Frohe Oster!

Happy Easter! I hope you all are having a great Easter and are reminded of Jesus' incredible love for us! These are some of my favorite verses and I would love to share them with you this Easter.

"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again. ... God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

2 Corinthians 5:14-15, 21

Paris and Amsterdam

On Saturday I returned from a week long trip with my program to Paris and Amsterdam. We were in Paris for about five days and Amsterdam for 3. I really enjoyed them both, and I would definitely go back! Paris was absolutely beautiful, especially at night. I think I liked it better at night. The Eiffel Tower all lit up was truly magical. That is the best way to describe it – magical and breathtaking. And Paris is so fun because there are so many places that are famous and make you really feel like you’re in Paris! You always know that you’re in a famous place. So, in Paris, I saw the Eiffel Tower (went up in it at night and had a picnic in front of it during the day), Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Musee d’Orsey (impressionist art in an old train station!), Notre Dame (went to a Sunday mass and then climbed to the top for the view after the service), Sacre Coeur Versailles, the Moulin Rouge, and probably some other important stuff. We took a day trip to the beaches of Normandy and visited the memorial/cemetery site and a museum. It was definitely cool to see that and learn more about what D-Day was like. And perhaps the highlight of my time in Paris was running into a friend from high school, Horatio Thomas, on a random street in Paris one night! It was crazy and super exciting!

By the time we got to Amsterdam I was all museum-ed out, so I regret to say that I didn’t visit the Anne Frank House, Vincent Van Gogh Museum, or the Rijksmuseum (which houses Rembrandts, Vermeers, and other “Dutch Masters”). But, I did enjoy the canals and leaning houses. We took a boat tour all through them. We also shopped around a flee market and walked around the city. The next day some of us rented bicycles and biked out to the countryside surrounding Amsterdam and had a picnic by a random canal. It was farming countryside and we saw (and at times smelled) lots of horses, sheep, and some roosters. It was definitely a fun bike ride and cool to see some of the more quintessential Dutch landscape (where windmills and wooden shoes are easier to imagine). In case you are wondering, marijuana and prostitution are both very legal and very in your face in Amsterdam. And that was definitely a bit alarming and sad. It really reminded me of Romans 1:22-25: “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised.” The sad part is not necessarily the abundance of sex and drugs, but that it is indicative of the fact that they have exchanged the truth of God for a lie and are worshiping and serving gods who are merely the creation, not the Creator who is the immortal God.

The weather was fabulous for our trip, which I am SO thankful for. It was warm and sunny almost everyday! And here in Berlin it has been warm and sunny as well! It’s amazing to see how the city has become more lively – all the cafes have put out their outside tables and the Biergartens have opened up! Biergartens are really popular in Germany and they are like a big outdoor seating area with lots of tables that serve beer and pretzels and some food. You go up and order your beer and/or food and then sit down for however long you’d like. Some of my friends and I went to one tonight and it was really delightful! I am looking forward to enjoying the warmth and sunshine that has recently come to Berlin!

An Adventure Indeed

The weather has been really nice the past couple of days! It's been sunny and blue skies, although still pretty cold and windy. But, the sun has been great.

For my architecture class I had to go on a self-guided walking tour of the Embassy District here in Berlin. I spontaneously decided to go on Tuesday afternoon because it was such a nice day! It was pretty warm and I really enjoyed just walking around, even though I went by myself.

The tour ended in Tier Garten, which is a huge park in the center of the city that used to be hunting grounds way back in the day. And in the middle of it, in the middle of a giant traffic circle, stands the Victory Column. This was the first time I had been to the Victory Column, and it was a lot bigger than I expected! It has a beautiful golden statue on top, and she is a cross between the goddess of victory, Victoria, and a lady who is the symbol for Prussia.

So, I walked around the Victory Column's base and almost left before I realized that you could go up to the top and look out!! So, of course I had to go do that. 265 steps later, I was looking out over Berlin. It was so exciting to be able to pick out buildings I knew and recognized. This made me feel like I really live in Berlin and am getting to know the city, which is really exciting. That was one of my goals for my time here, so that was really encouraging. Also, it was such a serendipity to get to climb to the top and look out over the city. I really enjoyed it.

Today, I went back to the Victory Column with some friends to go up again (this time with my camera!), but little did we know, it closes at 4:30! BOOO. We were just about to go in as the lady closed the door on us. So we ended up walking through Tiergarten and ended up by Potsdamer Platz and eventually the Reichstag. And then I could piece together how all these areas connected, and that too, was exciting!

