quickly! by Hannah

I am so not busy that I can't seem to find time to post. Will update soon...working on Hello still (to post pictures from Spain, Audrey!) but it's being ridiculous. It's finally getting warm here! And I am paler than I've ever been in my life! I'll have some serious catching up to do when I get back to sunny Tennessee in the middle of the hot summer- I can't wait! Miss you all!

Bible study? by Hannah

Hey kids, I'm in Spain. I've been singing that Counting Crows song for a week now...sing a long...
I just wanted to tell you all that A) Spain is beautiful and B) When I just tried to get to this website it sent me to awesomebiblestudies.com. I have no idea. Is God trying to tell me something?

Looking forward to joint-posting, by Hannah

No kids, not that kind of joint. Not that kind either. You sick, sick people. I just wanted to say that I can't wait till I'm back in Berea next fall and Rachel and I can update about our experiences together! I MISS that. And I pretty much have no motivation to finish my updates about my travels. But I will. Someday.

Until then, just remember that
We are so pretty ponies.

And check this guy out: Ray LaMontagne

Oh yeah... by Rachel

I forgot to write that we saw a dead armadillo on the beach. Apparently that is "abnormal." (A little boy on the beach told us that fact and then said, "Actually, I don't know... I just wanted to use the word abnormal."

And then I found $300.

I'm not kidding.

It was in an envelope with my name on it in Academic Services for a writing competition.

I am just that cool.....

How many times do I have to tell you? Don't throw the ball into oncoming traffic? by Rachel

It has been entirely too long, so I am gonna sit here with the remainder of the pineapple sherbert from Beki's recital and update update update.

So, a few weekends ago, just after spring break, the Chamber Singers went to Charlotte, NC and sang at Peace Moravian Church. It was a BLAST. Our minivan was full of awesome people, so the rides there and back were fun. It was lower 70's or so when we left Berea and it was the same in Charlotte. On the way over the mountain however, we hit snow. Blah.

The family Bek and I stayed with are aaaawesome people. We ate spaghetti, one of the daughters, Leah, played her grandfather's old Gibson (beautiful guitar) while their elder daughter, Kelsey, sang along, and Grant, their son, tried to copy his foot. And to top all that, we watched Finding Neverland. I love Johnny Depp. He can make me a cup of coffee anytime.

After that weeked trip, I left last Tuesday for Cocoa Beach, FL. And the school paid for it. Heck yeah! I went for a conference on Service-Learning, which was awesome. I learned so much and got to stay in a Hilton on the beach on top of that. We had a grrrrreat time. Just like Tony. The Tiger. Err.....

And now the moment you've all been waiting for... (drum roll please).... an explanation of my title. So, I went to work this evening and as I was walking through the office, Pat, Jose, and David asked me to go to Blondie's (a little ice-cream place) with them. So, being lactose intolerant and all, I said yes. Of course. :) We get down there in one piece. Except for Jose who had a sudden nose bleed attack (I think he got too close to the Beautiful Nug Company.... ah, the high life, hehehe). I had no idea what was going on because Pat and David were running across the road and Jose all of a sudden begins yelling, "Oh shit!" "Oh damn!". It was quite funny. Really. He then held out his bloody hands and asked if I had a tissue. I was nice and gave him a lemon scented tissue.

Anyway, on the way back from Blondie's, the boys were tossing Pat's one ball (it's bouncy) back and forth between him. Then David catches it and heaves it at Jose. It misses Jose and flies into oncoming traffic where it hits a blue Pontiac. Oops! Yeah, we all go running (me in a skirt, quite funny I'm sure) behind the buildings and take the back way to campus. The back way being the alley behind all of the buildings. Yeah. Up hills, over little wall things. In a skirt.

We never did get the bouncy ball back. We did take a breather at the Dick tree bench. And Jose and David tweeked the nipple tulip in the president's boob garden. They're boys, what can I say.....

Ah, to another day in Berea....

