Need some prayer

Hi Guys,

I just really want to ask all of you to pray for me right now. I'm going through a really awful time and I don't think I've ever felt so much anguish before. God's my only answer right now.

Thanks.

There's no place like home :)

I"M HOME!!!
hoorayy!!!

i got back home late last night...couldn't fall asleep till 7 am (darn you jetlag!) and woke up at 1:3o pm today!! its been glorious. the weather is terrible, so ive just been bumming around at home unpacking and using the INTERNET! oh wonderful unlimited american internet. how i have missed you! started catching up on TV SHOWS that i have missed!! couldnt find gossip girls and heroes episodes though...anyone know wher ei can find them??? haha

well, i hope you all are enjoying your last few days abroad, and that you have safe trips home!! can't wait for the SPRING!!

Leaving tonight!

Hi Guys!

I'm so excited that I'm leaving tonight. My flight is at 5:55 AM tomorrow but my taxi is coming at 2:30 am tonight to pick me up. It looks like I'm not going to sleep either... hahaha.

Anyways, I will write a more thorough reflection on my time in Glasgow later. But for now, I'm sad to be leaving but so excited to come home!!

Beka

mamma mia, il tempo passa!

I miss you guys! My little sister is here and we had a swaheeet weekend going to Rome and Florence. And guess who I saw in Florence! ... Amy!! We ate Chinese food :) Molto buono.

Anyways, I am leaving in less than 12 days! Of course, I am coming down with the flu right before examenes. But whatevs, I've got tons of choc. (For you guys too!) Can't wait to see you all move-in day and decorate rooms and such! AND we're going to chipotle immed. And sushi love.

AH!

Goodbye...

i am leaving cape town tmrw morning! it is ...so surreal. and very sad as well. ive been looking foward to leaving and going home the past 3 weeks, and now that departure is imminent...it is so sad! saying goodbye to my family and friends in Langa today was ... depressing. we said, "i'll see you when i see you" to each other because really....the only way i would see them again is if i come back to cape town...and the likelihood of that happening any time soon is...non existent. SAfrica is just SO far away...anyways, it will be good to go home.

sobonana ikapa!!

duke iv was really good and it seems like the chapter has matured a lot. we had a christmas party and it was really fun seeing everyone again. we talked about forgieness and had a discussion during large group and there were a couple great things spoken to the chapter from students. particularly about not letting things simmer and just talking to people that weren't a part of the problem.
anyways, right now i am kind of angry. at duke parking. they gave me a citation. i was awak for a couple hours last night. because i was so angry. i know with the whole night, iv was talking about forgivenss, but all i could think about was finding the security guy who ticketed me and slashing his tires or breaking his windshield. yes, i know, not good but ah i was just so angry because i parked in what i thought was a legitimate spot, but arg, duke parking.... anyways, they only have my registration number but i havent registered this car with duke, so idk if i shoudl take my chances and hope that duke doesnt have jurisdiction to send a ticket invoice to my house if they can find my info, or try to appeal it and tell them who i am. unfortnately on the duke law website it specifically says that they rarely grant appeals. basically i dislike duke parking because they are buttholes and i would like to key a duke security car. sigh, not good anger. besides getting a citation isnt the worst thing in the world.

I am way into this right now...

For some reason I have a thing for danceable music.. and by dancing I mean uninhibited crazy dancing - not anything that requires skill.

Like this!

HELP!

Guys! I need some emergency prayer!
I have about 20 more pages to write in about...20 hours.
Yes, it is 99% my fault for being in this situation.
:(

back in durham

Hey guys!

sorry its taken me so long to post, i miss all of you!

Lets see, to wrap up Australia,

I didn’t really get to travel very much, i just went to the beach again and then I left. Overall, it was definitely a positive experice, but I didn’t really form any really close relationships while I was there. If anything, it really made me appreciate America and duke and family. Its just hard to appreciate things when youre in the middle of everything.

The flight over was pretty smooth, except when I got to Chicago, I tried to take the subway to northwestern and that took me around 2 hours to do, but eventually I made it over there, and it was slightly snowing! But after that it didn’t snow for the rest of the time I was over there, but that’s ok. It was a good time to catch up with esther and just meet people in iv at northwestern, but I could tell that towards the end of the week, it was time to leave, mostly because of a roommate not being too thrilled I was there for so long, which was definitely understandable. We saw wicked and it was really good. It was one of those work weeks for esther so mostly I just hung around while she did homework, which was really cool because it wasn’t like the trip was focused on me, and it was more just regular college life, which I enjoyed.

I hope all your exams are going well! Or leading up to them at least.

Lets see, being back at duke has been really fun so far. Such a warm reception from most people! Its nice to feel wanted I have to admit haha. The freshman and random people all know about me apparently, its kind of weird. I introduce myself and theyre like oh youre eric! I imagined you would be handsomer. Just kidding. Peter thinks im hot and that’s all that matters. Dan likes me for my inner beauty. Im set.

Anyways, yea meeting up with people has been really cool. Ive met up with most people already and its just so cool to just hang out with them. Its kind of weird that they have to do work though, so it kind of feels like im distracting them, and you know what happens with duke students freaking out about exams and distractions. Well I bet in a week they will freak out at me for bothering them, but for now its fun.

So the day before thanksgiving, I just told Michael chen to invite people still on campus to come to my house to cook dinner and eat, so we had about 13 people come over, 5 freshman and rest juniors, and well geoff and kengo my blockmate from last year. That went pretty well, we made spaghetti and homemade sauce and garlic bread and had cheesecake so it was a good time to meet some freshman and catch up with people.

Hm I should go to sleep.

Ps. The sophomore class things that the junior class is weird because everyone is friends with everyone in the junior class. I think that’s funny.

Last weeks in South Africa!!

I'm headed back to the states in 12 days!!!!!!!!!!

:)

Music for ya

This is everything pop should be in our generation.

