It was my junior year in college. I had just transferred to UGA. I couldn't wait to get out of Atlanta after high school- couldn't wait to meet new friends, to live somewhere new, to explore new places without being so close to my parents. I was dying to break out of my catholic skin and aching to stir up trouble. After a very expensive year in Rome I came home to find a crisp, white paper announcing Notre Dame's decision to increase tuition 8%. I was forced to make a choice, a choice that no person under the age of 25 should have to make. Do I take out student loans or do I take the Hope scholarship?Leaving Notre Dame was not an easy decision. People fight to get into that school every year- and I was leaving, throwing in the towel. To my friends, it was as if I was spitting in their face. So naturally, they stopped talking to me. Sounds ridiculous, I know. But anyone who has seen the Fighting Irish play football even for one quarter know how serious the Irish take everything in the little town of South Bend.
I chose to live in the most expensive apartments in Athens-the Reserve. They cost me roughly 325.00 a month and it was well worth it. My room and balcony looked out to the pool with a huge waterfall. Behind the pool area was beautiful sand holding a 7ft volleyball net up. The whole scene reminded me of a scene from a Budweiser commercial. All the UGA boys would come over, smelling of coconut with their half naked bodies drenched in oil. They would play extremely competitive vball all the while showing off their muscles, as if they were reenacting a scene from Top Gun. UGA women laid around the pool in skimpy bikinis drinking a mixture from martinis to Coronas. No one actually swam in the pool, just tanned and drank by it.The whole scene made me a little intimidated. I'm shy to begin with and have a hard time making friends with girls. Guys I have no problems with. Girls is an entirely different ball game. So I sat on my balcony and waited until I thought no one was down there. I, unlike the pretentious sorority princesses, actually enjoy swimming. Well, I actually don't swim, kinda splash around a bit. When I was quite sure no one was around, I snuck down and sat under the waterfall. Out of no where, this blond Jessica Simpson look alike holding a 6 pack of Amstel walked in and started up conversation. She explained how she just broken up with her boyfriend of 5 yeads and quit her bartender job at the Pink Pony. We sat by the pool drinking my beer of choice and I introduced her to the nasty but ever so cool world of Marlbro. She didn’t smoke at the time, a habit I introduced her to.
The 2 years we spent together flew amazingly by. We use to go out all night, 4 nights a week. We would come home only to watch "Skinamax" at 3AM. We watched Sex and the City every Sunday night, drinking cosmos for dinner. For spring break, she bought my plane ticket to Cancun because I couldn't afford to go otherwise. She also helped pay for the hotel room. I thought I was good at meeting guys- I realized she was even better. She probably would pick up at least 5 new guys every night. I met all of UGA because of her! We threw a Christmas party one year. Kim thought it would be a great idea if she made business cards explaing the party and pass them out in the bars. So, right before Thanksgiving break, we passed out these computer made invites to guys we thought were cute. We would go right up to them, introduce ourselves, and explain we were throwing this very lavish party. We told them we had invinted a ton of girls and we needed more men. Kim and I thought no one would show up to the party and it would be a huge flop. Turns out, Kim's apartment was filled so tightly, no one could move. Half the basketball team came and so did half the football team. There were 3 girls there total- Kim, her roommate, and myself. The men sang "You've lost that loving feeling" when I explained it was Kim's birthday-one of our favorite songs.
The girl was definitely a party girl. Her nickname used to be Kim Catral and she definitly earned the title. She called me this evening- she's engaged to an English Rugby player and she's moving to the UK at the end of March. Kim said I'm the first to know and asked me to be in the wedding. I' m so excited for her and the man she is marrying is extremely good looking. However, there is part of me that is so sad this evening. I was too young to appreciate the amazing times I had with Kim. We had so much fun together- and yet the whole time I was there, I just kept trying to speed up our time. I was so fixated on proving I was smart that I became obsessed with Acing every class. I missed a lot of opportunites to enjoy my life up there. I wanted to graduate so I could make something of myself. Funny how life works out. She's getting married and I'm the single one, still in school. God definitely works in some very mysterious ways.
Time to work on naming Voss's new energy drink.
mer
"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer by the stars" Bob Dylan
