A Cape of White Over the Morning ~ September 23rd

"Fog's rollin' in off the East River bank
Like a shroud it covers Bleeker Street
Fills the alleys where men sleep
Hides the shepherd from the sheep..."



I first thought of this song today, when I saw the fog this morning. It will take a while to get used to the fog here in Reutlingen. I woke up very early, even though class didn't start until 11 am, so I could practice the piano with the new music I had bought yesterday: Bach's Inventions. But it was strange waking up to the darkness, and then peering out my window, and only seeing faint circles of light, glowing out from the fog like cat's eyes, and the my now-familar hills shrouded in white......I walked over in the cool morning air to the building with the piano, and sat down for a hour and half of practice. I had the whole large room to myself, with its large ceiling-to-floor windows that I love so much. On one side, you have a glimpse of the town below, through the trees, and on the other, you have the path that leads into the center of the campus. It feels as if I have an audience of nature to surround my playing, and I have this feeling of quiet peacefulness when I am there, all alone but filled to the brim with the enjoyment of music. It is wonderful to find something so familar here like music for company.



"...I head a church bell softly chime
In a melody sustainin'
It's a long road to Caanan
On Bleeker Street
Bleeker Street" (S&G)



~E.

"Slow down, you move too fast..." ~ September 22nd

Slow down, you move too fast.

You got to make the morning last.

Just kicking down the cobble stones.

Looking for fun and feelin' groovy! ~ S&G

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today was a perfect example of the suprisingly warm days an Indian Summer brings...even in Germany. The fog cleared off of the horizon a bit and the weather was pleasant enough to wear short sleeves. :-)

Tuesdays are market days downtown here in Reutlingen and I absolutely love them. There are so many vendors with fruit, vegetables, flowers, bread, meat, cheese, tea, herbs....the list could go on! I have two stands I always visit: the old-man-and-his-flowers and the couple-who-sells-olives-and-cheese-and-everything-wonderful-in-real-wooden-barrels. Yup. Today the old man's flowers were 2 bunches for 3 euros....so of course I paid the 3 euros! The old man just smiled and laughly spoke to me in thick Schwabisch German as I tried to decide which two bouquets I wanted. Ha, but they all were so beautiful. I settled on one with burgundies and creams, and another with yellows and blues and purples, and he wrapped them in twine and newspapers gave me a friendly "tschuss! schonen Tag" goodbye, as I headed over to my other favorite vendor with the striped awning. This couple has two long rows of half-barrels filled with olives&cheese, tomato&cheese, artichoke hearts&cheese&olives....etc etc...and everything is made with olive oil and a deliciously unidentifiable and unreciprocatable combination of herbs. It tastes so good as a side dish to some dense "brotchen" (rolls) with their hearty wheat and seeds...which is exactly what I had for lunch today! before heading off to class again.

Class itself this afternoon was an hour of comparing our experiences in Berlin and wherever else we went this past weekend. It was really nice to hear people's perspectives and get some insight/advice on places that I plan on going to sometime. But the highlight of the afternoon was when class got out! and four of the guys (+ Hilary) played frisbee on the lawn outside the building...I contentedly sat and read my book, enjoying my spot in the grass and watching the bugs happily look for clover. This last remnant of summer is almost the best part, because it comes by surprise and you appreciate the spontaneous day of warmth more, in my opinion. And appreciate it I did. Simple relaxation and pleasure in God's own creation. A wonderful way to spend an afternoon, for sure.

~E.

"because You Are" ~ September 21st

I awoke to the darkness and watched as the early morning sunrise revealed the hills in their misty veils. Fall is coming; the air is crisper and the sun doesn't shine as thickly. The view from my window has been gradually changing, as the trees show new golden fingertips. I was overwhelmed by the thought of our amazing God, who is ever the same yet always new. I could not help but want to lift my hands in praise, for all He is to me and how he has blessed me. Even in this land, far away from all I know, Jesus is still here for me, my best and closest Friend. ~E.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh my eyes have seen your light,

And my heart has seen your way.

I'm astounded by your might,

And your will I will obey

'cause You Are

The same time One and Three.

