With my sisters I am best. This phrase pretty much sums up how I feel about my friendships in college thus far. Last spring, I became a member of Tau Beta Sigma, the national honorary band sorority. Alongside some of my closest friends, I have been able to serve the band program at Bowling Green State University in ways I never thought possible. Together with my sisters I've been able to put together successful concerts and recitals, and have been able to serve others in a selfless manner. However, my workload is ever-increasing as a business student, so I have made the decision to transition to inactive status in the sorority.

For years, I've gone to Walmart to get everything I might need for the week. Toiletries, groceries, trash bags...even pillows. Not any more. 
As a student at Bowling Green State University, I have the privilege of taking a few courses focused on the general studies of business practices. One of the companies my class studied was Walmart. I knew previously about the bad conditions that Walmart employees are in, but after learning about just how many bad practices Walmart has, I have decided to never shop there again. ​The company pays very close to minimum wage to workers and often forces them to work overtime without pay, with the threat of losing their jobs constantly. Many products sold at Walmart are also produced in factories where the workers make barely seventeen cents per hour, and are told to lie about their working conditions so that Walmart can report "good working conditions". The company also forces its suppliers to make the cheapest possible products to compete with the lowest prices many people can find anywhere. But there's a catch - Walmart isn't always the cheapest place to do your shopping. Many studies have found that places such as Costco are actually cheaper, and that's just one of the many reasons I'm now doing my shopping strictly at Target and Kroger. Target pays their team members much more than the minimum wage. After doing all this research, I must say this now so everyone can hold me to it:
I am never shopping at Walmart again.

I've completed my first week of college, and I'm currently halfway through my second week. It's been a very interesting journey thus far, with lots of new routines and ideas to which I must become accustomed. One thing that has been odd is the size of the institution I'm attending. In my previous education, there were never more than nine hundred people in the same school as me. Now, there are around 17,000 other people. It's been very interesting getting used to the feeling of being set aside, assigned a student number, and pushed around in a group rather than treated as an individual. Of course, the college I'm attending would never say they do that, but they definitely do treat me as just another student ID number on campus and more campus income. However, I love the other students I've come to meet. Everyone is at least a little bit more mature in college than people were in high school, and I love it so much. Instead of pushing drama on top of people all the time, most people act in a respectably professional manner and it really helps the college environment to get along. I'll try to post another update after the first month of college, but until then, keep up with my everyday college life on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!