a boy and his cat

There's this one adorable cat who is running all around campus lately. She has a collar but apparently isn't declawed, so she must be an outdoor cat. She is THE BEST CAT EVER. When Peter picks her up, she puts one arm on either side of his shoulders and nuzzles her head into his chin. I cannot believe how adorable it is. I got a picture--not a good one though...


I also have pictures from playing Five Crowns on Friday night. Jen, Peter, Chris and I all played in the 2nd-floor lobby of Hirschy Annex before going to Wal-Mart...we had a good time. I lost miserably--last place!


This is Southern Belle Peter or maybe Geisha Peter. LOL!

Huh. I just realized this is turning into a blog all about Peter. Well, Peter is awesome. He's hilarious, and insults me in the funniest ways; when I'm upset he's got sweet words for me, and he does notice when I'm upset. So he deserves his own blog post :-) I'm gonna miss him this summer!

Things are getting bittersweet around here. When I hang out with the guys--or anyone--I'm aware that it's one of the last times we'll be together for 4 months...

Also on Friday, Jessica and I spent some time together painting our nails and getting food from Bob's. It was so much fun being girly together in her dorm room, talking about life. She's not living on campus next year, but she's best friends with Allen, so I bet she'll be around. It's awesome how much you can have in common with people who seem different from you! Jessica is a music major who wears moccasins, and I'm a girly-girl who likes pink! I think it's cute that we can be friends :-)

So moral of the story: I have some great friends here at Bluffton :-)

220 Neufeld!

Guess what! I found a roommate and a room for next year! I found out that Olivia, who is friends with my friends, didn't have a roommate either and so we decided we would room together, and there was one room still open in Neufeld, the nicest dorm (that you have to pay an extra $200 a semester for). A lot of my friends are in Neufeld so I really wanted to be there. So next semester, come visit us in 220 Neufeld :-)

Speaking of Olivia, she and I joined 4 of the guys--my boyfriend Chris, her boyfriend Chris (I know, it's going to be so confusing), Peter, and Mark--for tennis ball golf on Friday! I took some pictures:
That's Mark climbing up the bank of the Riley after rescuing some of our tennis balls from the creek. Thanks, Mark! :-)


Here's Chris (and the other Chris behind him!) taking a swing near the art building.

It was pretty fun--I did about 5 rounds (is that what you call them?) and didn't fail miserably most of the time!

Finals started on Friday, and I think I did really well on sociology (my only exam so far). We'll see. And classes ended on Thursday, which was mildly sad but not much.

The other thing that has been keeping me busy is Singin' in the Rain. I've been working a lot on the films and they may be finally completely done. (I keep thinking they're done and then we find mistakes...so I'm going to say "may be" instead of "are"!) It's been so hard to get used to using Adobe Premiere Elements 3, which is what they have here at school, instead of Final Cut Pro, which is what I used for last summer's "Hamartia" at RC-TV15. (Which, by the way, I can't wait to return to! Adam and I are going to edit this year's McQuaid film there this summer!)

Once the play is over, I'll maybe post some of the clips from the films on here, so you guys can see what I've done! I got to have fun with it because it was so corny and goofy.

Well, it's late! Stay posted for more pictures in the next blog of tonight's card games!

recognition for Winter Formal! banquets galore

Tuesday was the 2nd annual SOUL banquet (Student Organizations United in Leadership). Winter Formal was nominated for Best Programming. We were up against Sex Signals and Homecoming, and Sex Signals won (rightfully so--it was awesome!). So it was really nice for my committee and I to be recognized as contributing to Bluffton's student life! I'm so proud of us! Tabitha, Jen, Mel, and I all went over to the banquet together and had a nice little time. The food was really good--ex: chicken that's better quality than normal days in Marbeck! We also had a very funny keynote speaker, Chris Jebsen, the director of admissions. And it was fun to dress up a little. So all in all, a good night!


Then tonight was a banquet for Big Brothers Big Sisters. We went to a restaurant called The Old Barn Out Back, which is buffet-style. It was pretty good, and it felt nice to be recognized for our efforts with the kids, too.

On Monday is ANOTHER banquet, this one for the Honors program, at Tu Pueblo in town!

I also gave my final speech today in Public Speaking. It went really well, I think, and the thing I'm happiest about is a comment that I got on a piece of paper afterwards (we had to review each other's speeches): "I never really knew much about foster care before but now I am really considering doing it when I'm older" or something very close to that. That is EXACTLY what I wanted to do with the speech! :-)

Today was the last day of classes! We had Monday classes even though it's a Thursday because we've missed a lot of Mondays for different reasons. It was a little sad but not too much. So all we have left is finals and Singin' in the Rain. Tomorrow is my first final--Sociology. I'm a little nervous! Wish me luck!

papers, photo shoots, and end of BBBS

School is almost over, I can't believe it. I'm almost done being a freshman in college!

I spent tonight working on papers. I have 2 due tomorrow: one for sociology and one for biblical world view, each about 2 pages long. I sort of liked the sociology paper--not writing it, but the idea behind it. We looked at whether women who have their first child at a younger age (say, 18) make less, in general, than women who have their first child at an older age (35). (There does seem to be a trend that indicates that that's true.)

I'm also polishing up a speech I may have to give tomorrow. It's possibly my favorite assignment at Bluffton so far because we got to choose a topic we care about. I chose to talk about being a foster parent. I'm not sure why that cause is really important to me, but I wholeheartedly believe in recruiting more capable, loving foster parents. There are so many children in need of safe, stable, nurturing homes, and we need more people to provide this for them.

The speech is sort of an evolution of the speech I gave on Monday, so it wasn't terribly hard to write this one. It was mostly improving and adding onto what I had already.

This morning I did a photo shoot for the admissions office! About 5 other students and I posed for pictures in a tiny classroom, pretending to listen to 2 different professors lecture. It was fun, though we had to sit unnaturally close to each other! We'll see if any of the pictures I was in make it into any promotional materials. That would be exciting!

The other big thing about today was that it was my last Big Brothers Big Sisters session of the school year. We played kickball as a group instead of doing much actual schoolwork. It was kind of sad to say goodbye. I don't know if I'm going to be with the same child next year. I think I will try to continue to mentor, though. This is the next best thing to being a foster parent, since I'm only 19 and everything!

