02 August 2011

I feel like I have done next to nothing all day. I would feel bad about this, but I haven't been feeling that well. I woke up this morning with my ears ringing, my head congested, and my nose running. Unfortunately, I wasn't about to miss the second to last day of classes, so I put on a mismatched outfit and headed up the stairs for a breakfast of watermelon. The watermelon helped me feel a tad better, but it didn't stop my head from pounding. I am hoping this doesn't escalate into something worse; taking finals when I am sick isn't exactly my cup of tea!

The Atonement of Jesus Christ and His betrayal was the topic of discussion in New Testament this morning. Words can't really describe what I learned or even what I felt, but it was an amazing lesson. While Brother Judd focused on the facts of what happened in the Garden of Gethsemane, of what happened before Annas and Caiaphas, the Spirit was not absent from the room. Following New Testament, we moved into the Forum for Ancient Near Eastern Studies with Dr. Chadwick. He spent a good portion of the class showing us excavation pictures from Tel es-Safi, where he spent the few weeks digging. I can't say that I have ever wanted to be an archaeologist. Digging in the dirt all day, getting dust up my nose, being dirty no matter what I do just doesn't appeal to me. However, how cool would it be to discover an ancient burial ground or even a water-storage jug? Or in Brother Chadwick's case, the first two-horned built-in altar! He was very excited about that, and I was excited for him. It is part of his job description to make new discoveries! It was even cooler because I guess the discovery was covered on CNN! The rest of class was spent building up to the Common Era. We didn't quite get to Herod the Great, but we have two hours tomorrow to get there.

With classes done and lunch eaten, I headed down to my room with the intention of studying. But one thing led to another and I ended up taking close to a three hour nap instead! It was just what I needed. Since...I got to Jerusalem, I haven't been getting more than six hours of sleep a night. After an entire summer of running on minimal sleep and hiking across tels in the hot sun every day, I have officially crashed! It was a lovely nap...I even slept through my roommate taking a shower. That means a lot when it comes to me; I rarely sleep through anything. When I finally woke up, I grabbed my flashdrive and headed up the stairs to finish one of my papers for Dr. Chadwick's class. It took me a couple of hours, but I finally go it done. It feels amazing to have one paper out of the way. I am not looking forward to the next one in the least!

Dinner brought with it this amazing vanilla pudding topped with strawberry sauce. I remember there being chicken and rice as well, but the pudding was my favorite part. As soon as I was done with eating, Dan found me and we wandered down to the the laundry room so that I could cut his hair. It was a definite party, but I was spitting little Dan hairs for the next hour! I have no idea how I managed to get so much of his hair in my mouth, but it happened and I didn't particularly enjoy it! But that's okay; I enjoyed cutting his hair!

Dr. Chadwick held a review session this evening for all of the students in order to help prepare us for his final on Thursday. I think I am going to be spending the next 36 hours in a hole, studying my butt off. This is going to be pleasant. There is just so much to remember! From dates to sites to cities to wadis, I don't know if my mind will be able to take in all of this information! But I am definitely going to try. I am determined to do well on this final - even if it kills me. Dr. Chadwick told us that he wants this test to be a learning experience for us, one that we can walk away from smarter and prepared. It will definitely be an interesting next few days! Tomorrow I will have to go to the Old City to get some gummi bears or something!!

It was a fairly relaxing day. I am glad that I took a nap today! Hopefully tomorrow I will be up and ready to study and prepare for the next couple of days. Let the games...begin!