I'm Coming Home for Thanksgiving!

So it's official: I will be home for Thanksgiving! I found a very affordable ticket through Northwest airlines, so I'll be flying back on Nov 18 and coming back Nov 23. I'm looking forward to seeing everybody!

Coming Home for Thanksgiving?

I have been ruling out coming home for Thanksgiving up to this point for financial reasons, but for kicks I decided to check out some airlines to see if anything would potentially work. Amazingly enough, I actually found tickets to come to California for only $310 after taxes. That's still quite a bit of money (much more than it cost to initially come out here) but all the same that's a very good price. I, of course, would have to factor in the cost for train tickets to get to and from the airport in either Newark or New York, but what I thought was not doable may actually be possible. It would be from a Sunday to a Friday, so I'd have some solid time to spend with family and friends. A lot of my classes are being cancelled that week due to SBL meetings at the seminary and professors being unavailable, so I wouldn't miss too much in terms of classes. But that's still quiet a bit of money, and I'm not sure it's worth the money to come home. I also don't have the money now to afford it. But we'll see; if the prices remain the way they are, perhaps it will be possible. We will see.

Some Fall Pictures

I just added some new pictures of the fall colors. You can follow the link below to see them.

Pictures

Guess Who I Met

So today as I was working my shift at the Princeton University store, an elderly looking man approached me. He was holding two umbrellas in his hand, one looking like his own, one looking new. He looked familiar, having a somewhat long face, short white hair, and a somewhat peculiar demeanor. His behavior seemed slightly off, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. He wanted to know about exchanging his umbrellas, and my manager proceeded to help him.

Turns out that this interesting old man was John Nash. In case you don't remember who John Nash is, he was the man portrayed by Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind, and he won the Nobel Prize. I was basically standing next to one of the most amazing people of the 20th century as far as academics are concerned.

I feel just a bit smarter for standing in his presence.

A Time of Rest

This week has been quite a busy week. I was spending some intimate time with Augustine's Confessions, Stanley Hauerwas in numerous articles, and John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. Some light reading. ;-) On top of that, I've been translating the Epistle to the Hebrews, and writing a response to Augustine. It has been a tough week.

On top of that, I was continuing to wrestle over International Field Education and whether I wanted to pursue that opportunity. Yesterday, I submitted my application to the Field Education office, and so it is, for the time being, out of my hands. We will see how things progress, and it is possible that I will not hear anything for some time. But I will continue to pray about it and struggle with it. We'll see what happens.

Though the past couple week have been tough, next week is Reading Week. It is a week with no classes designed to give us time to catch up with our reading, but also to have a time of rest and regain our strength as we head into midterms and the end of the semester.

I can't believe that I am already almost halfway through the semester. There is only a month and a half of the semester left, and I feel like I have hardly settled in. But it is quite an adventure, and I am enjoying ride ... and the upcoming week of rest. =)

For All the Naysayers

I will probably not have a post like this again, but I think this is one of those issues that overwhelmed me before I was leaving to come here and I feel that perhaps this morning's experience may best be able to address it.

Around Princeton, it is almost an running inside joke that many of us that before we came to this institution, were told that we were going to lose our faith at Princeton, all of our professors were going to attempt to break down our faith, and we need to hold firm to orthodoxy lest our classes steal it away from us. During orientation, one of the incoming professors made reference to it and we laughed about it. When talking to students, we expressed our common experience that it was one of the things we were told to be weary of.

This morning in chapel - which I might add is daily, though not required - one of my professors spoke the service's message. Though he wasn't specifically answering this question, I think it was very pertinent. His name is Dr. Darrell Guder and he is in the doctrinal theology department with a specialty in missions. In the middle of his sermon, he told us a story about the first seminary he taught at (not Princeton). I will try to paraphrase what he said:

"On one of my first day on campus, I went to the chapel service. In that service, there were more people who were leading the service than actually participating in it. And so I went to my first class right after chapel and saw how many students there were, I decided that I would bring this to their attention. I talked about how it was a privilege to be a part of a worshiping community and that the students should take advantage of that opportunity to worship in the midst of study, and I was really pouring it on. And as I was speaking, one of the students spoke up and, 'Professor Guder, we're here for the academics; faith has nothing to do with why we are here.'"

