Yay!

Arabic is happy! I get the short vowels now! I have done all of unit 2 and found it mostly "easy." Or at least I didn't feel completely lost. I've found that if I do more than an hour and a half at a time or so, it starts to make no sense. So I simply focus on another subject or eat a meal or something, then I come back to it and it immediately makes sense. I love it! Beautiful language.

Yep, We're Freaks

So we're sitting in here being freaks...I'm on my bed, Bailey's at her desk, and Chris is at my desk...and we're all doing language homework. So we're all plugged into our computers listening to music and to random language dictation. Every once in a while, someone will ask a dorky question about linguistics...it's kinda sad. Like, majorly sad. Yep. Back to Arabic!

My Friends

It occurred to me that I've been using a lot of names that you might not know. So here we go:
1. Bailey. My roommate. ADS winner. From North Carolina. Loves "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings."
2. Elena. Across the hall. Loves Chinese (the language, though the food is good too...)
3. Kelsey. Elena's roommate. Loves Japanese (again, the language).
4. Chris. Honors boy from Phillips, the dorm connected to Snyder. ADS winner. Poli-Sci, linguistics, and psychology. A United Methodist from Minnesota...he gets Sally Dyck as his bishop! Jealousy is oozing.
5. Christine. Honors student in Snyder but not on Honors Floor because she's in a wheelchair. Very smart and very fun to talk with. She's a Baptist but hasn't found a church yet.
There you have the main folks...I'll try and remember to introduce you to others as they come up.

Church

Kennetha Bigham-Tsai preached; life was good. She preached about communal Christianity - Christianity requires not only being non-selfish and focusing on taking care of each other, but also being communal in service. Our mission is a communal one; we cannot serve God by ourselves but must build the Church up to serve in ministry together. It was a good sermon.
Chris and I had been introduced by name during the service, so a lot of people talked to us after the service. I wore my pink outfit from India, so there were many discussions about that. One lady's husband had worked in Pakistan, so she had a similar dress. Met someone whose brother had lived in Mount Pleasant, someone who'd lived in Battle Creek, someone who'd lived near St. Johns, and people who knew other United Methodists that we talked about quite a lot. We held up the student van because people kept talking to us, but there weren't many people in the van this morning, so it wasn't a huge problem.
Also got to hold Kennetha's new baby! That was wonderful. He's so adorable! Chris got to hold him too. Looking forward to baby-sitting!

ADS

So apparently I'm dumb for an ADS...for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, an ADS is an Alumni Distinguished Scholar; we get full rides. Anyways, I was looking over the press release about ADS winners for this year when I found out that Chris was one to see if anyone else I knew was one and I didn't know it. A few statistics...
Average GPA on a 4.00 scale is 4.21
Average ACT is 35 (out of 36)
Average SAT (math and critical reading) is 1530 (out of 1600).
Ha! I don't feel dumb at all. No, I really don't. I'm just amazed by the fact that I have lower scores than the average for every single one of these! Sorry to drag you down, fellow ADSers...

Good Morning

Hello, All, and welcome to Sunday. Went running again today...felt very good. Wasn't breathing nearly as hard when I finished - my fitness is coming back! Yay!
I met a fellow ADS (Alumni Distinguished Scholar) who is also a United Methodist. The kid took thirteen AP tests and got 5s on all of them...so he's technically a junior. Anyways, he's coming to church with me today. Kennetha Bigham-Tsai, chair of the West Michigan Board of Church and Society, is preaching at University UMC this morning and I'm very excited to hear her!!!

Prayer Request

One of my best friends here in the dorm, Elena, got news today that her younger sister fell out of a window and broke a disc in her back. She was transported to Saginaw and will most likely be having surgery on Sunday. Please pray for her, the hospital staff, and her family. I've seen another friend go through back problems...it's not happy. Prayers, thoughts, and love are much appreciated!

Happy Day

I got to do a lot of Arabic. The short vowels make more sense now. I read a lot of philosophy essays and texts...good stuff. Deep stuff. May I just say that Freud's writing is rather boring. Simone Weil's, however, is very entertaining and enlightening. I believe she's my favorite of what we've read so far. If you're into that kind of stuff, check her out. Fascinating personal life and great essays. Did the first two of four problems from the chemistry problem set. All in all, life is very good.

