Fall Break

So fall break started today. This is something that is completely foreign to me. This is the first school that I went to that had a fall break. But we have the next four days off. So I will be able to get a lot of work done. A lot of people are going home for the weekend. But I couldn't see going home for a weekend, especially since it wasn't a holiday. Besides, my car still needs to get fixed. Hopefully it will be fixed by the time Thanksgiving break comes. New Jersey is a little too far to walk from Steubenville. In other news...

More midterms stuff: I got my Intro to Catechetics midterm back, and I got a B-. I was quite surprised. After my PBS and Foundations midterms, I was expecting another bad midterm. So I was happy.

French class: We've been studying about ordering in restaurants. We had to come up with a dialog like the ones used in the textbook. We were grouped in groups of 3 or 4, and had to have at least 10 lines. Everything was in French, and had to be memorized. So I had to memorize lines such as "Bienvenu. Moi aussi. Je suis l'autre serveuse." and "Nous n'avons pas de carrots." I had a hard time remembering the line"Qu'est-ce que vous desirez comme viande?". But I managed alright, along with the rest of the class. If you're wondering about my lines, I am one of the servers along with another guy. The plot of the story is that everything that the two girls order in the restaurant is something that the restaurant doesn't have. For example, the restaurant doesn't have carrots and peas, but has green vegetables; and they have lemon cake rather than chocolate cake. The restaurant also doesn't have cheese. Needless to say, the skit got a good laugh.

Registration for spring 2010: I get to register for the spring semester on Monday. I am planning on taking a more manageable 12 credits. I'm planning to take Christian Moral Principles, PBS II (with Bergsma again), Catechetics, and Intermediate French II. I won't have morning classes, especially 8am classes. During the spring semester, I always plan to have later classes in the event of snow early in the morning. Of course, driving to school for 6:30am mass on Tuesdays shouldn't be that much of a problem since there aren't many cars on the road at that time. And since I get to register on the first day (and they're sophomore level classes), I should get into all of them. I showed my possible schedule to my adviser, Prof Bolster, and he said that it looked good. Oh, and one more thing: I've decided that I'm not going to go to Austria. I just feel that I'm not meant to go. Plus I can't afford it. I'm alright about not going. I mean, my life won't be made worse because I didn't go. Besides, I can always see Austria on a postcard.

Time to update again

So I figured I'd update, and I wanted to upload some photos. The photos should be in reverse order. But I'll deal with it.

My Car: As you can see from the photo, I got into a fender bender. It wasn't my fault though. I was heading to school on Monday morning, and I was at the intersection of Brady Blvd and Oregon Ave. I was heading straight and a green pick up truck was making a left turn. So I have a busted headlight, a cracked fender, and a dented hood. The car runs fine though, it's mostly cosmetic. It looks worse than it actually is. I'm waiting to hear from the insurance so I can then go and get it fixed. Thank goodness Fall break is coming up. I can get it fixed during that time.



Franciscan sign: The sign at the main entrance of Franciscan is being replaced with a new sign. I'm sad to see this sign go because it matches all of the other signs on campus. We'll see what happens though. It did get me to see what Bonaventure and Heavenly Grounds looks like. BTW, I was born on St Bonaventure's feast day.



This was from a while back. It was an open house at the new Friary.









Midterm results: I've been getting my midterms back. As you may remember, I had four midterms in one week. Well, I haven't received my Intro to Catechetics midterm back yet. But I did alright with my Philosophy midterm with a C+. I didn't do quite well on my Fondations and my PBS I midterms, failing them both. I had to retake the PBS midterm, hoping I did better. But I went to Rose Klein to see how I can better prepare for my exams. It turns out that I was trying to memorize way too much information. What I should have done was consolidate the information rather than memorize 20+ terms and definitions. It also doesn't help that I'm taking fifteen credits. I may have to start using the language lab because I'm struggling in my intermediate French class. I know I am capable of at least passing the class. I just need extra help. So I'm going to get help.

Advising and possible Spring 2010 schedule: I meet with my adviser to discuss my schedule for next semester. I've come up with a preliminary schedule, and I wanted to show it to my adviser to see what he thinks. Clearly I am not taking 15 credits again. I've come up with a schedule with a more manageable 12 credits. I'm planning on taking Catechetics, Intermediate French (FRN 202), Christian Moral Principles, and PBS II with Bergsma. I would have two Tuesday-Thursday classes, and two Monday-Wednesday-Friday classes.

Household: Stella Mariae is on retreat this weekend. So I had an opportunity to go to another household's Lord's Day. So I went to Carae Donine. They also have a devotion the Immaculate Heart and the Sacred Heart. They are a really nice group of girls, but it didn't seem like home to me the way that Stella feels to me. So I think I am going to intent Stella Mariae come the start of next semester. I feel that this is the household that the Lord is calling me to.

Midterms and stuff

I figured I'd update.

Midterms: I had four this week. Insane, I know. I had midterms in Intro to Catechetics, Foundations of Catholicism, Philosophy of the Human Person, and PBS I. I'll tell you one thing: exams at Franciscan are totally different than exams at Rutgers. When I would take my midterms at Rutgers, they were all scantrons, multiple choice with 50+ questions. At Franciscan, all blue books with short answer/ essay. Everything that I learned about taking exams at Rutgers went right out the window after the first midterm. After the first midterm, I pretty much had to adjust how I study for an exam, since I can't rely on multiple choice anymore. Hopefully I didn't do too bad. Oh, I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I had a second test in Intermediate French. I did better than the first test, though not as good as I liked. But it is an improvement. So I have to keep improving my test grades so that I will do well once the final comes around.

Households: So as I mentioned before, I've been spending a lot of time with Stella Mariae household. Well, I was told by a few of the members that I needed to visit at least three households. At that point, I had only visited two: Warriors of the Word, and Stella Mariae. So I needed to visit one more household. I decided to visit Totus Tuus Maria, since I had also considered them as well. They're located in Elizabeth hall, the newest women's dorm (where the tennis and basketball courts used to be). They had evening prayer and rosary. So I went on a Wednesday night. The girls are nice, but it just didn't seem like home for me. So I definitely feel that Stella Mariae is the household for me. Although I did make a friend in TTM, she's in my philosophy class.

Parents Weekend/ FOP: So last weekend was parents weekend. My parents couldn't make it because my father had to work. But in a way I'm glad they didn't come because then I wouldn't have studied for my midterms. My family is always a phone call away, as long as they answer the phone. But anyway, the masses were in the field house all last weekend, starting with the household life mass. For that mass, I sat with Stella Mariae household (since I will probably intent that household come next semester). Each household cheered when they saw their household banner. The following day had mass in the field house, and the St Francis Festival later that day. A Eucharistic FOP was held later that night. I had done some studying while waiting for the start of FOP. I figured I might as well be productive since I had about an hour of free time between dinner and FOP. So I sat in the JC Williams Center and studied for about an hour before it was time for FOP. There was adoration at this FOP, which I liked (though my knees didn't). I don't know how often they have a Eucharistic FOP. The next FOP is on November 7th.

So the semester is about half over. I can't believe how fast it's going. It's also getting colder in Steubenville. We had frost one day a little more than a week ago. I have to make sure that next semester I don't have an 8am class, since the chance of having frost will probably be higher. But this was only the third time I've had an 8am class. Since I am a senior by credits (though I'm definitely not graduating this year), I'll be able to register for classes pretty early. So I have a really good chance of getting into the classes I want.

This Saturday is the celebration of Fr Michael Scanlon's 50th anniversary as a professed Franciscan. That's pretty awesome! :-)