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 :(