Dead Week

It is currently Dead Week here at school. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term: This is a blessed space of a week, inserted betwixt regular classes and final exams, during which we have NO SCHOOL. The purpose being, of course, to study for said exams. This is meant to be a highly productive time. It is. It is also the time that creates acute anxiety (toward exams), stress (about studying), and excitement (about being on holiday afterward!!!!). I also feel the weight of the quarter, with how much studying I've done, and how much still needs to be done! I am convinced that the name for this time is facetiously chosen, as the nature of Dead Week is such that you feel dead, or want to be. It helps though, that we're all stressed together (and, as tonight, procrastinate together. Now out of my system). Conducive to bonding, I assure you. At any rate, I thought I would drop an update before I pass out of existence for the next few days, and into the world of, among other things, the whole Reformation through the whole Enlightenment and American Revolution.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
Anyways.
Yes, it is a heavy load, and I'm pretty nervous about it all. I don't know if my brain can take any more. To all who read, thank you so much for your prayers...I really need them! I hope to meet with you all during Christmas...just a few more days! Just a few more days.
Tiredly and perseveringly, as ever, yours.

Midnight Pie

I am currently in the cozy confines of my home kitchen, waiting for my punkin (deliberate misspelling) pie to cook. Just a few minutes more! It is a relief to be back home, especially for a holiday (I have barely any homework!!!). Tonight my family and I spent about an hour and a half talking at the dinner table, after which my sister and I continued for another long space of time. Then we baked together, I of course in charge of pumpkin pie, and Meg making her ritual Thanksgiving Breakfast Sour Cream Coffee Cake. Yum!
It'll be interesting to reflect over the next four days, about my experience thus far in college. Last time I was home, I had the opportunity to do so, and found it very helpful. I'll be sure to chronicle any interesting thoughts that scurry across my mind. Presently, even though the pie has yet to cool, it is 11:30 at night, and I really have little to write that will be of further import. So, goodnight, and Happy Thanksgiving! May we all remember what God has done.
~Yours

The best of all possible worlds

Hello again. Wonderfully, these last couple weeks have slowed down immensely. I know that it's only a lull before accelerating from zero to sixty (well, maybe from 60 to 600) after Thanksgiving, when finals come up. It's great right now, though!
If you're wondering about the title of this post, I obtained it from 'Candide', which we read last week. Being a ridiculous satire, one of the big jokes within is that this all circumstances are preordained and necessary for the greater good (viz., my suffering is trivial because it lends to the benefit of the rest of the world, and it was intended to do so, even if it's dreadfully obscure); this being the case, we live in 'the best of all possible worlds'. If you want to know more about that, I wrote a paper on it. Ask me for it sometime. Anyways, I adopted the title because I am experiencing a similar concept, although, if I may say, it's not perverted as it is in 'Candide'. Alors:
This has been an incredible quarter. It has been a very hard quarter. I don't know if I've suffered, per se, but I have struggled, not just with the amount of work, but the nature of it; as well as coming to grips with my weaknesses, and the dynamics of this community. All being very messy ordeals. Pleasant, but still messy. I am absolutely certain of God's presence with me, however, and I know that as awful as I feel sometimes, that it is good. I don't just brush off suffering; no, suffering is a good friend and useful growing agent. That's where I differ from Candide. So, it's hard, but it's 'the best' place for me. It's right where I'm supposed to be, and I could not conceive of anything better. On Wednesday night, during our Bible study, one of my tutors was talking about difficulty in relationships. He brought up Romans 5: 2-5, which I had memorized last year duing our Romans study, and which I had furthermore clung through the insanity of Senior Year. Surprise, surprise, but what else would happen, that I would forget about that verse during this strenuous time in my life?! I did. Silly, silly. However, Jack brought it back to my mind, and to hear him say the verses and affirm their message was worth every struggle of this past term. I had to take a 'bathroom break' and praise God. Once again, God has whispered to me, "See? You still need me. And I know what I'm doing." I feel that I can say amen to that.
Before closing, I believe this is a particularly appropriate opportunity to correct something from a previous post. Back then, I wrote a Latin inscription, Soli Deo Gloria (something about glory to God alone). Well, it's actually Sola. So: Sola Deo Gloria!
And, as another brief postscript, I understand why Thelma recommends that her students don't read 'Candide' until they're about twenty-five. Naughty, naughty!
I am, etc.

The Return of the Student

I'm back! From whence, I know not. All I know is that I feel as though I have not had my head on straight for a few weeks. Possibly longer.
We've been reading so much philosophy lately! I find it interesting, but 'tis so new to me that I have trouble interacting with it. Now we're on Hume, after reading Descartes, Hobbes and Locke. Ahhhh! If I had a week for each reading, I would have a better time of it. As it is, we have two or three days for each. So, Ahhhh! I'm learning, though, to be a better student. That's why I haven't really surfaced online for two weeks.
We had our Halloween party on Friday night--great fun!!! We had lots of people from Hogwarts join us (apparently people do things in themes around here), as well as the Mad Hatter, a Muslim Angel (it actually worked okay!), and numerous other fun things. I procured a pure wool, made-in-Scotland kilt for seven bucks at Value Village, and made my appearance as a Highland dancer. We danced a lot: there was general move-however-you-want-to-throbbing-techno-music kind of dancing; some of our really cool people did swing; and all of us joined in to do the Virginia Reel, as well as another group dance. The latter was the highlight of the night, and I think quite a few of us were wishing for more assemblies such as that.
Some changes have taken place, as of yesterday: I have gone from my little room, to a larger room plus a roommate! Without divulging any private information, of which none belongs to myself, here's the scoop: my friend had a roommate in the women's house, they needed a different situation, la-di-da, I get asked to move in with my friend, la-di-da, we finally rectify the situation by turning the gorgeous Room One of the main house into a dwelling for my friend and I, and her former roomie gets my room. We have now spent one night thus, and are praising God for how wonderfully He has orchestrated this! I am so assured of His hand. And get this: my new room even has a fireplace! We're prohibited from lighting it, but ambience is really the key. One closet, however, does not unlock (they are, for some reason, deadbolted). We had to resort to crime, and have two of the senior guys attempt to pick the lock. Even they in their expertise could do nothing. Still, our house manager was teasing us, saying that we had the watchtower room (it's located between the men's hall, and the women's), and could spy on everybody. I sincerely hope so.

