Make it a double.

I have a confession: I spent ten dollars on Starbucks coffee yesterday. 

When you consider the circumstances (and the quality of the coffee-drinking experience), the expense was well worth it. My intensive class meets every day from 8-11 AM, making it difficult to obtain an adequate amount of sleep. My travel mug filled with caffeinated goodness accompanies me faithfully every morning, although it did spill on one of my textbooks on the first day. That being said, I feel as though I crammed a week’s worth of activities into the past three days while only receiving about half the sleep needed to function properly within that particular length of time. The crazy weekend began on Friday with our second-to-last youth group meeting at Agape Chinese Evangelical Church before the summer. The activity for the evening? Water games. We spent two hours running around pelting one another with water balloons and pouring water on each other’s heads. I have never had more fun with the youth than I had that night, but I left soaked to the bone and ready to fall onto my pillow and sleep for a full 24 hours. Unfortunately, the Cedarville team from that night had plans to go to the Greene (a fancy outdoor mall about 35 minutes from CU) and watch Thor. Don’t misunderstand; the movie was great, and so was the cheesecake we consumed afterwards. But by the time we arrived back to campus at 12:30 that night, my energy reserves were running on empty.

Fast forward to 7:30 Saturday morning. My alarm went off, and I promptly reset it to 8:00. It wasn’t time to wake up yet. At 8, I showered and walked over to the chapel for worship rehearsal. We ran through our set list for Sunday a few times and laughed at the giant carp floundering around the surface of the lake directly outside the window. After that, my friends and I drove to Columbus. Our original plans to visit the zoo were foiled when we realized that it closed earlier than we had thought; being the poor college students we are, we decided that spending fourteen dollars on a ticket only to see a third of the animals would not be worth the money. Instead, we spent our time relaxing around the house and ate dinner at the Mexican restaurant that our friend’s parents own. The remainder of our night revolved around Anastasia, piano, and chocolate mousse and did not conclude until after 3 am. Four hours later, Steve and I left the sleepy house to make the hour-and-a-half drive back to play at church. (This trip is where I spent the first half of my Starbucks allotment for the day). I will not bore you with the details of the rest of the day, except to say it included another drive back to Columbus, more delicious Mexican food, birthday cake, three more Disney cartoons, piano improvisation, and of course the return trip to Cedarville and another stop at Starbucks to prepare us for the homework load we faced upon our arrival on campus. 

Am I still exhausted? Yes, even though I already took a nap today. Was the weekend worth it? Yes. Although the stated goal of college is to become an educated person ready to adopt a career and become successful, the social interactions are just as important. People, not books, cause you to grow as a person. Conversation can teach you to apply knowledge much more effectively than an exam. Obtaining the best college experience possible, much like the rest of life, is about balance. I may have missed out on quality time with my mattress this week, but to quote my roommate, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” Barista, make it a double.