When we first arrived in Ireland, it wasn't what we expected. We had heard that Dublin was quite industrial, but it wasn't until getting there that I really appreciated my friend's warnings. The lush, green hillsides that you picture about Ireland were no where to be seen and tall, steel buildings took their place. Luckily, we had heard about this small town called Cork that was the picturesque Ireland. We took a train there.
Our hostel was this small, independently-owned house. We were greeted by this sweet woman who welcomed us in with her jolly Irish accent. I love their accents-- even if they're grouchy, it makes them sound friendly-- and if you're friendly, you sound like a complete angel. We shared a room with 2 guys and another girl. One night, when we were all getting dolled up for an evening out, the guys walked in to find us in our makeover frenzy. Danielle was doing my make-up and hair and we were rushing around, borrowing everyone's make-up. I bet they wondered what they had gotten themselves into! We found the cheapest Internet cafe we had found the whole trip-- 1 hour for a euro! (Usually they charge you a euro and 50 cents for like 15 minutes!) It was because of this internet blessing that I learned that my life was about to change. Because of the extra time, I decided to get on msn and talk to friends. One of my friends said, "Congratulations! I heard your dad resigned today and got a new job in Searcy." I was completely shocked and told her so. She felt terrible, but had assumed that I knew. I break down into tears in an internet cafe full of strangers. I later learn that my parents didn't want to tell me for fear of this very thing happening. Needless to say, Ireland wasn't quite as enjoyable from there on out.
I pushed back the tears and decided to go out with the gals to keep my mind off of moving. We dressed up and went to eat at this nice restaurant. I don't usually go for salads as my first choice, but I was craving healthy food SO BAD. I got the most divine chicken caesar salad! That night, we went in different pubs, searching for Gerry from the movie P.S. I Love You. I honestly expected to walk in, see this gorgeous Irish man playing guitar and see as he motioned me over. The closest I got to that was an older man with long stringy hair blasting us out with the high intensity of his music. None of them impressed us so we just walked back to the hostel.
The following day we took a bus to Blarney Castle, home of the famous Blarney Stone. We were riding along, enjoying the ride when the bus driver stopped and came back to where we were. "Where were you wanting to go?" he asked. "Blarney Castle." "We were there several stops ago. I called it out." Luckily, he was nice enough to take us back there on his way back. The castle was this tall, gray fortress surrounded by streams, flowers and greenery. When I heard about kissing the Blarney stone, I pictured myself gracefully leaning over and kissing a stone that stood before me. WRONG. You have to basically do a backbend, with the help of an older man who holds your waist. It is quite a physical manuever, but it makes you feel like you actually did something. No wonder kissing the stone is a bragging right! I bought a ring at a local gift shop. Ireland is famous for these rings: it is two hands holding onto a heart with a crown on it. When you are in love, you wear it with the heart pointing inward. When your heart is unoccupied, you point the heart outward, letting people know that your heart is not yet taken.
I also found these cards with Irish names and meanings on them. Knowing that McKenna (my middle name) is Irish, I looked it up. Would you believe that the McKenna family in Ireland was famous for producing writers and journalists! I could hardly believe it! Maybe that's a sign that this is the right major after all!
We spent the night in the Dublin airport, awaiting our flight back to Amsterdam. An annoying lady got on the intercom ALL NIGHT LONG making an announcement about how unclaimed baggage would be destroyed. We kept a tally on Lauren's arm and I think it ended up totaling close to 40.
Amsterdam was another exhausting night of airport sleep. We were reunited with many others from our group, though, so we endured it all together. I luckily had a straight flight to Memphis where my parents were to pick me up. I sat by a Christian man on the plane, which was cool-- b/c it's not very often that you have a lot to talk about to a perfect stranger. He was quite a chatterbox though and at times I wanted, to say, "Dude, you're great-- but I have been traveling non-stop for 2 weeks! I am tired! Please be silent!" When I got through the terminal and saw my parents and Bliss waiting for me, I was so excited! I couldn't wait to get my first American meal. We had high hopes of a great Memphis dinner, but soon found out that it was "Memphis in May." All the parking lots and restaurants were PACKED. We soon got lost in the ghetto part and ended up surrendering to a Taco Bell. We laughed that this would happen only to me. It was good to be with family, wherever that happened to be. :-)
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Paris-- The City of Love
I am sorry that I took quite a break from finishing free travel blogs. I put my Greek instrumental music in to inspire me to finish this, along with the fervor to pick pictures to print for my album. It is so good to hear that familiar sound-- it causes my spirits to be lifted.
Paris was the first city where we had to continually hop on and off trains in the middle of the night to get there. On our first train, we were accompanied by very cute soldiers. Two weeks with no boys in our group made us quite giddy-- we acted like we hadn't seen attractive boys before. It was a fun start to the romantic feeling that Paris would bring. We barely made it to our 2nd train and had to hop on the closest cart, even though it was far away from where we would reside. The train took off and so did we-- cart after cart until we made it to the lowest class seating. We walked through carts that had bars and rich people, smoking their cares away in first class. We made it to our lowly seats, which were packed with people. You could hardly move at all. "This is going to be a fun ride," I thought. Little did I know it would be indeed. Our cart split from the rest of the train that was going a different direction, but something went wrong with the train that was supposed to attach to us and take us the rest of the way. We sat, cramped together in a lone cart on an abandoned track until the problem was fixed an hour or so later. It seemed like a scene from a horror flick. Luckily, it ended well-- not like an Alfred Hitchcock film.
When we first arrived in Paris, we sat in a cute park near our hostel. There were little kids running around, playing in the fountain and enjoying the sunshine. Interesting to us, most of the little kids were out with their fathers. It was so adorable to see the dads chase their children, twirl them in the air and enjoy their company. In our hostel, we roomed with this sweet Spanish lady named Fatima. Though we could barely communicate with each other, we found this friendship that reached passed a language barrier. I helped her write e-mails in English and we laughed as we tried to understand each other. She was such a sweet lady and I enjoyed the few nights we got to know each other. That's one of the cool things about traveling-- is finding people that you will never see again in your life, but they somehow leave a small footprint on your heart.
We went on a night tour that night, part of the free tours that we had found in Berlin. Our tour guide's name was Jay and he was this hip, Bohemian guy who was very theatric in the way he told Paris' history. We saw the Moulin Rouge and learned about its start and transformation after Zegler got a hold of it. We saw where Van Gogh lived while in Paris and learned of his troubling life. We saw Picasso and Van Gogh's favorite restaurants-- Picasso, too poor to pay for his meals, offered the owner murals in exchange for meals. Later, the guy became very wealthy for having so many Picasso originals. We met up with Bethany, Melissa, Sarabeth and Noah for this tour and we ate with them afterward at this little restaurant. We ate spaghetti, salads and fruit for dessert. On the way back to the metro, we walked through Paris' "Red Light District." Though not as notorious as Amsterdam's, it was still quite a culture shock.
The next day we took the day tour with Mary. Mary was, by far, our favorite tour guide of the free travel trip. Of little stature, she had a booming personality and a love for history and theatrics. She put her miming skills and acting skills to use and combined them with history. I couldn't help but think what an AWESOME teacher she would be-- I would have never fallen asleep in her class! We met at the St. Michel fountain, which is in the Latin quarter. Lacey was wearing her "I Love Jordan" shirt that she bought in Jordan and this guy came up and asked to take a picture with her! He was from Jordan-- we enjoyed talking to him about our visit there! He was in our tour group. We saw the Notre Dame, which took 200 years to build. We found out that Napolean basically thought he ruled the world and he was always crowning himself and taking charge of everything. Mary covered thousands of years in history in one, big miming show. It was amazing-- she talked so fast and her hands were flailing and all of our eyes were glued to her. We didn't go into the Louvre until later, but Mary showed us the outside of it and told us that if you looked at everything in the Louvre for only 3 seconds-- it would take you 3 months! Isn't that amazing?
We saw the obelisk, which was a gift from Luxor, Egypt-- we were so excited b/c we had been to Luxor too! We walked down the Champs Elysees and saw the Arc de Triumph, which Napolean wanted finished for his wedding. I think the most fascinating part of Mary's speech came at the end when she spoke of WWII. A few things in Paris were destroyed, but why not more of it? Hitler hired VonHelton to destroy Paris, but when he got there he fell in love with the city. Hitler ordered him to burn it to the ground. In a series of circumstances, VonHelton ended up saving the city from total destruction. We went into a Louis Vuitton store just to get a glimpse into the life of the rich and famous. I saw a keychain that was 162 euro-- that's when I decided I'd better stick to Old Navy.
We went to the Monet museum to see the water lily paintings of Monet. We also went into the Musee d'Orsay where we saw more Monet, Van Gogh and Degas. Alana got to see Degas' ballerina sculptures and paintings and she fell in love. Though I am no ballerina, I was most impressed with his work as well.
My FAVORITE night of the whole trip is when we laid in the lawn in front of the Eiffel tower waiting for it to light up. It was so beautiful and romantic. The only thing that risked ruining the atmosphere were the annoying guys that sell plastic, light-up Eiffel towers. They won't leave you alone! One guy kept bugging us and we firmly told him, "No!" He pathetically said, "Why not?" and Danielle, not missing a beat, goes, "BECAUSE I'M LOOKIN' AT THE REAL THING!" We laughed so hard and looked over to find this guy, who apparently understood us, laughing as well. He continued to laugh at us the whole night. He was cute in this gruff, world traveler kind of way. I should have talked to him-- it's Paris, the most romantic place on earth, for goodness sakes!
It was then that it happened: the moment we had all been waiting for. Blue lights flickered up and down the Eiffel Tower and this collective "awww" swept the entire lawn. Being girly-girls, we screamed--and Mr. World Traveler Cutie began to laugh at us once more.
It wouldn't be a trip to Paris without going into the Louvre. Though I had been in there before, it was more meaningful now that I was more familiar with the works of art inside of it. We went to see the Code of Hammurabi since we had studied about it in DiMy's class-- it had been moved to another exhibit. We were ticked! We took sad face pictures by it. We hit all the hot spots-- the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Mona Lisa and the huge Miracle at Cana picture.
Danielle and I left the Louvre to go see the Palace of Versailles, where Marie Antoinette resided. We looked through the royal gardens and could tell the weather was about to get ugly on us. The fountains and landscaping were fit for a queen! As we headed back to the train station, it began to POUR. I didn't have an umbrella and laughed at my inability to do anything. I finally stopped when we made it on the street of the train station and held up my hands, raised my face to the skies and let the rain fall freely. It is during that point where you realize you have no control over your situation that you laugh like you've never laughed before. Danielle probably thought I was a total weirdo, but I stood there for a few moments laughing and crying at the same time. We made it back to our train though and froze all the way back to our hostel.
The next morning we took a plane to Dublin, Ireland-- our final stop.
Paris was the first city where we had to continually hop on and off trains in the middle of the night to get there. On our first train, we were accompanied by very cute soldiers. Two weeks with no boys in our group made us quite giddy-- we acted like we hadn't seen attractive boys before. It was a fun start to the romantic feeling that Paris would bring. We barely made it to our 2nd train and had to hop on the closest cart, even though it was far away from where we would reside. The train took off and so did we-- cart after cart until we made it to the lowest class seating. We walked through carts that had bars and rich people, smoking their cares away in first class. We made it to our lowly seats, which were packed with people. You could hardly move at all. "This is going to be a fun ride," I thought. Little did I know it would be indeed. Our cart split from the rest of the train that was going a different direction, but something went wrong with the train that was supposed to attach to us and take us the rest of the way. We sat, cramped together in a lone cart on an abandoned track until the problem was fixed an hour or so later. It seemed like a scene from a horror flick. Luckily, it ended well-- not like an Alfred Hitchcock film.
When we first arrived in Paris, we sat in a cute park near our hostel. There were little kids running around, playing in the fountain and enjoying the sunshine. Interesting to us, most of the little kids were out with their fathers. It was so adorable to see the dads chase their children, twirl them in the air and enjoy their company. In our hostel, we roomed with this sweet Spanish lady named Fatima. Though we could barely communicate with each other, we found this friendship that reached passed a language barrier. I helped her write e-mails in English and we laughed as we tried to understand each other. She was such a sweet lady and I enjoyed the few nights we got to know each other. That's one of the cool things about traveling-- is finding people that you will never see again in your life, but they somehow leave a small footprint on your heart.
We went on a night tour that night, part of the free tours that we had found in Berlin. Our tour guide's name was Jay and he was this hip, Bohemian guy who was very theatric in the way he told Paris' history. We saw the Moulin Rouge and learned about its start and transformation after Zegler got a hold of it. We saw where Van Gogh lived while in Paris and learned of his troubling life. We saw Picasso and Van Gogh's favorite restaurants-- Picasso, too poor to pay for his meals, offered the owner murals in exchange for meals. Later, the guy became very wealthy for having so many Picasso originals. We met up with Bethany, Melissa, Sarabeth and Noah for this tour and we ate with them afterward at this little restaurant. We ate spaghetti, salads and fruit for dessert. On the way back to the metro, we walked through Paris' "Red Light District." Though not as notorious as Amsterdam's, it was still quite a culture shock.
The next day we took the day tour with Mary. Mary was, by far, our favorite tour guide of the free travel trip. Of little stature, she had a booming personality and a love for history and theatrics. She put her miming skills and acting skills to use and combined them with history. I couldn't help but think what an AWESOME teacher she would be-- I would have never fallen asleep in her class! We met at the St. Michel fountain, which is in the Latin quarter. Lacey was wearing her "I Love Jordan" shirt that she bought in Jordan and this guy came up and asked to take a picture with her! He was from Jordan-- we enjoyed talking to him about our visit there! He was in our tour group. We saw the Notre Dame, which took 200 years to build. We found out that Napolean basically thought he ruled the world and he was always crowning himself and taking charge of everything. Mary covered thousands of years in history in one, big miming show. It was amazing-- she talked so fast and her hands were flailing and all of our eyes were glued to her. We didn't go into the Louvre until later, but Mary showed us the outside of it and told us that if you looked at everything in the Louvre for only 3 seconds-- it would take you 3 months! Isn't that amazing?
We saw the obelisk, which was a gift from Luxor, Egypt-- we were so excited b/c we had been to Luxor too! We walked down the Champs Elysees and saw the Arc de Triumph, which Napolean wanted finished for his wedding. I think the most fascinating part of Mary's speech came at the end when she spoke of WWII. A few things in Paris were destroyed, but why not more of it? Hitler hired VonHelton to destroy Paris, but when he got there he fell in love with the city. Hitler ordered him to burn it to the ground. In a series of circumstances, VonHelton ended up saving the city from total destruction. We went into a Louis Vuitton store just to get a glimpse into the life of the rich and famous. I saw a keychain that was 162 euro-- that's when I decided I'd better stick to Old Navy.
We went to the Monet museum to see the water lily paintings of Monet. We also went into the Musee d'Orsay where we saw more Monet, Van Gogh and Degas. Alana got to see Degas' ballerina sculptures and paintings and she fell in love. Though I am no ballerina, I was most impressed with his work as well.
My FAVORITE night of the whole trip is when we laid in the lawn in front of the Eiffel tower waiting for it to light up. It was so beautiful and romantic. The only thing that risked ruining the atmosphere were the annoying guys that sell plastic, light-up Eiffel towers. They won't leave you alone! One guy kept bugging us and we firmly told him, "No!" He pathetically said, "Why not?" and Danielle, not missing a beat, goes, "BECAUSE I'M LOOKIN' AT THE REAL THING!" We laughed so hard and looked over to find this guy, who apparently understood us, laughing as well. He continued to laugh at us the whole night. He was cute in this gruff, world traveler kind of way. I should have talked to him-- it's Paris, the most romantic place on earth, for goodness sakes!
It was then that it happened: the moment we had all been waiting for. Blue lights flickered up and down the Eiffel Tower and this collective "awww" swept the entire lawn. Being girly-girls, we screamed--and Mr. World Traveler Cutie began to laugh at us once more.
It wouldn't be a trip to Paris without going into the Louvre. Though I had been in there before, it was more meaningful now that I was more familiar with the works of art inside of it. We went to see the Code of Hammurabi since we had studied about it in DiMy's class-- it had been moved to another exhibit. We were ticked! We took sad face pictures by it. We hit all the hot spots-- the Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Mona Lisa and the huge Miracle at Cana picture.
Danielle and I left the Louvre to go see the Palace of Versailles, where Marie Antoinette resided. We looked through the royal gardens and could tell the weather was about to get ugly on us. The fountains and landscaping were fit for a queen! As we headed back to the train station, it began to POUR. I didn't have an umbrella and laughed at my inability to do anything. I finally stopped when we made it on the street of the train station and held up my hands, raised my face to the skies and let the rain fall freely. It is during that point where you realize you have no control over your situation that you laugh like you've never laughed before. Danielle probably thought I was a total weirdo, but I stood there for a few moments laughing and crying at the same time. We made it back to our train though and froze all the way back to our hostel.
The next morning we took a plane to Dublin, Ireland-- our final stop.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Scootering Around the Alps
Night trains are probably the creepiest mode of transportation. It wouldn't be free travel without a night train experience. We had our first experience on our way to Switzerland. We squeezed into our 6-cot room and wondered how we were going to function in such a tiny space. After taking some medicine, I fell into a deep sleep. We were woken up that morning by this annoying Italian man, who tried to tell us something in Italian that we did not understand. The more confused my facial expression got, the louder and faster he would explain this unknown thing to me. He kept saying, "Bern!" and I would nod my head "yes" because we were, in fact, stopping in Bern. Then, he would shout, "Interlaken!" and I would say, "Yes, we are going to Interlaken next." He would point out the window shouting "Bern" and "Interlaken" with many sentences in between. I was already groggy because my medicine hadn't worn off. When Lacey sleepily made her way to the bathroom, he tried to talk to her too and she got so frustrated. Haha!