And You Are

Omniscient Being

And You Are

Redeemer of the Day

And You Are

The Everlasting Way

I Stand upon your truth

In the glory of your day

Right here I'll stay with you

I your love I will remain

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
song courtesy of my multi-musical friend J : -)

"Clear sky is turning stormy" ~ September 20th

If you feel teardrops
Falling like rain on the rooftops
If you wonder what you're listening to
This is me missing you
If you feel lonely
Clear sky is turning stormy
Lightning strikes and all you see is blue
This is me missing you
If you feel heartbreak
Distant thunder like an earthquake
If you wonder why the earth moves
This is me missing you
If you touch empty
Reach in the darkness and don't find me
Then you'll know just what I'm going through
This is me missing you

picture courtesy of Jon Larson, song by James House

"Through All These Cities and Towns" ~ Berlin I

Life's like a road that you travel on

When there's one day here and the next day gone

Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand

Sometimes you turn your back to the wind

There's a world outside ev'ry darkened door

Where blues won't haunt you anymore

Where brave are free and lovers soar...

There's not much time left today.

Life is a highway

I wanna ride it all night long

If you're going my way

I wanna drive it all night long

Through all these cities and all these towns

It's in my blood and it's all around.......

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hardly four days since Hilary and I got back from our first weekend trip, and we are back on the road, headed with our group towards Berlin with everything I need for 10days packed into my small black backpack and purse. A 6-hr train ride north....with a steady pattern of read, write, sleep, eat, read again.... anything to pass the time. We got to Berlin and settled into our pension hotel with just enough time for Jon, Ryan, and I to change clothes and head off to the Berliner Opera. The adrenaline from the excitement of being in BERLIN and seeing Mozart's Der Zauberfloete and the opera house!!!!....well, it gave me enough energy for the rest of the night. The opera was fantastic; I am so glad we didn't miss it due to schedule problems!!! We met some great people too, while we were waiting in line for rush tickets, and ended up going out for pizza together with them before the opera started. Wow. The opera. We got second row seats, so the singers were right in front and it was as if the whole show was only for us. The whole time, I couldn't stop smiling with enjoyment....what a way to begin the week!!!! It bodes well for the days that will follow......

~E.

Week of Classes: What We Do vs. What We Actually Learn

I. EUROPEAN ECONOMICS: Eating more gelato is a great way to stimulate the local economy and support family businesses. Suits me.



II. GERMAN LIFE & CULURE: HoHum. Learning how to use the train schedule....ummm. Yeah. We've already travelled on the train and know how to do that. Learning how to book a hostel.......that would be MUCH more helpful.



III. DEUTSCH 204: "Dies ist Professor Boffins Haus. Es ist am Morgen. Professor Boffin und seine Frau fruehstuecken..." oh wait....its lunch time....and we are at the Brixners for food, followed by a "strenous" linguistic exercise, translating a German poem. Herr Brixner: "No No!! You must make the 's' more pronounced! say 'der SCHloss in SCHTuttgarT' ...Again! Again!"



IV. ART: Hard at work here in art class. We have a very challenging adgenda, including charades. *stuffy British voice* "And here, you see a 21st century photograph, reenacting of the infamous The Rape of the Sabine Women. The use of men here instead of the statue's original three women is representative of the evolution of gender roles among today's youth. Please note the anguished expression on the lower male's face, which can be viewed as a cry against the tyranny of social bondange, whether that is from prejudice or...."

~E.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
images courtesy of Jon Larson

