In Lincoln, veilig aangekomen en al.
Ik zit in een internet-cafe vanwege dat mijn pc stuk was na aankomst. (althans dat dachten we)
Met veel gedoe en gesjouw ben ik nu hier dus voor de 2de keer. Kostte me 20 pond om het te laten maken, vraag me nog steeds af waarom, want hij had alleen de stof eruit gehaald (schoongemaakt dus) en daarna heeft hij mijn videokaart die in mijn pc zat aangeduwd en hij deed het. Hier verdienen ze vast iets van 170 pond per uur want de kosten die ik moest betalen was echt belachelijk xD!
Maargoed, nu wacht ik af tot ik gewoon internet op mijn pc heb, maar nu ik toch al in dit cafeetje was en ik niets beter te doen had *ahum* moest ik even de mensen in mijn omgeving laten weten hoe het is.
Hehe, wat er dus mis was? Ik sloot mijn pc-scherm aan op een verkeerde output.. :P De man moest erom lachen en hij zei: You can`t be beautiful and intelligent at the same time.. (en bedankt xD)

Lincoln zelf is op het moment erg maar dan ook erg regenachtig.

Ik voel me eigenlijk ook nog meer op vakantie dan dat ik het idee heb dat ik moet gaan studeren hier.
Mijn kamer die de kleinste moet voorstellen is nog niet eens zo klein. (Ik zet de foto's erop zodra ik internet thuis heb!) Hij is al leuk ingericht ik hoef nu nog maar 1 muur te doen, zoals ik het wil. Heel leuk idee, maar dat laat ik nog even afwachten, eerst kijken of het lukt.

Verder is het stadje echt wonderbaarlijk. ALLES is hier te vinden, van grafstenen tot tattoo's :P!
De mensen zijn hier wel erg gericht op verkopen verkopen verkopen, als je niet oplet heb je binnen 1 dag de meest ONnuttige dingen op zak. (waar je dan ook nog is behoorlijk voor betaald) Dit zijn niet mensen die over straat lopen en je gaan aanspreken, maar zodra je in een winkel komt doen ze zo aardig dat ze zeggen, NOU misschien moet je dat ook is proberen.. jajajaa..

Ik heb trouwens een mobiele simkaart gekocht (de fabel dat simkaarten niet in je mobiel passen is dus een FABEL :P, je moet gewoon een unlockte mobiel hebben, en laat ik die nou net hebben =D) Mijn nummer post ik nog weg, ik moet hem nog activeren.. Het wordt een engels nummer dus smsen blijft een beetje duur.. :P

Verder heb ik nergens een telefooncel in de buurt gezien. Dus sorry als ik niet bel.

tot nu toe gaat het tussen ons 4en ook goed. hehe, beetje voorbarig om nu al te zeggen, zit hier net 2 dagen :P HAHAHA!
Vanavond gaan we uit, dus dat word leuk avondje. (mijn bedje ligt grandioooos :P trouwens)
Ik moet verder, want ik typ te sloom en de tijd gaat te snel, ach you know the feeling!

Groeten uit het waterige Lincoln!

The National Archives and Records Administration's Great Lakes Region office announces the 11th Annual Civil War Symposium, with this year's topic being Abraham Lincoln as War President. The event will be held on Saturday October 18, 9:00 AM-5:00 PM at the First Division Museum at Cantigny, Wheaton Ilinois. 

Join prominent historians for a discussion of the Great Emancipator.  Speakers include Paul Finkleman, "The Great Emancipator as Commander-in-Chief and Constitutional Lawyer"; Harold Holzer, "Current Lincoln Scholarship"; Trevor Plante, "Lincoln in the Records of the National Archives"; and Thomas Schwartz, "Lincoln's 'Fire in the Rear': Civil Unrest in Illinois during the Civil War."  Activities include presentations, period music, and an encampment. Continuing education credits are available for teachers. 

