Hello from! From… ehh… well, this isn’t good. We’re less than a month in and I already can’t think of where to say hello from! Hello from home? Not especially interesting, but it’s true. And honesty is the best policy! So life is good. My 18-hour semester is off to a pretty good start. I’ve had a lot of homework, but it’s been survivable so far. Of particular mention is the fact that my WinShape interview is tomorrow! I’m excited, but also nervous, so pray for me please. I’ve never had an interview before, so I’m not really sure what to expect, like what questions might be asked or how long it will last. Any ideas? I believe D-group is also starting this Thursday, so that’s exciting! I can’t think of any more stuff to talk about, so on to Question Tuesday!

AB:

Kindness, Selflessness, Compassion- my answer goes for all three of these: you can be too kind/selfless/compassionate from a selfish perspective, since thinking too much of others means not thinking of yourself and results in suffering/death for you (which could also be considered too much for the people to whom you’re being kind/selfless/compassionate, since if you’re dead you can’t be kind/selfless/compassionate to them anymore. Also, sometimes people would consider such actions as pitying and not want your kindness/selflessness/compassion, and so following through would be too much in their opinion).

Self-control- if we’re too much in control of ourselves, we’re not letting God be in control. “If God is your copilot, swap seats!” (That quote is from a flair I have. And flair is working again!!! Yay!!!). On a different note, if you’re always in control of yourself, then you can’t write off your mistakes and pretend they were on accident. Well, I guess you could, but people would be much less likely to buy it.

Parenthetical remarks- umm, yeah. Too many parentheses interrupt the flow and make the writing extremely confusing. Exhibit A: last Tuesday!

Playing dumb when a boy likes you- having used this strategy myself in quite a lot of instances, I am certainly of the opinion that it has its merits, whether you like the boy who might like you or the contrary. If the first is true, there’s always the possibility that your own feelings are fueling your perception, so I feel like it’s best to play it safe and not do anything unless he overtly admits to his feelings. In the opposite case, pretending to misinterpret a boy’s repeated advances could make him realize that you do not reciprocate, thus avoiding an awkward refusal. Of course, a lot of the time such a boy will go on and confess his feelings anyway, necessitating the aforementioned awkward refusal. But it was worth a try, right?

Hunger Games tribute- oh dear. I don’t think I would do well at all as a Hunger Games tribute. Since I can’t hunt, gather, fight, or defend, it would pretty much be just a matter of time (and probably not very much of it) before I fell victim to some murder-crazed Career. That being said, it’s not like I would just give up. I would probably spend my training learning basic survival stuff- food, water, shelter- and maybe attempting some defense strategies. Then my main strategy would be to hide and hope that maybe the other 23 competitors would kill each other off without my interference? (Hah! Like the Controllers would allow that…). From the stand point of someone who hasn’t grown up with the inevitability of the Games every year, I would be opposed to actually killing anyone except in defense, and I’m not sure I could even manage it then (morally OR physically. The “frailty” of which Dwain is so fond of talking would probably become much more fitting in such circumstances). So, yeah, don’t bet on me… 

Hello from a lack of words. 

Isn't it cute. If only I know how to use Photoshop... 

I really am at a lost for words. I've been a little stressed and pressured. I don't know what it is, which element of my life,  but i'm really feeling tired out.  So I decided to look up some pictures to cheer myself up and represent my feelings.

I wanna do this all the time, not insomnia.

I want to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

this is a rice paddy. I had to do a presentation in Chinese class today and it involved rice paddies. Just wanted to make sure you guys have all seen one.

