If I'm Being Honest

Well... Here I am in London

2009-05-26T05:08:00.000-07:00

And I don't really know what to write. In the Swiss Alps I went bouldering (SO much fun) and the next day got to go to the top of the peak we were staying at. I think it will be awhile before I appreciate the four mountains I can see at home on a good day. Then we went a bit down the mountain and took trotti bikes (like really awesome scooters, I guess) down the rest of the way. If we wanted to, those things could go so fast. It was incredible. I loved it. SO much. Like seriously. Anyway... Berlin was really sobering, and difficult to transition to after the Alps where I felt so at home and happy and peaceful. We went to a concentration camp, and Bonhoeffer's house (check him out if you don't know anything about him), and Wittenburg where Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of a church, as well as other places. Of course, we also saw some of the remnants of the Berlin wall, and met with some students and adults who talked about how the East/West split has affected their lives, even 20 years after it came down.

We were there on ascension day, which they didn't treat religiously. Everyone had a beer in hand... at 10 am. Not to mention the rest of the day. And Saturday was a festival celebrating 60 years of Germany being a country or something like that. I don't read German, if we're being honest. That night, however, instead of going to the festival like some of the group did, my friends Nikki and Ryan and I found bikes to rent and toured the city and had authentic Italian food. That was great, because the food sort of book-ended our trip.

Gotta say it's going to be so weird without 13 of the people I've been hanging out with for three weeks. Just down to Callan and I now and it's nice and relaxing, but different. I'm sure there will be things that I find that I'll want to share with my other homies, ya know? Oh, and I miss you folks back home too, of course, but probably more than I could express.

Happily, Callan and I made it from the Frankfurt Airport to our hotel in London with absolutely no difficulty. the shuttle my travel agent arranged for us was awesome: leather seats, cool blue lighting... and people driving on the "wrong" side of the road isn't even as confusing as I thought it would be. But I have somewhere to be soon, so I think I'm gonna head out. I miss everyone! T - one week until I'm home again!!!

Okay okay so I'm bad at updating

2009-05-18T05:38:00.001-07:00

...but the internet isn't really free anywhere. a quick list of things i've done:

1. saw the Pope
2. got lost in Rome
3. been to St. Peter's square, the vatican, St. Peter's basilica, the collesium, Paul and Peter's prison, Constantine's arch.
4. ate lots and lots of Gelato, including Nutella gelato.
5. went to Assisi
6. spent an hour in Florence
7. slept on an overnight train (this time in a real sleeper car!)
8. woke up in Geneva.
9. saw Calvin's house and church
10. ate Genevan pizza where the waiter teased my friend Ryan.
11. spent a week at a monastary called Taize where I made lots of high school German friends, and a few friends from other places too.
12. went up to the Swiss Alps, where I'm currently staying

so yes... I'm almost halfway done with my trip and it has gone by so fast and it's so great. i hope y'all are having fun back in the states.

Leaving For Europe Soon!

2009-05-02T19:54:00.000-07:00

Ahhh!! It's less than two full days before I head off for Juniors Abroad! I can't believe it's here already. My spring semester just flew by and now it's time to celebrate. :) Hopefully I'll be able to post a few anecdotes and pictures during my trip, to keep y'all updated on how cool I am. Or at least what sort of places I'm visiting...

Still Life

2008-05-14T10:53:00.001-07:00

Imitation

2008-05-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

I never thought there were so many ways to capture a piano!!!Music 1 by Peter Snelling

Hoover 105 Piano by me. Edited in Photoshop and Microsoft Office Picture Manager.

Vineyard

2008-05-14T09:08:00.001-07:00

Sarah, this is for you

2008-05-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

The way I would crop it, possibly. Just an idea.

Newberg Fire Station

2008-05-12T09:30:00.001-07:00

Historic Highway-- May 5, 2008 (Darkroom)

2008-05-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

I took two rolls of film at Multnomah Fallsand stopped printing in the darkroom because I got bored... but I liked a lot more than the five I decided to print. Maybe I'll have time (and desire?) next week to print more.

I don't like this one very much. I printed it because I took almost the exact same picture as a senior in high school. I thought it was really funny, because I tried really hard NOT to take this picture when I was there.

At the top of Multnomah Falls. Same angle as the digital pictures where I played with shutter speed.

This one is my absolute favorite. Happiness is a waterfall.

Walking up to the top was really tiring, so I decided to take a break for a minute and take a picture of some rocks. Worthwhile? I think so, definitely.

