I am sorry folks, but I just can't let this slide.
Bush endorsed a Constitutional Ban on same-sex marriage yesterday. So much for the Republican ideal of "States' Rights." Man o man. Most of you know how ticked off I am about this right now. First of all... talk about messing around with the constitution. And for what reason? A mostly religious one. Geez its a good thing that we dont have a seperation between church and state. Oh... Wait...
Okay, now that I have gotten that off my chest (sorry grandparents, I know you are shaking your heads right now), but I also wanted to let you all know that I have established a site so that you can see my photos, (or photos of me I have stolen from friends). I have, however, yet to post any of them. I should get to that in the next day or so...
So here is the site:
http://members17.clubphoto.com/christian810649/owner-4f86-1.phtml
Like I said, it will be a couple of days till you get to see the mohawk, but it should be there soon!
Love to all!
Christian
>>>If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans<<<
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Monday, February 16, 2004
My first cloudy day... (emails from abroad)
Here I am on my first cloudy day in Spain. I have been here for about a month and a half, and it has yet to rain (in a city where I have been) or even be cloudy, until today. And seeing as I dont have anything else to do today, (classes only Wed, Thurs, Fri), I figured it would be a good time to send a much needed update.
First of all, I am, indeed, going to classes. And loving them. How wierd is that? We finished up with our Orientation class (the easiest three credits of my life...) the last week in January, and I am now taking 4 classes. I start my day with a Spanish Lit course (it is my major after all) then head to Dialect-ology which is WAY interesting, then to the Theology of the Letters of St. Paul (learing a ton) and then to a call of Political History of the 20th century. That class is like storytelling where we learn a lot. Every class I literally leave wanting to know more. How cool is that?
But don't fret, I would never let my studies get in the way of my traveling. Since my last update, I have seen about five cities, and have much to tell.
After orientation finished, many of us celebrated by going to a club named "Camas," which literally had beds on the dance floor. It was a fun time, full of models and those who wish they were. But the next day we took a bus ride to the Costal city of Valencia. This city is way cool, and I had the time of my life just exploring it. We had the neccessary Paella, and I may have stripped to my boxers for a quick dip in the Medittereanian. (sp? Im dumb) This was a splendid city, and so far my favorite (finished) Cathedral that we have seen, mostly because it lacked the extreme decadence I have seen in many others.
From there we went to the cliff-city of Cuenca. Cuenca essentially hangs from a range of cliffs and is magnificent to see the ancient houses supported my ancient lumber embedded into the side of a mountain. It also has a fairly creepy church (it has become a running joke with our group that if a city doesnt have a church we can see, apparently it isnt worth stopping).
That week classes started, and I made some arrangements to spend Holy Week in Rome, Florence, and Venice. Should be a pretty good time all in all. Then at the end of that week, I went with 3 girlfriends on an incredible trip to Barcelona. There was just so many incredible experiences to be had there. I met up with an old friend from Venezuela the first night, went to go see the UNREAL Cathedral of the Sagrada Familia (still not even 50% done, started in 1882 by Gaudi) and the Picasso museum, as well as many other sites, and then went to a disco on the sea. Just incredible. The next day we went to a park where there was live drumming by a very cool ensemble, and the entire place was just this bohemian festival.
Listen up Jesuits: the following day I made it to Manresa!!! We have heard so much said about this little place in the last years of my education, and yet we found that there was not a single word said about this pueblo in any of our travel books. So we said a prayer, and kinda traveled blindly into the most brilliant, incredible city ever! We made the mistake of going there on a Monday, when everything was completely closed up, but it was still a spiritually profound place to be, and simply beautiful. There is no doubt in my mind that the beauty of this place facilitated St. Ignatious in his writing of the exercies. The presence of God was almost palpable.
After a few more sites, we returned to Madrid to get healthy (we found ourselves a bit wearied) went to a couple days of classes, and then took a group trip to Siguenza and another small town. The cathedral there was simply freezing (they dont hold mass in this giant church 8-9months out of the year beacuse it is too COLD... what does that tell you) and we all lost a bit of interest as the life drained from our limbs, but the rest of the city was a pretty cool example a old-Castellan villages. Then, to finish up the St. Valentines' sites, we went to another city (practicaly nameless from all we could tell) and climbed to the top of a hill adorned with an ancient castle. The view was incredible, and seemed to be a very real glimpse of the exact things one could see 500 years ago.
Tommorrow I am probably going to go to the Escorial, which is an old royal palace adorned with incredible artwork, and then this weekend I head down to Cadiz (way far south) to get a taste of the 2nd biggest Carnaval in Spain.
Along with all the other traveling I will be doing, I am very excited to report that I am planning to do a spiritual pilgrimage called the Camino del Santiago (St. James). I will finish classes up late May, and then spend the next 20-25 days walking the northern coast of Spain to arrive in Santiago de Compostello. I am SOOO extremely stoked about this trip, for what it means for me spiritually and everything. I may even comemorate it with another tatoo. (gasp!) If you want some info about this, a good site I found is, www.xacobeo.es Also, for a good gift idea, I am gonna need some stuff for this, including spiritual and logistical guides.
Other than that, I feel I need to mention, and give thanks, for the top 3 things I could not live without in Spain:
1) my MP3 player. this thing is AWESOME!!!