妈妈，( anna beth) I want one. This will cheer me up.

hello from not class.  why would i write my blog during class?  of course not!  especially not life of a cross cultural minister...
oh come on, i'm just auditing.  i don't have to take a test or do homework on this information.  and i am still listening.  my teacher just asked what the difference is between sympathy and empathy.  
anyway, i feel i should let you guys in on the internship situation, since you've heard me mention it enough.  i am currently in some form of contact with six mission agencies.  about half of these are me waiting on an e-mail before i can do anything.  one i hi'ave applied to, and i haven't heard anything back yet.  another, i had a phone interview this week, and i think it went really well!  they sort of said that they would probably be accepting me!!! the next thing to do after that would be to make sure that it meets my advisor's requirements, which it might not sooooooooooooooooooo.  lastly, the paid internship i applied for has given me a phone interview for this thursday at 4!! (3 most of your time, 9 PM for you (you know who you are!)) i'm excited, and i'm starting to feel like i will really get to go! =]
i have had so much homework to do.  saturday, i spent three hours at starbucks doing homework, two hours at chickfila doing homework, and three hours at coffee times doing homework.  and when i got back to campus, i did some homework!
that's my life, and it will probably be so for several weeks, or maybe the entire semester (ahhh!)
i miss you all very much!  i would love some letters (especially for sanaa, if she wants that which has been sitting in my desk for six months).  
i usually ramble for way too long, but i'll cut it short this time.  don't worry.  next sunday, i will write you a novel.

i love you all so so much.  you make me smile big =D
and God loves you even more than i do.
<3

_ Hello from what has been truly a wonderful weekend! I’m literally writing this post under the wire, as I “just” got back from a Victory retreat. “Just” is in quotes because for the last couple of hours I have been spending time with friends at the BCM and investigating interesting places at Vanderbilt not typically accessible to the general public….. I’m not going into detail on that on the blog, sorry, but know that it was awesome!

Retreat was amazing. Friday afternoon 15 of us Victory members headed to Goodlettsville, just north of Nashville, to stay at a church camp. The camp was nestled into the woods, surrounded by a fishing pond and forest by all sides- a beautiful escape from the city. We practiced several of our pieces for this semester, including “Fix You” by Coldplay- my choice as song of the week - and spent a lot of time playing games and getting to know each other better. However, one of my favorite parts of retreat is our quiet time, where we take about 45 minutes to go wander wherever we like and just think and talk with God. During that time, I hiked into the woods and found a trail that looped around several adjacent properties. It really provided a good basis for me to think about this semester and see how much God has done for me over the past couple of weeks... So beautiful.

I feel as though so much has changed for me this week. Worth mentioning is that Phi Lamb rush went really well, and on Friday I officially became a pledge of Phi Lamb! (I’m a baby lamb <3) The girls are absolutely wonderful, and I feel that this sisterhood will be something I will come to treasure very dearly over the next year and a half. Pledge retreat is next weekend, so I’m definitely going to be keeping busy with all things Phi Lamb! However, this means it’s not likely I’ll be able to see you guys (Rachael, Sara, and Jill) next Saturday at your fencing tournament… However, let me know what time you all will be down here, since it is possible I’ll be leaving later Saturday and can see you sometime in the morning! =)

Another major change that happened is actually class-related. I had my fifth Abstract Algebra class Tuesday afternoon, and after I left class, I realized that I was actually not enjoying going to class and learning the material. Now typically I would enjoy this type of math, and my professor was wonderful. However, taking 19 hours after taking 18 the past semester has really worn me down, and I felt as if I would not do well if I continued further into the semester. Therefore, after talking with my family and thinking about the decision for a few days, I talked with my adviser and my professor on Thursday, and we came to the decision that I would drop the class. I honestly feel much better about having more time to enjoy the class another time, and for that matter, to enjoy all of my classes and activities this semester, and I’m hoping that my GPA for this semester will reflect this change.