Our First Weekend Trip: Mainz, the Rhein, & Koblenz ~ September 4th

Basically, we are two insane travellers, to be getting up at 4 am for a 5 am train.....But it was all worth it. We arrived in Mainz around 7 am, just in time for their famously huge farmer's market to be opening up. The air was cool and you could feel the moistness that told you rain was on the way....we wandered through the streets as laughing schoolchildren rushed past with their backpacks, satchels, or shoulderbags and lunch boxes. The market was larger than the one in Reutlingen, but so much was the same. If I closed my eyes too, I could imagine myself back home, on a Saturday morning, downtown at the farmer's market in West Lafayette with Mom and Dad, and it made me homesick a bit to see the familar sight of fruit and cheese and vegetables......only to be brought back to reality when I heard the babble of German coming from the old woman with the crowded rows of flower bouquets, as she laughed with the farmer in the stall across the way. Then the brief moment of homesickness passed, after we bought our food and arrived at the ferry dock. With the beautiful Rhein stretching out in front of us, I got excited for all sights we were going to see on the cruise we were waiting in line for. All the castles!!! One after another!!! You could imagine looking out window of one and being able to catch a glimpse of the next one with hardly a strain upon the eyes. Amazing. They were all in different styles, reflective of the era in which they were built or rennovated. We also passed the infamous Lorelei - a cliff rising 120 meters above the narrowest part of the Rhein and named for one of the beautiful Rhein Maidens, who supposedly lurred sailors to their deaths with their hypnotic song. While on the boat, it finally started raining and we were very thankful we had brought long sleeves and jackets. We ended up wearing almost every shirt we had packed, so as to stay warm, and the whole wetness and cold put a damper on our enthusiasm for sightseeing when we got off the boat at Koblenz. We quickly found a museum to stop into and spent the afternoon there, away from the stormy weather, and then caught the train to Köln earlier than originally planned. This time checking into our hostel, we cared less about our feet and backs and more about getting a hot shower and dry clothes.

The Hostel Experience: such a variety. Where Stuttgart's Alex 30 was clean, quiet, and well -kept, the Köln Station Hostel for Backpackers was crowded, a bit load, and hectic in the morning. The sheets were so highly starched that we wondered if the starch was an attempt to mask poor quality or something else we didn't want to know about and we really weren't sure how the shower lights were supposed to work and where the heck the other three sleepers in the room were....It ended up being three guys: one of which was randomly from Atlanta Georga; the random guy who arrived at 3 in the morning and tried to make the first one wake up and stop snoring; and finally, the third one, who was gone all night but showed up in the morning, tried to flirt with me or Hilary when the other was in the bathroom, asked if we wanted to go to the pub with him the next night, and was amazed we weren't Swiss, since, of course, we had to be, because I had a Swiss Army backpack.....yeeeeeah. We decided we were very glad the hostel was full for the next night and we had had to find a hotel instead. Yup. Next time we're going to pay the 3 Euros extra per person for a private room with two beds. It's totally worth it.

~E.

Our First Weekend Trip: Stuttgart ~ September 3rd

Our inexperience making our nerves high, Hilary and I headed off today after classes got out at noon and took the train from Reutlingen to Stuttgart, the first stop planned for our trip this weekend. We hadn’t the time or the resources (i.e. internet) to reserve a hostel there, so we were banking on the fact that it was a weeknight and *hopefully* that meant there would be room somewhere for us. Well, we stopped off of the train and began what ended up being a 2 hr search around town for a hostel that either a) no longer exists, b) is too difficult for the normal tourist with a map to find, or c) vanishes at dusk like a hidden castle into the mist so as to foil foreign invaders. Yeah. It was frustrating. We finally gave up and looked for another hostel that *conveniently* was named Hostel Alex 30 and gosh! Was located at # 30 Alexanderstraße….why can’t all places make so much sense?!? *sigh* The downtown also seemed so much bigger than we later realized, since we had walked around it probably three times in our hostel-hunting-eagerness. In anycase, we stumbled up the stairs into our room, thankful to finally take off the backpacks that now felt like they had had bricks in them….and just flopped onto the beds and did nothing.

Our stomachs eventually got the best of us and we ventured downtown again, this time without needing the guidance of a map (we were very proud of ourselves!) They were having a wine festival around the church, similar to the one in Reutlingen, so we stopped and bought ourselves a bag of mixed roasted nuts. We ate them while walking around the square, past the Altes Schloss (old castle) and ending up in front of the magnificent Neues Schloss, with its massive fountains, sprawling green, and cobbled paths. As the sun went down, it was a lovely place to be in the midst of. We sat there on our park bench, munching on a big loaf of bread that we split between us for dinner, until it got cool and we decided to head back to our room for a good night's sleep. I think we both felt very good for having managed so well on our own thus far and that gave us a well-needed confidence boost. We were certainly happy to have a comfortable bed to sleep in, since we had to get up really early to catch a 5 am train to Mainz......

~E.

