Life in 18th Street Commons

The complex's common room

This year I am living in an on-campus townhouse with two of my friends. The townhouse complex are called 18^th Street Commons. Residence Life has been referring to these houses as “transitional housing” since they are designed to help upperclassmen adjust to life after college. I think these houses are a great option for college seniors. So far I am loving my experience.

Most of Susquehanna’s campus is on one side of University Avenue. 18^th Street Commons is on the other side, which houses fewer campus buildings. It is also home to the Writers’ Institute, the art studio, our Natural Sciences Center, and one residence hall, North Hall. However, most of campus—the majority of academic buildings, all the other residential buildings, the gym, library, campus center, etc.—is located across the road. The location of 18^th Street Commons contributes to the feeling that it’s a step removed from typical campus life. At the beginning of the year, as my friends and I took the crosswalk across the street and headed down the sidewalk path to 18^th Street Commons, I often made jokes about entering “upperclassmen world.” There is certainly truth to that, since most people in 18^th Street Commons are juniors or seniors.  


The townhouse complex itself doesn’t look like campus housing. As someone who has lived in townhouses before, it reminds me of past neighborhoods. The insides don’t look like dorms either. Instead, they look much more like homes. Each 18^th Street Commons townhouse has a living room, a kitchen (with a full-sized refrigerator and oven!), and a small dining area, in addition to bedrooms. Carpeting in the bedrooms and accent walls on the downstairs level contribute to the homey feeling.


Of course, the quality of your experience with on-campus housing often depends on the people with whom you’re living. I’m so happy I get to spend my senior year living with two of my closest friends on campus.I have a feeling I’ll be very emotionally attached to the house by the time I have to leave it in May. Because my friend and I lived in it while working here over the summer, I’ll have been in it for close to a full calendar year, rather than just an academic year; it's already full of fond memories and I'm just about 25% done with senior year. Plus, it’s so cozy! I doubt any apartment I’d be able to afford after graduation (assuming I’d be able to afford moving out of my parents’ place at all) would be as nice as our townhouse.


Check out 18^th Street Commons on Susquehanna’s Virtual Campus tour to get a sense of what I mean: http://www.susqu.edu/tour/?marker=7282. 

University Life: Ulster vs. Susquehanna

University of Ulster-Coleraine campus

I thought it would be interesting to think of some of the differences between university life here at Susquehanna and university life at University of Ulster-Coleraine, where I spent last semester in Northern Ireland.

I think some of the biggest differences pertain to residence life. In Northern Ireland universities, almost everyone goes home every weekend. Though some people at Susquehanna may make some weekend trips home, the vast majority stick around. Staying for the weekend is a rarity in Northern Ireland.  On Friday afternoons, the university parking lots would clear out, and mostly the only people around campus were international students.

Because of this, social life and night life works much differently in Northern Ireland. People go out during the weekdays, since they go home on weekends, whereas here there’s definitely more happening on weekend nights. For instance, I had some friends at home express surprise when I was messaging them on a Wednesday night about getting ready to go out to a night club, but Wednesday was the big night for that club in terms of students attending. They even sent a free bus to the university that night to take students to and from the club.

It was a bit depressing to see campus so empty on the weekends, but this wasn’t too terrible of an adjustment to make—at least for one semester. My flat was all international students, so my flat-mates were still around. Plus, I was able to spend some weekends travelling or simply relaxing, so that was nice.

Despite the fact that students go home so much more, the living arrangements in Coleraine are much more independent than they are here. There were a few places on campus to eat, but only for lunch, and there was no meal plan to purchase. Students have to take care of themselves, in terms of food. Where I lived on campus, Maple Lodge, students also had to purchase their electricity and a lot of other things that are just part of the dormitory package here, like toilet paper and soap.

This was a bit more of an adjustment. My friends and I at Coleraine had weekly lunch dates, sometimes ate our separate dinners we made together, or a few times had group dinners where we shared food,  but eating at Susquehanna is much more of a social event. It’s a time built into my days to spend with friends, whether that’s grabbing lunch between classes in the cafeteria or meeting at Benny’s for dinner.

Plus, there was also that added responsibility of having to make my own food! I’m not much of a cook, and I spent most of the semester making some microwavable meals, some of which were, actually, surprisingly delicious.

In general, my Northern Irish university seemed to expect more independence and take care of less for its students. For example, there’s no free printing there, which is something we have at Susquehanna. Many athletic classes and other organized asked for fees which might be covered upfront by an activity fee here.  During my international student orientation, I remember discussing with one of my American friends how different this would be at an American university and how much more thoroughly we’d be walked through the processes of finding our way around campus, scheduling, etc.

