Armenia!

Levon, my best buddy here at school, is from Armenia, and a few days after the SotP conference, the Armenian club held a festival in the main part of campus that was really quite impressive. I’ve put up here a few of the pictures I took, but they don’t truly reflect how great an event this was. They had Armenian food, traditional dancers, historical notes, the entire thing was really beautiful. They truly are a beautiful culture and a beautiful people.Levon has been doing a good job of schooling me in Armenian culture & history. Armenia, for those who don’t know, is located next to modern day Turkey, on the eastern border. It is an ancient culture, going back some 3,000 years. It has fluctuated in size over time, and been subject to conquests by a few different empires (Mongols, Persians, etc). Ethnically, the Armenians are their own people, I think they are more closely related to Russians & the people from the steppes than anyone else, but I can’t quite remember. And they have a culture that is also quite distinct; it has a near-eastern feel to it, but they aren’t Arabs and there are significant differences. Getting to know Levon has been one of the highlights of my time here, and I look forward to being his friend even once he returns home to his country. We joke that he will one day become the President of Armenia, but we’re only half kidding. Levon has a deep love for his country and his people, and they will be fortunate to have him serve them in any capacity. He worked hard to pull this festival together, and it came off great. The fact that the weather was beautiful helped too, but mostly it was Levon. *grin*