Breaktime!

           Well, I took my first final this morning. It was ROTC, and I’ll have the same instructor next semester, so it feels more like a midterm, but it sounds nice to say. And tomorrow I won’t have to get up at five or six or six-thirty, because tomorrow Thanksgiving break starts – and I’m flying home.

            Which is a lovely thought, but would be a lot lovelier if I didn’t have to worry about the work I have to do when I get back. An essay, two projects, three extensive finals… well, it’s almost over. And the nice thing about college is that when the semester ends, it ends. There needn’t be any carryover into the next semester; you kind of get cut loose. And since the thing that wears on me the most here isn’t the material or the lack of free time, but the never-ending flow of responsibilities, getting cut loose sounds heavenly.

            Not that I’m going to run away from responsibility, but we all need a break sometime. And it’s much nicer to fulfill one’s responsibilities with a fireplace, a family, and a full night’s sleep than otherwise. Everyone here is very excited about going home – excited enough that most of them aren’t in class today. According to my Philosophy professor there used to be class on Wednesday, but no one came, so they just cancelled it. And now the same things happens on Tuesday, or even all week. Some people went to the Harvard-Yale game and never came back.

            Yes, let’s talk about Harvard-Yale. I have pictures, including those of Harvard storming the field at the end, when we won, 34-7, for the seventh year in a row. I left on Friday afternoon with my a cappella group and we drove the three hours to Yale, where we arrived in time to put our stuff away before singing a joint concert with Living Water, Yale’s Christian a cappella. The concert was awesome, and afterwards we sat around and sang together and as groups and had a sing-off and taught each other songs until dinner finally arrived at eleven pm.

            It was a good time – it’s always fun when a bunch of people who do something well get together to do said thing for fun. And when it’s a bunch of Christians getting together for a worship jam improv session, it’s even better. Nevertheless, I don’t stay up until one-thirty very often, and I was beat by the time we finished. This was exacerbated by the fact that it had been dark outside since around 4:30, which drives my internal clock crazy.

            When I was little, my parents used to take me back to visit friends in my original hometown. It was about a five-to-six hour drive, depending on traffic, and to me it was a great odyssey. I did all sorts of things in the back seat, without any siblings to annoy: movies (this was when the mini-TV was still shaped like a box), books, games, for hours and hours and hours. And then we would finally arrive and it would still be light outside, and I would always be simply amazed. The trips to Yale and back were the opposite – I felt like we’d been traveling for hours. I may have gotten jet lag; I’m not sure if that’s possible or not.

            Anyway, we woke up on Saturday morning just in time to take a shuttle the three miles to the stadium, and despite some very unorganized shuttle lines managed to grab some snacks at the tailgate before heading in. I’ve missed football, and it was nice to watch again, though it didn’t help my ‘jet lag’ that the game was on a Saturday afternoon and not the Friday night I’m used to. Our a cappella group sat together; everything is more fun with friends, and we all had a good time.

            And while I’m totally not on this topic, it’s cold here! It snowed again for a few seconds when we got back from Yale and didn’t stick, and the same this morning. I’ve never worn so many clothes in my life! At the moment I could take off two complete layers and still be fully clothed. That’s partly, though, because my room is pretty cold itself. The heater’s broken. Or at least, it blows room temperature air, and since room temperature is probably in the low fifties or below, that doesn’t really help. Hopefully they can fix it before I come back from holiday.

            I will be back at school at the beginning of next week, hopefully through with all the projects I need to turn in – if not, the post may come a little late. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving, share some good time with family or friends, and get ready for the even bigger holiday season that’s coming!

            And Go Crimson!

PS – They got the heater fixed!
PPS - Yay! Lots of pictures! I took all of them except the one of all four of us - Jasmine took that one! Enjoy!