The Midnight Dust Destroyers!

At eleven o'clock at night, all students cuddle up in their beds with a book to study, and perhaps even a hot chocolate in their hand. But outside in the dark, many quiet figures emerge from the dorms and run all over, disappearing into shadowy doorways across the campus. I am among these mysterious people that most people don't realize their existence, we are called the custodial crew!!! I work every night from eleven to twelve, cleaning! I have gone from a girl who doesn't even make her bed in the morning, to someone who walks past a random shelf in a public building, sees dust, and wishes I had a cloth with me to clean it!

I am assigned to cleaning the science building, which is very exciting! I just found out that upstairs in the building is even a fish aquarium! This discovery gave me great joy since before then I saw no other living animal except the over population of cockroaches! I say living animals because there are plenty of stuffed animals in glass cases along the wall. Other then animals, both living and dead, I see apparatuses of all shapes and sizes sat throughout the rooms! It is always fun guessing what they are for, or making up my own ideas of their various uses. My fellow custodials on my cleaning crew are a great bunch, we sing and laugh the night away.

The pictures are of my custodial crew, on a very special night called "Show and Wear" night, which happens every Saturday, and we have a themed dress up, in which we clean. Yes, public safety who walks through the building at night sure seems some interesting sights sometimes!!!

(Above) Crazy Day!!! Crazy hair, crazy make up, and anything else you want to make crazy!!!!

(Below) Toga day :D Aren't we awesome Romans?!?!!!! Now try mopping wearing one of those!

Hoot Baby Hoot!

For this week's post, yes that is right, from now on I will try and do weekly posts due to the results of my blog poll, I will be telling you all about what a Society is!!!! When you've got a couple thousand students on campus, it gets overwhelming. So the ingenious people's in the suits and ties who sit in big offices decided to break down the college into smaller groups called societies. These societies have Greek names and a mascot such as: Theta Alpha Chi, the Owls. Of course that is my society :D the best society on campus...and I am not biased whatsoever ;P During the first weeks, you get to visit the different societies and find out about them then choose the one you want to join for the next four years of college.

When you join a society...now what? I am glad you asked!!! There are so many cool society opportunities possible!!! Multiple times a year we have special society outings, such as Stag outings, CSC, or dating outings. Stags have nothing to do with horses, though I tried and tried already to find the connection. Stag outings simply mean it is not a dating outing, since the societies are all one gender, we have our "brother" society whom is our opposite gender society we do dating outings or other activities with. For stag outings or dating outings, we go to things like the zoo, pumpkin carvings, or even white water rafting! The moon is the limit when it comes to outings, literally! Though I don't think us poor college students could afford to pay for a trip to the moon though that would be a cool idea one year. CSC is just when we as a society go out into the community and help somewhere such as a children's home, manning booths at festivals, or handing out tracks.

Besides going on fun activities together what else do we do as a society? Weeeeeeell, we participate in sports! Our society decides which sports we want to create a team for then we compete against the other societies to see who wins the championship!

As a society we meet weekly on Friday to have fun and games as well as keep up society spirit through cheers and society songs. "Hoot baby hoot" is pretty much our society chant or cheer that we yell out to rouse society spirit and is integrated in a lot of our cheers. We have society t-shirts, buttons, and sweatshirts. That is the reason for my society's apparent obsession with Owl clothing. We also meet on Sunday before church for society Sunday School.

These crazy guys here are part of my brother society: Phi Beta, the Bulldogs!!!

I have joined, as said before, the society called the Owls. We are a smaller society of about forty girls. We are such a close group of friends, they are more then just a society, they are a large family of sisters in Christ! We are continually encouraging each other and getting together outside of "official society stuff" for dinner or just hanging out! I am so glad those fancy guys in suits came up with the idea of societies!!! Through societies I am developing friendships that will continue beyond the years of college!

