home for a few days...

first, apologies for not updating for so long! its been a crazy couple weeks here!


we made it home sunday of last week, had class and did laundry and slept until thursday and then headed to croatia for a long weekend. we got six stamps in our passports just riding the trains! in croatia we helped out a church by doing odd jobs- cleaning the building, running vbs ((our theme was ceation, i was the moon and stars!)), planning sunday service. i loved it there! weve been going to big, impersonal church services and being with a congregation of thirty was fun. if you stood on the balconey and looked down the interactions werent distinguishable from my home church. people laughing and talking and drawing in everyone, making sure others are included. we even had potluck! it was amazing. im pretty sure i gained weight.
also, the floors were very slippery and i fell right on my back a couple times. brush my shoulders off.
one day we went to a large national park only ten minutes from bosnia ((bosnia! i know.. it was surreal to me. ive heard about war correspondents dying there and here i was in one of the most beautiful places on earth and only ten minutes away! surely it did not get ugly in ten miles! i have a hard time thinking that horrible things can happen somewhere gorgeous. like germany, or the grounds of mauthausen...)).


this is the third most beautiful waterfall in the world i hear...





We came home and have another three days to go to bible class and squeeze in vienna activities. its hard to motivated yourself to leave the castle sometimes but i make myself go because when i get back to the states i dont want to say that i missed something in a city i spent three months in! and i can watch ready or not back in the states as well...
so i went to the opera in the state opera house ((that an american pilot bombed in WWII and the austrians had to rebuild))- saw otello. desdemona had a almost fifteen minute solo in the middle, it was incredible. there were some plot changes but i suppose they were neccessary, i wont be picky. we met some students from pepperdine who are studying in germany so we took them around the town and then we went to a cafe for a couple hours. all in all i think i used my three days this week pretty well!

today we leave for ITALY! were going to rome, florence, and venice and after that we have a couple free days to travel in which im going along the romantic road in germany to see the castles! im pretty excited about all this!


jowling. an enjoyable way to spend your time! also i love my hair.

FOURTEEN DAY: photos!

munich: stone pamphlets on the ground memorializing where they fell from the university when the white rose group threw them out the windows before they were captured. weirdly worded sentence... oops!



berlin: translation, "Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings." Outside the university where the early Nazi supporters burned twenty thousand books.. but the quote was written in the 1800's. crazy yeah?




berlin: the berlin wall and a train strike.



the view from our hostel in genova. amazing!



the sunset in genova

FOURTEEN DAY: photos!

these are all of paris because i wanted lots of paris photos. and thats that.




derek.





the whole group in paris!





a really dark photo of me.





chelsea posing like a statue. i was pretty proud of this photo idea...








my amazing eiffel shot.

FOURTEEN DAY: photos!

this is the other group of students who left on the same train as we did heading north! arent we all travely looking with our bags!?!




amsterdam: this is the sculpture park of the nightwatchmen by rembrandt. look up the original, its a cool idea to make statues i think...



brugges: i journaled here. on the water. cause there are canals all in the city. so cool.



brugges: part two. what a cool backyard yeah?


brussels: this was the only building we took a photo in front of.. we couldnt read the signs though so we have no idea what it is.

fourteen day- take three.

we got home last night after traveling from seven am to nine thirty pm! i was ready to do laundry and unpack. and i did. i got a package while i was away so i opened that and went to bed early. and now im watching the office ((two episodes cause we were gone for fourteen days!)) and blogging.
paris was definitely my favorite city of the trip! there is just soo much to tell so im going to talk just about paris and genova. if you are dying to hear about somewhere specific email me or we can have lunch when i get home...

yes.
paris and genova.

PARIS: I briefly overviewed this before so i suppose i dont have much to tell. the tower was beautiful! during the day was my favorite- at night the lights were two different colors, white on the top and green on the bottom to celebrate the rugby world cup. my ocd kicked in. also there was a huge blow up rugby ball suspended on it so all my photos are from a side angle to cover the ball up! hopefully by the time i go back itll be down so i can get forward shots as well.
the french were so interesting to be around- im always surprised that cultures can be so different than mine! id never considered how certain things could be done differently! for example crepes. everyone raved and raved about them so the last night we were there i got one from a vendor under the eiffel tower. and... its a pancake. a skinny pancake! what?!?!? i know.. i was so confused. everyone made fun of me because apparently they make crepes in america too. whatever. id never heard of them. it was a fun new thing but in the end i prefer my pancakes for breakfast. but on a deeper level kinda the women there had an attitude that americans dont posess; all pouty. it reminds me of meg ryan in french kiss when she frusterated with french women.
"happy, smile. sad, frown. use the corresponding face for the corresponding emotion!" its true, there was a couple on the train next to us and the women worked that guy! she pulled the face and the tone and he was eating out of her hand... i didnt have to understand the language to understand that language!
it was a learning experience for sure.
in some cities its easy to see the history, or understand how the history fits in with the city now. in paris however i had a hard time connecting the french revolution with paris.. it just seems so different