There are also differences in the academics. I spent much less time in class in my university in Northern Ireland. There were also a lot less assignments throughout the semester. I only had to do midterm and final essays for my courses there, while here I have smaller assignments more frequently. For each class at the University of Ulster, I had a lecture once a week and a seminar once a week. The lecture was the entire class, and a seminar was a smaller group discussion, led by the professor. I know some U.S. schools organize their courses that way, but that’s not how I’m used to things at Susquehanna. Here, because of our small class sizes, there’s not as much of a need for smaller seminar groups, and professors often do a combination of lecturing and leading discussion. I also think discussions here are much more vibrant than some of those I participated in while abroad. During my orientation, a staff worker from my program, IFSA-Butler, told me that often American students find themselves talking a lot more than other students in their classes. I found this to be true. American students, in comparison, seem more willing to speak up and participate, and I did find myself talking a lot more than other students in one of my seminars about women writers.

Of course, there are also bigger differences in education that didn’t have as much of an impact on me because I was only there for a semester, but I know that the Northern Ireland system is much more focused. Students come in with a course of study, and I think all (or almost all) of their courses pertain to that field of study. There’s no Central Curriculum or core requirements like we have at Susquehanna. I was talking to the director of my study abroad program, and he seemed to admire the American system because students could explore so much more. I’m really appreciative of the chances I’ve had to study different things here at Susquehanna. That’s how my Religion major came about, after all, and I’m so glad that I’m double majoring now. I can see, though, how the Northern Irish system might be more practical. Also, the typical degree program there finishes in three years, not four.

Something else I found out is that most students from Northern Ireland don’t end up going to Northern Irish universities. Most go elsewhere in the United Kingdom or to the Republic of Ireland for college. Northern Ireland itself only offers two universities—the University of Ulster, which has five campuses, and Queen’s University-Belfast.   It’s strange to think that while students who go to college in Northern Ireland go home every weekend, there are even more students from Northern Ireland who are spending their college years in a different country. It’s also weird to think about what the admissions process must be like. In America, there’s an overwhelming amount of universities to look at and apply to, while, if a Northern Irish student wants to stay in Northern Ireland, that seems much more simplified.

Overall, while I really enjoyed my time at University of Ulster, I'm inclined towards the Susquehanna way of life. Of course, a lot of that must have to do with it being what I'm used to experiencing. If I could wave a magic wand and change American universities to be more like European ones, I think the only thing I would change was giving us their startlingly low tuition prices!

Back to Susquehanna

I had a window seat on my flight from Belfast to America. As we were getting close to the Newark airport, I looked down at the landscape and thought how American it all looked, compared to the Irish landscape I'd grown accustomed to for the past three months. I was excited and ready to go home to spend Christmas break with my family.

And I was ready for another semester at Susquehanna.

Friday my parents and I packed my things into a van and headed to Selinsgrove. It felt, and still very much feels, like the beginning of a new academic year, and it's easy for me to forget that it is, in fact, Spring semester and that mostly everyone else was here in the fall.

I moved into my single room in one of the Sassafrass townhouses. It's definitely the nicest room I've lived in here at Susquehanna! I have so much more space than I've had before, and I even have a walk-in closet. It's nice, after a semester abroad where I could only bring a suitcase, to have a homier room, with my nice bedding, pillows, lamps, chair, etc. Still, I don't have quite enough posters to fill up all the empty wall space.

Yesterday was my first day of classes. In Northern Ireland, I only took three courses, and they were structured so that I only had essays due during mid-terms and at the end of the semester. It will certainly be an adjustment to go back to a schedule that requires more time in class, more classes, and more assignments throughout the semester.

Thankfully, all of my courses seem really interesting this semester and worth the work. I got to experience my Intermediate Poetry, Fiction of C.S. Lewis, and Music in Christian Rituals classes yesterday, and later on today I'll be going to Women in Biblical Tradition, which might be the class I'm most excited to attend. 

The best part of being back on campus, of course, is seeing so many of the friends I missed last semester! I am so grateful I was able to work out a housing arrangement that meant I would be moving into a house with many of my close friends. Now people who I had to Skype last semester are just a flight of stairs away!

Despite how exciting it is to be back at Susquehanna, it's still a bit surreal that my study abroad experience is over. 

Though the experience was great, there were times I felt homesick when studying abroad, and by the time I was flying home, I felt like I was ready to leave. Once I got back, though, it became real that I don't know when I'll next travel out of the country and that I may never go back to Ireland. In the grand scheme of things, it was such a short experience, and I can't believe it's already gone.

