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The Negev

Southern Israel: the Negev, as close to inhospitable land as you can possibly semi-survive in. I can't imagine what it's like to live down there, especially in the 120+ summer heat.

Tel Arad

There is next to absolutely nothing down there, but it was awesome! Desert as far and the eye can see, but somehow people were able to make the most out of the land and live down there in the Biblical and greater Negev. We hiked up to the top of a bunch of tels to see all kinds of ruins of cities, fortresses, and entire civilizations lost in the dirt. We saw where Sampson was born, raised and reeked havoc. We also saw where David killed Goliath. We had to wear hard hats at Tel Beersheba and walked through the cities ancient water system. We visited an ancient Israeli fortress at Tel Arad and saw what is believed to be a second temple built by Solomon to Yahweh, this one on a much smaller scale. 

Mapping parts of the Bible. 

This is why I love this class: this is how we learn. Cyndi, our guide and professor, read to us 2 Chr 20:6-10. When you read it, it just looks like a list of cities and an average reader would skip to the next part of the story. Instead, as she read off the names of the cities, we put a rock on the map where they were located. We've spent the past two weeks learning cities, trade routes, mountain/hill/valley lines, rivers, roads... basically everything about the geography of the biblical Holy Land. As we plotted these cities from 2 Chr, we quickly realized that it was a defense strategy by Rehoboam to refortify these importantly located cities to protect the Kingdom from coming invasion! It was so cool to see seemingly meaningless names turn into ancient war plans!

Swimming in the Mediterranean 

One of the highlights from the week was swimming in the Mediterranean Sea! None of us have swam in the ocean for months, and we were all dying too! I've grown up around the ocean, it's in my blood! I was so excited to finally swim around freely! The Mediterranean was warm and clear. We stayed there all afternoon and we watched some of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen in a really long time!

Wadi Zin

We hiked through the massive canyon created by Wadi Zin and up the side of the cliff! The walking on this trip has honestly been some of the highlights! The thinks we see while in the middle of nowhere on a hike have been unbelievable! 

Made it to the top! 

Palestine: The West Bank

It's been a long time since my last post on here, but the past few weeks have been some of the busiest days of my life (even more so than spring sing week, it's crazy!) The past five nights in particular traveling every day to a new city have been insane. We spent the first two of those nights at a home stay in the West Bank near Bethlehem. 

We arrived in Bethlehem on Friday, toured the Church of the Nativity (but didn't get to go down to the cave, still bitter), then we were picked up by our host families. Most of us stayed in groups of two or four. Three other guys and I was picked up by this 26 year old Palestinian named Awad, and he was so much fun! In the beginning I felt like a preview day student or something being shown around the city and his house. Awad lives with his mother and 18 year old sister. We had breakfasts and dinner with them, and spend our daylight hours with the team going around the West Bank with our Palestinian guide Ayman. We visited Herodium and Bethlehem on Friday, then on saturday we spent the morning in Hebron.

Hebron

Hebron isn't the safest place, in fact it's one of the cities with the greatest tention in the entire West Bank. While most Israeli settlements in the West Bank are located just outside of Arab cities, this settlement is right smack in the middle. There are 400 settlers with 1,500 soldiers protecting them. Needless to say, there is a lot of fighting in Hebron. We visited a mosque that was the location of a massacre in 1994 when a crazy ideological Israeli settler walked into the mosque and opened fired during Islamic prayer: killing 29, injuring 125. The building is actually half mosque and half synagog and sits on top of the Cave of the Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their wives Sarah, Rebecca and Leah are all believed to be buried there. This was actually the first mosque I have ever been in and it was really fascinating. The girls on our trip had to put on these cloaks that made them look like witches! After Hebron we went back to Bethlehem and visited the Shepherds Field, believed to be where the angles appeared to the Shepherds.  

Cave of the Patriarchs. 

We also spent some time walking around Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. This was a very moving experience seeing the camp and the displacement of so many people. We walked along the West Bank fence, or in the case of where we were walking, the wall. It was giant. Most of the border is a fence, but where there is a history of violence or shootings through the fence, the Israeli government built a wall. 

View of Bethlehem from my home stay room

We ended our stay in Bethlehem at a hookah bar restaurant called the Shepherds Valley restaurant, Awad's uncle owns the place. It was the best hookah I have ever had! The bowl was made out of a hollowed out apple and it lasted over two and a half hours! We were eventually joined by four more guys from our team under sad circumstances, but we had such a fun last night with Awad drinking local beers and smoking hookah! I really wish we could have stayed longer with him and his family. We had so many great conversations with them about what it's like to live as a Palestinian in the West Bank and about their political views. I learned a lot in only a few hours of conversation from both Awad and his mom. I already miss them! We had our frist home cooked meals in months there and I hope to one day see them again.

athens airport

So I’m sitting in the Athens airport, mind racing with excitement! I found out that there’s free internet here, so I thought I’d write an entry about how freaking pumped I am! AHHH! I have been sitting in the lobby of our hotel for most of the day reading our Israel book and waiting to leave (we got kicked out of our rooms at noon checkout). Those hours were some of the longest of my life! As the clock ticked towards our 7:15pm hotel departure, the excitement in the lobby began to build and build. An extreme sense of euphoria hit us as we lugged out bags to the bus waiting down the street and drove to the Athens airport. That bus ride was probably the most lively journey we’ve had yet, nobody could stay in their seats due to pure excitement! 

This airport is almost completely empty! It’s crazy! Growing up with LAX, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an airport this deserted at any time of the night (it’s only 9:00!) Security was smooth and now we’ve taken over the entire gate and are giddy with excitement. Then everybody found out about the internet and entered into their own little worlds on laptops and iPhones (guilty as charged). 

I’m trying to put into words right now how I feel about this day finally arriving. I’ve been waiting for this day for almost a year, since our first informational meeting at the Kihlstrom’s house (the professor husband and wife with us). Israel was the selling point for me to come on this trip. For years my mom has told me that Israel was by far the best and most spiritually moving part of her Euro Semester with Westmont in ’79. I am so ready to see what God has planned for me this month in the Holy Land. I know I He is going to show me some amazing but challenging sights. We received our tentative schedule for the month today and I can’t believe this is about to happen! The last two mornings we have had lectures on the Israeli-Palestine conflict, and I can’t wait to learn so much more about it, there! This might be what I’m doing for the rest of my life. My plan right now is to learn Arabic, and hopefully come back here soon to learn it more on sight. This next month is going to be some what of a testing ground for that plan! 

Well, I assume we’re going to be boarding soon! We arrive in Tel Aviv around 1am, then go through crazy Israeli customs (God only knows how long that’s going to take). After that it’s an hour drive from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. We didn’t book any hotel rooms for tonight since we’re getting in so late/early, so we’re going to play it by year when we get there. We’re hoping we can crash at Jerusalem University College (JUC), our home base for the month. It’s going to be a long night, but so worth it! 

Leaving Europe

Belgium

Just like when I was leaving Scotland, I write now during the final moments in Europe. In a few hours we will leave for the airport to fly to ISRAEL!! I’m so excited to be finally reaching the destination that I have been most excited for, but it’s a mixed feeling because we’re about to begin the final chapter of this life changing semester abroad. The dynamics of the trip are about to dramatically change as we enter the Middle East. We won’t be in a new city and new country every few days, but instead be living in Jerusalem for an entire month, we day and overnight trips throughout Israel and Palestine. SO STOKED!

Vatican

But at the same time it’s sad leaving Europe. I will never forget the last three or so months of the semester. 10 countries and 34 cities… in a single day we had breakfast in Poland, lunch in the Czech Republic, and dinner in Austria. God only knows how many cathedrals and castles we’ve been through! I want to somehow calculate how many hours we’ve spent on buses, but part of me never wants to know the exact numbers. 

Berlin

Favorites. I think Berlin was my favorite big city. There’s just something about it that really attracts me to it! I thought I would hate it because of it’s Nazi past, but the city has somehow redeemed itself. A close second would be Roma. I wasn’t a fan of Rome the first time I went, but this time around I had so much fun! Florence is still my favorite city in Europe, it’s perfect. Sienna was my favorite small town we went to, it’s Tuscan beauty is astonishing. The Germans and Italians were my favorite people too, and the French sucked. 

Paris

One of the moments that I know I will never in my life forget was when I stood on the sand of Omaha Beach in Normandy. We had just come from the American Cemetery, and I was filled with a sense of patriotism, grief, and humility. I will also never forget the feeling I had at the three concentration camps we visited: Sachsenhausen, Theresienstadt, and Auschwitz.  

Normandy

I've now tasted something like 43 new beers (I'm keeping track) and my goal is to hit 50 in Israel! Thanks to Gabe, I now have a new appreciation for art. We've studied art across the eras from Byzantine to Post-Modern. It's been a roller coaster ride through art gallery after gallery, sometimes I would hate it, but most of the time I loved it! I have a new favorite artist, Casper David Friedrich. He's a German Romantic painter his spiritual landscapes are life changing! Here's one of his most controversial: 

Dresden

Well it's transition time again. We have a late night flight from Athens to Tel Aviv, arriving around 1am. A few hours through crazy Israeli customs, then an hour bus drive to Jerusalem. Apparently we don't have a hotel booked for tonight, so we're going to crash on some couches at Jerusalem University College, our main hub for the month. I can't believe that this day has finally arrived! Israel, here I come! 

Areopagus

Looking down towards Mars Hill from the Acropolis 

As we move East, I am entering more and more into the lands of the Bible. In Rome, we saw the prison where Peter and Paul were held. Yesterday in Athens a group of us walked to Areopagus, now known as Mars Hill. It's a giant marble rock where the philosophers of Bible time Greece would meet, philosophize and judge. Paul was brought there and he preached the good news of Jesus Christ in Acts 17:16-34 (below). We had an awesome and moving moment when we read the story while atop the hill! This was just a taste of what is going to happen next month in Israel! 

Mars Hill has an amazing view of the Acropolis 

Acts 17:16-34

In Athens

 ¹⁶ While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷ So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. ¹⁸ A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. ¹⁹ Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? ²⁰ You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” ²¹ (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

 ²² Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. ²³ For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

 ²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. ²⁵And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. ²⁶ From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. ²⁷ God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ²⁸ ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[b] As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[c]

 ²⁹ “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. ³⁰ In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. ³¹ For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

 ³² When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” ³³At that, Paul left the Council. ³⁴ Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others.

Roma: eternity in one day

'I saw eternity the other night...' and her name was ROMA! 

Rome, the eternal city! I wasn't a huge fan of it the first time I visited, but now I'm in love! I did all of the following in one single day! Thousands of years of human history in a matter of hours.

The Colosseum was a must! We had an awesome tour guide for this and the Roman Forum. My last tour of both was terrible and our guide hated us! Francesca loved us, and we loved her! Probably the best (non-Gabriel) tour guide we've had on this trip!  

Francesca also walked us around the old Roman Forum. It was only raining a little, but just enough to scare all of the tourists away! The place was near empty, so my pictures came out much better than last time!

After the tour, a group of us decided to carry on with the adventures and to go see as much as possible within walking distance! We frist found ourselves at the Trevi Fountain. I've been told that there's a system to what wishes you wish in order for the magic to work. The first time to Rome and the fountain, you wish to return there (as I did in 2008). The second time you come to Rome and the fountain (aka, this time), you wish to find true love. The third time you come to Rome and the fountain, you're with your true love and you don't need a third wish. Who knows, I'm on track for this to come true!

After lunch, we stumbled upon the Spanish Steps completely by accident. We were looking for some friends that ate separately when we durned a corner and BAM! Spanish Steps in our face!

Our last stop of the day, before we nearly collapsed from walking all over Rome was the Pantheon. This was probably the coolest building I have ever been inside. I don't know why, but last time I was in Rome we skipped it. What a crime! Oh well, at least I got to enjoy it this time around! 

Siena for Gabe’s special day

Gabriel Fawcett (our guide, professor and friend) was born in Siena, Italy. Today, we visited his town of birth, on his birthday! It was a really fun experience for us to share with Gabriel. It was also the first time he’s returned to the place of his birth since he's become a Christian. The entire group laid hands on him in the town square and prayed for him for like 30 minutes. It was a moving experience for all of us, especially Gabe. (yes, there is an American football in his hand in that picture)

Siena has always been a favorite city for everybody in my Italian family that has been. Today, I finally understood why. This place was magical! We went inside their Duomo and I was in awe. Who knew that black and white stripes would look awesome inside of a cathedral! 

