School Daze

My friend Mandy grew up in the town where I now attend college. I told her this evening that I cannot wait to go back, and she most definitely laughed at that. It is strange that I have fallen in love with a tiny town just fifty minutes away from my home, but it is true. There isn't much to the actual town really, but it's the campus that makes me long to be back there as soon as possible! It's going to be so strange going back knowing that this will be my last year there, but I'm hoping it will make me make the most of opportunities and not dwell on the sadness of another phase of my life coming to a transition. As the Newsies so wonderfully inspired me as a child, I will remember to seize the day.

Shower time!

Another bridal shower!

Me and my future sister-in-law, Melissa


This one was quite a bit different from the last one, but it was definitely fun! First, this was my future sister-in-law's shower, so when we got there I got to be introduced to each table as the groom's sister, which was just fine. I met most of the bridesmaids, and they are all lovely girls with a wide range of personalities. It was really good to meet them and get to know them a little bit.

My traveling buddies: Sheri, Mom, Myra and Betsy


The shower was in Chicago, so that meant that for the 1pm shower we left Fort Wayne around 9:30am. The ride wasn't too bad, but the accelerating and stopping for so many stoplights was getting to my stomach before too long. We stopped for lunch which turned out to be entirely unnecessary because they fed us some amazing stuff at the winery. The ride back was a little better, but I took some Dramamine just for good measure.

Kyle stopped by the shower to help open gifts and load up the gifts, and I got the task of taking pictures with his camera. I hope that some of the pictures came out, because most of the pictures were turning out blurry. I took a lot, so I'm thinking there will be some that will be okay.

The fam at the shower: me, Kyle (my bro), Melissa and Mom


So that's two showers down, one to go for the rest of this calendar year. I'm hoping I won't pull camera duty at Jenny's. I'll be getting to know her bridesmaids too, since I think I only know a few of them. 'Tis the year of weddings!

The Politics of Education

Quick question: Why is there so much political process involved in the institutions of higher education?

I'm getting sick of it. That's all.

Name Change

I've been home for a full month now, so I decided it was time to change the name of the blog. Since I am no longer on the "across the pond" I figured it would be a little misleading considering almost all of my readers are from the USA. So now it's "Beyond the Pond" and I'm beginning to discover what that is going to mean for me.

So far beyond the pond hasn't been too horribly challenging. I've been able to spend some quality time with close friends, sort out some of my academic frustrations, AND I finally sang at church with one of the praise bands again. It's been over six months since I had sung with any organized group, but somehow singing at church isn't quite the same as singing at MC. I've missed choir so much, so I'm really hoping that it will feel like I haven't missed out on too much.

I'm still nervous about adjusting to campus, but there's definitely some exciting things to be looking forward to by the middle of August. There's RA training, everyone moving back to campus and off-campus housing, and of course, the real football season! No, I'm not talking about MCs quarterbacks and runningmen. I'm talking about the men that make awesome tackles and have impressive footwork. My time in England just increased my love for soccer, and I can't wait to go to the home games this season!

Just for old time's sake, a pic of me at Wembley stadium at the USA/England football friendly!