Today started with a rousing bus ride to the port, where we boarded an island skipper and rode out to the nearby island of Capri. Once there we quickly boarded another boat destined for a small alcove around the side of the island, the Blue Grotto. Here we waited as small, mini rowboats, oared by a crew of one, approached our craft to take on passengers (4 a piece). Once loaded, each of these vessels ducked through a tiny opening in the cliff wall, bringing us into a hallowed out cave beneath the cliffs. Here, in the Blue Grotto, the water is illuminated an incandescent blue color, lit so by rays of light from the sun reflecting off the sandy ocean floor under the island. It was very dark (as caves generally are), but a pretty neat sight.
Most everyone was happy to get their feet back on solid ground (counting the first ferry ride to Capri, and then the long wait for the rowboats while we were already out to sea, we'd been rocking on the water for a fairly long time). From here we boarded a tram that would take us partway up the hillside, and once at that level everyone was given time for lunch and shopping. I don't know where most of the students ate, but the adults enjoyed delicious (and authentic) Italian pizzas at a local ristorante..
Regathering after lunch, we set out to hike up to the top of Capri to tour the Villa Jovis, an immense ancient Roman palace dedicated to Jupiter. The hike was quite vigorous (Mrs. Vitt is notorius for walking very fast, but everyone kept up quite well, even the chaperones), and the view at the top absolutely spectacular!
After walking through the villa, we retured down the hillside for another brief time for shopping and gelato before boarding our final boat back to the mainland. Upon returning to Sorrento, the students were given a rare 2 hour block of free time in town before meeting the bus again. This time was spent shopping amongst excited Italians cheering on their football team in the World Cup playoffs (the game ended in a 1-1 tie). Several of the boys elected to continue watching the game in Mr. Kozel's room once we returned to the hotel before dinner.
For dinner we were given the option of pasta, ravioli, or soup, followed by a second dish of salmon, meat balls, or chicken salad. Following dessert, everyone returned to their rooms to pack, as we'll be moving on to our second hotel tomorrow. Departure is at 8:30, first stop of the day will be Mount Vesuvius.
Quotes of the day:
"Goat children, do you have your tickets yet? Children of the goat?" - Mrs. Vitt
"I'll write [a reminder note] in the dipping sauce stuff... Olive oil... It's been a long day" - Jeremy Gustafson
"Oh for cute" - Nick Kozel
Friday, June 20, 2008
Italy - Day 3
The day began wet and early (it had rained overnight) with a continental breakfast featuring slices of ham, egg, some delicious pie thing, and the kids' favorite: cereal resembling Cocoa Puffs.
We boarded the bus for departure at 8:30 and had an hour long drive to Pompeii, where we spent the majority of our day meandering along the ancient, uneven stone roads, themselves worn with grooves from ancient wheels.
During the morning hours (from 10:00 to noon) we were led by a local guide named Mario, according to Mrs. Vitt, the best guide she's ever received at Pompeii (out of 6 visits with students). With him we saw the city's two theatres, one of the bath houses, the largest mansion/house, the central forum, countless store fronts and several smaller homes, and many stray dogs (not part of the exhibit itself, of course), all sitting calmly under the ever present and watchful eye of Vesuvius.
After Mario departed we took a short break for lunch (and to rest our feet), then Mrs. Vitt continued our tour throughout the back sections of the city. We saw remnants of the Roman aqueducts, burial tombs outside the city walls, the amphiteatre, and we stopped to relax for a few minutes while Mrs. Vitt read an historical fiction story set in Pompeii (on a personal note, it just happened to be the same story that captivated and sparked my interest in Pompeii back in middle school). After filling our water bottles from a Pompeiian public fountain we left the city to be accosted by merchants selling trinkets and postcards, as well as delicious servings of gelato, of which many of us indulged.
A few minutes before boarding the bus, the sky released a rather wet downpour, which unfortunately continued long enough to prevent us from walking to Pollio Felix's house before dinner.