I took this through the stones at Vista House. When I was taking it, some older women came up and asked permission to copy my idea. I felt flattered!

McMinnville-- April 29, 2008

2008-05-08T11:19:00.001-07:00

These were all taken on my manual camera, and darkroom developed. AKA I spent forever getting these five prints. After I scanned them into the computer, I did some photoshop editing to make them look good digitally as well.

Steven's feet on an old-fashioned bicycle.

Cat in the window of a dance studio...

Some flowers.

A window of Hotel Oregon, with my signature tree reflection and framing.

I'm not fond of this one as much, but I needed a sale picture.

A Montage of my Favorite Pictures

2008-05-08T10:01:00.000-07:00

The digital pictures were taken on automatic or scene settings. The manual pictures were taken on my SLR camera with C-41 film, digitally saved to my computer.

Taken in Washington at my friend Aaron's house-- edited to saturate the colors and the blacks in Microsoft Picture Editor.

A fake flower at my great-grandma's house in Otis. Taken digitally on a macro scene setting, edited briefly for optimal color saturation.

Roses in downtown Portland. Taken with film on my SLR using entirely manual settings.

When I went to Europe in 2005, my sister and I kept fighting for the best sunset picture. Taken the first day of our 11-day trip, I think I won. I took it while on a cruise on the Seine River in Paris, using a digital camera on automatic settings.

I got so depressed when the GFU chess set was broken, and I don't even play chess! But I guess it makes this picture, taken digitally in 2007, all the more special.

My Jesus Poem-- April 17, 2008

2008-05-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

"He Cried"

One smile, one nod, one note: one lie
I answered quick the question, "No... I'm fine."
I read the Bible, but I missed the line
Which read "This is the time to weep, to cry."
Instead I saw a mirror: the smile I kept
Upon my lips to honor Holy Place
(Or so they sometimes call the church these days)
And never understood that Jesus wept.
I wonder then, if when he smile
Which He knew was a lie, my smile a sin,
2000 years ago, if that was when
He wept. I was, like Peter, in denial.
Perhaps the tears he cried (I wish I would)
Helped form the sea where Peter tried to stand.
If so, sunk in sorrow, he took His hand
To navigate the dark like Jesus could.
To follow like the Christ he once denied
He, understanding sorrow, took the cross
And, upside down, he redeemed my loss
And did what I could not-- he cried.

Trappist Abbey-- May 6, 2008

2008-05-08T09:45:00.000-07:00

A brand-new pack of batteries and they lasted for less than 15 pictures. Sometimes my camera annoys me.

I fell in love with these flowers.

Does it show?

It took me forever to get a picture of this duck. It wouldn't cooperate with me.

With a really low aperature.

With a higher aperature.

Historic Highway-- May 5, 2008

2008-05-08T09:25:00.001-07:00

Here are the few digital pictures I was able to take on a trip to Multnomah Falls.

At the top of Multnomah Falls, right before it goes of the edge. 1/100 shutter speed.

At the top of Multnomah Falls again, this time 1/1000 shutter speed.

Vista House, looking through the stones along the railing.

One of the waterfalls on the way to Multnomah. Less crowded; just as beautiful.

The stream leading away from the lesser-known falls.

Stole this idea from Dave Hanson, but I love it. So I guess it's okay.

Classic Multnomah Falls shot

The view from Vista House

Looking through a sign which said "Portland." I took it with the whole word, but this one looks cooler. So... this one wins.

If you were interested in knowing me...

2008-05-08T09:22:00.000-07:00

Written December 11, 2007-- If I Were Now to Describe Myself

If I were, now, to describe myself

I wouldn’t draw a picture.

I never was much of an artist.

I wouldn’t play music.

It’s too abstract.

I wouldn’t write a book.

I could never commit myself to so long a project.

If I were, now, to describe myself

I would just tell you that I’m a poem.

Short, and sometimes disjointed.

Better than math

Because the whole is always more

Than the sum of its parts.

I may not make sense to you

But I try my best to know myself.

I choose my words carefully

And my grammar even more so

Each one meaning something

If not to you, then at least to me.

Maybe I present a paradox

Or one stanza tells you I’m something different

Than the stanza before.

But that’s okay.

I’m not straightforward.

They call it creative license.

People have to interpret me.

And usually they get it wrong.

But I suppose if I appear one way

Then that is what I am too.

Because I am not the decider of my legacy.