The Exodus

Quick post...Been studying the beginnings of the exodus of the children of Israel out from Egypt to Mount Sinai...It's been very inspiring in many ways, and I've especially enjoyed many of the commentary on this particular part of the Old Testament. I don't have time to write out all of my inspiration, but I figured I could share this excerpt from C.A. Coates, "An Outline of the Book of Exodus." The children of Israel have just passed through the Red Sea...

"We are naturally inclined to suppose that if redeemed and under the favour of God, and walking under the Lordship and leading of Christ, all will go very smoothly. But it is not so. You may find something that you have been accustomed to all your life withdrawn -- some natural source of comfort and refreshment fails you altogether. You feel it deeply -- God means you to feel it -- but it brings home to you how much you have been dependent on things which are not God. He is saying "I have shown you plainly that I am for you; I have destroyed every power that sought to hinder My blessing you; I have purchased and redeemed you for Myself; I have told you what My love and favour will do for you. Now I want you to be altogether dependent upon Me for everything; I want to take the place of every natural resource in the confidence of your heart." 

C.A. Coates 

 

Never Enough

This past season of my life, however far back that might stretch (a year or so at most), the Lord has done a lot of exposing. 

The further I go on in my Christian walk, He slowly peels back more layers to reveal to me my fallen nature-- ugly, coarse, and falling so short of His glory.

It's been a really good learning, and the Bible tells us to have a humble heart, to realize our unworthiness, to realize our salvation was a gift in the first place, and that anything good that ever happens is from the Lord, not out of our own strength and doing. But shining light on my failures and short comings.....whew, it's been a rough season, people. 

Lately, however, I've been feeling incredibly inadequate, more so than usual, and it's gotten to a point where I almost feel paralyzed by it. This summer, a lot happened in my own personal life, and I've been trying to find my place back home again after spending 5 years away at Syracuse. Not only that, but I'm on the brink of entering a year of 100% dedication to the Lord, serving Him, serving the Church, loving Him, loving the Church. I have no idea what to expect, and I know it's going to be awesome...but these past few weeks, however, I couldn't help but wonder how I'm going to make it through. There are so many people to care of, so many needs in the Church that have yet to be met, so much more growth to happen in my own walk with the Lord....How can I do it all? 

The Lord answered with a really simple word: "Hannah, you can't.....But I can."

He reminded me of the story when He was a man on this earth, and He went away to spend some alone time in the countryside. He managed to get away for awhile, but a huge crowd of thousands of people followed Him on foot and managed to find where He had gone off to. (Facing this next year, I feel like Jesus looking off into the distance seeing a ginormous crowd of people coming towards Him over the horizon...)

The crowd was exhausted and hungry and needy. There were far too many of them to be adequately cared for. And then Jesus asked His disciples to FEED them. There were 5,000 men, and at least an additional 5,000 women and children, probably more!!! And all they had were 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. The small contribution the disciples made was totally inadequate. Yet the Lord took the little they had to offer. 

And then,  two amazing things happen....

First, He holds the loaves and the fish, and saying a blessing, He breaks them. 

And then, giving the pieces back to the disciples to distribute, He multiplies them.

By the end of the evening, every single person in that place had their fill. And not only did every single person in the crowd of thousands receive food, but there were leftovers!!!! TWELVE basket-fulls to be exact! 

I feel I may have a small loaf and a teeny tiny little fish to offer to the Lord. And maybe that's giving myself too much credit. But one thing I'm sure of is despite my shortness, if I offer everything I have, however small that may be, HE will do the multiplying. And every need will be met. 

What's also interesting is that the offering was broken first, and only then could it be multiplied.

So my prayer is that out of my inadequacy and out of being broken, the Lord would multiply His love, His strength, His mercy, His supply, and ultimately, Himself through me towards all those who will surround me this coming year. 

What price are YOU willing to pay?

Our new life begins with a gift.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23

Salvation is not something we earn. It is not something we buy. It is not something we can create or attain by our own measures.

It is the greatest gift ever given throughout all of the ages to all of mankind. It is offered in a manner neither partial nor prejudiced towards any race, sex, class, orientation, or age.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16

There are many who choose not to receive it. But for those of us who do, though we may begin our walk with the Lord so joyously, as we go on we begin to realize that things are not quite so easy as they were at first. Rather, many hardships confront and challenge our faith. As we go on in the Lord, we begin to taste the life of suffering that He once lived on this very earth. As we conform to His image and likeness, that means experiencing Him not only as Joy and Peace and Love and Blessing, but also experiencing His suffering, His hardships, His death and resurrection. It was by suffering that He was made perfect forever (Hebrews 7:28). If the Son of God must suffer to be made perfect, why would we ever think we could escape and be made perfect with a life full of blessing alone?

