Day Ten: Autumn

Autumn is in... everything but the air. As I walk outside it feels more like a June day than the brisk Vermont fall I love. The beginning of September felt like November, and now, as we reach October, it feels like I should be starting summer vacation. The brisk air and the cool gusts of wind define autumn for me. I get surprised when I see how colorful the trees are, because they appear out of place in this weather. I guess I shouldn't be complaining about the heat. In a few months time I will be begging for the sun to stay a little longer, to heat the Earth up just a few degrees more.
Temperature complaints aside, autumn is my favorite time of year. It's (usually) not too hot and not too cold. The mountainside looks like a box of crayons (if you only use the red, orange and yellow shades), and the paths are paved with crunching leaves. Autumn is the perfect excuse to sip on pumpkin spice lattes, or my favorite, pumpkin chai lattes. The drinks, although they are stereotypical white girl drinks, taste like fall. They warm me up from the inside out and can instantly turn my day around.
Fall is also the perfect excuse to change up your look a little. I like to take the summer clothes I bought a few months back and wear them in a new way. I'll add scarves or cardigans. Maybe I'll through a sweater over a dress to only show the skirt. I don't think you need to have a separate fall wardrobe; piece together your summer and your winter staples and you'll save money and space. Fall is also the perfect time to wear flannels. If you're not from Vermont, or other areas of New England, you have been late to the flannel seen. Us Vermonters have been wearing flannels since the good ol' days for practical reason. Only recently have the mainstream clothing brands, and runway designers, caught on to the trend and the unique pattern. Flannels are warm, easy to wear and practical. They're perfect for layering on the days when the morning is cold, but you know things will heat up by mid-afternoon. Unlike most other layering pieces, flannels actually become even more "trendy" (dare I even say it) when you take them off. Take the flannel off and tie it around your waist and you look like you just walked off the runway at New York Fashion Week.
So, if you're like me and love fall, go outside and jump in the leaves; go apple picking and just enjoy sitting in the crisp air. And if you prefer to stay inside, cuddle up with a nice hot spiced beverage and enjoy the vibrant colors through a window.
-Libby Morehouse

Day Nine: Creatures of Habit

It's undeniable, we are creatures of habit. We fall into rhythms. You can blame it on our culture, the monotony of our day or work week; you can blame it on our circadian rhythm, our own bodies repeating cycle after cycle. Whatever the cause may be, we get comfortable and don't want to change. But sometimes life forces you to change.  For instance, you might move, get a new job, or go to college.
Whenever my rhythm changes I'm always thrown off. It feels uncomfortable and takes time to get used to, but, without a doubt, I fall back into another rhythm, a new one that fits my current schedule. It's subconscious. Each night I'll set my alarm to the same time, waking each morning before getting ready for the day in the exact same way, sometimes switching up which tea I drink. Then I head off to the same classes, to the same job, and sit at the same desk to do school work before repeating the next day and the next. Although, unlike in high school, my class schedule isn't the same from day to day, it is from week to week. I have certain daily habits and routines, but I also have a larger cycle in my routine, covering a week at a time.
Sometimes, though, it is nice to change things up. Be it a much needed break, walking a different route to the same classes, or sitting somewhere else to eat or in the classroom. The change is good; it makes things interesting again and provides a much needed refresher, a new outlook. As nice and comforting as having a routine is, I want to make a habit of breaking my habits from time to time.
-Libby Morehouse

