Well after an aggravating early morning for a TEST on Thursday - Friday was yet again another fun day, needless to say mostly because it started with another impressive seminar class. I felt like it was actually (even though it was only the third meeting) one of the best classes we've had thus far. I really enjoyed the different opinions and discussion that was brought up. We finished discussion Peace like a River and then were given a small introduction to Amadeus which we are starting now. As the discussion was concluding on peace like a River, there was a comment made that not only myself but a few other agreed with - that they book after completing it was quite more enjoyable than we thought. Towards the end of the book, one thing that was hit on was the fact that the writing style really seemed to make a large transition. Particularly to me - I felt like the style transitioned from more of a relaxed and flowing conversational style to a more strict straight forward style. It was pointed out that is was a lot more similar to the style of writing we saw come from Ruben's younger sister Swede; and there was also less dialog between the book's characters.
Another major point hit on in our concluding discussion for the time being, was all the different parallels that were noticeable between event in the story and the correlations they held with different instances, such as many miracles in the Bible. One of the major parallels that I had noticed and someone had actually mentioned earlier in the week in my focus group, was where in the end Jeremiah died instead of his son Ruben, and Ruben in turn was also relieved of his heath issues involving asthma. In the bible Jesus dies for us on the cross and his death allowed us to avoid that penalty of death that sin carries along with it. In turn, our gift from Jesus of life - is the parallel of the gift of life Ruben receives when his father takes on death instead. There is so much more I could hit on as we came to a conclusion for Peace like a River, but I do believe I might save my last few opinions for a rainy day.
As for the beginning of Amadeus, I really enjoy the quick language lesson Dr. Kuykendall provided on the name. AMA - is Latin for love (a romantic side) and the DEUS - is Latin for God. I found that interesting considering I definitely have NO knowledge in Latin or Greek as far as some less modern texts involve.
After ES 101 - we had some free time before we left for the lake for the majority of the day/evening. It was quite an interesting experience - we had a raft building competition, which our raft looked great, but wasn't the best in the water. The way the competition worked one girl or guy had to swim out with the raft and the other person girl/guy who didn't swim it out had to swim it back in. Well originally we had one guy one girl picked out, but this girl backed out last minute so I was selected. Now usually I wouldn't mind, however I didn't know there was going to be a lake day so I never packed a bathing suit and on top of that I have this fear of lake and ocean water .. well I wasn't able to get out of that, and kept that fear to myself but I thought I might vomit when it was time for me to get in the water - needless to say I am here though and therefore survived. There was dinner at the lake, and then when we got back to campus we had some time to chill (I worked out) and then at 9 there was an EEB event in the hanger which Amanda and I went to for a little bit, but then got so sleepy from the lake that we came back to the room and crashed! haha.
As for today (Saturday) we had group debates at 9 am and then have the rest of the day to ourselves. The only major event planned is a concert later tonight, which should hopefully be interesting. There is also a soccer game if we wish to attend which I may possibly stop by. So until next time ....
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
In Christ Alone
WOW - day four no lie -- SUCKED. So I'm pretty spoiled that my first class of the day is at 9am right? So for one of our orientation lecture things we had to be in a classroom in Belk by 8am for the MAPP "Survey." RIGHT ... survey is what they called it - but no we had to be up at 8am for a TEST .. really?! An aptitude test .. didn't I take enough of those to get here to Erskine in the first place? Oh well, needless to say I was NOT happy about that at all.
Second meeting of the day (TWO HOURS LATER .. after the testing) we were suppose to have a meeting where we learned and heard from the technology guy - it was all about computers and all, well THANKFULLY something came up and he just talked for like 15 min instead of an hour and hit on the highlights of things and the basics for tech help. After that lovely, quick speech there was nothing else Amanda or I had to be at until 4pm.
At 4 there was a meeting/lecture on how to be successful academically.. happily it didn't last too long, but it was useful - I'll give it credit for that. Again, after that I was free.
