a novel

I had to urge to start this blog in the similar format to the lectures and syllabi I have been ingesting over the past two weeks. To provide you with a broad outline of my goals in communicating with you in this format and to briefly touch on the topics that I will cover in this edition.  IE:  In this blog entry I will attempt to provide you with the basic understanding of the experience of one student as she adjusts to the expectations of graduate life at a large, research focused university. We will cover the following topics in some detail: receiving mixed messages in terms of productivity output vs. learning experience, academic integrity sermons that would make decent moralizing sermons for a southern baptist preacher with only slight modification, confusion over academic drinking culture, abstract and concrete integration of multiple new and previously held identities, developing the elevator speech research question in order to present oneself competitively, and the p...

On a somewhat spontaneous decision as I was planning the Palestine section of my adventure, I decided I would hike the Jesus Trail in the Galilee. I did not enjoy long hikes as a kid, so it is somewhat surprising that I would decide now to hike the 65 km trail between Nazareth and Capurnum that usually takes about 4 days (read more about it here: http://jesustrail.com/.) I saw it as both a pilgrimage and a personal endurance challenge. Here are some of my reflections from the each day on the hike: Day 1: I hiked at least 13.5 km from Nazareth to Cana. It was exhausting – but invigorating. A challenge I can live up to. The 400+ steps out of Nazareth old city made for a difficult start – but the view from the overlook was breath taking and the rest of the day much easier by comparison. Every time I almost lost the trail markers, my instincts were solid and I chose the right path and I got to celebrate a mini victory when I recognized a white-orange-white blaze up ahead.  ...

As stated by the Bedouin man I met on my drive out to a camp I stayed in for a night near Wadi Rum, every person we meet makes us more human (paraphrase). Traveling solo in Jordan provided me with so many opportunities to meet and share stories with new people. I hope that all of their experiences of humanness will enrich my own. Here are few stories of people I met: The Lebanese woman I met in the Beirut airport who was also traveling alone and encouraged me that Jordan was as safe a place as any to be alone and female (she was traveling in full burka). Jade, the healthy food shop clerk from Britain who had only every traveled in Spain before. She felt led to come to the Jordan River, bought a plane ticket, and two weeks later I met her on our shared tour to Mt. Nebo, the Dead Sea, and Bethany (the site of Jesus’ baptism on the Jordan side of the Jordan). “The world is mad… the universe is love.” The Save the Children employee who shared stories of humanitarian work in co...

I am making checklists and packing lists and hostel lists and counting currency exchanges in my head. I am making baking and cooking lists so that my parents have things to eat when I am gone. I am beginning to fret about what I will read on this next leg of my journey - and whether I'll get bored by myself. So much to see in the next 32 days I can hardly imagine. (oh, and I have started a count down until I get to hug my finace again -because as much as I want to be present as I travel, I miss him dearly and want to be home too). This is one my lasts - my last intern day - and that makes the ending seem more real. Before departures I often count my lasts, in a never ending effort to imbue meaning and farewells into what has become typically ordinary. My last half an hour waiting for my taxi. My last round of "good mornings" at the office. My last morning cup of Gahwa (Arabic coffee) while sitting at my desk. And there are all the more from now on. Last Friday night...

Lent. A time of preparation, of thoughtfulness, of intentionality. All words and concepts I love and have reflected on many times. Fasting for lent for me has often been about choosing where to invest energy and about being aware of which energy sources I draw from (sometimes quite literally as our family tradition during my childhood was to give up electrical light for the season). Screen-free Sabbaths, or taking on exercise or spiritual practices are all ways I have been intentional during lent over the past few years. And even the diet related fasting, giving up sugar or caffeine, is an intentional choice about energy sources. Yet this lent I am in a unique place, which is to say that I am not in one place at all. Instead I'm on a very physical journey across many places in the Middle East. And on a journey it is hard to be intentional about little things like diet and routine and chocolate consumption - especially on journeys in foreign countries where one is alone most of t...

I love living with my parents again after 6 years of being a grown up on my own. And I wasn't sure I would actually be saying that halfway through my sojourn with them here in their home-for-now world. But I do. It's comfortable. And challenging. And rewarding. And mostly quiet. Last night Mom and I worked on our second 1000 piece puzzle in two weeks while tuning out (or tuning in) the two films Dad was switching between during commercials. Who else gets that opportunity at 24, 6 months before her wedding, and on a different continent from the one she usually calls home? My days are filled with simple things. Mom's and my morning exercise walk around the park a few blocks away. A short yoga routine for meditation and stretching. cereal or eggs for breakfast. reading while i wait for the taxi to take me to my internship/volunteer placement. i get home each day at least a few hours earlier than my parents and so get to make dinner each night - homemade stew, fresh bre...

We walked. We tried to eat enough calories to replenish those we used walking. We stood among history, built on top of history. We drank lots of tea. We were in Turkey. It was a whole new world. Shining, Shimmering, Splendid. It began with a snow storm in Istanbul. We somehow managed to time our flights perfectly, mine from B. (with a lay over in Amman, Jordan) and Julia's direct from Chicago arrived in Istanbul Attaturk Airport within a few hours of each other, and a few hours before the city was covered in snow and slush. Over the next 3 days we trekked through slush and snow and ice to explore the old city, the Byzantine walls, the Topeka Place (home to the Ottoman Sultans and where we had a memorable exchange of snowballs with a security gaurd), the view of the city's many beautiful mosques, the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, and more. We spent New Years Eve having a snowball fight with our wonderful host on the way back from a nighttime icy walk through the city to t...