It is the so called "dead" week. 

It is supposed to be when you have very little amounts of homework so you can study for your finals.  This is as usual, not the case.  Everyone is so busy and it is sad when they are all going to be leaving to go home for the break so soon.  It is time to embrace the good times for now though!  This past weekend I got my suite together from last year for a reunion.  All but one of us were there, because she moved out of town and the weather was supposed to be bad.  We missed her al ot though!  We went to a new pizza place in town called Lemmy's.  We had never been so we thought it would be fun.  There was a breakfast pizza on the menu and the first thing that I thought of was that it would have eggs on it.  Luckily, it didn't.  It was good to have everyone together and we talked about all of our favorite memories in the dorms.  That is a picture of us from last year when we did a couple shots in the library.  It was supposed to be funny, we didn't hang out there or anything.    This may sound way dorkish, but I saw the computer game Sim City on sale and bought it.  I used to play it all the time in junior high and wanted to see what the updated version was like.  Well, let me tell you it is as addicting as before with a couple new features.  I was talking with some friends and many of them thought it was great when you could build a city and blow it up.  I thought that was crazy though!  Why would you want to destroy something you made.  Just different personalities.    This time of year is so busy.  I am excited for the teacher open house this week.  You go around to the faculty houses and they give you free food and a place to hang out.  It is really great.  We have a teacher appreciation dinner on Friday that I am helping with and then this weekend is study study.  I like this time of year, but it is just so busy!

Back from Arizona to beautiful Kansas again. 

It got cold while I was gone though!   There was snow on the cars at the airport.  I was in the traffic with all of the college kids going back to school so it took a while to get back to Manhattan.   My trip was really good though.  My dad had to work on Thanksgiving so we did everything a day after.  This meant Turkey on Friday and shopping on Saturday.   My grandparents came to visit us too so the table was more full than usual.  Other than that it was the usual, rent movies and watch football kind of break.   It was really good to see my family and spend some time with them.  While I was there, I went to see the new movie, Enchanted, with my sister and her friend.   I thought it was a cute movie, while very unrealistic of course.  I think my favorite was when she would sing and all the animals would fly into the apartment to clean it up.   I wish I had powers like that!

A week and a half of classes is all that is left (and finals week).  It is a little known fact that finals week is quite possibly one of the best weeks of the year.   Yes, the test taking can be stressful, but there is so much time to hang out with friends and watch movies with friends in the newly Christmas decorated suites.   My favorite Christmas movie is definitely Elf; so funny.  There are so many events coming up soon and I am going to do my best to document all the fun.   This Friday is Winterfest, a dance student council puts on.  You are supposed to dress up in country attire so I have to go dig up some boots!  

Frigid...

I am looking out my window and the only word that comes to mind is frigid. The trees are swaying and since there are no more leaves on them, that means it is really windy. I got in a few great last warm days before the weather changed. This past weekend my friend Bethany from school was house sitting and I went and spent the night with her to keep her company. Once I'm in bed, I usually fall asleep fast.
Bethany was talking to me and I'm pretty sure I fell asleep on her.
We were roommates in the dorms last year though so I think she is probably used to it. That is a picture of us when we went to the Dashboard Confessionals concert.
The next day, we went out to breakfast at a local restaurant and ordered the hugest pancake ever that was my favorite, banana nut.
Both of us together couldn't even finish it! Then, we went and bought two pizzas to take to our friends who were working. Many of our friends work in the parking lot at K-State's football and basketball arenas. They can't leave to get food so they call their friends to bring it to them. The house she was watching was pretty close to the stadium, so we just walked. After we delivered the pizza, we walked around the parking lot and said hi to our other friends before making our way home.
That night, I went over to my friend Allison's house and we made dark chocolate raspberry cookies just like off of the Food Network, thanks to Paula Dean. I still don't know what is better, the batter or the baked cookie. It might be the batter.
I leave tonight for home in honor of Thanksgiving. I have to pack for my adventure and do my laundry because unlike most of my friends, I have to take plane home and there is not enough room for dirty clothes! Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks...

I am a junior here at MCC, and very fortunate to be so because the juniors are so close knit.  We are all good friends and like to do things together in big groups.   We have a great Student Council that makes all of our fun gatherings possible.  Thanksgiving is next week, but we thought we should celebrate a little bit of a feast before we left for home.   This week, the junior class had a progressive dinner.  We don't do something every week, probably just once a month.   We started at an apartment building where a few juniors live and had salad and soda.  And there were these pieces of bread with cheese in them that people were calling "cheese poofs".   I have never heard of anything like that and I thought that was the oddest name, but they tasted good.  Then we headed over to someone's house where we hade brisket and cheesy potatoes.   I didn't know you actually bought something at the store called "brisket".  I am definitely not familiar with most meat-cooking styles because my favorite is chicken (and I know that's poultry).   Lastly, we went to another house and had "dump cake" for dessert, another weird name for a food.  We ended up playing this psychologist game where one person goes out of the room and tries to guess what the problem is with everyone else in the room.   Not their real problems, but ones they make up for the "psychologist" to guess. 

