Well, last Saturday night, Walsh celebrated their 50^th anniversary with a magnificent dinner, the Gala. It is by far the biggest dinner at Walsh. Each ticket costs $150. A lot of people including the president, staff, alumni, congressmen and some students attended the dinner. I was invited as well. It was a night full of different kinds of folks, fun and food. It started around 6:30 and finished almost at midnight. The Gala is a black tie dinner and everyone is supposed to wear nice clothes like a suit or tuxedo. Due to the fact that I do not own a tuxedo and I am international, I decided to wear my Afghan traditional “Tuxedo.”

Congressman John Boccieri welcomes me to America

As you can see in the picture, the dress not black at all. In fact it is mostly white. It is my national outfit that is used only in a very special occasions, such as a wedding or a special gathering. When president Hamed Karzai travels to other countries, he wears it as well. It takes around 4 -5 months to completely finish one set of this outfit, because it is mostly sewed by hand.

Indeed, among almost 350 guests at the dinner, I was the only one who was standing out in the crowd because I was wearing something that was totally different. Majority of the guest had no idea where I was from. This allowed them to come up to me and talk. Almost the entire night I was chatting and debating on different topics about Afghanistan. Overall, almost all the people liked my Tuxedo, even though it was not black. The next day, my host father who is a graduate of Walsh, was awarded as the outstanding alumni of the year. We all gathered in Barrett Center for that ceremony.

Me and the Mahoneys (My international friends family) at Alumni brunch

Overall, it was a weekend full of events. From the football game on Saturday morning, to Gala and to Alumni brunch on Sunday, every event was fun and exciting.

Due to the fact that I am leaving to Rome in 10 days I believe my next post will be from Rome. I will make sure to keep you updated from Europe more often.

I will surely miss Walsh…

This last weekend was Walsh Family Weekend. One of the most exciting and fun weekends so far.

On Friday, we had to set up the Hoover Park and make sure everything was ready for tomorrow (Saturday). Due to the fact that the event was open and free to everyone including the public, we had to make sure we are ready for a big crowd. Friday night, the UPB (University Programming Board) prepared a movie for us to Walsh. We got to watch the Movie “UP” outside on the grass on a big giant screen.The weather was a little chilly but the excitement of the movie and the big screen made it easy and fun to watch.

The weekend of excitement and entertainment started with a magnificent football game between Walsh and Ohio Dominican. I had to be at the tailgate party two hours before the game started to distribute free t-shirts to Walsh fans. The T-shirts were all provided by the President. It was a gorgeous day. Everyone was happy and excited for the game.

Me and the Cavalier before the game

Being member of the “Cav Crazy Club,” required me to scream and cheer for Walsh until I basically lost my voice. My friend Diego who is from Argentina and I were sometimes cheering in our languages (Persian & Spanish). It was funny because no one could understand what we were saying. Well, as a result of our cheers and the good play of Walsh football team, we bet the Ohio Dominican, though I missed out the last quarter because had to leave early to help out in the Hoover Park with food, games, and cakes.

At the Park we had different kinds of games and fun activities, all free for Walsh Students, their families, as well as, to public. A very big crowd showed up and had a great time.

Although there were many different kinds of fun activities, games, music, dances, food etc, most of the people were excited to see the “50 Cake Contest.” Due to the fact that this year is the 50^th anniversary of Walsh University, the Campus Ministry arranged a 50 cake contest. Everyone could design and make a cake and compete. The theme was Walsh University and its 50^th anniversary. I was totally shocked to see that many cakes in different shapes and colors. Congratulations to the winner “The book of Legacy.”

One of the fifty cakes with my picture on it

Finally, around 9:00 pm when it got dark outside, we all went out on the soccer field to watch and enjoy exceptionally amazing fireworks right in front of us. The University prepared terrific fireworks for this occasion. It was really cool to see it right in front of your eyes, because they were being set off right behind the soccer field. A huge crowd of people from around the area along with their families and children came to enjoy the fireworks.

