Feeling Tired in Vienna

Today is Sunday and I am feeling tired. We have been very busy since arriving in Vienna, and I have a test looming on the horizon, this Thursday to be exact. Along with feeling busy and a little stressed I think all the traveling is starting to catch up with me. I have felt home sick this past week, but found a cheap way to call home so I have been able to talk to my mom and Katie a couple of times this weeks, so that has been very nice.

Enough about my feelings, I will get to what everyone really cares about, what I have seen and what I have been doing. In regard to my last post, the opera house we saw the barber of seville at was the Vienna State Opera, or the Wiener Staatsoper. A quick note, in German Vienna is Wien, so Wiener would be Viennian.

These last couple of days have been really fun, I have been seeing a lot of really interesting things. On Thursday we went to the Kunsthistoriches Museum and saw a lot of art and some artist presentations. One thing I am starting to feel about art museums is that they are very intemidating. All these art museums I go to have so many wonderful works that I get overwhelmed by it all. My friend Ryan sees the so called highlight pieces and thats about it, which is a pretty good strategy. So on Thursday we saw the highlights and then left.

On Friday we went to the Belvedere Palace. The palace is built in the baroque style, which means that everything is extremely grand and dramatic. Austria is especially known for its abudance of baroque architecture. I wasnt sure what exactly we were going to see at the Belvedere, but it turned out to be another art museum. Outside the palace there are huge stately lawns, similar to those around Versailles, but not as large and grand. Inside there was a large number of works by Gustav Klimt, who is an Austrian painter and a part of the Viennan Art Nouveau movement. The work I liked the most by Klimt was The Kiss, which I am sure many of you have seen before. It is of a man and a woman embracing, antcipating a kiss. I had seen pictures of the work before, but seeing the work itself is completely different. Klimt uses a lot of metallic paints in this painting that dont capture well in a photo. I really like the texture and patterns of the cloak in the painting and the ground the couple is standing on. The gallery in the Belvedere was smaller and more managable, so I saw most of the works there.

Saturday was a great day. We had an all day excursion into the Austrian countryside. The countryside was beautiful, filled with lush green rolling hills and forests. Our first stop was the Melk Abbey, which is a world famous monastic site. The Melk Abbey is an Austrian historic Beneditcine abbey, founded in 1089. The current abbey building was built from 1702 to 1736 in the baroque style by Jakob Prandtauer. The abbey has survived both the dissolution under Emperor Joseph II, when many Austrian abbeys were seized and dissolved by the state and also the Nazi anschluss (takeover) of Austria. Currently there are only monks in a small part of the abby, the rest is a school and open to daily tours, which we went on. The building was huge and sits on a rock outcroping above the town of Melk, overlooking the Danube River. After touring the abbey we went on a two hour river cruise of the Danube. In a sense it was like taking a step back in time. As we made our way down the river, there were several towns on the side of the river that looked very old. All of these towns were centered around a massive cathedral or church. Also there were several huge castles or estates up in the hills as well. The weather was beautiful and the river cruise was a lot of fun, aside from being crowded. We got off the boat in the little town of Dümstein and spent a couple of hours there. The town was very old, like something out of a movie, almost idealic. I sat with some friends on a stone wall on the outside of a vineyard and talked and soaked up the sun. The weather was amazing all day. After sitting and talking to a while we decided to go explore a few of the shops, which mainly sold choclate and alcohol made in the town. I had some gellato with some friends and then six of us split a bottle of local red wine. I dont really like red wine, or wine in general, but I know enough to know that this wine was not very good. It was pretty weak and bland and had very little flavor. Then we all got back on the coach and came back to Vienna.

Today I woke up and went to Catholic mass at Augustinerkirche. I have never been to a mass before, but the Anglican church services I attended helped prepare me for what the mass would be like. Unfortunately all the spoken word was in German, and all the singing was in Latin or Greek, so I was pretty confused for most of the service. I tried to make the best out of the situation and turn my thoughts towards God and pray during the service, but I found my concentration to be fleeting. So I spent most of the service listening and wondering in my own thoughts. In some ways it was nice to be in a holy place and just have time to think, but in other ways I felt disrespectful because I wasnt submitting myself fully to worship. I am going to have to figure out what to do because the rest of the churches we go to probably will not speak English. Next time I think I will bring my Bible.

After church Ryan Z and I got a hot dog. In Vienna the street vendors sell hot dogs inside a bagette with katchup, and they are delicious. After that delicious lunch, which Katie would have loved, we went to the Albertina, which is another art museum. The museum had an exhibit called From Monet to Picasso, so I was excited to see some Monets and Picassos, but mostly Monets. We were a bit disappointed upon arrival to the museum. There were some Monets and Picassos, but there were a lot more works by other artists. I think the exhibit showed Monet´s style and Picasso´s style, and everything else that fell in between and was associated with the two. There were also some good impressionist paintings, especially some pieces by Paul Signac. I really like the neo-impressionist style, where they paint with little dots of individual colors. There were several works in this museum in which the painter employed this style that I enjoyed, but there were also some pieces that looked like they were done by a nine year old with a box of crayons. Maybe I am uneducated or shallow, but I dont like art work that looks like my cousin LT could make with his markers and colored pencils.

