Thursday, December 16, 2010

Top 10 Things About Fall Semester

1. Dorm Life-living on the wonderful floor SOUL. I have enjoyed every moment, every late night food run, and getting to know all the wonderful, amazing girls on my floor:) I love them all! And my roommates are the greatest!
2. Chapels/Sinspo-I loved going to Chapel and Singspo and having the opportunity to worship God.  I heard so many new songs that LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!
3. The "spur of the moment" moments-during midterms some friends and I went and played in the mud and then during finals we went and played in the leaves. I loved it! We had so much fun :)
4. CANDYLAND-basically the most magical way to celebrate Halloween!! I got to be creative, see little kids, and we even won a cupcake maker! Which is super cool :)
5. Meeting new people-I have realized how much I seriously love to be with and meet new people.  I love getting to know so many amazing people.
6. The Caf-Oh man I love the caf!! It has been so good to me:) and the discovery of Commons(the on-campus coffeeshop). I always knew I loved the smell of coffee and I am slowly started to like the taste of coffee. Still trying to figure out how I like it best.
7. Disneyland-I have really, really liked being able to go to Disneyland throughout the semester:) So magical!!
8. Getting to meet DBC-I was able to me DBC, our president, FINALLY! It was so cool, so fun, and so nice to sit and talk to him in his amazing office!
9.Working-I was blessed with two on-campus jobs.  I love hosting high school students when they come to visit and have really enjoyed being an Eagle Host.  I have also learned so much being in the Event Society!
10. Seeing how much God has worked in my life-As I reflect on the last semester, I can really see how much work God has done in my life and I am so excited about the work He is going to continue to do next semester,

Monday, December 13, 2010

The Last Month

Well the end of my first semester of college is here. The last four months have been BEYOND amazing and of course, nothing short of magical! I have enjoyed every moment here and am looking forward to seven more semesters at Biola!
Since the last time I posted A LOT A LOT A LOT has happened. (I seem to say that in every post now. hehe). I have been writing lots and lots of papers taking tests and preparing for finals.  I picked out all my classes for next semester and am so so sooooo excited! I will be taking: Biblical Interpretation &Spiritual Formation, Old Testament, English, Intro to Public Communications, Intro to Teaching, and Intro to Public Relations. I will be taking classes for the three career paths I am considering pursuing so will get a little flavor of each of those and will get to compare and see what I enjoy doing most. Unfortunately, I have 8am classes everyday! But no night classes!!
December 3rd, we had the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, a Biola tradition. It was really cool to see so many families and alumni come to kick off the Christmas season on campus.  Christmas is everywhere on campus! In the dorms, in the caf, we sang Christmas carols in Chapel, and the tree in from the music building is absolutely beautiful!
On December 4th, my floor had our GYRAD, or Get Your Roommate a Date. It was really fun and we went Extreme Candy Bowling. I went with someone I didn't know and had so much fun!! We all wore ugly Christmas sweaters and ate in the caf with our hands all tied to each other so it was a kind of challenging to eat but still super fun!
Ciara's birthday was also the beginning of this month so Hannah and I decorated her bed and went out to dinner with her. It was a lot of fun!
Alpha had a Christmas All-Hall and we all wore our ugly Christmas sweaters and took awkward family photos with our floor. It was great! We did some Christmas Karaoke and decorated cookies. So much fun!
Last week we had a Christmas party for The Event Society and it was so nice! For once we didn't have to serve or clean up after people, we got to relax and enjoy being together. We built Gingerbread houses! So much fun!
I have been spending lots of time in the library lately. That's actually where I'm currently sitting.  My record is 7 hours in one night. I see myself beating that record in the future(most likely next semester when I have 18 units!) Sitting in the library is not a bad thing though. I love the library:)
One of my "semester-long dreams" came true this morning. I was finally able to officially meet our President, Dr. Barry Corey, a.k.a. DBC! My wonderful senator, Natasha Cheeley, said she would set up an appointment with him for me.  She contacted his secretary and I was able to go and sit in his office and talk with him for about 20 minutes. (The view from his office is AMAZING!!)  We are so blessed to have him as our president and I am honored that he took time out of his day to meet with me.  Definitely the best way to start off my finals week!!
As I reflect on the last semester, I would not change a single thing. It was so amazing and I would not trade it for the world. The experience I had just in the last four months is definitely worth all the loans I will be paying off the rest of my life.  I cannot imagine myself at a better place or a more magical place! God has done a lot of work in my life and I'm looking forward to what He has in store for next semester.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to go here and all the people I have met and experiences I've had.  I thank God everyday for blessing me so much and allowing me to go here.
This week I have 5 finals and then I will have officially completed my first semester of college. I will be home for 6 weeks and hope to start playing guitar and watching Gilmore Girls while managing to get to the gym a few times a week. Mom has already done lots of baking and going to the gym will definitely be important over break!!
I pray that as the Christmas season quickly comes and goes, that you remember the true  reason for the season is Jesus :)
Much love and joy,
Amanda