The Weather.
I detest the weather of these past couple of weeks to be honest. Am I grateful that South Carolina has all four seasons? Yes. Am I grateful that Greenville is surrounded by mountains? Yes. Am I happy that the mountains like to send us all four seasons worth of weather in a single day? NO!!! The mornings our 60 degrees, the afternoons our 80-90 degrees, the humidity is queen 24/7. All that being said, the weather has started to behave like it’s fall finally which it might as well as September 23rd is the first day of fall. The PSL is back at Starbucks and everyone’s walk around Swan Lake or down the Furman Mall is about to get ten times better due to the leaves changing colors.
Retreats.
These past 3 weekends have been retreat intense. The first weekend, I stayed on campus to get trained to become an admission ambassador. The best part of getting to give tours I realized is that it can easily be the highlight of my day. Tours are a time for me to share about what I love the most about campus and how I see it as my home while students get the opportunity to decide if Furman is the best fit for them. Highlight of the retreat was when we had a session on what we love most about our school – the answers ranged from professors who’ve had an impact and best first year seminar to best out of class experience and best study spot on campus. Come tour campus with me sometime in the future – please!!!!!!
RUF retreat was for the religious organization I’m part of – Reformed University Fellowship. Getting to escape to Camp Greystone tucked away in the mountains of western North Carolina was a dream. I got to relax, hang out with friends, and set my mind at ease a midst the academic craziness that is Furman. I played Jimball for the first time which is basically dodge ball but in an enclosed octagon court, went down an awesome water slide 3 times, and played some ultimate frisbee. Life was innocent and sweet in the mountains and then I came back to reality and hit it hard in the face as I had my first paper, quiz, and test. I can proudly say I survived and am proud of the efforts I put in! (Y’all should be celbrating too, b/c if I hadn’t survived, you would be reading a blank screen)
FUSAB. Furman University Student Activities Board retreat in Asbury Hills was pretty gnarly. We welcomed 19 new members onto our board. The ideas and energy they bring are truly exciting and I can’t wait to see the impact they’ll have on not only this organization and the student body but my life as well. What is FUSAB you might ask? Well we are a group of 55 students that are charged with creating events both on and off campus for the whole student body – that ranges from planning homecoming week, to raffling tickets to the upcoming USC v. Furman game (which I’m going to!!!!!), to bringing a fall and spring concert.
Freshmen.
The big difference between being a freshmen in high school and college is that in high school – you are the bottom of the pole and our reminded of it everyday. However being a sophomore this year, I realized how Furman does a great job celebrating our freshmen. We realize that they are the future of this university and we value their opinion whether it be in an academic, organizational, or social setting. There is a lot to learn from them because they have fresh eyes on the world and bring a new perspective to the classroom (shout out to Intro to Philosophy with Dr. Worth).
As I write this I’m currently studying 4 days in advance for a statistics test (this is a rare moment so you know I’m stressed), have to read a chapter for my philosophy class tomorrow, and send an update for homecoming plans to my committee in FUSAB (which we’ll discuss in the next blog). So thanks for tuning in for this biweekly report and check out some pictures below!
-nm
