sniagrab

things are good. really good. they are getting better. besides the class work load, but ill get used to it. this week is the most fun. you wouldnt believe what weve been doing. its sweet. thats all for now. ill leave you with one word "sniagrab". peace.

monday.

i woke up at seven and even though i didnt have to get up until eight thirty i couldnt fall back asleep. lame. today was my first day of classes and i was a little nervous. leaving my stairwell i found a girl that had the same class as me and we walked there together. when i got there i found a few other people i knew so it wasnt so bad. thats the joy of going to a small school. my first class was early christian literature. my teacher is this funny little korean guy who seems very friendly. the class seems like it could be hard. lots of reading. the whole curriculum pretty much revolves around reading the new testament and keeping a journal about it, followed up by in class discussions. after that i went back to the apartment for a break and then went to lunch with my roommate. the next class i went to on my own but found one girl i knew in it from my stairwell too. the class is oral communication and it has a lot of upper classmen in it. during this class period we didnt go over mcuh but we all got the chance to stand up and speak in front of the class by playing the game two truths and a lie (which the teacher called "false" lying is bad of course). that class got out a little early so i took the time to sit on a bench by myself in the sun and called my family. my roommate kaylan met up with me cause we had the next class together. it was our freshman integration class which was great. today we just did an activity with blindfolds and leading each other and stuff along those lines. it was a great trust building and getting to know each other class session.

after classes got out i went to the library to make copies of a book i needed only to find out i had no idea how to work a huge copy machine. i called my mom asking her why she hadnt taught me this important skill before leaving for school. i finally figured it out but it took forever and it didnt even give me my change back.

i came back to the apartment tired from my long day. i checked my school email where there was an urgent one from one of my advisors telling me that i needed to switch out of my freshman integration class asap because the one i was in is for people who are living in two of the learning communities. stressed out and tired i switched back into my original one god moving around the world. tonight has been exhausting and i am even more homesick. we finally got a new couch cover though so we are able to sit on it instead of the nasty coushins thanks goodness.

the first weekend.

sooo my first night here was terrifying. there was an enormous thunder and lightening storm right over us at about two in the morning. it woke my roommate and i up and we sat and watched it for quite a while. the parking lot started to flood. it was intense lightening and the next morning i heard that it had struck a nearby house and caught it on fire. scary! so to say, i didnt sleep well my first night.

yesterday was pretty fun. went to a chapel service and then i went bathroom shopping with my roommate. our apartment is so cute. we had an information mandatory rules meeting that afternoon. that night i had to say bye to my mom which was really hard. we ate dinner on campus and she walked me back to my room. she gave me all of her last words of wisdom and then she left. i cried for a minute. it was hard. right after that we made a walmart run which cheered me up. we came back and tye-dyed some teeshirts for our intermural sports teams and we also made brownies. that night we attended a "kool-aid" party at the boys dorm. it consisted of a ton of people outside the dorm, byoc (bring your own cup) and a huge garbage can full of kool-aid. the drinks were so sweet it made you sick but it was just such a funny event thinking of other college parties compared to our small christian school party, it was pretty neat.

today after waking up late my roommate and i walked over to a ministry fair and learned about all of the areas that we can get involved in off campus. im really looking towards one that works with young children. i think that would be a lot of fun. maybe intercity kids or something. from there we walked ten minutes down to a spanish baptist church. we were supposed to be painting the sanctuary but that had almost been finished by the group before us so instead we spent lots of time cleaning every inch of the kitchen. the work wasnt the most exciting thing out there but i know that it was very well appreciated.

tonight was the moonlight volleyball tournament. i live in "your moms house" so thats our theme. we all dressed up. we had our yellow tye dyed teeshirts that say YMH on the front and on the back of mine it says Mama Bond. that, with shorts, was covered by a robe, we put curlers in our hair and tied bandanas up, mom style of course. we put on mom makeup, some purple eye shadow and red lipstick, and the rest of our face was covered with a bright green face mask. pretty cute. after a long night of intense volleyball with the whole school dressed out in costume our team finally took third for the girls. i cut my knee up pretty badly on the sand but its all good.

im excited for tomorrow. im going to visit a new church, Red Rocks Church, and then my roommate is taking me back to her home where her mom is making dinner and we are going to go running at Garden of the Gods. im really excited about a home cooked meal. tonight im a little homesick. talking to seth made me really sad because he was sad. i talked to my dad today also and he sounded like he missed me a lot. i wonder when it is going to hit me that i am at college. there is no going home. not until thanksgiving atleast....