After a delicious double course meal of pizza / rice and fish / beef / soup, students had about 50 minutes of free time before bed checks at 10:00. Wake up call is 6:30 tomorrow morning so we can catch our 8:30 ferry to the island of Capri.
That's the news for today. I'll leave you with this quote of the day:
"If I were an olive tree I would only have been bearing fruit for 4 years." - Michelle Vitt.
"I dream about arm-wrestling large men" - Mary
We boarded the bus for departure at 8:30 and had an hour long drive to Pompeii, where we spent the majority of our day meandering along the ancient, uneven stone roads, themselves worn with grooves from ancient wheels.
During the morning hours (from 10:00 to noon) we were led by a local guide named Mario, according to Mrs. Vitt, the best guide she's ever received at Pompeii (out of 6 visits with students). With him we saw the city's two theatres, one of the bath houses, the largest mansion/house, the central forum, countless store fronts and several smaller homes, and many stray dogs (not part of the exhibit itself, of course), all sitting calmly under the ever present and watchful eye of Vesuvius.
After Mario departed we took a short break for lunch (and to rest our feet), then Mrs. Vitt continued our tour throughout the back sections of the city. We saw remnants of the Roman aqueducts, burial tombs outside the city walls, the amphiteatre, and we stopped to relax for a few minutes while Mrs. Vitt read an historical fiction story set in Pompeii (on a personal note, it just happened to be the same story that captivated and sparked my interest in Pompeii back in middle school). After filling our water bottles from a Pompeiian public fountain we left the city to be accosted by merchants selling trinkets and postcards, as well as delicious servings of gelato, of which many of us indulged.
A few minutes before boarding the bus, the sky released a rather wet downpour, which unfortunately continued long enough to prevent us from walking to Pollio Felix's house before dinner.
After a delicious double course meal of pizza / rice and fish / beef / soup, students had about 50 minutes of free time before bed checks at 10:00. Wake up call is 6:30 tomorrow morning so we can catch our 8:30 ferry to the island of Capri.
That's the news for today. I'll leave you with this quote of the day:
"If I were an olive tree I would only have been bearing fruit for 4 years." - Michelle Vitt.
"I dream about arm-wrestling large men" - Mary
Italy - Days 1 & 2
If you saw my email a few hours ago, then you know we all made it to Italy safely. We left MSP Tuesday evening and had a roughly seven hour flight to Amsterdam, followed immediately by a 2 hour flight (plus 40 minute runway taxi) to Rome. I'm not sure that any of us slept quite as much as we were hoping/expecting, but everyone arrived in good spirits (and full tummies from several airplane meals)
After landing in Rome we were met by Sergio, our tour manager for the duration of our voyage, and boarded our coach for a several hour commute to Sorrento. Along the way we passed Mount Vesuvius (no sign of smoke for now :) as well as a distant view of Capri (both of which we'll be visiting this trip).
We arrived at our hotel at 22:00 local time, enjoyed a delicious eggplant or turkey dinner (individual choice), and crashed into bed. We'll be up bright and early tomorrow morning for breakfast at 7:30; our bus leaves at 8:30 for our day at Pompeii.
After landing in Rome we were met by Sergio, our tour manager for the duration of our voyage, and boarded our coach for a several hour commute to Sorrento. Along the way we passed Mount Vesuvius (no sign of smoke for now :) as well as a distant view of Capri (both of which we'll be visiting this trip).
We arrived at our hotel at 22:00 local time, enjoyed a delicious eggplant or turkey dinner (individual choice), and crashed into bed. We'll be up bright and early tomorrow morning for breakfast at 7:30; our bus leaves at 8:30 for our day at Pompeii.
Italy
I just got back from 8 days in Italy helping chaperone for a group of Minnehaha middle and high school students. The trip was lots of fun, but I'm exhausted, and it's always so nice to return home. Part of my duties during the trip included writing a daily email to the parents (using a BlackBerry that I rented), and I've decided to post those emails here, too, so you can read all about our adventures (typos and all).
