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"Home for the Holidays"

January 17, 2005

So, I admit it.

I’ve neglected my R-Journal for over a month. I’ve got lots of excuses, but I’m sure that all of you avid R-Journals readers would rather just see some real content. So, alas, I will attempt to bring you all back up to speed with this entry.

I returned home a bit early after fall semester; I was actually able to fly home on the Tuesday of exam week, rather than on the Friday or Saturday flights that many of my friends were taking. This was thanks to the flexibility of my professors in scheduling my exams. Now, I know that my experience might not be representative of what might happen for others, so I’ll just add the caveat that “your mileage may vary.”

Upon arriving, let’s just say that Cleveland really resembled arctic tundra, with snow blanketing the ground and with biting wind. I arranged to have my sister pick me up at the airport, as I originally told my parents that I’d be getting in on Saturday (I tend to like surprises). My dad was in Germany, so he missed out on the surprise, but my mom was definitely caught off-guard…I hope pleasantly.

I wasn’t really sure what I planned to do on my extended break. In high school, I always thought that a couple of weeks away from the daily grind were nice. A month, I figured, would be even better. Initially, I was thinking that I might spend some time with friends at Miami University of Ohio and in New York City, but the weather definitely interfered with my plans. Snow showers were common for the first couple of weeks at home, and, as irony would dictate, the snow covered ground thawed just prior to the day when I might like snow: Christmas.

The snow withstanding, I still managed to keep busy. I decided to return back to working with my friends at the Hollister Company retail store. For almost a year, I have been working at various Hollister stores, a couple in Cleveland and sporadically at the Orlando store. My time at Hollister has always been a good time; I don’t know of many jobs where a person can get paid to listen to music and greet customers. As far as the fashion scene at Rollins, let’s just say it is quite varied, but you might say that many Rollins students have more “refined” tastes. Many students are brand-conscious and quite preppy. Now, this is not to say that students with different tastes would feel out of place, or that you have to become a walking Polo Ralph Lauren advertisement. It’s just that I’d be lying if I didn’t say that many students are preppy.

In between working, I still had plenty of time for fun. I spent a lot of time with my two best friends, Peter and Jim. A week into break, I actually trudged through the snow covered roads out to Pennsylvania to pick up Jim at his school, Grove City College. Jim gave me a tour (on which my ears and hands almost caught frostbite), and I found his school to be very interesting. Grove City is a small liberal arts school (like Rollins) affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (unlike Rollins—we are not affiliated with any religion or denomination, although we were founded by Congregationalists), so religion plays an important role in the operations of the college and in many of the lives of the students. Rules, however, are very permissive and recognizing of the fact that college students are adults. The campus is gorgeous, with Gothic architecture and many open areas. Unlike our Mills Lawn here at Rollins however, students are not allowed to walk upon the quad at Grove City. Jim claimed it was out of tradition, but I found it pretty funny nonetheless. While Rollins definitely is a superior college (not that I’m biased or anything…haha), I did notice one huge discrepancy between our campus and the Grove City campus. While the Rollins residence halls are average to above average for college dormitories, the Grove City residence halls are amazing. Now, granted, a college dorm room is generally a college dorm room, but it is when comparing common living areas that you see a huge difference. While we do have common rooms in our halls (In McKean Hall, where I live, we call them “pods”), Grove City’s halls had bottom floors that were extremely well-appointed and homey, creating a space extremely conducive to community. These common rooms were comfortable, well-decorated, and large, feeling like my family room at home. Grove City, cannot, however compare with our sand volleyball courts and lake view rooms. There is still something amazing about being able to wake every morning to the sun glistening on Lake Virginia.

My Christmas was excellent, even with the absence of snow. My grandparents on my mom’s side came for the day, and we had an extremely relaxing day. The following day, we celebrated Christmas with my uncle’s family at the Kalahari Resort. The resort is absolutely gargantuan, with its centerpiece being a mammoth indoor water park consisting of various slides, a water roller coaster, a lazy river, and even a wave pool where aspiring surfers receive lessons. I really enjoyed spending time with my brother and sister and parents, as well as with my three cousins.

The remainder of December and the first week of January went very quickly. After saying goodbye to my family (and after haggling with the airline counter agent over my baggage weight), I flew back into Orlando on January 8th. My intercession class (a one week optional class before the start of second semester) was to begin the next day…I’ll update you on that very soon!

Also, a quick note to remind you all to check out the amazing season that our Women’s Basketball Team is having…we’re ranked #10 in NCAA DII in the nation by the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Poll. Go Tars!

Good luck everyone as you either have first semester exams, or are starting a new semester! For the seniors…you’re almost there…don’t give up yet (although, in my book, Senior Skip Day is perfectly acceptable J—your principal might differ with my opinion). Feel free to email me with any questions.
 

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