Barcelona

The morning we traveled to Barcelona we got up at 4:30 in the morning, and from there it was a very long day. We got on our first train in Bordeaux, which took us to Narbonne. Then we waited for two and a half hours and got on our second train to Figueras. We were now in Spain! Then we waited for over four hours for our third and final train to Barcelona. We spent more time waiting in train stations than we did on actual trains that day. Once we got to the train station we figured out where we needed to go and caught a taxi to our hostel. It was good to finally set our things down and have a bed. We spent the rest of that day settling in and resting. We went to the grocery store and got some food. And then that night we went boarding. My favorite part of Barcelona was boarding everyday. That night we realized just how hot and humid Barcelona was. In Barcelona the local preferred language is not Spanish, but Catalan. We found that most people speak Spanish, but they prefer Catalan.

That next day we decided to explore some of the parts in Barcelona that we saw the previous night, and then some. Austin and I grabbed our boards and headed for the beach! We skated around for quite a while and eventually made it to the beach. The beach was very crowded. We looked for a less crowded part of the beach and eventually spotted one in the distance, so we headed that way. When we got there we realized why there weren’t as many people. This section of the beach had a large group of completely nude people. Most of them were between the age of 50 and 80. Most of them were also male. Needless to say we moved on from that area quickly. We moved down the beach and set up shop in one of the more crowded sections. We quickly realized that a certain amount of nudity couldn’t be escaped on the beach in Barcelona. So after chilling on the beach for a while we took our boards and continued our adventure. We skated around the waterfront and the city for a while longer. Eventually we made it back down to the beach for another go at the waterfront. This time Austin actually got in the water, but we didn’t stick around for a long time. At this point in the trip Austin and I were both pretty much ready to come home. We still very much enjoyed Barcelona, but there were little things that pointed towards us wanting to return to America; like the fact that we had Burger King for lunch. We had a late lunch and came back to the hostel to rest a little bit before dinner. Every night we had pasta for dinner. Dinner was nice and slow every night. It was a time to relax. Then after dinner we went out for our nightly ride.

The next day we grabbed our boards and headed inland, away from the beach. We decided to be touristy and check out some architecture. We went to several Gaudi buildings. First we hit up La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s famous unfinished work. Complete with cranes in middle of the structure. Yet another building that I have seen countless pictures of, and got to see it in real life! It reminds me of the hive-like structures in “Pitch Black.” Very impressive, and very different. From there we went up to Park Guell. It looked like something straight out of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. My theory is that every time Gaudi sat down at his drawing table, he first took an unhealthy dose of hallucinogenic stimulant. From there we also visited Batlló House and La Pedrera. Both as uniquely interesting as I would have hoped, but could not have imagined. With that we called it a day for the Gaudi tourism. We went and got some lunch at McDonald’s. Like I said, we were both ready to come home. We went back to the hostel and I rested as Austin went out to skate. I wrote a blog post and worked on some music playlists. It was a very relaxing afternoon, and one that was well needed. Austin got back and then we made dinner. That night we went out to board and I filmed Austin. It was interesting trying to keep up with him and keep the video from being too shaky at the same time. By the time we got back and showered it was pretty late.

That next day instead of skating around to different places, we decided to rent bikes. We walked down to the beachfront, which took considerably longer, and rented our bikes. We then headed up a mountain to check out Montejuïc Castle. The ride up there was a lot longer than we expected it would be, and the ride down was quite a bit shorter than we thought it would be. The castle was quite impressive. It was a military installation; there were never any royalty that had lived there. The castle overlooked the Mediterranean Sea, which was extremely calm. It was quite the view. The castle was fairly simple, but that did not detract from the experience. There were a couple of large canons and several newer large coast defense guns. When we were done adventuring the castle we both had a hot dog and I had some ice cream. I’m pretty sure I had ice cream three times that day… it was a good day. That night after dinner we skated around the beachfront like normal.

The next day we walked down to Las Ramblas, which was an area with shops that we hadn’t been to yet. It turned out to be one of the most touristy places we visited. There wasn’t a lot to do other than walk around, but we made the most of it. We found a small shop that even sold Cannabis seeds. Don’t worry mom, we didn’t buy any. We had another lunch of McDonald’s to keep up our theme of looking forward to America. We spent several hours just sitting and talking. We had some good conversations. It was nice to take it easy and get to talk. We’ve been going so much that an easy day is exactly what we needed. That night we went out to skate and ended up watching some other guys skate for an hour or so. It was an easy, relaxing day. It was a nice last day in Barcelona.

The next day we took our time heading to the airport since our flight didn’t leave until a little after 2pm. We got back in to London and even England felt more like home than Spain. It makes sense because we spent a month there, but it was a strange feeling. England was still fairly new, but even the little bit of familiarity that we had with it was comforting. That night we stayed at the same youth pastor’s house that we did before flying to France. It was good to stay up and talk with him and his wife. Then after a few hours of sleep I woke up, walked to the train station, took a train to the airport, and spent the rest of the day on planes trying to get home. I eventually made it and have been resting here in the heat of AZ. It was a very good trip, but I am so very glad to be back in the States. Oh, and if you want to see photos, check out my facebook. That is all.

