Packing: The Simple Life... Not

Only one more week till I return to college.

It's hard to believe, but what's even crazier is the amount of stuff I have! I think every college student knows the baffling experience of packing the seemingly few items you own and finding that they take up 4 bins/boxes!

It's strange to think that you're essentially packing up your life; of course there are the few items that are left behind, but the amount of stuff we humans own is remarkable.

I used to consider myself a simplest. I was proud of the fact that I didn't have much to bring to college, just the bare necessities. The idea of being able to pack up and move at a moment's notice is appealing to me; I don't like the idea of being dependent on items, especially worthless knickknacks.

And yet here I sit among 4 plastic bins, 1 large suitcase, and 2 smaller containers, wondering how in the hell I came to need so much stuff? And here's the funny thing, I don't even have any knickknacks or worthless junk packed. Everything is a necessity.

I suppose the idea of self-reliance and simplicity is easy to think about when living at home with your parents where you don't have to worry about the little things like shampoo, conditioner, soap, laundry detergent, and basically everyday items that you take for granted. Try moving out on your own for a bit, it'll show you how incredibly difficult it is to actually practice simplicity.

Give it a week or two and all this stuff will seem to have vanished once it is unpacked and dispersed in my dorm. Strange how you don't see just how much you have until it's all packed in a bin.

Anticipation of the Return

There's something about being in college that fills one with both excitement and trepidation. On the one hand summer break is over and the workload of school is looming ahead, but on the other, the prospect of moving forward in life, towards something meaningful, is invigorating.

Entering my sophomore year at the University of Denver, I cannot help but feel as though I'm returning to my own personal cocoon. Visiting the campus before the start of school, while it was vacant of students, was like walking through a ghost town, as though I was there but something was missing. There's something missing. The grounds themselves, without the students and faculty, are lacking the thrill of knowledge and potential that are normally bursting at their seams.

There is something about a college campus that makes one feel independent and accepted. Being away from home this is my turf! I walk these grounds. With my whole life ahead of me and with the sun rising and setting on the brilliant crimson and gold emblem of the school, I cannot help but feel that I am where I'm supposed to be.