Spring Break Recap

Many Susquehanna students could tell you riveting spring break stories .Some people from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship went to Chicago, for instance. Other groups on campus did charitable work in New Jersey and Florida. I was very happy, however, to spend March 1^st through 10^th at home. It felt important for me to take that time at home since I might be staying in Selinsgrove this summer to work.

Much of my break was spent relaxing and sleeping. I even got to do some leisure reading. I read a book that I received for free from a vocations workshop here at Susquehanna called Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation. I also started reading an introductory book to philosophy of religion that is really fascinating.

One of the most exciting elements of my break was the drive home! I have probably never chronicled it on this blog, but when it comes to driving, I am a very late bloomer. I didn’t get my license until this September, less than a week  before I went abroad. Because I’ll most likely be living on-campus this summer, I want to feel confident about driving from Selinsgrove to home. When my dad came to pick me up this break, he let me drive back. We both survived, so that’s a victory in my book.

I also went to see my high school’s production of Into the Woods. Susquehanna actually did Into the Woods this fall. It’s one of my favorite musicals, so I was disappointed that I missed it while I was abroad. It was nice to get a chance to see it on stage, though I didn’t know many of the performers. Overall, it was a really enjoyable performance.

It made me think back to my high school theater days. I was in three musicals and two plays during high school, and I got a bit nostalgic since I don’t do any theater here. I would really love to do a show again one day, even if I can’t imagine cramming theater into my time here at Susquehanna! 

Besides feeling nostalgic, I also felt a bit awkward. There’s something strange about going back to that high school environment. My high school started major renovations my senior year of high school that didn’t get completed until after I graduated, so the lobby and auditorium look very different. That probably adds somewhat to the unsettled feeling. It’s also a bit strange running into people I knew from high school that I don’t talk to regularly. It seems weird to ask someone how they are when both of you know so little about each other’s current lives.

Speaking of people from high school, I did get two chances to hang out with friends from high school who are still a part of my life. Susquehanna’s spring break was a bit earlier than some other colleges, but two of my friends got home during my last weekend of break. My friend Bev and I got brunch together at a nearby diner, then watched some Teen Mom 2 and Made together at my house. I was able to meet up with another friend for pizza. We also ended up watching TV—Amish Mafia, which was outrageously fake.

I got to do some shopping as well. A lot of my jeans have torn recently, so I bought three new pairs at the mall. Some of my shoes were also falling apart, so I got two new pairs of shoes over break. I also bought a few things to prepare for my new Little’s initiation into the coed service fraternity I belong to, Alpha Phi Omega. I went to the movies with my parents, as well, which was fun.

Overall, it was a nice break. It wasn’t too eventful, but that’s probably just what I needed after a stressful first half of the semester! I’ll admit, I would’ve been quite fine with break going just a few days longer.

Midterms and Spring Break

It’s midterm time here at Susquehanna which means it’s almost time for Spring Break! I’m so excited to be going home on Friday. Unfortunately, there are some things I have to finish up before then.

My main task to complete before break is my Aesthetics and Interpretation midterm. This was a take-home midterm. I have to write 2 essays, roughly 2 pages each, which didn’t sound too difficult until my professor estimated it would take four to six hours. I really need to start on these essays tonight. I’ve blocked out two hours today to work on them. I’ll have to see how far that gets me!

I also have some more work to do for study abroad. As I mentioned before, I’m already approved by Susquehanna, but I have stuff to do for the program provider, IFSA Butler. I need to do a few paragraphs about myself and an academic statement, among other things, and get them sent out to Butler as soon as I can. I also have to make some choices on my housing preference form for where I’d like to live that semester. At least I have my ideal courses selected—Magic and Witchcraft in Early Modern Britain and Ireland, Writing the North: the Literature of the Troubles, and From the Vote to the Pill: Twentieth Century Women’s Writing. This would give me the elective credits I need for my Creative Writing major, as well as one religion elective for my Religion major.

For my Poetry course, I need to turn in three revised poems, but fortunately, the due date for that was pushed back to Monday so I will have some time to work on them at home, if need be.

At least I have one midterm done. Today I took my Intro to Asian Religions mid-term exam which included multiple choice, true or false, short answer questions, and an essay. I took up all the allotted exam time (I was jotting down my last sentence with 90 seconds to spare), but I feel confident about how I did.

I do not have many plans yet for Spring Break, though I certainly want to get in some sleep and relaxation.  A lot of friends from high school seem to have overlapping spring breaks this year so I’m planning on hanging out with them for sure! I am also going to be meeting with a historical society in Harrisburg to discuss a summer internship possibility in their archives. I also have a dentist appointment which is decidedly less exciting. No matter what my plans might be, I’m quite excited to be heading home Friday. 

Spring Break

In the world of television and movies, Spring Break equals hitting the beach with friends and going to wild parties and getting up to all sorts of college-aged shenanigans. In my world (and it seems like the world of most I’ve spoken to), Spring Break means getting to go home! It means relaxation and much watching of the television. It means getting together with friends. It means doing laundry because a massive amount of dirty clothing has accumulated in my dorm room closet. It means getting in a few volunteer hours towards my total for Alpha Phi Omega by going to the library where I volunteered all four years of high school. It means hopefully getting to go see my high school’s production of The Wizard of Oz. It means working on my literary journalism piece for Intro to Creative Nonfiction. It means sending in my application for housing next year. Two friends and I are both aiming for the Scholar’s House.

It also means I am halfway through my second semester of my freshman year of college, which I talked about in my previous post. It just sounds so kooky to me! I can’t believe I only have a quarter of the year left.

