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.