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It's not that the freshman's GWorld card doesn't work - it's because of the Jewish Sabbath. Along with a handful of other students on campus, Bloomberg is Orthodox, a strict sect of Judaism. During the Sabbath, he must refrain from any type of work, including the use of electricity.
A prayer for most of his daily activities is not unusual, Bloomberg said. Before eating, after eating and in the morning, Bloomberg recites various Jewish blessings.
"By saying those blessings it brings a lot of importance into everyday, mundane things," Bloomberg said. "You realize how much people take for granted the things they have."
Although often characterized as a secular, liberal campus, GW has a wide variety of faithful in its religious population - from Roman Catholic students preparing for the priesthood to those in the BaHa'I faith. These students lead an average college life but with a few adjustments.
Like Bloomberg, freshman roommates Daniella Isaacson, Elizabeth Elias and Dana Edelman observe the Sabbath and also follow the Jewish dietary law of keeping a Kosher kitchen, never allowing meat and dairy products to touch the same plate.
After the Kosher-friendly District Market grocery store closed last year, it became nearly impossible for GW students to buy Kosher foods using their GWorld cards.
Although the freshmen said D.C. and GW are not the easiest places to be Orthodox, Edelman said that their struggles are no different than any other college students'.
"I don't think it's an impossible challenge; you have to learn how to handle it," Edelman said. "Instead of other students who come to college and need to learn to prepare dinner on their own, we had to learn how to be Kosher away from our parents."
Sophomore Conrad Murphy also faces the challenge of living without parental guidance or supervision, a goal at times difficult to achieve while upholding the values of his Catholic faith.
