It's 3AM and I wanna go to be-e-ed.

song lyrics.... anyone?

So the orientation office is crazy as usual, but it has provided me once again with a very clear picture of how I've changed since coming to Carolina.

If nothing else, talking to parents and new students on the phone is absolutely hilarious to me. Their fears are far too common, and I know that if I could replay their conversations to them a year from now, they'd be laughing too. Parents love a good personal story, especially about your own orientation experience, while they relay to you why their child needs this or that or to be "squeezed in" to a session because of their own life stories. They're starting to vary their questions slightly, moving from questions about registering for orientation to the orientation itself or other various topics about college.

These few moments help me to stop and reflect about what I was like the summer before I was a freshman. Now it's summer before senior year (yeah, I just said it), and it's been fun looking back a bit to see the full picture as of now.

My favorite story (with a few embellishments of course) to relay to nervous parents is how well my roommate situation turned out freshman year. I give them lines such as, "I went pot-luck, and have now lived with this girl for 3 years. Next summer, I'm a bridesmaid in her wedding with one of our suitemates from freshman year. And the best thing is, my story isn't all that unique."

Well, I obviously have no idea how many potluck roommates from freshman year end up like this, but just to relay that bit of hope is oh-so-helpful. The truth is, I think my story is completely unique because it is out of my random roommate freshman year and our suitemates that most of my close friends derive from (and consequently, my boyfriend). We ordered some bridesmaid dresses tonight, and the couple hours (early morning hours) spent with my roommates reminds me of how very blessed I am to have them in my life.

My other close friends derive directly from working with the orientation office, bringing the pondering full circle. This can also be described as none other than a random chance... me literally seeing a flyer and thinking that it might be cool. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I want senior year to feel just like that... and end up better than I could imagine.

We try so hard to predict our lives, or try so hard not to, and to go with the flow. It's funny how things don't work out. It's also funny how they do.