Filled up Friday

I slept straight through breakfast. I woke up half an hour before class started great night's sleep finally!

I woke up with itchy bug bites. They may or may not from fire ants. I may or may not be allergic to them.

In OT Survey, we took notes on what history is (with a fill in the blank notebook-booyah! Only for $14. Yeeeee).

Then I had English class and we took notes about the importance of taking notes. Hahaha. Then I saw a group of girls that were sitting in a circle worshipping God through song. I joined them; it was a fun replacement for non-Chapel Fridays. 

By the end of the year I will be able to open a hard boiled egg without smashing the shell into a million pieces.

Lunch wooo

Lys by a tree

Tyler & Jonathan cheezing hard 

English textbook reading. College is real.

Fishtail braided Melinda's hair before dinner.

Dinner.

I have my tree climbing friends that remind me of mine back home awww

Alyssa & Lys-Christy sandwich :)

Jonathan, Scott, I wearing our pool rack crowns..royalties ovva here.

So I think I got bit by a spider and am having an allergic reaction so please pray for a quick healing for me while I pray for myself and all you back home.

Hope this fall term is amazing and the missing you feelings are real and coming strong. Everything now makes me think of home. Feels a big bitter sweet. I wish I could meld these two "worlds" together.

Peace & Love,

Your Cali girl in the South

Thursd'y

Today I missed breakfast so I had animal crackers after my first class. 

I had western civ and we did a practice quiz on the first reading. Then I had Chapel and we sang a few songs like Speak O Lord & something about a river. We started a series called Seek God Through the Fire. Hebrews 10:22-25.

Then we had College 101, we got informational booklets on how to do well in college etc...

For first year at the school

For every underclassman student.

At lunch, I ate in company of some my friends Jonathan, Lys, Thomas, Kyle, Tyler. They talked about things while I sped-ate and read my public speaking reading at the same time.

Public speaking consisted of taking a test that measured how nervous you are when it comes to public speaking..I scored into "moderately".

After public speaking, I did more reading for the and took some notes. Then I went to the rec room where we came out from to toss around a football. It was lots of fun, it brought me back to thoughts is Off the B.E.NC.H. 

Then I watched people do slack rope. I did get on while two people held my hand on each side while I walked about halfway across. I hope to be able to make it myself by the end of the school year.

Dinner was good. I got egg noodles and meatballs again. I can't remember what else.

After dinner, I watched pool matches happen. At 8, I was off to see Les Miserables in a dorm basement.

Watching the battle scene and Marius (Eddie Redmayne) sing after the barricades made me feel homesick for my friends back home. It hit me so hard..I think I've finally come to the realization that I'm here to stay for a while. 

Me and Puddles enjoying the late night outdoors. 

The cicadas and some birds are chirping now..never heard them (cicadas) before I got here. The first time I heard them (this week) I thought it was music  from a stereo because it sounded like electronic dance music or just plain not natural. While being here, I feel like haven't experienced home much out of home.

I have had the privilege to hear about people's home church (personal involvement, mission trips etc) and if makes me feel so driven to step out and make a difference. 

I'll definitely sleep on it and see if I can come up with something.

Love you all dearly and missing you tanks :')

Send me things/letters in the mail if you want. Lotsa Cali pride in me ovva here. They call me Cali. Cali-grown and proud. <3

Wednesday, they call it "Humpday"..middle of the week

The only thing worth mentioning about breakfast is that Lys wore a short that said "Abide" on it and a wave of nostalgia swept over me. Anywhoooo..

I had Bible Old Testament Survey as my first class at 9 this morning. I sat with Kinsey, Lys, Soph, Andrew, and Will. I think they'll make great seat mates if we sit in the same spot as today for the rest of the year.

Will had the coolest cup ever I actually squealed when I saw it! Oh my goshhhh I loved it. 

I had my next class Writing Composition and Lys and Soph are in that class with me. It's really cold in there and the textbook is $60 or $45 on Amazon.

I had lunch, their pizza here is top notch.

Mmm mm mmm!

Early afternoon I went to the informational meeting for the school newspaper. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. There were people I already know there and we had a barrel of laughs. 

Beautiful day..postcard-worthy!

Dinner: egg noodles, Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, turkey, peppered chicken.

Beautiful sunlight streaming in through the blinds.

Studying outside in the warmth for western civ with Kinsey!

We went to cookout to study. It was crazy, lots of good times (ask me yourself if you want to know). Some studying and good eats.

Passengers, to eat into the night.

Went to study group back on campus. Reviewed some. Quiz tomorrow at 8am.

Night night from the stars and the moon and the clouds.

First Day of Schoo was Coo

I started this morning's classes with Western Civ at 8am. I woke up at 6:30am to make sure I didn't sleep through breakfast. First class of the day involved intro/going over the syllabus. We  got 45 pages to read for homework and l read 7 pages and I took 1.5 pages of notes front & back. Took up 2 hours. 

