The Night of the Epic Hairstyle

I am officially ready for Spring Break...the weeks are feeling longer and longer, and yet shorter and shorter at the same time if that's possible. Longer because my workload just keeps going up, but shorter because time just seems to be flying by sometimes! Amongst other things, I can't believe that next week is March - and March is a crucial month for me, considering it is when I find out whether or not I have been accepted to study abroad next year.

But spring break sounds unbelievably appealing at the moment...sleeping in, relaxing a bit, not worrying about exams (I had three this week) - and though yes, I will still be doing work as well, at least it somehow won't feel as pressing. Looks like I just have to survive one more week, and then its vacation time! Finally!

This past week as a bit unique, because on Tuesday all classes were cancelled so students could attend the annual Assessment Day activities. As a sophomore, I had to take a math examination, which is a graduation requirement for all WU students, and I am not going to lie - I was stressed out about that and worrying myself into oblivion, considering I have not had any real math classes since I was a junior in high school.

However, after sitting down and looking over the first few questions of the exam - I was pleasantly surprised. I could do 99% of everything on it! Looks like yet again, I was worried about nothing real...and I am far from disappointed about that. In the afternoon, I attended a session with the human services department listening to seniors talk about what internships they have done this year, as well as an alumni from Waynesburg talking about what she had done since graduation - and I want that to be me one day talking to the college students! I happen to love talking, so I think that is a good job for me - but that's just personal opinion.

Next week, meanwhile, is Who's Your Neighbor Week, which is held once every semester. It usually is accompanied by speakers and workshops all directed at serving other people, either in one's community or even abroad - which is the stuff I get most excited about. This particular week's theme is 'Defending the Defenseless,' and that feeds right into my social justice passion, so I am really excited. Monday and Tuesday evenings are both devoted to listening to a speaker lecture on Living Justly in a Global Society - and I will definitely be in attendance at both sessions.

Along those same lines, a few friends and I attended a special presentation this last Sunday done by Invisible Children, which was held right on campus. We watched a video and heard a few other college students from around the country speaking about the reality of child soldiers in Uganda - a situation I had no idea was going on. A man named Joseph Koney has built up a rebel army (which he calls the Lord's Resistance Army, or the LRA) consisting of 90% abducted children, which commits horrific acts of violence and mutilation in the country and even those around it. Though he has been called to make a peace treaty four times now by the United Nations, he keeps backing down.

Thus, the organization Invisible Children has been created to help raise money for peacekeeping efforts and rescuing the abducted children, as well as to write letters to politicians in America and abroad to pressure this man into peace, and releasing his soldiers back to their families. It was all I could do to not cry during the video when I saw all those children's faces, and saw the guns strapped to their backs. In April, Pittsburgh has actually been selected as one of the cities were a large advocacy campaign called The Rescue is being held, and my friend Nicole and I are both considering attending. Not much information has been released about it yet, though, so I cannot say much more at the moment.

If you want to know more about the situation in Uganda, though, be sure to visit

On another note completely, tomorrow I am going to the Carnegie Museums in Pittsburgh through the college with a few friends, and I am ridiculously - and probably childishly - excited to see the dinosaur bones there! For only $5, we get full admission to the museum as well as a ride there and back, which I think is an unbeatable deal, so I am generally just excited to go there. Next week I will have to report on what happens, because when me and my friends go anywhere with the school, fun always follows.

Speaking of fun with friends and trips to Pittsburgh...Wednesday a few friends and I had the spontaneous idea that we would do a trial-run of how my hair will look for Tekkoshocon, the convention we are attending I believe I mentioned in last week's entry. Anyway, an hour and a half and almost a full bottle of hair gel later, we certainly had some...unique results.





But hey - at least we had a good time...it just shows what happens when people like us get spare time in the dorm rooms, mostly! But it was a lot of fun, and completely worth the pain of having that much gel in my hair, and the struggle to wash it all out that night and return my hair to some state of normalcy.

Well, aside from rambling about exams, which I am not going to do, I think that about wraps up the events of this week - like I said, it feels like it just flew by so quickly. It literally feels like it was about two days ago that I was sitting here writing last week's post, but it was a week ago. Hard to believe sometimes - I account that to another busy (but always interesting) week at Waynesburg! Until next week...

Pittsburgh Adventures!

So this past Sunday, I attended the Korean United Presbyterian Church in Ross Park (just outside of downtown Pittsburgh) with the WORLD club, as promised - and it was an amazing experience! Alisha, a WU student that studied in South Korea last semester, Sora, a South Korean exchange student, Chris, a Northern Irish exchange student, Esteban, a four year student from Bolivia, and myself, a hopeful for studying abroad next year, all made the trip. With a list of titles like that, its no wonder we're in a club with a name like WORLD! (I recommend joining, its definitely amazing, and we take awesome trips like this one).

