Closing a Chapter

Well, it's official. This week concludes my first semester at the University of Idaho. And honestly it's a little bittersweet because I know that one of the easiest semester of my college career is coming to a close, as far as academics go. However, I am so looking forward to the additional memories i will be creating in this wonderful white house on the hill that has, with everyday, increasingly become my home away from home. To those of you who do not know, or particularly understand sorority life, i encourage you to, like many things, not judge a book by its cover... or rather... covers that have been placed on it. Sorority life is so misjudged and misunderstood by the different views that Hollywood, and word of mouth places on it. I can assure you that, (at least in my chapter) nothing can be further from the truth.

Living in Kappa Kappa Gamma has truly been a real support system for me, and i know that without the help of my fellow sisters, especially in classes that i struggle a great deal in (Math, you know who you are) I would not have had nearly as successful a first semester. This has solidified especially in the last month, where everything is finally gaining a rhythm and i'm getting used to the ebbs and flows of the collegiate life (you like that last sentence? College is doing me good! i'm learning big words! ;)

God is so good in his provisions for my life. Every day, almost within seconds of me feeling the least worn down, or out of it, I find encouragement from someone in my life, lifting me up and motivating me to go on. It never ceases to utterly AMAZE me that God cares so much for my well-being, and the well-being of those around me - even when I am not spending time in His word. This is evident in lieu of the recent baptism service we had at my Moscow church, Resonate. Before every baptism, they have a short video of the person telling their story. I was filled with such inexplicable joy after every video I had a hard time containing myself, and I felt the need to talk to every single person that was baptized that night, but i'll have you know i refrained, because I know that I can be a little overwhelming to people the first time i meet them (this was a lesson learned the hard way when i was a kid, and that's another blog for another time).

To list a specific instance where God used someone else (namely a child, as always) to brighten my day, i'll tell you about one of my work study experiences....

I was at my work study, switching it up a bit and playing with the boys, because i usually do the craft with the kids at the craft table, and I decided i wanted to branch out. We were playing with plastic dinosaurs, and lions, and tigers, and sheep, and rhinos, and other various forms of animals in God's Kingdom. Either way, one of the little boys walks up to me, and says: "Alyse, you're exquisite!" to which i replied: "Why thank you Tommy, do you know what that means?" And he said: "Yeah! It means like super pretty or something! And that's what you are!" I said: "Wow! Yes you're sure right! Did you get that word in your vocab list this week or something?" And he said: "Sure did". At this point, one of the other little boys chimed in and said: "Yeah Alyse you're really pretty!" and then another little boy agreed as well. 

I don't know what it is about the children at my work study, but they are perhaps some of the sweetest children I have ever met. I will greatly miss working with them next semester. What is also a blessing from God is, he has provided me with the financial means to not need work study next semester, which opens up free time in the afternoon to build relationships with people that have been placed in my life. I am so incredibly excited for this upcoming semester, even though I will be at 18 credits. I say... Bring it on crazy semester! I'll be all rested up from Christmas break, and i'm used to most of your tricks by now! ...honestly, we'll see how that goes, but who accomplished anything without a little confidence?? 

To catch all of you up on my adventures in the last few weeks, I have needed to be rescued from different situations by my wonderful Big Sis Kara Siers. These adventures mostly involved me dropping my brain somewhere on the asphalt beside the vehicle (if you know me, it's true and you're laughing right now), and this almost always ends up resulting in a dead battery, or the keys sitting in the cup holder in view from the driver's window in the parking lot of Moscow Rosauer's... was that too specific? It is a wonder to me why my brother lets me borrow the car still. Honestly. And, i have a panic attack every time I come out of work study, even though i've double checked and rechecked that the lights were off, and the keys were in my hand. People probably think i'm crazy, because i'm walking out to my car in the dark of night (thanks to earlier sunsets at literally 3:00) saying under my breath "Oh dear God please let there not be a dead battery, oh please oh please oh please!" Now, it almost always works, and there's really no reason to fret.

The weeks following Thanksgiving have passed as fast as I thought they would, and have caused me as much stress as i anticipated. I had two art projects, two portfolios, and one final to study for. Thankfully I only had that one real final, because it should be common knowledge that i am a horrible test taker. My art projects went over well, and paid off with the work I put into them. I like to think that i saved all of my creativity for my final projects, and if I slacked off all semester to save up for these, it was worth it. Doing my art projects, I realized just how much I am in love with the arts, and how much of myself is devoted to them. It truly was my joy to do them, and I know without a doubt that at least one of my majors is what I will be doing for the rest of my life.

Here's a few of them:

We also went serenading last week, we sang Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas, is you", much to the delight of fraternity men on the campus. Which was pretty cool, because i've only been in like three of the fraternities before that, but I think i'll keep on hanging out at the two i do hang out at... because they weren't as cool as the ones i spend my time at.

Other than being needed to be rescued once every week, the last few have mostly consisted of asking myself: "what's due this week? and what's the least that I have to do?" Which is so not what i'm used to asking myself. And for me, thanksgiving break could not have come fast enough, and now that it has, i'm looking forward to Christmas. I'm just worn out, and next semester the 18 credits might be challenging, but i'm sure it will work out. It's weird, all semester when i've felt the least bit overwhelmed, I feel almost an instant calm as well. I know that's from all of the prayers my brothers and sisters all over have been saying for me. And in lieu of the season coming up, thank you so much for the prayers! And also thank you for reading!

As always,
~Alyse :)

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In regards to finals, here is what i learned:

1. If you can get out of a test with a portfolio, do it.

2. Art projects are always better accompanied with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies.

3. Being an art major rocks, because there are no written tests.

4. REST.

5. Study sessions with your sisters are THE BEST.

6. When it feels like your brain is going to fall out of your cranium, you've been studying real hard - good job.

7. The internet is the devil, quite literally - especially Pinterest.