I would encourage everyone to look into being a foster parent or a Big Brother/Sister. Visit beafosterparent.org and bbbs.org to find out more about helping children in need!

food, worship, & life!

Hey everyone! I've been neglecting my blog lately so I thought I'd squeeze in a blog before bed!

Some thoughts about life at Bluffton...

The food: As I've said many times before, I do not like the food. But I should reiterate that it's partially because I'm a picky eater. I have a favorite dish: the Italian pasta salad in the salad bar. It tastes just like the stuff from Wendy's did when I was little. I also like the ravioli, and they make some good quesadillas with different vegetables and beans in them. Their nachos are yummy, if a little spicy. And their baked ziti dish is usually good. If you guys want to see what you'd eat in a typical week, check out http://www.bluffton.edu/marbeck/foodservice/Weeklymenu/ .

At Bob's Place, which is the fast-food-type shop, I usually get mozzarella sticks, unless it's breakfast hours, in which case I go for the huge chocolate-chip or blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs. Breakfast is really cheap there, but it's only served till 11:15. My guy friends like their chicken tenders a lot. And a sub is always a safe option.

Worship: There are two types of on-campus religious services. Every Thursday at 11 is chapel, which is completely voluntary, unlike at many other Christian colleges. Then on every other Sunday morning they hold a Sunday Morning Worship Service. Both are rather contemporary, which isn't really my style, which is part of the reason why I rarely go. But other people enjoy them and are regular attendees.

Dorm hours: I don't remember if I've written about them before--sorry if this is old news. Bluffton has open dorm hours from 12-12 (I think?) Sunday through Thursday, and then on Friday and Saturday I think it's 12 to 2, or something around there. I don't usually have to worry about the morning start times, just the evening end times, which I know are 12 and 2. So what that means is that people of the opposite sex can only be in your room during those times. The lobbies are open much more--something like 7 AM to 2 AM? Lots of people complain about this, but I think I like it. For one thing, it makes it easier to get to bed at a reasonable hour! If I'm hanging out with the guys on a school night, it's a good thing that I have to be out by midnight because then that means I go back to my room and get ready for bed. If they didn't have those rules, it'd probably be much harder for me to stick to a reasonable bedtime. Another good thing is that I don't have to worry about guys seeing me walking around in my towel from the shower or in my pajamas unless I get ready for bed early or wake up REALLY late. And I think a final good thing about it is that it helps you set boundaries with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Of course, this rule doesn't get followed to the letter--I've seen it/heard of it being broken on numerous occasions--but generally it's a good thing that it's there. And I like that it's not terribly strict. One Christian college I visited had dorm hours that didn't start until 4 PM. I thought that was a little ridiculous. This gives us reasonable freedom.

Well, I'm exhausted. Even though dorm hours ended at 2 and so I came back to my room then, I've been online since I got back. So tonight the dorm hours didn't help me get to bed at a reasonable time :-) Goodnight everyone!

where to go when you need to get off-campus

Q: Where do Bluffton students go when they feel like getting off campus?

A: Since I've come to college, I think I've spent more time at Wal-Mart than I have ever before! We go every couple of weeks and spend probably an hour inside. With gas so expensive, it costs like $6 to get there even in Peter's fuel-efficient car, which is ridiculous, but it's so nice to get off campus and it's such a convenient place to get everything you need. Plus you can get the thrill of spending money without being frivolous. (At least, this is one reason I go to Wal-Mart...I'm not sure the guys think of it that way!)

Right next to Wal-Mart is Waffle House. I had never been to a Waffle House before coming here--they don't have any in Rochester, that I know of. For those of you who don't know, it's just a little diner-ish place. Nothing remarkable at all. But it's pretty cheap and it serves breakfast food anytime, which is great when you have a craving for scrambled eggs! (You can also satisfy your maple syrup cravings by drinking it out of the bottles they put on the tables...I think it's nasty but people do it!)

Sometimes people go to Tu Pueblo, the Mexican restaurant in town, or take a trip to the Whippy Dip, which is down the road on Main Street a little ways but still definitely within easy walking distance. There's fast food down right by the highway, including Arby's, McDonald's, Subway, Taco Bell, and more.

Toledo is only about an hour away, so if you feel like going to a big mall, that's an option for a day trip, and for shorter mall trips you can go to Lima or Findlay. Other places in Lima and Findlay that we go to are Kohl's, Friendly's (yummy) and Hobby Lobby. So that stuff is within 15-25 minutes (depending on how fast the guys are driving!)


Q: What stores are available right in town? Where can I get prescriptions, milk, etc?

Greg's Pharmacy is a little store with tons of things that you might need but don't want to make the trip to Wal-Mart for, like batteries or tissues or toothbrushes. It's really convenient. And of course if you need medication, it's a pharmacy.

I walk to the gas station for milk sometimes in a pinch. They're so friendly there!

The natural foods store is nice. Some people get their water there--I think you can bring in containers and pay to fill them up.

The Etcetera Shop is a little thrift store with clothing and household items. I think it's pretty hit or miss, but it's fun to look even if you don't find anything. There's also Ten Thousand Villages, which is a globally-focused little store with handmade things from artisans around the world. Things in there are pretty expensive in general, but it's really awesome inside and I duck in whenever I'm strolling around.

The movie rental place just shut down, so that's not an option anymore, which is depressing. But you can still get some movies from the rental machine at McDonald's, which I think is pretty amusing!

Also, there's a hairdresser who I have never been to but it's surprisingly modern inside, with all the newer products, despite its old-fashioned exterior. I think I might try going there next year.


So, those are a few of the things that we do when we go off-campus. Clearly Bluffton isn't exactly the most happening place, but we have our small-town fun. You have to be prepared to live in the middle of nowhere if you come to Bluffton! But it's really nice to have clean country air, no highway noise, few sirens, and other country luxuries. I'm getting used to living in cornfields!

Q & A about college life!

Hey everyone. Today I thought I'd address some questions that some of you might have when you're preparing for college...