I have joined, as said before, the society called the Owls. We are a smaller society of about forty girls. We are such a close group of friends, they are more then just a society, they are a large family of sisters in Christ! We are continually encouraging each other and getting together outside of "official society stuff" for dinner or just hanging out! I am so glad those fancy guys in suits came up with the idea of societies!!! Through societies I am developing friendships that will continue beyond the years of college!

Was It Only Two Weeks?

Surprise, surprise, it has been two weeks since being dropped off at University. Where did the time go? Somewhere between figuring out classes, and meeting new people, time has just flown right on by.
First of all I would like to say I am doing great and have adjusted incredibly fast! I even got some comments on how some people thought I was a Sophomore, nope just a Freshman who hasn't had the reality of the situation sink in fully. I suppose in a way it just feels like an extended vacation with friends. I do work on campus though, and I am not just referring to homework working, but a job. That is right, I have graced the working world with my presence among the custodial crew who clean our lovely science building here on campus. This creates a very interesting environment filled with all sorts of gadgets and gizmos that need dusted off.

The staff here on campus have been nice enough to keep my days pleasantly employed in various homework. I have really enjoyed the chance to see a real library, since I can't think of when I was ever in one before, so it has suddenly become my favorite spot of study despite the freezing cold in the library. I did after a while try other places on campus for spending my time such as in my dorm room, but that distracts me to easily, so I tried the study lounge... half an hour later as I was waking up I realized that wasn't such a good idea either, so back to the library! Now that classes are in full swing, other events and extra activities have begun which you, my loyal readers, will hear about as they occur hopefully. To give a full idea of what all is happening here on campus I will try every now and then write a post about a single part of life here, whether the food, social activities, or a class, to give you a glimpse into my life.

Introducing....the Class of 2014!!!

In my last post, which seems like a very long while ago, I traveled almost ten hours up north to Maine. Well, now I have traveled ten hours the opposite direction... all the way to South Carolina. But this time I am not to return to Pennsylvania, but instead stay down south in the invigorating heat (I am trying to stay optimistic about it). I am now an official University student of Bob Jones University. Some of you will be cringing in terror at this moment in the thought of me being released on my own, others not :) That is alright, there are many friendly professors here to keep me from taking over the world or doing any other such drastic act too soon. I am afraid there are no pictures yet of me here, unless I take one right now of me in my custodial T-shirt and sweat pants sat cross-legged on the desk chair with my hair all a mess. Having had to dress up all day, it is nice sometimes to just not dress up for a time! Now let me fill you in on what has been happening, before my classes start and steal away all my time.

I have spent the last few days since checking in on Friday with many meetings and "getting to know you" gatherings, and there are plenty more to come. I have actually been able to unpack fully and be moved in to my room with my three other roommates, all of whom are fantastic! We are all enough different to not irritate each other and similar enough to agree with each other generally, this will be a great year! Plus my older sister is just one room away, which means my extended closet is just one room away :D Anyway, I have also finished registering for my classes and ordering way to many books, will I have to know ALL of those books by the semester end, oh dear? I have met so many great people that I can't even remember all their names, but I can walk down the overly large dinning hall and call out greetings like all the upper class students do. Except I don't blend in with those same students when it comes to finding my way around. Though asking directions is a great way to meet many new people!

This night was the official inauguration of the class of 2014, not saying we are all becoming the next president, just the next freshman class at BJU. What does the next year hold? Lots of work, fun, friends,, homework, dressing up for formal occasions, cafeteria food, getting lost on campus, and just having a great time! I miss all of you back home very much, and I am excited to be getting to know you all here much better!

What Happens with Seven Girls in One House?

A lot can happen with seven young girls in one house, most of which is best left untold, but here is a glimpse of what went on...

Over the weekend my family went up to Maine where we stayed with a really fun family with four daughters. And so let the fun begin!

We got an exciting Safari ride on a jeep to exotic places such as...their back yard! These trips on the jeep led to another happening...

Water Wars!!! The original idea was to have water balloons to throw back at those who followed our jeep, but the balloons never made it to the jeep. It was very hard to fill up water balloons without "accidentally" spraying all in sight with the hose. Of course, like the loving people we were, we instantly went for revenge by grabbing water guns or even buckets. This began an all out water fight ending in us all soaking wet...and having to leave for an evening church service in a few minutes!

