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Last Saturday, a group of volunteers and I worked at a family’s home in Fleischmanns, N.Y., Hurricane Irene had caused massive damage to the houses and buildings in this town.

In several locations, trees were ripped from their roots leaving large gaping holes in many front lawns. Additionally, the high water flooded the basements of many of the residents’ homes. Insulation was ripped out and large deposits of mud and sand were formed in these basements, disrupting mechanical equipment like water heaters.

We shoveled dirt out of the cellars and transplanted it into the holes in the lawn. While we took a break and ate our lunch, Dominick, the owner of the house we were working at, came and talked to us about the flood and his evacuation. The story was really touching and I cannot imagine how scary it must have been when the hurricane hit.

When we finished our work that day, Dominick and his partner were very grateful for our help. This trip with ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ’s DiRT (Disaster Response Team) was a great experience. I really enjoyed getting involved and volunteering, and I am excited to continue to participate in DiRT- directed projects. This Saturday, I will be going on another DiRT trip to assist hurricane victims.

Sunday, my Silk Roads class as well as several other classes headed to New York City to view the new Islamic Art exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The exhibit was really interesting and it was great to connect the themes and ideas we learned in class with their physical representations at the MET.

Recently, I was a member of a group that had to present on Islamic art. In our presentation, we used pictures from the MET’s website. During our tour, we were able to see the artwork in person that we had showed.

Between getting to the city, and our tour, we had a few hours to spend in whatever way we wanted. I spent my time in the East Village with my brother. It was great to visit him as a part of this ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ-sponsored trip to the MET.

As you can see, I had quite the hectic weekend, and it did not calm down for the rest of this week. With Thanksgiving break quickly approaching, many students are rushing to finish assignments and get them out of the way before they travel home to be with their families. I cannot wait to be home and to spend time with the friends and family I have been missing.

Happy early Thanksgiving!