A Day in the Life of a Barefoot College Student
A barefoot girl story
by Sharleen WLI just started college a few months ago and so far I'm loving it. There is so much more freedom than in high school and not the least is the ability to go to school barefoot.
Its 7am and I wake up feeling refreshed after a good night's sleep. Actually I'm having a bad cold, so my nose is pretty stuffy but I feel rested nontheless and excited about the day ahead.
After washing up and everything, I walk over to the game room to join the family for our morning meditation. Its dad's idea to meditate together every morning and everyone loves it. The only religious person in our family in mom who is Catholic. Dad is kinda new-agey, and all my siblings and I are atheists. But we all feel the benefits of meditating regularly.
Anyway, the room has an ocean view and the sound of waves adds to the serenity. My 2 older sisters Debbie and Tania, and little brother Kevin are already there and I bid them good morning as I walk in.
"Good morning Lynn" (my nickname), "how are you this morning?" asks Debbie.
"Oh wonderful!" I reply with my congested voice.
She laughs and says, "that's what I love about you. You always have a positive attitude even when your not feeling that great."
"Well, that's how you feel better," I reply smiling and sniffling.
Tania is sitting next to her crossed legged, her feet dirty as usual lol, and she winks at me. "Now that we no longer sleep in the same room, I don't have to catch a cold everytime you do anymore," she says and I grin cheerfully.
Yeah, Tania and I shared a bedroom until just recently when our oldest brother Steve got married and moved out, and she moved into his room.
Mom and dad walk in a couple minutes later and we start our meditation. After that we head down to the dining room as mom has prepared a healthy and yummy breakfast.
After breakfast Tania and I leave for school. She used to take the bus but since I started college we decided to drive as its easier for us to hang out together and go places after school which we really enjoy. I'm wearing my favorite outfit - a pair of destroyed denim shorts and a cami. Oh, and we are both barefoot, of course. We don't even bring slippers (flip flops) along.
Its her turn to drive today so I can just sit and relax and prop my bare feet on the dashboard. We both love to do that. Our car is a BMW convertible and we always drive it with the top down when its not raining, and not seldom we draw cute guys' attention. :) We don't put our bare feet up when mom is with us though, as she hates it and would yell at us.
We arrive at the campus parking lot around 9:30. We have to walk quite a bit to our classes but they don't start until 10, so we actually have ample time. We walk leisurely to the main campus then part ways to go to our classes.
Although there are a few other barefoot students on campus, I'm usually the only one barefoot in most of my classes, but that doesn't bother me. I love to be different. Being a barefoot girl I do attract attention from quite a few guys.
My first class happens to be Math which is not my favorite but is a required course so I just have to make the best of it.
The professor is an older man who is quite stern. I'm sitting next to David and were talking and giggling softly as the prof is lecturing. Suddenly he barks at us, "David and Sharleen, you wanna talk?! Maybe you should both go outside and talk!" All heads turn towards us and we just look down feeling embarrassed. I feel like I'm back in elementary school, being scolded in class, haha!
As he continues lecturing I glance at David, and I can tell he's pissed. As were walking out he says, "I can't believe he treated us like little kids, how dare he embarrassed us in front of the whole class!" I tell him to just take it easy and cheer up as its not worth feeling miserable over, and wish him a wonderful rest of the day.
My next class won't be until after lunch, so I get together with some of my classmates to discuss the math problems the prof gave us. We sit under a huge banyan tree where its nice and cool. They look at my bare feet and one of the girls asks, "are you always barefoot?" and another one is like, "yeah, do you ever wear shoes?"
I laugh and say, "I hate wearing shoes and have not worn them since I graduated from high school. I go barefoot everywhere most of the time, just wear flip flops every now and then." and their like, "wow!"
I do own shoes though, but only wear 'em to formal occasions like weddings and stuff like that.
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Have to admit I'm being a bit rebellious. Smoking, like going barefoot is frowned upon by many and I love breaking taboos, and in college I have the freedom to do it.
