I enjoy all of my classes this semester. I’m continuing Japanese, a language I certainly do not regret starting here at St. Norbert. Torimoto Sensei is a phenomenal professor. I am also taking Calculus and Philosophy. Both enjoyable enough. My final class is Intro to Bible, and it is not what I expected at all. In a great way though; it’s my favorite class. We just discussed how the story of Noah is not at all one of happy animals, mercy, and rainbows, but one of mass murder and God lowering his expectations of humans. As my professor said in response to all the happy illustrations of the story of Noah, “Where all the bloated corpses!?” I laughed.

I also got to see Coach Boone, Denzel Washington in, Remember in the Titans, give a speech here at St. Norbert as part of Black History Month. It was a memorable speech, and certainly something I will gloat about to my friends not here at SNC. And no, Sunshine did not actually kiss Gary.

My family also got to meet my girlfriend, Kimberly over break. Oh yeah have I mentioned that? I met someone very special at college! Her name is Kimberly and she lives a floor below me in Bergstrom. She is one of the most kind and polite people I have met here at St. Norbert and is not an inch short of earning the title Lady. This is my first relationship as well as hers and my bones go vibrant with the energy between us! By that, I mean when we are near dopamine shoots off with oxytocin to follow producing that “feel good” sensation and afterwards a pounding heart when she departs. Sorry, I’m a science major, can you tell? But enough about love.

Besides my blood brothers I got to spend some time with my friend-Bros too. We played games, most predominantly Super Smash Bros, cooked, made milkshakes, put on our own little Christmas exchange between us, and of course just conversed with each other deep into the night, sharing our first college experiences! But I could not spend too much time with them as I went back to St. Norbert January 2nd for Track Camp. Although many of them visited me during this time as I live in the Green Bay Area, which was quite thoughtful of them. They even took my shopping since the Cafeteria isn’t open until classes start. Ah, I missed them dearly.

But now break is over, and I’m excited for Track, my classes, and too see all my new college friends again (especially Kimberly)! Let 2nd semester begin!

Another exciting event that happened this week was Sunday I hosted a Super Smash Bros. Brawl Tournament for my dorm in which 16 people participated in, and I didn’t even advertise to other dorms! I am excited for next week as my patrons have requested I host a Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament every Sunday! My roommate, Colton, was the winner of this week’s tournament, playing Pit. However he requested to play me after he won (I have a reputation for being the best player in the dorm), and he didn’t even get a life on me (we were playing three stock). I look forward to next week, and who the winner will be and I am in search for anyone who might be able to beat me on this campus.

Track & Field is also now being guided by captains instead of coaches until the indoor season starts. I’m feeling great about my freshman year so far, and I am looking forward for the season to begin. However, my ankle has recently started bothering me, so I might have to take it easy for a week or two.

This is also a good time to mention that I also work as a cook assistant at a very fine ($15-$30 a meal) Italian restaurant called Angelina in downtown Green Bay. I would certainly recommend it for anyone (especially for a romantic date!). Typically I’ll be working 24-26 hours a week, but it isn’t overwhelming because half of those hours are during the weekend.

Classes are going well still, for the first time I’ve actually had to really put for the effort in a math class (Calculus) to get the grade I want. But besides that, college has not been stressful at all for me. In fact, my neighbor Peter asked me recently, “Do you even get stressed?” I laughed.

I also joined a program called Emerging Leaders, which is a  program consisting of a retreat, a group project, and four workshops which all work on bonding within the group and improving on one’s leadership skills. We’ve only had the retreat to Camp Tekawitha where we all got to know each other by participating in ice breaking and team building activities. We also all wrote nice notes to each other (sounds lame, but it was actually really warming!).

My High School, Ashwaubenon, had its homecoming over long break and I got to see a few High School friends as they were back in town. It is so nice to see some familiar faces and keeping in touch with old friends is something I really have enjoyed doing in college. There are college students that don’t keep in touch with old friends and it really is disappointing to see good friends fall apart just because they aren’t close to one another. And the value of a phone call from an old friend/family is so appreciated!

Track is getting intense. I enjoyed High School Track at Ashwaubenon High, but this is just a new level of workouts. This is kind of gross, but I puked for the first time from physically exerting myself. The support from the team was great though. It isn’t like I didn’t complete the workout or it was too much for me, I just pushed myself to a new limit I’ve never been to. That’s looking at it optimistically though, I mean, I still threw up. The team showed a lot of support though, which was awesome. I only heard how throwing up is just testament to how hard someone worked, and now how it was because I was unprepared for the workout. #Communio.

Classes are going well still. I didn’t do as well as I would have liked on a Calculus Test, but it just serves as reinforcement to study harder for the next test, but I also got an A on my first college essay for Honors English, which is just a great way to start off a class.

As far as classes go, things are going great. One particular event surprised me was when my Honors English professor got our class’ four page essays back to us with corrections in just two days. I literally just stared at the ground with my mouth open in surprise when I heard the news (looking goofy in front my whole class). I realize this isn’t particularly incredible, but when in High school one of my English teachers took months to get our papers back, and I was just so used to waiting for months that two days just blindsided me. I still really love my intro to Japanese Class and I’m thinking about making my minor Japanese.

OH DREADED CLASSES! Dreaded? HA! Not here at St. Norbert. My first college class ever was Calculus. Sounds not the best? Well, when your professor literally almost knocks their podium over in excitement for teaching you just know the class is going to be great. I think my Japanese professor (we get to call her Sensei which is just the neatest thing) has got to be the nicest lady on Earth, and my Honors English Class pulls me deep into thought just about every class. My last class though is … well it’s okay. It is also great to live in Bergstrom with other Honors Students as well. The atmosphere here just nourishes academic focus and growth, but at the same time there is always some gaming going on or movies going on in the lounge, or baking cookies in the downstairs kitchen. We also got a group together and played Ghosts in the Graveyard, Zombie Tag, and Broom Tag all in the dorm (super fun!).

One of my favorite things to do that I discovered last year about myself, is going night running, and this campus is beautiful for it. Every night I go for a run and sometimes my roommate Colton runs along with me. I cannot wait until Track season begins and I can proudly call myself a Green Knight of St. Norbert. Looking forward to bonding with the rest of the Track & Field Team and shoving my limits to a greater level with my fellow teammates.

The only unfortunate event so far was that the Bergstrom second floor bathroom flooded while doing plumbing on it, and our carpet got drenched! So hopefully no mold decides to lay claim to our floor, that would just be awful. Other than that, college so far: awesome.