Tomorrow we are going on a day trip to Potsdam, which is a separate city a little bit south(west?) of Berlin. And a week from tomorrow, I leave with my program to go to Paris and Amsterdam for a week! In that time I have lots of papers to write and various other things to get done for classes, so I'm feeling pretty busy. And it's hard to believe that when I get back from our Paris and Amsterdam trip it will be April!!!

I hope all is well with you all and the Lord is constantly reminding you of his goodness, love, faithfulness, and majesty.

Edits

Hi!

So somehow my friend Dan was accidently signed in to my blog when he posted that last post. So that was supposed to go on his blog, but ended up on mine! We are still not sure how exactly that happened! So, sorry to everyone who thought I went to Greece (I unfortunately did not get to go to Greece for 11 days).

I did just get back from Stockholm, though. And I too would like to post a longer post about the weekend, but I will have to do that later.

Real quick, some highlights were:

- eating moose meatballs!
- seeing Jenny Knox, who is living and interning with Campus Crusade for Christ in Uppsala, Sweden (STINT for all you who know the Cru lingo), and meeting her roommate, Ginger (who is also interning)
- seeing reindeer, moose, snowy owls, and wolves (at an open air museum, not in the wild!)
- walking around the really pretty Old Town
-

God´s Grace in Spain

This post is super long, and if you only have time to read some of it, please skip to the bottom where the Bible verse is. Because it is exciting!

Last week I had my mid term exams for my classes. They went well and this week I have a mid semester break! So, in the wee hours of Friday morning I boarded a plane in Berlin and headed to Barcelona! One of my friends from study abroad, Angela, had planned on going to Barcelona for the whole week and so I got on the same flight as her. It was really nice to be able to fly with someone. I met Jessica Jones, a friend from UNC, in Barcelona for the weekend, and then I came back to Sevilla, where she is studying this semester to stay with her for the week. Jessica came with some of her study abroad friends to Barcelona for the weekend.

So, Angela and I got into Barcelona at about lunch time on Friday and we ate lunch and then walked around the historic district, saw the Cathedral there (St. Maria´s maybe?), walked around the Gothic district, went down to the beach and touched the Mediterranean Sea (!), and ran into Jessica and her friends on the way back to the hostel (which was lucky because they had just gotten in from their flight). Even though we were staying at the same hostel as them we didn´t quite now when we would see them.

I really enjoyed wandering around Barcelona with Angela! We just walked down whatever street looked appealing. All the streets were so cute! They were all narrow with cobblestones and balconies with green plants growing on them. I took so many pictures that probably all look the same, but I absolutely loved it! Then we went to the Cathedral and looked around and found out that we could go up on the roof! So that was really fun and beautiful to look out over the city. You could see the Mediterranean and the hills around the city, with all the buildings. It was breathtaking.

The Mediterranean was beautiful, but cold! Oh, the weather in Barcelona (and Sevilla so far) has been fabulous! So warm - high of 70ish every day and sunny! It´s been a nice break from Berlin. It snowed the whole week before I left, but I really enjoyed the snow, actually. It was really pretty and not that cold...

So then on Saturday, Angela and I walked around with Jessica and her friends. We went to a huge street market in the morning with delicious fresh fruit and somewhat disturbing looking meat (whole pigs!) and fishy smelling fish. Then we walked down to the beach and chilled for a little bit (and of course took lots of pictures of us with the Mediterrranean). Then we went to see the houses the famous Spanish architect Gaudi designed, and I learned from Angela that that is where our adjective ¨gaudy¨comes from! Then we went to see La Sagrada Familia, which is a cathedral that he spent the last years of his life designing and began building, but he died before he could finish it, so it is unfinished. They are still continuing construction on it. And after I paid the 9 euros to get in, I discovered that he died really early in the construction process because basically the whole inside was unfinished (such a rip off!). After La Sagrada Familia, we went to a hill called Montjuic, where they have some big ornate building and a fountain in front of it that they do one of those light and music shows with the water every 30 minutes. It was pretty cool, but the best part was definitely sitting down after so much walking!