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

This is the best movie ever! We just watched it. I am so happy right now. It is adorable and funny and meaningful and everything a family movie should be. If you haven't seen it, go rent it NOW! Please. See it. It will fix any problems you have in the world. It's just purely fantastic.

Movie Party

Last night I took a break from studying and actually talked talked to real humans...it was quite a shot. Katie Martinez (Girl Scout friend from Battle Creek) and I ate dinner together at 5, then a group of friends from the dorm wanted to eat at 6:30. So I was forced to eat more...rats. After dinner, we were planning to watch a movie. I figured that I'd read a philophy book while the movie was in, but then we decided we were watching "Spaceballs"...and I hadn't seen that before. So now I've seen "Spaceballs." And then, of course, we were all in the mood for "Star Wars." So we watching Episode 5 and I kind of mini-napped during it.
I let myself sleep in today...but now I'm up, and it's back to reading!

Nice Move, McCain

McCain has chosen Alaskan governor Sarah Palin as his running mate...nice move, there, John. A woman. A young woman. From a small state. That's not going to influence swing voters and states at all...(heavy sarcasm)...rats.

Library!

I have found it! I am in it! It's not far from my dorm! I, in fact, run to it every morning, though I never realized that's what it was. It was just a huge building next to the bridge I turn around at. I am doing some philosophy research for my prof...it's pretty fun. Pre-Socratic philosophers = smart for their time, focused mainly on trying to find something other than crazy stories about mass numbers of gods for why they existed, pretty much ignored violence and justice. There are some brief mentions of it, but it's mostly related to what it is or whether it's right or wrong than WHY it is.

Good Girl!

I don't have class today. And what did I do? Wake up at 6:30 and go running! What a good girl I am.
Anyways...enough with the self-praise. I'm likely about to ruin any good that did by eating a doughnut or something else bad for me, but it felt good and will help me be awake and productive the rest of the day.
Schedule for the day:
-Breakfast
-Library to research pre-Socratic philosophers and their take on violence
-Dinner with Katie
-Dinner with a group of friends (I guess I'll have to eat twice...the troubles of being popular...)
-Movie Party (during which I will most likely read a book for class)

Meeting with Steve Sharra

Steve is one of the advisors for the Peace and Justice Specialization and a philosopher. Met with him today to discuss the specialization. We took care of business and then spent some time chatting...he's from Malawi and is Catholic; we mostly spoke about my journey to interest in peace and justice, the United Methodist Church, and politics in Africa, particularly Liberia and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. It was a good chat...I look forward to getting to know Dr. Sharra.

The Weekend

I have homework! I get to study! I'm so excited! You all have fun with your picnics and visitations...I'm having a party with my computer, my books, and some pencils and papers.

Arabic

I made my first public mistake...short vowels are terrible. By terrible, I mean much more difficult. I screw them up rather easily. There are three short vowels that are written above or below the letter preceding them; they aren't generally written in novels, newspapers, or handwriting, but if you're vocalizing the entire word, you use the vowels. Anyways, I didn't look slowly enough at a word written on the board and called it wrong. A few other people raised their hands saying that they too thought the word was incorrect...but we were wrong. Good news: Milad knew my name. He said "Sorry, Rebecca." Oops. I'll be more careful next time before I open my mouth...
On the bright side, I did all my drills for homework last night and was able to turn them in well. Hopefully I'll get brownie points back for that. (Though there were short vowel exercises in the homework, some of which I know I got wrong...so maybe I won't...)

Philosophy

Here are my notes from Philosophy today: (Bear in mind that these are notes typed directly during the conversation without any kind of editing done.)

