JENNACA RHODES & KATIE STJERNHOLM
Contributing Writers
The studying abroad experience is a time in which students are whisked away from any comfort zone you’ve ever known, and plunged into an uncertain and highly volatile state.
At some point in the frenzy, there are those pivotal moments when time freezes and you can reflect and question your place — both in this new country and in the world. We had one of these introspective jolts upon returning from an educational field trip in Sicily.
After spending a week seeing breathtaking mosaics in Palermo, enjoying the beach in Cefalu, and climbing Mt. Etna, we arrived back in our villa in Florence. The trip, though rewarding, had been exhausting and long, and we were attempting to rejuvenate for the coming week.
Casually clicking through the online news updates we found a headline “wildfire” and “Pepperdine University.”
This news immediately sent chills through our bodies. “Our homes!” we thought.
Because the infamous “Peppervine” never fails, we frantically began reaching for our computers and cell phones, desperate for any piece of information, no matter how relevant or valid. Our entire villa gathered in the apartment of our visiting faculty, D’Esta and Stuart Love, to watch the news on their television — the only one with international news coverage.
We clung to every word coming from the newscasters and from our friends back home, who were e-mailing and instant messaging us while wearing gas masks and pajamas in the cafeteria. We felt a horrible sense of disconnection, and a blanket of helplessness draped over us as we listened to our friends back in Malibu.
Utter silence enveloped the room as the view of Malibu Presbyterian came onto the screen. Tears followed shortly after.
It was terrifying to see a place so close to our hearts completely surrendered to flames. We strived to develop some sort of link or connection anyone who could give us updates, and shrieked whenever the news changed or moved to commercial.
We were silent, trying to grasp patience. Along with the rest of the Pepperdine community, we could only watch firefighters try to conquer the fire that was reported as zero percent contained all day Sunday.
As the top story unfolded, we were continually averted from the elation that our group felt during our Sicilian trip.
It was almost as if the distance that Florence is from Malibu was lengthened due to our helplessness. Rumors began to fly as we struggled to find answers to the many uncertainties.
Later that night, we dedicated our usual Sunday night worship service to praying for the safety of our campus. It was only through this service and the feeling of community — the fact that we had each other, that we were finally able to feel more calm.
These 50 students were no longer just names with faces; they were the support we clung to while we all worried about our loved ones and our endangered home of Malibu.
We were truly impressed with how these fires revealed to us the close-knit community and network of Pepperdine, something we were already experiencing here in Florence.
Often during the submersion into a vibrant culture and lifestyle, it is easy to forget to have an introspective process, to consider deeper issues. But the headlines and the brokenness that continues in the world around us should not be ignored. Nothing made this more clear than how close to home this fire really hit us.
It is so crucial to make time for those reflective moments and come “back down to earth,” even when life seems to be racing at 500 kilometers per hour. Times of trial show us why it is so important to come together in unity and prayer with those around you.
As the adventures unfold, whether it is standing in awe of historical sites, eating gelato, or finding a place in a new culture on the other side of the world, our hearts continue to reach out back to our “stomping grounds” in Malibu.
Pepperdine continually seems more and more like home and the near tragedy of this fire only causes those overseas to draw it closer in our own hearts.
It is quite ironic that the uncertainty of life is something that is, in fact, certain, and we have a keen feeling that is the point.
There will be disaster in our futures, but as this one demonstrated that the Malibu community, though it may be scattered world wide, we will always share a bond worth protecting.
11-01-2007
