day eighteen.

Gosh, I'm terribly sorry. I completely failed at keeping up with this. Unfortunately enough for this blog, I'm going away this week, next week, and halfway through the week after that.

I really don't think I can keep up with writing blogs everyday while I'm away, but I do promise to take pictures. I'll post some highlights on here. One a day? Does that sound good?

Crap. I'm compromising with the internet. Whatever.

day seventeen.

This certainly feels like quite the whirlwind trip. We left yesterday morning, but it feels like we’ve been gone for a solid four days. Any who, we arrived in Nashville at 11pm. Well, really it was 12pm our time, but they’re on Central Time Zone (I’m questioning the accuracy of that statement) and we gained an hour. That was ridiculously lovely. We stayed in a gorgeous hotel, at my request of course. Breakfast was free with our stay, and also as enjoyable as the hotel. We then drove around Broadway and reminisced about our recent choir trip to Nashville. It was just as great as I remembered!

Then, we got to Belmont at 10:45, par their request. I will admit, I was extremely nervous. They had given us a card to fill out, about our information and intended majors and such. However, it asked us what our primary instrument or voice part was, and this is an extreme problem for me. I play the piano, cello, and saxophone, and am also an alto in choir, and I’m mediocre at all them. I don’t excel in any one instrument, but the wow factor is more that I can function on all of these instruments. Unfortunately, in the music major aspect of college, you have to pick one. I’ll be studying it, taking lessons on it, and basically living with it for eight semesters. This might even be a bigger decision than actually picking a college. Needless to say, it’s crazy intimidating sitting in a room of six other kids who know exactly what they’re doing, and you can’t even pick an instrument. Something I need to smooth out now, for sure.

Anyways, Belmont is a GORGEOUS campus. Legitimately, you walk on campus, and are smothered by flowers and lush green grass and fountains and statues and gazebos and columns and it’s just beautiful. And not in a gaudy, overzealous way either. Just classy. Then, you get inside the building, and you realize how nice the facilities are. It’s so open and pristine. You just want to stay! Our tour guide also told us how loving everyone is there. The “lunch ladies” (college equivalent of them?) learn everybody’s name and your teachers actually invest time in you. The student teacher ratio is something like thirteen to one. AND it’s three miles away from Broadway. Music Row is in its front yard. Needless to say, it left a significantly more impressive impression on me than Liberty. It’s definitely in my top if not my first choice. College is going to be awesome.

day sixteen.

Let’s start off by addressing how FUN it is to get up at five in the morning in the summer. Talk about feeling refreshed. Martha and I finished our packing (we’re really bad procrastinators) and jumped in the Crossover. We drove too many hours. I took the first nap, unaware of my mother’s inner battle to stay awake. I woke up, realized she was half asleep, and took over the wheel. Highways are terrifying, let me tell you. I became quite pass-happy, though. I also learned that truck drivers sometimes have beds in their cab, and actually sleep in their truck.

While learning all these fascinating things about American highways, we finally arrived at our destination, Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Our tour consisted of about four hours of seeing the campus and learning about the different opportunities it held. I wasn’t overly impressed, but I didn’t hate it either. The campus as a whole seems very focused on athletics, which isn’t my scene. They have a football stadium that they’re renovating to seat 30,000 people, while their new theater will only hold 600. It’s also a really conservative school, coming with a curfew and a dress code. While these things are obviously minor, and don’t horribly affect the academic side of college, they’re an important part of becoming your own person. College is about becoming independent, and I feel like your RA shouldn’t be punishing you for wearing spaghetti straps. However, the academics seem amazing, and it’s obvious that the professors really care about the students. They take individual time out of their day to address any problems you might be having, and are there to help you learn, not just memorize. There’s also free tutoring offered, along with a slew of other resources.

Keeping all of this in mind, it just feels like Liberty isn’t the best fit for me. It’s not horrible, and I’ll certainly still keep it on my radar, but I intend to keep searching. Day one of the road trip? Successful, and almost complete. We’ve got two hours and twenty-three minutes left in our drive to Nashville, Tennessee, and I could not be more excited.

day fifteen.