I was suppose to go to a cookout for my focus group but it was hamburgers and hot dogs which I don't eat so I was invited and ended up going to the mexican restaurant right across from the main campus with a group of girls. I was sooo excited to eat and become FULL. I don't think I have truly been full after a meal since moving in. I hadn't realized how much I was missing out food wise. I mean some of that is my fault for being picky, but even if not there have been times where the food I am served has been cold, or I literally just can't stomach it. I am definitely missing out on any kind of homemade meal!!
So GREAT news - for me at least :o) Christopher called me tonight. It was perfect timing. I had planned with some of the girls from dinner we were going to have a movie night at 8pm, well Christopher called me at like ten after nine so I ended up missing a good portion of the movie, but I'll watch it another time .. I own it. It was super nice to hear his voice and know that he is doing okay. I hurt for him because he wants so bad to come home, he says he's tired of being over there and has felt burnt out for the past couple of weeks. His call got cut short because they moved up his flight time so he said he'd try to call later that night, tomorrow around lunch time for me. He mentioned he really just needed to talk to me - of course I think it's totally sweet, he's so good to me! So we'll see if he gets his call in - it is the military so I know any plans will most likely change in the blink of an eye, but he does so well making an effort for me! :o)
Well it's late, and almost "tomorrow" which is when I shall yet post again, this time with more to ponder as far as the discussions in my seminar class!
Second meeting of the day (TWO HOURS LATER .. after the testing) we were suppose to have a meeting where we learned and heard from the technology guy - it was all about computers and all, well THANKFULLY something came up and he just talked for like 15 min instead of an hour and hit on the highlights of things and the basics for tech help. After that lovely, quick speech there was nothing else Amanda or I had to be at until 4pm.
At 4 there was a meeting/lecture on how to be successful academically.. happily it didn't last too long, but it was useful - I'll give it credit for that. Again, after that I was free.
I was suppose to go to a cookout for my focus group but it was hamburgers and hot dogs which I don't eat so I was invited and ended up going to the mexican restaurant right across from the main campus with a group of girls. I was sooo excited to eat and become FULL. I don't think I have truly been full after a meal since moving in. I hadn't realized how much I was missing out food wise. I mean some of that is my fault for being picky, but even if not there have been times where the food I am served has been cold, or I literally just can't stomach it. I am definitely missing out on any kind of homemade meal!!
So GREAT news - for me at least :o) Christopher called me tonight. It was perfect timing. I had planned with some of the girls from dinner we were going to have a movie night at 8pm, well Christopher called me at like ten after nine so I ended up missing a good portion of the movie, but I'll watch it another time .. I own it. It was super nice to hear his voice and know that he is doing okay. I hurt for him because he wants so bad to come home, he says he's tired of being over there and has felt burnt out for the past couple of weeks. His call got cut short because they moved up his flight time so he said he'd try to call later that night, tomorrow around lunch time for me. He mentioned he really just needed to talk to me - of course I think it's totally sweet, he's so good to me! So we'll see if he gets his call in - it is the military so I know any plans will most likely change in the blink of an eye, but he does so well making an effort for me! :o)
Well it's late, and almost "tomorrow" which is when I shall yet post again, this time with more to ponder as far as the discussions in my seminar class!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
You Won't Find This..
So I notice I have already failed at attempting to post daily. Go figure right? I mean I am super super busy this week .. (cue rolling eyes).
Day two went well, no seminar class in the morning but little focus group meetings were held that morning. Other than that I had nothing planned until 6pm when there was a quick little "money matters" lecture. I took a business and money management class in H.S. last year so I didn't really hear anything I didn't already know - but it was a nice reminder to have.
The only other really exciting (which exciting is not really the most appropriate adjective) activities of the day included two trips to the basement of Bonner for over an hour because of tornado warnings. In reality I only made it to one of those times because I slept through the first who episode - note to SLAs: if you knock on someone's door ... keep banging until they wake up and answer the door - or they may die if a tornado actually comes through campus. After all of that excitement was finished there was a neat ThinkFast Trivia game show type activity that Amanda and I went to. The winners received $200 in cash ... my team didn't win :o( sad news. Then it was bed time.
