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.