So... What denomination are you?

This was probably the most frequently asked question at the Div School during the first week- What denomination are you? It's somewhat of an ice-breaker. You meet someone new, you tell them your name, you ask their denomination. It's the norm... and for me it's weird. Don't get me wrong, I'm UBER proud to be Episcopalian, but it seems funny to ask people about that when you first meet them. 

However, I see the usefulness of asking the question. Most of us are on the ordination track, so if the person you are meeting is in your denomination there is a whole new slew of questions you can then ask to get to know them. Also, denomination could tell you about the course of study- I'm Episcopalian, therefore I'm in the Anglican Studies Program. Baptists are usually in the Baptist House. Methodists are going to take over the world. Kidding. (Maybe they'll just take over the Duke Campus). :-P But with orientation happening this past weekend at my Alma Mater, I was thinking how funny it would be if one of the get to know you games in the OM groups involved saying your denomination. hahaha. 

Classes!

In other news, classes have begun! I had my first biblical Hebrew class yesterday- it's going to be awesome. And I had Church History today. Our professor is a phenomenal speaker. I absolutely LOVED class, and I was seriously worried about it. Early church history? Not really my thing. But somehow he made the early Christian/Roman relationships really interesting. All I can say is: Wabam!  

Also, my professor prayed before class. Public school Christa is not used to this! It's pretty cool though!

Still trudging through my reading for Thursday (really, I still don't understand why I have to read 2 books before the class even meets... oy). But I'm actually enjoying the Rule of Benedict and the commentaries we're reading. Am I officially a nerd? 

AEHS

Look at me, already using acronyms. AEHS is the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies, and we had our first event last night- a welcome Eucharist and dinner. It was a really nice service, and the dinner was awesome (Indian food!). My wonderful non-denominational-with-Episcopal-tendencies roommate Kat went with me, as did my friend Andrew, AKA Eucharist Boy (best super hero name ever??). And my beautiful British advisor sat next to me, and then of course he talked with us. Thus life is good. :-D

Church Hopping

So I may be done hopping/shopping (I've always called it hopping, is it supposed to be "shopping"? both make sense in my mind. anywho). I really like St. Luke's! They have a female rector who is awesome, an assistant rector who is a great preacher, Lauren Winner worships/works there, and they do a ton of stuff in the community. New church home? Hopefully! 

This past Sunday Kat went with me, and then we saw two of our other friends there too! It must be all my talk about how the Episcopal Church Welcomes You that gets everyone to come to things with me. hahaha. But after church we went to brunch (which is a HUGE thing here), and it was just wonderful. I am starting to get a nice group of friends, which is lovely. 

Convocation

Convocation was this morning, and I think it was the first time I was so truly homesick to be in Geneva. First of all, it was my first time singing with a choir other than the St. Peter's Mixed Choir in a LONG time. It was a fun song ("We Will Rejoice" David Haas) and I love to sing (especially in the amazing Duke Chapel!), so that was great, but I missed Wendy, Molly, Molly, Dave, Jim, Lynn, everyone from home. Merp. 

It's also the official start to the new year. Just in case I hadn't already realized it, I did today: this is happening. It's real. oy. 

At the end of the service, when the faculty were walking out of Duke Chapel, I got a flashback to the end of graduation when we all walked through the lines of professors as they clapped for us and hugged us. I almost cried (and I may or may not be shedding a tear right now). It's a weird feeling because I don't actually want to relive undergrad or my MAT year, and I am happy here. Yet I still feel this kind of longing to be in Geneva. (And of course now I feel bad because I'm not really homesick for Framingham... sorry parentals. lol) I'm sure it will pass eventually!

Putting the Jukebox here today:

If you have any interest in seeing part of the Convocation, they taped it and put it on youtube! Cool right? The anthem we sang is at the 21 minute mark. It's been stuck in my head ALL DAY! lol.  

