Chapter 3: The Summer of Realizations

I can't believe I'm headed off to Carleton so soon. My flight is booked, tuition is paid, mini-fridge for my dorm room ordered...everything is starting to come together. I'm still having some issues wrapping my head around the fact that it's actually happening.

This summer has essentially been one big to-do list, full of things to buy, information to research, and goodbyes to be said. There has been a lot to get done and a lot that I still have to do, and this entry reflects three of the realizations I’ve encountered throughout the last few months in relation to my upcoming departure to “Canada’s Capital University.”

Realization #1: I have A LOT of stuff that I don’t need.

I’m a list person. When I have stuff to do, like housework, I make a list. Half the time, I put more effort into making this list than into accomplishing what’s actually written down. However, I’ve been abnormally committed to getting everything on my “Carleton To-Do List” done.

A large part of this list is dedicated to figuring out what I’m bringing to university and what is staying here. So naturally, that led to a total inventory of everything I own.

The result? Two huge garbage bags of clothing to go to the Salvation Army, two huge garbage bags of actual garbage, at least five years worth of schoolwork that I neither remember completing nor care to keep, and a startling number of things that, at one point, were very special to me, but now hold no value to me whatsoever (such as a giant Lord of the Rings poster of Aragorn’s face, which is now quite unnerving to look at. Oh, and the assortment of bizarre and colourful belts that I can’t believe I once wore that were stashed at the back of one of my drawers).

Realization #2: There are A LOT of people I barely know who are clogging up my news feed.

Following the inventory of my room comes the inventory of my Facebook account. Sounds kind of like a waste of time, but if I can organize my real life, I should probably get my online life in order too.

First on that list is a purge of my friends list. I have over 400 friends on Facebook, which makes me feel a little more popular than I probably am, but at the same time, I truly do not care about what the girl I went to summer camp with at the age of 12 is getting up to this weekend. So, in the nicest, stealthiest way possible, I’ve begun to delete those “friends” who aren’t really friends at all. There’s always the risk of some backlash from such a Facebook faux-pas, however. I’ve had one or two people add me back to Facebook, saying, “Hey, why’d you delete me?” That’s been awkward…

The other task on the Facebook list is the photo albums and a long night of untagging photos of myself. We’ve all had a couple of pictures taken at...inopportune times, or documented in detail what, at the time, seemed like a really funny adventure, but in reality was nothing but a trip to the grocery store at 11 at night. I’m headed to a school where I know absolutely no one, and I don’t want someone I just met to be scared off by a questionable photo (or 10) that may be kicking around on my page somewhere. There are some “adventures” that need no photographic records visible to the general public.

Realization #3: There are A LOT of things I won’t miss about high school.

Not to rub it in the face of those high-school students who are (hopefully) reading this, but man, am I ever glad to be free of that windowless dungeon of a place that I went to high school in. They painted it yellow this year. Yellow. EW.

Anyways, one thing I won’t miss is the seating plans. I always ended up right in front of my teachers’ desks. Another thing I won’t miss is the homework checks. I got my homework done one way or another (first-class honours all three years of high school, please and thank you), but seriously, so what if I forgot to finish my colouring of the adrenal cortex for first-period biology that one time? Is that really going to impact my chances of getting into university? (It didn’t, by the way). I won’t miss the moldy sandwiches that inevitably wound up at the bottom of my locker, either.

T-minus two weeks! My room is clean, my Facebook freshened, and the majority of my high school work recycled or burned. I may just be ready to take on university.