![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/files\/2011\/02\/184727_10150094881785773_687945772_6927798_6031903_n.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSince neither you nor I would want to hear about absolutely everything that happened at the conference, I\u2019ll give some highlights.<\/p>\n
- \n
- The first night of the conference we went to the Museum on campus and got to see some incredible art with performances by different religious music groups on campus.<\/li>\n
- Dr. Eboo Patel gave the keynote speech on Friday afternoon. I was one of the few people in the room who had seen him speak before (he came to Puget Sound in October for a Swope lecture: definitely an awesome thing about the school). He delivered a speech about interfaith dialogue and presented three steps to creating a good discussion, all essentially being: become friends with people.<\/li>\n
- On Friday I went to Hindu, Muslim and Unitarian Universalist prayer ceremonies as well as Buddhist meditation and Shabbat services. All of them were incredible experiences, but the one that I loved the most was the Muslim Jum\u2019ah. It was a gorgeous service and it really impacted me.<\/li>\n
- Friday night we had a \u201cProfessor\u2019s Night\u201d with four professors at Princeton, all who spoke about their own religions\/spiritual backgrounds and discussed how their respective topics (Politics, Dance, Religion and Judaic Studies) fit with Interfaith dialogue. After their talks they sat down at our tables and we got to have discussions with them. The Dance professor was my favorite, talking about her Jewish upbringing and how it compares to her current spiritual beliefs, as well as how the study of Dance fits in with Judaism.<\/li>\n
- Most of Saturday was spend in student-led \u201cBreak-Out\u201d sessions. I went to one on physical movement and dance in religion (which was quite interesting), one on the role on Humanism within Interfaith dialogue and one about Faith and Ethics.<\/li>\n
- Oh wait! I led the one on Faith and Ethics! The two other students from Puget Sound and I led a discussion on how Faith and Ethics are related and how they both influence each other, as well as why we hold our stances on both of them. It turned out to be a great discussion with some really fascinating people speaking up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/files\/2011\/02\/179810_10150094881330773_687945772_6927788_6431697_n-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nOverall, it was an incredible experience. Life changing sounds dramatic, so I wont say that, but it was really truly unbelievable.<\/p>\n
You may be asking yourself, \u201cSelf, why is Ian talking about another University in a blog post about UPS?\u201d Well two reasons. 1. The University of Puget Sound actually hosted this same conference last year (and from what I hear it was better than the Princeton one) and 2. It was Puget Sound that offered me this opportunity. And without sounding like a spokesman for the school, that\u2019s pretty awesome. So, thanks, SSSJ office.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.pugetsound.edu\/studentlife\/files\/2011\/02\/184702_10150094882285773_687945772_6927817_7752756_n-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nAn article about the conference was actually on the front page of the Huffington Post last week, which can be seen at the link below.<\/p>\n