Chuga Chuga

On the train to Florence there is grafitti everywhere and it is hot. I met a nice Italian buisnessman on the plane from Norway. He said He would consider moving to California, except for the earthquakes. He plans to take his kids to drive across the states once they are old enough. Isn't life ironic? Here I am in Italy and here he is wishing He was in California.

The hand of providence must have been at work when I arrived at the airport, because I found the train 3 minutes before it left for Florence from Pisa, and the next was scheduled to arrive in 3-4 hours! I had planned to meet Alexa at 5 pm and wouldn't have made it.

I can understand now why someone once said Italy was the Mexico of Europe. It is hot, dirty and crowded. But, Italian villas are passing through my window and I do not mind the view.

doorbells

I've arrived in Florence and am settled in Alexa's apartment close to Piazza del Santa Croce. She is a good friend from Cal Poly studying at Florence University of the Arts. On the street, all you can see of her apartment is a green door with the number 73 next to it and 5 doorbells for the apartments on each floor. Her apartment is on the 4th floor, up a winding flight of stairs shared by all the tenants.

The streets are noisy and full of kamikazee mopeds. The sidewalks are 1-2 feet wide, just breadth enough to jump to and hope you survive. I would have been easily run over except for Alexa pulling my arm towards the sidewalk half a dozen times.

This city is beautiful. Breathtaking. When I arrived at the train station, I put on my backpack and walked across the city, stopping to soak it in along the way. The buildings are so tall, yet they feel just as they should be in proportion to me. There are arches, hundreds of statues, fountains, large squares and tiny streets. Mix that with thousands of tourists and you've got quite a mess. I wish you could experience everything but the stares of the Italian men......

no tomorrow

I'm on my way to Torp airport and Florence. There are alot of reasons I shouldn't be on this flight bus right now, but I made it and I can guess why. Travel mercies. Somebody is watching out for me.

The first train which left from Aus to Oslo departed at 5:35 am. Torp airport(in SW Norway) suggested I ride the Torp express bus leaving Oslo at 6:00 am. Unfortunately, I arrived at 6:03, on the earliest means of public transportation possible. This meant I had to catch the next bus leaving the Oslo terminal at 6:25 am. Unfortunately, there are multiple Oslo bus terminals and I assumed it was the one directly outside the train station.

Fortunately for me, when you ask enough Norwegians, you find one who can answer you in English. A kind man with a broken nose told me that I should walk in a certain direction at which point I began to run. Neadless to say, "un shul"(excuse me- in Norwegian) began to profusely spill out of my lips as I bolted towards the bus terminal. Up and down stairs and escalators, through doorways and into buildings....I managed to be the last passenger to board the Torp Express!

"One round trip student ticket" I said, out of breath. I'm not quite sure what will happen at the airport once I arrive an hour before my flight departs, but I do know that I'm learning to trust God when circumstances are outside my control....and to run like there is no tomorrow.

the bus we couldn't make

This past Saturday I traveled to Oslo from Aus with a group of friends. It was one mishap after the next. First we missed the train...because it didn't come at 830 as scheduled, but at 930am. Next, we couldn't find the IKEA bus stop at the train station in Oslo because it was under construction. We asked about half a dozen people and were without an answer until an hour later we saw a bus with four magic letters painted on its side. After shopping for the essentials at IKEA, we discovered the bus we would have taken back to Oslo left 5 min before we had been rung up at the checkout. After waiting in the store for an hour, we made it safely to Oslo and a pizza restraunt which served all its pizza's gleutin free!!! I was so excited, until I looked at the price ;). After walking the streets of Oslo, and running various errands...we realized our Train back to Aus left not immediately, but an hour and a half later than expected. Needless to say, the four of us developed quite a bit of patience in the course of one day!!

found

Your past present and future,
I’ve heard this all before.
But what does it have to do with this girl-
the one standing in front of me.
Can you be yourself?
Here?
Now?

What would it take
for you to snap out of this wonderland
Where no one can reach you?
You’ve become a lone soldier on a crusade.
But whose crusade?

Truth is good
To seek is to find
But when will you stop looking for yourself-
within yourself?
Or by what people see you to be?

We are found in HIM.

You know,

The one who seeks the lost

And comforts the broken hearted

His name is JESUS.

And He has found you-

So what are you waiting for?

Be found once again



I wrote this poem last December, but decided to post it now as I discovered it on my computer. I feel like life is a cycle of knowing who we are and then forgetting once again.

why

Norway.
I'm looking
out my balcony
and wondering
why
this place
this school
this life
why
do the clouds appear closer
the trees taller
and horizons furthur
than ever before
why peace
hope
joy
why here
why now
sometimes it is better
to end the questions
and accept no answer

Time stands still

I've arrived in Norway to discover that setting up internet is not as easy as one would expect it to be. I have also realized that living in a country whose first language isn't english means that your years of language education immediately go down the tiolet. I don't know quite how to describe this weeks experience. Sofar I have met students from France, Germany, Turkey, Italy, England, Poland, Eithiopia, Tanzania, Austria, Israel, California and Minnesota....just to name a few.

There are a total of 240 international students studying at UMB this fall. The campus boasts a wide variety of PHD, graduate and undergraduate programs in fields related to math and science; which means that students come to this campus to study anything they are most interested in. Many of the international students are on exchange for a semester or year or are here for a 2 year master's program. Everyone I have met sofar has a real sense of vocation, especially the African students here on scholorship programs. Their knowledge will be essential to their people's future once they return home. One lady which I met left her 1 year old baby boy to enter a 3 year PHD program here.

I hope to catch a little-bit of this vocational feaver and decide which areas of landscape architecture and planning intrigue me most by taking a variety of courses this next year. In addition, communicating with students who have lived in 3rd world countries may lead me towards what to do once I graduate ( which is coming sooner each day!).

This week was international student orientation and next week we have a one day orientation with our departments and begin our august block courses on teusday. Everything is begginging to become a blur, but as soon as I take the time to walk the Norwegian countryside time stands still.