My Trip to Christendom College, Part 2

And without further ado, here is Part 2!

(That rhymed! Oooh, I'm good.)

Oh, and you're in luck this time - you get some pictures! Hopefully I'll have pictures of my costume soon too. EDIT: Well, Blogger is being lame is being lame and refusing to upload my lovely photos, so hopefully I can get them up tomorrow!


November 1, 2010 -

(7:30 AM) So here I sit at Harry's Tap Room at Dulles, eating a bagel and drinking coffee which are thankfully delicious since they were rather expensive (the coffee actually cost more than the bagel!). I feel so "official-official", sitting alone, wearing a legit college sweatshirt, and content in the knowledge my baggage is safely checked in.

Since I don't have to board until 10 to 8 and I have a (much-needed) cup of coffee to drink, I thought I'd write a little more. I'm sooo tired! The dance last night ended at 1 am, I didn't get to bed until close to 3 AM, and the van picked me up to go to the airport at 5:30 AM! But it's all totally worth it, of course!

I have a feeling that this return trip is going to feel incredibly short, so it's probably going to feel like no time at all since getting here was so quick. The sky is totally light now (7:45 AM) - it looks so pretty and sunny and pastel-y. No clouds to rise above today!

I suppose I should write a little about my actual stay now. It probably won't be that detailed simply because way too much happened for me to record it all, but I'll recount the highlights.

Friday - I sat in on classes. They were absolutely amazing! I attended a theology class, a history class, a philosophy class, and a literature class, and I seriously did not have a favorite - they were all incredible! I'm sure that actually taking them and needing to study and do homework and all is a little different, but they're so interesting I'd be completely willing to work really hard.

That evening I went into Front Royal with my ambassador and some of her friends to Tropical Smoothie and Wal-Mart. Fun, crazy times ensued! When we got back I walked over to the student center to access the internet on my laptop, and also to take advantage of the 1 AM curfew and the chance to walk around in the dark! I went back to the dorm at about midnight, read for an hour, and got to bed at 2 AM.

(9:40 AM) I'm interrupting this a little...my flight got slightly delayed (thank goodness only slightly! I'd rather not learn the great art of booking it though an airport just yet!), so I talked to my sister on the phone for about an hour while I waited - I was there super early anyways, of course.

Gah! I was in the wrong seat again! This is getting very embarrassing... I also turned the wrong way while boarding the plane and walked right into the security people.

"Do you want to get patted down?" demanded one of the guys, smirking.

"Um, no! Agh! There's the door!" I quickly rushed down the hall, reflecting with gratitude that I'd never see them again! Ah well...it's good for humility, and things like that are really quite hilarious in retrospect.

Yay! We're moving! I'm not at a window seat this time, but I can still see out just fine. I'm planning to try and catch up on some sleep, anyways.

(Not sure of the time - I'm not positive where I put my watch...it's either in my baggage or I forgot it...and I had to turn off my cell phone) Well, so much for sleeping. I guess I'm still too hyped up (and probably slightly buzzed on caffeine) to sleep sitting up, so I'll just keep writing.

There's only a few clouds today...they look really funny/cool! It looks sort of like they're under a glass table top.

Wow, there are so many sleeping people. They're lucky - I just can't sleep in public places. I'm trying to decide...should I get something thirst-quenching or something caffeinated? I'm really thirsty so I think I'll just get the caffeine on the next flight.

So let's see, where was I in my account? Saturday morning, I think...

Saturday - There was a special contenential breakfast and a presentation from the Admissions Director in the cafe for all the visiting students at 9:30 AM. I'd already heard most of the presentation from various other sources, but it was definitely worth hearing again! It made me get even more excited...Christendom is seriously an awesome, one-of-a-kind place.

After the talk we went to Mass. It was a Novus Ordo Mass in Latin, which I'd never attended before, but it was really nice. I was extremely impressed by Christendom's liturgy! I've gone to the Tridentine Mass since I was 10, so the thought of Novus Ordo made me just a little apprehensive, but it was wonderful. I love they offer everything from the Novus Ordo in English to the Tridentine Rite, but it's all so reverent and absolutely beautiful.

