Monthly Archives: August 2008

to share or not to share…? – Lindsey Roszell

August 9, 2008 – 1:19 pm
By lindsey roszell | Posted in Europe 2008 Comments (0)

We’re home! The work of reflecting and writing papers is a little gruelling….alright a lot gruelling. Nonetheless as champions we wrestle on because we know that there is value in the exercise of academically fleshing out all of these experiences we’ve just had. Like concrete when it has just been poured needs time to set before you can walk on it, so must our new found experiences and academic learning be mixed, stirred and set so that we won’t be passive to how they have changed us.Returning home and sharing all that I’ve experienced has been exciting, but at the same time not always easy. In the midst of sharing, I find myself caught in frustration knowing how inadequate my descriptions are of what I’ve seen and done, and sad when my listeners jokingly disregard my education for a vacation. I understand their perspective, because the education I’m receiving is a highlighted dream compared to other Universities. However, even though they joke, I can’t deny that it spurs my spirit to want to defend the intensity of the last two months to be more than just a vacation. For anyone who was apart of this travel term knows how much work went into the everyday academic learning, living communally, being attentive to learning and teaching, discovering, reading, and wrestling. There were incredible times of laughter and fun, but this trip was anything but a vacation. (Please forgive my passionate spirit and intensity, sometimes it gets the better of me.) I realize lots of people can just strug this off. Perhaps I’m not mature enough yet to be able to do that.  Definition of a Vacation: a period of suspension from work, study or other activity, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel; recess or holiday.On the other hand, since I’ve returned there have been times while sharing stories and memories of my time away when I can tell my listeners are saddened by their own inability to do what I’ve done (and at such a young age). Around the time that I sense this, I’ll trail my stories off so as to not cause my listener anymore heartache over what they may not ever get to experience.The truth is, I’m struggling with all that I’ve just learned and encountered and how to share that with those around me. How to share my experiences in a way where I don’t feel like I’m rubbing them in another listener’s face, but at the same time wanting there to be more recognition that my education is not a joke. I’m incredibly in love with all that Europe had to offer, and I know that what I’ve seen and tasted will positively affect who I am becoming and how I will live my life in the future. At the same time, I’m challenged by all there is to know in this world. Learning and reflecting on artistic geniuses has left me wondering what I have to show for in my life, and reflecting on whether or not I’m okay with being just mediocre.  The reality is that mediocrity is not my battle. I’ve already made the decision to live my life to be the best that I can be, and that it’s not about comparing myself to those around me, or those who came before me. I believe wholeheartedly that God has designed each of us to do great things in small ways, and it’s through our attitude of heart that sets us apart from being mediocre.At some point, maybe today, maybe tomorrow, I will settle within myself that I may be the only one that understands how much my education means to me, and that it’s not a joke, but it’s okay if others don’t fully understand how unique this experience has been. For so many of us on the trip, great levels of maturity began to take form: maturity of life, maturity of heart, maturity of academic understanding. Education was taking place much further beyond the outlined curriculum.After finishing the book, The Once and Future King by T.H. White, I can’t help but relate to and reflect on the education Wart received from Merlin the Magician. The contemporary world would likely see Warts training as a form of “information education” because it did not take place inside of the traditional academic facilities designed for learning today. This is kind of how I feel about my travel term experiences. However, in reflection to the legend of The Sword in the Stone, Henry Canby writes that “education is an understanding of life.” Formal education must be varied with experience if it is going to create human beings who are not just “educated specialists” but men and women who are wholly educated about the world they live in, where they’ve come from, and honorable enough to lead the future.Question: to share or not to share? Will I continue to share my travel experiences…..yes. Even though I’ve been struggling with how to do this, I’m learning that these experiences are too valuable not share with those around me. So, the next time someone jokes about my education being a vacation, I will laugh and go along, but deep inside, I know there is more to life than taking offence to something others may not understand. I’m still learning on how to respond to those to get the glazed look in their eyes. Perhaps just preceding with caution in the uniqueness of every situation is all I can do (if you have any further suggestions I would gladly welcome them). This life is so rich of experiences no matter where we do or do not travel. Those who have not yet travelled, do not lose heart. There is still time and if it is truly a desire of your heart, continue to present it before God. He does hear those prayers. I speak from experience. To those who have endured this rant, thanks for reading. I’m sorry if anything I said offended anyone in anyway. These are but the mere ramblings of a young woman who is still learning.