"The seeking one realizes that a price must be paid if she wants to follow the Lord. Her love for Him will not leave her untouched any longer, for from this point onward He will touch every aspect of her living....We can no longer expect that things will come cheaply. The Lord makes it clear that if you pay Him five cents, He will give you something worth five cents, and if you pay Him 100 dollars, He will give you something worth 100 dollars. If you give Him one year, He will give you something worth one year in return; if you give Him ten years, He will give you something worth ten years in return. How much blessing He gives you depends on the price you are willing to pay. Our relationship with the Lord is no longer one in which He draws us, and then we pursue Him, or in which He freely supplies us, and thus we enjoy Him. Now the Lord demands, 'Can you pay the price? Can I touch your living?'...

You may think that the Spirit works in you freely, at no cost to you. However, at a certain point in your Christian life, when you say, 'Lord, bless me,' He will answer, 'I will bless you, but at a price.' The blessing referred to here is not your initial salvation, for the Lord does save you freely. After receiving salvation, however, you must pay a price in order to grow in life and become mature before the Lord. In this stage, the way you live is by paying a price before God."

So I ask you again...What price are YOU willing to pay?

So that you remember to love only Him, and nothing else.

This past week I've had a lot of 'quiet time.'

It has mostly consisted of sleep and reading books and trying to wean myself off of narcotics (I had a procedure done late last week).

The past few days, despite incredible exhaustion, I've been a little more with it mentally. And I'm finally beginning to open myself up to processing this past year...I haven't gotten very far. A LOT has happened, internally and externally. Mostly really amazing things, but I feel like a very heavily kneaded lump of dough. I'll post more and share more as I work through and process things with the Lord these coming weeks, but I really wanted to share this excerpt with you all.

It comes from the most recent Fellowship Journal, a small publication put together by some members in our church network to encourage and build up the rest of the saints. These two paragraphs are pulled from a message given in the Fall of 2011.

"Once you love the Lord --- really love Him --- your new life begins, and this new life is filled with sufferings. This new life is divine and heavenly, but as you enjoy the heavenly things, remember, with this new life, a great deal of suffering will also come to you. Do you understand this? The Lord will come to you and do unreasonable things, things which may surprise you. You may ask the Lord, 'Must You do this? Why? Must this be so? Can't it be another way?' It seems the Lord becomes very firm and says, 'No, it must be this way; that's it.' If you say, 'It doesn't make sense,' He will reply, ' I don't care if it makes sense, or if it's fair or not; that's what I want to do.'

The Lord likes to come in and say, 'Can I interrupt a little bit of your life? Can I interrupt a little bit of your plan? Can I make you perhaps not so happy? Can I bother you a little bit?' Do you know why the Lord wants to do this? So that you remember to love only Him, and nothing else. He would say, 'Even in all your joyful times, remember to lay hold of Me. I need you, and I want to bless you with Myself.'"

The Ultimate Reward

(Realized that I had this post waiting to be published over a month ago and never did!!!)

Reading through Philippians the other day, I was suddenly and profoundly inspired by Paul's statement in chapter two...

"Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all." Philippians 2:17

I decided to do some quick research on what the drink offering was in the Old Testament, and to understand that meant understanding the other Levitical offerings as well (which I had never studied before and only knew by name).

The Levitical offerings were all a type of foreshadowing of Christ's ultimate sacrifice for us. There were six main offerings: the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, and the drink offering.

The burnt offering speaks of the death of Christ accomplishing the will of God for the pleasure of God, bringing glory to his name.

The meal offering presents Christ in perfect sinlessness of His Manhood, His perfect obedience, ever fulfilling the will of God from His birth to His death on the cross.

The peace offering presents Christ as the One who has, through death, reconciled God and man, allowing man to enter into the enjoyment of the fellowship with the Father and the Son in a settled peace.

The sin offering presents Christ as the Sin bearer, the One who took OUR sins upon Him during the three hours He hung on the cross in darkness.

The trespass offering speaks of the death of Christ meeting our need in regard to sins we commit as believers; Christ is our Advocate.

The drink offering came later and speaks of the JOY of God in the completed work on that cross.

The joy of God was not in Christ's sufferings, but in Christ's obedience unto death thus fulfilling the will of God the Father. The drink offering was instructed to be composed of pure wine, not watered down; the use of wine itself acted as a symbol of joy both to God and to man. The drink offering was to be poured out in its entirety before the Lord. No part was to be consumed by the offerer. It was ALL for God.

All of the sacrificial offerings satisfied a righteous requirement of the law, but God's real joy was expressed through this offering. For Paul to compare himself to a drink offering was no small thing. His life was poured out in its entirety for Christ..."But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ." The drink offering of his life must have brought so much joy to God.

The most convicting part is that out of all the offerings made, the drink offering could not be seen. Once poured upon the altar, it was indistinguishable from the meat of the other offerings.

To live a life as a drink offering is the hardest life of all -- completely surrendered, totally poured out for Christ, but without any recognition or glorification from man. In Matthew 6, Jesus speaks of this very kind of life...

