let the classes begin

Today I came to Mercer for our pre-departure classes, and it was really great!  It was so encouraging to finally have people to talk with about the material we have been reading for weeks.  It was also wonderful to see everyone.  It makes the trip seem so real now!  Today there were so many times where I could hardly decide to laugh or cry from excitement, so I mostly just smiled and nodded a lot so I wouldn't embarrass myself.

Dr. Grant talked with us about Lenin, who is embalmed and can be visited in Russia to this day...and yes, that is what I took from the video we watched about Lenin's life.  Also, in the beginning of the video, one scholar claimed that Lenin did not come from a broken family as his actions later in life would seem to reflect, but he did encounter what I think would be pretty damaging, psychologically, when it comes to his family.  What I mean by this is that, while he may have had a great family in his youth, his father died, and his brother was hanged before Lenin even graduated high school.  Not the perfect family situation if you ask me.  Breaking point?  Probably so.  Also, tomorrow I will add a photo of the nesting dolls that Dr. Grant used to teach us about the Soviet leaders.  I love visual aids.

Dr. Drake had us watch a movie called Fail-Safe, and it was one of those really intense movies that are really good, but also really bad at the same time.  Here's a photo.  Please watch the movie or visit IMDB to read what it was all about.  We related it back to an essay we read called "Perils of Obedience" which discusses the Stanley Milgram experiment.  You should look into that too, if you aren't familiar with it.  Once you do that, you will be up to date with everything I did today.  :)

Also, another student will be in charge of managing a group blog for our trip, and as soon as I have our link, I will post that on here so you can see the writings of everyone in our group as well.  In addition, I discovered that I can make Skype calls for free as long as I have access to free wi-fi, so make sure I have your Skype username if you'd like to talk to me while I am overseas!

That's all I have for now!  More class tomorrow, and getting so excited to leave on Thursday!  Wow!

it's a journey

I can't sleep.  If you've checked the time-stamp of this post, I guess that's a pretty obvious statement to make.  I'm just way to excited.  I have to be up at 6:15 in the morning so that I can get ready to drive to Mercer for class.  I've been doing a lot of work on my paper, and I've also been gathering information for my group presentation, and now I have no desire to sleep.  I feel like I've done so much this week to prepare for this trip, yet there is STILL so much left to be done.

I have everything packed for the trip.  Now I just have to make it through 3 days of classes, 4 nights of limited sleep, 2 plane rides (with 2 long layovers), and I'll be there!  But I don't want to get ahead of myself.  I have certainly enjoyed the whole process, and I intend to make every minute of this experience count, from packing down to the final ride home after the trip.  I'm excited to be one step closer to being there, but I'm also trying to enjoy the journey itself.  Reading books, writing papers, and packing bags is all part of the experience, and so far it has been a great experience.  Let's hope that continues!

I guess it's time to try to sleep!  I'll leave you with this photo of my packed bag: