Thursday, July 14, 2011

The Circle of...Water

The origins and development of Christianity were the topic of today’s lecture in class, sparking in-depth discussions among the twelve students in Dr. Dunn’s World Religions course here at VSA.
One thing I learned to keep in mind when creating my class schedule in college is to take things such as time management and ability into consideration. Morning classes in college can be an inconvenience and an annoyance, but can also serve as an incentive to arise early instead of sleeping in constantly, which can waste precious hours of the day.
I experienced the first rainfall here in Nashville for the first time today. During a short five-minute break from class, I went outside to observe my interesting surroundings. The air was very humid and warm as usual, but the rain itself was not quite so. About an hour after the downpour ended, we walked out of Study Hall on our way to Hank Ingram to find that most of the water on the floor had already evaporated in the toasty weather, leaving behind mere puddles here and there.

Tomorrow, we will be holding a showcase in the Rotunda of the Arête classes, allowing each group to perform and demonstrate their accomplishments of the week in front of the whole summer academy. Our class decided that we would reenact the Cinderella and Nemo scene that my partner and I performed yesterday for the showcase—this time including all of the students of our class. They will be portraying Cinderella’s animal friends, who are typically mice and birds. However, we decided to mix it up with lions and elephants instead.

I am excited and a bit nervous to see how it all plays out tomorrow. I still need to find a bandana as well as an apron to assist me in capturing my character of a distressed maiden. Next week, we will be assigned a new Arête class (mine is Glee [singing and dancing]).

Tonight was sign-out night, so Aiyana, Kye, and I, along with a group of friends from our proctor group, decided to do some adventuring and shopping around the borders of Vanderbilt. We walked along 21st Avenue South, which is lined with vintage shops, book stores, street performers, and more.

After some window shopping, we headed over to Ben and Jerry’s for some ice cream. I had a root beer float, which was very enjoyable and reminded me of home (my sisters and I make them whenever we have root beer and ice cream in the house).

We also made a quick stop at the local CVS/Pharmacy, where I picked up some materials I needed for tomorrow’s “Come As You Aren’t” mixer. I won’t disclose what I plan to go as (here’s a hint: it’s something I’m not), and am very excited for it.

After a long day, there is nothing like a good night’s sleep to prepare you for yet another activity-packed day.

1 comment:

  1. Julia,

    the origins of any religion can be pretty interesting. Studying the origins, though, is incomplete unless you also study how the religion has morphed over the years.

    For instance, the Bible that most people accept--the King James version--is someone's interpretation of writings that have been modified over the centuries.

    Even Islam, although probably one religion where the text of the Koran has remained mostly constant over the years suffers when translated from the ancient language to the many different languages of today.

    Even when you come to an accepted version of the text, you have the different interpretations of that text. Islam is a good example where you have the Shia and the Sunni. Christianity has so many different sects I'm not sure they can even be catalogued. Would anyone try to compare Catholicism with Mormonism or the version practiced in the South (the varying versions of the Baptist sect)?

    You'll have to let us know if this is covered at all? If not, perhaps you'll want to bring it up and ferret out some responses.

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