Well I have no clue how to write this….
But here goes
Italy was phenomenal. Seriously, anything that I wrote would not be adequate. We flew in to Pisa and about 15 minutes after landing it was my 21st birthday. We went to the leaning tower at about 1 in the morning and I was very surprised at how cool the building actually is. It really leans. I know everyone says that… but it’s surprising.
We had a horrible nights sleep and then had the most beautiful train ride along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. I must live in a Villa in Italy at one point in my life. Seriously.
Once we arrived in Rome we found our hostel and found out we had been switched to a different one. So (me being very time conscience) we had to rush to our actual hostel and rush to the Colloseum where we met our guide. Valentina led us around Ancient Rome. She has a Ph.D. in Archaeology and was completely brilliant. We went through the Roman Forum and she explained how we were standing on the original road work over 2,000 years ago. Just ridiculous stuff like that. We were able to go in the Pantheon which is the most incredible building I’ve ever seen. We saw Caesar’s grave and the Trevi fountain. There is no way to describe these things. It makes sense why so many people love Rome…. there are endless things to see.
After the tour we went out to eat with other JBUers and celebrated my 21st. It really doesn’t get much better than a birthday in Pisa and Rome.
The next morning we went to Vatican City and saw St. Peters. I had no idea how massive it is. I’ll get pictures up soon. Everything in the place was so intricate. There was no way to see or appreciate everything. It would’ve taken days. We climbed over 350 stairs to the top and were able to be in the dome and on the roof. What? Just incredible.
We had lunch at a pizzeria I had researched and I loved it. It’s similar to ours… but much much better of course. We then headed to the Spanish Steps and split up for the shopping district. Luke and I didn’t want to shop (of course) and so we headed back to Ancient Rome and just relaxed.
The next morning we desperately tried to see the Sistine Chapel (don’t talk to me about this… I’m still upset)… but we stood in the wrong line and we had to leave if we wanted to see Florence. So we left. The train to Firenze was fantastic. Tuscany really is beautiful.
As soon as we arrived in Florence we were all able to breathe. It felt so much calmer than Rome, obviously. We first went to the Uffizi gallery and saw hundreds of incredible paintings including the Birth of Venus. I have no sufficient way of describing the experiences of the galleries. They were fascinating.
We walked the streets for a while and shopped. There were stands everywhere where you could barter. And you know you can’t help but to barter. It’s fun… just say it.
I had the best food of my life this night. Fettuccini with pore mushroom sauce. Italy really does have the best Italian food….. but olive garden is close.
At this point in our journey we are all exhausted…we sleep really hard this night especially. And we all get over 8 hours of sleep which is a first. We wake up and walk outside our door to the Academia with the statue of David. Who knew that the statue was huge? And exceptional? I wanted to see it, but had no clue how neat it was. You could stare at it forever I think.
From here we ate really good pizza and then hit the streets for our last 2 hours. Luke and I bought lots of Christmas Presents thanks to bartering.
We had a rough time making it home….. it’s a long story. Here’s it in brief form- late for our train, wrong airport, and an hour long taxi with a man that speaks no English and definitely doesn’t know where our airport is….he stared at his GPS and we all understood that it was taking us in circles. He finally saw a sign and said “AEROPORTO!!” and we all clapped.
We made it to Dublin that evening and left for N.I. the next morning.

Italy was beyond any expectations… and the experience made all of us bitter about being in Ireland. Italy is so much cooler : )

Thanks for thinking of me on my birthday. It’s good to finally be 21

Well I will be turning 21 in Italy in a matter of hours.

I'll tell the pope you said hi

So the hostels reservations are done. That's good since we leave in 2 days?!?!

I appear to be the only one experiencing hints of anxiety about not having anything ready....


I'm getting very excited though. I mean seeing the statue of David, the Colloseum, and Vatican City... it will be incredible.

hi again,
yesterday and today have actually been good. Stan, JBU's campus pastor, is here so we are acting like we actually do things.... Yesterday we went to Saul church, which is where St. Patrick preached his first sermon (apparently). It was really neat. It is an Anglican/Episcopalian church and the dean gave us communion. I will put pictures up in the next day or two (i have to steal them from Jacob).
Then Stan was taking everyone out to eat and I didn't feel like going.. sometimes you just need to be alone.. so i stayed home and finished a paper and listened to music.

Today we had class and then traveled to Armagh which is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland. This is the town which has the protestant and catholic church facing eachother on opposing hillsides. Turns out it really isn't that dramatic... but still an interesting place. You will really just need to wait until I get pictures up for me to explain what they looked like... i won't do them justice. The Catholic church was really incredible and HUGE.
For you Catholic friends of mine- The Pope just elected 23 new cardinals this morning. And I definitely saw one. When we went to visit the church they were holding mass for all of the Catholic students in the town. We were able to sit in and someone came and told us that the bishop of Armagh, and the primate of Ireland, was just elected Cardinal and was going to be making an appearance at the end of mass. However, we were not going to be staying til the end. I just happened to go to the restroom and had to walk around the outside of the church. There were a few news reporters and I glanced over and all of a sudden there he was.... walking into the church. Sean Baptist Brady is his name.. you can look him up. It was really incredible to randomly see him. :)
Then we went to the first ever public library in Ireland. Basically there were a lot of really old books. If you know me at all, you will know that this intersted me very little. I saw a first edition of gullivers travels and held a lot of books published in the 1500s... eh.
Then on to the Protestant church. It was older, but not near as beautiful as the Catholic church. Pictures will come soon enough...

