The End

Well its done, i'm home. after 2 months, 16 credits, 4 countries, over 20 hours of flying, countless hours in a bus and on trains, my summer in europe is over. It was better than i could have hoped for. I am still in awe that i was just in europe for 2 months. its been a dream of mine to go there for a very long time and now its a dream to go back because i loved it so much.

my favorite part was hiking in the alps. the first time in st. bernards pass and then over free week. the whole trip was amazing and every day was filled with something i loved.

some other random things that happened that just made this trip fun....

the mustcahce contest. nasty facial hair for 2 months on all the guys. boy meets world parites in regensburg. pertending we knwo the language by saying everything with an accent. eatting way too much gelato. the bus rides and naming them by what they looked like (space bus, safari bus etc). having awesome converstions about life and theology then also havig ridicoulos conversations about mustaches, relationships (lisa), cows etc.

i'm back at school now and classes have begun. i can't wait to plan my next adventure.

thanks to all who bothered to follow me on here this summer. i decided to continue to blog so check out my other blog for this school year.

great summer.

the final day

the end has come and today was the final day in europe for tomorrow we fly back across the ocean to chicago. we started the day by taking a boat trip down the danube to walhalla which is modeled as the parthenon. it is filled with marble statues and heads of famous germans. all the people that made an impact on the world in one form or another have been placed in there (not all but a lot have). we got the boat back up the river to regensburg. tricia, hannah, mary and i went to the mall one last time where we got doners and then picked up nouget bits (nutella filled cereal). i had plans of doing some homework when i got back but instead i packed and took a nap. just about everyone went downtown for one last gelato run tonight! reminded me of the first gelato i had in rome and then that started me thinking over the whole trip and all the craziness that has happened. at 9 we all met down at the river we lit a bonfire sang some worships songs and shared memories of the trip. you definitely get close to 30 people when you're with them every single day for 2 months straight. kelley even brought smore stuff for us!! so we made smores on the shore of the danue in close to the trip.

and now it is time for me to go to sleep because we leave at 7am tomorrow and i will get into chicago at 6:30pm. sounds better than it really is.... its more like leave at midnight (chicago time) and get in at 6:30pm (chicago time).

anywho next time i write i'll prolly be state side.

Pirates day number 2

yesterday was real pirate day. the weather final decided to be nice and stop raining for a day so we went canoeing. we had 7 old town canoes with 4 or 3 ppl in each. I rode in the mother-ship which we dubbed lategra our daughter ship we dubbed jenny 1. we had a wonderful alliance the whole trip and both our boats finished first. it was a 24k paddle and we had a beautiful day, it twas great.

after the paddle we had to wait for about an hour for our train to take us back to the hostel and we all just passed out on the cement next to the tracks on the platform. this was fine until a high speed train went by and about gave everyone a heart attack. also ben tried to climb a tree and fell down a hill. after the full day of paddling i had a full night of studying and then i took my final exam for sys theo.

all in all a good saturday.

pirates, mustaches, and forrest gump

Mary and i on pirate/gypsy day ------>

well last weekend we were meant to go canoeing and some of us girls were going to dress like pirates. the weather was no on our side and since it was storming we didn't get to go canoeing but we still dressed like pirates. so for the day some of us were pirates/gypsies. random but fun.

friday was the day that the mustache contest officially came to and end. i walked into class and the entire back row was full of creepers. on a second look they were not creepers they were in fact the guys from the trip they all just had mustaches. some were more creepy than others. we are waiting on the official vote from Prof lifton but nick won =P i'm incredibly glad the contest is over because everyone is clean shaven once again.

monday was matt's birthday and we treated him to brats then out to gelato and than we were able to get ahold of forrest gump for him. we got it hooked up in the class room on the projector and watched it. Matt does one of the best gump impressions and its his favorite movie. so all in all a successful birthday celebration.

i've gone biking a few times into town and just around. unfortunately for the week pretty much its been raining and cold. mostly i've just been going to class, reading, studying and writing papers.

the end is in sight.

