Hi again!

I'm back! Sorry for the too-long break. I promise I have not forgotten about this and was in fact taking the time off to come up with new ideas not only for this blog, but also for other ways in which I can make an impact on the BPI community. More to come on that soon hopefully.

Well I am officially a college student. It is the end of my first week of classes, the end of my second week living away from home and in an entirely new place. Before leaving, all anyone said is how excited they were for me and how the next four years will be the best of my life. I will meet my best friends and make my best memories and have such interesting classes, etc. Now obviously I believe that all to be true, but I think it's kinda funny that everyone neglects to remember or mention what the beginning is like. Because it's incredibly weird. You're all excited to get to college and you have all these big expectations in your head about how amazing your life is going to be now that you're living away from your parents and you're surrounded by cool people and great opportunities... And then you have the same conversation over and over with every new person you meet.

"what's your name?"
"where are you from?"
"what dorm are you in?"
"what classes are you taking?"
"what do you want to major in?"


You become this weird version of yourself where you're not yet ready to be as weird or sarcastic as you truly are with these total strangers. You're meeting all these new people but no one's really being themselves so you start to question the point. You lose yourself a little bit and feel overwhelmed by the lack of familiar faces, familiar routine, a familiar place. It's all so uncomfortable.

Now that's not to say I haven't been having a great time. Not to say I haven't met amazing people or I haven't been really weird or sarcastic sometimes. Not to say I haven't been happy or excited or really interested in my classes. I just think it's extremely strange that when you talk to people about going to college, no one warns you about that first week. No one warns you that you won't be yourself that first week. No one reassures you that it won't be hard to find her again, nor will it take long.

Testament to this strange beginning is the funny fact that somehow my brachial plexus injury has yet to come up with anyone here. I realized the other day that literally no one here knows about it. I haven't purposely avoided talking about it, I just haven't been forced to mention it yet. Though the real Lise has definitely risen to the surface based on my new friends' comments on my sarcasm, a piece of me is accidentally and unnecessarily hidden away still. I'll keep you updated on how and when it ends up coming up.

I'm happy to be back and ready to get messages about anyone's summer or about exciting news or just a hello! Can't wait to hear from you guys again :)