Christopher's Blog

We left Sabbath morning at about 9:00. It took us two and a half hours to reach our destination. From there we grabbed a quick bite to eat and hit the trail. It was beautiful. The yellow leaves of fall. The mountains surrounded us on every side. The streams were crystal clear. We had a great time.

After our hike we found a nice camp site next to a emerald blue lake. Terri Lynn cooked up dinner as I set up the tent. Just before we ate we decided to jump into the water. It was cold! Very cold!!Vigorously refreshing!!! After dinner we sat around the campfire and enjoyed spending time with our new friends. Then we went to sleep.

We woke up to the refreshing mountain air. Breakfast was the same as supper, a variety of soups. We were saving the cereal for lunch. After breakfast we packed up and went rock climbing. We set up three ropes and each had one turn before it started raining on us. We decided to pack things up and go rather than wait it out. It didn't seem like a passing rain.

We got back to CUC early so I had some time to study. The weekend worked out very nicely.

Below are a few pictures from the weekend.

The group of hikers we went hiking with on Sabbath.

Beautiful autumn colors of Alberta.

Taking a picture of the beautiful Alberta autumn leaves.

Terri Lynn making dinner.

Chris out camping.

Rock climbing in Alberta.

Rock climbing in Alberta.

So far my experience at Canadian University College has been great. Classes started a few weeks ago and I feel like I am getting into the swing of things. Life in college is much different than life in the Navy. After spending six years in the US Navy and over eight years out of full time college, I was wondering how well I would adjust.

I really like being surrounded by so many Seventh-day Adventist Christians on a regular basis. I didn't get that in the Navy. I can attend vespers every Friday night at the College Heights Church and chapel every Tuesday at the Ad Building Chapel. It is so nice not having people breathe down my neck and trying hard to constantly maintain military bearing. The environment on campus is much different than the environment on base.

The people at CUC are super friendly, easy to meet, and like to have a good time. It is not large school so it feels more like a family.

It has been nice to meet other people who are into photography. There are actually quite a few people on campus who like taking pictures - more than I though there would be. Another great thing for me is that everyone I've met doesn't mind having their picture taken. They are even willing to sign a model release for - at least so far. I'm really hoping to get some good pictures of college life to sell on iStock.

Terri Lynn really likes her job at the Outward Pursuits department. She likes that it is so close and a campus job making her a staff member. She also says the Lehmann's are very nice and great to work for. The other evening they had a welcome party at their house for the whole OP department and I was invited too. I had a good time meeting most of the OP students. We want to get to know them better so we signed up for the rock climbing trip this weekend.

My classes are time consuming. They require a whole lot of reading. They are interesting, though.

If anyone happens to stumble accross this blog by searching to on Google or something and is considering coming to CUC, I would highly recommend it.

Have you heard that I won a photo contest? On Friday I received an e-mail from the Kawarthan photo contest I entered about a month ago. It was for pictures taken at cotteges in the Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario. I think it is a pretty well read magazine from that area because there are several thousand cottages around. But anyway, click on the link if you are interested in seeing which photos won - MyKawartha photo contest. I won $300 for the first place photo and $50 for third. My first place picture caught their eye right away and the third place picture they just couldn't resist.

Random Fact: I kept 1167 of the about 5000 pictures I took at the cottage this summer. For more check out my summer time and summer time 2 photo albums.

The studies have started again. It has been over eight years since I have been in school full time. I'm currently taking Religious Studies Pre Professional Track at Canadian University College in Lacombe, Alberta. It works out conveniently that it is the most inexpensive Seventh-day Adventist College in North America and at while I am attending school my requirements for Canadian citizenship is being fulfilled. Since I have my Canadian residency, after three years of living in Canada I can apply for citizenship.

This semester is a full one. I am taking 18 semester hours of classes. My classes are Greek 1, European History, Principles of Evangelism, Comparitive Religion, Literature, and Intro to the Old Testament. The teachers are good and obviously assign a lot of homework.

We are settling in to our new place. I posted some pictures in my photo album. It is a nice little two bedroom apartment.

That's all the updates for now.

For the month of September iStockphoto is paying double for referals. So if you are interested in purchasing pictures for any reason please click the iStock logo on the top right of this page, sign up, and purchase credits. The money that comes in through iStock photo will help me pay my way through Canadian University College. Maybe you are a designer, Web designer, make brochures or magazines, or just like pictures for print; there are almost 4 million pictures to choose from and you don't even have to purchase from my small portfolio.

Don't just sit around, take action.