"August, die she must..." ~ August 31st

It's the end of August and first day of classes here in Reutlingen. The classes are a mix of disappointment and enjoyment for me. On the one hand, I love not having loads of homework, like I normally have back in the States with my demanding engineering classes. It would be difficult to plan for our trips, travel, *and* try to manage my normal courseload at the same time. On the other hand, though, I have this sinking feeling that, for the money we pay to be abroad, the classes should be better and demand more from us, so that we can really learn while we are here. I am only taking four classes so far - Art, Econ, German Life and Culture (GLC), and German 204 - but I'll be adding an engineering class come October, when Reutlingen Hochschule's actual semester begins. Herr Springer for Art is extremely knowledgable and so that class is fine, but it has no real homework yet; GLC uses a textbook that has out-of-date statistics and the readings are short; Econ is actually the most fascinating because it's taught by RH's director of the international studies, Herr Veit, and he knows everything about Germany (not quite, but still.....); and then there's German - well, that has mixed reviews amongst our group. Most of us like the review of grammar, etc, that it provides, but others of us (myself included) also wish we could be in a total language immersion course and then have our classes given in German. I for one get very little opportunity to exercise the language skills I have worked to learn these past three years at Valpo, aside from brief every-day contacts with local people in the Penny Markt or downtown or at a restaurant or such. So because of all this, I have felt the overwhelming urge of late to supplement the classes here with mini-studies of my own - mainly through books, since that's what's available to me. I think I'm reading three books right now at once: Reformers In Profile, The Oxford Illustrated History of Modern Europe, Looking at Modern Painting and An Introduction to Music......so let's see....that covers Religion, History, Music, and Art......*sigh* I have to laugh a bit at my perhaps overzealousness, but it's true: if the system seems lacking, I won't settle and allow myself to remain at status quo - I will challenge myself and I will make the most of the semester abroad.

In the mean time, Hilary (my roommate) and I are attempting to plan our first weekend trip. It is a bit frustrating, because we do not have internet and we need to book hostels and look up the places we're going to. Ah, and yes, because of our internet struggles, these blogs will be end up having to be posted whenever we finally get hooked up to the server. Ach, it is a point of huge exasperation to me at times, this whole lack of internet thing. I am already getting used to not having it 24-7, but then, there are times where it would be really convenient and it isn't there. Oh well. More patience, Erin, more patience.

And now, off to read the two chapters for GLC class....that shouldn't take longer than a half an hour, ha.

~E.

"I am a little church..." ~ August 30th

Ahh! I am amazed at what lovely weather we keep having here in Germany! Hilary and I got up and walked downtown for church this morning at Marienkirche, one of the Protestant churches here in Reutlingen. We had gone to an organ concert there the previous night and learned about its history in our tour of downtown. Its architecture is impressively Gothic and the stained glass is in really good condition. The concert included the Bach's Brandenberg Concertos and wow. The sound of the organ fills every corner of the naive so you are overwhelmed by its strength and the notes cascade through the air with every measure played. I just sat there in the glossy wooden pews, gazing up at the ceiling frescos and listening to the organ, in musical heaven. After all, it is Bach, in a church, in Germany! Any one of those things is fantastic in and of itself...but together they make quite an experience for a music lover like me. And so some of that feeling lingered in the morning when we were in church, as I lost focus from the sermon, it being difficult to understand with pastor's rapid Schwabisch dialect-thickened speech. So I explored the church with my eyes and in my mind, collected the verses that were written atop the columns and the words of those became more of a sermon to me than any message from the preacher in his draped black robes and solemn face and hands empty of a Bible....it being on the altar area, open but somehow seeming unread. Thus I made my own Church in my own heart and praised God in that way, letting His simple Truth speak to me directly, through His own Word. What a wonderful gift the Bible is!!!