What is violence? Need it be physical? Need it be intended?
Ooh…we have a totalist in the classroom. (Shopping at Wal-Mart, driving SUV, eating meat are all acts of violence.) Prof asks: can you accuse people of being violent if they didn’t know that they were supporting sweatshops?
Kid asks: Are sports violent? When you’re intending to harm (boxing) but doing so without intention to actually kill, etc. Another points out: The player has given up their right to not be harmed. I point out: Soldiers then have given up their right? Wars are non-violent? Girl to my left: Degree of acceptability: Sports okay, war not so much. Sports are “playing” war.
Democratic Convention: talk about war, wrong war, not against all war; didn’t get a cohesive answer; same with our attempt to define violence
Violence: action that causes harm (suffering) with some intention
Presupposing that others should not be harmed
There must be some intention; otherwise, it is difficult to assign responsibility

Doughnut Craving

I had a jelly-filled doughnut craving all during chemistry...so I ran back to the dorm cafeteria to get one afterwards. And they were gone. Tragedy. I'm pacifying myself with a cinnamon crunch bagel (not from Panera, but still pretty good).
Note to Self: If you want a doughnut, get it at 7.

Morning

The day has started off beautifully...very good workout followed by a relaxing shower and decently slow breakfast. Chem lecture at 8:30; then a substantial break before Arabic. I did much of the Arabic last night but have a bit more to do, so I'll come back to the dorm and work on that. Life is good!

Dessert...

I visited the dessert area of the cafeteria for the first time...bad, bad me. Dairy Store ice cream! I had some. It was a very good end to the day. Well, a first ending. I get to go do some Arabic now, which is even sweeter than ice cream.

MSU is Big...

I biked out to Holmes today. Accidentally. Went COMPLETELY the wrong way for the Student Union. So that was fun. I'm enjoying campus though, and I haven't been seriously late for anything yet, so I plan to simply continue learning my way around by getting lost enough to find new trails but not so lost I'm late to class.

Students for Peace and Justice

I had a meeting tonight with Students for Peace and Justice...not much explanation needed. They were very active several years ago, and then the group kind of died (I'm guessing somebody graduated). For PHL 353, a practicum is required; last year, a few students from the class decided to get the group going again. So here we are. I'm planning to take a leadership role for my practicum, and I really enjoy the other key members of the group. The advisor is a Quaker...it was fun to talk to him about Pine River Friends in Mount Pleasant and other churches.

Chem Lab

That was easy. I have a three-hour lab on Wednesdays...it took me forty minutes to do the computer exercise for prepping formal labs. So I had more time than I was expecting; something for which I am extremely grateful. I'm not expecting it every Wednesday, of course, but it was a nice first three-hour class.

African Studies Specialization

I met today with Yacob Fisseha. I am planning to complete an African Studies Specialization (MSU's version of minors). What I didn't know until the meeting was that you may not enroll in the specialization until you've completed sixty credits. (I actually think I may have heard or read that somewhere, but I certainly didn't remember, and many of my other specializations have allowed me to already enroll.) We chatted briefly about my plan of study and I have to go in next fall to become official. The meeting didn't last as long as I was expecting, so now I have a few moments before Chem Lab to update the blog and catch up on some studying!

Arabic...I'm in Love

With Arabic, that is. Seriously. And I can DO IT! I really was worried about it. Today in class we took dictation with the script letters we've learned thus far. Then he called out people in order to write the answers on the board. Given my luck, I was, of course, the first to be checked. And...I was RIGHT! It was a very happy moment. I can't wait for the weekend so that I can go through my entire book...I think I probably really will...

Comcast

I'm having all sorts of fun with bills! I can't make an online account with Comcast because it thinks my account number is wrong with the phone number on the bill, but it won't let me not put a phone number. I called yesterday to resolve the phone number issue, but didn't think it was then going to give me grief about the account number. So perhaps I'll call again this weekend. In any case, I biked over to Comcast today to pay the bill. That went very quickly; it's not far and the wait wasn't long. On the way back, however, I decided I would go a slightly different way than the way I came, just in the same direction. Haha. All was well until I got to Harrison - and then I think I turned the wrong way. I ended up having to stop at a Speedway. It was embarassing. But I got back to campus fine and wasn't late for anything...I just got to bike more than I had expected to do. This means more exercise! I'm losing my Freshman Fifteen, baby! Economics starts in twenty minutes...I'm looking forward to more fun with my (thus far) favorite prof!

