Again, But Better

VCW 237, finally decorated after being occupied for three weeks

Robin the kitten in a friend's backpack

“There is a kind of magicness about going far away and then coming back all changed.”
― Kate Douglas Wiggin

Hello again, dear readers!

I have been back on the Hilltop for a little over three weeks now. I'm living in Village C West again, this time as an RA (resident assistant). I have thirty residents, who are all lovely and will likely be extremely successful here at Georgetown. (None of them is friends with me on Facebook and therefore none of them knows this blog exists, so I'm not just saying that!)

Classes just started last Wednesday, and they're picking up slowly. I know I should cherish the free time while I have it, but I'm getting antsy without that much to do. I am currently enrolled in four classes and on the waitlist for a fifth. I might actually get off the waitlist for the theology course, which would be fantastic; I had the professor last semester and loved her, so I'd probably enjoy taking another of her courses. All in all, I have a decent academic workload this semester! I have Tuesday afternoons entirely free, Monday and Wednesday from 11 to 3:30 free, and Fridays after 12:15 free. It's a solid schedule, and gives me plenty of time to attend to my many obligations. Below are my classes for this semester!

1. Linguistics: Grammatical Analysis
2. Linguistics: Language & Social Justice
3. Justice & Peace Studies: Peace Is Possible
4. Spanish: Gateway to Linguistics
5. Theology: Judaism & Gender

So far I really enjoy being an RA. I've been able to meet such incredible people that I otherwise would not have known, and I love being a resource and support for first-year students. My residents seem to love my cat, so hopefully that means I'm actually helpful to them in some way, even if it's just by providing some relaxation through kitty play time.

My kitten Robin is adorable and wonderful, and he is learning not to attack my legs, so overall, he and I are getting along well. For the most part he seems happy in the dorm room; he does get annoyed when I spend a lot of time outside of the room, but I try my best to give him enough attention and let people come over to play with him when I have to do work.

It's interesting to be back at Georgetown after three months away. In those three months, I visited Spokane, Washington, and met students from other Jesuit universities around the country. I spent many long days helping my family or avoiding do any work at all. I missed my friends and my cats, but I got to see many friends as well. I sang Outkast's "Hey Ya" at the top of my lungs with my best friend, in her car with the windows rolled down, and a woman in the next car over smiled at us. I spent time in Kraków, Poland, an experience so incredible and extraordinary that I struggle to fully describe it. While in Poland, I formed relationships with fellow Hoyas I had never met and/or spoken to before, people I now eagerly spend time with back on the Hilltop. My relationship with God entirely changed in Poland; my relationship with myself entirely changed in Poland.

I'm glad to be back, I'm excited for a new year, and I'm blessed to have more opportunities to love, to learn, and to change in this school year.

Take care!

Family

Mom, chocolate ice cream, and peach melba at dinner on October 16, 2015

"Welcome to the Hoya Family!" they cheered at us during NSO. (For the non-Georgetown readers, NSO stands for New Student Orientation, the four days before classes start, full of overwhelming enthusiasm from orientation advisors and crippling freshmen awkwardness.) Honestly, the Hoya family isn't too far off from the Mohr family—just as many people I don't know at reunions, a hearty love of alcohol, and witty jokes. The only thing that's missing from the Hoya family is people telling me, "The last time I saw you you were this high!" like they'd forgotten about the passage of time and the growth patterns of children.

Last weekend was Family Weekend, and it highlighted an extremely important aspect of Georgetown and of the concept of "family" as a whole. 

My parents left Georgia last Thursday around 10 PM, and I woke up at 7:50 AM on Friday morning to a phone call from Mom. "We'll be there in fifteen minutes, okay, so get ready and we'll pick you up for breakfast!" My dad idled by Darnall Hall as we played twenty questions over the phone so that I could find him. (The winning answer was, "There's a hospital on campus, right? I think I'm by that.") We had breakfast in their hotel restaurant, and Mom could not stop smiling. The girls talked a mile a minute, just like always.

I was really excited to see and hug my family. I was really excited to introduce them to my new friends, and I was really excited to just hang out with them for a while. We ended up going to very few of the scheduled parents-weekend activities, deciding it was much more fun to spend time on our own. Everyone was really tired, them from the long car drive and me from doing this whole college thing, but it was so incredibly nice to see them.

Strangely, being with my immediate family made it feel like no time had passed. Also strangely, the "Hoya family" didn't seem to exist, at least not to me. The only family that mattered last weekend was my blood relatives and the people I had formed bonds with. I am a part of something here at Georgetown; I know that intellectually and emotionally. Maybe one day it will feel like a family, but for now, it is something Other, not necessarily worse but definitely not better. My family is the people I choose to love.

Rivers and Windchill

The Potomac River around 7:30 PM on October 10, 2015

It's extraordinary and strange and scary to think about how different my life is right now, and even more so to realize that right now is only the beginning of all that change. My parents met soon after college, and their lives completely changed together. Everything changes, and to be in a time of drastic and constant change is as terrifying as it is exhilarating. Today I met a recent Georgetown alumna who was a linguistics major and who is getting married on June 18. She met her fiancé at Georgetown—one of the many Hoyas who marry other Hoyas. Chances are high that I will meet my future spouse here at Georgetown.

So far, though, I'm just trying to get my feet solidly under me. I'm starting to feel less uprooted and more natural in this drastically different environment. I live in a city, next to a river, with colder Octobers, in a shared room, where nearly everyone is fabulously wealthy, in Ward 2 of the District. I live only a few miles from the White House. I cannot wrap my head around that.

Everything is going well, as I'm sure you were wondering. (I can hear you all now: "Hannah, stop babbling and tell us what we actually want to know!") Academics are a bit challenging in terms of time management—I've never had so much assigned reading in my life—but I'm getting decent grades. On my very first college test I earned a 95%! I have one test and one midterm this week, and then my midterm season is thankfully over.

Over the past two weeks, I've learned the importance of drinking water, getting eight hours of sleep, eating balanced meals, and exercising. I recently found a workout partner, Elizabeth, and we're set to work out in about seven hours. (Yes, I should probably be sleeping.) 

I've also learned the importance of just sucking it up, of communicating emotions, and of finding people you trust. I have found people I trust. It's still strange to open up to these new friends, but I'm making significant progress! Funnily enough, one of my closest friends here is named Ellen, and even though she's almost nothing like Helen, the similarity in names makes me smile.

I do have to admit, things haven't been entirely sunshine and daisies. The stress really got to me for a little while there, and the fact that I frequently forgot to take my medication didn't help matters. My main goal now is to prioritize properly. God, health, academics, and then everything else—that should keep me sane and healthy, but it can also be harder than it sounds. I'm trying my hardest to find the right balance in college since unfortunately my high school balance doesn't seem to apply here.

Even though it's strange to be here and I have no idea what my future looks like, I know deep in my bones that this is where I'm meant to be. I can't imagine myself anywhere else. I am so blessed.

Much love to you all,

Hannah Q.

VCW 301

After living here for a month, I finally took pictures of my dorm room for you all to see. Enjoy!

My white chair folds up when not in use, and my laundry hamper rests on my tub of food

My foot stool and part of my bed and desk 

The view from our door is mostly Kaitlin's side of the room

My wind chime hangs from our door-stopper

My rain boots and umbrella

Our door featuring my wardrobe, a poster Gracie got me for Christmas, and my colorful towels

My bed, window, and wardrobe

The succulent that Cassie gave me with the little pig that Haleigh gave me

The back of my wardrobe is covered in photos and art and poetry

The back of my wardrobe and its many pictures. The crucifix at the top was my mother's in college.