Day Eight: Happiness

If you asked Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanut gang what happiness was they could give you so many answers, heck they could sing you a song about it. But what I've discovered recently is that happiness is different for everyone, it's situational and individual. One thing that I need to keep in mind is that it is possible and okay to be sad but still be happy about certain things, and conversely to be happy but still be sad about other things. It's a natural part of life and human emotions that we need to learn to accept and deal with.
Recently I've been finding my happiness again. I never was sad or depressed, but I didn't have happiness in the forefront of my mind. I was searching for happiness, if I found it, it was a happy coincidence, but I decided to actively find happiness again. This had to come from within. I knew I had to first find happiness in myself before I could find it from other people and other places. Media has always pressured girls with images of how society thinks out bodies "should" look, and this has hurt people's, including my own, self confidence. I finally started to accept my body for what it could do, rather than put it down for what it looked like. I started going to the gym again, focusing on how good I felt and how strong I was becoming. This helped me become happy with my body. I also joined swim club. Always walking around in my bathing suit actually made me feel better about my body and increase my confidence.
After I started to become happy with how I felt about my body, I sought out other sources of happiness. I started on the small things, like the way I dressed. I stopped worrying about what others thought of my clothing. I wear dresses and skirts most days, not to dress up for anyone, but because I like them and they make me feel confident, like I can conquer anything. I did my makeup for me, because I enjoyed it, not to impress anyone walking by on my way to class. I think doing small things for yourself is the biggest thing you can do for you confidence and to increase your happiness.
I've also opened my eyes to find people with similar interests to my own. This has increasingly made me realize that UVM is the right school for me. As I was hiking (in an event put on by my school) my friends and I were talking about how hiking is amazing, and how to many, sleeping out in the cold on hard rocks to most sounds awful, but how it sounded amazing to us. I stopped caring if people were going to judge me for what I like; I am not ashamed to be interested in what I am interested in. All of this happiness has changed my outlook. It has built my confidence and made me feel empowered. I feel like I have changed myself, and now I can go out and change the world!
-Libby Morehouse

Day Seven: An Adventure

Today I went on an adventure. Today was the third annual Catamountain Classic at UVM. The goal of this is to get a lot of groups of students together. Each group goes out and hikes a predetermined section of the Long Trail, and over the course of the two days, all 273 miles of the Long Trail will be covered. This started after a UVM student and avid hiker lost his life in the spring of 2012. It is a nice way to commemorate him, and to get a large amount of people out and hiking.
The trail was beautiful. The section my group hiked was eight miles. There weren't too many steep parts, only a few short scrambles. There were so many clearings in the forest where we were able to see the most breathtaking views and the falls were turning vibrant colors. Today was the perfect weather and the perfect time of year for a hike. We made good time. It took just under four hours to complete our section of the hike, and then it was back in the van. I feel so happy and privileged that I live in a place and I go to a school that not only encourages so many people to get out and hike, but helps facilitate it too.
That was just the start of a fun day. Tonight is Fall Fest! Keys N Krates and Betty Who will be playing. It will be a nice way to unwind after a month of stressful classes. It starts soon and I'm excited. It's sure to be a great concert and a fun time.
-Libby Morehouse

Day Six: Commitment

It's day six of this daily blog and I'm just going to be honest; this is hard. I don't know where I got the notion that I could blog daily. My life isn't interesting at all. I'm just an average 18 year old having a normal time at college. I don't have an interesting back story or interesting events happening in my life. I'm just me, a girl who's slightly more socially awkward than normal, sitting on her computer instead of in the amphitheater listening to guitar house's concert.
This will be hard, but I'm up for the challenge I set myself, and it is a challenge. I've always loved writing, but I rarely take the time to write for myself. Only one other time have a written in a journal daily for any length of time, and that's when I was in Rwanda for three weeks. It was easy then. I was experiencing so much and going through a wide range of emotions every day; it was a helpful to alleviate some of that. But this is a true challenge. How do I talk about the monotony of every day life? How do I try to make it interesting? Does anyone really care or am I just writing for myself? I guess the point of this blog is just for me to write for myself. Beyond that, I'm not sure. Am I writing so I can look back one day or am I writing so I can keep looking forward? I can see how this will be therapeutic. I'm not sure how long I will keep this up. I guess one reason I chose to write every day is to get into a much needed routine as everything is so different now in college. Another reason was to push myself out of my comfort zone and provide an intellectual challenge, and I'm not one to back down from a challenge. So I will take this and honor my commitment; unless I am in some situation where I don't have access to a computer or internet, unless I find myself or someone else in a terrible situation where I need to give the situation my undivided attention, I will blog, every day. That seems like a daunting task now that it's out there, but I must follow through, for anyone who might be out there who likes hearing what happens in my mind, but mostly for myself.
So until tomorrow, I'm sorry again for the rambling and I apologize in advance for any future rambling posts.
-Libby Morehouse

Day Five: Happy Birthday Hannah!

