It's started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word
And then that word grew louder and louder
Till it was a battle cry
I'll come back when you call me
No need to say goodbye.
Just because everything's changing
Doesn't mean it's never been this way before
All you can do is try to know who your friends are
As you head off to the war
Pick a star on the dark horizon
And follow the light
You'll come back when it's over
No need to say goodbye
Now we're back to the beginning
It's just a feeling and no one knows yet
But just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that you have to forget
Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
Till they're before your eyes
You'll come back when they call you
No need to say goodbye.
-=Regina Spektor=-
Friday, July 25, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
THREE MONTHS!
Oy! It's been three months. So sorry... soooo soooo sorry!
So much has been going on, and this whole being a senior in college thing is kinda rough... and I don't even get to graduate till next year! (stupid gen-eds!!!!)
Two of my best friends got engaged... Jason and Ashley (you can see them in the below post)... happiness abounds :)
Lots going on in my life... and probably more pictures than I can ever begin to upload... oy!
Soon, my friends and family... sooon...
So much has been going on, and this whole being a senior in college thing is kinda rough... and I don't even get to graduate till next year! (stupid gen-eds!!!!)
Two of my best friends got engaged... Jason and Ashley (you can see them in the below post)... happiness abounds :)
Lots going on in my life... and probably more pictures than I can ever begin to upload... oy!
Soon, my friends and family... sooon...
Monday, February 4, 2008
my life here
It's hard to believe that it's now been well over a month since I was overseas. The culture shock has worn off, and certainly the jetlag as well... and I'm quite settled into my life back in Fairborn, Ohio.
I recently realized that not many of you guys know much about my life here. Well, I'm happy to tell you all about it.
I live in a house that has been divided into 5 two bedroom apartments... I live in one of those apartments with two other guys (Kyle and Josh). The house is right off of campus (about a 4 minute walk to most of my classes), and only a 5-10 minute drive from the restaurant I work at. The house is owned by Chi Alpha Christian Ministries, a campus group that I've been a part of for the past three years, and everyone who lives in it is on the upper leadership team of the group.
I love my apartment. A lot. It is truly the place that I feel most at-home in the world. It's not huge, but it's nice. We have some art hung up in the living room (which, I admit, is a bit of a mess at the moment), a moderately large kitchen and dining room, a bathroom (of course!) that is painted bright blue. All three of us share one bedroom (I know it sounds crazy, but it works out great!), that happens to be painted BRIGHT ORANGE. Like... safety hazard warning orange. We chose the color. It makes it easy to wake up in the mornings :). The other bedroom, we have converted into a den/study room/prayer room. The walls are a dark mahogany, with some tan accents, and we hand-painted a map of the world on one of the walls... pictures of my apartment will be up with the next update (which will NOT take me another month to write... i promise!)
I serve tables at Don Pablos... I used to work full time 40+ hours a week bartending, but I have given up a lot of that and now only work 10-15 hours a week, and never bartending. I love my job, and I love the flexibility that it gives me. Management lets me set my own schedule, even to the point of just showing up whenever I want to work and they find a place for me to work. It's truly a huge blessing from the LORD. I'm also a full-time student, studying French (language, history, commerce, literature).
My friends comprise most of my life.
This is Kyle. Kyle is my best friend, roommate for two years now... he is the person that I can talk to when things are good or bad, and one of the few people in the world that I think I can say honestly knows me better than I know myself. I'm looking forward to another year and a half of being blessed by sharing this apartment with him. Incidentally, he's the president of the Ministry here...
It's a shame that my eyes are closed and that we look so goofy here, but this is me Kyle and Josh (my other roommate). Josh is an amazing friend of mine who moved in just this past fall. The three of us live together very well (there's surprisingly no drama considering the close quarters and all). It was Josh's idea to paint the map on the wall (man, I can't wait till I get a picture of that uploaded!)
Jason... there are very few words to describe Jason. He is brilliant, funny, incredibly talented, and nearly fluent in French as well. Jason's a senior biomedical-engineering major, and I'm proud to call him one of my best friends. Very few people in the world can combine engineering, jazz, coffee, squirrel hunting (yes... he hunts squirrels in our back yard), and French into their personality. Jason lives in the apartment just above mine. He and I lead worship together here at Wright State (he is an incredible guitarist... I stick to the piano.)
Dan. My authentic Indian friend. Once again, he just plain rocks my world. He is chill and relaxed and knows how to have a good time. He's graduating this year too (mechanical engineering... what is it with me and my engineer friends!)... I'm sad to see him go. He was the friend that I went to Paris to visit at the very beginning of December (he was there with a class trip... yes, he also speaks French). Dan has been a constant presence in my life over the past 3 years. He lives with Jason, just above my apartment.
