Greetings again from IWU. I will confess to being a complete newb and not including my mailing address with my first update.
1209 N. Main St.
Bloomington, IL 61701
What's sad, is I had to double check the accuracy of that on a piece of mail sent to me from Emily. (Thanks, Em.)
First week of classes was great. At least the classes were. In truth, the beginning of the week got fairly unbearable because the roommate situation was getting ridiculously frustrating. I did my fair share of venting to various people back home and, because just unlocking the door to my room was a stressful event, (heart pounding as I wondered whether she would be behind the door or not) I have gotten to know Ames library rather well. It's a beautiful, quiet place anyway, and I was able to get all my work done ridiculously efficiently. For those of you who remember me raving about this place before I came, the library was one of the dominant reasons I fell in love with this place. It's still my favorite place, if not more so than before.
As for this upcoming week, the roommate stress should be over. Lauren moved in with a girl down the hall and that girl's roommate moved in with me. The arrangement worked out surprisingly well, since Sarah (my new roommate) is actually one of the girls here on my floor that I've gotten along with best since I got here. Plus, she's content to live without a television and we're both pretty laid back in general. I like her a lot, it helps that I can have a conversation with her, and she's an easily likable person. That transition happened Friday afternoon, and already it makes being here easier.
The classes I have are excellent too. Or, at least they're all good. German is ehh, but there's definitely nothing wrong with it. It's the class I'm in most of the week, but thankfully I have some background in the language, it's making the work much easier. Something interesting I learned in that class: in English, we capitalize the letter I because back before printing, when monks were writing out everything, the small letter "i" was often lost amongst all the other letters. For visibility's sake, they began capitalizing it and we still use this convention today.
My poetry class isn't a problem at all. So far, it has been very casual and relatively informal. Nothing much to report yet. However, my Tuesday/Thursday classes are my exciting ones. Chemistry of the Environment is bringing back a lot of what I loved about chemistry in high school. I've always liked chemistry's way of giving me a mental break from abstract thinking while still being fascinating. (A conversation with a chem major on Friday illuminated the fact that this is only true for basic chem, and that after the early stuff, it gets a little psychotic. I told him that's why I wasn't majoring in it.) This chemistry class is all about practical application too. We've been talking a lot about Air Quality Index (AQI) and pollutants. By accident, while flipping through my book, I discovered that incense gives off carcinogens. Have made the resolution to cut back to one a week whenever I'm at home. (I sound like a nicotine addict.) This class really reinforces the "go green" compulsion this school has. That's not necessarily a bad thing, I'm all for helping the environment, but it's easier to find a recycle bin around here than a garbage can. I spent five minutes looking for a place to dispose of my gum on Friday before a choir rehearsal.
(For those of you wondering, it is entirely coincidence that the school's colors are green and white while being an environmental school.)
The last class is my philosophy class, called Rights and Wrongs. As you can imagine, I love it. I'm not so sure about the professor. She's really young and reminds me of a highschool student a bit too much, (she uses the word "like" at least twice per sentence) but she obviously knows what she's talking about when she starts on philosophy. And the text she has assigned us is fascinating. Right now we're discussing whether there is such a thing as moral right and wrong, and how it is determined. There are a five different theories, which I will outline below, and the reading approaches all of them in great detail.
Moral Objectivism: there is a right and wrong, not dictated by mankind
Moral Subjectivism: morals are determined by the individual, and everyone's individual set of morals are correct
Moral Relativism: morals are determined by a society, and every society's individual morals are correct
NihilismError-theory: morals do not have truth value, and are therefore not applicable
Non-cognitivism: an expression of morals is simply a way to communicate personal preferences, make alliances, and individualize
I firmly adhere to moral objectivism, and the author of the book we're reading is too, which is nice. One thing, of course, that needs to be acknowledged is that moral objectivism does not claim to necessarily know all the exact rights and wrongs. That would be moral absolutism, which isn't directly related. Objectivists do believe there are ways to know what those rights and wrongs are, though. Haven't gotten there in the book yet.
Also, for those of you who are drawn toward Moral Subjectivism and Moral Relativism because of their nice middle ground or seemingly logical appeal, be careful. The arguments against them are strongest.
Can you tell I'm dying to discuss this stuff with people?
Outside of the classroom, I'm not involved with chapel choir (unofficially known as "gospel choir") and university choir. Everyone here, even if they have heard my range, likes me as an alto or mezzo, and I'm totally fine with that. There are plenty of girls dying to be sopranos. Looking forward to that.
Otherwise, finally nailed down a work-study job. Actually working custodial, but I've heard it's not as bad as the stigma might imply. Besides, I'm not above working any job. I'm still getting paid. Starts tomorrow, hopefully it goes okay.
This weekend was spent with Matthew, who is currently driving back to Carbondale. It was a very necessary break, as this week's living space was practically nonexistent. We hiked the Constitution Trail, a trail that used to be a railroad back in the day. There were some interesting landmarks about it. We only walked for a few hours because I chose to look nice and wear not walking shoes, (big mistake) but it was enjoyable anyhow. The truth is, there's not much to do here on weekends, but Matthew claims the same for Carbondale. We don't think it has anything to do with the locations or where we are, we think it's simply the college thing. Neither of us have really established ourselves yet, so we don't really have people to hang out with on weekends yet. So far, all there is to do on weekends is frat parties, but I have not been given very good impressions of Greek life here, even from people involved, so I'm kind of avoiding it for now. It's a trust thing, really. I suppose I don't feel like walking into situations I'm not prepared for if I can't trust anyone. I'm confident that eventually, weekends will start to liven a bit as I find a place and things to do, but until then, it's slow here when there are no classes.
One last thought, I have finally met a Luke! (As well as two Marks, but that part of the gospels has been filled for me.) He's in my philosophy class and possibly joining Intervaristy, (a student Bible study I'm getting involved with) so I was excited. And he wasn't too freaked out when I got excited over his name. (I think he and everyone else found it amusing, actually, once I explained that I need an acquaintance for each of the gospels and I'm overloaded with Marks and Johns.)
Song of the day: "Wildflower" by Sheryl Crow
Anyhow, that is all for now. Looking forward to writing letters after this is posted and emailed.
I miss you all so much,
Janna
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