What Leadership Looks Like

Since I've returned home I've been following Election 2008 news practically nonstop. It began with Romney's "Faith in America" address the morning after I returned, and yesterday the coverage continued as the candidates made statements on the death of Benazir Bhutto. I don't follow sports too much, instead elections are the games I love to watch. Each day brings new chances for candidates to mess up and opportunities for them to jump ahead. The Iowa caucuses are just a few days away, then New Hampshire, and then all the candidates will be in South Carolina for the last early primary before February 5.

Many of you know that I currently support Mike Huckabee for the Republican nomination. After sifting through the candidates his views most aligned with mine and I've been with him since late in the summer. At that point, everyone dismissed him, just as they did until about November, but now he has gained momentum and he has a great possibility of winning the nomination. Please talk to me for more information on why I support him, but here is the short: He has the most executive experience out of all the candidates (10.5 years Governor of Arkansas, Chair of National Governors' Assoc.), he holds consistent conservative views on social issues, he supports the FairTax, he has a realistic plan to solve our immigration problem, he is electable against Hillary or Obama, and finally he will bring this nation up rather than split us apart.

"I'm a conservative, but I'm not mad at anybody about it. I've learned that you don't have to give up your own convictions, but you do need to be willing to have an open mind, spirit and heart toward people who are completely different from you." - Mike Huckabee

It is really an injustice for me to sum Gov. Huckabee up in a few sentences. Please take some time to research his stances on the issues, and watch more videos of debates, speeches, and interviews so you can decide for yourself.

Best of Mike Huckabee Youtube videos
Mike Huckabee's Website

If you're with Huckabee - sign up to Save 08 here.

The EU

I never mentioned the academic studies we carried out during my time in Europe. Throughout the trip we mainly focused on the politics of the European Union, something most Americans and many Europeans know little about. The link below is for a little introduction I had to write in one of my classes.

Introduction to the European Union

My land

After stepping off the plane I knew I was back in the land of greatness. I met and hugged my mom at baggage claim and we went off to my requested first stop. Bojangles. There I had a cajun chicken biscuit, a sweet tea, and a Boberry biscuit. If you've never had that combination you really haven't experienced the abundant life we are promised here, so make an effort to go soon.

Paris was simply an amazing city. It may be one of my favorites just because it is freshest in my mind but the weather was great, the people were friendly, and the sites were stunning. Check out my photos for everything I did. I loved La Basilique de Sacre Coeur, the large white church that overlooks the city, and I spent one day outside visiting there, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc De Triumph, and other sites.
The second day we visited Le Louvre and Musee D'Orsay which were free that day so every tourist and their Asian cousin were there. These were our last museums of the whole trip and after a couple hours in Le Louvre we were ready to go. The crowds were massive and we saw Mona Lisa and other famous works and we just couldn't handle any more of it.

Our last night in Paris Dr. Nelsen bought us crepes and then a group of us went and played frisbee under the Eiffel tower. It was raining but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity so we went for it. We tried to go to the top of the tower, but it was closed so we successfully made it to the second level where I felt like I was going to blow off. I'm not too worried about not making it to the top, I know I'll be back to Paris one day.

Portal of Freedom

In case you’re wondering, yes we did celebrate Thanksgiving. A restaurant was rented out for us and we were served turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, corn (not creamed corn though), green beans, and pecan pie. It was definitely odd thinking about my family all eating together miles away but some of my best friends from Furman are studying in Brussels (where we were). I was so thankful to get to visit with Molly, Taylor, David, and many others. Throughout this trip I’ve come to realize the importance of community and how at Furman is comes a lot easier than it does out in the rest of the world.

While in Brussels we got to visit many important institutions regarding the European Union such as the European Commission, Parliament, and others. After our days there, we traveled to Bruges where the city was complete with an ice skating rink and a Christmas market. The Christmas market was a little disappointing – this one was kind of like a bad arts and crafts fair with cheap products in little wooden huts – but they did have good desserts there.

The highlight of the past week, besides being with old friends in Brussels, has been touring the old battle sites and war memorials from World War II. Our first day of this was spent in Ypre where we saw many British cemeteries and a few German ones as well. Today we went to the Omaha and Utah beaches from the D-Day invasion at Normandy. It is hard to put into words the feelings I had while standing there, thinking of all the soldiers who crawled up over the dunes, risking their lives, for someone else’s freedom. The American cemetery overlooking the water at Normandy was also a powerful place to be as they lowered the flag and the sun set over all of the white marble headstones. The graves show the horrors of war while at the same time honoring the valor and sacrifice the soldiers made. Walking away, I couldn’t help but think of how these men embodied the ultimate display of love – laying down their lives for all of us, their friends, family, and neighbors.

Time is quickly winding down and we only have Paris left to go before we return. I took a poll on the bus the other day and there was a tie for the top food people are most looking forward to when we get back. Chicken biscuits and sweet tea were tied so I cast the final vote for sweet tea making it the winner. I’m also not sure whether I should keep blogging after the trip is done. I was never a fan of bloggers in the past but now I’m starting to come around. But what would I write about? Suggestions are welcome.

City of Sin and Beauty

Our last four days have been spent in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Netherlands is also known as Holland to the common American. Somehow in all of my studying I had neglected to put this together so when I got here and saw the beauty of the city and countryside I was amazed. I’ll go ahead and make the stretch that it is the prettiest city we’ve been to thus far.

Everyone rides ancient beach cruiser type bikes here and after realizing the countryside was close by I decided to rent a bike for the free day. I was determined to be at a windmill in the countryside by sunrise I found myself cruising out of the city by myself in the early dark hours. After a little ride I came upon the beautiful windmill right on the Amstel river. I spent about an hour taking pictures in that spot with the sun rising behind me and I realized there how much I love photography. I kept riding around after that, got lost, saw some cool cows out in the country, and eventually I made my way back to the city to see the Anne Frank house and some other sites. I stumbled on a huge Christmas parade where they were celebrating the arrival of Saint Nicholas and Zwante Piet (Black Peter). There were hundreds of people in the parade in these little costumes and blackface serving as the elves passing out candy (Pictures are up on my Picasa page). I kept thinking how this would never pass in the United States and I was reminded how truly different cultures are around the world.

I had heard stories of how sad the Red Light District was in Amsterdam but it was a lot more disheartening than I expected. I saw a family who lived above it all going up to their apartment with all of their kids. I saw the emptiness in the girls’ eyes that stood in the storefront windows. I saw men going into the prostitute booths. I saw how many booths had the curtain pulled because they were in use. Then I saw in the window of a building a big group of people sitting down at a dining room table eating together family style. This display of community was so out of place from all of the loneliness in the district. I looked around to figure out what all these people were doing. I found out that it was a Church’s mission smack dab in the middle of the Red Light District. An artist couldn’t have painted a better picture of light in this dark world.

So it is hard to make a final judgment on Amsterdam. I don’t think I could handle the lax drug and moral policies of the community but other than that the city is beautiful, the people are great, the countryside is perfect, and next time I hope the tulips are in bloom. Tomorrow we arrive in Brussels where we will be able to spend time with other Furman students in the program there.

4 Countries, 8 days

11 days have passed since we started this new leg of the trip touring Europe. You may think I have been touring Europe this whole time, but ask someone in the UK where Europe is and they most likely won’t say “right here”; they consider Europe to be that mass of land across the way. The two new professors we’re traveling with, Dr. Nelsen and Dr. Karwan, are excellent. We enjoy their company and they enjoy ours as well. On our first night we all went to the Hofbrauhaus for dinner, and since then we’ve been out for ice cream, and we’ve all played ultimate Frisbee together – all of this is not including all of the great meetings we’ve had with European politicians and experts in the European Union and European business.

We’re now in the fourth country in less than 2 weeks, a new record for me. We began in Munich where we toured the BMW plant there comparing it to the one we saw in Greenville and then we went to the Dachau concentration camp. This visit made what the Jews and all the others went through during this period much more real and awful. Viewing the crematorium, the bunk house, gas room, and marching grounds of the camp made me reflect upon the hardships so many Jews went through and it made me thankful for the sacrifices soldiers around the world make for the sake of democracy so things like that aren’t repeated. A tour guide pointed out how the older Germans don’t want to cover up this part of their history but remember and recall it so that people know how bad it was, and that the older generation is worried because they feel the younger people are simply trying to move on and forget about this dark chapter in history.

Next was Strasbourg, France where we got to see a plenary session of the European Parliament. There I realized how I would be visiting all the major institutions of the European Union and that it was sad I hadn’t even seen the US Congress in action so I’ve made it a resolution to visit Washington in the near future. Strasbourg was a beautiful little town I could see myself living in (if I lived in Europe) and it was a lot of fun to finally be in a French speaking country where I could practice my years of learning.

Frankfurt was an okay city, its pretty geared toured business which makes sense as we visited the European Central Bank there. Our hotel was mighty close to their Red Light District but our professors swore it was a coincidence…. After making sauerkraut at my job this summer I swore I would never eat it, but the Germans have changed my mind on that, its actually not that bad. German food may be the most distinct cultural food we’ve come across but I sure do love all of their sausages, pretzels, and other hearty dishes.

Luxembourg City was interesting since the majority of people there aren’t natives so it was a real hodge podge of Europe in one place. There we sat through a European Courts of Justice case where three of the justices were sleeping during the trial so needless to say we were all struggling to stay awake as well. Luckily, a large group of us got together and played ultimate Frisbee that afternoon and Dr. Nelsen proved that for a forty-eight year old he could still out run most of us.

