final blog post of the year!

This year was...
a really great year.
stressful. fun. new. exciting. scary. empowering. life-giving. weird. lonely. full. alive.

I did a lot. Academically, I have experienced:

1 ten page research paper on "learning outside the classroom"
2 major lab write-ups for biology
3 labs (Concepts in Biology, Gen Chem I, Gen Chem II)
4 speeches and 4 presentations
8 chemistry exams
12 professors
28 arabic letters
30+ books
48 pages of written responses to five books in Intro to Theology
99th percentile on the American Chemical Society exam
700 math problems (approximately)
7000 pages read, give or take a few hundred

Socially, I have experienced:

1 time getting stuck in a tree
2 dumpster diving trips
3 times dying my hair
5 pancake parties
15 (or so) collage marathons
10+ late night walks
100 (give or take a few dozen) nights of drinking tea with thia and friends

and many new friends
and an infinite amount of joyful moments

I have experienced different church, different spirituality, different prayer.
I have watched more movies than I have in the rest of my life combined.
I have read, written, thought, experienced, grown.


----Tell me - what will you do with your one wild and precious life?

dumpster diving!!!!!!!!

reasons why i love this school:

-singing the doxology in the caf - you know, a whole table just randomly bursting into song

-redeeming food, AKA dumpster diving!

-study breaks in common grounds: free coffee! everything half off! (including the chocolate covered espresso beans...)

-bruce coming to deliver food to my dorm door...

-----EDIT-----

Thia reminded me of another totally awesome thing:

while we were dumpster diving, WE RAN INTO OTHER EMU STUDENTS. AND BARGAINED DUMPSTER FOOD WITH THEM.

I seriously adore EMU. :)

Trent Wagler and the Steel Wheels

I discovered some beautiful new music tonight. This weekend is EMU's springfest and tonight there were bands playing. The last band was Trent Wagler and the Steel Wheels. I had heard about this band before - they play at EMU relatively often, and several of their members graduated from EMU. I had never heard them before tonight...and now I am a dedicated fan.

I told one of my friends that probably one of the best things about going to a school south of the Mason-Dixon line is the music. I will let you decide for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olQCcrn-Zjw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFkNzWZcME8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgRTTlYpZOE&feature=related


I went back to my room after they finished their concert and went straight to google to see if they had youtube videos. They played all of these songs (among many others) and I couldn't decide my favorite so I put up the links for all of them. You should *REALLY* listen to at least one video. Just imagine sitting on the steps below the plaza outside the Campus Center - probably 200 college students sitting outside in the dark, listening to bluegrass/folk/blues music. People clapping, talking, enjoying the last Friday of the school year before finals and graduation. Oh, what a beautiful night.

growing. green. grace.

i am happy tonight because i read on discipleship hill. and then went to sit in the silent seminary building to write (journal). silence is very necessary - to happiness, to health, to sanity.

My life flows on in endless song

Above earth's lamentations

I hear the sweet though far-off hymn

That hails a new creation

No storm can shake my inmost calm

While to that rock I'm clinging

Since love is Lord of heaven and earth

How can I keep from singing?

my day redeemed

today surprised me. it was nicer than i thought.

i went to the arabic dinner and it was so wonderful. we ate biryani and this super awesome salad with lemon/olive oil dressing and lettuce and cucumbers, spring onions, tomatoes, basil, mint, cilantro, and sumac. (no, not poison sumac - it is a tangy spice from syria).

while my professor made the meal, we had iraqi music playing in the background and louis taught us a turkish dance. we met his sister and just talked and hung out (in the PRESIDENT'S HOUSE). then after the meal we had iranian tea and stuffed dates that my friend tessa made.

we heard more stories from my professor's time as a translator in iraq, as well as stories about his life growing up. he sang for us, too.

it was just so wonderful. i am so so so so so excited for my cross-cultural. :)

then i came back and began a collage. this collage, unlike some of my recent creations, is hopeful. it is focused on the beauty and wonder of the world.

i am going to attatch some pictures from my beautiful, suprising, grace-filled night.

erk.

i am going to get an A on this chem lab if it is the *last* thing i do. grrrrrrrr.
then i am going to sleep.
then i am going to go to the house of the president of EMU and help my arabic professor cook a traditional Iraqi meal. ---which means i need to go shopping sometime within the next three hours to find raw almonds.

but first, i am going to hit my head against a wall.


...thunk...thunk...thunk...

14 more days...

i never thought i'd say this

...but i can't wait for this school year to be over.

i am so tired.



i'm tired of the same seven classes. the same work study. waking up for an 8AM three times a week.

i'm tired of staying up super late to finish my intro to theology papers. i'm tired of studying for *so long* and only getting a B on my stats exam.

i'm tired of feeling like i have to choose between friends, family, God, school, work, and sleep.

i'm ... tired. as in, physically tired.

i'm tired of being tired. (i should not have done so much this semester. except that every semester for the rest of my academic life is going to be just as bad, so i shouldn't complain).





i just want to be at Camp Hebron. swimming in the lake, tipping campers out of their kayaks, singing the Banana King song, hiking up Peter's Mountain. banana boats. vespers and singing and sleeping under the stars. walking up the giant hill to Breezewood, going on trail rides, singing the theme song 200 times by the end of the summer. getting sunburnt and bug-bitten. swallowing pool water. remembering the good in the world.




i sort of just want to feel like a kid again. relive a time before i knew of dreadful things and haunting questions and stories that keep you awake at night with horror. there is good in the world - i believe this. today i noticed that the leaves of redbud trees are shaped like hearts. in a world with heart-shaped leaves, morning mist, beautiful music, summer camps, gardens - there must be something good. There must be Good.