When we stepped off the train, it was FREEZING. We finally made our way to Interlaken, where we walked to our Balmer's Heritage Hostel, the nicest hostel we stayed in the whole trip. It had a warm, log cabin-type atmosphere with a gameroom, tv room and a nice staff. Because we got there early, we had to entertain ourselves around the facility until we could get into our room. We walked to a nearby mall and bought stuff to make spaghetti for supper. We also went into a clothing store and saw Miss Swiss, who was signing autographs. I bought a brightly-colored top for when we went out in Ireland. Lacey bought some shirts from this store called, "Blackout" and they gave her a billboard-sized bag for promotional purposes. Later, Lauren got inside of it. A guy that worked at the hostel tried to pick her up in the bag and ended up dropping his keys inside. He went around looking for them before we realized where they were. We all got a few laughs out of it.
The hostel gave us a free voucher for breakfast and we used it right away. As we sat at our table, we looked across the room and saw a basket that said, "Left over bread goes here. For the stray dogs of Interlaken." You know you are getting to the end of free travel when you have started envying the stray dogs of Interlaken. Danielle kept talking about going over there and getting the bread out of the basket. Though I was all for it, I pleaded with her not to do it-- we were NOT going to stoop to that level. Later in Paris, I would find myself staring at a trashcan with half-filled soda bottles, commenting, "I can't believe they threw that away."
We really wanted to sign up for the outdoor activities that Interlaken is famous for, but they were all too expensive. I would love to go back just for that purpose later on in my life. Instead, we rented scooters and decided to drive around. The guy knew that we were inexperienced and let us practice in a parking lot. After seeing my face one-inch from a metal fence, I was pretty worried about hitting the streets. I eventually got the hang of it and he set us free. We drove through the small villages and the winding roads of the Alps. I couldn't help but smile and laugh for no apparent reason except that I was having the time of my life! Here I was, with a ridiculous helmet on, scootering around the most beautiful country I've ever seen! Since singing in the car happens to be one of my favorite hobbies, I decided that scootering should be no different. The wind blowing across my face reminded me of a kid sticking their head in front of a box fan, but I didn't care. Though spit flew out of my mouth as I sang, I continued on: "You are beautiful beyond description, too marvelous for words...too wonderful for comprehension..." I meant every word. Waterfalls fell from the tops of mountains and the snow on top of the mountains looked like it was painted there.
Our next stop on our journey was the city of love-- and boy, did we love it! Paris!
When we stepped off the train, it was FREEZING. We finally made our way to Interlaken, where we walked to our Balmer's Heritage Hostel, the nicest hostel we stayed in the whole trip. It had a warm, log cabin-type atmosphere with a gameroom, tv room and a nice staff. Because we got there early, we had to entertain ourselves around the facility until we could get into our room. We walked to a nearby mall and bought stuff to make spaghetti for supper. We also went into a clothing store and saw Miss Swiss, who was signing autographs. I bought a brightly-colored top for when we went out in Ireland. Lacey bought some shirts from this store called, "Blackout" and they gave her a billboard-sized bag for promotional purposes. Later, Lauren got inside of it. A guy that worked at the hostel tried to pick her up in the bag and ended up dropping his keys inside. He went around looking for them before we realized where they were. We all got a few laughs out of it.
The hostel gave us a free voucher for breakfast and we used it right away. As we sat at our table, we looked across the room and saw a basket that said, "Left over bread goes here. For the stray dogs of Interlaken." You know you are getting to the end of free travel when you have started envying the stray dogs of Interlaken. Danielle kept talking about going over there and getting the bread out of the basket. Though I was all for it, I pleaded with her not to do it-- we were NOT going to stoop to that level. Later in Paris, I would find myself staring at a trashcan with half-filled soda bottles, commenting, "I can't believe they threw that away."
We really wanted to sign up for the outdoor activities that Interlaken is famous for, but they were all too expensive. I would love to go back just for that purpose later on in my life. Instead, we rented scooters and decided to drive around. The guy knew that we were inexperienced and let us practice in a parking lot. After seeing my face one-inch from a metal fence, I was pretty worried about hitting the streets. I eventually got the hang of it and he set us free. We drove through the small villages and the winding roads of the Alps. I couldn't help but smile and laugh for no apparent reason except that I was having the time of my life! Here I was, with a ridiculous helmet on, scootering around the most beautiful country I've ever seen! Since singing in the car happens to be one of my favorite hobbies, I decided that scootering should be no different. The wind blowing across my face reminded me of a kid sticking their head in front of a box fan, but I didn't care. Though spit flew out of my mouth as I sang, I continued on: "You are beautiful beyond description, too marvelous for words...too wonderful for comprehension..." I meant every word. Waterfalls fell from the tops of mountains and the snow on top of the mountains looked like it was painted there.
Our next stop on our journey was the city of love-- and boy, did we love it! Paris!
When in Rome...
After being completely wooed by David and all his charms, we got on a train back to Rome-- it took FOREVER to get back because we learned that we got on a city train which runs much slower and makes more stops. We finally made it back though and found the Trevi fountain, the most impressive fountain I have ever seen. Lights reflected off the marble figures and it was a star in the black night. People were everywhere-- taking pictures, sitting on the steps and listening to the water fall from all sides. Tradition says that if you throw a coin over your shoulder and it lands in the fountain that you will in fact return to Rome someday in the future. I turned my back to the fountain, took a deep breath and tossed a coin behind me. The girls said that it went in and I was so excited! I hope that I really do get to return to Rome! It was one of my favorite places of the whole trip!
We walked to the Colosseum to see it all lit up at night. As we walked around, I tried to picture it as it would have been back then. (I seem to do that a lot, I know..) It took me back to seeing Gladiator and movies like that-- we are so fortunate to have things like this left that give us an insight into their lives.
We saw the Arch of Constantine, which was on one of our slide tests. We always get excited when we get up close and personal with something we have been tested over-- it's like the confirmation that you need that the test was worth it.
We woke up early the next day to get in line for the Vatican. It has been a while since a Disney World analogy, so let me say that while walking through this part of Rome, I was in fact like a child that was taking in Disney World for the first time. I looked from wall to wall to ceiling to floor everywhere we went and was absolutely AMAZED. The ceilings were probably my favorite part because it seems like most of the time people don't spend much thought on how ceilings appear-- these people took time to intricately paint the ceilings with religious scenes. I also found animal paintings by Wenzel Peter that impressed me. They were so vivid, so realistic. Look 'em up sometime! Robbie Shackleford, the head guy at HUF, provided us with a sheet to guide us through important parts of the Vatican. Without this, we would have been aimlessly wandering because it was so huge. We finally ended up at the Sistine Chapel, what every Vatican wanderer hopes to end with-- the big finale. As if I wasn't already in love with Michelangelo for carving the David, this just pushed him to the top of my list. His judgment scene adorned one whole wall and different characters of the Bible were placed in different places throughout the ceiling. I think my favorite is the depiction of God reaching out his hand to Adam (or man). While most replicas just show the two hands meeting, this in fact is a full piece, with God represented as an older man with a flowing beard. Danielle pointed out to me that in another place on the ceiling, God is shown again but if you look up, it looks as if he is reaching down to you. It was so neat-- reminded me of the idea that if you feel like you are becoming far away from God-- it isn't him that is moving! His hand is always reaching out-- it's whether or not you are choosing to take it!
Most elaborate church of the whole semester goes to...dun dun dun...ST. PETER'S BASILICA!! When we walked in, I was in awe. Wow. One of the first things you see is the Pieta, Michelangelo's sculpture of Mary holding Jesus. It was magnificently crafted, with realistic emotions depicted. You could almost feel the pain that Mary felt as she held her son. You walk a little further and come to some of the dead popes. These, unlike all the others, are not downstairs in a special area, but are displayed for all to see. It was kind of creepy-- I'm not going to lie. The altar area was this huge spectacle, with an overhead canopy that almost reached the ceiling and a long table with candles lining it from one side to the other. We saw the statue of St. Peter, the one whose toes have been worn off with time since people rub his feet upon entering the church.
After visiting the church, we went back and saw the Trevi fountain in the daytime and went inside the Pantheon. Pan meaning "all," and "theon" referring to "gods," this was a temple dedicated to all the gods. It has a hole in the circular ceiling, and like all the others, has beautiful displays and artistry work.
I love the Audrey Hepburn movie, "Roman Holiday" so I was excited to see the Spanish Steps, where she sits and eats an icecream cone. I was fairly disappointed when we got there, though, because some Italian singer was taping a music video. Cameras were everywhere, the directors were giving instruction and some guy was shaking his hips and singing while the audience shouted. I made my way around the chaos to get some pictures on the steps and enjoy how beautiful the pink and white flowers were that covered the edge of the steps. Had time permitted, I would have grabbed some icecream and chilled on the steps.
We sat at a McDonald's to wait for our night train to Interlaken, Switzerland. There was a table of cute Italian boys next to us. Though in my unattractive free travel state, I occasionally made eye contact with one of them. Though in another life I might be one of those girls who bats my eyelashes and plays up a little international flirting, I was simply too tired to make an effort. Haha. The time finally came and we boarded our night train to Bern!
We walked to the Colosseum to see it all lit up at night. As we walked around, I tried to picture it as it would have been back then. (I seem to do that a lot, I know..) It took me back to seeing Gladiator and movies like that-- we are so fortunate to have things like this left that give us an insight into their lives.
We saw the Arch of Constantine, which was on one of our slide tests. We always get excited when we get up close and personal with something we have been tested over-- it's like the confirmation that you need that the test was worth it.
We woke up early the next day to get in line for the Vatican. It has been a while since a Disney World analogy, so let me say that while walking through this part of Rome, I was in fact like a child that was taking in Disney World for the first time. I looked from wall to wall to ceiling to floor everywhere we went and was absolutely AMAZED. The ceilings were probably my favorite part because it seems like most of the time people don't spend much thought on how ceilings appear-- these people took time to intricately paint the ceilings with religious scenes. I also found animal paintings by Wenzel Peter that impressed me. They were so vivid, so realistic. Look 'em up sometime! Robbie Shackleford, the head guy at HUF, provided us with a sheet to guide us through important parts of the Vatican. Without this, we would have been aimlessly wandering because it was so huge. We finally ended up at the Sistine Chapel, what every Vatican wanderer hopes to end with-- the big finale. As if I wasn't already in love with Michelangelo for carving the David, this just pushed him to the top of my list. His judgment scene adorned one whole wall and different characters of the Bible were placed in different places throughout the ceiling. I think my favorite is the depiction of God reaching out his hand to Adam (or man). While most replicas just show the two hands meeting, this in fact is a full piece, with God represented as an older man with a flowing beard. Danielle pointed out to me that in another place on the ceiling, God is shown again but if you look up, it looks as if he is reaching down to you. It was so neat-- reminded me of the idea that if you feel like you are becoming far away from God-- it isn't him that is moving! His hand is always reaching out-- it's whether or not you are choosing to take it!
Most elaborate church of the whole semester goes to...dun dun dun...ST. PETER'S BASILICA!! When we walked in, I was in awe. Wow. One of the first things you see is the Pieta, Michelangelo's sculpture of Mary holding Jesus. It was magnificently crafted, with realistic emotions depicted. You could almost feel the pain that Mary felt as she held her son. You walk a little further and come to some of the dead popes. These, unlike all the others, are not downstairs in a special area, but are displayed for all to see. It was kind of creepy-- I'm not going to lie. The altar area was this huge spectacle, with an overhead canopy that almost reached the ceiling and a long table with candles lining it from one side to the other. We saw the statue of St. Peter, the one whose toes have been worn off with time since people rub his feet upon entering the church.
After visiting the church, we went back and saw the Trevi fountain in the daytime and went inside the Pantheon. Pan meaning "all," and "theon" referring to "gods," this was a temple dedicated to all the gods. It has a hole in the circular ceiling, and like all the others, has beautiful displays and artistry work.
I love the Audrey Hepburn movie, "Roman Holiday" so I was excited to see the Spanish Steps, where she sits and eats an icecream cone. I was fairly disappointed when we got there, though, because some Italian singer was taping a music video. Cameras were everywhere, the directors were giving instruction and some guy was shaking his hips and singing while the audience shouted. I made my way around the chaos to get some pictures on the steps and enjoy how beautiful the pink and white flowers were that covered the edge of the steps. Had time permitted, I would have grabbed some icecream and chilled on the steps.
We sat at a McDonald's to wait for our night train to Interlaken, Switzerland. There was a table of cute Italian boys next to us. Though in my unattractive free travel state, I occasionally made eye contact with one of them. Though in another life I might be one of those girls who bats my eyelashes and plays up a little international flirting, I was simply too tired to make an effort. Haha. The time finally came and we boarded our night train to Bern!
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
My Favorite Statue of All Time (And I Have Now Seen Enough to Compare!)
After the whirlwind tour of Salzburg, we hopped on a train to Venice. We arrived late at night in a shady part of town, searching for our Hotel Centrale, which contrary to its name was not central at all. We all had this beautiful picture of Venice in our head, especially Danielle since this was her main place, but it resembled inner-city Chicago more than it did Italy. We finally found our hotel, which had large beds and a fairly decent bathroom. The next day we took a bus to the picturesque part of Venice, the Venice we see on postcards and love. The only problem was that it POURED all day long. Poor Danielle still had a super attitude and exclaimed, "It's just how I pictured it! I love it!" The whole time she was still taking pictures underneath her umbrella. Haydn, before we left, gave me her raincoat just in case-- and it was a good thing! My pants and purse were soaked. Despite the freezing state I was in, I still enjoyed the sights and sounds of Venice. The boats and water taxis were so neat and everything you would normally see happening on land must work itself out via water. We saw water police, garbage men loading the town's garbage on boats and other cool sights. The bridges are elaborate and neat, my favorite being the famous Rialto bridge. When we were on a boat to see the Rialto bridge, this lady shoved Alana and broke her camera. We were so mad! Alana ended up buying a new camera in Rome. After our short tour of Venice, we got on a train to Rome. With there being 5 of us, we take turns being the oddball out when it comes to seating. This was my turn. I sat by a Japanese man with long fingernails who was eating a strange, stinky meat. It took all I had in me not to gag as he would reach his nails in, grab the meat and stick it in his mouth.
When we finally arrived, we ran errands and got reservations for our short trip into Florence the following day. Our stomachs growling, we followed the golden arches and had a taste of America. (A taste that we would find almost everywhere..I won't be able to eat McDonald's for quite some time now..) On the bus to our camping site, we luckily met an Australian couple who overheard us talking about where we were staying. They leaned over and told us they were staying there and that we should follow them. I can't tell you how many times we were blessed by God to find people like this-- or atleast have little things that guided our way. We followed them to the campsite, which was really nice. The staff was so helpful and sweet! We decided to upgrade to a bungalow because it was supposed to rain that night, but the price wasn't that much more than a tent. We stayed in this trailer park-like community with neighbors on all sides. It was fun and the beds were great! We woke up early the next morning to head to Florence to see the statue of the David. We waited for 3 hours in line, in the rain to see him. There were times when I wanted to give up. "It's just a statue!" I would tell myself. Something in me kept me in that line.
When we finally walked in the museum, I began to fumble with a map expecting to have to search for this little David statue somewhere amidst all the others. It was then that I looked up and *Ahhhhhhhh* (imagine me saying this with arms open wide as if I have seen something descend from the heavens)-- there he was. He was the highlight of the room. There is no way you could have missed him! His platform alone was as tall as me and he stood a good 8 feet or more above that! He is truly the ideal male form. Every muscle (there are some I now know exist that I need to get workin' on!) is in place and even the veins that run through his arms are showing. He has an Adam's apple, a clavicle and even his neck is realistic! For some reason, I am fascinated by hands-- I feel like they are such a display of strength, power and where you've been. His hands were so detailed and were the windows to appreciating the rest of him. He is the only statue I have ever seen that has spectator seating behind him. On a scale from 1 to 10, I don't know how wrong it is for 5 girls to sit on a bench and stare at a statue's tush for long periods of time, but put us on that list. Guilty as charged! His face is so serene, his hair so free-- he is truly at peace in whatever state he is in. I overheard a tour guide telling her group that Michaelangelo started on this when he was 17 and worked on it "in his spare time" until he was 21. IN HIS SPARE TIME?? I could spend every minute of every day for the rest of my life working on a piece of stone and never make it look as magnificent as what he created. Wow. I just wrote like a doctoral dissertation on a statue. If the whole Sound of Music obsession doesn't sign me up for the loony bin, I think this does it.
Stay tuned for tales of Rome, one of my favorite places!!
When we finally arrived, we ran errands and got reservations for our short trip into Florence the following day. Our stomachs growling, we followed the golden arches and had a taste of America. (A taste that we would find almost everywhere..I won't be able to eat McDonald's for quite some time now..) On the bus to our camping site, we luckily met an Australian couple who overheard us talking about where we were staying. They leaned over and told us they were staying there and that we should follow them. I can't tell you how many times we were blessed by God to find people like this-- or atleast have little things that guided our way. We followed them to the campsite, which was really nice. The staff was so helpful and sweet! We decided to upgrade to a bungalow because it was supposed to rain that night, but the price wasn't that much more than a tent. We stayed in this trailer park-like community with neighbors on all sides. It was fun and the beds were great! We woke up early the next morning to head to Florence to see the statue of the David. We waited for 3 hours in line, in the rain to see him. There were times when I wanted to give up. "It's just a statue!" I would tell myself. Something in me kept me in that line.
