Update

Today is the first day of classes!! Slash the start of shopping week so hopefully nothing too intense. For today I will be shopping Hebrew Bible, Sociology 109 (the leadership one I really wanted last fall), and Psych 971 Sophomore Tutorial. Tomorrow will be Professor Hackman's Psych 1501 Leadership and Organizations, Psych 16 Developmental Psych, Sociology 24 Inequality, and Sci of the Physical Universe 27 Cooking. Basically I will for sure be taking P971 and P16, Hebrew Bible to kinda change things up a little, and then probably a sociology class. Right now I am thinking that I will concentrate in Psychology and secondary in Sociology. We shall see :).

So a brief overview of the past few days: living in the moment and smiling and catching up with people. I know my mom and dad are safe and sound back home in Illinois and other than the texts they sent to inform me of their nightly status as they traveled back, I haven't even talked to them. This two week break from facebook and the self-grounding of limited texting and phone calls to people that are not in the near vicinity has been interesting. Now the trick will be to find the balance between keeping lines of communication open and those relationships in a healthy state, while also making sure I am not trying to live two lives. It has been so fun to have the team all back on campus. We are going to have a blast this year--we did not lose anyone and gained four more good new ones=a fun fun fun time. Going back to CFCF for church was fun and felt safe and secure. The difference between my first week this time around versus last fall is astronomical. BUT, enough talking ;)...how about some pictures?

I am living in Mather House which is right along the river and a ten minute walk from Lavietes.
This is my room...the right side corner window. Since we are on a corner I have a huge room because of the funky angles. I have four other roommates, three of them that are the same from last year (Elana-my Romanian, Bonnie-the violinist, Andrea-the South American traveler) and then a new one, Carolyn, Lenny's MIT friend. We have tons of storage space which is really nice.





Our room is in the low rises. Built during the riot era, Mather was made to be indestructible and therefore is made of tons of concrete. The tallest building on campus is Mather Tower where all of the seniors room (like my teammates Claire and Jackie who are on the 15th floor):













Our courtyard and dining hall are nice. The only problem with the use of all the natural lighting in the dhall is that it warms up...and doesn't cool down. I was sweating bullets eating lunch there yesterday (it was 97 degrees outside). But it's nice not to have to walk all the way across the yard for breakfast anymore. Now it's just a diagonal stroll through the courtyard for me.



So last, but not least...my go-to analogy that I figured out this summer is this. Coming to Harv is like jumping off a cliff with a raging rocky river at the bottom. Passable but barely. But a complete thrill ride and adrenaline rush once you become a pro. Well, at the top of the mountain senior year of high school, spending my school year and summer walking towards this cliff, I couldn't really see over the edge nor did I really try. It was like I was slowly walking backwards trying to grab and hold on to everything I was passing by. What ended up happening then was that I fell of the cliff carrying an extra 100 lbs of baggage, panicked when I hit the water, not wanting to drown or smash into rocks, getting bumped and scraped along the way, trying to throw off the baggage, but also clinging to it because it was part of the familiar, and finally making it to smoother waters free of baggage and actually riding with the current. Then this summer, I climbed back up on to the shore of familiar and peaceful ground, absolutely loving it. I started the climb of time back up the rocks to the top of this cliff, this time reading guide books and mentally preparing myself for the jump ahead. As the edge came in view I looked to my left and right checking to make sure things were looking good and in healthy states. I waved bye to the extra familiar, sending up a prayer for the safety and well being of my loved ones and loved places in the process, started to jog, plugged my nose, and jumped...

















Let's see what happens this time around :)...


O&O!

Love,

M

P.S. Simply click on the pictures to enlarge them. Caitlan, a bball junior and my recruiting visit host is the other girl in the picture.