Houghton: First Week Back

It is the end of the first week back to college. Break finished up well. We lost electricity a couple of times due to blizzard type stuff, and I had to break my "no going outside if the temperature is in the negative numbers" rule, and discovered that it was cold. Philip came over and went rustically camping in our woods, and by rustically I mean eating blueberry pancakes, homemade ice cream, playing games, and watching movies...and sleeping in the woods. We had fun sledding with him and Rachel too. And I got to spend time with my ol buddy Sarah, which was good.

And my mom and dad and Hosanna brought me (and allll my stuff!) back. We unloaded, ate supper, and I showed my dad the campus. And since then, it's been a crazy hodgepodge of classes, work, friends, and homework.

And I will now bore all of you and tell you about the classes I'm taking, in chronological order:
-Metaphysics, Morality, and Mind: the required philosophy class. It's good so far...but fairly similar to stuff I've read/heard, which I guess is good cause it's not like all new stuff.
-Foundations of Youth Ministry: this is a half semester class that will be replaced with Christian Formation of Youth, taught by the same guy. The name is pretty self-explanatory.
-Chapel: well, it's not really a class, but it's MWF between class and lunch.
-Systematic Theology: it's taught by Dr. Case, the guy who I took Intro to Christianity from last semester. It promises to be a difficult, engaging, good learning experience.
-Educating Exceptional Learners: this is a little more difficult, just because I don't know a lot about the public school system. But I already know I'm going to love this class, and I know that it will be super helpful for me, just because of where my interests lie.
-Backpacking. This is going to involve hiking in the woods every week, as well as a day trip in February and an overnight camping trip the last weekend of April.

So those classes, plus work Tuesday and Thursday morning, and MWF late afternoon, pretty much make up the framework of my schedule. Last night, several of my friends and I went for an evening hike on the ski hill. We had a good view of the stars at a couple places. Saturdays and Sundays are a little different schedule-wise, of course. Most of my friends take advantage of the weekend to catch up on sleep, but since I don't do well mixing up my schedule too much, I get up around 8 or 8:30. Sunday of course is church, and Saturday...well, today I ate breakfast and then talked to Stephen. And now I'm planning to do homework, and maybe get over to the music building and play some flute.

Another thing that added to my week was that every time I ate food, my stomach would tell me it wasn't happy to digest it. Somewhere around Thursday, I decided to be smart and start cutting out the food groups that have bothered me in the past (...with those being gluten, some dairy, some fats, some spices, and some vegetables). And, after strictly cutting out gluten for the past couple of days, I am feeling a lot, a lot better. This semester, Houghton has added an area in the cafeteria that serves food that doesn't have the 7 most common food allergens in it. So it's not impossible for me to get good food that is completely allergen-free. I'm very thankful for that!

So...no pictures, but that's a fairly decent update otherwise! Hope all you home friends are doing well!

Home and Houghton

Well, 2013 was a doozy of a year. A funeral, a bridal shower, a trip to FL, a college graduation (entailing a trip to MD/VA), a wedding, a trip to NC, a trip to MD, a highschool graduation, a transfer to Houghton, another trip to MD over Thanksgiving break, and the completion of my sophomore credits. Adventures in our back acres, dancing Scottish country dances with homeschool friends, taking my sister's senior pictures. Working at Bilerio's fruit farm, and finding a cute baby snapping turtle and a huge, huge toad. Picking blueberries barefoot in the rain. Making friends with the boss's cat. And then at college...so many things happened this past semester, and I really don't think I can summarize them. I made a lot of really awesome friends, I took 17 credits, I started working custodial, I started attending Fillmore Wesleyan Church with Evan and helping out with the children, made pizza, shot nerf guns, attended concerts, and managed not to fall asleep in any of my classes. I got to go home a couple times...once to go out to Indiana for a wedding :) And several of my friends came and visited me...I got to give several campus tours. Jennifer and Elizabeth came out the beginning of December and we went to Prism:




My last final was on December 19th, and classes start on the 13th. Break's been good: I've made and eaten a lot of food, caught up with a lot of friends, gone roller-blading with friends, gone sledding with the little siblings, watched a couple seasons of White Collar and Sherlock, and celebrated Christmas.
(Speaking of Christmas: I made gingerbread eggnog trifle, and peach-cranberry ginger crisp. Both of them were new recipes, and they were really, really good, so the links here and here. And yes...for the second one, I substituted peaches for pears, and if anyone's wondering, you really don't need to add any liquid with the peaches. That's the only thing I'd change if I did it again.)