The next morning (Sunday), Jessica and I got up early to fly from Barcelona to Sevilla and we arrive safe and sound around lunch time. Then we went to the hostel I´m staying at and checked in and Jessica decided she would stay with me at the hostel, which is really great! So then we walked to her house to get her stuff, back to the hostel, etc.

Later that night, we met up with one of our friends from Summer Project in Santa Cruz, Chadwell, that is studying abroad in northern Spain (Segovia, if you´re a Spanish small cities buff) and was in Sevilla with some of his friends until this morning (Tuesday). We hung out with him and got some dinner, and it was great to catch up and get to hang out with him again!

The next morning (yesterday, Monday), Jessica had to go to class and I walked around Sevilla with Chadwell and his friends. It was good to see more of the city and more cute Spanish streets with cobblestones and balconies, but after 4 days of walking I was pretty exhausted!

Today was pretty chill and I just slept in and had breakfast, coffee, and time with the Lord on the beautiful terrace on the roof of our hostel while Jessica went to class (poor thing). After that we had lunch and went shopping at the mall near her house. Then we went to the Bible Study that she is going to here with other study abroad students in her program. We read Ephesians 3 and talked about how the mystery of the Gospel being extended to the Gentiles has been revealed in Jesus Christ!

One of the verses in Ephesians 3 (verse 8) reminded me of a passage in 1 Timothy that I read last week that totally rocked my world: 1 Timothy 1:14-17 -

¨The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners- of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

And looking at it today at Bible Study, especially verse 16 about how Christ showing me mercy displays his unlimited patience, I realized that I don´t have to ¨be used by God in a mighty way¨ in order to glorify Him or tell people about his grace - His unlimited patience is seen in the very act that he had mercy on me!!! I don´t have to DO anything, Christ has already done it. The working out of the gospel in me brings God glory and tells the world of his unlimited patience! That is huge for me, because I have always felt that God was not using me, not calling me to anything. I wanted to step out in faith, change the world, be radical for him, but never knew how and never felt him leading and guiding me in that even though I prayed for it and wanted it so badly! It is freeing for me to realize that simply God´s mercy toward me displays the gospel to the world!

And I have had some really sweet times with the Lord recently - praying on the plane, waiting for people, chilling at the hostel, etc. The Lord is good and I love Him more and more each day. I am looking forward to continuing in this!

Exploring the City

So, my goal for the past two days was to "explore Berlin." I was struck the other day by how it's already February and I have a lot planned between now and the end of April. And a lot of those plans involved traveling away from Berlin. So, I made a list of things I wanted to see and do in Berlin and tried to do some of those things Thursday and Friday. I already wrote about Thursday, so this post will only be yesterday. :)

I have to do a 10 minute presentation on a housing development built in the 1920s during the Housing Revolution (basically, better quality yet still affordable housing for the working class). It's called the Horseshoe Building because it's in the shape of a horseshoe around a pond and grassy area. I went to visit it yesterday, and it was pretty cool.

Then, we met some friends and went to a Turkish Market that happens every Thursday and Friday. We got lunch there and looked through the stands selling fruit, vegetables, sweets, clothes, jewelry, scarves, and random other things.

After the Turkish Market, we went to a castle located in a really nice neighborhood called Charlottenberg. The castle was really pretty, but unfortunately by then the sun was setting and it was pretty much dark. But, we still walked in the woods/garden behind the castle. And we decided to come back when it was light outside. It was cool that it didn't feel like we were in a city at all. There was lots of grass and trees and a little brook that ran behind the castle. That's something I like about Berlin - it covers such a huge area that there are like suburbs within the city. Each neighborhood has a different feel and plenty of green space and just space in general, it seems. It's nice not to feel like I'm living in a crowded, busy, and concrete big city.

Something that I have really enjoyed these past two days has been how we have randomly stumbled upon these cool things we didn't know were happening - the Film Festival Red Carpet and the Turkish Market. It's cool to live in a big city where a lot is going on and if you just go out for the day, you'll probably find something to do.