Ministry Opportunity ;-)

My wonderful roommate T.J. provided me with this idea for an awesome future ministry: Have a time for pet therapy, specifically with dogs. And call it "EpiscoPuppies." 

And with that, my friends, I am going to read more about Benedict, or as I lovingly call him, Benny. 

Peace, Love, and Smiles y'all

Christa

Getting Oriented

Well, Orientation is almost over (1 more day), and classes start on Monday. A lot has happened since the last time I updated, so I'll give you the abridged version :-) 

Fun Fellowship

Project Bridge (that's the pre-orientation program) did a great job of combining serious historical and ministry information with laid-back fellowship time. One of these great times was at the Durham Bulls game last Saturday night! It was really fun to just hang out with people in the program, and to bond with the roommies. The Bulls are a AAA baseball team that feeds into the Tampa Bay Rays, so it was fun to watch them. They lost horribly though, after an inning where the Braves scored 8 runs. Oh well. Every time a homerun is hit at the ballpark the big bull in left field lights up- the eyes are red and it breathes smoke. Pretty entertaining. The sign also says "Hit Bull Win Steak"... we don't know if that means the player that hit the homerun wins steak, or if the whole ballpark does. But it seems to be the slogan of the park (all the t-shirts say this)! Here's a picture: 

Trust me, the Bull says "Hit Bull Win Steak" and the grass says "Hit Grass Win Salad" haha

Another fun fellowship idea was the night before at a place called Reality Ministries. Reality does a lot of great things for people in Durham, but one of the ministries we were involved in was Real Friends. This is a ministry for developmentally disabled people, and it is quite simple. People can come and volunteer to be a friend for a developmentally disabled member of Durham. Basically you just have to be a friendly face, and treat them the way anyone would want to be treated. It doesn't require any previous experience in special education, you basically just show up and are nice! What an idea. :-) So we had a dance party with the Real Friends and met so many awesome people who were just there to have a great time and meet some fun Div School students! Twas a wonderful night. As my friend Jessica said, it could have been very awkward, pairing awkward Divinity School students with people with developmental disabilities, but it was a great evening!

Team Awesome

During Bridge, our small group was lovingly referred to by our Team Mom as "Team Awesome." I must say that this is the best name to describe these people. Spending the last few days without them has been kind of sad, but I'm sure we'll continue to be friends :-) 

Team Awesome also had a great final testimony at the closing ceremony which involved understanding how we were blind [to the injustices around Durham] but now we are beginning to see. I want to share my little story here. 

When we were volunteering at Urban Ministries, an emergency homeless shelter, food pantry, and clothing closet, I saw a woman who was crocheting in one of the shelter common rooms. Since it's basically a law for any knitter/crocheter to inquire about a project, I started up a conversation. At that point I had no idea that this woman was in a drug/alcohol abuse program. I had no idea that she was going to live there for three months to detox. I didn't know anything about her history, and it didn't matter. All that mattered was that we were bonding and having a conversation around a common interest. I wanted to sit and chat (and knit) with her all afternoon. 

That was my "eye opening" moment I chose to share. We are encouraged to volunteer while we're here, and I think Urban Ministries is somewhere I would like to go. 

Furnishing

After Bridge ended (on Monday) we had Tuesday off! Wow, a day off. So all three roommies went shopping for furniture. Here are some before and after photos :-) 

Before. Notice the air mattress as the main seating option.

After. Loveseat, coffee table, and curtains.

Before. Barely a breakfast nook.

After. Adorable breakfast nook that we use for dinner too!

 

The place is definitely starting to feel more like "home" which is really great. And I love the roommies so that's awesome too! :-) 

Orienting

Regular Orientation for the Div School has been fairly uneventful but at the same time very overwhelming. There is a LOT of information and a lot of people. There are about 160 new first-years (or juniors, as we are sometimes called) and there hasn't been much time to get to know other people. You know how at HWS there were a ton of ice-breakers? I kind of miss those. I would like to get to know new people, but there isn't really much time. There aren't any small groups (except our spiritual formation groups, more on that later), so it is hard. I really am grateful I did Bridge because at least there are 30 familiar faces. 

