34 Days.

Last night I had the first of my lasts (or at least the first last that I was conscious of): my last Hope Bible study at Pillar Church. I haven’t even gone to that many of these Bible studies, but I still somehow feel so connected to them – probably because of the huge love I have for and receive from so many of the people who are there each week.

Tonight was the last one for the semester as we start winding down into the tail end of the school year. It was weird to think that I will never meet in that sanctuary that I love so that I can learn with such a great variety of people and so many pastors who have taught me so much, all over plates of homemade cookies. What a gift it has been (really, what a gift Pillar Church is!).

It’s extra weird because I’m not even graduating yet. I was recently accepted to the Chicago Semester program for this fall, which is my last semester of college, so I will be spending my last few months of school living across the lake working an internship, taking a couple classes, and living closer to some loved ones. I am beyond excited, but it is weird to think that I only have 34 days left living on Hope’s campus.

I’m looking forward to moving into another phase of my life, but I am also sad to leave behind such a wonderful area and incredible people. There are many things I did not get to do during my time in Holland that I wish I would have (never drove to Canada; also still don’t have a passport), but finding out so abruptly that I only have such a short time left here has made me so excited to partake in as much as I can for the rest of college.

In August, I put together this blog post outlining my “Hope College Bucket List.” I am proud to say that I actually knocked out more of those items than I expected to, but I still have more I want to accomplish before I graduate, and I have some new hopes for the next 34 days as well.

1. Give a friend a tour of South Haven who has never been there.
2. On said tour, stop at Sherman’s Dairy Bar (I LOVE that place).
3. Go to the Windmill Restaurant early in the morning and start my day with a deep-fried cinnamon roll. What a terribly great inauguration of a new day of my life.
4. Run to Holland State Park. Have a friend pick me up so that I do not get stuck out there for the rest of my life.
5. Visit every coffee shop in Holland (I’m typing this while sitting in Starbucks – clearly I’m not doing so hot at this, but I want to try!).
6. Run every day for ten days straight (I’m just being realistic here, and I’m already heading into day four!).
7. Visit every park in Holland (I think this one might be a little more ambitious than I want to believe… I guess we’ll find out!).
8. Go to Madcap Coffee in Grand Rapids.
9. Get into Lake Michigan water all the way over my head in April (this one might be related to #4!).
10. Eat Jimmy John’s on the beach with people from the worship team.
11. Ride the bull at my last Spring Fling.
12. Eat a cinnamon roll from DeBoer Bakkerij.
13. Run at Sanctuary Woods and embrace the hills of Holland.
14. Figure out where the heck Lakewood Beach is and go to that place.
15. Eat vegan for a week.
16. Finish reading Jesus for President, which I’ve been working on for like six months now (it’s hard to read for fun when you spend so much time reading for school!).
17. Sleep in my hammock in the Pine Grove.
    

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    These aren’t all as ambitious or adventurous as I might have originally hoped, but if I can do them (or even some of them), I think I will have spent my last 34 days well. I’m excited to see how well this goes.

#10 will be the easiest. Worship team lives for JJ’s.

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Which of my bucket list items do you want to hear more about? Let me know on Twitter (@hopekathryn17) or send me an email at kathryn.krieger@hope.edu. Thanks for reading!

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