The end of this week has been busy. I finished studying for the Greek Entrance Exam on Wednesday, and I ended up doing well on it. Immediately following the test, the New Seminary Student Orientation began. That kept me busy for much of the afternoon. As soon as I was done there, I began seriously studying for the Bible Knowledge Entrance Exam. The study guide I received indicated that the test would cover significant amounts of material from the Old and New Testaments including dates, names, places, and events, as well as general material about the culture of biblical times, theology, etc. There were also a number of scriptural texts that I was expected to have memorized as well.
The orientation program continued at the seminary Thursday morning and afternoon. There was a Hebrew exam Thursday morning which I did not take. I'm planning to take that next year. On Friday morning I took the Bible Knowledge Entrance Exam, which I also passed, and then went to more orientation meetings for the rest of the morning. All this time, Jenn has been working around my schedule at her new job as the Executive Assistant to the Dean. Thanks to Dr. Fortin for his understanding and flexibility!
So while I've been at school, Jenn has been taking care of Liam, and I've been watching him while she has been at work. Liam and I had fun on Thursday afternoon memorizing scripture together while pacing back and forth through the living room (not many paces). It's tough to study while taking care of Liam, but I think if I plan right, I will be able to make some use of our time together in the coming months. Perhaps some of the time we'll be able to go on walks together while doing some studying or reviewing of material, but most of my reading and writing will have to be done while he's napping, or while Jenn is watching him.
Friday evening we all had an enjoyable time at the welcome banquet for new seminary students and their families, which was hosted in two of the large conference rooms at the cafeteria. There are well over 100 new MDiv students beginning their studies here this semester. Add to that all of their families and all of the faculty and staff and their families, and you have a pretty good sized group. I was somewhat surprised to learn that including the extension campuses and distance learning programs, Andrews University has one of the larger seminaries in North America, with close to a thousand students.
Dinner was very good, and we got to meet another family who has recently moved here to Berrien Springs in pursuit of the same degree. I spent a lot of time walking Liam around until he finally went to sleep. Unfortunately, he soon woke up, and we had to leave halfway through the vespers service so that we could put him to bed.
Classes begin Monday, and we'll soon get settled into a regular routine: me going to class mostly in the morning, Jenn working mostly in the afternoon. We will say a brief hello to each other as we hand over Liam and exchange places. I'll probably be spending most evenings as well as Fridays (when I don't have any classes), reading, writing, and doing other classwork. So the busyness of this week has probably been a good warmup for the routine of seminary life we're about to experience. I hope that the sense of community we have been finding here this weekend will also prove to be predictive of the things to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment