College Update
It's been a long time since I have posted about being student, but enough of the year has passed now for me to give a substantial reflection of being a part time Moore College student.
I couldn't help it - I had to turn it into a chart:
I hope that makes the highs and lows clear enough!
The class has been fantastic and our lecturer is basically the best - rivalling the awesomeness of my favourite geography lecturers from uni days and coming close to even taking away the best-lecturer-ever award from Vras. But there have been some difficult parts as well, mainly:
Making friends
I found when I rocked up to class in the first week that I had a few friends already, random connections from around the place plus a couple of familiar faces I had met at orientation week. Bonus! But since that time I have made only one proper new friend in Carolyn. It's just too hard to make friends with people during a weekly five minute tea break and the 30 seconds you spend in the elevator together. I think during the course of the year I have introduced myself to almost every person in the class. They are all very nice, but I can only remember three of their names (Phil, Katie and Nola!). I guess it's not really that much of a problem - what else would you expect in this kind of situation? But I feel a little short-changed when facebook or twitter give me brief glimpses of the rest of the dynamic, integrated college community - the bit that I don't get to be a part of.
Integrating what I learn
It's been super hard to integrate the things I learn in class into living as a Christian. It doesn't help that:
1. I am not relationally connected to most of the people I am learning with (see above); and
2. I am only learning about the Old Testament - a lot of the historical and biblical theory is hard to integrate into my roles at Anglicare and at church!
I have to be constantly reminding myself that being at Moore is a great blessing. I should embrace it and let it shape me! However this is unsurprisingly hard to do when push comes to shove. It's hard to be inspired on Tuesday nights when I am tired and sitting in a room full of strangers, being lectured by a person who I am convinced still doesn't know my name.
I couldn't help it - I had to turn it into a chart:
I hope that makes the highs and lows clear enough!
The class has been fantastic and our lecturer is basically the best - rivalling the awesomeness of my favourite geography lecturers from uni days and coming close to even taking away the best-lecturer-ever award from Vras. But there have been some difficult parts as well, mainly:
Making friends
I found when I rocked up to class in the first week that I had a few friends already, random connections from around the place plus a couple of familiar faces I had met at orientation week. Bonus! But since that time I have made only one proper new friend in Carolyn. It's just too hard to make friends with people during a weekly five minute tea break and the 30 seconds you spend in the elevator together. I think during the course of the year I have introduced myself to almost every person in the class. They are all very nice, but I can only remember three of their names (Phil, Katie and Nola!). I guess it's not really that much of a problem - what else would you expect in this kind of situation? But I feel a little short-changed when facebook or twitter give me brief glimpses of the rest of the dynamic, integrated college community - the bit that I don't get to be a part of.
Integrating what I learn
It's been super hard to integrate the things I learn in class into living as a Christian. It doesn't help that:
1. I am not relationally connected to most of the people I am learning with (see above); and
2. I am only learning about the Old Testament - a lot of the historical and biblical theory is hard to integrate into my roles at Anglicare and at church!
I have to be constantly reminding myself that being at Moore is a great blessing. I should embrace it and let it shape me! However this is unsurprisingly hard to do when push comes to shove. It's hard to be inspired on Tuesday nights when I am tired and sitting in a room full of strangers, being lectured by a person who I am convinced still doesn't know my name.