The Azusa Pacific Blog

So today is Halloween, and I’m writing a paper. I’ve never been super into Halloween after about age 10, but it’s been great to see carved pumpkins and some ridiculous antics around campus. Last night a few of my friends dressed up like old people and there were trick-or-treaters in the Mods (a sophomore living area), so I thought that was funny.

Right now, I’m trying to gear back up for another challenging week ahead. Sometimes it is hard staying focused with all these events around, but it has taught me a lot about self-control. Though, right now, I’m really distracted by quite a few things, including my plans to study abroad next year, starting at High Sierra, and then possibly on to Australia. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be able to go to Israel this summer, but I’m so excited about studying in High Sierra… it’s ridiculous. Hah. I’m also distracted, in a good way, by thinking about the things I learned this week.

This past week was Global Vision week, and basically it is a week where there all these events around campus that are Mission-minded, and are designed to make APU students think about the world as a whole, when sometimes we can get trapped in the bubble of southern california or america. All the chapels are internationally minded, and on wednesday, we had a chapel speaker who brought me to tears and created a standing ovation (which I’ve never seen) for at least 3 minutes after he finished. He was an exile from Libya, and was the most amazing christian I’ve ever met. I can’t honestly describe what he said, or why it affected the whole audience the way it did, but it was life-altering. I actually got the opportunity to talk to him for a few hours after chapel, being a part of the student organization here called MESO (Middle Eastern Student Organization), which is a group that strives to have open conversation about profiles and prejudices of the Middle Eastern nations, and delight in the different cultures that are predominately Muslim.

Anyway, I’ve got to get working on this paper, but I’ll post later on how halloween went. Hopefully I can get pictures of wacky costumes tonight. One of my friends is dressing up as a Scot, complete with a real kilt from Scotland. I’m a little scared. But he and I are going to go to HOLLAH-WEEN, an event in my living area that is designed to keep students on campus for Halloween, and thus keep them safe.