Kenzie Blogs Life: university

My roommate is Afraid!

8:30:00 AM

Language barriers.

We all experience them at some point in our lives. Whether it be with coworkers, foreigners, or customers who just don't understand what any of your product is or what it means. If you've been reading my blog for awhile now, you might have seen the post about my International Roommate.

At some point in that post, I thought, we could still be friends. Here's why I don't think that's going to happen.

1.) She was afraid of me. And didn't talk to me for an entire 4 days. That's right. I'm terrifying.In reality, I had asked her why she wasn't using the water bottle I had given her in order to reduce the amount of plastic waste (she was bringing 3-4 plastic water bottles into the room.) To which she replied "it's okay." Only to tweet later: Roommate do not interfere, plastic is easier. I saw it. I confronted her. And later, four days later she confessed that she was afraid of me because I spoke directly to her about a problem. Oh. Boy.

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(We live in a small room, I can't just let things slide or I will go crazy.)

2.) She still doesn't take out the trash or recycles. I'm the one doing it once a week.

3.) She still has a weird sleeping schedule.

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4.)The definition of "quiet" is very different to her. Slamming drawers late at night to rummaging around them, crinkling papers at 3am, letting her alarm go off at 6:45am and not waking up until I have to say "your alarm is going off." I don't want to be awake at that hour, nor do I have to (it's always when I have class at 11am.

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5.) She doesn't believe in personal hygiene. Washing hands without soap, and not wearing deodorant are two things that in my perspective are very important. (though I think this is a cultural difference as I've read many articles about Japanese culture and not washing hands with soap) I keep typing soup and not soap.

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While those are negatives in our roommate relationship, there are some positives that have happened thus far in the semester.

1.) She was afraid of me. Which meant she avoided me like the plague and I had the room to myself. She still might be afraid and goes downstairs to do homework which means Kenzie gets "me" time everyday.

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2.) She gave me candy. She brought sweets back from Japan. Matcha flavored KitKats, are a thing.

3.) She's much better at making her bed now. No crazily piled sheets this semester HOORAY.

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4.)Our conversations are short. Usually when I ask about her day it's something like "Oh it was cold out, busy day." Never asks about mine...

5.) She picks up my chapstick. This happens quite a few times. It just rolls of my desk and lands on the floor. She always asks if it's mine (where else would it have come from???) and when I say yes she laughs like it's the funniest thing. I'm hilarious. I know.

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As my roommate continues to confuse me daily, I just remind myself it's one day closer to Summer. The language barrier is still present, I think it's because she went home to Japan over our 5 week break and didn't have to practice English.

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Oh well.

I hope you guys all liked this post! Have you ever gone to a foreign country and stumbled into some language barriers? Let me know!

Thanks for reading as always!

Being Home

Being Home (as told in pictures.)

10:00:00 AM

I've been back in my hometown for nearly a month now on my winter break from school. That's the nicest thing about life after highschool. The homework and tests may be harder, but they give your tired brain a good chunk of time to turn all of the words that have been packed inside, a rest.

A really nice, five week rest.

While I haven't been on the schedule for work very often (hardly at all). I'm still enjoying my time being at home. Like many of you, I love lists, and I also love animated gifs that go with them. So let's take a look shall we?

1. "I'm finally home and away from my roommate!"
This is how I felt leaving the dorm room:

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This is how I felt when I walked into my house:

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2. A few things happen when I'm home alone..

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(I didn't actually bake a pie but I baked other things that smelled delicious!)

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While I do love being home, I also love detoxing from the internet and having days where I just relax and do a little baking or take a bath....or maybe binge-watch 4 episodes of the Kardashians. I've also enjoyed going for walks before or after dinner, and being able to relax.

Are you all home for break yet? Have you gone back to school? It's the last few months before summer guys! We got this!

I hope the weather hasn't been too terrible for you! It's really cold here in Wisconsin, and I haven't wanted to leave my house, or my fireplace for the last few days!