Even if I’m a bit freaked out by the quickness of this year, I have to admit how excited I am to go home. I’m very fortunate in that, unlike a lot of my friends, I can leave Thursday instead of Friday. My classes end at 4:05 Thursday, and both of my classes are cancelled the next day. It will also be awesome because my older brother will be picking me up and this is the first time he will get to see my dorm room in person. Also, I will be making him take me to Red Robin after he picks me up, which I’m currently craving as I type.

More so, I think this is a point in the semester where a lot of people, at least among my friends, are ready to escape from campus life for a bit. With midterms coming up, the task of figuring out rooming arrangements for next year, and a bunch of activities in full swing, the past few weeks have gotten a little rough. And though I love SU and am not and will never be the go-home-every-weekend kind of kid, I’m definitely ready, and definitely in need of, a stretch of time at home.

I only have to get through two more days, write a 6 to 8 page essay on 19th century romances (I have about 2 pages...procrastination!), and take a midterm in Applied Biblical Ethics tomorrow.  Not so bad in comparison to the schedules of many.  I'm almost free!

Only 4 Years! Then Onto Careers!

This year is zooming past.  Friday I leave for Spring Break.  I’ll return to basically half a semester more of being a freshman.  This year has gone by so quickly, especially in comparison to my turtle-slow senior year.   Turtle in molasses, with a dumbbell on its back, slow. 

As a worrier who often looks to the future, this has me thinking along these lines: Freshman year is almost over and then I’ll be a sophomore and then I’ll be gone for a semester in Europe and then I’ll have one semester at SU as a junior and then it’ll be my final year and I’ll be a senior and then I’ll be in the real world  and college will be over!  (Yes, that sentence was intentionally crazy).    

It shouldn’t be surprising that I’ve been thinking about careers lately, even if I have time to spare.   

I came into college very decided on my major and somewhat decided on my career path.  I want to be a novelist, particularly a YA novelist, and I don’t foresee that changing, but I need another career to rely on for a living, unless I am blessed with exactly the right set of circumstances.  Upon entering college I thought I knew what I wanted that career to be—an editor, maybe in children’s publishing.  I was pretty much set on getting an Editing & Publishing minor.  Progressively, the minor and career path thrill me less and less. I am far from ruling out publishing and might pursue an internship in that field down the line, but lately I’ve been considering becoming a librarian. 

I volunteered in a library all throughout high school, and I loved it, but for some reason, I never thought about it as a career all too seriously.  I didn’t think I was communicative or outgoing enough for the position, though I think college has given me more faith in myself in those regards. 

The more I contemplate, the more I love libraries as institutions and the more I believe that they have the power to effect change.  In Applied Biblical Ethics, at an InterVarsity conference I attended, and other aspects of my religious life on campus, my attention keeps being brought back to poverty.  In Biblical Ethics, especially, we’ve discussed how poverty, usually on the global scale, cannot just be addressed by charity, but by larger social institutions and structures—by the way in which our world works.  Improving literacy, whether globally or in the U.S., is key to educational success, and opening up doors to education for someone is key to helping them exit that cycle of poverty.  

I think libraries can be so influential if they assist in instilling a love of reading or in giving someone the means to nurture that love, especially someone who would otherwise not be able to do so.   I could often make purchases at a bookstore when I was younger.  This is not the case for so many.  Libraries provide other great resources of well.  Even in my middle class suburban area, I know a lot of patrons where I volunteered relied on the library for internet and computer access, greatly important for job searches.   

Particularly, I am thinking about being a children’s and young adult librarian because I love those books and would love to help that age group.  However, I don’t think I’d like to be a school librarian but would prefer a public library setting.   

Being a librarian would eventually mean going to grad school to get a MLS, Master’s in Library Science.  This definitely freaks me out.  In the beginning of the year, I told people that I would not go to grad school.  4 years was enough for me, thank you very much.  And how would I afford it?  But I am, I’ll admit, opening up to the idea, especially of working for a few years and then going for it online. 

Maybe by my senior year, these four years will have seemed slow (though I doubt it), and maybe I will have a completely different life plan worked out (more likely), but I’m glad I have a place to record these thoughts, so I can see how I opened myself to new possibilities and how that has allowed me to evolve. 

TV!

College has had one unanticipated impact on my life; it’s severely cut down my TV time.

I love television, to an extent that I think has, at times, surprised people.  Maybe it’s the storytelling aspect of shows.  Or maybe it’s the chance to calm down my overactive mind and slip into a somewhat vegetative state.  Either way, I spend a lot of time watching TV at home, whether its reruns just to have background noise as I’m on my computers, favorites like Glee, Conan on late night, ridiculous Degrassi, or reality shows like America’s Next Top Model, Project Runway, and the Amazing Race. 

But something about being here, at Susquehanna, has severely limited my use of the television.  I’m at the point now where I only make time to watch Glee on Tuesdays at 8, and the rest of the time, unless my roommate is watching something (rare, since she watches a lot of shows online), our TV is off. 

I think business is probably one of the main reasons for this.  There seems to be so much more packed into my day that I can’t really work my TV watching around it all.  Also, it’s nice to have a TV on when you’re alone at home, just to avoid eerie quiet, but for me, being alone here is rarer.  I have people to talk to and socialize with, that is, if people aren’t busy doing homework.  Or okay, even if people should be busy doing homework. 

I'm looking forward to Spring Break, though, because whenever I've gone home so far, I've spent a lot of time lounging around and catching up on all the TV goodness I've missed.