Lunch followed Mass and after that the swing and contra clubs held teaching sessions for the visitors in the gym. That was SO much fun! As I'm sure you all know, I love dancing, and I almost never get to do scoial dancing. I've only done swing a little bit at weddings and the only contra dance I knew was the Virginia Reel, so it was awesome to learn so much more! We danced for about two hours, and after that I met my one true love - the library! As I walked through the many aisles absolutely of wonderful books (and it's two stories!) I thought, wow! it's worth coming here just for this!

By that time it was dinner time and we adjourned to the commons for the Oktoberfest meal, which was followed by various competitions such as barrel rolling, stein racing (which I failed epically at...serves me right for feeling right for feeling so cocky about it!), bean bag tossing, and doughnut-on-a-string-eating. After all those events we went back inside and there was a contra dance! That was the very first I had ever been to and it was wonderfully fun! I had another of my usual epcially klutzy moments during the broom dance - I was sashaying down the aisle with a guy and when he tried to twirl me, we lost our balance and went literally flying into the row of girls! It was so hilarious!

I spent another late night on my laptop at the student center typing up the blog post from the 30th, and once again got to bed around 2 AM. College life. *shakes head*

Sunday - This was definitely the best day! It began with the beautiful Mass - a Novus Ordo all in Latin with incense and the amazing choir. It was one of the most beautiful Masses I've ever attneded...I really loved the marriage between the old and the new. After Mass we ate brunch, and then I became acquainted with a Christendom tradition that I absolutely LOVE - the sing-alongs around the piano in the commons that I mentioned in my last post! Like I also mentioned there, I am totally in awe of how talented some of these people are.

After spending about an hour singing and listening, one of my friends and I walked down every single aisle of the library, which we both agreed we want to marry. Or at least have a job reading very single book so they don't get dusty! We had to perform the sad task of printing out our boarding passes, and then we and another friend were privileged to be let in on the knowledge of an awesome secret place in the library!

Next, the three of us had hot chocolate and cookies in the cafe and talked to the Admissions Counselor for a while, and then we went to Vespers. Oh, that was wonderful!!! We sang a lot and it was so nice to be able to spend some very peaceful time in the presensce of Our Lord.

We had another adventure after Vespers! We decided to go up and see the choir loft and on our way up, one of the students offered to show us the bell tower! We stayed up there talking for about half an hour - it was so much fun! After dinner, the same student took us on a walk down to the dock on the Shenandoah River. It was so peaceful and quiet and beautiful down there.

The evening was spent dressing for the Halloween Dance, trick-or-treating in one of the guys' dorms and going to the haunted house (which was in a guys' dorm room and really quite impressive, and - in my opinion - hysterically funny, with loud creepy music, strobe lights, and people with creepy costumes and voices popping up all over the place). And then around 8:30 PM, we headed to the dance! Oh my goodness, the dance was SOOO much fun! I had such a wonderful time! I danced a lot, and usually when I wasn't dancing with someone I was freestyling in an awesome little circle with some of my fellow visitors. It was FUN!!!

I stayed until it ended at 1 AM, and then had to say goodbye to all my friends because I had to leave at the insane hour of 5:30 AM! What with showering and packing and talking I didn't make it to bed until 3 AM, which brings me to the exhausted and brain-dead state I am in at this moment. I've done so many stupid things it's absolutely insane! You should see all the bizarre spelling mistakes I'm making (example: I spelled "insane" "insain"), and I even asked the stewardess if I was in the right plane because it was a different color from the others. My goodness...

But thankfully I am on the last flight I'll be taking today, and we're almost ready to take off! So I think I will leave you here and succumb to exhaustion for one last hour. Fare thee well!


So ends my chronicles. I had an absolutely marvelous weekend, and, as you've probably figured out by now, I definitely want to attend Christendom next year! I'm working on applying...it's so very exciting. Please pray for me, and thank you SO much to everyone who was praying for me over the weekend! It's very much appreciated, helped a great deal, and know that I am praying for you as well!