Travel journals...by Hannah

So now that I've been back to England for nearly a week and I'm starting to feel human again, I'm ready to update on the travelling. It might not all happen tonight--my current roomie, Kim, is in the middle of a research project and therefore might require the use of her own internet connection, but, for right now, she's letting me use it for a few minutes while I type this stuff up. As some of you are aware, my travels began on

March 18th, when Kimberly and I left around 9 am for the big city-ness of London. When we got into the city we checked to see when we could get the train (the channell-tunnell, the chunnell for those of us who loved Mission Impossible back in the day. No, not that far back in the day. The one that Tom Cruise was in.) to Paris. When we found out we couldn't leave until almost 8 that evening (it was currently midmorning-ish) we were a little dismayed, but turned the day into another time to experience London. We sat in the park with the locals and had peanut butter and jelly (Kimberly IS a genius, yo), and we walked a long, long way. Along the way we encountered a great street-side booksale, which I later wished I had hit up in more depth, and we eventually found Shakespeare's Globe Theater. It was as spectacular as we thought it would be. Actually, it was a little too spectacular. In any case, when we surfaced and checked watches, we realized we had somehow misplaced an entire hour of our day, and we were in danger of missing our ridiculous train to Paris! We ended up almost speed walking back to the station, because, really you guys, running was just not happening, and we made our train in plenty of time, with a very nice set of seats sharing a table. Unfortunately, we were joined shortly after this by a pair of smelly college-type boys. They were really really smelly. Once reaching Paris and after the taxi line from hell (in which we met two American girls who were also studying abroad in England), 75 "location checks", and a less than honest taxi driver, we made it to our hotel, the illustrious Hotel Andre Gill. Can I use illustrious in that sense? I think I will anyway. We checked into the hotel, woke our room mate, and crashed, since it was way past midnight. We woke up the next morning and ventured down to breakfast. It was about then that we realized two things about the Hotel Andre Gill. 1) It was in Montmarte, which is the hippie area of town, where the Bohemian Revolution (think "Moulin Rouge") happened, where Picasso lived, etc. Not only in Montmarte though, we were literally a block from the Red Light District and the largest variety of sex shops I've ever witnessed. Really, that's not too surprising, since I've never witnessed any sex shops. 2) This was way more like a hotel, since they serve you breakfast and make your beds during the day. So why was it cheap like a hostel? As our roomie the second night put it, in her cute Aussie way, the hotel was "on the dodge." Anyway, Kim and I ventured out in the city very excitedly, and conquered the metro on our first day. The first day we went to the Arc D'Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower, and we had ham and cheese crepes in a park, and took tons of pictures, and were generally very happy people. We also walked by a bunch of other cool things, and went to Notre Dame right around sunset, which was absolutely breathtaking, and went to the Picasso museum, which was really thrilling. Our second day we did the museum thing: we went to the Louvre and almost died trying to see the Mona Lisa. It was, however, worth it, and not just because we can now say we have seen the world's most famous painting close up, but because the painting is that famous for a reason. It was perfect, and imperfect, and also thrilling. We also tackled the Musee D'Orsay, which was full of Monets, Manets, and Degas' paintings that overwhelmed me and made me very, very happy. The Degas painting of the two girls in the blue ballet skirts was there, the one that was on loan in Nashville last summer, that I got in trouble for standing too close to. I made sure to stand at a respectful distance this time. The third day in Paris we unfortunately spent a large chunk of wandering around in the Gare De Lyon, the most confusing and ill laid out train station in the history of train stations, looking for the left luggage place so we could go chill at Luxembourg Gardens for the afternoon, but once we finally got there it was worth it. Very relaxing and peaceful, despite loads of other people there doing the same thing. That night Kimberly and I took a sleeper train from Paris to Venice, and we arrived there on the morning of

March 22nd. After some unfortunate bus problems, we made it to our hostel, which was a campground. We were given the keys to a lovely little trailor type thing, with very clean beds, a heater, and our own bathroom. I'm a big fan of these little trailor type things. Our first day in Venice we got real Italian pasta and then Gelati, which was the best thing ever created, and maybe the cheapest food I ate on my whole trip! Then we wandered around and marvelled at our surroundings, taking lots of pictures all the time of course, so no one would mistake us for anything but tourists. Also, Kim got snorted at. We slept really really well that night, since the sleeper train wasn't so much a sleeper as a train, at least for me. The next day we walked all over, saw some amazing Piazzas and churches (including San Marco, which was ridiculously full of pigeons), and the Peggy Guggenheim collection (including some awesome Jackson Pollock pieces. That's me, I go to Italy to see American art), and had our first Italian pizza. And then maybe some more gelati, I can't remember. The next morning I got on a train to Florence, and Kim took a plane back to London. It was a sad goodbye. My travels after this, while amazing, seemed much less humorous!

More coming tomorrow, I'm tired and going to bed!