Last night I went to a bible study through the church I went to last Sunday (called Reset) and I really enjoyed it. It was mostly Germans, but there were a couple of Americans (and one British girl!) and we ended up doing most of it in English, which was really helpful for me. We discussed what it means practically to live as a Christian. We talked about whether we should give money to the beggars you see all the time in the U- and S-Bahn stations. And one guy talked about how Jesus said when someone asks for your coat, to give him your tunic as well and when the Roman soldier asks you to walk a mile with him, to go two. And how he always keeps 50 cents in his pocket to give. And I was struck by how generous God desires us to be! He is so generous with me and I am so not generous with others! And we talked about how we all want to live big lives that make a difference, but that can't happen unless we take the little steps, like being generous in giving our finances, love, time, energy, and grace. And it occurred to me that I try to determine which little steps I can take that will make the most difference so I don't have to take the little steps that I deem won't make that much of a difference, like giving a guy on the street 50 cents. But if I gave that 50 cents, how much would that remind me of all that God has given me and give me a mindset of being generous with not only my money, but also my time, energy, love, grace, forgiveness, patience, kindness, etc? Maybe being obedient even in the little steps we don't think mature us or make a difference at all is actually what God wants from us. Maybe that's a little more of what it means to obey the Bible and follow Jesus and his teaching. So much of his teaching involves radical grace and generosity. The kind that can be abused. And I know there is a fine line here and that there are people that will just exploit you and your generosity, but I think, for me, I lean much more on the side of not giving than giving. And I think that Jesus wants that to change.

The Red Carpet

So, tonight I experienced my first Red Carpet event (and by this I mean I watched others arrive on the Red Carpet, not arrive on the Red Carpet myself). My friends Michaela and Dan and I went to a place called Potsdamer Platz this afternoon hoping to explore the area a little and see a movie tonight in the theater there that plays movies in English. It's a pretty hip place with really nice, new buildings and a mall with some pretty nice stores. We walked into the movie theater when we first got there to see what times the movies were showing, and when we arrived there were no movie times displayed anywhere! So, we walked up to the desk to ask them which movies were playing and when and they gave us a program and we opened it and there were no movies playing today! And we asked the guy why there weren't any movies playing today and he said that it was just starting tonight and that there would be movies all this weekend and next week. And then we remembered, it's the week of the Berlin Film Festival, called Berlinale. And apparently, they use all the movie theaters in Berlin to show the movies for the festival. So, we were pretty bummed because we were all in the mood for a movie.

So, we walked outside and ended up running into another girl in the program named Meredith, who told us she was going to see all the actors and actresses arrive on the Red Carpet a couple of blocks away. And we had absolutely no idea that was going on. So, we all walked over to the place where they had set it up and staked out our spot right by where the cars pull up (but it was pretty far away from where the stars actually got out and took their photos). It was fun because I've never been at a Red Carpet event or whatever, so that was fun to be one of those people with their cameras craning their necks to see someone all dressed up and glamorous. Unfortunately, we only saw two people that we actually knew/recognized: Tilda Swinton (the White Witch from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) and Clive Owen. We also got interviewed by some news lady covering the action, but I doubt we'll make it on any real footage. She asked us who were excited about seeing and since we didn't really even know who was supposed to show up, we were just like "anyone from the States that we recognize!" Haha, silly Americans.

This morning my class went on a field trip to Ikea to learn furniture names and ask customers what their favorite pieces of furniture were. Michaela and I were super excited that we got to go to Ikea for German class because we were planning on going there on our own for fun sometime anyway. And, I got a pillow to add some extra fluff to the easily deflated feather pillow that came with my apartment. Ikea was pretty sweet and I had fun seeing all of their furniture and decorations. I'm excited that there is one opening in Charlotte!

Last Sunday, I went to a church called Reset, and I really liked it! It was a small church, and they meet in a room that looks like a coffee shop. It's really cozy and they have a bunch of tables and chairs set up and one corner has a screen and is where the band and preacher stand. I liked the worship band, and we sang some songs in English and some in German. I was really excited because I understood a lot more of the German songs than I thought I would. And I learned some new words through them. The sermon was good as well. But what I liked the most was that the people were really friendly! They have a lunch buffet after the service on the first Sunday every month, and so we got to stick around and meet and talk with some people. We met some Americans and some Germans, so it was a good mix! We met one couple that works with the youth group at the church and some of the high schoolers that attend. Aaron is American (from Michigan) and his wife, Miriam, is half American and half German, but she grew up in Germany.

It turned out that they were taping the Superbowl that night and watching it on Monday evening, so they invited us to come. So, Dan and I went over to their apartment to watch the Superbowl and there we met the rest of their Life Group (small group Bible study), which consists of 2 young German couples and a young single German guy. It was fun to watch the Superbowl and talk with them! Unfortunately, the channel that showed it in Germany didn't show the American commercials with it, so I didn't get to see any of those! And let's be honest, I talked more than watched the game. And they invited us to come to their bible study on Friday nights. I felt really invited and welcomed, and I was excited to feel like I could get plugged in and connected without even really trying. I'm really excited about the possibility of experiencing this community while I'm here!

