Well, it has been a rather eventful past week (in all the right ways too!)

But first, the most exciting news... there are more pictures up! They go along with my post about the next four days of my travels before starting at Roehampton. The link is: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=qyghf15.dq6cwbt&x=1&y=-zcwwa0

Now with that out of the way, here's my week in recap:
I basically has a ‘reading week’ this past week in some of my classes which is equivalent to Thanksgiving break so I took advantage of it and had some fun around London!
Monday after a class I still had I went to Southwark Cathedral and listened to some amazing organ music. It’s very interesting, since most of the church/cathedrals in central London are around businesses it is hard for them to get any kind of congregation because no one wants to travel into the city to go to church on Sunday morning. To compensate many church put on things during the week to get people in church, one of the coolest things is many churches put on weekly organ recitals! Anyways, I actually got there really late but was able to hear about 20 minutes of powerfully loud organ music. After that I decided to go to the Tate Modern (a free modern art museum) and read one of the books I have for my Bible class. It was very relaxing and quite cool to people watch as well; artists can be funny people sometimes! Thus far it was a pretty calm, overcast day, but as soon as I tried to leave it was raining sideways, crazy! I then went into Putney and did a little grocery shopping and exploring. As I was heading back to school to meet Sierra however I actually ran into her on the bus, it’s really random how often that can happen in a city as big as London. Sierra and I then went to a newcomers dessert and tea at my church pastor’s house. We had scrumptious homemade éclairs and had a wonderful time learning a bit more about the church. It was funny how many times I wanted to ask questions but I refrained because I really wanted everyone to get a chance to ask more simple questions instead of me diving right into deep theological ones. I will have to meet with a leader at some point and see what I can learn. There was actually a decent amount of talk about Disneyland which made me really miss it and made me want to go there so bad! One of the ladies there was gracious enough to offer us a ride home, it was only the second time I have ridden in a car in London.
Tuesday brought about another trip to another cathedral for more organ music! This was a much smaller church and the organ filled the room quite well. I decided that I would go to the Tate Britain (classic art) afterward and do more reading. However, I got really sidetracked while riding the bus because it seemed like there were an awful lot of British flags up all over the place for some reason. I got off the bus where the changing of the horse guard usually took place and then walked around for a bit and through St James Park (the park that separates Buckingham Palace from the changing of the horse guard) which was so beautiful! There is so much wildlife in that little park it’s insane. There is a beautiful pond in the park which is home to all sorts of ducks, birds, and swans; as well as tons (did you know that England spells tons differently? It is spelled tonnes) of squirrels in all the trees throughout the park. I headed towards Buckingham palace and came out on the Mall (their main road to the palace) and found the streets lined with the British flag. Finally the curiosity got the best of me and I asked a nearby constable what was going on. I came to learn that the King and Queen of Norway had arrived that morning in horse drawn carriages during a small parade. Evidently things are still done very traditionally here and when royalty arrives the Queen will put on a dinner for her guests the first night and then the next night they return the favor. After I had figured out what was happening around there I decided to head towards the Tate Britain once again. After going too far on the bus and getting a little turned around I arrived. Unlike the Tate Modern I had not really been through the Tate Britain so I spent the next few hours making my way through there. Finally, I got tired (I did a substantial amount of walking that day) and headed back home. I did some laundry and a little internet catching up and that’s pretty much it.
I suppose you can pick up on the recurring theme here and guess that I went to hear another organ recital. I was quite puzzled though when I arrive, the church was totally locked up and no one was around anywhere! Finally about a minute before the recital was scheduled to start an older woman came up to the church with some groceries and she told me that someone would be coming to play in a few minutes. I was essentially the only person in the massive cathedral and I have to be honest, it was a little creepy. The organist showed up and was excited that someone had come to hear him play. I was given a short verbal introduction to the first piece and then he disappeared to go play. It was an enjoyable recital and I wish that I had a list of the pieces that he played but I will survive with just the memories I then came back to school and got ready to go to Barbican Hall to hear the LSO Chamber Orchestra. Sierra and I got dressed up and had a great evening with gorgeous music. I have to tell you that I am in love with Tchaikovsky’s compositions, oh my goodness, if you can go and listen to a recording of Souvenir de Florence and you will understand and be enlightened! Afterward we went to Garfunkel’s and had a wonderful traditional dessert, blackberry and apple crumble with ice cream on top….mmmmm, so good. On our way back to the Tube we were stopped by a motor cop and we say a bunch of flashing lights coming down the street. It was the King and Queen of Norway!!! I actually saw a real, honest to God King and Queen, isn’t that amazing? That pretty much made our night complete, it was a little dampened when a million Chelsea football fans got on the tube and were really rowdy (we found out later that they lost).
Thursday I actually broke the trend and went to class and then some internet research. I came back to my room with semi-honest intentions of doing some sort of work but instead I read the first half of the Last Battle in the Chronicles of Narnia series. I don’t know if you all have read that series or not but I can tell you I was NOT expecting the Last Battle to be anything like what it turned out to be. Narnia basically gets taken over and all of it gets destroyed, I was crushed. I had leave so I ended up putting the book down right when the King finds out that Cair Paravel had been taken over and almost everyone was dead. I was down hearted but cheered up a bit when I met the girls (minus Jamye who was with her BF in Ireland, yea I’m not jealous…) to go to the place where my parent’s stayed while they were here to listen to some jazz. It was a very enjoyable evening and I had a great time talking with the people that were there. There were actually a lot more people there than the last time and we had a guest appearance by the session drummer of Elton John and another studio musician. They were both really cool people and everyone had a wonderful time. I also picked up some stuff that my parents had left for me (including some cash! Yippie... thanks mom and dad!) I then came home and was determined to finish the Last Battle that night because I wanted things to get better. Well, finally at 2:45am I finished after several shed tears and lots of things to think about. The last two chapters mostly made up for the rest of the book and the way that Lewis tied things together I though was rather ingenious, creative, and most importantly thought provoking. One of the things that struck me the most was how Lewis spoke about people getting into the ‘real’ Narnia, it didn’t necessarily have to do with serving Aslan alone; instead, it had to do with the person’s motives. If some was completely devoted to serving another “God” and they were doing it honestly and truly seeking after the truth then they too were able to get to the ‘real’ Narnia. Along those same lines, anyone who served Aslan but wasn’t truly honest about their loyalty to him then they were blinded from seeing Narnia for what it really was. I drifted off to sleep longing after Narnia and wishing that there were more stories to read.
