Hello I live in a convent.
Pretty blunt, which suggests a feeling of disgust or annoyance. But that is not the case! It is incredible. The building itself is very unassuming from the outside and our living quarters kind of look like an insane asylum, but connected to our building is their church and it's amazing. It could only fit about 30 people but it has vaulted ceilings and huge statues with ornate drawings covering every inch. I'm pretty sure I would be scolded if I tried to sneak some pics but I think I will anyway.
Rome so far is ridiculously outstanding. Right outside of the convent is one of the biggest hangout spots in Rome apparently and each night about 100 people gather around the fountain in the courtyard. It expands to about 300 or 400 on the weekends. All of this is about 2 blocks away from the Colosseum. We found a great Irish pub called "The Scholars Lounge" which has been frequented often since we got here. It also shows football games, but most don't start until about 2a.m. sooo.... We still watched them of course.
We've seen so much already. We toured the Colosseum and the Roman Forum where Julius Caesar (maybe another Caesar, I really should know but I don't) was stabbed in the back. Adjacent to this is a church which sits on the site where Paul was imprisoned in Rome. Whoa. Also there are so many buildings that you don't think of when you think of Rome. Their tomb for the unknown soldier is definitely the most impressive building I've ever seen (Over buildings like the Colosseum, Empire State and the Acropolis). A couple of days ago we went to Naples (the origin of pizza) and Pompeii. Pompeii was unreal. It was so well preserved because of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
For church I have been attending the Basilica of St. Maggiore. It's beauty is almost overwhelming to the senses. It's interest going to mass there because it is such a large tourist destination. Last Sunday I observed the contrast between the reverence of the service and those actually attending mass and the irreverence of the tourists who were filing in and out taking picture and being loud. It challenge me to think more about my impact on the environment around me as we go see sites as a group.
The second day we were in Rome I went to the Vatican to see what's up and say hey to the Pope. I expected Vatican City to really stand out but I never really realized I had entered it. It blends in with Rome until you get to St. Peter's Basilica. The line to get in to the Sistine Chapel was close to 2 hours long so we passed (we are going as a group in a couple of weeks so don't worry). But we went in to St. Peter's Basilica... I was visually dumbfounded. There are a lot of things (everything) that I am struggling to express through words, but this? I can't even begin to describe it. But I will try anyway. First you walk through the huge courtyard (if you can call it that) that you see packed with people every time a new Pope is elected. On the right is the Sistine Chapel but if you walk straight you hit a staircase (right under the Pope window). Walk up these stairs and you enter through one of 3 huge wooden doors that must 20ft tall. The second that you enter the main Basilica I was immobilized by the size of it. The roof must have been well over 200ft. above me. Huge stone statues lean out over a 100ft off of the ground. Gold everywhere. A woman's choir singing hymns in Latin. The main room extends so far back that you can't see where it ends. Paintings cover every inch that statues and gold do not. Tourists file around like ants. And even funnier are the nuns, priests and monks who are with them equally equipped with nikons or cannons strapped around their necks and equally in awe. A statue made by Michael Angelo (I think... man this is bad. I need to get my facts straight before I write these) of Mary holding Jesus is in a room with a glass wall so everyone can see and take a picture of it for some reason. On the righthand side, about half way down the room is a prayer room that I went in to for about a half hour. I felt bad because I first I forgot about praying because I got lost in the beauty of the room. After I left that room, I finally approached the main alter. Gold everywhere with lights shining down and the choir playing, I felt like I have been in Heaven. There was so much.
I am struggling with the fact that the Church could be using that wealth in other ways and have not yet reached a conclusion about the morality of it or what Jesus would think if He walked in there. I did not grow up in a Church that was concerned with making the place of worship imposing or really all that beautiful, but I felt God when I walked in St Peter's. I knew that all of it had been made by man and therefore could not truly convey the beauty of God, but it was kind of a showcase of humanity for me. Like this is what we (humans) can do. God gave us the ability to make something as amazing and as imposing as this building.
I love and miss you all so much. I think of you often and wish you were here.
