Update: September

Dear Friend,

Believe it or not, but we've been in college for exactly a month. So much has happened since our last post and to be honest, we're still trying to soak everything in. Nevertheless, Saint Mary's feels like home. We are able to get around campus without getting lost and we've established a weekly routine. Over the past few days we've had some time to reflect over our first month as college freshman and we keep coming back to one central question: Are we doing college wrong? To us, college has always been depicted as an opportunity to start over. We've been told many times that "people change in college." But this isn't the case for the two of us. Yes, in the grand scheme of things, this phase in our lives will help shape who we are, but we aren't purposely reinventing ourselves. We're the same old Kylie and Catherine. We're enjoying the challenge of branching out and meeting new people, and just generally being exposed to the California culture, but we haven't drastically changed. We're not saying that we won't be open to change ever, but for now, we're pretty happy with who we are and we're not going to conform to the stereotypes that are often associated with the "typical college student." This is just a small glimpse into our thoughts on "doing college" and we're positive much more reflecting will be done as the year goes on. We can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings, but for now, here are some updates on our first month in college:

September 2013 at SMC

1. We've befriended many new people who live on the third floor of our residence hall, often referring to ourselves as a "sorority."

2. We've gotten to know our professors and we're getting comfortable with our classes. This semester, Kylie is taking Psychology, Communications, English, and Math, and Catherine is taking Math, Intro to Microeconomics, Chemistry Lecture, Chemistry Lab, and World History.

3. We've managed to use the BART to get in and out of Walnut Creek, Lafayette, and San Francisco without getting lost/dying.

4. We've found the nearest Safeway and Trader Joe's.

5. We had our first Starbucks in San Francisco, which was unfortunately quite disappointing.

6. We've learned to cook a full meal (pasta and garlic bread) in the dorm room.

7. Kylie joined the women's rowing team and Catherine joined the club tennis team.

8. We have a deeper appreciation for Chef Ron and the food services at Forest Ridge- college food is just not up to par.

9. Kylie attended her first concert at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

10. Along with a few other girls, we have our own radio show on the college radio station- we'll be sure to let you know when it's up and running so you can tune in!

We don't consider ourselves to be homesick, but there have been times over the past few weeks where we've found ourselves missing the Seattle area and reminiscing over our HS memories. So to all our family and friends in Seattle, we can't wait to see you soon, and to our lovely class of 2013 girlies, we truly miss you all and hope that all your upcoming adventures make you incredibly happy. Along with other sporadic posts in between, we'll continue to post monthly updates throughout our year at SMC, so if you're crazy enough to read what we have to say, don't forget to check out the blog every once in awhile!

Yours truly,
Kylie and Catherine