The First Saturday at VSA

I woke up fairly early today, 6:45 AM. It was so I could do laundry with my roommate. I was glad that we weren't the only odd people to wake up this early to do laundry, when breakfast doesn't start until 9 AM. To pass the time, all the guys (since laundry day was reserved for the guys today) who were waiting for the clothes to be finished washing and drying and I played some Texas Hold'em--play-chips of course.

Ice Latte

The weather here is still definitely "bipolar". I don't understand why, but it seems that every time we go outside, it's pouring rain, and every time we're inside, it's sunnier than can be. The rainy weather definitely has played a role in canceling some recreational activities, such as the Amazing Race activity we were supposed to have several days ago.

Class was only two hours today, and it was only the first hour and a half that we did things, which was mostly discussion in groups and as a class about our observations at the reform synagogue. The other 30 minutes were reserved for a trip to Dunkin' Donuts!

One key observation I noticed when we put all our observations together was a major difference Christians and Jews have. Christians always think about the future--a future with Jesus coming again and to live eternally in Heaven. They also always pray for forgiveness I realized. This is why in the cathedral a few days ago, there was such open space and an enormous ceiling depicting Heaven. There were also a lot of pictures of Jesus suffering--reminding us of our bond with him. The open spaces in a catholic church as well emphasize self-reflection for forgiveness. On the other hand, Jews always think about the present. They only seem to want peace on Earth and abide by God's 613 commandments. You can tell the more enclosed space of a synagogue helps to represent a sense of community and the present.

Looks like a castle, huh?

Mine's on the left--Nutella flavored

We had the opportunity to walk to the Vanderbilt Book Store with a few proctors in groups after a game of Minute To Win It. With this walk, I was able to see some of Vanderbilt's main campus. There was a lot of construction, so it was loud. But the Greek life here, seems very nice; the buildings are beautiful. I also got some ice cream that was only 80 calories from a place called Tasty D-lite.

Also, this evening, the entire VSA went to the Nashville Sounds baseball game. At first, I thought bowling would be a much better option than going to a minor league baseball game. I'll be totally honest, baseball games are only fun because of the food and the company. I would never watch a baseball game by myself. When it started raining, I still believed then that we should go bowling. However, later there, when the rain started to pour down on us again, I realized this was all a part of the adventure I'm having on the other side of the country. Something about covering myself up with a hooded sweatshirt in muggy weather and using an umbrella to avoid the rain, while eating BBQ nachos with good friends, made me realize just how fun the baseball game was. And although the baseball game was canceled, I'm glad I was able to get my nachos. It was definitely a little (or perhaps big) taste of the South in my mouth. And I'm glad we had the chance to go to the game, even though we didn't see any sports action.

BBQ nachos

Lucy and Daisy (few of my "Chicago" friends)

Because the game was canceled, we had plenty of free-time in Hank Ingram House. I decided to hang with my "Chicago" friends and others on the 1st floor, where we played Apples to Apples until we had to meet up with our proctor groups for a nightly meeting at 10 PM. We laughed a lot, and it was great way to end our first Saturday at VSA.

Of course, there's always a beautiful rainbow after a rough storm, and so there was. I've never seen such a gorgeous and enormous rainbow like the one I saw today. If you look closely, it's a double rainbow (it started to fade away).

Well, I guess I can say it's been officially a week. I (and hopefully others) can only hope that once Friday arrives, it'll be nice and sunny, because we have a pool party that day!