The National Archives-Great Lakes Region also thanks our partner for this program, the First Division Museum.  Their ongoing support of this symposium has been invaluable and madeit an unforgettable experience for all attendees.

For more information or to register for the symposium, contact the National Archives-Great Lakes Region.
Phone: 773-948-9001 E-mail: chicago.archives@nara.gov.

"We do think that there is room for a smaller car in the Lincoln brand,"

But he didn't reveal any details on any - if any - plans of such a vehicle.

And with Mercury rumored to become Ford's small car luxury brand, Lincoln making such a car (think: Cadilac BLX competitor) would be cannibalistic to cousin Mercury - whose life looks pretty short as it is...

Abraham Lincoln

If you watched the RNC, you might have caught the tribute video to Lincoln the other night. Nauseating. The subject wasn't nauseating, of course. It was the fact that the Repubs used his name, his values, his politics and his respect for the U.S. (hanging on as it was by a thread) and its Constitution as though they actually shared them. They don't.

"We are the party of Lincoln," they say over and over and over again to crowds of stupid people who seem unaware that Republican 2008 is completely different from Republican 1860. I want to hear Doris Kearns Goodwin, awesome historian and author of the equally awesome Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, on the subject.

Anyway, a quick rant after seeing this on MSNBC.com today:

If I'm driving, I'm trying to focus. D.C. driving isn't the worst I've encountered, but the streets of the District like to throw a few obstacles in front of one's car--construction, someone merging unexpectedly, darting around a car that just realized they need to make a left turn. Half the drivers don't use turn signals half the time. The other half just don't use turn signals. Focus is necessary.

But then we cross the Mall at night, the Washington Monument standing so conspicuously white against the night sky, surrounded by flags. And the Lincoln Memorial is behind it in the distance, the statue of Lincoln himself lit so that if you're facing the front of the building, you can see him. It's amazing, and even though I'm driving, I'm looking left and right, truly stunned at where I am in that moment. If I'm not driving, I'm just staring silently out the window. Needing nothing else to focus on, I can become lost in that moment, but I can't express what's going on since none of my friends who have lived in D.C. for years now would share that emotion, if they ever had it at all.

I wrote about civil religion a lot my senior year. I really liked exploring the idea of civil religion as a positive idea in the modern world, something that extends beyond patriotism or jingoism and into truly religious territory. I never thought I'd really be an adherent. I remember thinking in those terms a year ago when I visited the Mall and the memorials on a very cold night, throwing chunks of ice across one of the frozen reflecting pools on the side, somewhere between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. I plan to go alone in the next week, while I'm still unemployed. A day of exploring some of the Smithsonian, and an early evening with the monuments.

It's been sixteen years since first doing that, and now I'm reflecting upon it more as an adult. «»

I must say, that Washington DC is the first American city that impressed as much as Moscow  did long time ago. I would say that the vastness of space, lots of historical and patriotic, symbolical spots, make the Mall one of my favorite "city places" in the USA.

It was wonderful to be there, especially that we will study a lot of American history this year.

The Washington Monument looks much shorter when you stand by it. It does have two different shades of the bricks.

The WW II Memorial is very peaceful and solemn. Kevin was reading the writings on the walls. The fountains make you calm and reflective.

The Lincoln Memorial impressed me more than anything else. It has a character. There is nothing else but the giant Lincoln sitting in front of you, and fragments of his speeches engraved on both sides of the Memorial. Kevin wanted me to read all of it to him. Quite inspiring.

The Korean war memorial has a writing, which I never new about: Freedom is not free.

The Vietnam wall is much smaller than I thought.

Other observations:

people are walking!!!!! Walking everywhere they can!!! (not that many fat people in the center of Washington DC) The architecture is great. My hunger to see something else than McDonalds and King Burgers on every corner, was satisfied by the enormous buildings, almost each of them important and significant. You could breath the history in...

We walked around for about 3 h or so, then came home for a great big dinner.