just like that, it was over...

I should most likely be working on my take home tests due next week but my mind is too distracted. My parents are on their way to Philadelphia right now to move me out and by 9PM tonight, I will be home for summer. Summer is always bittersweet. When I was in high school, I loved it. My life consisted of camp, Creation, mission trips, vacation, hanging with friends, and getting some sun!

My friends at Messiah have become my life and when summer comes everyone goes home, which is farther than just 15 minutes away. My life feels so empty without those people for 3 months. I am sitting hours away from the end of junior year. I have to finish up two things when I get home, most likely tomorrow. Next year, I am a senior. When did that happen? There's no way I'm ready. It's almost time to figure out my next move, but more on that later. Now back to this semester in Philadelphia!

What a semester full of new friends, exploring a city, and learning many new things! Don't get me wrong, I had those times where I was homesick for Messiah but overall this semester was great! I was very excited to come and then right before it was time to move-in I wasn't sure I wanted this. My time in Philly can't be compared to Athens or even Messiah. At first, all I was doing was trying to compare it but as time went on I let it become its own experience. I was able to explore Philly a lot. The best part is that there is always still more to explore, so I suppose I will just have to come back!

Although, I don't feel that I have made much of an impact on this city, I have learned. Now that I have learned about this city, I am responsible for doing something about it. I haven't figured that out yet, but I'll get back to you.

Philadelphia, you have been such a fun experience! I am so thankful for this opportunity.

I always cry on move-out days. Because I studied abroad twice this will be my 5th time moving out. Whenever I move out, it always means that everything will change. I'll lose some friends, I'll make some more, I'll be somewhere else, and I'll be older. This time is probably going to be the hardest because in just about one week, some of my friends will be graduating. The two years before this I didn't really know anyone who was graduating so it didn't affect me. Some of my close friends will be receiving their diplomas and moving out of Messiah for the last time. Everything will change. There are times when I feel as though I shouldn't have gotten so close to so many people because now I am left really really sad. I am holding on to the hope that all the memories were worth the sad goodbyes. My life has been forever impacted by at least 7 of my friends who are graduating next week. I am forever grateful that our paths crossed and they were able to leave their mark on my life. I am so blessed.

So here I am, just minutes away from packing up my junior year of college. Everything will change, just like it always does. I'll be sad, I'll be happy, I'll be challenged, and I'll grow. I'll be brave and strong and I'll never give up. Most importantly, I'll continue learning about myself in the midst of change.

it's always sunny in philadelphia

This past weekend was great!

Friday night we had a backyard garden party! we had catered food which included exotic sandwiches and sushi! then we had a 4 hour dance party! it was SOOOO fun!

You can always find Katie Breiter on the dance floor!

Kelly McElroy and I

Making compost at Urban Tree Connection

Saturday morning we headed out to help at Urban Tree Connection. We pulled weeds and all that jazz! On the way back to MCPC, Larry, Laura, Laurie, and I went over to the Fresh Grocer to pick up some things. After that we went back and ate the leftovers from the night before. Everyone else went to the Philadelphia Zoo in the afternoon and out to dinner in the city at night. I took a shower fast then got on the train to Harrisburg! My mom and dad picked me up and took me home. Then I went out to Messiah and met up with Heather and Danelle. We went to Acclamation's Spring Concert to see Heather and Liz. They did awesome!

After that Heather and I went to Kristy, Ashley, and Kate's apt to hang for a bit. We ended up reading Kate's journal from a year ago in Greece. Which was sooo fun to read haha. We were only there for like 20 minutes when Liz invited Heather and I to a movie at her apt. My friends said "you want to sleep here but you are about to ditch us?!" my response was "....they're graduating and youre not."

Sunday was sooo lazy. I was supposed to have soccer at Bucknell but it got canceled because of rain and fog. So instead Kate made us pancakes! Roz, Kate, Ash and I watched Freedom Writers all afternoon. Oh and we threw an apple at Kristy from the third floor of Kelly apts hahaha. We are soo mature. I went home and then to youth group and then it was time to take the train back to Philly.

This week is so busy but because writing in here is like therapy I figured I could use it. :)

I have 2 presentations and 1 paper down. I still have my internship portfolio, my 4-5 pg research paper, and my group presentation for counseling to complete by the end of this week.

And then next week I have 2 take home finals :) haha i love you temple. Also I have a 10 page research paper which I don't think will be too hard because I can write about anything related to group therapy!

Gotta keep pushin through all this work. Tomorrow we are having our biweekly SAB ice cream party in the 2016 lounge which is always a good time!

