Catching Up

I haven't posted on this blog in a long time! The Furman blog has kept me busy in reporting school activities. I bet no one even reads this, so I guess this is like a personal diary entry...online...where the entire world could read it if they so chose.

Finals week is approaching, but I have decided to stay calm about the whole process because there is only so much studying that can be done. I can't believe this semester is almost over...It seems like yesterday that I was applying to come here. One of the things I am involved with here is called "Furman Futures." Through that, we have lunches with prospective students and their families. We also host students for the night, so they can get the real feel of Furman college life. That has been a lot of fun, and I love promoting something so wonderful. I really have had the best time at Furman, and the best part is that this is just the beginning. Everything is just starting to take off, so I am incredibly excited! I am going through sorority recruitment. I go through phases of being excited then not so much. As of right now though, I am very excited to have the option to be in a sorority. Also, all of the fraternities are having their rush events and dinners, so I have gone to 1 of those, and I have 2 more next week! It's such a great way to meet lots of different people.

Also, coming up next week are concerts and Christmas parties. One of the concerts is by the Belltower Boys. This is an all boy's acapella group on campus. They are highly talented.

Which of us are siblings? Guess.

I can't wait to come home again for Christmas break. I won't have homework to stress over. Also, I will get to bake yummy food and see my friends and family at home. What a wonderful season this holiday is. I have been incessantly listening to Christmas music. Check out Casting Crowns Holiday Pandora Station. It's the greatest.

New Site!

My wonderful hall friends

Furman

Hello everyone! I just wanted to give my new blog site to anyone who may be interested. This new site is the official Furman freshmen blog page, and I'm excited to get to blog for Furman! College has been absolutely wonderful, and I can't believe I am actually living all these dreams of college I've always had!

http://blogs.furman.edu/freshmenbloggers/

Summer Living

I wish I could adequately sum up this summer in a few words, but at this time, the hundreds of memories and the faces and the perfection of the summer are all so present, that I can't even begin to condense my feelings into those few words.

Perfect afternoons in Knoxville

I had fun. I got to lose myself in the chill nature of WOW (the urban mission camp I worked at.) I had time to think about everything. I had time to change. I had time to love. I had time to make friends, real friends.I had time to be me.

I think this summer was also great preparation for college. I say that because I learned how to live with and get along with all kinds of people. It can be tough sometimes to spend every waking moment with people, but I think I am much better prepared to do so now.

At the beginning of the summer, I guess we all felt frantic and a little worried that we would not get to spend enough time with each other to make sufficient memories. This was sort of a problem when we started staying up until 2 in the morning several mornings in a row. We had lots of card games to play, lots of jam sessions to have, and lots of heart to hearts to have! These late nights didn't prove to be much of a problem on weeks where we only had to staff a single week in a row and then go home...but when we finally realized that this would kill us for multiple weeks in a row, we started to change the way we did things. We actually grew closer and happier and much more energetic when we got to sleep. Such a crazy concept.

We learned how to separate ourselves and take the time to get lost in a book instead of always having to be around everyone. It was nice to know that we could take alone time. When we got back to hanging out after taking a nap or whatever, everyone seemed so much more pleasant. We set ourselves a bedtime, so every minute we were with each other, really counted.

The Wonderful WOW Staff

Now I know I just said I learned how to find my space in the midst of living with people, but I know I'll want to quickly get to know people in college, and I'll probably stress over getting to spend enough time with everyone anyways. I hope that I can get all of my socializing done by 12 AM. I doubt this will be the case, but I know I will only last so long without sleep. I can only hope that I can get into a schedule that includes sleep by the time classes start.

Wishing my dad a very happy birthday today! Much love from the WOW kazoo team.

Painting the Halls with the Quotes of Dr.Seuss

 

We have been painting Dr. Seuss quotes and decorating posters for the teachers of Christenberry Elementary School. These are some of the final products! I am very proud of my little artists.

Weeding and cleaning up at Beardsley Farms in Knoxville

What a Life

There ended up being a break this week from WOW, so I came back home. I figured that while I am home, I should do something productive, so I told the youth director at church that I would love to help with Vacation Bible School. In the past I have led the opening and closing...the songs, message, crazy games etc., so naturally I volunteered to help with this again.  I got a response of "wonderful, I think I have the perfect job for you!" I got excited, but since I knew I had a job, I didn't ask about it again until a few days later. This time when I asked, I got the message "Our person who was going to be our puppeteer of Ocho the Octopus had to go on a business trip, so that will be your position!"

You have GOT to be kidding me...I signed myself up to be an octopus puppeteer...

So, yes, that is what I am doing this week. I am Ocho the Octopus Puppeteer. I lead a thrilling life.

It isn't that bad, but it is slightly embarrassing when I have to tell people I am a puppeteer for an octopus. Last night at VBS, there was a line where the octopus says "I can speak 5 languages." One of those languages was 'seal,' so I got to/had to make some seal noises. Also, when the video for part of the skit didn't work, I got to tell some jokes...that I came up with off the top of my head. I whipped out this one:

Knock Knock
Who's There?
Banana
Knock Knock
Who's There?
Banana
Knock Knock
Who's There? (please note that I continued this joke until the video began working...)
Orange
Orange Who?
Orange you glad I didn't say banana again?
HAHAHA (it was a crowd pleaser)

WOW

The other morning I woke up at 4:30 AM to embark on a journey to Knoxville, TN. I tried to open my eyes, but I fell back asleep and decided that 5:00 AM would still leave sufficient time for a shower and breakfast. I got ready, and at 6:00 (I had to wait until 6:00 to legally be allowed to drive. I believe the law was made so I wouldn't ever have to wake up any earlier) I met my friend Chris when we proceeded to get on the highway for a nice 192 mile drive. It was so much fun...well as fun as the highway can be. We (mostly just me though) jammed out to some mixed cds  and talked and talked and ate some trail mix and talked and drank some water and talked and...I think you get the point. After three hours, we arrived in Knoxville to be greeted by our wonderful friends from St. John's Lutheran Church, the church where we will be working for the summer. 

The last few days in Knoxville, I took part in the training session for WOW (win our world urban ministries) mission camp. This organization works to serve the homeless neighbors in the immediate Knoxville area. From baling clothes to picking up cigarette butts on the streets to playing basketball with kids at daycare centers, we help to care for the community in these little ways. I always talk about how I will never be the one to cure cancer or save the whales, but I will be able to make little differences. WOW serves in exactly these kinds of ways. Some days our goal is just to share a cup of water with someone or even a simple smile.

I can't say I am always completely comfortable walking down the streets of Knoxville or under the giant bridge where the homeless neighbors gather, but my goal for this summer is to learn to see the people through different eyes. My goal is to see them as I would see any person simply walking down the street. My goal is not to become less cautious or less alert, but my goal is to see people for their beauty and their talents. 

I got a piece of paper the other day confirming my survival of 13 years of school. I have sat in classrooms for approximately 16,380 hours, not including all of the thousands of hours of homework, studying, and stressing I did over these years. This piece of paper, and I suppose, a brain full of knowledge are my rewards. I guess they will have to do.

Of course I am excited for the social and extracurricular life Furman has to offer next year, but academically, I am more excited to go back to school than I have been in a long time. I get to take classes of my own choice! This year I sat in an economics class. Let's just say that was not my subject. My teacher expressed that to me as well. She smiled and nodded when I told her I would not be pursuing economics and would be pursuing a career of some sort in a creative/writing/artsy kind of field. And next year, I can choose to not take economics and to take an art class instead! Also, I don't have to take for ex., physics if I don't want to. I can take geology or astronomy. Those sound more entertaining than physics, but maybe that's just me. Maybe I will find that I like different kinds of sciences! Maybe I will find a teacher that inspires me to study subjects I never thought I would have liked.

Now I know I just said I was excited, but I have an older brother (who attends Furman) who likes to stress me out. As I was deciding that Furman was the place for me, he clearly made it sound perfect. He decided to not mention the extreme academic rigor involved. Of course I have known that Furman is an excellent school with excellent academics. Of course I had done my research to realize that Furman is always on the top of the "rigorous academics" lists. Of course that didn't really sink in until now...so, on top of my excitement, yes, I am a little nervous about new class loads. I know I am going to have to work hard (I have a piece of paper documenting my understanding and execution of hard work), and I think I am ready for the challenge.

Just a quick note to update you on my daily adventures. I went to school for 3 hours today for graduation practice. We practiced standing in abc order. I feel much more prepared to graduate now. Thank you High School. In addition to standing in this order, we had to enter the auditorium in reverse order because there have been complaints from parents in the past with the last names "L-Z" that they do not get enough time to view their children when they walk in last and leave first. This required an extra practice run. I enjoyed it.

The End

I used to think there were only 4 seasons: Summer, Winter, Spring, and Fall. Recently though, I have found a 5th season, and the season is called "graduation party season." It is actual insanity. I never realized it was possible to cram this many parties into about 3 weekends. It is though, fun insanity.

I don't ever need to plan on meals anymore because of the plethora of delicious foods. I get to dress up in fun summer dresses and take pictures with all of my friends. I get to play corn-hole (a game where you have beanbags filled with corn...and then you chuck the beanbags at a box with a hole in it...and you have "cornhole.") Most importantly, I get to celebrate the completion of four stressful yet exciting years of high school.

We have almost made it! The graduation countdown is now at 5 days!