"THIS IS....Athens?"

-Where In The World Is Shay?-

Music becomes a comforting thing while traveling, especially abroad. It seems that whatever you have on your iPod is some of the only english you will hear for a long time. As I was drifting in and out of sleep on our late flight to Italy yesterday, I woke up to the song "Home" by Michael Buble. Its opening words are "Another summer day, has come and gone away, in Paris and Rome, and I want to go home". After being through Paris and Rome, this song hit me hard. Its been almost a month and a half and so much of that has been traveling, studying, and trying to find someone who speaks english. I'm ready to be back where I can drive, sleep as late as I want, have free refills and talk in my native tongue. OK, enough complaining. As I type these words, I'm in my hotel in Italy. This is simply a rest stop before we head out to Spain tomorrow. Since Thursday, I have been in Greece. I must say, the Greeks caught me off guard. Although this will be no 300 tale, let me share my thoughts of my own Greek odyssey...

After problems with baggage in the London airport, a delayed flight and problems in the Athens airport, we were able to communicate with a cab driver and got to our hotel in downtown Athens. The next morning, we went and visited the famous Acropolis. Atop the Acropolis is the Parthenon, Propylaea, Temple of Athena Nike, Erechtheion as well as other temples. The view from the Parthenon was mind blowing. This temple was dedicated to the goddess Athena and was built in the second half of the 5th century BC. I have personally always been a fan of ancient Greek history and coming to Greece was the one place I have wanted to travel more than anything. Atop this hill and next to the Parthenon was all I could ask for. After seeing movies like 300, The Odyssey and many other Greek history films, it was so incredible to see the ancient structures that have been talked about for centuries. The Greeks are a proud race and an incredible past. Seeing and reading about things like the Parthenon gave me a taste of their life. After we made our down from the hill, we went to the old Olympic Stadium from 2004. It was eerie as we walked through the Stadium because it was bare. It was as if we were the only people on the planet at the time. Everything was forgotten about and you could tell by the way things were kept. Although it was empty, you could picture how impressive the stadium was and feel the history in the place, being that the Olympics originated in Greece. We were able to see the pool where the swimming happened as well as the indoor track for biking. Shortly after, it started raining and we gladly took the metro back to our hotel and had an early night. We had an olympic mount of Greek history swirling around in our heads and it made me want to crash. The next morning was July 4 and we had a little celebration in mind...

Sunglasses, suits and bags in hand, we boarded a ferry for the Greek island of Aegina. It took about an hour and we were able to view other islands along the way as well as water that rivals the blue of Hawaii. For most of the day, we walked around the town and went to a secluded beach with incredible views of distant islands and water so clear you could see many feet down. Although there were no fireworks and nobody else around to celebrate the U.S.'s independence, myself, Michael, Lacy and Megan were able to relish the fact that we were on a beach in Greece and celebrating our own way. Once again, another incredible experience to chalk up and another place to view God's beauty.

The next day, I awoke early and had a plan in mind. Being that it was a Sunday, I decided to venture out by myself and find Mars Hill, which is where the apostle Paul converted many Athenians. After 2 hours of walking around aimlessly, hiking up the wrong hill, getting chewed out by an elderly greek and sweating buckets, it ended up being a five minute walk from my original point of starting. Why does it seem that when you are looking for something, it always seems to be in plain sight? After a stressful morning of walking around lost, being atop this hill with a view of Athens put me in the right mindset to thank God once again for my life and this experience. I must say, it was pretty cool being on the Aeropagus (what the Greeks call it) knowing that Paul himself was there. After reflecting back on some scripture and one last look at the ancient city of Athens, I made my way back to the hotel and packed up with Michael and made our way to the airport for Italy.

Greece has been the number one place on my map of places to go in the world. It was amazing to be able and be there, but I underestimated the communication barrier. Not only do they use Greek and hardly NO english, their language consist of symbols as well as letters which makes it even harder. The island was incredible, the Acropolis and famous monuments were a blessing, but I must say I was somewhat relieved to leave.