Fireworks

Overall, it was a non forgettable weekend. Everyone enjoyed and had a great time. Thanks to all who made this possible!

Fireworks

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great summer.

During the last four months, I have been extremely busy and occupied by summer school as well as normal work. This summer has been very challenging for me. Due to the fact that I was not able to go back to my home country Afghanistan, I had to stay on campus for the entire summer. Therefore, I did all I could to make the best out of my summer time.

I have been working on campus from morning to afternoon and taking summer classes in the evenings. This allowed me to earn income and cover my expenses, at the same time accelerate my graduation by acquiring 16 credit hours.  Yeah, I know that sounds crazy, but I had six classes this summer along with work and gym. Although this has been a very busy “boring” summer, I am satisfied with my accomplishments.

The entire campus looks absolutely beautiful. As you may know this year is the 50th anniversary of Walsh University; hence, the maintenance crew including myself work very hard to prepare the campus for this big celebration. Whoever visited Walsh so far absolutely loved it. A special thanks to all the GROUDN CREW.

Even though school starts next week, I will not be taking classes except for one on Tuesday nights. I am going to Rome for my fall semester. I will depart Ohio on October 17^th and return back to Cleveland on January 6th. I am extremely excited and happy to be part of Rome experience. Besides experiencing Italy while getting 12 credit hours, I will be able to travel and see some other parts of Europe. In addition, visiting my brother in Netherlands whom I have not seen for nearly 12 years makes this trip even more exciting. I will surely update you of my experiences from Europe!

Overall, I am happy school is starting next week. It is always good to see students “Friends” back on campus. “A campus with no student is like a garden with no flowers.” I would like to take this opportunity and welcome back all students on campus and wish you good luck as you are starting your school year this coming Monday.

Good luck!

Regards,

Today, I had my last two finals. I was extremely happy after I finished my finance test, due to the fact that I did really good in it. Overall, this week was very busy and tiresome. I had not slept for almost 65 hours. I know it sounds crazy, but it is true.

Since early morning on Tuesday up to late afternoon on Thursday I was awake. I had been drinking coffee and Energy drink full of caffeine for the last two days in order to stay awake. I know it is not good for you to stay awake for that long and drink that much caffeine, but I had no other alternative. In fact, it was very hard to do so; however, it was worthed as I did pretty good in all my finals.

One thing that I would like to mention here is that, I deserved to stay awake for that long and suffer because I should have been ready for my finals way before the finals week. “Procrastination and laziness dragged me to the valley of sleeplessness.” Waiting up to the last minute to study, is not a wise thing to do.

It was only last Sunday night when I seriously started to study. In addition to six finals, I also had a presentation and a career packet due for my English class. Thankfully, I managed to achieve my goal by doing very good in all my tests, even though I cost me a lot: (Being a wake for more than 60 hours). I learned from my mistake; therefore, in the future, I will make sure that I study before the finals week. Overall, this semester had been fun and full of surprises. I had some of the best news of my life in this semester. With no doubt one of my favorites!

I usually take 18 credit hours. Indeed, I have to take as many credit hours as I can in order to graduate with three majors in 4 years. I know, it sounds bazaar, three majors in four years, but that’s what I am going to do. Due to the fact that I have been taking 18 credit hours each semester, the chance of graduating in four years with three majors has been a lot easier for me compare to other students. Thus, I decided to go for it.

For sure, after today, I am one step closer to the bright and successful future I have ever dreamed of. Everyday passes, I tell myself, what have I learned today that will help me be a better person? I believe we should all learn from each moment of our lives because that moment will never come back. Hence, I did what ever I could during the last semester, to experience and learn something new and better.

I would like to say congratulation to those who graduate in two days officially, and I hope they all achieve their dreams. This Sunday is the graduation ceremony at Walsh. I will have to assist people in setting up the stage and other stuff. Thank God we are going to have a beautiful sunny day. The weather is going to be up in 70 or 80s. Since that I am going to stay on campus during the summer, I will make sure to keep you
posted regarding the activities and events that will take place on campus.

