Graduation and Moving

This weekend has a lot in store for me. I am moving dorms for the summer and I am attending commencement. The weather is supposed to be beautiful for graduation. Although I am not graduating (I just finished my sophomore year), some of my friends are, and it will be a bittersweet day of commemorating, celebrating, and moving ahead.

Just as last summer, I will be living on campus and working in the Marketing Office. I hope to create many new and fun memories this summer with my friends that are on campus as well. Since I’ll be around, you can expect regular updates from me throughout the summer.

It’s the weekend! Hope you have a good one. =)

Almost there!

I only have two more classes,  finals, and then I’m done for the school year! It’s hard to believe that I am already halfway done with college. I’ve been crazy busy these past few weeks doing project after test after presentation. It can be tiring, but I think that adrenaline along with the fact that summer is coming is keeping me going. Thankfully, things will start to slow down in a little over a week after finals are done. This summer, I am working again at Messiah as the work-study for the Marketing Office. It will keep me busy and it will be a nice change of pace from school work.

I love campus during the summer and seeing all of the lovely sunflowers and nature. It’s really beautiful. So hopefully, I’ll get to take tons of different pictures this summer. I had a lot of fun taking pictures last summer (as you may see some of my posts from then).

My weekend will consist mostly of working and studying, but we’re almost done! Have a happy Friday!

Service Day

Yesterday was Service Day here at Messiah. It’s a day where students and faculty can change up their routines a bit by serving others instead of going to classes or work. I went with a small group of students to Camp Hebron in Halifax, PA. At first, it was cloudy outside, but eventually it became a beautiful sunny day. We had the opportunity to help prepare the camp for the summer. My group cleaned one of the bath houses. The bathrooms were full of dirt, cobwebs, spiders  and other bugs (eww!), but we put our best efforts into making it clean again. I had a lot of fun talking to the other people, and we eventually conquered those bugs. =) I wish I had brought my camera with me, but it would have been a bit hard to take pictures while working.

Overall, it was a really great day of service and fellowship and I look forward to next year’s Service Day!

It’s Friday!

Friday is always my favorite day of the week. =) After classes and work, I can relax a little and hang out with my friends.

Last week, I have the opportunity to go to the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Regional Competition in Baltimore. SIFE is an international organization that encourages the integration of business skills and service. Our SIFE team had a lot of fun as we presented on our projects and we even got to explore Baltimore during our free time. This was my first time visiting Baltimore so I found it new and exciting!

In my last post, I mentioned my photography class — I have really enjoyed it so far! I am learning a lot of new techniques for my pictures and I have come to appreciate pictures a lot more. Since we are doing film photography (I know, a rarity these days) I have to think more carefully before I take each picture because I can only take 24 pictures per roll. I love my digital camera, but I usually take a couple hundred pictures at a time without even thinking about it. With film photography, every picture counts, and there is no preview screen to see how my pictures turned out. I don’t have any pictures to show you today, but I hope to have some in the coming weeks.

Have a great weekend!

New Beginnings

Although it is already February, I feel like it the new year, especially because spring term started this week. J-term was very relaxing and I feel rejuvenated and ready to dive into my fun, but crazy busy semester. I’ve been thinking a lot about this blog, and what I want to talk about,and I have decided to shift my focus to photography, something that I love to do. I will try to include at least one picture with my posts. Until now, I have only done digital photography, but I am learning film photography in one of my classes this semester. I am so excited for all that I am going to learn! Maybe some of my film photos will turn up here. =)

The picture for this week is a black and white photo of an exquisite antique chair that was sitting in the hallway of the hotel that I stayed at for New Year’s Eve. Enjoy!

Beautiful Antique Chair

Moving

During the last year at Messiah, I have lived in two dorms, Naugle (freshmen year) and Witmer (this summer). In only a couple of hours, I will be moving in Grantham residence (yah!), where I will be living my sophomore year. I am really excited to living in Grantham, but I sometimes wish that my belongings would magically move themselves up and down the many stairs, from building to car and so forth,  and into the proper place. Wishful thinking, I know, but it really would be nice, wouldn’t it? Anyway, I’m sure it will be worth it to see my room all laid out. My roommates and I are looking forward to decorating the room with our own flair (something I failed to do in my last room). This endeavor will probably be fun, yet frustrating (I’ll have to create a little walking path when all the boxes and bags are on the ground), but hey, at least I won’t have to move again until next May. =)

Signs, Solar Panels, and So Much Construction!

If you haven’t been on campus recently, you might be surprised by some the changes that have been made over the summer. There has been tons of construction happening all over, from the installation of solar panels on the  north complex (Grantham, Hess, and Miller Residences) to the restoration of the covered bridge. Of course, the most noticeable (at least to me)  construction site is outside of Old Main (I see and hear it from my office haha). Additionally, the campus has become increasingly visitor friendly, with new signs providing direction to various buildings. This will definitely be helpful to visitors and freshmen in the fall; I remember not having a clue where I was going during my first week or so as a freshman last year (seems like ages ago). Nevertheless, I hope they can finish all of these projects before the start of the school year.

School…

This may be premature, but I have already ordered some of my textbooks for the fall semester. I know, really … already? It seems like the summer has barely begun (although it feels like it today with the 100 degree weather). Even though I’ve been on working on campus all summer, I haven’t thought too much about school (at least the classes part of it)–there is a totally different, more relaxed atmosphere here over the summer. Sure, there are a lot of camps and conferences that come through here during the summer, but it’s not the same as having a couple thousand fellow college students roaming campus. I look forward to the school year, but I also want to enjoy the rest of my summer to the fullest.

sunshine and sunflowers

Just yesterday, I was reminded of the stunning beauty of God’s creation. There is a whole field of sunflowers growing next President Phipps’ house. I stopped by to take some pictures of the sunflowers, which are in full bloom right now. I have never seen quite so many sunflowers all in the same place, all towering over me (I’m short and these flowers were close to 6 feet tall!). The bright, blue sky, abundant sunshine, and beautiful sunflowers made this a breathtaking experience. If you ever get a chance to see the field either this season or next, you won’t want to pass it up!

beach, boardwalk, & fireworks

This past weekend, for Independence Day, I went to Wildwood, NJ. This happens to one of my favorite NJ beaches. It’s one of the last beaches on NJ’s coast. The town has a major doo-wop architecture influence, which I love.  The weather was beautiful, with temperatures ranging from the mid-eighties to the low-nineties. Besides the obvious attractions of the beach and boardwalk, I really enjoyed going into unique shops and visiting the booths of vendors with one-of-a-kind items. I love jewelry, so I had a lot of fun at looking at (and buying some) handcrafted little masterpieces. On Friday night, there was a fireworks show, where I tried my hand at taking photographs of fireworks for the first time. I still have to perfect that art, but I got to experiment with the different setting on my camera, to see what did and did not work. Overall, I had a fun and relaxing time, which is exactly what a vacation should be!