"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven...When you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And the Father who sees in secret will reward you...When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you...When you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

We should desire to live our lives as a drink offering. As hard as it may be, we should find joy in living our lives in that kind of a way because it brings joy to the heart of God and will be eternally rewarded.

Tozer: Following Hard After God

An excerpt from A.W. Tozer's, The Pursuit of God
Chapter 1, 
pp 13, 17-18

"God is a person, and in the deep of His mighty nature He thinks, wills, enjoys, feels, loves, desires, and suffers as any other person may. In making Himself known to us He stays by the familiar pattern of personality. He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills and our emotions. The continuous and unembarrassed exchange of love and thought between God and the soul of the redeemed man is the throbbing heart of the New Testament religion....

...I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God. The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate. The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire. Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain.

Every age has its own characteristics. Right now we are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart. The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and that servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all.

If we would find God amid all the religious externals, we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity. Now, as always, God discovers Himself to "babes" and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent. We must simplify our approach to Him. We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few). We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood. If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond.

When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself. The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the and lies our great woe. If we omit the and we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing."

Aller à Paris

Barbara and I leave for Paris in less than 10 hours.


We're going to be spending all 10 days of our spring break there, and I'm so prepared for it to be one of our best trips yet. Crepes, croissants, the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, Notre Dame, French wine, Luxembourg, the incredible French boulevards and gardens....**sigh**

One of the highlights is definitely getting to stay with Florine and Christophe (a French couple I got to know when they lived in Buffalo). I'm excited for fellowship and sharing stories and laughing at all the silly things Florine does or says. I'm excited for opportunities that the Lord might open up in all our lives, including Barbara's.


I know I've been awful at blogging this past month and a half, so my plan is to work on a really juicy one on the bus ride tonight (we're taking an overnight bus and they are supposed to have wi-fi).

Ideally, I want to post a couple times while I'm in Paris. So get ready for that. I'm gonna do it!

W E E K O N E. “London is AMAZING.”

Alright, mates? (aka Whazzup ma’ dudes?)

I can’t even begin to describe how amazing London has been, let alone the fact that I’ve only been here for ONE WEEK. It boggles my mind really. This city is incredible; I love the people and the accents and the cockney (“tea leaves” = thieves, “chewing a baby” = holding a baby, etc.); I love the red buses, the red telephone booths, the fact that EVERYTHING is in ENGLISH. Hallelujah.

Last week consisted of orientation-ish things, but mainly we were on our own to explore London and find an apartment (which we had already done before coming over!). First of all, I love the pub culture here. There are pubs on every corner, not to mention coffee shops and bookstores that are sprinkled between. We visited Cecil Street the other day which is the street that inspired Diagon Alley in HP. We also did a Royal Palace walking tour –which was awesome—and took a trip to Greenwich.

We got settled into our apartment on Friday which is only a 5 minute walk from school and in one of the best neighborhoods to live in-- Bloomsbury. Not to mention that THE British Museum is basically our backyard! All the museums here are free, too, so today we casually ran through an exhibit before lunch and saw ancient artifacts as old as 1.8 million years old, including the Rosetta Stone (the REAL one).

Sunday evening I attended my first ever Hillsong London church service which is in a ginormous theatre just down the street from me. It was actually really refreshing :) For all those who have been to a Mountain Top at least once in their life, it was basically a power session, except in a two story theatre that seated about 2,000 with every seat filled with a young person my age (and that was only their evening service).

It was really cool because Brian Houston, the man who founded Hillsong church, was visiting from New Zealand and gave the message for that night. He shared a few verses from Psalms 65, about how our God is a God of overflowing, or outpouring. But he went on and talked about how there are many things that God wants to do with our lives that He just can’t because of “lack.”  “Lack” can come in many different forms, and yes, we are a limited man living in a limited world. However, one of the worst things we can do in our relationship with the Lord is prohibit ourselves from being developed to the fullest we can be, or our God-given, God-ordained potential. This is a very scary line to walk because it’s so easy to get too wrapped up in our dreams or careers or families, and they can pull us away from God. The thing is, this fear of falling off the path causes many Christians to not even try to walk the path or sometimes to even look down on others who are attempting to move forward. It’s a healthy concern, but I believe it’s also an incredible ploy of the enemy because one of his biggest goals is to keep us from being useful to God. The more we are developed fully, the more the Lord can use us. It makes sense that the enemy would attack this process.

Anyways, going into this year, there were so many concerns and doubts and anxieties that I had about this year. I was quite clear from the Lord that this was where He wanted me to be and what He wanted me to be doing, but I couldn’t help sometimes questioning His plan for me (how silly we humans are) and wondering if it was better for me to stay involved with Campus Crusade at Syracuse, or take a year off to do the labor (sorry guys, the one-year Christian Internship) and serve the saints and young people in Cleveland.

