And Can it Be?

^ The title of an exceptionally great Hymn. :)
^And also, the question I am asking myself at the moment while considering the fact that I am, indeed, updating this blog with "college life" details yet again-- so soon!

I've successfully completed the first week of my Sophomore year at Missouri State as of today (and,well, let's face it... that success--and completion-- could not have been possible without the grace, love, and power of Jesus).

A few details for memory's sake:

- Wednesday's morning was definitely not its highlight. Though I did get a good amount of sleep the night before, for some reason when my alarm went off at 8am, I had no desire whatsoever to fully coax myself out of my peaceful slumber. :) I couldn't believe I was still so tired! Nevertheless, I knew I had to throw my legs over the side of the bed and somehow make it from point A (my bedroom) to point B (the shower) without wasting any precious time. I did just that. Following my shower, I allowed myself twenty more minutes of sleep (which I'm not sure ever actually occurred, due to the fact that everyone and their mom decided to bombard the busy street below my window at a very inopportune time).
- Spanish and Computers took up the rest of my morning.
*Spanish: I like. A lot. :) Being taught the language completely in, well... Spanish, makes things a little more confusing, but I can definitely tell this style is going to help our aural comprehension skills develop tremendously. (Which is great, because that is definitely an area I suck at.)
*Computers: Boring. Easy. Nice teacher. Nothing else more to say. :)
- Made some more blackberry tea. At this point, I am now out of my loose-leaf stash. Kathy's Pasta better be expecting a visit from me (or someone I send there) sometime soon.
- My friend Jessica (awesome girl who lives at the House) and I went out to run some errands on campus together... specifically, to the Bookstore, Ellis (so I could sign up for voice lessons!), Cheek (she had to do some printing), and the PSU to cash a check. We're such responsible, task-completing grown-ups.
- It was a particularly gorgeous afternoon and, since I ashamedly traded my usual morning time with the Lord (something new I've been attempting, though I'm still not a morning person) for an extra few minutes of sleep, I decided to give my afternoon to Him. We have a cute little front porch swing at the House that is just perfect for sitting and reading, or sitting and journaling, or just sitting and thinking. Unless, of course, you suffer from acute motion-sickness like I do, and can only stand the rocking motion for small amounts of time.
- Made spaghetti for dinner. BUT, as you probably can imagine with my culinary taste, it was not your ordinary spaghetti. Whole wheat pasta with tomato sauce, sauteed garlic chicken and mushrooms, and a little Italian seasoning to top it off. It was kind of an eat-and-run meal for me, for I had Linguistic Theory to attend by 5:30. (By some small miracle I made it there on time.)
*Linguistic Theory: Absolutely has the potential to be my favorite class, subject-matter wise. I was there for a little over two hours, and not once was I ever bored. As it turns out, I'm the only Undergraduate student in there (kind of weird, but kind of cool). We have to write a data-analysis term paper, which I think will probably be a considerable stress-inducer when it comes time to really plan for it... but I'll worry about that when I get there.
---> On top of this, my professor is Chinese. I have to fully concentrate with all my brain can muster in order to catch everything she says. This could be a challenge, but not impossible. I have a feeling I'm going to have to meet with her a lot outside of class anyway, so I might as well start getting used to the way she speaks. :)
- Went to THE VINE (a local church's college ministry, which Jessica is on leadership for... and I've heard a lot of cool things about it from other people, too) with the lovely Katie Lee, and it was a great experience. Got to see/hang out with my dear sweet Charli, who surprised me with her presence there. Signed up for a potential girls small group (Jes highly recommended it). Got to hear an awesome, powerful message from MSU's quarterback, who is a humble, yet BOLD, man of the Lord. So cool. What a mission field he is on each and every day. What a testament to Christ's life changing (and SAVING) power that guy is. :)
- Once back at the House later that evening, Cody and Sam entertained us with their "antics", if that's what you'd like to call them (I really have no alternative word fitting enough). I live with/around some interesting people. But I like them. :)

Thursday.
Not my best day ever.
But we can't expect to always have great days, I suppose. :)

