After I returned to SLU from Easter
break I found myself struggling a little bit and just ready for the school year
to come to a close. I was just unsure about everything for next year and
doubting my choice in going all the way to Saint Louis. The school work seemed
to be piling on and all of my professors seemed to plan exams for the same
week. I was sad my family was no longer coming to visit as planned and also
missed Josue. It was hard getting pictures of him walking Maggie when I
couldn’t be there to join them.
Going to 9pm mass with Maggie never
failed to relieve my worries and leave me feeling an inner peace. Particularly
one Sunday when I was feeling overwhelemed by everything that had been going
on, seemingly all at once, father spoke in his homily about the phrase “It’s
always darkest before the dawn” which was written in psalms (I think it was
psalms?). He explained that this was not technically true, as it gets gradually
lighter and lighter as the sun rises each morning and thus it is not darkest
before the dawn. He continued to explain that pslams were written
metaphorically and specially for us humans to relate to. I feel like he was
narrating my own life as he said sometimes it just seems like everything is at
its worse and we get down, but during that trying time we must turn to God and
trust in his plan and that if we hang on long enough for that we will see that
surely life goes on and things start to look up.
As assured by the priest during that
mass, things started to get better. The weather started warming up and I was
reminded of why I fell in love with SLU’s campus- all of the tulips were
planted and in full bloom and the fountains flowing with water again. The sun
began to shine more charmingly, allowing enough warmth to study outside. I felt
like my English paper was effortlessly coming together as I typed sprawled out
on the thick green grass.
I
indulged in a lot of coffee Thursdays with Anni on our way to Theology class
and generally tried to eat somewhat healthy. Luckily I had enough flex left that I didn’t
have to be cautious about my purchases and could help some of my friends whose
flex had whittled down.
I also continued to go to physique
fusion Monday and Wednesday and ballroom dancing on Tuesdays all with Maggie.
It was sometimes hard work, but always felt better about ourselves afterwards.
Along with some of our other friends,
Maggie and I continued to go to APO meetings Tuesday nights and volunteer at
different events including SLU’s own spring/Easter carnival for kids and
walking dogs. I also played for APO’s intermural soccer team on Sundays. It was
so much fun getting to play games with the team and on a turf field in the sun!
I was thankful to receive a lot of
encouragement and exciting things in the mail, mostly sweet cards from my mom.
I also got one from my dad and my friend Hannah as well as two care packages my
mom put together and Shauna Niequist’s new book that I had ordered months
before it was available! All very fun and exciting! [Also the day I got the book in the mail I happened to be National Friendship Bracelet day and I had decided to wear a lot of my favorite/meaningful things- the backpack I've used since Hannah got it for me for my birthday in 4th grade, the necklace Josue got me for Valentine's Day, my "sister ring" that is two hands holding together that Maria has a matching ring, shoes my Grandma bought for me, my friendship bracelet club sweatshirt, and orange M&M earrings from my friend Morgan]
Friday April 12 my floor and I
supported Albert in the Mr. Reinert contest- we think he should have won first
place!
Saturday April 13 I attended Showers
of Service bright and early with my new APO family that I was later inducted
into April 16. My group did yardwork for elder people that were unable to
themselves. Then that evening my friends and I went to an African event at
Crave that included lots of fun music and dancing as well as a fashion show!
And afterwards we made a quick trip to Fusz for ice cream.
Wednesday April 17 was the first time
at school that I laid in one of the hammocks on the quad finally! Maggie and I
tried to study, but found it was much easier to talk to each other than try
reading our books in the dark. Whoops.
The following Friday, April 19 Maggie,
Elya, Danielle, and I got all dolled up and went to the spring formal for APO.
We all had fun squeezing into the photo booths to take pictures and dancing the
night away together. We smiled as some childhood memories flooded back to us
when songs from Mulan and Zeon girl of the 21st century were played!
Wednesday April 24 I went to Matt
Costa and fell in love with his music more than I had before! (that has it’s
own blog post already published).