Hearing the message Sunday night, it actually made me quite fearful in a healthy way concerning how dangerous “lack” can be-- how all that lack really does is diminish our God-given potential. One of the things that scares me the most is that I would waste time here on this earth and lose opportunities or turn down possibilities that could shape me and mold me into a better servant of Christ.

I truly believe that’s why I just spent an entire four months living in Florence, and why I’m going to be spending the next four months living in London. I have faith that the Lord is developing me in a certain way that could never be achieved if I was still at home. I know I’m changing, but I don’t know how…and I don’t think I need to know. What’s important is that I am the Lord’s, from now until eternity.

I am not my own. I was bought with a price. And my desire is not to please man but to glorify God with all my heart, my soul, my mind, and my strength. 

The Real "Bella Vita"

So first things first, I apologize to all those who have been grateful enough to follow my blog which I have unfortunately abandoned for the past month and a half....there's a number of things from this past semester that I have yet to blog about....we'll see how many I actually get to.

Now that I'm not living in Italy anymore, I'm changing my blog name to "Bella Vita" which still totally applies to this next semester, and to my life. I have the life of Christ living in me and through me, and He has set me free. "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." That is a beautiful life.

Anyways, the point of this post is to share a little bit from a college conference I attended over New Years. Basically for 3 days straight, about 150 college aged students came together to study and enjoy the book of Galatians. The schedule was rigorous (4 meetings and 4 small group studies a day), but I can absolutely say the concepts of my Christian life have been completely changed forever.

So the rest of this post is something that I shared with my 216 girls--a broad stroke of what really touched me during this conference. I encourage you to read it, but if not, know that more pictures and stories will be posted soon about this past semester. ALSO, I LEAVE FOR LONDON IN 10 DAYS.


"Empower was so encouraging for me, and kind of shattered a lot of my concepts of my Christian life. I've never had Galatians opened up to me like that before, and I think a lot of brothers and sisters felt their concepts of the Christian life challenged.

The first thing that really impressed me is how Christ gave everything for us and did everything for us to the point where we literally don’t have to do ANYTHING. He gave Himself for our sins (1:4) , set us apart before we were born, called us by His grace, revealed Himself to us (1:15-16), and redeemed us from the curse of the law (3:13). This last point really touched me a lot. In Galatians, Paul talks a lot about the law and admonishes the Galatians again and again for trying to follow the law. Why? Because Jesus Christ Himself was crucified so that we no longer have to live by the law but by the Spirit. We have this incredible freedom that I don’t think we realize or even come close to appreciating! Basically, before Jesus Christ, everyone lived in the realm of the law. And within this realm was a constant striving and trying harder to fulfill the law and measure up to God. But after Jesus Christ came and fulfilled the law, we NOW live in this totally new realm of faith. And within this Realm of Faith, we are given grace and the Spirit and are made righteous before God WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING. 

This is what boggles my mind. 

Christ took care of everything! And I think as Christians, especially those of us who have grown up second generation, we are caught in a mindset of “trying harder.” Trying harder to gain more of the Lord, trying harder to make it to more meetings, trying harder to serve the saints, trying harder to love people, trying harder to get more Spirit, etc. But you don’t get more Spirit by trying harder! Actually, what you get is more curse (because as soon as we start “trying harder”, we are brought into the realm of the law which ultimately results in the curse). All Abraham did was believe, and He was called righteous. How ridiculous is that?! I am SO convicted and guilty of a “try harder” attitude. I think it’s great in our human lives and in our schooling and such, but when it comes to the Lord and the realm of faith, there is nothing to “try harder” for. I have been made righteous, I have been redeemed from the curse of the law, and even more so, I have been adopted as a son and heir of God (4:5), so I already have the inheritance! CRAZINESS. We get the promise because God gives it to us without us working for it. He GIVES it to us.

One brother used the picture of us being in Christ as a branch that has been grafted in (Romans 11:17-18). A branch gets everything it needs without having to do anything because all the nourishment comes up through the trunk. This is absolutely what our Christian life is like. If we can  realize this and live in this realm of faith and stop “trying harder”, our Christian lives will be so restful and peaceful. I think we all are guilty of wanting the things that we do to be an aide to us, I am so guilty of this. This whole idea of being in the realm of faith and not needing to do anything but RECEIVE has completely shattered my concept of the Christian life.

But this is only the first half of Galatians….

What Galatians makes clear is that it pleases God for us to live our lives and remain in the inheritance He has freely given to us. Galatians 5 begins “For freedom, Christ has set you free.” What does that even mean?! Everything that Christ did essentially set us SO free that we might chose to live a life serving one another in love. The Greek word for “serving one another” is the same word as to be a slave. We were set SO free that we would put ourselves in the position of a slave for one another. THAT is freedom. “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Gal. 5:13

Galatians 5 continues with how we must “walk by the Spirit.” And the Greek word for “walk” in this case infers a “walking around.” Paul charges the Galatians to explore this realm of faith in the Spirit. The Galatians were born of the Spirit, but they were trying to be perfected by the law. But Paul says, NO! If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law! (5:18).