Bethany lives in Texas. Bizarre, I know. A list of my best friends could not be complete without her though. There are just no words for how much she has affected my life, all of the things that she has taught me about friendship and how to give and receive love, and all of the countless hours that we have spent geeking out over ridiculous things that nobody else seems to ever understand. She's also quite the singer. Somewhere in the world, there is a DVD of the two of us singing "Mr. Jones" by Counting Crows... it will go down in history as one of the best performances of the song EVER (perhaps, I'll upload it to youtube?) Like I said, she lives in Texas now, where she is doing an internship learning how to be a campus pastor so that she can work with Chi Alpha Ministries for the rest of her life. Her passion is inexplainable. I miss her dearly, but thank the LORD often for the miracle of cell phones.
Brittany lives in Costa Rica now. She works with Book of Hope Ministries, and just spent 6 months working in indigenous tribes in South Africa (yes, I did mean to say South Africa). Now she's in language school in Costa Rica, followed by two years of touring various countries in South America. She was here in Dayton on leave when I got home from France, so I was very thankful to get to spend some time with her to reconnect. She and I have been through a lot together in the past three years. I love her dearly. (And hey! She was the one who got me the job at Don Pablo's!)
Ashley. again, there are no words. Only lots of music. She and I sing together and record together a lot. That's all I can really say... because there really are just no words for her. She's truly like a second sister to me. (This is a picture from her 21st birthday party that I "bar-tended").
My life is pretty much perfect right now. I can't think of a single thing that I would change! And, just to make the update complete, I feel that I should tell you all that since the last time I've seen most of you (which is, regrettably, a long long time ago), I have fallen 100% head-over-heels in love with Jesus. He has changed my life in so many ways, and it is only through Him that I can say I even have a life now.
For now, it's 3:00 AM and I must go to bed. I love you all very much!
I recently realized that not many of you guys know much about my life here. Well, I'm happy to tell you all about it.
I live in a house that has been divided into 5 two bedroom apartments... I live in one of those apartments with two other guys (Kyle and Josh). The house is right off of campus (about a 4 minute walk to most of my classes), and only a 5-10 minute drive from the restaurant I work at. The house is owned by Chi Alpha Christian Ministries, a campus group that I've been a part of for the past three years, and everyone who lives in it is on the upper leadership team of the group.
I love my apartment. A lot. It is truly the place that I feel most at-home in the world. It's not huge, but it's nice. We have some art hung up in the living room (which, I admit, is a bit of a mess at the moment), a moderately large kitchen and dining room, a bathroom (of course!) that is painted bright blue. All three of us share one bedroom (I know it sounds crazy, but it works out great!), that happens to be painted BRIGHT ORANGE. Like... safety hazard warning orange. We chose the color. It makes it easy to wake up in the mornings :). The other bedroom, we have converted into a den/study room/prayer room. The walls are a dark mahogany, with some tan accents, and we hand-painted a map of the world on one of the walls... pictures of my apartment will be up with the next update (which will NOT take me another month to write... i promise!)
I serve tables at Don Pablos... I used to work full time 40+ hours a week bartending, but I have given up a lot of that and now only work 10-15 hours a week, and never bartending. I love my job, and I love the flexibility that it gives me. Management lets me set my own schedule, even to the point of just showing up whenever I want to work and they find a place for me to work. It's truly a huge blessing from the LORD. I'm also a full-time student, studying French (language, history, commerce, literature).
My friends comprise most of my life.
This is Kyle. Kyle is my best friend, roommate for two years now... he is the person that I can talk to when things are good or bad, and one of the few people in the world that I think I can say honestly knows me better than I know myself. I'm looking forward to another year and a half of being blessed by sharing this apartment with him. Incidentally, he's the president of the Ministry here...
It's a shame that my eyes are closed and that we look so goofy here, but this is me Kyle and Josh (my other roommate). Josh is an amazing friend of mine who moved in just this past fall. The three of us live together very well (there's surprisingly no drama considering the close quarters and all). It was Josh's idea to paint the map on the wall (man, I can't wait till I get a picture of that uploaded!)
Jason... there are very few words to describe Jason. He is brilliant, funny, incredibly talented, and nearly fluent in French as well. Jason's a senior biomedical-engineering major, and I'm proud to call him one of my best friends. Very few people in the world can combine engineering, jazz, coffee, squirrel hunting (yes... he hunts squirrels in our back yard), and French into their personality. Jason lives in the apartment just above mine. He and I lead worship together here at Wright State (he is an incredible guitarist... I stick to the piano.)
