Hi, This is Lianne from Covenant...

Getting back to school always feels a little weird – it's like you’re going back to a funny end-of-the summer camp. You see all your friends again, and want to spend most of your time catching up with them, but yet you know that you’ll need to begin buckling down and doing homework soon. You come to the horrible realization that you have to buy all the necessary toiletries for yourself, and that you also might have to clean your room more than once a semester (hehe – although some of us have let that slide on occasion. By the way, it is possible to clean your room twice a semester and still have it be reasonably stink-free: buy an air freshener).

One other exciting thing about the new school year is the freshies. Normally, I like this group of people. Honestly. There are so many new faces, and so many fun people to meet. However, in addition to learning their “Big C” and “Little c” callings, this group of people needs to know one crucial thing: Enter the dish disposal on the right, exit on the left. This is all I ask. All of Covenant will thank you.

This year I'm doing my work study job in admissions, calling people up and telling them about Covenant. I usually get pretty nervous when I call people on the phone – especially people that I don’t know. Today was my first day and I was pretty nervous, but hopefully it will get better with time. I really want to open with the disclaimer, “I promise that not everyone who goes to Covenant is as awkward as I am...”

I found out that I put on a Southern accent when I get nervous. I don’t really know why. Maybe I’m trying to mimic the other callers that are around me... conforming to my social group? I don't know. My sociology professor would probably love this.

Talking to guys on the phone is kind of a stretch for me – they don’t talk. The first person I spoke to was a guy, and he answered monosyllabically. “How was your summer?” Good. “What’d you do?” Mission trip. Arrggghhh... What am I going to do with that??? At McDonald’s, I loved customers who didn’t talk much – typically they were the ones who gave me their orders in 0.2 seconds, and didn’t have too many qualifications for their burgers. Now I hate these people. Funny how that works.