To travel with a group of 13 girls and 4 boys is basically like paying 10 grand to commit suicide with much more drama then just an overdose. You could tell by day four that the ware and tare of everyone's soles of their feet and patience were becoming thin with each passing step or museum exhibit. I was losing it, fast. It was like if I saw another painting or exhibit on roman sculptures, I was going to scream. There was an information overload and people crisis just waiting around the corner.
After two days of visiting beautiful sites scattered across London, the next two days were completely and strictly walking through buildings, looking at things way deep from the past whether it was from across the globe or from england itself. We ended up going to the british library and museum, and the national gallery. To be fair, I did get to see exciting things such as the rosetta stone, real mummies, pablo picasso's sketch art, beautiful paintings from as early as 1200, the oldest bible, the magna carta, and even the olympic gold medals for this year. Unfortunately, it was like I had become numb to what was surrounding me. I couldn't focus anymore. I even got lost twice and once in the national gallery and british museum. All I could focus on though was the mass hoards of people from other parts of europe constantly in my way, being more ugly in there mannerisms then the "ugly americans" americans are so plagued with. Anywhere I went, I couldn't find peace and frustration was building up in my bones like a pressure cooker. I was just so done with everything and everyone.
I learned a valuable lesson even while typing this blog actually, changing the whole coarse of this post.I had intended to just complain about the uninteresting places I visited...instead I like this: This is it: Everyone is fighting a hard battle. I know you've heard this before and so have I. It never really clicked till now. Three different times today alone, I've gotten to converse with three different people, where I got to learn a piece of their life on something they are going through or constantly dealing with that I never knew. And here is my thought: here I am, constantly thinking about my problems, my issues, and my concerns when in reality, my problems are nothing compared to what some people are secretly holding in either about the trip or something at home everyday. Things are frustrating and especially with travel, its hard to control your life where it is now and where it is was. That balance is difficult and can effect your perception on travel.
"My feet travel onward, but my heart is somewhere else."
*Please pray for the people of this trip in hopes we all look to God for strength, patience, and wisdom*
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Keep Calm and Journal On
These past two days have been almost like sensory and information overload. We have covered alot of ground but since London is so big, its hard to really be accurate about that. The more I am here, the more I can't want for Vienna, where hopefully things will slow down and I won't completely be beat everyday....though that just means its been a great day, right? I suppose I should start with the first official day we had in London, journaling in all. (bear with me, I'm not proofing this after so goodluck!)
DAY 1:
The morning started off beautiful. My bed at the hostel is right next to the window, so when the sun rises, it instantly hits my face, like God's shining down on me telling me its time to start the day. I remember waking up that morning thinking how peaceful I feel when I wake up every morning in Europe. The most peace though will come after the trip is over and I'm in the Austrian mountains, but to be in a big city, slightly still jet-lagged with a long day ahead and I still can find peace? What a blessing. Back on track, we had class in one of the hang out rooms at the hostel, including some awkward stares but we're american; we get those alot here. With some presentations and time with God, it was on to St. Paul's. We met our guide, saun, who was from Scotland and loved to use beer references thinking he was so funny (our sponsors on the other hand didn't fund the humor). My first impression of this 5th version of this church was WOW, despite the fact that I've seen it before. No matter how many times you see something like this, its always breath-taking to think I can't believe that someone made this forever ago, and here it is, still standing. This site was our first true test run on journaling, which posed to be difficult... trying to listen to saun, write everything down, sketch mini pictures, get around the mass hoards of audio guide tourist, and still admire the beauty I was surrounded by. It got easier as we went on but my hands were so strained including my neck. This church had much of its ornate paintings or gold inlays on the ceiling, especially the dome. Most of the church was white (english barque) but once you got to the ceilings, more in the main chapel/alter area, where massive paintings of angels, apostles, latin phrases, and who knows what else. Something interesting about this church was the fact that one of the chapels was the "americans chapel" dedicated to 28,000 soliders during WW2 who were stationed in england and gave their lives during the war. This church was so stunning because of all the detail and passion that was put into it. The architect even had a quote in the front saying: Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you. Its just amazing to admire such a piece of architecture.