We’ve been learning tons this leg of the trip and they give us ample down time so it has been a nice transition from the ultra fast pace of life in London – and prices are a lot cheaper.

Cheap leather and gelato

Free travel is now officially over and we have arrived in Munich. After our stay in Rome, we made our way to Florence and checked in to our hostel, which was very nice. That evening we went to Piazzale Michelangelo and looked at the city from above. Florence really is a beautiful city, not too big, not too small - just right. Everything we did was within walking distance and the people were very friendly.

We had three full days for our stay so we decided to explore Florence on the first since we already had plans for the others. Our morning started at Accademia where David is housed. I’d seen it in many pictures and little replicas but nothing compares to the giganticness of the statue. Everyone really just stands there in awe at the detail put into it and how realistic it is. After that, we went to the Duomo which is the beautiful church which dominates Florence’s skyline. It was beautiful inside but it didn’t compare to Chisea di Santa Croce where every famous Italian in history is buried.

Of course, we went to the markets as well where you can get anything leather along with a lot of other stuff no one really needs. The funniest parts about the markets were the migrant workers who were selling bootleg purses. When the police would come around the corner they would yank all of them up in a sheet and throw it over their shoulder real quick so that the police couldn’t say anything to them. As soon as the police were five feet away they would lay them out again.

The following day we took the train to Cinque Terre where we hiked the route between five small Italian villages dotting the coast line. The weather was perfect and the towns were beautiful. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves on this one. We all agreed, this may have been our favorite day of the entire trip thus far. In one of the villages we heard a band playing so Rachel began to dance around the streets – until the marching band came around the corner with the casket and the entire village following in procession to the church. I definitely experienced second-hand embarrassment for her. But that little incident didn’t stop us from having a great day – this hike is a must for anyone traveling through Italy.

Our last day in Florence was fulfilled with a bike tour through the Tuscan countryside. We went to an old estate where they still make wine and oil and then we rode through the beautiful wine country. The whole time in Italy was filled with the best eating I’ve done on the trip so far with lots of pizza, pasta, and gelato. After a week straight of Italian I am looking forward to some sausages and pretzels while we’re here in Germany.

Since we only live once, we decided to squeeze in Venice on the very last day of free travel. That city certainly makes anyone a romantic and we took a gondola ride as a group right at sunset to take in the city and its hidden waterways. I look forward to returning, but next time it’ll be with my wife riding next to me in the gondola. What I enjoyed the most in Venice wasn’t listed in any guidebooks I had read but when I got there I knew I had to experience it. The square is full of pigeons and they sell pigeon food, so I did something I had only seen in movies. I tried to convince others to join me but they wouldn’t so I poured the food all over me and lay down so I was completely engulfed by them. It really is hilarious to watch someone covered with hundreds of pigeons. I know my Nana wouldn’t have approved but all of the pigeons looked very well groomed, and considering I had eaten one a few weeks back at a Chinese restaurant in London, I wasn’t too concerned about having them crawl all over me.

The night train to Munich in second class was an experience, with all of us and some random smoker who snored all night sleeping snugly in a little train car. I’ll do it again, but next time I will pay the extra money for first class so my bed can be a little bit longer. The week was great and Italy may now be my favorite country in Europe. Internet access may be scarce from now on so I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to update.

Ancient City

Our flight into Rome was a success and we have now been experiencing this city nonstop for the past two days. The journey began as we weighed our bags in London and realized each of them was over the 40 lb limit for the flight. After cramming my bookbag with about 28 pounds worth of stuff I put on a sweater, vest, and my fleece so I could save on luggage weight. The main at the airport let us slide by with up to 10 pounds of extra stuff in each back so I was extremely happy.

Yesterday we toured the Coliseum, Palatine Hill, and the Forum during the day and that night we took a walking tour to see the Trevi fountain, the Pantheon, and some other sites around Rome. I thought England had tons of old things but I believe Italy beats it by a kilometer. All of our meals have been Italian so pizza, pasta, bread, and gelato have become our staple foods. Honestly, the people here seem more friendly and outgoing than the people in London. There are many more street vendors and people harassing us with goods and I love it. Last night in one of the squares some men came up trying to sell us roses to give to the girls. After giving them some solid excuses for not buying them, we ended up chatting with them for a while and in the end one of the men pitched us his reason why he thought Obama should be the next President.

Today we rose early, but not early enough as the line for the Vatican Museum had begun at 6:45 and it didn’t open until 10:00. There were tons of tour guides vying for our business but of course we gravitated to the American college guy selling a tour. I think as Americans there was just an understood trust with him that wasn’t there with all of the other people selling tours. The guy got us on a great tour and we skipped the line and got to see the magnificent Sistine Chapel and St. Peters. Keith and I went to the top of the dome and saw one of the best landscapes of this trip.

Rome has been a great breath of fresh new air and since we were in London so long, Rome seems a lot smaller and easier to navigate. Tomorrow we’re off to Florence for 4 days, hopefully the weather will be as beautiful as it was today.

Move on down the road

Today is departure day from London. It is quite bittersweet - London has been a great city and we have all loved it as we lived, toured around, and gained so much knowledge. But, after living in a “tourist class” hotel for 39 nights and sightseeing every single day I think I am ready for a change of scenery. It is hard leaving the now familiar behind as we pack our bags to travel in Italy for the next week and leave half the group behind to study in Stratford while we continue on to the continent.

Last week we took a tour of Cambridge and got to go punting on the river. You can see that and my other final pictures from London now on my Picasa site. Also, on the next to last day I got to see the Queen as she and King Abdullah from Saudi Arabia made their way down the royal mile for a meeting – which was greeted by loud protesters yelling behind me, mainly about the poor horses that were being used in the ceremony. You may also notice in the photos I finally got a haircut. After two of the guys on the trip (Andrew and Keith) got their hair messed up by local salons, I was nervous, but luckily my barber lived in Florida for a few years so he knew what I was looking for.

Keith, Rachel, and I rode the London Eye and saw the city from a new perspective on our last night in town. It was tough thinking that was the last time I’ll see many of those places for a while, but life goes on as must I.

London is getting cold

The other day I checked my inbox for my youtube account, which I rarely use. I found I had a message from a reporter at the Asheville Citizen-Times. It was regarding the “Appalachian is HOT HOT HOT” video which I uploaded onto youtube a couple years back. I knew it had a great deal of hits but I had no idea I was the first one to put it on the site. Unbeknownst to me, the video I uploaded had been featured on VH1, NPR, and was the debate at some Appalachian State faculty meetings. I called the reporter from London and we did an interview from which she based some of her article.

I originally posted the video I downloaded from the school’s website before we played them in the National Semi-Finals in 2005. I hoped it would boost our morale going into the game and lower their school spirit and reputation. I’m not sure which is worse for Appalachian State – this video or the fact that Miss Teen South Carolina now attends there.

Here is the link to the article:
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200771020048

Here is the link to the video (if you’re one of the few that hasn’t seen it):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVENWl8uBeg

England loses

On our way back from seeing a Poe’s “The Mask of the Read Death” we saw a store called ASDA. Right below that it said it was part of the Wal-Mart family. Now at home, Wal-Mart is usually so crowded I tend to avoid it but over here you would’ve thought we found water in the desert. We all ran inside and finally got to do some one stop shopping where socks, candy, electronics, and coathangers could all be gotten. It was very refreshing after having to search for all the little nuanced stores scattered throughout London to buy goods previously.

Yesterday, I went with a couple people on a boat tour of the Thames and we got to see a lot of the old docklands that are now being redeveloped into nice housing units along with all of the other riverside sites.

After that we went to a club to watch the Rugby World Cup where England lost to South Africa. I’ll be honest, I was hoping for riots in the streets and people looting stores so I could have nice pictures and good stories to tell, but instead everyone just moped off back home.

There is also an arts/neighborhood festival in the Bloomsbury area which I walked around today. They had free-trade organic underwear for sale in one of the booths. I didn’t have any cash on me so I couldn’t make a purchase but people over here are wild about the environment. I’m impressed with the huge amounts that are recycled and all of the resources that they conserve, it has really shown me how wasteful I am. However, I have read about how in some communities if you have more than one bag of trash for pickup you must pay five pounds for each additional one. Also, officials there can search your garbage and if they find any recyclable materials you can be fined. That’s an exciting job to have.

Lastly, we booked our flight to Rome for our independent travel time. Keith, Rachel, Bridget, Martin, and I will be in Italy for a week, so if you have traveled there and have recommendations please email me. I love random email updates from people and if you are reading my blog I’d love for you to post a comment so I can see who all is reading it.

Family

First, thank you to my Nana who sent some grits over. Hopefully, I will be able to find a kitchen somewhere and cook a large breakfast and serve these to everyone. A lot has happened in the last few weeks since my last post. We have all become very settled in London and are making friends at church and learning to navigate the city with ease.

Classes and meetings with different agencies/businesses around London have been very interesting and we have had the opportunity to see many plays. My favorite so far has been “Rafta Rafta”, an updated version of the play “All in Good Time”. One evening Keith and I went and saw the the musical “Blood Brothers” together and we told the couple next to us we were watching it because it was loosely based on our lives. We explained how we were separated at birth but met again by chance at Furman and now we were reunited as brothers. The couple then asked us if that was why we were dressed in the same outfit, but we hadn’t even realized we had done this. Brown shoes, khakis, and a micro-plad button down apparently are not as common here as in the states. At the end, I’m not sure if the couple believed us or not, but we had fun with it.

