look in your heart and you'll find

I feel as if the past week has actually spanned over a number of weeks instead of just one. Last Thursday at this time I was home in Indiana with my friend Jocelyn showing her around my little Western Pennsylvanian town. Over her trip home with me for j-term break, we visited a number of my friends from home, toured Indiana, traveled to Pittsburgh in the freezing cold, and celebrated my Mom’s birthday. It was so nice to be able to show Jocelyn a little bit of my life at home and have a break from Messiah before starting up classes on Monday.

This week has presented itself with a number of new challenges/experiences. Monday was our first day of classes. Being a junior Education major this semester’s classes was completly blocked out for me with education classes and involves me going into the classroom two mornings a week. After not having any classes since the middle of December, it was really difficult getting out of bed on Monday and starting to get back into the swing of things. Now that a couple days have gone by it seems to be getting better, but thinking about actually having class still seems like slightly a foreign concept to me. While being at school without classes was such a nice experience, the experience of getting back to school and actually having classes is a little rough. I feel as though this will be an enjoyable semester though. While it may present itself with some new and exciting challenges, I am ready for them. I am ready to make the most of my time here at Messiah and get ready to be thrown into a classroom. Bring on Spring Semester!

It is the last Monday of the year. Granted we have finals next Monday still, but it is our last Monday of actual classes. The beginning of February, when we started Spring Semester, seems like yesterday and it also feels like years ago when looking back at it. It is sort of crazy to think about it all. Today is one of the gloomiest Monday’s ever too. Walking outside into the pouring rain first thing in the morning is never a good feeling. That feeling is even worse when it is Monday morning though. After a weekend of partying for my roommate, Danielle’s, birthday and doing a little bit of work, it was hard to get out of bed and actual go to class today. The rain outside made that feeling even worse. It is extremely nice to know though that after turning in two major papers today, I will only have one day of classes, 3 tests, and a presentation left until the semester officially comes to a close.

This weekend, as stated above, was as pretty good mix of work and fun. Since Danielle’s birthday was yesterday, we sort of had a weekend of celebration and had a good time going out and having fun. Friday we went to Panera for dinner and then went to see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with Matthew McConaughey. Saturday, we basically just hung out and watched movies as well as got a little bit of work done. Sunday, after doing work in the afternoon we went out to Red Robin for dinner and then came back for cake. It was an overall really good weekend. It was especially nice to get everyone together for one of the last weekends of Sophomore year.

It is amazing how close we are to the end of the semester. With only a month left of classes and then only one additional week for finals, we do not have that much time left. Looking at my calendar of things that have to get done in the next month though was when this actually hit me. All of those papers and projects that we were told about the first day of class and then quickly forgotten about now have due dates which are slowly creeping up on me. This past weekend, even though I did have time to relax, I had a bunch of work to do as well. Today consisted of taking a test and handing in a paper. Tomorrow consists of a paper and a debate. Even though the rest of the week after tomorrow is pretty clear and begins Easter break, there is still much to do over break and as so as I get back.

Despite the stresses of classes wrapping up and work being piled on, it is nice to know that there is only one month left until I am half way through my college career. It all seems to have gone by so fast the past two years, but I also still have those two years left of my college years to cherish. Oh my.

P.S. Happy Birthday Jessica!

So this week was the beginning of the actual spring semester. While most semesters the first week is relatively low stress and very easy this semester seems different already. Not that I am already feeling in over my head or completely stressed about what lies in front of me the next 12 weeks but it just feels as if I have already been in this semester for a few weeks. For me this semester is full of gen eds and prescriptive classes for education which are not specifically education classes. This means I have a majority of classes which I’m not exactly interested in. Even though I am taking child development and geography which I find somewhat interesting it does still not seem like enough to propel me through the semester. So I guess I truly am feeling stressed about what lies in front of me these next 12 weeks. Even if not for the actual work load, the amount of time that I must put into classes without a great deal of excitement or interest in my work.

This week has also been tough since my entire friend group has been sick. I have been blessed so far as to not get their sickness *knock on wood* but it has definitely been draining just seeing them all so miserable. My roommate, Danielle, has been dying for days and it just seems to keep getting worse. Jocelyn’s birthday was Wednesday and that was the day that she was the most sick. Sarah is over her sickness now but the weekend/ the beginning of the week she felt awful. I hate being sick so it was good that I grew up with a pretty strong immune system. This was especially helpful since I grew up in a family where you had to be actually dying in order to miss school and when you did miss school you had to be bed ridden. I still hate being sick or even seeing people sick. The atmosphere the past few days has just been absolutely depressing.

Not to completely complain and fall into the completely depressing this past weekend was amazing and the one coming up should hopefully be too. Last weekend was j-term break so we all went up to New York to visit Sarah and Danielle’s families and spend a day in the city. It was a great time and a nice break from actual school work. Even though this was the beginning of everyone’s sickness we were able to hang out and have a great relaxing time. This weekend should be just as exciting as well since we are planning on a few visitors as well as going to see my best friend from High school, Jessica, perform in Harrisburg with her choir, PSU Essense of Joy.