"The world was all before them, where to choose their place of rest, and Providence their guide; then hand in hand, with wandr'ing steps and slow, through Eden made their solitary way." ~Milton, Paradise Lost

Pleasant moments

The bells are chiming the hour again! They raise any situation beyond the ho-hum. Here in the airy Loft, the topmost level of the building, I am surrounded by shelves of books, plants, all manner of end-tables, and a bright window. Add the bells, and I think I have successfully escaped school life! Except, of course, that I'm doing homework.
Last night I baked cookies for the first time since I got here. I never realized how much I would miss doing it all the time, as I did in summer. It was a great way unwind, and they disappeared swiftly, leaving only mere crumbs to testify that they ever existed. So it is with all food around here, but especially sweets. On Monday night I witnessed a whole chocolate cake, complete and gorgeous at 10 pm, transform into a single sliver by 5:30 the next morning! Lots of growing boys around here. And girls, for that matter! Honestly, there's nothing like it.
Anyways, I just had to share the moments of peace that God has brought me recently! He knows exactly what we need.
Adieu.

Back to the ol' blog! Do expect, dear readers, a weekly report for now. But I think I've said that already. Now to the real stuff.
To me, October is the most gorgeous month of all. Furthermore, I don't think I've experienced a more glorious fall, looking out at the changing foliage through these old windows here at the house. This is a most beautiful city in falltime! Yesterday I was compelled to buy milk at the store, and it was so lovely to walk in the crisp, late afternoon, with a glass bottle of milk on my arm, as the city bells chimed the hour. I think the world was near perfection, if for a brief matter of minutes! Later at night, my friend and I ventured out to attend an Irish dance at a local church. Apparently the information was outdated, for we stumbled upon a "feed the homeless"/bum meeting instead; it was a nice night walk, anyways!
We got to experience October in another way today, during our House Work Day. The Lord gave us excellent weather (overcast, crisp, and dry) for our tasks, and I was delighted to have the job of working outside in the garden! Part of this included cutting back the mint plants, the trimmings of which I was allowed to keep. As a result, I have about six very large bunches of mint hanging delectably from my walls, ceiling, and closet doors, in preparation for cold season (I swear by mint tea for a sore throat!). Today I also did a lot of digging, so we'll see how my body fares in the morning.
Study-wise, I am getting settled, but there's always so much to do! I have a ton to cram into the next two days. So far, I think my favorite classes are Greek and Micro (yes, I'm loving all the excavating through Aristotle!). I find this strange, since it's Western Civ. that's the most literature/history intensive, and the class that I assumed would be my favorite. Well then! I guess I'm captured by the future opportunity that I will have to translate the New Testament for myself. I find that extremely compelling. Already the sophomores are using their Greek in their Micro class on John! Exciting! And we not so lowly freshman are now constructing simple sentences, which is thrilling.
Well, study beckons. Most of my fellow learners have either gone out to study, or are holed up in their rooms doing the same. We do that a lot around here; c'est la vie!
"Let us not say 'farewell', but as the French have it, 'au revoir'!"
Yours, etc.

P.S.

Okay, so the previous post is not a masterpiece. Hopefully, I'll hone my writing skills and thus be able to deliver chef d'oeuvres that any alleged writer should yearn for. All this is to say, please excuse my scattered mind, for it is not booted up yet. If one craves more details than I give here, let him be assured that they shall unfold.
Humbly, etc.

Just some thoughts

Originally I had intended to preface my blogging with a background of how I came to be where I am, but since it's now two weeks that I've been here, and I have limited time, I think I'll just jump in! The truth is, I began this thing two weeks ago, only for it to lay dormant. Still, as I've been learning here, It's never too late! Thus I begin.
Today is actually a landmark day, for I have finished my first official week of classes!!! What an education this is, too. I'm used to the amount of work, but we deal with such intense subject matter that, admittedly, I sometimes feel despair (hilariously, all during orientation week we were told that this is normal for a G-(abbreviated for safety purposes. Love you, mum!) student. For certain, I've never tackled Aristotle's "Categories", Luther's "Freedom of a Christian", Calvin's "Institutes" regarding predestination, the classical Greek alphabet, Euclidean geometry, and the question, What is art? all in the same week. Jealous? Actually, I find it supremely cool. And helpful.
The academics of G- are inseperably intertwined with the community of the place. Living in the House is probably one of the greatest experiences I've had these eighteen years. I think that it was 'home' the day I arrived. For clarity, the House is the actual college, which is a former sorority building. The second floor houses men and women's dorms, so it's almost like being homeschooled! Indeed, the object here is to build a family among the other members of the school, so it's not unlike homeschooling at all. What a far cry from the nearby mammoth university! Today I walked to the campus post office, and it was strange to me, after living here, to have about a hundred people walk past me without making eye contact. It was so amusing to watch people affix their gaze on any point within the surrounding five mile radius except my face. And of app. two pairs of eyeballs that I met with, one belonged to a fellow housemate!
Anyways, that was just a little note to apprise you all of what's going on, and hopefull I'll maintain a steady-ish chronicle. Until the next, readers!