Edinburgh

AMAZING!!!! I love it here... another one of the cities I could live in. BUullet points are better since I'm paying for internet:
-man bought us coffee
-cheap hostel
-everyone wrote books here
-castle=amazing
-church=sweet people who made us feel very welcome
-free tours are the best

There's more but not enough time, I'm safe and loving Europe.

Trains

Here you are Kayla, these are the types of trains we travel in most often, I'll add more when I take more. :)

Jenny and Steven:

Aaron and Skylar:
Emily, Jenny, Molly and Christy on our way to Brugge aka first train ride:
Julia, someone i only met once, me, and Johanna on our way to Brugge:

I Love Easter

I haven't had such a beautiful Easter in several years. It was a sunny but chill spring day here in Maastricht. I, of course, forgot my camera but hopefully I will be able to describe it for you.
I woke up this morning to go to church with our chef, Esri. She goes to a large Pentacostal church in Belgium, which is a five minute drive from where I live. The service was really sweet... wait maybe I should start with waking up to the sun streaming through the blinds for the first time in what feels like years. Seriously, you don't understand how much you love the sun until you are able to bask in it's glory after months, weeks rather, of being without it. So my first thoughts on rising... "This is exactly how an Easter Sunday is supposed to be." Maybe I should explain this thought to you... Jesus sacrificed His life for mine and yours 2000 years ago, this is the holiday that celebrates not only that He was willing to give His life for mine, save me from my sins, and give me a purpose but that He rose from the dead on the third day, forever conquering death. So in my mind the third day is the essence of victory and life. Actually, now that I'm writing about it, this was the perfect weekend as far as weather goes. I really like when the weather corresponds to my life. (swiss alps, black forest, this weekend, etc.) So this weekend, Friday and Saturday, were quite possibly the worst weather days I have experienced thus far, rain, sleet, snow, dark clouds, and high winds. Then Sunday dawned, beautiful blue skies, gentle breeze, flowers blooming, pretty much perfection, a wonderful picture of the victory of Christ.
Back to church. We sang so many songs, some I knew some I didn't but only two were in English. By the way, I think I have sung "My Redeemer Lives" in four different languages, 5 different countries, and two continents... popular song. I really love being with believers, worshipping all together. We had tea and pie with people afterwards and talked about everything from dancing to cowboys.
I came back and rested and then went to meet Panos (my Greek friend) for tea at 3. He is really funny and I enjoy hanging out with him. He loves to ask questions about religion like what makes you go to heaven or hell, sometimes it's really difficult explaining that it's not about religion or works. Sunday was different, I can't really explain it but it was a good different.
He had to go study so I decided to get lost on my way back home and enjoy the sunshine. I got lost in the direction of the zoo, or rather Maastricht's version of a zoo.
I ended up following one of the tributaries of the Maas river (the city's namesake). I love water, I don't know why but I do, lakes, oceans, rivers, streams, they make me really happy. Like on a given Sunday in Waco, if I have time, I'll take my journal and just go sit on the bank of the Brazos or on the dam. I love the way the sunlight hits the water, the ripples and waves take on a new magic when highlighted by a golden yellow or bright white. Especially when the banks are a full, new green with flowers beginning to bloom, ducks swimming around, and children feeding them and laughing. It is the kind of beauty that simply makes you love being alive at that moment, your heart is so full of the goodness of God and the joy of being on this wonderful adventure with Him. You simply want to breathe deeply and take it all in, the life, the peace, the joy, and the blessing.
That was how yesterday was, peaceful and beautiful. There were so many families in the park. Playing together and laughing and feeding the animals. :) There were geese, making an awful racket, ducks, billy goats, deer, peacocks, chickens, a buck, and several baby billy goats. One actually had the long beard, it was fun seeing them eat out of the kids hands and the little children finding the courage to get close enough to let the animals eat from their hands. I'm not a big fan of geese so I didn't get real close, in my defense they were really big and I don't think they would've liked the fact that I didn't have bread.
I kept walking and the tributary joined the old wall that used to surround the city. I really wish I could tell you how beautiful it was, the grey, blue of the old wall with splotches of dark green moss and hanging ivy, the blue, water flowing and sparkling over and around boulders, next to bright green new grass with blossoming yellow and pink trees and flowers all around. :D
It truly was a wonderful, God-given day, funny, peaceful, and beautiful.
That's it for now I'm way past due on hitting the books, finals are this week. I leave on Friday to travel for a month!!!

A few favorite things...