Upon arriving at the church and entering the doors, the five of us were instantly stopped by a very small, very friendly Korean lady, who rightly assumed that we were college kids. She then proceeded to take us to a special service that was directed at people our age - and when we entered the room, I was overwhelmed. There were about fifty or so Korean students my own age, mostly from Carnegie Mellon University, talking and laughing and playing contemporary Christian music. I could see that, despite our different ethnicities, they were very similar to my own friends.

I cannot even remember how many different students approached and greeted us with warm handshakes and introductions, all curious about how our unlikely group had found their church, and I felt extremely accepted - something I had not been expecting from a church other than my own. There was, however, one very unique experience that we did have doing an otherwise normal service - about half way through, the leader asked everyone to stand up, turn to their right, and give that person a shoulder massage. We then turned and did the same thing to the person on our left - talk about an ice breaker!

After the service itself was over, we were invited to stay for their church's lunch, an invitation we accepted. They took us to a large gymnasium in the church (it was a really big building) and I realized then just how big of a congregation there really was in attendence - probably close to two hundred people or so, I would imagine, though sometimes I overexaggerate a bit. There were a least one hundred, though. I never knew there was that large of a Korean population in the Pittsburgh area. Once in the gym, we were treated to the traditional Korean dish of kimchi, a dish that sort of resembled a cabbage soup, with meat and other vegetables as well, over rice. Not being a huge fan of cabbage myself, I just had some rice, though I did taste a bit of Alisha's kimchi - surprisingly spicy, though not something I would order. But at least I had the experience once.

Considering we had three students that were not from America with us, Alisha and I decided that before we returned to Waynesburg, a spontaneous trip to the Duquesne Incline was more than in order. I had actually never been on the Incline myself, either, even though I grew up here in Waynesburg, so I was more than willing to make the trip. For those of you that don't know what the Incline is - it is an old cable-car style system, kind of like a train, that goes up...well, an incline! The point is, when you get to the top of the hill, you have an amazing view of the city of Pittsburgh, and all three rivers, as well as the area around the city. Even though it was freezing outside (what can I expect from February, I suppose) it was an awesome experience.



Pittsburgh actually has a surprisingly large number of cultural things to do - mostly things I never even knew about growing up in the area and only discovered after beginning to attend Waynesburg University. I can say that they have definitely all been pleasant discoveries, such as the Korean church. There is also an area known as the Strip District (we are taking a trip there with WORLD later this semester as well) where one can buy foods and ingredients and crafts from literally all over the world.

Speaking of cultural events in Pittsburgh, I am attending one in April myself that I am unbelievably excited for called Tekkoshocon. It is held at the David L Lawrence Convention Centre (I saw the building for the first time on Sunday, and it is HUGE) and is a convention celebrating Anime and Japanese Pop Culture. Now, I understand that this sort of thing may not be everyone's cup of tea - but for people like me, its a haven to have an event like this so close to home. A surprisingly large group of us are planning to go up from Waynesburg to an area easy to drive to about 45 minutes away called South Hills where we can catch the subway system into downtown Pittsburgh, eliminating the need for anyone to drive or park in the actual city - and its only about $1.5o for a ride. And oh yes, if you are thinking in the back of your mind, 'That sounds like one of those things were all the nerds get together and dress up in strange costumes with weird hair and hang around eating Pocky all day,' you are exactly right. And yes, I have a costume. In April, you can check back here for some...interesting pictures, I'm sure.

So if you are interested in the amazing world of Japanese Pop Culture - fear not! Going to Waynesburg will get you within an hour of a really large collection of people that are into the same thing! Good news for those of us in America interested in things from across the globe, after all.

Anyway, enough rambling about the future (I am just really excited, we've been planning to go since July, and its finally really close) and onto the present! Yesterday I recieved an invitation to join Pi Gamma Mu, the International Honor Fraternity of Human Services. Although Waynesburg does not have the stereotypical 'party fraternities' (something I am really glad about), there are a lot of academic fraternities that one can join, or be accepted into, throughout the years attending here. I know that besides this one, there is at least two others for business and for theatre. However, this one applies to me the most, and I am definitely going to accept the invitation - talk about a nice opportunity to help me get into graduate school one day! Thank you Waynesburg!



Well, next week is another one full of exams - so it looks like I am off to start working on studying for my International Relations one! Until next week...

Friday the 13th

That's right - its Friday the 13th. Ironically, the day before Valentine's Day, which is somewhat amusing if you're easily amused like myself. However, no bad luck for me so far (well, I did have my shoes on the wrong feet for about 15 minutes this morning and wondered why I couldn't walk right, but I'm not sure if that can be attributed to bad luck) but I guess it is only 9 AM. We shall see how the rest of the day goes! I have high hopes, however.

