Some thoughts at the end of my first day of ONS

Sorry, but I’m trying to be quick, so they’ll be bullets.

• Madison is gorgeous. My window faces the state capitol (which I learned was the biggest state capitol building in America), and a few blocks down the street there’s a huge… patio?… overlooking a gorgeous lake. The city has been taken care of, as it’s both a capitol and a college town. It’s gorgeous.
• The Midwest, although having nicer temperatures in the summer, has the unnatural creature that is the mosquito. Florida, I love you.
• It’s really unnerving (in a very good way) to be meeting so many people in the same state of life as me. We all have to fundraise, we’re all new staff, we’re all trying to prove ourselves and not quite sure what we’re doing.
• I may be more of an introvert than I think. A friend (who I’m hopefully on the way toward making a closer friend) invited me out on the town for his birthday tonight, and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I’d love to go out with him–make new friends, relax, and most importantly celebrate his birthday with him. But I couldn’t. I need to relax, sit alone, journal my thoughts, read a little… It’s a very necessary part of my day. Who knows. I’m getting my Myers-Briggs test results back on Friday, so we’ll know a little better then. My roommate has me pegged as an ENFP; let’s see if he’s right.
• I like actually missing people. I’ve told people I’ve missed them before out of an obligation (like I would feel like a bad friend/boyfriend if I didn’t.) That sucks. I’m glad that’s over: I miss Tereva. I miss my friends. I miss the Long family. I miss my family. I like that. I hate missing them, but I love caring enough about them enough to actually mourn their absence.
• InterVarsity has a wonderful leadership and leadership structure. Alec Hill, the president, sat down to dinner with my table tonight, and I actually feel like he wanted to know about me and my life. My previous interactions with him have shown him humble, personable, and considerate. The leadership in general reflects humility and grace. I like it a lot.
• One of the announcements they made at the beginning of ONS was about the Entry Posture Diagram, a diagram we use to describe our attitudes (good or bad) when encountering a new culture. They asked that we be open, unjudgmental, and a lot of other great adjectives that are far enough across the room that I’m not going to go get the sheet and type it here. I really appreciated them pointing out that the things we learn this week will be old hat for some of us and brand new for some of us, and that they’re doing their best to meet everyone well. They asked that we keep that in consideration, and if anything’s old hat that we help others out. I needed to hear that. I know frustration will be a temptation, as ONS is focused around A) Fund Development and B) Multiethnicity, both things I’m at least moderately experienced in. I want to fight the temptation to get all haughty about my own experience.
• Christopher Adam has decided to move on with their lives and continue as a band. As much as I enjoyed and loved being a part of the band, and regret the parting of our ways, I’m desperately happy for them not being held back by my decision to stay in Gainesville. I’ve felt some guilt over my decision to stay in Gainesville, but I’ve known it’s right; so the email from Adam regarding their decision (Adam, please email me again if I shouldn’t be writing this here) was at the same time sad and hopeful. I wish them the best, and I hope to be as involved as possible in their future.
• That may be all. I’m sure there will be more later… possibly even later tonight. We’ll see. I look forward