Dear Readers,
Continuing from my last post...
A group of 6 of us left our classmates in Heidelberg and left for Frankfurt on October 15. We toured Frankfurt, which is known for being a business city, and had the most fun haggling at their famous Saturday market. Later that night we took a bus to the airport and spent the night there since we had to be there at 4 am anyway. On Sunday we flew into Rome just in time to drop off our luggage at our hostel and attend a mass at St. Peter's at the Vatican. It was quite an experience as we sat outside the church and watched the service from the jumbo screens outside, since the place was packed. We even had the privilege of receiving an address from the Pope who came out of his window and spoke to the crowd outside. He spoke in English as well as in about 6 other languages. We then left the Vatican and worked our way through several of the sites in Rome's old city and saw sites such as the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona. We finished our first night there with some Italian pizza which was pretty good. The next day we continued our fast-paced tour by heading back to the Vatican to tour the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel, a great site I wish we had more time for. We then continued on to visit a few more plazas, churches, and gelato stops before ending our tour at the Via Sacra leading up to Constantine's Arch and the climax, the Roman Colosseum; the unanimous favorite site of us all and a quite magnificent piece of architecture. Given its legacy, it was quite a great experience to see it in person. That night we went out and celebrated our last night in Rome by eating out at a pasta place recommended to us by one of the locals. We all ordered different things and tried one an other's; I started with a potato based pasta with a meat sauce, but got to try spaghetti with clams, and really thick pasta I forgot the name of that had olive oil and a mix of spices. The next day we packed up and left for our flight to Volos, Greece. We arrived and rushed to figure out our itinerary since we could not understand the transportation beforehand. We stayed one night in Volos, and then took the next day to get to Athens (except one guy who was determined to get to Thermopylae and see where the 300 Spartans fought) as we were unsure of how the strikes would affect transportation. We were able to get through Athens and we spent the next two days (Oct. 19 and 20) in Corinth where we toured and saw some of the sites Paul visited as well as relaxing for the first time on our trip. My favorite food in Greece was definitely the gyros, of which I had 5. Our group as a whole consumed 29 gyros. On Friday we headed to the coast of Athens and stayed at a hostel where we left our stuff to tour Athens. The sites were absolutely astounding with the Parthenon and the Aereopagus, and we even had a lamb dinner just outside the Parthenon. It was a little bit of bummer to see Athens during its protest as garbage had not been collected for many days and the city was still going through quite a bit of turmoil. It was still quite a wonderful experience and opportunity. We then took the next day to hang out at the beach and grab a few things at the grocery store before heading to the airport where we spent the night because we had another early flight. It was quite a shocker to fly into Munich and head into 25 degree weather after being in Athens with 75 degree weather at the beach.
We have spent the last week studying the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church, which has been a real eye opener as I haven't yet really taken a class on Christian Ethics. It can be really challenging material, especially his Cost of Discipleship, but it has been very enjoyable as I learn to understand the true Christian life and develop my theology. God has really been at work over here in teaching me more about Himself. If you would pray that I would be open to God's teaching as it can be tough at times, I would greatly appreciate it. As well as those things I have mentioned previously: a focus on Christ, discipline to keep from being lazy, and a genuine love for others.Thank you again for all those who are reading and praying, I see its power each and every day.
This weekend (Oct. 29-31) I will be in Berlin staying with a friend from high school (Felix Kubler for those of you who know him).
The semester is flying
Thanks again,
Hayden
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