Anyway, one thing that Ryan Z and I were discussing about this semeter that we really enjoy is how often we move from city to city. I know earlier I said I am feeling a little tired of travling all the time, but it is really nice. It is like I always have something to be excited about, and when I start to feel content with a city, like I have seen a lot of the touristy things, I get to go to another city. I think I am beginning to understand why certain people in my life love to travel so much and the excitement associated with it.

Tomorrow we leave for Prague, which is in the Czech Republic. The trip is no where near as long as last Mondays journey and we should be in sometime in the afternoon. Supposedly the hotel we are staying in is top notch, so that should be fun. I think I am over my traveling sickness, but keep me in your prayers just in case, and also the safety of our group as we travel to a new city.

One thing I am really missing about being home right now is sports. I cant believe how exciting the world of sports is right now, and I am missing it. For one thing, the Rockies have a shot at making the playoffs. By tomorrow that excitment will either be fully realized, or completely dead. But in every year I can remember since the Rockies have been around, their playoff chances have been eliminated by, oh, sometime in July. This year it is coming down to the wire and I would love to be able to watch those games. Also, yesterday CU upset Number 3 ranked Oklahoma. I almost started screaming with excitement here in the internet cafe. There were no sports fans around me, so I restrained myself, but it seems like CU may be on the upswing.

That is all I have for now, I will try to post some more photos maybe from prague. Please keep me and the group I am with in your prayers. I miss you all.
Love and blessings,
Mikey

Vienna, Austria

I have now been in Vienna since Monday evening. Before we came here, on Sunday we went up into the mountains outside of Sarajevo to a Bosniak village. A Bosniak is a Bosnian muslim, and the village was very traditional. there is the main village, and then the summer homes. lower on the moutain is the main village, where the people live most of the year, except the summer. higher up on the mountain pass was the summer village. during the summer the people of the village move up to these houses to farm and raise their livestock and prepare for the winter. the houses in this summer village were some of the few remaining bosniak summer villages after the war. during the war the serbs destroyed most of the traditional bosniak houses and buildings, but these few in the summer village were spared. the story we were told was that the son of one of the army generals was curied by someone who worked in the mosque of the village, so the summer homes were not destroyed. the homes in the lower village were destroyed during the war and have been rebuilt since. while at the village we were parpared a traditional bosnian meal. i didnt eat much because i felt sick. then after the meal the people of the village performed a traditional bosniak courtship dance for our group. it was interesting to see how things were done in this part of the world. according to our guides, they would do this simple courthship dance for hours with neighboring villages, and one typically met their spouse this way. at least you would know if your spouse had some good moves or not.

monday brought a long bus ride to vienna. along with breaks and stops for lunch and dinner, we were on the road for about twelve hours. luckily i didnt get sick, not even once. but i also took medicine for motion sickness, which made me sleep a lot.

so we have been in vienna pretty much since tuesday, because we didnt really do anything on monday night. vienna is a beautiful town. there are many buildings from the hapsburg dynasty, and these buildings are very impressive. a lot of the buildings feature romanesque and baroque architecture, and art nouveau has also made an impact on parts of the city. these are all things i am learning about in my art history class. vienna also has the last spanish riding school in the world. i have walked by the building several times, and always know i am near it because it smells like a big petting zoo.

some interesting things i have done since being in vienna. wednesday was a fun day. in the morning we went to the UN complex here. the complex is massive, it is almost like a city within a city. the tour was okay, we didnt really get to see much of the complex, but afterwards we had a presentation by a media officer for the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency. The presentation was very interesting and I learned a lot about the IAEAs role in the world. the are essentially an international consulting firm for nuclear energy and provide nations with recommendations and the best guidelines for nuclear energy. they also monitor nuclear materials around the world, but not weapons, just strictly materials. i am giving a debate on nuclear energy on friday, and i am arguing against nuclear energy, so i have been doing a lot of reading recently on arguments against nuclear energy. it was interesting to have a lecture given by this woman, who was more bias towards nuclear energy. the IAEA, on top of monitoring materials world wide and giving suggustions helps supply useful nuclear technology to countries who are signed on the the NPT, the nuclear nonproliferation treaty. as part of the treaty there are five nations who have declared nuclear weapon capabilities, the US, great britain, russia, china, and france, and 170some nations who are have signed the treaty but dont have nuclear weapons. north korea signed the NPT, but claimed they have backed out, which has turned into an international legal argument. india and pakistan have nuclear capabilities, and are not part of the NPT, and iran is suspected of having nuclear capabilities, but is also not part of the NPT. also, israel is part of the NPT, but is said to have secret nuclear capabilities, but of course no one makes a big deal out of it because the US and Israel are buddy buddy. anyway, it is interesting, and a little scary how the situation in north korea and iran currently are, especially since both nations are more or less anti-US and may have nuclear capabilities. on top of that, the IAEA and their inspectors have no real power, and countries can kick out the IAEA inspectors whenever they want, like North Korea did in the past couple of years. in my opinion, nuclear energy is more trouble than it is worth, especially in in the way in which the international scene has changed since 9-11. the materials from nuclear reactors can be converted into weapons grade material, granted a country has the necessary technology. it would be terrifying if those capabilites were to fall in the hands of the wrong person. on the other hand, nuclear materials are used to a wide range of helpful uses, from medical devices to irradiating food, so the word nuclear doesnt always need to be associated with destruction and the end of the world, but nuclear materials need to be carefully safeguarded, regardless, and the IAEA helps with overseeing the security of materials. this was even more interesting to me because i spent a lot of time this week preparing for a debate on nuclear energy. we had our debate this morning and we argued that nuclear energy in europe presents too big of an environmental and human risk, and should be phased out in europe as soon as possible.