Not being, but becoming
Chris Costenbader
Monday, September 23, 2013
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Buda is the pest
Consistently inconsistent... and I'm sorry for it.
Well in the past week, I have been in four countries, taken 5 flights and got stuck in metro under Budapest. Busy I know. So busy in fact that I'm writing this a couple days late but was determined not to miss a week because so much has happened. We left Athens two Friday's ago and I went with Josh, Cj, Zoe and Emily to Budapest. Flying in to Budapest we saw so many colorful farms of what I am assuming was lavender. It was raining when we got there of course. We took a 30min bus to get to the metro which we took for another 30ish minutes to our destination. We stayed in an apartment about 200ft from the Basilica. To get to our apartment we had to enter a code for the main gate of off one of the main streets in Budapest. From there you walked across an open courtyard to our cozy yet elegant apartment. No one else was staying in that building. Of the 50 or so apartments that must have been in that building only 4 or 5 were occupied including ours.
Budapest was a whirlwind of action and looking back on it, it kind of blurs together. I chose Budapest because I thought that the likely hood of me going back to Eastern Europe was very unlikely and when I left I was looking up housing prices for district 5 in Pest. So yeah I loved it. It's hard to communicate through writing how a city or a culture impacts you, but Budapest had that "it" factor that left floored after every steps (trust me there were a lot steps, we walked a lot, on our feet, it hurt). The Hungarian people are so tall! The average height for the men must have been over 6'2". Also the people in Budapest were so fashionable. Even the little kids had matching clothes or even sport coats.
We went to the public baths in Budapest which was incredible. It's pretty much a water park exclusively for adults. It far exceeded any expectations that I had going in to it. While I was there I got my first message. The other days were spent exploring both the Pest and Buda sides of the Danube. There was one bar in Pest that was insane. In Budapest there are garden bars that convert empty courtyards in to bars. The one we went to was huge. It had 8 different bar counters and held over 600 people. The vibe of the bar really reminded me of Austin. It was very grungy with weird art but really fun with really nice people. The next night we went to the old castle on the opposite side of the Danube and looked out from the castely walls over the Pest side of the city. It was very picturesque. and sis something that I will remember for the rest of my life. We also went to a wine tasting festival held at the old palace. It was a very classy affair and kept anticipating a run in with James Bond.
Currently I am in Italy but all of those details will come this weekend (Lord willing). I love and miss you all.
Continually blessed,
Chris Costenbader
Well in the past week, I have been in four countries, taken 5 flights and got stuck in metro under Budapest. Busy I know. So busy in fact that I'm writing this a couple days late but was determined not to miss a week because so much has happened. We left Athens two Friday's ago and I went with Josh, Cj, Zoe and Emily to Budapest. Flying in to Budapest we saw so many colorful farms of what I am assuming was lavender. It was raining when we got there of course. We took a 30min bus to get to the metro which we took for another 30ish minutes to our destination. We stayed in an apartment about 200ft from the Basilica. To get to our apartment we had to enter a code for the main gate of off one of the main streets in Budapest. From there you walked across an open courtyard to our cozy yet elegant apartment. No one else was staying in that building. Of the 50 or so apartments that must have been in that building only 4 or 5 were occupied including ours.
Budapest was a whirlwind of action and looking back on it, it kind of blurs together. I chose Budapest because I thought that the likely hood of me going back to Eastern Europe was very unlikely and when I left I was looking up housing prices for district 5 in Pest. So yeah I loved it. It's hard to communicate through writing how a city or a culture impacts you, but Budapest had that "it" factor that left floored after every steps (trust me there were a lot steps, we walked a lot, on our feet, it hurt). The Hungarian people are so tall! The average height for the men must have been over 6'2". Also the people in Budapest were so fashionable. Even the little kids had matching clothes or even sport coats.