Our stay in Italy is nothing more than a day trip. We had planned on venturing down to Florence for the day, but it is too far out of the way and will save us some money of course by not going. Tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM, we depart for Barcelona, Spain. We will have all of Tuesday and Wednesday to be in the city and hit up the beach. Late Wednesday, we make our way by train to Pamplona and enjoy the festival that goes on all night. We have a hotel, but I've been told that you won't get any sleep due to the constant partying. The plan is to be in the street where the bulls run by 6:30 AM and wait and watch everything until the first bull slams into the corner at 8:00 AM. It's nothing but a dead sprint for half a mile where you then run into a stadium packed full of people cheering and the bull fights start. It's 3 days and counting. Agility and swiftness have been the main points of thought. We are about to watch a 007 movie here in our hotel room, so I'm going to end it here. As always, for the few of you that are left, I thank you for tuning in. We are coming to a close here and once I get to Spain, it is going to be rapid. A dear friend of mine used to make fun of the Dodge commercials while he would grab a steer by the horns at a camp we used to go to. Well my friend, I am literally going to be running from those horns in a short while, but still grabbing life to the fullest. Hang in there guys. The night is always darkest just before the dawn, and the dawn of going home quickly approaches.

And so hobey ho, and off we go
-Shay

End of a Canterbury Tale

-Where In The World Is Shay?-

You know that feeling you get as a roller coaster comes to an end, or when a crepe is nearing its last bite, or even when you turn to the last page of a book, that feeling of finality, sadness, yet gratefulness fill you? As I type these words in my hotel in Athens, Greece and while my ears are pleased with the sound of "Billy Jean" by the late M.J., I must say I am experiencing all of those feelings at the same time. COBA in Oxford is officially over. The past month of learning, traveling and fellowship with my group has ended for the time being. I am sad that it went so quickly. However, I am grateful for the experience OF A LIFETIME. I am grateful for the opportunity to blog so that I have stories to read later and I am especially grateful for you, the reader (the few that there are!). The sites I have seen will forever be with me and I hope that I was able to give your mind's eye that same gift. Before we call it, bare with me and let me delve into the details of our last few days, including the final presentation with Oxfam. (In deep theatric voice) And now, the season finale of Where In The World Is Shay?

Last time I left you, we had just arrived back to Oxford after one of my favorite weekends in Ireland. Coming back, we knew what the week entailed: Final exam and presentations for our Apprenticeship. Although we were in the mindset of cramming, our minds couldn't but help wander to it being our last few days in Oxford. As we studied and worked on our presentation Monday-Wednesday, we made time to go out and eat at our favorite dinner places, do some last minute site-seeing and scramble our brains to make sure there wasn't anything of significance we had forgotten...such as souveniers. It would be a shame to have been there 5 weeks and forget tiny pieces of memory. As we slowly checked everything off of our list, the actual list of checking our bags approached. Both groups, Oxfam and A.C. Nielsen, presented their data and both received great compliments back. Being a part of Oxfam, our presentation included a 40 minute power-point walk through of our findings including graphs, web-links and even a training video. Our final recommendation was that in order for their technological communication to further with their current employees (women 60+), a training video and simple website were needed. Oxfam welcomed our findings and suggestions with open arms and thanked us for all the work we had done. They realized that we only had a few short weeks to find this data, collect it and present it and were impressed with everything overall. My mock website received great feedback, as well as the training video Jon Davis and I did. Doing this global internship with Oxfam was incredible. For 4 weeks, I was given the project by a massive company that works in over 70 countries helping people in poverty, and was asked to help them for a change. During my time working on the project, it was easy to lose sight of the main goal. It would get frustrating, demanding and stressful. As we came to a close and as my website was presented, it all came into perspective and I realized it was an honor to help Oxfam, a company who constantly puts others first. Talk about a blessing in disguise?!

