Like I said...

In my last post, I wrote about sun and snow. Today, we got sun, hail, and lightning--all simultaneously! Hooray for springtime in Kalamazoo.

Last weekend I had quite the adventure. I went to a Senegal reunion dinner with the girls who went last year plus my group. We told stories and laughed, and we realized that most of them, at the time, were not so funny. Things like the incompetent doctor who didn't give me a malaria test when I had classic malaria symptoms, like one of the girls last year having a HUGE cockroach end up in her dress--and then in her underwear,  like boys "falling in love" with us everywhere we went... It was a great evening.

Partway through, I got a call from Allison, the woman who runs the Aerial Angels circus troupe in Kalamazoo. She said that she was looking for a last-minute replacement for a circus gig at a high school prom on Saturday night, and was I available? I said yes, of course, and spent all of Saturday sort of freaking out, wondering what I had just gotten myself into.

The gig went pretty well; there were about 100 kids there at the most, and they were pretty impressed by everything we did. Our portable rig was too tall for the ceiling of the ballroom, so we had to set it up in the recess in the ceiling where a chandelier was hung. Naturally, that meant that the ballroom manager was breathing down Allison's neck the whole night, freaking out that we would break her chandelier. I did a little silks routine, which was very well received. I also did a little bit of partner acrobatics with Allison, which went pretty well.

There was one point when I was supposed to fall backwards and Allison was supposed to catch me...and she didn't. I was overly confident in her ability to catch me (she does this for a living, after all), and she was overly confident in my ability to catch myself (it was clear from pretty early in the fall that I was toppling, but I didn't try to catch myself because I was being too trusting). The result was that I was suddenly on the floor, disoriented, and I landed pretty hard on the heels of my hands. My right wrist has been hurting ever since. I think it might be very minorly sprained, but it's not bad.

Today, I had two interviews for campus leadership positions. It turns out that for one of them--Peer Health Advocate--I'll only need to commit about a half hour per week. I can do that! That's nothing! Also, the issue I want to tackle on campus, caffeine abuse, hasn't been addressed at all by peer health advocates in the past. I feel so creative!

The other interview was for the chapel program, which I loved being involved with last year. If I could get paid to do that again, that would be phenomenal. If not...we'll see. Tonight in circus, we're voting on officers for next year. I'm hoping to be president, but we'll find out soon enough what will happened. I'm happy just to be involved, so I'm not concerned at all.

Everyone who sees me lately tells me that I look great. I look happy. It's true; I can't remember another time in my life when I felt so on top of my game, in my element, comfortable in myself. I'm loving how it feels. Walking across campus today and admiring the view of the city from the hill, enjoying the "warm" weather and brick buildings and well-fed squirrels, seeing all the smiling people, I thought, "I'm going to treasure these days for the rest of my life."

I'd say adjusting to being here is going pretty well.

Sun and Snow

Nothing like Kalamazoo in April. Last Sunday was a beautiful day. I spent all afternoon in a tank top out on the quad in the sunshine doing reading. Last week was chilly, but not cold. I wore jeans and short-sleeved tops with sweaters. This morning I woke up and looked out my window, and there was snow on the ground. It wasn't just snowing and melting when the snowflakes landed--there was already at least an inch. By the time I finished my 8:30 class, there were about three inches and more was coming. By the time my 10:00 class was over, it had stopped snowing and all the snow was melting. At 4, when my last class ended, there was no snow and hardly any puddles. Michigan is confused.

On the bright side, it's been so long since I've been around snow that it's pretty exciting for me.

I love my college. I love that no matter where I am on campus, I will probably run into someone I know, we will be thrilled to see each other, and we will try to catch up. I feel like I always have things to do and people to see. I'm just so happy here. That feeling I had freshman year, when I would walk down Academy street and look up at the trees and brick buildings and just grin? It's still there, just as fresh as ever.

The circus performance last weekend went really well. The audiences loved it, and we collected over $250 in donations, which is going to SenCirk (the circus group I worked with in Senegal)! They were so welcoming and wonderful to me, I'm thrilled that I can do something to support them. I feel like they're deserving of the money because they let anyone join the troupe. They teach people skills and allow them to earn money in an economy with a 50% unemployment rate. It's pretty amazing, and they're a remarkably talented group. To top it all, they're warm-hearted, generous, funny, welcoming, and enthusiastic.

I'm loving my classes. I've gotten to a point in my studies of Africa where I understand enough that I feel like I'm looking at a jigsaw puzzle. I can see the pieces, and I feel like they should fit together, but everyone is so set on jamming the pieces in that they've gotten warped and broken. Thinking about what makes government fail in Africa literally keeps me up at night. It's sort of a cool feeling, to have developed a passion like that for my studies.

I'm so content with my life. Hopefully spring will come soon and make it even better.

Sorry for the long delay

Life has been gratifyingly busy here. I haven't been very inspired to post, because life at K seems too relatable and easy compared to life in Senegal. In Senegal I was always inspired to write because I wanted to paint a picture of what was happening with me for my friends and family. Here, I think people can already imagine pretty well.

Here's a brief life update though:

Classes are going really well. So far, I'm enjoying each of them a lot. Even the homework I've had has been fun for me. I think I should be able to get some good grades this quarter, which would be nice.

Circus is in full swing. We have a show next weekend, so this week is tech week. Monday is a two-hour tech rehearsal, and Tues, Wed, Thurs are each 4-hr rehearsals. I'm loving spending so much time with people I adore, doing things I love. I'm kicking myself into shape as quickly as possible right now, hoping that using the blue silk rather than the white one (super elastic vs inelastic) won't be too hard.

My summer is slowly getting scheduled. It looks like I'll be working for the Poverty Reduction Initiative in Kalamazoo, which should be a great experience. I'm hoping to use what I learn at PRI as my senior thesis research. I'm also hoping that I can do my senior thesis in the summer, so I won't have to worry about it during the school year.

Overall, things are going very well. I'm hoping to have time this summer to go camping with my family and to visit Caleb in the lovely Caribbean, and it looks like both will be possible. I'm loving life and having a great time. This week will be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it.