We went to the public baths in Budapest which was incredible. It's pretty much a water park exclusively for adults. It far exceeded any expectations that I had going in to it. While I was there I got my first message. The other days were spent exploring both the Pest and Buda sides of the Danube. There was one bar in Pest that was insane. In Budapest there are garden bars that convert empty courtyards in to bars. The one we went to was huge. It had 8 different bar counters and held over 600 people. The vibe of the bar really reminded me of Austin. It was very grungy with weird art but really fun with really nice people. The next night we went to the old castle on the opposite side of the Danube and looked out from the castely walls over the Pest side of the city. It was very picturesque. and sis something that I will remember for the rest of my life. We also went to a wine tasting festival held at the old palace. It was a very classy affair and kept anticipating a run in with James Bond.
Currently I am in Italy but all of those details will come this weekend (Lord willing). I love and miss you all.
Continually blessed,
Chris Costenbader
Sunday, September 8, 2013
The Last One In Greece...
Well you can't put a price on consistency, even when it's rooted in inconsistency. I believe I said that I was going to be doing my blogs on Fridays and yet not one blog has been posted on a Friday... Well here's the dealio. Fridays are our "Let's pack as much as possible in to 24 hours and see how it goes" days. If we're honest, all of our days are like that. EXCEPT for Sunday, which is devoted to homework and now blogging. "Chris, I'm confused what are you trying to say?" BLOGS ARE NOW GOING TO BE POSTED ON SUNDAYS. "Why couldn't you just say that?" I don't know... I'm sorry.
Last week I informed you that I was sick. Well I'm still sick so that's a thing. It's barely worth mentioning because it has little effect on my daily routine, but it's there. Kind of like a shadow, or another analogy that's cooler than that one.
Another jam packed week of excitement. Last Monday we traveled to Corinth and Mycenae. Our tour at Corinth started with our guide telling us an old Greek myth about a King who had left his wife and married another woman. The ex-wife put an accelerant on the bride's dress. During her wedding her dress caught fire and she ran and jumped in a spring fed fountain, which saved her life. Crazy right? Well then the tour guide turns around and points to one of the many old buildings near us. "That's the fountain right there." One after another, our jaws fell to the ground. This is a good example of how it keeps reoccurring to me that we are HERE. All of the myths, all of the stories and historical events happened where we are actually standing! Our tour continued to what was the main town square in Corinth where Paul came to preach to the Corinthians. A few members of our group lingered behind and read multiple portions of first and second Corinthians aloud to each other. This was a very surreal experience (On the same note, the rock that I talked about going to the first night was actually Mars hill, where Paul preached to the athenians. We didn't even know it!).
We traveled to Mycenae next. We saw the honeycomb tombs that the kings (possibly Agamemnon) were buried. Next we walked up to the Acropolis (just means fortress on a hill) of Mycenae. It was naturally well protected and had an incredible view. You could see for miles, toward Corinth and the coast as well as inland. The museum there wasn't much to look at though because most of the interesting artifacts were just duplicates.
Last Friday we went to an island for the day!!! We took a 2 hour ferry to the island of Agistri. Oh man. It was incredible. Agistri is not one of the main touristy islands but it is a popular destination for Greeks to travel to for a day or two. Only 1200 people live there permanently so the island is crazy quiet. The water is crystal clear so Josh and I bought of pair of the cheapest goggles we could find (Mine are pink...) and we swam around looking at fish for most of the day. My sinuses still hurt so I could only dive down 3ft or so. Most of the group ended up meeting up at some rocks by accident and we jumped off of them up until our ferry was ready to depart. Nothing but good things to say about Agistri except the excess of sea urchins...
This week I met a professor from Izmir. We have talked twice, both times for more than two hours. I've learned so much from him. I won't even try to spell his name because I'll just make a fool out of myself. But we've discussed so many things and have helped each other better understand Turkey and the U.S. Currently he's doing research in Athens about the dispute between Greece and Turkey surrounding the island of Cyprus. I knew very little about this conflict prior to our conversations, but listened and quickly learned. I ended up finding out that he actually was born in Cyprus. I asked him lots of questions about keeping a neutral stance on the issue since he and his family were so intimately involved. I think I will cherish these conversations the most out of any that I've had in Greece.
