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!

phone problems

Today I was having issues with my cell phone and it's charger, and it led me to think about what 3 weeks with limited access to my phone will be like.  Now, before I go any further, I would like to say that I have also been thinking about tons of other, more important aspects of this trip, mostly the people, but I'm choosing to write about something as materialistic as my cell phone at this point in time.  I don't think I'm fully ready to start writing about my emotions yet!

So, the cell phone...when I actually get out of the country, I will no longer log on to Facebook or the internet using my cell phone.  The closer the trip gets, the more I actually realize how much time I spend on my phone using all of these applications.  That being said, I think that being in Armenia/Georgia for three weeks without instant access will be somewhat liberating.  I've thought several times of deleting my Facebook just because of the time that it takes away from other aspects of my life, but I always end up keeping it for some reason, the main one being that it is a prime mode of communication between myself and most of my friends, family, and even professors.  So, since I never can quite make myself delete my sites, a vacation from them is usually the closest I can get to getting away from them for a while.

While it will be a nice break, it will also be very strange.  Limited access to Facebook and the use of text messaging will mean limited communication with my friends and family while I am gone.  It also means that the way I communicate will have to change some.  That's one of the reasons that I am writing this blog--this way, I can still let everyone know what's going on with me, even if I don't know exactly how things are going back here at home.

I'm sure that there will be so many things going on in Armenia and Georgia that I will have less time to even think about being on my cell phone.  I can't even begin to imagine all of the people I will meet and learn about.  All of the thoughts swimming around in my head are so overwhelming at times that I can hardly put it into words, hence the random, lengthy post about a cell phone.
I'm sure I'll get to writing about all my thoughts about the people I'll meet, the work I'll be doing, and the work that God will be doing soon enough; just bear with me until I get to that point!  As always, prayers and comments are greatly encouraged and appreciated!