NSA classmates

Call the press! Get the cameras down here! Faith is making a non-music related post!!

I feel the need to rave about how cool my classmates at NSA are.

First of all, my classmates are HILARIOUS. We are an extremely sarcastic class, its so funny. From Becca's antics to Josiah's Gollum impersonations to Pete's hilarious facial expressions to Ashley's fake ghetoness to Rob's extremely sarcastic humor to Claire's defensive Canadian-ness to Anthony's love of clothes and shoes to Margarette's eager acting to Tyler A.'s continual commentary bent on making fun of Pete to my constant war on coka-cola (PEPSI ALL THE WAY!)... every day is a different sort of adventure. And I'm not even kidding. No matter how hard the work load is, just walking into the commons room and seeing my friends is enough to bring me back up.

The other day I had a pretty horrible day trying to find where my training for my job had been moved to. I spent six hours trying to find the building unsuccessfully. I came to NSA frustrated and about to blow. I stormed into the commons room and saw Pete. And then I saw Margarette and Josiah and Kathleen and Tyler and Seth. Just seeing them calmed me down in a way that I can't explain. I was still miffed, but not half as much now.
Having not had any lunch that day I was starved, so I decided to get a drink. And remember, I was on the verge of blowing. Well, the thing that set me off was seeing that NSA was not only out of Pepsi, but they were also out of Squirt, and the machine wouldn't give me back my quarters. That was the last straw, and I pretty much blew up in the little kitchen.
The thing is, when I "blow up", I don't get mad. I start laughing really, really hard. I'm dead serious, I was so frustrated by then that I just leaned on the counter laughing like crazy. And Pete, who was sitting across the room from me, looked up and gave me this crazy look. It was a combination of a "what in the world are you doing, Faith?" expression and a huge grin. And that made me laugh harder. Five minutes later I was back on top, beaming like usual, and sooo happy to be at NSA.

Second, its amazing how fast I've become attached to my classmates. Since I was home schooled, this is the first time that I've ever been in an actual physical classroom with classmates that I can see. Having taken classes online from my father, I did have classmates and classes and such, but I could never actually see them. Just what they typed in the chat box. My high school classmates and I have become really close over the past four years, since we saw each other at least once a week for four years. But I see my classmates at NSA every day (except maybe Saturdays), so I've become attached to them way faster than my high school friends. Even the ones that I don't really know yet. I know their names and have probably spoken to them a few times, but I don't really know them yet. Seeing them still has that calming effect on me, granted perhaps its not as strong as the effect my closer friends have. Meg, Pete, Ashley, Staab, Kathleen, Anthony, Claire, Josiah, Cristina, Kaleb, Robin, Jeff ... I'm really going to miss them all when they go away for fall break and Thanksgiving. Whatever will I do when Christmas break comes? That's like ... a month long! And I don't even want to think about summer.

And lastly, my classmates are not only a blessing for this weird effect that they have on me, but they also are a blessing because of the example they are setting right now. The funny thing is they probably have no idea that they're doing it. But they are. They don't know what it was like when this year's seniors and junior and sophomores were freshmen. I did see that, though. My class has acquired the reputation of working hard and partying hard too. We've got an amazingly good balance between work and fun, and this is the first time in years that a freshmen class has gotten that reputation. And the really cool thing is that when we work, we work hard. And when we party, we party like, well, Christians! Our parties are actually fun rather than pointlessly silly, and I keep getting told by sophomores and juniors that they wish they were in my class because of how we do things differently from their own class.
Therefore, I'm so proud of my classmates. They came knowing that it would be a tough year, and they listened when Dr. Wilson and Dr. Atwood admonished us to find a good balance between work and fun. They knew what was required, and they've met this standard and have gone beyond it. I can't believe I'm a part of this great class, and I thank God that He placed such wonderful people in my life. They're a wonderful example to me, to work hard but to also take time off for fun, and I pray that I can return some of the blessings they've given me.

God bless you all!