also on wednesday we went to see an opera, i beleive at the burgtheater. the opera we saw was the barber of seville, which is a famous opera. some of the music has been used in loony toon cartoons, so i recongnized a lot of it. one downside was that our seats were not very good, and from where i was sitting i could see only a third of the stage. it was better if i stood up, and luckily no one was behind us, so i did stand up for a lot of the production. the music was amazing. it was fun to watch the musicians play while the performers sang.

i am about to leave to go to dinner, so i will stop posting here. i will write another update about the other things i have done on sunday. i am doing well, not sick anymore which is good. thank you all for keeping me in your prayers.

love and blessings,
mikey

Feeling Better In Bosnia

Before I say anything else, I have added some photos.

Today was the first day everyone was starting to feel almost better, which was good. We had a lecture in the morning from Tim Clancey, who is the guy who runs the tour group we are using here in Bosnia. The group is called Green Visions, I think, and they focus on eco-tourism and sustainable development. He gave us a brief history of the war that started here in 1992. It was very interesting, but also very confusing because there are a ton of sides and people involved. After that we went on a walking tour of the town, it was the first time I felt like I was actually in the town because our hotel is a little bit out of the downtown area. Then we had a group lunch, and I didn't eat much because I still wasn't feeling great. After lunch we drove out to the airport area because there is a tunnel there that was used to smuggle supplies in from the airport into the city while the city was under siege from 1992-1995. We got to walk through a small section of the tunnel, which was pretty crazy. The tunnel is 800 meters long and less than 4 feet high. They also showed a video of some footage from the war, mostly buildings being bombed and what not. After that we came back to the hotel for two more lectures. The first was given by a Bosnian Muslim who was hard to follow. He had a lot to say but was pretty unorganized. At the end there was sometime for questions and answers, and that was good. He had some intelligent things to say in regards to fundamentalist Muslims, especially people like bin Ladin, and how there is a responsibility on the part of the Muslim community,but also on the part of the American community for his and other extremists actions, especially bin Ladin and his cronies who were trained by the US. He also talked about how military intervention is not always the best idea, and at times drives people to more extreme actions. After that was had a lecture from a sociologist on the social science of peace and reconciliation in Bosnia. To be honest it was hard to follow because the lecture was very research oriented. Overall it was a great day, especially because I felt close to 100% for most of the day, and everyone is on the upside of being sick.

One thing that really struck me today while being out was the amount of damage still visible by the war. On many of the buildings around town there is still evidence on mortar fire and bullet holes and damage from explosions. I feel that it would be a depressing, constant reminder to walk around and and constantly see the damage in all these buildings. Perhaps there is no money to make repairs, or they have possibly been purposely left as a reminder, but if I were someone who suffered through the war, I would not want to be reminded in that manner daily.

Tomorrow we have some free time in the morning, so I am hoping to poke around Sarajevo a little bit and maybe by a present for a certain someone. In the afternoon we are giong to make our way up into the mountains and see some things up there. Hopefully I won't get sick on the bus. Then on Monday we depart for a long coach ride to Vienna, Austria. I think the ride is about 15 hours, so I am planning on getting some reading done.

If you think about it, pray for Bosnia. Most specifically, pray for the people of the country, that they can more towards peace and reconcilliation; pray for the politicians of the city, that they can begin to reach agreements and help move Bosnia away from its past and towards a brighter future. Bosnia is a beautiful country that has faced tragedy in the recent past and it would be an even bigger tragedy if that past ruined the countries future.
Love and blessings,
Mikey

Sick in Bosnia

Last week was nothing compared to this week. I will start from Monday.