It's left its imprint, though. Before last semester, I had never flown on a plane or left the country. Now, obviously, I have done both. I have gained so much more travel experience than I had and feel more capable of doing things like traveling independently. I've traveled by bus, train, taxi, ferry, plane, and subway (during a weekend in London, on the London Underground). I've been to Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and England. I've lived with girls from Hong Kong and Belgium. I've gone to a Northern Irish night club with a friend from Germany. I've heard people sing "God Save the Queen" in a church service. I've watched seals in the wild, shopped at the Belfast Christmas Market, gone to museums in Dublin, stood on the distinctive rocks of the Causeway Coast, and walked to the beach on a frosty day in a coastal town called Portstewart. I've started liking tea, enjoyed cider, ate some delicious "chips," and managed to feed myself for a whole semester by buying groceries at Tesco, a big, British chain of grocery stores. I've stayed in a hostel in Edinburgh with some of my best friends. I've read my poetry aloud at a Poetry Society meeting at the University of Ulster and talked a lot in class discussion of love poetry and twentieth-century women writers. And I had some great conversations with great people. 

Though, over time, last semester will become more distant--just some far-off experience that I had, maybe--that won't change how big of a deal it was for me. I left my comfort zone and went off to a college across the ocean without any classmates from Susquehanna coming with me--without knowing a soul.  While I could analyze what I should've done to make more of the semester or feel regret over not getting to X or Y, I'm pleased looking back on my experience.

I certainly feel as if I made the right choice to go away for a semester and to go where I did--Coleraine, Northern Ireland. Now I just need to enjoy this semester here at Susquehanna University, a school that is one of my other best choices.  

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.

Preparing for a Semester Abroad

Last month, I was approved for studying abroad a semester in Northern Ireland at the University of Ulster.  Specifically, I’ll be spending my fall there. Though that was definitely exciting, it was only the beginning of a long process. Some of Susquehanna’s study-abroad, or GO (Global Opportunities), options are available directly from our university, such as SU in London: Regent’s College. Others, though, are through outside providers. The program I’m going to attend is through a provider called IFSA-Butler. Because of that, my application journey was not over once I had Susquehanna’s stamp of approval; I also have to apply directly to IFSA-Butler by March 1st.

On Monday, I attended a Q & A session about the application process and learned more about applying, as well as the other steps I have to take before I go abroad. Hearing about these details makes everything seem more real. 

One of the most important things I have to do is get approval for the courses I want to take while abroad. While I’m in Northern Ireland, I hope to take something that can count for one of my Central Curriculum requirements—my Artistic Intensive requirement. I also will probably be taking a course or two for my Creative Writing major. To make sure courses transfer, I need to get approval from department heads. For the Central Curriculum ones, I need approval from the registrar. There are a lot of great courses available at the University of Ulster-Coleraine, where I’ll hopefully attend, including tons of interesting literature courses. The hard thing is that, there, a full course load is only 3 classes. I’ll have to limit myself! Depending on the courses I take, I may be able to leave, after a semester, with a Certificate or Advanced Certificate in Irish Cultural Studies, which would be cool to have.

Another concern is my living situation when I come back to Susquehanna in the spring. Typically, students enter a housing lottery to get the room they want for the next year, but I can’t do that when I’ll be gone first semester. My basic options are to find someone who won’t be here in the spring and switch places with them or to let Residence Life find me somewhere to live. Something I have to consider is whether or not I want to have a single next year. I’d much rather have a single than room with someone I don’t know well or at all. Also, at that point, I will probably have lived in a single for 1.5 years (all of this year, sophomore year, and I think my semester abroad) so it might be a tough adjustment having a roommate again—especially if it’s not the ideal situation. However, singles are also more expensive.

I’m expecting that getting ready to go abroad will get a little stressful at times, but I am convinced it will be more than worth the hassle once I’m actually there!

The Happy Kind

It’s the second day of classes, and I still feel quite optimistic about this semester. This schedule is more tailored to my interests than any other semester. All four of my courses apply to my two majors. Aesthetics and Interpretation and Intro to Poetry go toward Creative Writing, while Intro to Asian Religions and Luther: Life and Thought obviously go toward Religion.

So far, I’ve liked all the classes I’ve had. The only thing left to experience is my Intro to Poetry class. That class is as night class, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I haven’t had any night classes yet so it’ll be interesting to see how I like that. I’m guessing it’ll be good that, out of all classes to have at night, I have poetry—something creative that I’m interested in, and something that will often be interactive because it’s a workshop course. One of the big problems I’ve heard from those who have taken night classes is that it’s difficult to pay attention, especially towards the end of class and especially if the subject matter doesn’t interest you.

