Short Week=Long Days

It's Thursday morning, and I think for the first time in my entire life, I am voluntarily out of bed at 7 AM with two hours to spare. This might have something to do with the fact that I went into a pizza coma and fell asleep at 8 PM last night.  Our class has an extremely short week, so Dr. Nimer is packing our only two lecture days full of class sessions and guest speakers.  Yesterday morning, we have two back to back lecture sessions (1) Reflections and reactions on last week's speakers... and (2) Contemporary Islam, the Modern Nation State and the International Order.


After our last lecture, I had 5 minutes to sprint to my room, change into a business suit and meet the class to head to our guest speaker of the day.  We took the metro to Dupont Circle and took the shuttle bus up to Georgetown University.  I am still not sure why I decided to wear a black, form fitting business suit and black loafers in 95 degree weather, but let me tell you, that was not one of my best decisions.  I spent the entire walk admiring the incredible architecture around me, and also running between shady spots in hope that I might cool down a little bit. I didn't.  Thankfully, the School of International Though was adequately air conditioned.  At Georgetown, we attended a lunch meeting for staff led by Dr. Yujie Wang, Visiting Researcher at the Al-Walid Bin Talal Center for Muslim Christian Understanding (ACMCU).  She conducted a presentation based off of her research on the Muslim community in China from the past to the present.