Alphabeat For the Win!

WAHHH!! I lost my camera in Paris =(

Guys, I am SO sad.

I lost my digital camera, with all my Paris pictures on the shuttle bus from Paris to the airport... HOW FREAKING SAD IS THAT!?

WAHHHHH. I lost all my pictures... I'm really sad... but I think I'm going to get a new camera... but still... all my memories.

----edit----

Because I need a camera here since I'm doing a lot more travelling, I'm going to buy a new one either at Jessops or amazon.co.uk. I'm deciding between these two. They're exactly the same price and same functions. Only difference is color. I have also recently found out my parents have the exact same silver one. In Europe, its called the IXUS 80 IS but in America it's the SD1100.

Silver- it's classic and simple and won't stand out, i might really hate pink in 3 years so the silver one would be a safe bet
Pink- it's cute and very distinct, i won't mix it up with my parent's camera. thieves might target me because it's so flashy though



Vote and help me. I'm leaning towards silver.

love love looove

So, I've realized that I'm a lot more pessimistic than I thought I was. About people. 

And I don't mean that I constantly expect the worst or have really low expectations, but it's almost natural for me to assume that most people have underlying motivations that aren't really that great. Even when people do something considerate, I have a hard time believing in good intentions, whether or not people genuinely mean well.

But I have a story.

Recently, some of my friends have been getting their clothes stolen from the laundry room. The thing is, we're the only ones that live on the island. We don't have a dryer- just racks (very big racks), so we all have to hang our clothes out to dry. I usually just borrow a rack and take it to my room, but on one specific "laundry day," I had no time to take everything to my room. I was already late to class (I had a presentation!) but still had 3 weeks worth of clothes in two dryers. I was panicking and grabbing my clothes and literally throwing everything into a big pile on top of a drying rack so I could get to class on time. There was no way I could pack everything up and take it to my room and make it to class reasonably late, so I decided to leave my stuff in there.

There was another girl in the laundry room, Mimi, who was hanging her own clothes neatly, and she was watching me. Mimi is pretty quiet. I never really see her and we don't have any classes together, but I've spoken to her a few times. As I was hurrying, I was telling her how I was going to be late to class and I had a presentation and had to leave my clothes in a big heap and that it would all be wrinkled and I was going on a trip the next day and it wasn't going to dry on time... blah blah. Basically, just complaining. 

And to be completely honest, I was slightly hesitant to leave all of my clothes with her when I thought about the situation. I didn't really know her, and clothes was going missing every week. I judged her on what I thought I knew-- that I considered her as kind of a "bad girl" based on what some of the other Japanese students that go to school with her had said, and just from my initial impression.

Either way, I had two options: getting to class 15 minutes late when I had a presentation at the beginning of class OR losing a pair of jeans. So as soon as I emptied the dryer, I ran out of there and straight to class.

As soon as I got out of class I went directly to the laundry room. I walked in and my stomach dropped! My ENTIRE pile of clothes was missing-- 3 pairs of jeans, a few sweaters, over 10 t-shirts, a dress, and blouses. The two racks were still there, and I literally just stood, staring at the space where my mountain of clothes was supposed to be.

I was almost about to start crying (I'm so pathetic) when my mind registered one of my red sweaters, and I realized that right in front of my face, ALL of my clothes was hanging neatly and perfectly on two drying racks. My mom wouldn't have sorted that pile out. I couldn't believe it. There wasn't even a note, or anything that would have let me know who was responsible. They just did it, and didn't expect anything-- not even recognition.

Anyways, as insignificant as that probably sounds, I thought that was awesome. But at the same time, I was like eeehh I suck. Not only am I so stinkin judgmental, but I was totally owned (in a good way). Yeah, I do nice things, but I don't really. I can't remember the last time I sacrificed an amount of time or energy/sleep for someone or something that actually set me back and really affected me. (And I say those two things because those are both high on my priority list). But isn't that what a sacrifice is supposed to be? It's not supposed to be convenient, or on your way to the grocery store, or fit perfectly into your schedule, or wrapped in saran wrap because it's your leftovers.

It's supposed to look a little bit more like staying up late to be with or pray for a friend that needed it, and actually worrying about finishing something the next day and having to trust that God's got it. And maybe going hungry for a day because you gave your 3 meals to someone that really needed it, not the part you didn't want/ were too full to eat.

I always draw the line at the point where I could be really uncomfortable, or where its a terrible inconvenience. I mean, I'll take some inconvenience. But it's never really hard for me. Sacrifice. I mean the word immediately makes me think of a couple of stories in the Old Test and um one huge one in the New. I don't know what a sacrifice is.

And I can't believe I have only just started to realize this and that it came out of a pile of wet clothes.

Now I'm going to stop procrastinating and get to my paper! Sorry this is so stream of consh. Slash rand. Ciao!

Final Video

Hey guys...thought you might enjoy seeing your pretty faces in the final version.

still mad dan chang didn't sing...



you can see all the team fun videos from the year here, if you're bored


you can also check out our new iTunes U account here

lala, doesn't it look like i've been having fun? :)

Fall Retreat Video Reject

I forgot my line. I was supposed to say "I'm making the most of my retreat" and then I got down to the pub and totally forgot the one sentence I was instructed to say... hahahaha oh well... at least I didn't film myself sideways the whole time... *ahem*

The Depth of His Love

Can someone just answer this question for me? How do I let God take on the guilt of my sin when I feel that no one else (especially God) deserves it? Is it suppose to be a beautifully cathartic release? If anyone willingly took on this burden, I would surely give them my life, and yet I'm faltered by the injustice of it all...

A Historic Day

JSO, you beat me to it. THE election day post.

I can't believe this. Aren't you guys nervous, apprehensive, on EDGE!? I couldn't pay attention in any of my classes today, and I couldn't eat dinner! (I'm hungry now though). I tried to take a nap so I could stay up later tonight and be alert, but I couldn't even fall asleep!

