Ode to a mechanical pencil.

So long, dear friend.

We met in 7th grade,

I thought I was so cool

to have a real mechanical pencil.

You were there for me,
through the spanish tests
and the history essays.
The ACT
and AP Calculus exam.

You spent many hours
in the BYU testing center.

You traveled to Peru
and England,
California and New York.

You even came to
Israel.

I'll never forget taking the ANE Midterm
when suddenly
you stopped working.
Just like that.

If pencils could talk,
you'd have some great memories
to share.

A short video, in remembrance.

[insert awesome title here.]

My brain is too tired to come up with a clever blog title. I wasn't even going to blog, but the interwebs was working magically this morning and uploaded all my pictures in record speed, so... I blogged. It's your lucky day!

This past Sunday was our last all-day field trip. Sad day. :( We went to Masada, the Dead Sea, Ein Gedi, and Qumran. It was one of my favorite field trips. The weather was perfect: sunny, but not too hot. The sites were pretty cool: floating in the Dead Sea, seeing the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, walking around Masada. Yep, I'd say that's pretty cool. And the company was, of course, brilliant! I'm going to miss my 80 new friends. 

Here are some pictures from the sites. Take a look through why don'tcha.

Katie, me, Desiree, and Katelyn at Masada. 

Herod's palace on one of the edges of Masada.  

Floating in the Dead Sea!

Awesome picture of the Dead Sea.
I'd like to take a moment at this time to
thank Danielle for her sweet camera skillz. 

AnnaLeah, me, and Danielle at Ein Gedi, where the future
King David hid from King Saul. 

One of the beautiful springs at Ein Gedi.  

Danielle and me with a sweet natural arch in the background.

The big waterfall at the top of the Ein Gedi
nature preserve. 

Danielle, me, Suzy, Rachel, Desiree at Qumran.
Those black dots on the hill in the distance are caves
where some of the scrolls were found.  

View of the Dead Sea from Qumran. 

The only lame thing about a study abroad?

The studying part. 

source.

We're down to 11 days here in Jerusalem and the next 5 of them will at some point involve 

reading, 

paper writing, 

and insane amounts of studying. 

Yep, it's that time of the year again. 

source. 

Can't say I've really missed you too much, Finals Week. Let's just say that the library and I will be spending some quality time together. 

But when it's over,

a whole week will be left for me in Jerusalem,

sans homework, tests, or stress. 

It's going to be pure bliss. 

Surprise!

And you thought I was done with Galilee. :)

Well, because I haven't taken too many pictures over the past couple of days and because I just got the rest of the Galilee pics from Danielle, I thought I'd put up some last pictures from my time up north. I realize more and more each day how much I love Galilee. It was so beautiful and quiet up there and a day didn't go by that I learned something new and saw something incredible. Enjoy!

Me at the Jordan River. We went there at night. Randie comment,
there were these strange water rats that we saw there. I'm not
quite sure what they were, but I know Peter and James would
have loved to see them swimming around. 

AnnaLeah, Danielle, me, Taylor, and Maddy at a site that has currently
slipped my mind. But it's a beautiful view, right?!

AnnaLeah, me, and Danielle at Megiddo, the future site of Armageddon.
There was a storm brewing which made it even cooler. The views were great.

Me and Danielle pointing to the Syrian border while at Tel Dan. Those little
white houses in the background are in Syria. 

Jared, me, Danielle, and Suzy inside some bunkers left over
from the previous wars between Israel, Syria, and Lebanon. 

Maddy and me at a waterfall near Caesarea Philippi. This part of Galilee
was beautiful because the changing colors on the leaves reminded me of Fall.

You can't really tell, but in the shadow on the sign are the words
"secret tunnel." I couldn't resist.
Beneath the clothes, we find the man...and beneath the man,
we find his...nucleus. 

Suzy, me, and Danielle having a little too much fun at
the ruins of a crusader castle. 

Ok, check it out! Ben found this awesome chameleon at Sepphoris
and we might have spent more time playing with it then looking
at the rocks. :) It looked just like the chameleon from Tangled so
we called him Pascal, and he even changed colors depending
on where we put him. It would have made the perfect pet!