Today is one of my suite mate's birthdays, Hannah. We have been in college for just over a month, but everyone on the floor has gotten to know each other so well. I guess that's what happens when you live in close quarters with people. In college, or any time you don't have extra money, you get creative with gifts. Our suite is notorious for eating a lot of apples and peanut butter, so of course that was our gift to Hannah.
Today was also more than just her birthday. It was a night were we all got together. We hang out a lot as smaller groups, so it was nice to see the whole floor and some others all together. We have been able to create such a nice and fun environment in just a few short weeks. I think this is what college is about, finding people you feel comfortable hanging out with, truly good people you don't need to act around.
-Libby Morehouse
(Sorry for the short post.)

Day Four: Introspective Thoughts on Culture

Seven months ago I had the opportunity to travel with a group from my high school to Rwanda. We spent three weeks there, immersing ourselves in the culture and people. We learned about the tragic genocide, which occurred twenty short years ago, and how the country has started to recovery from it. We worked with a community of coffee growers as they tended the ground around he coffee plants. We went to schools and orphanages to talk with children of all age groups and education levels.  We collaborated with a community group bringing clean water to their village, and made media with them to share their stories. We even had the amazing opportunity to stay for five days with host families in a neighborhood in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.
Over this time I learned a lot about the Rwandan culture. I learned how they sing and dance through the back-breaking labor in the coffee fields; I learned how much of a privilege it is to go to school, and to be able to learn English and French; I learned how important church and religion are to the people.  The most important thing I learned, however, was the power of forgiveness and the strength of a community.
Through government propaganda and the media throughout the 20th century, the Hutus (an ethnic majority in Rwanda) were told to fear the Tutsis (another ethnic group in Rwanda).  Hutus were told that they needed to seize power in the government from the Tutsis, and that even their Tutsi neighbors weren't safe to trust.  Small scale massacres of Tutsis occurred through the 20th century as the USA sat back and did nothing. The anger and fear towards Tutsis kept growing until an order was given from the Hutu government to kill Tutsis. As news trickled down, people took this order to be a law, because the English words for "order" and "law" translate to the same word in Kinyrwandan.  On April 7, 1994 the genocide began. Hutus mercilessly killed their Tutsi neighbors and any moderate Hutus.  At first they killed their neighbors and friends, but then the hunt started to happen. Tutsis sought refuge in the churches and schools, which had always been safe places, but the Hutus came to Murambi, Natarama and Nyamata and so many other schools and churches and committed mass murders.  The Tutsis fled into the forests, but were pursued and slaughtered there too. Many fled into the neighboring Congo, only to be met by trouble there too. This one-sided slaughter went on for three months, and an estimated 800,000 innocent Rwandan Tutsis were murdered.  This tragedy created a rift in the people. When Hutus were released from jail, the Tutsis didn't want them to return to the village. But as time passed, they rebuilt their communities.  The Hutus were able to regain some Tutsi trust through respect.  The Tutsis began to forgive the Hutus and try to live in peace. Twenty years later, they are still rebuilding those relationships, but they have come so far. Hutus and Tutsis can work together again, making their country a better place, and working together to fix issues in the community and in Rwanda. The resilient strength of the Rwandans is what has allowed their country to recover, and become stronger than it was before the conflict.
I learned so much in that three week time about Rwandans and their culture, but, through their eyes, I learned so much about myself and the American culture.  I learned how much we take for granted. Each morning we wake up and dread the fact that we have to go to school. We take for granted that it will always be there, and we feel like we are forced to sit and listen to someone telling us how little we know. The same is not true in Rwanda and many other developing nations. Education is not guaranteed, it's a privilege.  Every day the kids who get to go to school wake up excited; they walk to school with smiles on their face, and they are eager to get to learn anything they can.  Education isn't the only thing I have always taken for granted. Running water. Not just running water but hot water at the turn of a knob. In America, when I want to take a shower, I turn the nozzle, when I want to drink cold water, I turn on the faucet. It's easy and mindless.  A lot of Rwandans aren't that fortunate. They have to walk miles to get water, which they know is contaminated. Even if they are lucky to have a nice house with a solid roof over their head, they don't always have running water. In the house I stayed in during our home stays there was indoor plumbing, but that didn't always mean running water. The water collected in a basin outside of the house, and once that basin was empty the water wouldn't flow. That meant bucket showers, or no showers at all.
Being in Rwanda gave me a new perspective on how I live. Being wasteful had been an unfortunate part of the American culture. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the USA threw out 250,890,000 pounds of garbage in 2012. Only one tenth of that amount was recycled.  The garbage production in Rwanda is much lower. The people try to use every last bit of what they have, and this includes food.  Americans through away excess food without giving it a second thought. This is one habit I have tried to change since returning. Most people in Rwanda don't get enough food to satisfy themselves and to get the right amount of nutrients, so needless to say they don't have any food scraps to through away. In America and other developed countries, we always have easy access to food, so we don't understand how important every morsel of food is. Nowadays it's much harder for me to throw out waste knowing that there are people who are dying because they can't fill their stomachs.  My perception of wealth has also dramatically changed. My family has never had a huge plethora of extra money, but we've always made a living without worrying too much. We are by no means rich according to American standards, but we could be off much worse. I have always been able to afford to clothe myself, to get a good education, and my parents don't have to do any tough physical labor. In Rwanda, there are too many people who rely on the generosity of others to give them clothing filled with holes so  their kids can wear a shirt, too many can't afford education, and there are so many people who have to work long hours in the fields to barely make any money.  It seemed very strange when multiple Rwandans told me they thought every American was rich, because our statistics don't show that, but compared to their standard of life and wealth, we are very privileged.
Six months later I still struggle to comprehend all of this. I'm trying to understand the American culture, which I thought I understood so well. I'm am still amazed by how a country so poor, disease-ridden and hungry could be so much richer in spirit and community than a country that can have anything at the drop of a hat. This experience taught me something more valuable than anything I've learned in a classroom. It has taught me to reevaluate my life and culture, and how to value things I have taken for granted.
-Libby Morehouse