Senior Chapel Talk
I gave my Senior Chapel Talk at St Olaf on Wednesday, May 7th. Word has it it was pretty good. You can listen to a streaming audio feed from St Olaf's website: http://www.stolaf.edu/church/chapel/playarchive.cfm?eventid=191.
Monday, January 14, 2008
7 Days of Kindness
A "random act of kindness" - it's a household phrase, one that most everyone's experienced: when a friend, or a stranger, goes out of their way to do something nice, just for the sake of being nice, without expectation of repayment or reward.
A week ago I was sitting in a small patient/family waiting room in the Northfield hospital, getting my bimonthly intravenous infusion of Remicaid (treatment for Crohn's disease). In the same waiting room sat several other patients, also there for treatment of an incurable disease: cancer. As I listened to their conversations and stories, I thought to myself that there must be some amazing, deep insight I could gain from it. Each of these individuals had an entire lifetime's worth of experiences more than I, and on top of that they were all battling something I can scarcely imagine having to face. There was so much life-knowledge in that room, and I wanted to share in it.
I've yet to really figure out what deep lesson, if any, God had in mind for me that day. What I did find, though, was an opportunity to reach out and touch a stranger's life.
During my 2 hour infusion there was a man who would come down the hallway into the room every now and then to talk on his phone. His mother was in the hospital for a heart condition, and it didn't sound like she was doing very well. At best she'd no longer be able to live on her own, but have to move into a nursing home.
After one of his phone calls, this man and I started talking; it turns out he'd been a financial advisor to my aunt's mother years ago while she was still living on her own, so he'd known part of that side of my family. It's a small world.
As I was packing up to leave a short while later, I felt a nudge–I knew God was calling me to do something. After leaving the hospital, I returned not more than half an hour later with a 'praying for you' card for the man and his family, and had one of the nurses deliver it down to him. And this got me thinking: why not do a couple more random acts of kindness in the coming days?
Inspired by Terry Esau's 30-day "Surprise Me, God" experiment, which I tried out last March, I decided to undertake my own little faith experiment: waking up each morning and asking God for the opportunity to bless someone's life with a random act of kindness, something out of my way, above and beyond what I would normally do. Originally I was going to do a year's worth... I quickly realized a shorter period of time would be more realistic.
Thus was born my 7 Days of Kindness. Each day I woke up, said the prayer, and, in an effort to bring just a little more good into the world, tried to go out of my way to do something nice each day. It's been a fun ride, and what's been most astonishing is how faithfully God provided me the opportunities I sought, almost always multiple times in a given day. After my first couple ideas ran out though, I actually had to rely on God, and He came through, usually via email... No, God didn't email me Himself (what would His email address be? Maybe IAm@God.net?), but I did get several emails in the past week about people who were facing difficult challenges in their lives. Through these unexpected stories, God gave me the opportunity not only to pray for them, but also to send them cards, letting them know someone cares. One of the people I've never even officially met.
Similar to the journal I kept of God's surprises last year, I also kept a list this time around of everything I did, not as something to admire in itself, but as a testament to just how many opportunities we're given each day to make someone else's life just a little bit brighter.
A week ago I was sitting in a small patient/family waiting room in the Northfield hospital, getting my bimonthly intravenous infusion of Remicaid (treatment for Crohn's disease). In the same waiting room sat several other patients, also there for treatment of an incurable disease: cancer. As I listened to their conversations and stories, I thought to myself that there must be some amazing, deep insight I could gain from it. Each of these individuals had an entire lifetime's worth of experiences more than I, and on top of that they were all battling something I can scarcely imagine having to face. There was so much life-knowledge in that room, and I wanted to share in it.
I've yet to really figure out what deep lesson, if any, God had in mind for me that day. What I did find, though, was an opportunity to reach out and touch a stranger's life.
During my 2 hour infusion there was a man who would come down the hallway into the room every now and then to talk on his phone. His mother was in the hospital for a heart condition, and it didn't sound like she was doing very well. At best she'd no longer be able to live on her own, but have to move into a nursing home.
After one of his phone calls, this man and I started talking; it turns out he'd been a financial advisor to my aunt's mother years ago while she was still living on her own, so he'd known part of that side of my family. It's a small world.