I asked one of the girls in the group, Stefi, if she thought that the churches in Germany were dying and she said they were definitely not dying! The traditional ones, like the old Catholic and Protestant churches, she said were only really attended by old people. But she said that newer churches were definitely alive. It was exciting to get to talk with her about that.

And, in case you were wondering what German television plays at 4:30 in the morning after the Superbowl ends (Germany is 6 hours ahead of the US), I am happy to inform you that it is a television show in which they mounted a camera on the front of a train and it just rides through Europe. There's no music, just an occasional honk from the train. I think it would actually help you fall asleep if you were watching it at 4:30 AM. It was quite mesmerizing and relaxing.

This Week

First of all, I’m excited to say that I’ve had a really great week. I’ve really enjoyed being here in Berlin this week and I’m excited for all that we have planned! Coming up is a trip to Stockholm, Sweden with some friends, visiting my friend Jessica Jones who is studying abroad in Spain for my mid-semester break in February, a trip to Paris and Amsterdam with my program, and lots more! I have realized that this semester really is going to fly by.

Yesterday, we toured the Stasi (East German secret police) prison called Hohenschönhausen. When East Germany was still occupied by the Soviet Union after the War, they used it to imprison political opponents, and they used really physically cruel methods of torture to get people to sign statements of confession that sentenced them to more prison and labor camps. When the DDR, the East German government, was formed, they took over the prison and improved facilities, but shifted the cruelty and torture from physical to psychological. They used solitary confinement and the usual interrogations. I could go on for quite a while about all the things they did that I learned about, but I think what struck me the most was how when there is a change in power, the new regime kills or persecutes everyone from the previos regime. It kind of comforted me that there really hasn’t been much punishment for Stasi officials and officers, because the vicious cycle should be ended. I was talking to Michael about it and he made a really great point – that grace is sometimes better than justice. God loves justice, but he also calls us to grace and forgiveness, which is actually a higher road than justice.

This week I went to two museums for class. One was the Deutsches Historiches Museum and the other was the Bauhaus Archiv. The Deutsches Historiches Museum (DHM) is a really nice museum that takes you through German history from the middle ages to 1990. We were focusing on the exhibit on a divided Germany from 1945 to 1990. It is absolutely crazy to think about living in Germany at the time. The Bauhaus Archiv is about the Bauhaus style that originated in the 1920s. It’s a style of architecture as well as designs for furniture and other household items. It reminds you a lot of Ikea.

Other than museums and class, I’ve been enjoying hanging out with friends here. And I met two girls from the stint team (stint stands for short term international) with Campus Crusade for Christ here in Berlin for lunch one day! It was really great to meet them and talk about how our time in Berlin has been so far, what their ministry is like, the weekly meetings they have, and what fun things they recommended doing in this city! I’m acquiring quite a long list of cool places to see and hang out in.

I hope you all are doing well, and I am sad that my internet is kind of slow, so it’s hard to successfully upload things and reply to messages on facebook as well as skype. Plus the fact that the days go by so quickly! But, I love you all and am so thankful that you all are in my life, even if we’re not currently in the same country!

Leipzig and Dresden

This weekend we had a three day weekend and some friends and I went to Leipzig and Dresden, two cities that are a couple of hours south of Berlin. There were 9 of us altogether: 5 drove down on Friday and 4 took the train on Saturday morning. I went with the group in the car on Friday morning. We took our time driving down to Leipzig and stopped at Lutherstadt-Wittenburg (where Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of the Catholic church), Dessau, and Halle.