College 101 overlapped with lunch. Made me so upset but good thing I had my quesadilla from Taco Bell in the fridge I could reheat. We talked about school breaks etc. 

Right after that at 1:30pm, I have public speaking. This year is a going to be one where I'll be overcoming obstacles. I really don't like talking uninterrupted formally in front of a big group of people, so hope this will not be too bad.

I tried to go hit the books again but I felt a bit academically drained after reading and taking notes in the morning. I went to the rec room and hung out with some people by the pool tables, and went back and forth between there and the room next to mine.

I ended up staying until dinner. (My dinner can be seen below)

First time having a hoagie and it was "beautiful. Beautiful to my soul" it really was delicious, oh and there was the lasagna (that paled in comparison).

After dinner, I learned how to play pool. I've never held a cue stick before, so that was interesting. Yeah I didn't really want to play after that so I socialized.

Lys and I in the Rec room

Josh being silly and making big eyes

Playing pool in the rec room

We had a resident life meeting (mandatory for everyone that lives in a dorm). It's a tradition that at the first meeting, every hall dresses up in a theme. We were crayons and our RAs and FLTs were crayon boxes.

Emily and I as red crayons

Me as a red crayon.

They were hand painted cardboard that our RA and FLTs wore by a string.

The clouds were so crazy tonight (August 20) and the moon looked so gorgeous.

One of the girls who know how to play the guitar on our hall invited me over to her room and we sang some worship songs. It was cool that I choose some of them she knew that reminded me of home. I miss home. It's good here but it's not the same. Nothing will change my friendships with you guys becaus you're all irreplaceable. :)

 

Monday Funday

My day started with College 101. The emphasis of spiritual formation. We mtalked about the fall of man and how to win against the temptation of son, by knowing the devil's strategy. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life are the tactics that he uses to try to make us fall.

They had an organization fair, aka club rush. I signed up for student missions. It's like interact club or key club in public school but involving evangelism, ASA (a cultural club), the school newspaper & yearbook (checking them out and choosing one). There's a club that I'm considering that's about members making skits that involve acting out bible stories set to music but no verbally.

The top of my umbrella in the cafeteria..don't ask. Had deep talks about mission work with my friend Phyllis Anne from North Carolina.

I bought 7 textbooks for $25 (a value of $200)-soundsl ike a commercial, doesn't it? Sophomores or upperclassmen who bought the books brought them and sold them to me at discounted prices. I got each book at around $3/$4 each. So exciting! Up ice bargains, ran down the hall in a sing songy voice going "I got books, I got books!"

Hope with her new welcome mat from our shopping trip.

Hope & I as Michelangelo & Leonardo.

Pretty blue skies.

Got to dinner 4 minutes after caf closing time but they were really nice, and gave us the uneaten quesadillas, burgers.

Then we rushed to worship night which was hosted by the ISA (International Student Association) club. We did 3 worship songs, a short message, a passage reading of Matthew 5:15-16. Next we sang a worship song with each verse in different languages. The languages consisted of French, Swahili, Russian, Swiss, and Chinese. The guy that wax the main speaker was the head of the club and he had an Aussie accent!

We closed the event with 10,000 Reasons and a prayer done in each of the mentioned languages.

Notes from message:

"Just because we're at a Christian college doesn't mean we have accomplished all God has planned for us. Just because we spent class scheduled for Bible, doesn't mean that you shouldn't  pursue the time with God beyond that throughout the day.

What do you have to show after you leave college?

When you're in complete darkness, even the littlest of lights was on, it'd make a big difference. You're life should be distinctly different than your past life after you accept Christ.

We are called to be Christ's lights in our  community ."

Went into the basement theater an the next building over to watch the movie ocean 11, but only watched 5 minutes of it though I say there got at least an hour. I liked the convos and quality time.

Came back and got packed for tomorrow bring the first day if school.

Gonna be interesting.

Signing out, peace y'all.

A Day of Joy & Rest

This morning started a little later, we had breakfast pushed back an hour and a half..wooo! 

We had church service at school because most of us don't have a church to attend regularly yet. We had worship very similar to back home, but we have a violin player and a full sized piano too..no drums. The message was given by the dean of student life. He talked about fear and hope. They compared the ways Saul (Old Testament) and Joshua respond to their God-given situations after their mentors die.

Notes from the message 

We had our first beautiful day since I got here. At around 10:40am, the sun broke out of the skies. I went to the rec room and we played pool without cue sticks. It was awesome with my friend Lys and Kinsey and some guys Jonathan, Tyler, Justin and a few other people. Lots of fun..and we had great laughs, mostly they laughed with me..I had a lot of silly moments for sure.

