My trip to the far north

Greetings from Winnipeg, where it's snowing. Hard. In March. I flew to Winnipeg on Tuesday after getting notified of acceptance on Monday at the University of Manitoba's joint Masters program in Peace and Conflict Studies. The program sounds lovely, but I knew I would need to see Winnipeg for myself to know what I'd be getting into if I accepted my place at U of M. I met with the program's faculty on Wednesday and was very impressed. Thursday I went for a city tour and then poked around down town on my own until I got too cold and gave up. I flew out later that evening.

Overall I was very impressed by how nice and hospitable everyone was (the license plates all bear the motto "Friendly Manitoba"), and the city's Old West feel was fun and appealing. Too bad the weather is a different story!


The University of Manitoba


Downtown Winnipeg


In the legislature building next to the provincial animal, the bison (pronounced bizon, if you want to sound like a local)


The frozen Red River near its junction with the Assiniboine River, known as The Forks


Ruins of St. Boniface Cathedral in the French-speaking district of Winnipeg




Assiniboine Park, next to the Winnipeg Zoo

Turkey in Photos

Istanbul

View from the Bosphorus


Golden Horn, Istanbul


Cappadocia

Bird Valley, Cappadocia



Cappadocian rock formations containing houses and churches


One of the multiple mosques found in every Turkish neighborhood. This one is under construction.


A Turkish carpet weaver


Traditional Turkish carpets


Ephesus


View of the Aegean Sea from our hotel room balcony.
(Obviously, we're really suffering here.)


Ruins of the Great Library at Ephesus


Ruins of St. John's Basilica

Istanbul and Cappadocia

The past week in Istanbul has been one of the most interesting of the whole trip. We've seen a fifth century church with beautiful mosaics, two Ottoman palaces, two mosques, and the Hagia Sophia. The Hagia Sophia was especially impressive because both its Christian and Muslim histories are very visible, and it's absolutely gorgeous inside and out. Our guide for the duration of our time here in Turkey is an Istanbul local who is able to share lots of insights into Turkey's secularist Islamic culture. On Sunday we got another very interesting perspective when we went to a Christian church service and a discussion afterward with some of the members of the congregation. Turkey is 97 percent Muslim, so it was very interesting to hear what it's like to be part of an extremely tiny religious minority.

The mosaic in the Hagia Sophia

Inside the Blue Mosque in Istanbul

The Bosphorus Fortress in Istanbul

Today we flew to Cappadocia. The terrain here is very different from Istanbul. It's desert-like and much colder. There are also pointy rock formations and cliffs everywhere. This afternoon we saw a pottery workshop where many of the techniques used have stayed more or less the same for the past 4,000 years, since the time of the Hittites. Then we saw a series of ancient churches, houses, and monasteries located inside the pointy rock formations that are everywhere. Originally the churches used the caves to hide from the Roman soldiers when Christianity was illegal in the Roman Empire. Definitely one of the most interesting sites of the trip!

Cappadocian rock formations

A second century church carved into a rock formation

We'll be here in Cappadocia for two nights and then on to Kusadasi for another five days. Finally we're headed back to London for one night before flying home. I can't believe I'll be in California in one week!

Berlin and Krakow

The past week in Berlin and Krakow has been an intense one. We've had several walking tours of each city, a day trip to Wittenberg, a concert, a ballet, and a heavy academic load. We've also found ourselves adjusting to low temperatures that are pretty far out of the ordinary for a bunch of Californians! We're discovering the virtues of hats, gloves, and lots and lots of layers.

View of Museum Island in Berlin

Berlin itself is a neat city with a fun nightlife and an exciting downtown not far from the apartments where we're staying. We spent a week in Berlin checking out monuments and museums and taking day trips to outlaying areas. We have also had some excellent guest speakers from Berlin during our class sessions.

Downtown Berlin

Fragment of the Berlin Wall

In front of the Brandenburg Gate

On Wednesday we left for Krakow, Poland, and it took us all day to get there. We spent all of Thursday touring the city and exploring on our own. Krakow is an absolutely beautiful city with a really complex history starting well before the middle ages. It has beautiful castles and churches, as well as the biggest town square in Europe. We arrived back in Berlin this afternoon, and we'll be spending three more days here before moving on to the Czech Republic.

Castle Hill in Krakow, Poland

Not surprisingly, we've been studying some very difficult material in the past couple of weeks, focusing primarily on the Holocaust. We've spent two days visiting concentration camps (Sachsenhausen in Berlin and Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland), which has been emotionally exhausting but also extremely valuable. Being in these locations has helped us to grasp on a deeper level this dark point in European history, and has allowed us to grapple with some tough questions. I'm thankful that this has been a group experience, and that we can see these sites and ask questions together. I wouldn't trade my time in Berlin and Krakow, but it will be a relief to shift to a lighter focus once we leave Berlin on Wednesday. Then it's on to Prague!

