Consolation: Community is everywhere, if you look for it. Grad school is quite different than undergrad as they do not have very many synthetic community activities. Yet, one gets very close one's neighbors at an alarming rate when those people memorize the qal paradigm together in Hebrew. People seek each other out for help. We work together and not in competition. This was hard at first, but now I really appreciate it. In short, people study together, and that leads to praying together (at first desperately for help with the qal paradigm). Community is very close.
Desolation: The most difficult and hindering part of seminary thus far has been time. It is so important to be able to manage time here. I figured that it would be simple since I just came from undergrad. I could just operate on the same work schedule and all would be well in my little educational universe. Oh crap, was I ever wrong. Classes are set up in blocks. In other words, most classes meet once every week for 3 hours at a time. This gets real tricky when trying to figure out when to do what. Instead of nice little chunks of work and frequent evaluations (I feel like Lisa) we have rare papers and tests and large, undivided reading assignments. Be warned. Buy a big planner.
Desolation part two: We are forced to journal. I hate journaling. But I'm kind of a big baby.
These will do for now, but I am sure you will hear more. Maybe I'll do it weekly. Who knows. Let me know if you have any questions.
Tim
PS A decent book on EXAMEN is sleeping with bread by Three people named Linn. It is a picture book so not a big time commitment. God knows we don't have any time. Check it out.
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