Keep on, keeping on

"Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It’s what you do for others."
Danny Thomas


We went hiking today. It was great because the gym is closed on Sundays and I needed some exercise. The guy we were hiking with was Canadian and said things like "paesta" and "givr" which really made me miss one of my favorite Canadian friends Goldie. I thought about her (btw Goldie is her nickname, a play on her last name, Gold) today as we were hiking. We met in college on the swim team. Because she was from Ontorio, Canada she had all of this Canada stuff in her room, just like I had Maryland stuff. Gotta love hometown pride.

In the picture, Goldie is towering over me on my righthand side.

As I got to know her better, Goldie was always inspiring me to stay fit or become a better athlete and student. When we were being lazy she was out running or lifting. She had a 4.0 G.P.A. in probably one of the hardest major at my school. She loved rock music and we went to a lot of concerts in Charlotte together at Tremont Hall; this opened me up to one of my favorite bands, Story of the Year.


She was also a really real person. She'd be honest with you and never sugar coat things, yet never make you feel bad about yourself. She was really nice too and helped you with anything you needed. She was super smart. She went to a French speaking school in Canada for awhile. As an athlete she always led by example never trying to showboat. I'm so lucky to have someone like Goldie in my life. It's great to know that there are still people out there that work hard for what they want and it's not always who you know or how much money you have. Did I also mention she's not only smart and a great person but absolutely gorgeous too?

Another thing I really appreciated was she was able to grow as a person. As a Freshmen she hated girly things, which was funny because her roommate was the most girly person I knew. But over the next few years she grew up and changed as hopefully all people should at some point in college. This didn't have to do with just the way she dressed (she did start wearing pink) but especially the way she viewed life formed opinions. As we came towards graduation she had a focus and drive to do something worthwhile. At the moment she's studying Chiropractic Medicine at National University of Health Medicine in Canada.

I love that I have friends that inspire people and want to help others rather than work for their own benefit. I only hope to be able to help others in a constructive way as well.

Bienvenidos

Pictures, from the top: Evan and me, two of my best friends Meaghan and Sarah, and my sorority formal Spring 06.

So as my first post for my new blog I'd say it's pretty mandatory to state why I'm doing this. I was finishing up the most recent post on Ten Pin Korea and thought how great it would be to have my own blog. I love updating Ten Pin and enjoy working on a project with my boyfriend Evan, but every now and then I have opinions on trivial matters and random thoughts that I'd always wanted to spill out to the world.

And so, Carolina Love came to be. Going to school in the South was one of the biggest turning points in my life for me. I became a NCAA All -American and was able to split my time reasonably between my college life and swimming life. I learned how to make and keep truly meaningful relationships with people. I found new interests in things such as community service and getting involved in school activities. I also expanded my mind about more frivolous matters such as becoming a Lilly lover (Lilly Pulitzer, classic prep wear) and professional sunbather.

Sometimes I look back at my life and am in wonder of how I ever would have gotten by without Wingate University. so it's small and a bit out of the way. I sometimes get made fun of that my school was a dry campus. So what? we still had fun and there were always off campus parties and get together and of course as rebellious college students we always snuck stuff onto campus. I find it hard to see where whether your school permits those of age to drink on campus freely determines the amount of enjoyment you get out of your college experience. I know people who went to huge state schools and don't have as many good QUALITY friends as I did and still do, nor did they get the same attention academically that I did. It's just a way of people who didn't enjoy college can gloat about how great their school is rather than their experience.

I will say as for my school being in the South, I at first fought this new strange culture of sweet tea and grits for the first semester at school. I was a Marylander, we love crabcakes and lacrosse and are ridiculously passionate about all things Maryland. Maybe because our state got jipped land wise, we feel we need to stand up for ourselves...I don't know. Anyway, come to find out, I made a lot of friends who played on the lacrosse team and after trying sweet tea once immediately decided this was my cafeteria drink of choice. Maybe I was scared of liking this different flow of life. Walking a bit slower, leaving the -g's off the end of certain words and calling people "y'all" felt so much more wonderfully more free than being at home trying to keep up with all the "cool kids" ha, and trends.

It seems that when you enter a culture that is different the first thing you do is balk at the new. However, I feel one only begins to feel at home in a different place when that place is completely comfortable with what it is, their beliefs, values and actions are all in sync. Essentially I think I'm saying how comfortable the culture is with itself.

Stay Beautiful