theLittlethingsinLife

Happy Monday and welcome to the first day of summer!  I feel like it has been summer for a while now, but I am enjoying it anyways.  They say that it is going to be a hot week.  Stay cool, keep indoors, but I guess that is what we get since summer has officially began!

I am going to try to stay inside at work, there is no air conditioning at my house…Hopefully we have enough shade that it won’t get too hot inside.

Just a few quick words about what is going on in my life…

…I went away for the weekend and had a great time!

…My mom is leaving for Europe on Thursday like I did last summer.

…My summer class is almost done, only a few more papers left!

…And I am reading some great books, that would explain why I am so tired…up to late reading

Anyways, Enjoy the first day of summer!!!

I can’t believe how fast the summer is going!  I started an online class two weeks ago and I am almost half way through!  Also, it is JUNE!  That means time for graduation parties and outdoor picnics   My brother graduates tomorrow, I can’t believe he will be joining me at Messiah next year.  Today I helped him register for classes (I hope all the incoming students did not have too much trouble).  We are having a party for him on Saturday evening with family and friends.

Everything is going by so fast, last week was so short!  I had off on Monday for the holiday and then I took a half day on Friday to visit my grandparents.  They live up north so it was about 10 degrees cooler and a perfect temperature.  Although one of my highlights was working with a new camera.  I got a Nikon D5000 in the mail on Friday.  So my grandpa and I tackled some professional photos around the house.  I will post a few later.  I am always learning, just can’t get enough of it…haha.  This will be my new “project” for the summer.  Learning to become a better photographer…and I am actually excited about learning.  I can’t get my nose out of the users manual.  Anyways, that’s the news in my life…Enjoy the rest of your week

Messiah is getting a face lift!  Haha…OK, but really there is a ton of construction on campus.  Everywhere you turn there are bulldozers and backhoes running around.  The first step was tearing down the old school house in order to make room for parking.  The township requires that Messiah have more parking, before they can build a new building.  Now that the school house is down, they have begun leveling off the land, taking down trees and taking out flowerbeds.  The main construction is in between Eisenhower, Old Main, and Boyer.  There is fencing surrounding it so that no one gets hurt.  It takes for ever to walk around campus…guess I am getting my exercise!  The parking lot is scheduled to be done by the end of August, right before the students come back.  The students are in for a surprise, campus will look different!  Landscaping is planned for the parking lot, so don’t worry it won’t look too bad.  I know Messiah, they sure know how to make a campus look beautiful, even if it is a 200 car parking lot.

Well, that’s the big news on campus.  I am looking forward to a relaxing 3 day weekend

I am all done with class…well, until Monday   I am planning on taking an online summer course through a local community college.  But for Messiah students, classes ended on May 4th and finals finished up on May 11th.  Seniors graduated on Saturday (May 15th).  I was privileged to be part of commencement.  I was a banner carrier for the Department of Management and Business.  I was proud to lead in such a large group of seniors.  Instead of wearing black, all of the banner carriers wore white robes…some people said we looked like angels, haha.  It was a very nice ceremony and the weather was beautiful (just a little windy).  If you would like to see pictures, check out Messiah’s home page.  There is a link to a slide show of graduation pictures.

Now that the Senior class of 2010 has officially graduated, I move up.  Now I can call my self a senior!  Wow, college has gone by very fast.  I cannot believe I am a senior in college!  This is exciting but a bit scary, I am about to set foot into the world of work…

But for now, I am continuing work in the Office of Marketing and Public Relations.  We are busy here, there is a lot going on this summer on campus.  Construction everywhere!  I will talk more about that some time.  Anyways…I better get back to work.  I will talk about my summer plans in upcoming posts   Enjoy the beautiful weather today!

Finals are coming soon!  We have class Monday and Tuesday, then Messiah gives us a day off on Wednesday to study before finals begin.  I have started packing up my things for the summer.

It is going to be a big weekend on campus.  Many students are going to the Senators baseball game Friday night and the Centennial Ball on Saturday night.  The students are celebrating their last weekend before finals and saying goodbye to the semester

It’s been very busy…but everything is winding down!  Let the countdown to summer begin!

Yesterday, April 15, was service day at Messiah College.  It is a day that the college allows all students, faculty, and staff to stop work and participate in an act of service.  The Agape center organizes many groups and helps to send teams into the streets, cleaning up the local area.

We also host the Special Olympics, this way many students do not need to leave campus and they can assist in the games.  Olympians come  from the local school districts and they are paired up with a buddy (Messiah student).  Many students also help organized the events, like timing the races and setting up equipment.  It is a busy day all over campus, but it is also a joy to watch the Olympians.

I was participating in an off campus project at Ten Thousand Villages.  I went to the local store (it is a non profit organization) and helped clean windows and bring in new inventory.  Some years I help paint or work in the flower beds.  It feels wonderful to lend a helping hand.  We had a beautiful day and it was greatly appreciated.