Friday morning was kind of gloomy and depressing, there was no sunshine and it was drizzling. Sierra and I had decided the night before that we were going to go watch the changing of the guard, well, sort of watch it. What we did was way better! We went and watch the guard’s band warm up to Indiana Jones and Star Wars. It was really cool, and really funny to see royally dressed guards practicing to John William’s compositions. We then moved over closer the Mall where the horses guard that had just gotten off duty came up the road to go home. In reality we didn’t see any actual changing but we got to see what they all look like in formation (which I’ve heard is the cool thing to see anyways). Sierra and I then took a walk through St James park (we both love that park so much) and were bombarded with wildlife. I have never seen so many squirrels, ducks, and swans up close. And, there were Pelicans there too! They were actually very strange looking and about 3 inches away from us, it was crazy! We saw lots of gorgeous back swans including a little family of baby swans with their mom and dad. Sierra and I decided that we were going to attempt to tackle Harrods so we walk there and had some lunch along the way in Green Park. Sierra was totally convinced that it was “just down the street” but she was very wrong and we walked for a really long time. As we were walking along we saw a bunch of older people with cameras and camcorders taking pictures of the really old school double- decker public buses that you got on and off from the back of the bus. We asked someone what they were doing and we found out that it was the last day that those buses would ever be used; they were used everyday for over 50 years! Basically, Sierra and I supposed that all the older people were probably around when those buses first came into use and now were paying their respects at their departure. It was quite touching. I year and a half later, we arrived at Harrods where we were greeted by protester outside who wanted everyone to boycott Harrods because they used real fur for some of their products. We went in anyways and made our way through 3 ½ of the seven stories of the store. It was insane, everything was so expensive, and nice, and posh, and sickening… seriously, I wanted to vomit. They have ½ a floor that was a grocery store but it looked like a department store, ridiculous. Sierra and I got a little taste of home by having a Krispie Kreme doughnut and then we got out of there. At this point I was a little irritated partially because of the feeling I got being in Harrods and also because my feet were tired. I basically spent the rest of my evening in my room relaxing and reading my Bible. I tried to go to the library to update my blog but was interrupted partway through because the stupid fire alarm went off, it’s 10pm and the library’s closed, but still the fire alarm goes off… grr. I went to bed relatively early because the next day was going to start early and be very busy!
Saturday I went to Canterbury with my Biola classmates and tutor. We rode a chartered bus and Sierra and I had a great game of rummy on the way there. We arrived and were introduced to our guide who showed us around the remains of St. Augustine’s (not the one who wrote the confessions but the one who brought Christianity to England) Abby. It was a rather chilly and overcast day and I was really tired but it was enjoyable for the most part. We then went to St. Martin’s church which is the oldest know church in England that is still in operation today (over 1400 years and still going!). There was a beautiful cemetery that I really enjoyed walking through and taking pictures. Sarah, you are having an effect on me… I took lots of pictures for you. We were then released for lunch in the central part of Canterbury and then we met back up to go inside the Canterbury Cathedral. Half of the group had a different guide for this part and I was quite glad that I was a part of that group. He told us a bunch of history and took us all over the cathedral, it was semi difficult to hear him at times because there was a choir and band practicing for some even later that night, but I of course didn’t mind that at all. It was the first cathedral since I have been in England that has allowed me to take pictures inside; I definitely got a little trigger happy. We rode back home and Sierra and I continued our riveting Rummy game and then we had dinner at Annie’s place with her Dad who was visiting. That night I was able to go the library and not be interrupted by the fire alarm which allowed me to get the pictures up that you can now see. I also got to talk to Paul on Skype for a while which was very encouraging and quite funny near the end because my body and brain basically shut down and couldn’t function anymore because I was so tired. I happily returned to my room and even more happily set my clock back an hour for Day Light Savings and enjoyed a restful sleep.
Sunday I went to church with Sierra and was pretty convicted by the sermon about remembering the poor. The focus of the sermon was on Galatians 2:10 when Paul and Barnabus are about to head out on the first missionary journey and they were reminded by the other church members to remember the poor. I have a really hard time doing this partly out of fear, I want to go and buy someone a meal so they don’t spend the money on something else but I don’t want to put myself in that kind of situation alone. Also, I am very skeptical and wonder when I pass a homeless person if they really are poor or if that are just a scam. I really need to pray more about it and see what God wants me to do in this situation. After the service there was a gathering for the students to have free lunch. We went over to a really cool girl’s house and we sat and ate and talked for several hours about politics and the economy, and sports and other fun stuff. Sierra and I headed out and I went into town to hear another organ recital, one at Westminster cathedral and then one in Westminster Abby. When I arrive at the cathedral I found out that a little while after the recital (which was very short and not very exciting) that there was going to be an international mass. I thought to myself, ‘how many times in your life are you going to run into something like this?’ I decided to stick around and I was very pleased that I did because it was a wonderful experience even though I got lost several times (during recitations that I didn’t know) and didn’t agree with some of the things that happened. The mass was broken down into different parts and each part was spoken in a different language. It was also really cool to see so many different kinds of people, many of them dressed in their countries native attire, come together and worship God as one body; that is what the holy catholic Church is supposed to be about. I headed back home, I missed the other recital because I went to the mass, and decided I should write another blog entry (the one that you are reading) and let you all know how things are going over here.
Now for a totally different topic: I have been seriously considering the possibility of living here for longer than these short three months I am experiencing now. Before anyone starts to freak out and ask a bunch of questions let me just say that I have no idea when, where, how, how long, and all those other factors that play into this kind of decision, all I can tell you is why. After getting over all of the many issues I had building up since I had arrived I decided that I really needed to get over it all and find the joys of being here. Once I decided to change my attitude I have seen just how amazing and unique this place really is. First, there is so much history here, I walk down the street and all around me are buildings that have been here for hundreds of years and are still being used today. I also love how history is mixed with the world today. Skyscrapers are built around cathedrals and palaces, the royal guard is present as well as the New Scotland Yard and other police forces, and sculptures of great war heroes line the streets next to modern art sculptures. This past week I have been really hit with what a beautiful place London is, especially the parks, I’m a sucker for them especially this time of year when all the trees are different colors and the grass is green, all of the wildlife everywhere and horseback riding. Basically, I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Academically England is near the top, their style of teaching is very informative and your education is what you put into it. If I really wanted to be ambitious I could try and get into one of the colleges at Cambridge or Oxford, but I think that might be a little over the top for me, particularly financially! All of this to say, I would really appreciate your prayers and advice in all of this; and possibly more importantly your patience as I try and feel out these options. I pray that you all are having a wonderful time whatever you are up to and I will try and post more pictures of other stuff soon. Thanks for taking the time to check up on me!
Lots-o-love and a Happy Halloween!

