A New Connection from Outside the Nest

I got my dad's present in the mail. They were three books Best Buddhist Writings 2008, Best Buddhist Writings 2009, and Best Buddhist Writings 2010. I discovered the Buddha's teachings when I was sixteen and since then have considered myself Buddhist. Buddhist teachings are frequently the themes of my screenplays.

I have still been going down to my Freshman Seminar class at nine o' clock on Mondays through Fridays. I have been going to run on the treadmill in the Rec Center at eleven o' clock on Mondays for Adaptive PE and I have been going to that class on Wednesdays and Fridays. I go to my Beginning Bowling class at eleven o' clock on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Mondays through Thursdays I have been going to my Independent and Daily Living Skills class at one o' clock and my Technology Literacy class at two o' clock. My dad and brother also came to visit and I gave them a tour of UCM.

I have been meeting a fair amount of new people over the weeks I have been at THRIVE. I went to the pool and meet up with Emily and Jennifer from the program. We sat in the hot tub where we met Keke a girl from Hong Kong and Kee Lee a girl from Taiwan. For the first few weeks of September I have been going down to the pool every day of the week except Wednesday, when I have Person-centered planning, and swimming for about an hour.

I have still been running on the treadmill every night from Mondays through Fridays for an hour and a half. My schedule has changed slightly this month. On Wednesdays at three o' clock I have been going to Person-centered planning where I meet with an advisor in order to help me figure out what classes I will want to take next semester. I have also been going to a study hall for half an hour for two nights week which is the minimum requirements for THRIVE students. My nights are Wednesdays and Sundays. I also went to a mandatory THRIVE meeting where the mentors mentioned they were starting a THRIVE fundraiser to raise money to do THRIVE activities.

My mom and brother came to visit over the weekend. They brought me some soap and shampoo and I gave them a tour of the campus. Later we went to an Asian restaurant where I tried sushi or the first time. I am normally a picky eater but this time I have to admit the sushi was good.

The next day, my grandparents came to visit me. I gave them a tour around campus and we went to the same Asian restaurant.

Next Saturday night I went to the UCM Talent Show. It had various acts such as people singing and dancing, a girl doing stand-up comedy and several Indian bhangra dancers of which one of the THRIVE mentors, Kriti was in as was her boyfriend Josh.

I went to study hall one Sunday night one week and happened to meet a volunteer from the social work program. Her name was Cassie and she was volunteering with the THRIVE students during study hall in order to get her social work requirements. I enjoyed talking to her. I learned a great deal about her. One thing that I learned is that she studied abroad in New Zealand, where she said it was hard not to feel envious of the pretty Swedish girls. I told her "You shouldn't think of yourself lesser than them. You should be happy with yourself the way you are." Cassie and Kimie, one of the THRIVE mentors, laughed and said that was really sweet. For some reason I didn't think that Cassie should feel herself in any way less than those Swedish girls. I ran into Cassie one night when I was leaving the Rec Center and saw Cassie and got to meet her roommate Mckinsey. 

Over the last Thursday night of the month I talked to Cassie a lot in study hall. I learned that, in addition to going to New Zealand, she also went to Kuwait, Honduras, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica, and I learned that she has four siblings.

The next day on Friday as I was walking back to the dorm after having found out Adaptive PE class was cancelled, I happened to run into Cassie. We ended up walking to the cafeteria together and sat talking to each other. She said it was nice sitting with me instead of just by herself. 

That night my mom came to pick me up from Warrensburg and took me home (even though I know feel UCM is home). I texted my friend Maddie who I met at JCCC and told her I was home for the weekend.  We planned to get together and talk about how the last month and a half of our lives have been. In the last text she sent me that night, she said, "Welcome back."