Feels like Home?

I have now been at seminary for a month and a half and I am really beginning to get settled. It feels as though I have been here for much longer, but it is not quite home yet. I am thoroughly enjoying my time here. Classes are interesting and not especially difficult. The town of Princeton is great and offers quite a lot for a poor grad student. I have a very good core group of friends already established, and I know many of the ties will last forever. However, none of us have really gotten our feet underneath us. We aren't really used to the whole seminary thing. This has been clearly demonstrated by the extreme anxiety brought about by the first big exam of the first years' seminary career. Fortunately, I was able to waive the class in question, but the majority of my friends suffered through this experience. The class is Old Testament and the requirements for the midterm exam were ridiculous. I freely admit that looking at a friend's study guide did induce a twinge of fear, but in reality the test was not much more difficult than a 400-level undergrad midterm. The difference is that we are just newbies and are still nervous about the supposed rigor of grad school. Yes, it is challenging, but it is not anything that we cannot handle. By the very nature of being at seminary we have shown intellectual ability above average. Besides, the Reformed theology that grounds our education at Princeton would remind us that we were predestined to be at this seminary for a reason and God will preserve us. All of this aside, the fervor created about the OT midterm evinces how this is not yet home.

Noting this, it is interesting to look around at my fellow students and see how they have responded to the time we have been here. While we are not fully settled, there is a sense that seminary has lasted longer than a month and a half. The most intriguing example of this is the tendency of the first years to pair off into romantically involved couples. Many of my friends are a part of such a couple. Some of these couples started dating within the first few weeks of classes. In light of this, it seems, at times, as if everyone is anxious to be established in life. It is as if by virtue of being in seminary we have grown up and should start acting accordingly. Obviously we know what we want out of life and where we are going, right? I may or may not be involved in a developing relationship myself. I understand the desire to get this aspect life together. Most of my friends from undergrad are married, engaged, or in dating relationships. Coming to seminary, many people remarked that this will be the place that I find my husband. While this may be good and true, it should not be the focus of my time here. That is not to say that those who are involved in romantic relationships are overly focused on finding a spouse. I do not think that of any of them. It has just been an interesting phenomenon to witness and, in some ways, participate in.

This blog morphed into something completely different than intended, but I think it captures my current state of mind fairly accurately. Seminary is not quite home, but through relationships it is beginning to feel more like it.