Oh-Berlin-Oh!

After waking up extremely happy this morning for no particular reason, I decided that it was high time for a real blog post. You know, the ones that take an hour to write, filled with funny anecdotes, wry remarks, controversial opinions, and witty commentary on my life.

I've been feeling pretty blessed lately. I usually don't like it when people say they've been blessed, because usually it's followed by something about Jesus and how I could feel blessed too if I let him into my life. While I think it's awesome that this person feels this way, I have enough problems of my own without being made to feel like all of my unhappiness is due to the fact that I haven't gone to church in months. So for me to say that I feel blessed is a rare occurrence. But I do feel blessed right now and it has nothing to do with me accepting Jesus into my life.

I feel blessed because the first week of this semester has been the best first week of school ever. This is the first first week where I haven't felt hopelessly behind and stupid from day one. I feel like there's nothing work-wise in this semester that I can't handle, and actually mean it. And it's not like I'm taking a particularly light load either (although this is the first semester where I'm not taking a math or stats class, which makes a big difference).
Plus, the Resed gods bestowed upon me an amazing single apartment. It's bright, well-insulated, clean, has a great view, and everything I need. This is the first place that I have lived that feels like it is truly mine and decorated and arranged in a way that reflects my personality (eww gross, shut up inner Martha Stewart!). So coming home after class to a clean, warm apartment does wonders for my mood.
Not to mention the fact that it's really good when I keep running into people who are really glad to see me and have reconnected with a lot of good friends. When I'm away from Oberlin, all I can think about are the people there who annoy me, but now that I'm back I realize that these people are only a small fraction of who I interact with day to day.
Finally, I've started exercising again, partially due to my women's strength training class, and partially due to my beautiful, talented, and wise fellow sexy redhead friend Gabi, who started working out over last semester and has inspired me with her tales of leg muscle and 4 mile runs. And boy do I feel amazing. Sore much of the time, but amazing.

Of course, there are some things that are getting me down, like the fact that I ate lunch alone in the dining hall yesterday, and that several of my classes have very vocal people in them who already know everything there is to know about the subject and want to make sure the whole class knows it too. (Seriously though, if you've already read the books we're reading in class, why take that course? If you've already written a bazillion funded grants and are an expert on the subject, why take grant-writing?). Fortunately, the silly Oberlin social scene that has seriously bummed me out in the past just seems stupid to me now. I feel like I've done pretty well for myself at Oberlin for a girl from Pocahontas County High School, and that's good enough for me. There's no need to social climb or feel lame because I like South Park, soup beans, and bad pop music and not something cooler.

And it's the weekend and I have no plans, but I'm just going to follow my feet and find something fun to do with people who make me feel happy and hopefully end up in bed at a decent hour so I can wake up and do some research on information processing in adolescence. I'm blessed that I have this opportunity to go to this academically amazing school, have some pretty awesome friends, a place to call home in Oberlin, and folks that I care about who are only a Skype call away. Here's to education! Happy Friday!