1. Is it really one big slumber party with all these girls living together?

Actually, some days, yeah. Particularly at the beginning of the year, groups of us (anywhere between 3 and 8 girls) would lie on the floor in the hallway of the dorm with our legs up against the wall, just talking and giggling about anything and everything. This has considerably slowed down as the year progresses, but occasionally it will still happen, or girls will gather in the kitchen as they bake cookies. Yes, it sounds cheesy, but it happens! So sometimes people are up till 2 AM just talking and talking. It's a great bonding experience and I think maybe it's easier to talk about deeper issues because you're staring at the ceiling, not at each other! The only downside is that other people may be trying to sleep nearby, but this hasn't been a problem for us. Sometimes my roommate is asleep already and I hear a group of girls giggling in the kitchen, so I'll go out and say, "Hey guys, just so you know, Meghan is asleep, so if you could just..." and smile and leave it at that. And they have no problem with it that I can tell. If you're really bugged by inconsiderate people and don't want to ask them to be quiet yourself, you can go to your RA and they will take care of it for you. Our dorms have quiet hours from maybe 11 PM to 8 AM, so you're not allowed to be REALLY noisy at night, and 24-hour "courtesy" hours, which means be respectful at all times. I've noticed that my dorm is a LOT quieter than those at other schools; for example, I visited Goshen several times and each time, I could hear music blasting through multiple doors into the hallway and could feel the bass in a different room. It was really annoying and unsettling to someone who enjoys quiet like I do. But I think that most of the dorms here at Bluffton are more low-key, with people playing their music more softly--or maybe it's just that the walls are thicker here!

All joking aside, I do think that Bluffton tends to be a more low-key campus with more conservative people and a quieter atmosphere. It's very peaceful. But if you're looking for a 24/7 party school with punk-rock cliques, we're not for you! :-)

2. How do I prepare so I'm not so nervous?

For me, what worked was focusing on the one thing I could control: the decorations of my room. For those of you who are more masculine, you might focus on the setup of your room, with where you'll store all your video games and stuff like that! I sent lots of e-mails back and forth with my roommate, whom I did not get to meet before school started, talking about what kind of stuff we were each buying. I sent her pictures of my comforter, our rugs, even my towels and little lamps! It made me feel better to know that my room was going to be a sanctuary and a fun place to retreat from whatever bad things I might experience. Make sure you communicate with your roommate as to who is bringing what--you don't need 2 TVs (usually), two DVD players, etc. Some people choose to bring 2 of things like fridges because they will use them so much, but a lot of people just have 1 that they share. Also, make sure you read the student handbook online before you buy stuff--there might be restrictions that you didn't think about. For example, at Bluffton, we can't have open flames, so no candles, and no curtains (although today I saw a window that totally had pink curtains! SO not allowed).

Okay, I think that's enough questions for the night! I hope I helped!

As for what's been going on in my life and on campus, there hasn't been a whole lot. I spend most of my free time with my boyfriend and our other guy friends, hanging out, watching movies, eating, going on Wal-Mart trips, things like that. Tonight I had dinner with some girls I know from the Honors program, First Year Seminar, and Big Brothers Big Sisters, which was a fun little change.

Oh! Some other news! Filming for Singin' in the Rain is scheduled to start on Saturday! Please wish me luck as I tackle this big project!

I'll let you know how it goes. For now, I'll leave you with a cute picture, though it's bad quality, of Chris and I, and a picture of Peter being goofy with Eli in the background!

MEHA--Mideast Honors Association Conference

Good weekend! On Friday, Tabitha and I were excused from our 3:00 class so we could pack for a weekend in Indianapolis. 7 of us from the honors program signed up to go with our Honors director to the conference for the Mideast Honors Association. We piled into a 12-passenger van and got to Indianapolis around 8 PM. We had missed the activities earlier in the evening but we were able to join the Icebreakers events and get settled in our rooms. For Icebreakers, we did things like split into groups and play the Numbers Game. Ever played? There are a list of questions about the members of the group, and each question has a quantitative answer. For example, "What is your shoe size?" Then you add up the group's answers and compare them with other groups, and whoever has the biggest number wins. Pointless but fun. (We didn't win.)

Tabitha and I stayed in a room with Christy, and that night the three of us went out exploring the city. It was awesome. Most stores were closed, but we got some great pictures, which I can't post yet because I don't have them. Then on Saturday and Sunday we had presentations about things such as stem cell research and how to expand your honors program. They were actually pretty interesting and useful. We explored the city some more on Saturday night. Walked along the canal, posed for pictures with awesome public art, had mint hot chocolate at the Chocolate Shop...it was a really nice time. I would definitely recommend the conference to other honors students. It's a nice weekend away, a great chance to explore a new place, and you can meet other honors students and learn really important things. I plan on using things I learned at the conference a LOT, such as fundraising ideas and strategies and ways to organize committees. It's definitely a conference for people who want to be leaders.

Now we're back at Bluffton and I've got a speech due on Wednesday, a speech due on Friday, and a huge science test tomorrow. Gotta go study!

here we go again...

I have pictures from the break!


Here's one thing that Bluffton students do for fun...we sit in our dorm rooms and throw beach balls around! The ball actually came from Marbeck Center Board, the group that does activities. They stopped by the dinner table a month or two ago and gave out stuff to promote their Friday night activity, which was a luau. I only stopped by the luau for a little while, but this ball has lasted awhile.

This is Eli, who came to visit us. Good times!

The last couple of days have been unremarkable. People gradually trailed back to campus on Monday. I think I hung out with the guys but I don't really remember! I didn't do much of anything yesterday because I didn't have classes. Last night, Chris and I both had papers we had to work on, so we didn't watch a movie or anything, but each of us had done the paper that the other one was doing, so we helped clarify stuff for each other, which was helpful. The papers were for Introduction to Biblical Worldview. His was an in-depth study (well, a few pages' worth of study) on Matthew 5-7, while mine was about "the good life."

Hall Association is winding things up for the year. I thought of an interesting idea last night to boost our income from the Pepsi-brand vending machines in the lobby. We used to get around $200 every month and now it's down to less than $50, so I wondered if maybe a change of selection would help boost the sales again. We're going for more "girly" drinks, like more flavored water and less straight energy drinks. We'll see how that change goes over.

