College and Elul

I moved in at my college last Friday, and so far I am loving it! The majority of the people I have met like me very much--great confidence booster! Tonight the Hillel Jewish Student Center is having a kosher barbecue, and I am really looking forward to it. Then tonight I go to sleep at 10 pm so I can get up at six am to catch the seven am bus to my 8:10 am class. (Yes, my school is so big that we use buses.)

In other news, it is now the month of Elul, the season of the year when I let myself listen to various Youtube recordings of U'N'Taneh Tokef, the season of the year when Jews everywhere begin to soul search and figure out what we have done wrong in the past year and how we ourselves and we as a community can get past those sins. We know that the month of Tishrei is quickly approaching and that it will soon be time for God to "write" (Rosh Hashanah) and "seal" (Yom Kippur) our fate for the coming year, and we are fearful and in awe of God's power as we come before Him.

I Got It!

I got it! I got it! I got into my first choice course coming out of General Psych: Readings in Biblical Hebrew Prose!

I jumped through multiple hoops to get this course. First I had to get out of General Psych. Then I had to email the Dean of Jewish Studies (who also happens to teach the course) and ask for permission to take it, because the person with whom I was in contact about switching courses thought I couldn't take this one. Half an hour or so after I emailed the Dean of Jewish Studies, however, I was in the course!

This course is really important to me, not only because it looks like fun, but also because I need an anchor. College will be my first school experience without Jewish Studies and/or Hebrew automatically built in. I will have to adjust to that, and it will no doubt be hard. I prefer to adjust slowly by first taking one Jewish Studies course anyway.

On top of all that, I now have two classes on my schedule that I know I will love, one that I think I will enjoy, and one (fulfilling my science requirement) that I know I can tolerate. It's a good first semester schedule.

Update on my Schedule

I have now placed out of General Psych and into Infant and Child Development. I requested a Jewish Studies course number 433, but the dean thinks I have to start at 371. She said she would email the head of the Jewish Studies department, however, and if that person says no, I will go directly to the professor who teaches the course. One way or another, I will make this happen.

Class Schedule

Yesterday I got my class schedule for my Fall semester! I am currently taking Religion 101, General Psych, Intro to Human Evolution, and Issues in Women's Leadership. There is, however, one problem: I tested out of General Psych. I will call advising tomorrow and see if I can change that. Other than that, college, here I come! SO EXCITED.

Last Ten Thanks

91. Interesting-looking text books

92. The bus system at my college

93. Israel

94. Hope and dreams

95. Inspiring quotes

96. "U'N'Taneh Tokef"

97. Dr. David Sherry

98. Love

99. The bright future I have ahead of me

100. Strawberries

*BONUS because I accidentally repeated one: Bubbles

Friday Thanks

81. Shabbat

82. Excitement

83. Sleep

84. The Jewish calendar and the way it celebrates and honors each season and feeling

85. Theater/Drama

86. Elephants

87. Tropical fish

88. My imagination and creativity

89. Various ways to escape from pain, if only for a little while (reading, praying, sleeping, etc.)

90. Feeling God's presence on an inner but definite level

Questions

What do you do when you love someone so much that you hurt when s/he hurts, and you know s/he will most likely always be hurting, and there's not a thing you can do about it?

Is it wrong to be glad that you get to love him/her from a distance, and that you don't need to be up close, or does feeling glad about that mean you love him/her less?

Where is God in human suffering?