Wittenburg was kind of what we expected - we saw the church and walked around the town. It was pretty and very old European. We ate lunch in Wittenburg and then got back in the car and headed for Dessau. When we got to Dessau it started snowing absolutely HUGE snowflakes! So we got out and played in the snowflakes a little. But then it started freezing rain instead. So we got back in the car and said good riddance to Dessau (there wasn't much that we could see anyway). We arrived in Halle and walked around the marketplace with a beautiful church. It was really cold on Friday, so we ended up in a bookstore enjoying the warmth and seats. We didn't really know what else to look at or do in Halle, so we were going to move on to Leipzig (where we were staying in a hostel Friday and Saturday night) when we decided to ask a bookstore clerk what they recommended we do. And one lady in line jumped in and told us we should go to this museum about a five minutes drive. And she offered to let us follow her there!! She was really nice and took us to the museum and we ended up eating dinner with her, her 18 year old son, and her German friend who is married to an Englishman. So, it was lots of fun and a great serendipity to meet such nice Germans and actually get to sit and have dinner with them! After dinner they took us around a little bit and showed us some things around Halle. And by that time it was getting pretty late, so we headed on to Leipzig.

Once we got to Leipzig, we couldn't find our hostel (we set out on this trip with no city maps...haha, I'm thankful we made it anywhere this weekend!), so we pulled up the train station to go in and ask for directions. Tom and I went in to ask for directions, but all of the desks were closed because it was midnight. So we ended up calling the hostel. Tom and I return to the car to find two Polizei (police) vans behind our car and the other three guys standing outside the car talking to the police! They asked Tom and I to show our passports, and they told us that someone called us in because we were sitting in front of the train station for too long! So after 20 minutes of checking our passports and car registration, they told us everything was fine and we could go on. And we asked them if they could give us directions to our hostel, and they ended up telling us just to follow them! So we finished the night with a police escort to our hostel! What a day!

The next morning in Leipzig, we met up with the other 4 and walked around Leipzig. We saw a church that Bach is buried in (I think!) and has his cello and violins and some other stuff in it. We also saw the town halls and an art museum. The weather was much nicer and warmer and that made it so much better to walk around and explore the area, which I am learning is what visiting European cities really is!

The next morning we drove to Dresden. A lot of Dresden was bombed during World War II, and has since been rebuilt. We saw the Frauenkirche (a church) and other churches and old(ish) buildings. The Frauenkirche was a huge restoration project. The outside of the church stood for a couple of days after the bombing and then crumbled, so they rebuilt the church using as much of the old rubble as they could. So, the new pieces are all white sandstone and the old pieces are darkened sandstone from the original church. It was beautiful (as were all the churches I saw this weekend). After more walking around, we got back in the car and headed back to Berlin! Coming back from this weekend made Berlin and my apartment feel more like home.

I do feel like I am enjoying my time here and being in Berlin more and more. It's exciting to think that I am actually living here! I have always wanted to live in a foreign country instead of just visit. And Berlin has a lot to explore and see, and I realized that after visiting some smaller cities this weekend.

And God continues to teach me to depend on Him for my energy, joy, peace, and strength. Everyday, his Word reminds me that He is so worthy of praise, no matter where I am or what happens. At one of the churches we saw this weekend, there was a really lifelike statue of Jesus on the cross, and looking up at it so overwhelmed me that I felt compelled to kneel. I've never felt so "at the foot of the cross" before and I felt so humbled and loved to know that Jesus died on the cross to take away my sins. The hymn "When I survey" came to mind, and I was reminded of how grateful I am that Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. And now the curtain is torn, and I am reconciled with the Father. And Jesus is no longer on the cross, but is risen and alive and seated at the right hand of the Father!

I know that I really have not been writing on this blog often at all, and I'm sorry. Hopefully someday I will be able to begin blog entries without apologies.

Anyway, classes started last Monday (the 12th). I'm taking a German class from 9 to 12 Monday through Thursday, so that's a lot of German. But my teacher is really nice and I am learning a lot. Some Thursdays we have field trips, and today we went to the Berlin Zoo for class. It was really cold walking around, but we got to see elephants, lions, bears, monkeys, a hippopotamus, and the famous Knut (a polar bear born in the Berlin Zoo and really famous for being ridiculously cute. Unfortunately, he's grown up and is not as cute as the baby Knut was).

I am also taking a class called Contemporary Germany in European Perspective and one on the Architecture in Berlin. The one on Contemporary Germany in European Perspective is about how Germany deals with its past and how that shapes its politics and culture today. It focuses both on Germany and how it fits into Europe as a whole. I think it will be interesting and the professor (who is also the program director) is a really good lecturer. So far, we've had a brief overview of German history and a look at the political parties and happenings in the post World War II and Cold War eras in both West and East Germany.