Little Sibs Weekend is coming up soon, as is Capture the Flag with the other "south-side" halls, Bren-Dell and Riley Court. Details about Capture the Flag are still a little up in the air, but it sounds like it'll be a fun thing! Also, Cat, an RA from Ropp Addition, decorated the lobby for spring, and it makes it look really festive. Pictures will be posted next blog! That's one reason I love Ropp: the Hall Association makes it look adorable. We have big windows that we paint with words and symbols to celebrate different events, like hearts for Valentine's Day, and we decorate for things like Christmas and Halloween. It looked pretty magical at Christmas, I thought--lots of twinkle lights and several decorated trees. So at night when you came back to the dorm, you'd be walking in the glow of the string lights! (Sometimes, I have no idea why, the lights in the lobby are off in the evening/night. It's actually a little spooky. I should bring that up at Hall Association!)

See you all later, I've got another paper to write!

fun with the guys for Easter

Well, this weekend was pretty awesome! I spent all my time with Chris, Peter, and Eli. We had picked Eli up from Goshen on Thursday afternoon and hung out that evening. The next morning we had planned on meeting up for lunch at Marbeck, but then they called me and said oops: Marbeck isn't open this whole weekend! So we drove to Community Markets, which is rather expensive and not very large but really close by, and picked up a few things, and then made the 20-minute trek to Wal-Mart to get a TON of food. We planned on 6 meals for 4 people, but it ended up being way too much, because Chris and I were gone the whole day Saturday. We drove to Perrysburg, his hometown, to take his sister shopping for her birthday, and we also went to Biaggi's for dinner with a lot of his extended family. They're fun and wacky. I had been to Biaggi's once before--they have one right outside of Rochester--and it was pretty good.

So anyway, that left only Peter and Eli there to eat food on Saturday, and then Eli left today after lunch. Our Easter dinner was ridiculous--it was tacos and Hawaiian rolls! Not exactly traditional. But it was fun nonetheless--and maybe it'll be a new tradition, who knows?

The campus was dead this weekend. I'm not sure there was ANYONE on my entire floor except for me. If there was, I didn't see or hear them at night when I was around, and there was no evidence of them in the bathrooms. The RAs put up these pieces of colored paper with questions on them in the stalls and you write answers to them. So I've written my answers and nobody else has put anything up yet, so I'm assuming I've been the only one here! I saw my RA on maybe Thursday night, but after that, it was so empty. I don't really know what the international students did. I bet some of them were invited home by friends.

At least nobody being here gave us plenty of room in the floor's freezer to store our food!

We also hung out with 3 friends of Eli's, two who go here and one from Goshen. They came by Chris's room and watched part of Enchanted with us...They didn't like it too much. Too girly for them. But they confirmed my best friend Adam's opinion that I am Princess Gisele personified/she is the movie version of me! So if you want to know what I'm like, just watch the movie :-)

Oh, I forgot. On Friday night the guys and I went over to Rodney and Marie's, friends of ours who live just outside of town, and had dinner with them. Then we played Five Crowns and I came in first place! I'm pretty proud of myself. I saved the scorecard to put in a scrapbook :-) It's a good game, you should try it!

spontaneity

I expect this weekend to be a good one! It's going to be pretty empty here because most people have gone home for Easter. But I wasn't up for an 8-hour car ride on Thursday and Monday to get home, so I'm staying here, as are my friend Peter and my boyfriend Chris. Plus, Peter and I drove to Goshen today to pick up our friend Eli, so I did end up spending about 6 hours in the car, but it was 2 sets of 3 hours, so it wasn't as bad as going home would be.

Tonight we watched "Right at Your Door," a slightly creepy and disturbing movie about dirty bombs going off in LA. It was unnerving to think that we're so vulnerable, but it made me feel better to know that I'm in a small town where it's presumably safer. But the movie, all in all, was pretty lame. We've been watching lame movies lately because the Movie Gallery in town just closed, and so they were selling DVDs for $1.50. But by the time Chris got there, they were pretty cleaned out of good ones! I did end up scoring some great deals (of course, the guys don't want to watch mine), but it's sad that they went out of business because they're the only movie rental place in town. Although the McDonald's does have one of those new DVD rental machines!

Speaking of McDonald's, I went with the girls (Melissa, Danette, Kristy, and Meghan) to McDonald's the other night right after dinner to get Shamrock Shakes. We decided that we were hungry for them and so we just hopped in the car and went! It's nice to have such freedom and to be able to be spontaneous like that. And the same thing happened a different night--I was at dinner with Kristen and some of our mutual friends, and we decided that we were going to go to Movie Gallery that night that it was $1.50. So, again, we just hopped in the car and spent like an hour browsing the store!

It's good times like those that make college so much fun!

outside!

Back from spring break…not a great one. I’m kind of glad to be back to my normal routine at school.

Tonight I'm hanging out with Alen, Chris, Peter, and Chris's friend Adam from Cincinatti. Earlier they did something that I think is really cool, even if I don't do it myself--they played Ultimate Frisbee in the field by Adams Bridge. They have it Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 4. It's just an informal type of thing, I guess, but sometimes a prof joins them, which is funny to see. Today it was supermuddy but they played anyway, so Chris came back with a handprint on his shirt. I should have taken a picture!

Another outdoor activity that I haven't taken part in is sledding. There's a couple of small hills on campus, one by the art building and one by Bren-Dell dorm. Sometimes we hear little kids sledding down the hill, but a lot of the time it's actual college students who are sledding. My girl friends have had some snowball fights, which aren't my thing, but a few days ago we staged a fake snowball fight for the Putnam County Sentinel for a friend who works there:

These are the girls from my floor that I go to dinner with every day. Kristy on the left, me in brown and pink, Meghan in red, then Danette, and Melissa being the victim of our attack. It was totally out of character for me to be throwing a snowball--and throwing it Melissa--but it turned out to be a really cute photo!

I guess the good thing about being in a small town is that you have a better chance of being the newspaper than you do in a big city! :-)

almost time for break

My mom and Kristen's mom are driving up (well, over?) on Thursday and will be here late Thursday night, and they'll stay Friday too, and on Saturday morning we'll head back home. I'm not looking forward to break. It just kind of messes up the schedule you've got going for yourself, you know? I guess most other people are like, "Thank goodness break is here!" but Christmas break really threw me off balance, and I'm hoping this week off doesn't do the same.

