I began my stay in Dublin in a hotel along Rathmines, with only one of my roommates present after hours on my own. Our apartment, we were told, was currently being cleaned; we would move in when it was ready, most likely after a night or two. As it turned out, though, we only had to wait a few hours. The entire IES Summer Studies group met at The Portobello Pub to get to know each other, and my roommate Rebekah Smith and I discovered that our other two flatmates had already moved in.

After having studied the cathedral at Reims in Art History class, I could not turn down the opportunity to see it in person, so I ventured with a group of IES students on an excursion to see it this week.  Seeing it in person leaves such a strong impression, one that textbook photos and projector slides cannot live up to, but I hope the photos I took will give you a sense of the enormous scale, intricate detail, and awe inspiring presence that the Reims cathedral has.   

After a grueling 13 and a half hour flight and an hour bus ride, I'm finally in Beijing! So far the weather has been wonderful-- not too hot and not too cold, with clear skies and rain. The weather is quite different from what I expected, having heard people in the U.S. complain about Beijing's air quality. ((While I'm sure there are bad pollution days, so far the air has been quite clean!!))

6-4-15

Senatus Populus Que Romanus.  The Senate and the People of Rome.  This Latin initialism is plastered, painted, cast, and carved into the city.  You see it on distinguished ancient monuments and equally undistinguished objects of the mundane: the Arch of Titus, a manhole cover, Trajan’s column, a fire extinguisher, the plinth of the Marcus Aurelius equestrian statue, that ornamental bottle opener I nearly purchased last week...I wonder how many unfortunates have such a drunken tattoo, and I will eat my socks if there isn’t an

6-1-15

It is June 6, 2015, and summer has officially begun in Freiburg.  The midday heat is by far enough to convince me.  More importantly however, classes are in full swing, and we’ve started getting down to the nitty-gritty.

Destination: Istanbul (IST)- To many passengers, the three letters "IST" that follow behind "Istanbul" are unnecessary, merely repeating the obvious that the plane they will board will get them to the city of Istanbul. Yet it means so much more. I spent my childhood staring up at traditional-style departure boards at airports. Initially startling, their loud clacking soon became synonymous with the excitement of flights having departed and even more being readied for departure.

The sky through my plane window was piled high with cotton-candy clouds the color of ashes. It was the beginning of what was bound to be a long day; I'd been up since eight o'clock in the morning, prepping for my trip, and this flight - the first of two - was set to land at just past five in Charlotte, North Carolina. The forecast had said thunderstorms, and though we hadn't seen any lightning yet, the pilot had warned us to keep our seatbelts on through the turbulence.