Meeting new people here has been a little more difficult than we imagined, but should get easier as the semester continues. Aside from Rebecca's first week orientation, there have not been very many seminary or community-wide social gatherings. Although there are a lot of people here living on a small campus, everyone seems pretty wrapped up in whatever they are wrapped up in. The people are much more varied than one might think too, there are "kids" right out of college and older adults starting second careers. There are Minnesotans-for-life and people like us who have moved from other states...even other countries! There are people just starting out, people returning from internship, married couples who are both in school and married couples with babies and small children. It's quite a mix!
There are also not a lot of common areas, so the idea of seeing seminarians hanging around socializing with nothing to do is a sight I have not seen much of yet. Rebecca has made a few friends among her classmates though and Trip has met people playing Ultimate Frisbee with an open group that plays several times a week and a brass group that meets once a week. There is a soccer team too (The "Heretics") but we are way too lacking in soccer skills to join. Rebecca wants to start a kickball team in the spring.
Trip has also made a point to meet Rebecca for chapel at least once a week and have lunch together in the campus cafeteria, where we try to sit down with a new group of people every week. Luckily, it is not as cliquey as the high school cafeteria and we've met some very cool people so far.
We hope to keep meeting new people, but realize that once Trip has a 9-5 job, his hanging out on campus during the day will come to an end. And he will get a job. Oh yes. He will.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
New routines
Wow, one month ago we left Baltimore. In some ways it seems like we've been here longer, but mostly it feels like we just got here.
Rebecca spends 17 hours a week in class, goes to Chapel every day at 11 am, and works 8 hours a week in the Seminary's library (her tasks are menial but they are not used to students showing up with Master's degrees in Library Sciences either). She has Greek every morning at 8 am, and while it will probably be her hardest and most demanding class this semester, she is doing very well so far! So far, most of her homework has centered on reading. Lots of reading. Fortunately, Rebecca is a speedy reader so her workload has been manageable so far.
Trip currently spends about 30 hours a week working remotely for his old/current employer, the Baltimore Community Foundation. He feels very lucky and grateful that he was able to continue on with them during this interim period, but knows he still needs to find full-time work in the Twin Cities Metro area soon. BCF has posted the description for his job, and it is only a matter of time before they find a replacement. If you know anyone in Minnesota who could use a graphic designer, writer, marketing/PR professional or web designer, please let us know!
We continue to pray that Trip will find a good job and thank everyone who has been praying with us!
On to a new week and the new challenges it will bring.
Rebecca spends 17 hours a week in class, goes to Chapel every day at 11 am, and works 8 hours a week in the Seminary's library (her tasks are menial but they are not used to students showing up with Master's degrees in Library Sciences either). She has Greek every morning at 8 am, and while it will probably be her hardest and most demanding class this semester, she is doing very well so far! So far, most of her homework has centered on reading. Lots of reading. Fortunately, Rebecca is a speedy reader so her workload has been manageable so far.
Trip currently spends about 30 hours a week working remotely for his old/current employer, the Baltimore Community Foundation. He feels very lucky and grateful that he was able to continue on with them during this interim period, but knows he still needs to find full-time work in the Twin Cities Metro area soon. BCF has posted the description for his job, and it is only a matter of time before they find a replacement. If you know anyone in Minnesota who could use a graphic designer, writer, marketing/PR professional or web designer, please let us know!
We continue to pray that Trip will find a good job and thank everyone who has been praying with us!
On to a new week and the new challenges it will bring.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
The story so far...
We are starting this blog because it is a particularly difficult time in our lives and thought this would be a good way to keep everybody up to date with our new lives and how things are going.
About a month ago we left our jobs in Baltimore--Trip worked as a graphic designer at a nonprofit foundation and Rebecca was a manager at the large downtown Central library--to head west toward our destination of St. Paul, Minnesota and the illustrious Luther Seminary. Driving there took two days. We took both of our cars, alternating turns driving between the two of us and our wonderful friend Mike, who had been gracious enough to come with us. The rest of our stuff including all our furniture and clothes met us a few days after we arrived in a ABF U-Pack truck which we packed ourselves and had picked up and delivered to us.