 A bunch of friend and sisters and I went and saw The Desolation of Smaug. Our family enjoyed the fellowship of lots of people, especially when involving homemade ice cream :) And, I attended a Scottish Country dancing ball this past Friday.

 Rachel and I rock the "northern country girls go to a ball" look, I think? :)

 And we were able to pull some decorations out of storage for the ball...reincarnated wedding reception flowers paired with pinecones was very wintry and festive!

 

 Shiloh has done a great job teaching our homeschool group the various dances over the past 6 months, and she did a great job announcing dances, teaching dances, and MCing the whole thing.

 And the dance demonstration groups did a great job!

I have about a week left before heading back to college. We're planning to go sledding again, make ice cream and cookies and hot chocolate, and hang out with friends by eating food and watching Sherlock with them. And we've been collectively battling against the raging cold and violent winds that have been blizzarding around us. Apparently right now, it's 1 degree fahrenheit, but with a wind chill of negative 22. I have a new rule that I just made up that says that I don't go outside if there's a windchill of anything in the negative numbers, so I'm trusting weather.com.

Anyhow, I hope you all are having a good break! Keep in touch over the semester :)

psalm 71

The semester is slowly wrapping itself up, for those of us in college and not vacationing in Maryland (cough, haha :) ). I'm pretty ready to be done; even though it's been a good semester, I'm ready to go home and sleep for approximately 2 weeks. Anyhow, this morning,  while I sat in chapel, I stumbled across Psalm 71, and it was exactly what I needed to read today. I thought I'd go ahead and post it (with a few random pictures, because we can't have a post without pictures!) in case it can encourage anyone else! And I'll strive to post an update sometime later!

 
In You, O Lord, I put my trust;
Let me never be put to shame. 
 Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape;
Incline Your ear to me, and save me. 
 Be my strong refuge,
To which I may resort continually...

For You are my hope, O Lord GOD;
You are my trust from my youth.

By You I have been upheld from birth;
You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.
My praise shall be continually of You.

 

 But I will hope continually,
And will praise You yet more and more.
 

 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And Your salvation all the day,
For I do not know their limits.
 

 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD;
I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.

 O God, You have taught me from my youth;
And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.

 Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high,
You who have done great things;
O God, who is like You?  

 You, who have shown me great and severe troubles,
Shall revive me again,
And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
 

 You shall increase my greatness,
And comfort me on every side.

 Also with the lute I will praise You—
And Your faithfulness, O my God!
To You I will sing with the harp,
O Holy One of Israel.
 

 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You,
And my soul, which You have redeemed.

Hello, people

Well, I've managed to top my own expectations! I am actually writing a second post...certain people *coughjessicacough* should take note. And then follow my example. Hint, hint.

Ahem, anyway...

Today I went sky diving, rescued three extinct animal species, and learned another language.

Okay, maybe not quite. To be honest, I'm actually having a rather wonderful vacation/visit, but it hasn't been thrilling blog post material...

Here are a few of the things I've been doing.

1. Sketching (I've actually done more drawing in the last week than I have in probably six months)
2. Reading
3. Cooking/baking
4. Watching cool movies
5. Jogging
6. ...eating? ...sleeping?

Besides the scary dog that started barking at me from behind a somewhat flimsy looking fence while I was out jogging, the most frightening thing that's happened to me was forgetting to bring conditioner. (And believe me, that is frightening.)

My oldest sister is currently working her last full day at a certain grocery store. She's had to work for the last few days, which is why I've basically amused myself. Oh, and I have been a model guest. I've even done dishes. And laundry. (Granted, it was my laundry - but still.) Oh, oh...I also vacuumed. Be proud.

Here's where we interrupt the show to get a quote from Ardee, live and in person. (Yes, that is a real name [and a real person], and no, it's not short for Arthur.)

"...that's not assault and battery; that's a blender."

I'm not sure what the context is here, folks, but these words must be words of wisdom indeed. I believe the lesson we should take from this is never, ever use your blender as a weapon. But if you do, it won't count, because it's just a blender. I think this is for all you moms out there who occasionally wish you could throw kitchen utensils at your husband when he's watching the football game and you're doing dishes. (For the record, I don't endorse throwing kitchen utensils at anyone, even football-watching guys.)

Okay...

