lissner.

I hereby dedicate this post to Bethel University...and more specifically my dorm that I live in
(sorry if some of these earlier posts aren't as interesting).

I am currently a sophomore at this lovely place and I live in Lissner Hall like I mentioned before (quite a trek to the academic buildings I must say). There are 5 other roomies that live with me; Nadia and Emilie (who I mentioned earlier) and there is also Chelsah, Kristy and my direct roommate, Jenny. Oh the adventures that we already had and will have this year. Many of which I am sure will be written in here at some point in time, so look for some interesting stories.

We recently finally tried to make our room more interesting and comfy by going on a weekend excursion to IKEA and getting some pretty sweet stuff. Our room looks better now, but it is definitely still having some little issues, but at least we have a good couch now (and banished the other stupid uncomfortable one into the closet).
Lissner is overall a pretty sweet place though. Its harder to meet people because the setup is comparable to a hotel. You actually have to go knocking door to door if you want to hang out with people because most of them sit in their living rooms all day and don't really go out to the lounges at all. So it really does feel a bit like no one else living here. But it is, after all, only the beginning of the year, so I am hoping that this will hopefully change.

There are many things that are different from this year compared to last year, which is expected I guess, but it almost makes me miss freshman year in a way. I definitely miss the lounge life from Nelson (the freshman dorm I lived in) but Lissner has its own perks as well.
For one, the rooms are amazing! My bedroom is the size of my old room last year alone, so its super nice to be able to have a space that is actually liveable and big (and we get to decorate it too which is my personal favorite part).

One other thing I miss from last year is my floor of girls (N2!) and the community that we had. We all went from room to room and hung out and now this year we are all split up between the three sophomore dorms (East, West and of course Lissner). You actually have to make a concious effort to see people and plan to hang out otherwise it won't really happen. But I guess that that means you spend time with the people you really want to, so it all works out somehow.
I have recently discovered just how much I really love the people here at Bethel. Last year there were so many people that I grew to know and love being around, so it is also comforting just to be back around those people that made freshman year memorable and interesting.

This summer I had actually been thinking about transferring to the U of M because Bethel is insanely expensive and I wasn't sure that I had the money to stay. But, once I thought on it for awhile, I decided that sometimes the experience is definitely worth the money. It would be too hard to leave all the relationships that I have already built and move to a completely new school where I would be a commuter. Life is much too short to deny yourselft something just because money gets in the way. Even though I might be paying up the wazoo to come here, to me it is worth it if I can be in a place where I can grow as a person and also in my relationship with God.

Bethel has definitely impacted me in ways that I never would have expected, so I am excited to see what this school year will bring by way of growing / learning experiences. Well I am off to go do some homework (or attempt to...).

More to come,
annie em