It’s really interesting because Paul uses the phrase “walk by the Spirit” again at the end of the chapter, but that Greek word for walk means “a marching forward.” So we need to live by the Spirit and march forward by the Spirit. It makes sense then to ask, march forward to what?

At the end of chapter 6, Paul talks about this walking according to “the rule of the new creation.” (6:15-16). What does that even mean? Paul says that we satisfy the Lord by walking by the new creation. Whenever we see the creative work of God, THAT’s where we walk and invest our time. And where do we find the creative work of God? We look for the people that God is moving in. This brings so much purpose to our lives, because if we walk by the rule of the new creation, the gospel begins to go out, and the Lord can keep building what He’s after….the Israel of God (6:16). Why am I on this earth? Why am I in the church? Why am I in the school that I’m in? Why do I have the friends that I have? It’s ALL for the Israel of God. "

In La Cucina di Mirabella

Pear, Walnut, and Gorgonzola Pizza 

Last night the three of us made our first, homemade pizza in our oven!!!! We've been dying to try this recipe we found in a cookbook that was on a shelf in our apartment when we moved in.

I walked down to the central market yesterday and picked up some fresh, naturally dried pears (100 g for 1 euro--not bad!). The rest of the cheeses (mozzarella, gorgonzola, and parmesan) as well as the rosemary, dough, and onion we picked up at Esselunga.

Where it all went down : :

  

SOOOO GOOD!!!!!

The tops of the pieces of pear got a little burnt, but it was absolutely DIVINE nonetheless. Served with a little whitewine, molte, molte bene.

Ooo...Italian Leather

So I knowwwww I still have to post about Barcelona, Venice, Greece, and Istanbul, but I HAD to post this tonight.....

I just got a new Italian Leather Jacket!!! Ahhhhhhhh! So excited! Over 50% off original price. That's what happens when you have the patience to wait out tourist season. I haven't really bought any souvenirs for myself, but this? This is one souvenir that I couldn't pass up.

Barbara got one this weekend too, and today, we were both mistaken for Italian locals. SWEET! :D

project 3 : : visual ecologies : reframing the city

This is the project we presented on Wednesday. An analysis of our site through the medium of film. Our site is located at the exit of the Uffizi and the back of the Palazzo Vecchio. We were interested in how the site exists as a collection of "backsides" (the lack of frontality makes it very hard to give the site an identity). And we were also interested in analyzing the textures and rhythms of facades and thresholds within the site, which being extremely disjointed, further complicates the search for an identity.

Our analysis revolves around one main question : : Where is the "postcard moment" ???

Subjectively, we answer this question-- there isn't one. However, by using stop motion in a comparative analysis of our site to three commonly agreed upon "postcard moments" in Florence, we hope to arrive at the same answer objectively.

project 2 : : container + contained

(I decided to split up our 3 projects so far into different posts, that way it's not just one long one)
: : Project 2 : : container - contained
This next project proposed the theme of the contemporary exhibition space within the historic city. Essentially, in our same groups we were asked to analyze a chosen architectural object that contains itself objects. My partner and I were given the Prada store in Tokyo. Here's what it looks like : :

: : Here are some pages of our analysis : :

Architecture Update : : project 1 : city as museum

New post WOOT WOOT.

Unfortunately, this will not yet be about Barcelona. I promise I'll get to it soon! THIS POST is meant to show all my wonderful fans why the betsy I haven't had time to post pictures and upload my blog. So you all know I've been studying in Florence, and usually when students travel/study abroad, they take classes that are relatively easy or completely unrelated to their major. Welp, our architecture programmed followed us here so we're pretty much doing the same thing that we do back in Syracuse. But in Florence.

My bedtime is usually between 2:00-3:00 in the morning (I thought it'd be better over here but not thus far). Annnd I've pulled maybe 3 all-nighters in the past few weeks....

So far we've done 3 projects, the third of which (our mid-term) was due and presented today!

: : Project 1 : : urban analysis: city as museum
This first project was a 1 week charette where we were asked to analyze Florence as a city that contains many museums but also a city that, in many ways, performs as a museum in itself. Fascinating, no? Museums are not only used to help us understand historical terms but can be used as a tool to help us imagine ideas of and relationships between things that do not yet exist in material or social ways.

**WARNING** I will be writing this post in "architecture" linguo so I'm sorry if you haven't a clue what I'm saying

Anyways, my group decided to look at the city of Florence through the lens of it's market culture. Markets inundate the city and it's fascinating how not only do they take up space but they create new space within the urban fabric. Basically we looked at Florentine markets and how they operate as a) space makers, and b) space fillers. We then put together a presentation that was given to Madrid's CEU architecture students and faculty when we visited Spain a few weeks ago.

