Thankful Heart
With a grateful heart, I praise God for abundant blessings.
I remain in awe of the wonder of God's power and presence. My own life is unfolding in divine order with the perfect timing of events and circumstances. My good is ready for me, and I am ready for my good.
With the blessings of answered prayer come new ideas about sharing with others. I cannot help but think of lovingly passing along my good. Now, in the serenity of prayer, I express my gratefulness.
"Dear God, with a grateful heart, I praise You, realizing more each day how abundantly I have been blessed. I am thankful for each opportunity to bless and to be blessed. My appreciation for You is continually growing. In the joy of Your presence, in the bliss of giving and receiving, I say, 'Thank You, God.'"
"I give thanks to you, O Lord my
God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name forever."
--Psalm 86:12
Today was a pretty active day as SOAS Orientation Week is filled with talks and tours and tons of things to do. There are a bunch of fun activities as part of the Fresher's Fayre, basically a week of activities for all new students, including bowling, dancing, and of course drinking. Man, I've never heard so much talk about drinking at the pub as I have in these University talks. There's got to be a pub every 30-50 feet and it has got to be London's most profitable industry with all of the support it receives especially from this University.
I showed up a little late for the Walking Tour, meaning I got off the train at 2pm just as I saw a group of SOAS students walking by. I decided I would jump in that group and hopefully catch up with Rasha and the others later. The tour was extremely boring. Basically it was a walk from Russell Square to Vernon Square (which I'm an expert at now) around King's Cross and back. The guide wasn't really giving us good information so it was more like a nature walk than anything else.
After the walk, I just read "Blink" until the Students' Union Talk began. I enjoyed it a lot. I think I'm going to apply/run for one of the offices available Part-Time and/or to be a Student Representative for my programme. The Students' Union president was really hyped about rallies and petitions and just fighting for student's rights. It was cool to see that she had a lot on her Agenda for the school.
I happened to meet some Americans as we were walking out, Tristan and Jennifer. I had to walk up to Tristan since he had on a "Game Theory" t-shirt. He's from Philly, one of my favorite cities and Jennifer's from Pittsburgh and is a huge Steeler's fan. Tristan's studying Anthropology and Media and Jen is studying Middle Eastern Studies. And I did have to ask what drew her to Middle Eastern Studies especially being a graduate of the University of Kentucky. Sure enough here interest was sparked from Sept. 11th, her initial animosity and then her empathy from what she learned in a Middle Eastern class at Univ. of Kentucky.
We talked for a few more minutes on the steps of SOAS and then went to the University of London Student Union (where we the SOAS Student Union folks did everything except directly forbid us to go) to check out the gym. It was horrible and this is coming from someone who's not too fond of gyms. But it was a small room with machines crammed on top of each other. Each machine did offer headphones and their was an indoor pool, but I can't see running on the treadmill especially with what seemed like a 6-foot ceiling. Then we went to the University's College of London (I know the name sounds crazy, just don't ask, because I don't know either) to check out their gym. There's was definitely much better in terms of space, no T.V.s or headphones but at least you could breathe.
After that, we decided to go sit somewhere and eat. So where did we go...The Pub. I ordered French fries and Red Wine. What a combo!!! I'm sure somebody, somewhere is dieing because I mixed french fries with wine but I really don't care. We talked for a few hours and I tell you, it was the most relaxed I've been in a few days. I guess all of the questions about where someone's from and what's it like can really take a toll on you.
After that I headed home in hopes to catch Monday night football - NOT!!! (But it will be taped) |