So yes. Tonight Jessica tells me I'll be doing fun stuff like helping her make supper, and then tomorrow, we'll be getting ready for the rest of my family to descend. They're eagerly anticipating the warmer (35 degree) weather.

That's all for today!

-Annetta

The Day Annetta Hacked Erika's Blog (Again)

Do you hear that sound?

That sound would be me laughing gleefully. I am laughing gleefully because, right now, I am sitting in a warm living room, and from this living room, I can look out the window. And there is no snow on the ground. Because it is a balmy 33 degrees outside.

Thirty-three degrees is classified as balmy by us Northerners if it's anytime after October 1st.

In case you haven't deduced this yet, I am no longer in my native state. I am much farther south, visiting Jessica and Kevin, and Kevin's family. Oh, and I decided to bring Erika with me as well, but apparently she doesn't feel like blogging at the moment. So you get to put up with me instead.

This is the part I'm bad at. I think I'm supposed to give all of you random, mundane details like "The ride down was fine" and "We are all doing fine" etc., etc. I'm better at making things up (it's much more fun) but for Erika's sake (after all, I am writing this in her name...) I will attempt to be mostly honest (read: boring).

So the car trip was fine - we arrived at about six p.m., after driving for about six hours. And Kevin and Jessica and all the people down here are indeed doing fine.

Phew, we got that part out of the way. Now I can talk about interesting things.

For instance, did you know that you can buy chocolate shaped like cute little penguins? Jessica, Kevin, Erika, and I went shopping this morning and Erika (with her Penguin radar) discovered the chocolate penguins roughly five seconds after entering the store. Who says Christmas shopping can only benefit the people on the receiving end of the gifts?

We also went to the library. I really like libraries. I like to think that I'm not a nerd (or a geek - believe it or not, there is a difference...I just can't thing of what it is) but when I go to a library I start believing that being a nerd might not be so bad after all. When I'm rich and famous, I plan on owning several libraries.

We checked out a huge stack of movies and Erika discovered a book that she hasn't read yet, so it was a good library. While we're on that subject, have you ever noticed that there are no Thanksgiving movies? There are plenty of Christmas movies (For instance, we always watch It's a Wonderful Life and The Grinch that Stole Christmas) but nobody makes movies about Thanksgiving. At least, not that I've noticed. But I digress.

This is the part where I make wild promises to blog everyday until I get home and you laugh at the computer screen in disbelief because you're very smart and you know I won't do that. So instead, I'm just going to say that I will try to post again sometime before too long...that is, as long as I don't get too many comments begging me to leave to blogging to the expert (that would be Erika).

Signing off!

-Annetta

Houghton Happenings: the first half of November

 So it's a relaxed Sunday evening here on the Houghton Campus. I'm relaxing in the campus center, with Sam, Evan,

.................never mind! Life moved forward and this blog post didn't. I videochatted with my family and went to Koinonia (the Sunday evening worship service here on campus), called Annetta, and now I'm in a dorm lounge with a bunch of friends, some of whom are doing homework, and some of whom are watching TV.

 It has snowed out here a couple times. The first time it snowed, we got about 6 inches of the most photogenic fluffy snow you could ask for. Obviously, I went out and took pictures of it. And Tyler and I made a little snowman too.



Today, Evan and I went to the Fillmore Wesleyan church...that's where I've been attending. I think I've mentioned that one of my profs (Laura) is the children's pastor there, and I've enjoyed going and helping. We go for Sunday School, and then I help with the kids during the sermon part of the church service. Today, they did something special for the college students who attend there. Several families hosted a progressive lunch for us; we split into smaller groups, and went to three different homes and ate either an appetizer, a main course, or dessert with them. So we ate from 1 to about 3:30...it was wonderful :)

 Classes are going well. There's beginning to be a glimmer of light and the end of the academic tunnel of doom. We're getting our final projects assigned, and I can finally see the end of the homework assignments...most classes only have like a paper, a group project, and a book left. I'm not entirely sure how I've been doing gradewise, because midterm grades still aren't up (Jordan, I will say this for good ol' SUNY Fred...at least those profs graded and returned stuff within like a couple weeks! I'm going to get papers back that I won't remember writing.) But I'm enjoying my classes, and the professors are wonderful...they pray before class, and oftentime ask for prayer requests before praying.