Bordeaux

In Bordeaux we stayed with the family of Maxence, the girl from Paris. Like I said previously, Austin’s family and this family have a lot of history together. There are several family members that weren’t there but the ones I did meet were Lorrie, the mother, Fred, the father, Victoria and Theo, who were two parts of a triplet. Austin and I were met at the train station by Lorrie and Fred and were taken back to their house. They live just outside of Bordeaux in a town called Cestas. The house is nice and has a garden surrounding it. Or maybe that was normal, but growing up in Arizona it made me think it was a garden. It may have just been normal foliage. From the moment we arrived we were treated like family. It was so nice to have a place to relax. That day we rested for a bit and then went into Bordeaux. We spent the day looking at different architecture, walking up the riverfront, and having ice cream. That day we experienced the first of many home-cooked meals. Most of them were pretty tasty. Some of them were kind of weird. We didn’t do a whole lot that first day because we hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep and were pretty tired. Each day Lorrie took us somewhere new to show us a part of France, which was a lot of fun.

The next day we went to the beach! We went to Arcachon. We wandered around the town for a little bit and then hiked up a sand dune. It’s apparently the largest sand dune in Europe? Or maybe France? One of the two. It was pretty big. Once at the top you could see the ocean on one side and a massive forest on the other. Which I do remember is the largest planted forest in Europe. After we hiked back down the dune we sat down for lunch. I decided my new favorite fruit is the nectarine. They’re so good! We headed back to the main part of town and got on a boat tour that took us around the bay. It was a little over three hours of a boat ride, and I spent all of it outside. It made me miss the lake. Victoria’s dad has a boat and I used to go with them a lot to the lake. I want to wake board so badly! So being outside all day got me dark; fast. But only where my tank top wasn’t covering. I got a little burnt, but mostly just dark. That night when we got back Fred joined the three of us for dinner. People eat dinner a lot later in France, usually around eight. We stayed up for a while after dinner talking with the two of them, a German even came out to talk with us. Fred and Lorrie were also housing a couple of German students for a week. The day was tiring but oh so fun!

The next morning we woke up late and took it easy for the morning. In the afternoon we went to the vineyards. We pulled up to the “castle” which was basically a cool looking house. And we started the tour. It started with the chapel. One of the previous owners had built a small chapel behind the house in remembrance of her husband that had died. After that we went to where the vines and the winery were. Seeing the vines was cool, but seeing the winery was even more exciting. There was a lady with us the whole time explaining the wine making process and answering our questions. It was very casual and personal and I really enjoyed it. The coolest room was where the barrels of wine were; literally, it was air-conditioned. We didn’t try any of the wine because neither Austin nor I like wine, but he did buy a bottle for his grandpa. The rest of the day we just lounged around the house. Austin napped and I worked on editing a bunch of photos because I haven’t put up any photos from the entire trip yet. I’m working on it.

The next day we went to the beach again, but a different one. The first day we were on the bay side, this day we were on the Atlantic side. The beach was so much fun. It made me miss California. It was a toasty day, so the water felt really good. The water was a tiny bit chilly but it felt great compared to the heat from the sun. One difference about the French beach and beaches in the states are the cement bunkers all over. When the Nazis occupied France they built what was called the Atlantic Wall. It was a series of fortifications on the beaches in France meant to defend against a coastal invasion. There were half sand-covered structures strewn all over the beach and in the water. Over time they have worn away and moved out further to sea. It was interesting to see history lying right before me. It was a very fun and interesting day indeed. That night we had Foie Gras and Duck. I’m definitely going to try my hand at making Duck when I get back to the states. That night Austin and I washed a load of clothes but by the time they were clean the sun had gone down already, so we had to dry them off with a blow dryer. Then we went to bed because we had to get up at four thirty the next morning to make our first train.

One of the great things about Bordeaux is that Lorrie spoke fluent English. This removed the language barrier, for the most part, that had been so frustrating up until this point. It also meant that it was easier for us to practice our French. She helped us with our pronunciation quite a bit. Another thing that was very nice about Bordeaux is that we were there for four nights. Which means we didn’t have to pack all of our things around, we could just leave them at the house. It was nice to be in a home as well. There was a family there and it was very relaxing. Lorrie also planned pretty much everything that we did, which took a big stress off of Austin and I. We did a lot but it was a very relaxing and refreshing time. Bordeaux was one of my favorite places thus far.