By tomorrow (hopefully) we will know the next president of the United States of America for the next 4 years! But really, 8 years. A sitting president's chances for reelection are very high. (I mean even George Bush was reelected. But Kerry was such a weak candidate.) SO we are potentially electing our president for the next 8 years.

Omg.

Omg.

Oh. my. gosh.

Is errrbody ready?!

ITS ELECTION NIGHT!!!

is errrbody ready??

I'm staying in the BoKaap right now, which is a mostly Muslim neighborhood. I'm staying with the cutest, little old granny everrrr. She is also one of the strongest and most remarkable women I have ever met. Her husband, 3 kids, and 2 grandchildren all had spinal palsy...and she took care of them all until they passed away. It was so incredibly sad to hear her story...and yet she is such a strong woman. Two of her grandchildren currently live with her, and she is raising them too. So yeah, its been an interesting experience staying with her. She is a very devout Muslim and she prays 5 times a day. She showed me pictures of her pilgrimage to Mecca, and I've been learning a bit about their culture. Shes also a GREAT COOK!!

Anyways, I'm staying up to watch election reruns tonight!!! The kids on my program are having an election night party whoo! Polls close around 1-2 Am our time...so its gonna be a long night! I'm excited!!! :)

Gradient Reflection

At this very moment, you'd probably need a gradient to color me in. I'll admit, i'm half dazed right now typing this post, but i'll probably feel differently tomorrow. Anyway, i'm quite pleased right now because I met more people at church today and got to know the few I know already better as well. Conversations have stopped being focused on general questions of Europe and Manchester. I'm actually getting involved in their lives and hence, the adaptation is commencing. Want to know what I'm most excited for while abroad? Christmas in England! Imagine my friends, walking down a London cobblestone street as soft snow flakes fall on your nose. You're walking by lamp-lit stands of the Christmas market as groups carol nearby. It's all magic. It's what Christmas should be for everyone..

Woman Traveling Solo

According to the all knowing Rick Steves (greatest guidebook writer ever), for women traveling alone there are certain precautions they should take.

These are my three latest purchases from amazon.co.uk:

A Lifeventure combination lock to store valuables in the hostel security lockers.


A money pouch that you wear under your clothing when traveling.


A wedding ring to ward off unwanted attention for a woman travelling alone. "Oh my husband's waiting for me at the hotel. He's a retired professional wrestler with psychological problems."


I'm actually not kidding at all. I really did purchase all of this from amazon.co.uk. My order should be shipped to me in 5-8 business days.

I am so ready.

The British Hit (Episode 2)

Two things in the UK right now that have made an impression on me are 

(1) the new Snow Patrol CD: http://www.snowpatrol.com/default2.aspx

(2) and the new bond girl: 

Random Videos

Hi Guys,

Here are some videos I'd like to share that can offer you a glimpse of what I have been up to.

I went to this soccer (football) game known as the Edinburgh Derby and essentially it's the equivalent of the Duke vs. UNC game because the two teams, Hibs and Hearts are both from Edinburgh and have a bitter rivalry. There was SOOOO much swearing at this game and my ears have never been assaulted by so much profanity... Here's just a look into the atmosphere... notice the man giving the finger screaming "EFF YOU! EFF YOU!"



This is a video of what happened when the home team scored a goal within THE FIRST 90 SECONDS OF THE GAME!



This is at this club called Bamboo in Glasgow... needless to say, the bass was pretty powerful, hahahaha.



This is when I went to the Dublin Zoo and this wolf had apparently attacked a bird and was eating it and then the other wolves were trying to steal it from him. Meanwhile, the birds circling overhead (I guess because one of their own had been killed) were going CRAZY! They were just squawking all over the place. This was pretty nuts.

Incredible

This isn't much of a post, other than to say that God is incredible. Seriously, like phenomenal. mind blowingly taking care of me. I wasn't planning on going to CU LG today, but I got a text from Sophie about how it was a really good speaker. Anyway, i went, and the speaker wasn't that great, but Aaron, a 4th year at Uni asked very sincerely if things were ok. We ended up going outside to pray for each other, which was just exactly where i needed to be today. It's just... incredible. that's it.

I dislike bugs

In few they better not have bugs. If they do i will bring my dog so he can kill all of them. Seriously one of his favorite past times is killing bumblebees. If only he would kill mosquitoes and roaches.

Anyways, the reason i say this is because i just killed a rather large spider in my hall way.
I dislike spiders so even though it may not look that big in that picture, i still would like to say that it was big to me and it made me feel good that it wouldnt attempt to crawl into my room anymore.
So update: I went to the mountains a week or 2 ago so it was nice to go a mountain finally!
The pointy looking thing in the distance is mount warning.
here is part of the view from the summit. On the very top left is the pacific ocean, that was the coolest part i think. i went with a couple people from my small group, the funnest guy was this guy named terry. he is an old irish guy who is really funny and suprisingly fit for his age. it is kind of weird now that i think about it that i call these guys by their first name even though theyre like 3 times my age.

I have 2.5 more weeks here. i was looking outside and i saw a boeing 747 fly by during the night and i was thinking... itll be weird to leave...
Also i have learned that i am pretty bad at studying.

gday mates

Cool Things South Africans Say!

So stealing Dan's idea...I thought I would put up a few South Africanisms that I fully intend to bring back to the States!!

1. How'zit.
translation: "How's it going?"
Used as a statement and form of greeting.

2. Is it!
translation: "is that so!" "really!"
A transformation of a question into a statement of incredulity.

Ex. "I bought a skirt for just 49 Rand!"
"Is it!"

3. Lekker, man!
translation: "awesome" "great" "really cool"

Ex. "This food is lekker, man!"

4. Shame...(usually followed by clucks and head shaking)
translation: "thats a shame..."

Ex. "Did you hear? Bafana Bafana (the SAfrican soccer team) lost again."
"Shame..."