I'm not going to miss the food here, that's for sure, but I will really miss the people, particularly Chris and Peter. I hang out with them almost every night now, even though hanging out consists of almost nonstop jokes at either my expense or the expense of women! For those of you who don't know, I met Peter this summer at orientation; he was staying with mutual friends of the family and I met him at their house. We didn't hang out much at all until just before Christmas break, when I started joining the college ball tournaments at Bob's that he and Chris were a part of. As for Chris, we were in the same First Year Seminar class, and again, I started hanging out with him when I started playing college ball. Now the three of us do lots of things together: weekly Wal-Mart trips for groceries (I have basically a constant hunger), near-nightly movies, baking, trips to the house of our family friends, baking/cooking, studying, whatever! And of course, the whole time, I'm saying stupid things (not on purpose!) and they're laughing at me! It's a surprisingly good time :-) I'm staying with them at Chris's house overnight on the way back to school, so that should be fun, because Chris has a cool sister and nice friends. Except the guys are going to startle us during the scary movie we're going to watch--I hate that!

Well, I've got to go set up for the Hall Association's scrapbooking night. I'm going to bring some of my clear acrylic stamps to show people (my mom and I sell Close to My Heart products) so people can play around with them, they're so much fun. "See" you all after break!

"that's how you know..."

One question that it was suggested I address in my blog was how you know that a college is right for you. For me, it wasn't an extremely difficult decision once I got rejected from my other top choice university: I just felt comfortable at Bluffton when I visited, and I knew I would have a support system here because my best friend from home is a sophomore here, and my parents have friends in town. So even though I'm eight hours away from my family, I've got people that I can turn to here.

I really like the beauty of the campus here. It's so cute! Sure, there's a few ugly buildings, but then there's the really picturesque parts like the library, Lincoln Hall, and even Centennial. It was important for me to have a nice green campus that wasn't too harsh-looking, and that's what I got. I know that part of the beauty of campus is that a lot of the walkways are not absolutely straight--they have some curve to them. So it gives it a softer look than geometric lines. And even the lampposts here are pretty--they're old-fashioned, not highway-style. I would be depressed by a campus that wasn't aesthetically pleasing, and so I'm very happy with what I see as I walk every day on campus here.

On a different subject, yesterday in public speaking class we got into a big debate! It was so intense. Every single person in the class got question #23 on our midterm wrong, and so we argued that it had not been worded clearly. It took us a looong time--like 20 minutes--to convince the prof that he should throw the question out and give us 2 extra points. We finally convinced him, after almost every single person in the class spoke up and did their best to contribute to the argument! It was the most fun session of the class we've ever had! Those are the best classes--when students get to actually speak. It might not happen that much, but when it does, it's awesome!

that darn cat

There is a white cat who keeps sneaking into Ropp (my dorm). It left a little present in the hall this morning, and apparently it's about to have kittens. I'm worried I'm going to come into the kitchen one day and oh--lookit--there's a litterful of kittens right in front of the refrigerator door! I don't know where the cat comes from; people suggest that it has a home but gets more attention here, but I don't know about that. It has no tag and comes and goes whenever. What kind of gross diseases does it have that it's bringing into the dorms?!

Today, I was really satisfied with one of the dishes at lunch. It was a bean/vegetable/cheese quesadilla that I dipped in sour cream. Oh it was absolutely delicious and not too bad for you! I was also really satisfied with the concern that the dining services seem to have for the students. I just answered an online survey they sent out by e-mail that asked about how Sodexho (the company) is doing in regards to wellness. I don't know if things will actually change, but it's nice to think they're listening! We're getting some interesting new offerings this month at Bob's, I think (the fast-food-type option on campus). Nothing that I am really interested in eating, but other people might like to try it.

This was the last day of one of our sections of Biblical Worldview class. We had Randy Keeler, who is a fun professor that I had for First Year Seminar class last semester, for the past few weeks. His section was the "Ministry" section. We talked about ways to discern God's will; baptism; ways God speaks to us; what it means to call yourself a Christian; and stuff like that--how to live your life. The unit before that was Laura Brenneman's, and it was more history of Christianity and the Bible. I liked both of the units. They weren't exactly revolutionary or fascinating, but they were interesting enough, and it's a great introduction to what we'll study in upper-level religion courses. Some people don't like Biblical Worldview and the fact that it's required, but I think it's a really important class to take because it makes you analyze your faith a little bit more and increases your awareness of the world around you. I almost feel that I learned more about the Bible in this class than I ever did in Sunday school! So, for all you prospectives: there's absolutely no reason to dread the class! :-)

missed opportunity

Do you know who Spike Lee is? He directed "Inside Man" recently, but is most famous for his films exploring racial tension, like "Do the Right Thing." I will admit, I have not seen more than about 5 minutes of "Do the Right Thing," or any of his films other than "Inside Man." But I know that he's legendary and very talented (at least in many people's eyes) and somewhat controversial.

Well, yesterday in sociology class, the professor, Dr. Nyce, told us that she had 4 extra tickets to see Spike Lee speak in Dayton that night, and anyone was welcome to have them. I immediately called up my best friend Adam, who is more obsessed with movies than anyone I know including me and is a teenage director. I knew he would kill me if I didn't go! He reminded me that he had seen Spike Lee talk at the University of Rochester and that it had changed his life. But I couldn't find a ride to Dayton or anyone to go with, and I already had plans to bake biscotti with Peter and Chris at Rodney and Marie's, so I ended up not going. I was pretty bummed a lot of the day. I mean, it's SPIKE LEE! For someone who wants to make meaningful movies, he's a role model.

But I ended up having a good time baking biscotti, even if I ended up doing all the dishes. And mm, that biscotti is good!

I cleaned my room up some last night, so I'm proud of myself!

Tomorrow we have an outline for a big speech due in public speaking class, which I'm nervous about. I don't know what to speak about! I mean, I have a topic: how to educate consumers about environmentally friendly textiles. But I don't know how to go about educating them! I need to go to the library and get help from the reference librarian, I think. They have their hours posted on the Bluffton website, and the hours are pretty convenient.

Then I have my meeting today about "Singin' in the Rain". Exciting!

the plans are revealed :-)

Ah...Friendly's. Tonight I went with Chris to Friendly's after trying to get into the Olive Garden and a steak restaurant. I got my usual: I special-order a former menu item, the 4-cheese-and-bacon supermelt with tomatoes and honey mustard. Oh gosh it's so good. And of course an orange sherbet Slammer. Yummy!

