A truly great event for people who love to look at old machinery and equipment. I saw a rare John Deere Car built by the great farm equipment company John Deere that sold at farm equipment dealership. I also observed an old one room school in operation. Corporal punishment and the school dunce were acted out. A unique demonstration of anvil shooting. Anvil shooting has a long tradition, beginning in colonial days in small settlements that didn't have a church bell or cannon. When the people needed to be called together the local blacksmith would shoot his anvil off and the [View Full Entry]

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Preparing for my 90-day biking trip of Vietnam. Yesterday I learned how to break my bike down and pack it in a box. My bike weighed in at 38 pounds and the box weighed 6 pounds so weight wise I am ok. However my overall dimensions are 92 inches and that is way over the limit. It is going to cost me at least 80 dollars for the bike to go with me. I have way too much gear for this trip. I made a test trip to Pawnee Rock last weekend to test all the gear. I camped out on [View Full Entry]

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I got my new bike. An On-one, Inbred from the United Kingdom. It has 27 gears and is made out of cromoly. It is light, strong and I love to ride it. I got all my panniers and I loaded up my equipment. I decided after a 40 mile round trip that I was taking too much. I am trimming down to a more reasonable weight. My travel date of Nov. 14th is fast approaching and I can’t wait to get on to my adventure. [View Full Entry]

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This is my last week of work here in Kansas. I've worked so hard to finalize my work and living situation in Paris...now I'm ready to go! After hauling about 200 pounds of luggage to and from France last time, I'm trying to be a minimalist this time around and only bring the absolute necessities. In that spirit, I've posted a photo of myself with my new hiking backpack. Although it's hard to see in this picture, the backpack is about as big as I am. I almost fell over when I was modelling it for my Grandmother. Hopefully that won't [View Full Entry]

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One week from Tomorrow I leave for Waltham, MA. I can't believe it is already here. I am so excited to start something new. It's almost like experiencing a sunrise. The hard part is getting out of bed. Then you must patiently wait until the sun is fully up. I have already started to get out of bed, that would be all the program searching, fundraising, and planning. I will finishing getting out of bed next Sunday, Aug. 21st, when my plane takes off for Boston. I will get to experience the beauty of the sunrise in the next couple of [View Full Entry]

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The final days in Germany… You’da thunk I’d be sad or something. And actually, I was, but I was so many other things, too, (tired, stressed, happy,) that the only emotion that actually registered was exhaustion. See, fate set it up so that my final projects were all scrunched in at the end of the semester, just exactly as I predicted (sloth-paced projects at the beginning were bound to give way to highway-paced ones by the end). But the real kicker of a setup was the final presentation of the placemat project: Wake up on Tuesday at 3am, so I can [View Full Entry]

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Things are slowly falling into place. As of today, I have at least $600 still to raise for my travel expenses to Jamaica. I spoke with Sr. Catia yesterday, and most things are looking good. Another sister from her convent will be heading to Jamaica later this week to get things set up for Megan and I. While the sister is there she will begin the application process for my Visa. I have filled out all the forms, taken my picture, and copied my entire passport for them. I believe that I will be obtaining a VISA for religious work, instead [View Full Entry]

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Well, we are here in Topeka, Kansas, 725 miles from home. It's been a long exhausting day of nothing but driving and many pit stops. We left Francis Ferry Road at about 6:30 this morning, and drove until about 10:00. The only thing of any real interest we did today was drive through St. Louis and go past the Arch. We'll probably go up in it on the loop back home, so hopefully there will be pictures later from that. Well, like I said, nothing really but driving today, so nothing interesting to talk about. We'll make it to Colorado Springs [View Full Entry]

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Here I sit, with WalMart bags surrounding me and clothes spread throughout the room, preparing for my trip to Benin, Africa. I leave July 4th for Philadelphia, the ultimate destination for any true freedom celebrater. Fifty people from the United States will meet in Philadelphia for three days before we all leave for Africa. We arrive in Cotonou, Benin on July 8th, where we will begin our training. For three months, I will live with a host family in Segbouhe, Benin, not far from Cotonou, and will learn how to cook, clean, live, and play like a true Beninoise. Along with [View Full Entry]

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Hi there. I'm still getting ready to leave for China, my tickets aren't even booked yet, and I don't have my Chinese visa! I should have my tickets and visa in hand within the next two weeks, however. Right now we plan to leave the USA on July 27, and return on August 28. From there I move to North Carolina to continue my internship at Cisco Systems. I'm also excited about returning there too. At UIBE I'll primarily be learning how to speak Chinese, which is really exciting because I can use what I learned in the classroom immediately on [View Full Entry]

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