After the church, we climbed this partly completed (or maybe partly destroyed) arched wall that was the highest point of the city and overlooked the town and Tuscany around us! It was one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve seen on this trip. 

Florence: awesometown, world

My favorite city I have every been to in my life. And it’s even better than I remember it! This has been the city that I’ve compared every other city to on this trip. I’ve told a lot of people on this trip that, but when they ask why it’s kind of difficult to explain. I just love everything about it, but mostly I love the people. So many other cities are just packed with tourist after tourist. But even though Florence has tourists, its of a different sort. One, the median age of people visiting seems to by way younger. I guess there are so many people studying abroad there (like my sister Annalise did) or college kids like me visiting. Also, it seems like Italians love it there! I’d say the fast majority of the people I’ve interacted with in Florence are Italian. It just feels like a real, living, breathing, crazy Italian city, and I LOVE IT! 

I did everything one should do in Florence, and so much more! Saw the David, climbed the Duomo, walked along the Ponte Vecchio bridge, did’t go to the Uffizi this time around (don’t tell Gabriel, my art prof.), went to the leather market, ate awesome steak… but I also wandered, I explored, I got lost. I had hour long conversations with complete strangers, I watched football (both NFL and Serie A), danced the night away, drank the night away. It was an all around spectacular week.

It was by far one of the most fun weeks of the trip. Even though we had 2,000 word art paper due, a three page WWII paper due, and a 2,000 word technology paper to work on, I still managed to have a ton on fun in my favorite city in the world! 

Venezia!

Life has been so crazy the past 11 or so days that I’ve been in Italia! (hence me not updating my blog since the night I arrived in Venice). I don’t know where to begin... How about the beginning? That’s a very good place to start. (Sound of Music reference, Austria was rad). 

So my last post was about us arriving in Venice. Venice was so much fun! That city is beyond beautiful, it feels like it’s part of a different world. The only draw back of it, it’s 90% tourists, 10% locals (and they’re only there to profit off the tourists). It’s sad really, I wish I could have seen Venice 50 or 100 years ago. I did what I was told to do last time I was in Venice my by Euro History AP teacher Dugan Miller, I got completely lost (usually on purpose) almost every day we were there. Only then can you see the true beauty of Venice without the tourists surrounding you. It’s amazing how you can just take one turn off a noisy street, and it’s quiet. One more turn, and it’s absolutely silent. 

I love this town, but I’m much more of a big city guy.

my triumphant return to Italia

Today might have been one of the greatest days of my life. Definitely one of the greatest days of the trip. Our bus dropped us off a ways outside of Venice, and we got to take a bunch of small water taxis into the heart of the city (where our hotel is). This was a view of Venice that I've never seen before, it was unbelievable! 

I was here last during my sophomore year of high school with my European History AP teacher and some students for a spring break trip. This time around is under completely different (better) circumstances and I'm so stoked! Graham Fawcett, Gabe's dad, has met up with us again! Back to poetry in the most beautiful city in the world!

No words can describe how I feel being back, but I think my smile in the following pictures says it all. People have already noticed me change from the moment we crossed over the border in the Alps. My giant Italian family would be proud.

I'm finally back in Italy!

recreating pictures: 32 years later

I went to Salzburg on a mission today: to recreate a bunch of pictures from my mom's Europe Semester visit to the city in 1979. The first two are in the Gazebo that was used in the filming of The Sound of Music. Unfortunately they don't allow people into it anymore, so Erica and I had to improvise.

The fist photo the group named: "The Proposal"

1979

2011

The second was named: "The Marriage" (dang that was a short engagement.)

1979

2011

The last one is at the entrance to the gardens where the Von Trapp kids ran around singing one of those catchy songs.

1979

2011

Hi Anna

the alps at night

Last night I took some long exposure shots of the mountains above Mittersill. It was a beautiful night with only a few high clouds, but I could see back for what seemed like an eternity!

(I haven't edited these at all FYI)