I was able to register for classes today! I am in Old Testament, Church History, Biblical Hebrew, and (wait for it) Local Polity to Global Vision: The Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion. Mouthful. But I'm really excited despite the fact that I already have homework for the Episcopal class. grr. I have to go buy those books tomorrow. I'm also going to sing in the choir (YAY!) and will be in first year spiritual formation. I'll be with the same group all year, and we meet once a week to talk about God in our lives. And we write spiritual autobiographies (good thing I'm no stranger to that!). I think all in all I will have a well balanced schedule. 

I like my advisor, he's British and beautiful. :-) Also we have Ellen Davis as the Episcopal House advisor and she seems amazing, I'm really excited to get to know her. 

Random Things I Want to Share

~We had people over and we played Bible Apples to Apples. We're the coolest Div students around. 

~I got to meet my friend's grandmother. Her name is Marge and she may be my favorite person I've met here (even if she did severely judge the fact that I live with a guy). 

~We are thinking of calling our house "The 504." TJ and Kat both call interstates/routes "the #" (like "the 9" or "the 5 &20"). Since we live in unit 504, we're going to call it THE 504. Because it needs a name. haha. 

~Andrea is going to visit next weekend and I'm really excited!!!

~I am nervous for classes to start on Monday. 

~I'm still "church hopping" but I'm planning on going back to St. Luke's Episcopal Church on Sunday. I went to a Presbyterian Church last Sunday with Team Awesome, and it was a nice service but definitely not my style. I went to St. Luke's two weeks ago, so I'll try it again. Luckily there are a lot of Episcopal choice in Durham! 

Jukebox Time

This version of this song is amazing. Better than the original. Thank you TJ for introducing this to me! It's a Gotye cover of "Somebody that I Used to Know" by Pentatonix. Wabam.

 

Peace, Love, and Smiles, y'all. 

Christa

Let There Be Internet!

Hey y'all. It's nice to be back online after some time without the internet. It is amazing how much I have come to rely on it for so many things. But it was also oh-so-lovely to not check my emails for a few days. 

All Moved In

Since I've last written a lot has happened! I'm all moved in to my new apartment/townhouse thanks to my wonderful parents who were here over the weekend. It is awesome! I love the area where I'm living and my roommates, Kat and T.J., are amazing. Two of the nicest people ever! :-) Here are some pictures of my room. Most of the furniture is from Target (Michelle, I bet you recognize it!). Also, the big quilt on the wall was a gift made by the talented Sam Lesser. :-)

Desk/Bookcase area

Dresser- Thanks Dad for putting it together!

Desk/dresser/beautiful colorful quilt!

Bed, complete with WS blanket and Senegalese quilt! (walls with Senegalese artwork)

Knitting corner (and fun art) :-)

So, I basically love my room. I don't have pictures of the rest of the house yet, well, because there isn't much there. We're grad students on a budget. Our living room currently has three $5 chairs from Kroger, and two air mattresses to sit on (that my parents slept on when they stayed). And the kitchen doesn't have a table or chairs yet. We're getting there, though! haha

Bridddddddddging it up!

We started Project Bri(DDD)ge yesterday (if you forget, I'll remind you of the acronym. This time I have it memorized: Building Relationships In Durham through Duke Divinity Graduate Education). A mouthful, but an AWESOME program. I really like it so far. We have learned a lot about Durham's history (including the tobacco industry, and plantations) while learning about organizations that are trying to combat injustices in Durham today. It's only been two days, and I've already met some amazing people and learned so much about this place I will be calling "home" for three years. 

