I honestly
forgot that it was Monday, and that I needed to write a blog. My week is
regulated by classes, and since classes got out last Wednesday, all the time is
kind of blending together. I spent most of yesterday finishing my second draft
of a 12-page research paper on the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice for
English, and I spent pretty much all of today writing the first (and probably
last) draft of a 9-page research paper on Holocaust art for Hebrew. I will
spend tomorrow working with my partner on a presentation of our Physics
project. The papers are due Thursday; the Physics is due Friday.
One of the
hardest parts of college is time management. As I get more and more involved in
more and more things, my time to study is more and more limited. I get out of
everything that’s optional, and still I find myself distracted by dozens of
little things from everywhere that want to suck away my time. Yesterday and
today contain almost all the time I’ve had to just sit and work, and it was
really nice to finally get things done. There are only a few days left;
hopefully I can stave off the panic and sense of being overwhelmed that are
also counterproductive. My usual method of doing that is to catalogue my to-do
list, write it down, and then start crossing things off, which as you can see,
I am doing subconsciously by now, since that’s how I started this post.
However, having gotten that out, I can actually write about the rest of my
week.
One recent
highlight was our “Secret Angel” week for the seniors in my a cappella group.
It’s about the same thing as Secret Santa, except that of course it’s not
Christmas, and involved one or two of us buying themed gifts for one senior
from Monday until Saturday, when we had our senior appreciation dinner. It’s a
new tradition – we started this year – and I’m kind of ambivalent toward it. On
the one hand, it was really sweet, and the seniors really loved it, and I
really love the seniors, so I loved it. On the other hand, it’s another one of
those parasitical responsibilities that I can’t get out of, that keeps sucking
away my precious time, so I occasionally wanted to strangle it.
I also
wasn’t too sure about the dinner at first. As treasurer, I’m already biased
against new sources of spending, and the hour before the dinner was spent in
the middle of a lot of yelling, rushing, and general chaos. We bought the food
and commandeered the cutlery and dishes from the dining hall (we were in a room
above it, and don’t worry – we brought it all back afterwards!) The dinner,
however, was lovely. We spent most of our time discussing all the gifts from
the week, from the point of view of the givers and the recipient.
After the
dinner was over, we were suddenly informed that, as the new members of the
group, we needed to invent choreo and perform to a couple minutes of the song
“Wrecking Ball”. Yes, that one. I know, hazing on the last week of school –
strange. However, it was fun, and we were laughing so hard I don’t think anyone
actually felt embarrassed, despite the fact that we are all fairly quiet
introverts. And afterwards, we had a sorting ceremony; no one was expecting
that, either. I’m in Ravenclaw. And yes, there were people in Slytherin. It’s
hard to describe in a few sentences, but the evening went very well, and I
returned home unproductive but happy.
Home. I
don’t mean that in the same sense that I mean my home where I grew up, with my
parents. But this is my room, my space, that I have made my own, that has seen
me in my private moments and sheltered me throughout the year from the cold and
the rain and the hullabaloo of the outdoors. And yet, in a few short months,
someone else will come into this room, and it will be as much their room as it
is mine right now. And before it was mine, it was someone else’s. It makes me
feel kind of strange, transient – I’m just passing through; this place doesn’t
really belong to me.
I suppose*,
though, that dorm rooms are no different from any other rooms. Even if you
build the house when you get there and tear it down when you leave, the ground
will still be there; you can’t take it with you. Generations come and
generations go, but the earth remains forever.”** We’re all, after all,
just passing through. And yet, how much stuff you can accumulate in a dorm room
after only a year! How much stuff must we accumulate in a lifetime! But you
can’t take it with you. I suppose life’s kind of like college – the real
purpose in coming is to see how much you can learn, how much you can grow,
before you leave again.
Speaking of
leaving, this post is much longer than I was expecting. I’ve obviously spent
too much time drawing out deep meanings for my papers. I will post one more
time for this semester, but I’m considering posting about my experiences in
Jordan over the summer, if you all are interested in reading, so stay tuned! A
week from tomorrow, I’ll be flying home!
PS - I forgot to mention - our performance on Saturday went well, too! There are a couple of pictures that I took of the band a few of our a cappella members also formed for the occasion!
*I know, that’s the hint – philosophical musing coming up!
**Ecclesiastes 1:4
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