It’s All Happening

So I’m a little swamped this week.  Here are just a few of the major things going on in my life at the moment—all good things—but time consuming nonetheless…

1.      I got into Alum Service Corps!  This one isn’t really a time consuming one…all I had to do this week was sign the memorandum of understanding to confirm that I am in the program, but it is still a piece of exciting news.  I will be teaching at Regis Jesuit High School – Girl’s Division in Denver next year for one year.  I’ll live in community with 3 other ASCs who will also be teaching at Regis.  It is technically a volunteering program, so I will just get a stipend and not a paycheck, but it is a chance to do something I think I am really going to enjoy in a cool city, plus another chance to grow a little in Jesuit spirituality (I think my grandpa would say I’ve been “ruined” by the Jesuits because I’m hooked on them, but I think he would also agree that it’s not a terrible kind of ruined to be).  My training starts in mid-July, and I have to say that knowing what I’m doing for at least a year after I graduate does take the edge off of a lot of the senior year stress.

 

2.      Thesis.  It’s like a noose tightening around my neck daily.  Or like a guillotine hanging above my head.  My metaphor of choice changes more frequently than I actually do work on the project, which involves researching the parallels between Franz Kafka and Gnosticism and will count as an interdisciplinary Honors thesis for both English and theology (yes, it is as exhausting as it sounds).  So far I’m at about 10 pages and my first draft is due end of March.  I’d like to go back and guillotine January Allison for picking that early due date. 

3.      Dedication Days.  The days leading up to Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority initiation are called Dedication Days, and we have a ritual and activity four days of the week, plus we dress up and incorporate certain colors into our outfits.  Sounds a little like Mean Girls, but I can promise it’s not (I was on the fence about Greek life to begin with before I came to Rockhurst, and I can guarantee I wouldn’t have gone anywhere near any organization that “only wears pink on Wednesdays”).  It’s a lot of fun…we have Zumba one night to go with our physical aim and a “Date Dash” in which we have a half hour to dress up according to a theme announced that night.  Even though I am cringing at how much I actually have to do this week, I know I will enjoy my last round of Dedication Days.

 

My ASA family: Colleen, Helen, and our soon-to-be initiated newest member, Claire

There aren’t enough words in a blog post to adequately describe all of the other art show preparations, business blogging, test studying, Rockhurst Review-ing and other day-to-day activities that are going on this week. 

But it’s exhilarating. I’m on the home stretch of Rockhurst, and everything I have worked for this semester—and a lot of what I have been building up for the past four years—is now crescendoing in an action-packed final few months.  It’s all happening…