Revisionist History

Summer 2015 has come to an end if you couldn't tell and it didn't feel right not having a blog post about my final summer as a high school student. I also realized that I've had my blog for over a year now and while reminiscing on my first few posts, I really miss my lists. So instead of entire paragraphs filled with details that I'd rather not share all over the internet, I'll use bullet points and lack specificity.

This summer I think it's safe to say that I learned a lot about myself, the world around me, the world beyond me, my friends and my family. At first I thought that my summer was really boring, but the revisionist historian inside of me realized that I did, in fact, have a "Cool For the Summer" worthy three months.

Things I learned the easy way:

• Around 8 hours worth of information about the 1970s.
• The Cosmos makes you sit around for days questioning if you should major in astrophysics.
• Spotify Premium at 99 cents a month for three months is worth it. 
• Manhattan, KS and Manhattan, NY are very different places. The Little Apple has great people that I know, but the Big Apple has great people that I wish I knew and also jaywalkers. 
• Reading Americanah in a car ride with your African parents is a great way to bond.
• PHHHOTO is a great app and downtown in my hometown is filled with so many fun and interesting places that lead to great PHHHOTOs.
• I can fit my entire body into an XXL Girls State sweatshirt and walk around a conference Marriott with very little trouble.
• Believe in yourself because other people think you're doing a great job, even when you don't think so.
• I'm very good at making it rain with $1 bills and Dallas Dollars.
• I'm also heartless when it comes to silent auctions.
• College tours are great.
• I love the East Coast: there's something empowering about being in a thunderstorm and knowing that there will not be a tornado warning.
• Niagra Falls boat rides are effectively water parks.
• Twitter is a great way to keep in touch with your friends from camp.
• I'm not as competitive as I, or anyone thinks I am.
• Live musicals are really great. It doesn't even matter if it's professionals or youth performances.
• Just about nothing is opened 24/7.
• Turn off your Twitter notifications if you make a bumpin' tweet that gets a lot of attention.

Things I learned the hard way:

• People from small towns tend to have lower reading comprehension levels than that of people from larger towns because small towns don't have libraries.
• Small town people don't like you asking them if their town has a library. 
• The farthest bathrooms from Washburn's Living Learning Center without ever walking outside is in the opposite direction of the dining halls and up the stairs.
• Far away bathrooms are a great place to cry without the pity-filled eyes of the American teenage girl watching you.
• You shouldn't read the first 150 pages of Americanah on a plane that has terrible turbulence or sit next to people who like the film "Snakes on the Plane."
• Don't eat guacamole that's sitting at a sample station.
• The Marriott will ask if you need an ambulance no matter the situation. Food poisoning you got at the Marriott? Ambulance. Scraped knee? AMBULANCE. 
• Don't tell your Online Journalism instructor that you got sick from food poisoning because he will tell your entire class.
• I have no understanding of how to pack or how to unpack.
• "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" makes no sense in the slightest and the ending isn't a real ending and political machines are still going on.
• The state of Kansas has no money for anything, and some of our state Congresspeople think it's totally cool to patronize students instead of answering our questions.
• I overthink a lot of what people say or do and it just leads to me stressing out for no reason and then accidentally self-sabotaging or just crying, it depends.