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!
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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