Food Waste Friday: A Messy Week

Sadly, I have no rotten tomato pictures today. However, I do have a few interesting stories!

The first major thing I wasted this week was a banana. Actually, it was more like second hand waste, because someone else was going to throw it out. Anyway, remember when I visited Logan Square with my friend Tami? Well I visited again on Sunday for my project. They were having a huge benefit race for cancer, and the Four Season's hotel provided mass amounts of breakfast food for both runners and spectators. I didn't have any of their food, but I was given a leftover banana. I put it in my backpack for later, and it fell to the bottom. It got squished so bad it turned to banana liquid! My backpack was disgusting.

Too bad I didn't photograph that.

I also had several spills this week. Half my brownie fell on the floor in the dining center, and I spilled cereal in my room. I freaked out about the cereal incident because I had seen a huge bug in my room that morning. I ran to get the vacuum down the hall, and my door slammed behind me. Unfortunately, the door was locked, and my key was in my room. I waited half an hour to get back in, and then the vacuum didn't even work. But then my friend Matt lent me his super handy hand broom and dustpan, and it worked surprisingly well. In short, it took me an hour to clean a small mess.

Finally, I wasted a bit of asparagus at lunch today. It seems this week that the asparagus was the only food waste that wasn't out to get me.

How did you do on your food waste this week?


(By the way, I'm not sure that I linked to The Frugal Girl's blog last week. Just wanted to make sure I did. She started Food Waste Friday. Definitely check it out!)

First Food Waste Friday!

Hey everyone!

You probably haven't heard of Food Waste Friday, because it's a concept I discovered on another blog, The Frugal Girl. Every friday, her posts tell readers the food she wasted that week and usually she includes a picture (not to gross you out, but because photography is a hobby of hers). These weekly posts serve as a way to be more accountable for her food waste. She has asked others with blogs to join her in practicing Food Waste Friday, and I think it's a great idea!

I think it will help me waste less because I will be more aware of my waste; it's also embarrassing to publicly admit to waste on a blog, which will also help me waste less.

So here is what I wasted this week:

This is the remnant of a once beautiful tomato. I feel awful about wasting it, especially since I got it from the Haverford Garden Club's garden. I just forgot about it.

In addition, I wasted a small portion of vegan baked beans. The Dining Centers at Haverford and Bryn Mawr always have vegan food, and I like to try it sometimes, but these beans just tasted really strange.

Join me in keeping track of your food waste! If you are a college student eating in the dining center on campus, try writing down your waste right after you have your meal. If you are at home, clean out your fridge every friday and see what went bad. I think this will definitely be a helpful practice for me!

Sight Seeing in Philadelphia

Hey everyone!

Yesterday I took the train with my friend Tami to Philadelphia.

What did we see? Well, I actually had to conduct observation research for my Urban Culture and Society class. So we visited The Swan Memorial Fountain in Logan Square.

There are three statues. Each of them represent a different river near Philadelphia: the Schuylkill, Wissahickon, and Delaware rivers. I am not actually sure which one is which; I need to do more research. 

I do know the Delaware River is this man:

But supposedly the Schuylkill is a mature woman, and the Wissahickon is a girl. Before I knew this, I actually had trouble deciding the gender of this statue:

This one is much more obviously a woman:

Besides fountains and statues, I also got to observe interesting people. For my project, I have to talk to people at Logan Square, so I got to chat with an artist painting the fountain, a Haverford School (the Haverford High School, not College) acapella group, and a few friends of a bride (I saw two weddings within about an hour or so of one another!) 

If you ever visit Philly, the fountain is a great sight to see!

Textbook Tips: Creative Book Buying

Textbooks aren’t cheap. All college students know this, yet many of them succumb to purchasing the newest books at full price. As I wandered the book store searching for the books required for my classes, the prices astonished me—my Statistics Book was about $140 new, and a pricy $102 used. My Urban Culture and Society class required 4 books—one main text book for about $100 new, and three smaller books adding up to roughly an additional $100 new. Used, these urban culture books would still cost well over $100 total. For my other classes, the book prices were equally astronomical.

I refused to spend hundreds of dollars on books. The used book prices weren’t too much better. The cost of the books I needed added up to around 400 dollars. So I had to get creative. I’m going to share with you how I spent only $39. No, that was not a typo, and yes, I really did spend only thirty-nine dollars.

Here are a few tips and stories that I hope will save you money next semester.