As I was packing up to leave a short while later, I felt a nudge–I knew God was calling me to do something. After leaving the hospital, I returned not more than half an hour later with a 'praying for you' card for the man and his family, and had one of the nurses deliver it down to him. And this got me thinking: why not do a couple more random acts of kindness in the coming days?
Inspired by Terry Esau's 30-day "Surprise Me, God" experiment, which I tried out last March, I decided to undertake my own little faith experiment: waking up each morning and asking God for the opportunity to bless someone's life with a random act of kindness, something out of my way, above and beyond what I would normally do. Originally I was going to do a year's worth... I quickly realized a shorter period of time would be more realistic.
Thus was born my 7 Days of Kindness. Each day I woke up, said the prayer, and, in an effort to bring just a little more good into the world, tried to go out of my way to do something nice each day. It's been a fun ride, and what's been most astonishing is how faithfully God provided me the opportunities I sought, almost always multiple times in a given day. After my first couple ideas ran out though, I actually had to rely on God, and He came through, usually via email... No, God didn't email me Himself (what would His email address be? Maybe IAm@God.net?), but I did get several emails in the past week about people who were facing difficult challenges in their lives. Through these unexpected stories, God gave me the opportunity not only to pray for them, but also to send them cards, letting them know someone cares. One of the people I've never even officially met.
Similar to the journal I kept of God's surprises last year, I also kept a list this time around of everything I did, not as something to admire in itself, but as a testament to just how many opportunities we're given each day to make someone else's life just a little bit brighter.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Still Here
It's been such a long time since I wrote anything here! Yikes!
First semester finals came and went, Christmas and New Years, too, now Interim has started, and most exciting, I have red hair! That's it for now, I'll write more later this month (in all my "free time").
First semester finals came and went, Christmas and New Years, too, now Interim has started, and most exciting, I have red hair! That's it for now, I'll write more later this month (in all my "free time").
Monday, November 19, 2007
Walking Slowly
Maybe it's because I'm sooo not in a hurry to get to class, maybe it's because I'm feeling lazy, but for whatever the reason, I've noticed of late that I've been walking rather slowly... meandering, if you will, around campus, rather than my normal hustle and bustle, speedy race to and from classes. I'm finally learning to take my time, to let other people pass me, and to just be patient as I admire the campus, the wildlife (ie, squirrels), the construction, the sky, everything around me. It's so weird for me to not be in a hurry, but I'm finding it quite relaxing.
Monday, November 05, 2007
My Night with Public Safety
Last Friday I had an amazing experience: I got to ride along with one of St Olaf's Public Safety officers for a couple hours!
Most people I've told that to look at me strangely and question my sanity. A few have seen it from my perspective, as something that was actually really fun, and at the same time also educational.
How did this come about, you might wonder? A week and a half ago, while I was working SafeRide, I was sitting in Fireside and a Public Safety officer came through to lock up. I explained I was still on duty, and we talked for a while, me asking questions about what his job is like, etc. I also asked if they ever let students ride with–I have no good or legitimate reason to do so other than pure interest in the experience, but I thought, hey, why not at least ask? Turns out that they do on occasion let students tag along! And even better, this friendly officer said he'd be willing to let me come with some time, I just needed to arrange it with Fred Behr, the director of Public Safety.
So last week I went in to talk with Fred, expecting that I'd need to come up with some really good official reason for wanting to ride along. As it turns out, I'd no sooner stepped into his office after Donna [Hunter, the "Parking Office lady" whom I go in to chat with every now and then] introduced me before he simply asked "when do you want to do it?" No hard questions, no complicated reason needed (though I'm sure it helped that I'd been introduced as one of their SafeDrivers), just the question of when and with who.
And thus, I got to ride with Officer Murphy last Friday, help lock up Buntrock, Dittman, and Speech-Theatre, tag along as he responded to a call in Ytterboe which I'm not sure I'm allowed to discuss, and ride around the campus in the jeep, in the process learning a lot more about what their department does to keep us safe, as well as how to focus on being more alert about my surroundings and such. To the average St Olaf student it may sound quite mundane, but in all seriousness I have to say that was one of the most fun nights I've had in a long time!