So, awhile ago I might have alluded to a new project that would possibly be coming up for me. I think I can finally announce the good news to the world at large: I'm going to be filming/editing/just plain DOING the filmed sequences for the spring musical at Bluffton, "Singin' in the Rain." If you haven't seen it, the musical is about actors in silent films who are making the transition to "talkies" way back when. So during the musical, they show bits of the silent films and of the talkies, some of which are disastrous. Since the drama department needs someone to create these sequences, they asked me to work on it! I've been sent a script and I've marked up the scenes that I'll be filming, and even did a little bit of storyboarding today. But then I got discouraged because I think I need to watch some silent movies and the movie of "Singin' in the Rain" to get the feel for what those early films were like so I can be historically accurate. Luckily, I have a Netflix subscription, and you can play that movie online whenever you want! Since I have a meeting with the head of the theatre department on Tuesday afternoon, I'll have to get cracking on that ASAP! I have a lot of questions to ask and it could be a very difficult job. But I'm ready for it! Please wish me luck. This would be something great to put on a resume and to show potential employers, and it'll be doing film again! Oh I'm so excited and nervous!

"legacy"?

I suppose you could call me a legacy, couldn't you? The daughter of an alumnus of Bluffton? My dad graduated from Bluffton sometime a long while ago :-) 1978 actually. I've always felt a little left out growing up in the Mennonite church because I don't have any family connections to other churches and other Mennonites (my parents are the first Mennonites in their families), and a favorite activity of many Mennonites is to see the funny familial connections we have with each other! So that used to bum me out a little bit, but now I have a different kind of insider connection: being the daughter of a Bluffton alumnus. I sat with Kristy and Ben at dinner today, and Ben's dad was my dad's roommate here. Ben and I had never met before we came to college, but our parents tell us stories about each other and they know all these college staff and faculty that went here too. Ben and I were making a list of people that our parents knew, including Randy Keeler (religion professor), Steve Steiner (science professor and honors program director), and oh, now I can't remember the rest. And then there's also Rodney and Marie, who live just outside of town and whose house I go to on the weekends, although Ben doesn't know them. I just get tickled that I have these little unexpected connections.

So, if you're Mennonite, you might find yourself with some distant cousins or some friends of your parents' if you come to Bluffton! But the point of this blog isn't to exclude people who aren't Mennonite: I want to assure you all that you shouldn't worry if you aren't Mennonite, everyone is very welcoming no matter where you're from! In fact, I take Kristy, Peter, and Chris with me when I visit Rodney and Marie; Peter is Mennonite but his parents don't know Rodney and Marie, and Kristy and Chris have no connections to the Mennonite church or anyone here. But they fit in just fine anyway!

food times 2

On the first Wednesday of every month (I think), Dining Services has a meeting that anyone is free to go to where we can share concerns and ideas and thoughts about the food and about Marbeck Commons and Bob's in general (the cafeteria and the fast-food-type place). Amy, Sarah, and I went this Wednesday and I thought it was really helpful. For example, I asked whether it would be possible to put hard-boiled eggs into the salad bar more consistently, because if you don't want to eat the meat they're serving as an entree or you're vegetarian, you need protein. I also expressed my concern at the amount of deep-fried main dishes. Then, we got to tell the Marbeck Center Director and the food service head what our dream cafeteria would be like--with layout, atmosphere, etc. They're thinking about/planning a huge overhaul of the current cafeteria. I'm not sure as to the timeline of the project--this would obviously cost a heck of a lot of money and take so much planning and effort. But it's great that they're thinking about this and trying to get student feedback!

In other food-ish news, we had an interesting floor activity tonight. A bunch of us signed up to go to dinner in Neufeld, the newest dorm, to learn etiquette. Dr. Nerad, a family and consumer sciences prof that I had last semester, taught us a ton of guidelines and rules for formal dinners. It would have been nice to have had that before the banquet for the Honors Program! That reminds me, I want to tell Pete, the dining services manager, that I really liked the rice and raisin dish they served then!

So I've had a couple of unusual meals the last two days! It's definitely a nice break from the usual day-to-day stuff we do all the time!

a little risque for Bluffton...

Last night, everyone, including me, went to this show thing called Sex Signals. By "everyone," I mean 300 students--a third of the campus! Me and my friends arrived 45 minutes early to get seats. It was crazy packed.

So, we'd been seeing ads (some with pictures of the two actors in risque poses) around campus for a couple of weeks for a "sort-of improv show about sex". I heard somewhere that it was about date rape, but I don't remember where. So I was kind of iffy about the whole thing--sounds a little awkward!--and I hadn't been feeling well, but all my friends were going. So I decided what the heck, it's a campus event, and I don't feel like there are enough of them that really attract a large audience, so I wanted to participate in something that brought a lot of campus together. I wanted a sense of community, you know?

It ended up being a pretty great time. The two actors were absolutely fabulous. They have such skill at improv. First they had sort of a conversation with the audience about stereotypes about girls and guys, and they did skits. It really got a little bit R-rated for Bluffton, I thought. I was a little shocked. It's good to have honest talk but it was a bit intense for me. It was still hilarious, though! Then we got more serious with a skit about a guy accused of date rape, where he gave his side of the story, and a little "sermon" about date rape. But the heaviness didn't last too long, so it was still mostly a lighthearted good time. I'm really glad that they were brought in--it was a great event. A bunch of campus groups got together to sponsor it, and I think this proves that we can do incredible things when we team up!

So, that was the highlight of the past few days! In other news, the campus is flooding. I did NOT know that I was signing up to live in a swamp when I enrolled :-) Nah, it's not that gross, but there is definitely a lot of flooding. Some paths are blocked by enormous puddles and the Riley Creek is way overflowed. It's been intense!

longing for biscotti

Do you know what I am so hungry for? Chocolate-filled biscotti.

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/chocolate-filled-biscotti-4297?

My family friend Marie and I made this at her house a few weeks ago. It is absolutely delicious. Not typical biscotti--more like a slightly chewy soft cookie. Oh I am longing for this so badly! Try it, it's fabulous!

I never wanted to bake before I got to college, but now I wish I had ingredients so I could do that. We have a mixing bowl, spoons, and a 13x9 pan (I think that's the dimensions). But I don't have flour or a mix or eggs or anything. I think I might get some when I go shopping next...maybe. This feeling will probably pass pretty soon, I'm not typically very domestic!

