As I sit in my bedroom looking at photos, I can't help but smile when I think of all that has transpired within the last 23 days. It's hard to believe around this time 24 hours ago, we were still in Norway. Actually, that probably explains why I am having a hard time going to sleep right now. Imagine that!
There is no better teacher than experience. To be frank, there are things one can not learn via dictation, reading, or even taking someone else's word for it. You simply have to experience it for yourself. For me, this study tour put a face to that saying. Having the opportunity to live what we were learning took the retention and application of the material to another level. If you ask me, that is the most effective way to educate young people: by exposing us and allowing us to think and draw conclusions ourselves.
For me, this trip has been a time of growth not just in my knowledge about Islam, my waist size, or my hair, but of my honors classmates as well. I learned something new about each and every person that I did not know about them prior to our departure from the United States. I am very proud to say, without bias, that the La Sierra University Honors program is comprised of some truly amazing students, all with great personalities, brains, and hearts to match. I will forever cherish the memories made, and friendships formed with all of them, and can not wait to see what God does with and through them in the near future.
All in all, this study tour was awesome. There is no other way I would have preferred to spend my first time out of the United States. And for this reason, I will go to sleep with a song in my heart, and a smile on my face.
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