"Every cloud has silver lining" but I'm 

glad they're not rain clouds :p

This is my friend Kinsey! She's really cool and she thinks I'm funny, which is good. 

We did hall bonding by painting and decorated our glasses for our monthly tradition of getting together for hall meetings.

Then we reorganized mine and Soph's room. I got my bed lofted ;) wooo! My way of getting over my fear of heights one night at a time.

This is my corner now. (Foot of the bed is by the door). Nice and cozy.

Look at all that space we have now! So excited for all the possible things it could hold.

After all that excitement, my hallmate Hope and I walked to a hall that has a piano for her to play. We ran into a few guy friends from the first night where we played ultimate frisbee. We hungout in that hall with them. Earlier, they came bearing dorm-made brownies..The brownie I had was mmm mmm good. We made our way back to the dorms but we ended up sitting down and chatting. Then we got caught in the rain and a silly thing happened (which I won't go into because I don't have all the details), my umbrella broke. So our friends blocked is from the rain with their binder (full of Christian lyric sheets) and something rather...it was a pretty fun time getting to know them. 

Hope had my umbrella while standing under the pouring corner of the roof of the library. Buckets of rain were coming down the roof all toward that corner. Haha triple dog dare. This girl is awesome.

Yeee, turning in for the night. Peace!

Out and About

Today aka yesterday (August 17-yeah I know I'm recapping a day late), after breakfast, we each were part of service projects. My hall and some of my friends helped clean the cross country track (a hiking trail). We cleared leaves and rocks off the trail.

Our forest on campus is so beautiful!

We went on a drive to the CVS's, target, and dollar store to get stuff for the room. Redecorating the room tomorrow night (August 18). Pictures will be on the next post. 

We missed dinner last night because we got back to campus after caf closing time so I made do.

 First meal of Easy Mac to kick of the college life.

Last night, I went to watch the for-fun volleyball game. Stayed for only a few minutes, but it seemed cool.

After, I went to the basement (people live down there too) of another female dorm building and watched "She's The Man". I've see it before but still loving the British accent of the coach.

It was in all good day.

Welcome Week Begins

Today (August 16) was the start of welcome week. We went to the school auditorium and learned how go about developing good study habits/how to manage our time wisely. Every freshman/first time student attended this.

For every hour of an easy class we have, we will be spending two hours studying/doing homework.

For every hour of an average class we have, we will be spending three hours studying/doing homework.

For every hour of a hard class we have, we will be spending four hours studying/doing homework.

Our classes are divided very similar to a block schedule. We have the same classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday while our classes on Tuesday and Thursday are the same.

After lunch, I hung out with a new friend in her room (they're downstairs)-I forgot to mention that my dorm building is 3 floors. My room is on the middle floor.

Her name's Alyssa. She's really funny and her personality makes me smile. She's not afraid to be forward and has a friendly and is a lighthearted spirit. I came into their room and I had some of their tea. Her roommate worked at a tea store before she came here and had brought a lot of different teas with her on campus from her drive from home. We talked about the places we called home and read aloud our resident life handbook from the school website and then later I left to read our student life handbook and signed/turned in the sheet that says I read it.

After dinner we had intro to the school crash course. It was our first class of the year (unofficial). we hward about the core values of the college. We were told to look into ourselves and write down 3 of our personal core values and beliefs. It allowed us to dig deeper into ourselves.

Core values aren't consciously created but are a part of the fabric of the individual, probably a result of parents', put upbringing; they were discovered not invented.

When a person does things in the future or how they change over time, the core values should stay the same.

They evolve and are often unnoticed over the years until they can be encapsulated with words & become a fundamental part of the way a person thinks/acts.

Do you guys think that 'core values' & 'morals' are interchangeable? Feel free to share your thoughts about this question by leaving a comment. I'd like to hear what you think.

After dinner, we did a socializing activity that was inspired by "speed dating". It was an acrivity that allowed to let us get to meet/know our fellow classmates better.We were given a question to answer and share with the person across from us. The person across from us was We had 2 minutes with each person and then everyone shifts into a new seat- 1 seat to the right and repeats the process with the new partner.

Questions in the game included: 

-Share one of your most embarrassing moments.

-What is one of your fondest childhood memories? 

-Tell them about one of the most serious injury you've ever had.

-Act out your favorite bible story while only using your hands (I couldn't think of one bit I found out that it's really hard for people to get "Noah's ark" from my hand imitation of a boat and two animals walking two by two :p )

-What place(s) would you want to go if you could go anywhere?

-How would you spend 1mil dollars if you had it?

We left when it was over-I went back to our dorm. I found out that we were going to knock off one of the things on our bucket list. And along with most of my hallmates, I jumped into the fountain in front of the admin building...It was already raining so why not? 

We got a ripstick master on our hall! Maybe I'll learn by the end of the year ;)

Puddles says hi to you all and sends air hugs!