People keep saying it so it makes it hard to deny, the end is indeed in sight. Just over a week from now we will all be back on the plane, state bound. It's definitely bittersweet, every time it's mentioned people both react in sadness wishing it wasn't so while some mention what they are most looking forward about going back. Family and friends go without saying some of other things people have missed the most are ice, AC, mexican food, driving, english etc. I personal am excited to go kayaking, ride my bike, eat something other than yogurt, canned fruit, and white bread for breakfast. Even though thats only a little over a week away there is still lots to be done here! we have a fun weekend planned of hanging out in regensberg, a canoe trip and swimming. Also some not so fun things have to get done, 2 exams for sys theo multiple quizzes, lots of papers, and 2 books and book reviews to get done all before i leave.

random pic....

from the train as we left interlaken over free week.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

(Psalm 19:1)

sweet food and sweet friends

girls night, homework, gelato, bike rides.

saturday night we had a girls night in the class room. we got snacks and a movie (in english). we watched becoming jane followed by some boy meets world. it was a great stress relieving night.

thankfully philosophy is over but sys theo is still a lot of work and its been keeping me busy. i took 2 quizzes and an exam in one day. the schedule for the next two weeks is, class from 8-12 and then afternoons and evenings free to get HW done.

they have bikes here but they're pretty sketchy and its probably a threat to my life every time i go for a ride. but its ok cuz at least i have bikes, i will be glad to be back on my bmx though when i get home.

2 things i've discovered.

1. nutella filled cereal. its AMAZING. creamy chocolate goodness in every bite =)

2. a super tasty gelato place downtown.

i think therefore i'm done

This week was been Philosophy, Sys theo followed by more philosophy and then again if that wasn't more philosophy.

yesterday was the deadline to get all of our philosophy papers done and turned in so for the past week everyone is philosophy has been working like crazy to get everything done. Thankfully barbieri realized the craziness and gave us extra to get some of the work in his class done so we could finish philosophy. amazingly enough everyone finished.

now by the end of the weekend i just have to take 2 quizzes and an exam for sys theo oh and read. so basically my life consist of school right now. hopefully now that philosophy is done it wont be so crazy. we're in regensberg for the rest of time and its actually really nice to be done moving around and traveling. i miss the alps for sure, hiking last week was amazing.

FREE WEEK!!

paris and the alps = an awesome week!

nick, matt and i spent the week touring around paris and hiking in the swiss alps. we were in paris for 2 nights. highlights of paris = the obvious, seeing the eiffel tower, notre dame and the other main attractions. also i got to eat a nutella crepe =)

from paris we got a train to interlaken, switzerland. we got the train from there to lauterbrunnen. we had an awesome view of the valley from the hostel. nick and i went that night and watched the germany-spain game. the restaurant/bar we went to was showing the game outside so we got to watch the game and see the sun go down over the mountains. absolutely beautiful!! unfortunately germany had to go and lose the game.

we did 2 full day of hiking while we were there. the first day we hiked up to wengernalp (1874m) then back down to our hostel. the next day we got a train to the sphinx observatory! we got an amazing view of the mountains and the valley. we hiked about 45 mins to a restaurant on the side of the mountain and got some great swiss hot coco =)

we took the train back down a little ways and then hiked the rest of the way down. it was an amazing hike!! we were hiking along the side of the mountain above the tree line for a couple hours then into the woods til finally we made it back to town. we had incredible weather too. we crosses several mountain waterfalls where we cooled off and got water.

definitely plan on going back there!

Germany wins 4-0

Germany!

world cup in the usa is horrible, world cup in europe is AMAZING. people actually care that its going on here. literally people were honking their car horns and blowing their horns all day before the game in excitement. after the game it was just nuts.

a bunch of us went and watched the game on a huge screen with about 10,000 crazy german fans at a stadium. it was an amazing game!! when they scored the first time the guy in front of me went to throw his beer and got it all over me. so that was fun (not). it was crazy though that many fans screaming and cheering the entire time, it was so epic. literally one of the most fun things i've done so far. we had bought horns b4 the game, nick and june had flags and corey got a sweet hat, basically we looked like legit fans. at the end of the game this german guy started cheering he turned around and cheered corey yelled back and then the guy tried to talk to him in german. corey speaks no german so he just cheered and yelled some more. it was abasualty ridicuols. then we walked downtown with the masses and there were people singing, cheering, yelling, drinking and all around going nuts. ppl were hanging out of there cars with flags.

the honking continued for hours and hours. germany now has to beat spain then their in the final!!!