Regards,

“Keep chasing your dreams; you will catch them eventually”

Today was both scary and beautiful simultaneously. I know it sounds unrealistic, but let me explain why.

As we all know, it was one of the most beautiful day of the year so far. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. No wind, no cold, no cloud! What a great a combination. It felt so good to go walk around the campus. The beautiful smiles on people’s face as they look up the sky and the stripling sun shines upon you and wishes you a good day were some of the characteristics of today.

In addition, the Saint Patrick’s day, contributed a lot to the creation of this beautiful day. A large group of students were fashioned by a green outfit or at least something green. The cafeteria staff, especially my favorite cook “Chief” Greg made such a wonderful lunch and dinner. It consisted of chicken, corn beef, rice, green beans, and some “Irish Sauce”. The perfectly made lunch created an olfactory and gustatory sensation.

On the other hand, today, I had an extremely difficult test. It was the second test of my finance class. With English being the third language of mine, grasping and comprehending of such financial glossary and statements are flinty. Last night, I was studying until 3 in the morning; at the same time, keeping myself hydrated with the caffeinated beverages. Luckily, I did really well in my test. Thanks to the hard work of the energy drinks that kept me up last night.

Finally, I would rate today, as the best day of this year so far.

Spring Break/Washington DC

I apologize for not being able to write for a long time.

So, last week we had spring break. A few days before the break, the department of governement and foreign affairs had a trip to Washington DC. The purpose of the trip was to have an experience of the Washington DC. We left Walsh around 4 PM on Wednesday and arrived in DC late night. More than 30 students plus three proffessors were in this trip. During the three days that we stayed there, we visited the White House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court, the International Monetary Fund and some other official places.

During the trip, we had the chance to meet some of the alumni from Walsh University. It was very nice to see them successful in Washington DC. Their insight and advice helped me and my collegues a lot. Thanks to all of them

Overall, the trip was a fantastic experience for me and all other students. Despite of visiting all these cool places, we had the chance of making good contacts that will help us in the future.

A speciall thank to Dr Koop Berry who arranged this trip for the students.

My birthday…

As I am writing this blog, I am a few seconds a way from becoming 21 years old. In fact, I just turned 21 right now. Happy Birthday… lol

Tuesday the 10^th is my birthday. I am very happy that finally, I am 21yeas old. I believe the biggest birthdays are 16 and 21 because at 16 you can drive, and at 21 you become a mature, responsible, and grown man.

In my country, Afghanistan, people do not celebrate their birthdays. As a matter of fact, majority of the people do not exactly know what day they were born. For example, if you ask someone, “When is your birthday?” he or she will respond back with “I am 45 years old.” Generally, a large percent of the people know how old they are, but they do not know what day they were born.

On the other hand, my dad wrote down our birthdays when we were born. Many thanks to him! So, we all know our birthdays, but still, we do not celebrate it back in Afghanistan. However, since I came to America, I realized that celebration of birthday is a big thing in this culture. In fact, last year, my friends took me to a restaurant and we all had so much fun. Overall, I enjoyed celebrating it.

But, I have not planned anything for tomorrow yet because my friends did not let me to do so. As soon as I was like, hey guys let’s go out and eat tomorrow, they would say “Sal, don’t worry about it. Just relax.” I believe they have planned something for me; however, I do not know exactly what’s going on.

So, if anything special happens tomorrow, I will let you guys posted about it.

Till then,

God be with you

Last night while writing a paper for my Urban Politics class, I hoped for a snow day tomorrow so I can get some sleep. It was around 2 in the morning while I was still busy writing the paper. I know it is my own fault because I procrastinated. But to be honest with you, I was extremely busy with other stuff that couldn’t find a chance to write the paper.

Anyhow, I finished the paper and emailed it to my professor. I have an early morning class on Wednesdays. So, when I woke up around 7 AM this morning, I had already received a message from Walsh University Emergency Alert System that school is cancelled today. Wow, I was so happy. I went back to bed and woke up very late.