Other than that, I’m still in that period of adjusting back to school life. I think I’ll feel like things are back to normal once the activities I’m involved in restart. Beyond changing classes, there are a few other differences between this semester and the last. Some people I know have gone abroad this semester, while other people have returned. Our dorm got new mattresses which I’m still getting used to as I fall asleep, though when I wake up it feels perfectly comfortable (though, then, getting up and going to class is the alternative). Speaking of my room, it’s, as always, in a bit of disarray—this time from half-unpacked bags strewn all over my floor; I mean, I’ll get to them eventually. I’m also still working out a lunch routine since last semester I had pretty standard days of who I ate with and when.

Mostly, though, being back at school requires a completely different mindset from over winter break. I spent 30 plus hours at work each week at home, hanging up clothing at a thrift store—hard work, but not mentally challenging. The rest of my time I spent relaxing and watching a lot of television—some Parks and Recreation on DVD with my brother, and some Friday Night Lights, one of my new favorite shows, on Netflix on my own.  Though I saw my friends a few times over break, generally it was a break from a lot of social activity—and I’m definitely ready for that break to be over!

Overall, this week is a week of adjusting, but so far, it’s proving to be the happy kind.

Starting Sophomore Year

After a summer of watching Doctor Who on Netflix, messaging college friends on Skype, and hanging up clothing for minimum wage at my local Salvation Army, I am back in Selinsgrove for my sophomore year.

And believe me, I’m excited about it.

I will definitely miss my family and friends from home, but while at home, I definitely missed Susquehanna.

Today marks my second day of classes. So far I’ve gone to Intermediate Fiction and a little later in the day will have Hebrew Bible. I’m very excited about Intermediate Fiction—so excited that I may have, a bit foolishly, chosen the first date for workshops. I need to have a 6 to 25 page story read to send out to my classmates by September 2^nd! Thankfully, I have a lot of ideas for it, and I have some things already written that I could use.

Yesterday I attended English Grammar and the Writing Process, Thought & The Natural Sciences, and Sophomore Essay. My sophomore essay is going to be something about the portrayal of faith and religion in YA novels. Over the summer I read about six books to give me some background on it. I think I am going to focus my idea by specifically examining how YA novels represent religious doubt and its consequences and analyzing the accuracy or the helpfulness of such representations. This essay needs to be 15-20 pages long, and the first draft is, I believe, due in October. I definitely need to get to work on it. 

Probably one of the biggest differences so far is living in a different dorm. My dorm this year is smaller and a bit quieter. I have a single, a room to myself, instead of sharing a double. It’s nice to have my own space, but it’s also a bit strange since, so far, I’ve associated college with having a roommate. Some of my friends from my freshman dorm, Hassinger, are living with me in this new dorm, the Scholar’s House, so that definitely helps with the transition.

I am excited about what this year has in store! I hope to grow as a person and a writer, form new friendships, and just have a lot of fun along the way. It’s strange no longer being a freshman and seeing all these new faces on campus that are—gasp—actually younger than me, but it’s also nice to return to a familiar place.

Even if I have to get used to walking everywhere from a whole different side of campus.  

Time Management

One of the trickiest aspects of being a college student is time management. It’s certainly something I deal with and it appears to be a struggle, to some degree, for almost all of my friends. College just feels busier than high school. Sure, during high school I got up by 6:45 a.m. (EEK!) and was stuck within school walls from 7-something in the morning to 2:45 p.m., no escape, no gap between classes except for that 4 minute walk through the halls, but after that I went home. Even if I had something after school, like musical rehearsal, I’d usually be home by 5:30.  My days start later here—thankfully—but end later as well. Mondays and Wednesdays, for instance, I’m busy from 9 to 4:05, with only a break from 1:00 to 1:45 for lunch.

There’s so much more to do after your school day is over as well. There are social distractions, for instance. Why read The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles for your Romantic Novels class, for instance, when you could be playing MASH with some of your friends? Yes, that may have happened just yesterday—though I did get my reading done, I promise!  There are a lot of very active extracurricular groups that can keep your schedule full as well. Tonight for instance, I hope to be able to go to an InterVarsity Life Group, which is a Bible Study at 7:30 (I've been skipping lately because I haven't been able to manage the time well enough to go), followed directly by pledge class and a chapter meeting for Alpha Phi Omega. There’s also that pesky issue of fitting some homework into that lineup.