On Monday we left London early in the morning to catch a flight to Dubrovnik, Croatia. I got sick on the coach and threw up, again, which was no fun. Throwing up is bad, but throwing up on the coach in front of 40 some people is even worse. Luckily everyone on the trip is so wonderful and loving and tried to comfort me. We were also running pretty late for our flight because the traffic from downtown London to London-Gatwik was insane, but we made it on time. The flight lasted close to 3 hours, and luckily I didn't feel sick after my coach incident. We arrived in Dubrovnik in the late afternoon and were greeted by the guides who will be with us during our time in Bosnia. Originally we were supposed to stay a night in Dubrovnik, but they couldn't find a hotel bit enough for us, so instead we just spent a few hours in Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is a gorgeous town, located on the Adriatic Sea. The old town is surrounded by a wall which was originally built to protect the city from invaders. At its high point the city rivaled Venice, but went on the decline after a crisis in Mediterranean shipping and a terrible earthquake in 1667. We went on a walking tour of the city and after the tour I went swimming in the Adriatic with my friends Ryan Zoradi, Bo Mangels, Charley Cullen, Brandon Woods, and Eric Jen. The water felt incredible and it was pretty hot outside. After spending some time in Dubrovnik we loaded back onto the coach and made our way to Trebinje, Bosnia, where we stayed the night.

The next morning we woke up and loaded back onto the coach to make our way to Rujiste, Bosnia. On the way we stopped at a Tvrdos Monastery, the town of Blagaj for lunch and to visit a Dervish Tekija (a mosque), and the town of Mostar. Mostar was a cool town with a famous bridge that went over a river that cuts through the middle of the town. At the bridge there were drivers who would jump off the bridge in the water for 20 euros, but no one really wanted to pay that much to see them jump. We went on a walking tour of the town and then did a little shopping at the bizarres along the walkways in the town. After Mostar we made our way up into the mountains to stay the night at Rujiste, Bosnia. It was much colder in the mountains. Seven guys, myself included, didn't actually stay in the hotel itself, but a separate chalet. It seemed cool, until we arrived at the place, which turned out to be a spider infested dump. Within the first 20 minutes of being there I counted close to 10 of the biggest, ugliest spiders I have ever seen in my life. I was not excited, but managed to get some sleep.

On Wednesday we left for Konjic, where we were going to do some white water rafting. I got sick again and threw up on the bus, which has turned into a terrible tradition. I did feel much better after throwing up, and we made it to Konjic around noon. It was cold outside and no one was super excited to go rafting. We were provided with wet-suits and booties, but the water was still freezing and it was cloudy and cold outside as well. Bosnia is actually a very beautiful country, which surprised me. I guess I imagined an ugly country ravished by the war, but we rafted down a beautiful canyon. Rafting was okay, but our guide didn't speak any English, which made for an interesting trip. Also, the trip lasted for about 5 hours, which was maybe an hour or two too long, given the weather. But we all made it though and then got on the coach to make our way to Sarajevo. We arrived in Sarajevo sometime in the evening, had a group dinner, and went to bed.

Thursday morning brought a whole slew sick kids. More than half of the group got sick, with food poison-like symptoms. As a result, all our our lectures except for one were cancelled. Luckily I did not get sick on Thursday, and felt great for most of the day. The lecture was given by a man named Mark Wheeler, who has been involved in the situation in Bosnia for a long time. He gave a fairly pessimistic lecture on Bosnia's future, essentially concluding that the future here looks bleak and the country could be headed towards dissolving. Currently Bosnia is trying to gain membership in NATO and the European Union, but there are several major road blocks that the politicians here cannot come to an agreement on, mainly police reform and education reform. Later in the evening we had a discussion with Dr. Susan Penska, who is a professor at Westmont and it working in Bosnia this year on a fellowship from the US government. Dr. Penska's take was less pessimistic, but still acknowledged that Bosnia is in a dire situation. During the day on the Thursday we had a group lunch, but less than half of the people attended because everyone was in their rooms feeling miserable. Later on Thursday night I started to feel sick with an upset stomach, which bothered me most of the night.

Today, Friday, I woke up and felt miserable. Luckily I didn't throw up, but I spent most of the day feeling sick. There was an excursion scheduled, but most of us didn't go because we felt too sick. I spent the day sleeping and watching a movie with everyone who felt sick and reading. Being sick in Bosnia is no fun and I think everyone is ready to move on the the next country. Luckily we leave for Vienna on Monday.

I am doing alright, other than being sick in one form or another this week. Please pray that I do not get sick on the coach rides anymore, it is no fun the throw up in front of everyone. Also pray for the health of the group as a whole and pray for the situation in Bosnia. That's all I have for now.
Love and Blessings,
Mikey

Lively London

This week has been insanely busy.

