1. Get my license back

2. Get a job, save money.

3. Join the cycling and triathlon teams and be involved OR Join an intramural team and goof around

4. Study hard. Study really hard

5. Embark on an adventure every weekend. Be independent. Be alone. Be happy.

The problem with last year is that I was trying to live my life the normal way. I thought that my college experience should be just like everyone else’s. But I am not normal and I do not want my life to be the way everyone else’s is.

I want to come back every Sunday with a new story to tell my friends. I want to not only remember every weekend but let every one be more adventurous than the one before it. And I want my stories to be ones that I can tell my children with pride.

I do not want to limit my enjoyment of life in college to the couple hours of triathlon training each day. I want to bike into West Virginia, sleep in the woods, bike to the highest peaks, sleep again, and return the next day. I want to kayak down the New River for a two day trip. I want to hike deep into the woods and sleep under the magnificent unhindered light of stars.

I have a severe disorder. It is called itchy feet. It is not that I am never content where I am; it is just that the world is too big to stay in one place for too long.

Hiking the Appalachian trail is perfect for me right now because I am always moving. But what happens when I return home? I know what life was like when I sat still. When in school, I will have less than 72 hours to explore and I need to do just that. Beyond those 72 hours I’ll be trapped in the small dorm room for sanctuary and the small campus for entertainment.

I know there are others just like me who want to explore. I know there are others who think that crowding into the smallest space that possibly fits us all is not how we want to continue our experience here.