Blog post for weeks 6 and 7
This week has been really packed...we
had absolutely no free time, which didn't actually bother me that
much. I got a lot done this week! And I've learned quite a bit.
Dr. Donald T. Williams was our speaker
this week. His lectures included “literature, humanities, theology
through literature, worldviews through literature, poetry, and the
philosophy of Satan.”
I must confess, that I never fully
appreciated poetry until hearing Williams discuss the topic with us,
and read us some of his own works of poetry. In the past I have made
a futile attempt at composing poetry...all to no avail. All my past
attempts have been rubbish, but I feel inspired to try again. If I do
actually try again, and if it's presentable...I shall post it, but
don't get your hopes up, because I sincerely doubt any “poem” I
ever write will be available to the public.
We've had a lot of reading to do this
week! “Mere Humanity” by Donald Williams was one of our required
readings for this week. Many of my fellow students found it to be
boring...but I found it very interesting! Williams is writing about
what man is. He uses Chesterton's “Everlasting Man”, Lewis'
“Space Trilogy” and “Chronicles of Narnia”, and “Abolition
of Man” and Tolkien's “ Lord of the Rings Trilogy” to aid him
in describing what man is. I highly recommend that you read it... if
you happen to be a member of my family (which probably about 60% of
my readers are...) you can borrow it from me. If you're not... well
then buy it! I've also had to read “Romeo and Juliet”. I've been
reading it with my buddies, Natalie, Sarah and Erik...we fight over
the role of Juliet (except Erik, he gets Romeo whether he likes it or
not). When I was a sophomore at CCA, we read a lot of plays, one of
which was R and J. So I know how to read Shakespeare's
language...which turned out to be very helpful when fighting for the
role of Juliet ;) Some other books I've read this week; Church
History- Shelley, Historians of the Christian Faith-Bauman, and “A
Grief Observed” C.S Lewis. The Lewis book I read on my own, and it
was sooooo good! Lewis is one of my favorite authors, second only to
J.K Rowling!
Its been 6 weeks...Semester is
half-way over! I'm not sure whether I'm happy or sad about that...
While I really enjoy being here, I miss home, family and friends, so
I'm excited to come home, but sad to leave my friends here. I've
learned so much in the past 6 weeks, and changed a lot (for the
better). The first weeks I was here I was focused more on building
relationships with others and on having fun. But this week my
attitude toward Semester changed. I was having my devotions one
evening (because I never wake up early enough to have it before
breakfast) and realized that I need to focus more on learning and
studying. All week I focused more on my studies. I spent much more
time reading and studying...which in the end actually gave me more
time to spend with people! I found that I have a true love for
reading and learning! It took 19 years, Mom, but I think I finally
realized the importance of reading good books! Not JUST reading them,
but receiving them, and digesting the content! I wish I had learned
this sooner, but I'm glad I finally came to the realization!
Alrighty, on to the events of this
week! As I previously stated, we didn't have much free time this
week. Sunday I learned how to butcher an elk!!! It was rather
disgusting, but very interesting!!! My hands were covered in
blood...as I chopped up part of the rump! After cutting all the
silver and fascia and fat off of the meat, I chopped the rump up
into small pieces. Then I put them in the grinder, and turned chunks
into ground elk! It was actually pretty fun, once you got over the
fact that it was raw, bloody meat... Monday, which is usually our day
off we had class, Tuesday we had class, and work crews. Yes, I
sanded, again...but this time it wasn't that bad. We've moved to the
west wall of the lodge, which for some reason is a lot easier to
sand. I feel like I need to write about sanding, because I spend a
lot of my time here, doing it! At first I hated it... it sucked...my
nasal passages get filled with sawdust, sawdust gets in my eyes, I
have to listen to my music turned up all the way, to sound out the
loud whining of the sanders. Sawdust gets everywhere...in my hair, on
my arms, on my arm hair, all over my clothes... its just a pain in
the butt! After spending a total of 18 hours in 6 weeks of sanding, I
finally began to appreciate it. It's so good for one's character!
It's also nice because you get to see right away the results of your
labor! Sanding is not my favorite thing to do... it probably never
will be, but I do appreciate the character it helps build, not to
mention a good work ethic... Wednesday...nothing exciting
happened.... we had class...
