Thoughts

“Well, you never knew exactly how much space you occupied in people's lives. Yet from this fog his affection emerged--the best contacts are when one knows the obstacles and still wants to preserve a relation.”

- F. Scott Fitzgerald, Tender is the Night

Steph-elah

Our last field trip was hot. Literally and figuratively. We saw where Samson was born, where David killed Goliath, as well as some great underground cisterns and pigeon places. 

Place where Samson was born.

Sling-shotting it up with Hailey.

In the amazing Bell Caves with Rachel, Karen, and Hailey.

Underground place for raising pigeons with Rachel and yep, you guessed it. Hailey.

Lane, Hailey, Meg and I piled in a tomb.

***SPECIAL THANKS TO HAILEY FOR BEING IN EVERY SINGLE PICTURE WITH ME AND FOR LETTING ME STEAL ALL OF HER PICTURES SINCE I NEVER HAVE MY CAMERA ON FIELD TRIPS.***

Israel Museum

On our free day we got up so ridiculously early for an event which I am still unsure about... All I know is that I went BACK to bed at 6:30 in the morning. After sleeping in til 8 we headed to the Israel Museum. It was fantastic. My favorite part was of course the only part that was not required for us to see: The art section. They had some really great Andy Warhols that I hadn't seen before.

Annie and I Godzilla-ing it up in Ancient Jeru circa 2nd Temple Period

LOVE statue Hebrew style

 

Mary Jane and I pondering the deep meanings of modern art.

Who is G.K.?

Ok I tried and failed at loading my Turkey video on here. I will have to try to load it when I go to Hebrew University. So instead I am going to leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

“I wish we could sometimes love the characters in real life as we love the characters in romances. There are a great many human souls whom we should accept more kindly, and even appreciate more clearly, if we simply thought of them as people in a story.”

                                         ― G.K. Chesterton

Turkey

Honestly Turkey was one of the coolest places I've ever been. I was not even expecting it. All of the architecture was gorgeous. All the details and colors were amazing. My favorite places were probably Ephesus and the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. Here are just a few pictures from the trip. More to come!

Topkapi Palace

In Hagia Sophia

Blue Mosque

Ceiling in Topkapi Palace

Best lookin' couch and wall I've ever seen.

This is the proper way to get off of the antiquities.

Hagia Sophia or Great Hall ala Hogwarts?

Hagia Sophia ceiling

The J Pack at the Library of Kelsos

The Libes of Kels

Lake at Nicea

The best roommates ever invented at Troy

Posin' with the Pillars

Gobble Gobble

Well, we are all headed off to TURKEY! I am so excited! It's going to be amazing. I'm taking pictures galore don't you worry. See you in a week!

Portraits in the Pools

A couple pics of the girls I went to the Pools of Bethesda with. I really need to carry around my Nikon more often. I do enjoy it so.

This is Avery. She loves her J Pack.

The Heather.

Karen lookin' classy. Klassy Karen?

Formal Engagement Pic

Under the Ancient Arch

I've gotten to see some really beautiful places the last couple of days! Probably my two favorites so far! The Dome of the Rock and the Pools of Bethesda. Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from those places.

Dome of the Rock

Bird in the Pools of Bethesda

Candles in the church in the pools of bethesda

Me... in the pools of bethesda... hahah

The 'Rents

Saturday/Sabbath. Still not used to that… hahah. Today I got to have my parents with me at Sacrament meeting. So great! I was also set apart for my calling: Relief Society chorister… kind of a big deal. After church today the whole big group went to the Garden Tomb. I loved singing with everyone. We sound so good. But really. Singing Upon the Cross of Calvary while looking at Golgotha was pretty surreal. I loved our tour guide in the Garden Tomb. He LOVES Jesus Christ and is completely unashamed. He KNOWS Christ rose and is living today. His spirit and love was so infectious I couldn’t help but smile while simultaneously shedding a single tear. Hahah 

At the Seven to Eleven down the road with my Hebrew Coke

Hailey and I on our street!

Roomie Photoshoot.

We only know one pose. But it's pretty good so I think we'll take the modeling world by storm.

History on my finger

Today we had OT and ANE from 8 – 10. From 10 – 4 we had free time to roam the city! I went out with Heather, Karen, Analiese, and Anna Marie. We first went to Alladin’s and Heather got some money. Next we went to Zedekiah’s cave. It was super cool…. literally nice temp. It reminded me a lot of Timp Caves. Apparently that is where Solomon had a lot of the first temple rock quarried from as well as the other temples that followed. Next we got shawarmas for lunch and walked up to Shabban’s. A few of the girls got some souvenirs from him and then we continued shopping around. I got a ring from a near by shopkeeper. It is a Roman Glass ring: They make a lot of Roman Glass jewelry in Israel. The stone is literally glass from the Roman Empire 2000 years ago!!! So it could have been a piece of pottery or something else… I Googled it… but basically a piece of history on my finger! I thought this was a fitting souvenir since it is special to this area of the world. 

We then went into West Jerusalem and got some delish gelato (Ferrero Rocher and Kinder flavor) while we were in the gelato shop “We Are Young” by Fun. was playing and it reminded me a little of home and a lot of Emilee Crowder. After the gelato we walked home in time for our first Arabic class. My Arabic teachers name is Ayman and he is hilarious. Even if I don’t learn much in that class it will at least be entertaining. Tonight we had a forum. We had Matthew Kallman (I believe that’s his name…) come and talk to us. He is a British reporter who has been living in Jerusalem since 1998 working as a foreign correspondent. He talked to us about the behind the scenes of reporting here in Jerusalem and how very often they know nothing about what they are actually talking about. It was incredibly interesting and he really just reminded us that we have an amazing opportunity to be here and actually talk to the people who are living these things. 

Under the C

Went on a little tour under the Jerusalem Center. Pretty non-eventful except that we got to add our names to the walls with past JC goers!

Field Trip... just like the good ol' days.

First field trip day! We got up in the morning feelin’ like P Diddy… wait no we were just kinda tired. Anyways we met on the bus at 8 and headed out. Today was the fieldtrip of OVERLOOKS. Views of the city from all directions. We went to Nabi Samwil first. This is the supposed spot where Joshua stopped the sun mid day so that they could finish their battle. Next we went to the Augusta Victoria German Church of the Ascension and climbed lots of stairs to see the view. The church itself was beautiful and we sang hymns in there that sounded amazing! Next were the Seven Arches Overlook and then the Bethlehem Overlook. Finally we went to Tayelet which may be the view Abraham saw as he went to the land of Moriah to sacrifice Isaac. Overall it was a fun day. It’s been amazing seeing places that I have learned about for much of my life and just being able to put an image to some of these places. Whether this is really where they happened or not it is very exciting!

Karen, Hailey, and I at Nabi Samwil

Disclaimer: I am blogging as if this just happened although this was about a week ago. I am just gonna be on a slight delay. Also internet is super slow so I can't get more pictures to upload.