Over the course of four falls at Indiana University, I tried to capture a bit of the magic the season brought to my campus with varying success. Of these, only the 2015 pictures were taken on an iPhone because I was determined to be a non-conformist (until I wasn’t). Are all of these #nofilter? Nope, zero. However, I’d like to think that my editing brought what appeared on my phone more up to par with what I was actually seeing in front of me (and definitely improved over the course of four years). None of these are selfies or group pictures at all of the events/commitments/random shit I got wrangled into (although those are great too). These are just moments in time between me being 19 and 22 when I was fully appreciative of what was right in front of me. Mostly trees, lots of sunlight, and occasional strangers or unknowing friends each with their own set of problems and accomplishments. If you go/went to IU, you’ll likely recognize most, if not all, of the locations, and if you don’t, then maybe you’ll just like looking at something besides political figures’ faces.

Fall 2012

The single “fall” picture I have from freshman year. Mostly because I was frantically trying to get wherever the hell I needed to be, and was more focused on the fact that I didn’t already have a whole herd of friends AND a boyfriend, instead of pretty colors. I did not make the same mistake next year. Unfortunately, our football team did not correct their mistakes and they were pretty terrible sophomore year as well.

---

Fall 2013

Autumn of 2013 saw me as a sophomore living in an off-campus apartment with two new sisters (and a floormate of theirs from freshman year) in the sorority I had surprisingly joined in the spring semester. I’d just changed my major after becoming one of many failed pre-nursing freshmen without a 4.0 GPA who decided they liked their school more than they liked nursing. As a student living off-campus without a car (God bless), I was definitely one of those “damn bikers” everyone curses, and by requirement became the savviest bus-user I knew. Best times, best routes, best place to get on/off – I got you.

I settled on Occupational Therapy as a career because I could avoid taking chemistry and biology pre-requisites. Reason for avoiding those? Since high school, I had a terrible tendency to sometimes fall asleep in class. Granted, I’ve always been super busy/involved, but classes I actually liked were hard enough, so the thought of ones that would be legitimately challenging was not the kind of negativity I needed in my life. What I thought I needed was to get back into Dance Marathon, something I’d done all four years in high school and had sorely missed freshman year. Multiple trips to the student tower and views like this ensued.

Somewhere along here, I decided that I should maybe consider the amount of loans I was taking out and do something about minimizing those. I decided I was going to be an RA – but not just for the benefits. For those of you unfamiliar with the RA process, it basically gets stretched out over a course of nearly five months and two semesters. You have mandatory meetings starting in November, then an application, then a class if you make the required GPA for the previous semester, and if you make it that far, a group and individual interview (though I hear it’s changed) in March.

---

Fall 2014

Life was looking good at the beginning of fall 2014. I was an RA for 30some newly-released 18 year-olds in the hall that never sleeps (looking at you McNutt), and decidedly committed to becoming an OT. I was also still in a sorority, doing dance marathon, shadowing at the hospital two mornings a week, volunteering off-campus several times a week for multiple classes, and then dragging myself to said classes. Unfortunately, not all was as well as it may or may not have appeared. My answer? Running – always my go-to. In times of particular stress that year, I would go weeks or more without running, and then bust out something crazy like 9 miles or a 60-minute adventure. Would not advise FYI. One such adventure led me here for the first time, and while I was obviously not discovering anything new, I will say that I noticed a lot more pictures here after. Coincidence or not, I'll take credit for it.

My last visit that fall when I got significantly closer to the water. As dreary as it seems, it might have been my favorite visit because the clouds were small and dense enough that I could just watch the sunlight move over different parts of the water and trees like a spotlight. Probably only lasted about 10 minutes, but still #nature.

---

Fall 2015

The twilight of my time in college was very suddenly real. Between the beginning of junior year and the beginning of senior year, I knew I wasn't going to be doing OT. I still could have, but something told me nope, so I listened (eventually, after much fretting and back and forth). There weren't as many pictures this fall, because 1) obviously, I already have a shit ton, but also 2) I was too busy enjoying the semester and my beautiful second home.

My last fall picture as a student at IU (because the next week campus was covered in snow). Upon comparing the dates, I also realized I took this the same day I was offered my internship at the Indianapolis VA Medical Center for the spring 2016 semester. Logically, I should not have done this internship. I already had an offer from another amazing place in Fort Wayne, and I had no competition there. The interview for the VA was also later in the semester, so if I didn’t get it, my other offer might have been retracted and I would be very SOL – probably (likely) having to wait until summer to do my internship. My gut/intuition/whatever said it was worth the risk, and for so many reasons I’m glad I trusted it.

Why did I do this? Because I want record of something that makes me happy. I love these pictures and the memories connected to them. Everyone should have a 'just because' something, whether it's a ridiculously extended photo dump, stamp collection, slam poetry, newspaper clippings, or a cook book - you do you. Spread your happy.