~E

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"i am a little church" by e.e. cummings

i am a little church(no great cathedral)....
my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth's own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying)children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection:
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope, and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains

i am a little church(far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature
-i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever:
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Der Schwarzwald und Treiberg ~ August 29th

Wow. Der Schwarzwald (the Black Forest) is beautiful!! Its hills remind me of Pennsylvania but its deep dark trees make me think of Acadia and Maine forests. We took a long bus ride over to Treiberg so I was able to gaze out at the landscape the whole time and watch the hills roll by, dotted by valley villages with red-tiled houses and steep fields and cows. Trieberg itself is a quaint town that looks as if it is cut off the side of the mountainside. It gets alot of tourists, since it borders the park with Germany's longest waterfall but it is still very nice. We had a picnic lunch there and did some window shopping before we headed off to the park. The town has alot of little shops, but one big one boasts 1000 cuckoo clocks, and sure enough, its walls were packed with cuckoo clocks of different sizes, styles, and ornamentation. It was pretty fantastic to see. Luckily, they were just set to tick, or else I think I would have been overwhelmed by the thunderous noise of "Cuck-oo, Cuck-oo" of a 1000 cuckoo clocks going off at the same time, ha. Oh, I also had my first coffee in Germany during our sightseeing. Jon Larson and I spotted a cafe, looked at each other, and it was like two dogs on a scent: COFFEE!! It was overpriced and too sweet but strong and definitely was the wondeful caffeinated beverage that I love. :-)

The waterfall itself was amazing. As we started our ascent, I forgot my tired legs with the all sights around me: the forest that surrounds the waterfall seemed somehow denser and the colors more vivid than anywhere else I have seen in Germany so far. The path followed the twists and turns of the waterfall and you could hear the constant rush of water and its coolness as you walked higher and higher, until you could stop and turn around and then! the breathless beauty of the nature that overwhelmed you as you gazed out upon the landscape! It was wonderful. We got lost on the way back downtown, but I didn't care, because there were many pink-purple, white, and yellow flowers and lovely trees and I enjoy being in nature so much. I picked some flowers to press later before we left the waterfall so we could catch the bus to a mountain lake on our way home back to Reutlingen. It was warm enough and the lake water pleasant enough that I waded in it while everyone else sat and relaxed on the pebbly beach. The water was amazingly clear so you could see straight to the bottom even with a couple feet of water :-) A couple of the group stopped at a bakery and we shared real Black Forest torte....mmm!! The cherries here are tart and not sticky-sweet marachino cherries like back home, and I like it better that way. And the whipped cream was freshly made....I have had nothing as good as it in the States. The States version of it doesn't do the torte justice.

And so it is the end of my third day here in Germany and I am blissfully happy to go to sleep now. Guten Nacht!

~E.

Deutschland! ~ August 27th-28th

Well, Germany is everything I expected and more. Our first days here have been filled with walking and more walking and trying to adjust to the time change. Our big 7-hr flight to Zurich went without a hitch, but then we were delayed with our transfer plane to Stuttgart because apparently something was wrong with the air conditioning. So we boarded the plane, sat for 20 minutes, and then ended up just having get off again and wait for another plane. Most of us were very tired, having slept little on the plane, so some people dozed off while waiting on the plane and when we had to get off, were like, "Huh?What?? Are we there already??" Ha. But we did get to Reutlingen eventually, a couple hours later than we were supposed to. We all were kindof glad of that, because it meant we had to skip the tour around downtown that was planned for us to do.....none of us were saddened by the loss. All we wanted to do is crash. By the time we all got settled, we had been awake for over 35 hrs. Ugh.

We had to get up again the next morning to take the tour that we had missed and get our bus cards and train passes...and go shopping for food. More walking. It's about a 25 minute walk downtown and we've walked back and forth at least four times in this day. My poor legs are not used to being exercised that much...so they're very tired and sore. I woke up this morning and was like "Uggggggh. I feel like I've run a marathon," my muscles ached so much. And today we're going off to Trieberg (southern Germany) in the Black Forest, to see Germany's longest waterfall and a mountain lake.....so it's more walking!!!! Uch, I just want pain meds and a soft bed to fall asleep in! I'll tell you how it is when I get back :-)

~E.

"I'll Be Coming Home Next Year..." ~ August 25th and 26th

Oftentimes, I get too caught up in the stress of life worries and I end up forgetting the things I am really excited about and enjoy. This seems to be the case here with Germany. I keep going over my packing list, hoping I didn't forget something important, wondering if I packed too much or not enough etc etc....and then there's people who keep asking me, "Are you excited?" and I smile and say yes! but I don't think the feeling has sunk in totally yet. It just kindof peeks out now and again. Lately, I've just been feeling sad that I have to leave ~ especially since this year is senior year for my sister and all my friends!!! Ach. I have to stop and shake myself into focusing on how much fun I will have while I'm away (which of course mentally I know I will), rather than what I might miss. After all - I remind myself - I've been working three years to get to this point. I should be very excited and breathless with anticipation. I think that'll finally come when I actually land in Germany. :-)

In the meantime, I am reminded of this song, which a wonderfully good friend of mine sent me this spring when I was feeling this way before - all sad about leaving and forgetful of what an exciting adventure I was going to have.

