sample question from an oncoming theology exam: "Sketch the development of the concept of inspiration in the Catholic magisterial teaching, beginning with the Council of Trent."
i'm scared.
london was good. glasgow on friday. i'll explain them later.
i just got back this evening from amsterdam. we went for queen's day. well, we went for queen's day eve, queen's day, then left this afternoon (today is may 1st).
it was me, zach, torben, jeff, doug, and chris. we took the train to antwerp because torben knows a girl who is studying there, and we went with a group that she organized to amsterdam. we met up with that group (20+ strangers but they were nice, although i didn't talk to them much) and took a charter bus to amsterdam. once we were there we checked into our hotel then went on a canal boat ride. couldn't hear much of the commentary above but it wasn't that interesting anyways. it was pretty all the same, though. boating through canals in amsterdam is neat, i just wish we had a smaller boat and that it was open air rather than window covered and filled with old people. after that we wandered the city.
theme of this trip: wandering and standing around. queen's day itself was pretty crazy. everyone wearing orange. so many people in crowds, walking past booths of people selling whatever they have. walked through the park. amsterdam is a pretty city but i went on an overly packed holiday so it left a unique impression. there was a huge stage set up in "museumplein", filled with thousands of people. crappy music being played. we heard dj tiesto (a very popular dj) was playing that night so we decided we'd go to that. we also heard that some crazy guy drove his car at the royal family's bus during a parade. five people were killed and more were injured. we didn't think anything of it besides thankfulness that we weren't near it and outrage that this guy did that. unfortunately it also meant that festivities were cancelled. we got to the huge area where tons of people were earlier, expecting it to be more crowded, and it was completely empty of people and full full full of trash. so we spent the rest of the night just walking around, finding that places were closing, people were gone or leaving, and things were generally over.
it seemed like the apocalypse. lots of people being crazy, somewhat empty streets, and trash EVERYWHERE. so much trash. at first it was amusing but it started to get on my nerves. never seen so much trash on the streets. unfortunately i didn't take pictures of that because i left my camera at the hostel. some pictures to come.
i just got back last night from quite the trip. i had a little over 2 weeks break from school here in leuven for easter. so, i spent that time travelling for a solid 17 days with john and his friend, now-my-friend-too, jed. they had an even longer break from their study-abroad semester in manchester. it was a good good good trip, very refreshing to get away and see all the stuff we saw. i don't know exactly how to go about explaining the trip effectively without writing an uninviting amount of text. i kept a journal the whole time but it can be detailed and monotonous but i can outline each city. we went to: rome, san vincenzo, pisa (for maybe 3 hours), florence, venice, budapest, and vienna.
lots of songs were sung, lots of jokes were made, lots of bread & cheese & tomato & pesto were eaten.
rome: i arrived later than john and jed, but met up with them on a wednesday night. it was rainy and they were tired, and i was tired from travelling so we just got to our hostel (which is funny in and of itself-- it's basically a condominium converted into a hostel, the guy at reception seemed angry and weird, the reviews of the hostel included awful raves saying they have bedbugs, etc.). but we were okay at the hostel. we saw the st. peter's basilica, then i headed off on my own to see the roman forum, palatine hill, and colosseum (because they had already seen all of those). beautiful and ridiculous to imagine the old romans actually living there. hard for me to wrap my head around history. pretty overwhelming to listen to the audioguide and see all of it. i still feel like i have no idea about the place, but it was quite the sight to behold. went to a beer place/restaurant and then to the trevi fountain for a relaxing night-ender. then we spent about 5 hours in the vatican museum the next day. so much to see. saw the sistine chapel. too much to comprehend again, but beautiful and wonderful to see. the artists astound me-- so much time and talent and energy put into their works. life achievements are hanging and displayed all around you.
san vincenzo: beautiful little coastal town in italy. we came at an unusual time of the year, although the weather was beautiful and perfect for what we did. jed even went into the ocean, but john and i decided not to because the water was definitely pretty cold. anyways the highlight of our time in san vincenzo was simply being near the beach and staying in a wonderful little hotel right on the beach. i believe we were the only people staying at the entire hotel, so that made it all the more amazing. the woman who owned or ran the hotel was an outstandingly nice woman. we had a free breakfast in the morning which was 3 or so long tables filled with foods. she was in there waiting for us both mornings. made us a coffee of our choosing. amazing. our time in san vincenzo was spent reading, writing, relaxing, and skipping a lot of rocks. took some long-exposure night photos and played a homemade game similar to horseshoes, but with a stick of bamboo and stones. i dropped my camera in the water and it stopped working and it freaked me out.
pisa: our train from san vincenzo to florence required a connection in pisa, so we decided to walk around and see the leaning tower. i didn't take any pictures because my camera wasn't working unfortunately, but it was really neat. john took some. look forward to seeing those. i was in a sour/upset/depressed mood on the train because of my camera, but i cheered up in pisa.
