David Crowder in Boston

Last weekend 10 students made a trip down to Boston Mass. to see the David Crowder Band live in concert. We left friday morning and after 5 and a half hours of beautiful close, five-in-a-car, crampedness we arrived at our Hotel just outside of Boston. We ate authentic Vietnemese for supper, which was great (I recommend trying the Avocado shakes), and then waited outside in the cold until the doors of the concert hall opened up. It was a smaller venue, but the show was still really good. One of those bands that sound just as good in concert as they do on the albums. Anyway, for the rest of the weekend one carload of us stayed in Boston, to take it in and have a chance to be off campus. It's a beautiful city. Old, and full of character and culture. I'm afraid we didn't do as much sightseeing as we would have liked, and I'm lacking in pictures... so I guess that just means I'll have to go back to Boston sometime.
For the rest of the month I'll be busy cramming papers while at the same time trying to keep myself calm and collected. Haha, I don't think I'll be doing anything too exciting this next week.

Solution to homework apathy?

Here's a pic of the costumes my roomate and I whipped up for our halloween shindig. If your not familiar with Monty Python, Charles and I were King Arther and his trusty servant Patsey. I think we spent more time making our costume than doing our homework that week, but as far as looks I think it was worth it. Nothing you can't do with a little paint, duct tape, fabric and a 50 year-old sewing machine sitting in the closet. (Darcy, thanks for the idea from camp... it was brilliant)

Here's a cool pic from our trip, the Hopewell Rocks. Really cool rock formations. These pictures were taken at low tide, otherwise I think I would have been standing in water.

Road Trips and Hurricanes

This weekend my parents have been over here in the East visiting relatives and the Maritime provinces. We've had a good drive heading through New Brunswick, PEI and Nova Scotia. Highlights include:
~ driving across Confederation Bridge (12.9 km long) into PEI;
~ visiting the North coast of PEI and seeing its beautiful "Anne of Green Gables" landscape (mom and dad have something for you Alisa);
~ being awestruck at some of the architecture and age of churches out here;
~ visiting the building in which the ideas for a unified Canada were conceived in Charlottetown;
~ seeing the replica of the sailing vessel "Hector", the ship that brought the first Scots to Nova Scotia in 1773 (my ancestors included);
~ visiting the old homestead of my great great grandfather in West Branch NS
~ and experiencing my very first taste hurricane weather. Exciting, haha.

It's been an eventful weekend so far, and tonight we're settling in Truro Nova Scotia, waiting for the brunt of the storm to pass through and then we'll be off to St. Stephen tomorrow. Areas of the Atlantic coast are expected to experience 11-12 foot waves, and some areas in the Maritimes could be getting up to as much as 100 mm of rain (and to think that my South Carolina roommate wanted to go surfing in Halifax this weekend, haha... sure hope he's not out there). Winds are varying throughout the provinces, but I've seen anywhere from 75 km/h up to 140 km/h winds, wow. Wet and windy. But so far we are safe and sound, hoping for a good nights rest and a safe drive tomorrow.

Autumn

I think I can say that autumn is one of my favourite times of the year. The warm and pleasant aftertaste of summer meeting with the crispness and change of season and time. For me its a time marked with an influence of maturity, a moving on, and the warmth of summers joy and a harvest complete. Haha, I think I just REALLY like the colours, especially in New Brunswick. It seems each tree explodes with its own hue; yellows, oranges, browns, greens and reds. If I take the time to appreciate the world around me it can be captivating... and sometimes distracting from the studies (like right now). But its good to enjoy the things around, and appreciate and value what things are worth. This seems to be one of the lessons I'm learning lately:

What value do I place on the people around me? Is my opinion of their value influenced for what I receive from them? Or from the value that is intrinsically placed within them because that person is a creation of God's hand?

Moving to a different note. This week seems to be a week for tests. Two down and one more to go. The need to read material for class and for upcoming papers is becoming a constant, one that I'm hoping I will get used to, haha (I'm just going to have to get used to it). The weather definitely has been beautiful. Yesterday, I believe the word was that the temperature rose to around 26 degrees, which was just balmy and great. However... I think we're about to begin experiencing a real fall, and, as it goes in Canada, winter could happen at just about any time.

