My life at MC...so far, so good.

Ashley Avans

Hey! So my time here at Maryville has been A-M-A-Z-I-N-G-! I almost didn't come here, but I'm so glad I did because I definitely would not have the same opportunities if I went anywhere else. I also would not have the same friends or such great relationships with my teachers! So, here is a little bit of my journey for my past three years for you all. 

Freshmen Year:

Move -in day with my roommate Emily Freshmen year!  She was awesome! 

First snow day at MC! We had fun...and that sled was eventually broken. :(

We also like to get messy! One of my really good friends I made here got cake icing on me at a friend's birthday party, so this is me putting it back on her :) This a playful picture. 

This is Me, Corey (girl from above photo), and Jennie. Corey and Jennie were roommates freshmen year right beside mine and Emily's room. We were the three amigos. This is us getting back together over the summer because we already missed each other. Yeah, they're special gems. This is my posed picture.

Sophomore Year:

This is us at a friend's lake house. We had a bonfire, tried roasting marshmallows for s'mores, but ended up having a marshmallow fight. So, like I said, we like to get messy sometimes. 

This is my nature photo. This represents one of my favorite times of the year- Homecoming! That means that it is also Fall. Around this time of the year,  campus is SO beautiful. Our school colors are orange and garnet so the trees add to the decoration.

I also got to meet someone semi-famous. Of course this isn't a perfect picture, but I'm in SPB (student programming board), and we get a large portion of the student activity fees to bring people and events to campus such as TONY LUCCA from The Voice. I loved him, so I had to be a fan-girl and get a picture :) If you don't know who he is, go check him out!

Since we are college students, we have lots of work. To not be driven to craziness by all of it, we like to take breaks. By taking a break from homework, I really mean have a real excuse to play Just Dance. We like to laugh. Oh, did I mention I'm an RA and this was a program? This is also my candid picture 

 I also got a fish for college. Yeah, it was my first pet as "an adult". I also had a program for this. I had a floor meeting and as my residents' sign in, they had to suggest a name for him. The result: Oscar/ Alpha the Beta.
We thought he looked like Oscar from Shark Tales, but Alpha the Beta was catchy too. We couldn't decide so he had two names. Sadly his life was short lived, my mom killed him when I was in California for the summer. I was appalled and decided she is not watching my kids. 

SOOOO this is MY BEST FRIEND at MC. She was my RA (Resident Assistant) my freshmen year, and afterwards we just clicked. Anyways, this is Lauren and I at a baseball game. Go Scots! 

Every year Davis Hall has a Mardi Gras program. Davis is the all female freshmen residence hall. This is me cutting up chicken for jambalaya last year. This year is cut up shrimp. Yumm!

This is another special person who has made an impact on my time at MC. Hannah was a resident of mine last year. We have a similar relationship to Lauren and I. She is one of the kindest, most faithful people I know. I knew that she had a birthday coming up, so I decided to decorate her door at midnight. She found me right after.

This is another picture of Lauren and I on our way back from church. This is us being our normal, silly selves which is what college is about- finding out you are, what you want, going for things, and just being yourself. You will explore options, but in the end just remember that you should be yourself and be HAPPY!

This pic goes along with the above picture. This is pretty much my MC family together at church. It doesn't matter what we look like or how much money we have. It's about who encourages and stands beside you through everything. It's about people who will tease you while also letting you tease them and know it isn't serious. It's all about growing and changing, but also still staying the same. This picture represents that well to me. This is a black and white photo, but you can also see the gray areas in there as well. 

This probably the only picture out of place, but also in place. This picture goes along with the above two, and I believe represents MC perfectly. It's a diverse group of people being silly while taking a Christmas picture. While at college, please get out of your shell and explore things that may scare you. Also, spend time with someone who is from a different country. Besides the people in the picture above and the people I work with, I would say the internationals are my other family. We are all so different, unique, and so funny. We also each have so much to share, but yet so much to learn. I think there is 10 or 11 different countries represented here. Yeah, we are different, but we make it work.

Junior Year/ my current year:

This is a picture of my second year as a RA in Davis. At the beginning of the year, we have themes for Res Life and each hall has to create a different banner for that theme to welcome the year's incoming freshmen. This year's theme: Disney!!!

This is a picture I did not take. I'm in the tie-dye shirt and black shorts. However, it is a picture that catches everything. It has the gray storm clouds and the white clouds, the mountains, the soccer field, and the sand volleyball court. It's pretty much tradition to spend almost your whole fall semester playing volleyball with international students. If it's not, it should be because it's a great way to meet new people, introduce them to MC much less America, and once again, it's used as a study break!

I had 17 pictures which is a little over, but I LOVE pictures and memories. I had to have a few extra. There are so many more I could have used, but I believe that these pictures describe my life at MC thus far pretty good.