We had decided to live on campus in a one bedroom apartment, a downsize from our Maryland apartment which had a main bedroom and a smaller guest bedroom/office. It made a lot of logistical sense: we could move in at any time, it was right on campus and so convenient for Rebecca and above all else it was CHEAP! Fitting in to our new apartment was challenging, and many things simply had to go in storage. Today we are mostly settled in and 99% of the boxes are unpacked and the place actually looks like a home! (We'll have some pictures up soon)
Getting here is really not telling the whole story though. So let's back up for a second. What led us here, and why we decided to go through all of this is because Rebecca decided she wanted to change careers, leaving the library behind to become a Lutheran pastor.
Of course, it was not quite that simple. In fact, it took about two years of discerning, careful thought and prayer to lead us to the decision to pursue Rebecca's call and to journey to the Midwest. There are other Lutheran seminaries after all, and one really close to Baltimore in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In fact, we knew other people who commuted from Baltimore to Gettysburg to attend seminary. But Luther is the largest of the ten ELCA seminaries, offers the most resources and happens to be in the neighborhood of where Rebecca's sister lives. For Trip's career it also made sense to relocate to a large metropolitan area like the Twin Cities (more on Trip's job search in a later post).
The process of becoming a Lutheran pastor, and in Rebecca's case, earning her Master of Divinity (M. Div) is a somewhat complex and intensive process. Typically, it can also mean a lot of moving and relocating. The first two years of seminary are regular classes on the campus of your choice (potential move #1). The third year is an internship, which can be anywhere in the country (potential move #2). The fourth year is back on campus (potential move #3) where you began, or another one if you desire. Finally, after you graduate the new pastor is ready for their first official call (read: job), which you guessed it, is potential move #4.
Our hope is with Trip's very focused career path and with so many Lutheran churches in Minnesota nearby, we may not have to move very much over the next five years. One big move, to avoid lots of smaller ones.
We'll see how it goes. As you know, we make plans...God laughs.
About a month ago we left our jobs in Baltimore--Trip worked as a graphic designer at a nonprofit foundation and Rebecca was a manager at the large downtown Central library--to head west toward our destination of St. Paul, Minnesota and the illustrious Luther Seminary. Driving there took two days. We took both of our cars, alternating turns driving between the two of us and our wonderful friend Mike, who had been gracious enough to come with us. The rest of our stuff including all our furniture and clothes met us a few days after we arrived in a ABF U-Pack truck which we packed ourselves and had picked up and delivered to us.
We had decided to live on campus in a one bedroom apartment, a downsize from our Maryland apartment which had a main bedroom and a smaller guest bedroom/office. It made a lot of logistical sense: we could move in at any time, it was right on campus and so convenient for Rebecca and above all else it was CHEAP! Fitting in to our new apartment was challenging, and many things simply had to go in storage. Today we are mostly settled in and 99% of the boxes are unpacked and the place actually looks like a home! (We'll have some pictures up soon)
Getting here is really not telling the whole story though. So let's back up for a second. What led us here, and why we decided to go through all of this is because Rebecca decided she wanted to change careers, leaving the library behind to become a Lutheran pastor.
Of course, it was not quite that simple. In fact, it took about two years of discerning, careful thought and prayer to lead us to the decision to pursue Rebecca's call and to journey to the Midwest. There are other Lutheran seminaries after all, and one really close to Baltimore in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. In fact, we knew other people who commuted from Baltimore to Gettysburg to attend seminary. But Luther is the largest of the ten ELCA seminaries, offers the most resources and happens to be in the neighborhood of where Rebecca's sister lives. For Trip's career it also made sense to relocate to a large metropolitan area like the Twin Cities (more on Trip's job search in a later post).
The process of becoming a Lutheran pastor, and in Rebecca's case, earning her Master of Divinity (M. Div) is a somewhat complex and intensive process. Typically, it can also mean a lot of moving and relocating. The first two years of seminary are regular classes on the campus of your choice (potential move #1). The third year is an internship, which can be anywhere in the country (potential move #2). The fourth year is back on campus (potential move #3) where you began, or another one if you desire. Finally, after you graduate the new pastor is ready for their first official call (read: job), which you guessed it, is potential move #4.
Our hope is with Trip's very focused career path and with so many Lutheran churches in Minnesota nearby, we may not have to move very much over the next five years. One big move, to avoid lots of smaller ones.
We'll see how it goes. As you know, we make plans...God laughs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)