And what an adventure it will be!!! :-D

~E.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm in the sky tonight
There I can keep by your side
Watching the wide world riot
And hiding out
I'll be coming home next year

Into the sun we climb
Climbing our wings will burn white
Everyone strapped in tight?
We'll ride it out
I'll be coming home next year

Come on, get on, get on
Take it till life runs out
Noone could find us now
Living with our heads underground
Into the night we shine
Lighting the way we glide by
Catch me if I get too high
When I come down
I'll be coming home next year

I'm in the sky tonight
There I can keep by your side
Watching the whole world wind
Around and round
I'll be coming home next year
Come on, get on, get on
Take it till I fall down
Noone can find us now
Living with our heads underground

Say goodbye
Say goodbye
Say goodbye
Say goodbye

I'll be coming home next year
I'll be coming home next year
Everything's alright up here
If I come down,
I'll be coming home next year....

~Next Year by The Foo Fighters

Memories of Summer

"The summer days are gone too soon

You shoot the moon

And miss completely

And now you're left to face the gloom

The empty room that once smelled sweetly

Of all the flowers you plucked if only

You knew the reason
Why you had to each be lonely

Was it just the season?

Now the fall is here again

You can't begin to give in

It's all over......"

Shoot the Moon by Norah Jones

~E.

Looking Back, Turning Forward ~ August 24th

"All my bags are packed I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin' it's early morn
The taxi's waitin' he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could die...
Cause I'm leavin' on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh how I hate to go..."

Mmm I love that song by John Denver!! It’s true; my bags *are* packed and now I’m at that in-the-middle stage where you try not to count down the days or think to yourself “This is the last time that I’ll be able to do __ for a year” and all that sort of stuff that makes you either more impatient or more sad. I’ve somewhat successfully fooled myself into thinking I’m not leaving at all and it’s a normal vacation at home and so I’ve enjoyed these last days much more. Ha. The whole “I haven’t left yet but I’m already missing home” feeling still sinks in sometimes, which amuses me. Ah well….

"I'm published! (in a way)" My Summer as an Undergraduate Research Assistant ~ August 22nd

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If I haven't already mentioned it, for those of you who do not know, I spent my summer in the soils lab of Gellersen (Valpo's engineering building; the math department only thinks they share it with us), working as an undergraduate research assistant for Dr. Carmine Polito. He is an amazing professor. He has a BS, MS, and PhD in Civil Engineering, specifically in geotechnical engineering, but he also recently got another MS, this time in transportation engineering. His specialty is in earthquake engineering, though. His research this summer is a part of the continued investigation of liquefaction of soils, in this case sands and silts (liquefaction = when a saturated soil under a load loses all its strength and acts as a fluid). The one of the primary lab tests used in this research is called a triaxial test.

As his research assistant, before I could really begin working this summer, I had to start off by reading alot of technical papers and learning about the triaxial equipment, the data acquisition program, and how the apparatus was to be set up. The scariest time was the day Dr. P told me to run a test, and then left for the afternoon. I was on my own. Eeeek! But it prepared me well for when he left to travel for two and a half weeks in July and again in August. By then, I was comfortable enough with the equipment and the testing procedure that I had to remind myself to think about what I was doing! That isn't to say I didn't have problems to solve with the testing. Ahh, there were plenty of frustrated calls to Polito, as I gazed *yet* again at "useless" data and couldn't figure out what to do. It gets old fast, when it's the 4th test of the day to end up like that.....All in all, I think I must have done at least a hundred of those triaxial tests. Probably not, but it surely feels like it!!!

The end result: my name listed as third author at the top of two papers published in the ASTM Geotechnical journal. The final copies of those papers are being sent in here soon, if they haven't already. Title of Paper #1 - "Validation of the GMP Pore Pressure Generation Model for Non-Sinusoidal Loadings" Fascinating, eh?? Ha. It's okay if it isn't for you, dear reader. For me, it is, and it makes me consider graduate school even more than I was before.