Minor Khuram Moment

For those of you who don't know Khuram, well you're missing out on knowing a great professor and person. But you also don't know that he is very into Civil Rights Education and talking about race and class divides in different contexts. I have been thinking a lot about what Khuram has taught me over the past couple of days, because there are still issues of racism and segregation apparent in Durham. These are some of the issues we have been talking about as a group, and snip-its about the master narrative and ideas of white privilege are popping up everywhere. Just wanted to let you know, Khuram, that what you taught has sunk in and it's hitting me BAM in the face this week (and probably will for a while). 

Stagville Connections

Today as a group we went to the Stagville Plantation in Durham. This was once the largest plantation in North Carolina, and its history had me making a lot of connections to places I have been and things I have seen. 

First connection: Senegal. Most of the enslaved people at Stagville were descended from people from West Africa. Not long ago there was an archeological excavation done there, and a cowrie shell was found on the property. Cowrie shells used to be used as currency in West Africa and still have a sort of spiritual significance. When I had my fortune told in Senegal by a griot, he gave me a cowrie shell, and told me to keep it with me until I found my path. Then I am supposed to bury it. Here is my shell (no, not buried yet, but maybe soon) : 

One of these was found at Stagville showing connections to West Africa, so of course I couldn't stop thinking about Senegal and Goree Island. 

Second connection: The March. This May I went to Germany and Poland on a Holocaust remembrance trip, called The March: Bearing Witness to Hope. While on the trip we talked about parallels between the Holocaust and slavery, and today it was even more apparent as we walked through the enslaved peoples' living quarters. The similarities were striking. Things like this resound more strongly for me when I see and experience them, and standing outside the living quarters today brought me right back to the concentration camp barracks. My brain has been going a mile a minute today! 

The People

The people in the Bridge group and my small group are just wonderful. The leaders and inspirational and wonderful role models, and I am already forming close friendships with my peers in the group (I even found another knitter! and a quilter!) Everyone so far has been so welcoming and friendly, so I couldn't ask for anything more during my first week in a new city. Yay! :-) 

Jukeboxing

I have been loving this song lately, many thanks to Jenna and Ryan for getting my into Regina Spektor. And apparently this song "The Call" was also from Narnia's Prince Caspian. Fancy that. The video is just the lyrics, so enjoy :-) 

I'll update again soon with the rest of the fun week of Bridge! 

Also, I'm going to start speaking with a southern accent. Just thought I'd let y'all know. ;-) 

 

Peace, Love, and Smiles, 

Christa

And the Gold Medal Goes to... Clarence!

Clarence (my 2001 Ford Taurus, who just happens to be gold) did a wonderful job today. He drove ten hours with lots and lots of weight in the car! You should see it- the back end is very weighted down, and it takes a little bit longer to get to cruising speed, but man, that car is good :-)

We left at 8am this morning, all of my stuff and three adults on their merry way. I drove the first leg, which was good with very little traffic. My dad drove next, until we got over the Tappan Zee Bridge (avoiding NYC, woot), and my poor mother drove on the Garden State Thruway. She now hates most drivers from the state of New Jersey. I slept throughout most of her leg, but apparently it was a very stressful couple of hours. Plus, who knew New Jersey was that long?? Not me. After that experience, she needed some R&R in the back seat, and I snapped this lovely shot :-)

Sneak peak of the AWESOME scarf I just finished knitting the other day! I was finishing up a blanket in the front seat.

Well we made it safe and sound to Alexandria, VA. Tomorrow we have four more hours to drive until we get to Durham. I talked to the internet people today, and they're coming to our apartment to install next Wednesday, but hopefully I'll find some internet before then to show you all some pictures of my room/apartment. :-)

Also, here are just some fun photos of the view we had at the restaurant tonight in Old Town Alexandria, right on the Potomac River. Lovely!

Peace, Love & Smiles, 

Christa

Oh, and I almost forgot! Jukeboxing song of the day, appropriately, is "Life is a Highway," Rascal Flatts style. I always love hearing that song while driving! :-)

From One 'Ham to Another!