Monday: class in the morning, followed by another trip to the national gallery to see five more artist presentations. because of all the presentations i had hardly anytime to see other works in the gallery, but i hope to make it back tomorrow. after the gallery i did some shopping with my friend brandon at a store called topshop, which is essentially the european equivalent of urban outfitters. on monday night we all had the privilege of seeing les miserables, or les miz. this was only the third musical i have seen in my life, but it will probably be the best. if you dont know the story of les miz, go look it up because i do not have the time to explain it here. in one word, the musical was epic. so many story lines were woven in to the overall plot, and yet they all flowed so seamlessly. the singing was incredible, and the acting was good as well. the production uses a rotating stage, which was used in some clever ways. if you ever have a chance to see a production of this musical, go see it, the story alone is enough to keep you entertained.

tuesday: more class in the morning, followed by a trip to the national museum in the afternoon. the national museum was a bit overwhelming. they have a multitude of artifacts, but only a few things we had learned about in class, so it was difficult to stay focused. they had more artifacts from ancient egypt, mummies and such, than i have ever seen. the most interesting thing in the museum's exhibit were the elgien marbles, which are large relief sculptures taking from the Parthenon in greece. there is a controversy over these marbles, with some saying they belong in greece where the Parthenon is. one of our professors said in 2004, around the time of Olympics in athens, the controversy around these marbles got very heated. after spending some time in the museum i went with some friends to see the london tower. at the london tower i saw the crown jewels, which were very impressive. in the collection is a 530 carat diamond, which was so big it almost looked fake. at the tower there was an exhibit on armour worn by knights and kings in englands history. we also saw were prisoners were tortured and the bloody tower, where two princes were supposedly murdered. after exploring the tower we walked across the tower bridge and ate at an asian fusion restaurant called wagamama, which was delicious.

wednesday: we had an all day excursion on wednesday. in the morning we stopped at coventry to see the coventry cathedral, which was bombed during the blitz in world war II. they have left the remains of the bombed out cathedral as a memorial. looking around these ruins was a very powerful experiences. next to the ruins they have built a new addition to the cathedral. i did not really like this cathedral. the inside reminded me of a house built in the 60s or 70s, with ugly wood paneling. since the bombing, coventry has been very involved in peace and reconciliation work around the world. much of the material for the new cathedral had been donated by countries, such as germany, canada, sweden, and norway. after coventry we went to stratford. while at stratford i saw the house where shakespeare was born. as a group we saw a production of twelve night, which was excellent. john lithgow, who was in the tv show third rock from the sun, played a part in the play and was very funny. twelve night is a comedy about mistaken identity and love. after the play we drove home and we were all very tired after spending the whole day out, but it was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of london for the day.

thursday: we had three classes on thursday, which was difficult, especially after our long day on Wednesday. we were supposed to see two galleries on Thursday, the Tate modern and the Tate Britain, but i only made it to the tate britain. the Tate Britain contains works done by British artists. it was much less crowded than the national gallery, which was nice. i didn't really know any of the artists in the gallery, but found some works that i liked anyway. on Thursday night i went with friends to see wicked, and it was not very good. i had heard good things from people who had seen it, but it turned out to be pretty cheesy and the acting was not very good. the lead, who was the wicked witch of the west, was good and had an amazing voice, but all the other actors in the musical were sub par. wicked is basically the prequel to the wizard of oz. it was interesting to see an interpretation on how the wizard of oz happened, but overall the musical just wasnt very good and i was upset i paid so much money to see it.

friday: class in the morning followed by a trip to Westminster abby in the afternoon. the abby was beautiful, edging on gaudy. i enjoyed seeing how england honors their royalty and national heros, it is much different than in the united states. there are so many monuments crammed into such a small space however, that it almost feels claustrophobic. we also attended evensong at the abby. there we heard the abby's mens and boys choir and they sang beautifully. it was hard to stay focused throughout the whole service, however, because for most of the time i didnt know what they were singing about, but it was still a good experience. after the evensong we had a group dinner at a weird restaurant ran by some italians who had a strict set of rules on dining, so that was interesting. after dinner some of went to a bar and then i went to bed.

today i slept in, which was amazing, and this afternoon we are all going to see the merchant of vience at the globe, which is exciting. we leave london on monday morning, so i dont think i will post from london again. my time here has been very busy but a lot of fun. london is a crazy city with a lot of different people. it has been fun riding the tube around town, going to shows and exploring. i think it will be a real shock when we go to bosnia on monday and leave the english speaking world, but i am excited to be someone new again. so far things havent been that terribly different because everyone speaks english and there is somewhat of an american influence present in the united kingom and ireland. please pray that our travels are safe and painless on monday.

love and blessings,
mikey

London, England

the last few days have been insanely busy, so i havent had a chance to update the blog until now. anyway, i will update starting from last wedneday. also, i am on an older computer at an internet cafe in england, so i wont be able to upload any pictures.