Now I am waiting for the thunderstorms to come this evening!

The weather has been wonderful around campus this week.  Students are studying outside and I even hear that a few professors taught outside.  The sand volleyball courts behind my apartment are filled with student each night.  Campus is beautiful!  I had flute practice outside the other night, it just makes everything much more enjoyable.  The birds were singing along as we played.  The only bad thing about spring time is my allergies.  I am all stuffed up and I can’t stop sneezing.  Oh, spring is here!

Last night I went out for ice-cream with a few friends.  I never would have imagined that it would be warm enough for ice-cream in the beginning of April.  We went to Brusters and I had cake batter ice-cream in a waffle cone (my favorite).  On Saturday I am going to my grandparents house to ride horse.  I am trying to take advantage of these sunny days in April.

One more class today…and then the weekend!

I am so sorry, it has been quite a while since my last post.  I just updated my Costa Rica pictures, so check it out!

It has been kind of busy around campus these past few weeks.  Professors are trying their hardest to get plenty of work in between our Spring break and Easter break.  My mind is constantly racing between work, class, tests, projects, and all the other little things that need to get done (like emails).  Although it feels like I just came from spring break, I am looking forward to Easter break.

Since I have  not been around very much, let me tell you a little bit about what is going on around campus.

Yesterday began the craziness of Spring Forward (a.k.a. Housing Sign-Ups).  On Sunday night all of the students were free to walk about the dorms and apartments in order to decide where they would like to live next year.  My apartment had the privileged of showing off a 5 man in Mellinger.  We worked hard to clean up and make everyone feel welcomed while they visited.  So this week is the actual housing sign-ups.  The race is on!

After Easter another race will begin on campus.  The race for classes.  All students will be registering for classes in the fall of 2010.  We are all busy trying to decide what to take next year.  I am planning on taking two art classes, Graphics Design I and Photography I.  It is going to be a fun semester!

Well…I better get back to work, have a great day!

So, it is March now and I am finally writing about my trip to Costa Rica.  Let’s see what I can remember…

This trip is a cross-cultural course through Messiah.  So every January our Professor takes 24 students to Costa Rica to study and experience a different culture.  We were required to read a book about Costa Rica over Christmas break.  The trip was plenty of fun, but I cannot forget to mention that we had plenty of work to do.  We wrote in journals every day, to reflect on our new encounters.  We took a test and had a presentation as well.  And in the end we wrote a 10 page paper to sum it all up…

Anyways, enough about the school work.  I learned a lot in Costa Rica, about myself, others, and the culture.  But the only way I was able to do this was by immersing my self into the lives of Ticos (Costa Ricans).  We traveled all 7 providence’s and made many stops along the way.  I visited both coasts and saw a few volcanoes.  Locals came to talk with us and tell us about their life in Costa Rica.  We had a wonderful bus driver, Franklin, he drove us everywhere!  There were good times and bad times.  We ran into some bad flooding along the Caribbean coast and I got stuck in a rip-tide in the Pacific ocean.  Although, the bright sun poked through…we enjoyed the Costa Rican cuisine and the Tico hospitality.  Now, I am just going to mention a few highlights of the trip because there is so much to talk about!

• warm weather
• exotic plants and animals
• hand picked coffee!
• Did you know that Americans are called Gringos?
• rainbows
• church fellowship
• service project- painting a local chruch
• home stay- We stayed with a family for a few nights…
• the local market
• Monteverde- Green Mountain
• zip lining
• Cloud forest- nature tour
• La Paz Waterfall Gardens-we saw the after effects of a large earthquake
• Volcanoes
• Guanabana- delicious fresh fruit drinks
• Baldi Hot Springs- so relaxing!
• group interaction- it was like living with a large family
• dance lessons- I discovered my very bad dance skills!

Well, I am sure I missed quite a bit but I hope that helps.  It was not a vacation, it was an experience that I will never forget.  I will post a few pictures and I am sure I will tell more stories in blogs to come.

I am sorry it has been a long time since my last blog. I have been back at Messiah for a few weeks now. Although I have not had time to blog because I have been trying to catch up at work, being missing for a month can cause a few pile-ups. Now it is mid February and school is back in full swing. Sometimes I think about going back to the slower pace and warmer weather of Costa Rica. I thought I was going to miss all the snow in January, but I guess it decided to wait for me to come home. I heard we received over 40 inches of snow in one week! Messiah had to cancel classes for two days, while they tried to shovel us out of campus. Students enjoyed the snow days, some people went sledding and built snow forts. I took a walk around campus with my friends and took plenty of pictures! It was the perfect weather for baking and snuggling up on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate.

Now don’t panic I did not forget about Costa Rica. I promise I will tell many stories of my travels in Costa Rica, but I forgot to bring my pictures today. So, stay tuned for “Costa Rica Adventures” next week. For now, all I will say is…I had a wonderful time!