Mud

For my PE class this semester I have to keep up an exercise plan. I get it done through force of will more than anything else, but today I thought that to ensure my aerobic portion was complete, I would take a hike through the trails. Unbeknownst to me, they had redone many of the trails, and worsened by the constant rain, the newly cleared byways were in a sad state of slick and sticky mud. I was able to avoid the trails for the most part, and blazed my own path. Right at the end, within 50 feet of good hard ground, I surrounded myself with mud and there was no place to go but down. I hope my shoes can forgive me.

A Belated Snowday

We have had two snowdays this month, but I only took pictures of one. We got a light dusting, but that was enough to close things down. The college atmosphere gets really animated when it starts snowing. There are snowball fights and people sliding down the pathways.

 My three roommates walking past Mills to get dinner. There is a covered pathway to the left, but we though it would be more fun to walk under the sky.

 The typical atmosphere at my college. It's been nice for about a week, but fog is a frequent occurrence. This snow had melted by the afternoon, however.

 Two of my lovely roommates, wishing all our friends overseas a wonderful time.

My lovely, if somewhat blurry college at night.

We had a second snowday due to icy rain. Everything was covered in a slick layer of wet ice, including
placed I didn't expect. Don't worry, the only thing injured was my pride.

My reading for the weekend. Anselm, John Milton, and Beowulf. Beowulf is just for me, however. Five minutes before the library closed I decided I needed something to read for the weekend. Impulse book borrowing at its best!

The Beginning of Classes

Classes have started up at Covenant with a vengeance! I shouldn't have been surprised, but how quickly we are thrown into the subjects was a bit of a shock. Not a bad shock, mark you, but a spark of eternal fire. It is a reminder of the great heritage of thought I get to embrace. Most of my classes are windows into historical times and thoughts. It is incredible fun to be a part of the ongoing dialogue, even in my own little way. Right now, it feels a bit like eves-dropping. Maybe one day I'll stand up from the peanut gallery and give my two cents worth.

From the classes I'm particularly interested in, we will start with Plato (Intro to Philosophy), Huck Finn, and Mark Twain (American Lit 1865-1965) and Hamlet (Cultural Heritage of the West 2). Taking Intro to Phi after CHoW 1 will be really exciting. I confidently expect CHoW 1 to give me a decent frame of reference for Intro to Phi.

We had our first Chapel of the semester today. Dr. Ward spoke on Luke 8: 26-39. One of the points he brought out for us students coming into a new semester is Jesus' ability to rescue us from the dragons (a reference to The Hobbit) that we will face in the coming year. Christiana Fitzpatrick informed us that the Chaplin search has started. Our former Chaplin, Aaron Messner, will be preaching his first sermon this Sunday at his church in Atlanta.

Back on the Mountain, or Travelling does not necessarily imply arriving, part 2

After we stopped for the night, we were able to find an auto repair shop open on a Sunday who could take us in right away. They looked at it and confirmed our suspicions that it was, indeed, the alternator. We left for a delightful little coffee shop, and waited for things to get fixed. They finished it around 1, and we got on the road. Fortunately, we had no trouble at all for the rest of the journey. We stopped and picked up the last passenger around 8, I think. At 9, we crossed paths with his mother, who was travelling up on the same road, at a friendly little Starbucks. I started to drive, and we made good time all the way to the college, and got in around 1:30. Here at last!

Traveling does not necessarily imply arriving.

There must be something about Covenant College that just asks for trouble. The first time I traveled down, mom and I had some minor trouble when she forgot her driver's license. This time is a little more exciting.

Things started well when I was dropped off at my friend's house, stayed over, and left early that morning. She had just closed her bank account and I don't have a credit card. Her dad jokingly commented that should we have car trouble, we would have a problems paying for it. A perfectly innocuous thing to say, until seen though retrospect. Things went along swimmingly until about 45 minutes from our stop for the night. The clock turned off. The dials flickered. The car jerked. We managed to get it to the side of the road, where it died. There we were, 4 girls stranded on a highway in PA. We flagged down a car, and a Good Samaritan gave us a jump. Back on the road, we toodled along for a few miles when it shuddered again and died. A longer jump, and a lot of prayer got it back on the road, and has worked fine so far. We took it to a mechanic and they figured that it was the alternator. It's being fixed now, and we should get on the road around 1.

Updates and Changes

While there has been total silence here for the past semester, that does not translate to lack of news. Primarily, I changed my major from Pre-Nursing to English. I have loved every moment of it, and I'm so excited for this coming semester. I have started the journey down with a short drive to a friend's house in NH, and we will continue to PA tomorrow, then to GA on Sunday. Classes start on Tuesday, and I'm quite looking forward to them.
I will be taking the second semester of three classes, Doctrine, French, and my favourite, Cultural Heritage of the West. I'm not completely looking forward my American Literature class, because right now I'm particularly interested in the Medieval Ages and the Renaissance. However, I suspect that as soon as I start reading for and taking the class I will quite enjoy it. I had a similar experience with Intro to Logic and Critical Thinking. It ended up focusing more on the logical side of things, and less on the critical thinking and I discovered a new love of formal logic!
I'm particularly looking forward to a class that I am auditing called European Enlightenment. The Enlightenment is a time period that I am particularly interested in, but there was no way I could fit it into my busy schedule. How I wish I were two people and could take 30 credit hours.
A long drive and an exciting semester await!