1. Ask around. Do you know anyone who has taken the class already? Do they have their old book? Though this might have been hard for first semester, next semester you will know more people and more upper classmen. Haverford is unique in that freshmen have a Customs Team. This is essentially a group of upper classmen mentors. I found out one of my mentors had taken Abnormal Psychology and had given her book to a friend. This friend still had the book, so my mentor got it from the friend and gave it to me. I got this book for free. The only thing you have to do is ask.

2. Don’t be afraid of strangers. Sometimes you ask upperclassmen and they don’t have their book anymore or they still need it. Don’t let this stop you from asking more people. I randomly ran into a girl from Bryn Mawr (where I take Urban Culture and Society) while at Haverford. We started talking, and I told her that I was taking Urban Culture. She still had her book, and was offered to sell it to me. I bought the main text book for $39 (all the cash I had on hand), and she let me borrow one of the smaller books for the class. Even though we had no connection with one another, it was not awkward inquiring about her text books or determining a price. She was happy to have the money—the book store doesn’t pay students well for their used books. Be open and willing to meeting new people! You might get a cheap book.

3. Check the library for books on reserve. Because Haverford has Shopping Week and I didn’t know my classes right away, I needed to hold off on buying books. Our library often times has textbooks on reserve. This means you can check the textbook out for two hours so you can do your homework without buying the book right away. I intended to do this until I had confirmation that I got into my Statistics class. In some cases, if you are frugal enough, you can use the book on reserve for the entire semester. I could have done this with Statistics, but I didn’t need to—my fourth tip explains why.

4. Does the library have any old editions? I found that the library had an older edition of the Statistics book for regular checkout. I could keep the Statistics book for a whole month, and even renew it over the course of the semester. The book is essentially the same as the newer edition, though some of the numbers have been updated. For this reason, I compare the numbers in my book’s homework problems with someone who has the new version. Again, you might not be able to find an old math book to check out for the entire semester, but if you’re willing to get creative, you can find free solutions to getting your text books. For Urban Culture, I have ordered two of the smaller books from a library partnered with Haverford. I only need to do a few readings in these books, so there was no sense in buying them!

5. Ask the Professor whether or not you need the newest edition. Buying older editions can be cheaper, but sometimes they are lacking in information. My Urban Culture book is an outdated edition, and doesn’t have every article. However, I don’t need the new version because the professor posts the readings online that aren’t found in the older edition.

6. Does your class really use the book? Find out. I have four classes, the last one being a writing seminar. There are a few books my teacher uses, but I she posts the articles we need to read online (there are few because we mostly write) and I haven’t needed to buy the books yet.

7. Have a friend in your class? You could invest in a book together. This way, each of you pay half the price. This is a great way to develop a new study partner! Just make sure this is someone you can trust and get work done with.

8. Check online postings and compare prices. Though I’ve heard Amazon is sometimes more expensive, it doesn’t hurt to check. You might find a great deal. Look for used versions just like you would at the book store.

9. Check campus postings. At Haverford, we Have the Go! Boards. Here, the have a Classified Section where people post everything they are buying and selling. Though I didn’t find any of the textbooks I needed here, I saw numerous ads for cheap books. This way, you can help other students out too.

10. Do a book trade. On occasion, you may be able to find someone you can swap old textbooks with. Be on the look out for people who have books you want and are taking a class that requires books you have. Both of you will be extremely happy to recycle the books!

I hope you found these tips helpful! Do you have any textbook tips or helpful stories? Post them here. There are many ways to get creative when buying books!

Sunday Adventure

Happy Sunday everyone!

As you can probably tell, weekends and Sundays especially are my least busy days, so I will post more often on these days. However, I have a couple of post ideas floating around in my head, so I'll try to get them up soon. Anyway. . .

Last Thursday I attended Haverford Christian Fellowship (HCF), where I met some new Christian classmates and saw a few familiar faces. We had an ice cream social, and got to know each other. I learned more about the people, the structure of the group, and several options for attending church. I really enjoyed it!

