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