livin' the college life

Oh man, it's been a while hasn't it?

While I am not in another country, or doing anything particularly cool, I do think that college life does deserve at least one post.  If you don't want to read about it, then please don't. I give you permission to skip this and only read about the cool things I plan on doing with my life later on.

University of Tennessee, who knew that I would end up being a Tennessee Volunteer after all those years of vol hating.  It feels like I have been here forever.  The things that seemed cool and new to me when I first got here are so routine that I can't even remember which ones they were.

There's a start, I really do love UT.  I know that the orange is probably the ugliest color in the world.  I definitely do not bleed orange, even on game days.  UT football.  It is certainly an experience.  It poured my first game, and lets just say at the second game, the guy sitting behind my group had a little too much pre game fun.  The fun went all over us.  Get the picture?  Needless to say,  I have not lasted through a whole game yet.  Although I do find the school spirit amazing, I tend to get bored after halftime.  We usually stay through the half time show by the good old Pride of the South Marching Band, and then hit the road.

I have learned something about football though. I joined the Catholic Student Association Flag Football team, better known as Charlie's Angles  (our priest is Father Charlie).  I am told that the first position I held is called "being on the line."  I also ventured into some offense, but it really wasn't a great fit.  Most of the time, I just ended up ducking so that my teammate could throw the ball to the person on the other side of me.  After two of our games, I managed to snag the position of rusher.  I was meant to be a rusher.  I you ever watched me play basketball, you might remember that I had a hard time not running into people.  Most of the fouls I got were because I was being too rough...so, rushing the QB turned out to be the perfect job for me.  I even managed to get his flags once before he threw the ball!

The Catholic Student Association, or CSA, is the made up of some of the most amazing people I have ever met.  Between, Bible study, our weekly CSA meeting, inter murals, and other things, I am most likely found with some member of CSA every night after I get done with work.  If I'm not doing something organized then you can probably find me in John 23 studying.  John XII is the Catholic parish that is actually located on campus.  The BCM (Baptist people), and John23 are the only two ministeries that aren't owned by the school.  The building is located about 2 minutes max from my dorm.  It is pretty much open at all times of the day, and there are endless rooms to study in and a lot of the time there is food up for grabs.  It is a truly wonderful place, that I have come to fully appreciate.

Hmmm anything else?  Classes?  Their fine.  Nothing too mind blowing, although my Art History is rather mind numbing.  I struggle daily to stay awake in that class.  My advisor today said that I could continue on with it next semester and I had a hard time not laughing out loud.  If I wanted to torture myself for an hour three times/week, then Art History would be the first class on my list.  We got to write a dialogue in my Child and Family studies class last week about how to change a baby's diaper while talking a normal amoutn and more than normal.  After that, she said we could act it out if we wanted.  We didn't.

On a completely different note, 40 Days for Life officially started Wednesday.  Fast, Pray, and Pray some more for an end to abortion.  If you live in Nashville, there is a pretty awesome group of people praying outside of the abortion clinics there.  GO JOIN THEM!  Click in the website and sign up for a time slot!  I will hopefully be doing the same in Knoxville soon!

I'm gonna wrap this up now, its getting pretty late.  Here are a few last notes:

1. It's fall break.  I had to stay here for the first two days because I have to work during the week.  The campus is deserted.  I walked to my advisor meeting today and saw 6 people, 2 of which were maintenance.
2. Since there are no people here, the cafeteria dosen't open until 10:30am.  This is way past my breakfast time.  But I'll live, don't worry.
3. You would think that they would reduce the amount of food they cook accordingly to the amount of people on campus.  They don't. There was so much food.
4. Usually, you have to wait for the elevator, but I don't have to this weekend!
5. People must have been a lot smarted when they built their dorms, because the mailboxes are impossible to open unless your really smart.
6. It never takes as long as I think its going to take to get to class.  I always an at least 10 minutes early.
7. One of my favorite people, Sara DePhillips, is now in Honduras at the Farm of the Child. Here's her blog if you are looking for something to read...I highly recommend it.

may God bless us...

May God bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that we may live deep within our hearts.

May God bless us with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, hunger, and war, so that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless us with enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in this world, so that we can do what others claim cannot be done, to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

(Franciscan Benediction)