Life as we know it.

School starts back for the spring semester tomorrow. I think that title is a bit decieving. The weather right now reads 28 F, Haze. It snowed about 4 inches earlier, and blizzard conditions are expected between 2am and 10am. The high is expected to be around 6 F, with windchills down in the 15 to 20 below range. Spring semester my ass. Frozen Winter semester, here we come. 

2008 saw some great times in my life. I spent 3 months living at a bed and breakfast in Salzburg, and had the opportunity to travel a great deal during that time. There are photos up in my Picasa Web Albums. I had a ton of good times, and met some incredible people.

2008 also saw some hard times in my life, and I'm not sure if I am ready to be posting about all that here on my blog, those of you who are close know about it anyway.

I don't really make New Year's resolutions... But, I would like to see myself more active here on my blog. I feel like I was in a writer's wasteland for a while, and churning out academic papers hasn't helped that one bit.  However, grades for Fall 2008 were straight A's. This should put me on the Dean's List again, but I am waiting for them to actually post. For 2009 I would like to keep that trend up as well, 3 semesters left. I'm ready to knock it out.

Here's to 2009.

I'm in Europe?

Hey Hey. 

So, I am notoriously bad at updating this thing. Its a love/hate relationship here.

I'm in Salzburg for the fall 2008 semester. 

I have been posting photos here.

http://picasaweb.google.com/chrismwarren

Enjoy. More photos up every Monday (ish).

Austria

Yawn...

It has been a great summer. Things in my life have changed quite drastically since last I wrote here. I worked at Starbucks up the road from Judson for the summer and tried to save as much money as possible. That included me biking to work, taking the bus, and begging my co-workers for rides. I made it a whole year without a car! Currently, I have been 13 months without a car, car payment, insurance or gas... I think I chose the right year for that.

I made the Dean's List this last semester. An achivement that my mother is quite proud of - I gave her the certificate. Right now I am in West Virginia gearing up for a semester abroad in Austria. There are 12 of us in total (including the professor who is going with us), and we come from four different colleges throughout this region of the U.S.

I'm taking two history classes (a WWI, and a post WWII), elementary German, and digital photography as part of the program. The other main component of this study is a large travel element. We have 11 free weekends to travel anywhere in Europe that we can get and get back by rail. The program includes an unlimited EURail pass.

I hope to post pictures and regular updates here. I depart the US tomorrow morning. Cheers.

Midterms, Some papers from the DR, and a photo link...

I promise that I haven't been simply sitting around since I got back from the Dominican.

Here are a couple of papers turned in this week related to my trip:
La Republica Dominicana (ANT271)
9 Pages from an ethnographic position.
SLEX 1 - Dominican Republic (SSC355)
Borrows from the other paper, but here I use some concepts explored in my Cultural Diversity (Sociology) class to try and examine the community a bit.

Midterm grades were solid:
SPC120 Foundations of Speech: B+
BST102 Intro to New Testament: A
SSC355 Cultural Diversity: A-
MAT111 Mathematical Investigations: A
ANT271 Cultural Anthropology: A
Chapel: F (Apparently, my exemption from last semester doesn't carry over, just some paperwork and that will be fixed.)

Here are some photos of my trip, thanks to Kids Around The World.
(I'm in one, keep scrolling)

4 weeks left. Pray for my sanity.

Lets go build a playground!

Right. That is going to be me in just a few days. I depart in a couple of hours. So, I thought I would post to tell you that I love you too - even if I'm not coming to build you a playground during Spring Break.

Its been a hard week, so pray that I have some energy - mental and physical.

* Mar 8th- Depart for DR
o 4:30am, Leave Judson, travel to O’Hare
* Mar 9th – La Romana
o Church and Softball
* Mar 10th- La Romana
o Building Playground
* Mar 11th- La Romana
o Building Playground
* Mar 12th- La Romana
o Visiting churches in other Batey’s (communities)
* Mar 13th- Santo Domingo
o Excursion Day in Santo Domingo
* Mar 14th- La Romana
o Playground Dedication
* Mar 15th- Depart for Chicago