Our last evening was spent around a camp fire, the word fire in general is a dangerous word, now let us add a few more additions to the fire, such as sparklers, and glow sticks! What happens if you light five sparklers at the same time? Now what happens if you throw the sparklers in the fire?

Glow sticks on the other hand seem harmless enough. At least they were when we were content to squish them around and make cool glow blurrs. But after a while that was not enough. What happens when you cut off the end of a glow stick? The yard soon became a speckled star-filled sky, as well as the trees, and our feet, and our cloths, and much more. Then you throw the glow sticks on the fire and they suddenly become a bright green!!!! Children, do not try this at home!

That was just a glimpse of our weekend spent up in Maine, some things are just better not written on a blog for all to read... but then there always is that sort of thing when there are seven girls in one house!

An Adult...Somewhat

I don't know who decided that eighteen marks a person as an adult, I am eighteen and I will have to honestly admit, you are far from an adult! On Saturday it happened, I woke up and somehow, almost magically, at the stroke of midnight, I had turned eighteen. In just one night I went from being a child, having to have adult supervision when attending some places, or having a parent's signature for important documents, to being an independent. What happened in those early hours of the morning to make such a change? And the bigger question is... when will I actually FEEL the change, for as far as I can see, I feel just the same as before, despite what all the fancy papers say I should be responsible for. I still feel like a young child who, when I see a swing set, I want to swing; when I see an up escalator, I want to go down it; when I see a big puddle, I want to stomp through it; and I am supposedly on paper an adult. Perhaps by the end of the year, my mind's age will finally catch up to my passport age...

Here is a glimpse of how I celebrated the oncoming of eighteen. I spent most of my birthday lying at a lovely lake (like the alliteration?). My family enjoyed having a nice swim, followed by a nap or read on the beach while being warmed by the sun. We grilled hot dogs and ate a bountiful picnic, followed by more reading, napping, and swimming. As well as the lake side outing, I had a delicious cake, decorated by my mom with help from myself. The design on the cake began as a challenge to my mom, that I devised knowing all her cake decorating tools were in Switzerland. But she was able to overcome the challenge and came up with the most creative substitutes to make a very fun and memorable cake. In all, my birthday was GREAT!!!!!

I haven't yet told all my blogging friends, I now officially am the wearer of glasses. I know, 'tis a sad thing indeed :)

Photowalkin' Around

It is easy to see large objects such as a towering building or a silhouetted mountain against a sunset, yet small things are often overlooked. One way to notice every detail is to go on a photowalk, and suddenly the camera picks out details you never thought of before! Led by Bob Lawrence, a group of nine people began by the old court house in York, Pennsylvania and began a planned out route around downtown York. All along the way we all took pictures of almost anything that moved and didn't. We peeked down alleys, laid down on the ground, and climbed up on top of benches just to get the perfect shot. The end was a quaint little pizza shop. The pictures are then judged and the winner of our group will then have a chance to enter the world wide competition involving all the winners of all the groups of photowalkers around the world! Perhaps next photowalk near you, you will want to take part in. Just visit here to find out more about these fun photowalks.

You may see some of the best of my pictures by clicking below, I say "some" because I originally had over a hundred :)

Photowalkin' Around

Butterfinger Fondue

Here is a new recipe, never before tried, that I know of!!! During a discussion with a friend we came up with a thought, is it possible to melt Butterfingers into a fondue, just like you do for chocolate fondue. And so, I tried it and here is the resulting recipe:

1. Buy Butterfingers, as many as you need for the amount of fondue you want (the more the better, yuuuummmmm).

2. Crush up the Butterfingers as small as possible to make the melting easier, and to make snitching pieces less easy.

3. Melt the smashed up Butterfingers in a pan, not to hot or else it'll go strange. Also adding milk is helpful to avoid it becoming a caramel blob.

