A Brave New World

I came to Berea College as a second semester freshman in January 2005, when I was barely 18 years old. I had left my family and friends in southern Georgia. It may sound weird that I left everything I knew to come to a place I'd only seen once, but I needed to do it.

At orientation, I met my first friend, LeAnn. Little did I know that this girl from Cynthiana, Kentucky would become the best friend I've ever known. She was sitting across from me at dinner, crying because her parents had just left. There she was: an only child with a wonderful relationship with her parents, never been away from home. And there I was: oldest of four, 700 miles from my parents, totally fine. We were different in every way, but we became best friends, partially due to the fact that we both lived in the same dorm: Pearson Hall. She was on the easy-to-reach second floor and I live on the die-before-you-finish-climbing-the-stairs fourth floor, or "The Penthouse," as some of the girls called it.

LeAnn had a high-school sweetheart--Tim, and I had a...guy--Steve. Steve and I dated for about three months and I lost my virginity to him in a Days Inn while I was on spring break in Georgia. Nice, huh? We broke up soon afterwards because of the distance.

We spent a lot of time together that first semester, so, when summer came we decided to room together while taking summer classes. We were assigned to live on the top floor of Bingham Hall. There was no air conditioning in Bingham, and Kentucky gets pretty warm in the summer. It was during this time that LeAnn and I became best friends. We had a class together, smoked cigarettes together, and walked to the gas station at 2 in the morning to get Ale 8 together. It was a happy time.

That August we moved into Kettering Hall together. That's where the drama began.

Not What I Expected

There was me: a very poor 22 year old perpetual college senior. I started school at Valdosta State University in Georgia. After one semester I transferred to Berea College in Kentucky. After 3 years there (and moderate poorness), I transferred one last time to Eastern Kentucky University. I must say, I never thought I'd end up here. I thought that I would graduate from Berea College in May 2008, get married to my then-fiance William, and live happily ever after. Yet, I was very wrong. Today, November 26, here I sit in my crappy two bedroom apartment above an insurance company in Richmond, Kentucky--single, with a very low-paying job, no food, unable to pay for college, with a car that barely runs. How did I arrive in this predicament, you ask? Let me begin...