Black Coffee and Tomatoes?

I have found myself being more 'grown up' lately when it comes to food. Today in the Great Hall I could have put cream and sugar in my coffee but I realized that I just wanted to drink it black. I forced myself to get used to it like that since I didn't want to buy my own French vanilla for my room. But getting used to something is different than preferring it. I used to only be able to drink coffee when I made it as sweet as possible. And now I think I prefer it black instead.
And this summer I started liking tomatoes for the first time. Not just liking them, but really liking them!! And avocados! They're delicious! And who knew that pineapple was so good? What is going on? I like vegetables (I don't pick around the 'gross' ones), more and more fruits have been added to my list of favorites, and I'm drinking my coffee black!

Does this mean I'm all grown up??

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Note from a Stranger

I got my letter from Hannah Brammer and a line in it said: "Today I sat next to this guy in class, Niklas, and he asked me what I was doing and wanted to send some lines, too. I added it for you." So there in my letter was a note from some random law student in Germany! It says,

Hey Megan!
Right now I'm sitting in the very front row of this extremely crowded room. Next to me Hannah is telling me pretty mean jokes. She told me she is your pen pal and she met you in the USA. My name is Niklas by the way. It was quite funny when Hannah told me that she likes almost everyone in the USA. Charles Manson was one of the first people I had to think of. Hannah thinks you are not able to read what I'm writing. I'm pretty sure you are ☺

I was pretty surprised to get this. It isn't about anything in particular and maybe he didn't really think Hannah would send it! The Charles Manson part surprised me since he's a criminal, but I guess this guy is in law school. Anyway, it was one of the highlights of my day to get a letter from someone in Germany I'll never meet! Thank you, stranger, maybe I'll write you a letter back.

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Cleaning a Fridge

I get to the maintenance office I work in and I hear Glen say, "Megan, Bill was wondering if you'd clean the fridge."

Wow. No. That was my first thought. Anytime I see any of them go into that fridge it just looks scary and dark and that's just not what secretaries do.

But I heard myself say ok. I figured that I spent most of my work hours reading and waiting for Dave to need me make a copy, call a company, or drop something off in the mail room. All tasks that require very little effort and very little time.

I bravely marched to the fridge, smiled to reassure myself, and opened it.

Wow.

To say it was bad would be an understatement. Plastic bags as 'lunchboxes' for the guys, but who knows how long some of them had been in there. Half-drunk bottles of pop and a mysterious-looking brown liquid spilled on every shelf of the door. Tupperware containing food that looked older than my time at Covenant. Some bizarre-looking salad dressing that expired in 2007. A never-touched sandwich that was completely green. A little cup that contained a substance comparable to baby formula except that it'd been in there a while. Sprite two years old. A long-forgotten pasta that stuck to the bowl. One blue bowl smelled up the room so fast just after cracking it open that I stopped fast and threw the whole thing away, not caring that someone was losing a bowl (after all, they have been without it for several months anyway).

Though surrounded by the horrible smells, the gag-worthy mold, and the questionable spills on the door, I realized that God was calling me to praise Him through cleaning that fridge. He gave me that task and I could have either refused to do it or done it with a bad attitude. But I guess He was showing me how we need to do everything for His honor and glory.

And so what could've been one of the worst tasks I've ever had to do at Covenant turned out to be great fun. I had Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men stuck in my head which is, well, it's just an awesome song to have stuck in your head for any occasion because it put me in such a good mood. I laughed every time I found something especially disgusting or I would go scold whichever guy admitted to having left if in the fridge so many months ago. I kept running out to the sink to pour away the half empty Gatorade bottle or the white-looking pasty liquid I found in an applesauce jar. Rachel was so kind and helped me wash each shelf and drawer individually in the sink (rather than just wiping them down). I went in and out of the facilities office several times borrowing more and more clean rags.

But it was fun. It was the highlight of my day. And let me tell you, afterwards that fridge was completely spotless. I could sell it brand new in Sears and no one would tell the difference between the new fridges. And after all the food I took out, I put only two things back in because they were the only two things that had not reached their expiration date.

