Whirlwind of a Weekend (and Monday)

Hello from Israel!

Before I dive into everything that has been going on since our arrival yesterday morning in Israel, I need to catch you up on Friday and Saturday. Well, Friday morning started off with a tragedy, I'm serious. I was getting ready in the morning, my netbook on my bed, and somehow I knocked it off, cool clumsy Bonnie, right? Even cooler is that my screen was completely cracked. I'm not going to lie to you. I cried, a lot. Everyone was super sweet and offered to let me use theirs, Vicky (our greek teacher and also consierge type person) even offered to install and English program on hers and let me use it for the rest of the semester. Dr James took me and Angela to Kotsovolos, kind of the Greek version of best buy to see what options were. I left feeling kind of defeated looking at the ridiculous prices. Later, with some advice from mom and dad I just decided that I was going to go for it.

So, Saturday we didn't have classes since we were leaving for Israel the next day, so Dr. James brought me and Angela to Kotsovolos where I spent an embarrassing amount of money on a new netbook, but I have since decided that it was completely worth it :). Then he took us to the Koropi metro where we went into Athens for the day! We explored the Plaka and did some shopping, I got a couple of things for some people at home and a ring for myself, we'll call it, "my greece ring" or we could not. So we just explored for a bit, met a super nice couple from Ohio, talked to several of the shopkeepers, one who remembered me from the other day, and just had a great time! At around 3 we took the metro back to Koropi where I met about 15 other people from our group to go to an AEK soccer game. It was AWESOME! The fans were just so excited, and it was in the Olympic Stadium!! Being the avid soccer fan that I am (Sarcasm intended), I had no idea what was going on, but it was just a really awesome experience :). We then got back and stayed up way too late packing and talking and just being excited!

We definitely regretted that the next day though, we left bright and early at 7:30 for the airport. We safely arrived at Tel Aviv a couple of hours later, and I was just struck with the disbelief that we are in ISRAEL! It is nothing what I expected, I don't really know what I expected, but it definitely is not how beautiful this place is! So yesterday we were supposed to just come back to the hotel and sleep and get ready for the week and sleep, but our tour guide, Yosi, had other plans in mind. We went to the city Jaffa (Jappa), and it was absolutely beautiful! It's a seaside town of the Mediterranean, and it's where Simon the Tanner's house was. There was also a replica of an Egyptian gate that once stood there. We eventually got to our hotel and I took a two hour coma like nap before dinner. After dinner I went down to the beach with a few people and then we got Ice cream and talked to the girl named Gal that worked there. She was really cool, spoke perfect English, and was our age. I meant to go to bed early, but you know, we all just get to talking and before you know it it's past midnight and we're leaving the hotel at 8.

Today was a crazy crazy day, but so incredible! I woke up early to have an excellent skype date and then had breakfast. After breakfast we set out to start our day. Before I tell you about it, let me share with you that it rained all. day. long. But that's okay! Everything was still great and Yosi kind of rearranged our schedule and showed us things where you could stay covered. We first hit up Caesarea, and it was incredible! We saw where the port was that King Herod built along with the public bathhouses and the theater. It was truly a way impressive city in it's day. It also just helps so much to picture Biblical stories and to bring them to life. After Caesarea we went to Mt. Carmel. It was pouring so we just went through the museum. I never realized before that the Phoenecians were actually the Canaanites, it put an entirely new perspective in my head.

After Mt. Carmel we went to Beth Sherma where we saw caves where the Jews would bury their dead. It was so cool, and yet incredibly eerie. We're the first group to get to do that though, so that was definitely cool. As we were in further we sang a couple of songs and the echoing was just magical. We then ate lunch and got Falafel Shawrmas which I apparently love. They were super good! After lunch we went over to Nazareth. We started with the new church that was built over the ancient village of Nazareth. It was built in the 1960's so it's still quite new. We then got to see the ancient village of Nazareth. We saw the main square of the village, even typing this now I still just cannot believe that I was there, where Jesus for sure was. It's the most humbling awe-inspiring sight. Another super cool thing we did was we saw a recreation of first century Nazareth. It was really neat to see everything how it actually would have looked.

This trip I can tell is going to change my life. It already has and is just going more and more daily.

I love you all!

Artemis Festivites!

Hello everyone!

Since I've posted last I've just been making a real effort to get out and just DO things! The Metro has been on strike all week, so Athens has been out of the question, but it's still been a good week!

On Sunday we had more of a lazy day and then went to church in Glyfada. We attempted to sing in Greek, even though all of the sheets were in Greek so we had no idea where we were! I now am to the point where I can read Greek! I have no idea of what any of it actually means, but I sure can pronounce it :).

On Monday after classes a few of us decided to go check out a close town called Markopoulo, the busses run there and there is a really cute downtown area, so we decided to see what was there! Apparently, stores are closed on Mondays, but it was a lot of fun to be out and about and see what there is. This picture is an old train station that we found and explore for a little bit! It was a lot of fun, if not also kind of creepy! We didn't really do much for the rest of the night, but I'm excited to go back to Markopoulo when all of the shops are open!

Tuesday I was absolutely exhausted, so after lunch and classes I took a pretty long nap :), I made up for my laziness by going on a run down to the beach and back with Angela. We then came back did some homework and ate dinner. After dinner we all walked down to the beach and had a bonfire! I was absolutely freezing so I hopped a ride back with Steven (the HUG assistant) and then just did homework and enjoyed a calm evening.

Yesterday was a fun day! A few girls and I went to the Athens mall, and it is HUGE. There's like, four stories. Due to some transportation difficulties it took us an hour and a half to get there for about an hour of shopping, but it was still fun :). On the way back we had to run from the mall to the suburban to our transfer to our next bus, it was INSANE! I still don't know how we got back in time for dinner, but somehow we managed. Last night was when the real fun began. Victoria, one of the girls in my group had her heart set on going to a fashion show in Glyfada, but her ticket fell threw. Mark came up with the wonderful idea to have our own little fashion show! We all dressed up in ridiculous/cool/greek/whatever we had outfits and had our own little catwalk. It was so much fun! It was just one of those things that really makes you appreciate the group that we have here. Everyone just really does care for one another, I am truly blessed to not just be here, but to be here with the group that I am.

Here's a picture of me and Victoria :).

I love you all so much :). On Sunday we leave for ISRAEL!! I am so excited!

Egypt update: We don't have to decide until two weeks before we are scheduled to leave on March 14, but from everything that I am hearing it seems like there is no way we'll be able to go there. That is super disappointing, but I'm just trying to look at all of the positives. The directors are planning a trip to Turkey if in fact we can't go with our original Egypt plans. I'll keep you updated! Please keep praying for the whole situation!