4. Eat the fondue by dumping apples or other fruits into it.

5. Repeat step four

6. Repeat step five

etc etc etc...
This delicious snack is possible for everyone to make. The result is a tasty treat tasting similar to chocolate fondue with a caramel twist! Enjoy!!!

It's Raining, It's Flooding..

It's raining, it's flooding, the old man is... wait, that doesn't work! I think I better change that. It's raining, it's flooding, the dirt is all mudding, I went to bed while the plants are fed, and now they are all budding!
To use a quote I saw on a friend's blog by Frederick Buechner "If it seems a childish thing to do, do it in remembrance that you are a child." This I took to heart when I ran outside, calling for Rebecca to join me, right into the pouring rain and the growing pond-like puddle!

Now the rain has stopped and the water is leaving again, but due to staying where we are, the rain will come back...someday!

GOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAL!!!

On the 11 of July, a very important day, something very wonderful occurred. I am not talking about my going to an all you can eat pizza buffet, though that is wonderful, I am referring to the World Cup finals! Just because our TV isn't connected up and working at the moment is no good reason to not watch it, and so we did as we did for all the other matches we watched in America... we went online to live streaming and were able to see the entire match. Of course we all were for Spain , and to our joy, Spain won the world cup! For a bit of an explanation of the above picture, yes I know I am wearing a Portugal shirt, yes I know Portugal wasn't playing, but since I only had a Swiss or Portugal shirt to choose from, I decided Portugal was closer. This is Spain's very first time for winning the World Cup, so I am very glad for them! Besides, this means, indirectly Switzerland is just as much of a winner since they are the only ones able to beat Spain this World Cup! Hurray for Spain, hurray for Switzerland!!!

Shall We Dance!!!

I have shown my great sophistication by attending a live musical at a dinner theater (yes, I am sophisticated whether I show it or not). It was a production of The King and I by the Dutch Apple Dinner theater. I enjoyed the evening very much, and not just the all you can eat buffet (including ice cream) but the actual play was fun. I was able to restrain myself from bursting into song with the actors, though when my favorite "Shall we dance?" scene came, it was very hard to keep silent. But I made up for that later on! For all those who have never even heard of The King and I, I would highly recommend you look it up, it is such a nice story filled with fun songs!

A Whole New World

Yesterday early, very early, I had to say goodbye to Switzerland and hello to America. Now here I am two plane flights later, sitting in a cafe so as to access the internet. We actually were able to fly all the way to London then to Philadelphia without any mishaps! No luggage lost, no canceled flights, no sleeping in airports! The worst that happened was having terrible food on the flight (who chose to serve smoked salmon sandwiches anyway?). It was a relief to finally arrive at our house and I almost immediately went to sleep. Thanks to jet leg I was able to wake up at six even though I spent past midnight catching up on everything with, of course, Heather :) Now here I am sitting here with a milkshake next to me as I am setting up my new lap top for University. I am looking forward to the next few days of visiting with family and shopping! I hope everyone keeps in touch with me :)

Sardines...Uh... and Pork and Beans

After reading the title of this post, some of you will be thinking "What on earth is she talking about?!" While others, I can think of a few right now, will suddenly begin singing, whether they like it or not! That is the mysterious wonder of camp songs. With the memory of the song, comes the memory of the entire camp. And so it goes with Sardines and Sunday School camp last weekend.

The theme for this year was focusing on guarding our hearts against Satan's attacks. Using this theme, we paralleled it to guarding a castle against the enemy's attack. Of course, castles relate to the medieval times naturally, which is why we are all dressed up in the above picture in such a... unique way.

We had plenty of fun and games all weekend long, as well as a medieval feast (though perhaps ice cream and sprinkles isn't quite as medieval as the rest of the feast).

Each morning and evening we had our bible time, learning about how and why to guard our hearts.

At the end of the weekend, we were joined at our metaphorical "castle" in the alps by our church. We had wonderful medieval foods such as... hot dogs and chocolate cake (who knows, they might of had that back then). We wrapped up the entire weekend with a hard worked on allegory play, and of course "Sardines...uh... and pork and beans"!