Then we went to Pizza Hut. Seriously, I love pizza hut... or just american food. It's SO good. :)



There have been a few hard days, but we are in the very middle so i guess it's expected. Tomorrow we go to Belfast and in a week I will be 21 and in Italy. weird.


I posted pictures... please enjoy

So remember when I went to the Narnia Forest... well here are some pictures



The Catholic Church

not my hand at the old library

Luke with old books

The Protestant Church

So aparently the cowboys are doing really well. This picture was taken the day they played (and lost) to the Patriots. This was our "emotion" picture before the game began.

This is the big swing on the 'estate' that I will one day live on :) Meg and I decided to spider swing... sometimes it's necessary

Luke being a horse whisperer



oh and I got walmart in a box today.... thank you parents. I appreciate it.

AHHHH!!!!

OH MY GOSH.... I am the most excited i've ever been in my whole life.

i'm laying in my bed... with wireless internet.

hallelujah, the U.K. finally caught up with broadband


so excited.

enough of that

so no more complaining....

all is well.

I have been searching for internships, it's hard to decide.

Luke and I went on a walk into the beautiful countryside and we found two horses that let us pet them and feed them.
Then we found a field with pieces of skulls and a ribcage... it was gross.

Later I went for a 'run' (walk) and went to the Dundrum Castle and hung out with some cows... I determined that the best thing about Ireland is that there are no snakes. and I stand by that. I walked through the woods on this random path and did not have to frantically check the ground. Thank goodness.

emails are wonderful.... letters are fantastic... remember that.

a little complaining.

Well, I’m still in Ireland…still doing nothing. I try really hard to not complain… but this is my blog right? We did evaluations today and I wrote that my experience thus far has been a 1 out of 5. I haven’t really expressed this to you Americans….
We are not having an Ireland experience… besides the fact that Northern Ireland is actually just England…. we are having a JBU experience in Ireland. I am with the same people every day all day (and I love these people…. Don’t get that wrong). We have one day in the city and our “Queens University class” is with thirty 70 year olds. This isn’t even really complaining, but it should be noted that my expectations of this experience is much different than reality. As far as understanding the culture of the Irish- I understand how the older generation lives… I have no clue how my generation lives. I have never met anyone, for longer than 5 minutes, that is under the age of 50.
The one time I felt like I had a true ‘cultural experience’ was sitting with my host-dad in his living room. We talked for probably two hours about anything and everything… it is a good memory and I am happy for it…. But what does it teach me about life here? I will see him and his wife maybe once every two weeks. They feed us (wonderful food) and they let us use their phone.
besides the lack of culture.... i do nothing all day. my school work is elementary and they act like we are idiots, so they don't get us any actual assignments. We've only had 2 outside writing assignments... i'm going to have a heart attack when I go to JBU next semester.
I still have good days and yesterday we went into Tallymore forest (C.S. Lewis’ Narnia) and it was absolutely beautiful….. but if I had the chance to change to a trip by myself to Russia, I would. At least I would actually live in a culture. I feel like, at best, I live in the U.K… with 15 people I knew in America. It’s frustrating to say the least. Everyone is sharing the frustration.. which only makes the frustration easier.

Anyways…………..I will tell of a few things we have been doing…

We saw the supposed grave of St. Patrick. It was cool.

We’ve noticed a different ‘spiritual’ scene here… At church last Sunday a few girls were prophesied to… then one day getting off the bus a 20-something guy handed me a piece of paper and asked me to hand it to ‘that boy’ (Luke). I thought it was his number to be honest… but Luke read it and it was Scripture and he wrote that he felt God telling him to pass this to Luke and wrote some more about what he felt God was trying to tell him. Then yesterday we went to church in Elkana and the moment I walked in, I wanted to walk out. I have never felt such an eerie presence in my life. It was supposed to be ‘charismatic’ but it wasn’t. it was just strange.

We went to our Literature professor's home and they served us a feast. So much good food. mmm
Dr. Ostrander (our Dean... and the dad of the girls I watch at school) arrived yesterday and leaves tomorrow, but it's wonderful to have a new face. We got to see the 'rich' side of Belfast where aparently homes go for 7 million dollars... ridiculous.

That's about it.... send me some mail though ok? thanks. :)

I spend a lot of time trying to figure out my life plan.. any suggestions?

italia

So emily and I just booked tickets to ITALY!!!!!!


we don't really know what we are doing.. but we got cheap tickets :)

we are flying into Pisa/Florence and flying out of Bologna.... i mean... c'mon... it'll be easy