French! and Self-Awareness.

First, I'd like to start off this post by saying I FINALLY GOT INTO FRENCH.

You may wonder why I'm so excited, and here's why. When I registered for classes, I was in Poland, and my dad filled out the form with me over Skype. My firstfirstfirst of all first choice classes that I wanted to get into was French 101. My dad asked me if I wanted to put down a few alternatives, in case I didn't get into French. I told him that was dumb, I'd probably get in cause we were doing the form early enough and I didn't think it would fill up that fast. But, I humored him and said he could put down Spanish (so that I could continue with it), German if I didn't get into Spanish, and maybe as a last choice, Chinese.

I got Chinese.

Long story short, I've been pushing to get into French for a long-A time, and I finally got in and I'm freaking psyched.

Second, it's Sunday night, 3 days til departure day to Saint Mike's, and I still haven't started packing (not even bought the special college bed sheets). I thought this might be appropriate to mention seeing as my last post was about packing and I haven't yet followed it up. Don't worry, it's coming soon (I know the world is absolutely DYING to know what I'll be putting in my suitcase ;p).

Third, I'm going to talk a little bit about Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, the Saint Michael's College class of 2015 summer reading assignment. I started the book a few days ago and for some reason, these past few days I have felt more aware of my vegetarianism than I have at any other point in my life. It's probably just because I've been reading this book and so my mind is kind of focused on the topic of eating/not eating meat, or it's just a funny coincidence. But for example, last night I was at dinner with my dad, grandparents and my grandparents' friends, and the only thing on the menu that was vegetarian was the salad. I'm not complaining (I choose to not eat meat, whatever), but it was kind of a bummer to wait for my salad to come out with the entrees while everyone else at the table ate their appetizers, soups, etc. (and drank their beers! which I miss having lived in Europe for a year). I'm steering heavily away from my point.

My point is that for the last few days, I've felt like this; like everyone else was eating while I was waiting for my salad (this sounds a lot more self-pitiful than I want it to, just stick with me for a second). But it's not like my life hasn't been like this for the past few years, since I made the choice to be vegetarian. So while I was sitting at dinner last night, I reflected on why I choose to alienate myself and not participate in the consumption of fish taco appetizers while everyone else at the table does.

It's who I am. More importantly, it's who I've chosen to be. And this, to me, would seem an important thing to keep in mind when beginning a new chapter in life; college, for example. It's important to know who you are and who you want to be later in life, and to be aware that the choices you make today will affect the person you are tomorrow. Some years ago, I chose to be vegetarian for whatever reason, and it has become a part of the person I am today (but for the record, I'm not a preachy one, just sayin'). And I am aware that the choices I make during college will lead me to be the Ben Rosbrook I want to be after graduation.

So with that being said I promise to bring more on my packing process in my next post! Also, check out this post by Tarah and this post by Sarah about their reactions to the reading assignment!