Highlights of the Semester

I have that lilac-y, violet-y smell on my hands. This is the smell of the soap in my bathroom that has occupied the sink for the last two years. I bring my hand to my face to smell it and I immediately feel that my nose is cold (also a good indicator of being home because my dad likes to keep us guessing with the heating-only during the night and only when it’s cold enough). If this isn’t enough for me, I can look around at the random piles of objects in every room and feel right at home: camera and video equipment, books and clothes that Ryan and I have no room for at school, movies from Netflix. Even the refrigerator is randomly compiled; I felt amazingly at home when I opened the refrigerator and had the choice of making a completely random meal. For those of you who don’t know, making meals at my house is quite an art considering I have parents that have full time day AND night jobs. Usually my refrigerator has mustard, pickles, and milk in it…with some slices of deli cheese if you’re lucky. But Ryan has been home for a few days so I am delighted to see the random assortment of goods in the fridge: boxes of leftover takeout that I smell for safety purposes, my favorite ham from the deli, twenty-five different condiments including ten different types of salad dressing, and an entire pot that I didn’t even open but I’m guessing has spaghetti in it. I decided I couldn’t pass up the ham since I spotted provolone cheese in the drawer and some honey wheat bread in the cupboard. My mom’s favorite salsa was also staring me in the eye: an econo-size vat of ‘fresh salsa’ that is more like watered down mixed up vegetables that she is ridiculously anal about buying from Sam’s Club. I look in the cupboard again and find four bags of Tostitos chips. Perfect. Lemonade was sitting out on the counter, so of course I couldn’t pass that up. And so I had lunch. The tastes didn’t compliment each other at all, which was beautiful because that’s the way it always is at my house. I was completely satisfied and continued to eat pounds of salsa and chips as I read the book Anna is lending me, refilling my lemonade glass every other chapter.

Since I haven’t written very much this semester and seeing how, according to Yahoo.com, people like to read information in lists, I am going to write about the highlights of my semester. So, without further ado, in no particular order at all, my semester:

The St. Meinrad’s Trip: For Foundations of Christian Doctrine class, we went to St. Meinrad’s Monastery in St. Meinrad, Indiana. This trip was somewhat like meatloaf and chocolate pudding: comforting. “The trip required us to travel across Southern Illinois and Indiana, causing us to view the newly harvested fields, the scattered trees, and the farm houses, barns, and silos that seemed to be leaning ever so slightly to one side due to the wear and tear they had inevitably experienced from the wind blowing across the prairie over the years. I simply gazed out the window the entire ride because the landscape was comforting to me. I grew up with corn fields in my front yard and wooded timber in my backyard. Not only did that upbringing create a Little House on the Prairie mentality within me, but it also created a sense of home that revolved around the planting and harvesting of the fields, and the growing and changing of the leaves. Home was also defined by the rhythm the liturgical calendar brought through Catholicism. Fields and blue sky, such as the ones that were passing by during the car ride, will always remind me of my childhood, which was defined largely by country living and a Catholic upbringing. It was only fitting, then, that after we traveled across my homeland we arrived at a Catholic institution: St. Meinrad’s Monastery.” –From my reflection paper on the trip. In short, we got to pray with the monks, attend mass, and eat every meal as a class. The long of it is that I can’t deny my love for the Midwest (as shown above). The agriculture, the 360 degree view of the snow globe-like sky I have from my front porch, the seasons, and yes, the flatness. St. Meinrad’s also seems to have a patent on sacred space which was also homelike: not talking before church because your whispers would reverberate off the marble walls, listening to the trickling of the water in the baptismal font, your gaze being caught by the art in the stained glass windows. Yes, meatloaf and chocolate pudding.

