I survived the Fall Semester of my Sophomore year, barely...felt really overwhelmed at the beginning and so dropped a class, then later wished I hadn't because I was ending up wasting too much time. The whole semester I was NOT in school mood and basically didn't care about most of my homework...which is very unlike me and kind of scared me. Somehow (I literally don't know how) I managed to pull out of the semester with really good grades....there were three classes I had been pretty worried about, but I did much better than I expected.
Christmas break was absolutely wonderful. Nathan was home for three weeks and it was so nice to all be together again :) We watched movies together, finished reading Return of the King together, and we had some new experiences together: namely decorating gingerbread houses and painting clown faces for New Year's Eve :D :D I was also able to nanny during the break and do some other work, so that was good. And of course it was wonderful to be with Bluebonnet again :D
Anyway, I entitled this Spring Semester run down, so I guess I better get to that part! I'm taking 18 hours this semester, being news editor for the campus newspaper, doing work study in the library, and whatever else I find to keep myself busy.
Mondays and Wednesdays I have Western Civilization II (also meets Fridays) and Honors Biology.
I'm absolutely loving Western Civ! Each class period we write reading reflections based on questions provided by the teacher. She doesn't grade them for every class, but we never know when she'll decide to pick them up. I think that's what makes me enjoy the class so much - because I process the readings better by writing about them.
I like Honors Biology too, but the teacher and I certainly don't see eye-to-eye about certain issues.
Tuesdays and Thursdays are my busy days. I have Graphic Design, chapel, Introduction to Photography, and Editorial/Interpretative Writing.
We just finished our first project in Graphic Design, and I'm pleased with how mine turned out. I was expecting it to be about learning the software programs like Computer Graphics was last semester...but it's not - it's about design concepts instead. But that's okay...it will probably still do me good (it's required for my major).
I've really been appreciating chapel this semester. The last several months have been a low point in my spiritual life, but God is working in me and reminding me of things that I had forgotten. To read more about that part of my life, you can go to my spiritual blog here.
Introduction to Photography is good, but it's a lot of work too - lots of pictures to take. When the weather's nice, it's fun work though :) During Thanksgiving break I ordered a digital SLR camera since I knew I would need it for the class. (For those of you interested I got a Nikon d3000 with an 18-55 mm lens). I like my new camera a lot :D :D :D
Ed/Interp is also a lot of work...every Thursday we have to turn in a 500 word editorial about some timely topic...so it takes lots of reading of news websites to stay up on the news! I am enjoying it though.
All those classes are each three hour classes. In addition to those, I have three one-hour classes...
Tuesday nights I work as the news editor for the Threefold Advocate, laying out the stories on the news pages. During the week I am also working on reporting and writing one or two stories. And I now serve on the editorial board. So far we've finished three issues of the paper - it's taken me 8, 5, and 6 hours respectively to lay out my pages...I probably spend 2-3 hours reporting and writing each week, plus about 3 hours in staff meetings. So working for the paper definitely keeps me busy! And I am currently only getting one hour of practicum credit for doing that (though I may go up to two hours). I like working for the paper though - even if it does take a lot of time.
Wednesday afternoons I have Student Leadership, which is required before applying to any leadership positions on campus. I'm mainly taking it because I'm applying to be an RA next school year...but if I don't get the RA position I'll apply to be a Passion group (small Bible study) leader instead. I'm really thankful for this class - I enjoy it and I'm in a great small group. Last Monday evening we did our service project that's required for the class. We had a little food drive in the community for a food pantry/thrift store that helps people who need assistance. In just an hour and a half of going door-to-door (in the cold) we were able to collect almost 200 pound of food and lots of clothing.
Thursday evenings I am currently in a one hour "colloquium" class for honors...but I think I'm going to drop it. I wasn't planning on editing for the paper when I signed up for classes, and that takes a lot of time. I'm starting to feel very overwhelmed again. If I drop it I'll still have 18 hours because I'll change my practicum to two hours.
Work study is going fine...this is my second semester in the library. I work two hours on Sunday, Monday and Thursday evenings and Friday afternoons. I close on all those days except for Sunday. The nice thing about working at the library is that I can study quite a bit of the time. As the semester progresses, however, more and more students use the library which means there are progressively more books to shelve! I enjoy it okay, but I'm looking forward to being a TA next semester :D One of my professors has already asked me to do that after his TA graduates this spring.
I also do a little bit with a couple of the CAUSE ministries on campus. Because my schedule is afternoon and evening heavy this semester, I wasn't able to help out with either CEF or mentoring with Right Lead like I have in previous semesters. So far this semester I've knitted some things for the ministry that donates items to a children's shelter. I've also helped once with the community service group, raking leaves for a elderly lady.
I'm really enjoying my friends this semester. I have one of the best roommates ever, and I have three friends that I regularly get together with, as well as several others that I like to hang out with. I'm thankful God has blessed me with good friends :)
Lastly, I've been trying to exercise regularly. I'm doing all right at that---last semester I somehow pulled a muscle in my leg or something, and it bothered me basically from late September until Christmas break. Because of that I had to slack off quite a bit on my running and such. Now I'm finally working back up to running again - but I still have to be careful and pay attention to how my leg is feeling. Anyhow, I typically try to run on the track/machine or bike on a machine 3-4 times a week and do core workouts/weight lifting on alternating days. I did a lot of exercising today, and it felt great! :D
Well, that's about all I have to say about my life this semester in a nut shell.....I'm going to do some homework and then do a post about the crazy weather we've been having here!
No comments:
Post a Comment