After Christmas vacation, I settled in even more. Went to
work (which still sucked), went to class (discovered I did not like Organic
Chemistry), hung out with my slowly growing group of friends. That semester
cemented my Biology-only major as well; the intro Education class didn’t fit
around most of my lab classes and so I stuck to the sciences. The semester
passed fairly quickly though I remember some highlights. Like my first Labor
Day. And attacking the roommate of best friend two (let’s call her Katie) with
nerf guns when she happened to be very drunk. And going job hunting for the
next school year. Not only did I flat out refuse to stay in my freshman year
position, my dear amazing office manager wanted me (and the other two students)
out of a job I didn’t like.
Summer was a repeat of the year before, working on a fire
(this one near Chester, California), saving money for the flight back to
school, and hanging out with the friends I was slowly distancing myself from.
It wasn’t on purpose or anything, but that’s what happened. We had different
interests, different friends, and went to school in different states. By the
time August rolled around, I was ready to go back to school. Not so much for
the classes, though Botany became a favorite, but for the people. Those amazing
people who had become my friends over the last semester.
When I arrived at Berea for the fall term, things were the
same and things were new. Same place, same professors, new dorm, new work, new
classes, and new people. First, I think, was the new work. Sophomore year was
the year I started at the Berea College Learning Center. The two times before
that I had been there it seemed like a fairly serious place. Little did I know
that’s what they want you to think. I walked into the staff area to hear
laughter. It was a bit unnerving and relaxing at the same time. On one hand,
the LC, as most called it, was not the quiet, serious place I had believed it
to be. But on the other hand, it was relaxed and soon became a favorite place
of mine to be. And I got to work with Katie.
Then I met best friends three and four. Or three and three
point five. I don’t know. They’re twins (you know who you are) and I had so
much fun with them. For ease sake, I’ll call them Holly and Kelly. It’s hard
not to smile or laugh when they are around. When I fell into my low points
again, all I’d have to do it see them and I’d smile. Especially with calls of
“Brandi Monster!” across the quad or even the street. Between them, Katie, and
Mana (that’s friend one), I had finally found my place at Berea. I was
comfortable and felt like I was in a second home.
As it always does, winter gave way to spring, but that year,
it put up one hell of a fight. What is known as the Berea Blackout or the Berea
Ice Storm or the many other names, hit with a vengeance. An inch of ice and no
power for days. And one amazing Katie parent driving the six hours from North
Carolina in three to come rescue us. That was the first time I spent at her
house, but certainly not the last. We escaped Short Term finals. And survived
to visit my uncle in New Orleans and return to kick butt in Classical
Mythology. It shaped up to be a pretty eventful year.