florence: such a beautiful place. first night we stayed in a hostel that was just down the street from the duomo (the huge and breathtaking cathedral with such a ridiculous dome on the top). pretty nice but gladly we were able to stay with ann laurel the remainder of the days. she's studying in florence (which is ridiculous because of its beauty, but it's an american program so it seems less integrated and i'd be worried that if i studied in florence my eyes would stop seeing the beauty that it offers and it would get mundane). she lives in what i think is the more attractive part of the city, across the ponte vecchio (beautiful bridge). in florence one morning i tried my camera on a whim and it started working! so exciting and relieving. jed and i went up in the duomo. lots and lots of stairs but you get to see the terrifying painting of the last judgment plus a great view of the city. went to the accademia museum. small museum but that's where michelangelo's statue of david is. pretty amazing. just killed goliath. what a guy. went to piazza michelangelo, a place a little ways away from the city and above it, perfect to see the sunset. saw the sunset. beautiful. ate at a place where you buy a 5 euro drink then get free food to go with it. saw an italian beatles cover band at a crowded venue. the last day in florence, jed and i took a bus to a town that's above florence on the hillside. it's called fiesole and it was a relaxing way to end out the florence times. nice day, we just walked around looking over the entirety of florence. got some food from the grocery and ate in a little park. relaxed. then we headed out.
venice: we got a pretty nice hotel outside of venice the island. first night just stayed there. next day headed to the island, walked around in a pack of tourists at first. the city is enchanting because of the canals. who could resist that? it was so cool. once we got away from the feel of tourism we started enjoying ourselves more. most of our time in venice was spent wandering around. didn't do a gondala ride because they're expensive and it didn't appeal to us. got some good coffee at a place called cafe del doge. wandered around more. watched the sun set on the ocean. ate some pizza our guy at the hotel recommended. delicious. brie on a pizza? great idea. next day jed and i went to see the peggy guggenheim collection while john just hung out in a piazza/plaza/square to read. i'm glad we went, it was a nice small museum in what was peggy guggenheim's old house. quite the collection she had. pieces of surrealist art and names i actually recognized! so exciting. especially excited to see some magritte, although i didn't get to snap a picture. we walked around venice a lot, and although it doesn't seem like we did/saw much, we got a good feel for the city and wandered around the maze-like streets a lot.
budapest: to get to budapest we took a 13 hour train ride, overnight. i slept for a lot of it but we were woken about 7 times to get our passports checked. pretty frustrating. john thought it felt like a david lynch movie because it was so disorienting and bizarre. when we finally got to budapest, john's friend anna met us at the station. we got money from the atm, which is the currency of hungary, forintes. 20,000 of them equal 92 u.s. dollars. weird. budapest seemed like the u.s. more than any other city we were in, although the language was the most unfamiliar. strange. anna took us back to her family's, which is a nice apartment/condominium style thing in a suberb of the city. good place to stay. we ate lunch there then went out to see the palace. then walked around the city more with anna. hung out in a grassy area that has an area for skaters and an underground club/restaurant. pretty hip place. lots of kids hanging out there. watched rebel without a cause when we got back to her home. everyone fell asleep. went to budavari labirintus the next day. people used it for shelter from bombings in world war 2. now its a strange attraction that seems to appeal to kids and people who don't mind sacrificing historical importance for a joke. i liked it. jed and i checked out the citadel above the city. cool place, good view. walked around more, stumbled upon a horn band playing in a square. got a video, you'll see. ate some traditional hungarian food. went to a bar that is converted from a big old industrial building. like a legitimate and adult-themed rocketown. next day went to an art gallery with an exhibit on hungarian impressionist painting. saw heroes square. went to a coffee shop when it started raining. anna had a friend that knew of some band playing in some club. turned out to be the ruby suns! (whom i like). went to that. pretty nice surprise. next day we packed up and got ready for our next and last leg. anna was a good host and her family was very nice to us and i'm grateful for all that.
vienna: had the best hostel ever. vienna was just nice. clean and it seems like it has it's act together. saw one homeless person the whole time i was there. we went to joseph haydn's old house which is now a museum about exactly that. then we walked a longer route to get to the belvedere museum, which is an art museum and used to be a palace. two art museums actually. lower belvedere featured an exhibit on alfonse mucha, of whom i am now a huge fan. known for his posters. wonderful style. also went to the upper belvedere, of which their klimt pieces are probably most popular. then we ate and got to a performance. string quartet that performed 3 pieces: i think it was haydn, mozart, and dvorak. we got really cheap seats that couldn't see a thing, but the place wasn't sold out so we could move and actually peak over the balcony. it was pretty amazing. they were insanely good. well worth the price. after that we got some ice cream at the most delicious place ever, it was better than all the gelato we had in italy. might have been the best ice cream i've ever had. next day we checked out stephansdom, the cathedral. then went to the graveyard where beethoven, strauss, brahms, and more famous people are buried. got a quick lunch before we all split ways. i got a bus to the vienna airport, then flew back to brussels then took the train back to leuven.
so that's the past 17 days. phew. good time. lots and lots of sights and moving. walked so many miles. so many kilometers.