I have a few upcoming events that I'm looking forward too. My parents are coming in just over a week, so I'm excited about showing them what I've been up to for the past two months and also traveling and hanging out with them for the weekend. Another cool thing, myself and 9 others are planning a trip to see the David Crowder band. The venue is just outside of Boston, November 10th. We'll go to the concert and get a chance to check out Boston a little bit too. Haha, sounds like I'm having just a jolly ole time here (and I am), but I'll be needing to hunker down get some studying done in the meantime.

I have a couple more interesting facts. Did you know... ?
~ Elephants have four knees. Apparently they are the only animal that has four knees.
~ There is such a thing as an apple burp. Something you don't really think about, but it seems to happen with most people (I've tried it and it happened to me). Eat and apple and a little while later you'll have an apple burp. It may just be little, but its there. Try it out.

Wallpaper!

I had an idea and I was wondering if it might work...
In some of my moments when I need to get away from studies I have made some computer wallpapers on Paint. I thought that maybe I could share them with you.
We'll see if this works together:
1) I'm going to put a picture on this post. If you want to make the picture bigger, so you can see what the picture is, simply click on it.
2) If you want it for your wallpaper on your computer right click on the large picture and I think there is an option to immediately make the picture your wallpaper, but if not...
3) you can right click on it and save the picture on your own computer, then you can go to your computer settings and make that picture your wallpaper!

cool. If it works let me know!

Some Scientific Facts

I think its been three weeks now since I wrote a note, so I its more than about time to write something down. I thought I'd start off with some interesting facts that I've been learning from one of the students here...
Did you know...
~ that you sleep better when its just a little bit colder in your room? Apparently your body temperature is lowest in the morning, when at a restful state. As you work throughout the day the body temperature increases as kinetic energy increases. At the end of the day when you want to go back to sleep, to bring your body to a restful state again the temperature needs to be lower. Optimal temperature is 18 degrees!
~ that elephants are the only mammal that cannot jump. Yes, thats right. And for anyone who knows the "Miss Mary Mack" clapping game song... yeah, the song is wrong.
~ you only breath out of one nostril at a time.

So two weeks ago the student population lost about half of its number as the Asia study abroad student left for their term away. They will be spending time in South East Asia (Philippines,
Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong I think are the main places) touring with a prof, working on assignments related to their travels and I'm sure having some amazing experiences. It is one of the two study abroad terms that has a part in the BA program here. So, the school has been feeling a bit emptier the last couple weeks, but the first years have been bonding well.

I want to be able to describe more of what I've been up to, but there isn't a whole lot to say. Most of the time during last few weeks I've spent cooped up with my books and my computer. Tonight we played some good 'ole hard hittin rugby. Ok, it was full contact in a sense... but it wasn't full on, there were girls playing so we couldn't hit too hard, but when it came the boys we could hit a bit harder. Good times, good relief from the stresses of a student, and no-one was injured this time either! What a success!

Water and more water

Alright, new week and new things to say. The last few days have had a share of adventures, both of which involving water.

At our last student meeting I was awarded, by default, with the ownership of a powerful water gun in order to keep my room-mate, Charles, in line. The cause of this stemmed from one time when he, being the "feeler, in the moment" kind-of-person that he is, forgot he was only wearing boxer shorts with his t-shirt as he went to convey an important message to one of the girls on second floor. Word got around about the incident and I was designated as the one to remind him, by application of pressurized water, to watch how far he goes wearing such a small amount of material. Anyway, clothing aside, I now had a water gun in my hand... which only added more ammunition to an earlier idea Charles and I had: dropping water balloon bombs from our third story window.

Well, the idea was followed through. The next day, after Charles made the supply run to purchase our arms parts, we commenced the bombing tirade with only two rules in mind: 1) do not directly hit the intended target (for good reason, these were good sized party balloons we were using, Charles found a good "arms" dealer. Also, keep in mind we were dropping them from third floor) and 2) do not target any guys, only girls were to feel the wrath of our aqueous barrage. Not only did we use our party balloons in our water assault, but my water pressured award was put into quick action as well.

In all our effort we made one mistake. We did not foresee any of the proceeding outcomes caused by our actions because we were so caught up in the moment. From our intelligence we understand that the very dealer that my pump-action water launcher had been purchased from had sold two other such weapons that same day (we now know that the owners of these had carefully kept them hidden to use most likely in some sick attack of their own, had we not initiated first assault). So what ensued was a war of water; balloon vs blonde, weapon against weapon, the epic battle of boy vs. girl. By the time our full scale attack had begun I had already fell victim to another enemy, homework. Totally incapacitated with my own responsibility I was unable to support my brothers in their fight. This was made all the more difficult when I learned that the enemy had made a counterattack, pushing back our forces and causing casualties on our side, one of them my own room-mate and good friend. From what I know it lasted a grueling 15 minutes.