Doing gross, uncomfortable, unappealing jobs can be made so much better with the knowledge that we are doing them to glorify God.

Thank you, Lord, for that fridge.

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How Great is Our God

Watched this video last night with my hall. It was amazing. It taught me how self-absorbed I am yet how reliant I am on God because He is so powerful, so huge, so in control, and so loving. I won't go into much detail....but the forty minutes it takes to watch this video is definitely worth it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtpTk2ENq7o

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Deleting Facebook

Interesting how some topics can just keep coming up. I keep finding myself talking with several different people, at different times, about Facebook and especially my decision in deleting it a few months ago. So I am going to put down why exactly I deleted it, and why other people should too.

1. Facebook dehumanizes people. I found myself judging people for annoying posts, or weird pictures. I would make assumptions based on their wall posts or what other people had tagged them in. And it goes the other way too. I think some people used Facebook as a tool to get to know me. Are we really being reduced to this?? Seriously people. We are people. Humans. Flesh and bone. Beating heart. Lungs. Voices. Thoughts. Blood. Laughter. Smiles. We are not a popular status. We are not a funny video somebody posts of us. We are not a profile (or a Timeline). We are not defined by how many people 'like' our status or by how many new friends we get in a month.

2. Facebook is not very personal. Call me old fashioned, but I like having conversations with people where I can hear their voice, see their smile, look into their eyes, laugh with them, cry with them, etc. After all, about 93% of communication is nonverbal. But Facebook can't portray the nonverbal things. Facebook is too forced and planned. Instead of just talking and reacting with the flow of the conversation, people can plan their posts or in their conversations, go back and delete words, make themselves 'sound' witty, smart, funny, sensitive whatever. With Facebook, all you get is the words (the very carefully planned words) that you read on a status or a post or a comment and not only do you read it, but many more can too.
Now, I realize that right now I am writing a blog and communicating with people online, which people could argue is similar to Facebook. I have four followers on my blog right now, I don't post statuses about every time I go to the gym or why I'm upset about homework. I write only meaningful things. If you stop and think about it, I don't think Facebook is very meaningful. Not what it's become anyway. Just go and read everyone's status or look at the pictures they post. What is the meaning in it?

3. People say things on Facebook they wouldn't say in real life. A few months ago I had a guy that liked me that decided to friend me on Facebook and start chatting to me. It was kind of awkward, I mean, when people talk to me I can't help but talk back because I try to be nice. But I was like, dude, stop talking to me. Only I didn't say that. He kept chatting with me on Facebook, but the interesting thing is, he never really talked to me whenever I saw him anywhere else on campus. It's like he wasn't brave enough to come talk to me but he could talk to me on Facebook because he wasn't actually talking to my face. Ok. That's gotta stop. (And I made that stop....it was about the same time I deleted my Facebook). But come on, people, why would you ever write something to someone that you wouldn't be able to say to their face? If a guy ever wants to get to know me he can come and talk to me in person. If he's not brave enough then that's fine. I'll never know about it and then someday there'll be someone else who actually will come and talk to me and someday fall in love with me. Not to sound all cheesy, but I don't understand people that try developing relationships over the internet like that.

4. Facebook is a tool for stalking. This is one of those things people think is a good thing. I'll admit, sometimes I do miss having an account so I can go check out the pictures my sister puts up of her daughter or to read the posts my friends in different states (or countries) write. But when Facebook is used for straight up stalking (let's stalk his ex-girlfriend's brother's wife's cousin) that's just creepy!! Who knows who could be stalking you at any given time! And again...that's not the way to get to know them since we can't just reduce people to a page. I think our days could be better spent hiking on a mountain trail, baking cookies, chasing butterflies, jumping off cliffs, playing the piano, or sleeping!! Not stalking people. We're not spies. We don't need to pretend to be.

5. Facebook is taking over everything. It freaks me out how many things there are that ask me to sign up with Facebook or read an article through Facebook or to share a video through Facebook. Why is everything revolving around Facebook??

