Fall semester part I — the photo edition

I figured since it's now January and we're into our spring semester, I should give a brief update on last semester! (As a side note, one of my New Year's resolutions was to blog more. We'll see how that goes.) Here's part one:

In September, Kennesaw RUF joined with UGA, Georgia Tech, Alabama A&M, Samford, Emory, and Mercer for fall conference in Temple, Georgia. We had a great time of fellowship and teaching, and the weather was wonderful.

Most of the Kennesaw crew at fall conference

One of the fun things about transferring has been exploring a new city — mainly Atlanta, but Kennesaw and surrounding areas are fun, too. Jennifer and I hit up an apple festival in Ellijay — who knew that Georgia was famous for apples as well as peaches?

This is what happens when you ask a random guy to take a picture — dark, but hey, we got one!

More fun things about Atlanta — when friends come to visit you for a weekend, you get to go all over town doing things! Two of my college roommates came for a weekend, and we hit up IKEA, Flip Burger, and the Atlanta Aquarium. 

Starfish at the aquarium

I went to visit Stephen in Knoxville for a weekend in October, and he surprised me by taking me to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville! It is absolutely beautiful, and we definitely want to go back. 

Stephen has all the photos of us together — he took this one outside the house. HUGE.

RUF had staff training in Atlanta for four days at the end of October. A group of us met up in Chattanooga the weekend beforehand to hang out — and celebrate three of our birthdays. Great way to spend my 24th!

The intern crew after church in Chattanooga. Thankful for them!

I got back from staff training and rushed over to campus for what I thought was our weekly girls Bible study ... instead, my sweet students completely caught me off guard by throwing me a surprise party!

Can you tell that the theme they picked was "White Trash Bash"?

To close out October, we did pumpkin carving. I think we did pretty well, don't you?

Mine is the one with the goofy face

Oh boy, it's time for an update

Friends, it has been far too long since I've updated. Wow. I had no idea it had been September since I had last written down a few of my thoughts. That alone should show how busy I've been this semester!

Where to begin... :)

Early October was Fall Break, and I got to spend it on the Gulf Coast in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, working for Lagniappe Presbyterian Church. A group from MSU's RUF went down for a few days and we had a great time building, sheetrocking, lifting walls, building relationships, and exploring New Orleans! Here's our goofy group picture:



In mid-October, I became copy editor at The Reflector. Basically, this means I scour all the pages of the newspaper multiple times before it is printed to find errors; in other words, when there are mistakes printed, it's sometimes my fault. It's teaching me humility (because who likes having their mistakes pointed out for over 12,000 readers to see?) and patience with the other editors. (And oh yeah, since copy editor reads the whole paper, if we print anything libelous or have a lawsuit against us, I'm automatically involved. Yikes.) Prior to this, I had just been a news writer and photographer, so it's been quite an adjustment. I'm in the office ALL THE TIME and am never home for dinner, except on weekends. I really do like it, but it has been a challenge and a huge time consumer. The pay increase has been a God-send and I'm thankful for more time to be salt and light in the newsroom, even though it's difficult. I am sorely outnumbered in the newsroom on multiple levels, one being that I am the only girl among eight guys in the newsroom! (The editor in chief is also a girl, but she has her own office just down the hall from the chaos of the newsroom.)

I also turned 21 mid-October and survived. ;) I had a great time out with friends for dinner (and yes, a first drink) and then my incredible roommates had a ton of people over for cake and ice cream at our apartment, plus they decorated. This roomie made me a crown:



Other than that, things have just stayed constantly busy. School work consumes me (as usual), but I like most of it. I've recently discovered my passion for law (specifically media law) and am looking into the legal field since the journalism market is currently frozen (no hiring whatsoever). I know I don't want to be a lawyer, but I'm looking into the paralegal and legal secretary fields.

I think that's more than enough for now. You know, each semester, I pledge to make better use of my time, stay in touch with family and friends from home, and make some time to rest and chill. I think that last part has happened several times this semester, but the other two areas, eh, not so much. I look forward to being home for the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks to catch up with everyone (and I guess I'm looking forward to a fresh semester so I can make yet another vow to use my time more wisely!). Please keep those blogs and pictures coming - while I don't always make time to write, I do make time to read. :)