Just wanna make something clear, though. I'm not advocating it. Even Tania whose pretty rebellious herself says smoking is not in alignment with my generally positive attitude toward life and overall healthy lifestyle. Something that makes me go "hmm," lol.
Now barefooting is a little different, as there's actually health benefits of doing it (you can read a post about it on this blog). So I do recommend you try it.
After the study session I walk over to the cafetaria to have lunch with my boyfriend Rick. He is not a barefooter but doesn't mind me going barefoot all the time. I take a quick look at my soles as I'm seated. Their greyish, not really that dirty yet. Cool! After lunch we walk over to his dorm room.
He doesn't have any roomate which is nice so we can have really hot...er...well, I'm not supposed to say it on here, but I think most of you know what I mean, hehe! You see, I can't get through a day without it. It kinda gives me an energy boost. Its one of the things that make life magical! (When my little bro Kevin read this he said it sounded like coffee. Hmm...ok, lol).
I feel a little tired today though, maybe because of my cold too. So after we finish doing the above (wink, wink), I take a short nap (or power nap as Tania likes to call it) in his room before going to my next class. I'm lucky to have a bf who lives in the dorm so I don't have to nap in the library like Tania.
After like 20 minutes Rick wakes me up as its time to go to my first afternoon class. As it happens quite often when I'm having a bad cold, I have snot flowing out my nose while asleep (eew! I know, sorry! lol). I don't have any tissue with me, so Rick runs across the hallway to the bathroom (which is for boys only) and gets me some toilet paper to blow my nose.
He scolds me, "I can't believe a pretty girl like you can be so gross! Your a college student, not a preschooler! How can you not carry any tissue when your having a cold!" I just giggle and tell him I forgot. He calms down and tells me he loves me anyway, and that actually one of the things he likes about me is that I'm wild and carefree.
My next class is Sociology, a really interesting subject. Its a bit of a walk, and today I get there a little early like 20 minutes before the class starts. Hmm...what should I do? I think I have time for another cigarette, so I lite one up and head to the grassy area next to the building. I sit down cross legged with my sun glasses on, and enjoy my cigarette.
Suddenly I hear someone call out my name, "Sharleen!" I look back and see my friend Jennifer walk towards me. We happen to be in the same Sociology class.
I wave to her and she's like, "Hey, I didn't know you smoke!"
"Well, now you do!" I reply giggling. "Want one?" I offer her a cigarette.
"Oh no, no! I don't smoke, and you shouldn't either!" she says disapprovingly.
I'm like, "Well, I only smoke 1 or 2 a day, no big deal."
"What, 1 or 2 packs?"
"Haha, no! 1 or 2 cigarettes!"
"Oh...but still, its better to not smoke at all coz its like putting poison into your body. Even a little bit can hurt."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll quit when I'm ready to," I reply calmly with a smile.
She's like, "ok, fine!"
Soon I finish my cigarette and its time to go to class, so I throw the butt on the ground and say to Jen, "hey, watch this!" as I squash it under my bare sole then pick it up with my toes and put it in the trash.
She's quite impressed. "Wow, that's pretty cool! Although kinda gross hahaha! Doesn't it hurt though?"
"Nope! The skin of my soles has become pretty thick from walking barefoot all the time, so it doesn't hurt. It just feels a little warm, that's all. But hey, don't ever tell my parents that you saw me smoking, ok...or I'll be dead meat!" I say to her.
"Ahaha! Now I know how to blackmail you!" she says.
"You ass hole!" and I kick her butt (playfully) and she's like, "owww!" and we both giggle and walk to class.
Jen and I have been good friends since elementary school. She doesn't go barefoot but doesn't like shoes either, so she wears flip flops all the time.
There's some handouts for us at the front of the class, so we walk over to get them. The instructor, an older lady, looks at my bare feet and smiles. I smile back and sit down next to Jen.
