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Excited for the Fall

April 27, 2009

The end of a year is filled with mixed feelings. I want to get through my exams as quickly as possible but I don’t want to leave Rollins this quickly. There are lots of end of the year parties, get-togethers, dinners, and meetings—but it all happens so quickly. I feel like I’m leaving like the seniors since I will be going to spend a semester abroad in the fall. It feels sad to know that I won’t be back at Rollins until 2010 but I am ready for a semester full of travels, new sights, new sounds, and new tastes.

Just this past weekend, I was at two of my professor’s home and went to dinner at Tolla’s (I hadn’t been there since my birthday in late March). About eight of us went out for dinner and had an amazing time. Gary put the tables out for us and we were there for a little over three hours. I was able to catch up with a bunch of friends I’m not going to see for a very long time. Even in the midst of studying for finals this week and finishing up term papers due at the end of the semester, we could find some time to just chill and forget about responsibilities for an evening.

On Sunday, our Arabic class was invited for a Syrian brunch at our professor’s house, Noelle Rumman. She cooked everything and laid it out in a buffet-style fashion and taught us table manners in Middle Eastern culture. We had different types of cheeses: Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian; zaatar and cheese fatayer, makdus, pita bread, laban yogurt, foul, and most importantly shay (tea).

She had the movie Aladdin playing in Arabic in the living room and even showed us a homemade video of her daughters dancing to a Hannah Montana song. For desert she made coffee, bakhlawa (baklava), a sweet made of nougat and pistachio similar to Spanish turrón but softer, and had a tray full of sliced fruit. She was such a generous and kind hostess, we all left with a romantic taste of the Middle East and the desire to travel to such faraway lands.

Then in the afternoon, I went with my French class to our professor’s house, Mme Mésavage, to spend the afternoon. She made four different types of tea and all of her students brought something to eat while there. There was everything from sweets, to cake, and even brie and crackers. Despite the fact that she is a French professor, she is very much enthralled with Japanese culture. She spent last semester there while on sabbatical and even has a Japanese garden in her backyard filled with a pond, bright orange capers, and a prayer/relaxation house that seems to be taken right from temple grounds. We all talked about our summer and fall plans since many of us are either spending the summer or the fall semester in France.

The end of the year is filled with mixed feelings. I want to get through my classes as quickly as possible and get to France where I will be spending the fall semester, but I don’t want to leave Rollins this quickly. This level of personalized attention is hard to find elsewhere. The professors’ hospitality and such close relationship to the students is the number one reason why Rollins is so great.

There could be all the extra-curriculars, sports, activities, trips, you want—but at the end of the day it is the quality of Rollins professors that make this such a fine institution. Their passion and care for their students is what makes it all the worthwhile calling Rollins my second home.

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