So, today I attended church for the first time since I've been at Haverford! Kaitlyn, one of the HCF leaders, invited us to join her at Covenant Fellowship Church. The service ran from 11:30-1 pm, and two of my freshmen friends also attended. We were a bit late so we missed worship, but I did experience an excellently convicting sermon. The message was based on the "Year of Jubilee" passage in Leviticus 25. It's definitely impressive when a pastor preaches from Leviticus--it's not the most exciting book of the bible. However, the thing about Leviticus is, God lays his commands out plainly and simply. In this passage especially, he tells us how to react in specific situations:

“‘If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you. ³⁶ Do not take interest or any profit from them, but fear your God, so that they may continue to live among you. ³⁷ You must not lend them money at interest or sell them food at a profit. ³⁸ I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God."

I think sometimes Christians make excuses for themselves and say, "I don't know what God wants me to do!" I definitely do this all the time. However, I think God's plan for our lives is not always as ambiguous as we might think. He states his command quite clearly in the above passage, as well as many other places in the bible. But it's up to us to seek out answers in the Word, and to encourage one another to do so. How are you seeking out ways to follow his plan in your life?

After the sermon at Covenant, a man came up and spoke about the ministry of the church--how the church was following God's will. Covenant is partnered with three African churches, through Covenant Mercies. They have a child sponsorship program which they have continued for the past nine years. They focus especially on educating children and sharing the good news with them. They have supported over 900 children, who otherwise would have been forced to drop out of school. This was a testimony to me that this church just doesn't talk about their faith, they live it out.

I had a great experience this week; hopefully next week will go just as well!

Side note: Comments are always welcome and greatly appreciated! I love hearing other people's thoughts!

Strange Sightings at Haverford College

Hey everyone!

I've been so busy lately with trying to figure out my class schedule and keeping up with homework, that I didn't have time to post this week. Hopefully everything will slow down eventually. Anyway, I don't remember exactly what day this was, but it was definitely an amusing surprise to see this around the lamppost in front of the dining hall when I went to breakfast in the morning:

I'm not sure who set it up, but they really went all out. I saw this as I headed to the dining hall:

From afar they kind of look like leaves. But up close, you can see them for what they really are:

Poor soldiers! As the day went on, the relentless stomping of Haverford students wounded more and more of them. Meanwhile, at McGill Library. . .

Rather than destroy the animals, people played with them. I think some people took them as mementos because they slowly disappeared throughout the day.

I hope you found this at least slightly amusing!

Messages From the Bible: A Bold Statement

Happy Sunday!

This is my favorite day of the week. Unfortunately, this is the first Sunday since I've been at college that I've actually had a chance to slow down and read God's word and reflect on it (two Sundays ago I was flying here, and last Sunday was very chaotic with Hurricane Irene). Anyway, though I try to read my bible as much as I can during the week, it's been very difficult to focus on the word without getting distracted by thoughts of classes, activities, and other silly day to day complications. This morning though, I read a passage in 1 John 1-2 that struck a chord with me, and I'd like to share it with you.

1 John 1-2 discusses the most important choice we have as humans: whether to walk in the light or in the darkness.

1 John 1:5-7 states: "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

Though the choice between these two contrasting options seemed easy at first glance, the more I read and reread the short passage, the more unsure I became. God is light, that I understood. But darkness? In my mind, walking in darkness is more difficult to define. Especially being at Haverford.

The thing about Haverford College is everyone you meet is friendly. There are no exclusive groups on campus, and everyone is welcome at all activities. Everyone is kind. Already I've had people offer to give and lend me their old text books (a huge blessing--most books are well over $100). One friend offered to lend me her bicycle for a day. I never have trouble finding the help I need. In high school, this wasn't always the case. The point? I am living with people who have hearts strikingly similar to mine--kind and generous. It's hard to imagine anyone here walking in darkness.

This brings me to the question: What defines walking in the darkness versus walking in the light? The passage claims that walking in the light means being in fellowship with God. What exactly qualifies as being in fellowship with God? As my description of Haverford students reveals, their lives (though they are not necessarily Christians) are not so different from mine. The act of walking in the darkness is also not so clearly defined. So lets read on.

1 John 2:5-6 states, "This is how we know we are in him: Whosoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."

This bold statement answered my previous questions. Though it may seem there is a fine line between walking in darkness and in the light, especially when surrounded with wonderful people who are of all different faiths, the answer is this: to walk in the light, you must walk as Jesus did. Otherwise, you can conclude that you are walking in darkness. 1 John 2:11 equates with being blind: "he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him."


Though I try to walk in the light, there are so many times when I am blinded by darkness. After dissecting this passage, I know the question I need to ask myself daily: "Am I walking as Jesus did?" Though I know it won't be easy, I am determined for my answer to be yes.