Oct

05

Fall Getaway

category icon Posted in Campus Life, Events

Talking about weekend, I’m going to tell you what I have experienced.

As an International student who doesn’t have a home here in the United States, I have to stick around the campus area, although I know it is sort of lonely to walk on the streets that are almost empty on the weekends. I keep trying to get outside of campus with a couple friends when they stay for the weekends; nevertheless, the only familiar place to hang out in a different city is the Coral Ridge Mall. Once I went to Christian church further away from where I live. That was the farthest place I have ever been to in Iowa.

What is the life like outside of the campus? I have kept thinking about this question for a long time after I got tired of studying on the weekends.

Until a peaceful Thursday afternoon, in my Bible study group,  our leader Ashley said:

“Come to Fall getaway for this weekend!”

“What is a getaway?”

“That is a chance to be away from the campus and have fun!”

All of a sudden, I felt my heart is filled with energy and so many question marks. It is so attractive to have chance to see what’s outside! Will I see lots of corn? What friends I am going to meet? What kind of the Bible study camp is that? How far way is that place from Iowa City?

I got all the questions answered and met a bunch of awesome friends there.

It was truly fun and energizing. I felt sad for I lost the first Friday night and Saturday sections of Fall getaway! But it is all good when I looked at the part I experienced but not the part that I didn’t get.  By the time I got to the Bible study camp, the camp fire has already been set up. With a whole group of new friends from freshmen to seniors, we sang and talked and laughed while sitting around the fire. It was like a family gathering: everybody was relaxed sitting around the fire and sharing blankets; but it was kind of different from the family gather-together because we understood others in the same age range. So we didn’t have to hide certain secrets. The only and the most important thing was to be our “selves”.

In the morning service on Sunday, which was the last section of the camp, our leader suggested us to bring the spirit of fall getaway back to campus. We can’t be “away” every weekend, and it won’t be that fun if we have it every week. The happiness results from something new.

I would not see what I experienced if I didn’t go on this safari.

I really appreciate it!

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