I have finally uploaded pictures from London and some of our side trips so you can view them. Keith, Rachel, and I traveled to Dover to see the castle and famous chalk cliffs. They weren’t as magnificent as the ones in Eastborune, but they were still beautiful.

The most exciting news has been that my parents were here for almost a week to visit me! We spent the first few days in the Cotswolds, the countryside heart of England. We stayed near the little town of Broadway and traveled around to many of the smaller cities nearby. This area is so rich with culture and history it is unbelievable. I rank it the second prettiest area of England, behind the Lake District. On the country roads, I got to test my driving skills with the rental car and I actually did quite well. The last event we attended in the area was called a balloon glow. Five hot air balloons blew fire into their bright balloons in rhythm with a music compilation that was playing over a loud speaker – quite interesting and entertaining.

Once in London I toured St. Paul’s with my parents and I must say it is my favorite of the many churches we have toured thus far. We also spent some time in Harrod’s and I got to view the Princess Diana memorial in the store. And yes, it was weird. There were tourists all around it taking pictures of themselves with a ring, chalice, and picture of she and Dodi Al fayed that were on display.

Having my parents come and visit me was such a treat. We caught up on everything that has been going on here and at home lately and my mom brought starbursts, airheads, and sour patch kids for me. If any of you know my dad, you realize he likes to research and carefully choose where we eat each meal and it was very much worth his efforts. I am so thankful they were able to come and they left me with a tripod so expect some better night time pictures soon.

No grits here

I have received dozens of emails asking me to write a post about the foods I’ve been eating while here. Actually, that is a lie, but I’m going to write about it anyway.

Each day we have breakfast provided for us in the hotel. It consists of cereal, toast, assorted jellies, water, and orange juice. This suits me just fine, but it is incomparable to the full English breakfast we received while on our coach tour everyday. Every morning I had fried eggs, English bacon (what we call country ham), tomatoes, baked beans, toast, and sometimes mushrooms. I miss biscuits, grits, and sausage gravy but all of those will make my homecoming trip to Waffle House in Conyers all the better (and yes Waffle House does now serve biscuits – but they don’t have ovens in any of their restaurants…).

Now that I’m living in a hotel I have sandwiches for lunch a lot otherwise I just grab a sandwich out, a Cornish pastry, or a hot dog/sausage from a cart by the tube station. Saturday I was at the Portobello Road market and I had some Ghanaian food – my best lunch so far. I noticed on the sign that the food had been featured on the BBC and when I looked at the guy serving me I grabbed my camera and started snapping. Just the night before I had seen this guy and his wife on a reality TV show called “The Restaurant” where teams try to have the best restaurant. If they don’t, they get kicked off Donald Trump style. The night before he had gotten kicked off, but the food was great and he was excited that I had seen the show.

Each night we usually go out to dinner and pretty much choose a different ethnicity of food each night. Italian, Chinese, Mexican (no free chips and salsa), Kebab shops, American, Pubs, or just wherever we find that looks good. I haven’t had any restaurant blow me away with their food yet, but I’m waiting on my parents to arrive next Wednesday and then I’ll begin to really start eating good in the neighborhood. My favorite appetizer was the authentic garlic bread we had at an Italian restaurant. If it didn’t cost the equivalent of $6 a slice I would’ve ordered more. My favorite food I’ve had that was unique was at and American diner here that had a sign that read “Hi Y’all Come on in”. I had the breakfast burger which was a hash brown, burger patty, bacon, fried egg, and brown sauce. It was very good and I intend to bring this recipe back to the States. Yes, I have had fish and chips. I don’t have dessert often but I do love getting Haribo sugar covered gummy treats at the corner stores and trying the chocolate bar assortments, of which Cadbury Flake is my favorite so far.

When I travel to Italy I anticipate better food stories but this is all I have for now. I’m going to China town soon to try fried Pigeon which I read in the local paper is quickly becoming a popular dish as chefs are encouraging restaurant goers to try wild game meats. Finally, if you’ve read this far you either really love me or you are getting hungry so here is the recipe to my newest favorite dessert that I learned to make this summer. Courtesy of church members in Section, Alabama:

Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding
2 dozen Krispy Kreme Donuts
Can of Sweetened condensed milk
2 cans fruit cocktail drained
2 beaten eggs
9 oz raisins
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Icing
Box of confectioner’s sugar
Stick of butter
¼ cup of water

Start by mixing all of the ingredients besides the donuts and icing items into a mixing bowl. Then chop up the donuts and put them with all of the other ingredients and let soak a few minutes. Bake on 350 degrees for one hour. While it is cooking bring the mix of confectioner’s sugar, butter, and milk to a boil and pour it over the product when it comes out of the oven.

It won’t kill you, I’ve tested it on many people.

