look in your heart and you'll find

Since my last post so much has happened it is hard to summarize it into one entry. I have finished finals, said good-bye to all of friends studying abroad for this spring semester, left Messiah after the end of fall semester and went home for break. Being home was amazing. It is so nice to take a break especially when there is no school work involved. In high school even though the couple weeks off at Christmas were always greatly enjoyed, there was always those couple papers, projects, or assignments lingering over your head that you had to worry about. Being in college the semester is over and there are no worries (at least school work related ones). My time at home consisted of a lot of visiting as any break usually does. I visited with all of my friends from home (numerous times complete with secret Santa, movies, sleepovers, Patty’s Pancakes, eat ‘n park runs, Commonplace coffee dates, and etc. etc.) I visited my extended family for Christmas and the couple of days after that. I did a lot of visiting with my immediate family as well. Not only did I live under the same roof with them again, but Christmas Eve my brother and I were surprised with an amazing gift, a trip to California to go to the Rose Bowl, so I spent almost an entire week with them on the other side of the country. While we were there, we did the typical Hollywood tourist stuff and went to Legoland for my brother. The Rose Bowl was amazing however. Being that my favorite team is USC and my family’s favorite is Penn State (my second favorite, if they were playing anyone other than USC I would have been rooting for them too), it was perfect for the entire family and provided a nice little rivalry between all of us. The day of the game we got up and left the hotel at 4 am, went and got in line for the Rose Bowl Parade at 5 am, the parade started at 8 am, and then we walked over to the stadium after the parade ended around 10 am. Before the start of the actual game we stopped to see the players from both teams get off of their buses and did a little souvenir shopping. Then we finally went to the seats to watch the game. Being a USC fan in the middle of Pennsylvania is very out of the ordinary so it was nice to be surrounded by USC fans and get to experience some of the USC spirit first hand and having them dominate in the game was amazing as well.

Now I am back at Messiah to begin J-Term and a new semester. My roommate from last semester, Emily, is gone to study abroad in England, but Danielle, who was studying in Greece last semester, has come back and taken her place. It is completely different, but I am so excited that she has come back to Messiah. J-term classes started this morning and even though my class looks like a fair amount of work especially reading, it should be a fun time. I get to spend over half of the days in the Early Learning Center with the kids which will be super exciting and a good time I’m sure. Even though part of me does wish it was still break and I wasn’t back to school work again, the other part of me is glad to be back.

This is the time of the year when everyone is super busy. Students are trying to finish the semester and have a bunch of tests to study for on top of a bunch of papers to write. Even those who don’t find themselves at the end of the semester are still running around doing holiday activities. This is the time when we all visit our family and friends, go shopping a million times, since one trip is just not enough to finish off our Christmas gift lists, and bake all of those holiday goodies.

This past week I have found myself super busy. While the rest of the semester I have a fair amount of spare time the past week has not been that way and I see the next week being the same. This weekend I had two large papers to write (which are still not entirely finished) along with other small assignments and studying. I was only able to take a break Friday night for a holiday/gingerbread house decorating party and then Saturday for a few hours to watch the USC game (during which I was too stressed to do any work and now I’m super excited/super nervous for the Rose bowl, but thats an entirely different story).  Looking ahead to the eight days I have two papers, one reflection paper, three presentations, one test, and three finals. On top of that our Gospel choir concert is this weekend (Saturday at 7:30 in Miller auditorium, you should come!) and some Christmas shopping to get done. I cannot wait for this semester to be over. I am definitely ready to go home, visit with my family and high school friends, and relax for a couple weeks. Even though I know I will be busy running around, I know I will still be able to slow down at least a little bit once break comes. And I just can’t wait!