So now that I’ve mentioned a few of the major things that happened this week, I’m off to clean my room and go to sleep! I start volunteering at my church tomorrow at 7am for setup crew (I attend Green Hills church, which meets in a bar… Yeah.), so I need to get some sleep tonight after not really getting a lot over retreat (mmmm…. Crêpes!!) :) Good night all! The song below (by Straight No Chaser- love them) will be stuck in my head for at least another week… ;)

Straight No Chaser- "Fix You"

_           Hello from Minton Hall! Amy just left for the weekend and Nayab went upstairs so I’m all alone at the moment.
   I had a relatively successful move-in on Saturday. I managed to move all the furniture around (I’ve kept my record of having a different room layout every semester so far) by myself and somewhat clean the room a bit. It’s surprising how dirty the floor was despite the inactivity over the past two-ish months. I say relatively successful because even though I got everything situated well enough, it wasn’t until late at night that I realized everything that I’d forgotten to pack including dish soap, an umbrella (I did at least have a raincoat which came in handy this week), the correct number of hangers, the hair ties that I bought last Friday because I keep losing mine, and, most importantly, a Pillow! I’ve been using the small decorative pillow for the past week instead. I’m planning on picking all this stuff up this weekend when I go home to do laundry. Here’s a nice little before/after picture of the room. Ignore the mess. It’s Friday. Cleaning is impossible on Friday. The important thing it was clean at one point and will probably be clean again soon.

_       On Sunday I picked Amy up and we went to church. We met up with Sara and Rachael afterwards for some DDR (which I only partially failed at) at Amy’s house. And Anna Beth, be jealous: Amy’s cute little cousin was there. Mainly be jealous of Amy and Rachael since got hugs. After that we picked up some pizza and moved Amy’s stuff into the dorm even though she’s still not officially my roommate (just a technicality, still waiting on the actual email that says she can move in though she’s been staying in my room for the past week anyway).
            Like Amy said, Rachael and I joined her and her family for Chinese New Year where we tried some new foods and learned a little bit of Chinese. By the way, Anna Beth, *puts on sunglasses to look more like a poker player* I see your eating of haggis with my first experience with tripe and raise you with Chinese fish noodles. Hehe. Oh, and I’m proud you’re finally doing your own laundry :-P lol jk

  Classes have been going pretty well this week. This semester I’m taking:

-Ecocology (where it took us an hour into the second class to even start talking about   Ecology, but it’s also the class that requires a field trip to either the Gulf Coast or the Appalachian Mountains for a full weekend! –awesomesause   ) + Lab (which is only every other week but where we get to traipse around the preserve to collect data on birds and possibly write a publishing-worthy paper)

- Anatomy and Physiology (where the professor helped us to remember the difference between supine and prone body positions by having a student demonstrate that Prone looks like Planking!) + Lab

- Living in a Roman City (an Honors discussion based class where we at least in part talk about Roman city planning and where the professor momentarily interrupted the class to ask if anyone had ever thought of how they would choose to layout a city if the Zombie Apocalypse ever happened)

- History 119 (where, after a question by a student was put forward, the professor had to admit historical feces was not his specialty but “The History of Poop” would be an awesome book)

- American Sign Language 2 (where to review the basics of fingerspelling the alphabet and numbers, we searched YouTube for various songs to sign along to, including the Jackson 5’s ABC’s, Oscar Mayer’s Bologna Song, Jenny aka 867-5309, etc.)

So, yeah, I’m enjoying my classes so far. Lol. And Fridays I don’t have class at all (so no, I’m not really jealous of you, Sara :P)! Which basically means I didn’t change out of my PJs until 5:00 pm. Don’t worry, that’s probably a one-time thing. I’m planning on using most Fridays as my opportunity to use open lab hours to study for Anatomy.  

        Oh, and I’ve very tempted to just keep the biography Rachael made for me. It’s so awesome!
        Seeing as I’m having a hard time picking what would be the most ‘awesome’ for this week, I’ll just give a little list to go through, all a little science based:

Spray on Clothing – it is what it implies. weird, but kinda cool
Mind Reading/Recording – imagine eventually being able to record your dreams! So cool!
Eyes -  Stare at the red dot on the girl’s face for 30 seconds. Turn your eyes to the wall/roof/other plain surface. Blink rapidly.

Oh, before I forget: Amber! We (meaning myself, Rachael, and maybe Sara) may get to see you next weekend! There's going to be a Fencing tournament at Vanderbilt next Saturday so you should come see us for a bit!

