Student Blogs

A Visit

October 4th, 2009 blramo12

I’m sitting in the computer lab in Stein right now, with an hour left before my first Latin exam. I feel as if I know what I’m doing, but terrified that once I see the test, I’m going to forget it all. Normally I would be sitting downstairs at one of the little round tables next to Cool Beans 2, but all of them were taken when I got here, so now I find myself in this computer lab that is the only non Pepto-Bismol colored room I’ve seen in the entire building. Go figure.

Before I resume my last minute studying, I’d like to make note of the event of the week. On Wednesday, Greg Mortenson, co-author and protagonist of the book Three Cups of Tea came to give the 2YO keynote speech in St. Joseph’s Chapel. For those of you who don’t know (nor I, until last summer when I realized we had summer reading…again) the 2YO program is a series of events Holy Cross provides to its sophomores to help them find direction in their studies. Earlier this year, we had an “academic extravaganza” where we could all learn more about different majors and research opportunities.

But back to Greg Mortenson.

The first thing I’d like to say about him is that he was just as tall and bashful as his book described him to be. I find being bashful and interesting trait for someone who has taken such great strides to go from selling nearly everything he owned to build a school in Pakistan, to becoming someone who has risen so high that his book is now required reading for head military forces in the Pakistan/Afghanistan area. I suppose he never let being bashful get in the way of anything. For all of this, he was a lovely speaker. He threw in jokes here and there (I can’t help but think of Fr. McFarland as our ‘tribal chief’ now) and gave us all a more in depth version of how he went about building his schools and what we could do to help. When it came around to getting my book signed, his assistant took my book first, so when he held out his hands, I assumed he wanted my book, which I didn’t have. Awkwardly, I put my hands in front of me, which he took for a handshake. I was horribly confused and flustered, and ended up scurrying away quickly when the ordeal was done.

In terms of shyness, I reckon I’m far worse than he is.

Oh well, off to pass my Latin exam!

p.s.- This post was written Friday…and then I didn’t get around to posting until today, Sunday…oh well…

p.p. s.- More information about Three Cups of Tea and Greg Mortenson can be found at http://www.threecupsoftea.com/ You should definitely check it out.

2 Responses to “A Visit”

  1. Clara says:

    I liked whenever he called Fr. McFarland “tribal chief” and made him choose between good news or bad news first.

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