Week 2

This week has just flown by. I think it's catching up for how long last week seemed to take.

It was a beautiful day today. I spent most of the day outside and plan on taking a romantic moonlit walk in a little bit (by myself). Today had a little touch of fall with it, giving a glimpse of my favorite season. Actually, my favorite season is change and variety, which makes me perfectly suited for the midwest.

Classes are going great. Greek and Spanish have agreed with each other thus far. It's kind of like eating pickles and ice cream at the same time and so far I've been able to digest everything without too much of a stomach ache. I've been balancing it out with a lot of reading outside of class.

I've been taking in so much information lately that it's hard to process it and regurgitate it into words for this blog. I'm sure things will start to settle down and if not, I'll just have to adapt. It hasn't been overwhelming. I'm enjoying my studies very much. I've been told by a lot of people that the first couple of weeks at Wheaton can be overwhelming. I say "bring it on Wheaton." Prove the academic excellence that you talk about all the time and put all over your brochures.

I hope that doesn't come back to haunt me.

Busy Weekend

I'm still recovering from this past weekend and none of it has to do with Wheaton College.

On Sunday I had the privilege of going along on the annual Hyacks Kickoff retreat. We loaded up the busses at 7 in the morning to head out to Dixon Valley, a summer camp of sorts. In all, there were nearly 150 of us, including about 120 students, so you can imagine the hassle involved with getting everybody loaded up and relocated 50 miles away and getting them back again without losing one or two. Although Jonny was never prepared for anything of the magnitude in Wallace, he handled the job of ringleader expediently and admirably, and the days activities went on without a hitch.

The day started out with a time of worship through singing and teaching. Jonny expounded on the mission statement of Hyacks through one of my favorite passages in the Bible, in Matthew six. The well-known "Seek ye first the kingdom of God..." is much more than just a catchy tune, it should be our ultimate goal as Christians. In every aspect of life we have an opportunity to advance God's kingdom. I really enjoyed and was convicted by Jonny warning to avoid living a compartmentalized life, where our spiritual life may be given top priority, but it stays separate from the rest of life. The kingdom of Christ is not only the most important part of life, for us as Christians, it is life.

After that our big group was split up into small groups and we went over the small group purposes and goals, as well as participating in a few fun bonding activities, like archery and softball. The day was capped off by several competitive games between the groups. I don't have time to explain most of the games right now, but they were pretty barbaric. I refereed a game called "Amazon Women" just to give you an idea of the time of games they were. The final game consisted of a huge tarp covered in soap, bubble liquid, lard, oil, and other slimy substances. Each team decorated a cardboard box and lined up on different sides of the tarp. Each person of the team participated in the relay of putting the box over their head (which they couldn't see out of) running to the other side of the tarp through the slime, and switching with a teammate who would run back. The paths each team took made collisions imminent and very funny. A couple of the girls were pushed down pretty hard when the guys would sprint through with reckless abandon. I don't think anyone was hurt seriously, so the games were a success.

I have class in a few minutes, so I'll have to cut it off there. Thanks for reading,

Brandon

Weekend

I just got back from breakfast this morning. I kinda invited myself over to Jonny and Christines because they don't serve breakfast at school on Saturdays. The french toast was delicious, with peanut butter, powdered sugar, syrup, and strawberries.
I used breakfast as a little incentive to get up and get a good morning walk in, since they live about a mile away. Believe it or not, I got up at 7 o'clock on a Saturday. My foot was bothering me a little bit, but it's just wear and tear from playing so much ultimate barefoot. I played in two different games yesterday for about 2 and 1/2 hours. It was extremely humid, so I was drenched in sweat the entire time and by the end my body was just about out of fluids.


Last night I opted not to go to the square dance on campus and instead spent a nice quiet evening in my room with some Greek and Spanish books. Yes, I am that pathetic. I have to make sure I'm top of everything at the start so it will save me some frustrating time later on.

Plus, I'll be busy all afternoon and all day tomorrow with Hyacks' stuff. This weekend is the kick-off weekend for the new school year. Today there is a big meeting with all of the student and adult leaders. In a youth group this size (between 100 and 150 usually) it's quite a different dynamic than the 30 teens back in Wallace. On Wednesday nights they meet as a big group every other week and the alternate week they split up into small groups. The small groups include a couple adult leaders (of which I will be one) and a few student leaders, juniors and seniors in high school who are being trained to lead. I don't exactly how everything operates, but I'll learn a lot more today.