The Condo

Biked to the condo today to check in on Tyler...for those of you who don't know, I bought my grandmother's condo after she moved in with my uncle. It's very close to campus. But I have to live on campus my first year, so I am letting a friend stay there this year. I had to get some mail, so I got my first experience biking over there. Didn't get lost at all; it was a nice ride! Looking forward to doing it more often next year!

Philosophy 353: Peace and Justice Studies

Philosophy classes are FUN! I've never been asked so many questions in such a short amount of time. It was absolutely wonderful. My prof is the prof I have for my PA, so I already knew him. No tests! Written papers instead. Happiness for Becca! It's going to be a very good class.

Arabic is SWEET

I'm in love. Seriously. Arabic is wonderful. We started actually learning stuff today...it's so awesome. I'm trying not to go on and on about it, but it's hard. Cause it's wonderful. 'Nough said.
ARABIC ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Arabic alphabet. Read from right to left, so the letter in the upper-right hand corner is the first, known as alif.

Chem Lecture

This morning's chem lecture was really good, though pretty much entirely review. The prof was doing great until 9:30...and then he mentioned the word "calculus." And life was sad. He proceeded to do a brief overview of derivatives. I'm sure it was intended to be sweet for those who haven't had calculus or didn't remember well, but here's the thing: it was slow enough that those of us who had calculus were dying, and fast enough that those who hadn't would be totally lost and terrified anyways. But life will continue. The rest of it was good. I'm now waiting for Arabic to start...yay!

Consumers Energy...The Sequel

Met Grandma and Grampa for breakfast this morning in the Trowbridge Plaza and all is well. I called Consumers Energy to find out how much the security deposit was, wrote a check, and sent it off with them. So now I'll have the joy of going online to try and set up an account...that should be fun. Ha.

My First Sunday

I've been asked to speak about my weekend. Suffice it to say that Saturday was pretty much free...there was a U-Fest that I went to briefly but was crazily crowded and therefore not much fun (for me; I know others loved it).
Sunday, however, was busy and lovely. I attended University UMC, where I know both pastors and their families. Kennetha Bigham-Tsai, chair of the Board of Church and Society, is a pastor there but was gone on vacation this Sunday. I was hoping to see her, but she'll be preaching next Sunday! The other pastor is John Ross Thompson, former Conference Director; his wife is also on the Board of Church and Society.
Sunday afternoon I worked on my room andd did something...but I can't remember what. How pathetic is that?
Sunday evening was my first MSU Wesley time. Good dinner - I sat with a member of the Board and her husband and two older young adults. One worked with the Detroit Conference Mission Interns; that was fun to talk about. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, it's because you're not a United Methodist geek. And that's okay...but consider becoming one! It's a good life.)
Sunday night we had a floor meeting, so I left Wesley early to go to that. I'll usually skip floor meetings for Wesley stuff, but I did want to get to know people a bit. Then someone from my floor and I went to the boys' Honor Floor on Phillips and distributed cookies. Met someone who lived in Battle Creek and went to Harper Creek...and a bunch of other people.
Sunday was good!

I'm Turning into my Roommate...

I drank milk again tonight at dinner. This is scary. I'm BECOMING MY ROOMMATE! Eek! Not really. But I am interested to see what other characteristics of hers I gain.

Consumers Energy

Depression - I had Grampa Farnum drive me to Consumers Energy to pay the deposit for the service at the condo. We pulled in at 4:38 after getting stuck in traffic. And...it closes at 4:30. Of course. So we're trying again tomorrow morning.

Chem Lab

We started with very a basic introduction to the class...there's not all that much to say. Quite frankly, it seems rather easy. But I've heard horror stories about chem lab, so maybe I'm just in for a surprise...

Professorial Assistantship

MSU has these things called PAs...essentially research opportunities for Freshman and Sophomores. Those who qualify for PAs are paired with a professor and work 8-10 hours/week. In return, we get money dropped into our bank accounts and the opportunity to get in on some research. I was paired with the chair of the Department of Philosophy who also happens to be my Peace and Justice Studies professor. My assignment: researching philosophy historically to find references to violence. Dr. Peterson is writing a book on the subject. It's going to be a lot of fun for a bookworm! (Said bookworm = me.)

