A semester in (humorous) review

I think it’s time to post a little reflection on my first semester at Grinnell.  The semester flew by incredibly quickly, and as I spent hours packing up my dorm room, I felt like it was far too soon to move out.  I was only just settling in to my crazy routine, joining all the groups I was interested in, getting to know almost the entire campus, and becoming almost capable of keeping track of weekend events without undue help. 

Some surprising but real accomplishments:

     1)   Two all-nighters . . . in one week.

     2)   Under 24 hours in California

     3)   Watch all 9 seasons of Seinfeld

     4)   Renew my crocheting and knitting habits

     5)   Sleep literally all day

     6)   Make pancakes at 2:00 in the morning . . . twice

     7)   Eat more jelly beans than I ever imagined possible

     8)   Get drenched to the skin

Now, these warrant some explanation:

1) The first all-nighter was necessary.  See, earlier that week the tennis team was told we were California bound on Wednesday night, and Tuesday night rolled around and I needed to finish a presentation for Thursday (group presentation – had to help my peeps out).  So, I loaded up on caffeine (it was gross) and I successfully pulled the all-nighter AND accomplished everything.  Then, that Thursday we took a red-eye back from Cali (see below), and, while I slept some, it still counts as an all-nighter.

2) In the fall (aka Grinnell-pre-Laura), our tennis team qualified for nationals.  The first part of nationals is regionals, and for some reason our regional match took us . . . all the way to California!!?!?!  Stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.  This was during Hell Week, too, so we were all swamped with work and feeling very stressed out, so throwing in a crazy trip to California wasn’t exactly what we wanted.  We left Grinnell at 2:30 on Wednesday, arrived in California at 2 a.m. (thanks to SNOW in Denver).  Then we got our butts kicked Thursday afternoon and were back at the airport by 7 p.m.  We made it back to Grinnell around 12.  Really, a special, special trip.  I bonded with my teammates over food, complaints, homework, and crazy pictures, but in the end, it just wasn’t worth it. 

That’s all for now, folks.  Descriptions to follow in the next few days, as well as . . . information about my summer internship!!  Yes, I begin my first real job tomorrow when I go to Dallas for training.  J