Settled

First, I must apologize for not posting for over a week. We are now completely settled in London and we have been busy attending lectures, visiting sites around the city, discovering the nightlife, and mastering The Tube.

I’ve seen many things so far:
St. Joan at the National Theater
The Merchant of Venice at The Globe
John Wesley’s House and museum of Methodist History
Buckingham Palace
Parliament
The Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum
The National Gallery

Basically each day we have lectures for a couple hours in the morning and then we are off to explore the city for the rest of the day. It is a pretty good arrangement. The weather was great the first few days but lately it has been rainy London as expected. The weather held out for our weekend trip to Eastbourne where we saw the chalk cliffs on the coast, quite beautiful. I have noticed lately after browsing through art galleries and taking photos on my own that I love landscape photography. Luckily for me there was an exhibit at the National Theater of the UK’s best landscape photos. If you want to be inspired go here (http://www.take-a-view.co.uk/2007_winners.htm).

One of the main highlights of the week was finding a church community to become involved in. A few us have been going to the College Ministry and worship at Holy Trinity Brompton, an evangelical Anglican Church right down from Harrod’s. Holy Trinity created the Alpha Course which I know many of you have done or heard about it. All of the students there have been very accepting of us and we have met a lot of great people. It is a very international group and it is amazing to worship with people from all over the globe.

I had the exciting opportunity to photograph some monks from Burma the other day protesting in front of the foreign affairs office (pictures will be up soon) and while I was doing so a local man asked me if I knew who was responsible for the current conflict in Burma. I knew what he was going to say before he opened his mouth and I proved correct - it was George Bush’s fault. I asked him how so and he went into a diatribe about Iraq, the Chinese Olympics, Sudan, and brought all of these points together and ultimately told me that the only way the conflict would be solved is by the USA intervening and putting troops over there. I stood there perplexed by his logic and arguments as he quickly moved on. I really was happy he stopped and talked to me. It was a nice change from people avoiding eye contact at all costs while walking on the street or on the train. Sometimes I try to make eye contact with people just so they don’t forget what it is like.

The latest observation Keith and I have had is that bread molds a lot faster over here. After about 4 days (sealed) mold begins to form and we can’t figure out why. All of the loaves were labeled no preservatives but I think we need them in our bread. Is this normal?

Royal National Hotel

We just moved in to our room for the next 39 nights at the Royal National Hotel in London. All packages should be sent to:

Jonathan Andersen
Room 1222
Royal National Hotel
Bedford Way
London
WC1H ODG
United Kingdom

The part about sending packages was a joke, but the good news is I have free internet access from my hotel room, and anyone who knows me well knows how excited I am right now.

If you have been to London before, I would really appreciate an email with great places to visit, eat, travel, etc. so that I can maximize my time here.

Family Feud

We’ve left York and are on our way to the city of Bath. We only had one day to explore York but I was able to make it to Evensong at York Minster and it was a great opportunity. Worshipping in the largest gothic cathedral north of Italy was stunning and the two hour tour I took of it wasn’t long enough to even get a glimpse of its history. Out of all the old churches we have visited, I could feel the spirit and love of Christ in this one the most. Everyone there was vibrant and glad to say that the reason the cathedral was so magnificent was to reflect the glory and power of God and to honor him.

I have been a part of many culture clashes thus far on the trip, but one of the most funny was last night at the Mexican restaurant we went to in honor of Sally’s 21^st birthday. First, there are no free refills like everywhere in Europe so that was fine. Then our group of 20 realized chips and salsa weren’t free so we ordered some ($5.00 for each basket). They arrived and it was a portion big enough for a three year old. We were fine with the lack of free refills on chips and salsa and 2 hours later our food came out. They never separate checks so we all pay in cash in one big pot which always causes drama. But in spite of all the differences I enjoy the culture because it causes us to stay longer, slow down, and enjoy each other’s company more.

Today was our longest bus ride, 9 hours since we left now, but we try and make the time pass by sleeping, reading, and playing games. We just finished a makeshift game of Family Feud where I was Pat Sajaks and I got to choose the top 5 answers for each question. I’ll be in London in two days so all you cultured people reading this who have been to London before please email me all the sites I must see.

Sunrise, Edinburgh, Rugby

I had only seen one sunrise since we had come over so I decided to set it out my first morning in Edinburgh to watch it and try and take some good photographs. Bridget, who is always up for an adventure as well, came along with me and after asking the bell clerk at 6:00 am where the best spot to watch the sunrise was he directed us to a place called Calton Hill. The sunrise was beautiful and up on this cold hill full of monuments we saw a man who had a camera as well. He was also packing up a tent so we talked to him and found out his interesting story. His name was Youseff Shiban, a Christian Palestinian who went to university in Germany. (His blog http://visitingthekingdom.blogspot.com )

After hearing his story Bridget and I no longer felt quite so adventurous. Youseff and his friend were literally backpacking all over the UK living in tents and staying in people’s houses while hitchhiking rides everywhere. He informed me that in Scotland anyone can sleep on public property so he just set up his tent in different parks that suited him. Luckily, he didn’t have to do this often since he and his friend were “couch surfers”. I was familiar with this concept but I’m sure the general public is not. Basically, people all over the world post on the internet that they have an extra couch for anyone coming through town to use and travelers call them to see if its open at that time. (http://www.couchsurfing.com) Nana and Papa, I know you have a lot of extra rooms in your house so I went ahead and listed that you had 3 rooms ready for anyone coming through Conyers.