              Campus as a whole has been pretty empty these past couple days because both soccer teams and quite a few fans went to Florida for the National Championship.   The boys won and girls got fourth, which is great!  I'm ready for many of my friends to be back though; it's just not the same without them!

              Next week is Thanksgiving and I am headed home to AZ to spend some time with my family.   I am really looking forward to the stuffing.  But as always, the meal as a whole is something to celebrate! 

The business never stops! 

That is something I appreciate about MCC, there is always something to do or help out with.   This past weekend I helped out with Oasis.  Now, you may be wondering what it is and I am here to tell you it is one of the best weekends of the year.   It is when a bunch of junior high and high school students come to Manhattan from surrounding churches to participate in a conference held at MCC.  We had tons of volunteers from MCC and even more kids show up to enjoy the event.  This year the theme was Illusions of Truth.  There was an illusionist as part of the conference.   One of their tricks was to escape from a water tank.  It was pretty neat. 

              Having been on camp team two summers ago, I saw many faces that I had met then.   It was really great to see all of those people again.  It brought back tons of memories and it was cool to see how people had grown. 

              During free time for Oasis I sold shirts with my friend Sarah.   We sat right in front of the Guitar Hero competition so it was quite entertaining.  People have the most blank faces when they are playing that game and it is really funny to watch them mess up.   (Not that I am mean, just their faces!)  In the background were Karaoke and the scent of Cotton Candy floating through the air.   I was never a big fan of that fair food and seeing them poor colored sugar into the middle to make it affirmed that it in fact is way too sweet for me. 

Horse Riding...

The other weekend I went as a sponsor on a high school girls’ retreat with my church in Manhattan, and it was a blast. We went horseback riding and one of the girls’ horses unexpectedly got bumped into by the horse in front of her. Needless to say the horse was taken aback and started jumping around. She let out the loudest squeal ever!
Everything was fine and, after the fact, it was quite funny to remember. We also had a campfire and went canoeing. The lake was more like a pond though and the canoes kept bumping into the bank which made for a great time to splash the helpless occupants of that boat! Oh brrr!
We also had our annual Barn Party here at MCC. It is literally held in a barn and is a costume party. It is put on by Campus Program Council
(CPC) and they did a great job putting it together with decorations, food, and even a live band. It is always at Mrs. Swihart’s barn, one of the teachers at our school. The event is so fun because you can’t wait to see what everyone is going to be dressed as. My costume was really last minute and after putting on a white pillow case with arm and head holes, I was a white Chicklet. I know, clever… just kidding.
There were rock stars, Willy Wonka characters, Moses, a couple cows, some librarians, and even a baby. I think the person who won best costume was Superman’s Facebook, where someone went around with a cardboard cutout of the image of a Facebook account and stuck his head where the profile picture goes. He was dressed as Superman too. The most funny costume award was awarded to the boy dressed like a baby.
He was wearing a VERY large diaper. Oh my! All in all, it was a great time and I am already looking forward to it next year!

Hello to all out there.

May you be embarking on your search for which college is right for you or you have inkling for blogs, welcome to my world. My name is Katelynn and I am a junior here at Manhattan Christian College. All of my life I understood the only Manhattan to be in New York. However, come my junior year of high school I was set straight when my church youth group came for a visit.

I am originally from Phoenix, Arizona with rocks and cacti in my front yard. Kansas was not that big of an adjustment though. It felt like home as soon as I got here, especially at MCC. I left behind a little sister in high school and my parents. I know they miss me back at home but a girl's got to grow up sometime! My sister and I were Dorthy and the lion for Halloween one year. It was pretty much decided right then that Kansas was it. It is my third year here so I feel like I am getting the hang of it. While I still can't name the crop when we drive by farm fields like some of my friends, I do love Kansas for all it has to offer.

I go to Kansas State University, too, and am in the Family Studies and Human Services Program. I pretty much have the best of both worlds. I go to a large university where I can interact in a large community and then come back to MCC where it is small, yes, but where I have made some of the greatest friends ever that we can share life with.

I look forward to sharing my adventures with you for this year. I hope that you enjoy them, learn a little about me and maybe get a student's perspective on a school that has changed my life and can change yours too!