Dan. My authentic Indian friend. Once again, he just plain rocks my world. He is chill and relaxed and knows how to have a good time. He's graduating this year too (mechanical engineering... what is it with me and my engineer friends!)... I'm sad to see him go. He was the friend that I went to Paris to visit at the very beginning of December (he was there with a class trip... yes, he also speaks French). Dan has been a constant presence in my life over the past 3 years. He lives with Jason, just above my apartment.
Bethany lives in Texas. Bizarre, I know. A list of my best friends could not be complete without her though. There are just no words for how much she has affected my life, all of the things that she has taught me about friendship and how to give and receive love, and all of the countless hours that we have spent geeking out over ridiculous things that nobody else seems to ever understand. She's also quite the singer. Somewhere in the world, there is a DVD of the two of us singing "Mr. Jones" by Counting Crows... it will go down in history as one of the best performances of the song EVER (perhaps, I'll upload it to youtube?) Like I said, she lives in Texas now, where she is doing an internship learning how to be a campus pastor so that she can work with Chi Alpha Ministries for the rest of her life. Her passion is inexplainable. I miss her dearly, but thank the LORD often for the miracle of cell phones.
Brittany lives in Costa Rica now. She works with Book of Hope Ministries, and just spent 6 months working in indigenous tribes in South Africa (yes, I did mean to say South Africa). Now she's in language school in Costa Rica, followed by two years of touring various countries in South America. She was here in Dayton on leave when I got home from France, so I was very thankful to get to spend some time with her to reconnect. She and I have been through a lot together in the past three years. I love her dearly. (And hey! She was the one who got me the job at Don Pablo's!)
Ashley. again, there are no words. Only lots of music. She and I sing together and record together a lot. That's all I can really say... because there really are just no words for her. She's truly like a second sister to me. (This is a picture from her 21st birthday party that I "bar-tended").My life is pretty much perfect right now. I can't think of a single thing that I would change! And, just to make the update complete, I feel that I should tell you all that since the last time I've seen most of you (which is, regrettably, a long long time ago), I have fallen 100% head-over-heels in love with Jesus. He has changed my life in so many ways, and it is only through Him that I can say I even have a life now.
For now, it's 3:00 AM and I must go to bed. I love you all very much!
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Friday, December 21, 2007
hooboy!
Bags packed. Room cleaned. Breakfast eaten. Goodbyes said. Pictures taken. Email checked. Thoughts evaluated. Journal entries written. Christmas presents bought. Cheese enjoyed.
Yep. I think I'm all set to go. Now I just need to wait patiently for the next 12 hours.
hmm... maybe I'll go take a bike ride and look at the mountains.
The next time I post, I'll be in the States!!!!!
Yep. I think I'm all set to go. Now I just need to wait patiently for the next 12 hours.
hmm... maybe I'll go take a bike ride and look at the mountains.
The next time I post, I'll be in the States!!!!!
Monday, December 17, 2007
Wrapping it all up...
So... it's approximately 5:00 PM France time on Monday. Last night I began to pack things up, and realized quickly just how much stuff i've accumulated here. In addition to the non-tangible things like "confidence" and "new world views", I'm leaving France with nearly a suitcase full of new stuff... some of it for myself (for instance, being the hat-fanatic that I am I had to buy a couple of authentic berets...)... but most of it for my friends and family. I'm skilled at spending money on other people, I suppose.
At any rate, as I was journaling last night I decided to make a list of things that I would miss about my life here in France, and also a list of things that I'm looking forward to back in the States...
What I'll miss from France:
* morning trips to the boulangerie to buy a fresh baguettes and croissants
* speaking French all the time. it really is an incredibly beautiful language
* being able to be a student and only a student... not worrying about working in addition to studying
* my friends that I've made here
* all of the uniaue new foods I've eaten (such as kangaroo?)
* seeing the sun rise over the Pyrenées Mountains on my way to class in the morning
* the kids in my host family
What I'm most looking forward to in the States:
* being back with my boys (Kyle, PJ, and Jeremy most of all...)
* seeing my family
* MEETING MY NIECE!
* seeing Brittany and Bethany before they go back to South Africa and Texas, respectively
* driving
* having a cell phone again
* Chipotle / Don Pablo's / macaroni and cheese / peanut butter and jelly / Waffle House
* not being exhausted at the end of every day because of the language
All in all, it will be very good to be back. Don't get me wrong, I love it here... I love my life here, I love my studies here, I love my friends here... but it will definitely be good to be back.
If you'll indulge me with just a little more patience, I should have some pictures up by this time next week :)
Oh! Some of you emailed me regarding my actual travel plans, so...
Friday night: overnight train to Paris (arriving 6:00 AM)
Saturday: Flight out of Charles de Gaulle at 12:50, landing in Chicago 3:30 Central Time (yes, that's actually a 9 hour flight that looks like 3 hours on paper!)
