Hey everyone! So, it's been a good and busy week so far. All of our students are officially moved in! We had our Graduate School Orientation yesterday - and let me tell you...I have never felt so good about being at an institution than the one I'm at. Absolutely everything about orientation was so incredibly encouraging. There is just a very strong spirit on this campus. I feel there is such a great balance of faith and education. I honestly have never felt so proud to be a part of a school before. Wheaton is much much more scholarly that I realized - so much so that I'm a little schocked that I was accepted...I mean my grades were decent, but these students are amazing! Anyway...classes start tomorrow and we are very excited and we've been very encouraged by older students and by our professors. So...anyway...it's just a very joyous time right now and our hearts are very full with gratitude that the Lord's allowed us to be here.
So, the thing about Wheaton - and I was attempting to explain this to my good friend Kat earlier today - it is a very different school. I feel kind of like I'm in a weird bubble. In many many different ways...specifically though for this blog entry, I just wanted to share with you all what Scott and I just witnessed. Apparently Wheaton students have a lot of "traditions" that take place each year. Particularly at the beginning of the school year and most are geared towards "welcoming" the Freshman class. Today was the "Mastadon March." They've named it the "Mastadon March" because we have a huge Mastadon on campus named Perry - his bones were found in a man-made lake in Glen Ellyn about 60 years ago and he's proudly displayed in the science building now...kind of a cool exhibit. Anyway, the Freshmen were getting ready/learning a song for their "All School Communion" tonight (another tradition) unbeknownst to them that they were about to get a BIG welcome from the upperclassmen (and apparently some faculty and staff as well). I was sitting outside the Student Rec Center when I see TONS...HUNDREDS of students pouring out of the dorms with the most ridiculous costumes on...you name it, there was one there. There just aren't words to describe what all I saw. So, I saw the costumes, but Scott actually saw what happened. The freshmen were outside and this HUGE parade of upperclassmen came marching down the walkway, led by two of Scott's bosses - one on a double decker bike pulling his 18 month old in a cart behind him, and his other boss the VP of Residence Life (or VP Student Life one) following behind in the back of an orange convertible - white suit/giant glasses - daughters dressed up in crazy costumes with him. There was also a big "mastadon" in the parade and following them were the probably at least 1500 students behind making all kinds of noise and chanting "We love Freshmen" and making all kinds of noise.
For those of you who haven't heard us rave about the food service here...it is AMAZING...AMAZING...AMAZING. Well the food service even went all out too. They had several stations set up outside and the entire school had a picnic outside. There was a line for gyros, a line for hamburgers, popcorn, sloppy joes, fresh grilled chicken breast sandwiches (which I had - YUMMM), and a line for grilled corn on the cob. The food service here makes EVERYTHING from scratch, from their bread, to their pastries, to smoking their own ham for deli meat...just unreal. Anyway, they had this parmesan butter for the grilled corn - holy cow. Just...no words. *lol*
So we had a grand time tonight! We feel like we just got a good taste of what Wheaton life is really like with students here and how involved the staff is. SO much fun.
Anyway, I just wanted to share that strange yet delightful experience with you all. Wish you could have been here to see it. Crazy. Well, I've got class tomorrow bright and early - YAY!!! So, I'm going to try to enjoy my last night of "freedom" for the next two years. :) Wish I had something exciting planned, but I think I'm too tired to really do anything. :) I'll just enjoy the peace and quiet.
1 comment:
I'm really excited you both are here! It's going to be an awesome year!
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