With the project being over, the only worry in our heads was that of the final exam for either Financial Management or Business Statistics. I was taking Business Statistics with Dr. Pope and had files upon files of Excel to look over. Although I must admit, I didn't do much studying because of lack of sleep and starting to pack things up, I feel as I did pretty well and will hopefully find out in a few days (Dr. Pope, be kind!). With a house party of cleaning and packing, Wednesday was full of non-stop running, yelling (nicely) and sweating. As the night fell upon us and we slowly and reluctantly crawled into our beds for the last time, my brain paused for but a moment to thank God for my blessed life, and was then unconcious...and rudely rewarded by the alarm clock at 6:45 AM. Bags were checked one last time, pictures were taken and tears flowed like milk and honey from the promised land. The airport was the last chapter in this Canterbury Tale, and it was bittersweet. Goodbyes were made as students deviated from the program and chose to do more traveling as the others boarded the plane for the states. I was one of the few who stayed back and had to change airports in London to get my flight to Greece. Seeing my group all together for the last time made me a bit jealous knowing they were going back to the states and not having to worry about money, finding a place to sleep, walking ALL DAY, paying for refills and having all the Pei Wei they want (Dear Mom and Dad, have a Honey Seared Chicken and fried rice waiting for me at the gate please). With 7 days left, I am having to push the thought of home out of my mind and live in the now, which is currently enjoying Greece. In James 4: 14-15 it says "You don't know what will happen tomorrow. Your life is like a fog. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away. If the Lord wants, we will live and do this or that." For the next week, and hopefully the rest of my life, this verse will keep my life in perspective. I am going to enjoy the beautiful island of Aegina tomorrow and soak up the rays of the sun on the beach. I have been provided with so much this past month especially, I have faith the Lord will provide the rest (especially with money running short!).

So with this, another finality comes to an end, and another tale begins. COBA in Oxford 2009. One of the best months of my entire life. From Oxford in England, to the Eiffel Tower in France, to the Colosseum in Rome and the Blarney Castle in Ireland, it has been a ride of a lifetime. Once again, thank you for letting me throw my thoughts onto paper. It has kept me sane these past weeks because without a place to capture my memories, they would all be jumbled up and lost in order in my head. If any of you have any more questions about the trip, please comment on here and I would love to answer them.
-Dr. Pope and Dr. Stewart, it was an honor to work with yall and spend time traveling the world.
-Fellow Group, as long as I shall live, I will look back on this month with fond memories and remember what an incredible time we had! Thanks for putting up with my impressions, at times my tiredness and my playful banter with Michael. *Insert metro doors opening* -Please mind the gap as you step off...

For those of you sticking around and following me on my last leg home from Greece, to Italy to Spain where I run with the bulls, tune back in a few days.

And never more true are the words I have been using from the beginning from my favorite book series....

And so hobey ho, and off we go! -Shay

Lucky Charms are deceitful

-Where In The World Is Shay?-

Dear Earth, STOP FREAKING OUT ON ME!

I'm supposed to be the one providing all of you with something new, not the other way around! It seems as though when I leave the country, the world doesn't know how to cope? How so? The King of Pop, one of Charlies Angels, Mr. Oxy Clean and Ed McMahon all left their identities behind as well as this world. On a happier note, my cousin is pregnant...again, and one of my best friends got engaged. Oh what a tangled web we weave. I can't promise I will provide death, new life and happy engagements in this tale, but I can promise you that it was quite...magical? This past 3 day was Ireland's turn to be raided by my group. From late nights in Cork, to kissing the Blarney Stone, this voyage was hands down my favorite so far. Sit back, strap in...well, you know the routine.


Once again, I was deprived of my precious sleep as my group left Oxford at 1:00 AM early Friday morning to take the bus to the airport. I don't know if I have mentioned, but this bus ride is 3.5 hours long. You know traveling has gone too far when you don't mind a 3.5 hour bus ride before your flight. Before I knew it, we were landing in the land of Lucky Charms. We boarded the metro bus that took us to our hostel, and I must say, as much as I love traveling and seeing the sites, I decided to be nice to my body and take a 3 hour nap. I know your thinking, "Oh no! He's not going to take advantage of his time in Ireland!". I appreciate the concern, but don't you worry. We were staying in downtown Cork, which is a pretty industrialized city and had no famous sites to visit. It reminded me alot of a mini-Manhattan. Around dinner time, our group rounded up and went our for dinner and a night on the town. I'm a big fan of just hanging out and being with others and thats why I enjoyed this trip so much. We didn't have to worry about making the rounds to all the famous monuments, we were able to relax and enjoy each others company. After we walked around a bit, a nice native couple told us about a band playing and so we decided to go check it out for ourselves. Let me just say, it was one of the greatest nights I have had over here so far, due to this band. They played songs by Kings of Leon, Green Day and even played "Sweet Home Alabama". The place was packed and it was like a concert, just extremely confined. We stayed for a few hours and just let the music surround us and enhance our Ireland experience. A memorable first night in Ireland.