Day Three: Climate

With the Climate March just passed, climate change and other environmental issues have been on people's minds and in their conversations.  The press that climate change has been receiving lately has increased, and I think it's for the good. In my honest opinion, I think that climate change is one of the most pressing issues we are dealing with. Unlike political, cultural, or religious conflicts, climate change effects every single person, animal, and plant in the globe. The issues of oil extraction and burning fossil fuels don't just impact the lives of the people taking part in those actions. The carbon dioxide doesn't just sit over them. It is everywhere in our atmosphere.
People have started to take notice and make a change. For a long time, the Amazon Rainforest has been a large site for oil extraction, but this has caused deforestation. It has changed the climate and the rain patterns there. The Amazon houses one third of the world's plant and animal species, and each day there are most species becoming endangered and extinct. This is all due to our thirst for oil, which is proving hard to quench.
Deforestation isn't just effecting the biodiversity of the Amazon Rainforest region; it is effecting the planet. One fifth of the fresh water in the world is housed there, and it is being contaminated each time we drill for oil. The Amazon is the largest carbon sink in the world, which means it is the single place on Earth which removes the most amount of carbon dioxide from our atmosphere. Deforestation will effect the carbon dioxide levels in two ways. One, there will be fewer trees and other vegetation to absorb the carbon dioxide and release clean oxygen. Two, the Amazon is being deforested for oil, which, when burned, will release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It is estimated that half of the oil in the world must remain in the ground, permanently, in order to not reach an irreversible climate catastrophe. That means no more deforestation of the Amazon, or any other forest (did you know that the forests in the Siberian tundra have been deforested more than the Amazon?); that means no more drilling for oil Amazon and no more searching for new locations to drill. This means we must find clean, renewable sources of energy, and find ways to make them accessible to the common folk. This will help us restore the fragile ecosystems, preserve cultures in areas effects by oil drilling, and keep the planet's climate under control, improving our lives and the lives of future generations.
For all of this to happen, we need to band together and make our voices heard. We need to reach out to the large oil companies and show that we will not stand for this before. They no longer have our support to ruin the environment and kill of hundreds of species all for their profit. The oil drilling isn't helping the economy significantly where it is extracted, and it is definitely hurting their culture and ecosystem. I took action and signed the pledge at http://amazonwatch.org/ and I'm hoping you will do the same as well.
-Libby Morehouse