    Now, I’m off to actually do some studying! (where studying means watching Crashcourse on YouTube because one of its subjects it coincides awesomely with one of my classes and because the vlogbrothers host it.)  

- Jill

Hello from the tower, aka my room. In case I haven’t mentioned, I live on the top floor, down this little hallway with some extra stairs going up, so I have nicknamed it the tower.
Anyway, where did I leave off the other day? Ah, yes. The weekend. I have a story about that, but I’ll tell it later. One notable thing to mention, though, is that I met and went to church with my British family from the Meet a Family Programme, or “scheme,” as the Brits say. Everything’s a scheme with them. It’s funny, because I think of a scheme as something dubious and underhanded, but here it’s used to mean a program.
So on Sunday, Veronica picked me up and gave me a lift to the small church service held in the Town Hall at Barrowby. It’s actually a church plant from Grantham Baptist, which I visited the first week I was here. It was a really cool service. I liked how informal it was. The pastor would start praying, and then he opened the floor for just anyone to prayer right there where they were standing, and quite a few people did. And when I say “quite a few,” I mean like 5 or 6, because this church was tiny. Tiny, but very nice.
I met Veronica’s husband, Stephen, when I got there. Both he and Veronica do music at the church. 
Stephen and Veronica are very nice. They invited me to their house for lunch: chicken, potatoes, cabbage, stuffing, and some very lovely cake. Afterward, we watched British TV, played some board games (Stephen and I got pretty competitive at Boku), and played with the cat, Jasper, who is black and looks like a tiny panther. It was a delightful afternoon. They also have a 22-year-old daughter named Rachel, who I have yet to meet as she was in London that weekend. I am supposed to officially meet the family tonight at the reception here at the manor, but Veronica can’t attend tonight, so I met them early. Still, Stephen will be here, and perhaps Rachel, and I got them a box of chocolates and a cat toy for Jasper. And since it’s a reception, I’m looking forward to an excellent dessert.
So what else has been going on this week? Well, Tuesday night was Burns Night down in the Bistro. It was a celebration of the poet Robert Burns and all things Scottish. I tried a bite of haggis! Yep, that’s right. I ate guts. And it wasn’t bad…It would have been better if I hadn’t known what it is. Very salty…yeah….
So after Burns Night, our Christian fellowship group, BASIC (Brothers And Sisters In Christ) had its first real meeting, which went well. Then, we all went out on a quest to try to see the Northern Lights. It was a rare chance, but we were supposed to be able to see them from here. Someone did end up seeing them around 3 am, but it was too cloudy when I was out. I did see some full moons, though…
There is a tradition at Harlaxton of running the mile-long stretch of the driveway, from gate to gate, naked. That is what is known as the Naked Mile. Four young ladies whom I will not name decided to have a go at it Tuesday night. So, like good friends, a group of us hid and shined a flashlight on them as they ran by naked as jaybirds. That got them squealing and running faster, and let me just say, it was a hilarious night!
Anyway, now I’m going to tell you the weekend story, but it’s a secret story, so shhhh!