Thanks for the idea Dan! I promise to make a real post sometime... :)

Cool Things British People Say (Episode 1)

I thought i'd start posting on this as to prepare any Dukies from being completely shocked and confused at these uncommon words coming from my mouth in the Spring. I'm seriously lacking in creativity right now, so i'll just jump right into it. *note: i'll post these in order of my fondness for them*

(1) major : what a fabulous word! I've run across it a few times while speaking with the people here. Essentially, it can replace the words awesome, cool, sweet, and wicked when you're really happy about something.

Ex: Friend: dude I just saw Miley Cyrus, she's coming to Duke next year! You: That's Major!!

(2) well : a simple and yet effective replacement for the word "very" in our language. If someone tells you about something good and you are pleased, though not amazed, but want to make the person feel good about themselves, you can insert this word to get the right effect.

Ex: Friend: Dude, i just made the best cake in the world! You: That's well good, mate.

(3) proper : A quaint word that sort of means "as it should be", commonly used to describe food. Yeah, I can't really think of a time this word came up outside of food conversations.

Ex: You: I just had a proper breakfast.

That's it for now, stay tuned (if there's anything else I stumble upon and like)..

A Little Past the Halfway Mark

Greetings from Brussels!
---------------------

Hi Guys,

As you could probably gather from Facebook pictures, me, Amy, Natalie and Dan (apparently The B.A.N.D.) just came back from a weekend together in Brussels, Belgium. I had an amazing time and it was really good to see people that I haven't seen since May. At the same time, coming back from seeing them suddenly made me feel a twinge of homesickness that has eluded me since I've been in Glasgow.

As of today, there are 54 days left until my flight home, and there were 110 days from when I arrived in Glasgow. At this point, a little past the halfway mark, I've been reflecting on my time here and it's really been an incredible experience but just the same, I'm suddenly feeling a little wistful for people at home (in NJ and Duke). Glasgow will never feel like "home" to me and I'm beginning to feel really itchy to see people, especially my parents, my best friend and Peter.

It's hard to maintain relationships through purely electronic communication like skype, AIM and facebook. In the end, when you think about it, you're just talking to a hunk of metal and that's pretty depressing.

I'm sorry I'm being so emo right now, but I just wanted to let the people at Duke who read this blog and feel jealous of those of us studying abroad know that we're jealous of you guys too!

Anyways, to end on a lighter note... studying abroad has definitely helped me realize how amazing God is in that he's the same God in NJ, at Duke, in Scotland, in South Africa, in Australia, etc. He transcends all geographical boundaries and doesn't need a passport =]

I hope that you guys at Duke have a FABULOUS time at fall retreat and I look forward to living vicariously through your pictures!

Beka

Rejoice, for God is with you. And take comfort in His blessings.

Just got back from a fellowship retreat in Mid Wales. To be honest, I was feeling quite lonely after it all. I didn't really hit it off with many of the guys (girls are usually very nice to you), and I was subsequently missing Austin and Duke. At the same time, I was feeling like I didn't belong anywhere.. And usually when things like this happen, I begin to selfishly desire things for myself to make things better and make me feel "better". In the midst of this loneliness, however, I remembered there were encourage-o-grams written for people at the end of retreat, and I hadn't read mine yet. I picked it out of my pocket and read them, and that was very touching. I definitely felt God's love through them, because I didn't feel as "present" and "acknowledged" as the comments suggested. Anyway, the thing that did it for me was one specific line Sophie, the worship coordinator here, wrote. It reads: "It's been really cool getting to know you this weekend. I pray you'll find God's purposes for you in Manchester over the coming months - He has brought you here. - Sophie" Wow. What the heck. That line just served as a resounding reminder that God is always there and always guiding me. Being away from Duke has taught me that God is the rock and foundation who never fails and never leaves us. And despite how unfamiliar we may be in our surroundings, it's the pursuit of Him that always gives us comfort and strength.

Top o' the morning to ya!

Hi Guys!

I’m loving this sudden flurry of activity on the blog, it’s great! I haven’t written since my bloody nose post so I thought I’d share about my past weekend in Dublin, Ireland. All these pictures are on facebook, but now you can have a story to accompany them.

Perhaps the biggest attraction for tourists in Dublin is the Guinness Storehouse. It was like the adult version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I’ve got the golden ticket!

It really was like Willy Wonka’s factory. Look, they even have a waterfall!

Guinness tastes pretty nasty. I hate it, it’s so bitter and thick so at the end of the tour we were supposed to get free pints… I opted for a Diet Coke.

Oh my gosh, this is my roomie Hannah and she almost got her purse stolen! We were at this restaurant and four of us girls were sitting at a table, two on each side facing each other and then we’re just talking and then all of a sudden this table next to us gets up and then this man starts hitting Hannah’s shoulder telling her to “check your bag, check your bag!” We were all confused and then one of the guys from the table grabs this man (who was sitting behind Hannah) and led him outside. Apparently, the guy sitting behind Hannah had been kicking at her bag to get it near him so he could steal it! Oh man, Hannah had EVERYTHING in there- her passport, creditcards, money, ID, everything. It’s one thing to lose your passport in Glasgow, but another thing to lose it in Dublin when we’re leaving the next day. But God is good, and that table of guys who got up and grabbed the guy? They were 5 off duty cops. So then this police car with its sirens on comes by later and Hannah just gives her contact info and doesn’t need to make a statement because the cops saw it the whole time. Isn’t that amazing!

Very Irish drinks- Irish whiskey, hot chocolate and Bailey’s, Irish coffee. All delicious!

You can see our hostel from the bridge, it’s on the left side. Dublin was pretty beautiful when it wanted to be.