At the top of the next morning, we got on a bus and headed to Blarney to see the castle, and of course, kiss the stone. The town of Blarney was smaller and quaint, and extremely green. When you picture Ireland and all the green rolling hills and cows, this place defines it. The castle itself is surrounded by a forest and park of its own. Rivers, bridges, lakes, forest and so much green engulfed this beauty. We all lined up and took our turns laying down on our backs, arching backwards and down to kiss the stone upside down. This stone is supposed to give luck and eloquence to whoever kisses it. As great as that would be, it was just another incredible experience I was blessed to be a part of. So many monumental things have been checked off my list, its hard to not take them for granted. I stared out over the castle and was hit with the reality check of, "you are in Ireland, with a group of friends and you have absolutely nothing to do but enjoy yourself". From the top of this castle, I saw some of the most incredible views of my life. It was a 360 degree view of pure green pastures, cows, gardens and a beautiful mansion. From here, we climbed down and went through the gardens and down by the lake. As we walked through the forest, we found some big logs under a shaded tree by the lake and sat down and ate our sack lunches and just laid back and watched the clouds move. When I think of peace and quietness from now on, my mind will bring me back to that image. I hope images of this, and everything else fill my thoughts and dreams so that I can reflect back on them and thank God for his beauty.

Before we left, we found a massive hill and Jon and Michael ran up to the top and rolled down. Us spectators as the bottom got a good laugh but were then told that the top of the hill gives a breathtaking view. Our group willingly hiked to the top and were once again rewarded for our efforts. From the top, we could see the lake, the mansion, the gardens and the castle. My eyes felt like they turned green from everything I was looking at! So incredible. We headed back to Cork later on in the day and just had a relaxing time....until sleep fell upon us. My room was woken up around 4:30 AM to some native Irish women being...well, stereotypical Irish and enjoying the "honey of the land". Although the morning seemed to rush at us, we didn't mind as we headed to a small town called Kinsale, which is on the coast. Our time here was short, but much enjoyed. It drizzled a bit on us, but it seemed to make the town picturesque. If you have ever been to the coast of Maine, it was much like that. Sailboats and fishing boats in the harbor, small and colorful eateries around and the sound of the boats in the distance made this town a possibility for my future retirement home. Just walking through the streets here and seeing tons of jellyfish in the harbor put an exclamation point at the end of this already incredible trip.

Although I saw no pots of gold or fields of clover and was fed this lie from the age of 5 when I called Lucky Charms, "Larky Chams", Ireland was the cream of the crop. From kissing stones, rolling down hills, waking up mid-sleep to native Irish enjoying themselves, rocking out to a band and walking through one of the most beautiful towns I have ever laid eyes upon, every minute was cherished, shared, and experienced to the fullest. As I type this, the window at the top of Canterbury House 9 is wide open and letting the Oxford sun kiss the bedroom as it is the last day. Before I let the emotions and memories run over me, I'm going to call it here. Later on, I will recap the finality of Oxfam, our presentation and my gratefulness of these past 5 weeks and my appreciation to you, the reader. Don't you worry, Where In The World Is Shay? is far from the blue screen of death/hiatus. Tune back in around 3 PM Central, 10 PM Oxford time for the season finale of Where In The World Is Shay?- Canterbury Tales Edition (with all due respect to Chaucer).

And so hobey ho, and off we go
-Shay

"Get me a Gondala and Ill row to...a place with women?"

