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.