It was a dark, damp, chilly night in the countryside of Lincolnshire. The wind was howling; I could hear it through the thick stones of the manor. Two friends and I roamed through the grand old house, bored. Most of the students were off on weekend excursions and the manor was relatively empty, and very, very still. We ambled into the dim entryway and sat down on a pew-like bench, debating what we should do next. All of a sudden, we heard an unsettling rattling noise coming from our right. Even in the poor lighting we could see the door under the staircase moving ever so slightly. The noise repeated itself, beckoning us closer. We took a few steps and hesitated, the ghost stories and tales of an eccentric past tenant’s séances fresh in our minds. But we proceeded, opening the thick, wooden door with a creak. We were met by darkness and dust, but when our eyes adjusted, we could see a conglomeration of pipes, old chairs, and random unused items lying around, and a longer stretch of a tunnel off to the left. Nathan and Kenzie descended into the tunnel-esque space, guided only by the light of an iPhone. I stayed a couple of steps back, as we had decided it would be quite unfortunate if someone were to close the door on us while we were in there. I heard their footsteps proceed a little way, then stop. 
“We found a note,” Kenzie said with excitement, emerging from the tunnel. I took my turn to look in there while she guarded the door. It was small, but mysterious and exciting: just a little area carved into the wall underneath the stairs. We all left the tunnel, closing the door behind us, and rushed to an area with enough light to read the note. It was somehow etched into the paper as to give the impression of a blank sheet of paper at first. The instructions, written on the reverse side, told us to put the note in the freezer to make the words appear. Although we could sort of read it anyway, we put it in the freezer. It turned out to be a letter of advice written by former Harlaxton students, basically encouraging us to make every moment count, not stress, and keep exploring. And also to leave a note for future students to discover. It was totally the kind of thing that you guys and I would do. I loved it. And you know what the best part was? It was signed, “DFTBA Nerdfighters!” (That’s don’t forget to be awesome, for those who don’t know.)
So in conclusion, Harlaxton Manor falls in the realm of Nerdfighteria, and we will not forget to be awesome! The end.

DFTBA,
Anna Beth

P.S. I’m going to Scotland this weekend! WOOOO!!!! I get to stay in a hostel!

Hello from my temporary home for the next two weeks! Because I don't have a key to get into Minton Hall, I have to wait until Amy, Jill, or sneak in with some random person to get inside the building. Until someone lets me in, I feel like I look like a weirdo standing outside trying to look like I belong there...oh well.
Happy Chinese New Year! What are the odds of it being the Year of the Dragon (my favorite animal) the year we do awesome stuff and this awesome blog? I recorded some stuff over at Amy's house...we'll have to see if I ever do anything with it.
The biggest news this week happened yesterday...I gave a bundle of letters to Jill+friends! I felt like I was the one most excited about opening the first one even though they weren't mine. Don't worry, I got it on camera!
16 more days until I leave, and until then, I plan to hang out with Amy, Jill, Sara, and maybe a little Nayab, sleep, read, and try to finish playing Fable 2 on my little brother's X-Box [if I don't finish, he's going to erase my data--there can only be one account saved on the game :( ]

Hello from the first Tuesday of the semester, where things are already getting crazy… I had the pleasure today of timing the trip from Tate Page Hall (at the bottom of the hill) to Cherry Hall (at the VERY top of the hill) to see whether I can feasibly make the trip in as little as 15 minutes twice a week. I’m happy to say that I made it in 13, though I was pretty exhausted at the end. Maybe it’ll get easier the more I do it? I’ve also been trying to figure out my online class and working on the homework my professors are already assigning. That’s it for the bad news, though. On the bright side, my classes are looking pretty interesting. 2/3 of them are for my major. In addition, I have ASL 2 with Jill and English 300. ASL is awesome, of course, and it’s looking like English will at least be survivable. Also I don’t have any Friday classes (be jealous. Be very jealous). So that’s all my beginning-of-the-semester news. On to Question Tuesday!

Rachael:

Universe: I’m sure an astronomy student forced to learn about the universe would think so sometimes (despite the infinitely small proportion that they’re actually learning about). Plus, if you subscribe to the BIG CRUNCH THEORY (the opposite of the Big Bang Theory; the actual scientific theory, I mean, not the awesome sauce television show), even the universe will someday come to realize that it has stretched itself to its limits and snap back in on itself like a universe-sized rubber band, taking everything it contains (aka, everything) with it and crunching (hence the name) us all back to whatever/wherever/however we were before the BIG BANG.

Space: when the same amount of stuff is placed in a larger amount of space, said stuff has to be more separated and farther apart, which might not be a good thing. Like, right now, I think there is too much space between myself and all of you. 

Ambah:

1 Y’all: is a ridiculous Southern colloquialism that gives a bad name to Kentuckians everywhere! It’s not quite so bad as yuns, though (however you spell that). It’s also amusing to note that my mom (the one I live with, not you, Amber) recently started using it involuntarily. We have yet to find the cure.