Day Two: College

College is supposed to be a great time in a young person's life. It's a time to get away from home, to go to a new place. It provides freedom from your parents and freedom from people's judgements of you. It's a time to reinvent yourself, either completely, or to change that one annoying little habit you have. College is a place where you are treated with respect from your professors, who view you as mature intellectuals, and from your peers.  That being said, there can be some stress with college.
Coming to college got me nervous. I was excited, yes, but there were nerves in the pit of my stomach. How will I make friends? How hard will classes be? Will I be able to keep up with my work? Will I have a job? The Freshmen 15?! Will I like my roommate? These were all things I worried about, and I know every other college kid does as well. I was stressing out about the most minute details, but I just needed to take a deep breath. It was out of my control and I needed to learn to enjoy that feeling, but also take responsibility for the things I needed to get done. Most of those nerves subsided once I got to college. I realized that the people here are amazing, interesting, and unique individuals. I started making friends with the people on my floor, and people I had classes with. I realized that this was reality, and it was something I could handle if I focused at the task at hand.
It's been exactly one month since I moved in to school at UVM, and I honestly have to say that it has been an amazing whirlwind. The people are so kind, everyone tries to help you, and there is a huge array of activities to do. I joined the swim club because I wanted to stay active, and I thought it would be a fun way to try something I never was able to do and make new friends at the same time.  Of course I'm here for the education, but learning goes beyond the classroom. Everyone here is coming from different backgrounds, and you can always learn something from others; that's one of the biggest lessons I have learned here. I have gained so much knowledge about people and other places in the USA and in the world just by sitting down and listening to people. I have kept an open mind through all of this and it has really shaped my time into what promises to be a great few years here.
Just like anything in life, however, college has its ups and downs.  Not everyone will have the perfect roommate. Unfortunately some people just don't live well together, personalities clash and that's an unfortunate reality in life. I've been experiencing this recently. If you feel any tension, talk to you roommate. Try to resolve things. It's not worth you or your roommate being miserable over a small issue, and it's easier to have a civil conversation than to have to pack up all of your stuff and move into another dorm. In college, people are there to help. If you are having trouble with anything, there are people who are more than willing to help, you just have to ask. People want to see you happy and they want to see  you succeed, so go out and find resources and resolve any issues you might have.
I know I don't have the answers to everything, but I do have knowledge from my life experiences. I hope this could be of help to anyone, relieve some stress, and ensure you that college will be amazing if you let it be, and work to make your life one you want to live.
-Libby Morehouse

Day One

So this is it. It's the first day of my blog. I've been wanting to do this for a long time; I've been musing it over in my mind, but I never knew what to write about. To be honest I still don't know what to write about. I'm just writing. I'm writing what comes to mind, a stream of consciousness if you will. Being at college, so many people I know have blogs so I thought it was about time I started this, my first true blog. I'm sure I'll do specific blog posts later, but for now, while I get the hang of this, I just want to blog about me, how my day was, what I'm thinking. But I want to write, and I want to write every day. I apologize in advance. I love to write, but I am not a writer. My style may not suite you, it may not suite me, and it's sure to evolve. I'm not humorous, although sometimes I think I am (just ask any of my friends). But this is me, my thoughts, my words, my blog. I think this will be a good way to clear my mind after a long day, to allow for a peaceful night's sleep. I think it'll be a good way to get my thoughts out there, the ones that matter and the ones that don't. It'll be a way to connect and a way to express life and art. This is all I can think of right now. I guess this will have to be a good enough introduction.
-Libby Morehouse