It's been a while...

So the semester's good so far. There have been some let-downs, but there are plenty of upsides that make up for them. We make sure that we have a lotta fun out here. We just do a lot of stuff, mostly random stuff, and that's what really makes it a good time. My classes are pretty enjoyable, too, so that helps a lot. I have THE coolest Eng. prof. I've ever had, and I get him for Modern Poetry AND World Lit., so I have him every day.

Sometimes I do get really lonely, but that happens anywhere. It's usually triggered by seeing my friends here catch up with people that they've known from years past. I know that I'm missing out on doing that on my own campus, and I obviously don't have anyone here that I can do that with. I feel enough out of the loop sometimes, and that just adds to it. Fortunately I've been pushed into being more social than I once was, and I deal with things like that as they come. It's to be expected. At least one of my friends warned me about this beforehand because he went through a similar transition when he transferred. It still is never what you expect when people do give you a heads up on things like that.

What strikes me the most about being here is the amazing sense of kindness and faith that are so prevalent. It is really hard to explain because it's one of those things that you never really would completely understand unless you've experienced it, but I know that this environment here is what a Concordia really should feel like. It's definitely fostering my faith, and I love it.

It's going to be really difficult to leave some of these people behind again. I must admit that if it weren't for the fact that I'm so far along in my college career, I'd probably stay out here. It'd be far too much of a hassle at this point to transfer. Besides, I miss enough things about the people on the CUC campus and about that area to warrant going back.

I went home last weekend for a wedding of a guy who my brother and I grew up with, and it was so surreal sitting at the airport and just realizing how much not only how much this experience has already changed me, but just how much I've grown since college began in general. Granted, not all of these are traits I'd like to have stick with me for my whole life, but there's been a heckuva lot that's changed. Those kinds of moments of reflection are much needed sometimes, and they seem to happen best when going back to the place where I used to be both in location and in self.

I already get teary-eyed thinking about leaving. I can't imagine what it will actually be like to part ways in December. Ah well. I just keep reminding myself not to let that stop me from living it up and enjoying each day as much as I can, even if it means putting off homework and staying up late to finish it sometimes.

~"Nothing I can do will ever change your mind. Maybe I'd feel better if I told somebody." ["I'll Believe You When" - Matchbox Twenty]~