genova: genova was the final stop on my trip and it was a great way to end a busy two weeks. it was the first city in southern europe wed done so stepping off the train to warm weather! it was a true italian city, lots of people and noise and the entire city is built on three large hills surrounding the harbor. we climbed up a huge hill with all our bags. i was really hot at the end of the two hours but it was a pat on the back accomplishment i thought. we spent the two days we had there just relaxing, the other girl on the trip and i spent a day just going through the market streets! i got black flats and a ring for eleven euro. italian leather, and really everything was cheap there. we got gelatto as well it was pretty incredible...
we walked around the harbor and watched the sun set over the water, there was a large glass ball on one of the piers that reflected the sun during the day but at night it showed the inside- a greenhouse. a perfect ending.
-- the people here were also different. after living in vienna it was actually a shock to be with such close people. in vienna, even on a crowded train it doesnt feel like you are in a crowd.. people keep there own personal bubble even when they are touching you. in genova on the bus there would be ten other people riding with me and i would feel the need to shrink back. how easily i became accustomed to one style. i wonder if i had started my studies in italy if austria would have felt distant and impersonal?
fun fact: christopher columbus was born there.



so that was a lot of stuff and no photos... ill post some today or tomorrow!

kinda family post...

so my mom posted my last blog for me cause munich was crazy.. i could not get the internet to work there!
i dunno. so thanks mom! i love you...
but now im in berlin and taking advantage of my free ten minutes at my hostel online.


we met a girl last night whose boyfriend is touring overhere from the states ((the bay to be exact)) and so we went to his show for free tonight. really really fun. a local small venue but with a familiar band. i talked afterward with a guy from the bad they are touring with from san fran about the west coast.... a little peice of home.


amyway, the point of this whole post is for JARROD. in the band there was a guy who played trombone... and it was AMAZING! it was one my favorite parts of the show...
so even if this new band teacher is terrible stick with it and maybe youll get europe out of the experience yeah?


one of the most rewarding parts of this trip have been the free tours. sandemans. check it out if you go to europe.. some of the best hours spent over here have been on those tours.





im going to bed because tommorrow we have an overnight train with many transfers and who know how much sleep well get... just wanted to check in! night.

FOURTEEN DAY ((take two))

hullo! im one week into my first free travel, and what a crazy week its been. everything is a little different in every country you go to so its culture shock piled on top of culture shock because of how fast were trading coutries!
i dont have much time so ill highlight each city.. i promise when i get home ill blog and blog and blog! while im doing all my laundry probably...


amsterdam: we started the trip here... what a crazy place to begin. even though id been there before i was surprised by how open they are to everything. it definitely led to some interesting discussion. while we were wandering around we found the history museum which was free for the week. i am trying to make it a priority to see some history in every city even when we are there for a short time- i got so much more out of amsterdam once i understood what the "xxx" really stood for and whose crown is on the flag.

brugges: a tiny town in belgium, it has a moat entirely surrounding the city! and the walls and buildings are brick and cobblestone! so cute! i had waffles with chocolate... two birds with one stone yeah? belgium and the netherlands used to be one country, fun fact.

brussels: we were only here to get to paris but we meandered around the shopping center and went to a free jazz concert by an american man ((his name escapes me at the moment)) in a hotel. weve been really lucky about finding free stuff. we stayed in a hostel with a man named marcello from brazil, hes overseas to get a phd in nuero-science because you cant find that in brasil. good for him.

paris: i wont lie, when i was planning this trip i could have skipped paris. really, i had no passion for this city. but some things take you by surprise i guess..... paris is far and away the highlight of travel for me so far. the entire almost two months ive been gone this was my favorite. and not just the tower ((although its amazing! i like it better during the day than at night but...)). we went to the louvre- which is free on fridays for people 18-26, handy info- and saw the mona lisa. and some interpretive dancers preforming in the french statues wing. i could spend a month just there! i didnt do the arc because im going back to paris at the end of the month on my way to ireland so im going to do it then. got jodel something because she loves paris...
i was swept off my feet guys. loved it.
i listened to sinatra and sextet live in paris the whole trip. so good.

munich: so full of history... and not just nazis, even though thats where they got their start. check out the white rose society. even people who hate history will appreciate the story. I took the same photo displayed on wikipedia... crazy. i know, i cant believe im linking anyone to wikipedia but its concise and im doing it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose_Society

im in munich now waiting to take a train to berlin in a couple hours... im tired from all the traveling- its tough being around people twentyfour seven in stressful enviroments! but its so good. no problems yet.
one last thing; the keyboard im using, and all the keyboards here, have the "z" and "y" keys switched. in amsterdam a bunch of keys were different. how random. so instead of qwerty they have qwertz. yeah...