Some points of interest . . . (perhaps)

1.  I’m twenty.  I thought turning twenty would be no big deal; you know, you can’t see R-rated films, vote or buy alcohol, so it’s not too exciting, right?  Wrong.   The moment I realized I’m entering my third decade, I freaked out a bit.  This is a big decade, and (God-willing), this will be the busiest, craziest, most exciting decade yet.  It’s also the decade where I’m forced to grow up and enter the real world – for instance, I’ll be applying for internships this summer, and the odds are I won’t be living at home and enjoying Mom’s wonderful meals every night.  Also, I’m not a teenager anymore.  Scary!  Twenty just sounds too adult sometimes.  :P

      2.  Lest I grow up too fast, my first act as a twenty-year old was to eat Oreos for breakfast.  Win.

      3.  On Sunday I wore a sweatshirt, my purple hat, jeans, and tennis shoes outside (note the lack of a winter coat).  This is exciting and noteworthy because it’s the beginning of February in middle-of-nowhere Iowa. 

      4. I've realized I’m obsessed with commas/comma phrases.  I adore them, but they do, unfortunately, tend to cut my sentences into fragments, usually of varying lengths, and they perhaps make it hard for readers, but hopefully not my professors, to discern the purpose of the sentence.  Yeah, it can get that bad.  :P

      

      5. People walk way too slowly here.  It’s really annoying.  For a week it was approximately -10 degrees, which is FREEZING, and people were just strolling along.  I, as per usual, was walking with a purpose, and the only reason I was outside was because I had to go from one building to another, not to soak in the lovely weather.  

For my mother . . .

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
	Tennis	Tennis @ 7:45	SLEEP
10-10:50 Humanities		10-10:50 Humanities		10-10:50 Humanities
11-11:50 Sociology	12:45-2:05 English	11-11:50	12:45-2:05 English	11-11:50 Sociology
2:15-4:05 (aka an eternity) Bioengineering	Homework	2:15-4:05 Bio	Tennis 2:30-4:30	Lunch Prayer
Homework	Community Worship	You guessed it . . .		Consider doing homework
Still doing homework . . .	More homework	Bible Study		Something that doesn’t involve homework J

Classes

I realized today I haven’t given a good update on my classes, and my number one fan loves the newsy updates.  I’ve decided that after I finish my homework for each class I’ll write a bit about, and I’ll try not to go fishing for too much sympathy.

But seriously, I just finished reading an account of Virginia written by a British guy in old English.  By old, I mean that ‘y’ sometimes means ‘I’ and that ‘v’ and ‘u’ are reversed.  At first the reading was incredibly slow going, but remarkably once I let my mind absorb the language I was able to process things pretty quickly.

My English class is pretty good.  We meet twice a week for ninety minutes, and it’s my only class on Tuesdays.  It’s a discussion based class, and the professor does a good job of conducting discussions and encouraging participation.  There are about twenty students in the class, but it always feels like he’s addressing you specifically.  He is clearly very knowledgeable, and he has a lot to share.  As with all my other classes, we write two papers, take two tests, and have a participation grade, but he also added another component: response papers.  I actually like writing weekly or bi-weekly short papers because they give him a chance to read my writing and hopefully provide useful feedback for the longer, more important papers.

On to Humanities 102 now.  We read a lot in this class.  I make my way through thirty pages of Cicero and twenty pages of Aristotle, and then we discuss two paragraphs from the works, which can be frustrating at times.  On the other hand, our professor clearly expects us to do some self-educating, which I don’t believe is unreasonable.

Our professor is a character.  Wow.  She’s a theater professor, and she definitely brings that dramatic flair to the classroom.  She also speaks insanely fast, jumps from point to point, and loves to refer to historians/other dead people that we’ve never even heard of.  The fifty minutes absolutely fly by because she’s so into the material and you’re using every ounce of mental strength to keep up with everything she says. 

Other interesting facts: it’s my first class of the day at 10:00, MWF.  There are only four other students in the class.  I have to read twenty pages of Cicero for Wednesday and eighty pages of Lucretius for Friday.  I want to kill Cicero - Good thing he’s already dead.  We have a three page ‘note’ due Wednesday which has been challenging but fun.  I’m worried it’s one of those papers where I’ll feel good about it, and then she’ll hand it back and inform me I got the theory all wrong . . . good thing it’s ungraded.  J

Biology.  Hmm.  The first chapter was a breeze – ‘what is DNA?’ – and then suddenly we’re launched into how minute details concerning the double helix and the replication process.  I find it incredibly interesting, and with my flashcards I’m well on my way to knowing all the terms.  The class meets twice a week for almost two hours, which is, frankly, a VERY long time.  However, she does a good job of moving through the topics and, unlike my other classes, she actually covers everything we read.