one cool thing about paris was recognizing lots of the areas from the shorts of Paris, Je T'aime. i definitely want to re-watch that one. and Amelie. supposedly our hostel was in an area where parts of Amelie was filmed.
and i want to re-watch In Bruges now, too. i think all of these movies will have an extra charm now.
also, one weird thing in paris: all the homeless people have dogs. is that a way to get you to give them money? what you're supposed to think: "oh well that homeless guy has a dog to take care of and i doubt the dog has a drug problem so i'll give him a euro or two to take care of the dog" ?
paris is huge. i didn't even think about it before going. but it's massive. used the metro to get everywhere-- not used to that. went with a big group (me zach mallory jennifer ali cari, then a few guys we met at the hostel). it was fun but probably could have been better. i was feeling a little sick, got so exhausted from walking around everywhere, and sort of just followed the group to each destination. all the same, i can now say i've been to paris. lots of beautiful stuff. my personal favorites were the eiffel tower (of course) and the sacre coeur. catacombs were pretty sweet, too. we had some great weather, to boot. list of places we went:
1. notre dame 2. sacre coeur 3. louvre (for free!) 4. eiffel tower 5. catacombs 6. arc de triomphe and champs elysees 7. chateau de versailles (but not inside b/c the line was huge and it was 17 euro) 8. musee d'orsay
torben, chris, doug, and i went to luxembourg city for 2 days and 1 night. we all agreed that it was a great trip. had a really fun time. played pool for the first time in so so so long, that was nice. at a "rock" bar that played katie perry and poppy stuff except for a lot of songs by the offspring. not really rock. paid 8 euro for a long island iced tea. oh well. then we went to an irish pub type place, that had actual irish people in it! cool. then got the most delicious kebab in the world (so good, basically just like a gyro...they're everywhere here and cheap). next day walked around and explored. went to a museum of luxembourg history. it was cool. they had an exhibit about religion, as well. then spent the rest of the day just perusing the city. went to a souvenir shop with the most anal owners ever, yelled at torben for touching things and then pressed an alert button (for the cops? really?). another group of people from jr. house went to luxembourg city just yesterday, they didn't like it, but we really did. they went to the same souvenir shop and had a bad experience with the same owners. terrible.
thursday march 5th first of all, mechelen train station gets a big thumbs down from me (because i have to turn my aggression somewhere). reason? to get to my destination of nijmegen i had 2 connections, the first of which was a 4 minute gap, which became a 2 minute or less gap because the first train was slow, so i missed boarding it while running to catch it. waited an hour but the next one was cancelled, so i arrived in nijmegen (the netherlands) 2 hours late to a patient ina (who, to my credit, i called from a payphone several times but she left her phone in the car by accident). anyways, she took me to her apartment in kranenburg, germany. tiny town but better living conditions than in nijmegen (where her and her 2 roommates go to university). nice roommates. settled in and hung out, ina made dinner and one of her friends came with her boyfriend. we played a game called bluff and michel (one of ina's roommates) shared his birthday beer with me. lots of german conversation that i didn't understand but lots of fun anyways (are they actually saying words or just making noise and sending mind messages to eachother?). then the 2 friends left and we played "flour cutting"(or is it cocaine?)which is a game sort of like jenga where you put a toothpick in flour and cut away until the toothpick falls and if it falls on your turn you have to get it with your mouth which leaves flour on your face and run-on sentence. then a few rounds of poker then went to bed.
friday march 6th ina showed me around her school in nijmegen, then around the actual city part of nijmegen. nice parts with lots of shopping and stuff. walked around with her roommate who met up with us. went to a cafe and played rummikub. went back to ina's apartment then headed to wesel (ina's mom's house). ate delicious mom-made food with her mom and bro, then walked around wesel with another one of ina's friends, maerle (sp?). went to a heavy metal bar. went to the rhine. went to bed.
saturday march 7th we had a breakfast with ina's direct family then headed to düsseldorf where her boyfriend and another friend judith lives. toured the city which was very nice. expensive shops (i.e. tiffany and gucchi and stuff like that). saw the rhine again, except in a better environment, better weather, and better lighting. tried the "old" beer of düsseldorf, which is good. ate falafel. went to the top of the rheinturm tv tower which was huge and a very nice view. walked around a little bit more then headed back to daniel (ina's boyfriend)'s apartment. ate dinner, watched german idol, then went out and about with ina. we had a beer at an outdoor place and met 2 german guys that bought us drinks and wanted to hang out with us all night. so we went to another bar where it was only old people and the 2 guys started dancing and being just kind of strange but enjoyable to watch. after long enough at that one bar where the guys were singing and dancing to every goofy song, we went to some danceclub sort of place where the guys dropped their drink expense card on us and ran. but we danced then went home and slept.
sunday march 8th headed to cologne, germany with ina and daniel. saw the massive cathedral (biggest/most impressive one i've seen so far). saw the rhine in the rain. went to an art museum called museum ludwig, which was fun. first time to an art museum in a while. ate a wienerschnitzel for lunch. nice. twas good. then met up with a few more of ina's friends for a very brief time before i had to get on my train back to leuven. such a very good time.