<---At the game, nick, me, and corey SO much fun.

the stadium after the game--->

regensburg

what has my last week looked like?

well classes and tours and little sleep. 6 hours of class and days with touring class just pushed around that. first day in regensburg we had class then a tour of the town then philosophy. yesterday we went touring so we had an hr of philosophy before we left at 8:30 we didn't get back til 9:30pm. basically i'm just warn out. thankfully today was the last day of classes and now starts our free week! tomorrow a bunch of us are going a stadium to watch the german game. then sunday night Nick, Matt and i head to paris and then to interlaken!! i'm so ready for the break from classes. they have been good its just information overload.

regensberg is a pretty sweet little town i'm pretty stoked about getting on a bike when i get back and exploring this area some more.

lutherville

spent a few days in luther's town (wittenberg), it was super nice and relaxing. we got to see his church, his house, and we stayed right next to the church he nailed his 95 theses to. we had 2 really long day of classes which was rough. thankfully we got a break on friday and got to go to berlin!! pretty epic. finished that day with a late night philosophy class. saturday i didn't have cwc2 so i just had one class. sunday was just relaxing and lisa, corey and i went for an early morning bike ride which was amazing. alex and jonny led a wee worship time for the group which was super refreshing. it was great to just worship together and stop the craziness for moment and reflect on how God had been working in our lives.

unfortunately i had to watch england get killed by germany, surrounded a ton of crazy german fans. i was literally the only person who cheered when england scored. the cool thing was i was watching the game in luther's backyard.

today we drove to regensburg and explored the town a but when we first got here. 2 great things about this place. 1. free bikes for us to use and 2. free wifi!

we have our last class on friday for this session then its FREE week. can't wait to go hiking in switzerland and explore paris. but first i have like 11 papers to write and 2 exams.

Bus Rides

Tuesday was a travel day. originally we had been told about 8-9 hours for the bus ride to wittenberg. then we were told it would be more like 4-5. then someone else said it would be like 6-7, so basically we had no idea how long it was going to take. somewhere between 4-9, well it ended up taking like 9.5, which was fine really it was just funny that no one had a clue when we'd be getting in.

wittenberg is a random wee town but its nice. the best part is that we're staying right next to the church that luther nailed his 95 theses to!

towards the end of the bus ride we had some fun with my photobooth...

Freiburg

Freiburg . . .

the youth hostel we're staying at is a little ways from downtown but we've gone down a couple times. its a really fun city, its not huge like rome but its just really cute and there's lots of fun places to see.

classes for the next session started on friday. i had CWC2 from 8:30-12 then i had philosophy 1-4. it was a long day for sure! steph came and visited around 4:30 so that was AWESOME! yesterday we had another full day of classes but at night we went downtown to hang out and study.

i don't have any epic stories from Germany, yet. I've really just been super busy studying, reading, writing papers and watching the world cup. We're taking a day trip to Zurich tomorrow and then tuesday we're heading to Wittenberg which is gonna be a 9 hour bus ride.

on our way to geneva we stopped at this rest stop and i found the largest tub of nutella ever!

in geneva i got to check out this super old geneva bible on the front steps of calvin's church it was sweet.

Mountain climbing

yesterday was the best day by far!! we left milan which granted was neat but it was NOTHING compared to where we spent last night. we drove up through the alps and spent the night in this hotel in St. Bernards Pass! we got up there around 1 and went over to the monastery then we climbed a mountain. there were 7 in my group and we just figured our own way up. i could not have been happier. we had seen amazing buildings and art in rome, florence and milan but they had nothing on these mountains. it was just the most amazing view! Within the rocks were beutiful little flowers which just made me more in awe of our creator! seriously God is so good, it was surreal being up there.