Sociology is wonderful.  I love all the readings, the professor is high-energy and absolutely loves her job, and the theory is a nice mix of philosophy and social justice.  The actual theories of sociology are somewhat hard to grasp, but reading about experiments and investigations is quite interesting.  Human character has long fascinated (bothered?) me, and the class seems to be really speaking to me right now. 

ALSO, yesterday Grinnell had its first snow day in sixteen years, I believe.  Wednesday is one of my worst days, so suddenly I had four extra hours, which I productively used to . . . watch Seinfeld and nap.  I also experienced my first Iowan blizzard on Tuesday night, when I had to walk across campus at nine at night, and I could barely open my eyes to see where I was going.  Needless to say, I’m more than slightly crazy for coming here, but the academics and the people make it well worth it.  J

God is amazing

When I returned to school this semester, I noticed my goals and plans had shifted substantially.  I’m definitely not the same person who entered Denison as a naïve freshman a year and a half ago, and when I think of those changes, I realize that I have no idea who I will be when I graduate from Grinnell.  Okay, that’s not entirely true . . . I have some idea, because I have different goals and different emphases this time around. 

Basically, I’m here for the complete college experience and not just the academics.  Yes, I did pick Grinnell primarily for the outstanding academics and the passionate, diverse students, and yes, I’m doing homework on a Saturday night, and yes, I’ll still write papers well in advance, but I’m also determined to do so much more.  I value the academics immensely and am thrilled by my classes, but I’m also excited by all the opportunities at Grinnell.  I can become involved in countless ways, and the only problem will be deciding which groups I care about most.

I’ve felt considerably less stress so far than at Denison, and I honestly believe it’s because I’m pursuing activities outside of the classroom.  I chose to put God first, and so far that decision has manifested itself through my commitment to attend Community Worship every Tuesday, a Bible Study every Thursday, and a prayer group on Friday.  Then today I skipped a captains’ tennis practice in favor of an all-day prayer workshop, something I never would have done at Denison, and I left that workshop feeling strangely renewed and at peace.  I was (and still am) aware of all the homework that needs to be completed for Monday, but it doesn’t worry me or stress me out.  I just calmly approach it and complete it because I want to, because at some point this education is going to bring glory to God. 

I want to elaborate briefly on the prayer workshop.  It wasn’t what I expected . . . at all.  I thought someone would talk about how to pray individually to God, how to stop your mind from . . . ooh, I should go check Facebook and then ooh, I really want to listen to that song . . . becoming distracted, how to worship God and give thanks through prayer, and things like that.  In other words, things related to me.  Instead, I came away with this profound sense of community and this feeling that, at this point in my Christian journey, I’m in the right place.  I definitely fought that idea when I was looking at schools – I thought Wheaton might be the right place, where I’d be surrounded by like-minded Christians and there wouldn’t be conflict and we’d always support each other.  I thought Grinnell wouldn’t provide a positive environment for Christians, but here is this group of people gathering to pray, to confess sins of unbelief, and to pray for each other.

The leader prayed over me and she brought tears to my eyes.  She really felt that I was meant to be there, and it’s just another of God’s little signs telling me I’m in the right place.  I told her that when I prayed I was struck by how I could be more loving, especially toward the tennis team, and she prayed that I would invite their questions, that they would be open with me, and that I would know what to say.  And then tonight a teammate started asking me about the workshop; and then my prayers habits; and then Christianity in general.  I couldn’t believe it.  Now I’m scared and excited for tennis tomorrow, because the leader had a brief image of the girls asking me questions while we practiced . . .

I don’t know these people very well yet.  I’m still a little apprehensive of Inter Varsity and what exactly their outreach entails.  Mostly seniors were there today, and I felt like I was witnessing inside jokes sometimes.  But then one guy walked through the door and enthusiastically welcomed me.  Jenn came over to say how glad she was to see me.  I knew I was welcomed and love no matter what.  Finally, I think I’ll be able to experience an awesome Christian community with my peers, an experience I’ve never had to date.  And at Grinnell, of all places.  God is truly amazing.