An exciting day 2 right? NO but thats okay I did enjoy the down time for the most part. The only downside I personally get to deal with during any kind of down time is of my own cause. When there are no plans I have WAY TOO MUCH time to think and worry about Christopher. The nice things is that we decided not to have a TV in our room, so I can't watch the news - which is a habit I need to skip out on whenever there is anything regarding Afghanistan or I'll just create way to much stress to handle. I still haven't heard from him, but hopefully that will come soon.
NOW for Wednesday: Day 3 @ Camp Erskine
Today I had my second meeting with the seminar class I was in and once again I was impressed and do believe that I am going to thoroughly enjoy being in there. I will admit I was skeptical about any type of seminar class to start with - just never appealed to me as something that I would really care for; especially as the first class of the day. Discussion was not as intense today for the way freshman orientation was scheduled all our reading is now out of wack! One thing that was mentioned by Dr. Kuykendall that really struck me and made me think was a quote from Peace like a River on pg. 153, it said; "Could a person believe so strongly one way, yet take the opposite route?" Think about that for a minute. Can one person stand firm in a belief they hold if they go a justify or aid someone complete an action or say something that directly contradicts that which they believe? Its not a very easy to answer question, I must say I think that this quote is one of the most profound questions I have read in the book that really make you question things in a new light. I mean even in my own life, when have there been those times that I have justified an action or thought that may not exactly be in line with my morals or beliefs that I have been raised on or been living in the public eye as my entire life.
Going along with that quote; there was a comment made by Dr. Kuykendall that I really liked. He pointed out that when reading, even just a fictional novel "not to let even the most minute things or words that you don't know just slip by thinking they are unimportant." He made the point to inform us that there is a reason behind everything that gets written into a book. Even something seeming unsignificant as a character's name. Overall I have really enjoyed being able to ponder something new and walking away at the end of every class not empty handed.
Other than seminar this morning I didn't have much of anything else. My focus group didn't have any of the little meetings scheduled for us to be in today. After being done before 10am today Amanda and I went and ran a few errands. We went by ALDI's which is an amazingly cheap grocery store which will be a life saver because the both of us are not adjusting well to the food here, I've been sick for two days and Amanda started feeling really sick this morning. We also made a stop at Verizon because my phone has been a butt. I was not able to get any incoming calls - wasn't getting reception ect. (which reception for Verizon is suppose to be the best around here) Well it turns out the software on the phone needed to be updated - so they did that for me and YAY now my phone works haha.
I have nothing to do until 2:30 which is when we meet with our focus groups to plan for the debate... ewww. Don't get me wrong I enjoy debates and/or a mock trial type of competition but not within the first 5 days of moving in and attempting to adjust to the life of a college student. BLAH. Oh well; later we get too meet one more time with our small groups then there is a praise and worship session tonight if we wish to attend.
I promise to attempt to do better at updating daily if possible - but I have a feeling that won't always happen.
Day two went well, no seminar class in the morning but little focus group meetings were held that morning. Other than that I had nothing planned until 6pm when there was a quick little "money matters" lecture. I took a business and money management class in H.S. last year so I didn't really hear anything I didn't already know - but it was a nice reminder to have.
The only other really exciting (which exciting is not really the most appropriate adjective) activities of the day included two trips to the basement of Bonner for over an hour because of tornado warnings. In reality I only made it to one of those times because I slept through the first who episode - note to SLAs: if you knock on someone's door ... keep banging until they wake up and answer the door - or they may die if a tornado actually comes through campus. After all of that excitement was finished there was a neat ThinkFast Trivia game show type activity that Amanda and I went to. The winners received $200 in cash ... my team didn't win :o( sad news. Then it was bed time.
An exciting day 2 right? NO but thats okay I did enjoy the down time for the most part. The only downside I personally get to deal with during any kind of down time is of my own cause. When there are no plans I have WAY TOO MUCH time to think and worry about Christopher. The nice things is that we decided not to have a TV in our room, so I can't watch the news - which is a habit I need to skip out on whenever there is anything regarding Afghanistan or I'll just create way to much stress to handle. I still haven't heard from him, but hopefully that will come soon.
