Wednesday, September 30, 2015

AACC World Conference 2015: A Brief Recap

     Thanks to all the people who read my post last week! If you read it, you will know that I spent several days in Nashville at a Christian Psychology conference, the "AACC" to be exact. AACC stands for the "American Association of Christian Counselors," and it is basically THE biggest conference for Christian psychologists - in the world I believe! Anyway, it was a WONDERFUL opportunity to get to go! So here goes a short recap, along with several pictures...
The theme of the conference was "Be Strong," and it featured several great plenary speakers including (but not limited to) Mike Huckabee,  Ed Stetzer, and Joni Eareckson Tada.
During some sessions, the auditorium was packed with something like 7,000 people!
I just felt so "official" at this conference, being one of only a few undergrads there (relatively speaking). I'm used to people thinking I'm in high school. I'm NOT used to people thinking that I'm a grad student or professional counselor! Just goes to show that people's perceptions depend a lot on the situation (Social Psyc. in action, guys!).
My fellow Bryan students and I had a great time hanging out together in the amazing Opryland Hotel!
Yes. When I say "amazing," I mean AMAZING! This is all INSIDE the hotel! Along with the huge exhibit hall (where I collected tons of freebies!) and auditorium, there were lots and lots and lots of smaller conference rooms where we went to our individually-chosen tracks. I chose a couple sessions on play therapy, one on addiction, one that evaluated Christian counseling in general, one on single women, and one on "reclaiming conversation in a digital world." The last was probably my favorite just because it was SO applicable!
It was truly awesome to get to know my classmates and professors better during this conference :)

That's last week in a nutshell! But FYI, I was mostly recapping the high points of the conference. There were also things I didn't like or didn't agree with, and being around so many people for such and extended period of time was emotionally and physically taxing. But I am SO thankful I had this opportunity! And who knows? Maybe I'll go back as a grad student in a couple of years...

~Amber

P.S. - Keep an eye out for "spirit week" costume pix this weekend!







Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Greetings from Nashville!

     Yep, I am currently in Nashville, which happens to be one of my favorite cities!
     Why am I in Nashville in the heat of the semester, you ask? Well, there is a national psychology conference going on this week (American Association of Christian Counselors or AACC) that us psychology majors were encouraged to go to... and I decided to go!
     Tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday, I will be at the conference attending lots of sessions (some of the sessions will include all 7,000 attendees, and some elective smaller sessions) and enjoying my time at the Opryland Hotel. I was able to ride up with a couple of friends, and am staying at a friends house!
     This shall be an adventure...
   
Random selfie as we left campus...
     Here's a short rundown of what else has been going on this past week!
  • Getting over a cold. Yeah. No fun. But when living on a campus with several hundred other people, its pretty much inevitable, no matter HOW much vitamin C you take!
  • Reading The Hound of the Baskervilles. Because one can't read scholarly stuff all the time, can they? A girl's gotta have her chocolate and Sherlock Holmes. Just sayin'.
  • Doing schoolwork. And more schoolwork. And MORE schoolwork! Yes, I am definitely in the thick of the semester. On the plus side, two big exams are DONE!!!
  • Getting ready for our first women's choir performance. Coming up a week from Sunday! Yikes...
  • And coming up to Nashville!
Here's the website of the conference I'm going to, for those who are interested: http://www.worldconference.net/

Stay tuned for an update this weekend!



Tuesday, September 15, 2015

In Which I Start Blogging About Life at Bryan College...

     Yep. I am now a student at Bryan College. Not Moody anymore. But Bryan. Two great schools (SO thankful for the time I had at MBI, by the way :), and I guess I was destined to spend half of my undergrad career at each one of them! I've been meaning to start blogging about it for a while now, but I'm guessing most of my readers already know how crazy and hectic and overwhelming the first few weeks at college (or at a NEW college) can be.
     Orientation (which I'm convinced is designed to overwhelm all of the incoming freshmen so that when classes start they actually don't seem too bad).
     New major (FINALLY feeling very settled in and excited about my field of study: psychology!).    
     New professors.
     New friends.
     Having a roommate for the first time (who happens to be one of my best friends in this world!).      
     Finding my way around a new campus.
     Finding a good rhythm that allows for some social life and sleep along with serious studying (I'm still in the process of this one, guys...).
     Anyway, basically my life is crazy (something I finally came to terms with this past summer), but I'm OK with that. Sometimes it's good crazy, sometimes bad crazy, and sometimes just plain confusing crazy. Thankfully, I seem to bee in a "good crazy" stage right now :)
     Yikes! I just realized how many parenthesis I used in this post so far! Oh well. I'm just trying to fit a lot of information in a little space I suppose. I shall resist making this post a mile long and including EVERY LITTLE DETAIL. I can already hear the collective sigh of relief from my readers ;) But before I sign off, here are some of the major elements of my week here at Bryan!
  • Classes. I'm currently taking Critical Survey of Worldviews, Christian Life Formation, Concepts of Physical Fitness, Social Psychology, History and Systems of Psychology, and Research Design and Methodology.
  • Women's Chorus. I wanted to be part of this choir from the start, but almost didn't get to participate because of a schedule conflict. But God worked that out for me unexpectedly!
  • Children's Ministry. Since I'm going to school in my hometown, I'm able to keep helping out at a local children's Bible club I've been a part of for the past three years. One of the highlights of my week :)
  • Spending Time With Family and Friends. New friends, old friends, and my wonderful family! I'm only thirty minutes from my home (which is awesome), and my brother and his girlfriend are right here on campus!
  • Walking. Walking to classes. Walking to chapel. Walking to the cafeteria. Walking to the dorm. Walking to the parking lots across campus. Walking BACK to class... basically I feel like a member of the Fellowship of the Ring.
  • Spending Time With God. Guys, it would be a lie to say it's easy to keep up with personal devotions at college. It's not. But it is so important! No, I have not been super faithful about spending time with God, but I have been more motivated since discovering shereadstruth.com. I would suggest it for all women, but especially college students. Just go look it up :)
And that's a wrap!
I hope to be posting on here again by next week. Hopefully with pictures! 
~AMBER