Five Things I Did At College

My college career was quite fragmented. I made it through my freshmen year but then took half of my sophomore year off on medical leave. I came back for a month in my junior year before I tried to take my life in my dorm room. So, comparatively, I wasn’t there that long. But I did learn alot. Here are ten things I did during my time at University.

1. Competed in my first poetry slam.

Long before I was competing (and winning) in community poetry slams, I participated in a slam my friends and I organized. I lost (probably because I didn’t know the difference between a poetry slam and a poetry reading. It’s a very different style of poetry). When I was on medical leave, I fell in with a local poetry group. Going to slams and open mics taught me the ropes and soon I was writing slam pieces of my own. 

1. I covered the 2016 presidential debates for the school newspaper

I loved working for the school newspaper. My freshmen year I covered the arts section since I was housed in Celebrate the Arts and attended most events anyway. Sophomore year I covered news in general and that meant being on the front page. With every presidential debate, I watched the debates and then interviewed two people identified as Republicans/ Donald Trump supporters and two people who were Democrats/Hillary Clinton supporters. This was a little more tricky than you would think because not many people wanted to go public with their political beliefs in such a partisan election. It also meant I could not inject my own personal bias into the article anywhere. I like to think I’m pretty good at being neutral so the articles turned out okay,

1. Celebrated Friendsgiving

A few days after I was released from the mental institution (where I had been for Thanksgiving) my friends and I hosted a Friendsgiving in the lounge of our dorm building. We played games, ate frosting, and piled presents below the round table in lieu of a Christmas tree. I was last to receive my present. My roommate had made me a beautiful Winnie the Pooh poster. I mean, seriously the hours she must have spent on this project with the sparkly border, and drawings of Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and quotes from the books written in calligraphy. I never have received anything like it which made it all the more hard to believe when I found out she was sabotaging me behind my back. I understand I was not the easiest roommate to live with but I did not deserve the horrible things she did/ said about me. I don’t know why someone would put such love into a present for a person they hated but either way it’s still hanging up in my room.

1. I was hospitalized for three days for internal bleeding

I woke up the day after Parade Day vomiting blood so my date called an ambulance and I was landed in the hospital. Even with an IV drip and a tube down my nose I would STILL take it over the psych ward every day. My date (who would later become my boyfriend) was kind enough to stay with me until my dad drove down from New York. They tried to kick my dad out of my room at bedtime because it was a “woman’s room” My roommate was a kind,  elderly woman who said “I don’t mind if he stays”. The nurse was having none of it. I was getting increasingly agitated so they gave me a sedative until they could take the tube out. Jello never felt so good.

1. I changed majors.

For the first year and a half, I was majoring in primary education. I liked the classes especially Exceptional Lives (caring for children with special needs) and found the assignments interesting but I didn’t actually see myself leading a classroom. My decision to switch majors to counseling and human services was cemented after I began to experience more serious mental health symptoms like hearing voices and believing people were out to hurt me. I wanted to help people suffering the way people were helping me. Unfortunately, I was not well enough to do that. 

I’ll give you the rest of the top ten tomorrow. I had a good session with my therapist today. He said I had moxie. My best friend said I had fortitude. I’m so glad so  many people believe in me.