wednesday morning brought the elections for student officers for our trip, and i was elected as the male social chair, which basically means that i get together with the female social chair and plain social events throughout the semester, such as birthday celebrations, parties, and surprise events. wednesday afternoon we had the punting olympics, and more battling and splashing that the river cam has probably seen in a long time. the olympics started out as a race between two boats, but ended with a splashing war in which several of us, including bo and myself, ended up swimming in the cam. wednesday night we had our first party, a getting to know you party, which was a great success.

thursday we woke up and left cambridge for london. on the way to london we stopped by the stowe landscape garden, which is a perfect example of what happens when rich artisocrats have too much money on their hands. stowe garden is a bunch of land covered with buildings designed in the greek/roman style. we went on a walking tour of the garden, and our group didnt have a faculty member, so we were a little bit out of control. we arrived in london in the late afternoon, had a group dinner at the burger shack, and then a city report on london. after all of our required group activities i went out to explore the area around where we are staying at the london school of economics. i went out with charley, ryan newton, and brandon woods and we walked around the soho district for about an hour or so.

on friday we had two hours of class. after class i went with ryan newton, davis, and bo to buy tickets for a musical called avenue q. on friday afternoon we all visited the british imperial war museum, which had a lot of fascinating artifacts, vehicles, and exhibits on world war I and II. in the main room of the museum there were a large number of full sized replicas of tanks, planes, subs, and other equipment used in the world wars. it was interesting to see a war museum from a british perspective. many parts of both world wars were equally represented and i felt that it was much less patriotic or nationalistic than any museum or memorial in the united states would be. on friday night we went as a group to see a play called emperor jones by eugene o'neill. the play is about an african american man, brutus jones, who kills a man, goes to and escapes from prison, flees to the caribbean and sets himself up as emperor of an island. the play recounts his final hours on island as he tries to escape his former subjects who have turned on him. i enjoyed the play, and luckily it was pretty intense or else i may have fallen asleep during it.

on saturday we had an hour of class, which was kind of lame, but understandable because we are not on a typical schedule. in the afternoon we went to the national gallery. the national gallery was amazing. there are so many increbile works of art housed at the gallery. six people gave artists presentations at the gallery, so that made enjoying the gallery slightly difficult. i dont know if i have explained the artist presentations yet, so i will do that now. last spring we selected or were assigned an artist and over the summer we wrote a short biography on the artist and select a work of theirs to present while in europe. the presentation consists of given a brief biography of the artist and then explaining the painting, its significance, and where it fits in art history and history as a whole. after the presentations were complete i wondered around the gallery alone for 2 hours or so gazing at a large number of masterpieces. the gallery housed some impressive van goghs, and i particularly like the works "sunflowers" and "a wheatfield, with cypresses." there were also some incredible monets and other pieces whose creators names escape me. after spending time in the gallery i wondered home by myself, and walked around a major shopping area, but didnt see anything worthy buying. on saturday night i had indian food for dinner, which was a first. it was pretty good, but not something i would choose. after dinner we went to see avenue q, which was one of the funniest musicals i have ever seen, actually probably the funniest because i havent seen too many musicals in my life. anyway, avenue q is essentailly a version os seaseme street for adults, and with a very raunchy sense of humor. my friends and i all loved it. on saturday night we were supposed to meet up with friends to go dancing, but they never showed, so i ended up eating gummie bears and drinking juice while having a good talk with my friend bo.

today i went to st paul's cathedral. from the outside, st pauls looks more like a state capital building than a cathedral. on the inside, st pauls is gorgeous. the celling is covered in paintings of biblical scenes that are painted with a lot of metallic tones, espeically gold. the paintings are beautiful and were slightly distracting during the service. the service was incredible. i had the privilage of hearing the cathedrals boys and mens choir sing, and they were outstanding. attending service at this cathedral was a religious experience unlike any other i have ever had. additionally, the entire service was conducted by a woman, which i had never had before. it was a good break from every other church service i have ever attended before. after church i had lunch on the steps of the cathedral with some friends and then set out for adventure by myself. i walked to st james park and read and journaled for a couple of hours. from there i walked to the parliament building and big ben, then crossed the thames and walked along the thames to the mellenium bridge, where i crossed back over the thames. the bridge crosses exactly where st pauls cathedral is, so i had another look at the outside of the cathedral and then made my way back to the london school of economics, where we are staying here in london. it was nice to be out by myself all day and not have to worry about being any where or being on anyones time schedule. i had the whole day to relax and think and be alone, which i think is important to do form time to time. i was pretty tired after the long day alone, and will probably call it a night early.

tomorrow i am going back to the national gallery, which is good because i saw a little less than half of it on satuday. anyway, i am doing well. my travels have still been wonderful, but i have been a little more homesick, or just missing katie the past couple of days, especially after the wonderful letter she sent me last week. i am excited to have a whole week left in london and i am planning on seeing some more shows and some more of the sights. keep me and my safety in your prayers, especially because london is a massive city and can be dangerous.
love and blessings,
mikey

