New Year, New Opportunities

Welcome to the new year of 2008! I don't know how the days, months, and years just whiz by, but it seems like not too long ago everyone was in a frenzy over what would happen at the turn of the millennium. Now I'm back from Christmas break, finished with one semester of college and one collegiate season of cross country, and I'm ready to take on the new opportunities that come my way.

Looking back, my first semester at Luther was extraordinary. I can't pinpoint many things that I would want to change if I could do it over. Even finals weren't that bad, granted, I had a pretty decent finals schedule. I had 5 finals originally scheduled for that week: Spanish and Religion back-to-back Monday morning, and then my other classes had exams scheduled Tuesday through Thursday at 10:15. Luckily for me I got to take my Spanish exam the Thursday before finals started because it was an oral exam with a partner and only half the class would be able to finish in the allotted 2 hour period on finals day. So that helped ease a bit of stress, and then my last final, Honors Conversation, was a take-home final which my professor allowed us to turn in early. So I ended up with only 3 mornings where I took one test and most did not take me the full 2 hours to complete.

Going home for 3 weeks was very nice. I got to relax and do some pleasure reading while keeping busy seeing family and friends. We got a lot of snow over break, making it a little tricky to get a lot of running in, but I managed to make my way around the roads and at times I just felt like a little kid having fun in the snow.

When I arrived back to Luther today I felt like I hadn't been here in such a long time, almost as if I were moving in for the first time all over again. But, differing from when I moved in this past August, now I had friends that I couldn't wait to see and a much better idea of what college really is. As I settled in and unpacked, I realized how much of a home Luther has become for me. Yes, I still love going home to my family, but here at Luther it seems like I have another family, another routine, and it feels great to be back. I can already hear the excited commotion in the hall as roommates trickle in...