I saw all the major tourist sites in Edinburgh like St. Giles cathedral, the castle, the Walter Scott monument, and lots of others. The ugliest site I visited was their parliament which looked like a new age coffee shop turned into legislative chambers. You should look it up on google images. Keith, being the rugby expert on the trip, found out that a match of the Rugby World cup was being played in the city one of the nights we were there so we got tickets and watched Scotland tear the Romania team to pieces. At the end a streaker ran onto the field – of course he was quickly detained by police.

Living out of a suitcase is getting old as well as washing clothes in a sink. London will be here soon enough and I can’t wait.

Helvellyn

After riding the coach around so much in the coach we were all starting to feel pretty lazy since none of us have been exercising much and we constantly eat out. Any laziness was kicked out of us today as our strong and fearless leader, Dr. Pate, led our expedition to the top of the third highest mountain in all of England – Helvellyn. I know many of you reading this have been to the Lake District and you know that it is impossible to put into words what it looks like. Everywhere I turned mountains surrounded me and lakes dotted the horizon. Since it rains all the time everything is green and I wanted to take 1000 pictures, but I tried to limit myself. Every landscape is a piece of art and it has probably been written about, photographed, or painted before.
The hike was optional but about 20 of us took the challenge. Dr. Pate gave a foreboding speech about how tough the hike would be and how good shoes and warm clothes were mandatory – some people thought she was joking. When we were halfway up the weather turned very cold and it began to rain. Persevering on we made it to the summit and the view from the top was magnificent. I know I’ll be back here to hike around one day. Be sure and check out the photos.

One day - 3 countries

I’m now on a ferry leaving Belfast to head over to Scotland where we will proceed to the Lake District of England. After visiting some terribly boring prehistoric ancient mounds we toured Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Many neighborhoods are still sharply divided between Protestant and Catholics this city, but in the main part of the city there seemed to be little conflict. Belfast had a much more religious feel than the previous cities I visited. There were Protestant churches all over the place and even a few evangelical bookstores. It was very much a college city hosting thousands of young students. We got to tour the site where the Titanic was built as well as City Hall. Then we visited some murals throughout the city – including all of the ones dedicated to George W. Bush and American foreign policy. I wish instead of wasting colorful paint on murals regarding us, those artists would instead try to fix all of the dilapidated buildings throughout the city and focus on unity in their own nation.

I am starting to notice how all of us on the trip are repeating outfits multiple days in a row and one kid supposedly only brought one pair of underwear, but I won’t type his name.

Registration Night

Dublin is the busiest place I have been in a long time. It reminds me of New York, although I’ve never actually been there. A majority of the main shops and attractions are in once central area and there is a constant flow of people. After living in Section, Alabama this summer (population 800) it is kind of shocking being in this environment but I am adjusting.

We got on a hop on/off bus so we could have commentary while touring the city and it took us to all the places one must visit while in Dublin. First stop was Sunday service at St. Patrick’s cathedral. The church building, choir, and organ were magnificent and to think a church had been on the spot since the twelfth century was also astounding. In accordance with European culture we headed to the Jameson Whiskey Distillery right after that. The Guinness brewery is what most tourists go see, but drinking Guinness is similar to drinking a milkshake made with a pound of wheat and barley with a hint of bitterness thrown in the mix. The Jameson distillery was well done and at the end six people in each tour group got to become Official Whiskey Tasters. They compared the three most popular Irish Whiskeys, a Scotch, and Jack Daniels to Jameson and chose their favorite. Of course, almost all the people chose Jameson. Two of my Furman friends were chosen for this coveted title and luckily they were still walking when we left the distillery.

