Last day...

Well,
I made it through. I have one final left and I am trying to breathe a little easier. Life for the day will be great once I make it past 1:30. I am actually going home today for 3 weeks. I will get to see family, some friends and not do any homework... I think I will actually be bored. ;)

I wanted to just wrap a few things up with all of you for this semester, I wanted to thank you for being a consistent reader as I tried to give you a little bit of a picture of Bluffton. I will be doing this next semester, so be excited to hear about internships, busy weeks, decision making, and probably a lot of tears due to it being the last semester at Bluffton.

I hope that all of you have a grand Holiday season and that you stay warm and eat a lot of Christmas cookies.

Sending lots of love to you during this season...

Blessings of Peace,
Anna

pictures....

AHHHHH....

This is crazy. I can't believe that finals are already here and I only have 2 left. I am stressed to the limit and I don't like it. Oh finals week.

I have been getting through it with the help of my best friends. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't have someone to go to and vent, I wouldn't have someone to go to and complain, I wouldn't have someone to go to and hide in their room.

Tonight we are going to a finals breakfast to celebrate our all nights of studying... We are supposed to be dressing up for a costume contest tonight. Want to know a secret, we are going to be dressing up as the 7 swans a swimming from the 12 days of Christmas. :) What fun it will be. :)

I can't wait until we are finished! I can't wait until I can sit at home with a cup of tea, under a blanket and wait for my grades to come in while celebrating the holidays with my family.

I hope you have a grand week!!

Blessings of Peace,
Anna

Last day of classes... and more.

We've finally made it. Today is our last day of classes on campus and then we have final week. Crazy to think that this semester is already over, but it is also exciting to think that next semester will bring new opportunities. This morning I worked at the Marbeck desk and my boss, Dan, came up talking about the upcoming finals breakfast that Student Life usually puts on for students during finals. The best part is that the breakfast is at 10pm. :) It is filled with music, food, activities an this year there is a costume contest. Obviously my friends and I are still in the process of figuring out our costumes. :)

This weekend Stephanie, one of our friends that has been student teaching this semester, has tickets to her school's Christmas musical... White Christmas. This is by far my favorite Christmas musical and movie ever!! I am so excited to spend the evening with friends and musicals.

The annual care package from our parents came in the mail today. The FCSA department puts them together from our parents that send money. It is filled with goodies and keeps up pretty content during finals week.

I am ready to take on my books this weekend for some studying.....

can't wait to update you on next week!

Blessings of Peace,
Anna

What is different?

Well,
Thinking about the past 3.5 years it is a bit hard to not smile. I have had so many incredible memories in this wonderful school that my heart could just burst. I've met my closest friends, traveled the world, lived in Northern Ireland, lives with 14 of my closest friends, rearranged my room about 8 times, have a pet fish, watched a lot of movies, cried in the arms of my best friends because of finals, papers, stressful events, etc., fallen off my loft, decorated for the holidays, planned some sweet events on campus, and witness this campus make incredible strides. There are so may things about this school that I love, but also so many things that scare me. Admitting that I will only be here for one more semester, admitting that I have NO clue where I will be next year at this time, admitting that I don't have all the answers. I am going into my last finals week. Next semester I will be out in Lima at an internship that will require me to do a number of hours of work each week but also give me experience in the field. In the FIELD. I can't even believe that my senior year is finally here. I remember freshman year thinking that my internship is miles away. Miles away, but here it is.

Christmas break is coming fast, and finals are beginning to get me in a panic. No worries, I will have plenty of time to study for everything, or at least I hope.

I am going to post a few pictures from last year, this semester, and really... from everything..

Enjoy.

I hope you stay warm during this crazy weather.
Blessings of Peace,
Anna

The first snow....

Well,
It has come. The first official snow, the first time I wore my red winter coat, the first time I prayed that I wouldn't slip and fall on the ice on campus. That must mean its winter. It is so fun to watch students reaction on campus to the snow... you have the people that are thrilled to see the snow, and onces that refuse to accept that it is cold out and grumble. I love this time of year at Bluffton because the town has the annual Blaze of Lights. Houses are decorated all over and Christmas Lights are all over. Students can jump into their cars and drive around to the houses and take a peek at the Christmas lights.
On campus we have multiple buildings that have Christmas trees all over. It makes me smile every time I see one. I love Christmas time and everything that comes with it, but before I get to that great week of activities and home, I have to make it through finals. It seems like this year I have more things to juggle and do before finals come. Papers and grades are needing to be turned in and then finals come. I will talk more next week about finals, because it is actually one of my favorite times of the year. (Not finals in general, but the week full of just 5 tests to take.)

I hope that you are all staying warm during this winter season and that you have very happy day today. Enjoy the snow and Christmas feel.

Blessings of Peace,
Anna

Roommate...really??

Things that I say a lot to my roommate...
"Roommate, really??"
"Smash, come help me clean."
"Can I use your computer?"
"Don't go home this weekend."
"Love you."
"Did you get your homework done?"
"What time are we going to eat?"
"Do you need me to pick anything up from the store?"
"Did you feed Benny (our fish)?"
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Things that I never thought I would be able to say to the random stranger that I was about to meet 4 years ago....
"Roommate, really??"
"Smash, come help me clean."
"Can I use your computer?"
"Don't go home this weekend."
"Love you."
"Did you get your homework done?"
"What time are we going to eat?"
"Do you need me to pick anything up from the store?"
"Did you feed Benny (our fish)?"
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I came into Bluffton my Freshman year as one big ball of nerves. The one thing that I was worried about the most was that the girl I was going to room with and I wouldn't get along. My sisters have had great roommates all the years they were in college and I was worried that I would be different. What a crazy thing to think about looking back. That first day of moving into Bluffton I met one of my best friends. Ashley and I have roomed together for 3 years and have been close friends for 4 years. There was only one year when we didn't room together and part of that was because I wasn't going to be here for a semester and she didn't want to have a single. It is fun to look back and laugh about what Ash and I have experienced within the past 4 years and I am so excited to see where she will go after leaving Bluffton. Next semester both of us will be student teaching/internship so we will be experiencing things away from the campus and I am very excited to talk to her about it!

I hope you all have a great weekend,
Blessings of Peace,
Anna

remembering things...

It is strange for me to think back 1 year from today. I was in Northern Ireland packing my suitcase for my final adventure in Europe. I've missed those adventures alot the past few days. It could be because the students that are over there now are actually flying home as we speak. That just means that the semester is actually coming to an end and its a bit scary. There are so many times throughout the semester when I have thought back to years past and wished I was in that place again. Maybe it is because life seemed easier then, or because I know how things actually turned out but being a Senior going into my last semester scares me. Just the other day my best friends and I woke up early to eat breakfast in Findlay at the Cracker Barrel (I work there and get a discount). Due to our busy schedules we had to get up extra early just to find time to spend together. As we were sitting in an almost empty resturant the question of "what was your favorite year" came up. We all sat there with a look of, "oh crap was has been our favorite year." It was so interesting to sit and listen because we all had our favorites for very different reasons. I truly love that about my 3 friends. We are so similar in many ways, but completely different.

Many people have been talking about how next semester will be here very soon and that I should prepare myself for graduation. There are alot of fears going through my system right now and the biggest one is what in the world am I going to do. There are many days when I don't feel prepared to be any place but back at Bluffton, but I guess that is how many people might feel.... I hope so at least.






I love this school and the opportunites that I have been given and the friendships that I've made but I never would have believed that I would be afraid to leave it. Hopefully those emotions figure themselves out by this time spring semester.... ;)

Stay warm today,
Blessings of Peace,
Anna