Since we live above a sports bar, I have been watching a lot of soccer, rugby and Australian football. I still don't like cricket or rugby really, but Australian football is awesome. I'm a big fan.
Yesterday we had our first free day of the trip. Some people tried to travel to other islands but it was crazy expensive and they could only be there for a day. So Josh, CJ and I took some people down to the beach (two days straight at the beach and I didn't even get sunburned Mom). After the beach we went to a super-yacht marina that was built for the 2004 olympics. We ended up eating a TGI Friday's hahaha. We actually spent over 3 hours there. It was so nice to not need to run off to some other activity. After our lengthy meal, we went to see the movie "Blue Jasmine" in an outdoor theater in the marina. For our film class we had to go out and see a movie in the city so it worked out well.
That about brings us to the present. I will be leaving for Budapest early Wednesday morning. I am beyond excited for Budapest and have heard great things from travelers that I've met.
Not being, but becoming
Chris Costenbader
Last week I informed you that I was sick. Well I'm still sick so that's a thing. It's barely worth mentioning because it has little effect on my daily routine, but it's there. Kind of like a shadow, or another analogy that's cooler than that one.
Another jam packed week of excitement. Last Monday we traveled to Corinth and Mycenae. Our tour at Corinth started with our guide telling us an old Greek myth about a King who had left his wife and married another woman. The ex-wife put an accelerant on the bride's dress. During her wedding her dress caught fire and she ran and jumped in a spring fed fountain, which saved her life. Crazy right? Well then the tour guide turns around and points to one of the many old buildings near us. "That's the fountain right there." One after another, our jaws fell to the ground. This is a good example of how it keeps reoccurring to me that we are HERE. All of the myths, all of the stories and historical events happened where we are actually standing! Our tour continued to what was the main town square in Corinth where Paul came to preach to the Corinthians. A few members of our group lingered behind and read multiple portions of first and second Corinthians aloud to each other. This was a very surreal experience (On the same note, the rock that I talked about going to the first night was actually Mars hill, where Paul preached to the athenians. We didn't even know it!).
We traveled to Mycenae next. We saw the honeycomb tombs that the kings (possibly Agamemnon) were buried. Next we walked up to the Acropolis (just means fortress on a hill) of Mycenae. It was naturally well protected and had an incredible view. You could see for miles, toward Corinth and the coast as well as inland. The museum there wasn't much to look at though because most of the interesting artifacts were just duplicates.
Last Friday we went to an island for the day!!! We took a 2 hour ferry to the island of Agistri. Oh man. It was incredible. Agistri is not one of the main touristy islands but it is a popular destination for Greeks to travel to for a day or two. Only 1200 people live there permanently so the island is crazy quiet. The water is crystal clear so Josh and I bought of pair of the cheapest goggles we could find (Mine are pink...) and we swam around looking at fish for most of the day. My sinuses still hurt so I could only dive down 3ft or so. Most of the group ended up meeting up at some rocks by accident and we jumped off of them up until our ferry was ready to depart. Nothing but good things to say about Agistri except the excess of sea urchins...
This week I met a professor from Izmir. We have talked twice, both times for more than two hours. I've learned so much from him. I won't even try to spell his name because I'll just make a fool out of myself. But we've discussed so many things and have helped each other better understand Turkey and the U.S. Currently he's doing research in Athens about the dispute between Greece and Turkey surrounding the island of Cyprus. I knew very little about this conflict prior to our conversations, but listened and quickly learned. I ended up finding out that he actually was born in Cyprus. I asked him lots of questions about keeping a neutral stance on the issue since he and his family were so intimately involved. I think I will cherish these conversations the most out of any that I've had in Greece.
Since we live above a sports bar, I have been watching a lot of soccer, rugby and Australian football. I still don't like cricket or rugby really, but Australian football is awesome. I'm a big fan.