I. LOVE. THE. ZOO. Dublin zoo is amazing. Definitely check it out if you go!


Supermac’s = Irish McDonald’s… yummay

All right guys, well, I am having a great time here! I’m so excited for upcoming trips. Like Natalie said, I schedule my work around my weekends. It’s amazing, I have more days off than school days since I don’t have classes Monday and Friday. I’ve already booked tickets for Brussels (holla!), Barcelona and Rome and am planning on going to Paris with my flatmate. Should be awesome!

Missing all of you a lot and excited to see you Europe kids in BELGIUM!

Bekakakakaaa

Yatah!!!!

I did it! it was a lame, half-hearted mumble, I'll have to admit. But regardless, the first step was made. Pushing through the fears of seeming hopelessly awkward and blatantly alien, I stepped towards the gym worker at the front desk, received my membership card and uttered the word that I have been using in all of my email as of late but have never used in real life:

Cheers.

Vroom Vroooom

Naples! Panoramic view of the entire city from a castle a few hours before we got on a train to Venice.

Venice at night! On our way to a Vivaldi Concerto!

Statue in a preserved Celtic village in Germany!

Ciao amici!

Sounds like you all are living it up around Europe (& Down Under)!! And I completely agree-- time is on steroids!

I can't believe that once-upon a time I was seriously second-guessing studying abroad in Venice. I may or may not deny that in the future if you ask me, but it's completely true. What an experience! I've made great friends, met such interesting people, and I keep eating "the best food I've ever had" like everyday (however, this comment does not apply to our cafeteria food)! When I first got here, I couldn't believe an entire bowl of pasta was seriously just the 1st course. And THEN I was expected to eat a 2nd course (meat) and a 3rd course! AND dessert! It was fantastic.

Besides the food, life in Venice has been fabulous. My classes are really interesting & only slightly demanding (which is great- we all plan our presentations & work around travel plans, not the other way around :D...) I may have mentioned this in my last post, but VIU is an international program & each school brings their own professors. And the students come from all over the world. I'm in a WWII class with German, American, Japanese, Italian, & British students. Can you imagine class discussions?!

I still feel like I haven't gotten to know Venice as well as I need to before I leave! A few weekends ago we explored several of the islands in the Veneto-- saw Murano (the famous glass-making island), some other one with beautiful parks & modern art, and San Michelle cemetery (Ezra Pound is buried there). I was reading my "Let's Go Italy" book & was super surprised to learn that there were 108 islands in the Veneto! Hellooo, I've been to like 5. 

Oh, and flood season is coming up! Obvi we live in the lowest point in all of Venice. Our knee-high rain boots won't suffice! I may have to rock those tight, thigh-high rain boots they sell here. Oooor not :D.

On weekends, I've mostly been traveling-- trying to take advantage of the few weeks before winter hits Europe. This last weekend I went to Frankfurt & visited a friend & a few weekends ago we went to Naples & Capri! These next few weeks (consecutive!) are already booked: Rome (this weekend), Brussels, Budapest, Prague, Dublin & Paris! Hopefully I'll get to go to Morocco! I really wanted to go to Cairo, but it looked like I was going to have to sell a body part to buy a plane ticket. People actually do that on E-bay though.

It's been so great to hear from everyone. You are all in my prayers!

nat

Breaks and animals

Haha i get spring break twice this year. Ive been having lots of fun in australia. I have 3 weeks of class left... trust me, it passes by quickly. Enjoy the time you have left, no matter how cliche that sounds. Going along with amy, i can't believe how blessed I am to have this opportunity. Over the past week or two, i went to the beach to take a surfing lesson with someone from my small group. That went pretty well, it was really fun and I can now stand on a surfboard for a couple seconds before i faceplant into the water now. I think i will buy a surfboard when i get back into the states. I am really glad i finally got to see blue water, as much as i like north carolina, the beaches kind of suck. Then a couple days later i went back to the beach again with my housemates and that was really fun getting to know them more and hanging out. Its about a hour and a half journey to the beach by public transportation so its pretty easy to get there.

Today i went to the lone pine koala sancutary, basically a zoo. There were a lot of koalas but you couldnt touch them, they're pretty boring anyways they dont really do anything. But there were other animals there like kangaroos and emus. Those two are really cool and entertaining to hang out with. They are really over exposed to humans so they are really friendly (by friendly i mean they want your food) so it was cool being able to play with them. I think i really like animals and i think that after dealing with my psycho german shephard, im not really afraid of other animals biting me so it was cool befriending the emu.

The weather is starting to get warm, but it was cloudy the past couple of days so it was really nice not being hot(no ac).

In other news, my sister is having to apply to college right now so i've been dealing with that and helping writing her recommendations for her counselor, and ive discovered that recommendations are really hard to write, and i don't know my sister as well as i would like. We have a weird relationship, i'm more of a parent than a brother to her, so its been more of taking care of her than getting to know her really well emotionally. When we talk its more about getting down to business, what do you have to do, what do you need, do you need any help etc. So when i have to write about her quality traits and what is great about her, it takes more thought on my part to convey why i think i have a great sister.

I miss you guy! Cant wait to live together!



Emu I befriended, he followed me around for a bit, mostly because i fed him.

I was pretending the kangaroo was dan.
Emu was jealous i was feeding the peacock

Part of the city at dusk.
Gold coast, surfer's paridise beach

Quick Update

I can't believe how quickly time is passing! I've mainly been traveling to small towns around Florence and exploring the city for this half of the semester. We have all of our projects/midterms coming up so I'll have to start staying on top of academic things now a little more than I have been. However, in two weeks I'm starting another round of travels... I'll be meeting up with a few of you in Brussels (yay!), then going to London, and Dublin. The following weekend I'm going to Barcelona and then to Vienna for Thanksgiving. It's going to be a whirlwind!