: : Here are some pages from our presentation : :

The strength of my heart

I'm loooong overdue for a new post. To all my readers out there, I apologize for being the worst blogger in the world. Good news- I can only get better! :p It's just been so hard with all the traveling on weekends and late night/all-nighters (yes, all-nighters) during the weekdays.

I want to share a little on my recent experiences with the Lord. It's definitely been a struggle here spiritually, away from the church, away from my companions and family. When I say "struggle" I don't mean a rebelliousness or anything against the Lord, it's just been really hard to carve out time to spend with Him. 

I have traveled so much in this short month that I've been here, and every single day there is something new that moves me and awes me. I get so excited about every new thing that we see or discover, and it's been so eye-opening and, to a large extent, quite fulfilling....

But...what I'm realizing is how misleading that fulfillment can be. Traveling has brought me so much joy and I already feel so changed. I feel so blessed to have been provided this experience, and I feel so covered by the Lord and by prayers from back home. I think what the Lord has been bringing me through is that, as wonderful an experience as He wants me to have here in Europe, all the joys and excitements and gratifications I experience here (as healthy as they all may be) can still distract me from the REAL enjoyment, the REAL satisfaction, the REAL life supply: my Lord Jesus Christ. 

I've had days where experience upon experience has been so satisfying, and I feel like it will never get old standing under the towering Duomo, or sitting atop Piazza Michelangelo looking out over the city of Florence with the mountains softly fading into the distance, or walking along the Ponte Vecchio, observing all the little jewelry boxes of little gold shops opening up their gates to reveal the hidden treasures beyond their thresholds... But at the end of the day, the satisfaction starts to wean a little, and the surge of fulfillment and vitality that I had felt throughout the day begins to fade. Upon recognizing that growing emptiness within,  I repent, realizing that not once had turned to the Lord for my supply that day.

Well, this past week and a half, I've been trying something "new": morning revival. (Or a morning devotional).  Growing up in the church life that I did, I always knew it was something I should do, that it'd make a difference in my day and my spiritual life. Alas...it was never quite implemented into daily life, as hard as I'd try---just not a morning person.

Anyways, I've been making a point to have morning revival (usually while I eat breakfast), and I've been spending a lot of time in the Psalms. This will probably sound horrible, but I've never been a huge fan of the Psalms. I always thought they were beautifully written and poetic, but in terms of a "supply", I always thought they were "too emotional" for me. And especially in times when I'm super emotional, I don't want to feed the flames even more. I tend to gravitate more towards Paul's epistles, especially those of high truths. Well anyway... for whatever reason, I've been in the Psalms, and let's just say they've been exactly what I've needed. The Lord has definitely been working on my heart in this aspect. So here are some verses that I read this morning that fit exactly what I've been feeling.

Psalm 73:21-26, 28
   21 When my soul was embittered,

when I was pricked in heart,

22 I was brutish and ignorant;

I was like a beast toward you.

23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;

you hold my right hand.

24 You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will receive me to glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

28 But for me it is good to be near God;

I have made the Lord God my refuge,

that I may tell of all your works.

Cinque Terre

Just got back from Cinque Terre....Let's just say one of the best weekends yet.

Spectacular place. Spectacular food. Spectacular people. I couldn't have asked for a better trip.

Here's the group who went from left to right:

Me, Barbara, Jeff (grad student), Elvira (grad), Irini (grad), Hilary, Sally, and Mike.

We had SO much fun!!! We took a train early Friday morning to La Spezia, which was about a 3-hour ride. We all mostly passed out (from pulling an all-nighter the day before on a studio charette deadline). We bought our trail passes and hopped on a train to Riomaggiore (where we'd be staying in our hostel). We checked in and were taken up (and up and up) to our hostel which was at the top of an apartment cluster in the cliffs. Awesome view and the hostel room was really cute.

Crazy amounts of stairs going up
(this is just the last 3rd maybe)
Photo credit: Barbara Burke

View out of our hostel!
Photo Credit: Barbara Burke

 

We were only going to be in Cinque Terre for two days, so we planned our first day for the incredible hike along the coast from town to town until we reached the fifth and final one. AMAZING. It took us all day, but we made it without anyone getting hurt or fainting from heat exhaustion or falling off a cliff in the water below! We also did some gelato-hopping rewarding ourselves with incredible homemade gelato after completing particularly difficult parts of the trek. 

The VIEWS along the hike were PHENOMENAL. I couldn't believe I was actually seeing these in real life. Here are some shots during our hike. The towns were beautiful and so colorful! I loved it!