Yesterday we had our first free day of the trip. Some people tried to travel to other islands but it was crazy expensive and they could only be there for a day. So Josh, CJ and I took some people down to the beach (two days straight at the beach and I didn't even get sunburned Mom). After the beach we went to a super-yacht marina that was built for the 2004 olympics. We ended up eating a TGI Friday's hahaha. We actually spent over 3 hours there. It was so nice to not need to run off to some other activity. After our lengthy meal, we went to see the movie "Blue Jasmine" in an outdoor theater in the marina. For our film class we had to go out and see a movie in the city so it worked out well.
That about brings us to the present. I will be leaving for Budapest early Wednesday morning. I am beyond excited for Budapest and have heard great things from travelers that I've met.
Not being, but becoming
Chris Costenbader
Sunday, September 1, 2013
The (hopefully last) one where I'm sick
Whoa.
So this past week has been a whirlwind of action. First of all, I apologize to you and to myself for writing this two days late but this is when I could do it.
Flights went very smoothly and by the time we landed in Athens I was so tired but we gathered ourselves and went out as a group to get some food. Myself and the other five guys are sharing an apartment and we got so lucky. We all are definitely individuals but get along so well. It's so easy to do stuff with the guys and the first week was definitely defined by our growing friendships. Inside jokes and nicknames established, we are now branching out and getting the ladies involved. Our apartment is cozy but not uncomfortable except that there are five seats and six guys. We overlook a busy street and the people that run our apartment also run a sports bar on the first floor which is frequented often for homework, drinks, soccer and especially karaoke.
We are about a five minute walk from the Acropolis and despite being trashed from flying for 20 something hours, we found the strength to walk to it on the first night. After eating a small group of us went to an outcrop beneath the Acropolis (which is lit up at night). We stayed there until 1 or 2a.m. with a lot of the locals and just looked across the city. We were talking about how pretty the ocean looked at night when an Athenian kindly pointed out that we were looking north and the ocean was behind us. Whoops! Athens doesn't sleep I'm convinced. Walking back from the rock we ran in to a man playing a trumpet. He was killing it. His dog accompanied him and would howl when he hit certain notes. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
But as the title betrays, I got sick fairly early on. Fever, congestion and headaches haunted my every move. Sunday was spent wallowing in semi-misery. Being sick internationally is a unique experience. I went to the pharmacy and struggled to communicate what I desperately needed. I ended up being handed TUMS...? So after I exhausted that option I began to beg. Thankfully one of our wonderful ladies had enough medicine for a small army and had just what the doctor would've ordered (hehe jokes). Despite taking this miracle medicine, my sickness still lingers however I'm fully functional and thankful that it wasn't worse.
Our week saw little relaxation time. We've traveled all around Greece. Last Sunday we saw a play at an Ancient Greek theater (Epidaurus) built in 200BCE. The play was all in Greek but it was incredible to imagine who sat in the same seats we occupied. We also went to Poseidon's temple which sits at the bottom of the peninsula of Greece. Wow wow wow... WOW. It was incredible. We got to spend most of the afternoon swimming in a cove beneath the temple and then walked up and watched the sun set over the Aegean sea. The next day the group went to the Acropolis but I wasn't feeling well and the temperature was well over 100 (Fahrenheit), but I heard that it wasn't too incredible. Without a doubt Apollo's temple was the coolest Greek ruin that we've visited. Went spent a whole day in Delphi which is a great town by itself with a view that I would expect in Austria or Switzerland not Greece. We had a tour guide take us through the museum which was interesting, but when we went to the actual temple I was dumbfounded. If you know me well you know how much I love exploring and how I have a special affinity for natural springs. Well Apollo's temple is on three springs, all of which are under the temple itself and we couldn't access but I was giddy just knowing it was there. Apparently the oracle of Delphi would inhale natural gas that was spewing out of the rock and then give her predictions (inaudible rambling) which were "translated" by the head priest. We walked the same steps that Alexander the took when he consulted the wisdom of the oracle. There was also a stadium at the temple and the guys were tempted to race in the traditional Greek style (naked), but the guards stationed around it deterred us.