 So I wrote that yesterday, which was Sunday. Today is Monday. Just as a random glimpse of what my days look like, here's what I did today: I got up at about 7:40, and got over to the dining hall at just after 8. Nathaniel and I do devotions during breakfast, and usually some other friends join us. This morning, Sam and Tyler did devotions with us (Galatians 4...we just read a chapter and talk about it. We started in Colossians, and then went to Galatians). Then I had class from 9 to 10:05, and then class starting at 10:15. Normally, the second class goes til 11:20 or so, but this morning we had an exam. I had actually completely forgotten about it...so there goes my A in that class :P Actually, I'm not sure what my grade is in that class, but if I had an A, I'm about 99% sure that I don't any more. Yeah...one must study for Case exams.

After that exam of horror, I went to chapel with everyone, and then lunch. After lunch, I had about a half hour before my next class, so Nathaniel showed me some games he just got on his phone which evaluate different parts of your brain, like your memory recognition, spatial memory, verbal and math power, and so forth. That was fun.And then I had class (Biblical Interpretation) and then work for two hours. Once I got out of work, I crashed for about a half hour in my room before supper. And now I'm sitting in the library, theoretically studying, but in actuality listening to Josh Groban and blogging.

 Later tonight, I'm planning to go rock climbing with a few other girls. Most of my friends are doing rehearsal for Houghton's Christmas Prism, which if I understand right, is like a musical celebration of Christmas. So they're doing that tonight...and probably every night this week...so I'm going rock climbing with the other non-music people in my friend group :)

These next pictures are from Saturday, which was a lovely and warm day and I was needing an adventure, so I hauled Nathaniel off with me to the ski hill and we wandered around and took pictures of photogenic fungi and admired the scenic-ness and sat on trees that were essentially perpendicular to the ground.

Anyhow, there's a random and probably highly un-cohesive update! I probably won't blog again til after Thanksgiving break, so I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving :) I hope you all know how thankful I am to have you in my life...I've recently been extra aware of just how blessed I am to have so many awesome friends in my life. And if you feel led, I would love to have you leave a comment and tell me what's up in your life :)

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!

swing dancing

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

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 :)

So Evan wrote this essay... :P

So I'm sitting in the Gilette main lounge, watching Dr. Who with Carina, Kaitlyn, Evan, Nathaniel, and Tyler (Jensyn and Cede are nearby working on something else)...and I'm working on a paper for my Fitness for Life class. Evan hijacked my computer, as he is wont to do, and I thought I'd post the essay he wrote. I wrote the first sentence...the rest is all Evan. :P do enjoy. 

Erika Snell

Mr. Trini Rangel

Fitness For Life

30 Sept 2013

“10 Things You Need to Know About Dieting” Response Paper

            Dieting is a hot topic these days. Hi, I am Erica.  You should give me an A because I am a watermelon!  If you don’t, I will slaughter you and all of your loved ones!!  ;)

            In order to slightly diffuse any retaliation from this revelation, I will probably blame it on Evan when I turn it in, who is a handsome rogue if there ever was one.

            Anyway, dieting.  If you diet enough, you disappear!  It’s called dying and decomposing.  It might take a while, but, in perspective of all of history, it’s only a second!  Or a millisecond!  I dunno.  That requires some suggestion of mathematical skill, which I do not possess.  In fact, when it comes to math, I drool!  Square roots reduce me to gibbering!  It’s a great party trick.

            I was once a piñata.  That was fun!  My head is lopsided, now.  Also, there is no more candy in my stomach!  Sadness :’(.

            By the way, Mr. Professor Man.    Be afraid!  We are not alone.  Not even when you are alone.  You may think you’re just having a drink by yourself, but – ha! – joke’s on you; you haven’t checked the closet.  And even if you did, don’t you think he would be smart enough to scramble up to the ceiling?  Like a cockroach?  And stare down at you?

            Then, of course, the police find your remains spread over the lawn the next morning.  Then you diet extremely quickly!  You don’t even have to starve to death first.

The End

First week of classes

So, the first week of class is over. I think I'll just tell you some stories, instead of being all update-y...

Once upon a time this week, Jessie and I were sitting in Intro to Christianity, and we decided that the freshman fifteen is actually all layers of sweaters that you put on as the year progresses and the weather gets progressively colder and the air conditioning vents keep spewing out cold air.

