The Semester In A Nut Shell

I know that the blog posts have been sparse this semester, but this post is my attempt to fill all 3.7 of my readers in on the happenings of the past 4 months. I'll try to start from the beginning.

January rolled around and the semester began. I had my birthday in January. I am now 20 years old in case you are behind the times. I also started my new job in the Financial Aid office. That is going well. I don't really do much because this is a recently created position and they haven't worked out my responsibilities yet, but in the mean time I'm getting paid to do my homework.

In January I found out about the potential for me to go on a missions trip this summer, and by the time February arrived it was official. I've spent much of this semester trying to prepare and plan for that. Planning ranges from support raising, to thank you note writing, to doctor's appointments and vaccinations, to weekly team meetings. The culmination of all of this preparation is nearly upon me. I am leaving in only 9 days! I am a little bit apprehensive but overall super excited. I can't wait to see why God opened this door for me to go on this trip. Someone had to not be able to go on this trip so that I could. I think that is a pretty big deal. It doesn't quite seem real that I'm leaving for the Amazon Rainforest in 8 days and I will live there for 5 weeks! But whether it sinks in during the next 8 days or not, Amazon...... here I come!

I can't remember if the process started in February or March, but I applied to be a Resident Assistant (RA) for next year. I had thought about it during the Fall semester, but by the time Spring semester rolled around I had determined that I probably wasn't RA material, so I wouldn't apply. Then, a few of days before the RA informational meeting a couple of people asked me if I was going to apply and encouraged me to do so. I figured that it wouldn't hurt anything to just go to the meeting. So I went and figured that I would apply and see what happens. I didn't expect to here anything back, but I carefully and thoughtfully filled out the application. I go to a christian school so I had to answer "spiritual" questions and I wanted to be genuine in my application whether or not this whole RA thing ever amounted to anything. So, I got my application filled out with my 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice dorms and made sure that my recommendation letters were turned in. Like I said before, I didn't expect to hear anything back from the applications, but about a week and a half later I found out that I had interviews with my 1st and 2nd choice dorms. About 2 weeks after my interviews were through I was hired by my first choice. So I will be an RA next year in Willetts Hall to about 24 girls! I am super excited about it! And to think that I wasn't going to apply.

April is now here and I have scheduled classes for next year. I am taking 19 credit hours. My classes are Political Communication, Political Speech Writing, Argumentation & Debate, Persuasive Theory, Public Administration, Old Testament, Golf. This week is finals week so I'm trying to prepare for that. I also have to pack up my room. I've got to pack everything, bring it home and then re-pack for the Amazon. I can't believe that the year is over already. I'm just a week away from being a JUNIOR in college. That seems really old to me. Year 2 of college is nearly complete. I feel quite accomplished.

I'll end this post with an array of pictures illustrating some of the fun that I've had this semester in no particular order:

Brother/Sister Picnic

Elliv Awards Show

Open Dorms

Bible Study Sleep Over

(we dropped her)

Group Shots