Going Home

I went back to my home in Middlesex, VA this weekend which is on the Middle Peninsula on the Chesapeake Bay. It is about a four and a half hour drive from Blacksburg. My brother goes here so he came and picked me up and we started the trek back home. When I returned home I realized how much I did miss about it. They weren't really big things but they were still things that I wanted to take back to my dorm with me. Some of those things are my dogs and my cats. They were so happy to see me and I them. It was like a little happy family reunion. Another thing I found that I missed was the water. Growing up on the river my entire life and just leaving it was weird. I guess I took having the view of the Piankatank river right outside my window for granted all these years. I also miss being able to watch the thunderstorms that come across the river and how I can see the lightning strikes that hit the other side. This is one of the reasons that I wanted to major in meteorology. Now I just have East AJ to look at. I also miss seeing the stars as bright as they are at home. I live in a very small town with little light pollution so the stars are so beautiful. I love watching meteor showers whenever they occur so being able to see the stars is a must. In big cities where you can't see the stars, you can't see meteor showers. Last but definitely not least is having peace and quiet. Although my dorm isn't that bad, being able to sleep in my bed with no noise from the room over was fantastic. I have yet to get use to having people screaming down the hall in my dorm at two in the morning. The sound of crickets chirping is the most noise that I hear on a normal night at my house. Although I do miss these things, I love it at Tech and wouldn't want to trade it for any other university because it is absolutely beautiful here!


This is the view from my dock of the Piankatank River

Roommates

Coming into Virginia Tech I as a little weary of doing the whole random roommate thing because of the experience that my brother had two years ago here. His roommate was crazy and had a few run ins with the law and was drunk a lot and was just blatantly disrespectful to him. He also had some scary experiences where his roommate just didn't want to be alive anymore and my brother had to deal with that at 18 years old. On the other hand I was kind of looking forward to it because my dad and mom both did random roommate and they are still best friends to this day with their roommate and continue to visit them even though one lives in Washington State and the other lives in New York. Needless to say I got the luck of the draw. My roommate Carson has been great and she respects me in every aspect. We fit together really well and I enjoy talking to her and we have no problems with each other. I was actually surprised when I saw her because she is actually shorter than me, which doesn't happen too often. I am very happy that I can trust her and that she a kind, considerate person. I have heard stories of other people and their roommates might have started having problems after the first month. If that is the case then do you get a new roommate or do you just stick it the rest of the year? I would say that it really depends on the situation and how bad it is. It is so weird making the transition from having my own room to having to share a space smaller than my room back at home with another person. When we had an exchange student back when I was in 7th grade I had to share my brother's room with him because our exchange student got my room. I guess I got a little taste of it then but it is nothing compared to now. I think it is a good system that colleges have. You get the chance to really get to know someone over the course of the year by living with someone. It also prepares you for the real world and shows you just how to get along with other people when you have to deal with them (or however you may look at it). I hope that all of you guys got good roommates and that you won't have problems!

Finding My Niche

Since my time here I have had many opportunities to go out and make many friends. Before I came to Virginia Tech I went to Hokie camp and met tons of awesome people that I run into all over campus. It really gave me a chance to get to know some people before setting off and joining the Virginia Tech community. During class I have also met some really interesting and diverse people. I always enjoy meeting people that are in my major because they have similar interests as me and want to do the same thing with their life. Another cool way to meet people is by joining clubs. There is bound to be a club out there to fit your fancy due to the fact there are around 800 clubs including the Bendy Straw Club. While walking around Gobblerfest and it was quite overwhelming seeing all of the clubs come out and show what they have. I know that I didn't see about half of the clubs there. I have officially signed up for the Running Club and the Meteorology Club. By joining the running club I have met really nice people that have really made me feel welcome here. They always have something nice to say when I show up for practice. I joined the Meteorology Club but accidentally missed the first meeting on Tuesday. (oops)  I am looking forward to all of the cool things that they participate in. The thing that I am most looking forward to is when I am able to participate the in the Storm Chase in the Great Plains. That sounds so cool and I find severe weather fascinating. I am sure I will find more things to participate in throughout my four years here but thus far I have found these two clubs and it is a great start to my year feeling like I belong somewhere.

Why I Decided to Attend Virginia Tech

My story is a pretty average recollection of the reason for attending this fine university. It had what I was looking for and a lot of my family members have gone here too. My grandfather graduated in '33, my mom graduated in '79, my sister graduated in '07, and my brother is a junior here. Initially I had planned on attending The College of Charleston in South Carolina. My mom and I went down there and toured it and I fell in love with the school and the city. It was perfect. I had my mind set. I was reading some reviews one day about the school and they were written by former or current students. I really didn't like what I was reading. These posts made Charleston sound like a place that I would never fit in at. I then went and looked at the reviews about Virginia Tech and the only bad thing I read that people didn't like was that they had too much spirit. What kind of a complaint is that? I thought, "I can definitely deal with that for the next four years!" The weird part about this story is that I hadn't even considered Tech even though I had been coming here for my entire life because they didn't have my major. Two years or so before I would be attending college my mom told me that there was a new major at Virginia Tech. When she told me it was Meteorology I thought to myself that someone or something was telling me that this was the place for me and they were definitely right! I have yet to find a mean person here and that is something that really surprises me because I feel like they should be here. It is such a different atmosphere coming up here as a student than it was when I would come with my family as a child to the football games. The difference is that there is now a real sense of belonging. That is the kind of place that I want to be a student at.

A Little About Myself

            My name is Nancy Barnhardt and I am a freshman at Virginia Tech. My major is meteorology. I am for Middlesex, Virginia over on the middle peninsula on the Chesapeake Bay. In the town that I went to school in there are no stoplights and everybody knows everybody, especially my family. The reason for that is because my dad's side of the family had the largest employer for many years in Middlesex County: The Barnhardt Duck Farm.
             The Barnhardt Duck Farm raised ducks from eggs to adult and when they were ready they were made into meals. This farm was home to hundreds of thousands of ducks at a time. When My parents went somewhere in France one year, on the dinner menu was, "Barnhardt Farms Duck." The industry had gotten large enough to expand overseas. One year they got a shipment of bad feed and that was when the business went downhill.
             Over the years, my dad has gotten some ducks and brought them home and we have kept them as pets. My brother, who is two years older than I am, and I would always try and name each and every duck but we could never tell them apart because they were all normal white ducks. We had twenty one the first round and twenty the next. Last May, my dad brought home twelve ducks. This time some were different kinds of sucks so they were easier to tell apart.
              I have enjoyed growing up with a small piece of my parents' past and I have also enjoyed the part where I get to keep ducks as pets. Although they always run away from me (with the exception of one who actually will come to you) they have always seemed like part of the family just as most normal pets do.