-Where In The World Is Shay?-

So in the short time that my episode was on break, my boys from UT lost the College World Series and Shaq was traded to the Cavs. Well, in the mean time before the Mavericks start trading and make another terrible choice selection, let's get this episode rolling. What's in store? Rome and Venice. The Vatican, Colosseum, Trevie Fountain and sleeping on park benches in Venice is all coming up next on Where In The World Is Shay?

-Rome-

Although we are college students and are used to ramen noodles and late nights, this does not mean we enjoy them. On Friday morning at 1:00 AM, 13 of us abroaders made our way from the bus station to the London Stansted Airport. Our flight for Ciampino, Rome departed at 6:45, arriving just a bit before 10:00. From the minute we landed in Rome, we hit the ground running, as if we were too scared all the famous monuments, statues and paintings were going to leave. Once we made our way to our hostel just minutes away from the Colosseum, we dropped our bags off and had the following schedule:
-Spanish Steps. These are steps built by Spainards over 300 years ago and is situated atop a hill that gives a beautiful view of downtown Rome.

-Trevie Fountain. The famous fountain that can be seen in alot of movies. This fountain is even more beautiful in person. It is literally in the middle of the street on the back of a building as if it came out of nowhere. Our group literally stumbled upon it.

-Pantheon. Not to be confused with the Parthenon in Greece (which I will be at in less than 2 weeks) This ancient building looks like a typical Roman building from hundreds of years ago. The pillars in the front have signs of wear and tear however show the true beauty of the building. Just like the heart is the most beautiful part of the human body, this is true for this building. Inside, the marble floors and the large opening at the top of the building are breath taking. The opening at the top is the only source of light for this building. When looking up, it seems so far as if it can't be reached.
-The Colosseum at sunset. This monumental building is hands down my most favorite work of art I have seen since I have been here. This structure is of goliath proportions, even in todays world. After seeing Gladiator and being a fan of ancient Rome, this building was a dream come true.

After the break, Ill describe the tour from the inside.
*Insert elevator music*

As the sun came atop the city of Rome, our group was already afoot, maybe not mentally, but physically. Our schedule for the day:
-Tour the inside of the Colosseum. This only magnified my feelings from the previous night. Walking around this structure was so surreal. You could see where the beast were kept and were the prisoners were held. Walking through that Colosseum, you could almost visualize the crowds chanting "Death" unmercifully to the prisoners below.


-Tour the Vatican. It was hard to not get ahead of ourselves and rush down the long beautiful hallways to see the Sistine Chapel, but I am glad we did. We were able to see the entire main building that contains the Sistine Chapel and see all the paintings and statues on the inside. This building is so beautiful, it does not surprise me that the Vatican is its own "state". The Sistine Chapel was something that I will remember for the rest of my life. Take out the guards who constantly shout "no photo" and the hundreds of people, as I stared up at the ceiling that Michelangelo painted mostly on his back, I was hit with yet another revolution. These sites, especially this one, are seen and talked about so much to us as we are younger, we simply put them as unattainable, a far off land that is beyond our reach. Being in the presence of greatness was so moving, it made me once again realize how blessed I was.
After this, our group split up into mini groups and went all throughout Rome. Most girls went shopping, another group that I was in went to the site of Bathe, where when Caesar was ruler, he created a stadium that seated over 300,000 people (The Colosseum seated 70,000) that was used for entertainment. They would fill the stadium with water and Roman ships would be brought in and battle each other. The entertainment is obvious, but the people loved that it showed true death, drowning.
Following this, we made our way to the Catacombs of Rome, which contains bones and mummies from hundreds of years ago from Friars of the church preserving their bodies for the afterlife. The walls were lined with bones and even the lamps were created out of bones!

After tons of gelato, Italian pizza and countless water bottles filled, we sadly got ready to board our train to Venice. This train ride was about 7 hours, from 11:30 PM to 6:00 AM. Although mostly everybody slept, I stayed up most of the time and stayed outside the sleeping compartment reflecting on everything I had seen in the past two days. We have done so much in such a short amount of time, I'm afraid if I just keep going and don't reflect back on everything, I won't remember much of it. This blog is helping me capture my memories and reflect back on them. Through facebook, I have uploaded pictures from all of our excursions and these already bring back so many memories.