Most people I've told that to look at me strangely and question my sanity. A few have seen it from my perspective, as something that was actually really fun, and at the same time also educational.
How did this come about, you might wonder? A week and a half ago, while I was working SafeRide, I was sitting in Fireside and a Public Safety officer came through to lock up. I explained I was still on duty, and we talked for a while, me asking questions about what his job is like, etc. I also asked if they ever let students ride with–I have no good or legitimate reason to do so other than pure interest in the experience, but I thought, hey, why not at least ask? Turns out that they do on occasion let students tag along! And even better, this friendly officer said he'd be willing to let me come with some time, I just needed to arrange it with Fred Behr, the director of Public Safety.
So last week I went in to talk with Fred, expecting that I'd need to come up with some really good official reason for wanting to ride along. As it turns out, I'd no sooner stepped into his office after Donna [Hunter, the "Parking Office lady" whom I go in to chat with every now and then] introduced me before he simply asked "when do you want to do it?" No hard questions, no complicated reason needed (though I'm sure it helped that I'd been introduced as one of their SafeDrivers), just the question of when and with who.
And thus, I got to ride with Officer Murphy last Friday, help lock up Buntrock, Dittman, and Speech-Theatre, tag along as he responded to a call in Ytterboe which I'm not sure I'm allowed to discuss, and ride around the campus in the jeep, in the process learning a lot more about what their department does to keep us safe, as well as how to focus on being more alert about my surroundings and such. To the average St Olaf student it may sound quite mundane, but in all seriousness I have to say that was one of the most fun nights I've had in a long time!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Katherine
It may seem morbid to some, but I made a decision a couple years ago to keep track of death dates of people I've known. In fact, I consider this to be one of my most solemn "duties", if you will, putting one into my computer's calendar, recording the person's name, year of death, and setting the event to repeat itself in the calendar every year so that I never forget.
Two and a half years ago I did this for my friend Andrew. We probably hadn't talked since our trips to Europe as part of the People To People Student Ambassador program a couple years previous, but his death still hit me hard–he was only two or three years older than me.
Tonight, I placed a new name forever in my calendar. She was killed this past week, not of old age, not from an accident, not a heart attack or anything; she was murdered.
I don't have any words, really, so I'm just going to ramble.
Katherine was a junior when I started at St Olaf as a freshman, and she was one of the four actors in 'Perpetua', the first (and only) play I worked on in the theatre department. She was always a fun person to be around, every memory I have of her she had a smile on her face. She was one of the only upperclassmen I knew my first year, and she helped welcome me into the St Olaf community, not in some cheesy "welcome to St Olaf" way, but by actually stopping to say "hi" to me when we'd cross paths between classes or wherever. She never stopped doing that, even after Perpetua had finished. We weren't ever 'bestest buds' or anything, but I definitely consider KO to have been a friend.
I tracked it down: the last time I saw Katherine was on March 10th, 2007 (Day 11 of my "Surprise Me" experiment).
-----
The night I first found out about Andrew's death, one of my friends told me something I found unsettling at the time, but have since learned to be pretty much a true assessment of life: she said "you're entering a time in your life filled with weddings and funerals". That hadn't really been the case for me before, but since that time I've lost count of the funerals I've been to or (considered going to, but couldn't make it), and this summer alone I went to four weddings. Weddings I can handle–those are happy–funerals I wasn't prepared to deal with. I guess I'm still not.
When someone dies of old age, or even just at an old age (from cancer or disease), that I can deal with, I can accept that, especially when you can see it coming and sort of brace yourself for the inevitable. When someone dies in their old age, the funeral is still a time of sadness, but it's also a time of celebration of a life full of years, and the incredible impact those years have had on friends and family. It's sad, but it's happy, too.
