Pantherfest and the Start of Classes

I laughed when I opened this Dove message because it was Labor Day and I was just about to head off for work! Afterwards I made myself some of what my sister dubbed as a child "banana towers." Sliced bananas with peanut butter in between.

​When evening came around a couple friends and I went out to see a hypnotist show. We were certainly curious, although I didn't feel super impressed afterwards. He started with about 30 participants and ended with about 5 since the hypnosis didn't work on the others. It was certainly a show and the people who did get "hypnotized" were very amusing to watch!

​On Tuesday classes officially started and I am pleased to say I don't think I'll dislike any of my classes this semester.

The only downside of the day was that I was scheduled to work at an off campus location and for some reason the shuttle was running really late. I waited for two hours before it showed up and was over an hour late for work. I also didn't have the phone number of the manager so couldn't even tell them my situation. It was stressful!

​When I got back to the dorm I discovered a donation jar placed by two of my roommates. They decided they want to go to Arizona and want us to help fund their trip. I made a slight addition.

Wednesday was a very long day. I had three back-to-back classes followed by a 5 hour work shift of stocking. I'm starting to adapt to it and thankfully each week it seems a little easier. I was so tired after my first stocking shift though that I treated myself to a vanilla Coke even though I don't usually drink soda!

​After my classes on Thursday I went to a "welcome back" meet and greet at the College of Health Sciences and received a free sandwich along with some coffee mugs I won in a raffle!

Thursday night we celebrated one of our roommate's birthday. One girl made an awesome brownie ice cream cake and we blew up balloons and put them all over our suite.

Friday was Pantherfest day so I studied all morning to try and get some of my homework out of the way for the weekend. Our room has windows on both corner walls, letting in tons of light and making it a perfect study spot.

At 3pm it was off to the Street Festival! Hennas were free and very popular so we had to stand in line for 40 minutes, but it was worth it. I only wish it had lasted longer!

There was free food, blow up games, rock climbing, henna, characters artists, and music.

The buses began loading for the Summerfest Grounds at 5pm.

The concert was alright but was definitely my least favorite of the four I've been to. Bishop Briggs was an amazing singer but her genre didn't quite fit with Jason Derulo's. I feel like her songs would be listened if you were going through a breakup, not at a Friday night concert. Between the concerts was a local digital music group that had a dancer with a box on his head.

The Jason Derulo part of the concert was more fun. I'm not a huge fan of any of his songs, but they were so much more energetic than the previous two concerts!

Over the weekend Ryan and I went grocery shopping. I've discovered Annie's Macaroni and Cheese and I am officially a fan! The store we went to was having a 4/$5 sale so I stocked up!!

I have a knack for spotting change lying on the ground. I tell people it's my other part-time job. I found this in just one day! I'm saving it up and am going to count it at the end of the semester.

On Tuesday Ryan and I went to $2 taco night at Belair. So far I've been lucky enough to find myself at Belair three times since starting the school year! There's almost always a long wait if you go at dinner time. I walked past once around 2pm and there was hardly anyone there. Gotta jump on that some time! We waited on the patio of Café Hollander, which always looks so cute and romantic.

My favorite $2 taco from Belair is the ​Zihuatanejo Shrimp. It's weird because I usually dislike shrimp with a passion, but the flavor combination in the taco is phenomenal.

"A balanced diet is a taco in each hand." My favorite words to live by.

On Wednesday a highly anticipated package arrive in the mail: an academic planner! I was somehow getting through the first couple weeks of school by writing everything down on sticky note, but I'm thankful to have all my assignments down in one place now! I'll share more about this planner later after I've explored it a bit more.

During the rest of the week I made sweet potato fries and then went home to celebrate a cheese festival! The weeks have been just flying by and I feel like I'll be home again before I know it! Happy last day of September!