-Venice-

Upon arriving in Venice early Sunday morning, the streets were vacant. The entire city was still asleep when we arrived and we couldn't check in to our hostel until noon. We had 6 hours to kill and nothing to kill with. So what did we do? We find a park close to our hostel, and we all take a bench and sleep on them for almost 2 hours! We were all so tired, we didn't care how comfortable or how out of place we were, we simply wanted a place to lay our heads.

Venice didn't contain much sight seeing, only beauty all around. This town is just as you see in the movies with canals running through the city and gondaliers singing their way around in their boats. This last leg of our trip was about relaxing and just getting to relish in our blessings. Shops were raided by our girls, even a few tie shops were raided by a few guys (it was Father's Day). Pizza and gelato were in deep demand and countless supply. We even went for the stereotypical gondala ride where the guys were forced into a boat by themselves while the girls had a blast by themselves. Our poor Gondalier captain was made fun of the entire time by others as his boat passed with 5 guys and the others had women. After jokes were made and feelings were mended, we gladly hit the sack and were ready to fly home the next day to Oxford.

Although we had trouble with traveling back because of delays, I will look back on this trip with such fond memories. My group couldn't of been better and the sites, weather and everything else fell into place like clockwork.

I'm going to wrap this up here. Ireland comes early in the morning and like a typical guy, I have yet to pack. These past two episodes have had a lot of information. I hope you have enjoyed reading them and giving them some time to sink in. I apologize for the gap of time in between, I will hopefully have another when I come back from Ireland that contains our trip and the finality of Oxfam. If any of you are interested, here is the mock website I created from scratch for Oxfam (keep in mind, I did this in a day and its very simple, which is what they are wanting. I realize there are still some kinks, just bare with me!)

And so hobey ho, and off we go
-Shay

Ill take Llloyds and Oxfam for $500 please?

-Where In The World Is Shay?-

And the crowd goes wild! Time for another episode! OK, well maybe not wild, but hopefully mildly entertained? Welcome back readers. It has been an eventful past week since I have been able to talk about everything that has been going on. It sure has been quite a roller coaster ride, but I hope I can slow things down a bit and give you a taste of whats been going on (I guarantee you that your taste won't be near as good as the gelato I had in Italy...sorry, getting ahead of myself). In this first post, let me take you through whats been going on with our Global Apprenticeship through Oxfam. After that, Ill describe Italy and all its beauty and maybe a few stories involving sleeping on park benches. So grab a bite to eat, strap in, and get ready. *Insert seatbelt light turning on* Back to back episodes. This is going to be good.

Last Wednesday, the entire Study Abroad group washed the tiredness from their eyes, combed their hair and got dressed in suits and headed off to London for the day. Two things were to be achieved while in London:
-Attend Lloyds of London tour
-Interview Shop Managers of Oxfam houses with new and improved surveys (Oxfam only)
For those of you who don't know what Lloyd's of London is, let me try my best to explain it. Lloyd's is the world's leading insurance market providing specialist insurance services to businesses in over 200 countries. They don't "sell" insurance, they mainly provide the market for brokers and agents to meet and insure. This building looked like something out of the future. It was about 10 stories high with countless security machines, meeting rooms with moveable walls and an outside elevator. Our abroad group was split in half and each group was given an hour and a half tour of the building. We were able to go down to the market floor during work hours and see the brokers working with the insurance agents. (The bathrooms even had a shoe polish station!) This was a great experience for us and a privilege to tour the world's leading company of market insurance.
After this, the Oxfam group was split into groups of 3 and were sent off all across London to certain shops to interview the managers with our new surveys. These surveys served the purpose of finding out how much the managers knew about the Oxfam Intranet, how often they used it, and their main use of communication. Oxfam is pushing for a more technology savy work environment, however, Oxfam's main workers are women of age 60 and above. Because of this, they prefer using technology they are comfortable with, mainly being telephone. With our analysis coming to an end and our executive summary starting, our data is slowly revealing a disconnect between the Oxfam houses and the Oxfam headquarters. I hope that during our presentation, we can convey this to the headquarters with a positive attitude.