I have to go check my laundry now. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the washers and dryers are free here. Actually, it's now figured into tuition, but I don't directly put quarters into the machines, which can really be a hassle, so it seems free.

Anyway, clean clothes are important to me, so goodbye.

Classes and Books

Day two of classes promises to be less busy, but still packed full of stuff. I usually only have one class on Thursdays, but today I had to report to the biology room at 7:45 (ugh) to take a standardized test. The test has no effect on our grade but there is a 5% penalty for not taking it. I got up pretty early, with enough time to get a good breakfast in with my devotions and even a shower. I got to the testing room pretty groggy, but prepared for the next two hours of endless choices and filling in bubbles. The test is designed to be taken before and after a person's science college career at Wheaton, and I am a little rusty since the last course I took on Biology was 3 years ago. I am confident that I bombed it. I recognized a few of the words and problems, but my base of knowledge from high school has drastically eroded. I think I'll have my work cut out for me.

Greek so far has been exciting. I mastered the alphabet during a five-mile run yesterday and can't get enough of it. I was reading through a little of the Greek New Testament and even though I don't really understand most of the words, pronouncing them in the original language was exhilirating (and yes, very, very nerdy. I think I squealed with delight once or twice.) I don't think I'll have a problem putting in the work to learn Greek.

One might call me stupid for taking two languages, Greek and Spanish, at the same time. And they're probably right. Language classes obviously require a lot of work, especially if one wants to become proficient. I only hope that I'll remain dedicated throughout the semester to both languages and be able to keep them separate from each other. If I can do that, I'll be at a great advantage to learn new languages and therefore equip myself to be used by God wherever he sends me.

To wrap things up, I just came from the parking office. Car registration for sophomores isn't until this Saturday, so what business would I have at the parking office today? Well...appartently my decision last Saturday to park in a visitor's parking lot on campus and not go to my car for three days was a mistake. Amidst the confusion of orientation and everything else, I neglected to follow parking procedures (which was going to happen anyway because I am not registered to park anywhere) and parked overnight in an non-overnight parking space. I didn't notice the result of my mistake until Monday, when from a distance I could make out three small sheets of paper on my windshield. I walked over and was disappointed to find $90 worth of tickets.

I went to the parking office this morning and they were very gracious, so I won't have to pay the tickets, although registration alone is $150. I was so glad that I didn't have to pay the extra money that I celebrated by buying a Spanish textbook for $85. Ahh, the joys of college.

I'll be sure to keep you posted on my future financial expenditures and my attempts to master two languages at once.

Until then,
Brandon

All School

Things have finally started here at Wheaton. There's only so much orientation a person can take, especially after all the "excitement" surrounding the incoming freshman and the start of the new year.

A few of the activities would probably stun most people and make others cry, but I guess since it's been done for a while and is a tradition, people don't frown on it anymore. The most interesting (and barbaric) ritual I've witnessed involved the entire freshman class standing in front of the rest of the student body. Although the set-up may sound vaguely formal, the upperclassmen were all wearing the most ridiculous costumes they could come up with. A few notable costumes involved speedos and saran wrap, pirates' outfits, body paint, and even some fake blood. The ceremony consisted of the upperclassmen screaming at the top of their collective lungs for almost an hour while throwing tennis balls and toilet paper at the freshman. If it doesn't sound like it makes much sense, then you're probably on the same page with me. Especially with all-school communion right after.

As much as the screaming and costumes were distracting, the service after was a tremendous gathering of over 2000 students in corporate worship. To sing out with one collective voice was amazing and a great way to start of the year with a Christ-focused mindset.

Of course, some of that comes crashing down when immediately outside of the chapel, after we were dismissed, three of the football players were standing, wearing nothing but jock-straps. I'm not kidding. Not only was it an inappropriate outfit (anyone who's seen a jock-strap would know) but it really got me to thinking about how it's so easy to turn our worship on and off. The transition from the taking of communion, a sacred part of the Christian life, to chuckling as three nearly naked guys were humiliated was almost seamless. I guess I have a lot to learn about myself and Wheaton and the essence of true communal worship.

That's all for now. I still have some books to buy and dinner to eat, plus Hyacks (High School youths adoring Christ our King) at College Church tonight. I'll go over my classes and other interesting happenings in the days to come.

New

Hey, I'm starting a blog.