Paris

When Austin and I left Fontainebleau we went to Paris. We got to our hotel on July 4. Happy Independence Day! It’s all right to be here because the French helped us out against the British, it’s all good. The hotel room was very small. There was barely enough room for the bed. There was also only one power outlet in the room. Other than the size it was a nice place. It wasn’t spectacular but it was definitely all right for a couple of college guys on a budget. We spent a little bit of time in the room settling in, but not too much, cause we were in Paris. We headed out to dinner and stopped at an Italian place. And I’m pretty sure we were the only ones in there that spoke English. We played a really fun game with the waiter called “point at what you want on the menu.” I just got a pizza because I knew what that was. It wasn’t a bad time; it was just our first eating-out experience with the language barrier. We went to the market after that and got some bread and chocolate to eat later. It was a fairly uneventful first night.

The next day we decided to be proper tourists. We got a fairly late start, hopped on the metro (the subway) and headed downtown. Our first stop was The Louvre. It was very exciting being there, but not as exciting as I thought it would. We saw quite a lot of Egyptian antiquities and some Greek and Roman antiquities also. I liked those two sections best out of all that we saw. We also checked out some paintings, including the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa was the smallest painting in the room; it was also the most viewed painting in the room. I recognized fewer paintings at the Louvre than at any of the other museums I’ve visited in the past month. That part was sad but being there and seeing a lot of the historical pieces and sculptures was really cool. When we were walking through the Egyptian section I kept expecting a Goa’uld to pop out of one of the sarcophagi, but that didn’t happen. Our second big stop was the Eiffel Tower. We had planned on seeing it at night but I wanted to see it during the day as well. It was absolutely packed out with people. The lines to go up in the thing were ridiculously long. It was fine for us cause we hadn’t planned on going up yet. We sat on the lawn by the tower for quite a while, resting and looking at it. We were also still tired from traveling so the rest was good. I went and got some ice cream. The ice cream over here is more like gelato than ice cream. It’s soooooo good! It was a warm day so it made the ice cream even better. France has been very warm thus far, which wouldn’t be bad except that none of the buildings have air conditioning, but it’s really not that bad. I have definitely experienced more intense heat than I’ve experienced here. After the Eiffel Tower we went to see the Arc De Triomphe. It was exceptionally cool to see that. The first full day in Paris was a success!

The next day I woke up a little earlier and headed off to have a quiet breakfast alone. I had wanted to have some time to myself for the past month and had never really gotten it, so I decided it was time. I found a nice little café on the street and decided to eat my breakfast there. After getting help from two other customers I finally ordered my food. I sat down in front of the café and waited for my food. The great thing about café’s in Europe are that there are usually tables set up out in front of the restaurant. I loved sitting out there for breakfast. I ate my croissant first, which was impeccably delicious. I also had a large glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee. I sat there for about an hour just watching people walk by and listening to the conversations around me. I could not understand what people were saying, but that did not detract from the experience at all. In fact, in a way, it added to the experience. After breakfast Austin and I had to check out of our hotel room because we only booked two nights. For our last two nights we stayed with Austin’s friend Maxence. Since we checked out of the hotel we had our packs with us all day. They were heavy indeed. We spent most of the day at Montmartre. It is a cathedral that is on a hill that overlooks the city of Paris. It was another hot day and we spent several hours sitting on a bench in the shade. This doesn’t really sound like a very exciting time, but we enjoyed watching the locals. We sat by a large fountain, most of the visitors made it into a pool. The security guards came by several times and made everyone get out of the fountain. We also saw a group get kicked off the premises for trying to smoke weed. And we saw a guy running away from the security guards. Austin and I were walking up some stairs and this guy ran past us very fast, about ten seconds later five security guards ran past us after him. It was an eventful afternoon to say the least. After that we headed to Maxence’s apartment, Austin’s friend. When Maxence’s mother was young she stayed with Austin’s grandparents in the U.S. on a foreign exchange program. When Maxence was younger she also stayed with Austin’s grandparents for a time. So Austin’s family has multiple ties with Maxence’s family. That night we stayed up and talked with Maxence and her two roommates. We talked and exchanged stories and tried to figure out the correct pronunciations for words. Austin and I learned that a lot of French words sound the same to us; I have been learning that the ear is as important as the tongue when it comes to languages.

On our last day in Paris we decided to visit the art district. I can’t remember the name of the area we went to, sorry, but I can tell you there were a lot of gay people there. When I commented on this to Austin, his explanation was, “it’s the art district.” Not really sure how I feel about that, anyways. It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of cool buildings around there. The streets were also very cool. There were a lot of small shops around that were fun to look through, we even looked through a pet store for Austin, and it had some unusual pet clothing. That night we went back to the apartment for dinner. Maxence made crepes. First we had salted crepes, they weren’t actually salted, they just had ham and caramelized onions and cheese and cream. Apparently crepes aren’t just for dessert; who would have guessed? We had crepes for the main course and then crepes for dessert. My first dessert crepe had honey and my second had melted chocolate. The crepes were delicious. That night we headed back into town to go up in the Eiffel Tower at night. The lines were a lot shorter at night, and it also helped that we didn’t get tickets for the elevator, we got tickets for the stairs. We only went up to the second floor. There are two floors and then the top at the tower. We were a little crunched on time so we ran up the stairs. We got some photos and chilled for a little bit, then I headed back down because I wanted to get a picture of the tower sparkling. The lights come on and sparkle for about five minutes every hour starting at eleven at night. On my way running down the stairs I could see the lights come on and I could hear the crowd cheering and clapping. I ran down the rest of the stairs and ran out to the large lawn to try and get a photo before the lights shut off. I got two photos in before they turned off. Not as much time as I wanted but I’m glad I got down in time to catch it. I’m just sad I didn’t get any video. It was absolutely wonderful! I honestly didn’t get the whole; France is the city of lovers, until I saw the sparkling Eiffel Tower at night. It was a Disney-esque romantic moment indeed. I don’t really have a wish for a “significant other” in my life right now, but at that moment it would have been nice. It was quite the moment indeed. Also, I got more ice cream.

After the Eiffel Tower we hurried back to the apartment, avoided getting mugged, and got to bed. Everyone else was already asleep, so there were no French lessons that night. We got three hours of sleep, then made all three of our trains and were on our way to Bordeaux the next morning.

Fontainebleau: Chalk and Sand

Getting to Fontainebleau was an adventure in itself. Austin and I quickly discovered how nice it would have been to learn French before coming to France. At the airport we got on a train, which took us to the center of Paris. Then we eventually figured out what train we had to take to get to Fontainebleau, actually it was kind of a guess, we didn’t 100% know until we reached our destination that it was the right train. We missed that train once and almost got back on the metro to take us into other parts of Paris by accident. But we figured it out eventually. Once we got to the station in Fontainebleau we couldn’t find a taxi. We walked around for a couple hours and couldn’t find a single taxi that we could get to stop. This was frustrating seeing as how there was a sign that said, “taxi” pointing to the direction we went. Eventually I found someone that spoke English and she directed us behind the train station where the taxi area was. We called a taxi and twenty minutes later we were on our way to where we were staying. After an interestingly scary taxi ride we arrived at the Bed and Breakfast. It was a nice place, out of the way. It was on the edge of the small town where we were staying, about a forty-minute walk from the climbing area. First thing we did was find the market and buy some food. The baguettes were only €0.76! Later that day we headed out to go climbing. After three hours of walking around in the woods and not being able to find anything, we decided to call it a day. We had a grand total of two hours of sleep the night before so going to bed early was a welcomed blessing.

The next day we woke up to a wonderful breakfast. A croissant, orange juice, toast and jam, cereal, fruit, and great company. Breakfast everyday consisted of Austin and I, Stef, the owner of the establishment, and an old British couple there on holiday. Breakfast was one of my favorite parts of the stay because we would all share stories and talk together. Jack, the old British man, was quite hilarious. We learned about all things Europe from our friends at breakfast. After breakfast we went out to climb. We eventually found the climbing area we were looking for called Le’ Elephant. The first big boulder of the climbing area looks like a big elephant head, so the name is fitting. We were out at the climbing area for eight hours that day. There was a nap thrown in the mix so we weren’t climbing non-stop. It took a while to get used to the rock. It is sandstone so it feels different than the rock we are used to climbing. Because there is sandstone everywhere, there is also sand everywhere. It was interesting to see white sand in the middle of a forest. It added a couple interesting elements to the climbing as well. We only topped out (completed) a few routes that day and it was a bit of a tough day. The temperature picked up and it even got a little warm during mid day. Eventually we headed back to the Gite (name of the B&B). We had a humble dinner of baguettes and pasta, without sauce. We spent the night relaxing and watching videos preparing for the following day.

We woke up the next day to find rain. Breakfast was good as always, but the rain put a damper on our day. When sandstone gets wet, it gets slippery, and if it’s slippery we can’t climb it. We walked to the market again and got some more bread and other food, and continued to watch the weather. Around five in the afternoon we decided to go out to the rock and try to get some climbing in. It turned out to be a great day. We started cranking out routes like nobody’s business. They weren’t necessarily easy routes either; we were just feeling good. Austin and I both ended the day with a project route for the following morning, meaning that we both had one that we really wanted to get, but weren’t able to finish. We only climbed for several hours that day, but we left content because it was such a good day of climbing.

Our last day, which was this morning, we woke up at 6am to get some climbing in before we had to leave. We got out there and I started on my project route. It took me a half hour but I eventually stuck the hold that I had to in order to finish the route. We went on to Austin’s project and he finished it first try. We then went on to a route we had tried the first day of climbing and Austin finished that one first try as well. After some more climbing we headed back for breakfast. We said goodbye to the British couple, showered, packed, and eventually Stef took us to the train station. First leg of the trip has been a roaring success. It went very quickly, but it was wonderful. And now I am sitting in a hotel room in Paris. More adventures to come!

