On the Way to Notre Dame

I'm sitting in my room and twiddling my thumbs because - miraculously - there is nothing left for me to do here.

All my things - and I mean all  of them - are packed neatly (if tightly) in boxes, and all the boxes have been packed neatly (if tightly) in my mom's mivinan. The only things left are the computer on which I'm writing this post, and the set of clothes I'm putting on when I get up at 4 AM to make the 690-mile drive to South Bend.

This

is what my family room looked like before we packed the car. Yup. I called my brother downstairs, waved the Notre Dame flag around, and sang "Students, now we pledge ourselves to hold this barricade..." He just stared at me.

Tomorrow, I'm leaving my hometown. I'm moving to a new place, with new people, alone, hundreds of miles away. Maybe the scary reality of the situation hasn't hit me yet, but I can't find it in me to be anything but absolutely thrilled and excited!

I probably won't have a whole lot of time to sit down and blog over the next few days - I have a packed orientation schedule - but check my Twitter (@nicolemcalee) to see how that pesky 11-hour drive is going....

Delco, I'll see ya on the flipside.

A New Journey, a New Blog

Well, the moment I've been waiting for since fifth grade has finally, finally arrived. I'm going to college!

Well, I mean, not right this moment. But in approximately 4 days, 6 hours, 20 minutes, and 43 seconds, I will be on my merry way to the University of Notre Dame, where I will spend the next four years obsessing over football, paying late-night visits to the Grotto, trudging through the snow...oh, and studying. That too.

You might be wondering why I wanted to spend the majority of the next four years in the middle of nowhere, a place with harsh winters and - get this - no Wawa.

Well, that's kind of the whole point of this blog. Notre Dame is an incredible place and very different from Delco, and I want to share my experiences under the Golden Dome - the ups and downs, the traditions, the amusing Midwestern-ness of the place - with you folks back home! It's going to be crazy and exciting and awesome, and I hope you'll join me on my journey.

In the meantime, I have about a metric ton of clothes, shoes, toiletries, office supplies, linens, miniature toolkits, clip-on fans, and Rubbermaid tubs that I have to sort through. Packing is serious business, folks.

One last thing: You can follow me on Twitter (@nicolemcalee) on the progress of my packing, or driving, or moving in...