Followed by a flight out of Chicago 8:30 PM Central Time, landing in Cleveland 10:50 PM Eastern Time, where my parents and my best friend Kyle will be meeting me to take me home.
I'll probably post at least once more before I head back to the motherland.
All of my love, friends.
At any rate, as I was journaling last night I decided to make a list of things that I would miss about my life here in France, and also a list of things that I'm looking forward to back in the States...
What I'll miss from France:
* morning trips to the boulangerie to buy a fresh baguettes and croissants
* speaking French all the time. it really is an incredibly beautiful language
* being able to be a student and only a student... not worrying about working in addition to studying
* my friends that I've made here
* all of the uniaue new foods I've eaten (such as kangaroo?)
* seeing the sun rise over the Pyrenées Mountains on my way to class in the morning
* the kids in my host family
What I'm most looking forward to in the States:
* being back with my boys (Kyle, PJ, and Jeremy most of all...)
* seeing my family
* MEETING MY NIECE!
* seeing Brittany and Bethany before they go back to South Africa and Texas, respectively
* driving
* having a cell phone again
* Chipotle / Don Pablo's / macaroni and cheese / peanut butter and jelly / Waffle House
* not being exhausted at the end of every day because of the language
All in all, it will be very good to be back. Don't get me wrong, I love it here... I love my life here, I love my studies here, I love my friends here... but it will definitely be good to be back.
If you'll indulge me with just a little more patience, I should have some pictures up by this time next week :)
Oh! Some of you emailed me regarding my actual travel plans, so...
Friday night: overnight train to Paris (arriving 6:00 AM)
Saturday: Flight out of Charles de Gaulle at 12:50, landing in Chicago 3:30 Central Time (yes, that's actually a 9 hour flight that looks like 3 hours on paper!)
Followed by a flight out of Chicago 8:30 PM Central Time, landing in Cleveland 10:50 PM Eastern Time, where my parents and my best friend Kyle will be meeting me to take me home.
I'll probably post at least once more before I head back to the motherland.
All of my love, friends.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Finished!
There but by the grace of very very very strong Italian coffee and my collection of Rush cds, I finished the thesis, got it turned in, and flew through my remaining interviews. Woo! What does this all mean?
It means that I am done with classes (even though I still technically have class for through Wednesday... but i've taken all of my finals already), and can really just relax and enjoy my final week in France.
Plans for the week include:
*end of semester party tonight
*fake-Christmas dinner and xmas light viewing with my host family tomorrow night
*packing
*cleaning
*Christmas party with the other Americans Wednesday night
*taking people to the airport and train station on Thursday and Friday
*leaving Friday night at 11:00
I'll get more introspective on all of the soon, I promise.
It means that I am done with classes (even though I still technically have class for through Wednesday... but i've taken all of my finals already), and can really just relax and enjoy my final week in France.
Plans for the week include:
*end of semester party tonight
*fake-Christmas dinner and xmas light viewing with my host family tomorrow night
*packing
*cleaning
*Christmas party with the other Americans Wednesday night
*taking people to the airport and train station on Thursday and Friday
*leaving Friday night at 11:00
I'll get more introspective on all of the soon, I promise.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
getting closer...
4 hour written exam for Business French: FINISHED
Interview #1 for Business French: FINISHED
Interview #2 for Business French: tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM (ew)
8-page thesis for Modern Comparative Lit: not yet started, due tomorrow at midnight
and then... no more classwork... just riding out my last week in France.
9 days till i'm back in English-speaking territory!
Interview #1 for Business French: FINISHED
Interview #2 for Business French: tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM (ew)
8-page thesis for Modern Comparative Lit: not yet started, due tomorrow at midnight
and then... no more classwork... just riding out my last week in France.
9 days till i'm back in English-speaking territory!
Monday, December 10, 2007
another quick update...
Hehehe... we ran out of money in Venice, so I put a beret down on the ground and began to sing Christmas carols... and made 130€.
:)
:)
Saturday, December 8, 2007
In Venice...
So I was going to post a bunch of Paris pictures, as well as pictures of the student strikes and manifestations... but unfortunately my computer has broken and won't be able to be fixed until I'm back in the States... so no more pictures until then but believe me I'll have a ton to post as soon as I can!
Currently, I'm in Venice! Incredibly beautiful! Can't wait to share stories and pictures, but that will have to wait another couple of weeks, I guess.
Two weeks from today I fly into Cleveland!
Much love, longer post coming later this week.
-bevan
Currently, I'm in Venice! Incredibly beautiful! Can't wait to share stories and pictures, but that will have to wait another couple of weeks, I guess.
Two weeks from today I fly into Cleveland!
Much love, longer post coming later this week.
-bevan
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