When we finally walked in the museum, I began to fumble with a map expecting to have to search for this little David statue somewhere amidst all the others. It was then that I looked up and *Ahhhhhhhh* (imagine me saying this with arms open wide as if I have seen something descend from the heavens)-- there he was. He was the highlight of the room. There is no way you could have missed him! His platform alone was as tall as me and he stood a good 8 feet or more above that! He is truly the ideal male form. Every muscle (there are some I now know exist that I need to get workin' on!) is in place and even the veins that run through his arms are showing. He has an Adam's apple, a clavicle and even his neck is realistic! For some reason, I am fascinated by hands-- I feel like they are such a display of strength, power and where you've been. His hands were so detailed and were the windows to appreciating the rest of him. He is the only statue I have ever seen that has spectator seating behind him. On a scale from 1 to 10, I don't know how wrong it is for 5 girls to sit on a bench and stare at a statue's tush for long periods of time, but put us on that list. Guilty as charged! His face is so serene, his hair so free-- he is truly at peace in whatever state he is in. I overheard a tour guide telling her group that Michaelangelo started on this when he was 17 and worked on it "in his spare time" until he was 21. IN HIS SPARE TIME?? I could spend every minute of every day for the rest of my life working on a piece of stone and never make it look as magnificent as what he created. Wow. I just wrote like a doctoral dissertation on a statue. If the whole Sound of Music obsession doesn't sign me up for the loony bin, I think this does it.
Stay tuned for tales of Rome, one of my favorite places!!
My Heart Has Been Blessed..By the Sound of Music
We spent the night in Munich, but got up at 6:00 to catch the 7:26 train to Salzburg. Right when we arrived, Danielle, Alana and I had to book it to find the Sound of Music tour bus, while Lacey and Lauren ventured around on their own. Luckily, with the help of strangers who pointed the way, we found the bus and boarded it before it left. We were soon greeted by our rather chipper tour guide, Peter-- a fruity older man who operated as if he had just consumed 5 energy drinks. Most of the time you picture places in your head and you are slightly disappointed when you get there. Not Salzburg! It was indeed the scenery that took my breath away as a child and brought a stirring in my soul to run around the mountainside singing. The snowcapped mountains, the picturesque brown houses, the vibrant green hillsides-- no wonder Maria couldn't stay in the abbey! Our first stop was the back of the house and lakeview from their home. Though they used a different house (which we later saw) they used the backyard and lake of this particular home. From a distance, I saw the gate where the kids tromped through in their wet "play clothes." The lake is where they all stood up to greet the Captain when they lost their balance and fell into the water. I love that scene!
While we were walking back to the bus, I saw a little girl (who was on the tour with us) holding her dad's hand. As she swung his hand back and forth, she sang every word to, "I am 16...going on 17." She must have been like 4 years old! My heart was touched because that was about the age that I fell in love with this movie.
Though it was moved from its original location, we went to see the original gazebo from the movie, the gazebo where Liesl and Rolfe meet and where Maria and Captain sing at the end. It was still in beautiful condition, but they don't let you go inside because they said too many people before have danced around in it-- imagine that. I would certainly not have been one of those foolish people..haha...
As we drove through the mountains, Peter played the soundtrack from the bus speakers. Though I wanted to burst out loudly in song, I sang softly to myself, along with the girl in front of me. We saw the cart that goes up the mountain-- there's a shot in the movie of the kids riding up there. It is on that mountain where they learn the Do-Re-Me song. As we sat during our rest stop, I couldn't help but notice how many people were brought together by one movie. From different walks of life, we were all together because this musical touched our life. There were older people, younger people and small children-- yet we were united in our love for the sound of music.
We saw the outside and inside of St. Michael's church, the church in which Maria was married in the movie. It didn't seem quite as big as the movie makes it seem, but it was still beautiful. I loved the yellow color of the outside! The three of us stopped at a strudel place outside of the church. Though they were quite pricey, it was nice to chomp down on one of Maria's "favorite things." (Lyric reference: Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels...) While we were driving back, we watched scenes from the movie, bringing to life what we had just seen before our eyes.
Unfortunately, we were rushed while visiting the gardens. This, though, would have to be my favorite part of Salzburg! I wish I could have stayed there for hours. We got our picture by all the fountains that are seen in the movie, my favorite being the one with the horse in the middle that the kids dance around. We patted the dwarf statue on the head-- Peter pointed us to the one the kids patted in the musical. We got to jump on the steps! We ran through the vine-covered archway! The flowers were so colorful and in perfect bloom, the sun was shining bright and I couldn't have asked for a prettier day to see this! Granted, I seem like a dork with my obsession with this movie. Let people have their Star Wars conventions, let people dress up like Harry Potter and go to the premiere-- just let Ashton go on a Sound of Music tour!
I think what free travel is all about is giving you a taste of a place so that you can decide to go back there for a longer period of time if you so wish. Salzburg and Austria in general is on my list! I LOVED it. I hope to make it back someday!
While we were walking back to the bus, I saw a little girl (who was on the tour with us) holding her dad's hand. As she swung his hand back and forth, she sang every word to, "I am 16...going on 17." She must have been like 4 years old! My heart was touched because that was about the age that I fell in love with this movie.
Though it was moved from its original location, we went to see the original gazebo from the movie, the gazebo where Liesl and Rolfe meet and where Maria and Captain sing at the end. It was still in beautiful condition, but they don't let you go inside because they said too many people before have danced around in it-- imagine that. I would certainly not have been one of those foolish people..haha...
As we drove through the mountains, Peter played the soundtrack from the bus speakers. Though I wanted to burst out loudly in song, I sang softly to myself, along with the girl in front of me. We saw the cart that goes up the mountain-- there's a shot in the movie of the kids riding up there. It is on that mountain where they learn the Do-Re-Me song. As we sat during our rest stop, I couldn't help but notice how many people were brought together by one movie. From different walks of life, we were all together because this musical touched our life. There were older people, younger people and small children-- yet we were united in our love for the sound of music.
We saw the outside and inside of St. Michael's church, the church in which Maria was married in the movie. It didn't seem quite as big as the movie makes it seem, but it was still beautiful. I loved the yellow color of the outside! The three of us stopped at a strudel place outside of the church. Though they were quite pricey, it was nice to chomp down on one of Maria's "favorite things." (Lyric reference: Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels...) While we were driving back, we watched scenes from the movie, bringing to life what we had just seen before our eyes.
Unfortunately, we were rushed while visiting the gardens. This, though, would have to be my favorite part of Salzburg! I wish I could have stayed there for hours. We got our picture by all the fountains that are seen in the movie, my favorite being the one with the horse in the middle that the kids dance around. We patted the dwarf statue on the head-- Peter pointed us to the one the kids patted in the musical. We got to jump on the steps! We ran through the vine-covered archway! The flowers were so colorful and in perfect bloom, the sun was shining bright and I couldn't have asked for a prettier day to see this! Granted, I seem like a dork with my obsession with this movie. Let people have their Star Wars conventions, let people dress up like Harry Potter and go to the premiere-- just let Ashton go on a Sound of Music tour!
I think what free travel is all about is giving you a taste of a place so that you can decide to go back there for a longer period of time if you so wish. Salzburg and Austria in general is on my list! I LOVED it. I hope to make it back someday!
Amsterdam Train Station & Berlin
I made it back to Paragould safely on Friday evening. It was so good to walk through the terminal and see my best friend Bliss and my parents smiling at me. Mom, of course, walks up with her camera and says, "Ashton! Smile!" After a long flight filled with a chatterbox seat partner and a crying baby, I still managed to awkwardly grin as I walked through. Since then, I have just been enjoying the luxuries of home. A free bathroom, a comfortable bed with no strangers in the same room and food that doesn't resemble peanut butter and crackers in the least. I got a fresh, new haircut and highlight-- a physical symbol of the new freedom I have gained from being overseas. Haha. My feet, after months of walking around in Chacos, looked like they were going to rot off. I went to "Pretty Nails" to see if there was any way they could correct the damage I had done. The lady spoke Vietnamese, but it wasn't hard to figure out that she was griping about me to the man next to her. After she sawed away at my foot, she finally looked up sternly and choppily said, "You come every 2 weeks. 2 weeks!" I tried to explain to her that this isn't a normal state for me, but to no avail.
I will try, to the best of my ability, to summarize two of the craziest weeks of my life. They were filled with laughter, tears, cool places and memories to last a lifetime-- and four of the coolest girls around!
I was very proud of my first free travel purchase: peanut butter. From what I had heard, it was a must for every backpacker-- it was cheap, fit in your bag and would keep you from starving. In all my peanut butter excitement, I forgot to put it in my checked luggage. We get to the airport first thing and this mean security man goes, "Who has a jar?" After a minute, I confess that I have in fact smuggled peanut butter. He inspects it like it is a bomb and I tell him that it still has the seal and has never been opened. "This is not allowed!" he firmly states. "That is my only food supply," I manage to muster. "THIS IS NOT ALLOWED!" he repeats, this time dramatically pulling over a garbage can and tossing it in. With that one kerplunk, my food was gone.
We sat in the airport for a while, visiting with everyone that left the same day as us. Tony made Alana laugh really hard and she rears back in laughter and headbutts this man behind her who is listening to his iPod. She turns around to apologize, but showing mercy isn't really his strongpoint. He was not amused.
When we arrived in the Amsterdam train station, it was quite a while before our trains left for Berlin so many of us sat on the ground like a bunch of hobos. (Our group + Ben, Nic, Carrol, Ashley and John). We looked for benches or other types of seating, but found none-- so we camped out. Ashley set out her blanket, we had our scraps of food and we were enjoying the hustle and bustle of the train station. That's when the fun began. For those of you who have visited Amsterdam, you know that it has a magic all its own. First, this old man comes up, leans over and proceeds to yell at us in an unfamiliar dialect. I am pretty good at picking out languages, but I'm almost certain his was original--a result of large amounts of marijuana. Shortly thereafter, another man came up, gave us an evil look and grumbled, "City trash!" Never having been referred to as filthy street rats before, we began to look around and re-evaluate our situation.
A younger man with tattered clothes and a turban approached us next. He spoke pretty good English and in my early naive state my first thought was that he just wanted to talk to us-- try out his English on Americans. Without warning, he lays down this plastic bag beside us and begins to wander off, never out of complete sight. Carrol, closest to the bag, was nominated as the one to see what was in it. Not surprisingly at this point, it was in fact DRUGS. The guy is obviously taken back that we have no interest in it, so Carrol finally ends up pushing the bag away, sliding it a foot or so away from us. The guy angrily picks it up and stomps off. When we thought this train station experience couldn't get any more bizarre, this man who was clearly crazy marches in with a newspaper, shouting things while pointing to an article. He was speaking another language, but it seemed that he was attempting to make some type of political statement-- either that or he couldn't figure out the day's crossword puzzle. He began tearing his shirt in distress.
After all these events, relief certainly washed over us when we finally boarded our train to Berlin. A sweet German girl sat by me and Alana on the way. She reminded me a lot of my Aunt Chiara. After talking to her about her life and sharing with her what we were doing, she attempted to teach me some German. She was reading a German romance novel and sat patiently as I attempted to read from it. It was quite comical, especially when I struggled through this long word and asked her, "What in the world does this mean in English?" She smiled and replied, "about."
We didn't have problems finding our hostel in Berlin. Called St. Christopher's, it was a hip place with music blaring, modern furniture and fellow young travelers. As corny as this sounds, when we walked in I couldn't help but feel like I was a part of something. These hippy, Bohemian college students, many with eclectic clothing and dreadlocks fascinated me. Here we were, 5 happy-go-lucky girls on our own for the first time (ponytails instead of dreadlocks, t-shirts and jeans instead of mismatched skirts and beanies)-- yet we were a part of this adventure too.
We walked down the street for our first German supper. We had what is called schawarma, which is chicken inside a closed pita. We also had fries. Craving large amounts of salt, I reach over and grab the salt and shake it all over my fries-- only to find that it was sugar. Though at first I was disappointed, I found that it was DELICIOUS! I ate every bite-- it tasted like a funnel cake from the fair.
For the rest of the evening, we wandered around and eventually found a Starbucks-- that shielded us from the cold.
On Day 2, we met up with Abbey, Bobby and Jake for the Berlin Free Tour. I found out the hard way that even though I should cherish every new sight and experience, I should also take time to look down every now and then. I was so busy looking at the amazing sights of Berlin, that I missed a sidewalk restaurant sign and totally took it out with my shin. I had to limp all the way to the bus! Haha.
We met up with our tour guide, Jared-- who was an American who studied for 4 years in the area that would qualify him for this tour. He was very passionate about different types of governments. We saw the Brandenburg Gate (built in 1791), which everything else in Berlin is compared to-- nothing is allowed to overshadow the gate in size or style. The American embassy is actually under reconstruction because it was originally going to be bigger than the gate. We saw the most famous hotel in Berlin (the Adlon), where movie stars and other important figures stay. For those of us who pride ourselves in pop culture knowledge, this is the hotel where Michael Jackson stuck his baby over the ledge, which caused mass amounts of controversy. If you want to stay here, be ready to cough up 12,500 euro a night! :-)
Jared was very knowledgable about both of the World Wars, which was very helpful in clearing up things for me. When the war started in 1914, they all thought it would be a short war but it ended up lasting until 1918. The Treaty of Versailles practically blamed the war on Germany and held them responsible for taking care of most of the damage. With the Great Depression in 1929, American bankers started taking their money out of Germany, which makes their situation worse. Hindenburg selects Hitler as Chancellor, WWII breaks out in 1939 and the events with which we are more familiar begin to happen in the years following. Taking notes on free travel probably qualifies you as a complete nerd, but I did so. I could probably fill this whole entry with information Jared taught me about German history, but I will spare you! :-)
We visited the Holocaust memorial that was designed by New Yorker Pete Isenman, who is now constructing the World Trade Center memorial. Large pillars of stone, all different shapes and sizes, are placed all over this plot of land, forming a maze for you to walk through. The designer wanted to avoid the "museum experience," where you walk through and immediately forget everything you saw-- so he built something that can draw different interpretations. I never asked the girls what their interpretation was, but I saw each stone representing a person's life, cut short at different points. Some were older and had lived mostly full lives that were cut short at the end, others (represented by the shorter pillars) weren't even given the opportunity to find who they would be. See? That could have been the farthest thing from Isenman's mind-- but I'm sure he would think his creation had fulfilled its purpose-- because it made someone stop and think.
Jared took us next to "the most interesting parking lot in Berlin." When we first arrived, I didn't notice anything interesting about this normal parking lot. It was then that he told us this was above Hitler's bunkers. This is where he went underground, with his longtime girlfriend and doctor, to avoid the bombing. This is where he would eventually be driven mad and commit suicide.
We saw what is left of the Berlin Wall-- learning about this structure made me realize that it is so much more than a grafitti-covered physical structure-- it represented barriers between peoples, between families, between freedom. We saw Checkpoint Charlie and the buildings where the CIA got its start. He told us interesting stories about how people made it past the strict guidelines of Checkpoint Charlie, one involving two boys who dressed like cows. We saw the memorial to the Jewish book burning, which was located by the university and the faculty building-- Jared said that students and faculty members made up the majority of those who burned the books. Weren't these people supposed to be supporters of education and literature? It's hard to believe where hate can lead us. The architect of the memorial stated that sometimes an absence speaks louder than a structure. He simply placed empty shelves that would have housed 20,000 books, the number of books on the "black list." We saw the massive Berlinodome, which has been named the "ugliest building in town." It was created in Neo-Baroque style which didn't really catch on. I thought it was pretty cool though!
We learned about the misunderstanding that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, a cool story which Jared made into this theatrical production. We ended our tour by visiting the Pergamum museum, which houses the Altar of Zeus that we studied about in Greece. It is one of the ancient wonders of the world and boy was it a wonder! We went to the Egyptian part of the museum to see the bust of Nefertiti, which we had also had a slide test about. She was so beautiful!
Luckily, we got to the train station early because our train left an hour early! We boarded it and soon were on our way to Munich. It wasn't long into the train ride that I discovered a rather large hole in my jeans. Apparently, they had seen their share of Europe and decided they couldn't survive any longer. Already being short on clothes, I mourned the loss of another pair of pants. I thought maybe I would keep them, but a bending over incident later in Rome did them in. Because of this, I was ordained with the nickname, "Breezy." Thanks, girls. Ben met us at the train station and walked us to our hostel, which was a nice private suite that we had to ourselves.
I will try, to the best of my ability, to summarize two of the craziest weeks of my life. They were filled with laughter, tears, cool places and memories to last a lifetime-- and four of the coolest girls around!
I was very proud of my first free travel purchase: peanut butter. From what I had heard, it was a must for every backpacker-- it was cheap, fit in your bag and would keep you from starving. In all my peanut butter excitement, I forgot to put it in my checked luggage. We get to the airport first thing and this mean security man goes, "Who has a jar?" After a minute, I confess that I have in fact smuggled peanut butter. He inspects it like it is a bomb and I tell him that it still has the seal and has never been opened. "This is not allowed!" he firmly states. "That is my only food supply," I manage to muster. "THIS IS NOT ALLOWED!" he repeats, this time dramatically pulling over a garbage can and tossing it in. With that one kerplunk, my food was gone.
We sat in the airport for a while, visiting with everyone that left the same day as us. Tony made Alana laugh really hard and she rears back in laughter and headbutts this man behind her who is listening to his iPod. She turns around to apologize, but showing mercy isn't really his strongpoint. He was not amused.
When we arrived in the Amsterdam train station, it was quite a while before our trains left for Berlin so many of us sat on the ground like a bunch of hobos. (Our group + Ben, Nic, Carrol, Ashley and John). We looked for benches or other types of seating, but found none-- so we camped out. Ashley set out her blanket, we had our scraps of food and we were enjoying the hustle and bustle of the train station. That's when the fun began. For those of you who have visited Amsterdam, you know that it has a magic all its own. First, this old man comes up, leans over and proceeds to yell at us in an unfamiliar dialect. I am pretty good at picking out languages, but I'm almost certain his was original--a result of large amounts of marijuana. Shortly thereafter, another man came up, gave us an evil look and grumbled, "City trash!" Never having been referred to as filthy street rats before, we began to look around and re-evaluate our situation.
A younger man with tattered clothes and a turban approached us next. He spoke pretty good English and in my early naive state my first thought was that he just wanted to talk to us-- try out his English on Americans. Without warning, he lays down this plastic bag beside us and begins to wander off, never out of complete sight. Carrol, closest to the bag, was nominated as the one to see what was in it. Not surprisingly at this point, it was in fact DRUGS. The guy is obviously taken back that we have no interest in it, so Carrol finally ends up pushing the bag away, sliding it a foot or so away from us. The guy angrily picks it up and stomps off. When we thought this train station experience couldn't get any more bizarre, this man who was clearly crazy marches in with a newspaper, shouting things while pointing to an article. He was speaking another language, but it seemed that he was attempting to make some type of political statement-- either that or he couldn't figure out the day's crossword puzzle. He began tearing his shirt in distress.
After all these events, relief certainly washed over us when we finally boarded our train to Berlin. A sweet German girl sat by me and Alana on the way. She reminded me a lot of my Aunt Chiara. After talking to her about her life and sharing with her what we were doing, she attempted to teach me some German. She was reading a German romance novel and sat patiently as I attempted to read from it. It was quite comical, especially when I struggled through this long word and asked her, "What in the world does this mean in English?" She smiled and replied, "about."
We didn't have problems finding our hostel in Berlin. Called St. Christopher's, it was a hip place with music blaring, modern furniture and fellow young travelers. As corny as this sounds, when we walked in I couldn't help but feel like I was a part of something. These hippy, Bohemian college students, many with eclectic clothing and dreadlocks fascinated me. Here we were, 5 happy-go-lucky girls on our own for the first time (ponytails instead of dreadlocks, t-shirts and jeans instead of mismatched skirts and beanies)-- yet we were a part of this adventure too.
We walked down the street for our first German supper. We had what is called schawarma, which is chicken inside a closed pita. We also had fries. Craving large amounts of salt, I reach over and grab the salt and shake it all over my fries-- only to find that it was sugar. Though at first I was disappointed, I found that it was DELICIOUS! I ate every bite-- it tasted like a funnel cake from the fair.
For the rest of the evening, we wandered around and eventually found a Starbucks-- that shielded us from the cold.
On Day 2, we met up with Abbey, Bobby and Jake for the Berlin Free Tour. I found out the hard way that even though I should cherish every new sight and experience, I should also take time to look down every now and then. I was so busy looking at the amazing sights of Berlin, that I missed a sidewalk restaurant sign and totally took it out with my shin. I had to limp all the way to the bus! Haha.
We met up with our tour guide, Jared-- who was an American who studied for 4 years in the area that would qualify him for this tour. He was very passionate about different types of governments. We saw the Brandenburg Gate (built in 1791), which everything else in Berlin is compared to-- nothing is allowed to overshadow the gate in size or style. The American embassy is actually under reconstruction because it was originally going to be bigger than the gate. We saw the most famous hotel in Berlin (the Adlon), where movie stars and other important figures stay. For those of us who pride ourselves in pop culture knowledge, this is the hotel where Michael Jackson stuck his baby over the ledge, which caused mass amounts of controversy. If you want to stay here, be ready to cough up 12,500 euro a night! :-)
Jared was very knowledgable about both of the World Wars, which was very helpful in clearing up things for me. When the war started in 1914, they all thought it would be a short war but it ended up lasting until 1918. The Treaty of Versailles practically blamed the war on Germany and held them responsible for taking care of most of the damage. With the Great Depression in 1929, American bankers started taking their money out of Germany, which makes their situation worse. Hindenburg selects Hitler as Chancellor, WWII breaks out in 1939 and the events with which we are more familiar begin to happen in the years following. Taking notes on free travel probably qualifies you as a complete nerd, but I did so. I could probably fill this whole entry with information Jared taught me about German history, but I will spare you! :-)
We visited the Holocaust memorial that was designed by New Yorker Pete Isenman, who is now constructing the World Trade Center memorial. Large pillars of stone, all different shapes and sizes, are placed all over this plot of land, forming a maze for you to walk through. The designer wanted to avoid the "museum experience," where you walk through and immediately forget everything you saw-- so he built something that can draw different interpretations. I never asked the girls what their interpretation was, but I saw each stone representing a person's life, cut short at different points. Some were older and had lived mostly full lives that were cut short at the end, others (represented by the shorter pillars) weren't even given the opportunity to find who they would be. See? That could have been the farthest thing from Isenman's mind-- but I'm sure he would think his creation had fulfilled its purpose-- because it made someone stop and think.
Jared took us next to "the most interesting parking lot in Berlin." When we first arrived, I didn't notice anything interesting about this normal parking lot. It was then that he told us this was above Hitler's bunkers. This is where he went underground, with his longtime girlfriend and doctor, to avoid the bombing. This is where he would eventually be driven mad and commit suicide.
We saw what is left of the Berlin Wall-- learning about this structure made me realize that it is so much more than a grafitti-covered physical structure-- it represented barriers between peoples, between families, between freedom. We saw Checkpoint Charlie and the buildings where the CIA got its start. He told us interesting stories about how people made it past the strict guidelines of Checkpoint Charlie, one involving two boys who dressed like cows. We saw the memorial to the Jewish book burning, which was located by the university and the faculty building-- Jared said that students and faculty members made up the majority of those who burned the books. Weren't these people supposed to be supporters of education and literature? It's hard to believe where hate can lead us. The architect of the memorial stated that sometimes an absence speaks louder than a structure. He simply placed empty shelves that would have housed 20,000 books, the number of books on the "black list." We saw the massive Berlinodome, which has been named the "ugliest building in town." It was created in Neo-Baroque style which didn't really catch on. I thought it was pretty cool though!
We learned about the misunderstanding that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, a cool story which Jared made into this theatrical production. We ended our tour by visiting the Pergamum museum, which houses the Altar of Zeus that we studied about in Greece. It is one of the ancient wonders of the world and boy was it a wonder! We went to the Egyptian part of the museum to see the bust of Nefertiti, which we had also had a slide test about. She was so beautiful!
Luckily, we got to the train station early because our train left an hour early! We boarded it and soon were on our way to Munich. It wasn't long into the train ride that I discovered a rather large hole in my jeans. Apparently, they had seen their share of Europe and decided they couldn't survive any longer. Already being short on clothes, I mourned the loss of another pair of pants. I thought maybe I would keep them, but a bending over incident later in Rome did them in. Because of this, I was ordained with the nickname, "Breezy." Thanks, girls. Ben met us at the train station and walked us to our hostel, which was a nice private suite that we had to ourselves.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Signing Out from the Artemis Computer Lab
The countdown is on: 6 hours until we leave for free travel. We are leaving for the airport at 2:30 a.m., where we will then fly to Amsterdam. After arriving there, we will board a train to Berlin, Germany. If we can start out on the right foot, hopefully the rest of our trip will go fairly smoothly. I am not expecting a comfortable ride with everything going as planned, but I'm praying for enough stability to make it worth our while.
When I am feeling overwhelmed with stress, I stop and count my blessings. Ben accidentally sent his Eurail pass home with his luggage. The clock is ticking and he is desperately trying to play out his options. Right now it seems like a lose-lose situation, but I am praying that things will work out for good. He has been looking forward to this for so long and he deserves such a great trip. No matter how this trip goes, I will always stop and count my blessings. I am doing more at 21 than most people get the chance to do in their whole lives-- what a gift!
We didn't really do anything profound on our last day, but that's exactly what I wanted to happen. I simply soaked in "the last day to sit outside," "the last day to eat dinner at our usual table," and all the other "last" things. I have been fairly composed, surprisingly, but I'm sure it won't all hit me until I get home.
My backpack is expanded to capacity and I have a feeling that I will start throwing away things as the trip goes on. Haha. Ten dollar shirts from Wal-Mart start looking more and more like garbage the longer the week goes on. I need to finish cleaning the room and doing some other last minute things to calm my nerves. Lacey sweeps when she is stressed and maybe I should incorporate this into my routine. You calm tension AND get things done.
I will try to write if I ever get the chance, but I don't know how available internet access will be. Adding to the list, I guess this is my "last" blog entry from the computer lab in the Artemis Hotel. I have enjoyed documenting my adventures, my growth and the sights I have been able to see. Though I was writing it for myself, it was your encouragement and comments that inspired me to log in each day.
A special shout out to Alana's mom-- thank you so much for your sweet comment on my last entry! I have loved every minute of being with your daughter-- I knew from the minute she sat by me on the bus that first time, that she would become a good friend. She has a sweet heart and I know that she probably gets that from you! Thank you to all the other moms who read my blog-- most of my tales and stories wouldn't be possible without the help of the wonderful daughters you have raised! (Even if they are quite the pranksters, Mrs. Casey.. Haha!)
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we embark (I love that word!) on this journey. I'm sure we will come back with stories that make you laugh, make you cry and make you shake your head and say, "That's my daughter for ya!"
When I am feeling overwhelmed with stress, I stop and count my blessings. Ben accidentally sent his Eurail pass home with his luggage. The clock is ticking and he is desperately trying to play out his options. Right now it seems like a lose-lose situation, but I am praying that things will work out for good. He has been looking forward to this for so long and he deserves such a great trip. No matter how this trip goes, I will always stop and count my blessings. I am doing more at 21 than most people get the chance to do in their whole lives-- what a gift!
We didn't really do anything profound on our last day, but that's exactly what I wanted to happen. I simply soaked in "the last day to sit outside," "the last day to eat dinner at our usual table," and all the other "last" things. I have been fairly composed, surprisingly, but I'm sure it won't all hit me until I get home.
My backpack is expanded to capacity and I have a feeling that I will start throwing away things as the trip goes on. Haha. Ten dollar shirts from Wal-Mart start looking more and more like garbage the longer the week goes on. I need to finish cleaning the room and doing some other last minute things to calm my nerves. Lacey sweeps when she is stressed and maybe I should incorporate this into my routine. You calm tension AND get things done.
I will try to write if I ever get the chance, but I don't know how available internet access will be. Adding to the list, I guess this is my "last" blog entry from the computer lab in the Artemis Hotel. I have enjoyed documenting my adventures, my growth and the sights I have been able to see. Though I was writing it for myself, it was your encouragement and comments that inspired me to log in each day.
A special shout out to Alana's mom-- thank you so much for your sweet comment on my last entry! I have loved every minute of being with your daughter-- I knew from the minute she sat by me on the bus that first time, that she would become a good friend. She has a sweet heart and I know that she probably gets that from you! Thank you to all the other moms who read my blog-- most of my tales and stories wouldn't be possible without the help of the wonderful daughters you have raised! (Even if they are quite the pranksters, Mrs. Casey.. Haha!)
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we embark (I love that word!) on this journey. I'm sure we will come back with stories that make you laugh, make you cry and make you shake your head and say, "That's my daughter for ya!"
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous
I have decided that chillin' by the pool is my calling in life. Forget the ambition and dreaming of previous entries of yesteryear. Though day by day our numbers get few, it leaves time for the rest of us to live luxuriously. Several of us girls sat out by the pool for hours, getting a tan and reading a book. I braved the icy cold water a few times, but decided that soakin' up the sun was more my style. I came in after a few hours and noticed that I got quite a tan. I hardly ever can notice right away, but today was special I guess. I love the feeling of sun on my face and the wavy mess of hair that results after swimming. Fofi bought us bowls of strawberries and I got a plate full, with a side of sugar-- the perfect treat.
We said goodbye to Mandy and Sarabeth today. I will miss the sound of Mandy's laugh echoing throughout the halls, which usually ended with a Sarabeth snort. You know those people whose laugh warms your heart and makes you want to tell jokes and stories for the rest of your life? That would be Mandy.
Nathan, Noah, Jarrett and Marshall also took off today-- everyone called first hug, last hug, largest hug and all that from Nathan so he told me that I had dibs on first kiss. He grinned because I left a hot pink kiss mark on his cheek. I will miss 'ol Nathan. He always made me laugh with his journal entries that he would turn in, each place had a poem about it. He has this cute embarrassed face and I will miss seeing him do it, along with the way he laughs hysterically when people tickle him.
I'm glad we have had these few days to recover before an exhausting 2-week stretch. I plan to hit the pool tomorrow one last time. :-)
Keep our whole group in your prayers. Thank you for your continued support! Keep commenting and stuff-- it is very encouraging!!
We said goodbye to Mandy and Sarabeth today. I will miss the sound of Mandy's laugh echoing throughout the halls, which usually ended with a Sarabeth snort. You know those people whose laugh warms your heart and makes you want to tell jokes and stories for the rest of your life? That would be Mandy.
Nathan, Noah, Jarrett and Marshall also took off today-- everyone called first hug, last hug, largest hug and all that from Nathan so he told me that I had dibs on first kiss. He grinned because I left a hot pink kiss mark on his cheek. I will miss 'ol Nathan. He always made me laugh with his journal entries that he would turn in, each place had a poem about it. He has this cute embarrassed face and I will miss seeing him do it, along with the way he laughs hysterically when people tickle him.
I'm glad we have had these few days to recover before an exhausting 2-week stretch. I plan to hit the pool tomorrow one last time. :-)
Keep our whole group in your prayers. Thank you for your continued support! Keep commenting and stuff-- it is very encouraging!!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
If you want to know...
Lacey made an itinerary that is hard to copy and paste onto this and is easier to download. She sent it to all of our parents-- if you would like a copy of it, e-mail my mom (rjreely@hotmail.com) and give her your e-mail address so she can send it to you! It isn't really specific yet because we are still filling it in with places and museums and such. We're college students, ya know. Little bit of planning, lots of flying by the seat of our pants! :-)
The First of the Goodbyes, Good Grades and an Engagement (No, it's not me..)
Today we bid our first farewells. We got up early and saw Kyle off. Because of his health issues, he decided to go ahead and fly home-- so that he could get everything worked out and not risk problems on free travel. A few moments ago we bid farewell to most of our crazy Knights boys, which will leave quite a void to life around here. It will be pretty quiet without them hee-hawing around the Artemis.
I have never really done well with goodbyes. Last night, Lacey showed Alana and I a slideshow she had put together. She took scenic shots from this semester and put bible verses on top of them. She is such a good photographer and is very talented in putting things like that together. Alana and I burst into tears after it was over and I started doing my I-can't-breathe cry. The one where you keep gasping for air and you sound like you need an oxygen tank. Embarrassing. Haha. I have a feeling it's the first of many to come.
It kind of stinks that we're the last group to leave because we have to notice the Artemis getting quieter and quieter. We have to see the empty tables with no one playing Spades on it-- and the livingroom couches open for once.
Though it is really hard to say goodbye, I know that all good things must come to an end. I am looking forward to being home with my family-- and feeling the effects of this trip for years to come. It's hard to move on, but it is also exciting. I feel like I have broadened my horizons and now I don't want to settle for less. I don't want to write for a podunk newspaper-- I want to work for a magazine, where I love what I'm writing and feel like I'm putting a piece of me into each article. Though coming into my own is a scary thought, it has now become more of an exciting challenge than the biggest fear of my life. Bliss and I were just talking about the exciting possibility of living in Nashville together while she goes to school and I get a job. I'm not a fan of growing up-- but this trip has made me a little more comfortable with that.
Pray for our patience as this week rolls around and as we free travel. Pray that I will keep the tears to a reasonable limit. Haha!
On a positive note, I just found out that I made an A in Humanities 270 and Humanities 201, the two hardest classes! :-) I think I probably made an A in Greek, but that hasn't been finalized yet. I won't find out about World Christian until the the semester back home is finished. I'm crossing my fingers for all A's! I got off to a rocky start, but once I got the hang of things it was more manageable. That makes this semester that much better! :-)
I just keep adding and adding to this message. I just heard a hysterical scream from Ashley and ran downstairs to see what was the matter. Nic and Carrol, one of our couples, just got engaged! I love them both and I'm so excited for them! They have been dating for a few years. She just got done showing us her ring (which is BEAUTIFUL!) and telling the story. He walked her down to the beach and asked her to make him the happiest man in the world! All the girls, of course, awed in unison. Happy times! :-) I'm glad we got to share it with them.
Unless something else happens, this entry has now come to an end. Love ya!
I have never really done well with goodbyes. Last night, Lacey showed Alana and I a slideshow she had put together. She took scenic shots from this semester and put bible verses on top of them. She is such a good photographer and is very talented in putting things like that together. Alana and I burst into tears after it was over and I started doing my I-can't-breathe cry. The one where you keep gasping for air and you sound like you need an oxygen tank. Embarrassing. Haha. I have a feeling it's the first of many to come.
It kind of stinks that we're the last group to leave because we have to notice the Artemis getting quieter and quieter. We have to see the empty tables with no one playing Spades on it-- and the livingroom couches open for once.
Though it is really hard to say goodbye, I know that all good things must come to an end. I am looking forward to being home with my family-- and feeling the effects of this trip for years to come. It's hard to move on, but it is also exciting. I feel like I have broadened my horizons and now I don't want to settle for less. I don't want to write for a podunk newspaper-- I want to work for a magazine, where I love what I'm writing and feel like I'm putting a piece of me into each article. Though coming into my own is a scary thought, it has now become more of an exciting challenge than the biggest fear of my life. Bliss and I were just talking about the exciting possibility of living in Nashville together while she goes to school and I get a job. I'm not a fan of growing up-- but this trip has made me a little more comfortable with that.
Pray for our patience as this week rolls around and as we free travel. Pray that I will keep the tears to a reasonable limit. Haha!
On a positive note, I just found out that I made an A in Humanities 270 and Humanities 201, the two hardest classes! :-) I think I probably made an A in Greek, but that hasn't been finalized yet. I won't find out about World Christian until the the semester back home is finished. I'm crossing my fingers for all A's! I got off to a rocky start, but once I got the hang of things it was more manageable. That makes this semester that much better! :-)
I just keep adding and adding to this message. I just heard a hysterical scream from Ashley and ran downstairs to see what was the matter. Nic and Carrol, one of our couples, just got engaged! I love them both and I'm so excited for them! They have been dating for a few years. She just got done showing us her ring (which is BEAUTIFUL!) and telling the story. He walked her down to the beach and asked her to make him the happiest man in the world! All the girls, of course, awed in unison. Happy times! :-) I'm glad we got to share it with them.
Unless something else happens, this entry has now come to an end. Love ya!
Monday, April 14, 2008
Cruisin' the Greek Islands
We concluded our semester with a 3-day cruise aboard the Aquamarine. We left early in the morning and drove to where the ship was docked. We all got on board and took short naps before the loud, British lady with a deep, sultry voice (for the first time out of thousands of times to come) came over the intercom to inform us we had a muster drill. We all sleepily gathered our orange life vests and followed the others up the stairs. It was a vast sea of orange and gray. (Most of the other passengers were a lot older..) Our peppy Latin senorita staff member cheerfully explained how to put on the lifevest and showed us where our whistles and lights were. We were joking around and having fun with the drill (not to the point of being a distraction, of course) and this man behind us nonchalantly throws in, "You do know a boat from this company sank near Santarini 2 years ago.." We thought he was kidding, but he told us the whole story and our travel agent from Aristotle backed him up on it. I listened a little more closely. :-)
We landed in Mykonos early that evening. We walked around the town, which is full of white houses, decorated with accents of blue, green and red. I loved the blue window shutters and the bright flowers that decorated the staircases. We saw the famous church, a white igloo-type structure that adorns almost every t-shirt and souvenir from this island. The main attraction on this island is the giant windmills. They are remnant of the old days, with their rooftop hay coverings. Though very practical, I was thankful that they chose beauty over a modern contraption. One of my friends from back home proposed to his girlfriend (the Myhan's daughter) here about a year ago. I remember him telling me about it, but I am so glad that I got to see the spot for myself. It was here that I sat outside of a shop that was playing the traditional Greek music. I was sitting there, looking out at the sea and soaking up my final days in Greece. It was then that I decided I didn't want to lose that moment so I walked in to the music shop and said, "I need this CD. What is this CD?" The lady handed me a Greek instrumental CD and I bought it. My family will be glad to know that when I need to have a "Greek moment" they will hear "Zorba's Dance" blaring from my room-- or maybe even the livingroom. Haha. :-) Mykonos is also home to the hugest pelican I have ever seen. He basically owns the island. He, being a big part of their souvenir profits, knows that he is and waddles with an heir of arrogance. People were lined up to have their picture with him and he would open his mouth (which has a span of about 10 feet it seems) and chomp on their arm. It wouldn't hurt-- it would just make this hilarious noise. Everyone would laugh and he would walk down the street, in and out of stores, if he wanted to. I have never seen such a prima donna bird.
When we boarded the ship at night, we always had entertainment. After a family cruise in high school, I sat back and awaited a band that imitated the Beatles or a Broadway-type performance from a classy woman in a sequin gown. WRONG. I guess the best way to describe their nightly entertainment would be Las Vegas try-outs. Women, with caked-on makeup, diamond-studded bras and sequin underwear that doesn't deserve its place in the undergarment category, emerged from behind the curtain. What I cherished more than this, was looking around at all the shocked faces. I mean, we're used to Harding's editors cutting this stuff out for us. We go to PG movies where they bleep out the word "butt" and here we are with women wearing far more feathers than a bird shaking their bootays while a woman and a man, in Jasmine-Aladdin, type outfits belly dance to an Egyptian number. I was absolutely mortified, yet couldn't quite peel my eyes away from this entertainment trainwreck.
We were lucky the second night to have a Greek-inspired performance, where real Greek men came out and danced to several traditional dances. At the end, some of us went on stage and attempted to dance with them. It was quite a breather from the night before, but the last night was back to the city of sin. Haha.
The rest of the time spent on the cruise ship, we watched movies and played games in the gameroom. They also had a disco every night, which was really fun. It wasn't quite as fun as Egypt because there were other people, highly intoxicated, who decided to get on the dancefloor too. I sat there and watched how they crazily flailed their arms and slurred their words and I saw how much more fun we were having.
Our second stop was Rhodes. This place was mainly for shopping-- I bought a purse here. I spent the first part of the day with Mandy, Bethany, Ashley and Sara and met Lauren, Lacey and Alana for lunch at this rooftop restaurant-- we had some really good pizza! It was Lauren's birthday and I think she had a really good one. Lacey made her a sweet slideshow, with pictures her mom had sent her and pictures gathered from this trip. She also got sang to at dinner and the DJ at disco night recognized her and played, "Happy Birthday." Rhodes, like Mykonos, was a cute little town that integrated charm from ancient days with the style of the present. It had castles and fortress walls, but also stone streets with shops lining every square-inch. Restaurant owners tried to bid you to come in and some even called you beautiful. Very charming little place. It is also home to another one of the ancient wonders of the world: the colossus of Rhodes. Though it can't be seen anymore, it was a huge statue of a man that stood over the dock, letting ships pass under his massive legs.
We woke up super early on Sunday morning to quickly hit the island of Patmos. A small island that has about 3,000 people, it is where John was exiled along with his scribe. We visited an old monastery upon arrival, along with a museum that houses ancient manuscripts and scripture, but later hit the main attraction: the cave where they say John wrote the book of Revelation. He stayed here for 18 months before returning to Ephesus at age 104. Using this cave for his prayers and meditation, he was shocked to hear a loud trumpet one day, the blast of the horn cracking the cave walls. He was told to write down what he saw and heard and send it to the 7 churches of Asia. Not so surprisingly, this site has become a church. There was a service going on, but our tour guide still led us through. The familiar smell of incense overtook my senses once again. "Young lads," as our British tour guide called them, sang worship chants and it added to the solemn atmosphere. Visiting here made me realize that maybe I should take another stab at reading this book of the Bible. I have been to Bible studies on it, I have tried to talk to others about it-- but I get easily frustrated with its complicated themes. Maybe it deserves another chance. :-) Adding to my impression of Patmos is the fact that Richard Gere and other celebrities own homes here for when they need to "get away." I love me some Richard Gere. I wish I would have run into him, but unfortunately I don't think the Cave of the Apocalypse is the best place to find the man.
That afternoon we arrived in Ephesus, Turkey. We first visited the remains of the temple to Artemis, which consists of marshy swampland, a huge pillar and some huge stones spread throughout the swamp. This was another one of the ancient wonders of the world. With 126 columns, this building would fit about 3 Parthenons inside of it! That blew me away!
We then made our way to the ancient city of Ephesus, where we saw remnants of their way of life. Government buildings, public bathrooms, you name it-- we also saw what was left of Turkish baths, which brought on unwanted flashbacks of the Turkish Bath experience I endured in Jordan weeks ago. (Ask me about it personally and I will be glad to tell you about..once again, not so sure it is worth publishing..)
We saw the world's 3rd largest library, behind the ones in Alexandria and Pergamum. It kind of reminded me of the treasury in Petra-Jordan. Not quite as impressive, but it stood tall and it was easy to imagine how impressive it would have been back in its day. We also visited the theater where the silversmiths met to riot against Paul. Demetrius started riling everyone up when he told them that if Paul convinced people to believe in Jesus, it would hurt their profits. As made obvious by their ridiculously elegant temple to Artemis, she was a big part of life in Ephesus. If people stopped believing in her, then the silversmiths would have lost money from idols and statues that they made of her. I sat in the theater, where years ago, mobs of people shouted for 2 1/2 hours straight, "Great is Artemis, god of the Ephesians!" Paul could have easily been killed by the mob, but luckily he was allowed to spread the gospel further.
This ends my journey of walking in Paul's footsteps-- I love the book of Ephesians and it was neat to see how the people who read it lived. We saw their version of "Rodeo Drive," where all the rich ladies shopped. We saw their fountains and their statues. We saw it all.
We ended the cruise with Captain's night, where we all dressed up some. The boys looked sharp in their shirts and ties. :-) We took lots of pictures and sadly realized that this was the last time our whole group would be together. A little bit of melancholy set over me for various reasons. I tried to dance it off, but every time the techno stopped, so did the distraction. My roommate for the trip, Bethany, noticed that I was kind of down one night and we had a really good girl talk. Covering the usual bases of boys, frustrations with change and the feeling of being often overlooked, we talked for a really long time. A little bit of homesickness swept over me as I took a shower-- the hot water hit my face and tears started to slowly stream down. After putting on my pajamas, I came back into the room and she was already asleep. I saw a small piece of paper on my pillow. In her cute, bubbly handwriting, she had written:
"Ashton, if ever you are doubting just how beautiful you are, then remember these words: 'The King is enthroned by your beauty; honor him, for he is your Lord. Psalm 45:11.' Your beauty shines brighter than you'll probably ever realize. Don't believe the lies that Satan tells you, you are not overlooked and you are not unseen. Keep being patient, and keep being yourself. Love you, don't forget that either." Sometimes Satan works hard on my heart-- but in times like that, God fights back for it.
We have a few more days before we leave for free travel on the 18th. I have to pack because I am shipping all my luggage tomorrow. :-) Better get to it! Love ya'll, Ash
We landed in Mykonos early that evening. We walked around the town, which is full of white houses, decorated with accents of blue, green and red. I loved the blue window shutters and the bright flowers that decorated the staircases. We saw the famous church, a white igloo-type structure that adorns almost every t-shirt and souvenir from this island. The main attraction on this island is the giant windmills. They are remnant of the old days, with their rooftop hay coverings. Though very practical, I was thankful that they chose beauty over a modern contraption. One of my friends from back home proposed to his girlfriend (the Myhan's daughter) here about a year ago. I remember him telling me about it, but I am so glad that I got to see the spot for myself. It was here that I sat outside of a shop that was playing the traditional Greek music. I was sitting there, looking out at the sea and soaking up my final days in Greece. It was then that I decided I didn't want to lose that moment so I walked in to the music shop and said, "I need this CD. What is this CD?" The lady handed me a Greek instrumental CD and I bought it. My family will be glad to know that when I need to have a "Greek moment" they will hear "Zorba's Dance" blaring from my room-- or maybe even the livingroom. Haha. :-) Mykonos is also home to the hugest pelican I have ever seen. He basically owns the island. He, being a big part of their souvenir profits, knows that he is and waddles with an heir of arrogance. People were lined up to have their picture with him and he would open his mouth (which has a span of about 10 feet it seems) and chomp on their arm. It wouldn't hurt-- it would just make this hilarious noise. Everyone would laugh and he would walk down the street, in and out of stores, if he wanted to. I have never seen such a prima donna bird.
When we boarded the ship at night, we always had entertainment. After a family cruise in high school, I sat back and awaited a band that imitated the Beatles or a Broadway-type performance from a classy woman in a sequin gown. WRONG. I guess the best way to describe their nightly entertainment would be Las Vegas try-outs. Women, with caked-on makeup, diamond-studded bras and sequin underwear that doesn't deserve its place in the undergarment category, emerged from behind the curtain. What I cherished more than this, was looking around at all the shocked faces. I mean, we're used to Harding's editors cutting this stuff out for us. We go to PG movies where they bleep out the word "butt" and here we are with women wearing far more feathers than a bird shaking their bootays while a woman and a man, in Jasmine-Aladdin, type outfits belly dance to an Egyptian number. I was absolutely mortified, yet couldn't quite peel my eyes away from this entertainment trainwreck.
We were lucky the second night to have a Greek-inspired performance, where real Greek men came out and danced to several traditional dances. At the end, some of us went on stage and attempted to dance with them. It was quite a breather from the night before, but the last night was back to the city of sin. Haha.
The rest of the time spent on the cruise ship, we watched movies and played games in the gameroom. They also had a disco every night, which was really fun. It wasn't quite as fun as Egypt because there were other people, highly intoxicated, who decided to get on the dancefloor too. I sat there and watched how they crazily flailed their arms and slurred their words and I saw how much more fun we were having.
Our second stop was Rhodes. This place was mainly for shopping-- I bought a purse here. I spent the first part of the day with Mandy, Bethany, Ashley and Sara and met Lauren, Lacey and Alana for lunch at this rooftop restaurant-- we had some really good pizza! It was Lauren's birthday and I think she had a really good one. Lacey made her a sweet slideshow, with pictures her mom had sent her and pictures gathered from this trip. She also got sang to at dinner and the DJ at disco night recognized her and played, "Happy Birthday." Rhodes, like Mykonos, was a cute little town that integrated charm from ancient days with the style of the present. It had castles and fortress walls, but also stone streets with shops lining every square-inch. Restaurant owners tried to bid you to come in and some even called you beautiful. Very charming little place. It is also home to another one of the ancient wonders of the world: the colossus of Rhodes. Though it can't be seen anymore, it was a huge statue of a man that stood over the dock, letting ships pass under his massive legs.
We woke up super early on Sunday morning to quickly hit the island of Patmos. A small island that has about 3,000 people, it is where John was exiled along with his scribe. We visited an old monastery upon arrival, along with a museum that houses ancient manuscripts and scripture, but later hit the main attraction: the cave where they say John wrote the book of Revelation. He stayed here for 18 months before returning to Ephesus at age 104. Using this cave for his prayers and meditation, he was shocked to hear a loud trumpet one day, the blast of the horn cracking the cave walls. He was told to write down what he saw and heard and send it to the 7 churches of Asia. Not so surprisingly, this site has become a church. There was a service going on, but our tour guide still led us through. The familiar smell of incense overtook my senses once again. "Young lads," as our British tour guide called them, sang worship chants and it added to the solemn atmosphere. Visiting here made me realize that maybe I should take another stab at reading this book of the Bible. I have been to Bible studies on it, I have tried to talk to others about it-- but I get easily frustrated with its complicated themes. Maybe it deserves another chance. :-) Adding to my impression of Patmos is the fact that Richard Gere and other celebrities own homes here for when they need to "get away." I love me some Richard Gere. I wish I would have run into him, but unfortunately I don't think the Cave of the Apocalypse is the best place to find the man.
That afternoon we arrived in Ephesus, Turkey. We first visited the remains of the temple to Artemis, which consists of marshy swampland, a huge pillar and some huge stones spread throughout the swamp. This was another one of the ancient wonders of the world. With 126 columns, this building would fit about 3 Parthenons inside of it! That blew me away!
We then made our way to the ancient city of Ephesus, where we saw remnants of their way of life. Government buildings, public bathrooms, you name it-- we also saw what was left of Turkish baths, which brought on unwanted flashbacks of the Turkish Bath experience I endured in Jordan weeks ago. (Ask me about it personally and I will be glad to tell you about..once again, not so sure it is worth publishing..)
We saw the world's 3rd largest library, behind the ones in Alexandria and Pergamum. It kind of reminded me of the treasury in Petra-Jordan. Not quite as impressive, but it stood tall and it was easy to imagine how impressive it would have been back in its day. We also visited the theater where the silversmiths met to riot against Paul. Demetrius started riling everyone up when he told them that if Paul convinced people to believe in Jesus, it would hurt their profits. As made obvious by their ridiculously elegant temple to Artemis, she was a big part of life in Ephesus. If people stopped believing in her, then the silversmiths would have lost money from idols and statues that they made of her. I sat in the theater, where years ago, mobs of people shouted for 2 1/2 hours straight, "Great is Artemis, god of the Ephesians!" Paul could have easily been killed by the mob, but luckily he was allowed to spread the gospel further.
This ends my journey of walking in Paul's footsteps-- I love the book of Ephesians and it was neat to see how the people who read it lived. We saw their version of "Rodeo Drive," where all the rich ladies shopped. We saw their fountains and their statues. We saw it all.
We ended the cruise with Captain's night, where we all dressed up some. The boys looked sharp in their shirts and ties. :-) We took lots of pictures and sadly realized that this was the last time our whole group would be together. A little bit of melancholy set over me for various reasons. I tried to dance it off, but every time the techno stopped, so did the distraction. My roommate for the trip, Bethany, noticed that I was kind of down one night and we had a really good girl talk. Covering the usual bases of boys, frustrations with change and the feeling of being often overlooked, we talked for a really long time. A little bit of homesickness swept over me as I took a shower-- the hot water hit my face and tears started to slowly stream down. After putting on my pajamas, I came back into the room and she was already asleep. I saw a small piece of paper on my pillow. In her cute, bubbly handwriting, she had written:
"Ashton, if ever you are doubting just how beautiful you are, then remember these words: 'The King is enthroned by your beauty; honor him, for he is your Lord. Psalm 45:11.' Your beauty shines brighter than you'll probably ever realize. Don't believe the lies that Satan tells you, you are not overlooked and you are not unseen. Keep being patient, and keep being yourself. Love you, don't forget that either." Sometimes Satan works hard on my heart-- but in times like that, God fights back for it.
We have a few more days before we leave for free travel on the 18th. I have to pack because I am shipping all my luggage tomorrow. :-) Better get to it! Love ya'll, Ash
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Togas, Laughs and Cheesecake!
Tonight was our final banquet. We finished finals, we're headed on the cruise tomorrow and this was our last big shebang. It was a blast! Most of us wore togas (AKA clean bedsheets from the laundry room). I have to say that togas are really flattering to the female form. They're pretty comfortable, too. I think on days I don't feel like dressing up, I will simply roll out of bed and wrap my sheet around me. At home, it will be a cream and red-striped toga and at school it will be decorated with orange flowers. :-) I'm sure I will get some odd looks, but the heir of confidence I have gained from my times as a world traveler will enable me to walk with my head held high. Haha!
We had a marvelous dinner that consisted of steak, baked potatoes, broccoli, salad and rolls. The best part: Death by chocolate dessert and cheesecake!! Apparently, Mr. Griff is quite the dessert king. It was heavenly! I had an embarrassing incident in the dessert line with Austin that made my face very, very red and caused tears of embarrassment/laughter to run down my face. I don't think that it is publishing-worthy, but I just wanted to put it in here for me to remember in the future.
After dinner, we all met in the livingroom for HUG awards. You will be surprised to learn that I was awarded, "Most Likely to Make a Tearful Oscar Speech." They hit that nail on the head. Ironically, I almost teared up when I went in front of everyone. There were a lot of other funny awards. Alana got "Most Likely to be Dive-Bombed by a Bird." (Remember that blog entry?) and Ashley got "The Giggle Pots Award." (She is constantly giggling..I love it!) Most of the others fit their recipients quite well.
Tommy didn't quite finish his video by press-time so we will watch that another time. Bethany put together a short slideshow of pictures for us-- many of them will appear on the poster that she designed. Every year, another poster is added to the wall with group pictures on it. If Ryan comes this summer, I am going to make him take a picture of it for me. :-)
I am looking forward to our relaxing cruise. Captain showed us some pictures tonight to prepare us and I am really excited! No schoolwork will be on the brain-- it will be just us, the big blue sky and the water-- and hopefully some sunshine!
This night was a perfect ending to our time here together. I can't think of a better way to end it than laughing with some of the best people I've ever met. As much as I have sometimes been frustrated with Harding, this semester has opened my eyes to the blessings it gives. I have friends from all over the U.S. I know that, years from now, if I need a house to stay in for the night or a lunch date in a random state, I have several people that I will be able to call on. It has provided me with other college students who share a love for God and know how to have a blast without throwing their morality out the window. I see some of my public university friends who have changed completely and it makes me thank God for girls who want to make stupid videos at 2 a.m. instead of get drunk, for guys that hold each other accountable instead of partying it up every weekend, for teachers who genuinely care about your soul and well-being. I will accept the early morning chapels, the curfew and the both feet on the floor rule (ha!) for gifts such as these.
I won't be able to write for a few days, but I will update you when I get back. In the meantime, find some time for yourself this week. Do something that brings you joy, no matter how small it is. If you really want to be bold, put on a toga. Even if you have to be completely alone, put one on, look in the mirror and smile. It's pure freedom. Embrace the breeze!
Love ya, Ash
We had a marvelous dinner that consisted of steak, baked potatoes, broccoli, salad and rolls. The best part: Death by chocolate dessert and cheesecake!! Apparently, Mr. Griff is quite the dessert king. It was heavenly! I had an embarrassing incident in the dessert line with Austin that made my face very, very red and caused tears of embarrassment/laughter to run down my face. I don't think that it is publishing-worthy, but I just wanted to put it in here for me to remember in the future.
After dinner, we all met in the livingroom for HUG awards. You will be surprised to learn that I was awarded, "Most Likely to Make a Tearful Oscar Speech." They hit that nail on the head. Ironically, I almost teared up when I went in front of everyone. There were a lot of other funny awards. Alana got "Most Likely to be Dive-Bombed by a Bird." (Remember that blog entry?) and Ashley got "The Giggle Pots Award." (She is constantly giggling..I love it!) Most of the others fit their recipients quite well.
Tommy didn't quite finish his video by press-time so we will watch that another time. Bethany put together a short slideshow of pictures for us-- many of them will appear on the poster that she designed. Every year, another poster is added to the wall with group pictures on it. If Ryan comes this summer, I am going to make him take a picture of it for me. :-)
I am looking forward to our relaxing cruise. Captain showed us some pictures tonight to prepare us and I am really excited! No schoolwork will be on the brain-- it will be just us, the big blue sky and the water-- and hopefully some sunshine!
This night was a perfect ending to our time here together. I can't think of a better way to end it than laughing with some of the best people I've ever met. As much as I have sometimes been frustrated with Harding, this semester has opened my eyes to the blessings it gives. I have friends from all over the U.S. I know that, years from now, if I need a house to stay in for the night or a lunch date in a random state, I have several people that I will be able to call on. It has provided me with other college students who share a love for God and know how to have a blast without throwing their morality out the window. I see some of my public university friends who have changed completely and it makes me thank God for girls who want to make stupid videos at 2 a.m. instead of get drunk, for guys that hold each other accountable instead of partying it up every weekend, for teachers who genuinely care about your soul and well-being. I will accept the early morning chapels, the curfew and the both feet on the floor rule (ha!) for gifts such as these.
I won't be able to write for a few days, but I will update you when I get back. In the meantime, find some time for yourself this week. Do something that brings you joy, no matter how small it is. If you really want to be bold, put on a toga. Even if you have to be completely alone, put one on, look in the mirror and smile. It's pure freedom. Embrace the breeze!
Love ya, Ash
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Hard Tests and Crazy Videos
So, I took one of the longest tests of my life today. My Humanities 207 test took me roughly 2 hours to complete. I feel like I did OK on it, but I guess I won't know until she grades them. I also had World Christian-- I made a B on it, but hopefully I can keep an A in the class.
Deliriousness has swept over the campus. Bobby and I, after studying the 30-page World Christian study guide, began to quiz each other using different voices and accents. He would start out in a British voice and I would answer as a southern gal. I began to read paragraphs like a valley girl and he would answer back in some other voice that would send me into hysterics. I can't say that it helped me on the test, but it sure livened things up!
Tonight, Tommy made a video as part of our banquet entertainment for tomorrow night. He interviewed us all, asking us various questions about the trip. John and Ben asked me if I would be a part of their interview. Ben can do a FANTASTIC impression of an old British lady (who would have thunk it) and John was going to be a gangsta. They needed a southern gal with an accent, so of course they picked Miss Arkansas 2008. I wore Bryan's cowboy shirt and cowboy hat and headed downstairs to meet up with the guys. Ben had put on one of my dresses and tied a scarf around his head like an old lady. I busted out laughing, but soon realized that he looks better in my dress than I do! Why do guys always get the long legs, the muscular arms and the long eyelashes!? Ugh. We had a good time. I always seem to not be as funny when a camera is stuck in my face (unless it's just me and the girls) so I wasn't quite as humorous as I would have liked-- and I think my accent strayed from pure country. We'll see tomorrow night. I hope it isn't a flop. Considering everyone else was just being their normal selves, ours is bound to cause a stir of somekind. I will go down in Harding history as Betty Sue Mary Lou. That was my name.
Well, not much to tell really. We have some more exams tomorrow. Blah. But then it will all be over and we will be cruisin'!! No moleskins and no headsets on this trip! Hooooorayyyyyyyyy!!
Deliriousness has swept over the campus. Bobby and I, after studying the 30-page World Christian study guide, began to quiz each other using different voices and accents. He would start out in a British voice and I would answer as a southern gal. I began to read paragraphs like a valley girl and he would answer back in some other voice that would send me into hysterics. I can't say that it helped me on the test, but it sure livened things up!
Tonight, Tommy made a video as part of our banquet entertainment for tomorrow night. He interviewed us all, asking us various questions about the trip. John and Ben asked me if I would be a part of their interview. Ben can do a FANTASTIC impression of an old British lady (who would have thunk it) and John was going to be a gangsta. They needed a southern gal with an accent, so of course they picked Miss Arkansas 2008. I wore Bryan's cowboy shirt and cowboy hat and headed downstairs to meet up with the guys. Ben had put on one of my dresses and tied a scarf around his head like an old lady. I busted out laughing, but soon realized that he looks better in my dress than I do! Why do guys always get the long legs, the muscular arms and the long eyelashes!? Ugh. We had a good time. I always seem to not be as funny when a camera is stuck in my face (unless it's just me and the girls) so I wasn't quite as humorous as I would have liked-- and I think my accent strayed from pure country. We'll see tomorrow night. I hope it isn't a flop. Considering everyone else was just being their normal selves, ours is bound to cause a stir of somekind. I will go down in Harding history as Betty Sue Mary Lou. That was my name.
Well, not much to tell really. We have some more exams tomorrow. Blah. But then it will all be over and we will be cruisin'!! No moleskins and no headsets on this trip! Hooooorayyyyyyyyy!!
Monday, April 7, 2008
Consider it Pure Joy..Argh
"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter trials of many kinds, knowing that the tesing of your faith produces perseverance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1:2-4
Ashton Paraphrase: "Consider it all joy, my poor college students, when you encounter tests and projects of many kinds, knowing that the testing of your knowledge produces a cultural awareness that will change your life. And let endurance have its perfect straight A results, so that you may be smart and well-rounded, lacking in nothing."
That's right, my friends. It's finals week. I am taking a brain break from my World Christian online bible class study guide answer search. He gave us all these random questions with not even a map on how to find them, which means I am spending hours searching through a 1000 page book and the whole online cyberspace that might house the answer.
We are all pretty overwhelmed right now. Sometimes I don't even know where to begin. I know that, like the Bible verse says, things will soon be over and I will look back with a sigh of relief. Until then though, I am frantically trying to fill out study guides and do projects. We are spending our final days in Greece confined. I did get out and play some basketball today and shot around with Sarabeth's dad who played ball in college. But other than that- the boring life of a hermit.
Ok, my whinefest is over. :-) Let's pull out a blessing here to put things in perspective. Today, the lady who taught us how to cook a Greek meal came back and spoke in chapel. She took a trip to Nigeria to teach the ladies there how to better preserve food. It was a neat presentation and I think that is such a great ministry, one that I would have never thought of. She's not a missionary, she's a cook-- but she can use that to further God's kingdom! I really want to go to Africa someday-- add that to my "bucket list." Alana talks all the time about her little African babies and it makes me really want to go and help out over there.
So, many people here have exerted their independence in recent days. We have 3 tattoos, 2 nose piercings and lots of bungee jumpers. I am writing this here to test the whole "In 30 years.." hypothesis that is often thrown at us youngins. I went around with all these people as they did their cool, rebellious things and I really wanted to do it as well. While nose-piercing isn't for me, it looks really cute on Alana and Danielle. I did, however, want a small agapo tattoo on my foot. After running it by the parentals, 4 e-mails and one that simply read, "Dear Ashton, No tattoo. Love, Dad" pretty much stomped on my dreams. Though I don't think it is a whim, I decided to respect their wishes. (I know all of you other family members just breathed a sigh of relief..) I gave them a hard time about once again restraining me from "coolness," but Dad was quick to remind me that my rebellion occurred when I was 4. I was quite the terror. If I read this paragraph in 30 years and a tear falls down my cheek because I still want it, I'll call up the girls and we'll head to the tattoo shop. Until then, I will continue to draw it on with a Sharpie. :-) Luckily, the man at the tattoo shop gave me a sticker with a skull on it to make up for the fact that I'm a loser. Haha. I'm sure I will get lots of comments on this particular blog. Take it easy on me, people-- I didn't do it.
Love, the uncool Tattoo-less girl who has never even dyed her hair or snuck out a day in her life.
Ashton Paraphrase: "Consider it all joy, my poor college students, when you encounter tests and projects of many kinds, knowing that the testing of your knowledge produces a cultural awareness that will change your life. And let endurance have its perfect straight A results, so that you may be smart and well-rounded, lacking in nothing."
That's right, my friends. It's finals week. I am taking a brain break from my World Christian online bible class study guide answer search. He gave us all these random questions with not even a map on how to find them, which means I am spending hours searching through a 1000 page book and the whole online cyberspace that might house the answer.
We are all pretty overwhelmed right now. Sometimes I don't even know where to begin. I know that, like the Bible verse says, things will soon be over and I will look back with a sigh of relief. Until then though, I am frantically trying to fill out study guides and do projects. We are spending our final days in Greece confined. I did get out and play some basketball today and shot around with Sarabeth's dad who played ball in college. But other than that- the boring life of a hermit.
Ok, my whinefest is over. :-) Let's pull out a blessing here to put things in perspective. Today, the lady who taught us how to cook a Greek meal came back and spoke in chapel. She took a trip to Nigeria to teach the ladies there how to better preserve food. It was a neat presentation and I think that is such a great ministry, one that I would have never thought of. She's not a missionary, she's a cook-- but she can use that to further God's kingdom! I really want to go to Africa someday-- add that to my "bucket list." Alana talks all the time about her little African babies and it makes me really want to go and help out over there.
So, many people here have exerted their independence in recent days. We have 3 tattoos, 2 nose piercings and lots of bungee jumpers. I am writing this here to test the whole "In 30 years.." hypothesis that is often thrown at us youngins. I went around with all these people as they did their cool, rebellious things and I really wanted to do it as well. While nose-piercing isn't for me, it looks really cute on Alana and Danielle. I did, however, want a small agapo tattoo on my foot. After running it by the parentals, 4 e-mails and one that simply read, "Dear Ashton, No tattoo. Love, Dad" pretty much stomped on my dreams. Though I don't think it is a whim, I decided to respect their wishes. (I know all of you other family members just breathed a sigh of relief..) I gave them a hard time about once again restraining me from "coolness," but Dad was quick to remind me that my rebellion occurred when I was 4. I was quite the terror. If I read this paragraph in 30 years and a tear falls down my cheek because I still want it, I'll call up the girls and we'll head to the tattoo shop. Until then, I will continue to draw it on with a Sharpie. :-) Luckily, the man at the tattoo shop gave me a sticker with a skull on it to make up for the fact that I'm a loser. Haha. I'm sure I will get lots of comments on this particular blog. Take it easy on me, people-- I didn't do it.
Love, the uncool Tattoo-less girl who has never even dyed her hair or snuck out a day in her life.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Last Day in the Plaka
In addition to all of our other "lasts," today was our final Sunday in the plaka. I just can't believe it's all winding down. We decided to replay our first day in Athens. We first went by Costas and Valerie's shop to bid them farewell. On the first day, we all went there to meet them. I bought a necklace from their cute shop, "Joy."
We ate at Zabbas for lunch as we did on our first trip. I had my last chicken gyro for a while. :-) While we were in there, Alana heard these other American college kids in there having conversations that we did when we were "beginners." She laughed as she heard one of the girls ask in her southern drawl, "How much are these ji-rows? I don't know what to get.." They fumbled around with their new currency, the spitting image of us months ago. Though it made me smile, it also made me sad. Our journey is coming to an end and theirs is only beginning.
We also re-visited the storeowner who thought I was Greek. For those of you keeping up with my blog the whole time, Mr. Pinch-your-cheeks "Greeky Greeky" man! He was just as friendly, but I stayed toward the back this time as to avoid harassment.
Sara Montgomery, Sarabeth Myers, Tony Haas, Ashley Sain, and Mandy Watson went out in style. They went bungee-jumping off of the Corinthian Canal, the second largest bungee jump in the world. We all sat in the livingroom and watched the video tonight. The screams and facial expressions as they plunged 200+ feet were priceless. I wish I was that bold, but I decided not to pay 60 euro to scare myself to death. I don't think wetting my pants would be a good start to a long day in town. I salute them for their bravery though! I want to do something like that before I die though. I am now forming a "bucket list." (A list of things to do before I kick the bucket.)
Tomorrow starts the week of finals-- prayers, please!! All my love, Ashton
We ate at Zabbas for lunch as we did on our first trip. I had my last chicken gyro for a while. :-) While we were in there, Alana heard these other American college kids in there having conversations that we did when we were "beginners." She laughed as she heard one of the girls ask in her southern drawl, "How much are these ji-rows? I don't know what to get.." They fumbled around with their new currency, the spitting image of us months ago. Though it made me smile, it also made me sad. Our journey is coming to an end and theirs is only beginning.
We also re-visited the storeowner who thought I was Greek. For those of you keeping up with my blog the whole time, Mr. Pinch-your-cheeks "Greeky Greeky" man! He was just as friendly, but I stayed toward the back this time as to avoid harassment.
Sara Montgomery, Sarabeth Myers, Tony Haas, Ashley Sain, and Mandy Watson went out in style. They went bungee-jumping off of the Corinthian Canal, the second largest bungee jump in the world. We all sat in the livingroom and watched the video tonight. The screams and facial expressions as they plunged 200+ feet were priceless. I wish I was that bold, but I decided not to pay 60 euro to scare myself to death. I don't think wetting my pants would be a good start to a long day in town. I salute them for their bravery though! I want to do something like that before I die though. I am now forming a "bucket list." (A list of things to do before I kick the bucket.)
Tomorrow starts the week of finals-- prayers, please!! All my love, Ashton
Saturday, April 5, 2008
The Lord Bless You and Keep You...
"The Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron and his sons, 'This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.' So they will put my name on the Israelites and I will bless them. (Numbers 6:24)
The reason I started with this verse is because Captain used it in chapel today. Because it is one of our last chapels of the semester, Captain used it kind of as the "closing words" chapel. I honestly have to say that at the opening chapel in January when he said the semester would fly by, I thought to myself, "They always say that. Four months is a long time." It was almost a surreal experience sitting there today, hearing his words of closure and his constant reference to "been."
"This HAS BEEN a great semester." "We HAVE GOTTEN close." "We HAVE LEARNED a lot." "You will LOOK BACK on our travels." People say when I get back this will all seem like a dream, but it already feels that way. It was such a smooth transition from curiosity and fear to complete comfort and instant friendships-- even my early trials seem far away. God blessed me with good health for the remainder of my stay here.
After he got done recapping the semester, he wanted to share his blessing with us-- the blessing he read to his son and daughter before they were married. Many people teared up as he blessed us in the way God blessed the Israelites except he replaced Israelites with "HUGGERS 2008" at the end. It was at that moment that it hit me that we will soon be going our separate ways. Things will never be the same. Though I am usually very hesitant to change, I have recently realized that it is inevitable. I, instead, focus on the fact that God places different people in your life at different times for a purpose. They all come and go, some stay-- but it is not necessary to mourn when your relationship evolves or maybe even disappears with time. I know that some of us will stay close and some of us will see each other only from time to time, while others of us will only meet again at reunions. I am going to work with God on being OK with that. I will always look back and see how each person here blessed me in some way. Captain said that the change in you isn't always drastic and immediate, but that eventually you will see how you were molded from this experience. I am excited to get home and see the ways in which God has used this semester to enrich my life. I know that this semester has broadened my horizons and enriched my soul. I have an outlook that reaches out past Paragould, Arkansas and that in itself is growth; it is my firm belief that anytime God gets you out of your comfort zone, change can't help but result.
I've heard that small blessing my whole life, but for some reason it provided me with comfort today. Though we will be going in all directions, the Lord has promised to keep us in his care-- and that in itself makes the separation easier. Ben said that his mom used to always share that blessing with him in high school and that he always just let it run through one ear and out the other; after hearing him talk about that, I know his appreciation for that love will be strengthened. I think, if nothing else, we have learned not to take things for granted anymore.
This isn't my closing blog entry, but I just wanted to thank all of you for your continued support. For those of you who helped me financially, I hope that I have made it apparent to you how worth it that sacrifice was. Thanks to those who read, who commented and I can't wait to talk to you about it when I get home. :-)
P.S. Yes, the blog template ADD kicked in again. Like the clean, slick look better?
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.' So they will put my name on the Israelites and I will bless them. (Numbers 6:24)
The reason I started with this verse is because Captain used it in chapel today. Because it is one of our last chapels of the semester, Captain used it kind of as the "closing words" chapel. I honestly have to say that at the opening chapel in January when he said the semester would fly by, I thought to myself, "They always say that. Four months is a long time." It was almost a surreal experience sitting there today, hearing his words of closure and his constant reference to "been."
"This HAS BEEN a great semester." "We HAVE GOTTEN close." "We HAVE LEARNED a lot." "You will LOOK BACK on our travels." People say when I get back this will all seem like a dream, but it already feels that way. It was such a smooth transition from curiosity and fear to complete comfort and instant friendships-- even my early trials seem far away. God blessed me with good health for the remainder of my stay here.
After he got done recapping the semester, he wanted to share his blessing with us-- the blessing he read to his son and daughter before they were married. Many people teared up as he blessed us in the way God blessed the Israelites except he replaced Israelites with "HUGGERS 2008" at the end. It was at that moment that it hit me that we will soon be going our separate ways. Things will never be the same. Though I am usually very hesitant to change, I have recently realized that it is inevitable. I, instead, focus on the fact that God places different people in your life at different times for a purpose. They all come and go, some stay-- but it is not necessary to mourn when your relationship evolves or maybe even disappears with time. I know that some of us will stay close and some of us will see each other only from time to time, while others of us will only meet again at reunions. I am going to work with God on being OK with that. I will always look back and see how each person here blessed me in some way. Captain said that the change in you isn't always drastic and immediate, but that eventually you will see how you were molded from this experience. I am excited to get home and see the ways in which God has used this semester to enrich my life. I know that this semester has broadened my horizons and enriched my soul. I have an outlook that reaches out past Paragould, Arkansas and that in itself is growth; it is my firm belief that anytime God gets you out of your comfort zone, change can't help but result.
I've heard that small blessing my whole life, but for some reason it provided me with comfort today. Though we will be going in all directions, the Lord has promised to keep us in his care-- and that in itself makes the separation easier. Ben said that his mom used to always share that blessing with him in high school and that he always just let it run through one ear and out the other; after hearing him talk about that, I know his appreciation for that love will be strengthened. I think, if nothing else, we have learned not to take things for granted anymore.
This isn't my closing blog entry, but I just wanted to thank all of you for your continued support. For those of you who helped me financially, I hope that I have made it apparent to you how worth it that sacrifice was. Thanks to those who read, who commented and I can't wait to talk to you about it when I get home. :-)
P.S. Yes, the blog template ADD kicked in again. Like the clean, slick look better?
Friday, April 4, 2008
The Joy of Progress
Last night, although it was an ending to a pretty stressful day, closed on a good note. We actually made progress on our free travel plans. It seems that in all the other meetings we would work for hours but come up short on actual progress. We pretty much have our route down and we booked several hostels. They are relatively cheap, but still seem to be hospitable (unless they googled the photos and it looks nothing like that!) Lacey is making a spreadsheet itinerary that I will post on here once it is complete. I will also give you the phone number of the phone we take so that you can get a hold of us in case of emergency.
I think I am most excited about Ireland and the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg. I think that I will actually get emotional-- haha. I don't care if the other tourists want to shoot me, I am going to sing some of the musical numbers at the various places. I don't know if it is allowed, but I want them to let me off at the mountain so that I can spin around and burst out with, "The hills are alive with the sound of music!" I don't know what it is about that movie that touches me so. It is so much more than "I just love that movie" which I often say about others. It is a part of my childhood; it is a part of how I was raised. I can't remember a time at grandma's or a time in my own home that music was not an integral part of our family gatherings. The movie itself weaved its magic on us. I remember when we were little kids, Ryan and I would play Liesl and Rolfe (spelling) and we would dance around the toy boxes that lined the outside of our playroom. We were in the gazebo and I would sing, "I am 16 going on 17..." He, on the floor, would hold my hand as I pranced around the toyboxes above him. Patient, compliant younger brothers. I probably mortified him just now. Sorry, Ry.
Rebelling against yesterday's melancholy, I got outdoors today and played some volleyball and worked out. It felt so good to feel the sun on my face and know that I have most of my projects complete. I am going to try to head to the beach tomorrow if the weather is nice. :-)
I hear that the weather is pretty bad in Arkansas. I hope it clears up soon and that ya'll stay safe! Don't go running, Pawpaw. You can skip a few days. :-) I don't want you to get swept up in a tornado!! Thanks for your comments and continued reading, even though it doesn't seem like much is going on to talk about.
Love ya'll, Ash
I think I am most excited about Ireland and the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg. I think that I will actually get emotional-- haha. I don't care if the other tourists want to shoot me, I am going to sing some of the musical numbers at the various places. I don't know if it is allowed, but I want them to let me off at the mountain so that I can spin around and burst out with, "The hills are alive with the sound of music!" I don't know what it is about that movie that touches me so. It is so much more than "I just love that movie" which I often say about others. It is a part of my childhood; it is a part of how I was raised. I can't remember a time at grandma's or a time in my own home that music was not an integral part of our family gatherings. The movie itself weaved its magic on us. I remember when we were little kids, Ryan and I would play Liesl and Rolfe (spelling) and we would dance around the toy boxes that lined the outside of our playroom. We were in the gazebo and I would sing, "I am 16 going on 17..." He, on the floor, would hold my hand as I pranced around the toyboxes above him. Patient, compliant younger brothers. I probably mortified him just now. Sorry, Ry.
Rebelling against yesterday's melancholy, I got outdoors today and played some volleyball and worked out. It felt so good to feel the sun on my face and know that I have most of my projects complete. I am going to try to head to the beach tomorrow if the weather is nice. :-)
I hear that the weather is pretty bad in Arkansas. I hope it clears up soon and that ya'll stay safe! Don't go running, Pawpaw. You can skip a few days. :-) I don't want you to get swept up in a tornado!! Thanks for your comments and continued reading, even though it doesn't seem like much is going on to talk about.
Love ya'll, Ash
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Brain-Fried
This has been the first day in a while that from the moment I woke up (and put on my make up..I say a little...oh, never mind..) til the time I go to bed I have been doing nothing but schoolwork. We had class all morning and then after lunch our Hum 201 class presented all of our free travel presentations. It took over 3 hours. Then it was supper time. Then, I came up to the computer lab and finished my powerpoint presentation for World Christian. We are fixing to work on free travel plans. I have literally been staring at some kind of screen since 9:00 a.m.!
I am about to go crazy-- last night, Danielle and I took about 4 hours to finish our free travel presentation. By midnight, I was going absolutely bonkers. People were laughing at how delirious I, and other people in the class, were after hours of computer-stare time. My colorful scarf went from my neck at the beginning of the project, to wrapped around my head in anguish, to an African headdress after I had messed up my hair after hours of running my hands through it in despair. We finished that though and the presentation went well so that's one less thing on my mind. My World Christian powerpoint isn't due until April 11th, but for some reason I got on this non-procrastination kick and finished it today. :-) Go me!
One of our boys, Kyle was hospitalized last night and has been there all morning. He's going to be fine, but he is having blockage in his intestines and has been in pain. Just keep him in your prayers. By the end of the trip, I have not been the only medical problem. Amy hurt her leg and had to go the emergency room and Kyle has now had his cultural experience.
This entry was really boring and for that I am sorry. My day has, in fact, been one to yawn at. That's how the end usually goes though.
I hope you are all doing well-- I am getting to that point where I miss you all a whole lot! Everyone has already started that "list of things I'm going to do when I get home" and I am beginning mine. Go to Sonic for a vanilla Dr. Pepper, rent all the chic flicks I missed, watch a Law and Order: SVU marathon, sprawl out in my own bed with my fluffy pillow and comforter; play hoops at the community center and go walking with Mom, discussing the 4th "Twilight" book with Dad when that comes out, hang out with my cool brothers and their gfs, going out to eat with Mimi and Papa and making Papa do his famous shaking up and down laugh, hanging out by the lake with Mema and Papa this summer...the list goes on.
Love ya'll-- not too much longer!!
I am about to go crazy-- last night, Danielle and I took about 4 hours to finish our free travel presentation. By midnight, I was going absolutely bonkers. People were laughing at how delirious I, and other people in the class, were after hours of computer-stare time. My colorful scarf went from my neck at the beginning of the project, to wrapped around my head in anguish, to an African headdress after I had messed up my hair after hours of running my hands through it in despair. We finished that though and the presentation went well so that's one less thing on my mind. My World Christian powerpoint isn't due until April 11th, but for some reason I got on this non-procrastination kick and finished it today. :-) Go me!
One of our boys, Kyle was hospitalized last night and has been there all morning. He's going to be fine, but he is having blockage in his intestines and has been in pain. Just keep him in your prayers. By the end of the trip, I have not been the only medical problem. Amy hurt her leg and had to go the emergency room and Kyle has now had his cultural experience.
This entry was really boring and for that I am sorry. My day has, in fact, been one to yawn at. That's how the end usually goes though.
I hope you are all doing well-- I am getting to that point where I miss you all a whole lot! Everyone has already started that "list of things I'm going to do when I get home" and I am beginning mine. Go to Sonic for a vanilla Dr. Pepper, rent all the chic flicks I missed, watch a Law and Order: SVU marathon, sprawl out in my own bed with my fluffy pillow and comforter; play hoops at the community center and go walking with Mom, discussing the 4th "Twilight" book with Dad when that comes out, hang out with my cool brothers and their gfs, going out to eat with Mimi and Papa and making Papa do his famous shaking up and down laugh, hanging out by the lake with Mema and Papa this summer...the list goes on.
Love ya'll-- not too much longer!!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Snoopy=Sappy
Don't you hate it when you become the worst version of yourself? In this case, I am not talking about turning into this enraged person who can't control their anger and therefore turns into their own worst enemy-- I am talking about when an already sensitive person takes it too far, when a tear becomes a blubbering mess of nonsense. That, my friends, is what occurred tonight.
Costas and Valerie are pretty much our connections in the Plaka. They own two jewelry stores and have become good friends with the Myhans. Valerie is American, but fell in love with Costas and moved here. They are two of the sweetest people and are always there to help. If you need anything, you just go to their shop and they will tell you how to get somewhere, give you recommendations, etc. Valerie, along with co-owning the store, is a vocal music teacher at the local international school. She asked Captain if we would be interested in coming to the dress rehearsal of the musical, "Snoopy" so that her kids would have an audience to feed off of. We all agreed to go so he brought in a shuttle bus and we drove to the play-- a fun field trip.
The characters in the play ranged from middle school to high school and they were SO talented. The acting was wonderful and they harmonized well. The musical numbers mostly had to do with being a kid, growing up and the toils that come along with coming into your own. I just couldn't believe how great the girl who played Snoopy was, this sassy chick who spouted her lines like she was a natural. Charlie Brown was played by a boy who I'm sure empathized with being pushed aside and walked over himself. Linus, with blanket in hand, fit the part perfectly- a know-it-all boy who just needed a little security in life. I found myself tearing up at different parts of the play, but I kept it relatively under control.
It wasn't until the last number (about believing in yourself) that I let one tear swell up and fall. I was just so impressed by these kids and how talented they were-- and it took me back to being a kid. More tears started to slowly slide down my face until the final curtain dropped and they took their last bow. The lights soon came back up and one by one people started to notice that I had teared up. It has become the semester-long joke and like wildfire it spread that "Ashton was crying!" I think my mom will back me up on this-- if there is one thing that makes being sensitive worse-- it's people noticing. It's like adding gasoline to a flame. Everyone looked at me, laughed and then it came: the burst of tears. DiMy grabs me and gives me a hug, then Mrs. Griff, then Captain. I was so embarrassed. Many people consoled me with "This is what I love about you!" but sometimes it is what I hate about myself. I hate having no control over my emotions, I hate not being able to pinpoint why I am emotional. It's just that if my heart in some unexplainable way is touched, the waterworks begin.
I don't know if it was the kids. I don't know if it was the music. I don't know if it was the innocence that I want to return to. I don't know if, subconsciously, I don't feel believed in (haha). It was just touching. We met some of the kids afterward and apparently they had heard rumors that "they were so good that someone cried." That made me realize that maybe that's my calling. Maybe, just maybe, God made people like me as the "bravo" that some people desperately need in their lives. I know that some of my proudest moments were when I looked in the audience or across the room and saw my mom crying. Dad and I both know when an article we have written is a success because it passes the "Ronda cried" test. Though sometimes it feels like a curse, it is also a blessing. It is a constant reminder that I am living, that my heart is still feeling and that there are things in life worth crying for.
Costas and Valerie are pretty much our connections in the Plaka. They own two jewelry stores and have become good friends with the Myhans. Valerie is American, but fell in love with Costas and moved here. They are two of the sweetest people and are always there to help. If you need anything, you just go to their shop and they will tell you how to get somewhere, give you recommendations, etc. Valerie, along with co-owning the store, is a vocal music teacher at the local international school. She asked Captain if we would be interested in coming to the dress rehearsal of the musical, "Snoopy" so that her kids would have an audience to feed off of. We all agreed to go so he brought in a shuttle bus and we drove to the play-- a fun field trip.
The characters in the play ranged from middle school to high school and they were SO talented. The acting was wonderful and they harmonized well. The musical numbers mostly had to do with being a kid, growing up and the toils that come along with coming into your own. I just couldn't believe how great the girl who played Snoopy was, this sassy chick who spouted her lines like she was a natural. Charlie Brown was played by a boy who I'm sure empathized with being pushed aside and walked over himself. Linus, with blanket in hand, fit the part perfectly- a know-it-all boy who just needed a little security in life. I found myself tearing up at different parts of the play, but I kept it relatively under control.
It wasn't until the last number (about believing in yourself) that I let one tear swell up and fall. I was just so impressed by these kids and how talented they were-- and it took me back to being a kid. More tears started to slowly slide down my face until the final curtain dropped and they took their last bow. The lights soon came back up and one by one people started to notice that I had teared up. It has become the semester-long joke and like wildfire it spread that "Ashton was crying!" I think my mom will back me up on this-- if there is one thing that makes being sensitive worse-- it's people noticing. It's like adding gasoline to a flame. Everyone looked at me, laughed and then it came: the burst of tears. DiMy grabs me and gives me a hug, then Mrs. Griff, then Captain. I was so embarrassed. Many people consoled me with "This is what I love about you!" but sometimes it is what I hate about myself. I hate having no control over my emotions, I hate not being able to pinpoint why I am emotional. It's just that if my heart in some unexplainable way is touched, the waterworks begin.
I don't know if it was the kids. I don't know if it was the music. I don't know if it was the innocence that I want to return to. I don't know if, subconsciously, I don't feel believed in (haha). It was just touching. We met some of the kids afterward and apparently they had heard rumors that "they were so good that someone cried." That made me realize that maybe that's my calling. Maybe, just maybe, God made people like me as the "bravo" that some people desperately need in their lives. I know that some of my proudest moments were when I looked in the audience or across the room and saw my mom crying. Dad and I both know when an article we have written is a success because it passes the "Ronda cried" test. Though sometimes it feels like a curse, it is also a blessing. It is a constant reminder that I am living, that my heart is still feeling and that there are things in life worth crying for.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
April Fools Day
I went to bed fairly early last night because I knew we had a service day the next day and I wanted to be well rested for a hard day's work. I snuggled up in my bed, read some of my book and fell into a deep sleep.
Lauren bursts through our door frantically, which is not unusual because she often serves as a late wake-up call to Lacey and I when we oversleep. "Lacey! Ashton! Ya'll overslept! Everyone's waiting downstairs for ya'll for the Sunrise Devo! Get ready!" Lacey quickly sits up, stressing out. She looks at her phone for the time. "I can't believe we overslept. Crap! Crap! Man. I set the alarm!" I am in a daze-- nothing about this situation makes sense to me.
"I have no idea what you are talking about!" I sleepily grumble, not moving. Lauren explains to me that Captain announced it on the bus on the way back from Athens. They always have a sunrise devo at the beach on the day before the day of service. (Such a Harding-esque activity..it sort of made sense to my tired brain.) My lethargic brain thinks back to me cutting up on the bus while he was at the microphone. The one time I don't pay attention I miss something important. Not making very much sense in the morning, I exclaim, "I have never heard about this in my life!" "Captain is so mad right now. He is yelling. Ya'll better get downstairs!" Lauren urges. "This is the most retarded thing I have ever heard of!" I exclaim as I attempt to put shoes on and a jacket. I look for my lipgloss, but I can't find it anywhere which makes me even more distraught.
"Are you bringing your Bible?" Lacey asks. "You can't stinkin' read in the dark anyway!" I snap. I mumble some more under my breath as I make my exit out the door. I take a few steps and I see the faces of about 6 girls. "April Fools!" they shout in unison as I see the sly grin on Lauren's face. Turns out, Lacey was in on it too and had only been pretending to be asleep as to make it more realistic. Turns out it was 2:30 a.m.! No wonder I was so out of it. This account is based on the fact that Alana was recording it. I take no responsibility for the grouchy grumblings of my 2:30 a.m. wake-up call. I think anyone would do the same. I couldn't be mad though because I have to give credit where its due. Haha. I had a hard time falling back asleep though because apparently the dogs were laughing at their cruel joke as well because they howled all night long as if to say, "Sunrise devotional. Haha! They sure got you!"
We had a service day from 10:00-4:00 with a break for lunch. The first half of the day I picked up trash along the street and near the school. While picking up trash, some of the kids were at recess and called us over to talk to them. They tried out their English and asked us what we were doing. We said that we were picking up all their trash and they thanked us. Before we left them, I said, "No more trash, right?" They shook their heads enthusiastically. "No more trash!" Maybe I made a difference.
The second half of the day I planted flowers. I mixed new soil in with the old and loosened up the dirt with a shovel. We put in some pretty flowers-- I can't remember the name-- but they spread like ivy except in colorful blooms. We were pretty dirty after it was all over.
I took a nap to recover from my sleep-depriving joke, woke up for supper and played some volleyball outside. Captain took us all out for icecream tonight for all our hard work today-- 2 scoops! It was fantastic! :-)
We worked on free travel tonight, which is quite daunting. I wish there were pretty little free travel packets you could pick up and everything was already laid out for you. People say that takes the fun out of it. Yeah, I just hate when people plan things for me, things that normally cause me to want to pull my hair out. Don't you just hate that? Haha. I know-- the adventure comes in the mishaps and independent feeling you get from picking 13 euro hostels that you share with a creeper and an old guy with body odor. Well, it's about curfew so I better leave you! I hope you weren't too fooled on this very special day and if you were-- be thankful that people love you enough to take the time to trick you. If pranks reveal love, I have felt more loved on this trip than I have in a long time. :-)
Lauren bursts through our door frantically, which is not unusual because she often serves as a late wake-up call to Lacey and I when we oversleep. "Lacey! Ashton! Ya'll overslept! Everyone's waiting downstairs for ya'll for the Sunrise Devo! Get ready!" Lacey quickly sits up, stressing out. She looks at her phone for the time. "I can't believe we overslept. Crap! Crap! Man. I set the alarm!" I am in a daze-- nothing about this situation makes sense to me.
"I have no idea what you are talking about!" I sleepily grumble, not moving. Lauren explains to me that Captain announced it on the bus on the way back from Athens. They always have a sunrise devo at the beach on the day before the day of service. (Such a Harding-esque activity..it sort of made sense to my tired brain.) My lethargic brain thinks back to me cutting up on the bus while he was at the microphone. The one time I don't pay attention I miss something important. Not making very much sense in the morning, I exclaim, "I have never heard about this in my life!" "Captain is so mad right now. He is yelling. Ya'll better get downstairs!" Lauren urges. "This is the most retarded thing I have ever heard of!" I exclaim as I attempt to put shoes on and a jacket. I look for my lipgloss, but I can't find it anywhere which makes me even more distraught.
"Are you bringing your Bible?" Lacey asks. "You can't stinkin' read in the dark anyway!" I snap. I mumble some more under my breath as I make my exit out the door. I take a few steps and I see the faces of about 6 girls. "April Fools!" they shout in unison as I see the sly grin on Lauren's face. Turns out, Lacey was in on it too and had only been pretending to be asleep as to make it more realistic. Turns out it was 2:30 a.m.! No wonder I was so out of it. This account is based on the fact that Alana was recording it. I take no responsibility for the grouchy grumblings of my 2:30 a.m. wake-up call. I think anyone would do the same. I couldn't be mad though because I have to give credit where its due. Haha. I had a hard time falling back asleep though because apparently the dogs were laughing at their cruel joke as well because they howled all night long as if to say, "Sunrise devotional. Haha! They sure got you!"
We had a service day from 10:00-4:00 with a break for lunch. The first half of the day I picked up trash along the street and near the school. While picking up trash, some of the kids were at recess and called us over to talk to them. They tried out their English and asked us what we were doing. We said that we were picking up all their trash and they thanked us. Before we left them, I said, "No more trash, right?" They shook their heads enthusiastically. "No more trash!" Maybe I made a difference.
The second half of the day I planted flowers. I mixed new soil in with the old and loosened up the dirt with a shovel. We put in some pretty flowers-- I can't remember the name-- but they spread like ivy except in colorful blooms. We were pretty dirty after it was all over.
I took a nap to recover from my sleep-depriving joke, woke up for supper and played some volleyball outside. Captain took us all out for icecream tonight for all our hard work today-- 2 scoops! It was fantastic! :-)
We worked on free travel tonight, which is quite daunting. I wish there were pretty little free travel packets you could pick up and everything was already laid out for you. People say that takes the fun out of it. Yeah, I just hate when people plan things for me, things that normally cause me to want to pull my hair out. Don't you just hate that? Haha. I know-- the adventure comes in the mishaps and independent feeling you get from picking 13 euro hostels that you share with a creeper and an old guy with body odor. Well, it's about curfew so I better leave you! I hope you weren't too fooled on this very special day and if you were-- be thankful that people love you enough to take the time to trick you. If pranks reveal love, I have felt more loved on this trip than I have in a long time. :-)
Monday, March 31, 2008
Good 'Ol Museums
After classes, chapel and lunch we headed to the Athens Museum. DiMy made a scavenger hunt sheet to keep us occupied and they set us free in groups to find all the objects listed. Being on a mission made it go quicker. Without freely exploring, however, I vaguely remember what I saw. I am one of those girls that gets great joy out of checking something off a list. I will honestly write "Check off this item" on a sheet of paper just to feel that satisfaction that results when that pencil makes that small dip and dramatically flares up at an angle. Check! Even better is drawing a line through it, erasing the stress from your memory. I always get cracked up at Lauren because her checklists are quite humorous. She will put "play volleyball today" on a sheet of paper and she will have other reminders up and down her hands, arms and legs..okay, maybe just hands. Somehow we always seem to check off "play volleyball" but we neglect homework and laundry..hmm...go figure!
In the museum, I did enjoy the gold jewelry from the Mycenean period and just the jewelry in general. A lot of it I would honestly still wear today. Lots of browns and turquoises, my favorites! I also found the huge head and arm of Zeus very fascinating. The arm was this massive stone, with defined muscle and a clenched fist. Its size reminded me of the Ramses II statue in Memphis that was so massive. I also loved the statue of Zeus/Poseidon (they're not really sure which one it is.) He is so detailed, every muscle you're supposed to have he had and he had his arms in the air like he was throwing a spear. He was kind of handsome. I'm not going to lie. Since their statues were their ideal forms of the human body, did people work out trying to be like them? I mean-- I do hundreds of ab crunches in vain trying to look like Jessica Alba. Did guys back then hit the gym saying, "Man, I'd do anything to look like Zeus-- the one at the temple. I've been working out for months now trying to get his six-pack."
I also saw the famous Mask of Agamemnon, which was neat since we have studied about him and took a trip to Mycenae. We also saw the Linear B tablets. Maybe I'm just tired-- but those are the highlights. I might add more later if I have an epiphany during the night. Haha.
I dreamed that I was in the Athens Philharmonic marching band last night and Tony was purposely trying to sabotage our performance. I was almost in tears as I begged him not to ruin things! Haha. I guess I really do miss marching band. :-)
I am trying to sign up for classes for next fall and it is scary. I'm fixing to graduate. Eek. I am hoping that everything will work out and I will graduate on time. We are also trying to finish last minute projects and plan for free travel. I feel like I am not helping much with the free travel thing-- I am just not inclined in the areas of travel. (It took me years to figure out how to make it around podunk Paragould..and I still have left some land unexplored..) I am trying to do my best-- which usually involves finding hostels and other simple tasks. Lacey has this neat little itinerary on her computer-- she is so creative and saavy in things like that! :-)
Well, take care! Love you guys!
In the museum, I did enjoy the gold jewelry from the Mycenean period and just the jewelry in general. A lot of it I would honestly still wear today. Lots of browns and turquoises, my favorites! I also found the huge head and arm of Zeus very fascinating. The arm was this massive stone, with defined muscle and a clenched fist. Its size reminded me of the Ramses II statue in Memphis that was so massive. I also loved the statue of Zeus/Poseidon (they're not really sure which one it is.) He is so detailed, every muscle you're supposed to have he had and he had his arms in the air like he was throwing a spear. He was kind of handsome. I'm not going to lie. Since their statues were their ideal forms of the human body, did people work out trying to be like them? I mean-- I do hundreds of ab crunches in vain trying to look like Jessica Alba. Did guys back then hit the gym saying, "Man, I'd do anything to look like Zeus-- the one at the temple. I've been working out for months now trying to get his six-pack."
I also saw the famous Mask of Agamemnon, which was neat since we have studied about him and took a trip to Mycenae. We also saw the Linear B tablets. Maybe I'm just tired-- but those are the highlights. I might add more later if I have an epiphany during the night. Haha.
I dreamed that I was in the Athens Philharmonic marching band last night and Tony was purposely trying to sabotage our performance. I was almost in tears as I begged him not to ruin things! Haha. I guess I really do miss marching band. :-)
I am trying to sign up for classes for next fall and it is scary. I'm fixing to graduate. Eek. I am hoping that everything will work out and I will graduate on time. We are also trying to finish last minute projects and plan for free travel. I feel like I am not helping much with the free travel thing-- I am just not inclined in the areas of travel. (It took me years to figure out how to make it around podunk Paragould..and I still have left some land unexplored..) I am trying to do my best-- which usually involves finding hostels and other simple tasks. Lacey has this neat little itinerary on her computer-- she is so creative and saavy in things like that! :-)
Well, take care! Love you guys!
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Incense Headaches and Passing the Torch
My super long day started with a trip to the Greek Orthodox church service at 7:30 a.m. Our Humanities 201 class went as a "cultural experience." I sleepily stumbled into the church, but my senses were violently awakened. No sleeping in Greek Orthodox services, my friend! The smell of weird candles fills the church, as each member buys a candle and lights it. I can deal with candles. The smelly part comes later. We spread out a little bit and sit in different places as not to take someone's spot by clumping together in a mass group.
Two orators begin to sing/chant ancient Greek to each other. Calling back and forth, it seemed to be somewhat of a contest. The guy on the right side was a younger man with a stronger, more professional voice. The one on the left tried to keep up, but he was an older man with a weak voice that got slightly off key at times. Because I couldn't understand it, the melodic chanting almost swayed me into sleep. Two large priests stayed back in the holy room separated by a curtain, but you could still see that they were up to something. One of them looked like Santa Claus, with a sparkly white robe with a cross on the back and the other looked like Hagrid from Harry Potter with a large robe with Jesus' face printed on it. I, in no way to be mean, honestly wondered how they were going to fit through the little door that led to the common area. They were probably the fattest men I have ever seen-- and I'm not just saying that. The time comes for them to do their part of the ceremony and they come out with a silver book, which I'm guessing is their Bible. All of the people line up and kiss the book and the priest's hands. Speaking of kissing objects, when they all walk in-- they kiss all the icons around the church. There is probably not one inch of wallspace that is not decorated with the face of a saint. Jesus is painted on the dome of the church and when you look up there are doves flying back and forth in the dome!
Santa and Hagrid's second job was to bring out the incense. I have gone blank on the name of the percussion instrument, but it was a string of bells that the priest would shake around the audience and incense would emerge in puffs of smoke. He did this several times and I got a headache from the smell of it. That was about the highlight of the service; when we left, they were making a big spectacle out of a wreath with roses in it. They walked around a table three times and we left before I saw what the spectacle was about. It was interesting, that's for sure.
We ate at TGI Fridays for Danielle's birthday. It was delicious! I had the best Oreo icecream dessert ever! I spent quite a bit on food, but sometimes it's worth it to splurge. I finished up some souvenir shopping in the Plaka since we only have one more Sunday left! Isn't that hard to believe?!
At 3:00 we went to the Olympic stadium to see the passing of the torch from Greece to Beijing (where they are being held). It started with the marching in of the guard, who were decked out in their peasant type outfits, tights and fancy shoes with a huge fluff ball on the top of them. They kick their leg high in the air and follow with a dramatic raising of their right arm. You hear a loud clack from their shoes and seconds later, their arm dramatically shoots up in the air. (On a side note, Mandy and I marched just like them down the street when they were marching back to their post. It was quite a ways down the street! Lauren was so close to them that she could hear a guy breathe.)
After the soldiers marched in, I heard a familiar sound. A sound that caused a stirring in my soul and caused my heart to beat slightly faster. You guessed it. The Athens Philharmonic Marching Band!!! You don't realize how much you miss a certain feeling until you haven't felt it for quite some time. Hearing the crisp, sharp sound of a good march made me swell up with pride even though it wasn't even my anthem they were playing. They played while the President came in and played the Beijing and Greek national anthem. The true excitement came as we saw an athletic lady running in with the torch. She was going quite slower than I pictured, but I guess too fast of a pace would destroy the flame and make the important moment over in seconds. She lit the altar-type thing and it ignited into a huge burst. Everyone clapped. There were a lot of speeches made and the torch was handed over to the Beijing Olympic director. He then made a speech and as we all know, Chinese people and amplifiers do not mix well. I felt like I bonded with the Greek people on one thing: we both found it hilarious that he screamed in the abrasive Chinese language. Someone take away the microphone!
These priestesses did this strange dance around the torch and that was part of the program that I didn't quite understand. Pretty women in togas carrying olive branches added that Greek touch to the festivities, I suppose. :-)
It was neat to be a part of a history that only comes around every few years. To be where the games originated was such a neat experience! When I watch the games in August, I can remember that I saw the torch being passed!
It's been a tiring day-- I am going to do some homework and hit the sack as fast as I can! We have a long day tomorrow-- after class, we're visiting the archaelogical museum in Athens.
Love ya'll! Thanks for reading!
Two orators begin to sing/chant ancient Greek to each other. Calling back and forth, it seemed to be somewhat of a contest. The guy on the right side was a younger man with a stronger, more professional voice. The one on the left tried to keep up, but he was an older man with a weak voice that got slightly off key at times. Because I couldn't understand it, the melodic chanting almost swayed me into sleep. Two large priests stayed back in the holy room separated by a curtain, but you could still see that they were up to something. One of them looked like Santa Claus, with a sparkly white robe with a cross on the back and the other looked like Hagrid from Harry Potter with a large robe with Jesus' face printed on it. I, in no way to be mean, honestly wondered how they were going to fit through the little door that led to the common area. They were probably the fattest men I have ever seen-- and I'm not just saying that. The time comes for them to do their part of the ceremony and they come out with a silver book, which I'm guessing is their Bible. All of the people line up and kiss the book and the priest's hands. Speaking of kissing objects, when they all walk in-- they kiss all the icons around the church. There is probably not one inch of wallspace that is not decorated with the face of a saint. Jesus is painted on the dome of the church and when you look up there are doves flying back and forth in the dome!
Santa and Hagrid's second job was to bring out the incense. I have gone blank on the name of the percussion instrument, but it was a string of bells that the priest would shake around the audience and incense would emerge in puffs of smoke. He did this several times and I got a headache from the smell of it. That was about the highlight of the service; when we left, they were making a big spectacle out of a wreath with roses in it. They walked around a table three times and we left before I saw what the spectacle was about. It was interesting, that's for sure.
We ate at TGI Fridays for Danielle's birthday. It was delicious! I had the best Oreo icecream dessert ever! I spent quite a bit on food, but sometimes it's worth it to splurge. I finished up some souvenir shopping in the Plaka since we only have one more Sunday left! Isn't that hard to believe?!
At 3:00 we went to the Olympic stadium to see the passing of the torch from Greece to Beijing (where they are being held). It started with the marching in of the guard, who were decked out in their peasant type outfits, tights and fancy shoes with a huge fluff ball on the top of them. They kick their leg high in the air and follow with a dramatic raising of their right arm. You hear a loud clack from their shoes and seconds later, their arm dramatically shoots up in the air. (On a side note, Mandy and I marched just like them down the street when they were marching back to their post. It was quite a ways down the street! Lauren was so close to them that she could hear a guy breathe.)
After the soldiers marched in, I heard a familiar sound. A sound that caused a stirring in my soul and caused my heart to beat slightly faster. You guessed it. The Athens Philharmonic Marching Band!!! You don't realize how much you miss a certain feeling until you haven't felt it for quite some time. Hearing the crisp, sharp sound of a good march made me swell up with pride even though it wasn't even my anthem they were playing. They played while the President came in and played the Beijing and Greek national anthem. The true excitement came as we saw an athletic lady running in with the torch. She was going quite slower than I pictured, but I guess too fast of a pace would destroy the flame and make the important moment over in seconds. She lit the altar-type thing and it ignited into a huge burst. Everyone clapped. There were a lot of speeches made and the torch was handed over to the Beijing Olympic director. He then made a speech and as we all know, Chinese people and amplifiers do not mix well. I felt like I bonded with the Greek people on one thing: we both found it hilarious that he screamed in the abrasive Chinese language. Someone take away the microphone!
These priestesses did this strange dance around the torch and that was part of the program that I didn't quite understand. Pretty women in togas carrying olive branches added that Greek touch to the festivities, I suppose. :-)
It was neat to be a part of a history that only comes around every few years. To be where the games originated was such a neat experience! When I watch the games in August, I can remember that I saw the torch being passed!
It's been a tiring day-- I am going to do some homework and hit the sack as fast as I can! We have a long day tomorrow-- after class, we're visiting the archaelogical museum in Athens.
Love ya'll! Thanks for reading!
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