Part of Your World



Bev and I over the summer

My friend Beverly, who goes to the University of Pittsburgh, commented on how Susquehanna is very much a different world from her big, urban university. We concluded that basically every college is its own world, with its own culture, and how her visit was taking her into mine.

When Bev arrived Saturday afternoon, I gave her a campus tour with her other friend she was visiting. It was fun to be able to show her all the places on campus, including my beloved freshman dormitory (though we didn't get the chance to go inside). One place we explored with her was the library. Then we ate lunch with her at my favorite place to eat on campus, Benny's. During this tour, I was able to introduce her to many people, like my roommate from last year Sarah who I called to meet us outside of Smith, where she RAs, my Big from Alpha Phi Omega, and one of my friends from my residence hall last year, Kathleen.

Saturday she went to stay with her other friend, but on Sunday we spent the day together. A cool aspect of the day was that it differed from the norm but I also was able to include her in many of my Sunday routines. We met at chapel, then had Sunday brunch in the cafeteria, one of my favorite SU meals. We decided to spend a lot of our day outside. We walked into downtown Selinsgrove which Bev found adorable; of course I agreed. There wasn't much open in Selinsgrove on a Sunday afternoon so we walked over by the river and found a gazebo where we could chat. I had never actually been to that spot before, but it was nice and I want to go back. Following our outdoors adventure, we returned to my dorm, where we spent time with my friends, and then went to Benny's for dinner. This Sunday happened to be a week when the Selinsgrove Church of the Nazarene was having its young adult service. I was able to take her to that, and she got to see many of my friends from InterVarsity who also attend Plugged In. Afterwards, we ordered Domino's at my dorm.

We ended the night chilling in my room and staying up talking way too late.

It's so awesome that she has been here and experienced some parts of my Susquehanna world. Now I can talk to her about my college life and the people in it, and she will have at least some idea about what I'm saying! It makes me want to visit here even more at Pitt--though I know that world will be extremely different from Susquehanna.

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!