Worth the Candle

As the end of my third week as a Western Michigan University freshman comes to an end, I think I have experienced close to every imaginable emotion. I never could have imagined what these three weeks have brought me, but I am so grateful for them and all the people who have made this beginning what it is. From my Fall Welcome group to my family 260 miles away from here, I am so blessed to have begun my college career with them so close.

Being the nerd that I seem to be, I have developed a love for all of my classes. The fact that professors are so knowledgeable and passionate about their subjects makes it practically impossible to not have the slightest interest.
For my anthropology class (called Race, Biology and Culture) we had to buy two books, one of which is not even published yet, but available to anthropology students at WMU. I opened up the printer paper cover careful not to unhook the binding (the plastic ones like we bind our calendars with with Mrs. Esch...remember?) and realize that I could NOT read this book. Every other sentence had misspelled words or terrible grammar. Obviously still in the first stage of editing, we had been given this book to learn from; I was appalled. It took me a few hours to connect the dots. Our professor for my RBC class was also the author of both the required texts in our class. I have always wondered what kind of people write textbooks. They have to be the most boring people ever, right? I can imagine them sitting in the midst of every other textbook on the same subject around them, scraps of paper laying around randomly as they try to put together the most boring sentences possible and seeing how many times they can use the same beginning to different sentences.
My RBC professor travels every year to different states and countries and works as an archaeologist. He takes students and together they bring back things to fill the showcases here at Western. He's one of the those guys who is completely bald, but has a thick, furry black mustache and his last name is Anemone. Unfortunately, it is pronounced "ana-mone" like the Mon-a Lisa, but still!
I have an Introduction to Global and International Studies class that is super hard and will take lots of work. It makes me really wish that I had had someone besides Mr. Parker as a civics and history teacher. I also wish I could have taken a simple government class in high school. Mostly it just takes a lot of background research.
Spanish is T-double E-double R-double R-double I-double F-double I-double C! The placement test seems to have worked perfectly because I'm at just the right level. It has taken some getting used to a new teacher. It's also a Spanish communication class so we don't speak any English unless absolutely necessary. That makes me love it even more everyday.
Chinese is mamahuhu...literally translated: "horse horse tiger tiger" but the Chinese people use it to mean "so-so". It's definitely going to be a lot of work. I find myself continually saying to myself "I can do this. Nope, I can't. Yes...I've got this! No way, no way!!" The coolest part so far is that my Chinese name is Mao Sisi and it means "intelligent, good thinker". Also, as Chinese is a tonal language, all those years of choir are very helpful to my pronunciation!
Finally, I have my First Year Seminar and it's just like a continuation of Senior Seminar. Pretty basic, but it's nice to have an easy class. Plus, if I have to have an 8 in the morning class, I would prefer it to be FYS.

My first two weeks here were really hard. I ended up going home for Labor Day weekend even though I hadn't even started classes. On Thursday of last week I had my worst day. I talked to Mom for most of the morning. I had lost all desire to be here and even though I didn't really want to go home and give up, I didn't see why I had to be here. Mom ended up calling my grandpa who lovingly cancelled one of his many daily appointments to come over and see me. Seeing a familiar face was just what I needed. Since then I've missed being home, but it hasn't brought me to tears since. It's only getting better from here.
This weekend I'm going to visit my grandparents in Stockbridge. No Friday classes allows me 3 day weekends every weekend so I'll head over there and enjoy being spoiled some! :) Next weekend I'm headed home to the land of familiar hugs!!

Do your eyes feel like they are going to dry out and shrivel up now?!?! I leave you with a quote from Professor Anemone that seems to be the basis on which to live here at Western.
"In diversity lies strength."