Next was the Tower of London, my absolute favorite place to be in London. Despite is very dark history, I can't help but admire all the history in just one place. Originally a fortress made during the reign of the Normans, this place is packed which history starting from when it was built around late 1000's and up until it was last officially used for british history in WW2. When we got there, there was hardly anyone there at the place, which is such a break from all the crowds in London. After a quick few words with our guide, he cut us lose to explore. Finally! Sometimes I have more fun just walking around admiring then actually learning a bunch of facts, though I still like that too. I got to see the crown jewels which was so spectacular. The sparkled like no other, and I can't even imagine ever using some of those because I would be too afraid of messing on of them up! Next was the actual "tower" housing King Henry the 8th's armor and other kings armor, including the diamond that will be used in the queens jubilee coming up next week. Then after exploring through some buildings like the bloody tower, and the place where Anne Bolyn lost her head, I talked to a beefeater for a bit. For those of you who don't know, a beefeater is a guard of her royal majesty who has served for atleast 22 years in the royal army. Almost all are men and they where very traditional outfits. This beefeater was pretty funny, even testing my knowledge on american history, and giving me extra info that normally isn't told unless asked! I felt pretty awesome but also proud that I actually worked up the courage to speak to him ha Wow, I'm twenty and I'm afraid to talk to strangers sometimes...
The rest of the day can be summed up pretty quickly: Walking. My group kinda got turned around and couldn't find anywhere to agree on to eat until almost 2 hours later after walking all over. Needless to say my feet were killing.
DAY2:
Westminster Abbey! Only have ever just looked at the exterior, I was estatic to actually go inside this church especially since there was the wedding of the decade here, and man famous kings/queens have all had their crownings here. Now my first impression of this place was like not wow but more like mouth to the floor kinda deal. It was like I had never seen a church before. This church truly was in the gothic style, towering much above st. pauls and also the dark interior made me feel like I should have been dressed in medieval clothing ready for church. The tall arch ways drew your eyes higher and higher with every stone to the point where your admirations were looking straight up, like to heaven which was the intention of this grand church. Unlike St. Paul's where beautiful gold paintings dominated the walls and ceilings, westminster was dominated by graves. It was like everyone and their dog was buried here. They had everyone from kings and queens to poets, musicians, writers, monks, soldiers, and even a plumber. And then if that wasn't enough there were memorials/honors/shrines to people from all walks of life as well. I eventually gave up trying to write down all the different names and stories. A cool part though was the knight instal in king henry the 7th's chapel. Knights crest in banner forms hung from the ceiling while rows of crowns, helments, and swords lined the massive chair areas for the knights of the order of bath. So crazy just to think of all the things that have happened to and inside this church. It was also almost as old as the tower of London, making it also extremely old, but beautiful just the same.
Once we were done in there, all I wanted was to sit in a park and soak up some sun. Thankfully we were turned lose and thats exactly what I and three friends did. We went to hyde park, near kensington, which use to be the hunting grounds for kings but now it host the hot spot for many people to come and picnic on nice days. It was so relaxing just getting to sit, laugh, eat ice cream, and catch up on journaling. During that three hours, I actually realized it was the summer, and I'm in Europe...that moment hit me and I couldn't have been happier. But eventually we had to leave to make it in time for Evensong at St. Paul's. I wasn't quite sure what it was but there was some very beautiful choir singing of guys dressed in those long robes. I felt very out of place and then they started saying some prayers, and I totally passed out...like feel asleep out right cold. I felt really bad but my fatigue took over and thankfully almost everyone in the group passed out making it so much better and funny.
The rest of this evening was spent walking around london's equivalent to time square of piccadilly circus and then going to platform 9 and 3/4. Once again, I'm exhausted out the crazy and my feet hurt but its all worth it. Everyday is getting easier to journal and get use to all the recent changes that have occured in the last week of my life.
Anyways its past 11pm and tomorrow is another long day!
God bless :D
Once we were done in there, all I wanted was to sit in a park and soak up some sun. Thankfully we were turned lose and thats exactly what I and three friends did. We went to hyde park, near kensington, which use to be the hunting grounds for kings but now it host the hot spot for many people to come and picnic on nice days. It was so relaxing just getting to sit, laugh, eat ice cream, and catch up on journaling. During that three hours, I actually realized it was the summer, and I'm in Europe...that moment hit me and I couldn't have been happier. But eventually we had to leave to make it in time for Evensong at St. Paul's. I wasn't quite sure what it was but there was some very beautiful choir singing of guys dressed in those long robes. I felt very out of place and then they started saying some prayers, and I totally passed out...like feel asleep out right cold. I felt really bad but my fatigue took over and thankfully almost everyone in the group passed out making it so much better and funny.
