Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Getting Caught Up

9/26/13

Wow, it's almost October. Which, here in Michigan, is going to end up being Octobrrrr. The leaves are already changing and I think that's thrown me off a bit because I'm still mentally in Tennessee, when it comes to seasons at least.

My favorite class so far is my programming class. I am learning how to code in Python.

Today for a class project (for a different class), I got to see the Papyrology Collection, which includes wooden mummy tags, various ostraka--and the oldest manuscript of a good portion of Paul's letters. I saw part of the book of Romans--11:36 to about 12:something--written in Greek on papyrus. It was ridiculously awesome. (We were actually ostensibly doing an environmental check because that's our assignment, but the place has such filtered air that the reading room actually smelled weird.)

I've been learning the bus system (since I want to know how it works before it's freezing and snowy outside), but when I walk the twenty minutes to campus, I try to take different paths so I can learn the city better. (I think I already know it better than I do Michigan City or Chattanooga, but that's partially because I haven't really lived in Michigan City for years and Southern wasn't a twenty-minute walk from downtown Chattanooga.) Today I was walking a new route to my job at the stacks office when someone behind me spotted my SI bag and decided to give me her contact information because she's an SI grad and knows that we're supposed to network. So that was cool.

Biggest problem so far is that I've been a bit lonely, despite making friends. I miss my jeesh, my fellowship. (You guys know who you are.) Yeah, I'm learning how to keep track of my finances, use coupons and read the grocery ads (though I haven't bought a Sunday paper yet), got Netflix (to watch Doctor Who), navigate the bus system and what not. Yeah, I'm driving to Detroit for a class project and will have to fill out a reimbursement form for the gas money. Yeah, the guy in the apartment next door sometimes walks around without a shirt on (of course I noticed). And there's a guy I only talk with on Wednesday mornings because we share the bus stop for five minutes before the bus arrives. And, yeah, I go to church, but I see them once a week. But overall, no real deep connections anywhere.

So sometimes I wish I had my friends here to discover it all with me. I wish I had Castle nights (I'm still about four episodes behind) and chances to play the character Gwen. Time to go to sleep.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Orientation and First Week

9/6/13

Last week, we had orientation, a combination of ice breakers and introduction lectures and what not. I think the most helpful thing was the group activity we did with our groups from the 501 class (the groups are assigned and we work together all semester). I think I'm part of a pretty great group. I don't think it's going to be like group work I've done in past scholarly years--it was a big thing I was worried about, seeing as I was always the one who made sure it got done. Now we're all the ones making sure it gets done. Yay!

On Saturday I turned twenty-six. The highlight of my birthday came at 10:40 PM, when a whole roomful of friends playing Rockband paused and sang Happy Birthday to me via Robby's cell phone. Yep, folks, that was the highlight. I still don't know anyone super well yet, I wasn't going to tail-gate (for several reasons, 1, it was Sabbath, 2, I don't drink, 3, I'm not a big big fan of football).

This week I started classes. Tuesdays are going to be doozies, but I at least will have time on other days for doing homework and working. Wednesdays I have to get up incredibly early in order to get the right bus. If I don't get the right bus, I'm walking the twenty minutes to North Quad. (I also discovered that the closest bus route to my apartment has two different routes, the most direct route to NQ ending around 8:40 AM and not picking back up until about 3 PM. So that's fun. I found out by getting on the bus and having a moment of "Hey why aren't we there?" and being told "I don't go there" by the driver. At least he pointed me in the right direction.)

Yesterday I had a job interview at one of the libraries here on campus. She offered me the job, and I accepted. After I sent my acceptance e-mail, I received two e-mails asking if I'd interview for jobs with them, so I had to send "Sorry I already accepted another job but maybe we'll think of each other at a different semester" e-mails to both of them. So that was fun.

Today we had a convocation where we sat and listened to a bunch of people speak about how awesome the school is and how awesome the projects they're doing are. (Truthfully, of course.) Then they made us new students stand up after introducing new faculty and new doctoral students. Then they fed us a free meal. I won a stadium blanket in blue and gold, but it has the name of the sponsoring credit union (with whom I don't and won't have an account) on it. New gear, though.

More later.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Update

5-24-13

I go to camp soon. That makes me happy.

It'll also make it harder to find an apartment in Ann Arbor. Not like I actually have the cash to sign a lease yet anyway. I make money as a substitute teacher, but not that much.

I need to apply for the graduate PLUS loans because I haven't gotten any scholarships and I didn't get the position I applied for (I didn't even make it to an interview). *sigh* This is what I'm going to have to do after I finish. I wish I got the same interest rate that banks do when they get loans from the federal government. (Then again, "if wishes were horses, we'd all be eating steak." Thanks, Jayne.)