Thanks for reading! I love reading your comments, so make sure to leave one! :)

xx Kenzie

Back to School

Back To School: Round 3

8:00:00 AM

It's that time again, your favorite bloggers are all writing tips and tricks on moving away for uni or starting up school again in the first place. This time I'm back at the University I transferred to and here's hoping that this semester is better than the last.

It's nerve-wracking moving away from home, you've spent your whole summer with friends, and probably working and now you're onto school, piles of books and heavy backpacks and who knows what you're going to be eating?!

I've already visited my favorite coffee shop once and ran to the store to buy a pack of pretzles. Who brings almond butter and nothing to eat it with? Me.

I'm a few weeks into my schooling by now so I thought I would share photos of my dorm room and a few tips!

Make your room "homey" If you see a decorative pillow at the store while out shopping for supplies, buy it. I got this owl one at Shopko and the London pillow was from a secondhand sale!

Bring memories from home Photos are going to make your room feel more like you live there as opposed to just staying in that room for awhile. It's also very helpful when you miss your pals and family back home. Everyone's lives get busy and it's hard to stay in touch...so...

Write letters! They don't give you an address and mailbox for nothing! Use it. I love getting mail, and I love writing letters and sending them off, especially if the other person has no idea that they're getting some mail. It's a nice break from garbage mail anyway.

Make sure to explore your campus. You'll probably do this with the friends you meet around you, but if you need a break from studying, or from the stress, it's a nice way to get out and see the campus and gain a clear mind!

That's all I have for now, you'll do great out there kids!

I was so nervous coming to school this year as my roommate and I were/are strangers, but we're getting to know each other and she's from Japan! Which makes this all very interesting in learning about different cultures. Of course we have differences, but fingers crossed that it'll all work out! I could probably write another post all about it at the end of the year perhaps. If you're wondering about Latte, he has assumed his previous location on top of my desk in my room.

Thanks for reading, sorry if I disappear a bit, I'm probably out exploring new shops and places. I'll keep you guys posted! Here's hoping procrastination doesn't hit any of us too hard...

If you're back at school, what's your favorite thing so far? Do you have a roommate? If you're already done with schooling, what was your favorite subject? Let me know down in the comments!

Kenzie

End of the Year

Another (School) Year Done

12:30:00 PM

It's finally Summer. I've been home for 3 days now from Uni and it's great.

2015 has definitely been gentle, it's been a year of a lot of changes so far, but all of them have been for the better. Or at least, I would like to think they have.

This school year was quite different than last, I stayed home when I was meant to move in the fall, which worked out ultimately in the end because had I been away I wouldn't have been there to say goodbye to Sadie. (You can read about her here.)

I did eventually move away, and it was exciting and terrifying all at the same time.

I felt overwhelmed at first, I didn't know how anything worked. But slowly I began to like it, though some days it was hard to convince myself that.

Here are some of the things that I learned (outside of the classroom):

It's okay not to like it at first. Especially if you're like me and you change schools mid-semester and your roommate moves out two weeks in and you're left alone. Just you and your goldfish. After the snow had melted, and the sun peeked out and the blossoms turned to a million lovely colors. I started to enjoy it. And I enjoyed alone time.

(I took a lot of "me time" walks.)

You will miss random things. Being away from home made me realize a list of things I didn't know I would miss. Like quality toilet paper.

Going home is actually fun. I had a moment (which was really an entire week and a half) where I just was not having it. I missed my friends, and my bed and I just wanted away with stress. So I woke up one morning and couldn't fall asleep, walked 20 minutes to my car and drove an hour and a half. I arrived around 9am. You can guess what time I woke. Being home for just a day was really really refreshing. I surprised everyone, including two of my really good friends at their prom (and we cried, and hugged and it was great.) It was honestly, my favorite weekend.

You can go where ever you want. Maybe not where ever. But I explored the heck out of my new town and I found a few of my favorite spots. I think it's really important to find your favorite spot, whether it be on campus or off. If you've been reading for awhile, you have already seen a few of these spots. (here and here).

