Sometimes when I’m here, I start thinking about my future.  Especially about college.  Do I really want to go into baking?  Would it be a better idea to go into linguistics or engineering, and just keep baking as a hobby?  Or should I keep following my dream in spite of all these other thoughts???  What about paying for the education?  Will I be able to get enough scholarships to make it affordable for me?  And how about applying to colleges?  Should I just apply blindly, since I can’t really tour any of the campuses?  There doesn’t really seem to be any other option, you know?  Not like I can just fly home and see a college, and then come back.  Not really allowed with YFU.  And what sort of a college do I want?  A nice little friendly, neighborly campus, or a large university with something exciting going on all the time?  And what about…?



That's what I'm sometimes like (photo from: dannyschulz.com)



     See?  When you’re overseas, in a new country and a new home, spending every day with a family that you just met a few weeks ago, it tends to make you really stop and think about what sort of a college you want.  Atmosphere, major, friends… everything.  A part of me thinks of this exchange year not only as my senior year abroad, but also as a “practice run” for college.  I mean, look at it;  I’m away from my family for an extended time (a year is definitely extended, and is longer than any time I’d be away at college), going to school (so the grades are mildly irrelevant—except math—but I still have to do the homework , pay attention in class, take tests, and basically, I have to learn), making new friends (haha, couldn’t really pack my suitcase full of my buddies in Frankenmuth—they’ve gotta live their own lives and do school, too), and –most of all—I am learning to live together with people who are not my real family.  People who I’ve gotta learn to work issues out with.  And with different backgrounds/ cultures, that is a task in and of itself!

     And this all is teaching me valuable lessons for while I’m at college:  how to choose friends wisely; how to schedule my time responsibly; how to get along with formerly complete strangers living in the same house as I am…  The list goes on and on!  A major thing that I’ve found very important to everything here is the atmosphere I have in my new home.  ‘Cause no matter how full my schedule gets, I still have to come back home here to sleep.  And having a place where you feel comfortable is vital to being able to live life, and enjoy it.  Even cavemen had a cave they called home, right?  So every now and then, as I turn this thought to next year, and even years into the future, I put a lot of thought into what sort of a house and community I want to live in.

     My experience so far has been (and I’ve talked with some other exchange students I know who are here now) that it is easier to feel at home and to fit in when there are plenty of people your age around you.  I had figured that before I even came; that’s part of the reason why I specifically asked to be in a family with kids my age.  Now turn this thought over to college:  Why wouldn’t I want to live the first year on campus?  That’s a vital part of college, in my opinion!  That’s just how you get to know people, is by getting involved in clubs and everything.  But after that first year, who knows?  Maybe I’ll want to get an apartment somewhere.

     Another important thing to me is the setting of where I live.  A nice area to live in is always a plus.  I’d rather live in a friendly small town than in the middle of the chaos of a big city.  Not secluded and out in the middle of nowhere—just a nice, comfortable distance away from the next big city so I don’t have to constantly live in the stress that goes on there.  And with some kind of setting.  For nature, I mean.  So I’ll always be in awe of God’s awesome creation. Maybe some paths or trails so I can go walking, jogging, biking, whatever.

Photo from: culinaryinstitutemi.com

     Since I’m currently looking at going into Baking & Pastries at Baker College/ Culinary Institute of Michigan in Muskegon, that’s where I started looking at apartments.  And I found a great one on vacancy.com.  It’s not directly in Muskegon, rather in Spring Lake.  Which looks to be about a 10 minute drive or less from the college.  Easy drive to school, but still in a nice small town.

     Woodland Ridge… even the name sounds beautiful!!!  So I can just begin to imagine what it actually looks like around there.  Actually, the pictures that there are on the website are stunning.  And it's relatively close to Lake Michigan, which means that whenever I wanted to, I could ride my bike to the beach and just enjoy it.  There's also a paved bike trail, hiking trails, and a park all very close.  So I'd have plenty of outside activities.

     And as to fellowship and companionship--there are clubhouses and common kitchens where I could easily get to know people.  There are tennis courts as well.  Oh, and did I mention the swimming pool?  So I'd be able to find people there, too.  And a fitness center so I could keep fit when it's rainy outside and I can't do something else outdoors.

     The apartment rooms are available for one, two, or three people.  I would probably ask my friends from my first year at college if they would want to room with me, and then we would share a three-bedroom apartment.  Because having an empty home is just sad.... and lonely!

     What other people think of the apartments also is important.  So I looked at some of the reviews for Woodland Ridge.  The only negative things I read were that sometimes it's a bit noisy.  But I could live with that.  Actually, I'd welcome that.  When it's so silent all the time, then it's strange.  Kinda as though no one lives there, or something...  So I'd expect there to be some noise, since people actually do live there.

     So, let's go back to the criteria.  Great setting?  Check.  Comfortable distance from college?  Check.  People to meet?  Check.  Yup, looks like we've got a winner!!!  Of course, I don't know yet if I'd really take it.  That's just another one of those debates I'll get to have for the next year!  Great.

     Oh, yeah.  In case you wanted to see this apartment for yourself:  http://www.vacancy.com/michigan/spring-lake-apartments/woodland-ridge-apartment-homes/photos/