January
My second semester of college started mid-January, and it was a tough semester for me. I honestly wanted to be home all semester, but school being a ten hours’ drive away made it difficult to visit home whenever I wanted to. But it was a time I found to strengthen my friendships with everyone I knew at school. I went on several different adventures with my friends. One time, I went to Benton Falls in the freezing cold; the view at the end was worth it.

February
The second month of the year held the first snow in Tennessee at school. It was a beautiful snow even though it melted by the end of the day. Overall the rest of the month was my friends and me goofing off together. We went to hike Starr mountain, however, by the time we got there, it started sprinkling rain a little bit, and we decided after going over half way up already to turn back around. Two other girls and I went back a few weeks later to finish the hike. The views were so beautiful, and the time spent together exceedingly exciting.
Also, towards the end of the month, I went on my first skiing trip. I had been taking a beginning skiing class at school for one credit-hour, and the time had come to prove everything we learned in class in real life on the slopes. All semester I was anticipating this moment when I would step onto the slopes with all my ski gear and thick coat and gloves, and when finally the time came, I was extremely nervous, but excited too. My professor helped me learn the ropes starting on the bunny hill, then taking me to the green, and finally by the end of the weekend, I was flying down blues still a little wobbly, but I learned very quickly. The rest of my class all already knew how to ski, and they were simply taking this class for fun.

March
March was an exciting yet interesting month for me. Spring break was plopped right in the middle of it, and it was a good thing because I think all the students would have revolted if we did not get a break soon. I spent the first of break at a dear friend’s home, which she and her family graciously opened to me. The second half of it, I flew out to Arizona to visit my brother at school. My mom and dad followed behind me, and soon the whole family was reunited. My brother and I did some rock climbing where he taught me how to lead climb for the first time. The whole family and I visited some local sights, then we went out to visit the Grand Canyon — this was my first time seeing it. The views were impeccable. At the end of the week, my brother and I went skiing. He was a relatively advanced skier, while this was only my second time skiing. Also, yes I know what many people say — there is snow in Arizona? — but, yes, there is snow in Arizona. My brother took me down my first black slope while we were there, and I only fell about twenty times, but I mean who is counting? In all seriousness, I actually only fell once on the black slope while my brother followed nonchalantly behind me.
Despite the excitement of March when spring break ended, classes were delayed a few days to help the professors figure out if we were doing online classes or not because the pandemic that had just begun spreading like wildfire around the US. It ultimately was decided that we students could not go back to school, and we were thus sent home for the remaining of the semester to complete our classes online via the wondrous yet deeply scorned “Zoom” platform. I must admit, I was happy to be back home instead of all the chaos at school.

April – July
April was a relaxing month, classes were wrapping up, and I got to spend time kayaking and running outdoors. Almost nothing happened that month; it was extremely uneventful, yet it gave me time to relax. By May I was in a set routine at home: running several times a week, reading constantly, and writing a little bit. I spent a lot of time outdoors, but the days I spent inside, I was baking or learning a new recipe with my mom. Outdoors, Christian, my brother, was teaching me different climbing techniques and helping me perfect my skills. In June, Christian and I went on two different climbing trips, and in July, we went on our final one for the summer. Most of these summer days were uneventful, but they were full of life. The world had shut down because of CO-VID 19: air travel was limited, parks were closed, and stores had closed. Many people were out of work because of the shut down. Cases of the disease had sky-rocketed, and we were then required to wear masks in buildings and distance from others of at least six feet in an effort to keep the disease at bay. The world had changed dramatically from what it had been a few short months before this happened. However, it did force people to find new and creative ways of doing their everyday routines. Many people were forced out of doors and into the sunlight. But at the same time, many people were unable to get outdoors at all.

August
By the time August came around, I was getting ready to go back to school. Many schools in the country were doing online classes explicitly. However, I found myself extremely fortunate to be able to be in person again for the Fall 2020 semester. Things were to be different on campus in order to keep from spreading the disease to each other, but we were ready to take on the challenge. Before I went back to school, I got to visit my friend, Maddie, one time. We went hiking together, and on the whole enjoyed our time together immensely.
When I got back to school and classes started again, my friends and I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather. So we went hiking and swimming every spare moment we found. I realized how much I had missed the Cleveland sunsets, even the Cleveland rainy days. It felt so good to be back at school. 