Welcome to my blog! I have been saying that I would start a blog before moving down to Durham, NC to go to Duke Divinity School, and since I'm moving on Wednesday I thought tonight would be a good time to start! I expect this blog to be a collection of stories and funny anecdotes that happen during my time at Duke. If any of you read my weekly updates when I studied in Senegal, expect it to be a little like that. 

Packing? I need to pack?

Although I have two days left at home, I am certainly nowhere near "packed." I have mostly arranged my things into "staying in Framingham" and "coming with me," but other than that I haven't done much. I have organized my yarn, though :-) Just in case you missed the pictures I put on Facebook, here is my massive yarn/needle collection:

I have two totes of yarn, and I have almost finished my last UFO (that's knitting talk for UnFinished Object) so I think I'm in pretty good shape hobby-wise. 

My dad and I will be spending some serious quality time packing tomorrow. Packing stresses me out a lot, probably because it means that a real change will be coming soon. Although I am very ready to start this new journey, it is going to be new and scary. Packing gets me very worked up, so I already warned my dad that I may yell at him tomorrow for no real reason. He seemed to understand. :-)

New Apartment!

After a lot of wondering/worrying/calling/emailing, we officially have an apartment! And it was my favorite from the start. Three is the lucky number- 3 roommates, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3 floors- I'm excited because it's going to be a really nice place. If anyone wants my address feel free to send me an email, but I'm not going to post it on the blog. I am uber excited to meet my roommates for the first time on Friday. They are both from California, so they have quite long drives.

Driving... me crazy. 

My parents will be driving down with me, the 14+ hour drive, in my car, Clarence. Three adults in my Ford Taurus means I will not have as much space to pack everything. This is also a reason I'm freaking out about packing. I have no idea how everything will fit, but my parents keep reminding me I can ship things and that there are stores in Durham. haha. Hoping that the 14 hours go by quickly on Wednesday and Thursday. The 'rents will be helping me move in over the weekend, and they are leaving (by plane) Monday morning.

Summer Reading. Summer Skimming?

I know I know, I shouldn't start slacking off yet. But summer reading for graduate students?? Really? I understand summer reading for 4th graders- if they don't read during the summer their brains will turn to mush with all of the video gaming. However I think my brain is past "mush" stage, so why must I read two books? The one for the entire first-year class is good, but very slow. It is Life of Moses by Gregory of Nyssa. The language is hard for me to get into, but the theme/overall point is interesting to me. Too bad I'm only on page 15... skimming time?

The other one I really like- Living Without Enemies by Samuel Wells & Marcia Owen. It's about gun violence in Durham and how to "be present" in the midst of that violence. We'll be meeting one of the authors during the pre-orientation program. 

Project Bri(DDD)ge

I was accepted to participate in Duke Div's pre-orientation program, Project Bri(DDD)ge (Building Relationships in Durham through Duke Divinity Graduate Education). Yes, I had to look up that acronym. :-P We will basically we doing community service at different places around Durham each day from August 15-21. I really wanted to do it because one of my biggest regrets during my orientation at Hobart and William Smith was that I didn't do their pre-orientation program (being all outdoorsy and camping). I am the kind of person who takes a while to get to know people, and I think having the extra week to form friendships before the "real" orientation starts will be helpful.

William Smith Connections. Sort of.

I feel like WS friends will appreciate that the parking lot I was assigned to is "Smith Lot." :-) 

Jukeboxing

I titled this blog "The Jukebox of my Mind" because I constantly have songs stuck in my head (thanks for the phrase, Lesley!). For your enjoyment today, the newest song I love is "Some Nights" by Fun. The song starts at the 1:00 mark. 

I may not update again until Friday or Saturday, because I'm not sure when we will get the internet in our apartment. Good thoughts are greatly appreciated! 

Peace, Love, and Smiles, 

Christa