Sunset on the Sea of Galilee. This picture is taken right from the
cabins where we stayed. We had a sunset like this seriously every
night. I am amazed by how incredible the sunsets are over here.
They're one of the things I will miss about Jerusalem.

Speaking of which, we are down to 2 weeks. That's right, 2 weeks! Ahhh! Where has the time gone? The other day at our announcement meeting they told us about the JCLDS syndrome. (Jerusalem Center Last Days Syndrome). I definitely have it. It's a bitter-sweet feeling. You're excited to go home and experience family and Christmas and snow and all the little wonderful things about America. But it slowly dawns on you all the incredible experiences you've had in Jerusalem. And the amazing friendships you've created. And the falafel and date bread and sunsets and memories that you will be leaving behind.

It's a funny thing about coming home. 

Looks the same, 

smells the same, 

feels the same.

You'll realize what's changed 

is you. 

source

The stones of Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem stone,

so resilient and supple, 

bows to the 

transient follies

of humankind,

bearing testimony

like a hundred witnesses,

and yet, 

remains silent.

~Chaim Be'er

A few more pictures from Galilee.

Brother Ludlow, Taylor, me, Nicole, Danielle, and Suzy outside
the Joseph's Church in Nazareth. 

Boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. It was a sunny day and the water
was like glass. 

View from the Mt. of Beatitudes. This was one of my favorite sites.
I remember looking out over the rugged countryside, feeling a slight breeze
on my face and listening to birds serenading each other. Our class
discussed the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5. Brother
Huntsman referred to the sermon as "The Constitution of the Christian."  

A walkway around the Roman Catholic Church at
the Mount of Beatitudes. The church has 8 sides
to represent the 8 beatitudes. 

Danielle, Katie, Katelyn, Katie, and me at Capernaum.
(And in case you thought 3 "Kates" in a row was a bit much,
we have 5 in our group total.)

After the flood all the colors came out.

Me at the Sea of Galilee.

Where to begin?! I just got back from spending 10 days in Galilee. They were filled with so many incredible moments and adventures. I learned so much about myself and others and the gospel.

First off, it was nice to take a break from the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem and spend time in the peaceful countryside of Galilee. We stayed in Ein Gev, a kibbutz right on the shore of Galilee. 1 minute walk to the beach? Yes, please! On a side note, my little cabin was the second to last one in the kibbutz. 20 minute walk to all meals and the interwebs? No, thanks! But, hey, it was good exercise and gave me an excuse to eat the desserts at dinner. (Real chocolate cake, people. I forgot what it tasted like.)

Our days followed one of two patterns. Either we went on an all day field trip or we had 3+ hours of class, followed by a free afternoon. At night we had more class or special lectures or bonfires. Whoever thought that having students go on an 8 hour field trip and then spend all night in class was crazy! But I kinda liked the intensity of it all because it reminded me of the short amount of time I have left here in the Holy Land and all that I want to accomplish before I leave.

Attempting to blog about all that happened in Galilee would take forever (and might get slightly boring), so I've decided to put up some pictures of highlights from my trip. On our trip we had several rainy days which I actually loved, because I got to wear a rain jacket and jump in puddles, not to mention I love the rain. But mostly I loved the rainy days because of how everybody reacted to them. Everyone just put on their jackets and headed out into the stormy weather, not complaining or having negative attitudes. We sang and dance in the rain, we took awesome pictures in the rain, we even went swimming in the rain! You can tell a lot about someone's character by how they react to situations that don't go exactly according to plan. I loved hanging out with people that embraced the rain and made the most of it. Plus, after a rain storm, when the mist cleared away, the hills and valleys and sea were beautiful. It reminded me of England. :)

Me and Danielle loving the rain at Gamla, a fortress that the Jews
used in a Jewish revolt similar to Masada. 

Black jackets unite!

Dancing to gospel music on our boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.

Danielle, me, and Robyn at the Sea of Galilee. 

Pig noses close to Capernaum where the pigs threw themselves off the cliff
into the sea. We referred to this place as "The Hill of the Bedeviled Ham." :)