Monday we went to Trinity College to see The Book of Kells – a pictorial guide to the Gospel made by monks to help convert the people of Ireland. Afterwards I wanted to head to St. Michan’s Church to tour their crypt but no one seemed too interested in going with me. I arrived at the small church and the guide came and got two other men and me. He unlocked the hatches to go below the church and we proceeded to walk through the concrete tunnel and pass by caged doorways through which you could see coffins stacked to the ceiling. I don’t get scared too easily, but the way the guide kept lowering his voice and the fact we were surrounded by coffins wasn’t too comforting. In the first part of the crypt one room was lit up since it was no longer active, meaning families couldn’t put anyone else in there. There were many ornate caskets from Dublin’s aristocrats. The combination of dry air, methane gas, and the temperature cause the bodies to be quote “in a wonderful state of preservation, though not embalmed.” This was evident when he took us to the room where you could view bodies since their caskets had broken open. Four bodies lay there and he let us enter in and see their toenails and other parts that were so wonderfully preserved. Most exciting was the corpse of a Crusader whose legs were crossed in an X fashion to signify this. He said people in the days of old used to touch Crusader’s bodies for good luck. Then he asked us if we wanted to improve our luck. We all got to go in and shake the man’s hand which still had skin on it. I bought a scratch lottery ticket later that day, but I didn’t win.

Since it was the annual KA Registration Night party at Furman we couldn’t let the night pass us by here in Dublin. At a nightclub Bridget proceeded to request country favorites such as Country Roads, Sweet Home Alabama, and others the singer knew and all of the KAs and girls danced in front of the crowd while others slowly joined.

So it begins

I’ve been gone only three days now and it feels like I’ve been over here for weeks. As soon as we unloaded from the plane at 7:30AM the tour began. Although they knew we would all be tired and jetlagged we toured all over Ireland our first day. We stopped by the little town of Lahinch and proceeded to the Cliffs of Moher. They were simply breathtaking. Keith Knowlton, my roommate for the trip, and I hiked along them for a while with our professor Dr. Aeisi. He continually pulled us back from the edge and wouldn’t let us get within five feet of it. We would raise his blood pressure every few minutes by peering over the edge, but it’s going to be a long trip so we didn’t push him too much.

We stopped by a few other places throughout the day (see pictures) and whenever we got off the bus all forty-one of us would begin snapping photos. I felt like those foreigners you see in Atlanta moving around in a mob all taking photos of the exact same thing. That night we got settled in at our hotel in Galway and went out to a pub that night for dinner. We were able to finally find one that was full of other university students, and the band, of course, was playing all of last year’s American hits.

Thursday, we toured more historical sites in the area and our “lecture” for the day was given over the bus microphone while we drove. Everyone had finally caught up on sleep so we went to Club Cuba after dinner. Of course we were about an hour earlier than the normal crowd, but that was okay since we got in for free. The dance floor finally became packed and so some girls on the trip and I made a bet. If they asked some locals to dance I had to do the same. They quickly found some lonely guys standing on the edge of the dance floor and now the pressure was on for me. Courage finally swelled up inside of me and once I was dancing I asked the girl where she was from. Then in that dreadful accent we are all so familiar with she told me - Baawston, Massachusetts. My relatives raised me better than to entertain northern girls, so I quickly moved on looking for an Irish one.

Everyone is sore and barely moving after our trip to the Aran Islands today. The history there is so rich and it blows my mind how old all of the historical sites are. We traveled the island on cycles and about ten of us stuck together the whole time. We had lunch at the world’s smallest church, Church of Saint Benan (3.7m x 1.8m). It was established in the third century! Think about that, four hundred years after Jesus walked the earth the gospel had already reached a remote island on the coast of Ireland.

We continued on to Dun Aonghus, a Celtic stone fort built in 2000 BC. The photographs speak louder than anything I could type about this place.

Dr. Aeisi told us he thought we were the best group he had ever had (and he’s older than Coca-Cola) and I know these next few weeks touring around are going to hold many more adventures.

Itinerary

09/04 - Depart from The Land of the Free to Galway
09/08 - Dublin
09/11 - Belfast, Northern Ireland
09/13 - Carlisle and the Lake District
09/16 - Edinburgh, Scotland
09/19 - York, England
09/21 - Bath
09/23-10/31 - Residence in Bloomsbury, London
10/31-11/07 - Free travel around the continent
11/08 - Munich
11/11 - Strasbourg
11/13 - Frankfurt
11/14 - Luxembourg
11/16 - Amsterdam
11/20 - Brussels (Rendezvous with Furman folks there)
11/28 - Normandy
11/29 - Paris
12/03 - Brusells
12/04 - The Capital of the New South - Atlanta, GA

If you've traveled to any of these places and know spots I should visit, please make a comment on here.

Disclaimer

As I am writing my research paper, ordering stuff online, and doing tons of other preparations for my trip I have finally decided to break down and make a blog. I could send out the little mass emails like most people at Furman do, but then someone who is not on the email list always gets offended and half of the people receiving the email simply delete it because it is too much to read and they complain about how all the foreign study students are clogging up their inboxes.

So this is a warning.

I know most people with blogs are ridiculous and all they do is complain about how their lives and the surrounding world are terrible. Also, the entries always take at least 30 minutes to read. The bloggers seem to forget that hopefully the readers have a life of their own and they don't have time to read pages of nonsensical drivel.

Therefore, I'm going to try and not be one of those people.