College: A Story Told Best Through Pictures

Below is the story of my entire college career wrapped up into 40 pictures.

 

This story starts back in 2012, with a letter coming in the mail.

It read “Congratulations! You have been accepted…”

Who knew that would be the beginning of a 4 year long adventure of ups and downs!?!

First: let me introduce myself.

I am Chandra Taylor, currently a senior at the University of Montana. As graduation lurks only a couple months away, I find myself self-reflecting on the last 4 years of my college career and taking those lessons to look forward with hope that the next 4 years run as smoothly and as happy as the last 4 did.

 

I want to break this story up into smaller parts, let’s start with my first year in college I shall name this;

 

THE BEGINNING OF COLLEGE FREEDOM.

 

So what are a couple things everyone goes through as a traditional freshman in college…

There’s the packing…  so much packing…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then there’s the unpacking:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the decorating:

There’s the first six pack you buy or have bought for you:

 

And the first shots that you take too many of:

 

 

The first home football game that makes you fall in love with the amount of school pride everyone has:

The first walk up the ‘M’ Trail that makes you rethink every physical activity you have ever participated in:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s finding random things around campus that give you an idea of what type of school you are really going to:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there’s trying to get used to the weather in the town you’re now living in, this includes the blizzard that dumped pretty close to 3 freaking feet of snow on us my freshman year:

 

OKAY: So there are the highlights of my freshman year of college, what happens during your sophomore year?

 

Let us now turn to:

 

SOPHOMORE YEAR: NEW TOWN, NEW APARTMENT

 

Missoula fog beholds a crazy amount of thick crap that makes it nearly impossible to drive around town and is something that all true Missoulians experience at some point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was my pumpkin named Edward, he is the scariest pumpkin I have carved and the only pumpkin that I have painted, it was the perfect addition to our new apartment on Halloween.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, during my sophomore year in college, I was no longer a teenager. Being 20 felt liberating, almost like no one could make any stupid teenager jokes about me any longer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I took a turn for the stupid when I hit a snow drift going 75 mph during a winter snow storm. I was completely unhurt, but my car on the other hand, was not.

After crashing my car in late 2014 then early in 2015, I enjoyed exercising my 2^nd amendment right. Something that only cost me $50 and still sits in my wallet every day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And let nobody forget this awesome show of just how classy we are here at the University of Montana.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My sophomore year was also the year that I got diagnosed with Seronegative Polyarthritis, one of the lovely parts to getting this diagnosis was getting a skin biopsy to see whether or not I have scleroderma, which thankfully ended up being a no.

 

 

 

 

I got notification during my second semester of my sophomore year that I had received three scholarships and two grants from the University for my junior year in college. I ended up being paid to go to school for the year, it was great! And SOBA invited me and my family to one of the fanciest dinners I have been to.

 

 

 

 

At the end of my sophomore year, I got to go home and spend time with the family for the summer. The Memorial Day statue in Great Falls was one of the first things that I saw when I got home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just so happened to lose my phone on Saint Patrick’s Day in Butte, MT so I lost most of the photos from the beginning of my Junior year this will have me combine my Senior and Junior photos into one chapter titled:

 

THE END TO COLLEGE, BUT BEGINNING OF A CAREER.

Over Thanksgiving break my Junior year, I took time to go shooting with my brother for the first time since I got diagnosed with Arthritis. It was the first time that I got to shoot without wanting to cry after every shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next best thing that happened my junior year of college was that I legally was able to drink! Nothing like a 21^st birthday to make college more fun.

 

As newly able to drink, I can say that one of the best things that I experienced my first month of being 21 was this Bloody Mary Bar. IT. WAS. WONDERFUL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And where there is a Bloody Mary Bar, there is definitely a chocolate martini somewhere close by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started 2016 with the most severe case of strep throat I have ever had, 7 days later I was lucky enough to get my tonsils removed for good and haven’t had a case of strep since.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In February I used a cute picture of me and my ex to get free wings on Valentine’s Day, free food probably made it the least disappointing Valentine’s Day yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And yes, they did make me rip up the photo in front of them ha-ha

 

 

 

 

 

 

At this point, I started getting ready for my senior year. That was when I got told that I had received another scholarship for my senior year from SOBA which was super exciting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of months later, I was driving home for a visit when I happened upon a rock that destroyed the sidewall on my tire. It was not a fun experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My second to last semester in college (Fall 2016) was kicked off to a great start by a family trip to Seattle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As my senior year started to get slowly more stressful, good times with friends have slowly been trying to become a common thing happening this school year:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a couple different trips have happened:

One to Wenatchee, Washington…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And one awesome trip to Los Angeles:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately my grandfather passed away in November, but my grandmother seems to be doing fairly well, all things considered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But all is well in my life, I am happy with where I am at and look forward to where the future will take me. I will leave you with a happy picture of my puppy in her favorite spot on my couch.