Right now, I am currently building a mock website portal to show them for the possiblity of using, hopefully being more user friendly. We feel that if the website is easier to navigate through with main information easily accessible, it will be of more use.

I'm going to wrap this up here. Rome may have been built in a day, but this website has to be built in a few hours. Later on tonight, stay tuned for another episode. This episode was more of an update on the apprenticeship and jam-packed of information, and tonight after some G&D's ice cream and a Study Abroad cookout, I'll turn the tables a bit and give you a dip into my memories of Italy. *Insert seatbelt light turning off* You are now free to roam.

Hobey ho, and off we go...
-Shay

The Queen and the Eternal Sneeze

-Where in the World is Shay?-

Let me start this episode off by giving a shout out to my boy S.Crosby for going to the Stanley Cup Finals once again, and this time coming out a man. Spot on.

Welcome back, yet again, to the past few days in my world. As the blissfulness of France slowly dwindled away and classes yanked me back into reality, there was still the weekend that I was striving for. This past weekend? London. With the rain drops strumming on my window after a feet numbing day of working for Oxfam, let me dive back into my thoughts and paint the picture as best I can.

Saturday, a group of about 12 of us headed to London for the day. With the stereotypical thoughts of guards with funny hats and big red double decker buses in mind, we boarded the subway to the Queens land. Upon arrival, we walked out of the subway...and into a parade full of horses and guards. Being the adventurous and curious students that we were, we followed the parade down the street. We had planned on stopping at Buckingham Palace first and realized that we didnt really have a choice. The streets were packed. What for? The Queens birthday. Not only had we stumbled upon Obama in France, we came to London on a whim and at the right time popped up right in the middle of the Queens celebration. Im making a trip to Rome this next weekend, I hope the Pope will be around.
After millions of pictures, dangling over fences and trying to get the girls a better view, we made our way to Westminister Abbey for 'ol Big Ben. Seeing sights like this and the London bridge were not only breath taking, but applicable. We see these sights in movies like Shanghai Knights but we think to ourselves "How great it would be to see that in person?". What a blessing it has been to be able to travel to these monumental sites and use past knowledge to apply the true meaning behind them.
The rest of the day was spent eating lots of incredible ice cream, (like the Tiramisu flavor I got. it was as if the actual desert was in my mouth, simply cold. Incredible!), waiting for girls to finish hours upon hours of shopping, visiting Harrods (where Prince Charles buys his clothes. Also packed with a chocolate shop. There was a dessert there for $7000.), and me sneezing for 10 straight hours. It must have been all the fuzzy hats.

After a packed subway ride home and being stranded for an additional 45 minutes at the bus station, we dragged out feet home and crawled up the stairs into bed, literally.

Sunday, I was able to experience an incredible church service at St. Aldates Church here in Oxford. The people were welcoming and the worship was a blessing to hear. Its comforting to go to a church that isnt your home and still feel welcomed. The rest of Sunday was spent taking a nap, doing laundry and going for a jog in University Park. That night, the Morgans planned a special devotional time dedicated to reflecting on Normandy. Looking back at being on the beach and in the rain, the eerie feeling of being surrounded by the war still lingered in my mind. Normandy will forever leave an impression in my life.

Today, my group which is doing analysis for improved communication for Oxfam, went to Reading, England to a music and book shop run by Oxfam. We were able to get a better understanding of how the shop managers and volunteers communicate with one another. Using this data, we are compiling a report and presentation to present Oxfam with our results. Tiring, but satisfying.

My fingers and eyelids are heavy and my stomach is making sounds that rival Shadows snoring at night, so I'm going to grab a bite to eat. Once again, I hope you have enjoyed sharing this experience with me. Although I can't substitute being your eyes, I hope I have been able to paint a picture clear enough for your minds eye. Here is whats coming up:

Wednesday- Lloyds of London (Famous insurance company that insures things like famous people's hands/legs.)
Friday- Depart for Rome for two days and Venice for two days.

And so hobey ho, and off we go
-Shay

Paris, Bayeux and Normandy, oh my!

