#04 In The Beginning

August 29, 2012:

So I'm quickly realizing that posting every day is going to be almost impossible....

Remember that college trifecta that I was talking about? Here it is.

Here's how it works.

You can't have more than two things connect at one time. And currently I'm not getting practically any of the sleep corner. This will change.

I guess that's a pretty big part of college anyways. Learning to balance and adjust to everything WITHOUT being told what to do. Great.

Yesterday was every one's first day of classes!Wooooo! Congratulations everyone. It's wasn't worth all of the stress. And if I don't say this enough, I love me school! After all of the classes and assignments and dorm meetings we all got to experience our first "Movie in the Greek" as freshman at Loma.

IT WAS AVENGERS! Such an awesome movie and great for comedic references. (Eat the Shawarma!)

Don't get me wrong though, a lot of people couldn't go because WE ALREADY FREAKING HAVE HOMEWORK!!! Way to strive for academic excellence guys ;)

We also had our first Chapel time. Which wasn't very long at all....and they gave us free doughnuts. FREE FRESHMAN 15! Yeah, no.

All in all it was a great first day, and I can only hope that it sets the tone for the rest of this year!

-Emily

#MyLife@Loma

(Kind of like Shawarma! ;) )

(Insta photo creds to my friends Brittany C. and Kelly B. :D )

#03 Reunited

August 27, 2012:

Today was officially the last day of our Summer break.

It was also the most free time that we've had the past 3 days.

The only thing required was for each freshman to take a survey in the morning. And if you were one of the lucky few, like myself, you sat out in the sun and pretty much re-took your SAT. Not really, but I sure did fill in a lot of those stupid bubble answers. The funny thing is, take a group of kids, bribe them with free food, and bake them outside together and you have a great recipe for random friendships. I guess those who complain together feel a common bond of some sort. I see there what you did there Point Loma...

After that, we were all pretty much on our own. I spent my day doing random stuff around campus, going to a meeting for student-athletes,visiting a friend whose an RD on campus, taking my XC team photo, and getting loaded with free food at "Roary's Reunion", a welcome back event for all of Loma's students.

I feel like I'll be loading up on a lot of free food this week. No complaining here!

That was pretty much the day. Tomorrow is THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS! (Kinda my first one ever. Oh crud.) So I should probably finish printing out my syllabuses, getting my books together, and go watch a movie with some friends in their dorm room. Yeah, I have priorities. I guess I'm really going to have to work on that "college trifecta. (I'll give a detailed description of that later!)

Well good luck everyone!

-Emily
#MyLife@Loma

#02 This Is Home

August 26, 2012:

The final day of NSO.

Today is the final day of NSO as we know it. Let me say that I feel so blessed to be a part of a school that has such amazing, and well thought out traditions. Today we freshman participated in a pretty big one. The "sand ceremony".

So a little description about this not so conventional tradition.

Every student gets a handful of sand and drops it into this big aquarium resulting in this pretty cool layered effect. Then that aquarium gets put on display in the caf until four years from now, when we will graduate, and take a vial of that same sand with us while we head on to the next chapter in our life.

Pretty sweet huh?

With speeches from our ASB president (we have been seeing alot of him lately no?), Spiritual Life director, pastors, and others, we were told some pretty profound things.

Here are a few:
-"No matter what you are doing, whether it be a burrito run, target run, or a trip to the Caf, take people with you. Just go trough the halls and collect them. "

-" Each class sets the attitude for the the entire class. If everyone is friendly, serious, or fun it will show to all of the professors and adults who come in contact with you."

-" I don't know when the trasition will happen for all of you, but I can rememeber when I first started referring to Loma as 'my home'. I couldn't wait to get back."

In addition to an amazing sand ceremony, everyone got their first taste of the campus church service. Which, in my opinion, was amazing. The various forms of worship, great message, and great atmosphere made me feel very welcome.

All in all it's been a pretty relaxed day full of final goodbyes, campus deiscoveries, and promises of a great next four years.