Once upon a time a couple days ago, I was eating lunch with Jensyn, Nathaniel, Evan, and Tyler, and they were trying to get me to tell them something. So Evan suggested that Jensyn tickle me til I told...and those of you who know my extreme ticklishness probably know where that ended up :P tickle wars galore since then.

Here is a picture of some of the people I hang out with:

Ok, so the girl next to me is Jensyn, and she's an awesome freshman who I'm already planning to bring home with me over break. The bearded guy behind her is Evan, who's a transfer. The girl behind me is Emily, a freshman...the guy next to her is Tyler (the only one without glasses), and the guy next to me is Nathaniel. In our little group, we also have JP (aka John, Paul, John-Paul, or PJ), Karina, Kaitlyn, Hannah, and others as they float in and our of our little bubble. This picture was taken at a soccer game, which HC won...something like 10 to 0.

Last night, I watched The Dark Knight Rises with Jensyn, Karina, Kaitlyn, Tyler, and Evan. It made walking back to my dorm rather traumatizing. It didn't help that Tyler texted me when I was halfway back and said "Look behind you" :P

I think I should put in some stuff about my academics...seems like I've been talking a disproportionate amount about my social life. I'm taking 5 classes this semester, plus chapel 3 times a week and a transfer orientation thingy once a week. They're all good classes...I have some great profs. For those interested, I'll talk about each class...those of you not interested should skip ahead.
-Intro to Christian Ministry: the title is fairly explanatory. The prof is a pastor, and he's super nice. This class is a half-semester class, so it'll be over the end of October...and it will be replaced with the second half of the class (please don't ask why they didn't just combine... :P I have no idea).
-Intro to Christianity: This one will be fairly difficult. There is a lot of homework...readings and questions, plus a couple papers. The good thing is that it is a full semester class, so I have a while to work on the papers. The prof is really nice, but smart. Jordan, he's like Dr Arnold, only a Christian. He went through a time (between his second and third master's degrees...or PhD's or something...where he basically gave up on Christianity. So he's coming from a perspective where he truly understands the struggles and questions that one might have. I like it.
-Biblical Interpretation: well, this one will be interesting. I think it will end up being my least favorite class...but we shall see.
-Christian Formation of Youth: now this is a col class! It's exactly what I like doing. This morning, some fellow classmates and I went to our teacher's church and helped her with the kids program she does Sunday morning. It was a lot of fun...I got to hold a cute, squishy little kid, and draw penguins for a couple squirmy little boys.
-Fitness for Life: this is your basic, core course, health class. The prof is interesting, though...he likes what he does and tries to engage us and keep it interesting.

Here's another story: Once upon a time a couple days ago, Linda (my roommate), Tyler, Evan, Nathaniel, and I went creek walking. We splashed down the creek from my dorm to the guys' dorm, so not too far, but it was fun. We saw lots of fish.

Okay...I need to close this post and go work on one of my many papers :P keep in touch, folks!

Life at Houghton thus far

Well, I would love to do a Day in the Life post later on, once I get on a good schedule, but here's a random little post of what I've been up to so far.

On Friday, my mom, Rachel, and Hosanna brought me out to campus. We moved my stuff in and unpacked, and then ate lunch, walked around the campus, and then went to the new student welcome and dedication service.  They left around 4:30 or 5, and I had supper with my floor. I'm living on the first floor of Lambein, but the way that Lambein is built on the side of a hill, I enter on the 4th floor and take 48 stair steps down to my floor. Also Friday night, my friend Jacob stopped in to hang out...he lives only about a half hour away (as opposed to an hour and a half), so he's conveniently close for hanging out purposes!

Yesterday we had a lot of transfer orientation classes. They had all 50 of us transfer students together for a few morning sessions, then lunch, and then a few more sessions. After that, we were exhausted and basically went and crashed for a while. Last night was their Hough'down thingy...square dancing...I went for like the last half hour and got to dance the Virginia Reel.

This morning, we had chapel and then lunch. I met a guy yesterday and invited him to sit with my roommate and me for chapel, so after chapel, Nathaniel and two of his friends (Matt and Tyler...I think) and I hung out and then had lunch. We're planning on meeting up for chapel and then lunch tomorrow too, which will be good!

Classes start tomorrow. I'm most of the way organized and ready for classes to start. This evening, I'll pack my backpack so that I'm all ready to go. My first class is at 9 am, and I have class, chapel, and lunch until about 3.

So that's a short update...I'm going to go find a comfy place to go read, and I'm sure I'll write more later!