-Where in The World Is Shay?-

Bonjour. After a hiatus of a few days because of lack of internet, Where in the World is Shay is back and with new material. These past few days have been a blur of crepes, paintings, monuments and beaches. All of these with significant meaning. As the night life begins and sleep creeps upon me, let me capture my thoughts for you.

Bright and early on Saturday, the abroad group groggily boarded the coach and was on our way to France and with new means of transportation. We did not fly nor did we take a boat, however we did "fly" with speed and there was water involved. We took the Chunnel, which is an underwater tunnel that goes from England to France, and roughly a speed of 130 mph. Our coach was put into a massive train compartment and we were on our way. About an hour later, we arrived in France, and then to Paris. My first thought of Paris was of how industrialized it is. Although the town is absolutely beautiful, it is very much so a town with a purpose. Upon arrival at our beautiful hostel, a small group of us headed out onto the town. We went to the courtyard of the Louvre and saw the mini Arc d'Triomphe. These buildings are breathtaking in person. My pictures will not do them justice. The thought that these towers, with intricate designs were carved by human hands are almost too much to comprehend. What a beautiful city. The rest of the day, we were occupied by a bike tour. Fat Tire bike Tours is a tour group that takes you on bikes throughout the city. We chose to do this at night and what a great decision. We biked through the courtyard of the Louvre, past Notre Dame, down Champs-Elysees and in front of the Eiffel Tower. We were also privileged to see our own President as he was in France. His motorcade passed by us during out bike tour. All of the streets were shut down however our guide was able to get us on the street and it was completely vacant except with people on all sides waiting for the President. We cruised down the street with nobody else. It was an incredible tour. When we got back that night, our heads didnt even hit the pillow before we were all asleep.

The next day was full of:
Eiffel Tower- Climbed 668 steps to the second floor and then took the elevator all the way to the top at sunset. The only feeling you could experience at this time was one of being blessed. Doing a 360 of the sight was simply amazing. I have yet to see a site that rivals it.
Louvre- Went inside and was able to experience the Mona Lisa along with other beautiful paintings on the walls and ceilings and also the Venus statue.
Musee d'Orsay- Contained paintings of Van Gogh, Matissee and Monet. I decided to not take pictures of these because they were so incredible, they need to be experienced first hand.
Notre Dame- The epitomy of a church building. One of the most beautiful structures I have ever seen. Stained glass, gargoyle statues and towers are what convinced me to go inside and attend mass.
Sacre Cour- Palace looking church atop a hill in Paris with views comparable to the Eiffel Tower.
Arc de Triomphe- Where Napoleon walked through and contains the grave of the Unknown Soldier with the eternal flame. It is placed in the center of a roundabout and can only be accessed by going underground into a tunnel and coming out in the middle of it. Overlooks 4 main streets.

All of these contain so much history and they almost come alive after learning about them my whole life and seeing them in person. After a lifetime experience in Paris, our group headed for Bayeux and Normandy. On the way, we stopped in Caen to visit the Le Memorial de Caen museum which was dedicated to war veterans. We were able to walk through timelines and experience the events of the war in great detail. We arrived in Bayeux later that night and prepared for the next day.

-NORMANDY-

Tuesday, June 9, with rainy weather much like that of the actual weather at D-day, we headed to the beaches of Normandy. Omaha Beach was visited as well as the American Cemetery and La Pointe Du Hoc (land above Omaha beach where crater holes still exist). The beach itself felt almost sacred. People were silent out of respect and it was eerie standing on the beach upon where our nation gave so much to gain so much. The cemetery was full of pride and honor. The crosses in perfect lines atop of Normandy was so beautiful.

This experience has been such a blessing in my life and it has been great sharing it with friends, classmates and professors who invest the same time and effort into everything they do. As this France trip comes to a close and we get ready to start classes again in Oxford, I urge those of you who have not been to these sites to take advantage of the world we have and explore them. Only been abroad just shy of 10 days and it has already been an experience of a lifetime.

The morning is only getting closer and my eyelids heavier, so I will close here. Crepes and great french bread await in the morning.
Upcoming Events:
Classes resume Thursday.
Heading to London for the weekend.

And so hobey ho, and off we go
-Shay