The rest of this evening was spent walking around london's equivalent to time square of piccadilly circus and then going to platform 9 and 3/4. Once again, I'm exhausted out the crazy and my feet hurt but its all worth it. Everyday is getting easier to journal and get use to all the recent changes that have occured in the last week of my life.
Anyways its past 11pm and tomorrow is another long day!
God bless :D
Thursday, May 24, 2012
In God's hands
What a whirlwind of the past two (technically three) days. It feels like just yesterday I was getting my acceptance letter for the study abroad program and now here I am, in London once again! Even though I'm way past the "shock and awe" factor of the first time ever being in Europe kinda deal, its so exciting to watch and share in this experience for the many others on the trip. Even though I'm still not quite sure how functional I am because of Jet Lag, this post will just cover the highlights rather then full detail. But no worries, there will be plenty much more exciting things for me to write and for you to read later!
Tuesday: Orientation day: aka longest day ever! We literally covered everything that should be covered in four days all in one. Minus all the reminders of packing musts, final rick steve videos, and a scavenger hunt that only Mendy (our head of the study abroad programs) could think of around Edmond, the day went by pretty fast. It still hadn't hit me yet that I was getting on a plane the next day for something I apparently had been preparing for over the past couple of months. It was surreal in my mind. There was no way on God's green earth I was going to get to go back to Europe for two months....and the more I thought about it that day, the more it turned into butterflies in my stomach.
Wednesday: Departure day: I didn't have a mother there with tears swelling off in her eyes as she hugged her baby goodbye, a father keeping his sunglasses on doing everything in his power to hold it all in, or my siblings there to annoy me one last time. No, none of that but thats okay. At that time, I was still trying to get use to the idea that for some kids this was the "big" trip of their lives away from there parents. I know my family was the same way the first time I left the country, and even still my parents are concerned so much, they splurge and get the international plan on my phone so I can still call and text them whenever. My family is everything to me, and I will take this sentence to thank them for everything and to say I love them very much.
Next we boarded the bus, and we were off like a gun. Stopping once to eat our last "american" meal at Braums (how classic!), we eventually made it to the airport, gate, and then the plane. This plane was HUGE. And I mean two stories high huge. And I was stuck in the middle of the middle row next to a man I would later find out enjoyed drinking wine like it was a sport. On the bright side, he hardly ever stayed in his seat. The flight was long, and trying to sleep was proving to be difficult even with the two sleeping pills I took, and my ipod on almost full blast to help drown out the sound of loud women, babies, and snoring. I eventually got some sleep and eventually we landed....
Thursday: London: Welcome to the land of Big Ben, awesome accents, and crazy people. Staring out the window on our bus on the way to the hotel was like staring at a friend passing by. I wasn't frantically taking pictures of funny signs, cars, or double decker buses but instead enjoying the view of everyone else doing that, and of course the city itself. I was still jet-lagged once we got on the bus. I even thought someone was texting and driving till I realized the driver seat was on the right side and it was just the passenger texting. We dropped our stuff off once we made it to the hotel, and immediately immersed ourself into the culture by going straight to the most tourist-y part of London!! (Please note my sarcasm). Westminster/Big Ben. We had three hours just to run around the city because we had no tours booked that day. Our mission was to stay awake and find food, kinda like the London Hunger Games except we didn't need to kill anyone...(okay bad reference, I'm tired...moving on!). After splitting up into groups, my previous visit to the city came in handy in discovering where westminster, the prime ministers house, and tralfagar square was without needing the map. Looking around was memorizing of course, seeing the changes from my last visit such as the cleanings or restorations on buildings. Also, it was the little details that stuck out this time too. The gold plates on top of Big Ben's sky high tower, the carvings of great detail on practically every part of the churches, and even the parks, which I never noticed before, became something I noticed more and more because of how popular they were for the locals. My group, tired from walking/trekking the many streets, eventually took notice to a park where we took time to relax and people watch. And I must correct anyone saying the airport has the best people watching because fact: London park's have the best people watching. I can't even explain some of the sites we saw...but one word can sum it up...Scary.