When someone is cut down in the midst of their life, that makes me angry and sad and so many emotions that I can't make sense of. Katherine was 24, just two years older than me. How do we even begin to deal with that? I'm the one who likes studying theodicy, right? The conclusions I've drawn from that study yield me no comfort. When I go to this funeral, there may be a celebration of 24 amazing years of an amazing person's life, but for me those emotions will be outweighed by the need to mourn such a premature, pointless, unnecessary death.
Someone reminded me earlier tonight that "Christians never see each other for the last time". My current theological struggles aside, I'll take that as true. That does nothing to address the issue that there is no good reason that I, in any earthly knowledge, can see for Katherine's murder. There is no good reason she should have died so early in her life. This, for me, will be a funeral of sadness.
It's a bitter reminder of how unfair life is, how unpredictable, and how scary. It scares me to think that I might wake up tomorrow, like Katherine did one day last week, and be killed, just like that, out of the blue. I'm not going to stop living my life and hide in fear, but I need to be honest, I'm still scared.
Katherine and Andrew, both, have reminded me how precious every day is. You are both missed, my long lost friends~
Two and a half years ago I did this for my friend Andrew. We probably hadn't talked since our trips to Europe as part of the People To People Student Ambassador program a couple years previous, but his death still hit me hard–he was only two or three years older than me.
Tonight, I placed a new name forever in my calendar. She was killed this past week, not of old age, not from an accident, not a heart attack or anything; she was murdered.
I don't have any words, really, so I'm just going to ramble.
Katherine was a junior when I started at St Olaf as a freshman, and she was one of the four actors in 'Perpetua', the first (and only) play I worked on in the theatre department. She was always a fun person to be around, every memory I have of her she had a smile on her face. She was one of the only upperclassmen I knew my first year, and she helped welcome me into the St Olaf community, not in some cheesy "welcome to St Olaf" way, but by actually stopping to say "hi" to me when we'd cross paths between classes or wherever. She never stopped doing that, even after Perpetua had finished. We weren't ever 'bestest buds' or anything, but I definitely consider KO to have been a friend.
I tracked it down: the last time I saw Katherine was on March 10th, 2007 (Day 11 of my "Surprise Me" experiment).
-----
The night I first found out about Andrew's death, one of my friends told me something I found unsettling at the time, but have since learned to be pretty much a true assessment of life: she said "you're entering a time in your life filled with weddings and funerals". That hadn't really been the case for me before, but since that time I've lost count of the funerals I've been to or (considered going to, but couldn't make it), and this summer alone I went to four weddings. Weddings I can handle–those are happy–funerals I wasn't prepared to deal with. I guess I'm still not.
When someone dies of old age, or even just at an old age (from cancer or disease), that I can deal with, I can accept that, especially when you can see it coming and sort of brace yourself for the inevitable. When someone dies in their old age, the funeral is still a time of sadness, but it's also a time of celebration of a life full of years, and the incredible impact those years have had on friends and family. It's sad, but it's happy, too.
When someone is cut down in the midst of their life, that makes me angry and sad and so many emotions that I can't make sense of. Katherine was 24, just two years older than me. How do we even begin to deal with that? I'm the one who likes studying theodicy, right? The conclusions I've drawn from that study yield me no comfort. When I go to this funeral, there may be a celebration of 24 amazing years of an amazing person's life, but for me those emotions will be outweighed by the need to mourn such a premature, pointless, unnecessary death.
Someone reminded me earlier tonight that "Christians never see each other for the last time". My current theological struggles aside, I'll take that as true. That does nothing to address the issue that there is no good reason that I, in any earthly knowledge, can see for Katherine's murder. There is no good reason she should have died so early in her life. This, for me, will be a funeral of sadness.
It's a bitter reminder of how unfair life is, how unpredictable, and how scary. It scares me to think that I might wake up tomorrow, like Katherine did one day last week, and be killed, just like that, out of the blue. I'm not going to stop living my life and hide in fear, but I need to be honest, I'm still scared.
Katherine and Andrew, both, have reminded me how precious every day is. You are both missed, my long lost friends~
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)