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Running to the Green Dragon Inn: A Graduate's Tale

12-19-12

(Yes, I know it's the twentieth. I haven't gone to bed yet.)

So, I'm a college graduate now. Got the fancy green diploma holder and everything. Had to explain what all the cords and medals around my neck meant. Shook President Bietz's hand. Had my picture taken. Multiple times. (No, I don't have any to upload at present.)

Went out for dinner with my friends (not all of them) afterward. Had fun. Re-hydrated. Watched television with them and now I'm still awake. I haven't packed anything that I want to send with my parents later today.

I'm a college graduate now. I don't feel any different. I suppose it's a little like becoming a teenager or turning twenty-one--you've become older, but you have to grow into it.

Part of me doesn't want to grow into it. I want to stay where I am--and I can't.

It's not just Bilbo who gets kicked out his front door and swept down the road. He, at least, had an end-goal of reaching Erebor; I don't know what's in store for me.

"'O!' said Bilbo, and just at that moment he felt more tired than he ever remembered feeling before. He was thinking once again of his comfortable chair before the fire in his favourite sitting-room in his hobbit-hole, and of the kettle singing. Not for the last time!" (The Hobbit, 46).

Well, Southern Adventist University, you've become my comfortable chair and favorite sitting-room. You're my kettle singing. And I don't know if I'll ever make it back to stop the Sackville-Bagginses from stealing my spoons.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Just A Little Melancholic

5-1-12

I hate the end of the school year.

I mean, sure, I like finishing up classes and not having to deal with tests and homework and what not. I'm fine with that. I'm looking forward to camp and ceramics and skits and plays and what not.

But I've hated the end of the school year since about the end of my freshman year of academy. I will be separated from the stuff I like to do, the people I like to be around, and the places I like to be. It's become a lot better since I was a freshman, partly because I've grown and changed and matured, but I still don't like it.

And I don't like having to move. All year long I always have the delusion that where I live is where I live. But it's not. I'm just here because I'm in school. I still technically live out of boxes and suitcases I packed at the end of freshman year of academy. The contents may have changed, but the overall situation has not. I would like to be in one place and live there. Yes, I want to travel, but I want somewhere to return to. (And next semester I don't even have where I presently live to return to.)

And this year, this semester, is marked by the fact that, to my knowledge, it's my last spring semester. Seven months or so from now I'll be graduating and I don't know what lies ahead. Sure, the path that God has put me on is safe because He's with me, but I really don't like the unknown. I like to figure stuff out. That's why I enjoy Encyclopedia Brown, the Boxcar Children, and Sherlock Holmes stories, along with cop shows like Law and Order, NCIS, and Castle.

Despite some disappointments and what not this year, it's been a good school year. I've deepened some friendships that I wish I would have done a lot earlier in my career at Southern, but it's not like I have a time machine. ("Come back to me, Phil.")

You know what sparked this? Last night was the last Castle night of the year. We've gotten together every Monday night, even when Castle wasn't on. I definitely enjoyed it for more reasons than just watching Castle because it became more than that. (Besides, if it were just about the show, I could watch it off of abc.com and that would be that.) No, I like Castle night because we're all together and we talk and we laugh and we are normal (well, as normal as we can be, which I suppose isn't very normal). I suppose that quality time is one of my love languages. So be it.

The other thing that sparked this was the fact that I took my graduating Southern Scholar picture tonight, despite the fact that I'm not graduating until December and I haven't even done my project yet. (Though they tell me that if they didn't think I would get it done, they wouldn't have asked me to be in the picture.) At least they trust me. It felt weird, wearing a cap and gown and so many things around my neck when I won't be doing that on Sunday.

So, right, I know, this is all TL;DR, but yeah, it's what in my head right now. A bit too melancholy for my liking. A bit too much worrying on my part, but God'll work it all out.

More later.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Um

1-19-12

This semester is either going to kill me or make me stronger. Probably the latter, but of course it feels like the former. I'm so glad it's Friday tomorrow, which means it's almost Sabbath. Yay! Even though this week is just as long as any other week, it's felt really long to me. *sigh* We haven't even had a full week of school yet.

More later.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Christmas on the Promenade

12-1-11

Christmas on the Promenade is my favorite event at Southern. At least, I'm pretty sure it is. Most everyone gathers out at Taylor Circle, listens to the academy band, watches the Thanksgiving tree be lit, and then walks up and down the Promenade listening to musical groups perform, looking at the decorations, and eating doughnuts and drinking hot chocolate or hot cider.

