Didn't realize I actually used to write in this journal much at all... I guess that was before Livejournal which was before Xanga... for those of you interested (I'm flattering myself and pretending that those people exist), my user name there is "melthesouthernbelle."

Just wanted to write something up here so that the last thing (and first displayed) wasn't the sad news of one of my best friends in the world moving away. So much has happened, but basically, now I'm at Rice University in Houston, Texas. This is my third year (and I will only be staying for four, can't afford more!), and I'm a Psychology and Policy Studies double-major at Baker College (for those of you familiar with Rice's Oxford/Hogwarts style college system). And I love most of my time here, though there are a lot of hard moments, struggles, uphill battles, but I chose that and I chose to fight those more or less on my own when I chose to come out to Texas, where I knew nothing and no one and my family stayed back in Georgia. But it was definitely one of the best decisions of my life, and definitely my first truly substantial decision that I made for myself and that dramatically affected my life. And I did a pretty good job, considering I'm still here three years later and enjoying it, all things considered. If only everyone else could find something that works out so well, particularly considering the hell I went through to get here - only the last little bit of which is chronicled here!

So, I guess taking a risk paid off for me in the college decision making...