We all have a story (The Poopy Princess)

August 9, 2008 – 1:17 am
By shannonmay | Posted in Europe 2008 Comments (0)

We all have a story that is unfolding with each breath we take. The wind, the earth, the waters, the trees, the people in our lives – they are all apart of it, they witness it, and we are apart of and witness their story as it unfolds. Music, art, literature, architecture, people, history books - they all preserve story and retell it so that the story of a nation or culture is not forgotten, and sometimes just one person’s story is grand enough to be retold, whether their story is one of good or evil. As I reflect on the last few months I consider how my own story, and the story of those that I traveled with has changed because of the experiences we have shared and how our journals and photos have recorded our stories.  And the ongoing change that occurred within each of us continues to be revealed in our relationships with friends and family, with God, and with our approach to life.As I strive to complete my assignments, particularly my journal, I am consistently amazed by the transformation my mind has taken since the beginning of the trip. I find that I know myself so much more; his is evidence of how the character and personalities of the amazing bunch of people that I traveled with has affected me. And how they have all become an important part of my story. Though I walked through numbers of galleries displaying works of art that express the story of a generation, a nation and the artist, and I have walked through the ruins of a city that was destroyed more two thousand years ago, and I have seen more of Europe than I ever dreamed, I know that I have learned the greatest thing ever that has changed the course of my story forever. I have learned to laugh at myself. In the presence of my classmates, leaders and professors I have tripped over a tent dumping a dinner plate of food on Sam Wollenberg, I have set off the alarm in the Louvre, I have been pooped on by birds twice in one day, I have knocked things over, I have spilt wine, I have told many embarrassing stories and revealed much about myself that could have caused much more embarrassment had my classmates, leaders and professors not encouraged me to laugh.  As we sat in the Montreal airport awaiting the plane to Saint John that would take us to the end of our European journey together we had an award ceremony; I was awared the “Poopy Princess” award. And this was in recognition that this self-proclaimed princess survived two months of camping in very wet conditions whilst being pooped on by a bird twice in one day.  I am eternally grateful for this life altering experience, and the people that journeyed with me. To my classmates at SSU, to my professors and my leaders, thank you for your contribution to my story. PS: I finalized this post whilst watching the opening ceremonies to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China -along with millions all over the world - a fitting image for “story”.  Thousands of men and women, athletes and supporters, gather together in one place while even more watch at home to share in this event that will shape the stories of many.

Borrowed Words: “The Pain of Realizing a Dream” – Jason Bautista

August 7, 2008 – 6:51 pm
By Jason Bautista | Posted in Europe 2008 Comments (0)