Monday April 29 Alex, Brooke, and I
bought Cardinal tickets for the game that evening on a whim. It was so much fun
and so exciting and the perfect break from studying! We rode the metro to the
stadium, and even then there was red everywhere! I liked all of the buzzing
around and people trying to buy their dinner and find their seats before the
game started. Stadium food was very expensive, but I used the extra cash my dad
had sent me earlier to buy a soft pretzel and coke! I was so excited to finally
have coke because SLU only carries Pepsi products and it just isn’t the same
(though I rarely drink soda regardless so it’s not a big issue). I was pretty
impressed with our seats myself and happy to spend my first game with Alex and
Brooke! We rode the metro back to SLU and were worried we wouldn’t be able to
get off at our stop because we were standing in the middle of the aisle, not
close to either door and Brooke (the most aggressive of the three of us) was in
the back from the direction we were heading. With some effort and an extra push
from some sweet old ladies, we made it! We were all sad that the Cardinals lost
to the Reds, but agreed it was all in all a great evening!
Tuesday April 30 I had my conference
with my English professor. We were assigned a proposal in which we would write
about the subject we wished to write our final paper about. I was nervous to be
one on one with a professor, something I hadn’t really done at SLU, but it went
even better than I could have ever hoped! I was excited as I read the introductions to many books about neuromarketing, the topic I had stumbled upon in the library and decided to select for the topic of my final research paper. I spent hours on Sunday sitting on the a couch in the second floor of the library sipping my green tea strawberry creme from Argo Tea and becoming engaged in the books I was opening. I wanted to devour their entireties, but only had enough time to read and take notes over the introductions. I even considered looking into studying or even working in neuromarketing or somehow with it. It looks at the psychology of marketing and trying to understand more specifics about it by using brain imaging (mostly functioning images while the brain is being stimulated with different aspects of marketing).
My professor asked what my topic was
and confined in me that he wasn’t really worried about me at all. He helped me
improve my thesis then talked to me about my last assignment. We had done 3
assignments so far, an annotated bibliography, an annotated bibliography with
evaluations, and the paper that the prior two led up to. He told me he was very
impressed with my paper and that it was the highest grade any of his students
had ever earned before since he had taught at SLU. I put a lot of time and
effort into writing and editing my paper and was pleased it was evident in the
final product. I couldn’t have been happier to receive such praise from a
professor, especially since I felt I never really had from my previous English
teacher in high school. He even asked if he could use my work as an example in
future classes.
After the wonderful conference I was
feeling on top of the world and decided I could lay out at SLUruba for a little
while and catch some sun before studying for my chem lab exam that evening! I
was happy with my decision and enjoyed every second of it (and even did much
better on the chem lab exam then I had the previous one as well as any other
chem related exam).
The rest of my time at SLU I spent a
lot of time in the library and at my desk studying and working on homework.
That Thursday My IPE class played jeopardy against the faculty over material we
learned the entire semester and won, so we didn’t have to take a final for that
class! Then I had a psych exam and chem lecture exam Friday May 3. I had also
done well enough in my psych class that I was not required to take the final
for that class either, I was so thankful my hard work paid off. I took my chem
lecture final on Wednesday May 8, and turned in my final English paper and took
my theology exam Thursday May 9. I couldn’t believe I was finally done and had finished
everything I needed to do! At one point it didn’t seem quite like I would.
In between studying I had time to
paint my nails and make a delightful trip to Jilly’s cupcakes with Alex! They
were the winners of Cupwake wars on the Food Network and I actually ordered one
of the cupcakes they made during the show. It was delicious! My mouth is
watering as I think about it.
I was so excited to be officially done
with my freshman year of college and pack up and head home! I had done as much
packing as I could before Dan picked me up Friday morning May 10 to load up and
move out! I hugged most of my friends good bye and hit the road to Indiana for
my much anticipated move back home! We even got to successfully surprise Alex who was working at DQ in Vandalia on our way home.
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