Hey all! I have once again written more about my travels before I started school.... So, here goes nothing.
I will try and get some picutres up on Kodak, I'll keep you posted on that (get it? posted... yea, I'm dumb) Onward ho!

10 September
We were all very tired and decided that we should probably sleep in a bit so that we could actually enjoy our day. We then packed up and tried to find a hostel in Venice which was our next stop. We didn’t find anything right away and the hostel computer was eating our money so we decided we would find an internet café at some point during the day. I was very excited for our fist adventure of the day, the Swarovski Crystal World (for those of you who sadly do not know what Swarovski is, please google it and be amazed!). It took us about a half hour to get there on the bus and during the ride we were given an introduction to the Crystal World. We arrived at this really cool place nestled in the mountains and after going in past this strange head fountain thingie we were inside. Basically, there we a bunch of rooms with different people’s art using Swarovski Crystals, there were pieces by Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali. Also, there were a bunch of contemporary pieces and the largest cut crystal in the world. I was in high heaven as I was walking through it all and then we came to the display floor, and the spending began. You will all be happy to know that I refrained myself and only bought one thing for myself and then stuff for other people. We took the bus back and I was pretty much set for the rest of the day, not too much could ruin my mood (or so I thought, dun dun dah…).
We went and got some lunch at a grocery store (the first that we had seen since we started traveling) and found an internet café that was FREE! We tried to find a hostel in Venice with no such luck. Unfortunately, everything that we looked at either cost a fortune or was full, so we came up with the idea to take an overnight train to Venice and sleep on that. Then we proceeded to spend the next hour at the café checking email. To say the least I was a little perturbed at this but I kept my mouth shut and briefly checked my email. There was this really cool sounding zoo on top of this hill (evidently it’s the highest elevation zoo in Europe) that we wanted to go to so once we were done with the internet café we headed off in that direction. Um, we were four minutes too late. You can imagine my disappointment and this time I didn’t hide it very well. I tried to figure out how we could get back into the town to see some other stuff and I was just staring at the bus map as tears started rolling down my cheeks. Don’t ask me why I cried about it, it wasn’t that big of a deal, but I think that things just added up and out it came. We finally made it on a bus and I was trying to hide my tears and evidently did a great job of it until we got off the bus and one of the girls asked what was wrong. The waterworks began and I shared my frustration and things were much better after that, especially since the girls suggested right after that that we could take a ride on an horse drawn carriage through the city (horses, the magic cure!). It was a wonderful ride and we were able to see the famous “golden roof” that the king built to display his wealth (believe it wasn’t much to brag about, but hey, it’s better than what I could do.). Hearing the clicking of the horse’s hooves on the cobblestone is a sound that I hope I never forget. Once our ride was over I went and pet the horse, or tried to at least, he was a nibbler so I didn’t hang around too long.
Now that we knew where the Golden Roof was we went back to it and did a little bit of shopping. At this point it started sprinkling and we feared that it was going to get worse but it didn’t so everything was all good. While we were walking we ran into a concert that was put on by the transportation company to celebrate 10 years of public transportation. There was this amazing STOMP like group that we performing and ended up getting some really cool videos of it (I will try and figure out how to get it online so you can see it, Mark any ideas?). They played about 4 pieces and one of them included break dancers on the ground in front of the stage. After that there was this really cool acrobat group who did all this cool stuff on this huge wooden wheel (it was about 12-13 feet high) that they rolled back and forth. When we learned that the next act was going to “Elvis Presley himself, straight from Las Vegas” we decided that we should probably go to the train station and get some reservations, so we got reservations for the 1:30 am train to Venice. We were all ready for some food so we got some chicken stuff to go and sat down on the sidewalk and ate it. It was so funny how many people looked at us as if we were homeless. I guess in a way they would be right, hmmm funny! After our fill of food we went back to where the concert was and met a group of guys from Austria who talked to us about the government and public transportation and a bunch of other random stuff. I started feeling kind of sick so I decided to go lie down in the grass right when an Italian singer came up to sing. He was actually really good and I enjoyed listening to him. Sierra and Annie went off to go dance and Jamye and I decided to play some cards. After the concert was over we tried to find a coffee shop, we quickly learned that our idea of a coffee shop is a bit different than theirs. What we were asking for was a marijuana shop, what we really wanted was a Café. Ahhh, the joys of being in another country and making a complete fool of yourself. We finally found a café and played cards outside until about 12:30 am. The next thing we did I am sort of ashamed to admit but it happened so I guess I’ll just have to live with it. We started singing Kelly Clarkson’s “Since you’ve been gone” song throughout the streets of Innsbruck way louder than any sober person should have been singing. At that point I was reminded of Sara B’s term of being “sleep drunk” (you’ll have to ask her for the definition, since it’s only hers to give – Sara would you mind posting it?). Once we arrived at the train station we went to the bathroom and got ready for our trip. The seats that we had on the train were not all together so we split into pairs and Annie and I got in out 6 person sleeper and had the most uncomfortable ride. The thing was that they weren’t actually beds and Annie and I sadly didn’t know that the seats could actually slide down to make a bed across the isle. Basically, I don’t really want to remember that ride so that’s all I’m going to share and we’ll move on to Venice!

11 September (Moment of silence and prayer)
Bright and early at 7:30am our trained pulled into the Venice train station. We stored our luggage and found a payphone at reserved our hostel for Florence so that we wouldn’t have to think about it during our time. Totally random thing happened though, in the train station we ran into two Biola girls who had been traveling around as well. We all exchanged brief itineraries and then said bye till London. It was so cool to walk out of the train station and see water! We were all very hungry so we got some pastries and sat by the water and watched as Venice started waking up and things started happening. After much study and contemplation I determined that what everyone told was true, there is no way to figure out where you are in Venice; instead you just walk and hope you end up where you wanted to be. With breakfast behind us we decided to go in what I thought was the general direction of Basillica de St. Marcos (amazingly enough we ended up going the right way! Happy day!) Along the way we actually ran into two guys also from Biola who were just leaving Venice (totally crazy!). The feel of the city was nothing like any of the other cities we had been to. It was very dirty, but that didn’t really matter because it was Venice; I also felt slightly fearful about having something stole but at the same time totally safe because everything seemed so inviting. We made it to the Basillica and stood in line to go inside. It was absolutely amazing to be in the square that I had seen so many times in Italian Job. I felt like there should have been a gold heist going on while we were there (Heck for all I knew there might have been!). The outside of the Basillica was enough for your jaw to drop; there was so much detail in the architecture and there were massive mosaics all across the front. Inside, since it was a Sunday, we were not allowed to go into the actual church but I was okay with that because we were able to go and up above where the service was being held and I got to hear the pipe organ and the choir (one of the sweetest sounds I have ever heard). Unfortunately, I then got really sick to my stomach and had to get out into fresh air really quickly so I didn’t get to see very much in the galleries above the church. Once all the other girls came down we went and got food and I was able to recover a bit.
After lunch we tried to find a gallery that Sierra wanted to go to, but, as I mentioned before, there was a very slim chance we would find it and sadly we were unable to. We walked around a bit more and got our first real Italian gelatio. I was not very impressed by it, but I think that was just because I was not feeling well that day because the other girls loved it. We then did what we all had been waiting for, we go to go on a gondola in the Grand Canal!! Yippie! It was a bit pricey but totally worth it. We had a great gondolier who explained to us the inner workings of the gondola business. Basically, it is passed on from father to son including the boat. He started learning from his grandpa at age 10 and then from his father at 14. Girls are not allowed to be gondoliers for a living but they can drive them around. We went up and down many different passage ways and everything just felt so surreal. We all had a missing our “significant other” moment and then we moved on and decided that our company would have to suffice J. There were several cases where I thought that we were going to collide with other gondolas through all the narrow passages but these guys obviously know what they are doing! Our trip sadly came to an end and we got off in the Grand Canal and walked in the general direction of the train station shopping along the way. Since I was super paranoid that we would be going the wrong direction I asked many times which way the station was and amazingly enough sometimes people actually understood what I was asking (Italy by far had the least amount of English speakers, but that’s also more than understandable too).
We got on the train and were on our way to Florence in no time and we spent most of the time trying to make each other realize that we really were just in Venice, on a real gondola; remarkable! It was pretty late when we got to Florence and I was not feeling very well still (if I hadn’t mentioned it by now I was sick with a typical cold, which is never fun when you’re trying to backpack around Europe, but hey I’m still alive so that has to mean something.). Anyways, we try and buy bus tickets to get to our hostel but since it was so late there weren’t any places for us to get tickets. So, we rode the bus illegally… I know, it wasn’t my first choice but what else were we going to do? Our bus arrived at our stop and we began our HIKE to our hostel. Honestly, we hiked through a campground that our hostel owned (I was fearing that Sierra had actually booked us in a tent, not a room but that wasn’t the case.). At the top of this hill we came to the actually building and it was a really cool looking old building that basically was on a plantation (or whatever they would call it in Florence, there were vineyards so maybe that would be it?). I was totally shot at this point, I was so tired and sore and sick, I just wanted to sleep and that’s what I did. We were able to get a 4 person bedroom and I was so thankful we did, I really didn’t feel like dealing with other people at that point.