Since I'm all caught up on trips and I do not want to do homework right now.... in random order, here are a few of my favorite things in Europe thus far:

• riding on a train in the rain
• trains are the main form of transportation
• hiking in the Swiss Alps on a sunny spring day
• staying with Stephanie and Shannon in Berlin
• the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe
• trying to climb a lion in Trafalgar Square
• the kicking game in Colmar (I'll explain when I get back)
• seeing the beautiful church that tells me I am five minutes walk from home
• Jazz is everywhere... you can almost always find a live jazz band playing
• dark chocolate (that is made up of five ingredients)
• meeting and hanging out with Johanna and Panos
• my perfect Tuesday (once again, a story for when I get back)
• my first sunny, exploratory Sunday in Maastricht
• walking everywhere
• FRESH food
• playing "make it or break it"
• playing card games
• the fact that history is literally around every corner
• beautiful scenery
• the cutest kids with amazing accents
• quiet times at random, perfect times
• sunny skies (those very few days)

That's it for now... Hope you are having a great day!

So I have been in Switzerland these last two weekends, I went skiing and nightsledding on the first weekend. The second weekend I went hiking in the alps and in the Black Forest. It was pretty much amazing, I'm kinda out of words right now because I've been writing alot but I think there are enough pictures to make up for that...
Me on the train tracks that take you up the mountain and cliff face:

Our luncheon view:

The beautiful swiss alps:

The cute little lamb we saw on our hike, we ended up seeing cows and chickens as well... ok so the traditional job of the region is to herd cattle and sheep. You make cheese, chocolate, and milk. However, making those things does not sustain a farmer so the government subsidizes the traditional method of alpine farming. During the summer the farmer has to make hay for the winter and thus hires several "students and hippies" to watch the cows while he works... how cool of a job is that?
The peak on the left is the Eiger, recognize it? It is the peak that the North Face brand was named for:
One of the several beautiful waterfalls and trees we saw:

The random, fat cat that looked as if he owned the entire valley:
I wish I could describe the color of the rivers to you... it was water from melted glaciers and snow so it had this blue, almost aquamarine tint unlike any I have ever seen:


The valley we stayed in:

This looked like the highest peak from where we were in the valley but after we took the gondola ride up we discovered these peaks could be categorized as the base of that particular mountain:
I loved this stream:


I understand why their aren't very many swiss immigrants:

The alps glow at sunset:
A few of the beautiful falls, once again this was only the base of a ridiculously huge mountian that we hiked up:


Ok, this is what I skiied in... it was ridiculous and challenging and amazing!

Proof:
I don't know if I have ever seen so much snow... it snowed on us while skiing, and I skiied through a cloud, yep, i know, this is my life, ridiculous:


Sara and I were the only ones who wanted to ski, everyone else went paragliding:

The view when you first got off the ski-train:
It was breath-taking:


Really, I don't know if better weekends exist, I was surrounded by the majesty of creation at every turn.

I didn't get pics of the black forest because my camera ran out of batteries but Robert, the guy I was travelling with did... oh yeah Robert, let me tell you about our weekend together.

First of all stop, no, we're just friends who wanted to see the same stuff but yes we did travel to the black forest and swiss alps together. It was hilariously awkward the first night, actually kinda the whole trip cause everyone just assumed we were together, but we definitely are not. We found some good stuff to talk about in all our hours of hiking (grandparents [grandma, nana and papa i wish you were here, i loved talking about you but it made me miss you guys], life goals, dream jobs, places we've been, etc.) but with such beauty surrounding you, the main subject was the mountains and how blessed we are and how amazing it all was.

Oh and the weather, if you've seen Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,(if you haven't you should) the weather in the Swiss Alps was exactly like that first day of spring towards the end when all the couples are singing about spring. It was gorgeously sunny, we both got sunburned, creeks were beginning to flow, ice was melting, sheep and cows were lowing, but there was still snow and a crispness in the air that is possibly unmatchable.

In the Black Forest a storm was blowing in so it was windy and the temperature was dropping and the leaves were swirling around your feet as you imagined al kinds of noises coming from the trees... exactly as a day in the black forest should be. I understand how that forest inspired so many wonderful stories.

Ask me about night-sledding when I talk to you or when I get home, that couls take up another half-page and this thing is getting long. I love you guys and I want to hear about your lives... Juarez, Model UN, Chicago, Missouri, McKinney... talk to you soon!

Colmar

So I needed a little break from all the travelling to all the big, ridiculous cities. 8 of us decided to go to Colmar, France. It's a little town in the Northeast of France, its really famous for an amazing, moving altarpiece. I'll come back to that in a bit.

