I am a very efficient person. Every morning I roll out of bed about 15 minutes before I catch my bus at 7:25. I brush my teeth, change clothes and grab a piece of bread while I walk out the door and eat it on my way. As I am sure my fellow bus-mates know very well, I do my makeup on the bus. This is my morning routine and it works well for me, but I wouldn’t say the finished product isn’t always pretty. My pillow does my hair during the night, and it’s not always gifted in this category, but I am OK with it. To be honest, I have made some improvements over the past years on the way I dress at school.
For my first two years of school, I was taking 10 credits of dance each semester. At that time, it was rare to find me in jeans at school but now I have to wear jeans for my on-campus job. I work for both the custodial department and the newspaper, and my custodian job requires me to wear jeans. I remember a year ago when I started working the job, I thought it was strange to have to change pants in the morning. My previous routine included wearing dance pants to sleep, thus requiring no change of pants for school in the morning. I don’t dance at school anymore so it works out, but I do go dancing at night on a weekly basis, and I do get ready for that.
I love to be social, and my social life starts after school and work is done. Many of my roommates think it is interesting that I take showers in the evening, but that is when I think it counts. I can get dressed up when I have a reason to dress up and am going out but in my opinion, no one cares what you look like at school. Teachers treat students basically the same, and grades are based on numbers and percentages. I am here for a degree, and I don’t think I am hindered when I don’t get dressed up for school. This is not high on my priority list.
I do this school thing differently than most people. Although I have been in school for four years, I have not yet taken out a loan. I also don’t have a car or a smart phone. I am always saving up for tuition for the next semester and I work about 35 hours each week. I’m also a full time student. I am able to pay for all of the necessities, but this takes a toll. Looking pretty for the day and dressing well is low on my priorities but I believe it will pay off. I will sacrifice what I have to in order to get through school without debt, and if one of those things is the way I look, I believe it is worth it.