Faith and International Development Conference 2009 - Calvin College

Well, let's see, where to begin...quite a busy last week for me, really. Of course, it all started early Thursday morning with seven of us all piled into one of the school vans and made our way towards Grand Rapids for the weekend. Having gone to FIDC (Faith and International Development Conference) last year as well, I was able to compare the two years...and this one was even better! We had the priviledge of hearing from several amazing speakers about global partnerships and what that means, and issues of social justice (convenient, considering I want to hopefully get a career somewhere in that area). Besides the main speakers that everyone attended, there were also smaller workshops that one could attend in more of a classroom setting, and each one of this 'break-out' times had about fifteen to twenty different options to go to.

As for me, I headed towards the 'State of Children Internationally' by World Vision and 'Justice Served' by Hope International. The first break-out discussed how World Vision is moving and working across the globe to stabilize areas that need help, and make a suitable environment for the children there before handing the reigns back over to the local people rather than letting the organization run it forever - which I think is a good thing. The second break-out was even more intriguing, with two missionaries that spoke about the truth of modern-day slavery around the world, what the Bible says about this issue, and the best way to go about solving it depending on who you are and what situation you are in.

One of the most moving and enlightening parts of the conference, however, was the Breaking of the Bread meal on Thursday night for supper. When we entered, each of us was given a sealed envelope that either had a red, yellow, or blue sticker on it. As we made our way into the cafeteria, we were split up into different sections based on this color, and then were able to read the information inside the envelope. I was in the red group, which meant that I represented the middle-class population of the world. Yellow ended up being the lower-class, and blue was the upper-class. The amount of people in each group was proportionate to the percentages of each class in today's world.

In the envelope, there was information on the average income of middle-class people around the world, and what this meant for them. There were also 'reality checks,' or small sheets of paper that represented money that we would have. As a middle-class citizen, I had $14 for the day. When the meal actually started, we had to take our 'money' and go through different lines to purchase our meals. Being middle-class, I was too poor to be able to afford the main course meal that the people in the blue group were able to eat, so I purchased a meal made of rice and beans. I was also lucky enough to have a few dollars left over that I could get a drink with.

Almost directly after I purchased my drink, an announcement was made that there was a global food crisis, and the prices of everything had gone up. I was lucky to have already gotten my food before this turn of events. I began to search for the other people I had come with from Waynesburg, two of which were in the yellow group and one in the blue to see what they had been able to get. My two friends in the yellow, Nicole and Bethany, were able to purchase nothing more than a corn-soy porridge that World Vision commonly uses for refugees, and they could not even get a drink. However, my friend in the blue group, Chris, had been able to afford a regular meal, a drink, and dessert, even with the crisis.

As we sat together and ate our respective meals, it really sunk in the difference between the lower class, left to eat barely anything (and the porridge really tasted bad, I could not resist trying some) while the upper-class eats normal, good, and plentiful food only a few inches away. We also read true stories about impoverished people around the globe (my story came from Russia) that just made the reality of what we were experiencing sink in deeper. Yes, it was a fun experience - but it was also an eye-opening one at the same time.

Oh - there was snow there. That's right. Lots of it. Happily, it actually didn't snow at all while we were there, so I was pleased about that, but there was around six inches of snow covering the entire campus already, and iciciles that were probably two to three feet long hanging from the buildings. Let's just say I was glad that I had my boots with me.

Another great experience from the FIDC actually had nothing to do with the conference itself - rather, it was just the chance to live with a total stranger for a few days in someone else's dorm. Nicole and I were assigned the same room with a girl named Aly, and she instantly opened up her door and her heart to us, letting us basically take over her dorm room for three days, use her computer and her TV, and even eat her food! She showed us where we needed to go on campus, and was just generally a great friend, making both of us feel extremely welcome from the moment we got there. It was great to feel at home when we were in reality eight hours away from it.

However, the fun and work for my week was not over just because I came back to Waynesburg. WORLD International Student Organization, my club, was hosting an Ethnic Food Fair on Tuesday that would be open to the entire campus. We were to make foods from our own ethnic backgrounds, or just countries that we had been to, for the other people at Waynesburg to sample if they wanted to. Last year, myself and another WORLD member made two German dishes, considering we were both German.

