The Azusa Pacific Blog

Hey, its J.P again!! Sorry I haven’t been blogging much, but as the title says, College is extremely busy!!!!

In case some of you readers don’t know already, I’m studying in the mountains near Yosemite for a semester long program called “High Sierra”, which is sort of like a study abroad program. For my Leadership class I have here at the “satellite campus”(campus that is not on the legit APU college) the 22 students here had to go on a 6 day trek in Ansel Adams(sp?) which is part of Yosemite. For 6 straight days, we have no classes, no internet, no phones, no showers, and worst of all, NO TOILETS!! It was a great experience; One of those things that you do once n a life time.My trek group for the grueling 6 day trek consisted of 9 other classmates and professors.

Here are some pictures from my 6 day trek!

Some people from my trek group summiting a mountain!!

The 6 day trek was tons of fun!! I had a “Solo”, where I was by myself in the wilderness with only my sleeping bag and a few other things. I spent 24 hours by myself, and chose to fast the whole day by choice. In the 24 hours while I was on my “solo” time during trek, I have never felt more closer to God in my entire life. I spent the whole day in solitude, and spent a lot of the day appreciating God’s majestic creation and basking in the sun by the lake(a picture of it is above here).

Now, I’m back on campus with the 22 or so other students, and have been trying to transition back to the groove of the dreaded 6 classes I’m taking here at High Sierra. Don’t get me wrong, I love the classes that Azusa Pacific offers and I learn tremendously. The teachers here are amazing and are like mentors. A few of them that I can name off the top of my head are Dave Williams, Mike Robbins, and Tom Dunn. They are some rad professors!

I have had a difficult time trying to juggle my time wisely. In college, countless temptations get thrown your way and at times, it will be very difficult to turn them down. Instead of doing homework, I’m tempted to hang out with friends, watch a movie, play a game or sport, or even procrastinate on facebook! I barely seem to have time to call my parents and siblings back in Virginia, and even my roommate back on the APU campus.

All in all, College is the most amazing place on Earth, besides a church of course. :) I have met some quality friends here, and I have learned so much just as a person, and also as a Christian.

To close off, I’ll just explain what I did today to give you a taste of what college life is kind of like:

I woke up around 11 am because I didn’t have any  classes today, and then chilled with a few friends until it was time for lunch. I didn’t get a chance to eat breakfast since I woke up so late(Breakfast is around 8am here at the High Sierra). Then, my friend Rachel Eblin trimmed my hair with her own personal hair cuttery kit. After my trim, I went on a mini “field trip” with about 8 other students to Starbucks to study/work on homework. We could of just stayed on campus, but the track team from Azusa Pacific is here at High Sierra for a team building weekend or something, so there is constantly a lot of noise because of how much fun their having. The few of us who couldn’t concentrate, and the students who wanted to leave campus for a while decided to go to Starbucks and I got a lot of work done. It’s relaxing to get away from campus and the whole college environment for a while and just relax.

Right now, it’s about midnight and I’m typing this blog in the dining hall, which is filled with at least half of the guys and girls from the APU track team. I’m about to work on some homework(story of my life) and get some sleep.

I plan to blog more often, sorry for the abscence. Like I said, I barely have any free time, but I’ll make this blog job one of my priorities. :)

Night, J.P