cheers to the end of the semester!

hello!
i can officially say i have survived my first semester of college. while i had no idea what to expect, it certainly was a period of ups and downs. here are some of the highlights starting august 18th (move in day) -december 11th (last day of the semester)!
| 8/24/15 | roommate (featured left) and I on the first day of classes in our little cozy room, oc 132!
the first week of classes (and month, really) was a test of endurance, but it eventually became easier as i began to see familiar faces in the halls and around or small but beautiful campus!

|9/5/15| labor day weekend, lyndsey and i spent our days walking around the local lake/park minutes walking distance from campus, climbed to the top of the fire escape, (we were pretty high up, 40ft!) to  watch the sunset, ubered to ice cream in the denver highlands, and had dinner (back when the caf food was still bearable to eat). it was a lovely weekend, and a great start to the beginning of what would be a long, draining, yet seriously rewarding semester.

|9/12/15| a few girls and i took the bus to downtown denver and got crepes. we walked up and down 16th street and when it was finally time to make our way back to campus, we accidentally took the wrong bus which ended taking us to the train station, and it was the last stop of the night! we ended up calling an uber, who told us that he could fit all but one of us (6 total). three of us ended up taking the uber, with the other three calling a friend to come pick them up. with all of our phones close to dying, it was a crazy experience, as none of us are denver locals. (not to mention it was slightly late at night!)

|9/19/15| garden of the gods hike with a program for first year students at regis! i became closer with my floor mates, and met some new people as well on this day. colorado is full of beautiful hiking places, and i am so grateful to have gone on garden of the gods with my good friends.

|10/17/15| st. marys glacier hike. we all woke up bright and early and hiked up 10,000 feet to view the beautiful scenery. while the hike wasn’t too long, it was pretty exhausting and was ALL UP HILL. but it was so worth it. surrounded by such great, happy people. it is amazing how when you get away from our little campus, you experience the world from a completely different view, so thankful for all the adventures i got to take with my friends and escape our campus this semester.

|10/18/15| o’connell first floor north GALA night! my RA (the one we are all holding up) and another girl on my floor organized a whole event in which we all dressed up in our formal attire and had dinner in the main caf. we arrived there right when they opened the doors, set down a table cloth (it was actually paper that we could write on!), fake candles and decorations and pushed three tables together for all of us to fit. we had normal dinner, but it was so great to have most of our floor come together and eat. such a wonderful bonding experience and i definitely grew closer to a few girls this night.

|10/24/15| ellie (left) and i at elitch gardens! took this girl on her first roller coaster, got dinner, ice cream, and was scared to death standing outside of a haunted house. who knew that standing outside the exit of a haunted house was still going to be scary. (shoutout to whoever was hired to sneak up behind me).  such a fun way to bond with and spend time with girls from my floor, as well as people from the other dorm building. ended the night with getting sonic at a drive in restaurant (didn’t even know those existed!) and blasting old music in our school’s parking lot. good friends, good times.

|10/31/15| halloween in the dorms! lyndsey, nina and our costumes to match our majors. (nursing, peace and justice/hippie, and undecided). spent the evening with the company of great friends, and too much halloween candy. sent my RA, and other friends off to various parties and waited for them to come home (back to the dorms, that is). also spent the night on the ground in lyndsey’s room, cause why not.

|11/8/15| hiked the flat irons with these lovely ladies! (nina, lyndsey and sarah). the weather was perfect and always love spending time with them. another great day.

 

 

 

|11/11/15| first snow! picture taken from our dorm window early in the morning. i was so excited, i woke up my roommate by saying, “OH MY GOD!”. she goes, “what? are we late for class?” and i go, “no look outside!” some girls even ran out to make a snowman despite it being two hours before class started. although the snow melted by the next afternoon, it was still great to see snow as i am from a place where this never happens.

|11/21/15| nina had an event where we got to make new signs for our dorm, (see flag that says “be you”), so i took the opportunity to redecorate my dorm, hang some lights and put some new pictures back up! later that night, i hung some string lights near my bed and made my dorm more cozier, even thought it was already pretty late into the semester. 

 

 

|12/3/15| regis tree lighting! some girls and i gathered together to watch the tree light up in the center of the quad. said a prayer and even the larger community (families and their kids) were there too! great little study break as this was during finals week.

 

 

 

the first semester has been a great one! i am so thankful for all the friends that i have made, and know they will only grow as we progress through the next four years together. i am grateful to those who have pushed me, and who made new sides of me come out for my benefit. first semester was a time were lots of memories were made, and there are still more to come. i couldn’t have asked for a more lovely group of girls to laugh (and cry) with. love you all!

-lauren