Oh, English class

"Adam seems to invent a bus under which to throw Eve.  After she manages to escape, she creates . . . let's say a minivan . . . for the snake." - Professor Steve Andrews discussing the shame and evasion following the Fall of Man in the Genesis story.

Somehow, all those times I've read Genesis, I managed to miss the part about the bus.  :)

Friendship

I’ve been musing recently about friendship and what it means to have a friend.  I really should be musing about how the Genesis creation story is embedded in Columbus’s journey to and encounter with the Americas, but I can hardly start that until I’ve procrastinated a bit with more interesting writing.

How do we make friends?  Why do we need friends?  What makes a good friend?  What does it mean to be a friend?  How does friendship work?  Right now, it feels like I’m breaking into friendships and ‘groups’ that developed prior to my arrival on campus, and it’s almost like I’m that exciting new commodity the transfer.  People are genuine when they speak with me, but they maintain ongoing dialogues with their friends that I simply don’t understand.  I feel very welcomed and happy at Grinnell, but somehow I still feel like an outsider in certain respects.  As a result, I start thinking about friends and what that even means.

I know why we need friends.  We’re social creatures.  It’s innate.  We need other people to survive.  Another theory I recently read (which is compatible with my short thoughts), suggests that people need friends to reassure themselves that they’re good people, that they’re successful, and that they’re loved, and that this need for recognition can be traced back to the Fall of Man.  Think about it.  In Eden, man and woman lived without shame in God’s presence.  They had a perfect relationship with God.  Now, we’ve lost that close, intimate connection.  We’ve become distant from God’s constant, reassuring, loving voice, and we want people to fill that hole for us.

I’m writing this without an outline, which is dangerous, as it leads to rambling like this, but regardless, I’ll continue on.  I don’t know how many friends I have at Grinnell right now.  However, I’m not at all concerned or worried, because at last I have a lot of acquaintances.  I’m putting myself out there, trying to show all aspects of me, and maybe someone will reach out toward me a little more.  Do I know the girls on the tennis team?  Yes and no.  I know names, faces, majors, where they live, but I don’t know them yet as people.  However, I know that is inevitably coming.  Are they friends now?  Yes, I think so.  I can count on them to help me out, to answer random embarrassing questions, and to do what they can to ease the transition.  Can they be better friends?  Yes, and I don’t mean that as a criticism of their behavior now, because they are all amazing people.  I mean ‘better’ only in the sense of a deeper, more profound connection, as two individuals who really start to know each other and to genuinely care for the other.  But what does that even mean or entail? 

I’m not sure if any of that made sense, but it’s really my first attempt to get some of those thoughts on paper.  Basically, friendship is a curious, elusive idea . . . as is my thesis for this paper.  Because yes, I’m supposed to construct an argument with only four-hundred words.

Day One (do not expect this consistency to continue)

After a rather hectic day, I think I feel a bit more oriented.  It also helps to know I’ve successfully registered for classes, and I can rest assured that I will be plenty busy come Monday.  Registering for classes = moment of happiness for me. 

I’m in three classes I really wanted (thanks to the help of my tennis coach, who obtained professors’ permission FOR me), and another one that surprised even myself and that hopefully will be interesting and not terribly demanding.  First of all, at Grinnell there are no minors, so I have to reevaluate my plans for my undergraduate education.  I’m majoring in English for sure and hopefully pursuing a concentration in linguistics.

As such, I’m taking English 227, an introduction to early American Lit (I believe.  I should probably look into that more thoroughly), and Humanities 102, which is required for the English major and involves early Roman and Christian literature.  I’m also taking Intro to Sociology, which is NOT in the humanities (how shocking!) and will hopefully jump-start my linguistics concentration. 

Then, I’m taking a Bio 220 class, which sounds slightly less terrifying when you realize it deals with bioengineering, genetics, et cetera and sounds like it has an ethical component, which will be quite interesting.  I do not know exactly what I’ve gotten myself into, but I’m trying to branch out and truly embrace the liberal arts education.  It certainly doesn’t hurt to be well-rounded, and as I know next to nothing about this subject matter, it will be, at the very least, an informative class.

My Minnesotan roots are also (thankfully) making themselves known, as I thought it not too bad outside this afternoon.  It turns out there is quite a difference between the -5 of this morning and the 7 of four o’clock.  Layers are key – today my outfit consists of a layering t-shirt, a short-sleeved plaid shirt, a moderately heavy purple jacket, my new winter coat, heavy gloves, warm scarf, and my famous purple hat.  Only after that is comfort almost achieved.  J