Sunday was definitely a great day, though. I attended a Lutheran church for the first time in my life to make my last field observation for Religion in America. Through my eyes, it seemed very similar to the Catholic service that I attended earlier in the semester, but it certainly had its own unique elements as well. What really stuck in my mind was how welcoming the congregation was to three random girls that just showed up on their doorstep on Sunday morning, and we were invited to come back "with friends" more times than I can count. When I go to a new church, being made feel welcome is really important to me, and the Lutherans certainly exceeded at that.
Almost right after the service, I was rushing back to campus to get ready to go out on a trip with the WORLD club to Pittsburgh. Eight of us all piled in one of the school vans and headed to Christos, an amazing Greek restaurant right in the cultural district of the city. WORLD members only had to pay $5, and the rest of the meal was covered by the club's budget, plus the ride was free - it was definitely a great deal. As for the food? It was absolutely amazing. I had never had real Greek food before, and after sharing food with basically everyone at the table, I decided that I certainly had a taste for it. Oh, and the desserts were heavenly - caramels, vanilla, and honey seemed to be in everything, which I was certainly not complaining about. And the waiter? Between his thick Greek accent and his playful antics, he was certainly one of the most enjoyable parts of the experience.
After eating far too much food and still having the van for a few hours, we headed down to the Strip District a short distance away. For anyone that is uncertain just what the Strip District is, it is a stretch of road lined with cultural shops and grocery stores selling food from basically every culture of the world that one can name. Most of the stores were closed, being Sunday afternoon, but two of my friends and I found ourselves a few Asian supermarkets where we admitted loaded our arms full of probably far more food than we needed - but with great prices, and food that we could not find anywhere else, we needed to stock up! Thus, the entire ride back to Waynesburg was filled with students that already had full stomachs munching on various Asian snacks and sweets - definitely acceptable by my standards.That night I vouched to stay on campus a little while longer with Nicole rather than go home once more, and we lounged around her room (really, the upperclassman dorms are AMAZING) and watched My Neighbour Totoro and had a good time...eating more Asian food, of course. Overall, Sunday really was an amazing day. Joining WORLD my first weekend at Waynesburg Freshman year was the best decision I could have made, and now that I am Vice-President, I am unbelievably glad to be a part of such a great group of kids. And we really do some of the coolest stuff on campus, in my [biased] opinion.
Most of the rest of the week was pretty normal - though there was one rather difficult World Religions exam that I am certainly glad is now behind me - and without too much excitement aside from a few points. Tuesday night Nicole and I attended an update on Invisible Children, an organization that is fighting to end the abduction of children in Uganda to be used as child soldiers. They visited campus in the spring and got a lot of people on fire for the cause (myself included) and we jumped on the chance of seeing an update. Sadly, not much has changed since spring semester, and new plans are being formulated to help end this horror in Africa. I am just hoping that I can be a part of that history and that the entire world will not just watch as something like this goes on and on and on.
Today was certainly another unique day in my history. I travelled with my World Religions class to Morgantown, WV to visit the Islamic Centre there. As a female, I had to wear a headscarf, and though I shied away from the idea at first, it was actually pretty cool to have that experience and see what it was like to wear one for an extended period. We got great opportunities to talk to a lot of the Muslims that attend there, and we also go to go to their afternoon community prayer service, which was half in Arabic and half in English. The call to prayer in Arabic was absolutely beautiful - definitely one of the coolest experiences I have ever had, and it makes me really want to hear it on a larger scale in a city like Cairo or Istanbul someday.After the service, we girls (who had seperated from the men, because they worship separate from one another in most mosques) were approached by several Muslim girls who welcomed us and answered a lot of questions that we had for them, which was really nice. Instead of feeling out of place, I felt welcome, despite being in the midst of a different religion altogether. When we returned to meet our professor and the rest of our class, we discovered that the Muslims had prepared a meal for us as a surprise - and the food as completely amazing. Chicken, long-grained rice, and some spicy red sauce that I definitely fell in love with. While we ate, we got to talk to the Imam (the Muslim equivalent of a pastor) for about an hour, and he was willing to answer questions about anything. On the van ride back to campus, thinking back on the trip, I realized just how amazing of an experience it truly was.
Looks like this really has been the semester for new experiences - or should I say, the year for them, considering I will be in a different country in the spring? And can I say...I am definitely not complaining at all! Had it not been for WU, I would have never done any of these things, and I am really thankful that God has given me the chance to this year. Looks like its about time I started really counting my blessings.
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