I guess all there is left to say is,
Welcome home everyone!

#MyLife@Loma

#01 Freshman Frenzy

First off,
This isn't Point Loma official. This is just a random blog, written by a random girl, living her dream at Point Loma Nazarene University. Enjoy!

August 24, 25 2012:

See that date up there? For over 500 (definitely a horrible guesstimate) incoming freshman, this date is HUGE. We've planned and prepared for this weekend for a long time.

I've been here for a week already.

Let me explain. I'm on the PLNU cross country team and we've been here since last Friday for training camp. Let me also point out that I've never run for a team before. Ever. And I've been home schooled for the past 12 years of my education. Two firsts in the beginning of this new "life chapter". Here goes nothing right?

Training camp has actually turned out to be fun! Ten new freshman girls (woohoo!). Let me tell you, that made for a pretty awkward first 2 days. But now? These are some of the coolest girls that I could be stuck on a team with. Actually, I'm totally in love with the entire team! But us "fresh meat" runners have had fun getting to know each other in some of the most random ways, connecting on weird levels, and getting spoiled with our first actual training rooms! (hello whirlpool ice baths!) Our coach is pretty awesome too. He's not the youngest coach in the bunch, but hey, it keeps things interesting.

Back to NSO, New Student Orientation for those of you who didn't know.

I was woken up pretty early by screams from all of the student workers who were welcoming each and EVERY one of the cars coming into the parking lots. Great. Maybe I shouldn't have stayed out late the night before. Oh well.

I was greeted by my upper class men neighbors with "this is going to be like Christmas for you!" And yes, they were very right.

Since I already moved in, my NSO move-in experience was a tad different than most's.

I spent those first few hours meeting up with friends, checking out their various rooms, connecting with people, going through what I like to call "the super friendly wind tunnel of check-in." Introducing myself, where I'm from, and my major became second nature in that crazy 10 mins that it took to get from one end of the Caf to the other side. But hey, it's how you should register a bagillion freshman in a short few hours.

I think I walked from one end of campus to the other a solid 8 or so times. Speed walking is something I will have to capitalize on here at Loma. 

I also got to joke around with the various sports teams that were helping everyone move their stuff, practicing saying hi to everyone(I'll need it if I ever became a student worker), and I even got to go on a recycling run in a cool little blue recycle truck with one of the guys from the campus recycling/SustainPLNU crew, who just HAPPENS to be a close friend of mine. It was pretty awesome.

Then after all of that came the actual frenzy of all of the things that were on the schedule for that day. Greetings from university staff, meeting your professors, and no one can forget the good old Get Acquainted Party. Or GAP. Or as all of the freshman now know it as the Get AWKWARD Party/speed dating. Going through that spirit tunnel and cheering like crazy with my friends on the bleachers was definitely an experience that I'll never forget. It was like Homecoming. But just for us freshies.

And even after all of THAT we still had our first "time out" with worship music and got to know our hall mates a little bit better at the "Know Your Neighbor" hall meeting. I for one am blessed with an AWESOME hall and RA. This year is going to be so much fun. Seriously.

You would think after all of that I would be completely wiped. Which I was. So I walked around campus until 1 the next morning. I don't recommend doing that, just so you know.

Then this morning was a little easier. Because the parents were finally getting the hang of things, the dorm rooms were getting a little cozier, and we freshman were finally exhausted. The morning was pretty much spent in the chapel getting loaded with even MORE information, and the afternoon has been nothing but club/group sign ups.(I may have signed up for a bit too much stuff...) Oh and FREE STUFF. A lot of free stuff. 

Looking at my schedule now, I realize that I should be at dinner. Oops! I'm sure I'll get the hang of balancing everything out sooner or later! And the night is still young, there's still some NSO to get done. So I'll end this for now. 

I just want to say thank you to ALL of the student workers, university staff, and all of you wicked cool freshman for giving me something to write about. This is going to be a great year! And I hope it never gets too crazy that I can't keep this little blog up ;)

Ta ta for now everyone!
-Em

#mylife@loma