It's funny how apparently in Chicago, it is rainy and cold while it's still sunny and in the 70s here in Columbia. This fall, I've been inspired by my three day weekends and the weather to partake in more fall activities. On weekends without football games, a lot of students will go home to St. Louis, Kansas City, etc...so I figure, let's go on adventures! If I was a college student in a larger city, that's what I'd be doing anyway, so let's explore Missouri!
I'm about to go apple picking for the first time since church youth group in junior high and have never been more excited. There's corn mazes, haunted houses, Halloween stores, raking leaves...all fall activities I will participate in :) I'll enjoy the free time while I have it, right?
Despite having a lot of exams this week (four tests/quizzes in one day on Thursday!), I really did feel like I had time. I got to relax, hang out and chat with people in my room for hours guiltlessly, catch up with friends I hadn't seen in awhile and overall felt successful.
Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) is a group for college students across the country to establish as their respective campuses so Orthodox Christians have a place to befriend each other and complete service to the church together. Mizzou did not have an established chapter when I came here, but one guy had registered OCF as a campus organization so I 'joined.' Thursday night, me and the two other most active members held OCF's first official meeting and planned activities for the entire school year. We're doing a weekly bible study, meetings, activities with other OCF chapters at schools like Kansas and University of Illinois, and taking trips. It's nice to finally see our hard work follow through and create such a close-knit group of Orthodox Christian students. With six active members to start and probably 10-15 that might attend activities, we're off to a good start and I really look forward to working with OCF in the future. Be on the lookout for the OCF blog, so then I will officially be running four blogs.
Thursdays at 4:45 pm is my favorite time of the week. I no longer have any class until Monday at 11, and can finally drop all of my books and take a breath and sigh or relief. So after the OCF meeting, I met up with Miles to catch up and get coffee at Lakota (a popular Columbia coffee venue). Funny thing...I have never drunk (there you go grammar exam, have never drunk..dranked...drank...I think that is correct) an entire glass of coffee before. I decided to try the pumpkin spice latte (fall fever again) and a girl from my dorm last year was working so she threw in an extra espresso shot. So I drank the entire glass....and was on a caffeine high for HOURS. I was scared of myself. I liked the glass of coffee, was energized....and need to somehow convince myself that if I ever need to stay up and get work done, I SHOULD NOT rely on coffee. I WILL get addicted and spend money for the rest of my life....so now another challenge of resisting temptations has been added to my life.
I have also realized how nice and happy it makes me to genuinely know and be acquainted with a large percentage of students on campus. I rarely walk anywhere without waving, smiling or stopping and saying hi to someone, it really does feel like home. This week in itself I have seen almost everyone I know walking around and just laughed upon reflection about how I know or met them and how a campus of 30,000 feels so small.
Off to apple picking but don't worry...more to come later!
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