Hellenic: Year 1; Semester 2; Week 1

Sorry, I haven't had time to blog very much this past week. I got in on Tuesday evening and got back to campus late-ish. It was so weird to come back to school and see the deep blanket of snow all over campus because, prior to break, we had only had a total of maybe one inch, half of which fell at 10pm and was gone by morning. I really had not seen Boston snow until I came back.

Wednesday morning I financially cleared and went to my first (2:10) class - World History. Soon after coming out of World History at 3:30, we got an "Iris alert," HC/HC's way of notifying us of "emergency" situations and such. We were supposed to get an insane amount of snow (almost a foot?), so Wednesday "evening classes" after 4:00, and Thursday classes were canceled. Snow day on the second day of class! I then went sledding down the big hill on campus with Ninja, John the Baptist and the Romanian. We also played a game of ninja in the snow. That was fun! We went inside around 4:30 and went to church at 5:00 (I have to use pseudonyms because some have requested that I not use their names on the internet).

We were scheduled to have Liturgy at 6:15am on Thursday for St. John Chrysostom. We have to do Liturgy so early on school days because people need to be out in time to go to class. Thankfully, with no class, Liturgy got moved back to the usual time of 8:00 :) Fr. Peter, Fr. Demetri, Fr. Evangelos, Deacon John and Deacon Yan (sp?) served, and "Awesome Rassem" led the chanting. Everything was glorious! After Liturgy, the chanters stayed at the chanter's stand and chanted to their hearts' content, just because they could, and it's what they love to do.

At lunch, some friends (Ninja, Tim, Josh) suggested we take a walk in the snow. I was up for it, so we walked down to Jamaica Pond. I lagged behind and forgot that the driveway was cleared, so took (what would have been the shortcut in fair weather) the long way...through the almost-waist-deep snow. By the time we got to the pond, I was exhausted so I collapsed in the snow to recover my strength. Tim suggested we bury me in the snow, so I got up and dug a hole, sat down, and they buried me and left me there to say hi to passers-by. Two of the passers-by were John and Ryan, Holy Cross students. John took this picture and emailed it to me. All the passers-by got a kick out of me and one of them took a video because he was so taken by the sight haha.

While my torso was fine because of my heavy down coat (thanks Mom!), long underwear and sweatpants were not enough on my legs so I soon freed myself so as not to numb my legs. I reunited with the Romanian, my sister, Ninja, Tim and Josh, and we trekked back up to school. On the way back I suggested that we go to JP Licks, a favorite ice cream/coffee shop. Everyone thought I was crazy for wanting to go get ice cream in the cold, but after getting back to school, Mickey Mouse, the Romanian, the red-hatted new kid, and I went to JP Licks. I got soft-serve peanut butter ice cream. It was awesome! We stopped at a few stores and then headed back to campus...walking on the side of the street because Mickey Mouse didn't wanna go through the snow. That was a little scary...

Friday was low-key because I have no Friday classes, so I just hung out. I woke up at 8:30 on Saturday (no church Saturday morning...it is our day to sleep in), and went back to sleep around 9. I woke up "for real" at 11:43 and went to lunch, then spent a few hours with the Romanian, straightening/cleaning my room. Red-headed, Golden-mouthed Orator and I went to Vigil at Holy Trinity, the OCA Cathedral in Boston, at 5pm, and met up with three other friends at Tasty Burger. I got a hamburger with onion, cheese and mushroom. We also got onion rings and fries. It was my first time there and everything was delicious! We walked to the T, took the T to Brookline Village, and then walked back to school. We got back at 9:30. It was a fun evening. I got to stand at the chanter's stand at Liturgy on Sunday, which was cool. Oh, and Elmo has been tonsured a monk and ordained deacon!

So that takes me to now, when I am blogging. I guess I will post now.

We are scheduled to have a meeting of all the Greek Orthodox bishops in America, on campus on Thursday (minus Maximos, Demetrios Couchell, and Savvas). That will be interesting. I will update on how that goes. Until then, Happy Three Hierarchs Day!!! (oh, and we're supposed to have snow midweek sometime...)

From this morning's Canon...from the Ninth Ode of the second Canon for the Saints:
There is no second best in these sacred three. Each is thought to be foremost in precedence and to prevail over his corrivals of equal rank. But rather each with joy has made his own the success of the other two. There is no room among them to envy one another and thus destroy their unanimity.