Being on Senior Staff for Rez Life/Becoming Wendy: It would be easy to romanticize about being the SRC (it’s helped me so much as a leader) and at the same time it would be easy to complain about it (sometimes I don’t want that much responsibility), but I can’t deny that it’s been a good thing in most ways. I’m looking forward to looking for jobs as a Resident Director next year-we’ll see if that works out. While working as the SRC, I have become pretty close with the RD’s of other buildings, which brings me to my nickname for myself: Wendy. As you may recall, Wendy spends most of her time with the lost boys in Peter Pan. Nathan, Tim, and Seth are those boys; Seth says I’m blessed to be surrounded by good looking men all the time. I say I’m either blessed or cursed, but I’ll go on record and say that it’s definitely not the latter. I am very grateful for you men, and I’m getting really good at ping pong!

Living with Anna/Nancy: Anna’s mom always talks about her college room mate, Nancy. She talks about her with love and fond memories and laughter. Anna is my Nancy. I am thankful for Anna for two reasons: 1. She thinks my crazy ideas are great and not weird. We’ve ordered in courses from McDonalds, read favorite parts of books out loud to each other, created fictitious characters that we refer to as if they live in the real world, played in the snow, committed a crime, and have decided to become equally obsessed with two different things over break (haiku for Anna, Clark Gable movies for me). Ok, this is either akin to kindred spirit-ness or small group communication. I heard the other day that a group for small group com. went out and got tattoos together. Anna, don’t get any ideas, and yes, I AM referring to the communication department, Lord have mercy.
2. Anna is helping me to see both more of who I am and who I can be. However cheesy that may sound, I greatly appreciate her positive Maximizer even though my Intellection just wants to shut the door and think life away. If you don’t understand the last sentence, take the StrengthsFinder, it WILL change your life…or at least your conversations.

Studying World Religions: I never really understood why, when I went to night class on Tuesdays at 6:30 in Dietzman (Lord have mercy again), I felt so peaceful. For three hours a week I had the opportunity to learn about the world’s major religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. I had the opportunity to interview an Orthodox Rabbi in St. Louis. I read fiction and memoirs from every religion. My Input was on fire and I could picture Lauren F. Winner sitting next to me, coaxing me along as I tried to put words around what I was learning about and from these religions that were taking the corners of my mindset about the world and running with them in opposite directions. It’s only fitting that I’m now reading Eat, Pray, Love (coming to a book review blog near you soon) by Elizabeth Gilbert-a book that expands on what it means to be a person with worth that affirms beauty and God at the same time, mostly through the mediums of religion in India. Reading this book after studying Hinduism and Buddhism is like eating carrot cake or coconut cake-it’s sweet and meaty-I understand and, therefore, appreciate. Thank you Greenville College. I still can’t seem to shake the feeling that if I grew up in another country, I would be that culture’s religion, just like Christianity is culture here. I see how other people, through the books we have read, are trying to make sense of life through the faith they have grown up with. This only makes me want to dig deeper into Christianity to both validate what I grew up with and to find myself and God all at the same time.

Noticing Things: I don’t know if it’s because I’m going to graduate or what, but I seem to be taking in the scenery a lot more this year at GC. I’ve kept a few orange and red leaves between the pages of an Anne Lamott book to remember my last fall. I was walking up to Archer one time and was struck by the pink sky, the coldness, and the bird singing in the dead tree limbs. We have officially celebrated the snow by walking around in it during the wee hours of the morning. The witch’s frost (google image it) that showed up on all the trees one morning was stunning. This morning I was driving back from the airport before the sun rose and had to keep telling myself to look at the road because I was in love with the gray and pink striped sky-before-the-sun right above the snow line. It’s like I’m taking the deep breath before graduation, breathing it all in before it’s time to move on. Second semester winter-to-spring awaits me!

Look forward to commentary on Clark Gable movies, reviews on Eat, Pray, Love, Cloister Walk, and, surprisingly, The Golden Compass. Also, the quickest way to put Jim and Pam’s relationship on hold is to piss off the Writers Guild of America so much that they stop writing shows for the Office and other major productions for late night television. Check.

New Years Resolution: To blog more? Oh, and no fast food. Ok, good.