I had a good week this week. Aside from classes, I got to go to two chapels. On Monday, I went to a preview of the Mainstage, Big Love, in the Umble Center. I got to watch part of the play. On Wednesday, I went to a chapel about issues of race, and how our society is still so full of racial unequalities that we have to do something to change it. It was a very good chapel, and challenging as well. Last night, my friends and I went to the Leaf Raker at 11:30 pm to get some pancakes and bacon. Since it's open on Thursdays until 12:00, it has become a weekly tradition of going to get breakfast food late Thursday nights. I'm also looking forward to the weekend I have coming up.

On Friday, I am going to see Big Love at the Umble Center. I'm pretty excited, because lots of my friends are in the show. They have been putting in long hours in the recent months, so it should be a great production. On Saturday, I'll be going to see the men's soccer game. It will be their first playoff game (at home), so it should be a blast. After that, I'll be dressing up as a burrito, and heading down to the Chipotle in Mishawaka with my friends to get a free burrito. We found out about Chipotle's offer: if you dress up as a burrito on Halloween and come in, they'll give you a free burrito. We are going to take full advantage of said offer. On Sunday, I'll be heading to Ohio with a friend to visit her family.

I'm really excited about this weekend. I'll be able to hang out with friends and relax a little bit. One of the nice things about Goshen is all of the opportunities I have to spend time with friends. If you have the opportunity to come visit Goshen, you will know what I'm talking about. The connections you make with people are just incredible.

Last weekend, we had fall break, which provided and excellent time to kick back and hang out with friends. In the middle of both semesters, there is a break to mark the half-way point (in the spring, there's spring break, so why not a fall break?). We had last Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday off, so we had a five-day weekend to do whatever we wanted.

Over this time, I went to Iowa on Sunday to play with a band for a youth group at the Iowa Mennonite Schools. It was a blast, and I got to have a road trip with three of my friends! On Tuesday, I went with a big group of friends to Chicago and spent the day there. We had lunch in Millenium Park, and also went to the Shedd Aquarium. It was a blast! After that, a friend and I took the train back to my house to visit my family. When we got back to Chicago, we connected with the rest of the group again.

This past Friday, we had our second Campus Open House (if you don't know what I'm talking about, you should come to the third one. See http://www.goshen.edu/admission/visit/ for more info). I had a lot of fun showing a group of people around Goshen's campus. The coolest part of this Open House was that there were about 15 students that came from Puerto Rico to visit Goshen's campus. I got to go with them to the Sones de Mexico conert on Friday, which was a lot of fun. On Saturday, I got to go with the students to downtown Goshen, where we had breakfast at The Brew, and then went to the farmer's market. It was a new experience for all of the Puerto Rico students, so it was fun to watch them visit the farmer's market for the first time. Later that day, a couple of friends and I played volleyball with them in the Rec-Fitness center.

These breaks have given me a good chance to relax a little bit, and have fun with friends. Although school can sometimes be taxing (especially the week before fall break), the reward of the break after the fact makes it all worth it.

Zach

Wow! It feels like this year has gone by fast so far. I feel like it was yesterday that I was starting to make connections with friends again, but this semester is almost half over! I have a busy schedule this year; I'll be taking Analytical Mechanics and Electronics for my Physics major, Choir, Piano Lessons, and Song Leading for my music minor, and Art & Theater Humanities for my general education requirement. Although it has been really busy so far, it has been a fun year.

One of the things I have really enjoyed this year is the new housing situation I have. Because I am a junior, I get to live in small group housing. A bunch of close friends and I are living in Kulp South. This is a house with a common living room, bathroom, and kitchen area, and there are four bedrooms for the six of us! We decided to split the rooms in an interesting way, though; we have a bedroom (where ALL of the beds are), an office (where all of the desks are), and an entertainment room (where the TV and sound system is). The house has been awesome, and I really enjoy getting to know my friends better. Living in small group housing has the benefit of community living, but also has a good amount of responsibility. We have to keep the place clean, wash dishes, buy food, etc. We also get the chance to have a group bible study every Wednesday night and a community meal every Sunday.

Other than that, I have loved getting to connect with Goshen College students outside of school. Two weekends ago, I went to the annual Elkhart County Relief Sale and bought lots of awesome Mennonite food. I also got to see friends that I haven't seen yet this year and see other Mennonites from Indiana that aren't usually in the area. Last weekend, I went to the Sing & Swing, which was part of an hour after, an activity that the Campus Activities Counsel puts on. Our jazz band, Lavendar Jazz, was there playing, and there was food and swing dancing. The setting this year was awesome because they closed down a street in downtown Goshen and set up a tent for the event.

I hope you enjoy getting to know a little bit more about me and my personal life as a Goshen College student. Until next time,

Zach Yordy