Though I’m far from a time management expert, I think prioritizing is definitely helpful when it comes to time management. My strategy usually ends up being getting done what absolutely has to get done. A strategy to get ahead on my work over the weekends, however, might be a bit more practical, though it would seem awfully painful as I stowed myself away on a Saturday afternoon.

Typically, however, getting schoolwork done isn’t the issue for me. Pesky things like laundry are what fall to the wayside. I’ve been saying I need to do laundry since last week, and yet the clothing is piling up in my closet.  I really need to buckle down and get some done tonight. My pledge class’s group service project on Friday is an intergenerational prom at the Graysonview Assisted Living Community, and I have induction to the freshman academic honor society Alpha Lambda Delta on Sunday.  Both require nice clothes which, as of now, are wrinkled at the bottom of my hamper. 

I think tonight I may just skip dinner with my pals to get that laundry done and start doing research for my group project in Applied Biblical Ethics.  Then, before Life Group, I'll grab some Benny's dinner to go.  This actually sounds like a really good idea.  Maybe I should start planning things more often! 

An Eventful Weekend

This weekend was a bit more eventful than usual. 

On Friday, I finally found out that my Scholars House application was accepted, as were my friends Lindsey and Alexis’s.  It’s such a relief to know where I’m living next year without having to undergo that lottery process.  The three of us are very excited that we all got in.  Funny enough, we’re numbers 207, 208, and 209, which might mean we’re in a row.  

That night, my friends and I headed over to TRAX to watch the Battle of the Bands.   Four bands played.  There was really a range of different music, from covers of Lady Gaga, Pink, Blink 182, and Flyleaf to original compositions.  I noted a high percentage of Creative Writing majors among the band members, which is always amusing; really, Creative Writing majors are just crawling all over this campus. 

Saturday afternoon, I worked on decorating my paddle for Alpha Phi Omega.   In APO, you decorate a paddle for your Big, or your mentor-like figure guiding you through pledging, and present it to them during Initiation. 

That night, two friends and I went to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show. What they do in these showings is play the movie but also have a shadow cast on stage, who acts along with the movie.  The audience is encouraged to interact by doing call-outs which involve shouting at the screen, “WHERE’S YOUR NECK?!” at the narrator or booing a certain character.  It was definitely an interesting experience for me.  I had seen the movie before (an interesting experience in and of itself, because it’s strange!), but I’d never been to anything live like that.

Sunday was not particularly eventful.  At 7 p.m., I went over to the Selinsgrove Church of the Nazarene for a Lent service.  There was worship, and then the choir performed the first three scenes of their Easter musical, which was really good.

Of course, I left my homework to Sunday, like the procrastinating being that I am.

This upcoming week, I have both of the pledge service projects for Alpha Phi Omega, one on Friday and the other on Saturday.  On Sunday I have induction into Alpha Lambda Delta, the freshman academic honor society.  My parents and my brother are coming up for the occasion, and afterwards, we will probably hang out, go to the mall, and head to Red Robin for some dinner.  I’m looking forward to that, especially since my brother is moving very shortly to Los Angeles, so it might be a while before I see him again.

I’m predicting that the month of April will be very busy for me.  Hopefully that means it will just fly by, though that may end up being bittersweet.   I don’t have that much time left as a freshman and not that much time left in Hassinger!

Scholar's House: Plans for Next Year

After much thinking and analyzing and generally freaking out, I have landed upon a tentative plan for my living arrangements this year.  Ideally, I’d like to live in the Scholar's House.  The Scholar's House is a small living environment that houses about 23 people.  To live at the Scholars House, you have to be embarking on a personal project, somewhat academic in nature.  Getting into the Scholar's House is not based solely on lottery numbers, like it is for groups to get a place together or for two roommates to find a double.  Rather, there’s an application process to get into the house, and your project idea is reviewed. 

A few posts back, I talked about how I want to do my sophomore essay about representation of faith in Young Adult literature.  My project idea goes hand-in-hand with this.  Ultimately what I want to do as a writer is write novels, and in fact, those were the type of things I worked on before I came to Susquehanna.  This year I think I’ve made strides in my writing, but my only significant completed pieces have been for my Creative Writing classes.  Next year I really need to be working on a novel, and making it my project would ensure that I’d set aside that time for writing.  Also, I would like to start up another blog about Faith and Fiction that would provide reviews of novels that include or speak to faith, particularly those involving teenagers.

