I actually got out of bed on time this morning! My roommate also entrusted in me that I wake her up before I went out for my shower, and to absolutely not let her persuade me to allow her to stay in bed because she had some things she had to get done in the morning. She warned me that she’s known to say anything to stay in bed, but instructed me that I seriously not listen to her protests. My roommate was very adamant about this. When I heard these instructions, I felt a bit apprehensive since her morning outcome was on my hands! But I succeeded in waking up my roomie, and she got all her stuff done. Roommate bonding!
Every single student in our class today was unenergetic. A few people dozed off for a few minutes, and some had that glazed look in their eyes. I even have to admit, my eyelids were drooping quite a bit. But it wasn’t because class was boring, it was just because VSA keeps us all very busy, and we get pretty wiped out after a few days.
Today’s lesson was the story of Jesus Christ. We learned about his birth, his preaching, and his crucifixion. We learned the reason why Jesus was sent to his death. And we learned why Christianity became so popular. Basically Judaism and Christianity were different in the different interpretations of the Bible. Many people were drawn to the ideals of Judaism, but disagreed or disapproved of one thing (the cutting of a certain part). So when Christianity preached that certain aspects weren’t necessary, and that all you had to do was love God by loving his Son and have faith, many people began to convert to or join Christianity.
We had our first Nashville rain today. It was pouring and there was thunder, but incredibly it was still warm outside! With the heavy rain the non-Southerners expected it would last for the rest of the night, but those from the South knew better. They predicted it would only last about one or two hours, and they were right.
Arête class was fun today. We worked on double-dutch for half the day, and the other half we worked on “picking up” partners. So a group of people would jump at the same pace in a line, and one person would jump with a rope and pull it over them and jump with that person, and “pick them up”. You would then go around them, and pick up the next person in line. I was surprisingly pretty good at it, and was very proud of myself!
For dinner I had some fish sticks, which I hadn’t had since I was very young and was a bit over-enthusiastic about seeing them after such a long time. I also had tortellini and potato wedges, but decided against trying the fishy looking mahi-mahi (pun intended). As I said before, you find out interesting things about the people you meet. For instance, the honorary proctor guy can put his leg behind his head, and proudly showed us his talent, while we shouted for him to put his leg back down.
For our two hours of recreational activities, everyone was allowed to go out and explore the town, while staying inside town boundaries. The boundaries aren’t as lenient or unrestrictive as we would’ve wished, but we still had a good time looking in boutiques and getting Ben and Jerry’s around the town. Julia and I went with members of our proctor group, and Kye joined us as well. He came back from the hospital last night, and is doing well. Everyone loves to ask him how it was possible for him to dislocate his shoulder from fencing.
The Friday of Vanderbilt is tomorrow and some crazy stuff is being planned! But I will say no more until tomorrow. Hooray for cliffhangers!
Aiyana,
ReplyDeleteSomeone has to explain to me how--right in the middle of your meal--the subject of contortionism comes up and proctor boy feels the need the need to demonstrate it right there at your supper table.
Your explanation about how the Jews abandoned their faith and embraced Christianity seems a little too simplistic. It makes me wonder f you're just giving us the highlights of the lecture or whether this was just skimmed over.
Being in the deep South like you are, they have some ideas about their religion that aren't shared elsewhere and they often try to teach them in their schools as if they were fact. I'm not saying that's what's going on here but your paragraph about this invites more questions than it does answers.
And don't forget that this wasn't a real interpretation of the Bible--not then at least. The "Bible" at that time consisted only of what we call the Old Testament. The New Testament--the latter half of what we know as "the Bible" not only hadn't been written yet but the events had barely even occurred.
I hope that your instructor talked a little about the role that politics played in what happened to Jesus, his Apostles and disciples and how and why so may people in the immediate aftermath started to embrace these new beliefs.
Hatred for Rome and even for the Jews that were seen as collaborators had an impact and affect. And the desire for some Jews to maintain their relationship with the Roman Empire--and the power and wealth that that provided them--also was a contributing factor.
There's always more to the story, Aiyana. This is one of those subjects that needs to be looked at through an academician's eye and not through a true believer's eye (which can sometimes become clouded).