In regards to mortality....

A few days ago a close friend of my sister named Tobin was killed in a car accident. According to reports I've heard from back home, the vehicle he was in was struck by another that ran a red light. He lost his life instantly.

I'd like to ask you to take a moment to think about it, in homage of Tobin. Think about your family members who loves you and your friends who care for you. Tobin had so much left to do in his life, so much potential that he had not yet manifested, a world to discover, and had captured the hearts of many people who knew him. Why him, why now? Why not someone else who already had their share of the world? Why anyone at all? Answers that you won't be able to find; somethings just are the way they are.

So hold tight the ones you love, appreciate the opportunities you have, and never forget that there's never a day more important than the one you're experiencing right now. We have so many blessings that we overlook.

Rest in peace Tobin, you will be missed.

Nach Berlin!

Hello everbody, I just wanted to let you all know that I'm going to be incommunicado for the next six days. I am travelling to Berlin through my exchange program, where I will stay in a hostel with sixty or so of my fellow exchange students. We'll be partaking in at least one structured event per day, and for your enjoyment I present to you what we'll be seeing: Wednesday

• Driving tour of Berlin
• Monument of the Murdered Jews

Thursday

• Tour of the Museum on Normannenstraße, original headquarters of State Security of East Germany (the Stasi) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staatssicherheit#Museum_in_the_old_headquarters for more infos...

Friday

• Tour of Castle Sanssouci and free time in Postdam

Saturday

• Walk through the Reichstag
• Museum visit of our choice from the Germany History Museum, Jewish Museum, and Pergamonmuseum (Islamic Museum)

Tuesday and Sunday will be consumed by the 8 hour bus ride, and then through out the week we get a lot of free time to get out and enjoy Berlin on our own. I'm really looking forward to this adventure... I've heard so much about the city, I want to get out and experience it myself.

And that's that. I'll be sure to post you guys when I get back and let you know all the sweet things I did and saw :)

Anyway you want it, that's the way you need it!

What's this? What are we looking at? Man, it looks like a concert photograph...but who could have Jon possibly seen in concert last night, Monday the 10th? Who would have a stop in Cologne during their world tour? It was definitely Journey, on their 33rd year of touring, and they still had it going on. I think that my three friends and I brought down the average age of concert-goers by about twenty years...at least three quarters of the people were middle-age, bearded, and wearing faded, black Journey t-shirts. (half of them were women...Journey attracts an interesting crowd. Apparently their on their third lead singer, who is a forty-year old dude from the Philipines, but he looked like he could have been seventeen. I thought it was joke when he first came on stage, but as soon as he started singing, nobody cared anymore...he was incredible! There was a throng of little Asian women next to me who were freaking out about him, and a couple of bald Dutch dudes on the other side freaking out about how hardcore Journey still is, and there I was in the middle, not about to stop believing ; )

I've been really sapped for motivation lately...I think opart of it has to do with the either oppressivley hot or depressively gloomy we've been alternating between. Or it could have to do with my low average nightly hours of sleep...hmmm. Fortunately I don't have a whole lot I need to do, and I'm content with that. One of my friends told me today that we only have 41 days left in Germany...I can't believe it. In fact, I don't want to think about it right now. Thema Wechsel... In a little less than a week I will be travelling to Berlin with the other exchange students for a group exkursion through our International Center. I'm really, really excited...it sounds like we have a fair amount of structured stuff to see while we're there (i.e. planned tours, events, etc...) and then evenings free. That's good by me; I wan to see as much as a I can! We will be their from the 17th to the 22nd, so hopefully I'll have a lot to say after I get back. The weekend afterwards I am making plans to go to Dijon, France, to visit my friend Coraline, former language assistant at Ripon College. I haven't been to France yet, and I'm thrilled to see something new and slightly unusual (i.e.: something other than Paris, which I have no doubt is incredible, but it's fairly common).

Yesterday at work I was struck with how I have one of the coolest jobs...literally ;) Oh, work = chemistry, by the way...it's kind of the simplest way to categorize it. Anyways, I do a lot of work with liquid nitrogen. We have to use it in conjunction with the high-vacuum pump to freeze the moisture traps to prevent fluids from getting sucked into the machine. At -321 ºF, it's rather frigid, and if you're not careful it can condense oxygen out of the air in sealed containers, which will can cause explosions when it comes back to room temperature. Fantastic! Which reminds me about how dangerous chemistry can be, too. For example, I was working with elemental Bromine on Monday, and the safety data indicates that skin contact results in deep, painful wounds. *thumbs up* I wonder just how dangerous it is to be a history major...

The European Soccer Championship has started, which means that lots of Germans are really, really, really excited. It's a really cool feeling...although I didn't watch Germany's first game on sunday, I could hear it all over the place. Everybody goes out dressed in Germany colors (black, red, and yellow) and drapes themselves in Germany flags. The city just bursts out in mutual cheers and groans that give you a good idea of the progress of the game. As it stands, I can hear people cheering for the game that's running right now...I don't know who's playing, but it's not Germany...they're not on until Thursday night, and I'm not going to miss it!

I've been having really intense cravings for pie lately...I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe because summer is the time of year when I usually do most of my kitchen activities, considering I usually don't have access when I'm not at home. Maybe it's because pie doesn't really seem to be as big of a thing here...there are plenty of delicious looking baked goods, but nothing that is satisfying my desire for apple pie or rhubarb and strawberries. That's another thing...we have this amazing market here that has fresh fruit and veggies everyday. Strawberries are in season, and they're harvested only about 10 km from here. So if anyone wants to send me a pie, get in touch... ;)

All right, that's it for now. I'm going to try and go occupy myself with other things than staring at a computer screen. I send my love. -Jon

A Taste of Spain

All right, I really am not going to write anything significant about Granada if I put it off longer, so this is what I'm going to do...a selection of the three hundred photos I have from the weekend. I hope you enjoy! By the way, the Alhambra was a palace built by a muslim king for his favorite wife way, way back in the day. You'll see.

Yours truly mopping the brow after a last minute run to catch the train to the airport.

The lovely establishment where Ruz and I spent the night before our early morning flight.

The lovely provisions we brought ourselves.

That which almost prevented us from leaving Germany due to the suspicions of a curious German security guardess.

Spain at last!

The view from our hostel window.

Our sweet living arrangements! A room shared with two adults ; )

A view of Granada coming down from the Alhambra.

One of several pictures taken of us by a Belgian couple we met at a restaurant. There was one with Rachel smiling, but I couldn't make that out from the thumbnail images. She really was happy : )

A picture of Ms. Resop from within the Alhambra.

One of the various large structures composing the Alhambra palace complex.

A view of Granada from the Alhambra...breathtaking!

Another picture of us...go plaid shorts in Spain!

Cool picture of a bell tower taken by Rachel.

The Alhambra at night...Rachel and I tried finding a good vantage point to get the sunset, but we failed miserably...to compensate we found a hill above the city which gave us a great view of the palace. Pretty sweet.

Dude who sat across from me on the train ride home.

The Resop sisters on the following weekend when Rachel Came back to Germany.

And that's it...maybe sometime soon I'll write some more of the stories, but I wanted something to give you a taste of what my travels had been like.

Peace.

J