I am very excited about this idea and also about the environment of the Scholar's House.  Two of my friends are also applying, but I would still have a chance to meet new people.  Also, I love Hassinger which is a small environment (though not nearly as small as the Scholars House) so hopefully I would enjoy a small environment again.  Additionally, I’m actually looking forward to the idea of a single.  At first this wasn’t all that appealing to me, but I’m beginning to realize the benefits—one being that at the Scholar's House, I can try the single experience and it doesn’t cost me an extra $1000 like the rest of the singles on campus.

The applications are due March 18th, and I should find out if I get in the following week.  Depending on the result of who does or does not get into the Scholar's House, back-up plans might mean I'll end up in a triple, which is a room that is bigger than average and specifically designed for 3 people (Hopefully, this would be in West Hall.) or in a double.   Hopefully whatever happens will work out for the best!  

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!

A Look at the Weekend

This weekend was a fairly interesting one.  I was in the midst of my little environmental-friendly experiment (for more information, see my previous entry; basically all you need to know is this meant reduced internet usage, eek!) as well as being temporarily roommate-less since my roommate had gone home for the weekend.  As could be imagined, with not much to entertain me in Rm. 301, I spent a fair amount of time harassing others with my presence in their rooms. 

On Friday, a friend from high school came up to visit.  It was a lot of fun to have him here.  At the same time, it was strange see someone from my high school world, so separate and distinct, mixing with my college world--my college friends.  We didn't do much while he was here, besides hit Benny's for some dinner, sit around in the hallway, and then move our sitting and chattering out into the lounge.  My college way of life seems to attest to the idea that you don't actually have to do much, or even go out anywhere, to have a good time.  After he left, I joined some friends in watching 500 Days of Summer, but I was feeling sick so I headed to bed a bit early.

Saturday, friends and I took the free shuttle service over to Wal-Mart, where I bought some Capri Sun, my personal college essential, water, tissues, and Ritz Crackers.  An added bonus to Wal-Mart: being able to get some McDonalds!  Nothing else exciting really happened until some friends and I headed over to TRAX.  I hadn't been there in a while, so it was a lot of fun to one, dress up, and two, get to dance.  Glitter was a part of the party theme, so a friend in the dorm helped glitterfy me.  Glitter is now all over my bed and probably elsewhere in my room.  But it was a really good time so maybe the glitter was worth it, as well as the ache in my feet as we trudged back to Hass.

Sunday, I went to chapel and then brunch (one of the greatest meals of the week at SU!).  I then headed to the library to make some changes to the draft of my memoir piece for Creative Nonfiction and then e-mailed it to Dr. Retief.  My conference about this piece is today, actually.  I'm pretty terrified--though not as much as I will be for workshop.  I've never really given anyone something this personal to read, especially not for critiquing purposes! Back at Hass, I watched The Little Mermaid with friends while finishing up some homework.  Then, finally, I went to InterVarsity's Super Bowl party, where I did a very poor job at paying attention. 

Overall, a good weekend, but I could've gone without the whole catching-a-cold component.

Looking Forward: Living Arrangements for Next Year

As an incoming freshman, your fate is fairly limited when it comes to living arrangements.   I was blessed to be able to connect with a friend I’d made at a summer writing workshop.  We requested each other as roommates.  We were also able to request Hassinger Hall.  Though we knew it had smaller dorm rooms than some of our other options, its reputation fit us best.  All in all, I went into my first day less blind than many who were plopped into a random residence hall with a random roommate whose interests and personality could be far from compatible with their own. 

Deciding living arrangements for the upcoming year, however, has a lot more choice involved.

A singular roommate is not all that must be considered.   I have a whole group of friends, and all of us must work out who is living with who, and who is living by who, and where it is we’re going to live.  Nobody really cared about my choice of living arrangements coming into this year, besides my roommate and of course my interested parents, but now there’s a bit more to juggle.  What I and my friends pick will impact each other and will contribute to the shaping of our sophomore years. 

Personally, I like West Village a lot for the kitchens and the layout with the common area.   I stayed there during my second summer that I attended a writing workshop and was very impressed, though the toilets flush scarily loud.  However, I would really like to live in Seibert, though I’ve yet to go inside any of its dorm rooms.  I suppose I’ve fallen for its charm.  Just as I’ve always been impressed with the cuteness of Hassinger Hall, I’ve always appreciated the beauty of Seibert, which happens to be a historical landmark.  Additionally, the student rooms have carpeting.  And I stumbled upon the atrium lounge when I got lost once (yes, I am an embarrassing freshman) and it just looked so cool.  At the same time, I shouldn’t limit myself to these options because I haven’t even stepped into some of the other residences. 

