Was that just one week?

One week of classes is now officially over.  We started on a Tuesday and I have come back to Tuesday.  One week ago, after days of Questing and orientation and having fun with newfound friends, we all assembled in the gymnasium of the fieldhouse for Convocation and were welcomed to Calvin as the class of 2015.  The ceremony was short and sweet, and there was a barbecue on the Commons lawn.  But not for me, not right away.  I had class.

History class.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday.  10:30.  My professor is a small man who opened class the first day by showing us pictures of airports and, after about 20 pictures of "What do you see here?" finally explained that the purpose was to show us how much information is involved in every instant of time, and how impossible it would be to go back and recreate any one event.  His teaching style sometimes feels like he makes it up as he goes along, like he is less teaching than musing, and asking us to share in his ponderings.  I like him.

Calculus 2.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday.  11:30.  My most challenging class, the homework assignments take upward of three to four hours a day to complete.  The professor is a good teacher, passionate about the subject and careful to show every step of his examples.  But the class itself is hard.  Very hard.  As I sit in his lectures, I follow ever step of every problem he demonstrates.  But when I sit in my room with my homework open, I stare at problems that I don't know how to solve, or spend twenty minutes or more working through integrals that take me sometimes five or six steps and ten or so lines on my paper to solve.  I'm so glad I bought a whiteboard.  It helps me organize my thoughts to see the problems laid out coherently on a plain white board in black ink, with no lines to work around and no eraser marks to deal with when I inevitably mess up.

Engineering 101.  Monday, Wednesday, Friday.  8:00 The easiest class in my schedule.  I am convinced that Calvin's first semester of engineering is designed to give students a false sense of confidence about the subject and their ability to master it.  The textbook so far has given us study tips, told us how to take good notes, told us to be confident and goal-oreiented, and to be realistic about time management.  We haven't yet learned engineering.  We've been learning how to learn engineering, or any subject for that matter.  Most of the textbook would apply to any subject (and in fact I've been utilizing some of its suggestions in my history and philosophy classes).  Professor Hoeksema (my one Dutch professor) is competent and funny and engaging.  The workload is light, the studying easy, and the class enjoyable.  We've been assigned a project to make bottle rockets! :D

Philosophy.  Monday, Wednesday, Friday.  9:00.  Professor Mellema walks in at precisely nine o'clock, walks to the blackboard, writes PHIL-153F, PROFESSOR MELLEMA without once glancing towards the room full of students, slowly turns towards us and says, "I am Professor Mellema and this is Philosophy 153" as though he had not just written it on the chalkboard.  He then proceeded to take attendance using only our last names.  I could not get over the fact that balding Professor Mellema, with is round belly and thinning gray hair, was exactly what I had pictured when I had pictured a stereotypical college professor.  It made me want to laugh, which I would have been far too intimidated to actually do.  Since the first day he's begun to exhibit signs of possessing a sense of humor, which is encouraging.  The class itself is not difficult and rather interesting.  I believe I'll end up liking it.

Engineering 181.  Thursdays.  8:30.  Our three hour engineering lab is going to be fun!  We get to play with computers for three hours a week and get credit for it.  Professor Brauer is a quiet, competent professor who opened with a Bible reading and a word of prayer, and seems interested in learning our names (actually, both of my engineering profs opened with a word of prayer and gave us cardstock nametags to place on our tables so we could begin learning one another's names).  He taught us a bit about the program AutoCAD and then gave us three drafting assignments to finish before the next class in a week.  I stayed a bit after class was over and got them all done that day.

ROTC.  PT: Monday, Wednesday, Friday. 6:00, now 6:30.  Lab and class: Tuesday. 2:00-5:00PM.  What to say?  Thirty pounds of gear in my closet.  Trip to Kalamazoo to pick up uniforms today.  Three mornings of PT so far.  Sore, tired, out of shape.  Piles of daunting paperwork that makes me feel like I'm signing away my life and freedoms.  A chain of command full of terms I only half understand.  Identity crisis.  Who am I?  How do I address my fellow cadets?  How do they address me?  What am I?  A civilian, a cadet, a uniformed soldier?  A support group.  Someone to turn to.  Older guys who treat me like a younger sister.  Respect.  Feeling ridiculous marching and chanting in cadence.  Trying to keep up.  Falling down.  Arms giving out.  So tired.  Showering in a hurry to make it to class.  Arms shaking too much to put on mascara.  Missing breakfast three mornings a week.  Sharing in mutual misery.  Laughing together.  Sweating.  Shivering.  Blistered hands.  Blistered feet.  Army strong.

One week down.  One week of one semester of one year at Calvin College.  I can't believe one week is over.  But it doesn't feel like only a week.  Time for class.

Quest 2011 and GO NVW!

My first few days at Calvin have been fantastic.  Before classes start we have a week of summer-camp-remnicient orientation and introduction activities called Quest.  We are all divided into Quest groups, who we will continue to spend time with for the next seven weeks in our required class called Prelude, which is apparently about Calvin, Reformed tradition, and being in college.  My Quest group rocks.

On Monday, I flew into Grand Rapids and was picked up by my roommate Gwen Fuller and her family.  We got my car and I stayed with them Monday and Tuesday night.  On Tuesday we were able to get onto campus and into our dorm early to set up and move in stuff.  Our dorm room looks fabulous; I'm so proud of us.  Wednesday was officially move-in day, when I became an official resident of Noordewier Vander Werp, my residence hall for the year.  Our hall theme is Pirates of the Caribbean, so it's a good thing I took the time to pack my pirate boots.  (By the way, these were taken during the organization process.  The room is much cleaner and less chaotic now, I promise :)  I'll put new pictures up soon.)

Today was our StreetFest day, when all the Quest groups descended upon the unsuspecting city of Grand Rapids and volunteered in various organizations and services around the city.  Our Quest group split, and I was sent to the local Salvation Army, where I and three others helped organize the pantry and clean the refrigerators out for teenage mothers with nowhere else to go but the Salvation Army.  This evening, to have fun and get to know each other better, our Quest group went to Aerials, a gymnastics gym that lets paying customers play with all the gym equipment.  Super bouncy trampolines, foam pits you jump into from a platform, spring mats, balance beams, uneven bars, and protective pads everywhere for tricks and stunts.  Afterwards, we made the obligatory journey to Yesterdogs and enjoyed their classic hotdogs on the Calvin dime.

Basically, it's been awesome.  I've met numerous people from all different groups and places who are friendly and fun and eager to meet people.  I've done a stellar job at fooling everyone to believe me outgoing and social, including myself.  I'm loving my newfound, long-desired social life!  I've moved in and settled, and already feel at home.  I've learned my way around campus enough to walk with a fair amount of confidence wherever I need to go.  My car is parked five minutes from my dorm, instead of most other people's fifteen.  And I did a stellar job driving a full car to and from Aerials.  I'm learning south-east Grand Rapids pretty well too.  The Barnes and Nobel just south of campus is almost a fair trade for a beach in the backyard, and I'm already planning to take a gaggle of car-less girls to Target on Sunday for some overlooked necessities.  Or maybe I'll try out Meijers like a real Michigander.  Basically, I'm obsessed with college and can't wait to start classes.  (Also, I have more bookshelves than I'd been afraid.  Guess that means I'll need a few more books :D)