The Quest for Food

(Click here to see pictures)

If you find yourself in a picture, to your chagrin, and wish it to be removed, just tell me :)

Perhaps food wasn't quite the reason for the quest, but that does make an interesting blog title. What it really was, was a canceled Ascension hike changed to a Whitmonday hike. We, the Shirey family plus one other, set off on our almost four hour hike lead by our faithfully brave guide, Stephan, who led us through perilous flower-covered meadows and life threatening sun-filled woods. We battled rolling green hills, and fought our way through sun shine and cooling breezes. Till we finally successfully arrived at our destination: a restaurant. There we met up with our second half of brave hikers who I am sure suffered equal difficulties as us, but through a different route. All eleven of us then had the opportunity of enjoying a refreshing cup of cool drink before embarking on our next adventure... ordering our food! As we yet again tried sorting out our correct order with the waitress, those steep hills and other terrors seemed like a simple trial. But you may all rest assured, we did receive food of some sort in the end and were able to contentedly go home and sleep, at least that is what I did. What an enjoyable day that was!

Going Green

Introducing...

... the proud owner of a brand new green belt :) Yes, that is right! Tonight at judo I took my test for the green belt and passed. Perhaps I did not pass with "flying colors," but then I didn't need to pass with flying colors, only green, which I accomplished. I shall remain content for the next few years with my green belt, it matches very nicely with both my outfits (the above picture not being either official outfit). Plus, green is my favorite color, who needs a black belt anyway!

Happy Shakespearean Easter

I wish you all a very happy Easter!!! Hope you are enjoying your chocolate and whatever else nice things you got, I know I am. Actually I enjoyed my chocolate too much where now I am suffering from a minor belly ache, and the worst part about it is I still want more chocolate anyway :) Oh the joys of Easter!

In honor of the occasion, here is an attempt at a sonnet, not quite like Shakespeare's, but never the less a sonnet of sorts:

Easter Sunday Sonnet

Today is no ordinary Sunday–

It is Easter which comes just once a year.

I will tell you why, if you gather near,

This day is so special in ev'ry way.

On Friday, God sent His Son to obey,

To die for us, because we are so dear,

To pay our price, Christ shed many a tear,

And for three days in the tomb He did stay.

But on the third day, the vic'try was won,

And Christ was raised up from His resting place,

Our sins were forgiv'n through God's only Son,

So that one day we might see His bright face.

Let us not forget through the eggs and fun–

Today we were bought from death by God's grace.

Would You Believe...

Did you know that Burger King is selling a left handed Whopper made especially that the contents fall out the right side instead of the left? This happened the same day, but a different year then when Taco Bell bought the Liberty Bell to help get America out of debt, renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. When asking Mike McCurry, the White House Press secretary, about it, he just responded that they also sold the Lincoln Memorial and it is now called the Lincoln Mercury Memorial. Maybe you didn't hear that, but you must of heard about the Big Ben going digital? Or at least the finding of a mummified fairy? Why not check out the advertisement for the new diet tap water that was aired on GMTV. Also, while you are at it, you should check out the very first Apple Computer. All these events have one thing in common, they took place on April first, yes that is right, they were all April Fools Jokes!!! Though the origin of this day is unknown for sure, the tradition has been carried out faithfully for many years. One such April Fools day prank was aired in 2008 with a special announcement from BBC about a "new" discovery...

The... Operation!!!