As I look to this future, I’m aware of how much I’ll miss Hass.  Living there comes with ups and downs, like any place does.  One major down: the lengthy treks to the campus center, Deg.  No matter any downs though, even those to come, it’s still sad that I’ll never be able to experience this particular environment ever again—the environment of my (so far) really awesome first year of college.

Posters: A Dorm Room Essential



A blurry picture of my poster

At the beginning of the year, my dorm room was a bit disgraceful, lacking in something quintessential and collegiate—posters.   



I didn’t happen upon any that struck me as just right, and I was very much set on finding the perfect posters.  Not any cliché Audrey Hepburn/Marilyn Monroe/James Dean kind of thing.  Something representative of me, though so representative that, say, my Jonas Brothers interest might scare away potential friends.  I couldn't even find something when the poster fair came to SU.       

On a weekend shopping trek, I finally came across what was to be my First College Poster—a Disney Princess poster from WalMart.  One of the jokes among my friends, particularly earlier in the year, was that I can be a Disney Princess sometimes, so obviously I felt called to it.  Even now, many discussions come back to Disney.  My friend Lindsey and I spent a whole lunch rehashing what Disney characters all our friends would be.  I’m Snow White, by the way.  Accidentally, I grabbed a different Disney Princess poster than the one I saw on the rack, but luckily I ended up preferring the one I purchased. 

I didn’t get my next poster until Winter Break.  It’s a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows poster and far from perfect.  I often lament how it minimizes Ron Weasley, who is so much more important than the movies and commercials would lead one to believe.  Still, it’s a great representation of my interests.  At heart, and truthfully at the surface, I am quite the Harry Potter fangirl.



Also featured on my walls are a colored-in princess, deemed Princess Megan, from a Saturday afternoon early in the year, spent with coloring books and a few friends in the lounge.  My tack board features a photo of Darren Criss, printed out for me some months ago by my lovely roommate Sarah.  If you’re not in the know (but if you know me, I’m sure you are), Darren Criss is the star of YouTube hits A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel and is a relatively new cast member of Glee.   Additionally, I have a drawing with my name on it from one of my best friends at home.  

Typing up this post, it really is clear to me that your walls can reveal a lot about you.



Unfortunately, I don’t have enough wall space to reveal quite as much as I might like.  One of the things about Hass is that the rooms vary in size.  My room is on the smaller, a.k.a. smallest, side and requires bunked beds for space, which means sacrificing room for posters.  Other rooms in Hass provide ample opportunity for self expression, however.  For example, my friends Lindsey and Alexis seem to have posters on every inch of wall.  Their poster count must dwarf my room’s dinky total of two.  However, I think it’s just enough to let people know what I am: a Harry Potter loving princess.

Okay, well, maybe that’s not me exactly. 

But that must describe some part of me, at least. 

School Size

I know many people who were, or still are, desperate to go to big school. Colleges of Susquehanna’s size I’ve often heard derided as too small. Perhaps my feelings will change senior year if I know just about everybody in my class (as a freshman, I’m far from that), but for now, I am very thankful for the size of Susquehanna’s institution. For me, it’s a perfect fit.

This size impacts a lot of different facets of Susquehanna. One of these is housing. I live in the smallest residence hall for freshmen, Hassinger Hall, and if you couldn’t already tell through my earlier posts, I absolutely love it! The floors in Hass are divided into wings by gender. I know the names of everybody who lives on my floor, am pretty friendly with all the girls in my wing, and have gotten my core of Susquehanna friends there.

It’s hard for me to imagine living in one of the bigger freshman dorms, much less a freshman dorm at a large university. One of my best friends from home lives in a building that is, I believe, 23 floors. She must endure long waits for the elevator and lines for signing in with building security.

Another area that’s obviously affected is class size. This semester, my Tuesday/Thursday classes, Applied Biblical Ethics and Principles of Sociology, are significantly bigger than my Monday/Wednesday/Friday ones, Introduction to Creative Nonfiction and Thought & Civilization. The first is a workshop class with about 16 people. The latter has a few less than that. The great thing is that even my “big” classes must be around 30-something people. This pales in comparison to big classes at other school where hundreds of students are crowded into a lecture hall, basically going anonymous to their classmates and professors.

Also, I like that the campus is small enough that I will see people I meet around school! For example, one of the activities I’m involved in is InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. At a bigger school I might not see people I know from that activity around campus, unless I specifically made plans with them, but here it’s very likely I might see someone during my everyday routine and say hi in passing.