One thing I definitely miss over here is having a campus fellowship. I've tried out a couple churches here in Florence but I still haven't really found a place where i feel `'at home`' if you know what I mean. Plus, as you said Dan, finding a church and really getting involved is hard because we are traveling on the weekends and studying abroad is such a short amount of time anyway. I attended an Italian mass in the Duomo (huge cathedral) in Florence which was really interesting but I couldn't understand more than a few words given my limited knowledge of the language :) . Since then I've tried the two English-speaking churches I could find. One was an Anglican Church (which was a lot like a Catholic mass) and then I went to a worship night in an Evangelical Church across the street from me. Both were good services but I really miss the powerful sermons back home and the worship music. Fortunately though, I met some really nice girls studying abroad with Indiana University so I'm going to try to spend time with them sometime if we can arrange it. It's a little hard being the only Christian in my apartment and not having other people to talk to about the spiritual journey. Sometimes they will make comments based upon Chrisitian stereotypes and I have to walk the fine line between defending my faith and still wanting to "fit in" and keep them as friends. At the same time, being here is motivating me to really seek God out for myself. Not having "regular Christian events`' makes me personally responsible for my own spiritual growth. I just hope that God can use me while I'm here to spread His love.

Saturday, September 27th was fantastic because my aunt from Taiwan actually came to visit me. She was taking a tour of Italy with some of her friends and they were in Florence for about 8 hours so I was able to meet up with her while she was here. I was SO excited to see her because we've always been really close. Trying to get in touch with her was quite interesting though because I had to call a hotel and talk to a man who spoke Italian to try to get him to transfer me to my aunt who speaks broken English. When I met up with my aunt's tour group, they had lunch reservations at this restaurant so I was able to go and eat with them. I was able to try the steak that Florence is famous for and it was DELICIOUS!

What was really nice was that I was able to give my aunt a tour of my apartment and show her some of the places that I go on a daily basis. The only thing was that being around all those Chinese speakers made me wish in a way that I had studied abroad in China or Taiwan. I'm LOVING my experience in Florence (it's a dream come true!) but I definitely feel like not being able to speak the language really limits your ability to immerse yourself in another culture. I almost feel as if I'm living in a little "NYU Bubble here" because we all go to the same place for classes, live together, and hang out at the same clubs/bars on the weekends. In a way, I think I really would have enjoyed a homestay in another country because I feel like you experience so much more when you are actually surrounded by locals but I wouldn't trade what I've been blessed enough to have.

Last Sunday, I went on a bike tour of Tuscany. It was absolutely GORGEOUS! We toured a castle where they have vineyards and did wine tasting and sampled their fresh olive oil. :)

Here are a few pictures from the tour (including the picture in our dorky helmets! Haha)

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La Iglesia

So, I'll definitely give a more indepth update on other things in my life in the future, but I thought i'd share with you how things are going in my life regarding fellowships and churches. It's just happens to be the main thing on my mind right now since I just got back from fellowship.

Something I learned from my experience in New York is that church hopping is somewhat detrimental if you're only living somewhere for 2-3 months. As a result, I went to my first church this past Sunday and have decided to stick with it. It's a church called Reach (part of the Vineyard Church Movement), and their motto is "Church for the Real World". I liked the people, the direction the church was headed, and the worship, so i've decided to stick with it. They really emphasize creative worship too, which really resonated with my passion and curiosity.

As for fellowships, there's something called Christian's Union here, which is pretty much Intervarsity for the UK. Seriously, it's part of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, which is the overarching global group that IV fits under as well. I wasn't planning on joining a Bible study, committing more to the church small group instead, but like a naive freshman desperate to belong, I told the Small group leader of my hall i'd attend next week because he was nice to me... oy. It should be good though, meeting people frequently precedes academics while studying abroad anyway.

So yeah, that's about it. One more interesting fact is that Church and State are NOT separated here. It's really quite interesting, and i'm not sure why I didn't question it before. As a result, you have these organizations/buildings called Chaplaincies where religious groups can rent space etc. We had our fellowship at the chaplaincy tonight. good stuff.

Ok, that's it for now. On saturday I'm going to take a journey through the city and take pictures (mainly because of Natalie's FB wall post). so stay tuned!

I Hate Being Sick

Thanks for all the prayers, guys! I can breathe through my nose and I think I'm finally healthy again!

-------------------
Hey Guys,

I promise I'll post a more substantial blog next time, but I just want to ask for your prayers right now because I'm really sick. My entire flat is sick, literally 6 out of the 8 people living on my floor are sick and I've been nursing a cold for four days.

I have a sore throat, runny nose, headache, coughing, wheezing, clogged ears, the whole shebang. I started having a bloody nose literally 5 minutes ago because I've been blowing my nose so much. It's awful being sick so I would love it if you guys could pray for me! I might have to take advantage of this free NHS soon because I am absolutely miserable.

But God > NHS so please pray for me!

I apologize for the graphic nature of this photo.

Bloody Nose Beka

Loosen up, chump

I learned today that I need to be less serious. About things in general, i think. Here's the interesting part though, you want to know how this lesson was brought upon me?

I was hit by a BUS.

That's right. A flipping double decker Magic Bus. I was walking back to campus on Oxford Road - the main street connecting the University to the City Centre - when i heard a sudden loud, sustained honk and before i knew it, an unknown object slapped me on the back of my head. Turns out, the bus driver was going much faster than he realized and accidentally swiped me while attempting to stop. After I recovered, I looked up for a second and saw the bus driver. he was saying something to me, but the bus door was closed so obviously i couldn't understand a word. For a second, even, i thought he was yelling at me. The nerve! so in response i just raised my hand up in a "don't worry about it chump" kind of way and kept on walking.

I didn't really want to make a deal out of it because (1) it didn't really hurt and (2) i didn't want to be exposed of my international, naive nature. A few minutes, later, however, and the honking monster was back. This time in small, spurted honks. The man was stalking me, i swear! Anyway, i looked up, and got a little more annoyed. The driver was motioning me to come over and at this point i was really nervous because i thought he wanted to have a tiff with me. Anyway, i walked into the bus and to my surprise he asked me, "you alright mate?"