(and I really took too many sunset photos sorry)

Getting Mail is really exciting. I loved going to my little mailbox and seeing a little card and coming back up to my room to read it. I also loved sending them. I'm a card kind of person and I think it's so lovely to get a hand written note!

As for right now, that's all I've got. I probably missed a few things, but those are the major things that I learned personally! All in all, if we were to compare the ending to last year to this year, I would say this year was 100% better.
If you'd like to hear more just comment below!

As for this summer, like always, I have a few plans and goals. I'll be (hopefully) working more. While I'm not working I really want to...

Read more. I'm thinking about making Paper Towns by John Green a purchase (if you have any book suggestions I would love to hear them).

Be Outside. As much as possible. I love being outdoors, and along with this, I really want to do new things, maybe go to a new place in Wisconsin that I haven't been. Who knows, but I'll share that with you when it happens.

I hope you all are having a great weekend! If you're out of exams, what are your summer plans? Did you go away for Uni?

As always, thanks for reading!

xx
Kenzie

change

A little change

12:00:00 PM

In a sudden twist of events, I have now ended up with a room of my own. (sorry that was partially dramatic what with the larger letters and all but you'll see why.) Previously, if you have been following my blog for a bit now (thank you), you would have read about the fact that I made the move from my hometown to a new university, in a new town, not knowing a soul, about two hours away. How did you get a room all to yourself Kenzie? Well..my roommate was presented with a great opportunity to be a residence assistant, which means she basically makes sure everything is going smoothly among the people living on the floor. So she had to move quickly (she pretty much left in a little less than 24 hours.) She did score her own room as well.

Though all of this was quite exciting and I was very happy for her, it made me a little nervous. Because well I had nothing. Which prompted a call to my mum that went something along the lines of "I don't have anything can you come here and just bring stuff?" Luckily for me, she had off a few days during the week and the room wasn't left barren for too long! And just as quickly as the nervous "What am I going to do now?!" feeling had come, it was quickly replaced by "I really want to start decorating this place!" So that's just what I did. Though, being careful not to go too crazy (it took a lot of effort) because everything that is in the room now, does have to be out by mid-May when I return home for the summer.
So now I have my own space. I thought I would give you that little life update as well as share a few photos of it!

Here is the room as a whole.

Those are just a few things I've done to make the room more comfortable, and less empty!

I do have other blog posts waiting to be set free from their draft stages so make sure you're staying tuned! And make sure you're following me over on Bloglovin!

I hope you're all having a great weekend!

adventure

Exploring near the river

1:00:00 PM

If you've been reading awhile you may have read that I've moved. It's exciting, a little nerve wracking at first but hey, that's life I suppose. Being in a new town and on my own I decided to make sure to pack my new camera (the really nice one I got for Christmas and used for those Arizona posts).
Anyway, I decided to use my first saturday here by exploring. It's a beautiful campus, and it's covered with a little bit of snow, not as much as last year, which I am perfectly fine with. So I can only assume it's twice as pretty in the Autumn when the leaves are full of color.
My university is set on the river, which makes for some pretty nice photos.
The weather wasn't too cold, I did look ahead to check and see which day would be best to go.

The water was so still, it was really pretty.

I also wandered into a park, where there were twisting trees, it was also on the river. There were squirrels running across a branch and darted into a hole in the tree, they went too fast and I wasn't prepared to catch a photo of them.

After wandering the park, I decided to go down an older street.

There was this cute little Fish made from scrap metal. I thought he was cute! Of course, he reminded me of my fish too. (Latte is currently enjoying his new life in college by the way.)

I did stop by a shop to grab a sweater that represented my university, as I actually had nothing, I'm not even sure why. But I am glad that I finally now have something.

The buildings on this street give it some character and actually make it look quite cute.

There was also a little bear statue along the way.

Isn't he cute?