For me, a smaller school has always been my ideal, and I’ve been very grateful to find that what I suspected would suit me actually does. It may not be for everyone, but I still feel that as if people who write off smaller schools should definitely consider their virtues, especially for ease in adjusting to the college experience.

Spring Semester

Today is the first day of the Spring Semester, and in some ways, it is surreal being back.  Winter Break was relaxing, but as I had feared, boring after a while.  Post-Christmas and especially Post-New Years, I was itching to return to Susquehanna.  I couldn't wait until I was back in Hassinger Hall again, with friends and fun available just a few doors down the hall.  Admittedly, I'm not as excited to start classes.  The feeling is more anxious than anything else, with a mix of surprise.  My thoughts are something along the lines of: What, I'm actually back, what, I have classes tomorrow, wait, what, now I have classes today, I have class in less than an hour and a half, what, when did this occur?!  All in all, I am glad to be back, but it's strange adjusting to a new routine, when I was so well-adjusted to my old one.  Speaking of adjusting, I also need to fix my sleep patterns--break was spent staying up and waking up late.  To my surprise, I handled waking up for work today fairly well. 

Whether I'm ready or not, the semester is here, and these are some of the things I'm hoping to accomplish the second half of the year:

1)  Keep up with my New Year's resolution.
2)  Write more often, and not just for my Intro to Nonfiction class.
3)  Read more often, and again, not just for class.
4)  Enlarge my social circle at Susquehanna.  Meet new people!  Make new friendships!
5)  Get involved in new activities, like Alpha Phi Omega, the service fraternity, or a reading board for a literary magazine.
6)  Procrastinate less.
7)  Study more.
8)  Cut down on my addition--fries!  

The last three seem especially difficult so we'll have to see how they go.  Hopefully not the way of my resolution at the beginning of the year to eat breakfast everyday (it's been such a rare event that one of the few times I had breakfast at Benny's, I felt compelled to take a picture with my cell phone).

Other things I'm looking forward to this semester are experiencing a schedule that was completely picked out by myself and having people visit me.  I live a bit over an hour away so two of my friends from high school will be visiting me next month.  My brother, who is twenty-five, will also be visiting me in February.  I can't wait to give them a peak at my life here at SU!

The Social Evolution of a College Freshman

Being a college freshman is weird.  There’s no way getting around it.  You can call it good weird, bad weird, or in between, but no matter how you slice it, you’re still dealing with establishing yourself socially.  This is even weirder considering where you last were: a high school senior.  I was pretty grounded in my group of friends by that point.  I wasn’t going out and looking for other people to get to know, though if those people came along that was fine as well.  College, however, is going back to the beginning.  I haven’t been back to the beginning, at least to this extent, since 2^nd grade, when I moved to Pennsylvania from Virginia.  Since then, I’ve been able to carry elementary school friends into middle school, then middle school ones into high school.   I’ve always had someone—and while those high school connections haven’t left me, I still, in some ways, came to Susquehanna with a blank slate (excluding my wonderful roommate who I had met at a summer writing workshop).   

During orientation weekend, panic set in.  At least for me.  I needed friends.  I was starting all over.  I couldn’t do this.  Could I?

The next step in social evolution for me was making friends with the girls in my hall.  We live together, after all, so it’s pretty natural for us to join together, especially in the face of friendless-ness.   Once we bonded, especially over the first non-orientation weekend, it was such a relief.  I didn’t expect to have a group of people to hang out with so quickly!

However, another step eventually comes, and it seemed to hit a lot of my friends at the same time as it hit me: realizing a need for relationships outside of the hallway.  Friendships with the people you live with are great, but I think everybody feels that need for a change of pace.  After all, you see a lot of those friends from your floor.  You do live with them, after all. 

I think I’m at the point in my social evolution where I’m hoping to branch out and am getting to know other people.  Right now there are a lot of acquaintances, people I say “Hi” and “How are you?” to if I see them as I cross campus, people who fall into this category of potential friends.   The next step, if I take some action, should be translating acquaintanceship to friendship. 

This step seems to require a bigger leap than the others, but I think it’s probably one of those things that happens naturally with time.  As a freshmen, I would guess friendships evolve, expand, shift, and include new people.

Of course, sometimes my patience isn’t all it could be in this regard.  It’s easy to want those closest of close friendships right away.  A friendship like you have with your best friend back home.  A dynamic like your group had in high school.  These things don’t happen overnight, however.  They require cultivation.  Evolution.  Not spontaneous generation.  

But that’s alright.  Spontaneous can be shallow, and right now, I’m not seeking friendships that will be blown away come next semester.  Like most freshmen, I think, I’m looking for friendships with roots.