"yeah," i said
"listen, i'm sorry about that, i'll give you a free ride. Where are ya headin?"

It was just one or two blocks to where i needed go, so the ride wasn't terribly awkward. On the bus i heard various snickers and a "i woulda busted ma head!" among the crowd, but that's about it. In retrospect, however, it made me realize that i need to have more humor regarding my life and those around me. Not in a way that puts myself or others down, but one that is more receptive towards other people and the comedy that surrounds our life. Anyway, the point is i was changed. sort of. after being hit by a bus. now that doesn't happen every day, does it?

American in Manchester

Hello loves,

And so begins my first legit post on this blog... This is my second day in the city of Manchester. Where to begin.

I actually started typing this blog about 3-4 hours ago. A lot has happened, however, in that span of time and I feel the need to explain to you the drastic change that occurred. You see, 3-4 hours ago I was in my room holding my trembling hand frozen on my flat room door handle. 3-4 hours ago I was disappointed with my stay so far and unimpressed by what England had to offer. 3-4 hours ago I stopped this post after two sentences not because of how much I had to say but because of the disheartening feeling that I had too little...

So there I was, holding my door handle like a mannequin, frozen in apprehension and social anxiety. You see, in front of me, connected to that handle is the heavy steel door of my single dorm room. And beyond that door, three voices. The first I met yesterday morning. It belongs to a fellow who goes by the name Adam. A scrawny freshman from Wales who is obsessed with Heath Ledger's version of the Joker. He showed me pictures of a surprisingly convincing costume he did of the Joker for a Halloween party. Adam also makes great pasta.

The other two, however, remain faceless. And while it would seem normal to try and meet the other two (which I still very much plan on doing), I hope you guys can understand the justification for my anxiety in that they were actually talking about me on the other side of the door. And here's when I start overthinking things, because I began wondering what I needed to do to change their first impressions and also when to enter into the conversation. I know, it's really quite overdramatic.

Anyway, in the end, after 5 minutes of self-debating and mad prayer, I decided to trust God and open the door. The justification was that (1) I was overthinking things (2) one of my goals for studying abroad was to meet people, so I might as well start now and (3) I really didn't want to stay in my room all night. Fyi, by now the conversation had ended, and only Adam was there with his door open. After a quick convo, he invited me to a pub, and that's where my opinion of Manchester completely changed...

I have a feeling I'm going to love this place. The pub, to be honest, wasn't very exciting. I think we went too early, so there were just a few students working on their laptops and a few groups of older customers chatting away. It's there that I tried my first Lager. It was a Carling (their motto is "Britain's Number One Lager"). Surprisingly, it wasn't as strong as I thought it would be. The more I drank it, though, the more bitter it became. I think I drank about half of the pint before I couldn't go on. Hopefully I'll develop a taste for it throughout this semester. On the other hand, Adam told me about Strongbow Cider - essentially, an alcoholic beverage made from apples! i'm definitely trying it next time.

Anyway, the exciting part began when we left the pub in search of something more interesting. In the end we decided to take a bus down to the City Centre. We took a bus for about 15 minutes, got off, and walked around in a fantastically wonderful European city. Impressive modern architecture intermixed with beautiful architecture of old. Massive amounts of people wandering around its massive shopping center. We walked around for about 2 hours and touched on every niche of European life I thought existed. There were your local pubs where the locals stare you down if they don't like the look of you. Then there was Canal Street, where the C and S are cleverly crossed out if you're wondering what goes on there. I'll really have to take pictures next time I'm down there, because it came as an absolutely lovely (british lingo) surprise to me. While the university is a nice, quaint campus, the city centre is the European hub i was hoping for in the back of my mind. Manchester is the perfect balance, and I'm completely thankful to God that he's helping me adapt here.

im chinese!!

hello IV!

hope everyone is doing well! here is a reflection i wrote on being asian in South Africa. hope u find it interesting! miss u guys!!

Rows and rows of primary schoolchildren neatly dressed in blue sweaters and dark slacks or skirts lined up in the parking lot outside their school, waiting for their teachers to lead them back inside. Our vans were parked in this lot, and we walked right by the children on our way to the van. The children seemed friendly and curious, and several of us waved and called out greetings: “Molweni bhuti! Moloweni sisi!” I made eye-contact with several of the children, and they looked quite surprised when I spoke to them in Xhosa. They giggled and waved back and whispered amongst themselves. Several of the boys pointed at me and made martial-arts style moves and “kung-fu” sounds. One brave young boy, one of the main karate experts, sidled up to the van and shyly responded to my queries in broken Xhosa. By the time our van pulled away, my new friend and I were giving each other thumbs up and waving enthusiastically until we could no longer see each other.

The schoolchildren’s reaction to my race caught me off-guard, but it was not entirely unexpected. Asians aren’t very populous in this African country, and Xhosa-speaking children in primary school can’t be expected to have had a wide exposure to other cultures. The kids most likely grew up in black townships where there are even fewer Asians than in Capetown in general. The kung-fu moves and karate sounds that would have been offensive and racist in America were borne more out of ignorance than anything else. It would be safe to assume that the only exposure the kids have had to Asian people has been through the media, and the only representation of Asians in mainstream media is in martial arts movies. Most Americans can’t even name an internationally famed actor or actress not named Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, or Jet Li. The kids, then, were simply repeating what they saw on TV, as kids often do.

To their credit, the children weren’t afraid to express their curiosity and engage with me in the short time we had together. The little boy who closed the gap between the ranks of school children and our vans was bridging a gap to a culture that probably seemed worlds away to him. Through our simple conversation in Xhosa, we forged a connection that was evident by the energetic waves and smiles that continued long after our van pulled away. Although I was still the stranger, the pale woman with straight, dark hair and laughable Xhosa, I was no longer just a kung-fu move or martial-arts fighter. Most of the karate boys continued to throw pretend-kicks and punches at the van, but my new friend gave me the thumbs-up and smiled and waved good-bye.