Minus the jet-lag, we made it through and now we are back at our hostel, safe and sound. There is no AC here, but tons of different people that maybe I might get to meet! How exciting would that be? I know that getting out of my comfort zone more and more is always a must in Europe, so why now give it 100 percent? Anyways, this post ended up being long anyways. I apologize for the false notion it would be short...tomorrow will be alot different. Less sight seeing, and the first day of journaling for real! The time has finally come!
Well signing off from London. Cheerio loves!
Tuesday: Orientation day: aka longest day ever! We literally covered everything that should be covered in four days all in one. Minus all the reminders of packing musts, final rick steve videos, and a scavenger hunt that only Mendy (our head of the study abroad programs) could think of around Edmond, the day went by pretty fast. It still hadn't hit me yet that I was getting on a plane the next day for something I apparently had been preparing for over the past couple of months. It was surreal in my mind. There was no way on God's green earth I was going to get to go back to Europe for two months....and the more I thought about it that day, the more it turned into butterflies in my stomach.
Wednesday: Departure day: I didn't have a mother there with tears swelling off in her eyes as she hugged her baby goodbye, a father keeping his sunglasses on doing everything in his power to hold it all in, or my siblings there to annoy me one last time. No, none of that but thats okay. At that time, I was still trying to get use to the idea that for some kids this was the "big" trip of their lives away from there parents. I know my family was the same way the first time I left the country, and even still my parents are concerned so much, they splurge and get the international plan on my phone so I can still call and text them whenever. My family is everything to me, and I will take this sentence to thank them for everything and to say I love them very much.
Next we boarded the bus, and we were off like a gun. Stopping once to eat our last "american" meal at Braums (how classic!), we eventually made it to the airport, gate, and then the plane. This plane was HUGE. And I mean two stories high huge. And I was stuck in the middle of the middle row next to a man I would later find out enjoyed drinking wine like it was a sport. On the bright side, he hardly ever stayed in his seat. The flight was long, and trying to sleep was proving to be difficult even with the two sleeping pills I took, and my ipod on almost full blast to help drown out the sound of loud women, babies, and snoring. I eventually got some sleep and eventually we landed....
Thursday: London: Welcome to the land of Big Ben, awesome accents, and crazy people. Staring out the window on our bus on the way to the hotel was like staring at a friend passing by. I wasn't frantically taking pictures of funny signs, cars, or double decker buses but instead enjoying the view of everyone else doing that, and of course the city itself. I was still jet-lagged once we got on the bus. I even thought someone was texting and driving till I realized the driver seat was on the right side and it was just the passenger texting. We dropped our stuff off once we made it to the hotel, and immediately immersed ourself into the culture by going straight to the most tourist-y part of London!! (Please note my sarcasm). Westminster/Big Ben. We had three hours just to run around the city because we had no tours booked that day. Our mission was to stay awake and find food, kinda like the London Hunger Games except we didn't need to kill anyone...(okay bad reference, I'm tired...moving on!). After splitting up into groups, my previous visit to the city came in handy in discovering where westminster, the prime ministers house, and tralfagar square was without needing the map. Looking around was memorizing of course, seeing the changes from my last visit such as the cleanings or restorations on buildings. Also, it was the little details that stuck out this time too. The gold plates on top of Big Ben's sky high tower, the carvings of great detail on practically every part of the churches, and even the parks, which I never noticed before, became something I noticed more and more because of how popular they were for the locals. My group, tired from walking/trekking the many streets, eventually took notice to a park where we took time to relax and people watch. And I must correct anyone saying the airport has the best people watching because fact: London park's have the best people watching. I can't even explain some of the sites we saw...but one word can sum it up...Scary.
Minus the jet-lag, we made it through and now we are back at our hostel, safe and sound. There is no AC here, but tons of different people that maybe I might get to meet! How exciting would that be? I know that getting out of my comfort zone more and more is always a must in Europe, so why now give it 100 percent? Anyways, this post ended up being long anyways. I apologize for the false notion it would be short...tomorrow will be alot different. Less sight seeing, and the first day of journaling for real! The time has finally come!
Well signing off from London. Cheerio loves!
Saturday, May 19, 2012
3 Days
In three days, I embark on a journey. In three days, I return to Europe for my seventh time. In three days, I leave this home for the another. If anyone is reading this, well first of all bless your soul. I never understood "blogging" in the first place, let alone "travel" blogging, but here I am, "travel blogging".
