December 20, 2008

What a whirlwind week this has been! I finished all of my exams and final papers on Wednesday. I turned in my medieval literature paper on Friday; I took my Dante exam on Monday; turned in my Jesus and Friends final on Tuesday (long story about that one), and turned in my medieval philosophy paper on Wednesday. It was a lot of work to accomplish in such a short span of time, but it all was finished, thanks to copious amounts of tea. My Jesus and His Contemporaries final was supposed to be a typical timed final; however, the huge ice storm that walloped Worcester forced Professor Murphy out of his house. So, he wasn’t exactly able to get to campus. So, we had a take-home final instead, and we just e-mailed it to him. Ah, you have got to love the Worcester weather!

I spent most of Thursday working in Kimball; I tried to see if I could last the entire day in Kimball, but the other captains forced me to go back to my room. I did have to pack, anyway! Luckily, I was able to get out of Boston on Friday. My dad was in Boston, so he picked me up. Our flight was originally at 3:40, but Delta canceled it the night before. We were rescheduled to the 4:40 flight. Well, the huge snowstorm was supposed to hit Boston around 4:00. My dad and I tried to get on earlier flights to Atlanta, but we had no luck. So, we hoped and prayed that the 4:40 flight would make it. I’m not sure how, but we did. The snow was billowing; it was coming down sideways at one point. We finally took off at 6:15, and I landed in the beautiful 65 degree and sunny climate of Georgia at 9:00. However, it’s not supposed to be this nice for much longer. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the teens, and it’s going to continue to drop further in the week. It’s like I never left Holy Cross!

While I was waiting in the airport for a good eight hours, I had a chance to reflect about this past semester. I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ve been pushed to such a limit before in my life. On the other hand, I wouldn’t change anything about this semester. Freshman year was a crash course in learning how to live by myself, adjust to college classes, and begin to realize what I’m meant to do in this world. A perquisite of sophomore year is having a grasp on all of that. You just dive in to everything about sophomore year. If freshman year was a springboard year, then sophomore year has been a formation year. Sure, there were fights with friends, long nights in the libraries, talks with chaplains and Jesuits, dusty books to be read, and days that were pulled from Canto XXIV of Inferno, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. This entire semester has shown me that college isn’t just about learning; it’s about forming the self. I can’t imagine forming myself, both intellectually and spiritually, at any other institution than Holy Cross, as “tour-guide” as that sounds. It’s really quite true. I’ve talked to my friends from home about our various experiences, and, while they’re all loving their own college experiences, I just know that I wouldn’t be having the same experience anywhere else. This semester has really sealed that. Between the fantastic professors that I had this semester, the wealth of knowledge that I learned in my amazing classes, and everything else that happened this semester, I’ve just realized even more that Holy Cross truly is the place for me. 

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