NOW for Wednesday: Day 3 @ Camp Erskine
Today I had my second meeting with the seminar class I was in and once again I was impressed and do believe that I am going to thoroughly enjoy being in there. I will admit I was skeptical about any type of seminar class to start with - just never appealed to me as something that I would really care for; especially as the first class of the day. Discussion was not as intense today for the way freshman orientation was scheduled all our reading is now out of wack! One thing that was mentioned by Dr. Kuykendall that really struck me and made me think was a quote from Peace like a River on pg. 153, it said; "Could a person believe so strongly one way, yet take the opposite route?" Think about that for a minute. Can one person stand firm in a belief they hold if they go a justify or aid someone complete an action or say something that directly contradicts that which they believe? Its not a very easy to answer question, I must say I think that this quote is one of the most profound questions I have read in the book that really make you question things in a new light. I mean even in my own life, when have there been those times that I have justified an action or thought that may not exactly be in line with my morals or beliefs that I have been raised on or been living in the public eye as my entire life.
Going along with that quote; there was a comment made by Dr. Kuykendall that I really liked. He pointed out that when reading, even just a fictional novel "not to let even the most minute things or words that you don't know just slip by thinking they are unimportant." He made the point to inform us that there is a reason behind everything that gets written into a book. Even something seeming unsignificant as a character's name. Overall I have really enjoyed being able to ponder something new and walking away at the end of every class not empty handed.
Other than seminar this morning I didn't have much of anything else. My focus group didn't have any of the little meetings scheduled for us to be in today. After being done before 10am today Amanda and I went and ran a few errands. We went by ALDI's which is an amazingly cheap grocery store which will be a life saver because the both of us are not adjusting well to the food here, I've been sick for two days and Amanda started feeling really sick this morning. We also made a stop at Verizon because my phone has been a butt. I was not able to get any incoming calls - wasn't getting reception ect. (which reception for Verizon is suppose to be the best around here) Well it turns out the software on the phone needed to be updated - so they did that for me and YAY now my phone works haha.
I have nothing to do until 2:30 which is when we meet with our focus groups to plan for the debate... ewww. Don't get me wrong I enjoy debates and/or a mock trial type of competition but not within the first 5 days of moving in and attempting to adjust to the life of a college student. BLAH. Oh well; later we get too meet one more time with our small groups then there is a praise and worship session tonight if we wish to attend.
I promise to attempt to do better at updating daily if possible - but I have a feeling that won't always happen.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Stay Beautiful
Today was the official first day really - well sorta of "Camp Erskine" as I am informed that this is the true politically correct name for Freshman orientation here at Erskine College. For the first full day of class type settings, especially with seminar I was quite impressed. So far so good, is how I keep informing everyone at home, as far as how I am adjusting and everything. It's hard though - not too easy to leave home and being on my own. Don't get me wrong, I am loving the sense of freedom but it is so nerve wracking (sp?) as well. The worst part in all honesty today was when I went to purchase my text books. Lucky me - I tend to get physically sick and buying text books did just that to me today. I dropped a ridiculous amount on my books and I have been sick to my stomach since about 1:15pm today. I was hoping to find them at home before arriving but I had no such like really finding them any cheaper than what I could get here used.
Besides the depressing act of buying books I feel like I am adjusting well. The hardest thing is having Christopher being away. I miss him so much, it was bad enough being left at home while he's on his deployment, but it sucks even more being away from home where I don't have the support system like I do at home. I am hoping he'll call .. of course for some reason I can make out going calls from my cell phone in the dorm room, but for some reason the phone won't actually ring for incoming calls - I just end up with voice mail notices. He's so good to me it's crazy. January will be an amazing month for me when he gets to come home. I just pray he will be safe and come home to me. I'm sure more will be here about him almost every day - especially those days that are SSSOOOO much harder than others - it's not fun. Oh well.