2/3 Umm, I think that it depends on the girl/guy as to when it would be appropriate for her to ask him out. You may have surmised by now that I personally never would, but that’s mostly cause I’m a chicken. If you’ve known each other awhile and you think your chances are good, (and run out of patience waiting for him to do something) then go for it! As for why it takes guys so long to ask, I’d say it’s probably for the same reasons girls are reserved about asking in the first place: they’re nervous and worried about being rejected, so they want to be as sure as possible that the feeling is mutual before they venture to ask. Since girls and guys rarely seem to understand each others’ actions, as obvious as a girl may make it that she likes a guy, he still won’t get it. It’s just a sad fact of life.

4 Your last question is about my opinion on waiting for marriage to kiss. I actually read a book series where one of the guys didn’t want to kiss his girlfriend until they were married, and the way it was portrayed was really romantic. I’m not saying it’s for every couple, and obviously most don’t choose this route. A lot of it probably depends on how you view kissing. The guy in the book I mentioned was really passionate and romantic, and he wanted to reserve his first kiss for his wife. Most people don’t put quite so much import on a kiss, so they don’t feel the necessity of saving their first kiss that long. I don’t know how I would feel about that if I were in a relationship. I think that has to be something a couple discusses, and if one person wants to wait, the other should respect this, and if they can’t, consider whether the relationship is worth continuing.

Jill:

TFiOS: I loved this book, Jill!!!!!! When I realized that it was about a girl who had cancer, and that there was no chance of its being cured, I had fixed in my mind how I thought it would end, and was really not looking forward to said eventuality. For a little while, I was even worried that John Green would make his book end the same as An Imperial Affliction (aka not at all. Seriously, if any actual book ended like that, I just might die, literarily profound or not). But, I certainly wasn’t anticipating the turn it actually took (I don’t want to say, since I’m hoping to coerce some of our friends into reading it for themselves, but hopefully you know what I mean? If not, we’ll have to discuss it in person. Which I’ve been wanting to do anyway. Wow, this is a really long parenthetical statement… Ok, I’ll end it now). In fact, there was a lot that I didn’t expect about this book. Of course, I don’t generally go seeking out books involving cancer. I mean, I usually like sad books once I read them, but I certainly don’t go out of my way to find them. Anyway, seeing as it was about a girl with cancer and other people she met had cancer, I was anticipating a LOT of sadness and tears (in between the enjoyably ironic dialogue. What’s the word for extreme understatement of a situation? I’m sure I remember learning something like that in senior English class, but the only thing I can think of is euphemism, and that doesn’t quite work. Sorry, I’m parenthetically rambling again…). In reality, though, I only got a little teary once or twice. In contrast, with Looking for Alaska my heart was repeatedly ripped out and torn to pieces in the second half of the book (you read that one, right, Jill?). So, TFiOS was definitely less sad than I expected. I can’t really say it was more hilarious, though. I mean, this is John Green, king of hilarity. And also profundity. OH MY GOSH!!! I think profundity is an actual word, guys… It didn’t get an angry red scribble when I typed it :). Ok, I’m getting pretty rambly now (rambly, however, is not a word :( ). Suffice it to say that I immensely enjoyed the book, and I would have bought all his others by now if it weren’t for that giant, guilt-inducing stack of books I already own but haven’t read yet sitting by my bed. *sigh* 

So… I’ve just been observing how parenthetically rich this blog post was. Sorry about that. But not really. The overuse of parentheses will most probably continue. Kbai!

Hello from St. Louis & the Year of the Dragon! Apologies for not posting last weekend...Vlog Numbah 3 will hopefully undergo editing in the near future. To give you all an idea of the madness I've been undergoing this past week, I've decided to post the teaser trailer for Lunar New Year Festival 2012 below! Look for me in the Japan Dance!

Also, this is a great follow-up to Amy's Chinese New Year post! Happy Lunar New Year!