A couple of weeks ago, my friend Itzel and I decided to take a trip to Washington, D.C. to participate in the Science March. While it could have been easier to simply participate in the satellite march in Columbus, we wanted to experience that adrenaline rush of participating in such a large event.

This trip truly made me realize just how easily things could be misrepresented in the media. Being their firsthand, gave me insight into the event that not many had. For example, there were many events circulating that made the Science March appear as though it was an anti-Trump “protest”  when in reality, the speakers were simply stressing the importance of science, and some aspect of it was calling on the action of the current administration.

Another thing occurred, was the growing sense of pride in Ohio State. Prior to leaving for D.C., I decided to purchase two Ohio State ponchos in case the rain was incredibly heavy. As predicted, it felt as though a monsoon was blowing through the march, and yet this still didn’t stop anyone. Anyways, Itzel and I both grabbed for our very vibrant ponchos that attracted a lot of attention. We were quickly greeted by other Ohioans, or simply Ohio State fans, and we made very great conversation with very great people.

The trip was amazing. The march gave me a little hope for our future and seeing the city yet again put me in a very good mood for the rest of the semester. I am so glad I chose to go to the Science March with Itzel.

These artifacts are photos from my trip to Toronto over fall break with other scholar students, about 50 in total. In the first picture, we were exploring Casa Loma, a castle built by a very wealthy man but was eventually taken by the state and used as a museum, then we explored Aga Khan in the second picture, a museum showing the changes that the Islam faith went through and how far the religious influence faced. Following the museum, we visited an Ismaili prayer center. This was extremely eye-opening because I had never known that I knew so little about the Islamic faith. I had no idea that there were so many sects of Islam, especially one that believes that men and women are completely equal which is contrary to what I thought I knew.  The last picture was taken during our exploration of downtown Toronto after our first dinner. We enjoyed checking out the nightlife and exploring. It was truly fascinating to see so many different areas of Toronto, with so many students with differing experiences and views, yet we were able to enjoy all of the museums and visits without our differences interfering.

I enjoyed every minute of the trip, and I learned so much about my classmates and about myself. It had always been hard for me to make friends because I commute, so this trip really helped me get to know people in IA Scholars and become more involved with the community. It was extremely difficult for me within the first day because I felt like I was an outsider, but once I got out of my comfort zone, I was able to make many friends that have lasted me a while. In addition to making friends, I also learned about Canadian history and the Islamic religion. It was truly interesting to see how Canadian indigenous people followed matriarchy and were very environmentally friendly. Additionally, I learned a lot about the Islamic religion and it gave me a better understanding and broke many barriers towards the religion.

I will try to be mindful of the environment just as the indigenous people were. In addition to that, I will try to keep up my new friendships from the trip. Lastly, I will try to be more mindful of the generalizations of the Islamic religion, and tell others of the information that I learned trying to break the misunderstandings and generalizations of the religion.

There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about my amazing weekend in Toronto. From museums to swing dancing and comedy shows, it was a weekend that I will always remember, with people I will never forget.