I think what has shocked me most since I've been here - since the first time I visited the campus - is that my professors and classmates have the attitude that faith is vital to our life here at the seminary. I think in almost every single one of my classes, at some point the professors have said explicitly that we are going to be pastors and ministers and that everything we do must been seen in light of that. And that story this morning in chapel struck me as another example of what my professors think about their role here: they are not here simply to be academics and show us how faith is infantile. On the contrary, they are very concerned about what our education means later when we are ministers in congregations, chaplain in hospitals, or teachers in colleges of seminaries.

Now, I realize that this doesn't mean there aren't those professors who are not in that same vein. Some professors who may have other agendas. I have yet to meet one here, but I know other students have had professors that did not have that philosophy in mind. However, that seems to be more of the minority rather than the majority.

Just thought I would share that. I'll write another update soon.

Some Tough Decisions

Another week has begun. School is starting to get to that point where I have to push myself to keep going. We've settled into our classes and routines, and the work is starting to pile on. I am getting used to being in that routine again and trying to remind myself to stay on top of my work. In two weeks we have a reading week to help us catch up with our work and prepare (or write in some cases) for midterms. Everything has certainly moved by fast.

Some of you may already know this; for others this may be news. When I first visited Princeton and began to seriously look into the school, I knew I would have the opportunity to do one of the required field education placements abroad.. I wanted to take advantage of that during a summer, perhaps traveling to Scotland or another country in the UK. On Thursday night last week, there was an informational meeting about those placements. With it came good news and difficult news. The good news was that Scotland is an available option for field placement and that international field placements are very doable. The difficult news is that Scotland placements can only be done during an academic year; I would only be able to do that placement from September to May/June. The only summer placements available are in Africa and the Yucatan Penisula, placements I am already very aware that I would not be able to handle.

I have been weighing the pros and cons, and just by the lists, the pros by far outweigh the cons. Princeton covers many of the expenses: airfare, room, board, transportation, and immunizations (if necessary) up to $900. I also receive a stipend, so I'm essentially being paid to live abroad. I also do not take any classes while I'm there. As much as possible, I would become a Scottish resident. And everyone who I have talked to who has done the year long placement has come back thoroughly enjoying their experience. But the cons are weighing on my heart. I would be away from family and friends for a year. I might have the opportunity to come home once, but that would be about it. I would also push my education back by a year. What has made this most difficult though is the fact that I would not graduate with many of the friends I have already made. I don't know how to put that into words more effectively, but meeting these people, connecting with them, leaving them for a year, and then seeing them graduate while I have a year left could be painful for me. This is perhaps a dilemma that many other graduate students have to go through, but it is a concern.

There is more to wrestle over, but this is what has been sticking out the most. And in all truth, this is simply hypothetical. I must first be accepted into the international placement program, then I must interview with the site supervisors before I am finalized at any site. So nothing is for sure even if I decide to pursue this actively. At this point, I plan on submitting an application while still wrestling with this in and discussing it with other people.

I know that this is an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It's not very often anyone has the opportunity to travel abroad almost for free, or to live in a country for a year and immerse oneself into a different culture. And for me personally, the family history in Scotland is hard to resist. But I have to determine if it is worth leaving these relationships I developed for a year.

Any feedback is appreciated. I could really use prayer as I struggle with this opportunity.

A Quick Update

My arms are very tired from working out this morning show this update will be short.

Things are going well. I have my first day of work today, which I am excited about. This should be a good job that will last throughout this year and hopefully beyond.

The weekend with my uncle John was a lot of fun. We spent most of our time in Philadelphia where we visited a civil war museum and Independence Historical Park where Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are, among many other sites. We also got to hear in Philladelphia the Phillies clinch the NL East. That was pretty exciting too.

I'll update more when I can actually lift my arms.

EDIT

Here is a small picture album to show how I've settled in.

http://apu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041239&l=0f6ac&id=56901254