contemplations on a semester past

As I sit here getting ready to study for my finals and write my spanish paper, I realize that almost an entire four months have passed with me up here in GF. Definitely some things have changed about my life. Some things I miss, like hanging out with my Destinos buddies... running with the cross country girls at Century... making dinner with my family and sitting around with them in the evenings... friends back home...

But there are also things up here that I would not give up for the world. Most everyone tells me I'm crazy to be up here. Heck, even people here tell me I'm crazy when I walk outside with a sweater and sandals when it is 30 degrees... But honestly, there is only one thing that I would change about this place... well, okay, two things: stinky Simplot potato factory, and a grocery store within a mile of campus.

Even today, I'm not exactly sure what made up my mind all those months ago to come here. I knew no one, except for a select three from Rochester, that would be up here. That's less than WHEATON, which has about 1/10 of the student population here and about 3 times the tuition. With those kind of statistics, it would appear that UND is actually just a really crappy school and no one wants to come here. Well, there are those who wouldn't want to come here, but they are sissies and can't stand a few 60 below days here and there.

Thank you, God, for leading me in this path. Thank you for giving me an awesome roommate and helping me make super cool friends up here. And thank you for finding my student ID all the times I've lost it this semester... and this past week...

Hope everyone's looking forward to Christmas Break!! I have a new cell phone number (well, relatively... apparently some still don't know it yet, tee hee): 701-739-9781... yes, that's a Grand Forks area code :)

Good luck with finals!