This Is Why I Go To APU

This is why I go to Azusa Pacific University...

For the community
The thing I love the most about APU is that, although it is much bigger than other Christian universities, it has great community. I had the support and help from SO many people this last year. Whenever I was in a bad place, whenever I just needed to sit with someone and cry, when I had meltdowns or really needed someone to help me out, I was always able to find someone who was there for me. The girls in my hall, my TCK friends, my fellow International Chapel Hospitality team members, other friends of mine, random people on campus, staff and professors...all these people have been there for me at some point and have been such a big blessing!
And this isn't just a feeling I have. My friend, who was actually the person who told me about this school, told me that when she had gone to visit a friend of hers at APU, she could definitely see the community on campus. And my mom (who just visited the campus with my dad, my brother, and I for the first time yesterday) told me that she loves the great community I have here.

The diversity
I haven't really been on many other school campuses, but I've heard that for being an expensive Christian school, we have a lot of diversity. Granted, we do indeed have a majority which are white girls whose education is being covered by their parents, but you can still find people who are different. You will often find someone walking around barefoot (like me, on occasion), there are a few people with dreads, there's a decent amount of black people, we have a lot of asians, and we also have a good number of latinos. Our chapels are all pretty different. Many of our speakers for the morning chapels come from all kinds of backgrounds and our worship bands are all pretty different. For morning chapel we often have gospel or contemporary worship, for Wednesday night chapel we have a more indie kind of worship band, our once-a-month Thursday night chapel is more meditative worship, and then Friday morning International chapel has worship in different languages (some examples are Spanish, Japanese, Zulu, Hebrew, etc). And our professors are also very different; I've had professors from the East Coast, from the Midwest, Californians, Latinos, TCK professors, etc.
Coming to the end of the year, I realize out that more than half of my friends are asian and that I'm actually the only white student worker at my job. I thought it was funny but cool that it took me so long to see this =)
Oh, and for my Spring Break, I staid with my friend at her family's house. They are Philippino and it was really interesting getting to know their culture and their food. We definitely had a lot of fun!

Internationality
I don't think I could survive in the States without having internationality around me! I love having friends from almost every continent of the world, professors who've grown up in the forests of the Philippines or lived and worked in East Africa, and having international chapel once every week for which I'm part of the hospitality team. The TCK retreats, which happen twice a semester, have also definitely been a breath of fresh air. It's nice to have a family I can be with that will understand me and with whom I can be myself and talk about things that normal American students can't really comprehend.

Scholarship
I am constantly amazed at how good my classes and professors are! I am definitely learning many new things that I've never heard of before and I've been challenged in many ways by my professors who are all brilliant and have studied at prestigious school like Princeton, Yale, Harvard, etc. I have had moments when I feel like my brain is having an overload of information, but hopefully I'm still being able to retain a lot of it.

God
I would not be here if it weren't for God. He is the one who has brought me here and He is the one who is taking care of me spiritually, emotionally, and physically. During this time at APU, He is slowly working in me, constantly providing for me, never leaving me, and helping me discover and define who I am. I am so thankful for everything He has given me and I cannot wait to better understand exactly how much He has been teaching me during this time here at APU.