My desk

My shelves of novels, textbooks, water bottles, and keepsakes

Decorations of the wall above my desk

Decorations and reminders on the wall next to my desk

My roommate Kaitlin, her bed, and our refrigerator

Our shower curtain with dragonflies

CLASSES!

My mother recently told me that my great aunt Judy (hi!!) was curious about my classes here at Georgetown. To satisfy her curiosity and perhaps yours, here I detail my classes and what exactly I'm studying.

This semester, I am taking five courses that sum to fifteen credit hours. These courses are:

1. Intro to Ethics, taught by Nancy Sherman (and my TA is Karen Rice)
2. Advanced Spanish 1, taught by Ana Levenson
3. Intro to Language, co-taught by Sean Simpson and Caitlin Elizondo
4. History Focus: Early Modern Women, taught by Amy Leonard with TA Sylvia Mullins
5. Ignatius Seminar (Georgetown College first-year seminar) entitled Serving the Common Good, taught by Bette Jacobs

Today I finished my fourth week of classes, although I still have not had a full week. Georgetown eases its students into class: three days of classes the first week, four the second, and all five the third. In my case, however, and in the cases of my classmates for Intro to Ethics, we will have our first full week next week due to our professor's religion. Nancy Sherman observes the Jewish holidays, which happened to fall on our class days this year, so we did not have class on Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah. Despite this anomaly, I now have a fairly good idea of my class schedule and workload.

So far my favorite class has been my history class, which examines women in early modern Europe (roughly 1400 - 1789 C.E.). The professor is phenomenal, the material is highly interesting, and I'm thrilled that I was not required to buy any of the textbooks for the class. (God bless Lau's reserves system.) I have also greatly enjoyed my linguistics class (Intro to Language), which was a relieving discovery seeing as that is my major.

Now is a great time to explain: what is linguistics? "So how many languages do you speak?" is the first question any linguistics major will get. Coincidentally, I speak two, but polyglotism is not required to be a linguist. On the first day of class, my professor presented an excellent analogy: "To drive a car, you don't need to know what's going on under the hood. You just know how to drive it. To speak a language, you don't need to know how it works; you just know how to speak it. A linguist is to language what a car mechanic is to cars." It can be pretty complicated!

My ethics class has fairly interesting material, much to my pleasant surprise. Prior to coming to Georgetown, I had a less-than-favorable view of the study of ethics and philosophy as a field that dedicated itself to arguing. So far I've found that ethics, or at least at the intro level, is more about describing different schools of thought and questioning morality as a whole. As an added bonus, this class satisfies half of my core requirement in philosophy!

Having a Spanish class again is a nice familiarity. Unfortunately, this is also Georgetown, so I'm no longer the best student in my Spanish class. It's an adjustment for sure.

My seminar is about nonprofits and NGOs, and although it's had a slow start, I feel like we're really getting started now. We will have various guest speakers and even have the opportunity to go to a gala later in the semester! We will meet the former CEO of the Gates Foundation, and the former CEO of National Geographic. Our major project for the semester is a case study on a 501 (c) (3), and because of this class I actually know what that means! (Life Teen is a 501 (c) (3) as is the Girl Scouts and so many more!)

Overall, academics have pleasantly surprised me. Classes are efficient, covering vast ranges of material in just 50 minutes, and professors are generally pleasant. Three of my professors tell us to call them by their first names, much to my Georgian discomfort. (I still call all of my best friends' parents "Ms" and "Mr" despite being part of the family for years.) Southern manners are not something that leaves you quickly.

My grades are, as of yet, unknown! I have had very few assignments, and have no way of knowing my class averages. That reality is mildly terrifying for a Fulton County overachiever who could check her grades on Home Access any time she wanted in high school. It's my understanding that the first semester of college often destroys grades, so as long as I maintain a 3.0 GPA my first semester, I will not panic. (Parents—this is not my goal GPA. Do not panic or think I am lowering my standards!)

Here's to a good semester with good grades and lots of learning!

