30 days down.

Today marks my 1-month anniversary as a college student. Honestly, it seems like six months have gone by since I first arrived. (Whether that's good or bad, I'm not sure.) But it still takes me by surprise whenever I look out of my window and see the beautiful city of Austin staring back at me. On several occasions, while walking around campus, I've even had to convince myself that my new life here is not some elaborate dream that I will eventually wake up from; it is, in fact, my reality. And for that, I feel incredibly blessed.

Truth be told, I was skeptical about all of this at first. Okay, let's be real—I was terrified to begin my journey at UT. I did not want to leave the comfort of my small town home, and I dreaded the thought of weeks going by without seeing my family…

But lo and behold, after all of this time, I've somehow managed to survive! Good thing, too. I'd hate to think of all the exciting experiences I would be missing out on. Within the last month alone, I've made an appearance at a "college" party (without sampling the mysterious punch), pulled an almost-all-nighter with Kristen (which resulted in both of us sleeping through our 8:00am class), attended a church retreat at the University Catholic Center, and cheered on our football players at the first home game of the season.

I'm also in the process of becoming involved in several amazing organizations (ever heard of the Schoenstatt movement?), which is helping me get to know such inspiring people. Although I would be lying if I said that adapting to the college life is easy (especially with the crazy amount of homework involved), I can tell you that it has been quite the adventure.

As long as I keep my head up, I'm going to be just fine.