Reflections on Mass

Here's a post I started writing back in February, but I'm glad I didn't finish it. I actually have more to add, especially about the Easter Vigil last weekend.

From February:

Last week, I went to my first traditional Latin Mass, and honestly, I can see why people love it. Although it's definitely a bit more difficult to follow along since it's mostly silent, it was a lot easier to focus on Jesus. I've also found that veiling really does help to keep me more focused on what's going on. My mind can't wander to what's going on around me for two reasons:

1. I can't really see what's beside me.
2. I have a physical reminder that I'm in the presence of God
I'm not here to say of veiling is right or wrong, but I am definitely saying that it helps me to focus. If anyone has advice for how to keep a veil on, I would appreciate it! Mine slipped so badly that my boyfriend had to help me put it back on 😂.

I did not go to Mass this week- I was exposed to the flu earlier and I was showing several signs of it last night. I slept off most of it, but I'm still not feeling well enough to be willing to expose really young or really old people to something that is making me, a fairly healthy person, absolutely miserable.
Ultimately, I've learned that I definitely prefer the more traditional way of doing Mass, even though I do not find TLM to be the one true way of Catholicism.

Updates from last weekend:

Earlier this semester, I attended a retreat where I had the chance to have first Confession and receive the Eucharist for the first time, but I decided instead to wait until I was back at my parish, partially because I was told "some priests will allow you to receive before the vigil, some won't" and partially because I wanted to be able to spend time for my first Confession. It still only took 20 minutes, but I had no idea what to expect, so I'm thankful I waited until I was back home.

At Palm Sunday Mass, I was able to receive my first Communion in the Catholic Church. I teared up, my deacon was tearing up, it was a good time. In all honesty, being able to receive Jesus, completely and fully, in the Eucharist for the first time was an experience like no other. 

Easter Vigil, however, was something completely new. I cried a little bit after being Confirmed, and definitely was trying not to cry when I hugged my priest at the reception after the Mass had ended. 

I'm so thankful for everything I've experienced this semester as I finished preparing to enter the Church.

 

Minimal Waste in College

It's hard being zero-waste in college. Our on campus coffee shops don't allow us to use our own cups, and most of the on campus dining options use plastic utensils. Most of my waste is not plastic- I've been moving away from that all year. It's the paper bowls and bags used by the restaurants. I know it's still not the most sustainable, but I'm trying to make the most eco-friendly choices I can, especially since I have such an expensive meal plan.


Here's what I've been doing to cut down on waste:

1) Reusables

I use reusable shopping bags- one is plastic, because it's one of those thermal bags to keep frozen things frozen- but the rest are canvas. I can usually fit all my month's groceries into one bag, although I try to use two because I usually go to multiple stores. I'm looking to invest in some produce bags though, especially since I buy a lot of onions and they like to shed all over my pantry shelf.

I have stainless steel water bottles and water cups, as well as a Brita. The one filter has lasted my entire suite over a semester. I know it's plastic, but it's definitely not a single use product. I also have two ceramic mugs, one with a lid, one without, that I use for protein shakes, tea, and hot chocolate. I'm versatile like that.

2) Repurpose

I keep as many of my glass jars as I can and clean them out. I use them to hold everything I can. Some of my friends use empty soda bottles (like the vintage label mountain dew ones) as wall decor. The only ones I throw out are the ginger beer ones because the shape makes it difficult to reuse. If anyone has ideas for repurposing them, let me know, because I do drink a lot of them.

3) Refuse

I try to avoid anything with plastic. I stick to cans, loose in cardboard, or loose, but there's a few things, like cereal and that impulse buy of cornbread mix, that have cardboard boxes with the ingredients mixed in a plastic bag. I could understand if it were ingredients that are mixed at a much later stage in baking, but these are all items that don't need the plastic bag in the first place.

