Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Houghton Happenings: October

Howdy, folks! Right now, I'm sitting in a classroom in the Gillette basement, watching Phantom of the Opera and sort of doing homework. And by sort of doing homework, I mean that I finished the stuff that's due tomorrow, and I'm having trouble concentrating on the paper that I need to write, so I decided to blog!

Anyhow, a couple weekends ago was October break. I brought Tyler and Nathaniel home with me. We left Wednesday night and drove home in the rain. Break was good. I made cookies, did homework, played lots of mafia, slept, ate food, had friends over for meals, went to the CAP squadron banquet, went to our pastor appreciation dinner at church, swing danced with friends, tried to learn new swing dance moves, played piano, and watched The Scarlet Pimpernel and Pride and Prejudice. Here are two pictures from break...

This past Saturday was Make a Difference Day. Houghton College teamed up with a couple other colleges, and we sent teams out into the county to help. Some of us went to nature reserve areas to clean, some went to farm areas, some went to hospitals or nursing homes, and many other places. I went with a fairly large group to the hospital in Cuba. We made decorations, place mats, and Halloween masks for the 61 old people who live at the hospital (I guess it's like a combination hospital and nursing home). We were there for several hours before we came back to campus.

On the academic front...because it's the second half of the semester (already!), my half-semester classes are over and have been replaced with new classes. I'm currently taking 4 classes...Foundations of Educational Ministry, Intro to Christianity, Biblical Interpretation, and Christian Formation of Adults. Classes are going well. Homework galore...but I'm happy with the grades that I'm getting, and I'm keeping up.

I realize this is a very short update, but I'm off to go swing dancing!

Saturday, October 12, 2013

swing dancing

This is a video of some friends of mine and me demonstrating swing dancing.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Houghton Happenings

Howdy, reader! The past couple of weeks have been pretty interesting. I do have lots of pictures, but I'm not posting them here because I'm lazy like that. I put up an album of pictures from the wedding, and then an album of pictures from a hike my college friends and I went on the other day, so if you haven't seen those yet, take a look. And if you need album links, let me know. 

Reuben and Katrina's wedding is I think the first notable event to talk about. It was quite a bit of fun. After classes on Thursday (the 19th), my mom, Annetta, Lydia, and Kim and Rachel, came out to Houghton to see the campus, meet people, eat food, and take me home. When we got home, there was packing to be done, and dresses to be tried on. We left the next morning for Indiana around 9, I think. I forget what time it was, but we carpooled with some friends of ours, and we just drove out, stopping for lunch somewhere in Ohio. We stayed at a campground, in tents. The first night we were there, it rained...as in, it poured rain. So we ate our supper quickly, and watched a movie in one of the tents. Saturday morning, some of us slept in, some of us got up and wandered around, and some of us worked on homework. But around 10:30 or 11, we all started getting ready for the wedding. I was very glad that there was a nice, functioning bathroom, complete with running water and mirrors, which made the getting ready part much easier than it could have been. The wedding itself was very nice...the decorations were great. The reception went well, and we had a lit of fun square dancing afterwards. Saturday night, we had homeschool friends who had been in the wedding over to our campsite to play frisbee and eat food.

Sunday, we drove home. I got to hang out with Rachel, which was good. Then my mom and Hosanna dropped me off at Houghton.

Some highlights from the past week and a half on campus:
-SWING DANCING! So there's a jazz swing dancing club on campus which meets Tuesday and Thursday nights. It is so much fun. We (and by "we" I mean my friends and I) have only gone a couple of times so far, but we're leaning a lot of fun moves. Nathaniel did swing dancing prior to Houghton, plus he's a music major, so he's able to teach the rest of us in the ways of swing dancing. Tuesday night (as in, a couple days ago), he practiced dipping with me, and I mention merely that so that I can now complain loudly to the internet: MY MUSCLES ARE SORE!! I actually was like almost hopping down Chamberlain's stairs after class this afternoon. I mean, it's a good burn, but wow...dancing really does give you good exercise. Anyhow, we've been practicing swing dancing random evenings, especially so that Hannah can learn how (cause she doesn't come to the club because she commutes). Last night was fun because Evan and Jensyn and Nathaniel and I were all practicing in Jensyn's room (Yes, to all you people who go to/went to a conservative college...open hours generally let the opposite gender into, like, an actual dorm room. Scandal.) and we're getting rather decent at the moves we know.
-This morning, I had a fun adventure of going off campus. Nathaniel had a test at a hospital about 45 minutes away...and so I drove him, and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous. Fall colors are coming out, and it was nice. I borrowed a car from a friend...which just so happened to be a 2003 Ford Escape. Some of you will get the irony (Hunter, that's you :P) And I made it back in time for my 1 o'clock class.
-Last Saturday, I went to a meeting of the FILA club.  Foam in Liberal Arts. And if you read "foam" as "nerf guns", you are absolutely correct.
-Yesterday I started working...I got a custodial job cleaning staircases in Chamberlain. I have a blister on the side of my thumb from sweeping. Call me Cinderella. Again :P
-Last night, Cede, Jensyn, and I went to a soccer game. Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ru3ZlrteQ7Q&feature=youtu.be Yeah, I was there. Stands went wild. It was pretty amazing.
-I think that brings up pretty much so up to date. This weekend is homecoming, and I'm homegoing :) So I'll be going home Saturday morning, and coming back to campus Sunday evening.

Okay...I'm stopping to do homework now! Leave me a comment and tell me how your life is going :)