12 September
Waking up was a struggle, (Sierra will attest to this when she sat up in bed and yelled a curse word that doesn’t need to be repeated here… ah what a wonderful thing to wake up to) but I was feeling a bit better and after a quick shower my outlook on life was much higher. As we were eating breakfast out on the patio it was raining and we were all worried that it was going to be quite a dreary day. But luckily it all cleared up very quickly and by the time we got on the bus to go into town the sun was starting to shine through the clouds. We got to the Duomo and found that there were two lines, one that went into the church and then one that went into the dome. Since we didn’t do our homework and figure out what we wanted to see, or even what we could see it was semi-difficult to figure out which line to get it. We opted for the dome and I would have to say that that was one of the best decisions we made the entire trip. After about a billion steps we got to the dome which was painted in three layers (sort of). The top was the material human world, then below that was heaven with Jesus seated on the throne and then below that was hell. It was so amazingly detailed and it made you wonder how anyone could even attempt to paint on the dome let alone paint something that turned out to be so powerful. After stopping and trying to take in the whole thing we finally moved onto the roof where we were greeted with an outstanding panorama of Florence. In order to get back down we had to go through the dome again, this time at a higher level (oh darn!). After much stalling and ticking a few people off we finally left the dome and the church. We had to book our hostel in Rome so we spent a really long time on the phone with no results. We then ate lunch (my first Italian pizza!) and then did a little shopping. Basically the rest of the day was spent walking and shopping, getting gelatio, and going into an amazing wine shop.
Right before the sun started to set we made our way up to Michelangelo’s Piazza to see an astounding sunset over Florence. Almost every famous postcard you see of Florence was taken at this spot and there’s no question why that is. I can’t really tell you how long we were there, it didn’t matter, none of us wanted to leave. I think that it was there that I realized I was actually in Italy, experiencing everything first hand, not through a television screen. By the time the sun finally set we were all very hungry and made our way back down the hill to find dinner. My best picture, hands down, from the entire trip was taken on this walk across one of the bridges. Looking at that picture brings back so many memories and yet the picture still cannot capture the beauty that we saw that evening. We found a nice Italian restaurant and I had my first glass of Italian wine (it was yummy, and it was only their white house wine!). After dinner we walked some more (so what else is new?) and got the girls some chocolate and I got some spectacular gelatio. After a while we all decided that we should go to our hostel because we had a big day ahead of us. Interestingly enough, between that morning and that night they had redirected traffic and moved our bus stop. So after much confusion and searching we were finally on our way back to our hostel. Then we went to sleep. The end. Thoughts: what an amazing experience and yet it all feels fake, almost like this can’t really be happening to me… but I think that I have come to grips with it now, it is true, I was there and it all really did happen!

13 September
In case you are not a huge art buff (I’m not either it’s alright) there are two major things that you need to see when you are in Florence. First, the Uffizi, the art gallery that has 3 huge da Vinci originals along with a million other famous paintings including Botticelli’s painting about the birth of Venus. Second, the David statue by Michelangelo, in the Academia. All that to say, we had to get up really early to go stand in line for the Uffizi (we waited about 1 ½ hours) and we were somehow able to get through the whole thing (actually that’s a lie, I made it through most of it) in 1 ¼ hours. We had to rush though that so that we could make it to our reservations at the Academia so that we wouldn’t have to wait for that for a billion hours. The statue was totally breathtaking and HUGE. I never realized that it was so big and the way that they have it displayed made it seem so much larger. Sierra and I just sat down and stared at it for ½ an hour. We then had to rush out of there, grab some lunch and get on our train to got to Pisa.
Our train to Pisa was alright, nothing too exciting, it was actually really hot! Anyways, we got to Pisa, figured out how to get to the leaning tower, and made our way there. We only had an hour to get to the tower, take pictures, and get back onto a train to get to Rome. There were tons of people at the tower and it was really funny to watch all these people holding their hands out in different places in the middle of an empty lawn to give the illusion that they were holding up the tower. We all thought that this was great idea so of course, we did the same thing. This whole time we were all carrying our backpacks with us, and we could feel the weight taking its toll on us. We tried our best to have a great time there (what little time we actually had there) but it was a bit difficult. It was cool though to see a tower that was leaning so far over, it’s leaned a lot more than I thought that it did.
Finally we made our way to the bus station that would take us back to the train station. We got very nervous when the bus didn’t come until 10 minutes after it was supposed to. I started to pray because I knew there was no way we would get back before our train was supposed to leave. By God’s grace, when we got the train station we found out that the train was running late and we made it in perfect timing. We were once again in a sleeper train with the same kinds of horrible seating. This time though there were several things working to our advantage. We were all in the same car and we knew how to get the chairs to recline. We basically made a bed across the inside of the train and there was this couple in our car that was NOT very happy about us being there. We all were talking and having a good time chatting, including our talk about sweater vest and how hideous they were and then realizing that the man in our car was wearing one and he understood English perfectly (AWKWARD!). Finally we all settled down and took a very short nap. Interestingly enough the woman in our car didn’t want us to sleep because she made a point of being as loud as possible with her newspaper that she was reading. Yeah, that couple really hated us. Bummer.
We arrived at Rome around 11pm and made our way to a bus stop (are you noticing a trend yet?). Our stupid bus didn’t come for AN HOUR. All of us were so tired from the long day and we all just wanted to get into bed. Once the bus got there we sort of forgot about all the waiting and made our way towards our hostel. When we got off the bus we were displeased to find out that we had no idea where our hostel was and there was not a soul in sight to ask. After walking around aimlessly (with or packs once again) we ran into 2 people who were pumping gas. We asked then in our horrible Italian and their limited English where we needed to go. They had no idea where the street was and before long we had about 5 people around us trying to figure out where it was that we needed to go. After much debate in Italian finally someone told us where to go and amazingly enough we made it there. It was actually really cool to see how many people in the middle of the night were willing to stop what they were doing so that they could help four college girls with packs on their backs try and find their hostel. Once inside the hostel things looked a bit better. We were in our first mixed gender dorm and there was a college aged man in the 10 bed room we were in. It was quite funny really, he was already fast asleep and we figured he would be quite surprised when he woke up to find 4 more people in the room than there were when he fell asleep. After washing up in a dodgy bathroom we all crashed and never wanted to get us. We made the decision that night that no matter what we were going to check out of that hostel in the morning. To this day I am still unsure of why the girls hated that place so much. I supposed it may have had something to do with all the other things that had happened earlier. Actually, I know that part of it had to do with false advertisement… we were told that certain things were included and they weren’t when we got there, that was frustrating. We all finally fell asleep and tried our best to forget the past 2 hour’s experiences.