6. Facebook isn't what it used to be. Facebook was originally a thing for college students to stay in touch and make friends. Why doesn't it kind of disturb anyone that people from ages really young to really old are now using Facebook? My parents have Facebook! Eighty year olds have Facebook! I think it's weird and kind of makes Facebook not as 'cool' anymore. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to be stalked by my friends' parents online.

7. Facebook keeps changing. Ok, this really isn't part of my argument because some people love change (I keep changing my blog design at the beginning of each month) but I just never liked how Facebook completely changed everything for everybody and we all just had to deal with it.

8. Facebook is addicting. I can say this because I had Facebook for almost four years and I just had to check Facebook before I could work on my paper or check my email. And when I was bored or trying to kill time, I would check Facebook. If I went a week where I could not check Facebook, I really missed it and I felt like I was neglecting my friends. Ugh I can't believe my past self. The addiction to Facebook is disturbing. There's better things to do with our time.

9. It's impossible to get rid of Facebook completely. For months after I deactivated my Facebook account, my Pinterest account kept having me follow people that I had been friends with on Facebook. I did not understand how that was happening since I deactivated my account! It turns out I had the 'Connect with Facebook' button checked on my Pinterest, and so it still knew who all my Facebook friends were. Talk about creepy. At some point in the near future I need to actually completely delete my account. And I'm not sure how to do that. I think it's very difficult. I also think it requires that I log on again, which I really don't want to do, but no doubt they require that so they can try to convince you to not delete it. So in the meantime, it's just deactivated (and the Facebook owners can still access all my information which freaks me out). Am I the only one creeped out by this?

10. Facebook messes up our priorities. I think I used to be on Facebook more than I would read the Bible. Um I don't think I have to go into much detail about how much of a problem this is. But I don't think it was just me with the problem. I think it's almost 100% of the people that have Facebook. And not having Facebook has helped me focus more on homework. I log on my computer, spend five minutes checking my emails and then I'm good for several hours and I can do some homework! It's such a relief to not have it. After all, it was very addicting (see #8).

There are ten reasons why I deleted my Facebook and why I think other people should consider it too. I had Facebook for four years so I really do know what it is like and, more importantly, I know what it's like to not have it after such a long time! It's so great and I can honestly say that deleting my Facebook account was one of the best decisions I've made in a long time.

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O-team Week

Applying to be an Orientation leader was one of the best decisions I've made while at Covenant. Got to move in a week and a half before most returning students and even more cool, I got to know a ton of really awesome people!

The freshmen moved in on Friday. It was a blast! Charging to their car, unloading it for them, running to the elevator, dropping their stuff off in their room--all before they even got a room key! Definitely shocked a lot of them! Later on I helped out in the Financial Aid office, which originally I thought would be very boring. But I met some very cool people while they waited in line. I put one dad at ease when he asked me why I loved Covenant. I told him it was because of the people and the community. Saying goodbye to his daughter must have been awful, but I hope I helped make it easier. Got to hear lots of stories of why people came to Covenant. Either they heard of it from a friend or they googled Christian colleges and came across it. How cool!

Friday evening was our first time meeting with the 11 kids that would be in our O-team. My partners were Chris and Anna (they're both awesome) and we were worried our first meeting would be awkward since none of them knew each other. It was anything but awkward! We played the toilet paper game where you take as many pieces of toilet paper as you want, even though you don't know why, and you have to say a fact about yourself for every single one. Good ice-breaker. They all seemed really cool and chill. Dr. Davis stopped by and talked to them for a long time too. I wish my professor had introduced himself to us like that during my freshmen orientation! Right away I could tell that this was going to be a good group.