Day 29: Packing

Today we cleaned. Then we packed. Then we cleaned some more. We spent the whole day getting ready to go. Everyone else was packing to go home. I was packing to travel some more. I was a little jealous of everyone that gets to go home, but at the same time, not at all. I’m excited to get the next adventure started. Austin and I haven’t seen a whole lot of each other on this trip, which I think will turn out to be a good thing. It means I’m not tired of him yet, nor him of me.

We went into London to see a movie tonight since we had a little bit of free time. I saw World War Z. Soundtrack, incredible. Movie itself, pretty good. It would have been better if I hadn’t been so stressed out the whole time; it’s an intense movie. It was a long day, but the last one. Tomorrow morning all of the art students are leaving at 5:45 to get to the airport. The youth ministry students leave at 8. Austin and I haven’t decided when we’re going to leave yet. We are fairly certain we’re going to church in town. We like to keep our options open.

It has been a long trip. It was good at times. It was bad at times. It was amazing at times. It was stressful at times. Overall it was a fabulous experience. I’m so glad that I’ve had the opportunity to come over here and work with YWAM. Now, onward to more adventure!

Day 28: Home Stretch

Today went by fast. We got up and learned that there was still some work that needed to be done. But not everyone had work to do, so some of us watched videos while others finished up the work. Me and the other guys on the team cleaned up the building we have been staying in after lunch. The youth ministry students have been doing most of the cleaning since we’ve been so busy. So I’m sure they enjoyed a break from cleaning. Snaking the drains in the showers was my least favorite part. I’m pretty sure I was cleaning the women’s bathroom, cause there was a lot of hair. After that we hopped on a train into London. Max wanted to find fake Ray Bans so we went to the market. Everything was starting to close down by the time we got there, so we were able to get dinner for cheap. We got our fake sunglasses and wandered around for a little before heading back to campus. When we got back we discovered our room ransacked. Some of the girls apparently thought it would be funny to make a mess of our room. Needless to say, we didn’t find it quite as jocular as they did. After some searching and straightening up everything got put back in place. We only have a few days left here before we head out. This month has gone by crazy fast. I’ve learned so much and can see some of the things I have learned very clearly, some I hope I will see later down the road. I’m just ready to get to traveling with Austin at this point. Especially since the work is all done. I’m getting antsy.

Day 27: Oxford

So today we went to Oxford, and it was incredible. We went to The Eagle and Child, the place where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien would meet and talk about what they were writing. It was so cool to be in that place. Right when we walked in there was a quote dialog between Merry and Pippin. The burger that I had was absolutely amazing as well. It was massive and mouthwateringly tasty (yep, it’s a word).

After lunch we met up with a guy studying at Oxford right now. One of the guys in the group knows him from back home. He took us around and showed us the different libraries and colleges. I have officially studied theology and Oxford. I read part of a theology book in one of the libraries. We saw an exhibit of original notes and illustrations by C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. That was pretty cool. After talking with this guy for a while I found out that his tutors for class include Ravi Zacharias and John Lennox. That was really cool to hear. Oxford is just a really cool place.

Next we went to a restaurant and had High Tea Time. It’s basically tea time but more fancy. It was really cool. The tea was good and we each had some tiny little sandwiches and cakes. It was very British. It was a wonderful day.

Day 26: Sleep!

The day started with sleeping in. It was wonderful! We are finally done! We had the day off. We had nothing planned and could do what ever we wanted. So I chose to sleep in. So much so that by the time I got up all of the hot water was gone, so I had to wait a while to shower. The day was very relaxing. I spent a good portion of it tossing around a disc with the guys. After doing absolutely nothing for most of the day, me and the other guys headed into St Albans for the evening. We walked around to different shops. We checked out some stores and even a thrift store. We got dinner in St Albans also. We came back to the YWAM campus full and content. We spent the night lounging around and doing different things. I had a good talk with some of the people from the group and there was also movie watching and card games happening.

The other exciting thing that happened is that Austin and I booked our tickets to Paris. We have a lot of planning to do still but we have our flight and our first three nights in France figured out. And today I bought some pants that’ll be great for climbing, so I’m pretty much all ready to go.

Day 25: We’re not done?

We spent the morning scrambling to get everything done for our presentation. Then we spent the afternoon scrambling to get things done to show the community tonight. And now we’re scrambling to get everything completely done so that we can have a free day tomorrow. We’re all operating on little sleep so this could get interesting. It’s down to a skeleton crew now. Finalizing and mocking up everything we’ve done so we can hand it over to the client. We all had an individual meeting with our profs today where they evaluated our performance over the last month. Everything is coming to a close here; at least work wise. We still have a couple days left that are going to be devoted to sightseeing. This time went by so fast. A lot has happened. A lot has been learned. Austin and I still need to finalize our plans for after the trip. Actually we need to finalize/plan everything. I’m excited, but haven’t really had time to plan since we’ve been so busy. Ok back to work. Peace!

Day 24: Crunch Time

Today when we got up we expected to have two days to finish up our final presentations. At 8:30am we were told we have 24 hours to be completely finished…with everything. Crap. So we have been working straight from then until now. That’s fifteen hours straight; with meal and bathroom breaks thrown in the mix. I still have at least a couple hours of work left before I can even think about going to bed. Everything has come together quite nicely. It has been such a long day but so much has gotten done. Everyone has been working hard all day and it’s cool to watch everything come together. Everyone was working on a small part and seeing it come together to the whole is a lot of fun. Today I edited all of the images for around the reception area and I also have done quite a bit of work on the App. All of the images are done; the app is still in the works. I designed some of the app and I’ve been working on making it interactive for most of the day. Jay, one of my housemates this upcoming year, is working on tweaking the pages and once he’s done he’ll give them to me so I can put them all together and make everything work. The interactivity isn’t super impressive. I’m just linking all the pages and making sure all of the buttons in the app work and do what they’re supposed to do.

One thing that has been so cool is the youth ministry students. There were a couple of them around today and they were nothing but encouraging. Every time we saw them today they would ask if we needed anything. They kept coming into our workspace and asking if we wanted tea or coffee. They even brought us some candy tonight. I am so glad that they came on this trip. I’ve been so blessed by them and have loved getting to know them, especially the guys. The second night we were here it felt like I’d known them for a lifetime. They are encouraging in everything they do. Even just listening to their stories of what God has been doing in them while they’ve been here has been a blessing.

Today was so mentally draining and stressful. There were several points where I was on the brink of going crazy. It was five-minute breaks of throwing a disc around that kept me sane. When I was younger my mom had me and my siblings memorize scripture. The passage that has stuck with me the most comes from James, the first chapter of James to be exact. “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” This passage has stuck with me through my entire life. Sometimes I really don’t like James. It’s a very good passage to think about though. I could use some extra patience for long days like today. It’s funny how God works. Right at the point when I was most frustrated that passage popped into my head. I just repeated, “count it all joy” over and over in my head. He definitely gave me an attitude check. Today has been pretty exciting. I’ve been able to see what an actual design firm is like the day before a proposal, pretty freaking crazy.

Well, I’m going to see if there’s anything else I can be getting done. I’ve taken enough of a break to write this. I think I’ll make myself some tea. I hope you all have a wonderful day and that God teaches you something today; cause it’s pretty cool when He does.

Day 23: Rest?

Today we went to a park in St. Albans in the morning where there were ruins of a Roman city. St. Albans is a city south of Harpenden that is quite a bit bigger than Harpenden. You could see where the towers and gate of the old Roman city were, and some of the wall was still up. It was crazy to think about the fact that the Romans were here, and that we still can see their ruins. The cool thing is that the Roman city was about the same size as present day St. Albans. One of our Profs gave a devotion under a couple big trees in the park. He talked about Paul and his missionary journeys. It was a nice little pep talk.

For lunch we ate at the oldest pub in England. It was called Ye Olde Fighting Cocks. I had lamb; it was delicious. We also checked out the nearby cathedral. After that we came back and started up on work. Me and a couple other people shot the carnival/fair that was happening on campus. It was put together for the community as an outreach effort. There was music, food, a bouncy castle, and even a dog show. Everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun. Today we got kicked out of the room we’ve been working in for the past three weeks. So we’ve set up shop in another room here on campus.

I’m ready for a break. We haven’t had a real rest for a while now. It seems like our days off have been as hectic as our workdays. And I haven’t had good alone time since I arrived here, which isn’t good for an introvert. Only a couple more days of crazy busyness and then we can take a break!

Day 22: Wales

Today we woke up early and took a three-hour bus ride to Cardiff, Wales. It was strange being in a place that didn’t speak English, and for that other language to not be Spanish. We went to a museum there that had quite a bit of interesting art. It had some modern art that made me question why we paid to see it, but there were also some good pieces, don’t worry. There were several paintings by Monet and several sculptures by Rodin. There were many other works by big important artists but those are the ones that stuck out to me the most. I know I’ve said it already, but I’m going to say it again. I love seeing art in person that I’ve studied in books. It’s incredible! To walk up to a work and be able to identify the artist, without ever having seen it in person, is crazy awesome.

After the museum we visited a real life castle. It was cool to see one in person. It wasn’t as cool as it could have been because it was in the middle of a city with modern buildings all around, but it was still a castle. So yeah, super cool! My buddies and I “stormed the Keep.” It was really cool to be in the castle and to imagine what it would have been like to live there. I probably would have shoveled a lot of horse poop; so basically my childhood. There were several tents of people dressed to the period. They were cooking, metalworking, playing instruments, and such things as that. We also watched a joust at the castle. If you have ever been to Knight Times, it reminded me a lot of that, except it was at a castle! The coolest part of the jousting was the fact that the castle Keep was in the background the whole time. It was a very cool experience.

