Midweek Musings

It's Wednesday! And it's time for me to fill inquiring minds in on the exhaustive details of my life at college.

I have been enjoying the luxury of staying home during the day except when I have class this week now that we have Internet. For meals we have been eating leftover tacos and chicken deluxe all week from the weekend. It also appears that I have completely depleted my stock of groceries and will be needing to make a run to the store before eating tomorrow.

The weather has been a lot warmer this week than before, though it was raining today to add a little chill to the air. The leaves and trees have been absolutely beautiful on campus with the onset of fall. I'm not ready for winter, but fall is great!

As for my classes, they continue to go well, though they are picking up the pace a bit. I have a law exam tomorrow, but after that I haven't a single exam for two whole weeks! (And midterm week is over, which means I have made it halfway through my first semester at college!)

Living on one's own is full of little learning experiences, including plumbing skills. Tuesday morning my toilet wouldn't stop running. (It flushed but then just continuously was running water.) I didn't pay much attention to it at first, but when I had finished getting ready and it was still running, I started to become concerned. I stared at the running water awhile to intimidate it with my gaze, then I (yes, me) lifted the lid and my eyes beheld the inside of a toilet for the first time. After much intent observation and trial and error, I finally was able to make a quick fix to the misplaced chain to make it stop running and fill up. It may seem silly, but I was pretty happy about acquiring the new skill and learning the mechanics of a common household utility! :)

Before I go, I have some photos to share from the past two months.

Billy's 17th birthday! (That's the official birthday hat of the Massner family, for those who aren't aware.) 

First Day of School! (Minus Billy, who was already off to class at SCC.) 

Dad driving the ambulance at T&C Days parade.

Justin playing the sousaphone at the parade.

Billy flipping pizzas, Travis holding the microphone, Me (not pictured) walking alongside of the Olde World Pizza float. 

Jesse's 7th Birthday!

Justin's 13th Birthday!

Hope you all have a good remainder of the week! :)

ReWired

After a two-month extension of absence from a home Internet connection at my second home, I wish to inform anyone who was concerned about me that I am back. Two months is a long time for a college student, you see.

Of course, by not having the Internet, I developed some fantastic time management habits. No time wasted online at home. Very little time was wasted online at school, as I needed to be as efficient as possible before going home. I learned to balance my work and plan ahead. But now, everything I had built up for myself seems to be crashing down on me, and it's only been six hours. What am I going to do??

I know what I am to do. I will set myself a goal. Here it is:

I shall use my time for doing good and being productive. 

With that said, it is time for me to productively finish packing for the weekend and get a good night's sleep. Happy Friday!

In the Words of a College Student

No, you aren't just seeing things...if you are reading these words (truly you are), then I just posted for the first time since school started! You see, the problem isn't that I haven't had time, or even that I fell off the face of the earth. Well, maybe those are both sort of contributors, but basically I just am only getting on the Internet at school because the electrician at our apartment hasn't hooked us up yet. But it is working out fine...I just haven't had any free time to sit here and fill everybody in on the comprehensive details of my life at college.

Why do I post now, you may ask? I understand this is extremely blunt, but I quite simply am tired of this long day on campus...I've been here for nearly eight hours now and I am becoming easily distracted. So, I thought...why not do a blog post?

Reason number two: I have heard tell of people who have been visiting this blog and finding it disappointingly lifeless.

Now that I have spend three entire paragraphs talking about this post, I will move on to something more noteworthy...if I can think of anything.

Basically, my classes are all going well. I am enjoying them and they aren't very difficult (though I say that with hesitancy and tentative declaration). All but one of my classes (Spanish) are in the Pappajohn Business Building, so I pretty much hang out here all day. It is a really nice building and makes the University seem a little smaller if I don't have to venture far.

Life at the apartment is going smoothly, apart from the rough patches of our disconnection from the Internet, my lack of cooking expertise, and a few car incidents that I won't explain in full detail. My roommate is wonderful and very patient with me!

I have made it home every weekend except during On Iowa, although I may not be home this weekend. Aside from week one, I have not felt homesick except for the hour I spend on the road ever Sunday night on my way back to North Liberty. That is normally the most difficult hour of my week.

For those who know my past encounters with school, it may be surprising to find that I had been keeping cool and had not truly felt stressed out until Tuesday of this week. Tuesday afternoon I officially was stressed and felt like it couldn't be done. However, after school yesterday (Wednesday) I was able to overcome my mind and I have been keeping productive, positive, happy, and calm.

I apologize for writing a book, but I just need something to give people to read as they await my next post, which will be coming after an indefinite period of time.