- Had a really great class discussion in English 354 (Ethnic American Literature) about ethnicity and what it means to us personally, as well as a global society. There are some really knowledgable people in that class. (Am I one of them? It is yet to be seen.) Kind of makes me wish I could still be getting an Anthropology degree along with this English one, because people and culture still fascinate me like nothing else. (Did I contribute to any of the discussion? Psh. Of course not. Maybe I will if I ever feel like I have something worthwhile to contribute.) :)
- Lunch at the House: another sandwich. I'm definitley NOT complaining... sandwiches never cease to make me happy (and a lot less hungry). :)
- The sandwich, however, must not've succeeded completely in erasing my hunger pains, because the time I was in Poetry class at 12:30, they were gnawing at me again. I even wrote an entire poem about food (see entry below). I wonder if I'll ever develop in to one of those modernist poets who can tie together beautiful, flowing phrases full of depth and tenor that DON'T rhyme and sound like they were written by Mother Goose, as mine do currently. Perhaps this class will teach me how to fix that. :)
- Worked out in Plaster that afternoon. Felt great.
- Found out some things and started dwelling on some other related things that kind of (and then some) hurt me. Made me wish I'd known how that was going to affect me, so I could've completed the last two bullets in reverse, in order to work off the tension on that good ole' elyptical machine. Oh well. Life slaps you in the face sometimes. Humans make mistakes and let you down (myself included, as I am in fact a human). God is good and full of grace. And thank goodness for that.
- Hamburgers for dinner! They were delish. As far as cheap ground beef cooked in a skillet goes. :) Chrissy and I have almost polished off our bag of Sun Chips that we bought just last Saturday. We are proud of our occasional anti-girlish appetites. Sometimes. ;)
- FUSION (Campus Crusades weekly worship/fellwship) met at 9pm. Boy, was I excited. About ten minutes into the service, however, we had to evacuate the PSU theater due to a propane gas leak. No big deal. Except... yes, it was kind of a big deal (at least-- I thought so). ;) I kind of count it as a blessing though, because through that evacuation God allowed several cool things to happen:
1. I was FINALLY able to meet the famous Sarah Van Note (we share a mutual friend) face-to-face! :)
2. I was able to talk to my soul-sister, C-dawg, about what had been troubling me all afternoon (and really, for the past two weeks, if I'm going to be honest). God has gifted me with a patient, loving sister full of His wisdom and grace. :)
3. It was a chance for the whole group of Cru-ers to fellowship-- specifically some of the new freshmen and what-not.
FUSION/Campus Crusade has become an increasingly large portion of my heart over time, and I feel led to get more involved there. My only question is... how? I did participate in the weekly worship pretty consistently during the Spring semester, but I feel the Spirit nudging me to dive in a little further. And, as I expected, it's kind of difficult doing that this late in the game. Don't get me wrong-- I know it's NEVER "too late" to get involved... but I often wonder why I didn't jump on these great opportunities last year, at the beginning of my college experience, instead of in the middle. It would've been so much easier that way.
Obviously, God had other plans for me. And I know full well my "easy" doesn't always make the cut. ;)
- The rest of Thursday night consisted of some tears and whining on my part. Cathartic, to say the least. :)

Friday was glorious. I guess. :D
- My Spanish teacher ("A que hora empieza este clase? A las DIES. En punto!") never showed up to class. Which is weird, considering how many times she drilled that paranthetical phrase into our heads whenever a student arrived late. I ended up staying until about 10:30, though, to go over the take-home test we were SUPPOSED to hand in that day with a couple girls.
- Computers kind of makes me feel like I'm in Middle School again. I don't mind. I will gladly take an easy computer class over a hard one. :)
- The Sun decided not to grace the sky with its presence throughout the entire afternoon... thus, my energy decided to join-in on the fun and evade my body.
This.
Always.
Happens.
I took a good forty-minute nap, which helped revitalize me a little bit. :)
- Since we ran out of blackberry loose-leaf tea, I thought it would be a good idea to make some iced green tea to hold us over until we can acquire s'more of the good stuff.
I thought wrong. Bad Idea. Green tea is not good cold.
So, now we have an entire pitcher of cold, bitter, disgusting green tea that nobody is going to drink.
- To celebrate the tucking of the first full week of school under our belts (and the fact that Chrissy conveniently had a gift card for both food AND the movie theater), we went out to eat at Macaroni Grill, then to see "Julie&Julia" at Campbell 16. (So, basically... an entire evening dedicated to the enjoyment of food. Why does everything in my life center around food lately?)
*Macaroni Grill is uh-may-zing, by the way. Way better than I expected. The dipping bread... AH. Divine. And of course, the Tiramasu was to die for. It always is, no matter where you get it (well, within reason... I doubt McDonald's could whip up a good one).
*Julie&Julia was cute, and entertaining-- probably because I love food and cooking so much. My only complaint is that Julie and Julia never actually got to meet. I guess you can't do much to change that when the movie is based on the truth, and the truth didn't include such a meeting. But, come on... it's called poetic liscence. ;)
- Went grocery shopping. At 11pm. Exhilarating? Yes. Productive, too.
- Started writing this blog. Last night. Still writing it. Good grief.
- Did a bollywood workout this morning. Loved it.
- Just ate another sandwich. Still as satisfying as ever. :)
- Pool party this afternoon... woop woop.
- Dad's birthday celebration tonight at Nona's. More Italian food? YES. Please.

Theeeeee End. For now. :)