London Part 2 & Lebanon

Well, my stuff arrived and I finally have new underwear. How exciting!! This stuff is very hard, but I'm picking up on it quickly. Were not just learning new words, we have to learn the entire alphabet first. We also have a colloquial class where we are learning only to speak. It helps alot when walking around the city. We spend a lot of time walking around. This place is actually much safer than I expected. The mediterranean is gorgeous. No pictures from there yet, but we had lunch earlier at a cafe hanging over the mediterranean and looking at a landmark called the pigeon rocks. The meal was only ten dollars. Amazing!

We've stayed moslty in West Beirut, but we'll probably go downtown one of these weekends. This weekend I'm going to Damascus and Aleppo in Syria. Really, truly do not worry about me. This place is much safer than I thought it would be. The college is right next to the Prime Minister's son's house and the Saudi embassy. Security is everywhere. People do stare at us a lot though. I stick out like a sore thumb (As do most people in the program). The food here is excellent, and we are learning very quickly it's all been great.

I also have some pictures from London as part of this. The one in the park is part of regents park. There are people playing sports everywhere and there are also beautiful gardens. This picture i was taking and a soccer ball rolled right through. All in all it was a great trip. I have homework to finish and its 11:00 at night. I cant believe I'm in an 8:00 am colloquial class. So when you're partying at 10:00 pm know that I am speaking Arabic in a far away land.

Live from Lebanon
Josh Wilson

I survived the flight, but the guy next to me smelled really bad

1st Post from Lebanon

I will have a second post about London with pictures later, but there is a little problem with my baggage. My baggage currently rests in the beautiful island country of Cyprus. I had a feeling that this would happen when I landed in Cyprus. The airport was very disorderly. Fortunately I have most of my valuables with me, but certain things like the USB cord that connects my camera to the computer are in my bag. I had to buy some clothes out here also, and the clothes out here are really small for the sizes. I bought a large shirt and it barely fits me. It looks like a muscle shirt. I need my clothes!! I can only suck my gut in with these tiny clothes for a little bit longer.

On a positive note, the flight out was remarkable. We flew directly over Paris, and I could see the entire city lit up. I saw the most amazing lightning storm right around Rome, and I woke up to the sunset peering over the horizon in modern day turkey. That was my favorite part. The area of modern day Turkey is historically such an important region, and seeing the horizon was fascinating. And the Mediterranean was pretty nice too.

When I arrived in Lebanon (after the sadness of not getting my luggage. Although I am not the only person whose luggage got lost. There is actually a group of around ten of us without luggage. We’ve used it as a bonding experience and have been hanging out. So it’s not all that bad.) When I arrived in Lebanon the driver was there to pick me up and he drove me straight to the school. What a culture shock driving through Lebanon. It’s somewhat similar to parts of Mexico, but you can still see some of the remnants from the civil war. There are bullet holes in some of the houses, and some building have large chunks missing. Pictures can speak much louder than words, so I will post some pictures once my baggage arrives.

The food has been great. The beach is gorgeous. And they say that we are in a very safe neighborhood. I hope to hear from all of you and I will post again soon.

P.S. Thank you to Amy for such a great time in London. I really enjoyed myself and it was a great prep for this trip to Lebanon. Have a great summer preparing for the year at Louisville.

Regards, Josh Wilson

“Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation” Khalil Gibran

Welcome to London

Well, I'm in London now. It looks just like the east coast, but people drink a lot more. I met Amy at the airport and the adventure began. On the first night we visited Regent's park, and it was gorgeous. People were playing softball, soccer and cricket as well as a variety of other activities. (Actually those are the only sports they were playing) The gardens were amazing. I would post a picture, but there is no USB port on this computer.

Today, (Thurs.) we visited a lot of the city. (St. Paul's, Tower of London, London Bridge, Globe Theatre, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, Tate Modern, Southwark Cathederal). I realized a few things so far. First, art is great, but some art makes no sense to me. There was a video in the Tate modern of a guy that looked like an oompa loompa going crazy and jumping up and down. And then on top there was the same video upside down with the guy wearing different color clothes. What the f*%$ is that? I was actually kind of frightened. But Picasso and Warhol were pretty cool. Second, people in England love their soccer, and soccer is more fun when everyone around you is going crazy the whole time. Third, I like beer. I started drinking at 11:00 today, and there are pubs everywhere, so the drinking didn't really stop.

Well, I'll post again soon. Hopefully with pictures.