I still feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders because winter formal is over. I have some responsibilities that I didn't anticipate beforehand, which is a bummer, but at least I don't have to worry like I did before.

I don't think this weekend is going to be much fun. My best friend Kristen is going to a leadership conference of some kind, and I have piles of homework. More specifically, about 10 pages of papers to write for 3 classes. They've given us plenty of time for this, but I'd been busy with planning the formal last week, and then last weekend I had Wicked and the formal, so I didn't get any done then. And yesterday and today I studied for physics instead of doing other homework. So this weekend I'm buckling down. I probably will try to do a lot tomorrow night, even though it's a Friday. I had my fun tonight instead of tomorrow: I went to the Wafflehouse with my friends Chris, Peter, and Alan. I was really starving tonight, so I texted them and said, "Let's go out to eat!" and they were up for it. I had TWO BLTs and two cups of hot chocolate. Yeah, the BLTs were kinda small, but still--that's a lot of food! I was really starving. Actually, I'm STILL hungry! I've gotta find a way to get to Wal-Mart this weekend--I need food!

People have been campaigning to be Student Senate President for the last few weeks. Cyrus is one of the presidential hopefuls, and he was the first one to put signs everywhere. He also has made a big point to talk to as many people as possible to see what people would like out of Senate. Sarah Ricks also came around and talked to us. Both of them are putting food in their campaign: Cyrus wants to make Meal Deals for the weekends, and Sarah was talking about major Marbeck overhauls. Meal Deals are when you go to Bob's, the fast-food-type-place on campus, during a designated time instead of going to the cafeteria (Marbeck Commons). You get a certain amount of money to spend that acts as your meal for that period of time (say, lunch on Tuesday). It's convenient when your schedule is wacky and you don't get to go to regular meals (although the hours for the Commons are pretty accommodating). So I'm still on the fence about who to vote for, and I don't know much of anything about the two other candidates, Holly and Zach. We'll see if they come courtin' my vote before the primary!

Well, it's late, and I'm exhausted. I gotta get my sleep so I can possibly, hopefully pass the test for physics tomorrow!

Oh, and as promised, some more pictures of Winter Formal...

This is Mel, me, and Jen--President, representative, and Vice-President of Ropp Hall Association, respectively! Aren't we cute?!



This is a picture of our "photo spot" during set-up. (See the paper towel roll still on it?!) The fountain broke (started leaking) so we stuck balloons in it instead! The blue mat in the background is a little annoying, but whatever--it was still cute!

YES! THE WINTER FORMAL IS OVER!

WHOO-HOO!!! The event that has consumed so much of my time and energy for the past like 3 or 4 months is over. Winter Formal was on Saturday night. In case you're new to my blog, I was the chair of the committee. It was really stressful trying to remember all the little things that needed to be done--and sometimes I wasn't very good at it, like forgetting to buy tape/ask someone to buy tape for the floors (we had cobblestone-pattern paper as a walkway). (Although to be fair, we didn't know what kind of tape we needed until a couple days beforehand.) So anyway, I want to say thank you to everyone who put in all of THEIR time and energy to help make it such a success. And it WAS a success! We had almost 200 people--which is about 75 more than we had planned on! And I've been hearing great things about the dance; everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. They liked the little twist that we had--the 1920s theme with a band coming in to play--and the gym looked fabulous.

So special thank-yous go to my committee members, particularly Tabitha Wile, Amy Tracey, Kim Ringler, and Laura Dennis. They headed up sub-committees, such as Reservations, Publicity, Prizes, and Decorations. And thanks to everyone who was on the decorations committee and helped out in any other committee and those who helped us set-up and tear-down. I don't have a list of the names of people on those committees or who came to help out, so I don't want to put any names in case I forget one and hurt someone's feelings. But know that we couldn't have done this without you!

So, I didn't take any pictures of the formal, unfortunately. I was too consumed with trying to stay on top of everything during set-up, and then during the dance I was busy doing things like refilling the water. Plus, I left my camera batteries at home! And I had borrowed Kristen's camera and forgot it in my dorm room! But I've saved some pictures from other people's Facebook accounts and I'll put them up here!

Those are roses floating in the bowl on the table, with black feathers scattered on the table around it...

This is our cobblestone walkway (a little torn) with scatter grass on the sides, and red vases near the entrance with golden ting inside and little gold ribbon around the necks. Hey, those are still intact, I could still take a picture of them!

I'll post more photos next blog!

Thanks again to everyone! This turned out fabulously!

Wicked!

Last night, about 20 people (I think--I didn't count) from the Honors program were lucky enough to visit Cincinnatti to see Wicked for just $15 each. I was one of those people!

We took two vans and left right after classes ended on Friday. We piled in like sardines--okay, it wasn't that bad, we just didn't have room to spread out!--and I sat with my best friend Kristen. We talked a lot of the trip, when I wasn't trying to sleep and she wasn't counting the number of "knits" or whatever you count when you're knitting!

We stopped for food in Mason. About half of us went to Panera, and another half to City Barbecue. The program paid for the food (yay!) and we had 45 minutes to eat. That was plenty of time even for a slow eater like me :-) Then we piled back in the van and made it to the city.

I was so incredibly excited to be in a city again. Although I'm not positive I have the kind of personality that it takes to live in a heavily populated urban area, I loooove to visit, like when I've visited NYC and Montreal and just a tiny bit when I go into the city in Rochester. The hustle and bustle is so exciting and so are the variety of people, shops, and architecture. Plus, last night I was wearing a slightly fancier outfit (we had been told to dress up a little) and I was on my way to a Broadway musical, so I felt so sophisticated!

Hopefully I'll be able to get one of the few pictures that we took and post it on this blog soon. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the beautiful theater part of the building (which was absolutely stunning) but we took a few in the rest of the building. (Speaking of the inside of the theater, I thought I was going to be a little dizzy, we were up high in the balcony, as were about half the seats in the theater, and I don't do well with heights! But most of the time I managed to forget the height.)

As for the play itself, I enjoyed it. I really loved the voice of Elphaba--I think the woman playing her has just a beautiful talent. The number "Defying Gravity" was powerful, and her voice and the voice of the woman playing Glinda's blended and complimented each other so well, it was fabulous. I just wish the cast recording featured those actual singers. These are people who are on tour with Wicked, I think, as opposed to the original Broadway cast members. But I think they are possibly more talented than the people I've heard on the soundtrack, the few times I've heard it!

