class day 2

I have a very serious prayer request for my trip.  I know for certain that there will be people who pray for our safety and for blessings over our trip, but if someone could PLEASE pray for my camera, I would appreciate it more than you know.  Please make sure that someone prays that my camera will work flawlessly so that I can use the talents that God has given me and be able to share what I see in Armenia and Georgia when I come back to the states.  I know that He has given me a talent for photography, and that I need to use that talent to bring glory to Him, so please pray for that, in addition, of course, to the safety of the members on our trip as well as blessings over our interactions with the people of Armenia and Georgia.

On to other things.  Today in class we made a list of who was going to get engaged, and in what order.  I have photos, but I'm not sure if I should post them.  We'll just have to see what happens.
But what we really did in class today was talk about a book we read called A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch.  We also watched a really long movie on Stalin, who sacrificed his people to create a world power.  He industrialized Russia, certainly, but he lost many citizens in the process.  Russians love powerful leaders, though.  What do we as Americans value in a leader?  I'll think on that one, but I'm pretty sure I would rather have someone concerned with the desires of the people as opposed to satisfying their desires of power and ambition.

Watching the Stalin documentary.

We also had two group presentations.  One presentation was about minorities in Armenia and Georgia, and my group's presentation was about education in the two countries.  It was really helpful to be able to hear all of the information that my peers had gathered about each country.  It was also great that I didn't have to research each topic myself!  I did end up with a topic that I feel really strongly about, though, and I'm looking forward to seeing what Armenian and Georgian citizens have to say about their educational system.

Tomorrow we should have a pretty short class, and then I will be able to go home for an evening before heading to the airport early Thursday morning!  I continue to get more and more excited as the flight approaches, but I'm also still very nervous.  I haven't fully wrapped my head around what it will be like to be out of the country with limited contact with my family and friends for three weeks.  But the truth is, many students have done a trip like this before me, and many will continue to do it after me, and if they can do it, so can I.  This will be a very intense learning experience for me, and I'm hoping to use it to my full advantage.  I just pray that I can keep a positive outlook for the duration of the trip and trust that God will give me the strength to get through the rough spots.  You are invited to pray for these things as well! :)

Also, have I mentioned that I'm really glad that you're reading this blog?  Thank you!  I appreciate your support as I embark on this journey!

organizing

I love organizing.  The downside?  I tend to become super obsessive about organizing when I am nervous or stressed out about something.  The downside to that?  I don't realize that I'm stressed out until AFTER I've done all of the organizing.  The story that explains where this self discovery came from?  As follows:

This evening I spent approximately 2 hours (yes TWO) taking the agenda for my trip and putting it into my Google calendar.  When I first started doing it, it seemed like a great idea for several reasons.  1. It would make my itinerary easier to distribute to my family and friends. (This proved to be false.) 2. It would give me easy access to it while traveling; look it up on my phone and voila! no shuffling of papers and such.  (Also, proven false.) 3. I thought it would be quick and easy. (Again, false...clearly.)
#1 was wrong because I realized, after I put everything in my Google calendar, that I had already forwarded the email with the agenda to my parents.  I'm sure my mom has already printed it out and put it on her desk at work.  If not, she will this week, for sure.  (My mom did, however like the idea of having access to a day-by-day plan of what I would be doing readily available on HER phone.)
#2 was false because, as I mentioned in my previous post, I cannot access the internet on my cell phone while out of the U.S. (I still think that I can sync my calendar though, and not have to be connected to the internet to view it.  Working on that one.)
#3 False again because, well, it took me 2 hours to do it.

And after all of this, I realized that I was spending time 'organizing' (aka being counter-productive) because I am getting so nervous and excited about this trip, and I can hardly contain myself.  Too bad I didn't think about that fully before I started working with my Google calendar.  Then maybe I could have made a better plan of action!

If you would like the link to my Google calendar so that you can check out all the cool places I'll be going...like Lake Sevan and the birthplace of Stalin, then comment with your email address, and I'll forward the calendar link to you.  It really is going to be an awesome trip, and looking at the agenda for 2 hours did make me even more excited about it!