It has been a very busy week – my immune system’s starting
to falter, so I’ve got to slow down a little. It was fun, though. I went to a
couple of talks, spent the weekend on retreat with Cru*, attended a couple of
ROTC events, and even went to the dentist (three of my wisdom teeth are
partially erupted – that sounds more painful than it is). And of course, with
papers and tests coming up, there’s also been school to deal with.
There’s more elaboration to follow, but first, something
that made my day: in German, the word for seduction is ‘verführung,’ a
combination of ‘führung,’ or leading, with ‘ver’ – mis- or away. Literally, it
means to lead away. And guess what? The English word ‘seduce’ comes from Latin
‘ducere’ – to lead – and ‘se’ – you guessed it – ‘away’. It’s the same compound
word! And no, I will not apologize for being a nerd. That’s why I’m here.
In any case, Fall Retreat with Cru was loads of fun, despite
the cold. We traveled up to the mountains of New Hampshire and spend a couple
of days canoeing, chatting, going to Bible Study, worshipping, and eating lots
of excellent food. I got to know the Cru people at Harvard much better than
previously, and it was nice to get away from college for a while. I gained a
nice perspective on school vs. real life while studying abroad, and I don’t
particularly want to get sucked into the college bubble again.
As for talks, I attended one last Wednesday that discussed
the development of ISIS’s outlook and the reason for its sudden success. It was
substantive and complex, for a half-hour lecture, and the Q&A was
substantial, which doesn’t always happen. I also attended a talk on
International Law in the Israel-Palestine conflict that was less substantive
and complex, but did provide fruit and brownies.
In ROTC, we had our joint service field meet with Army and
Air Force. Air Force won, but that was primarily because the Navy/Marines in
the Combat Relay had never been taught how to throw a grenade using the Army
method (don’t worry; they were mock grenades). At least, that’s the working
hypothesis. That was last Wednesday; later that day several of us attended a
talk by the new Vice Chief of Naval Operations on the future of the Navy and
cyber warfare. And finally, we had our swim PT of the semester on Monday, which
was fun, even if it meant going out into the cold with wet hair.
So that was all the special events, not counting a couple of
other random meetings and errands. I also had an Arabic quiz and am working on
my second essay for my philosophy tutorial. In my music class the Harvard
Baroque Chamber Orchestra and part of the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum (HRCM) performed the initial part of Handel’s Messiah. We were properly impressed.
In other news, it’s now cold enough that I close my window
at night and have actually pulled out my comforter instead of just sleeping
under my sheet. I discovered, quite by accident, that upbeat 80s music is very
good for walking. And in Arabic, we’re learning how to say fun things like
‘impose restrictions’ and ‘double standards’ and ‘human rights’.
I could mention other random facts, but all in in all, it’s
been a pretty good week, with lots of variety as well as activity. I don’t have
as many midterms as I might, and all my classes seem to be going tolerably well,
although I could be happier with a couple of the grades. But such is life. And
after a short weekend of retreat it’s time to get back to the grind, where I
belong. After all, that’s why I’m here.
*"Campus Crusade for Christ” just sounded a little aggressive,
I guess, so they shortened it. Harvard’s branch in particular is called
Christian Impact (CI), because Harvard requires Harvard-specific organization
to have a Harvard-specific name. I’m not sure why – I suppose because they
think they’re special. In any case, Campus Crusade, Cru, CI, and Athletes in
Action (AIA) are all parts or versions of the same basic organization.
Pictures:
Harvard can actually be very pretty:
No comments:
Post a Comment