Past Weekend, and Upcoming Plans.

The Sunsets are gorgeous.
My Backyard consists of vineyards and Alps... :]
Hey Everyone,

This past weekend, we were supposed to go to Treviso, but it was rainy, and I skipped out and watched movies all day. Ministry week was very tiring, but so rewarding. To get the good things in life you have to work hard for them. Sunday we did go to Trieste to watch a Sail Boat Race.

One thing I learned about sail boat races... it's more like 'snail' boat races! You could barely tell they were moving. We had fun nonetheless!

This week we began our philosophy class! I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! I have always been intrigued with this subject, and if I were better at math and science, I think it would be a wonderful degree to get! Thinking is such a beautiful thing; the men that we are learning about were so brilliant! Plato ALMOST had it too! I feel like I know these men of old personally now, as silly as that seems. I just love learning about the history of ideas and how it is shaping today's world.

It just began to get cold here, we don't turn the radiators on until November though. Which is kind of good, that gives me time to figure out where to put all of my things (I kind of use it as a bookshelf...)! It is much colder weather than this southern girl is used to, but it's growing on me. We have Thursday's class, and the Final Friday. Saturday I leave SUPER early to catch a train to the airport, where I fly to Germany for Fall Break! I am so excited! I get to see friends I haven't seen in years!

Well I really should get to sleep, it's pretty late, or early if you will, and I have a quiz tomorrow!

Ciao!

Chels

Welcome to October!

My goodness.

I never thought that I would be so busy, all of the time! I definetly t

hought I would be able to blog more! I really do apologize! I have yet to make a video blog, I know, but I will try and come up with something soon! I upload pictu

res to facebook, then get so frustrated with how slow that happens that I forget to blog and show you all! This past week has been 'ministry week' and we have not really been at the school, but mainly in Udine and other small cities. I haven't taken too many pictures l

ately simply because we have been so busy. Here are a few from when we went to Verona:

Once again, to see the whole picture, right click and open in a new window or tab! Sorry that they are so big!

I really love coke, and I really love the Italian cans! At this bar they even brought me ice!

Ciao,

Chels.

Venice Pictures

So I shouldn't be posting this right now.

I have to study for tomorrow's final, and still have a few pages left on my team's project.

But I feel bad because those of you who read this are being left in the dark. We are going to the base on Friday, and then Verona on Saturday.

Oh, what have we done:

Venice is absolutely gorgeous.

Ciao,

Chels

>>>

First off, let me apologize for not keeping this better updated! These classes are proving to be more difficult than I thought!

So two days ago, a group of us went to Pordenone to look around and get used to riding the train. We had some bike malfunctions on the way to Casarsa (where we catch the train), so it made our adventure hilarious. One of my favorite things was I found a "Gnomo" sticker on a lightpost!

Yesterday we started our second class; we were split up into groups of three and have to come up with a 30pg paper due by next Thursday at 3:30PM. So I am going to be pretty busy! This weekend I will try and upload pictures, because we have a trip to Venice!

Ciao,

Chels.

(ps, if you right click on the picture and select view in another tab or window, you will be able to see the whole thing!)

First Final: DONE!

WOW! I just finished my first class here at SBI! It feels so good to be done with the four papers, and a final exam! It was a good class, and a difficult test, but I think I did pretty well!

Tomorrow is our day off, to rest, but there is no way we are resting!! A few of us are going to Pordenone for the afternoon!!

Here is a picture of the students and our dean!

From L to R:

Bailey (ESL instructor), Bethany, Abigail (assistant chef), Ashley, Anna, Dana, Samuel (our dean), Bryson, and Me!

More pictures soon!

Ciao,

Chels.

papers, papers, papers!!

PHEW! I have finished two of the four papers that were due this week! The other ones I need to work on are due on Monday, and our final is also Monday. The class is awesome though, and I am so happy that I came here!

Today we went to Spilimbergo (sounds like "Speel-eem-bargo" kinda German, huh?) for gelato and too look around. It was very cloudy and started storming when we shut the doors of the van, so the pictures I took I will have to brighten up a bit! We went into a great church too, built in the 1300's and still had original frescos!

It's amazing how much history is here in Italy. Everything is so old, yet so so beautiful because of the stories they can tell. I am really enjoying myself here (even if there are a lot of work!) and can't wait for Saturday! We are going to the Mall in Udine and then to Friuli Doc festival in downtown Udine! I will post pictures soon!

Ciao,

Chels.

Monday, First Day of class.

Today we started our first day of class. This week (Mon-Fri, and next Mon) is evangelism class. So far it is really interesting, Sam Spatola (founder of SBI) is the professor, and I love the way he teaches. I am not sure how many times I will be able to update this week because we have a lot of papers due. A two page, four page, eight page, and another paper due all this week! Our final is next Monday. I really like how it is set up though because we can really focus on this one subject.

We also have Italian 101, and today we learned the alphabet and some pronunciation.

Right now it's the Reposo, which means rest. Where we are at in Italy, everyone participates in this. From the hours of 1-3:30 pm, everyone goes home to rest! No stores are open! Restaurants are though. Usually people will take naps, but I won't until my internal clock gets used to this time zone. Even though I am not tired during the day, I don't want to take a nap so that I can sleep at night. Our classes resume at 3:30.

Ok, pictures anyone?

The View from my bedroom. That is the classroom and dining hall building.

Macchiato and Croissant!

There are a few pics for you, I will upload more later when I have time too!

Ciao,

Chels

Italia!

Hello one and all!

I MADE IT TO ITALY!!

I got to the school about midnight local time, which was about 6PM back home... I was so tired, and I don't think I will have a problem with jetlag!

Today we went to Casarsa which is a small town near the school. We learned how to buy train tickets, groceries, stamps, and toiletries. Tonight we go to a medieval festival! I will have pictures of the school and festival up hopefully tomorrow, or later tonight. Tomorrow we go to Udine, which is one of the larger cities near us. We have a VERY full schedule the whole time here! Monday we start classes, we have morning classes and "afternoon" classes which are from 3:30-6:30.

It's so beautiful here.

I will update more soon!

Ciao!

Chels

In Amsterdam!

Well I made it to Amsterdam!

The flight from Raleigh to Detroit was horrible, I sat right next to the engine and it was SOOO loud! The flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was really awesome though! A much roomier plane, and I sat next to a very nice man who shared my love of tea (he was from England).

I got to Amsterdam about 02:45 EST time, and I didn't really sleep on the plane. Needless to say, I am SUPER tired! I got to talk with my family, which was nice! I will have more updates later, now it's just waiting to get to Italy!

About to go check into a room to get some sleep!

Ciao!

Chels

About the Blog!

Hello One and All!

My name is Chelsey and I am attending Saints Bible Institute this Fall 2009 semester as a sophomore. I created this blog so that family and friends could keep in touch with me while I am overseas studying! I will try my hardest to update the blog everyday, once I arrive in Italy, and also try to upload a "vlog," or a video blog, once a week. I am excited to see what is in store for this semester, and hope that you will enjoy my journey along with me!

I arrive at SBI the night of September 11th and will be studying there for three months. My course-load this semester is 19 credit hours, for a total of seven classes; classes begin the next Monday. I plan on letting you all know what we are learning in class, posting tons of pictures, and writing about the sites I see.

As far as I know, we have a small group this semester, with only six of us (five girls, one boy)!! I am excited to get to know the other students and the Professors.

I will next update my blog when I arrive in Italy!
Ciao for now!
Chels