It's a Wonderful Life!

Looks like this last week was quite an exciting one! Now, where to start talking about what happened...well, I guess the chronological beginning would be as good a place as any. To you, loyal reader, that may seem like the obvious option, but to my scattered mind...well, let's just say I am relieved I even thought of that to try to create some level of normalacy and semblence to my entry.

Starting from where I left off in my last post - last Friday night was WU's annual 'Dancing with the Staff,' where any student on campus can ask any faculty or staff member to team up with them, learn a Latin dance and a freestyle dance, and compete for a trophy. I went last year as well, because I love watching ballroom dancing, but this year was even better. I had several friends in the competition I could cheer for, and cheer I did. In the end, one of the leaders from my mission trip to Argentina last year was the winner, so I was really excited (I had been cheering for her the most).

Saturday was definitely the most busy day of my extremely busy week. I went with my friends Chris, Kyle, and Kevin through Waynesburg to visit the Carnegie Museums of Natural History and Art in Pittsburgh. I had not been to the museum since I was in elementary school, so I was excited to go back and see what had changed and had been added. I was far from disappointed, because Carnegie had a HUGE display of dinosaur skeletons - and well, I love dinosaurs! Actually, my friends were pretty excited about the dinosaurs, too - after all, who doesn't love dinosaurs?!

The only disappointing thing about the museum was the fact that the Art Museum was under construction for the most part. I had really been looking forward to seeing how much art I recognized and understood, because I am on my second semester of studying art history here at Waynesburg, but I only saw two things that I recognized. However, the dinosaurs definitely made up for that disappointment (if you can't tell on your own, I am still pretty excited about the dinosaurs).

Amongst our excited squeals and flailing about in the dinosaur exhibit, we learned that Kyle had never seen Jurassic Park - which to us, was only one small step below being a sin. Thus, right after we returned to Waynesburg, we all had a great time enjoying that old classic - and Kyle did like it, so I'm glad he finally had that enlightening experience.

After that blast from the past (oh, I love cheesy puns) we went to a surprise birthday party that had been planned for my friend Nick. If you look at my last entry on here, he is the boy with red hair in the pictures of styling my hair. He definitely was surprised, and had never had a surprise party before. We definitely got him the best present of all time - a garden gnome! After all, what college student doesn't need a garden gnome to brighten up their dorm? Exactly!

When the beginning of the week rolled around, so did the beginning of 'Who's Your Neighbor?' Week, which I described in my last entry. Both Monday and Tuesday nights I attended the Christ and Culture lectures with guest speaker David Batstone, co-founder of the 'Not for Sale' campaign against human trafficking. Both nights were really eye-opening experiences that I will not quickly forget. Although I already knew the fact that there were more people enslaved today than in all the centuries of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, I never realized how much of a problem it was right here in America, not just Southeast Asia, Africa, or India. Batstone even said that there were dozens of cases right here in Pittsburgh of human trafficking!

And instead of just filling us with facts and letting us leave on a guilt trip, Batstone also described ways that we could help fight human trafficking right now. In conjunction with the newly launched website , he is working to get stores across the United States to sell chocolate that is not produced with slave labor - particularly from Western Africa where many cocoa beans are harvested. He gave all of us a 'Proof of NOT Purchase' flyer that we can take to local stores here in Waynesburg that declares that we came to buy a chocolate bar, but upon discovering there were none for sale that guaranteed no slave labor was used in its production, we did not buy any. On the back, it also has places that the store can learn about freely made chocolate, and ways to stock it themselves. I am really excited to give mine to a store - I just have not decided where yet.

Last night I had the opportunity to be a part of the Experimental Psychology class's annual psychological experiment. Every year the class conducts at least three different studies that are open to anyone on campus to sign up for - and generally get bonus points for a class. I signed up for a memory test one, and we watched clips from two seperate movies and then had to answer short answer questions about what we could remember from the clips. It was pretty cool - and only 45 minutes later I had gained bonus points for my Ministry and Literature of Paul class, which I am definitely not complaining about.

Oh! Today is a big day for me, because today my airline tickets for my next big mission trip through Waynesburg are being purchased - to Thailand! I am extremely excited about the trip, and the chance to do mission work in Asia of all places. Waynesburg has never sent a trip to Southeast Asia before, so it will be a new experience for all of us - the trip is May 23 to June 4, so if you are reading this, I could always use some prayer support even now, but especially during those days! Prayer really does go a long way.

Okay. I have been saving the biggest piece of news I have for last - yesterday I was accepted into the Irish American Scholars!!!!! That's right - next year I will be studying at Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland! I sadly was not able to go for the entire year as I had initially wanted because so many people applied, but I am going to go for my spring semester next year! Believe me, there will be more news to come about that as I learn more but...that definitely made this week absolutely amazing. I have been waiting rather impatiently (ie: checking my e-mail every hour and my mailbox at least three times a day) to find out what was happening, and I finally know - and the answer was a good one!

Well, next week is spring break, and I am going on quite an exciting trip - but its going to be a surprise, so you'll just have to check back in two weeks to see where I went, and check out my amazing pictures. Until then!