Stupid Hello, by Hannah

Updates are coming soon! Here's a tidbit for ya: I talked to my Rachel on the phone for like a half an hour today!!!! It made my week, and generally my life, so much better. Also, my hair is pink again. Kimberly helped me. She is one heck of a cookie monster-ing hair stylist kids, don't you forget it. This is pretty much just to say...in response to my mom's questions and Josh wanted to see Rome pictures, that the picture posting program is being dumb, and as soon as it starts behaving, I'll post tons o' pictures. Actually, I shall try to limit myself to 2 per cool city I was in. We'll see how that goes. Anyhooooo, they will be coming soon. AND a big thank you to Megan, my favorite rubberband, for the email. It made me laugh uproariously.

Chicken bakes and Girl Scout Cookies, by Hannah

Hey howdy hey. Once again, I'm in England and I sure do love it. Last night I spent the night with Kimberly, and it was like a great big slumber party! Then Josh lost his keys, took my floor-bed, and Kim and I slept end to end on her little twin bed! Not much sleep on anyone's part, needless to say. Once we all woke up we went to Gregg's and got chicken bakes! Oh my goodness, it was even better than I remembered and I think I'll go get another one tomorrow. I am such a big fan. I might even be the BIGGEST fan. And to try and relive my first days in Lancaster, I had some Ribena. For those of you not priveledged enough to have ever been here, Ribena is blackcurrant juice. Some people like it, some people hate it, and me, I like it for about a day, and then I hate it for 2 weeks, and then I might like it again. It kind of grows on you, or something. Then I got the porter to let me into my room to get some stuff, which was lovely. Then we hung around Josh's for awhile and I looked at my digital pictures from my trip, and that was awesome! Once I get my computer hooked up to the internet again I'll post some on the picture website. Then I fell asleep at Josh's and he went to play basketball and I watched "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." I'm a big fan of that too, you should go watch it...now! Then we ate pizza, and Girl Scout Cookies (my mom's package was a huge success: two pairs of flip flops, cookies, ear antiseptic stuff from Claire's, and a Baptist Hospital bag...hahaha), and then I called my mom. And that was the high point of my whole day. I LOVE MY MOM. And I miss her terribly. Anyway, then I got on aim and talked to Martina and that was lovely, and right now I'm talking to Treloar, and I emailed a bunch of people so I feel all caught up in my social stuff, and much better. I heard from my baby monkey whom I miss and love, and from the other Josh in Berea who sent me this "timeline." I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did--I'm tired so I'm going to eat more cookies and watch Alias and update this more tomorrow whenI have more energy!

March 27th -- Easter Sunday. Crowd at St. Peter's is warmed to see a frail but determined Pope John Paul II present Easter Mass and give his blessing. Hannah McCreery arrives in Rome from Florence carrying a mysterious backback....

March 29th -- The Pope's health mysteriously takes a turn for the worse. Hannah McCreery temporarily disappears from Rome on a trip to Pompeii. Neither Vatican City officials, the Naples' Policia or the CIA can confirm or deny Hannah's whereabouts...

March 31st -- The Pope's health is very critical. Vatican Officials wonder whether the 84 year old Pope will pull through. Later that night Hannah McCreery boards a train to France...

April 1st -- Vatican City representatives declare that it is only a matter of time before the Pope will pass. Several news agencies mistakenly report the Pope's death. Millions around the world pray for the ailing Pope, that his death will be easy and painless. Hannah McCreery does not pray...

April 2nd -- The world hears the news that at 7:37 pm Rome time, the Pope officially passed away. The whereabouts of Hannah McCreery to this day are unknown....probably because she never emails her friends to tell them what she is up to...

Back in England, by Hannah

Hey kids, just wanted to say that...
I heart England! Which is why I'm back from my travels. I rolled in today around 5 to a duck, apple pies, and Wetherspoon's with Kimberly and Josh! I'm going to bed happy and full, for sure. Since my planning sucks, I'm not allowed to move back into my room for a few days and Kimberly is being lovely and letting me shack up with her till then. But, this also means that I don't have my computer! And that's sadness. But even more sad is...I don't have clean clothes! I really have to sweet talk the porter tomorrow morning and see if he'll let me at least get some stuff out of my room! AND I can get my package from my mom--Girl Scout cookies and Old Navy flip flops, as far as I know! So I'm off to bed, and I'll update more tomorrow. I have extensive travelling journals, some of which I shall relay onto here.