I believe that I am at a crossroad. It is not unusual, I’m convinced, that a man or woman crosses many times into new social dimensions where they are re-shaped. The deepest parts of my mind and soul have much to reveal. It is only now, in the “after life” of Europe with SSU, that I deliberate and in the passing thoughts come realizations, new perspectives – the firstlings of something genuinely mine. But it was not only the history or the philosophy that impacted me most. It was the experience of my present surroundings that sobered me into and kind of pre-occupation with the urgent rather than the suggested. At the end of the day, the journey is marked by the steps we took in the direction of our own curiosity. This curiosity I refer to is the wonder of how things are the way they are and how they could be different.I believe Europe is at a crossroad. A new beginning is underway in Europe. The union of many nations is forging a common future which means more possibilities for so many who might consider themselves unfortunate. With this change boarders are loosened and cultures are loosed. Ideas will clash and force many greater consequences for Europe and the world than has ever been before. When a new minority is introduced to a greater society, what happens now will be vastly different than the principles on which our forefathers relied.No longer can the superior of society reject the injustices of their neighbor’s sufferings. Of course, this is not the reality, but it is the dream that is a resounding cry across the globe. The way the world is wired today, we are aware of everything. Napoleon should know that if he were alive today, he would not rise to power. We would not allow it. The force of globalization has interwoven the world’s needs and desires to the point of undoing. Religion upon religion, the function of the individual, community and spirituality will be challenged, re-thought or reinforced and culture will be transformed nevertheless. We are an interdependent, inseparable world village, and where we are not yet, we will be. But, for what great cause is the EU of it does not look without? What are the injustices of Europe’s closest neighbors?In my travels, I did not have to look far to find ethnic diversity. So many types of African cultures are represented in Mediterranean Europe. They have come to get a taste of the dream. Personally, I don’t call bootlegging a lucrative business but perhaps there are other reasons why these men and women have come. I know that these are unstable times in northern Africa and all over that continent. It is a tragedy that they leave their homelands and their cultural habitat for a peace that is not their own. A freedom that is not one’s own is what? A culture that is not one’s own means what?So many dislocated people who speak so many different languages, in body and mind and spirit. To use a metaphor, we are so close in fellowship with our own brothers but we are so far from the cries of the illegitimate children who are actually of the same household. Our fellowship is most beautiful and it seeks more to love. The ones with no voice we can understand are the ones we place on the verges of society. And many times, in their fear, they retreat into what they are familiar with and create their own sub-societies in our midst. This is the cultural tension of the world. I hope my fellow Christ-lings and I can be the active force of love to the neighbors who live outside.I am at work. I am finishing some Europe assignments. I was reading an article and came across a remarkable author. His name is Per Huttner, from Sweden. He lives in Spain, away from all that he once knew. He writes:”But to actually pack up and leave is a very different reality from talking about it when you are slightly discontent with your life. On top of everything many I was caught up in a pattern of continuous and deliberate failure. With success come great responsibility and also the possibility for much more painful disappointments. By continuously failing I was able to remain in control of my reality and life. But when we submit ourselves to this pattern means that we are always controlled by our fears and it becomes impossible to distinguish what is true and false, good and bad in our lives. In the end this fear ends up running and ruining our lives.”I don’t believe that this story fits with the subject matter of the article in quite the way I was expecting because it is a personal account while the rest is a research report. It actually became the life force behind the subject, this testament from the heart of a man into words. Its strange, how many personal predicaments can be evaluated and challenged for great resolve all the while doing nothing at all for the people all around.”Pre-occupation with the urgent”. Too bad. Too much time in thought will send me drifting through time and space, alone.The pain of realizing a dream, in conclusion, is going bravely into the uncertain future, where dreams are traded for vivid, sometimes agonizing reality. Also, there is pain in reality. The pain is a passing away from the vain pleasures of indulgent comforts. There is something unbearable about realizing something real because it just might go against the ideal which is the thing dreamed of. The dream can be a pre-occupation with things fantasized. So, the Dream different from other dreams, is the happiness and love thought to be too unreal — a distant,impossible dream. When we embrace our Dreams for the first time, we walk into an uncertain place. It is so unlike our certain selves, the ignorant person who believes in the self no matter how deceived. So, we are in a seemingly unreal place. We need to tread on that land with some faith in hope. “The Pain of Realizing a Dream” is the title of Per Huttner’s article.

Some final reflections – Raymond Funk

August 6, 2008 – 1:48 am
By Raymond Funk | Posted in Europe 2008 Comments (0)

I have a hard time believing that I have just seen some of the most important places and works of art of the Western Civilization. It seems humanity is captivated by these places and these things, at least the many of us in the western hemisphere. Is humanity moved by these pieces and places? Yes. But, these pieces and places were moved by humanity first. And so humanity itself is captured through and captivated by the amazing cities, churches, sculptures, paintings and cultures we have experienced through this trip.

I have stood in places where humanity has shown its ability to function at its worst, and in the same place where humanity functioned, though suppressed and struggling, at its best (Dachau). I saw how wealth and power applied in the right way can bring a flourishing of colour and expression in art, but in the same place have seen where wealth and power applied in the wrong way can bring oppression and division (Italy, the Vatican). I have sat in a huddle of tents, completely frustrated by the friends around me, and have sat in that same place completely amazed by the friends around me.

There is both a problem in us and a solution in us as well. We have a great capacity for creating pain, for taking away life. But we have also been given a great capacity to give life. How do we become better at giving life to the world around us?