Going camping... ish....

This weekend is the UMin leadership retreat at Lake Geneva in Wisconsin. I have to admit that I'm pretty excited. While this makes my new homework routine of work on the weekends, rest during the week a little off-kilter, it'll still be a great time and I'm excited to see what we've got going for us this year. I've decided to branch out a little bit more this year, and I've signed up for Tribes, which is the new incarnation of small groups. I'm not exactly sure how it's going to be now compared to how it was before, but I suppose I won't really know the difference! Still, I'm excited for the new experience.

Church-wise, things are shifting (yet) again. I'm thinking about trying out (yet) another one. What seemed nice last year, this year just seems like I'm not able to plug in how I want. We'll see where that all goes, but I'll be sure to keep it posted. I have to say that "church shopping", as it's termed, has got to be one of the hardest things to do - especially when you're an out-of-state college student who isn't always around. Sometimes I just want to give up on finding a church out here, but I know that if I can dig into a good one I'll be happier than just sitting in the back row at NP Cov and not talking to anyone. What can I say? I'll just soldier on in this like I do in everything else.

Every now and then my mind gets snagged on financial thoughts. This weeks it's been thinking about study abroad and how in the world I'm going to pay for that. (Clearly, only with God's blessing.) I'm working on scholarship applications right now. Yesterday I spent some time looking at flights: turns out that different websites can have DRASTICALLY different prices. I found websites that actually offered roundtrip flights to Botswana for $1400 ($1600 after fees and whatnot) when other sites only offered $1600 and $1800 flights, not including the fees! Crazy! I told Jen Pope I was feeling overwhelmed and she gave me a couple coupons for different sites for $25 or $30 off. Not much, but a small consolation. It's the thought that counts, after all. I've been trying to brainstorm other ideas for raising the funds that I need: becoming a pop can smuggler over the Michigan border is probably my best one so far. Only problem is, I don't have a car to smuggle them with, and it wouldn't be worth it to just take one bagful. Still, I thought it was pretty creative, reverting back to can collecting to raise money. I think that I should do some sort of fundraiser something-or-other... maybe I'll make a bunch of necklaces and sell them to Buffalo Exchange or some similar store. The whole Time vs Money thing is always an issue with stuff like that, though. Perhaps I could do an impromptu baked goods sale or something. Cheap pancakes in the apartment or the like. $2 a stack. We've got enough dishes....