Bodies Revealed

Yesterday, a group of girls (their were five of us) decided to go on an adventure. We rode the bus into downtown Grand Rapids and went to the museum. We went to see the exhibit "Bodies Revealed." This is an exhibit that is traveling around the United States. They have preserved bodies and show different systems: bones, digestive, reproductive, circulatory, and the list goes on. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I would highly recommend seeing the exhibit.

The bodies are preserved using polymer preservation. This is what the website says about the preservation:

The Polymer preservation process is a revolutionary technique in which human tissue is permanently preserved using liquid silicone rubber. This prevents the natural decay process, making specimens available for study for an indefinite time period. Polymer preservation provides a closer look at the skeletal, muscular, nervous, respiratory, digestive, urinary, reproductive, endocrine and circulatory systems by unveiling the mysteries of the human anatomy. The end product of the Polymer Preservation process is a dry, odorless specimen that resists decomposition thus allowing its user to create a unique collection of permanently preserved human specimen for public exhibition.

It took a friend and I two hours to look through the whole exhibit, and we looked at and read everything! We were even able to hold a stomach!!! Amazing!!!

After seeing the exhibit, we ate lunch at The Pita House and had delicious Greek food. Then, we went ice skating on an outdoor rink! It was a very interesting activity because the skates were very dull and the ice was not great, but we survived!

All in all, it was a very exciting and tiring day!

Back at Calvin

Well, here I am.

A new year, 2011

Last year, I didn't do so well at this blog thing. Hopefully this year I will be able to keep it up.

I arrived back in Grand Rapids on Sunday night, and the dorms were not open yet. So my friend and I stayed in a hotel. Monday, we hung out at the mall and then had a marathon of The Office. In fact, we watched so much of it that I started to dream about it!

Thankfully, I'm back in my dorm room right now. Attempting to clean my room, but i'm pulled away by the call of something more important....fb, email, and blogger.

This year is going to be full of excitement:

- I start my January interim on Multisensory worship
- I'm working through the book "Made to Crave" along with weekly video instruction. It talks about the need for craving after God and not other stuff such as food

Well, those are the two exciting things I can think of.

Now, I'm back to cleaning my room!!!

Messiah

Tonight was the first night of Handel's Messiah...it went a lot better than I was expecting and I was able to see my old orchestra teacher from 4th grade!!!!!

Created

"The same person who created the minuscule amoebas and the majestic mountains, the delicate purple orchid and the deep blue ocean, the sun that shines by day and the stars that glow by night. The very same all-wise, all-knowing, all-powerful God, used His special touch to create you." ~Andrea Stephens



This is an amazing, beautiful, eye-opening quote. But, I couldn't just read it....my college experience has taught me to 'unpack' it....so I did.

Biology: The minuscule amoebas....right now we are studying cells. Something so small, yet so complex. A lipid membrane to regulate the entrance and exciting of ions. Enzymes that rely on each other to carry out life processes. They all work together as a team...a cell....an amoeba...the cells in a delicate purple orchid, holding it together, sustaining it, carrying out the process of photosynthesis to created oxygen for us! For you and for me!!!

Chemistry: they hydrogen bonding of the water molecules in the deep blue ocean. (or even in a small lake, allowing the ice to form on top of the lake for the fish underneath to have water, not ice)

Philosophy: Currently, we are discussing the problem of evil, basing it on the characteristics of God, he is.....all-wise, all-knowing, and all-powerful.



The next time you read something, stop and unpack it. You have a brain for a reason. What you learn in your education should be taken out into the world. Use it! Think, use that amazing brain (full of neurons that are firing as I type, sending messages around my body without me consciously thinking)


Fun fact: Soap is made of lipids. The hydrophobic (afraid of water) side is what bonds to all the dirt and grim on your body. The other part of the lipid is hydrophilic (water loving) causing the lipid along with the connected dirt to follow the path of the water, off your body, and down the drain!!!

Star Tipping

Last night I went to a hunted corn maize….talk about exciting. It was our floor date with 2nd VD. We had to go into the maize 5 at a time, although we all ended up together. Some of the people would follow us around and jump out from behind stuff (the typical haunted corn maize). Although at the end of the night, everyone agreed it wasn’t that exciting. It still was a ton of fun, and I was able to get to know a lot more people! After we went to stake n’ shake for a midnight snack! Again, just hanging out and meeting people was a lot of fun! Then, when we got back to the dorm, we went star tipping…..funnest thing ever! You spin around 20 times looking at the stars (really the sky because when you spin around you can’t tell the difference), then you have a friend standing on the opposite side of the commons lawn, holding a flashlight. Your goal is to run to the flashlight…sounds simple right? WRONG! Your whole body leans one way and you eventually fall over! Funnest thing to do, funnest thing to watch! So, try it out sometime!

College

It has been about a month since I have been here at Calvin....and I have learned so much!!!!

The main thing I have learned is that just Christianity is not enough. You need to know what you believe and be able to explain. So often I have lived my life with lukewarm Christianity...I have never been challenged in my beliefs. Tonight, in a seminar we talked about "Holy Worldliness"...two words we do not usually associate together. As Christians we have the reputation of hating the world...why not break the reputation? Why are we content to be luke-warm? Kristin Vander Giessen-Reitsma wrote, "Our call is to 'test the spirits' (1 John 4:1) not to hide from them. In order to do that, we need to grow up-that is, recognize our personal limitations, but also learn how to be able to witness sinfulness without changing our minds about what's good and pleasing to God."

I am no longer content with my walk with God...I long for a deeper, more real relationship....one where I find my place in the world.....the WORLD....not just a 'Christian bubble'. The World is Awesome........





So, the world is awesome...God created it...I can't wait for a new day!!!!

Battle of the Bye

Tomorrow is Chaos Day!!! All the dorms compete in games against each other. So, this afternoon was Battle of the Bye! To compete each dorm had to carry a person on a mattress....six people carrying the mattress and one person on top. The guys carry it down, and switch with the girls who carry it back.

I was able to be one of the girls carrying the mattress. It was so crazy. We were running and we were in 3rd place....1st place dropped their mattress, so we ran hard...and WON!!!!! So, now we have a Bye to the next round! Go RVD!!!!


The boys getting ready to run!


Us girls in a huddle, discussing our plan to win!


The mattress


Our mascot....BIG RED!


RUN!!!!!!!!