MIPA Worries

Attending camp at a college dorm with a roommate was new to me. Having never been to MIPA Summer Camp, I had no idea what to expect from this experience. Naturally, with all the possibilities running through my mind, I had some pretty hyper-active butterflies in my stomach. How would the food taste? What would the rooms be like? Would the people be nice and friendly? What time would we have to wake up? I’m really not a morning person….Did I remember everything on my packing list? Yikes. My mom added to my list of worries, “Don’t talk to strangers, don’t go anywhere alone, always be in a group of at least four people, don’t get into weird cars, don’t go off campus and whatever you do never turn away from your drink. There are some crazy people out there.” Needless to say, I worry a lot and so does my mom. Every minute of the hour and fifteen minute car ride to the MSU campus was an opportunity for both of our nerves to grow and my excitement to fade. Once at the entrance of the campus I decided to calm down before the chaos of checking in and getting set up began. I started to feel a little better about the four days to come, mostly because it was definitely too late to turn back toward home. Heading down Shaw Lane in the pouring rain, a disgusting orange sign appeared in front of the car. Construction. As if the car ride was not already bad enough, I had to drive around the Michigan State campus for an extra half an hour trying to find Shaw Hall with my mom pointing out all the potential lunatics who could slip something into my lemonade. I very rarely visit any college campus and never realized just how difficult they are to navigate, especially with construction and two neither map nor direction savvy drivers. By the time we had gotten to check-in, I was way too stressed to even think about having any fun. I hoped the rest of my Learn It, Live It, Love It experience would be better than the past two hours. Those butterflies quickly calmed down and let me enjoy my first night in a college dorm.