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.