As Requested

So, I have officially failed to write in a very long time. I guess I have just been so busy with everything else that I forgot about my blog. So here it is a compilation of my thoughts on my freshman year at Olivet Nazarene University. I am doing very well and expect to only have one C this year. I am done with all my classes with the exception of a biology final exam and a final critique. Next week, I will start packing my stuff and saying goodbye to all of my friends here.

The Downside of Education:

I have had many interesting experiences in school regarding professors. First of all, art professors can not give you a bad grade. In fact you would have to work very hard to get a bad grade at all. These days, anything is art. Next, Profs that do not take attendance should not expect to have people show up, especially if they post the power points online.

Scam of Olivet:

Here at Olivet we have a state-of-the-art dinning system. The food at Olivet consists of pizza, soup of the day, burgers, chicken sandwiches, fries, salad, ice cream, cereal, a variety of drinks, and the specials of the day we like to call Sodexho Surprise. Oh, ya... We are catered be Sodexho. This so happens to be the very catering service described in the movie 'Super-Size Me' as being one of the unhealthiest food catering services. Now the students can choose 10, 14 or 21 meals to have per week. Every week the meals that you do not use are lost. They do not roll over to the next week and are not refunded at the end of the year. Also, you can only have four meals per day. That means that if you have extra meals left over the night that the new week begins, you can still only use four meals that day. Students must have a meal plan with one exception of students living off-campus (this does not mean the Olivet apartments). You pay a different amount for each meal plan: 10, 14, and 21. If you break it down into how much each single meal is, it is shocking. With the 21 meal plan, you are looking at something around 7 or 8 dollars per meal. I can get the 5 for 5 meal combo at Arby's which is probably healthier anyways. If you go with the 14 meal plan you are looking at about 10 dollars per meal. That is a nice breakfast at I-Hop at 1 in the morning. And finally if you go to the 10 meal plan it is somewhere around 12 dollars. You can go to the all you can eat Italian buffet at Cinzetti's for only one dollar more.

Education with a Christian Purpose VS Money:

As I have been here, I have found that in some cases it is more important to Olivet to get money rather than live by their mission. I was shocked when I came here and learned about evolution. I am do not mind that they have it in the curriculum, I am discussed that they preach it as fact and tell you that there is no evidence against evolution. Then they go ahead and use God to fill in the gapes. They tell us that we are putting God in a box when you say that He did not use evolution to create everything. I say you are putting God in a box when you say He had to use evolution, when you say that He did not have the power to create everything just as the Bible says including the seven days thing. I say you are going against the church when you say that there was death before sin. When one student asked “How do you claim evolution is true based on the Bible when it says that after sin there was death?” The teacher answered, “We believe that this is referring to spiritual death.” Does this mean there is no such thing as eternal life after sin is gone? It is stunning to me, that we are taught these things in a Christian school. But I guess when you break it down, it is attractive to people considering a biology major. It attracts money to the school to say that we accept evolution.

Apprenticeship:

I have learned a great deal of things here at Olivet but none as important as the learning how to play the guitar. One of my best friends here at Olivet has taken the time to help me learn how to play the guitar. I am forever grateful to him and will miss him very much when I leave here. Here is the brief song list of things I can now play because of him.

Good Riddance – Green Day
Wake Me Up When September Ends – Green Day
Crooked Teeth – Death Cab for a Cutie
I Will Follow You into the Dark – Death Cab for a Cutie
Say it Ain’t So – Weezer
Undone (The Sweater Song) – Weezer
Lights and Sounds – Yellowcard
Swiss Army Romance – Dashboard Confessional
December – Collective Soul
Run – Collective Soul
The World I Know – Collective Soul
Rise – Army of Me
And more to come…

Thanks Dan.

Part Time Job:

I don’t know if you can call it a job, but carrying over 100 pounds of drums across campus is hard. Throughout the year I have been with a group called Lifesong. This is a school organization of traveling praise bands. My group was named Helpless
Estate. This comes from the song “It Is Well” and refers to the helpless person that is us that God lives in. We can do nothing without Him. Our group was the first to travel and ended up traveling over 9 nine times. We were probably one of the best groups in Lifesong. I had a ton of fun with Lifesong and will miss my group a lot.

Keys, Coats, and a Couple of Things to Say Fair Well To:

Throughout the year I have lost, broken and damaged many things. At the beginning of this semester, I lost my room key. It has been a struggle to get around without one, but I figure it is a good tradeoff against the thirty dollars I would have to pay to get a new one. Though, I am not sure if it is possible, I am going to do everything I can to not get caught at the end of the year and fined with thirty dollars. Towards the beginning of the year, I broke my new Spyder coat. I decided that it would be wise to pull one of the loose strings coming out of the coat and by doing so; I pulled necessary stitches out of the arm of the coat. Luckily my Mom was able to re-stitch it and send it back to me. However shortly after, I lost it in the game room but found it the next week. I also lost my backpack. Actually it was a camel pack that was really cool. I took it to chapel, which I don’t normally do and accidentally left it there. I had a class right afterwards that I did not need the backpack for so I didn’t think about it. I am not sure how to get my backpack back, but it is no longer in the chapel.

A Few Words of Advice:

Figure out what you want to do with your life early on
If it changes, switch quickly but not two weeks into the semester
Don’t worry if your Prof sucks, most do
Don’t get mad at the food quality or selection, it won’t change
Take every opportunity to get a free home cooked meal
Make friends quickly and join groups in the school to get to know more people
Don’t take your backpack to chapel unless you need it
Don’t loose your key
If the Prof does not take attendance, don’t go
Study hard but have fun
Try new things
Go to I-Hop at 1 in the morning

The Future:

I am not sure what my future holds for me. I am debating about leaving Olivet and going to an art college in Colorado. I don’t know if it is the best decision but I want to make my talent in art a career. However, I actually want a education in art rather than wasting time here. I am going to miss very many people if I leave, but I want what is best for my future.