Bruised Ankles + Board Games: Summit Semester Week 3

Days off are the best thing after a long, emotionally draining week. Days spent just hanging out or watching the rain or playing games or laughing a lot – those are the best days. I had a few days like that this week, and I feel so blessed to have experienced them.

Downtown Durango is one of the cutest places I've ever visited. Tiny shops and restaurants down Main Street with a street performer here, and a group of skateboarders there. Our day off is on Monday, and this week we went on a day trip to Durango. I walked around with the cool crowd to get lunch at a pizzeria with a rooftop patio (you can bet your bottom dollar that we ate up there), and I'm not sure if it was because I was starving or because it really was so good, but that was some of the best pizza I've ever tasted. The view wasn't too shabby either. After lunch, we split our separate ways and I toured the town with my dear friend Micaela (pronounced Mu-HAY-luh), who, fun fact, was my first friend at Summit. We visited tiny boutiques and visited the smallest, most crammed bookstore we had ever seen. It was originally a tiny house, turned into a bookstore, with books piled hundreds high and multiple piles deep – I don't think there was even a bookshelf – they were just piled on the floor everywhere. It was the most unorganized and tightly squeezed spaces I've probably ever seen. We had a blast though. We may have walked around for two hours, but we had no responsibilities for an entire day and it was wonderful. We could be tourists and not have to read several chapters in a book or have to clean dishes for half an hour after dinner. We could go sit on a fancy couch and eat cake and not worry about life for five hours. What a much needed day off.

The day after Durango was a tough one. You would think that not working or exercising vigorously would be relaxing, and it was, but it really wore us all out. Nobody knows why – we've had more energy after a two hour hike than a day full of fun. But I guess it takes some time to get back into the swing of things.

Our day back from Durango brought a new professor: Dr. T. He's probably quite the opposite of the professor we've had for the past two weeks, and I absolutely love it. He's less intense and in your face and has a much more relaxed teaching style than Dr. B. It's a very refreshing experience after intense work for twelve days. Dr. T knows the Hebrew language really well, which is so cool to hear the translation of the Bible when we're studying it in class. Fun fact: when we met, he asked my name and told me that Rebecca in Hebrew means “weeping”. It's so accurate because I'm an emotional person who weeps pretty frequently. He also refers to the female students as “ladies” and not “Satan” like Dr. B, so that's always a plus.

Life has been pretty crazy this week. During exercise time on Wednesday, my roommate and I played hardcore basketball with the guys (our usual). In the process, Madison gained a minor concussion and a bruised knee and ankle, while I rolled both ankles, straining them. We've both been pretty bruised this week and have been limping quite a bit. But we're both troopers and we're slowly improving. We're taking a break from basketball for a bit to heal our legs/feet.

Friday night was an exciting one! We all played a game of “Murder in the Dark”, where the concept is pretty much that there are a few “murderers” and the rest of the players are townspeople. In a completely dark room, the murderers are supposed to go around and “kill” (touch the throat of) as many people as they can before someone sees them. You can hide or run around wild, whatever floats your goat. When a person is found dead on the ground, you yell “murder in the dark!” and everyone comes back and you have to figure out who the murderer is. It's such a fun game, and it got super intense as it was 9:00pm and there was a thunderstorm happening the entire time. I felt like I was in a haunted house. I haven't been that scared in a long time, but it was a real bonding experience. We also played some card games until the wee hours of the morning – there were lots of laughter and silly things said. It was a very enjoyable night.

Saturday was super relaxing as we had no mandatory activities until lunch! Because of that though, my entire concept of time was thrown off. But it was such a relaxing day. We had class in the morning, then free time in the afternoon, board games and mattress surfing in the evening. What a great day indeed.

I helped in the kitchen twice this week and it was so fun! I helped make completely homemade hamburgers (patties and buns) one night, and breakfast for dinner another night! It's so fun to work in the kitchen and learn to make food for forty people. Plus, we haven't had a repeated recipe yet, so I'm only learning new things!

Some upcoming things this week:

We have movie night Sunday night. It's been something we've done every Sunday evening and it's so fun! We watch a movie, normally not well known but has some important message relayed in it, and then afterwards, we discuss it. It's been so interesting and fun, because I'm watching films I never have before, and I'm learning to see the message behind the story instead of just watching something to watch it. So far, we've watched Midnight in Paris with Owen Wilson and The Words with Dennis Quaid. This week we're watching Life is Beautiful- it's an Italian foreign film

about World War 2 apparently.

Also, I think a girls night is in the works for Monday night. We're planning on painting nails and doing face masks and maybe even watching a movie? It's all still being discussed, but hopefully we can have some girls only bonding time. If not this week, than definitely at a later time. With a small group (in comparison to a large university), there are lots of opportunities to get to know people better and in a closer way, which is so awesome. But even with a small group, often I find myself not getting the chance to grow super close to the girls individually. That's the goal for this girls night – just pure fun and fellowship.

There's a student here (Kyri) who shares the same obsession with homemade sourdough bread as I do. That's pretty great. And on top of that, her family used to make sourdough bread all the time, so she has a super great recipe and is willing to share with me! That's super awesome. And to top that, we decided to get some yeast and make our own sourdough bread this week! It's gonna be a great bonding experience and we'll have the best homemade bread all to ourselves. I'm pretty stoked.

The workload is slowly starting to pick up, and the weather is slowly starting to cool off! Please be in prayer for both of those things – that our group can transition well.

I'll catch you back here next week for more fun Colorado adventure stories!

Thanks for following along with me as I do life!

Blessings,

Becca

checking out the crammed bookstore with Micaela in Durango!

Madison recovering from basketball. What a trooper!

Sometimes nap time and study time collide.

Watching the people play ultimate frisbee.

Game night!