The biggest thing to look forward to though is going to be our trip to the beach. One of my friends is organizing a camping trip to the beach right after finals to kick off the summer! It will no doubt be a BLAST!

Isaiah 40:29

we're only taking turns holding this world

Last weekend Heather, Danelle and Kristy came and spent the night Friday. We went out to eat and toured the city a bit. It was a little cold but still fun.

I have so much work in the next two weeks

Human Sexuality presentation - April 26

Third World presentation - April 26

Counseling presentation - April 29

4-5 pg research paper - April 30

Internship portfolio - April 30

10 pg research paper - May 6

Human Sexuality test - May 7

History and Systems take home final - May 10

SOO MUCH TO DO.

I doubt anyone reads this but writing on here is kind of like therapy. I get to say whatever I want and people will read it. I mean no one does but its the idea of it.

This weekend is Celebration weekend and it also extends to next weekend. Here are some of the events we will be doing

April 23 - Backyard Garden Party

April 24 - Service Project (9-12), Philadelphia Zoo (1-5), Dinner in the City (6-8), Outdoor Movie (9-?)

May 1 - Centennial Ball at Grantham

May 2 - Broad Street Run

May 3 - Celebration gathering including cookout and talent show

May 4 - Phillies Game!

I'm all booked up until the end of the semester!

Summer is always bittersweet for me. I love everything that comes with summer but I wish I was going through summer with my Messiah friends because then that would be the BEST!

Alright, I'm out for now.

oh this has gotta be the good life

So I haven't updated in over a month. Here's a recap of the past month...

March 19-21: The weather was BEAUTIFUL! We spent the weekend outside! Lots of roof deck time! Saturday morning we went to a service project and we also went to free Rita's. Later in the afternoon we went shopping and exploring in Center City. The weekend was just awesome!

March 26-27: I don't remember what I did on Friday night or Saturday morning. ha. Well Saturday afternoon I took an adventure by myself to New Jersey for Greece Reunion! I took the train from Temple station into Trenton. Then switched there to a train to Metropark station where Kristy and the others picked me up. From there it was about 15 minutes to Tori's house! Romanos and his friend Stolis came and it was great! Tori also brought two of her roommates, Liz and Montana! It was a blast!

April 2-4: I went home for Easter weekend. Which turned out to be a very interesting weekend. Friday night I was bored out of my mind. I watched tv and went to bed like like 11. I'm lame, I know. The weather was great on Saturday so I went out to breakfast with Deb, JP, Dad, and Grandma. After that Deb and I went to the mall to look for dresses for Centennial Ball. We rode in style in the Mini Cooper Convertible with the top down! Then I went to get my eyebrows waxed...bad idea. Some of my skin came off. Long story. Ask me about it if you want to know. On Sunday I went to church and then hung out with Ashlee! We drove by her family's new house and hung out with Gary and Tamali for a little! haha. On April 5, President Phipps came to speak at Community Gathering and afterwards we had loads of desserts all homemade by Debi. She's great!

April 9-11: Friday night a few of us went to an Italian restaurant called Pietro's. It was very good. On Saturday I slept in, although I wasn't really planning to. At 2pm we took an SAB trip to Eastern State Penitentiary. It was a really cool place. After that we went to Philly Flavors for ice cream. A few of us ventured off to Logan Square and chilled at the fountain just talking and hanging for an hour. Then Lisa, Bekah and I went to Walnut Street to go in a few stores. Later that night Kelly and I were going to watch a movie. Well Kelly made us popcorn and burnt it. She didn't realize it was burnt until she opened the bag and the smoke came pouring out. We quickly opened the back door to the roof deck when all of a sudden the fire alarm went off. Kelly and I left the bag of popcorn outside and went downstairs and out to the street. There were only like 6 girls in the building and we called Josh to come turn it off. The firemen still came and inspected it. We are hoping to avoid the fine of 75 which they charge when there is a false alarm. This morning I went to church at Epiphany with Laura, Meredith and Kelly. It was really good and there was a guest pastor. This afternoon I will just be working on homework and maybe hanging outside a little bit.

I have registered for my classes, although I am still waiting for one to get an override.

On Tuesday it is Spring Fling here at Temple which I hear is like an all day street fair type thing. With vendors and rides and music. I also heard there are lot of intoxicated students. That should be fun to watch.

This upcoming weekend, I am hoping to have some friends come visit.

There are only 4 weeks left and three weeks of class. This semester has flown by.

Here's to making the best of what's left!

DISNEY!

Today is the first day back from Spring Break. It's hittin' hard. I worked on a take home mid term for 5 hours last night and pretty much didn't want to wake up this morning.

