Back in Provo

Round 3 at BYU.

My apartment is pretty exotic. We have a ESL student from Argentina, a Filipino from Hawaii, a Missourian that's into Japanese things, a South Carolinian, and a Texan (Texas is practically another country). Our apartment knows how to speak English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, German, and some Hebrew (Hebrew probably doesn't count considering that we only took a half-credit worth of Hebrew).

In all my classes, except for my Analysis of Variance class, I will have at least one friend. I'll have tons of fun talking to them.

I'm going to go play kickball now at the Opening Social with the ward so this post will be continued.

Playlist of My Life...in the Jerusalem Center

Sad day. The day after I landed in Hawaii, my laptop broke. There is a chance that everything on my computer will be wiped out when I get it back after it's repaired. That means pretty much all of the pictures that I ever took of the Jerusalem Center experience will be deleted. I took several thousand pictures and there's a possibility that they will go "chow-see-ya-go-bye-bye."    :(
At least there's thousands more that my fellow JC students took, so I could just rip their pictures off of Facebook or something.

The whole Jerusalem Center experience is over. After arriving back home from 30 hours of traveling, I felt like that whole experience was just a dream (kinda reminds me of Inception). I seriously need to remind myself that it was not a dream. The best way for me is to listen to the music that remind me of the whole experience. Throughout the semester, I compiled a playlist of songs that will remind me of the Jerusalem Center.

1. Fall Apart Today - Schuyler Fisk
2. Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen
3. Summer Love - Justin Timberlake
4. What Makes You Beautiful - One Direction
5. So Good - B.o.B.
6. Hallelujah - Rufus Wainwright
7. Jerusalem - Matisyahu
8. Helena Beat - Foster the People
9. So This is Goodbye - William Fitzsimmons
10. Consider the Lilies - MoTab
11. Flightless Bird, American Mouth (Wedding Version) - Iron & Wine
12. King Without a Crown - Matisyahu
13. Homeward Bound - MoTab
14. This is the Christ - MoTab
15. Time of Your Song - Matisyahu
16. On Top of the World - Imagine Dragons

I'll give some explanations to why these songs remind me of the Jerusalem Center:

• 2, 3, and 4 were the songs that were played in Turkey constantly. Since then, if there's songs being played on the intercom on the bus or at a dance, these three songs would definitely be in the mix. 5 was also played at like every dance party. And the fact that this song talks all about traveling, it reminds me of all of our adventures.
• 6 reminds me of the Old Testament. It describes the feeling I get as I read about King David and Samson.
• 7 obviously reminds me of Jerusalem. It mostly reminds me of the Old City. 
• 8 reminds me of the desert. It reminds me of the long bus ride down to Eilat to go swimming.  
• 9 actually reminds me of the middle of my Jerusalem experience. That was when it kicked in that we were actually going to leave Jerusalem for the states in no time. 
• We (the ward choir) sang 10 and 14 in sacrament meeting. 10 reminds me of the nature found in the Jerusalem Center/around the Jerusalem Center/Galilee. 14 reminds me of our last Sabbath day in the Holy Land. We sang 14 as the closing song in sacrament meeting.
• 11 reminds me of the sunsets in Galilee. I would listen to this song as I watched the sunset over the Sea of Galilee. It reminds me of calm waters, birds gliding in the air, a watercolor sky, shimmering Tiberias across the sea, and peace.
• 12 reminds me of driving around to our field trips in Galilee.
• 13 reminds me of going home. More specifically, being happy about going home.
• 15 reminds me of leaving the Jerusalem Center to go to the airport for the states. This song pretty much reminds me of the last things I see in Israel before we reach the airport.
• 16 reminds me of the whole Jerusalem Center experience. This song was on one of the memories videos.

AAAHHHH!!!

LESS THAN 24 HOURS UNTIL CHOW-SEE-YA-GO-BYE-BYE (THE WISE WORDS OF BASHIR).

On a happy note, here's a Primary song gone awry:

I looked out the window and what did I see?
Skinny dippers in the Sea of Galilee.
Summer has brought me such a nice surprise,
Naked Mormons right before my eyes.
I could take my swimsuit and wave it in the air.
Brother Jackson is coming but I really don't care.
Don't you want to be swimming bare and free.
Skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee.


Once I get back home, I'll have legit internet so I could post pictures on here (not pictures that relate to this song though).

I'll Be "Homeward Bound"

I have 4 more full days at the Jerusalem Center program. I can't believe the final week in Jerusalem is here. I could not even fathom leaving the Jerusalem Center during that first week being here. I have mixed emotions about leaving. On one hand, I'm sad that this whole 4 month experience is coming to an end. This whole experience has been unbelievable. I love the people, places, and everything here. On the other hand, I'm happy to go back home to Hawaii for a bit and then to BYU Provo. I feel like I have a lot to come back to. The song "Homeward Bound" that the Mormon Tabernacle sings reminds me of the Jerusalem Center coming to an end. I am posting the lyrics because they are beautiful:

In the quiet misty morning, when the moon has gone to bed,
When the sparrows stop their singing and the sky is clear and red,
When the summer's ceased its gleaming, when the corn is past its prime,
When adventure's lost its meaning, I'll be homeward bound in time.

Bind me not to the pasture. Chain me not to the plow.
Set me free to find my calling and I'll return to you somehow.

If you find it's me you're missing, if you're hoping I'll return,
To your thought I'll soon be list'ning; in the road I'll stop and turn.
Then the wind will set me racing as my journey nears its end,
And the path I'll be retracing when I'm homeward bound again.

Bind me not to the pasture. Chain me not to the plow.
Set me free to find my calling and I'll return to you somehow.

In the quiet misty morning when the moon has gone to bed,
When the sparrows stop their singing, I'll be homeward bound again.

This song changed my perspective on leaving. The phrase "set me free to find my calling" makes me excited to apply and teach all that I have learned in the Jerusalem Center programs. I feel like I can fully apply and teach what I've learned once I return to the states. 

I absolutely love the 3rd verse. It's my favorite verse out of the whole song. The 3rd verse made me excited to come back to loved ones. "To your thought I'll soon be listening; in the road I'll stop and turn." If you hope for me to return, I promise I'll stop and turn.