Falcon Footnotes

For a foreigner living in America like me, some American traditions might seem very foreign. Thanksgiving is one of these holidays you seldom here about unless you are here and hear the excitement in the student’s faces as they await the needed break! For me, the first question was, “What are they thankful about?” It is not like I am “the Grinch” or anything, but I just wanted to understand why people take 4 days out of their year to be thankful. I suddenly found out that there is a historical background to it, but nowadays, it is simply about being thankful. Isn’t that just awesome? Have a holiday to just be thankful about things. So, there is something I am thankful for: Thanksgiving! And wherever I go I will remind the people I meet with, in the US or elsewhere of the importance of being thanksgiving! By the way, Messiah College, thanks for giving us an extra day of holidays! Much needed!

O Chapel, Chapel of mine! Save my faith one teaching at a time!rnrnHaha! I just made that up! But it is funny how that has been so true in my spiritual life this semester. Last tuesday one of our own professors, Brian Smith, spoke again in chapel. A chapel that started in a low tone as we sang very old hymns picked up after this professor jumped up to the stage and reminded us all about the most important commandment: to love God with all heart, soul, strength and mind. Or as he clarified it, we should love God with all our inner being, our life and all our ability! That is what is so good about chapel! This is not just one more sermon you get to here every Sunday in a church! It unites the faith we profess with the academic study of that same faith! Sometimes it is easy to forget that intellect and faith walk hand in hand. But chapel is just a great time to be reminded of this “faith seeking understanding” as this 11th century Christian thinker once put.rnrnO Chapel, Chapel of all! I will surely miss the awe of it all!rnrnhaha!

So, last friday I heard from the Oxford Study Abroad Programme that I have been accepted to their program! Woohoo! It is great to be able to claim three semesters abroad at Messiah!rnrnI don’t mean to “dish” Messiah and some people actually think I am running away! But in reality I love the fact that Messiah College gives you the opportunity of studying abroad so much! Yes, there are great classes that I am missing here; however, the cultural, the social and the experiences I will have abroad are simply too incredible to let them pass by!rnrnBoth of my past experiences, China and the Middle East, were so enriching and certainly added-on to the person I am today! The Chinese food I ate, the Chinese name I inherited, the Chinese friends I made just bring back memories of a lifetime experience that will never be forgotten! The Middle East, in the same light, with its dressing standards, its falafels and kosheri and the beautiful mosques are simply exotic pieces of a rich culture different than our own!rnrnAs my nervous self is once again reinstated through the “before the trip” experience, I am once again excited for the new adventures ahead! Oxford, like any other place, will have its own food, its own culture, and its own people. And I am ready to take on every bit of it as I did in China and the Middle East!