Today was spent at Longwood Gardens. Many a memory was made among the greenery and general floral abundance. It was insanely hot, and contrary to its name, there were not long woods. The tree count was lacking and I found myself quite a sweaty mess. However, we had a great time! There were tree houses that you could climb up into, but they were way cooler than anyone and their dad could make on a Saturday. These were hardcore tree HOUSES. Potential living spaces for sure. There was also a children's garden in the greenhouse that was also a highlight. It was filled with all sorts of crazy fountains and hiding spots and little activities, obviously aimed at 3 year olds. But, me being me, I found myself having just as good of a time as all the other little ones. The fountains also allowed for a refreshing wet splash, which came nicely in the mid-day sun. We then ventured to the picnic area and wolfed down $5 Foot Longs. Never fear, they were cut up to share, so I maybe had a $2 section. If that.

That was the day, in about a minute's worth of reading. Tomorrow, I hit the road. With my mother at my side, we'll be driving the great American highways to college shop. I'll be blogging from the car, publishing posts when I get the chance. I'll definitely write every day, I just don't know if they'll get online. Talk to you soon, nonexistent one.

day fourteen.

Tie dye was attempted today. April and I ripped open a pack of Hanes Tagless V-Necks and got to work. We found that spiraling the tees, while resulting in the coolest design, is the hardest to do. I gave up on gloves about halfway through, and am now resembling Elphaba. The dye also made its way onto my legs, and it now looks like I've been shot and bleed fuschia. That was pretty much the excitement of the day. WHY? Because our family's too cool to have a 4th of July party actually on the 4th of July. We gotta keep the paparazzi on the hunt, so we like to screw with their minds a little bit. Instead, we ate at Outback and attempted to go see fireworks. However, the local country club decided not to do them this year, so we just ended up sitting out, looking like idiots. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

Tomorrow is a trip to Longwood Gardens with the family, which is a new experience. We'll see how it goes!

day thirteen.

Well, today was the big family picnic. Exactly what you would expect it to be: extended family getting together to catch up and await a dinner where the hot-ticket items are taco dip and deviled eggs. We actually derive (not the right word choice, but you get the idea) from Germany, though you'd never know from the crap we eat. In essence, we swam in 77 degree water, jumped around in a moonbounce, and spilled drinks. Because we're all klutzes, and that's just what happens.

There aren't any super hysterical stories from tonight, which is kind of a let down. I'm trying to sleep, but it's unsuccessful because of the pre-July 4th fireworks. If it's only the 3rd, I don't even want to be conscious for tomorrow night.

Changing subjects, my family's washer and dryer recently went kaputz. My father, the one desperately seeking a podiatrist, gave up and allowed my mother to get a new set. They're front loaders with clear doors. Instead of watching TV or some normal family activity, they install the washer and dryer, and sit in front of it, mesmerized by it's eco-friendly cycle patterns and front-loading wonder. I was, of course, unable to attend this fun fest, because of my sleepover. Which I am now paying the toll of lack of sleep. So, for lack of better things to write, I bid you adieu, interweb.

day twelve.

I did nothing worth blogging about today.

I'm on a string of sleepovers here, along with a summer sleeping schedule that gets screwed up by my babysitting times, so I'm in no mood to write witty things. Tomorrow is a giant Leber Family Picnic, so I'm sure I'll have thousands of stories to share then. Sorry for the lack of entertainment, nonexistent reader.

day eleven.

I do apologize that it's technically not Thursday, but in essence, I'm still functioning like it is. I spent the afternoon babysitting (SHOCK) and attempting a TSwift video with another one of my dearest, Ashley. We then had Chinese for dinner, against my will. Thanks, parentals. She took me to see Eclipse, although I do not characterize myself as a Twilight fan. Simply a Taylor Lautner fan.
We're now running on summer bedtimes, obviously why it's still Thursday to me. To keep ourselves entertained, we're analyzing Barney: LIVE at Radio City Music Hall. On VHS. It's surprisingly fun and bringing back too many memories of my childhood. The winkster? One creepy guy. Also, why did the 90s leave us? Their clothes are SO fun.
And I forgot! Ashley and I tried S'mores in a bag. Essentially Fluff, a crushed graham cracker, and chocolate chips. Sickeningly sweet, and that's coming from the kid who needs something sweet to cleanse her palate. Anyways, it's past your bedtime for sure, so I won't keep you up, nonexistent reader.