This concludes Part 2… the next segment will be all about our 4 days in Rome (sadly it was also the last four days of our trip). Once again, who knows when that will actually get written but I’ll get around to it soon enough. I hope that you all are doing well and thanks for reading about my life, it means a lot to me. Cheers!

Thoughts on life and home...
Well, here I am having just finished the Voyage of the Dawn Treader and wishing that it would go on for forever. C. S. Lewis has a way of making you feel something deep inside yourself that makes you want to find other worlds that are reached through your own. Brilliant. I would recommend to anyone in a heartbeat to read the Chronicles of Narnia in chronological order, it will change your life.
Today has been an eventful day. My parents have been here for the past 10 days for their 30th anniversary (Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!) and Sarah H. has been here since Sunday. Both of them sadly left today so the morning was spent helping Sarah get to the train station and seeing her off (I had to say goodbye to my parents last night). It’s strange, I nearly cried when Sarah’s train pulled away… I still don’t know why… maybe it’s because that’s when it hit that I wasn’t going to see my family or Sarah or Paul or Cari or Vanessa (the list goes on and on and on) until I come back home. Up until now I felt like I was at summer camp and my parents were coming to pick me up to go home, but instead I stayed behind. I am more than happy about the fact that I am here and I am so excited for the next two months that I have here. However, reality finally hit and I realized that I am in school here and I have 4 papers that need to be written before I go home. Perhaps I should start on that? Eh, I’ll get to that. Anyways, back to today’s events. I had rowing again today and we went out on the water this time in a rowing boat and we were fighting the tide all over the place. It was a much harder day than when I went out last week. There are 4 Biola girls that are doing rowing and we all found out that we may not be able to row with them anymore because they need to be working on getting the team in shape and ready for the season in March. Hopefully though we will be able to figure something out that will allow us to row still. Then I came back and showered and went to my Bible class where we had a guest speaker talk about being a Christian and an artist but not making art that was explicitly Christian. It was a good time and there were many of his pieces that I really like, he was a very talented man! Then I walked a couple girls to the train station in the rain (it has been a good down pour since about 4 this afternoon) along with Garrett who is from Biola. We got back and I read some and now here I am. Having said all that, here’s what I have been up to lately…
My parents got here last Tuesday and we hung out for a bit, went on a guided walk, and had dinner. Wednesday was the first day that I got to actually row on the River Thames; that was such an interesting experience. We rowed with two ores which was such a challenge to get used to but once I got the hang of it I really enjoyed doing it. While we out on the water it started to rain and I got totally soaked to the bone, but I was rowing on the Thames so I was completely happy. Went and hung out with my parents a bit more. Thursday I had class and found out that there was a man found shot in an area right down the street from my school. There are several things that are interesting about this situation; first off, guns are illegal in England, so someone being shot is a big deal. Also, I have been looking out for news on the whole thing and there is not a word about it in any of the newspapers; very strange. I hung out with my parents again, and then that night we (the girls and my parents and I) went to my parent’s bed and breakfast for an amateur jazz night. It was so much fun! Charlotte (the owner) and her partner played the piano and clarinet and they had two friends playing guitar and percussion. It was a relaxing evening of talking with some of Charlotte’s friends and learning more and more about British culture. Friday I went to Cambridge with my parents and I really loved being there! Everything was so green and lush; the buildings were all old and steeped with history. I got to go into King’s College Chapel (basically all postcards about Cambridge have that chapel on it) and that was amazing. My parents and Charlotte think that I should go to school there, I’m not so sure about that. Saturday was the only day I didn’t see my parents. My Bible class through Biola had an excursion day where we went the Saatchi gallery where there were paintings of different sorts and then there was a room that was half filled with oil and one person was allowed to walk in at one time you saw the mirrored image of the room on the oil; very trippy. Then we went to the Tate Britain and was given an hour long tour. I will need to go back there at some point because we didn’t even see ¼ of the things that were there. Then the best part was that we went to the Globe Theatre and saw Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. Holy cow, everything was so perfect. Everything was done the way that things should have been done in that they had men actors for the woman’s role and the theatre was in the old style with a 3 piece band that played occasionally. Sunday was an adventure because I had to figure out how to get to Gatwick airport to pick up Sarah. After getting turned around a couple times I was able to meet up with her and we met my parents back at my room. We then went into town and got some food and saw many of the major sights at night (Big Ben, Parliament, London Eye, Tower of London, London Bridge, Trafalgar’s Square…). The next day I had class and then we (Sarah and I) met my parents and went to the House of Commons and saw two of the candidates running for the Conservative representative. It was very interesting to sit in on the way their government is run. They will interrupt each other and joke with each other, even make fun of each other. Then Sarah and I went to dinner at a nice Italian restaurant and had a great time relaxing and talking about life and what not. Then we met back up with my parents and went to see the Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre (where the original opened and has been for the past 19 years). Surprisingly enough I did not enjoy it as much as I thought that I would (I saw the one that came to the Amenson a few summers ago, and that was phenomenal) but I still enjoyed myself and was glad that I went. Tuesday I had class and then met up with my parents and Sarah where we had traditional fish and chips with peas and then went on the London Eye. It was my parents’ anniversary that day so they went to go have high tea and Sarah and I spent over an hour going through Westminster Abbey. It’s interesting to go into a place that has so much history buried within it. Almost all of the kings of England and their wives were buried there as well as Handel, various nobility and several poets. Then Sarah and I went to Camden town to do some shopping; basically picture Santa Monica with all the drugs, throw in a couple downtown L.A. shops and add several markets and you’ve got a pretty good picture of what this place was like. Then we went to Oxford Circus where all the name brand shops were located (Harrods is there but we didn’t make it down that far). Sarah and I met back up with my parents and we went to this amazing burger place that we had visited earlier that week and went back to my parents B&B to eat it. Then everyone came to my place and I said bye to my parents and Sarah and I had an amazing time looking through all of her photos from Uganda and hearing wonderful stories.
Well, that’s my life in a nutshell, of course there’s more to my life than that but I want you all to not spend the entirety of your life reading my not so glamorous blog. Hopefully I will be able to get some stuff from my trip up soon (no, I didn’t forget, I just got a little side tracked). If the rain keeps up it will definitely be soon than later. I hope that all is well with you all, drop me a line or post on my blog letting me know how you are doing. Loves!

