Ben, ‘11

December 13, 2007

In less than 24 hours, I will be back home and resting in my very own house. I haven’t been back in four months and I could use a nice break. This week has been very unusual with finals. Either I was resting and trying to stay relaxed or studying. I thought I would do the worst on my Public Policy final followed by my Microeconomics and Spanish ones. After taking them, I felt the most confident about my Public Policy and least confident about the Spanish. I studied with my friend, Jimmy, for my Public Policy for several hours. We went over every question on the review sheet. When we got the exam, we realized that it was almost an exact copy of the review sheet, word for word. Some questions weren’t on there, but I felt very happy that I had studied the way that I had. My answers weren’t fantastic, but I felt much better leaving the test than when I had arrived. Economics also went well. I remembered which subject areas my professor had hinted would be on the final, so I studied well. I felt very good about the graphs and essays, yet didn’t feel as well about the multiple choice. Oh well, that happens. As for my Spanish, I knew everything and could conjugate everything, yet had a hard time choosing which tense to choose, even when only given two options. I have a bad tendency to do that and to play too many mind games. Now, all I can do is wait for the results.

These are all of the books that I read this semester.

Enough about school. I studied, but that’s not all life is around here. Besides, it’s probably boring to you and it’s also hard for me to easily explain. I caught up on my rest on Saturday and Sunday. I caught the Packers game and saw another dominant performance. I also went to the Christmas Candlelight Service at our chapel. The community comes to campus and our choir sings traditional Christmas carols.

The Christmas Candlelight Service

Halfway through studying on Monday night, I got an e-mail asking me for my comments on the concert that I had attended that night. I then realized that I had completely forgotten about the concert that I was really looking forwards to. It had slipped my mind amidst the finals. It was a Christmas concert by Eileen Eivers. She is a famous Celtic fiddler and I heard that she had an amazing show. She brought in a local boys choir and other local talent to help her. I was really sad that I had missed it. If she comes back next year, I will be sure to make it.

D-Hall did another Home for the Holidays. Once again, one of my mom’s recipes was chosen. They were her Christmas Bars. It was a great selections of bars, pies, egg nog, and other favorite recipes from students’ homes.

My Christmas Bars at Home for the Holidays

I had mentioned that I had finally found a home church here in Richmond that I have been attending for a few weeks. It is a really small congregation and a good group of people. Every week, the few students from U of R who go to that church get together for lunch and a Bible Study. I could never make it due to my CORE class at the same time, but was able to make a Christmas get together this past week. The other students, pastor, main greeter, and myself went into downtown Richmond to the famous Bottoms Up Pizza. It was a great time to relax from finals, get to know the leaders in the church, eat great food, and have a few laughs. I’m excited to keep going with the group and get to know everyone better.

My church group at Bottoms Up Pizza

My Chesapeake Pizza with crab and sweet onions. It was quite interesting.

With all of this food, I figured that I should get in a good workout. Our Bible Study small group scheduled a workout day at the gym. It initially fell through, but we finally got together. However, all that we ended up doing was playing DDR, pool, and arcade games. Then, everyone else went into the sauna. I’m not a huge fan of saunas, so I went out and got in a good run around the lake. It was a high of 77 that day and continued an amazing streak of good weather. Someone was handing out free hot chocolate, but no one really wanted any when they’re wearing a T-shirt and shorts. The run allowed me to clear my mind and reflect on everything that I had done and was still looking for here. I hadn’t really had any pure quiet time. Either I was around other people, listening to music, or watching TV. Even when studying, there is always noise in the hallways or other rooms. So, it was a very pleasant break.

Our small group ended up playing arcade games during our gym get together

On Thursday, I volunteered to help evaluate our Career Development Center. Several outside evaluators came and several other students and myself lent our opinions on the CDC in an effort to improve it. Plus, I got a really good meal out of it.

The final thing that I must mention makes me really sad. One of my friends is transferring after this semester. I don’t know exactly why he is doing it, but I trust that he is making the right decision. He’ll be closer to home as well. I hadn’t been able to hang out with him as much as I would have liked, so this makes me sad. Other than him, I don’t specifically know too many people who are transferring, but I’m sure that some are doing it. It’s probably the same on every other campus in the nation, but I never really thought that some people that I know won’t be coming back. It’s rather sad since I didn’t see it coming. Anyways, best of luck back in Texas, Ben.

My friend, Sarah, delivered some candy canes to bring Christmas cheer

Countdown to Home: 19 Hours
Countdown to Christmas: 11 Days
Quote of the Week: “Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.” - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Thought to Ponder:Why do hotdogs come in packs of 8 when hotdog buns come in packs of 10?
Shout Outs: My friends at my new church, Ben: “Best of luck in Texas. We’ll miss you.”