Falcon Footnotes

As a 1st year student, like most freshmen–had the “Unlimited Lottie Meal Plan” in our main dining facility. It’s funny because “Lottie,” as it is known to Messiah Locals, is a huge part of not only life for a 1st year, but for Messiah students in general. With the unlimited plan, you could literally eat in the dining hall a million times a day…stop in for a drink, jet over for a quick rice crispee treat, etc. I remember countless instances of going to Lottie for a quick snack & then not leaving for hours & hours. Dining services also hosts a lot of fun activities and events during dining hours. It’s literally a mecca for not only eating, but socializing, studying, homework, cookie decorating, karaoke, holiday celebrations, & much more. Holidays in “Lottie” are quite a big deal, they’re like a catered dinner party. I remember at the “Lottie” Christmas dinner my 1st year, they had an ice sculpture, a yuletide log, seafood, meat carvers, chocolate covered strawberries, etc. AMAZING! There’s always huge lines to get in as people wait in excited anticipation. Now, as an upperclassmen, I go back & occasionally eat at Lottie for the nostalgic feeling of time’s passed (and of course for the holiday meals!!). To me, “Lottie” is the equivelant of your family’s dining room table at home. Of course you eat there, but you also kick back, share about your day, laugh, make new friends & lasting memories.

With only a few weeks…dare I say DAYS remaining in the semester, project and paper due dates are all flying my way.  This week I have three 10 page papers due.  Pure insanity!  In the midst of my paper madness this week, I have been regularly visiting Messiah’s Writing Center for help with my assignments.  After each visit to the writing center, I leave feeling like someone has handed me a blank check or something.  The Center always seems to eliminate my writer’s block, give me fresh ideas and a well edited paper.  They even email my professors after I’ve met with them to let my profs. know that I’ve been taking the initive and making the extra effort.  I can’t  control when a paper is due or when I will have a test, but it’s these extra little things that help help both my grades AND my sanity.

As a junior, I get the pleasure of living in the upperclassmen apartments.  My roommates get into every holiday and enjoy decorating our apartment accordingly.  In preparation for Thanksgiving, one of my roommates had the brillian idea to organize a Thanksgiving dinner with our apartment and two others.  A Facebook event was even created in honor of the event and everyone, guys and girls both were really excited about our holiday plans.  One apartment of girls took on doing a huge 21 lb. turkey and stuffing, my apartment made all of the side dishes and desserts…and an apartment full of guys brought paper products.  After weeks of planning and preparation we crammed 18 people, 18 chairs, 2 dining room tables, 5 side dishes, 5 desserts, 1 turkey and a big bowl of stuffing into our little kitchen/dining room/living room setup.  After “gobbling” down all of the food (we somehow managed to have leftovers of EVERYTHING!), we all went around and said what we were thankful for.  It was an absolutely amazing evening and it was easy to see that everyone enjoyed themselves.  The next day we all went back to our hometowns to be with our families, but in many ways, we were leaving our “home” and “family” at Messiah.  It’s a beautiful thing when I’m back in my hometown and I get homesick for Messiah and the family I have here in Grantham

As a junior, I feel like I’ve pretty much figured out the way things work around here, slowly but surely.  There is one huge lesson here at Messiah that for some odd reason, has taken me a while to learn.  The art of procrasination is a skill that I’ve strengthened and sharpened after years of practice.  In 6th grade, after staying up past midnight studying for a test that I had put off.  Then, Jr. year, I pulled an all nighter while working to finish a big project.  Both times and many instances in between, I would vow…”NEVER AGAIN!!” to my mom as she feared for my academic survival. It was a historical moment, when I had my 1st “college all nighter” I felt so collegiate as I lined up 3 energy drinks in front of my computer, looking at the dragon that I was about to slay.   The next morning, just as I was printing out my 1st college essay, I couldn’t help but equate the 3 empty energy drink cans to trophies of my hard work.  Since then, I’ve had less and less “NEVER AGAIN moments,” as I’ve learned the proper ways to plan ahead and work on things in advance.  As lessons have been learned over my last 3 years here, I’ve replaced my empty energy drink cans with “A” papers on my apartment fridge and real achievements on my resume.  My mother is so proud