Today was a pretty darn good day! I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath today. Sierra, Jamye and I took a 12 hour guided bus tour to each of these places and what a wonderful time it was! I was very stoked about see the castle and more particularly the cathedral inside the gates. Sadly, they would not allow you to take pictures inside so I was unable to capture the wonderful beauty of the stained glass… so sad. We toured through the apartments and got to see the fully functioning dollhouse that had everything replicated from the original house of the king and queen. All of the faucets were fully functioning with water and there was electricity inside it as well. I don’t remember what scale it was but the first 2 floor stood about 3 feet high and it was about 7 or so feet wide (these could be totally off so don’t quote me on it!).
Stonehenge was astonishing, I walked around it in a big circle that they have mapped out for it and I think that I have a photo of every possible angle of it (or so it felt like anyway). There was a free audio commentary that you could listen to and it was fascinating to hear all the different theories about how and why it was built. Basically, I can sum it all up pretty well… nobody knows. I think that is part of the draw to Stonehenge, it makes you think and wonder why would someone lug a bunch of 4-45 ton rocks and stick them in different positions in a field? Who knows, I certainly don’t. When we arrived it looked like it was getting ready to pour but thankfully it waited until 5 minutes after we left (thanks God).
The group then all stopped to have lunch in a small town on the way to Bath. The meal was really expensive so the girls and I ate at Stonehenge instead. The fun part about not eating with everyone else was I got to go and explore a 14th century church with a cemetery. At this point there was a constant drizzle and the girls didn’t really want to come with so I went on my own and had a peaceful time. I realized that that was the first time I think that I have ever specifically walked through a cemetery just because. Most of the headstones were very simple and plain but the words on the stones shared what was important to their families. There was some amazing stained glass but I was unable to get into the church because it was locked (bummer).
Next we made our way to Bath and walked around the streets for a little bit until the baths had actually closed and then we were able to get a private tour. The Roman baths were very interesting looking and it was crazy to think that I was standing on stones that were laid over 2000 years ago. The natural springs ran at a temp of 46C (I think that’s around 110F? maybe). We were then given free beverages and headed back for home.
I think that the amount of time we spent in each place was perfect, not too rushed but we were not bored either. There are lots of pictures and I will try to get some on the Kodak website a.s.a.p. but no guarantees.
Just a quick note about yesterday because that was great too! The girls and I went to the London aquarium and while it didn’t blow you away quite like Sea World or any other Californian aquarium it had a wonderful feel to it. There were 14 different sections and since there were not a whole lot of people there you could spend all the time you wanted looking at each tank. There were fish from all over the world and I would have to say that hands down my favorite fish were the ones that can be found in the Indian Ocean. They had brilliant colors that popped out at you, magenta, purple, aqua, neon yellow, everything! We also were able to see small jelly fish (size of a baseball) very close up and there are of course tons of pictures. We watched the piranhas get feed and also say a spitting fish that spits to get his food and will occasionally jump for his food too. Good times had by all.
I think that I’m going to go now but I just wanted you all to know that I am doing well, much better than I was during my last post. Just in case you were wondering, everything with the printer is all figured out and I no longer hate that situation as much. The cell phone thing is still complicated, but I’m working on it. My lip is significantly better than before, it’s amazing how fast things in and around your mouth can heal!
Real quick I do have several prayer requests for those of you that are praying for me (by the way… thank you very much for taking the time to do!). I have been feeling a little sick, so I’m trying to take as many precautions as possible but life happens and that usually messes that kind of stuff up… Also, I have been having a couple difficulties with people either getting on my nerves and me getting on theirs. I am aware of it happening so that has helped but I want to love this person in the best way possible and that is obviously difficult sometimes. Finally, my parents are flying out on Monday and they will be getting here on Tuesday morning. I obviously want them to get here safely and also hope that they have a wonderful time here. Along with that I will not be at school as much but that doesn’t mean I can just forget that I still am in school. I really need to focus on getting my stuff done here and then enjoying my time with my parents. Okay, that was a little bit longer than one final thing but I’m sure you all don’t mind too much. I hope you all have a wonderful week! I will write again soon, hopefully with more from my travels before school (don’t worry I haven’t forgotten!) Hasta!

*Disclaimer: This was a few days late in getting up (so I put the date it should have gone up)... but I thought that you all should see both the ups and downs that I experience while I am here.*

Today has been an all around rough day. I think that it all started when I broke my one and only mug outside of my bedroom door. Actually I would say that it started yesterday when I broke one of my tumbler glasses… to say the least it didn’t survive its tumble, get it? It’s bad I know but humor me for a little bit. So I realized yesterday that I was officially over the honeymoon stage of being in a different country and I am now in what I call the frustrated stage. Every little thing has finally piled up into one big complaint/issue. Really it’s something that I should get out and then get over, thus I am writing.
Let’s start with the internet, I don’t have it as easily which wouldn’t be a problem if I could still get at least limited access on my computer. Unfortunately, I have to use the computers in the library which are “aged” (which is rather a polite term really). Then there is the whole printer issue. I have to print off the class slides for all my classes, the only problem is that it costs 6p every time I want to print a sheet. That’s like 12 cents a copy, that would get expensive really quickly. Then I came up with the brilliant idea to buy a printer here that is cheap and the girls and I will split the cost and it would be very cost efficient. Well I finally got a printer today, the only problem is it didn’t come with a printer cable. The printer cable costs ½ as much as the printer itself, that is ridiculous. I’m still trying to figure out that problem. Oh that brings me to another point of frustration. I was thinking, “okay where do I go for a printer cable that would be cheaper?” Oh wait I don’t know because it’s not like there’s a Best Buy or Circuit City around here. I have no idea what the equivalent to that in London would be. Any ideas? Basically I need to learn all these things that I already have figured out at home. I feel like I’m dumb because I don’t know where anything is or where I can buy it from.
I was able to get my cell phone unlocked by a dodgy shop (really it was a hole in the wall) which got me really hyped but I think that it got messed up. Basically I have a European SIM card in there and I have no reception at all. The first time I turned it on it was there, and now it’s gone. It doesn’t register with anything it just starts up and sits there. I have been trying to get to a Vodafone (the provider I have the card with) and for whatever reason I run into things that prevent me from getting there when the store is actually open. I think that it is a conspiracy against me. Someone out there really doesn’t want me to have a cell phone and I want to know why. That leads me to another thing. We used to think that everything at home closed early. Ha that’s nothing compared to here. Basically everything closes here at 6:30 or 7… what’s the deal? Even coffee shops close at 6, I think that it’s because they stay open until all the business people go home which is around 5:30 or 6.
Continuing on the coffee shop rant… I have seriously run into people that don’t know what decaf coffee is, it’s not like a new invention or something. All that to say, I have run into 2 coffee shops (minus Starbucks which I will not go to because it is $5+ for a tall) that actually sell decaf. One of my flat mates told me that coffee here is more a “help you get over a hangover” drink than a social outing that I am used to. Basically take our idea of going out for coffee and sitting and talking, change the location to a pub and beer instead of coffee (which is used to get drunk, not to drink because it tastes good) and you have the typical teenage hangout time.
I decided that it was time to injure myself again. This time the lip was the unfortunate victim. I was cooking ravioli and I was checking to see if it was cooked all the way through so I bit off a little piece. Well evidently that “little bit” didn’t really come off and the next thing that I know I have a boiling hot ravioli on my lip. Basically the burning feeling has ceased but the bottom left part of my lip is definitely swollen and a darker red than the rest of my lip. I have a funny feeling that this is going to turn into an, “every two weeks I have a new injury to report” Two weeks ago it was my finger almost getting chopped off and now it is my lip. I’m guessing something on the lower half of my body in two more weeks; I’ll keep you posted.
I think what finally put me over the edge today was the 493 bus, a.k.a. the “unreliable 493” It has lived up to it’s name with flying colors. Sierra and I went in to Richmond today to go get the printer and we got it and everything was fine and dandy. We get to the bus stop to wait for the bus and we proceeded to wait for 40 minutes for the bus that never came, that bus is supposed to come every 15 minutes! Sierra and I are freezing and starting to get a little freaked out because while we were waiting there was this man across the street who was sort of walking by and then he just stopped set down his bag and just started singing to himself. That was all fine and dandy until I heard his singing “They hate us, why do they hate us?” (Smeagol anyone?) I can honestly say I think that was he was schizophrenic, and that’s not even the worst of it. Sierra and I started talking about how you can’t really legally self-defend yourself. The gist is, if it is life threatening you have ONE punch and then run like mad, that’s it. Everything else… run like mad. So here we are across the street from this man and there’s a business man walking on the other side of the street, presumably on his way home from work. He goes to pass the man who’s singing to himself and the next thing we know the man punched the business man in the shoulder and the business man books it the other direction. Freaky. Where’s the 493 bus? No where to be found. The schizo. man stayed there for another 10 minutes and then he finally just walked off, never to be seen or heard again. Ten more minute dog by and still no bus. Sierra and I, who are now sick of sitting and freezing and being totally freaked out, decide to walk to the nearest train station and take the train home. The entire time we were walking no sign of the 493 bus on either side of the street. Just before we got to the train station I saw the 493 on the other side of the street. It would have taken another ½ before it would have gotten to the stop we were sitting at.
Wow, sadly I think that I could go on about other things but to be honest I don’t want to. I love being here and I don’t ever want you to think that I regret coming here. I don’t, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Also, plenty of good things have happened recently that are worth mentioning. I was very comfy in my bed reading a book for class today and the hall phone rings. I figured I was the only one in the hall so I go out and answer it and it was Paul. What a wonderful delight! I was so excited to hear from him and talk for a bit. Yesterday was also fun. Sierra and I went into town to get some textbooks that we needed for class and to buy some London Symphony Orchestra tickets. Barbican hall, the main hall for the LSO was so beautiful, particularly the plaza outside that had a huge pool of water stretching across the whole thing with a waterfall at one end and fountain spouts throughout the pool. Then the major thoroughfare where all the bookshops were was totally amazing. There were used book shops and new book shops and everyone was well dressed and business like. I could have stayed there for days. I had to write a paper for my Bible integration class that basically talked about what things I expexted to find when I can to London and whether or not those stereotypes had been true thus far. I realized that my stereotype was exactly what I saw that day. I had finally found the place that fit the picture in my head, and I felt like I was in heaven.
Well, I’m tired and I think that I have vented enough, for a while at least. I hope that everything is going well for all at home. I challenge you to find the things throughout your day that you take advantage of that a person who is new to the country wouldn’t know about. I think that it would be an interesting project. Let me know how it goes. Much love in Christ!

