This past term has been great but still a lot of work. This year, I'm taking six classes and running cross country, so I've been very busy, thus I haven't been able to post much on the blog. The past week was exam week and with all the courses I am taking it was a challenge to get through, but now that I'm on break, I feel completely free. Despite the difficult exams, this year has been by far the best at Mercersburg. I'm even closer with my friends, I've gotten over the "freshman shyness," and I've found a groove in the work, sports, and social lives.
Now that I'm home, most of my plans are to sleep, cook, and run. Mostly, I just want to relax and rebuild for the next term. I will enjoy every day I'm out of school, but I'm excited to start the new term now that I've gotten the fall under my belt relatively smoothly.
The best part about being home is family. I live in Chapel Hill, NC with my mother and older brother, and I will visit my father, stepmother, two stepbrothers, and my half-brother in Wilmington, NC. My stepmother is Chilean, and my two stepbrothers, Joaquin and Benjamin, moved here from Chile last year. The are 6 and 10 years old and are the most genuine kids I know. Their English speaking has improved exponentially since they got here and they are starting to get better grades than their American classmates.
I'll keep you posted throughout the next few weeks or so. Happy Thanksgiving
Last night, I had finished most of my homework, so I went to the common room to catch up with my advisor. He was my Spanish teacher last year and I came to really enjoy the language. Whenever we speak, it's usually in Spanish. He started to complain about a bunch of the broken or damaged pieces of furniture in the common room and I suddenly got the idea that we could them, since we weren't doing anything else. I ran to my room, grabbed my tool kit and screwdriver, and ran back to the common room and soon we started to dissect the furnature and started to fix them. When I was in middle school, I worked with a handyman/carpenter several times a week and I've always loved to work with my hands, but being at bording school, there just aren't many opportunities to fix or build things. It felt good to work on the furnature last night; it's relaxing and soothing to me whenever I work with my hands and it is also nice that there are now some chairs and sofas that can actually hold someone. Now I need to think of some other project that I can work on...now that I've dusted off my skills, I'm craving to do something. Look out, Mercersburg!
I am grateful to have visiited Baja and I will appriciate its natural beauty always. I was disappointed to hear some of my friends say that they did nothing over their breaks, but I just feel happier and even more fortune to have been able to take everything I could have gotten out of that trip.
-Adios
Mercersburg is full of tradition; you can see it in the stained glass windows of the Edward's Room or on the lawn of the graduation platform. The list goes on, but when I put tradition and Mercersburg together, hands down, the first thing I think of is the week of Irving-Marshall competitions.
This ritual is older than the school itself. Back in the day, the Washington Irving Literary Society and the John Marshall Literary Society duked it out annually with a team debate. Whoever won got bragging rights for a year and since then the tradition has been in full practice. But the debate wasn't enough, and in the 60's Irving vs. Marshall sports competitions were introduced into the rivalry. Irving's mascot is the red and white Pig, and the Marshall mascot is the blue and yellow Outlaw. The debate evolved into a speaking contest, Declamation, and five declamers from each society present their pieces at the end of the week. Whoever has the most points from the sporting events and declamation wins, pretty simple.
Team spirit combined with eager excitement of the upcoming spring break crank up the energy of all the students. This week is a godsend to us. Half day classes, yeeeeeeha! Intense competition and cheering. And finally a big dance at the end of the week! In my opinion it's a genius way to end the winter term. In the afternoon after the morning classes, almost everyone migrates to the gym to be a part of or cheer for there society during the sporting events. Most of the winter sports are played (along with some other games), and only by people who didn't play them the past term can compete. For example, a basketball player wouldn't be allowed to play basketball for their society, but could have a go at anything else. My personal favorite sport to watch is the girls wrestling, ha...aka, all out catfights (with a ref, of course). Technic doesn't exist at all, just girls brawling all out fueled by will power and spirit. Irving-Marshall unites the community very well, even if it technically divides us down the middle. By the end of the week, everyone comes together with a better feeling of family.
I'm getting pretty excited just describing it. Gotta go to swim practice...yep, I'm swimming for Marshall. I'll keep ya posted how the competitions unravel. GO MARSHALL!
What's the reason to keep going, to challenge ourselves, to dig deeper than we've ever done before? To accomplish. To win. To survive. Reaching a goal is the most satisfying thing to me; without standards or challenges, life would not be complete. I love a challenge, I strive to work harder than I ever had to before, so I descided last summer to register for the Harrisburg Marathon. I started running last year as a freshman and earned varsity letters in cross country and track and over the summer I chose to reach even higher, to run a marathon. I wanted to see how strong I was, I craved the challenge, the thrill, and even the pain I had coming for me, so I could cross that finish line. I put in the work, the 20 mile runs, the 70 mile weeks, the day in and day out training, and I saviored it. Each week I was that much stronger, physically and mentally, and finally, November 12 came...Race day. I had a successful season of cross country that fall (the marathon training didn't hurt) and I was well rested and excited coming into the race. My mom came up from NC and we drove to Harrisburg the day before. Race day was not the most friendly, with steady wind, rain, and chilly temperatures, but it didn't slow me down. I wasn't going to let anything get in the way of the months of preparation I endured. The first 20 miles went by great, I was on pace and I felt good. Then came mile 22...aka, hell. My legs were stiff and cold for running for about two and a half hours, but I kept on going. Mile 24...even more pain, but I didn't stop. The Harrisburg Marathon finishes on a little island, City Island, in the middle of the Susqehanna River, and I could see it from where I was. I ground out those last miles and finished in 3:22. 26.2 miles! Nothing was better than that feeling after the race...no, not my aching legs and back or my cold, numb hands-- it was the feeling of finishing, of accomplishment, the joy of reaching that destination. I look back on my experience from my marathon, the training, the race, the enduring of those last, cold, rotten miles, and I'm overtaken with pride. Everything I learned from all those relentless hours of training and that race have proved to be life long lessons- to never quit and to push aside self doubt. I find that I don't stress out as much over work and I can hone in on my focus. I'm not here saying to go out and run a marathon or climb Kilimanjaro, but to go out there and put in all you have into something you love that challenges you. You'll find there's a lot to gain when the work is done!
Hi, I'm Mark, a sophomore from Chapel Hill, NC, and earlier I overheard some classmates talking about global and political problems and whatnot. Although it is difficult to pay attention to the news and grasp onto the latest headlines while juggling life at boarding school, most of my classmates are well informed... but something is still missing, their conversation was going nowhere, it was just one negative remark after the other. What is this news worth if all we're going to do is complain about it, question it, and then move on to do nothing. Last week, my old biology teacher gave a presentation about civil services and it got me thinking. He took action in the Peace Corps and served in Africa for two years- to try to make a difference. Last fall, a doctor came to talk to the school about the organization, Doctors Without Borders, a service that helps the ill and unfortunate in over 70 third-world countries, in efforts to fight the spread of AIDS, create clean water resources, and to cure the sick. Knowing the news is important, but acting upon and doing something about it is much bolder. I hear people complain often about the world's problems but what good is that doing? It's not like Captain Planet or Superman is going to hear our cries for help. The change lies within us, so why are we waiting for something to fix these problems. I've been inspired by the people I've met and seen who have taken action. I'm not saying go join the Peace Corps or cure cancer, but even the smallest efforts to make life better are astronomically important. Action is more powerful than pessimism, so next time something upsets you, make an effort it make it better. In the end it's just us out there- we're the only ones who can make things better.
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