Day 30

Today is the last day of my first month at Georgetown. My Georgetown friends may argue with me—they have very strong opinions of the duration of a month—but I have been at Georgetown from August 26, 2015 to September 25, 2015.

I find it impossible to describe this month succinctly. Life-changing events have occurred, and mundane events have too. My best summary of my past month is my intense gratitude. Still it all feels like a dream, and eventually I will wake up back in Georgia with a cat on top of me and sisters chattering as they get ready for school and Chattahoochee waiting for me to start the day. I suspect that I will never stop feeling this way. I am so grateful to live in this dream world.

I have found myself a core group of friends. These losers, as I tend to affectionately call them, have been lovely company as we attempt to navigate this large world we now call life. We call ourselves "squad," further indicating the extent of our loser-dom. Just yesterday, we determined that I am squad mom; the label flooded me with warmth as I felt a little more at home in a brand-new place. Kaei, Michael, Isaac, Hunter, Margaret, and Ellen—these are my new people. I terribly miss my old people too, and frequently check in with Allison, Elena, Helen, Nikki, Preet, and JVL. Six old and six new friends, all people I am thankful that God created.

Today is Day 30 of Hannah at Georgetown. On Day 29, I saw Pope Francis at the United States Capitol. Pressed against a green plastic fence, I held a Canon camera into the air for fifteen minutes and sobbed as Pope Francis made his way onto the West Lawn balcony and blessed us all. He welcomed us and prayed over us, saying: 

Buenos días a todos. Se agradezco su acogida y su presencia. Se agradezco los personajes más importantes que están aquí, los niños. Quiero pedirle a Dios que los bendiga. Señor, Padre nuestro de todos, bendice a este pueblo. Bendice a cada uno desde ellos, bendice a sus familias, dales lo que más necesiten. Y le pido por favor a ustedes que recen por mi y si entre ustedes hay algunos que no creen o no pueden rezar les pido por favor que me deseen cosas buenas. Thank you, thank you very much, and God bless America.*

The translator left out a few words, translating "dales lo que más necesiten" to "bless them all," but the crowd before him got the message loud and clear. Pope Francis loves his people, and asks us all, believers and otherwise, to pray for him and send him good vibes. People all around us were crying, making me feel less self-conscious about my flat-out sobs. I have been blessed by Pope Francis, and so has my family.

That never would have happened in Georgia. Yesterday on my walk home, I passed the White House and saw John Kerry. That never would have happened in Georgia, either. Georgia is all I know, and being here is so foreign that I can't wrap my head around it. The King and Queen of Spain were here on campus a couple weeks ago. I can't wrap my head around that either.

One Saturday night, I walked with a new friend from our campus to the monuments. When we reached the White House, I asked her, "Do you think the President ever gets used to it? Do you think the novelty of the White House ever wears off?" I wonder if Georgetown seniors have gotten used to it, to this amazing place with its amazing opportunities. I wonder if I ever will. I wonder if I will ever stop wondering how different my life would be right now if I had gone to UGA, the more financially logical decision. I wonder what would be better and what would be worse.

Here at Georgetown, my default mood is happy. I am simply happy, in a place that strives to foster men and women for others. I recently reread my Georgetown application essays; in them I wrote, Georgetown "consists of and creates the type of people I love, people who use their excellence to further the world. Being a Hoya would change my life, and hopefully help me change others’ lives, for the better." I am a Hoya on the Hilltop, this Hilltop of change and challenge and an atmosphere of servant leadership. And that's truly incredible to this little Georgia girl.


*A translation for your benefit, if you so desire: "Good morning, everyone. I thank you for your welcome and your presence. I thank the most important people here, the children. I want to ask God to bless you. Lord, Father of all, bless this people. Bless each of them, bless their families, give them what they most need. And I ask you all please to pray for me, and if among you there are some who do not believe or cannot pray, I ask you please to send me good wishes."