Though I was not involved in the battle, I have seen its devastating effects... water shrapnel spread over the school parking lot, even into the school's billiard room from which the main thrust of the boys attack stemmed from, countless bodies the victim of its cold, wet dampness. How it fell, popped, splashed, and sprayed without mercy.

The war is not over. Small battles are still being fought and, I believe, will continue to be fought with no resolve but to satisfy each parties own desire to use water to instill fear as a means of control. The conflict will go on.

The other water event that took place this weekend, was a canoe trip me and Charles and my good friend Dave went on. Saturday we left for a 5 hr voyage down the historic St. Croix River, encountering some small rapids and beautiful scenery. On the map there was a point on the river called "little falls", which we anticipated with some anxiety and excitement. It was little, but falls none-the-less. We pulled up to the bank a little way upstream and with the help of some more a experienced canoer scouted out the best route to go. We chose to hit the bulk of the falls, in the part experiencing the most drop and flow. It was GREAT! And we survived! It was actually easier than we had thought, but all that is said after the fact and had anyone else with the same experience level we had looked at the falls before going off I'm sure would have at least had a portion of the fear we experienced. Anyway, the whole experience was great and rewarding: seeing a couple eagles, enjoying the beauty of creation around us, emerging victorious from the falls, and bonding with the boys.

Now that all my fun is done, I have to catch up on all the homework and reading that I deferred to be able to have such an experience :) I'll drop a couple pictures for you to enjoy. (top pic of me and my buddy Dave a little while back)

St. Stephen's University

I thought it would be good to give a bit more information about the school I'm studying at... some interesting facts, some insights and maybe I'll even got to some personal opinion.

We'll start with some insight into the school...
-Called St. Stephen's University (SSU), located in the small town of St. Stephen, New Brunswick
-Established in the early seventies
-Offers a Bachelor of Arts program and also a Master's in Ministry
-Also offers a One year diploma in worship leadership (which looks really cool by the way)
-Seeks to reach more than the academic and vocational needs by their want to build and equip individuals with "feeling minds and thinking hearts"

Some interesting facts...
-SSU sits overlooking the St. Croix river, which just further down-river was the landing site of some of the earliest settlers to north America at the turn of the 17th century
-Park Hall, the main building of SSU, was built in 1866, a year before Canada's Confederation
-When first purchased for use of a university in the 1970s Park Hall was condemned, on the vurge of destruction, but has since been (and continues to be) slowly and carefully restored
-Other buildings of SSU are built in the same age and style as Park Hall, Todd Hall looks very much like the house you would expect the Adam's Family to take up residence
-St. Stephen is a border-town, right across the river is Calais, Maine and from the campus it takes about five minutes to find oneself on the US side checking out shops

First weekend experience in NB

hey all,
I'm pretty well settled out here in New Brunswick and starting to get into classes now. I thought it would be neat to try this blog thing out and write one interesting thing each week and, therefore, let you know some of what's happening in my life.

I'll start with my weekend. This last weekend a bunch of students from the University out here went to an island in NB called Campebella Island. It's interesting for a couple reasons. First, in order to get there by car you have to drive through Maine. It's so close to Maine that you can actually drive across a bridge onto the island (and then promptly have a border crossing, which is funny for an island so small), but it takes about an hour and a half of driving just to get there! Second, this island is where Franklin D. Roosevelt and his family went to stay during the summer months at their summer cottage. It is still there, furniture, pictures, cups, silverware and all, and it is open to the public to take a walk through.

We also visited an old lighthouse, only accessable after a short scramble over rocks and boulders during lowtide. A few of the students saw a whale and a few more of us saw a sea lion. Pretty cool. The scenery and company was just great, taking it all in and enjoying the adventure of getting to meet new people and do new things. The area that we were in would be considered part of the Bay of Funday, and we could see some islands and mainland in the distance. The picture posted is of the lighthouse on the island.

Well, thats it for now. I need to get some reading done for my classes. I'll try to give more of an inside scoop on the school and classes the next chance I have some time.