2) my Nalgene bottle... I hate to be one of THOSE people, but thanks Carey, this is the perfect size and I dont think I could live without it
3) my Swiss army.. the BoyScout in me is reemerging I think. Hehe. Good stuff. Can I live without a compass?
Okay, this is deadly long now, although i am sure I am forgetting some good stuff. Any one who has survived must love me very much. Happy thought! Oh and Yeah for Massachuesetts, and Yeah for the possibility of another Catholic President! Waahoo!!!
All my love,
Christian
"We Love because first God Loved us." 1 John 4:19
"You referred to my mom as an albino gorilla for five days...I will refer to your mom as whatever I damn please." Nikki--- when Mom jokes go too far. :-)
First of all, I am, indeed, going to classes. And loving them. How wierd is that? We finished up with our Orientation class (the easiest three credits of my life...) the last week in January, and I am now taking 4 classes. I start my day with a Spanish Lit course (it is my major after all) then head to Dialect-ology which is WAY interesting, then to the Theology of the Letters of St. Paul (learing a ton) and then to a call of Political History of the 20th century. That class is like storytelling where we learn a lot. Every class I literally leave wanting to know more. How cool is that?
But don't fret, I would never let my studies get in the way of my traveling. Since my last update, I have seen about five cities, and have much to tell.
After orientation finished, many of us celebrated by going to a club named "Camas," which literally had beds on the dance floor. It was a fun time, full of models and those who wish they were. But the next day we took a bus ride to the Costal city of Valencia. This city is way cool, and I had the time of my life just exploring it. We had the neccessary Paella, and I may have stripped to my boxers for a quick dip in the Medittereanian. (sp? Im dumb) This was a splendid city, and so far my favorite (finished) Cathedral that we have seen, mostly because it lacked the extreme decadence I have seen in many others.
From there we went to the cliff-city of Cuenca. Cuenca essentially hangs from a range of cliffs and is magnificent to see the ancient houses supported my ancient lumber embedded into the side of a mountain. It also has a fairly creepy church (it has become a running joke with our group that if a city doesnt have a church we can see, apparently it isnt worth stopping).
That week classes started, and I made some arrangements to spend Holy Week in Rome, Florence, and Venice. Should be a pretty good time all in all. Then at the end of that week, I went with 3 girlfriends on an incredible trip to Barcelona. There was just so many incredible experiences to be had there. I met up with an old friend from Venezuela the first night, went to go see the UNREAL Cathedral of the Sagrada Familia (still not even 50% done, started in 1882 by Gaudi) and the Picasso museum, as well as many other sites, and then went to a disco on the sea. Just incredible. The next day we went to a park where there was live drumming by a very cool ensemble, and the entire place was just this bohemian festival.
Listen up Jesuits: the following day I made it to Manresa!!! We have heard so much said about this little place in the last years of my education, and yet we found that there was not a single word said about this pueblo in any of our travel books. So we said a prayer, and kinda traveled blindly into the most brilliant, incredible city ever! We made the mistake of going there on a Monday, when everything was completely closed up, but it was still a spiritually profound place to be, and simply beautiful. There is no doubt in my mind that the beauty of this place facilitated St. Ignatious in his writing of the exercies. The presence of God was almost palpable.
After a few more sites, we returned to Madrid to get healthy (we found ourselves a bit wearied) went to a couple days of classes, and then took a group trip to Siguenza and another small town. The cathedral there was simply freezing (they dont hold mass in this giant church 8-9months out of the year beacuse it is too COLD... what does that tell you) and we all lost a bit of interest as the life drained from our limbs, but the rest of the city was a pretty cool example a old-Castellan villages. Then, to finish up the St. Valentines' sites, we went to another city (practicaly nameless from all we could tell) and climbed to the top of a hill adorned with an ancient castle. The view was incredible, and seemed to be a very real glimpse of the exact things one could see 500 years ago.
Tommorrow I am probably going to go to the Escorial, which is an old royal palace adorned with incredible artwork, and then this weekend I head down to Cadiz (way far south) to get a taste of the 2nd biggest Carnaval in Spain.
Along with all the other traveling I will be doing, I am very excited to report that I am planning to do a spiritual pilgrimage called the Camino del Santiago (St. James). I will finish classes up late May, and then spend the next 20-25 days walking the northern coast of Spain to arrive in Santiago de Compostello. I am SOOO extremely stoked about this trip, for what it means for me spiritually and everything. I may even comemorate it with another tatoo. (gasp!) If you want some info about this, a good site I found is, www.xacobeo.es Also, for a good gift idea, I am gonna need some stuff for this, including spiritual and logistical guides.
Other than that, I feel I need to mention, and give thanks, for the top 3 things I could not live without in Spain:
1) my MP3 player. this thing is AWESOME!!!
2) my Nalgene bottle... I hate to be one of THOSE people, but thanks Carey, this is the perfect size and I dont think I could live without it
3) my Swiss army.. the BoyScout in me is reemerging I think. Hehe. Good stuff. Can I live without a compass?
Okay, this is deadly long now, although i am sure I am forgetting some good stuff. Any one who has survived must love me very much. Happy thought! Oh and Yeah for Massachuesetts, and Yeah for the possibility of another Catholic President! Waahoo!!!
All my love,
Christian
"We Love because first God Loved us." 1 John 4:19
"You referred to my mom as an albino gorilla for five days...I will refer to your mom as whatever I damn please." Nikki--- when Mom jokes go too far. :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