first night on my own

today was packed with soooo much to do. i got up early this morning and started packing up all of the new stuff i bought here. there is a lot. i got to the school and went through with the registration stuff. after that i got all the stuff finally up into my room and met the other girls im living with. they are really sweet and it seems like it will be a lot of fun. i started unpacking my room. its so perfect and beautiful. the colors coordinate perfectly, pink & blue. we raised our beds up so they are about four feet in the air so we could slide our dressers under there along with some plastic drawers and containers. we put our desks at the end of our bed and then we put a tall metal shelf inbetween our beds to serve as a night stand. its so pretty.

i met up with my friend gillian today. its funny because we were really good friends up until we were about twelve and then we went to separate schools and didnt really talk anymore. then this summer i ran into her and we found out we were going to the same school. that was pretty neat. today was soo funny though. maybe you had to be here but here it goes anyway. we were walking and she tripped over a chord and had a pretty bad stumble infront of a group of new students. she got up, smiled, and said "hi im gillian" and walked away. hahah. it was pretty unforgettable.

the rest of the day was spent exploring, taking id pictures, listening to lectures, visiting a church fair and such. tonight we went to a banquet which was catered by the same company that caters to the denver broncos. it was pretty tasty. after, we came back here. i changed into sweatpants, of course, and started unpacking the rest of my clothes. we met down in our RA's room and got a chance to meet all of the other girls living in our stairwell. it was pretty fun. our RA's started off with the "new" rules. as of october first we are only allowed to take five minute showers because the hot water is too expensive here. boys are no longer aloud to sit on the couches or chairs. only the floor.... AND the flourescent lights in the room automatically shut off at ten pm.. in my head im thinking "what the heck am i going to do. there is NO way i can take a five minute shower" then i heard "just kidding" the sad thing was that every girl in the room really believed them. haha. next we took a suprise walk to the seven eleven where we were too lazy to wait for our turn to get slurpees so we just walked back. i got ready for bed and now i am preparing for my first night, away from home, on my own. wish me luck.

time to move on

It's time to move on, time to get going
What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing
But under my feet, baby, grass is growing
It's time to move on, it's time to get going

Broken skyline, movin' through the airport
She's an honest defector
Conscientious objector
Now her own protector

Broken skyline, which way to love land
Which way to something better
Which way to forgiveness
Which way do I go

Time to move on, time to get going
What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing
But under my feet, baby, grass is growing
It's time to move on, it's time to get going

Sometime later, getting the words wrong
Wasting the meaning and losing the rhyme
Nauseous adrenaline
Like breakin' up a dogfight
Like a deer in the headlights
Frozen in real time
I'm losing my mind

It's time to move on, time to get going
What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing
But under my feet, baby, grass is growing
It's time to move on, it's time to get going

-tom petty

lakewhat?

lakewood, colorado. my new home away from home. a suburb of denver and for an alaskan reference a ratio of muldoon to anchorage. its different here. the weather is hot, but dry, so its not too hard to handle. ive only seen chain restaurants here so i cant realy tell what the personality of the town is like. there is a church on almost every corner and there is ONLY starbucks coffee! sick. what am i going to do??

leaving home was one of the hardest things ive ever had to do. saying goodbye to my family and friends was terrible. after finally making it on the plane i sobbed for the first two hours of the flight until i finally fell asleep. i woke up miserable and tired. my face was splotchy and swollen. we got in and checked into our hotel early where i got to sleep for a few hours. when i woke up i didnt feel any better. later on mom and i went to target (our family tradition) and that made me feel a little better. i did some emotional shopping and spent lots of money on buying new things for my dorm.

i woke up today feeling better than the day before. we drove up to boulder and ate breakfast at my favorite restaurant in colorado called burnt toast. it is so wonderul. all of the food is organic, fresh, and tasty. i had bread, apples, and brie. only some of you will be able to understand my pure joy in being able to eat brie for breakfast. mmmmmmmmmmmm. we spent the day in boulder. its a great town. so relaxed and chill. like girdwood, but bigger. we ate dinner at olive garden and finally came back to the hotel full and content.

tomorrow morning im going to meet my roommate and see my new dorm. im nervous and excited. i cant believe its all really happening.