The Netherlands

I'm currently staying with a Dutch family in the city of Amersfoort, and having an absolute blast. My homestay roommate from Westmont is a good friend of mine named Sarah, and having her here with me has been great. Our host family consists of host father Jan, host mother Dinie, and host sister Marika. Marika is 17 and is lots of fun to hang out with. Both of our host parents are terrific, and Jan's terrible puns remind me of my own dear old dad back home (Love you Dad!).

(L-R) Dinie, Sarah, Jan, Marika, Me

On Thursday and Friday we left our host families during the day and headed for Amsterdam, about an hour away from Amersfoort. On Thursday we saw the Resistance Museum and the Anne Frank House, and then had a guest speaker give a lecture on Dutch culture and history. Yesterday we went back to Amsterdam and saw two art museums, took yet another canal boat ride (our third so far), and walked around to take in the city.


Today was spent with our host families. It was by far one of the best yet. Our host family took us around the Netherlands to do "typical Dutch things", like seeing a windmill and looking at a cute, very touristy Dutch village. Our family had never visited this particular village, and Marika was especially happy for an excuse to go see it. Jan was less than thrilled, and joked that he would drive us to the village and then find a pub while the rest of us looked around. As it turned out, they took us to a photo shop where we all dressed up in Dutch costumes and had our photo taken. It was absolutely hilarious.

With Sarah, in full regalia

With our host family, looking very traditional

Tomorrow we'll be going to church with our family, and on Monday we're moving on to Berlin. I'll certainly be very sorry to say goodbye to our hosts!

Normandy, Bruges, and Brussels: A Week on the Move

We've done a lot of moving in the past week. We left Paris on Wednesday and headed for Normandy. We stayed at a beautiful old monastery in Mondaye, complete with crumbling stone walls and some very charming monks. We stayed in Normandy for two nights and spent our one full day there looking at World War II sites, including the American cemetery and Omaha Beach.

We came back to Bruges on Friday and have spent most of our time here working on papers, preparing for tests, on going to museums. Yesterday we took a day trip to Brussels, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We took a tour there of the European Parliament and heard a lecture on the structure and work of the European Union. Then we had the rest of the day to explore the city, which I enjoyed because it was so busy and multicultural.

Tomorrow we're moving on to the Netherlands, where we'll be doing a five-night home stay in the Amsterdam suburb of Amersfoort. I don't expect to have internet access during that time, but I'm sure I'll have some interesting home stay experiences to report on once we get wireless again in Berlin.

St. Martin Monastery in Mondaye, Normandy

View of Bruges from the city belfry

Chamber of the European Parliament in Brussels

The Last of London

The past week in London has been wonderful. Whether it was visiting museums and landmarks with the group or taking in the city parks on my own, I have thoroughly enjoyed all that London has to offer. On Wednesday we took a little time off from London and went on a day trip Canterbury to see the cathedral. It was especially interesting in light of our studies of pilgrimage and migration.

Canterbury Cathedral

This weekend I went with a group of friends to the Thames festival, which featured a huge market, music, dancing, and an emphasis on multiculturalism. We had also noticed a number of odd sculptures in one area of the waterfront, and once it got dark, we discovered that each sculpture involved fire in some way. The entire festival was lit with these fire sculptures, as well as a number of fire pits where people were welcome to congregate and stay warm. Combined with lots of live music, the entire effect created an awesome atmosphere. The festival was one of the best finds of our time in London.

Nighttime at the Thames Festival

Tomorrow is our last day here. I'll certainly miss London, but I'm also looking forward to Northern Ireland. We'll be staying in the small, semi-rural town of Rostrever, in the same guest cottages where I stayed last summer while studying in Northern Ireland on Mayterm. Rostrever is a beautiful, slower-paced place where there will be lots of opportunity to catch up on school work, spend time getting to know the other members of the group better, and hopefully do some hiking. There won't be consistent internet access there, so my next update will probably be in a week or so from Bruges, Belgium.

Weekend Highlights

What a weekend! It was a busy couple of days, full of unplanned outings. On Saturday we went to the Borough Market, an open-air market selling all kinds of great food. Then we saw the Tower Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral. Today a group of us went back to St. Paul's for a church service, which was beautiful. After church we went to the Notting Hill Carnival. The Notting Hill district of London has historically been a settling place for Caribbean immigrants, so the carnival there is a celebration of Anglo-Caribbean culture. There was a huge parade that had a lot of steel-drum bands and lots of dancing. The entire thing felt like a great big block party, and it was a fantastic way to spend the afternoon.

The Borough Market

The Tower Bridge

St. Paul's Cathedral

Notting Hill Carnival

Tomorrow it's on to Birmingham!