Me, Miriam, Hannah, and Iris
Roommates in bad lighting
This semester is passing incredibly quickly, and I’ve had to skip weeks of posting to avoid writing posts titled things like “Terrifying” and “Panicking, Part 2″ (or Part 3, or Part 4…).
In the last few weeks, I’ve finally officially become an Anthropology major, with minors in Linguistics and Religion. I have to admit, the process of writing my sophomore paper was less daunting than I expected. It was only a two page essay (plus a lot of paperwork) about why I’m interested in the things I like. And while it’s hard to explain, “Why Cool Things Are Cool,” it’s not hard to talk about it for two pages. Plotting out which courses I plan to take for the rest of my time here was no fun, especially since it felt like it was closing a door on so many really fun, interesting classes, but I’m never going to have time to learn everything I want to. And at least now that all the departments involved have accepted my plans, I feel a little calmer. It’s nice to have some sort of plan for the future, even if it’s still being developed.
Things are also starting to settle down outside of classes. I’ve spent the last few months trying to help steer the Catholic community through a difficult time after our priest was replaced. As of the last few weeks, it seems that we have a chaplain that everyone is happy with, which is a huge stress-relief for me. Even though it’s been difficult, though, this has given me the chance to get to know and work closely with deans and members of the administration that I might not have met otherwise, and it’s shown me how much power students can have here. And now, I’m really hopeful about the future of our group.
I’m also hopeful about my willpower with regard to blogging. I’ve procrastinated for weeks to spare everyone reading about my panicking over the present and future, but as things start to wind down for the semester, I’m going to try to look for the good things to report on. I have a feeling I won’t have to look very hard. 