In my architecture class, we will go through all of the time periods and styles of architecture in Berlin. We look at a lot of photos of buildings in class and my professor incorporates the history and other things that influenced the architecture of the time. Last class, we talked about a very influential architect in the 1800s named Karl Friedrich Schinkel.

In both of my classes, we are assigned projects that involve going to certain places in the city, so I am excited for these classes to help me see more of the city that I would on my own. And the information is definitely much more interesting because I am here and the places are familiar and close. It's pretty cool getting to learn about stuff in the place you are and being in the place where you get to learn about stuff!

Tomorrow I'm leaving to go to Leipzig and Dresden, two cities that are about 2 hours south of Berlin. I'll take lots of pictures and write all about it!

P.S. I've uploaded pictures onto facebook, so check them out if you'd like!

First Few Days in Berlin

Sorry that this blog post has taken me a long time to write/post. I don’t have wireless internet in my apartment, so I don’t spend a lot of time on the internet. I’m working on getting internet in my apartment but I don’t know if that will actually happen anytime soon. But the campus at school has wireless so I can use that until then.
I arrived in Berlin on January 7 and was pleasantly surprised to see that everything was covered in snow!! Everyone said that Berlin was cold and dreary and I just didn’t picture it being snowy or ever actually snowing. It flurried a little bit the morning I arrived on top of the snow that was already here. So, even though it is cold, I think the snow makes it a little more bearable. I’ve seen kids sledding and that’s always fun.
Honestly, being here has been a lot harder than I expected. Even though a lot of people speak English, all the signs and menus are in German and people speak really fast German to you until you ask them if they speak English. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. Mostly, though, people are helpful and do speak at least some English. At first the public transportation was really overwhelming. There are buses, the U-Bahn, and the S-Bahn. The U-Bahn and the S-Bahn are both trains; the U-Bahn is underground (but sometimes it runs above ground) and the S-Bahn is above ground (but sometimes it runs underground). But, I am learning and it’s really not so hard. One concept that is essential is that to get somewhere sometimes you have to take the bus to the correct S-Bahn station or switch trains or take the S-Bahn to the U-Bahn and then the bus. But, the S-Bahn and U-Bahn no longer scare me because they gave us a map that is really helpful. I like the S- and U-Bahns far more than the buses because they are a new experience for me and it’s fun hopping on and off. And I don’t really have an equivalent bus map so I don’t always know what bus would take me where. Plus, they often don’t run the whole route, so you have to make sure your stop is before the last stop they’re going to. The number and last stop of both the buses and the U- and S-Bahns are on the front, so that’s helpful.
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were orientation days and pretty full of walking and riding around the city. On Friday we walked around all the Freie Universitat (Free University) buildings and then toured a bunker, that came out at an U-Bahn station (that was weird!) In case you were wondering, It’s called the Free University because back when the wall was still here, the only university was controlled by the communists and some of the students wanted academic freedom, so they started this university with no books and sometimes held classes in candlelight! That’s a pretty hardcore legacy. On Saturday morning, our director, Dirk, lead us on a walking tour or the historical part of the city. We saw the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, some bricks marking where they wall had been, the new government buildings, and many other important buildings. I took lots of pictures, but I’m afraid they all look pretty dreary because the ground and the sky are both white-grey.
Classes start tomorrow (Monday, which might be today, depending on when I post this). I’ll have German language class from 9 – 12 Monday through Thursday (yikes!) and then two classes after that on Wednesdays, ending at 7. Four of our Fridays will be field trips to various places. And we’re taking a trip to Paris and Amsterdam in March. So, lots of things on the schedule, which is good!
This blog post would not be complete without mention of how good God is. He has been so faithful even so far, as he has comforted me and sheltered me in the cover of his wings (Psalm 91) when I am tossing and turning at night and wishing I was back home. I look forward to how he is going to challenge me, grow me, and draw me to greater dependence on him this semester. And my prayer is that in him I would really be able to enjoy him and my time here, no matter what happens.

I'm off!

So I'm leaving for Berlin, Germany tomorrow afternoon! I should arrive Wednesday morning jet-lagged and exhausted, but excited for the semester in Europe. I wanted to set up this blog so you all could hear about what's going on and all the crazy experiences I'll hopefully be having! So, please check the blog often. :) I was thinking about writing emails every once in a while, but I thought I was more likely to write on a blog more often than send out mass emails. So, I hope this blog is entertaining and keeps you updated on my life. I would love to hear about yours as well! So, facebook and email me!