Settling in, school's started.

What a week it's been! A former Seattle NewGener's wedding was last weekend here in NYC (the lovely bride is from Brooklyn, like me) so there were friends here from Seattle, all over Cali, Boston, Honolulu and here in NYC. It was sooo much fun to have so many old friends here in town! It was also especially cool for me to show so many of my brothers and sister where I'm living now; it helped me feel more settled to have visitors. A few of us even got to visit Boston and spend some time w/ another NewGener who's settling in there.

God's timing is so perfect; I'm continually humbled and awed at how He lavishes His blessings on me! I've been able to have 9 bags/suitcases/items brought over here by gracious friends traveling here from Seattle. My guitar, rice cooker, clothes, shoes, and books were among the many things I was able to have brought over so I could save much-needed money for school. Here's a picture (sorry about the quality, it's from my phone) of how my non-bed, non-bathroom and non-closet corner of the apartment looks right now.

I've finally had a chance to organize and clean a bit this week. I'm trying to keep stuff out that reminds me of family, Seattle, and why the Lord's brought me here.

What have I been learning? A ton...my classes, especially my Introduction to New Testament Literature class, have almost all been chock full of information to absorb. Unfortunately, I feel like I only have the ability right now to take sips from the firehose flow of knowledge being presented. Campus-wide, we're also reading John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. This has been one of many books on my to-read list for the last few years, so I'm glad we're gong through it together. It's also an integral part of our theme of Difficulty for this year.

There's also a house system here that all students are a part of. TKC's house system has some elements of ones at Harvard and UPenn, and of other colleges' Greek system. The King's College currently has a unique house system of 9 houses named after prominent figures in history: C.S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, Clara Barton, Margaret Thatcher, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony and Queen Elizabeth, I. I'm in the House of Queen Elizabeth, I; QEI for short. My 3 roommates and I, along w/ 29 other women are in this house. I think I'll write more on this later...

In meeting more students, having more conversations with people about the vision of King's, the student body, and the many things to be done here, I'm very excited for what's ahead here. The biggest challenges for me are getting into an academic pace/rhythm of studying, figuring out my commitments/relationships, and finding a home church. I'm learning as I'm looking for a church that I have a lot of heart issues to get over and give to the Lord. I'm seeing that I also need to stop being so legalistic about some of my preferences (communication styles, music styles, Bible translation, etc.; for the most part - non-critical issues), but to stand strong by my convictions.

There's a lot more, but I must get to the tons of reading I have to do. Good stuff...and I still need to figure what it means to "have fun" and enjoy being a student. I can already sense myself getting really uptight again as I'm picking up on the urban pace of life. I trust God will use whatever it takes to break through to me and get me to chill out and do well.