I found a couple different groups of friends to walk with, especially after I lost the one group when trying to make it through the hordes of people (students, staff, faculty, community) in front of Lynn Wood and the food tables. (I found them again by the library, where we listened to the Jazz Band and discussed Harry Potter.) It feels like it's the holiday season now--and that last year wasn't the same when it was canceled due to rain. Christmas on the Promenade is my favorite school event, but I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe it's because of the feeling I get from milling around, seeing people I haven't seen for weeks, and listening to music.

It's like most everyone can pretend that it's not the week before the week before finals, that there's not major projects and/or papers to finish and turn in, that all there is to do in the world is strolling down the Promenade, seeing friends, smiling, shivering in the cold and not regarding the cold.

The stars are brilliant tonight--and I saw them as I came back to the village, the sounds of jazzy Christmas music fading behind me. The smell of wood smoke and snow was in the air, though I wouldn't know why either smell was there. But my heart was warm and my feet were light. Even if my feet were a bit cold after the two and a half hours I spent at Christmas on the Promenade.

More later.

Friday, November 18, 2011

What?

11-18-11

So, yesterday, one of my teachers asked me, "So, Ashlee, when do you plan to take the LSAT?" and my response was, "Um, I don't know. Next semester or next fall, I haven't decided."

But what puzzled me then (and still does) is how she knew I'd made that decision. I haven't really said anything specific on Twitter (and that's where she could have seen something). I suppose my blog could have a farther reach than I think it does, but who wants to read this drivel?

Then today, I asked that same teacher if she'd gotten the e-mail with my assignment attached to it. She said that she had, and I was like, good, I have to send it the night before the deadline because I have class from 9-1 on Fridays. Then she said something akin to this: "Yes, well, you must have time management working for you, 'cause I've seen your grades."

I asked her if she were doing research on me, and if so, what for? All I got was, "Yes. You could call it research."

Cryptic much?

I mean, does she mean my semester grades, or my overall grades? (Not that those really have any major differences between them, except some are pluses and some are minuses and some don't have little marks afterward.)  What does that even mean? And research? Whatever for? *cue epic music?*

More later.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Seriously?

9-22-10

First of all, I'm an education major. I am planning to be a high school teacher. (Brave soul, I hear some of you saying while others mutter, Idiot.) I also spent a year attempting to teach high school while I was a student missionary in the Marshall Islands.

Those glimpses into the life of a teacher still do not make me ineligible to be frustrated and/or annoyed by the fact that four of the six teachers I have on Monday all have important things scheduled for that day. The list is as follows: German chapter 2 test, chemistry chapter 3 quiz (read: mini-test), first draft of Essay #2 due, and working bibliography for history research paper.

First of all, thank you for assuming that I have all day Sunday to do your project. I happen to work for five hours each Sunday so I can pay for my education (you know, that part of my bill that the federal government hasn't covered in outrageous loans). Second, thank you for assuming that I want no life other than doing your project. I certainly do not want to spend time with friends nor exercise.

Yes, I know I picked my course load. Yes, I know that I've previously handled eighteen hour loads and a fifteen hour work week. Yet somehow this semester is different, and I am not entirely sure why. Perhaps it's due to the fact that I'm taking two upper division classes, a language class, honors seminar, a religion class, a general science course, and being part of the Wind Symphony--and striving to do my best in those classes? (That's what I get for being an overachiever. Silly me, wanting to do well.)

I'm not a person for all-nighters. I physically can't deal with that, since I need a minimum of six hours of sleep to actually function during the day. I have to spend at least a tiny bit of time with friends, or I'll go insane. (I'm not joking. Two weeks ago, I saw my friends on Sunday and didn't see them again until the Thursday of that week. Argh. I'm an extroverted introvert. I like my alone time, but I need people, too.)

So what's my solution to my self-chosen overload?

I'm doing homework a day ahead, which I've never had to do before. What I mean is that it's Wednesday evening and I just finished up most of Friday's work; I just have to do my lab manual for German, which requires listening to a CD and I don't want to bother my roommate with that tonight. (I'll do it tomorrow before chemistry recitation.) Tomorrow night and Friday afternoon I'll work on Monday's projects and Wednesday's reading for History of England because a classmate and I are leading the class discussion that day.

And I haven't even gotten started on the stuff I try to get done that doesn't have anything to do with classes or work, like my writing or my work with the Student Missions club or reading for pleasure and fun or exercise or being with friends.

I am trying to figure out how to balance it all, and this week has been better than last week, but I am seriously stumped as to how my teachers all assigned something important for the same day next week. I'm trying to live in the present, but not at the expense of the future (as Obi-Wan tried to point out to Qui-Gon). *sigh* This year is going to be difficult.

Seriously.