Arabic

My prof is a young Tunisian and very approachable. We didn't get into any actual Arabic, but we all introduced ourselves and talked about why we were taking Arabic. We then moved to discussing Arabic culture and the Arabic world. I think it's going to be a lot of fun and manageable. We also agreed to add ten minutes to the start of class M-R and not meet on Fridays. So I'm now technically completely free on Fridays.

The Morning

I got out of Economics early, so I have a few moments before Arabic starts. Scoop thus far...
Chemistry: Prof started out talking about the classes of chemistry and that dropping and adding no big deal. You would think they want to terrify people away. (I'm not terrified, nor am I leaving.) Review worksheet already given; homework being assigned this Thursday and due next Thursday is already posted on the web, so I'll be able to do it tonight probably (and then keep working on it when I don't understand something...).
Economics=Pure bliss. Awesome prof, fun topic. Read an article about "bang for your buck" and how we could spend the same amount of money we used fighting terrorism on other things and what would be most economically sound. And the answer is...FIGHTING DISEASE! See, I'm not just emotionally and morally correct, I'm also economically correct. Heehee.
Half an hour before Arabic...I'm pretty nervous. It's the class I'm most excited about, but also the one I have the smallest experience in and will probably have the hardest time in. So wish me luck!

Milk

I was good today! I had a full glass of milk at breakfast PLUS a bowl of cereal. (I'm a very bad milk drinker.)
By the way, this blog truly will get more interesting...but nothing truly amazing has happened as of yet. Coming around 6 pm tonight: The SCOOP on my classes and profs.

Classes!

Classes start today! I'm off and away!
Getting away from the rhyme scheme...I'm very, very excited about classes.
Fall 2008 Class Schedule:
9:10-10 M, 8:30-9:50 TR Chem 181H
3-3:50 M Chem 185H
10:20-12:10 MW EC 251H
12:40-1:30 MTWRF Arabic 101
2:40-4 TR Peace and Justice Studies

Okay...it's a very good thing I wrote this. Because I thought I had an 8:30 class this morning. I'm loaded with time! However, I think I am going to eat now before the cafeteria becomes insanely crowded...

Running!

So I have a bad knee. But the exercise room in Snyder-Phillips (my dorm) does not open until the Front Desk does, around 7 am. For an 8:30 class, we're kind of pushing it. So...I went running this morning along the banks of the Red Cedar River with a knee brace on! It felt really good for every part of my body and soul other than my knee. So I'll take some Tylenol and see if maybe this can continue.

My Roommate

Bailey Reidinger. Fellow ADS winner and wonderful girl.

The basics:
1. She plays percussion.
2. She likes "Harry Potter," "Lord of the Rings," and Broadway Musicals.
3. She's been in Girl Scouts since she was five.
4. She's been on a Quiz Bowl team.
5. She prefers dark chocolate to milk chocolate.

This girl is ME. Except she grew up in North Carolina. We're getting along really well, have almost completely finished plastering our room with posters, and having a blast.

Summer

A brief update on my summer (so this technically belongs to a nonexistent non-Spartan Becca blog):
1. Lots of Church stuff! I was a delegate to the North Central Jurisdiction this summer and led a large meeting and rally for youth and young adults immediately prior to that. The week was a great one, but I was glad when it was over!
2. My last Girl Scout Day Camp.
3. My last Church Youth Assembly.
4. Family Camp with my grandparents and adorable cousins on the shores of Lake Huron.
5. NEW YORK with my mom and grandmother! Saw a LOT of Broadway shows and saw...Patti LuPone, Bradley Whitford, Mary McCormack, Lawrence Fishburne, Whoopi Goldberg, and a ton of other wonderful people.

Welcome!

Hey All -
I figured this was probably the best way to talk about how life is going to all of you rather than trying to mail out reports. So welcome to my blog, check it out frequently - I'll write at least once a day before going to bed. It just got started Sunday morning and I'm about to leave for church, so massive changes will be happening in the next twenty-four hours!