Thursday I woke up 15 minutes after
breakfast started, so I got my first late mark, which was depressing
since I haven't gotten one late mark yet. It was also embarrassing
since I had to walk into the dinning hall 15 minutes late, with
sleepy eyes, and wild woman hair...when you walk in the dinning hall
the door squeaks, so of course everyone turned to look to see who was
coming in... totes embarrassing! A lot of students went to Opal
Lake...but I stayed behind to study. I also cleaned my room and
bathroom, did my roomates and my own laundry, made my bed (for the
first time in about a week!!) and wrote some letters...all in all I
had a very productive day! At the end of the day some of the more
talented students put on a play that Dr. Williams had written :
“Revenge of the DWEMS (dead white European Males). After the play
we had a reception of sorts... basically it was just an excuse for us
to have desserts...Desserts are about as rare as getting enough cell
service to make a phone call, around here.... Then we had an
impromptu dance party! At first I was hesitant to attend, homeschool
kids don't tend to have the best dance party, BUT it was actually
super fun, and we didn't just play hymns... we danced to dubstep,
Party in the USA, Spice girls, Cha Cha Slide, Electic slide, like 5
other various slides...we learned the Virgina Reel...which was super
fun, and we basically just danced. I busted out some moves I had no
idea I was capable of. Steven, Jon, and Matt S. even did the worm...
it was a pretty legit dance party!
Saturday we went to the sand dunes. It
was like going out in the middle of the desert. Everywhere I looked
it was just sand everywhere. Most of the students climbed to the top
of the mountain of sand. It took us two hours to get to the top...I
wish I had pictures, but I didn't want to get sand all over my
camera.
Sunday we got split up into groups of
2, 4, and 6 and families from the church we attend here, took us back
to their homes to provide lunch for us. I was in a group of four, and
we had a blast. Granted, we didn't get Internet, because we sat
talking at Gary and Jane's dinning room table for 3 hours...but we
did get to shoot guns and hangout in the man cave. I also had the
most amazing hamburger...We eat a lot of chicken at Semester, so it
was realllllly nice to get some beef!! Gary and Jane pelted us with
questions. I cant remember all of them, but one of them was “ where
do you see yourself in 10 years, in detail”. So I had to explain in
detail what I wanted my future husband to be like, characteristics,
etc... and even what kind of dog and car(s) I wanted. It was pretty
intense. Sunday night a few students braved the freezing cold and
went camping by a river a few miles off campus. It was really
fun....for the first few hours while we sat by the fire and
talked...but when it came time to go to sleep... it was rather
difficult because of how cold it was. I slept in a tent with two
other girls, and apparently they didn't sleep too well...but after I
fell asleep, I slept for most of the night. I maybe woke up twice,
just to make sure no bears where trying to go through my backpack or
anything. Again I apologize for not taking pictures, although this
time I don't really have an excuse. I just really hate taking
pictures. I hate being “that girl” that has to take pictures of
everything and everybody all the time. And I'm just lazy....
Monday John Stonestreet came, and we
had class monday afternoon and evening. This week is going to be our
longest week yet, John stayed until Thursday morning, Bauman is
teaching us Thursday-Saturday... so we didn't get a day off this week
OR last week.
Monday morning we got to shoot a bunch
of different guns! I did get some pictures, but...they're not that
good. Most of my friends here take pictures and put them on Facebook,
so if you are my friend on FB, you can see them :)
This weekend is alumni weekend. So a
bunch of past Semester students are coming up here to visit and stay
for a few days. So we are having to clean a lot this week. We already
have two students families here, and a few extra guest. Dish crew...
is starting to take forever, because of how many dishes we are having
to use. You're probably not interested in hearing about how many
dishes I'm having to do here, so I'll cease writing about it. Next
week we have “Farvest Hall” on monday... and then I think/hope we
have a normal week. Next Sunday I'm going with a few students to the
Grand Canyon! I'm pretty excited, although its about an 8hr drive
there, and 8hrs back. So we are camping....and its going to be
freezing...But hey...I get to camp at the Grand Canyon, which is
something I've never done before. So it will be two weeks before I
can post again :(