Me! with Riomaggiore in the background :)

View from Town #2, Manarola down the coastal line

View of Corniglia after passing through

View of Corniglia (Town #3)

Beach at town #4 - Vernazza

We made it to the fifth town, Monteroso, around 7, right as the sun was setting over the mountains in the distance. We found a place to eat with incredible homemade pasta and pesto (apparently pesto and foccacia bread originated in Cinque Terre), and than hopped on the train back to Riomaggiore. As soon as we entered our hostel room, Barbara and I fell into our beds and PASSED OUT. Let me tell you I had the best sleep yet since being in Europe, not to mention the longest (11 hours!!!).

Sunset from Monteroso. Note the trees lining the tips of the mountains in a single-file line.

Day Two consisted of BEACH. Oh, it was wonderful! After hiking our legs off the day before, it was the perfect solution to lie out on a beach all day, taking periodic dips into the blue, crystalline Mediterranean. Around 2 the rest of the group went snorkeling while Barbara and I remained at the beach. Snorkeling was a little too pricey, and it gave Barbara and I some rare time with just each other (so far we've done everything in groups from 3-10ish people and rarely have time with just the two of us).  Also, it was probably 85 degrees out, perfectly sunny, and OCTOBER 1st. When have I ever laid out on a beach in October?

Photo Credit: Barbara Burke

For lunch, we had some foccacia bread with pesto sauce and an ice cold Italian beer for lunch. AMAZING. 

Afterwards we met up with the group as they finished their snorkeling and finished the afternoon with a tasty seafood dinner. As we waiting for the train, we headed down to the Marina and sat on marble rocks digesting with a breathtaking view of the town of Riomaggiore and the coast.

None of us were ready to leave.

But alas, we had to return back to good ol' Firenze. We have some incredible adventures in store for us in these coming weeks (i.e. Como & Mantova, Barcelona, Venice and than Fall break in Greece and Istabul).

Time for bed now. Buonanotte! Ciao ciao!

Power in the Blood

I apologize to all who have been looking at my blog and turning away disappointed because I haven't updated it in two weeks!!! I promise I'm going to update on all my wonderful adventures and get you all caught up asap.

I just got back from a 4 day trip to Madrid, Spain. It was quite an incredible experience! I'll get into more detail later, but one of my favorite parts of the trip was walking through the Prado Museum of Art and seeing all the famous Velazquez, Goya (my favorite), and Picasso paintings. One thing that really touched me was how many paintings in that museum were of Jesus Christ being sacrificed on the cross. I used to disregard a lot of those paintings, just because I felt there was so much religiosity and money motivating them. But this time, standing two feet in front of Velazquez's "Christ on the Cross", I was so moved almost to the point of tears. My heart filled with so much thanks and praise that as He hung on that cross, He was thinking of me. And immediately I started praying for my friends here to believe that this painting indeed was real, and that Christ DID die for them, and that He hung on that cross until everything was finished. Whether or not Velazquez was a true believer, the Lord really spoke to me through that painting which was definitely an experience I've never had before. So fresh, so profound. 

I was working in the studio this afternoon and this song came on my itunes, and I wanted to share it with this experience that I had. I love Fernando Ortega, and he does this song so well. 

"Christ on the Cross" painted by Diego Velazquez

Transatlantic

It's been about a week and a half now since I've been in Florence and I'm still trying to come down to reality... But it's beginning to feel like home :)

I've been having problems with my computer, and it took a while to get our internet keys working at our apartment. So it's been impossible to do any blogging whatsoever. But no worries! I've been faithful to my journal and decided I might as well type up some of the entries. Lets just say EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. of these past 10 or so days has been filled with adventure. I have soooo many stories to tell it's overwhelming! But I'll do my best to share all the moments just the way I experienced them. I've also been updating my family with a lot, too, so some of my "catch-up" posts might be excerpts from those emails.

First things first. The trans-Atlantic journey. 

Last Monday was the first time I had ever flown over an ocean, let alone across the borders of the United States. BIG DEAL. My parents dropped me off around 10am at Cleveland Hopkins...that was a lot harder than I thought. I think all of us were fighting tears. They watched me go through security, and once at the end, I waved goodbye one last time before turning a corner and realizing that was the last time I would see them for almost four months.

Suddenly I felt so lonely, and a little scared/nervous having to fly to JFK by myself (never having flown alone before). I found the gate and sat down, finally letting the tears flow after such an emotional goodbye to my parents.

All went smoothly getting to JFK and finding the rest of our travel group. JFK is seriously the biggest airport EVER. There are EIGHT terminal buildings, all separate from each other, and if it wasn't for this super nice man who showed me how to get on the train between the terminals, I would've been utterly lost. I felt SO covered by prayer. There's no way everything could've gone so perfectly smooth except that I was in the Lord's hands.

Once I found my groupflight escort, things went perfectly fine, well....to a certain extent.