It wasn't all just amazing view...it was a little more epic than that. our group split and Nick and Corey went up further and then headed down on their own. the rest of us started down but then 2 guys called for us to help them. Matt and i headed back up to the peek and found Jonny and parker, i guided them down from the top to where we were. they had crossed from the lower peek up to where we were and jonny's leg had gotten gashed open by a rock that fell on it. they had wrapped it in extra socks that jonny had in his bag. jonny made it down to ben who helped him down the rest of the mountain and matt and i hung back with parker...who was also super weak because he had been sick. As we were walking down it started hailing on us!

Since we were up in the alps they had to airlift jonny to the hospital. if that wasn't epic enough, when we got back we saw litfin who had climbed the smaller peek, he had blood dripping down his leg. he had fallen through the snow and his knee hit a rock and cut it pretty deep. So definitely an epic day. Jonny got back from the hospital that night and even got to enjoy dinner with us.

i had planned on waking up early to watch the sunrise over the mountains but when i got up we were literally in a cloud and it was raining so that didnt happen. we left after breakfast and are now in geneva. litfin went to the hosptial once we got here because he was actually doing worse than jonny. the cut had already closed so they just gave him some drugs and crutches. We startour next session of classes tomorrow (i'm taking CWC2 and philosophy ) we are also touring john calvins church and the geneva area. geneva is nice but after last night in the alps it just doesn't compare.

heres a pic of me drinking from the mountain spring...

tuscany to milan

tusacany has been amazing. we're out in the country and its beautiful.

we're heading to Milan today though. we had 2 full days of class, friday was crazy day of 5 hours of straight classes followed by 2 hours of studying and than taking an exam, definitely a draining day. yesterday we took a day trip to Florence. saw lots of art, including the david statue and even saw a random parade. we went on top of this dome and got an amazing view of the entire city. after we got back a bunch of us went to main house and watched the England Vs. US game. disappointed they tied but its better than a lose, epic fail on greens part.

me on top of the dome...

Heres a pic of the whole group with some of the people from the church in naples, il faro

The molestache

So i feel like i should give an update concerning a contest that started at the spanish steps in rome. this is a contest between Matt Knapp and Nick Parish to see by the end of this trip you has the best mustache.

for the record i tried to be the voice of reason and tell that it was not a good idea and it would be sick but they chose to do it anyway. Litfin is the official judge but the rest of the group will also vote at the end to see who wins.

after the spanish steps we went to a park and found someone they aspire to imitate. . .

ciao naples

Today we head off to tuscany. Everyone is pretty sad to leave naples. Litfin said it really great last night at our goodbye dinner, "we have visited ruins off the greatest empire in the world but there are no people there anymore. we have visited the largest church building in the world, but the only thing inside is tourist with cameras and stone statues. Here in naples even though the church building is not huge and does not have decorations like st. peters basilica, this church is alive, full of the love of Christ (paraphrased but that was the basic idea)." this church family has welcomed us into their culture and homes and i can say that i have never experienced such hospitality and selfless service and love from an entire church. we've all started some relationships here and i hope through the wonderful thing called the internet we will continue them.

stonewall

starting last night before dinner we have been playing stonewall pretty much none stop. stonewall is a staring contest and first to smile/laugh loses. since we are all completely exhausted it was actually extremely entertaining.

