College life.
Those two words kept bouncing around in my head while I was trying to think of how in the world I could write about "college life" as some of you asked for. It's, uh, really awesome.
My day starts with waking up in my dorm.
I live on East Campus, which means I live in a quad. A quad consists of three rooms (each with a bathroom), a full kitchen, and a common "living" room in between the rooms. We have a full oven, fridge, washer and dryer, individual room's windows, immediately hot or cold water, thermostat control, and a great view. What else could a 19-year-old living in (quite honestly) ultimate freedom ask for?
In a quad, there are typically seven people. Two rooms house two people, and one houses three. I am in a two-person room. It's pretty great. Living that close to six other people can have its challenges, but at the end of the day I love my quadmates; they're like brothers.
After I get showered and stuff, I go on my way down to Demoss for class; sometimes I get ready at 8:30 a.m., sometimes at 12:30 p.m.
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I start off class at the airport - so I board the Aviation bus, which leaves from Demoss at 9:10.
After that class, we head back to campus for Convocation.
"What is Convocation?" you ask? It is the best thing, second only to having a Chick-fil-A on campus, maybe.
Convocation is a [Trump voice] huuuuuge part of residential college life at Liberty University.
Do you want to know about college life? Convo is so amazing. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we all gather in the vines center for worship and a guest speaker. Steph Curry, Simone Biles, the Robertsons (yes guys, Sadie Robertson will be here in April), Tim Tebow, Bernie Sanders, For King and Country, and even our President, Donald Trump, have either been or are coming to Convo to speak soon.
Every semester we get the privilege of hearing from dozens of influential people, as mentioned above, such as athletes, musicians, authors, chefs, politicians, pastors, and actors. If college life at Liberty was only convo, it would still be better than college life anywhere else, IMO.
Between classes, I usually study, work on writing, go bowling (THATS RIGHT, LIBERTY HAS A BOWLING ALLEY. ON CAMPUS.), grab lunch with friends, or get some quality alone time on the roof of Demoss just enjoying the fresh air and the indescribable bliss of being at Liberty.
My last class of the day, every day Monday-Friday is at the airport, so after that, I catch the bus home and then every day is different. I kinda make up plans on the spot, usually. Sometimes it's a study group with aviation pals, or sometimes it's designing and making things in the Machine Shop. Either way, it's always a blast.
Wednesday nights, at 7:30, we have Campus Community. Which is a super cool gathering of about 5,000 students. We spend an extended time in worship and Pastor David Nasser (or sometimes a guest speaker) gives us a more in-depth message than what we typically hear at Convo. Some people despise Convo and CC, but I thoroughly enjoy both of them.
College life isn't done justice without talking about food.
Liberty has the following:
- Reber-Thomas Dining Hall - rated #1 dining hall in the USA.
- Chick-fil-A Express
- Two Starbucks' (one built into the Bookstore, the other is a genuine Starbucks location: in the library)
- Auntie Anne's
- Dunkin/Baskin Robbins combo
- Other A+ choices spread out on campus.
Off-campus locations that I frequent include Fridays, Taco Bell, Texas Roadhouse (the real one), Zaxby's, and Mcalister's; all are located within a 15 minute or less drive.
What do I do when I'm bored? How about bowling, watching hockey/basketball/volleyball games, movie nights, concerts, chilling virtually anywhere on campus with friends, taking a drive up the mountain to see the sunset, or designing things and etching them with a laser cutter?!
Basically, I'm rarely bored. It's kinda hard to be bored at Liberty. I always joke that the only thing we don't have is a waterpark. (Hint, hint, Jerry)
This fall they're opening the new gun range. Yeah, a gun range. Full indoor pistol range, three long rifle ranges, and a state of the art archery facility, I believe.
College life at Liberty is awesome. I mean come on, we even have an observatory and a paintball field.
Some days I wake up and just enjoy the view, still marveling at the fact that I'm here. I am beyond blessed to be here, and I thank God daily that He gave me this second chance and is providing for me to be here.
Go Flames!