I haven’t done this yet but I have a prayer request. My little sister left for Florida yesterday for a mission’s trip. She’ll be doing two weeks of boot camp there before heading to Madagascar for a month. So she could use your prayers; for safety, perseverance, and patience. Well Mom and Dad, two of your kids are off on mission’s trips in different parts of the world at the same time. High five! But seriously, pray.

Day 21: Sebastião Salgado

Today we worked in the morning and headed into London after lunch. In London we went to the natural history museum for a photography exhibit there. The photographer was Sebastião Salgado. The series that was being shown is named Genesis. The aim of the exhibit was for him to show the world in a primitive state, how it was before civilization. It was some of the most incredible photography I have ever seen. The landscapes, the nature, the animals, the isolated tribes, it was unbelievable. It was the best photography exhibit I think I have ever seen.

After that we all went on the London Eye as a group. We went right after sunset but before it was super dark. It was amazing seeing the city from that far up. Also, I’m apparently much better with heights than some of the people in the group. It was a long day but it went by very fast.

Day 20: Thai

Today the App team and I did a lot of work figuring out the front end of the app we’re making. We mostly figured out what it will look like and also the layout. We haven’t really starting designing it yet, we have started concepting for it though. We spent a large chunk of the day researching into iOS app creation. There are a lot of guidelines and specifications. It was really cool to look that stuff up and learn about it.

A few of us went to a Thai place for dinner tonight. I was reminded how I feel about Thai food, It’s pretty meh. It was a mentally exhausting and frustrating day. So I went long boarding to get away for a while. The roads aren’t the best where we are though, so I couldn’t even slide. Long boarding was a definite fail. Max got good video of me wiping out. On another note, Ferdinand, one of my fish back in Arkansas, has perished. He will be shortly remembered, for he was only a fish. He was a pretty cool looking fish though. As long as Reginald survives I’ll be good. It was a frustrating day, but thanks to Max helping me with something it ended on a very high note.

The trip is at a weird point right now. Everyone is getting tired of each other. There is some confusion as to what each person’s job is within the bigger project. People are tired and frustrated with the work we’ve been doing. One thing brought up today is that we aren’t doing what we thought we would be doing. We originally thought we’d be developing and designing a fund raising strategy for the campus, we definitely haven’t been doing that. I think alone time is key at this point. I just hope that others can find some alone time too.

Day 19: Getting Back To It

Today we got back to work. We were split up into groups for the morning. We were given assignments to go and get some photos around the compound. After lunch we were each assigned roles for the rest of our time here. I am on the App team; we will be designing the YWAM Harpenden App. I am also in charge of lighting for photo stuff and will be doing some comp photos of the space we’re designing.

After work today my buddy Max and I shot our other buddy Austin. We had him do some skateboard tricks and I set up a couple flashes while Max took some video. It was a lot of fun doing some personal work. All we’ve been shooting is nature and street photography. It felt great to do something with a little more of a commercial feel. After that we went up to dinner. After dinner we came back down and Austin and I did a little climbing on the tiny climbing wall they have here. It wasn’t anything spectacular but it felt good to at least climb a little. I’m going to try and make that more of a regular thing to get in some training before Fontainebleau, which is where Austin and I are going climbing after the trip.

It’s crazy to think there are only ten days left here in Harpenden. It has gone bye so fast, but also very slow. Things go slow as they are happening, but when I look back, it has gone by fast. I have been learning a lot while here. It is strange to look at how much I have learned through this experience already. I feel like I have even changed in this short time. Certain events have the power to change a person and I feel as though that has happened to me. But I’m still here experiencing this, so it is a strange feeling. I’m so thankful I am here and I am so thankful to everyone that helped get me here. The Lord is teaching me a lot, some of which I can’t believe. I never thought in a million years that He would teach me some of the things I’ve been learning. I can see the culmination of numerous smaller lessons into this grand one. And I love Him dearly for His lessons.

Day 15-18: Ireland

The first day we were in Ireland we were all super tired. We didn’t get to bed until one thirty AM and had to wake up at three thirty for our flight, so two hours of sleep. We spent the day trying to stay awake. We walked around and tried to stay awake. We rode the bus and tried to stay awake. Eventually we checked into our Hostel and fell asleep. After a few hours of naptime we got up and got dinner. After dinner we walked around Dublin and explored the city. It got fairly cold and starting misting/raining at night. We got back to the Hostel and took a much-needed rest. We were woken up a few times from our unknown roommates coming in around three thirty in the morning.