Cambridge, Enland

today is my first full day in cambridge, england. cambridge is a beautiful college town. we are staying at clare college, which is part of cambridge university. at cambridge, a college is the part of the university where students live and study, and there are 31 colleges at cambridge. students can study any subject in the colleges, but certain colleges are more prestigeous for their science department or business department.

yesterday we left belfast very early, we had to be out of the hotel at 6 45 to make our 9 45 flight. we flew on an airline called easyjet, and on this airline passengers get to pick their seats, which i thought was fun. i sat by my friend bo and we managed to make the middle seat appear to be occupied so no one would sit in it. my friends charley, ryan, and morgan were sitting in front of us, and part way through the flight bo and i pushed charley's call button, which we thought was pretty funny. we flew into the london-standsed airport and met our coach, which drove us to the town of ely. once at ely we all went on our own ways to find lunch, and a large number of us decided to eat at a little cafe on the corner of a courtyard. i had a ham and cheese toasty. a toasty is essentially a toasted sandwich. after lunch, we all gathered at ely cathedral, which is a massive, beautiful cathedral. before going in, professor brothers, the art and music professor on the trip, gave a quick talk about cathedrals. then we all went inside to explore.

i have been struck by the religious buildings i have encountered in europe, and ely cathedral has been the most impressive so far. the sheer size of the cathedral caused me to be overcome with a sense of awe and wonder, and this sense was deepened upon entering the catheral. it is one thing to view these buildings in pictures, but to be standing outside of a cathedral is an almost unreal experience, not to mention that these massive structures were created well before the modern crane, truck, or engine for that matter were invented. the amount of man power necessary to create one of these structures is unbelievable. once inside the cathedral the attention to detail is amazing. from the stained glass windows to carvings in the stone of the walls and the celling, there were tiny details covering the cathedral. i love the fact that everything in the cathedral directs the observers attention upwards, to the heavens. everywhere i looked in the cathedral, i kept tracing lines and shapes upwards until i was looking at the celling, which ultimately led my thoughts to god in heaven. here the form of the cathedral, the upward shapes and designs, contribute to the function of the cathedral, worship.

after being in awe of the cathedral we all loaded back into the coach and headed for cambridge. when we arrived in cambridge, we made our way to our rooms at clare college, and then gathered for a city report on cambridge. during this gathering time i received my second letter from katie, which absolutely made my day. getting letters from katie is one of my favorite parts of this semester. i am a romantic at heart and i love the idea of writing and sending letters to the one you care most about, it makes me feel as if i am living in another, simpler time without computers and the internet. so naturaly i was in an excellent mood for the rest of the day.

after some light exploring, nine friends and i ended up having dinner at a spanish restaurant, which wasnt very good. then we met up with the rest of the guys and went back to clare. last night i was exhausted, so i ended up going to bed at 9, which was amazing, and slept until 8 20 this morning. i forgot how much i love sleep since i came on the trip because i have been so excited to see things and do things and explore things.

today we had our art class and our nationalism class. after that we had a 3 hour break for lunch and exploring, so newty, davis, brandon woods and i went to a little cafe and got sandwiches and i had a delicious pastry, or tasty treats as we have been calling anything delicious since the trip started. daily i have tasty treat conversations with several people on the trip, which has been fun. this afternoon we had a walking tour of cambridge with a tour guide who was very knowledgeable. we were given a tour of kings chapel, which is a massive cathedral here on the campus for the kings college. this cathedral was also massive and beautiful. the chapel was covered with these gorgeous stained glass windows depicting scenes from the bible. i have decided that i love stained glass windows. in kings chapel, on each section of window there was and upper and lower section. the upper section showed a story from the old testament, and the lower section showed a story from the new testament, and each of these stories was connected. for example, on a window that our guide pointed out, the upper section showed johnna being spit out from the fish after he repented for not doing the lords will, and the lower section showed jesus after the resurrection, and the parallel was the darkness of the tomb and the darkness of the whales mouth and that god delivers us from darkness.

after that i explored cambridge a little more iwth some friends and then came back to clare to use the internet, because there are computers with internet access with us to use for free here, which has been very nice.

cambridge gets its name from the river cam, which runs through the town. today on our walking tour of cambridge the guide told us that when the romans came to conquoer england, the built a bridge across, the cam, thus the name cambrige. a popular activity here is punting on the cam. punts are these boats that are for rent around the town, and thus punting is boating. tomorrow i am going to organize the punting olympics, and we are going to race and battle using the punts on the river cam, i am really looking forward to it.

cambridge has been a nice break from belfast. there is a much different feeling here than belfast, and it has been nice to get out of belfast and the issues surrounding it, but at the same time i do not want to forget belfast and the troubles and will continue to pray for the city and that peace can be truly realized. that is all i have for now.

love and blessings,
mikey

Dancing and the Irish Coast

I last posted on Friday and i already feel like so much has happened. the rest of Friday day was spent journaling and reflecting on my times here and trying to process, which was rewarding. Friday also brought my first letter from Katie, which made my day. i love receiving mail, especially while i am so far away from home, and katies letter was a wonderful gift.

