A CITY IS A CITY

I'm sitting in my room, trying, but not too hard, to do some homework. My desk is positioned to look out the window to our backyard. There is an alley that runs to the side of our house and behind and often times people walk through these alleys and of course, cars make their way through. Since the house is so close to Catholic University, The National Basilica, two Theological schools, and the Franciscan Monastary, it's nothing out of the ordinary to see Monks, in their black robes, walking past the house and on the streets. There is something of beauty about the city and the people that inhabit it. I don't associate Washington D.C. with monks as much as I would with, Taize, France or some larger city in Europe. So when I see these Monks walking on Sunday morning or to and from class or mass with their bookbags, I crack a smile of delight because a city is a city. Yes, of course, Paris is different than Washington D.C. New York is different from say, Frankfurt, but people who make up these cities generally are the same.

Clearly my nostalgic self is just in a reflective mood. I realized yesterday that I have been in D.C. for a month and the time has just flown by. My time here is short and that is so disappointing, but at least I know that this is one more city on my list of favorite cities. I'm reminded everyday as to why I can't see myself being anywhere else but in a city in a small little one bedroom apartment enjoying life.

Peace Rally and March

Who Are We?

My fourth week in Washington D.C is drawing to an end. It's hard to imagine that before these weeks started I only knew a handful of people that I'm now sharing a house with. We have meshed well, and of course we run into our tiffs but we almost always forgive and forget quickly.

This past week during our seminar class, we took a trip which was titled "Mennonites and Monuments". We talked around some of the monuments in D.C. such as The Lincoln Memorial, The Vietnam Memorial Wall, World War II Memorial, and the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial. At each of these stops a couple of students were assigned to do some type of reading that went along with the monuments. For example: I read an article talking about a young Mennonite fresh out of college that went to Vietnam to start a Mennonite Central Committee Unit alone. It shared his letters back to home where he expressed his neutrality in the war and his convictions as a Mennonite. Other articles were linked to each Monument. It was a great exercise for us as a class to expand our minds and to fully understand each of the monuments and their original meanings and what that meaning has morphed into in the last half a century.

I feel very confident that my time spend in Washington D.C. will be an amazing and educational time in the sense of history, politics, and racial diversity and the troubles that this city and nation face each day. Not only learning from my professors but from my peers is vital in my stay here. This is my final semester in college, and though I am excited to not ever have to worry about assignments and such, I'm a little sad to be leaving this part of me behind but I know that I will carry with me the knowledge that I have gained and the aspiration to want to learn more as I grow older.

In the picture above you see a few of my classmates and professor standing at The Lincoln Memorial and it's a pretty sweet picture of the Washington Monument. It was one of our very first days of great weather. Fall is on its way!