The second day we got a bit of a late start. After breakfast we hopped on a bus and went to Bray, a small coastal town south of Dublin. We explored the beach for a while and took pictures. We found a sweet little gelato place right on the beach and arrived at heaven. It was so amazing I couldn’t believe it. We wandered around the town for a while and eventually hopped on a train back to Dublin. From there we took a train to Belfast, Northern Ireland. The food is so cheap in Belfast; it’s wonderful! Dublin was expensive so it was nice to have a break for my wallet. The second Hostel was so much better than the first. It was slightly less clean but the people were much better and the hostel itself had much more character. Every one was very friendly and talkative. It’s great to meet people from different places, and with different accents.

The third day we went on what’s called a Black Taxi Tour. It was a tour around Belfast, specifically focused on the Catholic/Protestant conflict. The cab driver was driving his cab while the violence was at its height; it was cool to learn about everything from someone around during the conflict. He would pull over by murals and sites of significance and hop in the back with us to tell us all about what happened and what each mural meant. There is a giant wall separating the catholic and the protestant sides of the city. The wall was at least twenty-five feet high and extended for three miles. It’s crazy that things like this are still happening. Some say the violence will never end; it just takes about twenty year lulls. The people on each side of the wall aren’t even religious, most of them are atheist, but they’re still separated into protestant and catholic. We also tried to get to the G8 summit to shoot the protestors (with our cameras). But to even get there you had to sign up a month ago, and there were only four tents of protestors. Turns out the Irish riot police are well known for aiming at protestor’s heads with rubber bullets. It deters most of the anarchists and protestors from coming.

The last day was spent walking to bus stations and going to an art museum. The museum was called The Mac. All of the exhibits were photographic which was cool. We walked through the museum and then walked some more and then walked some more. We caught our flight back to the compound where I am now, typing all of this up. It was a good weekend. We met some really great people and we had a chance to get some rest. The Irish countryside is absolutely gorgeous. It was definitely a trip that I will never forget.

Day 14: Tourism

Today we presented our tweaked presentations to the client. We had a few hours left beforehand to fine-tune them. We changed a couple things and fixed a couple things in our presentation. Overall it was good. For lunch we had Domino’s pizza, kind of lame I know, but it actually tasted different from Domino’s at home. We headed out for the rest of the day to London. We all went together to a restaurant downtown. I had a meat pie, cause apparently that’s an English thing. We split up into smaller groups from there. My group went towards Parliament. We rode our first double decker bus. We also saw Big Ben, now called Elizabeth Tower. We saw the London Eye in the distance as well. It was good to do touristy things. Now we’re back at the compound getting ready for our free weekend. We get about four days off to travel around. The three other art guys and I are going to Ireland for the break. We’re hitting up Dublin for a night and then taking a train to Belfast for two nights. After we get back from that we’re going to work our butts off. I might not update for a few days since I don’t know what my internet access will look like, or if I’ll even have access.

Day 13: Follicles

Sorry this one is late, our internet went out yesterday and we just got it back tonight.

Today was a good day. We presented our concepts for the entry space in the main visitor building on campus. My group went last and I discovered that I don’t like going last. My group’s presentation was the best out of all four, but don’t worry, I had nothing to do with it. Our Profs had bad things to say about all of the presentations too, so it wasn’t perfect or anything. Since we finished our presentation we’ve been working diligently on making them better for tomorrow. We are presenting to our client tomorrow so they have to be professional caliber. We also reshot our last photo for the project we started last week. We turn in all of the edited photos tomorrow. After we present tomorrow we’re pretty much done for the week, which will be nice.

Today two of the other seniors and me were put on a team together to develop an App for the WYAM base here. It will be for smart phones and tablets. We haven’t started work on it yet, but I think it’ll be exciting. As far as I know we won’t be doing the actual coding. What we’ll be doing is designing the front end of the app. We will design what it looks like and each of the different pages. We’ll also design what the interactive elements will look like. I’m excited to start working on that project.

So today I went into town and got a haircut, actually I got all of them cut. They cut off a good six inches or more. I was tired of having long hair. It always gets in the way and it always gets gross if I ever skip a shower, I don’t know how you ladies do it! Also I thought it was time to go back to the haircut of my youth; the comb over. That’s right dad; we match again! Also, I am so stinking happy with my hair it’s ridiculous. I love short hair, and I lasted longer with long hair than I thought I would. It was a long (get it, long) adventure. And if you want to see it, check out Facebook; there’s a before and after floating around in the interwebs. The only real complaint I have about it is that my ears are cold.

I’d like to give a shout out to a special lady in my life. It’s my mother’s birthday today. From the very beginning I’ve given her trouble, especially with the whole trying to die at birth thing. She’s put up with a lot over the years and usually does it with a smile. She’s one of the most caring and loving people I know, and she’s also one of the best cooks too! She has made it difficult to find someone that is wife material because I’ve seen what a great mother and wife looks like, and that’s not easy to find. I love you dearly and look forward to the next time I will see you. Happy birthday!