Higher Education Progress Update

At times, it’s very satisfying to take stock, to reassure oneself that, yes, something was accomplished during all that craziness. So here goes.

This past semester, I:

• Successfully completed 18 credits of classwork.
• Took the GRE and got a decent score.
• Learned the ropes of tutoring.
• Represented Dordt at the Iowa Student Congress.
• Made three trips to visit friends in Kansas City, Grand Rapids and Seattle.
• Helped to organize two events for human rights in North Korea.
• Ran in my first organized race, and did not suck at it.
• Successfully maintained this blog (against my own expectations).
• Finally finished that darn story I was working on all summer.
• Fell in love with Battlestar Galactica.
• Celebrated my roommate Neal’s engagement.
• Said goodbye to some of my best college friends: Piper, Jake and Jane, all of whom are moving on to bigger and better things.

Now comes the Last Semester. The Final Push. The Big Tamale. The Mother of All Battles. Here are some things I’m looking forward to:

• With all-afternoon classes, I can finally sleep in some (or wake up early to exercise and/or study. We’ll see which impulse becomes dominant.)
• Only 15 credits – a record amount of free time!
• Economic Development in the Third World with Professor Choi.
• History of Twentieth Century Europe with Professor Zwart.
• My one-credit piano course. We’ll see if the ol’ phalanges still have it.
• Forcing myself to keep studying Arabic.
• My first independent study - on the topic of regime change.
• More roadtrips (insha allah – there’s a start).
• Smoking hookah with my mates.
• More tutoring (a difficult job, but one that I learn a lot from).
• Reading through the prophets.
• Graduating and finding a fulfilling job (again, insha allah).

Last, but not least, the great Robert Minto has generously asked me to start contributing to his excellent blog, The Veil Away. Kenny Gradert, Jacob Kroeze, Tom Swiftbird, Dan Den Boer and Matt Gerrelts will also be joining the effort. So that's pretty exciting. I won't be abandoning Jefferson Aero Plane by any means, but I'd definitely recommend checking out The Veil Away.

One hundred and twenty-one days until the end. Here we go.