friday evening the whole group went to meet with the presbyterian chaplin for queens university, the large university here in belfast. he shared his experience with the troubles and working with youth and different people. there were also a couple of queens students who shared about their experiences. it was great to get another viewpoint on the troubles and to hear stories from people who have been impacted by them.

friday night a large number of us went to a club here in belfast called the fly. we spend the night dancing and laughing and enjoying each other's company. i really realized how i love to dance. i just love it, i will dance with anyone or by myself, as long as there is good music. there is no doubt in my mind that this love was passed down to me by my mother, and i thank her for that. my friend, davis, had an interesting and scary experience at the club. he was essentially hit on by a guy all night. davis is a pretty big guy, but this guy who had taken a liking to davis was even bigger. the guys name was sid and he worked as a bodyguard, so that gives you some idea of how massive this guy must be. anyway, davis said he was trapped by this guy for a couple of hours in the club and the guy kept trying to buy off all of our friends with drinks. luckily davis made it out of the situation safely.

yesterday we had a great adventure on the nothern irish coast. the day didnt start off so great for me, as i felt carsick for most of the morning. about 30 minutes into the coach ride to derry, or londonderry, i threw up, which was just a terrific experience, let me tell you. but after that incident i felt much better for the rest of the day.

our first stop was a londonderry, also called derry, or freederry, depending on who you ask. here we went on a walking tour guided by a hardcare catholic republican who was clearly biased. it was fascinating to hear such a biased account on the troubles. this man was born and grew up in derry and was very knowledgeable about everything that had happened, but was clearly biased against protestants and england. my understanding was that he felt the catholics were victims in the troubles and blameless. i have come to understand the trickiness of designating who is a victim and who is an oppressor because so much of it relies on viewpoint, which, especially here in northern ireland, is dictated by chance. if i were born in a catholic neighborhood, then obviously i am going to sympathize with the catholics, and vice verse for the protestants. this has contributed to my understanding of the delicacy of the situation. at times it is difficult to get my mind around how this situation could have snowballed into so massive a situation. my thoughts and prayers have continually with the people of belfast and northern ireland.

the next stop of the day was at the castle dunlace, which was on the cliffs overlooking the sea. the location was beautiful and the grass was so green. we spent about an hour and a half exploring and playing in the ruins of the caslte. i will try and get some pictures up next time i post.

next we drove up the road a little ways to giants causeway. giants causeway was also beautiful. first we hiked up these big hills which overlooked the ocean. while hiking it started to mist rain pretty heavily. in the middle of the mist rain we had to walk down these steep narrow slippery stairs to get down to the coastline. the hike down was kind of scary, and reminded me or something out of the lord of the rings. down on the beach there are basalt rock formations. essentially these formations are hexagonal pilars of rocks. i have never seen rock formations like these anywhere else in the world, and they were fun to hike around and play on. three people on the trip, including my good friend bo, took a quick swim in the ocean. i was going to join them, but i left my suit on the coach and was disappointed to learn they went without me, but happy that they had that experience.

after playing at the causeway at drove down the road a little further to a christian community called corrymella, which is also active in the troubles and reconciliation work. we had diner there and then heard the story of the guy who started the community. one interesting thing this community did was take groups of protestant boys and catholic girls and have them interact together in an effort to try an eliminate some of the stereotypes of each other. while being there and listening to people from the community speak i really got a sense that the spirit was alive and active there, and it gave me a better sense of hope for the troubles actually coming to an end and a time when all protestants and catholics in northern ireland will be able to coexist and be friends.

the bus ride back from belfast was a lot of fun. everyone on the bus was joking and laughing and talking the goofing around. the group of students that i have the privilage of studying with have been amazing. everyone is so much fun in their own interesting way and there isnt a person on the trip that i dont like. there is really a sense of community and family among everyone in the group. for example, yesterday after i got sick on the bus, everyone was very concerned and made sure i was okay and kept checking up with me for the rest of the day. i am blessed to be part of this family.

today i went to church at fitzroy presbyterian church. this church was very different from christ church in dublin. one thing i think i am going to enjoy throughout the semester is visiting different churches and experiencing how different traditions worship. fitzroy reminded me some of the presbyterian church i attended at home in denver. one thing i felt at this church was that the congregation was very active in the community. i enjoyed seeing a church congregation who was interested in reaching out to the people around the church, because i think that is so important. it is easy for a congregation to stay inside the walls of their church, but our call as christians is to serve the community we find ourselves in. it was neat to see a church in a foriegn country doing this.

my travels are going well. early tomorrow morning we head for cambridge. i am not excited to travel early in the morning, but it will be fun to find myself in a new place by lunch time. please pray that our travels tomorrow go safely and smoothly.
love and blessings,
mikey