Apology Number Two: I also regret that I have not discussed my family's life, but I hope I can be excused from such since I am only with them for two of seven days each week. I will, however, say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JESSE (7) and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MOM (45)!!! Both of them celebrated their birthdays this week, and Justin will be 13 (TEENAGER) on Monday. So, since I probably won't get the chance later, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JUSTIN!!! Perhaps Jonathan can get on here and give updates on the rest of the happenings around there.

I just substantially increased the amount of text in this post, but there is one more thing I'd like to share before I go. I have had the same CD playing in my car for four of the six weeks of school, and there is one song in particular that brought me comfort through the major adjustments being away from home during the first few weeks of school, and serves as a reminder to me still:

I have a Heavenly Father sung by the Esh family

"Sometimes burdens too heavy to carry send me down to my knees,

In the Lord's presence, I will then tarry waiting for victory.

As I look upward into His glory, troubles all fade from view

When a sweet voice says, "Child, rejoice! I'm watching over you.

"I have a heavenly father watching over me each day:

I have a heavenly father watching every step I take;

I will not tremble in the dark shadows when I can't see my way,

For I have a heavenly father watching over me!

"Traveling over the hills and mountains I am led by His hand

When I am thirsty, He is my fountain in the dry desert sand

Crossing the troubled waters, He's with me, walking on every wave.

He's loving so much it's easy to trust with simple childlike faith."

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, and hope to write again soon!

On Iowa!

Hello from Hawkeye Country!

I made it up here to my apartment in North Liberty Thursday and moved myself in! Now I'm ready to be a Hawkeye, I suppose. Thursday was spent getting situated, and then Friday was the beginning of "On Iowa" for me. First, I met with other off-campus students for lunch and an info session, and then there was a Tippie College of Business open house. Following this, we met with small groups and learned more, sat in a lecture hall and learned more, ate supper in the IMU, and then went to Kinnick Stadium for our Class of 2016 picture and a kickoff. There was a program for us, and we got to hear the marching band play.

Do you see me there? I'm at the top of the I, towards the middle-left. The one in the yellow shirt...

Today I didn't have to be at campus until 1:30, but it took me a full two hours to find my way. You see, my usual parking lot doesn't have bus service on weekends. After waiting there for 10 minutes with no luck, I drove for the Hancher lot without knowing where I was going (bad idea!!). Finally, I pulled off, looked at a map and found Hancher, drove there, waited 20 minutes for the bus to come, and finally got in to campus. I had similar difficulties getting out later on. Didn't think to look at a map and it took me a detour or two to get back to 218. But at least it gave me something to do!

As for the actual continuation of On Iowa, we met again in our small groups and did some other activities, and then went to an activities fair at Hubbard Park where we looked at different student organizations, etc. I met a girl from China in my small group yesterday so we spent the afternoon together until we left in time for supper. It is neat to have so much diversity on campus and to meet so many different people!

I finally made it home in time to make supper-the most real meal I've eaten in my apartment-and then was looking for something to do when I found an unsecured internet connection here. So, of course I had to get connected again! :) And that leads me to the present! Hopefully all will go well here at Iowa this year! Thank you all for your prayers and support.

SOME SIDENOTES

Speaking of being a Hawkeye, I spent some time this afternoon talking with a Chinese acquaintance of my Chinese friend. She was confused about why everything said "Hawks" and "Hawkeyes" so I tried to explain that it was our mascot and that Hawks is short for Hawkeyes...she seemed to be pretty confused! She said her roommate had emailed her and at the bottom she always wrote "Go Hawks", but she didn't know what it meant. 

Earlier on, I was talking to the first Chinese girl I met, who I will now name Lu for comprehension purposes. She was confused about the word "like" and what it meant when people said it in the middle of their sentences and how to use it in a sentence. Ok, Americans...answer me that one! I tried for a while to explain it, but I couldn't help her...

It's really interesting to meet people from different languages and cultures and we can really learn a lot! :)

My Future Home :)

Today when I got done working I found out we were going up to visit my new apartment for the first time in North Liberty! I will be living with a friend who works up there. We brought up my desk and a dresser (that we ended up bringing home) so the boys could help with the lifting and also see the place. Every step of getting ready for college seems to make me look forward to it more and helps the nerves settle! Here are a few pictures my mom took of the place while we were moving things in.

The outside...not much to see! It is in a seemingly peaceful neighborhood!

Dad is setting up the desk in my bedroom...you can't see much here but there really isn't much to see yet since nothing else is here.

Fireplace :)

Billy exploring my empty bathroom. It's very spacious!

The living room.

 The kitchen-lots of cupboards and storage space here! There is also a washer and dryer in the apartment.