Ha - There's a picture Mom showed me in an old photo album with me as a little tot, standing in a muddy puddle, covered with dirt, with this happy grin all over my messy face. Who knew, over 16 years later, that that would still be me!? Ah, but this is much more "sophisticated" dirt.....! ;-)

In the words of the venerable Dr. P, "Way more fun than humans should possibly be allowed to have."

~E.

Spam: "It's nice to feel important" ~ August 21st

So I get an odd assortment of spam, thanks to my e-mail provider. It claims to have a filter for that kind of thing but I have yet to find it, so I am left to suffer with half annoyance, half amusement, the daily ritual of deleting unwanted mail. Sometimes the subject line is just too interesting to pass over and I end up opening the file. It would be interesting to take a picture of the various expressions those spam emails tempt onto my face. There's various classifactions of spam, I've found. There's the "Quick, Quick! We have a to-die-for sale!!" spam. Then there's the "You need to be indignant about this issue of importance concerning such and such" spam. And the "This is the government here, trying to convince you to do something for us, after which we'll tax you for it" spam. Then the strange "My name is _ and I live in _ country, please give me money" spam. Thanks to my scholarship Google search a year ago, there's also the "You are getting lazy! Why aren't you applying for this huge scholarship we are giving out?!?" spam. Or the "Don't you know you're poor!? Let us help you learn how to pay your bills and in the process get you further in debt!" spam. These are just a few examples. Oh and I also randomly get an e-mail from time to time from the "Society of Irish Americans" or something like that (I can't remember exactly what it's called), wanting me to become more active in their organization. Ha. Funny; the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers have been pleading the same thing ever since I became a member.....yeah.....I should probably take their e-mails more seriously.....Ah, and then there's the "Erin! You're on someone's mind!" or - the latest one - the "Erin! One person has Googled you!" spam. Those humor me to no end. It's usually some network that's trying to match me up with someone who I'm compatable with, or reunite me with high school classmates from some city that I've never lived in. I will say, though, the Google one is a first. I've never been Googled before!!...at least not by anyone other than myself...*ahem*....yeeeeeah...Ha. Well, as long as I view the spam e-mails as a never-ending source of entertainment, I guess I can live with them. I'm sure I've made my professor laugh too, since the spam has found me frequently dashing the not-even-6 yds distance from my lab to his office in order to laughingly relate the latest ridiculous e-mail I received. Ah, Se' la Vi !!! Hmm; I bet there's a program out there to help me improve my French....I'll probably receive an ad about it tomorrow.....


~E.

Summer's End ~ August 20th

We share the days of laughter

We share the nights of sorrow

And in the morning after

We face the bright tomorrow....

We walk the halls of learning
And serve a proud tradition
The flame of truth is burning

To clarify our vision

Look at how the future gleams

Gold against the sky!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That song by Simon & Garfunkel captures so adequately the feeling I have, looking back at these few months and realizing that summer is coming quickly to an end. Here I am at home again, busy unloading and heaving and hefting and climbing stairs and packing and boxing and sorting and doing massive amounts of laundry. Normally these activities are a desperate attempt at organizing my life before I am thrown into the deep dark bottomless pit that is my academic schedule. This year, it is even more hap-hazard of a messy task, since I am preparing for a full year away from home. Yes indeed. So my room temporarily looks like a war zone, or perhaps, the aftermath of a minor tornado. And the downstairs living room floor is taken up with baskets of unfolded laundry and mole-hills of dirty laundry. As if that weren't bad enough, apparently, not only are you not able to walk through the room, but you aren't allowed to sit down either, because I've used the sofa as a makeshift folding station and the chairs as the designated clean-clothes-piling-spot. Yes, it is a good thing indeed that my sister is still in California, my parents are at work all day, and we don't have any pets. It gives me some factor of safety as far as time is concerned, to get all this stuff cleaned up. Hopefully my bed will be clear enough to sleep on.....