4) Recycle

This is my last resort, but it's where my papers and Arbonne products go at the end of their lives. I love selling for a company that cares about carbon neutral shipping and making sure their products are recyclable, but I do wish they would put at least the nutrition in glass. Anything individually wrapped is usually non-recyclable but I try to recycle everything else. I solidly had more recycling than trash last semester, and I'm hoping for the same this one.



The "I really have no way to get rid of this waste" Things

1) Clorox wipes

Yes, I know that there are all-natural all purpose sprays, but when you get strep a LOT and have been around people with the flu, sometimes clorox wipes and a little bit of bleach will keep you healthier.

2) Contact Lenses

Luckily, the bubble casing and the aluminum covers are all recyclable, but I'm running into issues where the specific lenses I had to switch to are not recyclable (or they might just be too expensive to recycle, which is understandable.)

3) Paper Towels

I mostly use these for things like cleaning mirrors and cleaning out the drains, meaning places where I do not want to spend $2.50 to wash and dry a single dishcloth immediately. Although my suite keeps a few dishcloths around, paper towels have proven to be more useful.

A Day in the Life of Me

It's been awhile since I've done one of these, and obviously with me being in college, my daily schedule has changed a LOT. So without further ado, here's an updated version.

6:30 am: Wake up, check emails, texts, and other notifications

7:00 am: get ready, eat breakfast

7:30 am: leave dorm for classes

8:00-11:00: I'm in my first two classes of the day

11:30-12:45: I hang out with my friends, get some lunch, and do some of my homework. Usually, I'm already ahead so I don't have to work too much, but I'm taking so many hours this semester, it feels like I'm already behind.

1:00-4:00: I'm in the rest of my classes. It's a drag, having hour and a half long classes, but it also means I have days off instead of sitting in classes all day, five days a week.

4:00-6:00: I'm either doing homework or taking a break, depending on what homework I have to do, how much of it I have, and my motivation to do more school stuff.

6:15ish: I get dinner, usually at one of the chain restaurants on campus. I switched meal plans to one with fewer meal swipes because I realized last semester than my meal swipes were sitting extremely unused.

7:00-9:30 ish: I'm back in my room, again, probably back on that schoolwork grind. If I'm not in my room, I'm at church, club meetings, or with my boyfriend. This is probably the least structured part of my day, but I don't mind it.

9:30-10:00: I get ready for bed, and try to go to sleep by 10. Occasionally, a coding assignment will keep me up until closer to 11, but I try to not make that a habit.


Well, here is my daily schedule. Hopefully you enjoyed learning at least a little bit about the life of a college student.

These are the Lessons in Love

I did take the title of this post from a Neon Trees song, yes. I love throwback pop songs and you can't take away the nostalgia and joy I feel for them.

I've learned a lot over the past month. God's taken away some friends and given me some new ones. My friends have lost people close to them, and I've lost several people I'm close with. We've cried, we've laughed, sometimes laughing so hard we cry. Life has not exactly been predictable for me the past month, but I'm grateful for it. God has been insanely good to me.

I've learned that your good friends are not always who you thought they were, that time is not a measure of how much someone loves you, that love can come out of nowhere, and that the best love is unexpected. I went through what was essentially two rough breakups last semester, so I decided to not date for awhile. One of my friends, however, someone who stayed on my mind the entire time, decided to take a chance on me and I said yes.

I've had lots of friends break up with the ones they thought they would marry, and I did the same last semester. We've learned that age does not make maturity, that time does not determine feelings. College is a time where you start to see people for who they really are because not everyone is who they appear to be. Some people are worth their weight and more in gold, while others were only fair weather friends.

This past semester, I've come a long way with relationships. I'm independent enough to not need a man, but when the right one comes along, especially if God's been getting me to pay attention to him for months, I won't say no. It's been a time of growth and change, but I can't say it's been bad. It's not been wonderful to lose people I care about, but watching my other friendships blossom and grow has been beautiful.