My second afternoon class, and the last one for the day, is Psychology which is one of my favorites. So although its getting towards the end of the day I still manage to be alert.
As I get out of that class, I head to the library to meet Tania, and we walk back to the car. I look at the bottoms of my feet and their pretty yucky now after walking barefoot around campus all day. The little black spot from the cigarette is still there.
☺ Intermission ☺
Let's watch this cool video of barefoot Cornell students (a guy and a girl). Notice what the reporter says at the beginning: "...there has been an increased presence of barefoot students on campus." That's awesome!
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Well, its only 4:30 so Tania and I decide to go to our favorite Starbucks near campus to hang out and have some latte before heading home. That way we also avoid the peak of rush hour traffic.
"So did you have another hot one today?" she asks as we sit down. I'm like, "yep, sure did! and it was really good after not having any all weekend," and she's like, "aw you lucky lil devil! I'm so fucking jealous!" We both laugh. (We are in Starbucks, so we must be talking about coffee, right? Hahaha!). College life is fantastic.
I call mom to ask if were eating in or out tonight. She says were eating out which means I don't have to wash my feet when I get home. I'll just wipe them really good on the door mat so I don't track a lot of lose dirt in. I'll wash them when we get home from dinner.
We arrive home around 6:30 and we have a little time before heading out again for dinner, so I hang out with Kevin in the backyard by the pool and talk about life :)
At 7:15 we all get in the minivan and dad drives us to our favorite casual resterant by the beach where we have a really nice dinner. Tania and I are the only ones barefoot. While walking in I step on something sticky on the floor and my right sole is all sticky now, yuck! But that's part of living the barefoot lifestyle. On the way home we stop by Baskin Robbins for some ice cream, yum yum!
We get back home around 9:30, I wash my feet in front of the garage and head upstairs to my room to do homework and study a little.
The night is cool and breezy, so the AC is off, and I leave the windows open. I hear crickets chirping in the garden down below and the waves breaking in the distant. Very soothing! My feet are clean. Well, not squeeky clean but good enough, so I bring them up and sit cross legged at my desk and get started with my homework.
11:15pm, and I'm done studying. Now it's time to wind down and get ready for bed. So I play some relaxing music on my computer and pick up my favorite personal development book - The Power by Rhonda Byrne. Its a great book which I've read before but I'm re-reading it as I always learn something new every time.
As I'm done I walk to the bathroom and take everything off (yes, everything - so now its not just my feet that are bare, lol), brush my teeth and blow my nose. I laugh as I recall what happened in the dorm earlier.
I turn off the music and lights and climb into my comfy queen bed. Being able to feel the soft pillows and sheets with my entire body is very sensuous - something those who sleep wearing anything miss out on. I grab Emo my teddy bear and cuddle him. Ahh...he is also very soft! I'm very sleepy, otherwise I would play a little. I'm sure you big boys and girls know what I mean ;)
Its past midnight and a wonderful day has come to an end but no worries, a new one awaits me in the morning. Now its time for some sweet dreams as the sounds of crickets still chirping and waves in the distant lull me to sleep...
Well, I hope you enjoyed reading about my typical barefoot day. Btw, Tania said I should learn to spell better, especially now that I'm a college student. :p But she didn't make any corrections, so this article was posted as-is. So sorry for my bad spelling. If you can catch all the mistakes, that is. :p
From paradise Hawaii this is Sharleen reminding you that life is magical. Yes, even when your having a bad cold and a prof yells at you, lol. So...
Aloha, and have a magical day!
Enjoy going barefoot? Check out this book!
Update 1/7/2019:
I just made this post - Another day in the life of a barefoot college student - 4 years later. Its quite different from this one (kind of darker) although a few things will sound familiar.
Other fun posts:
Barefoot nightmare - another unpleasant encounter with my old math prof.
Barefoot and pregnant - did I get pregnant?
Photo credit: Jose Roco with CC BY-SA 2.0
Excellent story I enjoyed reading it
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