After walking the length of the little shops that lined the street, the cold was starting to get to my fingers, though I didn't mind much. I do live in Wisconsin after all, and it hasn't been nearly as cold as last year, so I really shouldn't complain!
I did end up back on campus, spotting some ducks in the creek as I came up to a building.

See what I mean when I say, I can only imagine how pretty it is in the beginning of fall or even spring and summer when the grass is nice and green. I really can't wait to experience that. And besides, the sun would probably feel nice too.

I finished off the walk with my usual route back up to the dorm room, up some stairs. By some I mean a lot. It's a nice little walk back, and since I like doing things outdoors it was a nice break from homework and sitting in the room.

It also looks incredible at night here, and I promise when the weather warms up, I will take some night time photos for you, because they really should be shared.

I hope you like this post! Let me know what else you would like to read!

Have you gone back to school now? If you have, how is it? Do you have any difficult classes, or really fun ones?

I'd love to hear what you have to say in the comments!
Thank you so much for reading!
See you next time!

Kenzie

Birthday

A New Adventure; And turning One!

1:39:00 PM

I know I said I would throw in a few posts as well as the travel posts but life happened, and I honestly became too busy for my own good. I snatched up a second job, learned I was moving at the end of the month (the 24th), and I had a little over a week to pack. It was quite stressful, and scary because I had made so many great friends in the past few months because of work that I didn't want to leave them. But I also didn't want to fall further behind in school so here I am. In a new room. With a roommate. And yes I did bring my goldfish with me.
But even though being in a new town is scary when you leave the old...it's exciting once you get there. And I'm really excited to share all of it with each of you. Also, on January 24th was the 1st birthday of Behindhazeleyes! And I just wanted to take a quick second to thank you. Like actually truly thank you. Because I never thought (and I know this is cliche) but I really didn't think people would read it..at least not from 37 different countries, multiple times.
I know this post was a bit wordy and I'm sorry, I have a picture post coming up and a lot less..wordy ones as well!

I hope you're all having a great weekend!

Kenzie

Badger

A trip to the Frat house

1:00:00 PM

For many people, this time of year means a new school year. Chances are, if you're in University or College, you've already been moved in for a little while as you're reading this now or you're about to embark on that day very soon.

A few weeks ago, one of my friends was moving into a Frat house.

A Frat house, is a house that holds all of the brothers in the fraternity. A fraternity is a group of men formed with common goals and aspirations who make a commitment to each other for life. The members share a lot, as they're living in close quarters.

For girls it's called a sorority.

I was able to tag along for the trip, as I don't have any other siblings moving away and I was honestly curious as to what it was like!

We packed a truck and a car full of his clothing and school essentials, and drove two hours south from where I live to the capital of Wisconsin, Madison.

Madison University is a huge campus with 41,946 students.

After moving him in, his mother said good by and my dad, myself and her all went out to eat near the capital building.

I was starving by the time we finally had lunch so, I have no pictures of it, but it was delicious!

I love looking at the buildings, there are some really neat old ones, and there is one street that is only open to cleaning vehicles, police, and buses.

Here are some of the shots I took!

The big dome building is our Capital building!

After wandering the streets and popping in and out of shops, we decided to visit the inside of the Capital building!

The steps are made of marble, I just love the detail in the building.

This is the badger, Wisconsin's state animal.

How beautiful right? It was nice and sunny thankfully when I took these.

And one last picture before we headed home, from the Capital building to the street we had previously been wandering about on.

If you're moving into University, or are just going to school soon then good luck! I start September 2nd! Which is really soon, honestly I can't wait until the Semester is over but it doesn't do any good to just wish the time away!

If your classes have already begun, good luck! I wish you the best!

Kenzie

See you next time!
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anxiety

First Year Wrap Up

1:00:00 PM

First I’ll start off by saying, I have written and rewritten this post so many times before deciding that it’s okay to send it out into the internet world for you all to lay your eyes on. Second, this is entirely my opinion based on my own experience, it does not and probably will not be the same as yours.

As many of you know, I have recently finished up my first year of college. A lot of people are asking “How did you find it?” “Was it fun?”