I'll admit it, I cried! I cried during the song about being changed, maybe not for the better, but for good. I'd heard the song several times before when the high school chorus performed it in the past, but I had never really liked it. This time, it just got to me, with the context being there and the incredible voices and everything. I wanted to bawl my eyes out!

My friend Abby from high school had told me that I would like the musical better than the book. I had tried reading the book and it was too dark and complicated for me, I never even finished it, though I gave it a valiant effort. (Usually I love to read but this was just too much for me.) And she was right. I loved how it explained so much of the backstory of the Wizard of Oz. Kristen and I are going to get the movie soon and watch it--it's been ages since we've seen it!

But I can't spend any more time thinking about Wicked today--I've gotta get ready for the winter formal, which is tonight. Wish me luck, everyone! Pray for everyone who's worked so hard on it!

it snuck up on me!

Wow. Winter Formal is almost here. I can't believe it. We've been planning since September, I think, and it's going to be Saturday night. Oh my gosh. I'm so nervous. I feel like it's going to take a lot of luck to pull this one off. But I shouldn't discuss the details of mistakes, it's not professional! Suffice to say, I'll be praying a lot in the next two days.

Let's see, what else has been going on? I'm taking the first class that I've ever had to write a formal lab report for. It's Introduction to the Physical World with Steve Steiner, who is the Honors Program director and my boss. I've always had trouble with science; English is my strong point and science is tough. Combine it with math, which I like but which takes me a while to really "get", and that equals me having a hard time. We had our third lab today, so I'm learning how to write up lab reports properly.

I'm still having lots of fun volunteering as a Big Sister for Big Brothers Big Sisters. The honors program has a volunteering component to it, so I travel with Yelena and Crystal to Lima every week to meet with elementary-school-age kids. So far we've just played games, but soon we'll start on academic work. I hope I don't become the evil taskmaster who makes Thursdays miserable!

A little thing that I'm really happy about is that I vacuumed my dorm room! :-) It had been probably 6 weeks since I'd done that--it was before Christmas break, definitely. I do most of the cleaning because I make most of the mess :-) Okay, so dust isn't anyone's fault, but I keep the dorm room so messy that I think it's only fair that I do the cleaning.

All right, time to go work on some more winter formal stuff...wish me luck!!

fashion at BU...or lack thereof

Hey everyone. First, I want to start off by sounding off about this winter's trends. SO BORING! Where are all the prints? The glitter? The polka dots? The anything? Ugh. At least at Bluffton, there's not much pressure to be that stylish. People wear sneakers all the time, and jeans and a sweatshirt are typical clothes for any day of the week for lots of the student body. For chapel, some people get dressed up more--nice pants and a real shirt, with more formal shoes. But unless you're one of the few fashion majors, you're not that likely to be wearing the latest trends. That's not saying that people don't have style--but it's so casual here that the majority of people don't bother getting all dressed up. It's a little different from high school, where lots of girls wore high heels or really stylish flats all the time, and what you wore had a big role in determining where you fit in.

There are a few unique fashionistas on campus, though. There's one guy who wears flashy track suit outfits and a sweatshirt with the money symbol printed all over it. Then there's this girl--yes, a fashion major--who wears the coolest offbeat clothes, like a belt she made herself made out of pop tabs and ribbon. You won't see her in high heels though--at least, I haven't noticed her wearing them! And there are people who do dress up a lot of the time, with more professional-looking clothes, but they're not the majority at all.

What I'm having trouble with is the temperature. I can't figure out what to wear because the temperature fluctuates so much with where I am! My dorm room is generally really warm--must be 75 degrees or something--and so are some of the rooms in Centennial (the main classroom building); then it's like 25 degrees outside; and yet other rooms in Centennial must be like 65 or something, and so are parts of Marbeck (particularly if you're sitting under a vent, and Danette has an unfortunate knack for accidentally picking tables under vents). I don't want to be carrying a sweater around, so I usually just go for a long-sleeve shirt. That way I'm only mildly uncomfortable in the warm rooms and mildly uncomfortable in the cold rooms! ;-) But the stores seem to only be carrying short-sleeve stuff, even in the dead of winter. Now they're coming out wiih spring stuff, but even in November and December that's all they were carrying. And it'll probably take till April to be able to wear short sleeves outside, right? (I don't know, that's how it is in New York, or even till May. I'm not sure about Ohio.)

Did I write that I got great grades for all my classes last semester? I'm pretty proud. I feel like I was very prepared by my high school, with a strong background in English, especially. That's always been my best subject, but I definitely learned a lot from 11th- and 12th-grade English that prepared me well for Honors English here. And I had Humanities class in high school, which is just like a class here, Integrated Arts. We even watched the same video, "Sunday in the Park With George"! So even though some of my classes felt hard--particularly Media and Culture--I ended up getting B+ and up! Yay!

new semester!

Hi everyone. How was your Christmas break? We didn't have as much time off as some other people did. Like, my friends at community college had more than a month off, and we had 3 weeks. :-(

It was really hard to come back from break. As much as I love the campus and the friendly atmosphere, I knew I was going to get homesick. But I made it back. Gotta keep going!

We started our classes last Monday. I'm taking:

--Public Speaking and Persuasion (Honors)
--Women and Culture (or something like that)
--Into to Sociology
--The Physical World (a lab science)
--Intro to Biblical Worldview

I have 4 classes on MWF and just one on TT. But the TT one really messes up my day! It's right smack dab in the middle--1-2:15 PM--so the whole early afternoon is taken up and it takes time out of the day that I could have scheduled meetings in. Oh my gosh I'm swamped in meetings. OK, so it hasn't been bad so far this semester, and soon Winter Formal will be over, so that's good. But then we have Little Sibs Weekend, so planning for that starts as soon as WF is over. Oy vey.

I spent a lot of time this weekend at a family friends' house. They live about 5 minutes away from campus and they have a lovely cozy house with a woodstove thing, and they have such good food. I gotta admit, it was disappointing to come back on Sunday night and have dining hall food! I think I might spend a little more time with those friends this semester because it's like a little taste of home, a little getaway from the dorm. Sometimes you need a mom figure and some peace and quiet!