I nervously enter the dentist room and sit comfortly on the chair. Then the moment arrives as the dentist himself walks into the room, panic stricken I watch his approach knowing what was to come. How can he remain so calm and smiling as he prepares me for the... procedure!!! It began with not one, not two, not three, but FOUR shots in my mouth! The feeling in my mouth was fading fading fading. Then began the worst part of all... I immediately shut my eyes as the knives were brought out and all the other instruments of torture. He removed an American quarter sized piece of flesh from the roof of my mouth and inserted that in my ultra thin gums on the bottom of my mouth. This is to prevent me from the constant worry of knowing if my mouth was hit too hard I would have dentures before I even graduate from college. As the transplantation was completed he began sewing up my mouth– not my whole mouth, I can still speak muahaha, just the wounds. And with a smile he said it was all done. Done? I can't even feel the bottom half of my face! Is it still there? In about a quarter of an hour I was reassured that my entire mouth was definitely still there– ouch! –even if it wasn't all at the original placement. And now I wait patiently for it to heal and hope for no infections. Now not having the doom of the operation looming over me I will admit my dentist was very nice and I look forward to another more pleasant visit with him in two weeks when he will be so kind as to remove the stitches.

Are You Wearing Green?

Well, you should be!!! It is St. Patrick's Day, the day of green things, leprechauns, shamrocks, and pots of gold. Even if you aren't Irish, you can have fun and be somewhat Irish for the day like my family and I with our St. Patrick decorations and potato meal. For some Irish fun, here are special jokes for the occasion:

Q: How did the Irish Jig get started?

A: Too much to drink and not enough restrooms!

*****

'How far is it to the next village?' asked the American tourist. 'It's about seven miles.' guessed the farmer. 'But it's only five if you run!'

*****

I included this one in honor of a recent post on my blog:

An Englishman, a Frenchman and an Irishman were talking about their children.

'My son was born on St. George's Day,' remarked the Englishman, 'So we obviously decided to call him George.'

'That's a real coincidence,' observed the Frenchman, 'My daughter was born on Valentine's Day, so we decided to call her Valentine.'

'That's really incredible,' exclaimed the Irishman, 'Exactly the same thing happened with my son Pancake!'

*****

While an American farmer was on holiday in Ireland, he fell into easy conversation with an Irish farmer.

'How big is your spread?' asked the American.

'Well look you, it's about 20 acres' he said.

'Only 20 acres!' the American responded, 'Back in Texas I can get up at sunrise, saddle my horse and ride all day, when I return at supper time, I'll be lucky to cover half my farm.'

'Begora,' said the Irishman, 'I once had a horse like that.'

*****

Having had two jokes with Americans, I thought I would include one involving a Swiss:

A Swiss man, on holiday in Dublin, needed directions. He was standing by the road when he saw two youths walking by so he stops them and asks,

'Entschuldigung, können Sie Deutsch sprechen?' The two lads look at each other blankly and stare back at him.

'Excusez-moi, parlez vous Français?' He tries. The two continue to stare.

'Parlare Italiano?' Still absolutely no response from the two lads.

'Hablan ustedes Español?' The Dublin lads remain totally silent.

The Swiss man walks off extremely disappointed and downhearted that he had not been understood. One of the boys turns to the second and says, 'Y'know, maybe we should learn a foreign language?'

'Why?' says the youth, 'That guy knew four languages, and it didn't do him any good!'

Closer, Closer, and STRIKE!!!

Just because I haven't been bowling for years is no reason not to go now! And so I tried, attempting to perfect my technique and maybe getting a strike.

I went bowling with my dad and sister, my mom being away for the week. We all had such great fun!!!

As well as us three, there were ten other friends from Kilchzimmer who were there. We had rented two lanes, and yes when we threw our balls they did stay on our lanes :) Ok, our lanes and the gutter but hey no one is perfect!

My first game was not so good, I call it a practice run. The second time I did really well for me!

I even got a strike!!!! YAY!!!

I am sure I'll get back there some time soon and have more practice with bowling till I become the unbeatable champion!!!

Not Just Any Tuesday!

Did you know today was Pancake Tuesday? Pancake Tuesday, also known as Shrove Tuesday, is the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of lent. The reason for eating pancakes is because pancakes contain sugar, eggs, milk, and many other ingredients that are given up during lent; therefore, they must be used up. It is considered a sort of last feast before lent. So get out your whipped cream, powder sugar, chocolate sprinkles, bananas, lemon juice, and whatever else you can think of and enjoy your pancakes :) And thank you to the friend who reminded me of this day!