Alright, here goes nothing! The first four days of traveling…
*Disclaimer: This post is twice as long as “The longest post known to man…” just so that you can prepare yourself.*
*Disclaimer #2: I am very bitter right now because I just got to the computer lab after writing this post in my room and the picture upload will not work. Until I figure this out I am sorry to announce that there will be no pictures to accompany this post. GGGRRRR!*
*Disclaimer #3: After an hour of grueling work over a slow internet connection my photos have been posted on another site. I hope that this works for you and just so you know I think you might have to sign up to view the pics. Sorry! Link:http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=qyghf15.5vc0jw5&x=1&y=6kf8zf*

6 Sept.
We started out early on Tuesday, Annie and I went back to Roehampton to drop off more stuff that we shouldn’t have in our backpacks. My pack was by far the heaviest, it was insane. To say the least the computer had to stay and I had to hope that my iPod would be faithful in it’s ability to store my pictures.
We then got to the airport and flew to Montpellier, France. The flight was wonderful and the scenery was incredible but that all quickly changed once we got closer to Montpellier. We were about 20 minutes out from landing and the pilot informs us that the airport is closed due to a thunderstorm. We circled around for a while and then started making our descent. That was a very scary time, we jolted and rocked all over the place but our pilot was splendid and gave us all a smooth landing after the horrible descent. It was pouring when we got off the plane and entered an absolutely deserted airport. We came to find out that all of downtown Montpellier was under water and taxi drivers were only allowed to drive to some places.
The line for the taxi was unreal and considering there were only 2 or 3 taxis even out driving we waited a looooong time. Finally we found a driver who would take us to our hostel and we were on our way. We were all a little on edge about the whole situation and when our taxi driver stopped just below a climbing narrow street we became a little more concerned.
Much to our good fortune our taxi driver knew what he was doing and we found ourselves in our hostel trying to settle in. We were in a room with 20 beds, all girls and a small bathroom down the hall. Most of us were hungry so we decided to walk some of the streets to see if we could find something cheap to eat. We had no real luck with this adventure so we basically gave up on the idea of having dinner and decided to work on our itinerary for the next few weeks. We decided we were going to try and get out of Montpellier as quickly as possible for fear of the flooding getting any worse. Our next stop would be Geneva, then Bern (both in Switzerland), Innsbruck (Austria), and then Venice, Florence, Pisa, and Rome (all in Italy of course).
We met two guys from Spain who were studying in France and living in the hostel because housing was too expensive. They made fun of the fact that we couldn’t say Crepes… whatever. We played Spoons (that’s a card game, nothing sketchy) with them and had a nice chat with them. After several hours we decided it was time for sleepy time especially since we figured we would need to start off early for the train station. The night’s events were quite amusing, for one thing part of the ceiling fell down near the door… that made those of us on the top bunks feel real secure. Basically, morning came and we were all thankful for it.

7 Sept.
The morning brought with it more rain and a chill but it was encouraging to have the brightness of day. We checked out of our hostel and prayed that none of our next hostels would be in the same poor condition. We were tying to find a place to use the internet so that we could book our next hostel in Geneva. After visiting a pastry shop with no success in getting directions we were a little concerned that we might not find one. However, when we left the shop a teenage boy asked in his broken English if we needed the internet and he offered for us to go to his place and use his. This set off all sorts of alarms in my head but we went along with him to his apartment where he, his girlfriend and her best friend lived. We were able to book a hostel and we most thankful for their generosity.
We found a little pastry shop and got some breakfast and the man working there found out that we were from California and gave us a bag full of pastries for free (you don’t get that in America…). We arrived at the train station with high hopes of catching a train but to our dismay they said they didn’t know when the trains would be running again and that there were over 600 people who had spent the night there last night. We decided that we would do the same if we had to because it would be free and a rook over our head from the rain.
Then things changed very fast, the sky cleared and magically there were trains that would be arriving. The second train that was leaving the station was going to Geneva (how fitting). We went and got some lunch at Paul (I wonder who I thought about while I was there?). We got on the train and found out the hard way that there were assigned seats and had to move several times. It was funny to see who was really set on sitting in their seat and who really didn’t care at all where they sat. Once we were on our way the prayers of thanks started flowing and I was so amazed at how faithful God had been and our trip only started a few days ago.
We arrive in Geneva in the afternoon and started walking toward our hostel. Along the way we ran into a couple from Canada who were backpacking through Europe for a couple months. We arrived at our hostel and we were all ecstatic that we were there, it was absolutely amazing. We were in a room with 6 beds and we each had our own locker to store stuff in.
Roaming the streets sounded like a good idea and we basically went whichever way looked interesting at the time. Finally, all of us got hungry and we ate Kabab’s which are basically tortillas with lamb or chicken in them with lettuce, tomato, and sauce. We went down by the water and relaxed while eating. The girls decided that they really wanted chocolate (and who wouldn’t when you’re in Switzerland?). We all got different kinds and were standing on the street outside the shop and this man walked by and made the funniest comment about how good Swiss chocolate was, we all about died.
Unfortunately, while we were walking Annie kept getting all sorts of comments made about here and no one really understood why. I then realized that she was the only one that was wearing shorts. We decided to go back to the hostel and have her change so that she wuld feel more comfortable. Basically, we didn’t go back out. I don’t know who started it or what but we proceeded to have girl bonding time. We talked about so many different things and learned so much more about each other. Looking back I can tell that we would not have made it those three weeks alive if we hadn’t had that time to talk. One by one we all drifted of to a wonderful sleep and we were all thankful that we didn’t have any roommates that night.