September
September, my birth month, and possibly one of my favorites out of the whole year flew by so quickly, I barely even had time to realize it had come. I started going to a bible study group, and I made some new friends and even learned new things. I went walking around campus every day with two of my friends to watch the sunset and finish the evening by swinging on the play-set not far off from our dorm. I missed home, but I still was very glad to be back at school. On my birthday, my brother came to visit me, and we went bouldering at Stone Fort, an extremely famous bouldering place. But before I knew it, September had come and gone.

October
The weather was beautiful, and I couldn’t help it but try and spend all my time outdoors. I tried to run several times a week, and one day, as I was running down Centenary Avenue, which has wicked sidewalk cracks, I fell and scraped my knee badly. Blood trickled down my leg as I got up and continued running. This month, I got to visit home, which was extremely nice. I took my dogs to the beach, and Christian and I went to the climbing gym together. But the weekend lasted nothing but what felt like five seconds long, and as soon as I got there, I had to turn back and return to school. 

November
One of the prettiest months on campus, I was so thankful to be able to spend it in Cleveland. The weather had started to get a little bit chilly, but I saw people still walking about in shorts and t-shirts during the day. At the beginning of the month, I was inducted into the honors society of Phi Eta Sigma for outstanding grades my freshman year. This was the month I finally got to hike Mount LeConte. I had been eyeing this mountain since the moment I heard about it in the Spring semester, but this was the first chance I got to hike it. The weather was perfect, and the company I had was even better. It was about an eight mile hike up and eight back. The views were like no other. We came back to campus late that evening sore and ready for food and a shower, but extremely pleased with ourselves for such an accomplishment — the second highest mountain in Tennessee. I spent the weekends at school working on homework and spending time with my friends. But Thanksgiving was right around the corner, and I would be home very soon. Before I did go home, I went on a hike with some friends to Benton Falls. The sunset was beautiful. It was almost like a full circle. I started out the year hiking Benton Falls, and I finished the year doing the same. 
Two days before Thanksgiving, I came home. Finals were finished to keep students from coming back to campus and spreading CO-VID around after Thanksgiving, which was nice, but made the whole semester crammed into a tiny window and also making professors get behind in their grading and lectures without adequate time to prepare and recover. I was glad to be back home for the holidays, and also glad I did not have to go back to school the second Thanksgiving ended. 

December
Being the last month of the year, I wanted to end it well. However, I was working almost full time at a retail store which I must tell you: retail is one of the most excruciatingly boring jobs on the planet earth — but it pays, so I endure it. This last month was full of getting ready for Christmas, avoiding CO-VID, and climbing. My brother and I went on an overnight climbing trip to the Blue Ridge area. The roads were icy leading up to our original spot we had chosen, so we had to refigure. We ended up climbing at Wintergreen next to the skiing resort, driving down to Old Rag, camping in the snow, heating up our breakfast in the parking lot, hiking up Old Rag to the summit where we found the climbing was icy, but eventually, after an hour hiking around to find another crag, climbed until just about dusk where we hiked back down to the base of the mountain in the icy dark, and drove home for the rest of the day. This was one of the most eventful, yet best trips of the year. 
At the end of December, Christian and I had one last adventure: we ran half a marathon. Well, we did in a way. We ran a mile at the turn of every hour for twelve straight hours while the first hour we ran two. So, at the end of the twelve hours, we had completed thirteen miles. In between each mile, we were to do something productive, something we’ve been putting off — like finishing a book in my case, or completing the FAFSA. This was inspired by the one and only Beau Miles (here’s the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvT5XS7j-Dc&t=3s — I highly recommend watching it if you’re at all interested). And this is how I concluded my year. I would say, I had an overall eventful year, which I would like to say is full of growth in my character and womanhood, but sometimes it’s hard to grasp exactly how much one actually did grow in the course of the year. But I think it’s safe to say that I did not regress. But this was Janey’s year of 2020, which is also the year of the pandemic.

See 2019’s reflection: here

See 2021’s reflection: here