I’m in the library at 12:55, but I don’t have anything due for tomorrow. By most people’s standards (and, on any other day, my own) that doesn’t make any sense at all. I’ve just come from Midnight Munchies and am running off a sugar/karaoke high. To commemorate the first Sunday of finals week, D-hall opened from 10:30 to 12 and served appetizers like spicy meatballs, Buffalo wings, vegetables, and mini cups of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. They had a DJ who blasted music for the first half and offered karaoke for the second. Meg and I felt compelled to join in on the karaoke and, after convincing Nellie to sing too, got up and performed/murdered the song ‘You’re the One that I Want’ from Grease. I basically made a complete fool of myself and had a blast doing something I never would have even attempted nsidered in high school. I look forward to all the awkward you’re-that-girl-who-sang-grease stares that I’ll be getting tomorrow.
Before Midnight Munchies, Mallory, Meg and I attended the Candlelight Christmas Service at the Chapel. People from the campus and community came together to hear bible readings and Christmas Carols performed by Schola Cantorum and the University Women’s Choral. It was a really nice service – the candles even had these little plastic cups under them to keep the wax from scalding your hands. The chapel was beautifully decorated, not unlike the rest of campus!
There are wreathes hung in the library, lit garlands draped over the entry sign, and decorated Christmas trees in D-hall. I’m a big Christmas fan, so naturally I love it all. The other night, RHA sponsored free carriage rides and Santa photos. The rides were fifteen minutes long. I’d never been on one before, but as soon as a saw this big red carriage drawn by two Belgian draft horses past by the post office, I knew I had to try it! The clip-clop of horse shoes echoed across campus for a good two and a half hours – it was pretty surreal, to tell you the truth.
Pre-ride Prep
En Route
This whole weekend was rather Christmas-y. I went ice skating with Mallory and Kim on Saturday. We followed up two hours of sliding around and dodging small children with an hour or two of shopping at Short Pump, which is a huge outdoor mall about 15 minutes from campus. It even started to snow as we were leaving! That sort of random snowfall is an oddity in Richmond, and it pretty much perfected the day. The snow flurries continued for awhile. By the time I walked from Moore to D-hall that night, my jacket was sporting a dusting of flakes.
Mal pretty much lapped Kim and I with her beast skating skills -Â I was jealous to say the least. She’s posing and cute in this picture while I’m struggling to keep my feet underneath my body…
In front of the gigantic Christmas tree at Short Pump.Â
Like I said before, finals start this week – my first college finals. Mine don’t actually begin until Thursday, so I haven’t quite gotten nervous about them yet. Friday was my last day of classes and this marks my last SpiderDiary of first semester. I can’t believe that I’m almost an eighth of the way through with college. I guess now would be the appropriate time to reflect back on my experiences and such…here it goes! College is definitely something to look forward to. I love the freedom I have here to go to Burger King at 11:00 on a Thursday night (yeah, we’re pretty wild) or take a trip to D.C. without having to ask permission. No one needs to know what I’m doing, when I’ll be back, how much homework I have or what I ate for lunch. Ever. And that’s a nice change. I miss my friends from high school more now that the holidays are coming and I know they’ll be back home soon. It’s always a relief to spend time with people who’ve known you for more than 4 months, no matter how much information you’ve managed to share with the people you have known for 4 months. There’s just something relaxing about old friends that’s hard to find on campus. At the same time, after spending 4 years with the same people, you come to appreciate new faces and personalities. In terms of the workload, college hasn’t been that much worse that high school. There’s a decent amound and some of it is genuinely difficult, but I spend so little time in class that it balances out. If anything, I feel like I have more free time now then I did before.
And…that’s all I have to say on that subject. Have a great month (I’ll be off on break - haha) and good luck on college apps!
