College Survival Guide: The Exercising

It always happens. I am laying in the sand, breeze flowing through my hair, soaking up the sun. No thoughts of homework or newspaper deadlines or post-graduation plans. I’m about to take a sip of my strawberry daiquiri when “WE DON’T HAVE TO BE LONELY NO MORE! AND I’VE NEVER EVER BEEN THIS FOR SURE…” sings loudly in my ear.

My alarm is going off. It’s 6 a.m. and I have to make a choice. Get up, work out and feel awake and energetic the rest of the day. Or, throw my cozy comforter over my head and sleep a couple more hours.

Now, if I’ve had my seven to eight hours of sleep the night before {see my previous post on catching zzz’s} then getting up is usually the easy choice. The oh so many times I’ve chosen to exercise, I have never once regretted it.

College Survival Guide: The Eating

Nothing excited me more about my senior year of college than this one truth: I will never, ever eat in the caf ever again.

Over summer, I dreamed about all the meals I would cook, all the recipes I would try and all the dinners I would host. My diet would no longer consist of salads every lunch and sandwiches every dinner. I would no longer be confined to a strict eating schedule. I could have breakfast at 10 a.m. and dinner at 8 p.m. if I wanted.

Then classes started. And I realized the time it took to plan meals, to purchase groceries and to actually cook. All of the sudden, this no-caf life didn’t seem so glamorous.

Soundtrack to my Summer: Somethin' 'Bout a Truck

I couldn’t close my summer soundtrack series with anything but a country song. The problem is just choosing one. With the sun shining bright, windows down, warm breeze blowing, only country music will suffice. And nothing brings out the southern gal in me like summertime and my favorite country station.

Though several country songs twanged their way into my heart, one particularly won me over. I don’t know what it is, but there’s just Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck.

Soundtrack to my Summer: I Won't Give Up

Some songs make you want to dance your butt off. Some songs cause you want to hum along underneath your breath. And some songs strike you right through the heart.

I’m the type of girl who tends to bypass the catchy beats and beautiful melodies and go straight for the soulful lyrics. My favorite songs are usually the ones with which I can identify. These are the ones that seem to understand what I’m going through. And more often than not, they’re only accompanied by a single guitar.

Matt Wertz and Ben Rector didn’t bring me anything new this summer, but Jason Mraz delivered with his beautiful single, I Won’t Give Up.

Soundtrack to my Summer: Call Me Maybe

Some songs you hear on the radio beg you to hate them. With catchy tunes and shallow lyrics, they squirm their way up the charts. Before you can say “Carly Rae Jepson,” they have a claimed a spot on your favorite radio station again. And, the worst part? You can’t get them out of your head.

Call Me Maybe was one of those songs. But like most radio garbage, my boyfriend picked it up and claimed it as his favorite. Personally, I believe Daniel has an unexplainable attraction for the cheap and tacky. {I’m not sure what that says about me.} But, when most of our friends declared it too silly, too pop or too mainstream for their ears to handle, Daniel immediately latched onto it. 

Soundtrack to my Summer: Some Nights

“Funny how a melody sounds like a memory,” sings Eric Church in his top single Springsteen. Music resounds with us for so many reasons and hits us on so many levels, but its ability to connect us to the precious moments of the past always has us coming back for more.

The summer before my senior year was full of memories I never want to forget. Fortunately, most of those moments were accompanied by a song. The next series of posts will dive into four songs that have played on repeat the last several months of my life.

 

Some Nights by the New York-native band Fun. takes the first spot on my list. Fun.’s music sounds exactly like its name: fun. And as soon as the first words ring of this song, my heart is transported back to those fun summer nights with my girlfriends.