for mom and dad

I'm busy writing some papers, finishing up classes, and getting caught up after a great week in Jordan! I'll just add a few pictures so that mom and dad can know that I really did go to Jordan. 

me, nat, and analise in front of the Monastery at Petra! They let us wear shorts only to Petra and it was the greatest day ever. Thank you mom for thinking to buy those trusty jean shorts. 

steph, laney, and me in the Jordan river!


After a fun week, it's VERY nice to be back home for awhile! 2 weeks until Galilee. Is it just me or is this summer FLYING?

tradition!

The Ludlow family made a goal to watch the sunset every night until we all go home :( So I decided to do it with them. It's one of the greatest things ever. Some fabulous pictures of the events are on:

theaveragejoeinjerusalem.blogspot.com

tel-aviv today and jordan tomorrow!!!!

i love my life

I love my life. Plain and simple. This past week has been crazy. We’ve had field trips, adventures, and a little bit too much studying. It was finals week here, so a lot of days were spent inside the center studying. It’s hard to study when Jerusalem is right outside your window. Now, finals are finished (except one paper….) and the stress level in the center is a lot lower. I think we tend to make each other more stressed out than is really necessary. Some finals were failed, others we’re barely passed…but they’re over and we’re happy. Now we only have two classes for the rest of the time here, so we are going to live it up every minute. The best part about finals week was getting a little too silly and also having a lot of deep conversations.

On Monday we went to Hezekiah’s tunnel! It was definitely my favorite field trip so far. We saw some ruins around the City of David and then got ready for the tunnel! We saw a movie in 3D and it was super cool because I already learned a lot about the reasons for the tunnel so I felt way smart. Then we went underground and walked in some freezing cold water (FELT SO GOOD!). We turned off our headlamps and tried to go without light, but we kept bumping into the walls and each other and it was so great. At the end of the tunnel we got out to the Pools of Siloam. This was the place that Christ healed the blind man. On our way out we walked up another tunnel (without water), which had some original steps that Christ would have walked on. I walked where Jesus walked!

On Tuesday I took and failed an Israel test. YAY! and studied forever and ever for old testament. Wednesday I took an old testament test. Thursday...I can't remember what I did, probably studied. and on Friday I took another test. 

Tel-Aviv tomorrow and Jordan on Monday!!!!! 

me and the roomies missing annie :( in front of al-aqsa mosque!

me, nate, and maddie gettin ready for hezekiah's tunnel!

maddie, beccca and me rocking the head lamps inside Hezekiah's

maddie, nate, and me at the pools of siloam!

these pants and this fence are my favorite colors.

welcome to my world. this is right inside Damascus gate. I walk this everyday! love love love it.

a few quality pictures

just because its finals and i havent been doing anything of interest (sleeping and studying), I figured I would add some old pictures because my mom LOVES pictures. 

me and kenz under the center signing our names! this was before we were bff's.

the roomies at arab night. we are so funny.

me and dev have kinda matching dresses! 

I LOVE DEVERY AMUNDSEN

cherries in turkey

annie is the best part of this pic

john schmidt concert with ian, dwight, dev, me, melinda, and aj

maybe i'll do something fun once i write a final paper and take my last test.

passover, parties, and pictures

i have a feeling finals are going to be unsuccessful......

It's probably because I live in THE most incredible place in the world. Naturally it takes all of my energy to do something fabulous and exciting during the day. So when it comes time to do homework after my adventures, all I can do is sleep. and oh do I sleep. The best way to tell if it's going to be a good day is if you take one or more naps before 8:00 AM. The third and fourth naps usually happen after class and again after a trip to the city. Although the after city naps are a little uncomfortable because you have to walk up heck hill to get home, in the 100 degree weather. They're a little hot, but necessary so your eyes can stay open to see what curry flavored meat and potatoes you'll be eating at dinner. The best is when you get to dinner and find ice cream and non-curry chicken. Those are the best kind of meals.

On Thursday we finished our Israel class forever! (besides a final tomorrow..i should study for that). We had a Passover meal where our professor taught us all of the Jewish traditions. It was really cool, and interesting.

the oasis got a little fancy for the night.

josh ludlow and i

dev, bekah, me

me and jamie are woods cross wildcats together, even though we didn't know each other in high school (notice the red, white, and blue, go cats)!

On Friday, we found a block party for all the college aged kids in Israel...we didn't stay long.

Yesterday we went to the zoo! It was a good break from really important sights...but it was real hot. 

i'm a bird whisperer. 

the birdies loved me. washing my hands purely for a picture with the birds.  

bears love us

we love bears

and i'm afraid of animals. 

best roomies

There is no question that the girls of Apartment 311 are the best, most beautiful, amazing, kind, generous, and fabulous girls in the center. Not to mention the smartest and most stylish.

1. Lane. The one standing next to me. I feel like Lane is my older sister. She has the best advice, and knows everything about life. She's hilarious, and she loves Futi (her BF almost fiance). She's always up for adventure (I mean she's moving to Italy in January...that screams adventure). She is nice to everyone, so outgoing and so fun. I love LANEY!

2. Annie. Annie loves red white and blue, scarves, naps, writing, laughing, blogging, cats, pictures of cats, apple juice, pb&j, etc. Annie is the best. She's always happy and just seeing her can make your day, it makes mine. I'm developing a nice Chicago accent because of this girl. and, we're living right by each other in the fall.