This year, however, I offered to help my friend Chris make two dishes. Chris is an exchange student from Northern Ireland, so of course, we made Irish food. First, we made a stew that was actually from a recipe his mother sent him (that's how we know it's authentic!) and then we made a dessert called Banoffee, which is a sort of cold banana and toffee pie. The Banoffee ended up lasting a whole glorious five minutes or so when the food fair opened - understandable, because it really did taste absolutely amazing. There were also a lot of Korean dishes both from our Korean exchange students at the campus as well as from two Waynesburg students that studied there last semester, a Russian dish, a few Mexican dishes, and even a dish from Khazakstan! The food fair was busy the entire time I was there, and I was glad that so many people on campus were willing to step outside of their comfort zones for a few minutes and try something completely different.



Overall - it was another successful week of college life at Waynesburg University! Until next week, stop by again for more ridiculous ramblings and strange stories! Going to a Korean church service this Sunday with WORLD, so I will be sure to post about that as well as any other things that may happen along the way.

Argentinean Angels

Well, after a lot of hard work, I finally did find myself a pair of boots like I had noted I intended to - for some reason, even though its the middle of winter, I discovered that boots were not in season oddly enough. But after a bit of searching, I was able to find an acceptable pair, and believe me, my feet are thanking me for it as the snow continues to fall. At least now my feet are warm and my pants are dry walking around campus!

Moral of the story? Buy a nice pair of boots BEFORE you come to Waynesburg in the first place, because once you're here its almost too late. You won't regret that decision.

So, I suppose the best thing to talk about is what I will be doing for the next three days, and if you remember from my earlier posts, that would be the Faith and International Development Conference at Calvin College. When I went last year, the main focus was sustainable development - that is, ensuring the welfare of the people in a country by ensuring the welfare of the environment.

It was a nice theme and a great conference, but I am lot more excited about this year because it deals much closer to what I am studying here at Waynesburg - dynamic partnerships. We will be going to workshops to discuss forming partnerships with other countries that are mutually-beneficial rather than just beneficial to the United States as many partnerships like that seem to be. The main focus will be on forming these relationships between the two poles of the world - the north and the south. Although there is not a real line between the two hemispheres economically, the truth is that more developed countries exist above the equator, while more developing (or 'third world') countries exist below it.

Considering I want to use my International Studies degree that I am working on here at Waynesburg to work in politics that deal with helping other countries that are developing or in turmoil, I am really excited about the conference this year - more so than I was last year. I hope to pick up some new information, and maybe get some ideas about what I can do specifically in my future after I graduate from Waynesburg.

Oh, and it helps that my last International Relations exam dealt with the split between the North and the South both politically and economically, so I feel like this conference will be a nice continuation of my current favorite class this semester. Very convenient, really.

The one thing I am dreading about the trip, though? Grand Rapids' notorious 'lake effect snow' that we had to deal with last year. Good thing I bought boots. Really - you really, really want to bring boots to Waynesburg with you. You never know when you might suddenly end up in Michigan.

On that note of helping people globally, yesterday's chapel session was a 'Witness to Mission' Tuesday - always one of my favorites for the year. On these days, the chapel service is devoted to hearing reports from students that went on the various mission trips from Waynesburg both domestically and abroad. Waynesburg has an unbelievable amount of mission trips available, and though some people may be swayed away at first by the price - believe me, they are really affordable, and worth every single penny. Waynesburg even has a missions scholarship that you can win from writing a few essays about why you are going on the trip, and that can help considerably in funding one of the best decisions you will ever make.

If you cannot tell at this point, I am speaking from personal experience. Listening yesterday to the stories and seeing the pictures from Jamaica and Mexico, I was taken back to my own missions experience last May with Waynesburg to Argentina. It was the university's first trip to South America, and was successful enough that they are going again this year. I had never been out of the country further than Canada before, and never been on a mission trip before. Argentina was unbelievably eye-opening, both for my expanding my world view by experiencing and falling in love with another culture, as well as challenging my faith in God to all new levels as I bonded with the people there, especially the children at Sunrise Children's Home where we worked.





If you remember nothing else that I say in all my blogs about what you should do at Waynesburg, remember this - go on at least one mission trip, whether it is domestic or international. Those kids were honestly nothing less than angels in disguise. I have never had an experience like that before, and doubt I ever will again. It was definitely the best experience of my life thus far, and I feel like a grew a lot both as a Christian and as a citizen of the world rather than just the United States - important in today's world, which continues to get smaller and smaller as globalization expands more and more.

Am I rambling about things from my classes this semester? Why, yes I am! What can I say, I am in love with my major! I just can't hold it in sometimes.

Well, now that I had a very pleasant rant, I think it is about time to draw this entry to a close. In my next one, I am excited to share all of my experiences from Calvin, as well as pictures of a *hopefully* snow-FREE Michigan trip. We roll out tomorrow at 7:00 AM - eight hour ride in the school van packed with my friends, here I come!

Better yet - Michigan, here we come! I hope Calvin College is ready for the invasion of Waynesburg University once again!