8 Sept.
After showering, breakfast and getting ready we all set out to conquer Geneva… there was only one problem. Random piece of semi-useful information: Geneva’s independence day is the 8th of Sept. so if you want to do any sort of shopping then you probably shouldn’t go to Geneva on that day. All of the shops were closed and we hoped that that didn’t mean that everything else would be closed.
Luckily, this was not the case. Before we crossed a bridge we saw about 20 swans swimming for food that people we throwing them. It was a beautiful sight. We went and saw the Geneva clock that looks different throughout the year. Also, we saw the worlds tallest fountain. I think that they cheated because it’s not really a fountain like you would think it’s just a huge shoot of water in the middle of the river. Then we entered our first cathedral, there are no words to describe the beauty that was inside. I have to be honest, I’m a sucker for stained glass, a real big sucker. There was a strong feeling of holiness that can only be found in the house of God and it was stunning how it simply overtook me when I walked in the door. It was a typical setup of an ancient church, and actually another random fact: St. Pierre cathedral (that’s the one we were in) was where Calvin spent some of his time teaching. Isn’t that totally amazing that I was able to walk the same grounds and the great reformer! Alright, enough excitement… oh but it was so cool, I went into this other room off to the side and was greeting by ¾ of each wall covered with stained glass. Once again, there are no words.
I was in high spirits for the rest of the day so it didn’t really matter what we did, but there still was some pretty cool stuff. We went on the reformation walk and found this little park that had huge chess boards painted on the ground and there were a bunch of older men standing around watching an intense game. Also, there was this other game that we saw, mad props to whoever figures out what the heck this game is and how it is played.
Sierra found out that there was a gallery that had some of Picasso’s painting and when we arrived we were sad to find that the museum was, “closed until further notice.” There were many funny jokes about the owner wanting to keep Picasso to himself and he was being selfish but in truth we were all pretty bummed about it.
Jamye started to feel sick and so we decided to stop for lunch and then Annie and Jamye headed back fro the hostel while Sierra and I decided to go back down to the water that we were at the night before and take pictures. It was a beautiful boardwalk and it was so relaxing to not need to be anywhere and take as much time as we needed to do what we wanted.
After a leisurely walk Sierra and I headed back to the hostel and we all took a nap (I think that were getting old or something). We went out to dinner at a small place and it tasted pretty good. After we went to a bar and got Sierra some Bailey’s on the rocks. There wasn’t much of a night life, possibly because of their independence day, so we headed back to the hostel and found a new roommate who was already sound asleep. We were all doing the same thing soon after that.

9 Sept.
There’s nothing like waking up to rain, I can’t really put my finger on how exactly it makes me feel but I know that I really don’t like it (and I’m going to be spending a semester in London, what am I thinking?). Anyways, we all got ready and headed for the train station. For this trip we were on the 2nd floor of the train and had the most amazing view going through the Alps. Everything was so green and clear and crisp, and the sky was so blue, and, oh, I don’t know, it was simply gorgeous!
We arrived in Bern and after going the wrong way out of the train station and making our way down into a business building and getting yelled and everything else we finally found lockers and were on our way.
The feeling was much the same in Bern as it was in Geneva, the scenery very similar. We were at a much quicker pace there though and our bodies could feel it. We saw several beautiful clocks and I went into a church where the pipe organ was being played and I just about rolled over and died. I seriously could have sat there for hours! Alas, the other girls were not quite as excited about it and so we moved on.
Then we came to what Bern is famous for, their bears. They had about 6 bears in 2 different open air holes in the ground. It was really cool because they were vegetarian bears and you could by fruit to feed them. It was hilarious to watch them do all sorts of things to make you feed them. Just before we left a little boy somehow lost his shoe in the pit and one of the bears started to chew on it, everyone was laughing so hard. Finally someone came and fished out the shoe and all was well once again in that little boy’s world.
The next stop was a huge cathedral that stood many, many stories above the rest of the town. We were able to go up to the top of it and get a fantastic panorama of Bern and the surrounding cities. It was right around this time that I realized that I was starting to get sick. By God’s grace I was able to carry on for the rest of the day, and deal with the many adventures we still had to tackle that day (most of them being totally unexpected).
We got back on the train and headed to Zurich where we were supposed to find a connecting train to Innsbruck. We arrived in Zurich and tried to find an internet café during our hour layover so that Jamye could empty her memory card onto the internet. After much disappointment and a side of Jamye that I had never seen before (and haven’t seen since) and I hope I never have to see again. Somehow, it didn’t work, we’ll stop there. We get back to the train station and go to the platform that our train is supposed to be at, but there was no train. I looked on the board and it had our train but the platform number was gone and there was something in German on the far side. Finally after much asking around for anyone that spoke English Annie and I found out that the train we wanted to take had been canceled and we needed to take a train to Sargaus and from there we would have to take a bus to Innsbruck. We had about 2 minutes to get on the train before it left and amazingly enough (once again God’s helping hand) we made the train and we able to get on the bus to take us to Innsbruck.
It turned out that the bus was actually taking us to another train station about an 2 hours away that would take us the rest of the way to Innsbruck. By the time we got on the train once again we were all so tired, and wet (it started raining again of course) and hungry that our spirits were pretty down. We made our way to the dining car and had a pleasant meal where no one really talked but we all knew exactly how the other felt.
Just after we finished our meal we arrive to Innsbruck. Thank God we all got our second wind and at 11pm we made our way out of the train station to find a bus that would take us to our hostel. For whatever reason everybody gave me their money and I stooped down to get the tickets form the machine. I however, was unaware of A) how heavy my bag was, and B) how tired my body was from carrying my pack. I proceeded to fall over backwards not once but twice in a row. We all needed a laughing break, I just had no idea that it was going to come at my expense. After a fun time of trying to get me standing up again we had our tickets and were given directions for where we were supposed to find the bus. The bus ride was about 30 minutes and thankfully it dropped us off right outside of our hostel. Once we got checked and everyone got settled we all crashed. It had by far been the longest and hardest day of our trip thus far.
Well, there's the first four days in a nutshell... a really big nutshell, but seriously I still left so much stuff out. I hope you enjoyed reading my rambled thoughts and if you're confused at all sent me a post. Until next time.