<-- an intense game of stonewall going on between june and corey

we are in naples now at a church called Il Faro and the group is split up into different homes. The hospitality here is unreal, the people here are all so nice. We came in friday night and they had made us this huge dinner! They even had a Pulcinella who did a few skits and classic italian songs. oh and when i say huge meal no joke this was a 5 course meal. started with awesome appiterzers and to be honest i would had been good with just that but no, still 4 more courses to go. they had a meat course, a pasta course, fresh fruits, and then dessert. in between each course they would have the Pulcinella perform a few songs.

after the dinner we went back to our host familys homes and crashed. i'm staying in a guest house of an american family that is just in italy for 2 years. they have a pool, and amazing view of the city and ocean

Here the few from where i'm staying...

yesterday (saturday) we got up early and went to pompeii. i remember going on escape from pompeii at busch gardens in VA, the real thing is way better.

this place is like you walk back into time because it is so well perserved. the ruins were sweet but seeing some the bodies was just nuts. you can literally see the fear and pain in their faces. pretty sobering to think about as i walked around and to imagine such a busy city engulfed in volcanic ash.

besides being really tired an worn out from walking everywhere its been amazing. we start doing classes intensely tomorrow (5 hours straight) then wed. we'll be traveling again.

update

im in an internet cafe right now and i cant use my computer so im limited on time and i cant put pics up. we have seen so much in the last 2 days its nuts! we started yesterday by seeing the collosseum, then over to the roman forum and the palatine hill. litfin is crazy and he was always trying to find loose rocks and things to pick up. between our tour guide and the profs on with us it was great getting so much information about each spot we visit hopfully i can update later when i have more time. today we went to the vatican. this place blew my mind. i got to go into the sistine chapel which was meant to be all silent but there were guards yelling the whole time to be silent and to not take pictures. we also got to see this dead pope inside st. peters and i got to rug the toe of st. peter so i guess that got me some years outta purgatory.

well my internet is about ot run out so more to come...

flights and first night

got to the airport about 5 on saturday where i met up with the rest of the group. we all made it through security and then just chilled at our gate til we left a little after 8. it took about 7.5 hours to fly to london. i watched some movies, wrote, read, and talked to those around me. i flew over ireland and def wanted to just jump out for a quick visit. then when we were flying over england (and when we were in london) i kept thinking how it wasnt right for me to be there and for becca and will not to be ( so guys if u read this know i was thinking bout u). on the flight for whatever reason, i didnt really sleep. our flight to rome was only 2 hours and i slept pretty much the entire time. one thing i found out is that i really am pretty short i couldnt reach my bags so i had to stand on the seats. . . fail i felt like a little kid.

we got to ROME and the entire city is just awesome.
we got a bus to our hotel and then walked around the city for a couple hours before going to dinner. . . that was the plan. slight problem with the plan though, about 8 of us got seperated from the group and had no idea where they went. we had 3 profs with us and 2 of them had never been to the city before. we only knew one plaza that they were planning on going to so we just went straight there. after about 45 mins we gave up on finding them so we just went and got our own dinner. even though my first night in rome we got lost (more lost the group, because we knew where we were we just had no idea where they were) but it was still great because one prof actually knew the city so he was able to get us back to our hotel and show us things like the trevi fountain. so first night was fun for sure...also i accidently got this guy super wet. there are these drinking fountains throughout the city and you are meant to put your hand on the bottom of it to force the water out a little hole on the top of the pipe so its easier to drink. i was trying to do this but i pressed my hand to hard and it shot the water out the hole with great force and sprayed this old guy that was walking by. needless to say he was NOT happy with me. as we walked away he turned around again to yell something at me but i just kept walking... i mean he was swearing in italian not much i could do.

back in the hotel, my room is on the street and has huge windows that open up. down on the street there was this guy playing music for a family eatting dinner so i watched them and enjoyed the view of the city for a little bit. basically first night was wonderful.

The Beginning

Tomorrow night will be the start of my summer adventure in Europe. I will be flying through the night headed for Rome! This blog is for those of you who want to know what i'm up to and hear about Europe. I do not know how much internet access i'll have but i'll do my best to keep you all up to date.

Heres a quick overview of the summer schedule

Italy: May 30 - June 14

Switzerland: June 14 - June 22

Germany: June 22 - Aug. 1

July 5-11 is my free week and i will be in Germany, Switzerland and France

Then to top the trip of definitely going to England

I'll be taking

- Pauline Epistles

- Christianity in Western Culture 2

- Systematic Theology