What I've Learned My Sophomore Year

College is supposed to be a time for learning, self discovery, etc. Though it will always sound cliche to talk about what you learned about yourself and life at college, I think there's a lot of truth to that. I tried to reflect on some of the things that I have learned this year. This is by no means an extensive list but is, at least, a little glimpse of what I've been discovering this year.

• Having a single is not the worst thing ever. It’s actually kind of nice. At the beginning of the year, I struggled a lot with not having a roommate, but there really are some advantages to having a single.  You don’t have to worry about keeping someone up, for instance, when you want to stay up late. I’ll be having a single again next year. I’ll be switching single rooms with someone else when I come back from being abroad. I'm hoping to have a roommate senior year, but it may be a bit of an adjustment after living so long by myself!
  

• Academically, I have more interests than just creative writing! Coming into college, I assumed I was going to be an editor when I grew up, that I'd be an editing and publishing minor, that I would be deeply immersed in this department, that I'd be involved in editorial boards all the time, etc. After all, I'd always been the "writing girl" at school, and being well-rounded isn't really my strong suit. While Creative Writing is still very important to me, my involvement is not looking the way I had imagined it would at the beginning of freshman year, and it's not my only pursuit at this school.  My religion minor turned into a religion major this year, and I am so glad it did. I’ve really enjoyed studying Luther and the Reformation this semester, and I am looking forward to continuing my religious studies during the next two years.

• It’s actually true—you don’t have to live with people in order to maintain your friendships! This is something I believed all along, of course, but there was a certain level of nervousness and adjustment that came from living in the same dorm with all of my friends to having some of them live elsewhere. I’m happy to say that I feel like some of those friendships with people in my freshman residence hall  have even strengthened this year, without us living together! And I'm excited that I'll get to be living with them again next year (though that means not living with some other friends I've been with the past two years).

•  I like poetry. Writing it and reading it. I’ve always known that I liked poetry in a vague, I’ll-do-this-sometimes-for-fun-but-not-seriously way, but now I know that I like it in the way that I’d like to dedicate some time to writing it and actually becoming good. As for reading it, I have found that I love the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Sara Teasdale. I also like some poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay. I have a lot more reading to do on this front, though.

• Reflecting on the past two years, I think this year I've been a lot more comfortable with being outspoken. I’ve been a lot more willing to speak my mind in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship activities for instance, like Bible studies or large group discussions. I’ve also taken risks with talking to people I don’t know, through our spiritual survey questions called Soularium and an activity where we give out free cookies and iced tea or lemonade to people on Friday nights. I’ve also made some new friendships this year or bolstered ones that weren’t so strong last year. 

• To get a bit deeper, I’ve learned that progress does not always come in a straight, upward line. And that’s okay. Progress, in anything, will still involve bouts of struggle, backtracking, etc.

Drawing to a Close

The year really is drawing to a close. I'm excited for summer, but I have to admit, I'm not all too thrilled about this school year ending. Being halfway through my college experience is frankly terrifying. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to study abroad for a semester, but I'm also a little saddened about missing a semester with my friends here at SU (especially sad when I think about the juniors I know who I'll only get to see for one more semester). And this year it will be weirder to see people graduate than freshman year since I've actually had time to get to know some of them!

In spite of all that, some good things do come at the end of the semester.

This week I get to share some of my Scholars' House project at the large group meeting of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. My project, which was originally to complete a draft of a Christian YA novel, changed over the course of the year, as my creative focus, for some inexplicable reason, could not stay on novels and drifted towards poetry. I am now focusing on compiling a collection of writing that has to do with faith, which will include what I have of the novel and various poems.

I already shared some of the novel at the Undergraduate Literature and Creative Writing Conference. I'll be sharing poetry at the large group meeting this week. I'm especially excited that I'll be able to share this very personal writing on faith in the context of a discussion about faith--a very different context from that of the lit conference. The poetry is a large segment, but not the whole of my talk for Thursday. I will be sharing my writing in a talk about doubt, faith, honest expressions of both, and God's approach to human doubt in Scriptures. I'm very passionate about my subject matter and very pumped for this chance to present it!

This past weekend also provided plenty of fun though mostly of the busy variety. Last year I participated in an event called Lutheran Youth Day. I was able to do this again this year. Lutheran Youth Day brings middle and high school students from around the area to the Susquehanna campus for a day of worship and large group sessions and small group sessions looking at the Bible. I was a small group leader which meant I, with some other SU students, got to lead discussion and activities with these students. I had a small group of high schoolers--sophomores through seniors, I believe--who all seemed very mature, and we had some great and deep discussion! During Lutheran Youth Day, I also performed in an original skit with the organization Acts 29 about the batteries that fuel us in our everyday lives. Acts 29 is a ministry group that uses theater, puppets, etc. I've only very recently gotten involved with this group and was excited that my first performance with them went well. That Saturday I also got to play some frisbee in the rain and dance at a fake prom at TRAX!

I am hoping these last weekends will be filled with fun as well, though maybe, ideally, of the less busy variety. 

And We're Back!

I am ecstatic to be back on SU's campus for the latter half of my sophomore year. All I seem to do on this blog is marvel at the passage of time, but it really is so hard for me to believe that it's my fourth semester here. Winter break, about a month long, gave me plenty of time to miss school and my friends here--especially since I spent most of it working.

This semester I am looking forward to continuing activities with coed service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. For Alpha Phi Omega this semester, I will be having a "Little," which is a pledge who you mentor through the pledging process. I have no idea who my "Little" will be, but I am excited to have one! I'll also be getting to work on my Scholar's House project--a novel and a blog. The blog, about faith and writing, can now be found here, if you're interested. I really need to buckle down, in terms of the novel draft, and get things done.

I'm  rather optimistic about my classes this semester, as well. I'll be taking Intro to Asian Religions, Aesthetics & Interpretation, Luther: Life & Thought, and Intro to Poetry. I am most excited for Intro to Poetry since I've been in somewhat of a poetry phase lately. So far, I've already had Intro to Asian Religions and Aesthetics & Interpretation. Both of the classes left great impressions.

All in all, I'm excited for what this semester has in store. Hopefully, I'll keep a great record of it here!