Let’s do a quick recap first shall we?

The summer before my first year was incredible, I spent almost every weekend with my friends at their graduation parties, sitting around a fire until late at night. I took a trip to New York City, you can read the post about my favorite restaurant here. Before I knew it, it was time for school again. A lot of my friends who I had been hanging out with during the summer were packing up and moving away to four year universities. There were a few who decided not to go at all and take a year off to work.

I had decided to go to a two year university. It was a good choice, save money, get acclimated to college life before throwing myself into completely unknown territory. My parents wouldn’t have to fret over me being so far away the first year. I still had expectations, as every student does during their first year. It’s a new school, you’ll meet a lot of people, make new friends. That sort of happened…but not really. I think I made one friend. It’s different going to a two year college where the majority live at home and commute to class and most of the students have grown up and just graduated high school with each other.

The first semester was great, I didn’t have to wake up at 5am anymore, so that was really nice. The teachers were pleasant. Though I was not prepared for how long the homework would take. None of my friends really kept in touch by the time the second semester rolled around. We did get together during the holidays when everyone came home. They shared stories about their roommates and meals and events, me? I had no exciting tales to tell. Other than that one kid in Spanish class who told a girl she was “retarded” for asking a question. I was appalled. The thing with my friends coming back that put me off was that they would ask the generic, “How is your semester going?” and you’d tell them, but they would stop listening in the middle of it and move on. I felt I had been shrugged off for not going to a big university like they had, whether they had meant to do that or not.

The professors in college were alright, I mean I guess it’s the same with everything you get a good one and you can get a bad one. One teacher told me that I hadn’t done well on a previous test and that even if I tried I probably wouldn’t make it. The next day was the test, and I would like to point out I got a B on that one. I still felt upset that a teacher would say that. Don’t try, it won’t be good enough. Yea you get paid anyway. I told my advisor I have anxiety and she said “I don’t want you to feel anxious or freak out, but 80% of kids in this class don’t make it.” Yea okay thanks for the uplifting encouragement. I do want to say I really did like walking into class. I thought it was pretty.

My school isn't called "Park" it's actually next to a big park!

I was excited about second semester, because after this one it’s summer! And who doesn’t love Summer? Unless you’re a vampire or something then I guess you wouldn’t like it. I had thoughts of “Why do I need college?” “What does a taking a test on factoring have to do with anything?” “When will I need to know how to do all of this fancy math stuff if my major isn’t anything to do with math?!” I don’t like math can you tell? I totally disagree that you need to spend time and money learning something you don’t need. Is it to make us more “rounded?” because if that’s it. Then what the hell was high school for?

I constantly had to remind myself that I’m doing this to study abroad. I have to do this to get a job, a good one and when I get a good job I can buy more dogs and I can live in England on a patch of green field and watch those dogs run around and have all the tea I want.

The year ended with a sigh of relief that it was finally over. I know that this isn’t everyone’s same experience, and it’s totally unique to me. All of my friends, even some who stayed in town and went to the same school I did had a great time and met a lot of people. I am going off to a bigger University next semester and now I am only one step closer to getting to England. (and I cannot wait to write that blog post when the time comes!)

So with all of that being said, I really hope it goes much better than this year did. There will be blog posts about packing and moving and things that come with that later on.

Do any of you go to Uni/College? What was your first year like?

If you’re not in Uni/College and you’re worried about the fact that you can’t figure out something to study or major in…DO NOT worry. Try classes that you think look fun and I promise you’ll find something to do eventually.

Sorry this was so long. There will be more exciting blog posts because..ITS OFFICIALLY SUMMER FOR ME !!!!

Kenzie

p.s here's a cute picture of Sadie just because.

Pages

My roommate is Afraid!

Being Home (as told in pictures.)

Back To School: Round 3

Another (School) Year Done

A little change

Exploring near the river

A New Adventure; And turning One!

A trip to the Frat house

First Year Wrap Up

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