For Spring Break I went to Disney World with my family! I flew down on March 5th and stayed until March 10th (Kristy's Birthday!)
We went to all of the parks; Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, and Hollywood Studios. Also made it to Downtown Disney three times. One of the nights we took a taxi to Universal Studios to see Blue Man Group which we had front row center tickets for! It was sooo cool! :)
The sun was amazing, and the weather was great. It was in the 70's during the day but at night it went down to the 40's which was cold. The trip was great and we had fun!On Thursday after Disney I went to Messiah to hang out for the day and night. I saw lots of friends!!! It was soooo great! First, I hung out with Danelle and Amanda! I went over to Kristy and Kate's for dinner! Then I hung out with Liz! :) After that I hung out with Katie and Kelly and then went to Powerhouse. I also hung out with Heather but only for a little :(
Friday I went to school again and did some research in the library then I went to the union with Katie, Amanda and Danelle. After that, Katie, Kelly, Danelle and I went to Brusters. We BLASTED music the whole way there. It was soooo fun!
Saturday was just spent hanging around and then Sunday I went to my church which was great because I hadn't been there in like 2 months. Then I took the 5PM train with Becky back to Philly and did homework for the whole night. ughh.

I'm not really sure what this week has planned, other than a ton of homework. Some of which I need to do for 4:30. Peace for now.

but the city, it calls her now

Common Text Immersion Weekend:

Friday night we went to dinner in the city! We had the option of a few different ethnic restaurants in the city. I went to New Delhi, which was an Indian restaurant. I don't think I have ever had Indian food but I liked it. Some of it was very spicy!

Saturday morning we were supposed to have an outdoor service project but we couldn't because of the recent snow. At 2pm we went to the chapel where we had discussion and worship from Joshua Grace and the Psalters. The Psalters are a band and they are very unique and sing songs from many countries. They are very radical. After that it was time for dinner in which we had a catered meal from Qdoba which was delicious. We decided to set up the karaoke machine and we all sang to every song for like an hour! That was sooo fun! The big event of the night was ice skating down at Penn's Landing which sits on the Delaware River. It wasn't cold because I dressed very warm!

Sunday morning I went to Epiphany for church. I do really like that church. I like it more and more every time I go! That afternoon we went to the Philadelphia International Flower Show. I wasn't sure if I would like it at first, but when we got there I realized that plants and flowers could be used for art. I was amazed at all the displays! Some of us came back to MCPC to watch the USA vs. Canada hockey game. Was that ever intense! Two of our students are Canadian so they were rooting for them and the rest of us were cheering for the US. As everyone knows, Canada won. Bummer. That night I just chilled and then Heather came! She had some grad schools visits set up for Monday morning. Heather came to sleep at MCPC so she wouldn't have to drive far in the morning. We just hung out and did pretty much nothing. It was nice. She slept in Katie's room because they have an extra bed in their room.

This week will consist of classes and homework. I leave for Florida on Friday but I am leaving Philly on Thursday so I can go home and pack. Have a great week!

they said we'd burn so bright, we'd burn this city and go

Not too much happened this week.

Monday we had community gathering and a former player from the Philadelphia Eagles came and spoke. He is now a pastor in New Jersey. It was a very good gathering and I learned a lot!

Oh my gosh, I had no classes yesterday or today. Counseling Theories was canceled for Thursday morning since the beginning of the semester. They were calling for snow that day so Phila Public Schools closed and so I didn't have internship. Then today I was supposed to have three classes all of which were canceled. I got an email saying Human Sexuality was canceled. Ricki texted me this morning to tell me that History and Systems was canceled. Finally I got another text saying Urban Ed was canceled. I was going to go into internship today to make up some hours and make up my hours for next Thursday when I will have to miss but of course the schools were closed today. Philadelphia maybe got 3-4 inches of snow! Ridiculous!

Yesterday I was lazy and slept til 12. Today I woke up at ten. I went to the Tech Center this afternoon with Sarah, my friend from high school who goes to Temple.

This weekend in Immersion Weekend. It is a weekend where we focus on our common text and work on building community. I am not going to update anymore because I will describe it all at the end of the weekend!

My parents left for their Caribbean cruise this past week. They flew to Florida on Sunday and boarded the ship on Tuesday. My sisters and I will meet up with them in Orlando, Florida on March 5. My dad sent me a text the other day, I'm assuming from one of the island. I replied but then didn't hear anything back. I'm sure they are having a great time! Hopefully, my mom isn't doing too much work while on vacation. She took her laptop, blackberry, etc with her!

Have a great weekend! Peace.