The situation outside was crazy. The streets were frozen; therefore, they canceled almost all the meetings. I would say, it was the first time that I saw this much snow. Luckily, the maintenance stuff at Walsh were busy the whole day cleaning up the sidewalks so we can walk to the cafeteria without any problem. Thanks to them.

It was a good day to catch up with homework, cleaning, laundry, etc. I had some free time this afternoon, so I decided to watch a great movie called, The Great Debater. I really liked the movie because I learned a lot from it. “Who is the judge? The judge is God. Why is he God? Because he decides who wins or losses, not my opponent. Who is your opponent? He does not exist. Why does he not exist? Because he is merely a dissenting voice to the truth I speak.” Very meaningful! Thanks to Walsh library that has all these wonderful movies available for students to watch without any fee.

The Ball Drop experience:

The winter break was just fantastic. I went to New York to spend the Christmas with an American host family. Due to the fact that we do not celebrate Christmas in my country Afghanistan, it was a great experience for me to see all these love, care, and happiness on everyone’s face. Decorating the Christmas tree, singing Christmas songs, watching Christmas movies, and hoping to see Mr. Santa, were some of the things I did during the break. Overall, it was really fun to see all the families are back together and enjoying the moments of happiness together.

Right after the Christmas day, I went to Brooklyn, New York to spend the new years there. In fact, my friend and I had already planned to go and experience the Ball Drop in Times Square with over a million people. During the week which I spent in NYC, I got a chance to try different kinds of food, including Afghan, Arab, and Russian food. I was really missing Afghan food since I came to America, due to the fact that there are no Afghani restaurant in Canton, Ohio. Thus, it was a good chance for me to eat my hometown food again.

On New Years Eve, we decided to go to Times Square to experience the biggest ball drop in the world. The weather was extremely cold. In order to get to the front row, and the closest to the stage, we had to go there early during the day. Therefore, my friend, Mohammad and I went there around 12:30 afternoon. Basically, we were standing up, and waiting on the same spot for almost 12 hours until the ball drop. We didn’t eat or drink anything because we didn’t want to go to the bathroom. Once you left your spot, you could not get back there. After the ball drop, I barley could walk because my knees were sore. In the beginning it was snowing, and after that the weather dropped down to 0 F. The weather was cold and windy. Honestly, a few times, I decided to go back home. I thought I would not be able to do it, but I managed to stay in that cold and see a couple of celebrities, take good pictures, be on TV, and experience the Ball Drop.

Finally, I would like to say that it was one of the most fun things that I have ever done in my life, and I am sure that I WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN. Although, I had a great time in NYC, let me tell you that I missed Walsh everyday. I was counting days to get back to school, see friends, and meet new professors and students.

It’s good to be back…

On Thursday night, Walsh basketball team played against Ohio State’s team. The game was at 7 PM at Ohio State University. Thus, a group of my friends and I got together and drove to Columbus. It is approximately two hours away from North Canton. After arriving at Ohio State University, I was amazed to see that many people are going to watch this game. It was very hard to find a parking lot due to the fact that Ohio State is like a big city. The university is located in downtown. I don’t want to be rude, but I did not feel that I was on a university campus. It was very hard for me to tell whether it was a university or just downtown Columbus. There were too many cars going around. The traffic was awful. Unfortunately, the Columbus Crew soccer team was playing at the same time too, so it made it even harder to drive around easily. Finally, by the time we entered the basketball COURT, the game has already been started.

Walsh was doing pretty good in the first half. We had a decent number of fans both Walsh students and families and friends to support the team. However, compare to Ohio State’s fans, we were not that big. Obviously, Ohio State is one of the biggest universities in the United States; as well, it was a home game, so it made it much easier for them to have more fans. Overall, even though we lost, our team did a pretty good job. Just for the record, the Ohio State’s basketball team is in division one of NCAA, while Walsh is in NAIA.

After the game, we decided to go eat in Columbus. Since most of the restaurants were closed because it was after 9 PM, we ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was not good as the one here in North Canton. Overall, it was a great night visiting Columbus, watching a fantastic game, eating wings, and being together.