Creating a home

Two weekends ago, Shaina and I took a road trip to University of Illinois. A popular road trip destination, this is the fourth time I've visited U of I during college. Shaina's twin sister is there, and some of my best friends are there. Champaign, Ill. bars allow entry at 19 years old, so there are plenty of places to go. Overall, it's hilarious that I love visiting U of I, but love being a Mizzou student. Lessons overall from the weekend:

1. While they are very convenient, I hate GPSs. I'm old-fashioned and like to write down directions and conquer the challenge of the turns and counting mileage numbers rather than listening to a machine tell me where I am and actually mentally have no idea. The GPS told us to go south toward Memphis, and I was convinced that it was wrong because Illinois is NORTH of Missouri. Entrusted in Shaina and the GPS, we followed the direction and were suddenly recalculated. Surprise surprise. Thus, I learned to go with your gut and common sense, not a machine.

2. Shaina and I left early Friday morning at 8 a.m. to catch Meredith before she unfortunately had to leave town at 3 p.m. on last minute notice. Originally staying with her, I now had to find a place to stay. I learned what great friendships I have when within a day, I had four offers. It reinforced the idea that you don't have to talk to someone everyday to be their friend, or keep in touch every week. But if you're on the same page and truly value their friendship, you can meet up for lunch or dinner as if nothing has changed. You can tell when you genuinely still care about what is going on in others' lives. This allowed me to see everyone below!

Below are pictures with Meredith, Elena, Anastasia and Michelle! I also got to see Brooke, Jack, Sara, a ton of Greeks including a friend of Maria's, and GBN and GBS students galore!

3. Walking around campus, I was running into people left and right. I saw two Glenbrook South students at Starbucks that I was acquainted with in high school, met some Greeks at a Greek festival that I have been around in high school, and ran into high school friends who smiled, welcomed me and said hello on the street. One even walked up to my car in the middle of an intersection! This taught me that you can feel at home pretty much anywhere, as long as all the people from there are surrounding you. 

4. When I realized with our good friend the TomTom GPS that University of Illinois was actually closer to five hours away from Mizzou, I was a little shocked. The boy that drove me and Shaina freshman year presented the plan as if it were four hours, so it's forever engrained in my head that Champaign is only four hours away. It's actually 290 miles. Chicago to Columbia is only 390 miles...yes, another 100. And on Missouri and southern Illinois highways, that's practically an hour. So why did I not go home? I clearly miss my family, like Northbrook...why would I not go back?

But as you see from the above three reasons, you can create a home where your friends and acquaintances are. I clearly saw a lot of people I know and love and felt 100 percent comfortable staying with them. It was a great point in my life to realize this and makes me happy that as a college student, I'm capable of carrying on these relationships! I thank all of my friends for a great weekend at U of I and look forward to my next annual visit!