3. Steph. I met Steph one day in Emilee Crowder's living prophets class. I thought she was way cool, too cool for someone like me. Little did we know we were going to Jerusalem together and that we would be roomies and bff's here. Steph is an incredible photographer. She's always happy, she dances in random places with me, and we stay up late either laughing or deep in conversation.

Basically, these are the best roommates ever. We love hanging out (apparently thats a rarity here. Nobody else loves their roommates as much as we love each other....seriously though).

happy flag day from the jc students! (we love and miss america). 

daddy's girl

I've always been a daddy's girl. (and a momma's girl. I guess I just love both of my parents). Since today is the Sabbath, we celebrated Father's Day today. I've been thinking lots about how great my dad is and the influence he has had on me. My daddy is HILARIOUS. If you kind of know him, you may be thinking..."no he's stern and scary and doesn't talk that much." Well, jokes on you, you don't really know him. But you should get to know him. My dad likes learning new dance moves, singing Halloween cat, and playing boxing on the wii. He puts me in the "doghouse" when I don't email him often enough and loves to call me his Prancer. He loves telling stories, especially when its something he's really excited about. He loves a good diet pepsi and a carwash on Saturday's. He mows the lawn in a nice polo shirt and enjoys torturing me with sweaty kisses.

My grandma always jokes that it'll be awhile before I get married because I'm looking for someone just like my dad. She's probably right. My dad is the best man I know and even though I'm not that excited to come home...it will be great to see my daddy!

I've also been very blessed with incredible grandpa's! Grandpa Mangum served in the Salt Lake inner city mission for FOREVER! (really!) He loves to help people and just wants everyone to have a good education so that they can succeed. Grandpa Gardner is currently serving in the Farmington New Mexico mission. Both of these men are great examples to me of how important it is to serve!

pictures

On Sunday we went to Eliat! We got up super early and drove to the Red Sea for snorkeling! Confession: i'm afraid of fishies. So I went snorkeling once and then just loved playing on the beach!

 big group playing in the red sea!

michael, angela, and me

david cramer....

 after snorkeling we got dinner and ice cream. don't worry, my blonde hair never fails me. I got an extra cup of ice cream for free.

steph michael and annie

 On Monday we went on a field trip to a biblical wonderland. We got to herd sheep (harder than it looks)!

 We made pita and lentil soup!

beka, becca, meg, and me making pita

 Yesterday I had two tests. ANE and Hebrew. I kind of love Hebrew a lot. After finishing those we NEEDED to leave the center so we explored the Jewish quarter for awhile. Look at that donut. SO good.

Bottoms up

This week has been CRAZY! We had midterms last week and this next week is finals. Dont ask how that makes any sense because it doesn't. So last week was full of studying and paper writing. And this week will be full midterms and finals and good stuff like that.

This is what happens when you study too much.

can't you tell that dwight was REALLY sick of studying?

twins. this is analise. she's great. 

me and nathan jellen are sick of writing papers.

really sick of homework

taking breaks from studying

some say we're a threesome and that we both love dwight. the truth is we just all love each other. 

We had a few fun adventures this weekend though! but i'm tired. and going to bed. so maybe tomorrow you'll be lucky enough to hear about Eliat and Monday's field trip.

On Friday our "fashion committee" had us all wear khaki's and white t-shirts. hence the cute matching.

I speak Hebrew!

Yeah. I wrote this. It's English words just written with the Hebrew alphabet. I love Hebrew.

holocaust museum, annie's birthday, and midterms

On Monday we went on a field trip to the Holocaust museum, Yad Veshem. It was interesting learning about the different perspective the Israeli Jews have...emotional day to say the least... After the museum we went to Mt. Herzl.

me, dwight, and meg at Herzl's grave

Yesterday we really partied. Annie turned twenty yesterday so a huge group went to the waffle bar to celebrate!!!!!! It was a little bit too good. We love Annie. I love Annie because she is sassy beyond belief and hilarious. and because she taught me the importance of a good morning nap. 

steph loves waffles.

It's midterms now which means I am going to be boring for the next couple of days/weeks.

Also, I'm getting some serious anxiety over the fact that next week is our halfway mark here. I feel like I just got here and I am nowhere near ready to leave.

just an update

On Tuesday night a group of us headed to west j for the night, just to play! We found a park, some played frisbee with drunk kids....I decided to play on the playground instead. Then we found a benefit concert for soldiers and rocked out with them for awhile! good break from homework. 

a very great place called ice city came to jerusalem. It was -10 degrees celsius which was probably the best feeling in the world. I couldn't stop putting my face on the ice. There were slides and an ice skating rink too! good day. 

Cheerleading again. This time we flew David, David, and Dwight!

Today we went on some great adventures. We headed to Dormition abbey bright and early (and hot hot hot already) and found out that it was closed. So we went to the tomb of King David and then the Upper Room, which is the traditional site of the Last Supper. We sang a few sacrament hymns there (which was really cool and I wasn't being cynical at all). After that we headed to the YMCA to play the Carillon bells! One of the senior couples living at the center gets to play the bells every Sunday morning and they let us go with them this time. We practiced a few times on the practice "piano" and then we got to play songs for 60,000? (i think that's what they said)...anyways.. pretty much all of west jerusalem got to hear me and analise play the "Morning Song" on the bells. It was SO cool. Then we got to dong it 12 times for the noon hour! Success. After that....we went to a crepe place and had ice cream and nutella crepes for lunch. So good. but so messy. and so worth it. (i also tried buying semi-  skinny skinny jeans at gap but they were way expensive. fail.....i neeeed skinny jeans). After all of those lovely adventures we were tired and decided to head home, but we had to stop for slushees along the way.