Year Four in Austin

I can't believe I am on to reminiscing about my fourth year of college! It is amazing to think about things that happened and fun memories that made it all worthwhile but at the same time, it makes me miss the simple life of back then.

I can honestly say that I don't remember much about my fourth year of college. Well, I do recall having the worst case of seniorities ever possible. After all, I should be graduating at the end of this year but I knew that I still had one more year to go. It was driving me crazy. I was still pulling 18 hours for each semester and they were all mostly DCE or Theology classes.

I do remember my first semester rather fondly. It was Becca's last semester of school, since she would be done in December and would get to walk in May of 2006. It was the best semester ever. Erin moved into Sarah's old room and Rachel moved into Niki's old room. Becca lived across from me and we became fast friends with my next door neighbor, Rehana. It was so much fun, all of us hanging out in each other's room, watching movies, having fun in the Studtmann lobby, taking pictures. We had what we liked to call "Coffee House" out on the hallway where we would knit and talked and joke around until one or two in the morning.

This was the year I learned how to knit. Rachel taught Erin and Erin taught me. We would all sit out in the hallway, knitting (Becca would be cross-stitching) and talking about stuff. It was a wonderful time!

This was the year we were in Intramural Sand Volleyball...the Misfits. We made t-shirts and gave outselves alter egos. Erin, as the founder of the alter ego, was the Pirate known as Captain Smalls. Then I was next as the Outlaw. Soon after Becca, the Mobster, followed. Then Rachel as the Con-Artist completed the Awesome Foursome. You'd think being in college would make us older and mature but...not really.

Spring semester of fourth year of college was a crazy semester for me. This was the semester I learned to drive. Thanks to wonderful people from Bethany Lutheran Church and Donna, my old boss and a great mentor and friend, I had six lessons with an Austin family owned driving school paid in full. I was able to get my license before I turned 22.

At the end of this year, I ended up living on campus for the summer. I headed off to Cuernavaca for two weeks for my International Studies course, then took a Law and Special Education class for the month of June. I went home for the month of July and a week before I left El Paso, Becca flew down for six days to help me with the thirteen hour drive up to Austin. We left at 4 in the morning on the fourth of August. My mother had come through for me and gotten me a car.

The road trip with Becca was amazing. She did most of the driving, which made sense since I had only been driving for a couple of months or so. I learned how to control my speed on that trip...unfortunately for me, I-10 East goes 80mph all the way until we hit 290. This means that I love driving fast. I am still amazed I haven't gotten ticketed here in Tulsa since I always drive about ten miles over the speedlimit, whether on the highway or on a road. Bad habit, I know, but it's hard to break it.

We hit Austin at 5PM....rush hour. The next day, we were both so sore but we weren't yet sick of each other's company, which was amazing. Becca has turned out to be the sister that I never had. A wonderful friend and confidant. An exceptional partner in crime.

Well, this is the last of fourth year. Becca and Erin graduated in May of 2006 and I was insanely jealous 'cause I was suppose to have graduated May of 2006 and instead I had one more year to go. I wasn't looking forward to my last year since it involved me doing my Practicum fieldwork with a certain guy I knew I would not get along with since we were as different as night is from day. I was in for an amazing surprise without even knowing it.