Our Dean of Students cornered me yesterday after Morning Prayer and cheerfully asked how the week was going. Specifically, she asked if syllabus shock had set in yet.
I don't recall ever really hearing the term "syllabus shock" until a friend of mine enrolled in a different seminary mentioned it some weeks ago. I believe she said something like, "Just wait until syllabus shock sets in."
From what I can gather, syllabus shock results when a student reads about the semester's coming attractions and realizes:
1. How many pages she'll be reading
2. How many pages she'll be writing
3. How many days are in the semester
Anyway, I'd been imagining an unpleasant sensation kind of like an electrical jolt with all this "shock" talk, but the effect has been more like the beginnings of a Tule fog -- it rolls in, gets thick, and suddenly you say to yourself, "Uh oh."
None of this comes as a surprise. Seminary is hard work, and I think it's going to be work that I love.
3 Prayer Requests:
* For the families of seminarians who are trying to adjust to Ambridge -- especially children
* For healing for my housemate Sarah, who's been sick since she arrived
* For any seminarian who's freaking out this week because of "syllabus shock," including our brothers and sisters in The Schools of San Joaquin, Nashotah House and Asbury Theological Seminary.
3 Thanksgivings:
* For the birth of my classmate Jon's new child
* For common prayer -- the ability to gather as a family to praise and petition our Father
* For what Jesus did on the cross, which made such prayer possible
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