Saturday night was Shadowlands Showdown! A huge field day where all 23 O-teams compete to become the winner of the Flying Scotsman. My team got so pumped for it! We all wore black and then got a blue handprint on our faces to make us really tough (I wasn't too excited about putting my handprint on everyone's face but oh well). I wasn't so sure about our group of philosophy majors (yes I was with philosophy majors of all things), and it especially didn't help that we lost the very first game! We just had to dribble a soccer ball from one cone to the other and, well, we just didn't do that great. Sigh. That didn't come anywhere close to ruining our night, though, as we won the next three games we had to participate in! And by won, I mean won by a lot. Everytime. Could not lose. That type of winning. Won by so much in one game that I thought maybe we had done something wrong. But none of those games really counted because then we had the Flying Scotsman relay!! We tied in the fourth heat and were freaking out!! We were jumping up and down and screaming more than anyone else that we had made it to the final round! Maybe my little group of philosophy majors had a chance! For the first few events in the relay we were behind by maybe one or two spots. Very nerve-wracking. It literally came down to the last event. The six-person pyramid with every member singing "All for Jesus" as fast as possible! We had been practicing the words all night and sang it at lightning speed and we won by approximately one second!! What?? That's right! We WON!! We were all jumping around screaming like crazy! I was so pumped! We got our picture taken while all the 22 other teams walked sadly back to campus. We won!! I told almost every single person that night. What a great O-team bonding experience ☺

Matt, Malcolm, Nathan, me, Chris, Hunter, Kevin,
Sam, James, Ben, Sydney, Lauren, Anna, Spooky. 

Sunday afternoon was when all the O-teams went to eat at a professor or alumni's house. As Dr. Davis's wife was sick, he decided to take us to Mr. T's for pizza instead. Rather than going straight there, though, he took us to Sunset Rock--one of the most beautiful places on the mountain where you can see everything for miles and miles off the mountain. It is so beautiful. We all sat and talked for about half an hour just soaking in the beautiful view--what better way to get ready for some pizza? 

Ah, here it is. So beautiful.

Hunter and Malcolm wanted to freak us out. It really worked!
I had to walk away and not watch them!

Monday was a long, exhausting day! We had the Mills Maze where we had to direct all the freshman through Mills to do all their financial aid and paperwork and stuff. I kept reminding all of them that passed me to smile. ☺ Monday night we had our Chattanooga night! After our rendezvous in Ashe gym, we loaded up on school buses and left for Coolidge Park where all the O-teams dispersed to various restaurants. Ours had the very good fortune of going to Taziki's, a Greek restaurant with delicious gyros and fresh fruit! I had never been there before and it was awesome! I think our O-team really loved it too! We showed them around Chattanooga a bit by the river and we took a group picture (maybe I'll add it later but I don't have it). Malcolm even jumped into the river and then we saw the no swimming sign! Oops. Next we loaded up the buses and drove up the mountain to Rock City! And we didn't have to pay! It was so beautiful. The view from there, being able to see seven different states, is incredible. After the busyness of it all....I slept great Monday night. 

Tuesday was the day returning students came back! Yay! The campus was finally full. As it should be. Tuesday night was the O-show which is a favorite of returning students. I was really nervous to be in a skit in front of the whole school! But I was just a mom bring my kid to college and so then I was done. Skits are hard to describe so I won't even try. But ours was awesome. Top three for sure. 

And thus concludes the O-team week.

What an experience. The week was so busy and every hour of our time was spent just in preparation for the freshmen. It's really cool doing everything just for them.  And they have no idea. Last year I had no idea how much work was put into our arrival. It's amazing. And the kids on my O-team...well...I love them!! They're all so great and I already miss hanging out with them every day! I want to reunite and hang out because they're all so great and I want to be friends with them all! What an experience to be so self-less and give up all my time helping them adjust, meeting them for lunch, competing in ridiculous field day games, reminding them of placement exams, high-fiving them just because I'm walking past them, and trying to remember where every single one of them was from. 

So thankful to God for giving me this opportunity and letting me meet these really cool people.

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All Settled In

It's so good to be back at school!! 

Here is our room...it's pretty cozy☺

And (drum roll please) here is my doily lamp all lit up and hanging above our beds! 

Well, there you have it! My room is really a cozy place 

and anyone is welcome to come hang out in it ☺

So excited to spend a lot of time in my room!

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