The Italian workers decided to go on strike the day we were meant to arrive in Florence. Basically, they screwed up our entire flight itinerary, and I ended up traveling for almost 2 days straight! We flew from:
JFK in NYC to Munich, Germany
Waited out our layover for 8 hours.
Flew from Munich to Nice, France over the Alps.
Waited in Nice for 2 hours.
Piled onto a bus and drove 6 hours south to Florence.

We finally arrived at El Hotel Mediterraneo around 2:30am, and had to get up super early for orientation that same morning. BOY was I exhausted.

Here's an excerpt from the email I sent my family once I arrived. You'll get a better picture how those 2 travel-days went. I'll update with day #2 of "Hannah in Florence" as soon as I can!

"When I last talked with you, everything had gone exceptionally and sovereignly smootly getting me to JFK sweet and sound. I ran into two of my architecture friends, Andrew and Pat. Other than that, all the other students on our flights I didn't know. The trans-atlantic flight was quite nice. All our flight attendants were beautiful French women, so I felt very cared for and safe. I struggled with some motion sickness on that flight (I didn't actually get sick though I felt like it at one point), but I think the main reason was because I had nothing in my stomach since breakfast. When I was in JFK I thought the food court was accessed AFTER security, but obviously I found out the dumb way. I grabbed a thing of trail mix and chex mix, but not having eaten anything since breakfast (it was around 4:00), my body was definitely feeling it. They did serve a meal on the plane, but I couldn't handle it. I think I was at the point of food depravation that I had not appetite at all.

The best part of the flight was I happened to sit across the aisle from a young woman (25 yrs) heading back to Israel. Her name was Ruth, and she was completely deaf! We ended up writing notes back and forth for a couple of hours. I can tell you more about our conversations, but I think it was something from the Lord. She told me she was visitng her older brother in NYC for 1 month who is also deaf (genetic trait), and now she was heading back home. So that was hard on her. Also her flights got all messed up/cancelled, and she begged one of the men at the counter to help her get a new flight set up, and he happened to find that one seat on the plane next to me. She told me her day had been absolutely awful until being able to talk to me, so that was really encouraing to me :) She's going to find me on facebook and I'd really like to keep in touch with her. We had some pretty awesome conversations via passing notes.

I was able to sleep for only an hour or so, and then we landed in Munich. Flying into Germany right after the sun had come up over the horizon was absolutely breathtaking. There were little clusters of houses surrounded by hills upon hills of perfectly plotted farm lands of all different shades of greens and browns. The early morning sun contrasted the land with the most perfect shadows I had ever seen, and the angle of the light made the soft covering of mist sparkle. It was truly amazing. I wasn't able to take a picture or anything because I didn't have the window seat, but the image will forever be with me :)

So once in Munich, I think our layover was about 8 hours. I grabbed a sandwich and forced myself to eat something a little substantial. It helped me feel a bit better. My head was really hurting between not eating and not sleeping. So Pat, Andrew and I found our gate and sprawled out across the chairs and managed to get some broken sleep here and there. It was really cool because the airport there had these awesome espresso machines where you could make baby cups of espresso/coffee/lattes for FREE! I had a few, but with not much in my stomach, I didn't want to overdue it.


We flew from Munich to Nice, France and arrived around 5:15. There was supposed to be a bus there for us, but no one could find it anywhere. Apparently the women escorts coming on the buses had found out THAT morning they needed to come get us. We waited maybe 45 minutes or so til they finally arrived. However, they informed us there was another flight of 60 or so students coming in around 6:30, so we ended up waiting evern longer in the airport (some more of my architecture guy-friends were on that flight). We didn't actually leave Nice until 7:00pm, and the bus ride was at least 5 hours. I ended up getting a seat to myself on the bus which was really nice because I had so many little bags and my camera. Because we ended up leaving Nice so late, there was only a short period of daylight. We literally drove along the coast of France and then down along the northeastern coast of Italy. It was really beautiful, but once the sun went down and I couldn't take many pictures (the windows were reflecting a lot too :/) I fell asleep. It was so much easier to sleep on the bus! We stopped around 9:00pm at a rest stop to order Paninis. I felt SO BAD for the Italian women working that little panini shop. So many of us barely stoke any Italian, and I think they were overwhelmed with 80 students suddenly asking for paninis. That helped me feel better considering I had barely eaten much at all the past few days. I DID make sure I was drinking a lot of water. The bus ride ended up taking way longer than it should have. I'm not sure why....if it was traffic or they had to go a different way. I was able to sleep most of the time.

Once we all got to the hotel, we unloaded our luggage and figured out rooms. Because all my friends had been guys, I had no one to easily choose a room with, so I decided I'd wait until everyone chose rooms and than tell them I'd be a filler (to fill up a quad or triple or whatever). It turned out that all the rooms were full, so they gave me a quad all to myself tonight! I thought I'd be all alone, but it just so happened that my friend Amber had to stay in my room tonight because of confusion or a double booking. It's okay though, I was feeling homesick and lonely, so it was nice to have a friend with me..."