Tuesday, January 22, 2019

1969 Catherine's Letter -Jan.20


January 20, 1969
Dear Mother, Dad, Roberta, Serena, John, and Mary,

Hi!  Greetings from the slowly melting North Pole.  I really like the weather warmer like this.  Maybe Spring is here!

Thursday we turn in our preference cards for Career Service.  1st Choice: Museum of Science and Industry, 2nd: Marshall Field, and 3rd: Carson Pirie & Scott.

Not much is new around here.  Bob went to Chicago for the weekend so things were pretty quiet.  I went out with this other guy Friday night and it now stands as the worst night of my entire life.  We were just kind of casual friends and I thought he was an OK guy.  It was kind of funny though.  It seemed like I'd been with him for a really long time and I was getting so disgusted I finally told him it must be time to get back to the dorm.  HA!  It turned out to be 10:00,  DeWaters never looked better though!

Speaking of DeWaters, did you all receive something to sign for me about the porter system?  Please, I've been eating some vegetables and drinking orange juice for breakfast, getting my proper rest, studying reasonably hard, going to classes, working (but not too much), I keep my half of the room clean, wash my clothes every week or so, keep my hair clean and my bangs trimmed, never go out after dark unescorted, and I try to write home every week.  Does that sound convincing enough?

German gets harder every day.  I don't know what I'm ever going to do in Germany.  I know about as much German as a two year old knows English.  The class is run almost entirely in German and I'm lucky if I can catch one word in every sentence.  The worst part (but I'm sure the most practical) is that we have to memorize these conversations and then get up in front of the class and act them out.  I dread them almost as much as the psych interviews.  No, I guess the psych interviews are much worse.  I keep telling myself that it is a wonderful opportunity to learn to express myself and get my thoughts across but that doesn't keep me from hating every minute of it.

History I like.  The books we're reading for the class are fairly interesting, and I've even got one from the library for extra credit.  The prof is a real stickler for detail so my grade probably won't be anything fantastic but I am enjoying the class.

I watched the inauguration on TV today.  Bob and I are going to chapel tonight to hear some Kalamazoo doctor who worked in Vietnam.  You know, I really missed Bob while he was gone.  I think it was the longest weekend of my life.  He got back yesterday afternoon though.  It was an even longer weekend because I thought of you all in New Vienna.

Serena, I hope you had a nice birthday.  I kept waiting for the Marine Band (or whoever it was) to play happy birthday to you during the ceremonies today.

Love,
Catherine

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