Bittersweet Finals Week

This past Friday was a momentary day for celebration. It was the last day of classes with both students and professors relieved that they made it through the semester- well almost. Final exams are the now the remaining item standing between us and Christmas break. As I left my room around 11 on Saturday morning, I saw the signs that finals are upon us.

1. Campus grounds were deserted. Everyone is holed up in their study niche.
2. Chatter at the lunch table revolves around these 2 questions: When is your last final? When are you going home for break?
3. The library is now open past midnight.
4. Cookies, hot cocoa, and treats are being offered almost daily and they are being advertised as good ways to 'Take a Study Break' (along with exercise and healthy meals, of course).

Finals week is always a little bittersweet. It's sweet because it's the last hoorah for the semester and a break is so near. The bitter part is the intense studying and minimal interaction with friends before everyone suddenly disappears from campus. Thankfully I have a pretty good exam schedule, with tests on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday all at 10:15. Having them spread out is much less stressful and will give me time to crawl out of my library niche once in a while to see the outside world.

Tonight's candle-light worship service in the CFL will provide the perfect opportunity to de-stress from a full day of studying and remind everyone that the real reason for the season lies not within a classroom or the words in a textbook, but in a manger.

Wishing everyone a safe and merry Christmas!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Last Sunday evening I arrived back to campus to see the Christmas lights glowing around campus as the snow was gently falling. How quickly everything was transformed for the Christmas season! Only 2 weeks of classes and 4 days of finals are scheduled between Thanksgiving break and Christmas break, therefore students are trying to cram in many holiday activities around studying and spending the last remaining moments of the year with friends, myself included.

This past week has been one of the most enjoyable for me this whole semester despite having one final chemistry test before the final exam. On Monday I got to decorate the Legends Fitness Center with tinsel and Christmas lights, which was a nice surprise. My roommate had her first home basketball game on Wednesday so I was really excited to go watch and cheer her on. I love basketball and often wish I was out there on the court playing. So to appease my desire to shoot hoops, I coordinated a basketball game between the ladies and guys on the cross country team. It was a ton of fun, running up and down the court, trying to match up with the taller stronger guys, and bringing back some moves from my high school-playing days. I think we were all laughing and smiling the whole time, just having fun playing around even though many people hadn't had a basketball in their hands in a while.

Then on Thursday night I was treated to a Christmas At Luther performance, and it was amazing. This year, the annual choir and orchestra Christmas concert was being taped for Iowa Public Television, so the CFL (Center for Faith and Life where the concerts are performed) had beautiful Christmas trees and lights put up, as well as beautiful background decorations to put everyone in the Christmas spirit. I really loved just being part of the audience and trying to take it all in. One of my favorite songs of the evening was 'I Saw Three Ships' because during the second or third verse all of the choirs were singing, the orchestra was playing, and bells were chiming from all around the CFL. It was quite an experience, and in my opinion, it definitely topped last year's performance from what I can remember.

To finish out a great week, Saturday was our traditional cross country Snow Football game. A lot of alumni returned to help out the upperclassmen, who would've been struggling due to injuries and the vast number of freshmen and sophomores they would be matching up against. Snow was on the ground and the sun decided to come out, making playing conditions wonderful. The upperclassmen jumped out to a quick lead, but we answered back. Eventually, due to their experience, recruitment of ringers, and good passing skills, the upperclassmen went on quite a run. But, to our credit, we didn't give up and came back with a run of our own. When the score was 7-5 (upperclassmen leading) and we had just scored 3 times in a row, the game was called. I suspect the game was ended out of fear that our comeback would continue with enough force to take over the game. But in any case, the upperclassmen won, as always, and we all headed over to Baker for some hot cocoa and treats to warm up.

This week doesn't promise quite as many fun activities, but there is Christmas in the Union on Wednesday where we can listen to groups sing while enjoying sugar cookies and cocoa. Right now it's easy to forget that finals are just a week away with all of the festivities going on. I'm trying to soak up all the time I can with my friends knowing that I won't see them for over a month because I will be in Ecuador for J-term. I want to enjoy the Christmas season and the company of my friends because before I know it, this most wonderful time of the year will have passed.