If you've ever had a similar experience or have advice for anyone else going through something like this, please drop a comment!

Money Matters

Hey, everybody!

I'm back, writing this because we're expecting snow here in Alabama. I'm not anticipating getting much, so instead, I've been working on getting ahead in my work and on making my loan repayment calendar. When my loan for the spring hit, my interest went from being under $20 to being over $70. Although I honestly have a small loan (my loan for all 4 years should be less than one year completely out of pocket), I still would like as much of my debt to be gone before I even graduate.

My plan to attack this debt is to go ahead and pay monthly, even if it only takes away interest. Compound interest is making it difficult to pay this loan off and I've barely made any loans. By paying $90 a month, the amount I owe by the end of February is STILL more than what I currently owe. To pay off my loan, I'd need to pay over $400 a month. Y'all look, if I had $400 a month, I could afford to not have student loans.

I'm selling on poshmark and transferring the money I earn back to my bank account so I can make more payments. I'm earning commissions on Arbonne. I'm avoiding using my debit card as much as possible. Next semester, once I can save $1000 on my meal plan alone, I'm going to take that extra money and use it to seriously pay back my loan. Either that, or I won't take out the full loan. I'm going to have to look more closely at the long-term effects of that.

I understand why my parents wanted me to take out the loan- it builds my credit score and I can honestly start paying it back relatively easily- but this is a hole I'm having to dig myself out of. I'm 18. I shouldn't have to sign my life away for a degree, yet sadly my loan is one of the smallest I know of. I have friends who are paying as much as I will for 4 years for only one semester even while on scholarship. I don't want to do that. I want to pay off each year's loan before the next year, but even if I can only pay off a semester at a time, I'll be happy.

If you're in college and have already started paying back your loans, how did you do it? If you've graduated and have paid off your loan (or are close to it), I'm also curious as to what you did.

New Year, Same Me (Probably)

It's officially 2019 and I'm already back on campus. Yep, the spring semester is starting for me. I'm not a big fan of "new year, new me" because when you set arbitrary deadlines for yourself like that, you usually don't succeed or you become much more tough on yourself when you fail. Failure is not inherently bad- it's a blow, that's for sure, but it's also a learning experience, a setback, but not a way of life. At least, it shouldn't be. This is why I've decided to make my new year's resolutions to better myself, but no longer through arbitrary deadlines.

I found that setting dates for things was causing more problems than they should. I would be anxious because I wasn't accomplishing things fast enough, which would force me to procrastinate even more because I was scared of failure or only doing things halfway. Instead, I just didn't do anything at all. That's not the way to live: even trying and failing is better than not even trying at all.

This year's new year's resolutions:

Post more frequently

It goes without saying, but I did a pretty terrible job last year about posting consistently. I'd like to get this off the ground and running, so I'm making it a goal to be more frequent/consistent about when I post. Even with more credit hours this semester than last, I still think I can do it.

Find a better work/play balance

Last semester, I spent a lot of time working hard and didn't do very much outside of studying until close to the end of the semester. It messed me up: my grades fell (right before I changed my ways), I was bored, stressed, and lonely, even with all my friends around. You definitely don't need to go and get blackout drunk every weekend, but it's not healthy to do the opposite and never see anything but the same two residence halls over and over again and never getting up from working hard. It's a much needed reset, and a balance I wish I had found much earlier in the year.

 Fall more in love with God and Jesus

I feel as if I say this one every year, but that's because this is one that's just vague enough to accomplish more and more every year. My journey as a Christian is a marathon, and to stumble a few times here and there is not the end. Instead, I learn and I move on. God is ever faithful, and for that I'm grateful. He has a plan for me; He's brought me this far, so He can get me anywhere. It's only fair to show respect and adoration back.

I know that's only three things, but they're very important things that I recognize I struggled with last year and that NEED to be improved for this year to go much smoother. I'm not going to sit back and let 2019 happen. I'm going to make 2019 happen.