So back to my daily schedule:
Seminar class today went especially well I felt for the first "meeting" we had. I'm suppose to respond to our discussions today and actually they were pretty decent; I enjoyed hearing the different views and opinions everyone had on the story or the meanings we tried to break down and really dig at what the author was attempting to reach us with. Probably one of the most interesting angles I enjoyed was when Dr. Kuykendall asked us why we felt the title of the book was called Peace like a River. My initial comment was, "well how many rivers do we know that are actually peaceful?" I guess my take on that was the title -to me- seemed to be very metaphorical. Actually almost like an oxymoron in my book. I feel like saying "Peace like a River" is like saying dry water; it just isn't really attainable. River's although to the human eye can look at peace, I can't say that personally I know of a river where if you were to get into it is calm or "at peace." That is the way our lives are though as well. No one has, is, or is going to go through life without encountering some sort of trial and hardship. I have had way too many in my life to be that naive about it all too. The whole entity of the title could be a topic of discussion itself. There was talk about the songs referring to "peace like a river" as well as other's proposed idea's of how the title re-iterates the daily life we live as Christians. Another aspect of the discussion that really seemed to catch and hold my attention was when we discussed Swede and especially her extremely poetic writings. The interpretation I enjoy to thrive on regarding Swede was the timing in which she wrote, and added to the story long poem she creates throughout the reading. Being a very psychologically incline person I love how to the reader, looking closely, every time Swede writes she is indirectly using her time to release the emotions she is feeling and her writings serve as a coping mechanism to deal with everything that happens to her throughout the novel. Overall for a first time discussion and meeting as a class for this seminar I really did find it entertaining to the extent that created more appreciation for what we will be doing over this first semester as a small group.
Besides the depressing act of buying books I feel like I am adjusting well. The hardest thing is having Christopher being away. I miss him so much, it was bad enough being left at home while he's on his deployment, but it sucks even more being away from home where I don't have the support system like I do at home. I am hoping he'll call .. of course for some reason I can make out going calls from my cell phone in the dorm room, but for some reason the phone won't actually ring for incoming calls - I just end up with voice mail notices. He's so good to me it's crazy. January will be an amazing month for me when he gets to come home. I just pray he will be safe and come home to me. I'm sure more will be here about him almost every day - especially those days that are SSSOOOO much harder than others - it's not fun. Oh well.
So back to my daily schedule:
Seminar class today went especially well I felt for the first "meeting" we had. I'm suppose to respond to our discussions today and actually they were pretty decent; I enjoyed hearing the different views and opinions everyone had on the story or the meanings we tried to break down and really dig at what the author was attempting to reach us with. Probably one of the most interesting angles I enjoyed was when Dr. Kuykendall asked us why we felt the title of the book was called Peace like a River. My initial comment was, "well how many rivers do we know that are actually peaceful?" I guess my take on that was the title -to me- seemed to be very metaphorical. Actually almost like an oxymoron in my book. I feel like saying "Peace like a River" is like saying dry water; it just isn't really attainable. River's although to the human eye can look at peace, I can't say that personally I know of a river where if you were to get into it is calm or "at peace." That is the way our lives are though as well. No one has, is, or is going to go through life without encountering some sort of trial and hardship. I have had way too many in my life to be that naive about it all too. The whole entity of the title could be a topic of discussion itself. There was talk about the songs referring to "peace like a river" as well as other's proposed idea's of how the title re-iterates the daily life we live as Christians. Another aspect of the discussion that really seemed to catch and hold my attention was when we discussed Swede and especially her extremely poetic writings. The interpretation I enjoy to thrive on regarding Swede was the timing in which she wrote, and added to the story long poem she creates throughout the reading. Being a very psychologically incline person I love how to the reader, looking closely, every time Swede writes she is indirectly using her time to release the emotions she is feeling and her writings serve as a coping mechanism to deal with everything that happens to her throughout the novel. Overall for a first time discussion and meeting as a class for this seminar I really did find it entertaining to the extent that created more appreciation for what we will be doing over this first semester as a small group.
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