Like I said before, I've been to Europe before. It's not like I've never been out of the country, and I'm zipping up my hidden money belt, figuring out what convertors I need, or stocking up on memory chips for the 8,000 photos I'll be taking. This time is different. In the past, I've gone to Europe for either one: mission work where most of my time was spent with locals doing VBS and playing soccer (or in my case, cheering) or secondly: vacation where I was with my mom on a tour group, where we wore name tags and went to demonstrations on how to make cheese basically saying going to Europe to study? Thats a whole new bid.
I mean yes, I will be helping out a missionary the last three weeks I'm there but for the other six weeks, I will be consumed with "study". This trip is going to be alittle different. Alot more writing, and whole lot more sight seeing with a purpose and my moleskin journal. For those who don't know, the study abroad program involves this thing where at each site you go to, you journal according to specific guidelines. These guidelines have to be followed and include some extra digging into your mind, asking its writers to ask "why" about their thoughts, picking apart their brain and challenging them to go beyond the site, and do more work or research on something of interest. It's different....
I've always been the kind of person who hates taking things apart. Dissecting it until you've broken it down into its tiniest form. Where is the beauty in that? Its like when I look at a rainbow, I like to see pretty colors, and a reminder of God's promise, but when I'm told its actually just reflections of light? I become Michelle from Full House: "How Rude!" I'd rather just observe in my mind, soak in all that I see, and enjoy the time I have right there and then. Basically I guess I'm trying to say, I feel sorry for my sponsors because they have to read and grade my journal.
I hope they believe in mercy!
Besides my minor gripe on journaling, I'm excited. Its still trying to hit me that I'm going back once again to some of the most beautiful places filled with beautiful people. The full effect will come upon landing, and I'm not just talking jet lag. I've decided though, right now, to make a promise to myself and as you as readers (all two of you, if I'm lucky three) but, I promise that I'm going actually try and follow some advice that I learned from good ole' Rick Steves. If there was anything I remembered the most from our class and his book it was this: Travel off the beaten path. I've done the beaten path or paths. Seen the sights, took the tour, and bought keychain. SO this time, I promise to actually make this trip to Europe special, and different, and one I truly will always remember with a smile.
Like I said before, I've been to Europe before. It's not like I've never been out of the country, and I'm zipping up my hidden money belt, figuring out what convertors I need, or stocking up on memory chips for the 8,000 photos I'll be taking. This time is different. In the past, I've gone to Europe for either one: mission work where most of my time was spent with locals doing VBS and playing soccer (or in my case, cheering) or secondly: vacation where I was with my mom on a tour group, where we wore name tags and went to demonstrations on how to make cheese basically saying going to Europe to study? Thats a whole new bid.
I mean yes, I will be helping out a missionary the last three weeks I'm there but for the other six weeks, I will be consumed with "study". This trip is going to be alittle different. Alot more writing, and whole lot more sight seeing with a purpose and my moleskin journal. For those who don't know, the study abroad program involves this thing where at each site you go to, you journal according to specific guidelines. These guidelines have to be followed and include some extra digging into your mind, asking its writers to ask "why" about their thoughts, picking apart their brain and challenging them to go beyond the site, and do more work or research on something of interest. It's different....
I've always been the kind of person who hates taking things apart. Dissecting it until you've broken it down into its tiniest form. Where is the beauty in that? Its like when I look at a rainbow, I like to see pretty colors, and a reminder of God's promise, but when I'm told its actually just reflections of light? I become Michelle from Full House: "How Rude!" I'd rather just observe in my mind, soak in all that I see, and enjoy the time I have right there and then. Basically I guess I'm trying to say, I feel sorry for my sponsors because they have to read and grade my journal.
I hope they believe in mercy!
Besides my minor gripe on journaling, I'm excited. Its still trying to hit me that I'm going back once again to some of the most beautiful places filled with beautiful people. The full effect will come upon landing, and I'm not just talking jet lag. I've decided though, right now, to make a promise to myself and as you as readers (all two of you, if I'm lucky three) but, I promise that I'm going actually try and follow some advice that I learned from good ole' Rick Steves. If there was anything I remembered the most from our class and his book it was this: Travel off the beaten path. I've done the beaten path or paths. Seen the sights, took the tour, and bought keychain. SO this time, I promise to actually make this trip to Europe special, and different, and one I truly will always remember with a smile.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)