And in the midst of all this rush, I fear I am becoming horribly nostalgic. I spent some time looking through pictures on my computer as I sorted them into files and it made me smile to think of all the memories I have made these past three months. What I thought was going to be the worst & most boring summer grew into the best & one of the most fun summers of my life. Sure, there were low points....like sitting all day in the lab, waiting for water to flow through pure silt (yes, it does take forever....or at least 5 hours).....or getting out of work at 8:30 PM, having arrived at work at 8:30 AM....But there were half a dozen more of other days that made up for similar such incidences. And thus they make me look back with fondess and happiness at the summer.

Ahhh......Mmm & now for some iced tea and a peanut butter sandwhich, to procastinate further on attending to the few boxes that are left still in my car trunk......

~E.

"For the beauty of the earth...." California ~ July 5th

Brianna (my sister) is doing research at University of California - Davis for the summer, so my parents had the terrific idea of flying out there for the 4th of July holiday to visit her and see California. Family vacations have of course gotten to be far more complicated to plan now that we're all older and have individual schedules: Dad has his job at MED Institute and is taking an online masters class, Mom works at the Music Shop and at home, and I have babysitting and strange research hours up at Valpo. Bri's schedule was the easiest one to work around, since she was already at California. But my parents' and my schedule meant we had to take different planes out of different airports - mine went from Chicago-Midway and Dad and Mama's went out of Indy. Both planes (not surprisingly) got delayed during the transfer in Las Vegas, but it meant that we managed to have time to connect up with each other in the airport there and figure out the plan for when we arrived in Sacramento. We managed to get in real late, but hey, we were in California.

So that is the actual logistics of Day 1 of FFA (fun family adventure), but believe me, not all of the travel portion was boring-sit-and-wait. I think I'll just choose to remember the good parts....which can be best described by giving you an excerpt from a letter I wrote to a friend:

"The flight from Midway into Las Vegas was, well, long (4 hrs) but it was daylight the whole time so I had quite a view from my window seat. I read practically the whole flight, but near the end, I got bored, so I glanced out at the sky......and the first thing I saw was the white clouds....parted slightly to reveal the majestic red, craggy earth, the light of the sunset glancing off of the air and forming a perfect rainbow, arching over the canyons. The canyons were like wrinkles of the earth, with their wandering cracks and jagged breaks, cut by the slithering rivers and small patches of dry green. The sunset made the edges clearer and painted them burnt umber, orange, goldfire. My eyes felt so trapped, in that small, confining metal space of a man-made thing called a plane - I was impatient with how much it limited my view of the gorgeous landscape. We had been chasing the sun all this way west and this was our reward - and oh what a reward!! Sheer, utter, beauty, untarnished from the heights. The canyons gave way to the mountain-hills, like fingers of the earth - tantalizingly strong and sprawling out along the land, breaking up to reveal the ground's heart of bronze. Then suddenly, I saw the huge, clear glassy river, just like a puddle amidst the hills. I cannot believe that people live right at the edge of such beauty."

The flight from Las Vegas to Sacramento was no less exciting. It was night-time, but I could see huge thunderstorm clouds and big flashes of lighting. Exhilarating to see from the ground, but even more so, when up in the air. I love rainstorms!!!

~E.

"And through the times I've faded and You've outlined me again, You've just waited patiently to bring me back again, and then..."

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity" ~ I Timothy 1
"Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart." ~ II Timothy 2
"But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.....Be joyful always; pray continually;give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus...Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it." ~ I Thess.5

One of my first thoughts, after I had typed those verses here, was "Wow, I hope people don't mind that I write down some much Scripture on this thing." No sooner did I think that, I was reminded of this verse in Romans: "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.' "

This just reminds me of yet again, of who I am without God. I am not righteous, I do not seek God as I should. And it makes me read those first verses more closely. They put a fire, a passion, in my heart, as I look with hope and excitement to see what God is doing in my life. Purifying me, sanctifying me - and! - all this, I have not done - it is God's work in me!

So, though I have been battling worries and guilt and selfishness of late (when do I not?!), God grants me peace and reminds me of his love, and takes those things away from me, pulling me towards him, telling me to trust him with the desires of my heart, and to give him my all. He continually turns me around, to face him, and gaze into his ever-loving, ever-forgiving face, the one that would blind me except for the grace of the Savior. How amazing! He lifts me up, gives me joy, and happiness! How can I not give him my praise?

~E.