i survived a college campus

i feel as if the last 2 months, my body is attacking itself. i feel run through the mill in a thousand different ways of being sick. right now, i'm trying to shake the flu/cold/cough/stuffy nose symptoms before i go back to another week of school with germy kiddos. the weather is only holding at about 50 something and i'm begging for it to be warm so i don't have to deal with cold wood floors and jackets in the morning anymore.

tim is on his way back from cincinatti with some of our kids. they went to a CIY discipleship weekend-another thing i wish i could've been in on. instead, i got to take PRAXIS tests to keep up the process of turning my TN teaching license into IN. however, the tests i'm required to take were the ones that most undergrads take, if they even have to based on ACT scores. good ole' IN requires i take 'em, no matter what smarty pants things you can show on your previous exemption scores. so there i was, at 7:30 in the morning, trying to find my way around a major university (which i've barely even been to) in the dark. i had copied down directions the old fashioned way, since tim took the gps with him, and realized that i was all too dependent upon the stupid thing.

i pulled into Ball State's campus and actually managed to locate the correct building. oh, but now i need to find parking. around a few blocks, i luckily followed another car of obvious students (MO license plates) to the LAST metered parking spot left within a few blocks of the building. i had a few minutes to zip into the building and find my room and testing site before they'd stop letting people in. i basically followed the crowds of other kids (yes, they were very young)into a building w/ a PRAXIS sign on the door.

the lady at the table said, "oh no, dear. your test is across the street." ok, so the building right out these doors and across the street? well, kindof. go out these doors, you'll see a long building. that's north quad. burkhardt building sits on blah blah blah. whatever. i'll find it. i walk outside, and realize- oh yeah, it's still dark. i can't see street signs and of course ALL THE BUILDINGS LOOK THE SAME. i scared some poor student to death when i ran up to her and asked where the building was. she pointed, and i ran over to walk right into my seat. prayers do work. God knows he needs to place directionally competent people in my path-always.

the test is over, and i have an hour and a half until my next one. i'm not even going to dare to leave the building. i wander the halls and look for a restroom. ok, there's the mens'. ladies? nada. i look around and just go into the mens'. quickly, quickly. it seemed like a funny skit when i was peeking around the door to make sure no one was in the hallway. ah, no one will know. (well, except you guys.)

i sat and read for awhile, ate an apple (brain food), read the posters on the wall. then i decided to set my alarm on my cell phone and just nap. i wasn't asleep for ten minutes, when i my arm slid off of the ledge and i jerked awake in a short panic, startling the 19 year olds that were now waiting outside with me.

quite a morning. needless to say, it's a good thing i went to a small school with only so many buildings...and signs for each one of them. and equal access to restrooms.

:)