This experience was one of the first encounters I’ve had in South Africa where I was specifically singled out because of my race. While our SIT group of Americans usually attracts attention wherever we go, I alone was picked out of the group by the children. When I first saw the “karate moves” and sounds, there was a split-second of discomfort, a moment where my smile fell and my hand faltered mid-wave. I have rarely in my life been confronted so forcefully with a stereotype of who I am, of the fact that I am Chinese and different than everyone else around me. But while this confrontation was sudden and disturbing, I also realized that these kids did not mean to be hurtful and racist. They were mostly seven or eight years old. They have not been exposed to Asians and Asian cultures, and I was just very strange and new to them. I felt then, almost a responsibility to show them I was just another human being, that there was more to me than kung-fu kicks. I can’t say with any certainty that I made any effect on their conscious perceptions of Asians, but I do hope that my short conversation with the little karate expert gave him one personal experience, one human connection with a person who happens to be of Asian descent, that will contribute to the breakdown of Asian stereotypes in South Africa. For my part, I learned not to be too sensitive to potentially racist stereotypes and to understand it more as lack of knowledge and ignorance, ignorance that I feel compelled to help change.

Glasgow Update

Hi Everyone!

Here's my Glasgow update on what's been going on with me thus far.

Weather
It rains a LOT and it's pretty cold, around 57F. When it's not actually pouring, there's a consistently falling mist. I always carry my umbrella with me because I never know when it's going to start raining. There hasn't been one day it hasn't rained yet. I thought I had lost my umbrella yesterday and I was so worried but I found it at the restaurant I had eaten at the day before! My umbrella is my most prized possession right now.

Accommodations
I live in a student apartment that's right smack in the middle of campus. My roomie is Hannah Guerrier and she's so sweet =]. Our room is huge, like 300 square feet but it's really slanted... like the ground is slanted down so sometimes my drawers open automatically and sometimes my pens slide right off my desk... It's really weird because it's an "apartment" but it's like living in a dorm, because we share our kitchen with the rest of our floor, and we only have 2 toilets and 2 showers for like 7 rooms. Also, we're here early because we're international students so we have orientation but some other people have begun to move in to our floor... but they're all guys. It's a little strange, especially when I first came out of the bathroom and saw there was an English chap in the bathroom right next to me. His name is Alex, he's cool though. Our heating hasn't started working yet, this is the worst part. I sit at my desk wrapped in a comforter because it's so cold.

This is the SUPER STEEP hill from the main road up to my apartment. I hate making this trek because I'm the laziest bum ever.

Food
Glaswegians love to deep fry everything. If you can batter it, they can fry it. They serve fries, or "chips" with EVERY single dish. I haven't had much green on my plate, mostly brown and gold. They have a lot of curry restaurants (yum) and small fish and chips places. Everything is so expensive so I really need to start cooking. Luckily the dollar has strengthened a bit so I can afford to live here, hahaha.

Campus
The campus really reminds me of Duke. It's all done with gothic architecture so everything kind of looks the same. It's very pretty and VERY green though!

Look! Duke chapel!

This looks like Crowell quad to me.

This is me and my roomie, Hannah, under the arches!

Nightlife
Pubs abound in Glasgow and everyone here loves to drink, but it's not like how Americans do it. Glaswegians order like one pint (still really big) and sip it all night and chat and stuff. I went to a pub the other night to watch Andy Murray play Federer in the US Open finals (Murray's from Scotland) and it was pretty fun. This one guy there with his girlfriend was talking to us and he was hilarious and when we were leaving he grabbed me by the head and surprised me so much when he kissed my eye. I think he was a wee bit tipsy.

Academics
Classes don't start until September 22. I'm trying to plan my schedule where I only have class Tuesdays through Thursdays... it is semi-successful. We'll have to see. Hopefully my classes aren't too hard, but at least they're pass/fail on my Duke transcript except this one seminar. I'm planning on taking this mandatory Duke class, two politics classes and an English class. Some people here are taking bagpiping, hahaha, that's awesome.

Travel Plans
I've already booked tickets to Rome for Thanksgiving weekend to see some Duke friends. Me and the other Glasgow Dukies are also going to London next week, all expenses paid, for some orientation thing which should be fun. I think the IV people in Europe are thinking about going to Brussels to meet up together... more planning on this later, hahaha.

Anyhoo, I'll definitely update once classes are under way and I've settled in a bit more. I miss you all a lot!

Beka

bongiorno!

my roommate brings all the boys to the yard

that's right.

*  *  *  *  *

hello everyone!

i've been reading about your awesome trips through your blogs, and i felt so left out! but i'm finally in venice and I'm already having a blast!

i found my way from the airport somehow- by boat of course- and i think it's safe to say i'm kind of a pro now. we live on our own island with all of our professors (they will regret that once I get going with essays) and all of our classes are about a 2 minute walk away! the island is basically out of a painting- incredibly beautiful. it used to be a benedictine monastery once upon a time, and it was converted into a madhouse until it became a university! some of the crazies are still walking around in disguise. i know it. 

there's also tons of "interesting" (to be politically correct when I really mean gross) modern art around the campus. at night they make noises. last night, i walked by a giant bean and it growled at me. there are also these red tulips that make a ticking sound- like a clock. one falls over every day. i can't wait until they all fall over. my interpretation: death.

moving on. my roommate is precious! her name is sachko and she lives in japan. obvi, i call her sach.

the program is international, so students here are from all over the world! not to sound like the campus culture initiative, but i think it will bring a unique perspective to the classroom. i <3>

classes start monday, but i wish they started ages ago. i've been dying to go to class and write papers.

i'm attaching some pictures we took yesterday to 1. make you jealous, and 2. convince you to visit me!

ciao! con amore di italia,

nat