It hasn't been all travel and fun. We also started class this week. We (as a group) are pretty overwhelmed with the amount of work combined with traveling and wanting to explore a new city. A couple of days ago we were told to go to Plato's academy, which is now just a park in the north of Athens. We sat where Plato used teach and read "The Republic" and wrote a reflection. This is a good example of how most of our academic work is still adding to the experience of the trip.
Shout out to Mother,
Happy birthday, I love and miss you.
Not being but becoming,
Chris Csotenbader
So this past week has been a whirlwind of action. First of all, I apologize to you and to myself for writing this two days late but this is when I could do it.
Flights went very smoothly and by the time we landed in Athens I was so tired but we gathered ourselves and went out as a group to get some food. Myself and the other five guys are sharing an apartment and we got so lucky. We all are definitely individuals but get along so well. It's so easy to do stuff with the guys and the first week was definitely defined by our growing friendships. Inside jokes and nicknames established, we are now branching out and getting the ladies involved. Our apartment is cozy but not uncomfortable except that there are five seats and six guys. We overlook a busy street and the people that run our apartment also run a sports bar on the first floor which is frequented often for homework, drinks, soccer and especially karaoke.
We are about a five minute walk from the Acropolis and despite being trashed from flying for 20 something hours, we found the strength to walk to it on the first night. After eating a small group of us went to an outcrop beneath the Acropolis (which is lit up at night). We stayed there until 1 or 2a.m. with a lot of the locals and just looked across the city. We were talking about how pretty the ocean looked at night when an Athenian kindly pointed out that we were looking north and the ocean was behind us. Whoops! Athens doesn't sleep I'm convinced. Walking back from the rock we ran in to a man playing a trumpet. He was killing it. His dog accompanied him and would howl when he hit certain notes. It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
But as the title betrays, I got sick fairly early on. Fever, congestion and headaches haunted my every move. Sunday was spent wallowing in semi-misery. Being sick internationally is a unique experience. I went to the pharmacy and struggled to communicate what I desperately needed. I ended up being handed TUMS...? So after I exhausted that option I began to beg. Thankfully one of our wonderful ladies had enough medicine for a small army and had just what the doctor would've ordered (hehe jokes). Despite taking this miracle medicine, my sickness still lingers however I'm fully functional and thankful that it wasn't worse.
Our week saw little relaxation time. We've traveled all around Greece. Last Sunday we saw a play at an Ancient Greek theater (Epidaurus) built in 200BCE. The play was all in Greek but it was incredible to imagine who sat in the same seats we occupied. We also went to Poseidon's temple which sits at the bottom of the peninsula of Greece. Wow wow wow... WOW. It was incredible. We got to spend most of the afternoon swimming in a cove beneath the temple and then walked up and watched the sun set over the Aegean sea. The next day the group went to the Acropolis but I wasn't feeling well and the temperature was well over 100 (Fahrenheit), but I heard that it wasn't too incredible. Without a doubt Apollo's temple was the coolest Greek ruin that we've visited. Went spent a whole day in Delphi which is a great town by itself with a view that I would expect in Austria or Switzerland not Greece. We had a tour guide take us through the museum which was interesting, but when we went to the actual temple I was dumbfounded. If you know me well you know how much I love exploring and how I have a special affinity for natural springs. Well Apollo's temple is on three springs, all of which are under the temple itself and we couldn't access but I was giddy just knowing it was there. Apparently the oracle of Delphi would inhale natural gas that was spewing out of the rock and then give her predictions (inaudible rambling) which were "translated" by the head priest. We walked the same steps that Alexander the took when he consulted the wisdom of the oracle. There was also a stadium at the temple and the guys were tempted to race in the traditional Greek style (naked), but the guards stationed around it deterred us.
It hasn't been all travel and fun. We also started class this week. We (as a group) are pretty overwhelmed with the amount of work combined with traveling and wanting to explore a new city. A couple of days ago we were told to go to Plato's academy, which is now just a park in the north of Athens. We sat where Plato used teach and read "The Republic" and wrote a reflection. This is a good example of how most of our academic work is still adding to the experience of the trip.
Shout out to Mother,
Happy birthday, I love and miss you.
Not being but becoming,
Chris Csotenbader
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