We left Friday morning, we being Molly, Julia, Christy, Skylar, Aaron, Steven, Robert, and I. Sidenote: trains are the best form of transportation, you get on, you don't ave to drive, you sit in the super comfortable seat then the gentle rocking and humming put you to sleep, glorious.

Ok so we get there late, Robert had kinda hinted at the fact that he had reserved rooms for 5 and 3... we have 4 boys and 4 girls... someone is going to be alone with the opposite sex no matter how you split it up. We were trying to make this as least awkward as possible but.... I mean how do you do that? No one wants to be the first to say, "hey i'll sleep with the girls, or i'll sleep with the boys." We decide to throw odds or evens to randomly select roommates. It's like rock, paper, scissors you just throw a 1 or a 2. We're thinking this is going to take a little while but no.... first round all the girls and skylar throw 2's all the other boys threw 1's... funny. Made funnier by the fact that Skylar comes from a family of all boys... that's right... crash course in having sisters. Priceless times.

The museum we visited was in an old nunnery, it was so peaceful and beautiful. The altarpiece was exquisite but what got to me was the fact that there was an incredible depiction of Christ on the cross, a depiction that captured the grotesque pain and agony endured by a loving Savior for a hurting world, in the same room as depictions of saints and how they were martyred. The church has done so many horrible things, hurt so many people, killed some of the people it now canonizes, human being are capable of such atrocities, yet there is Christ hanging on the cross, knowing all we were capable of.... He is so GOOD.

I also got really camera happy on this trip but my internet isn't working right now so you'll just have to see them all when I get back. Love you guys, hope Juarez was amazing!!!

P.S. I am a weekend behind as in I went to Interlaken, Switzerland last weekend, but you really have to see the pictures of those so I'll post about that next weekend. This weekend I'm off to the Black Forest nd the Swiss Alps again.

London

Aaron, Steven, Skylar and Johanna in front of an entrance to Trafalgar square:
The Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace:
The famous red telephone booths, they are everywhere:
Big Ben Clock:

I think this is still Big Ben:
Johanna, Me, Aaron, and Steven on a lion in trafalgar square, it was really hard getting up there, I've never felt so un-athletic :)
I don't remember where this is but it's a tight pic:

This is a government building, that I would know more about if I had gone on the tour:
The scary bird that flew in front of our picture and me beginning to freak out about it:
London Bridge:

Johanna and Skylar showing off their muscles on London Bridge:

Steven and Aaron on our last leg of the journey to our hostel:

Johanna and I:
We road the underground EVERYWHERE, we need systems like this in America:

London was a lot of fun. I went with Johanna, Jenny, Skylar, Steven, and Aaron. Jenny had a friend there so I didn't see much of her the entire trip. We, being Johanna, Steven, Aaron, and I (the others left on wednesday cause they didn't have class on thursday) arrived late friday night. My first glimpse of London was a little blurry seeing as how I couldn't keep my eyes open on our super-comfortable bus. We arrived at our hostel around midnight London time, 1:00 am maastricht time, and 6:00 pm texas time. Steven booked the hostel rooms (so far anytime a man has booked the rooms funny things have happened). So we get there to find out that he booked the girls in a coed dorm and the boys in a male-only dorm... why you may ask? I have no idea. :)

So Johanna and I go to our room, it turns out to be one of the coolest hostels ever. For those of you who have seen Finding Neverland the whole hostel looked like the boy's house. We were n full size sturdy, wooden bunk beds with off-white linen curtains that went all the way around. Each bed had it's own little light and there was a soft center light in the middle. It was really peaceful and charming. The guys ended up being in a not-as-charming room that had a distinct man-scent. So it all worked out. (Except there was one guy who was snoring louder than I have ever heard in our room, but hey that's what ipods are for right? {thanks, mom})

The first day we eat breakfast at our hostel and set out into the city. Aaron and Steven caught p with Jeny on their free tour while Johanna, Skylar and I went to buy a few cheap tickets for a west end show. After we bought the tickets we tried to catch up with the others via text message and ended up a site behind them the entire morning. :) I tihnk it was stressing Skylar out a little bit but Johanna and I were completely enjoying traipsing around London and seeing all we could see. We ended up stopping for a cup of coffee and relaxing until they were done with the tour. We all met at the river side of Big Ben, poor Aaron and Steven were freezing because Skylar told them they didn't need their coats but had forgotten to factor in the wind-chill of the Thames.

Side-note: Johanna and I had already decided we were going to go to Hillsong London.

We're walking along all together now, heading towards food, when Steven goes, "hey, you guys wanted to go to Hillsong right? those guys back there had some kinda badges on." I spun around and headed to find them, here was how the conversation went: (They're in italics)

Hi

hey are you guys here for the women's conference.

no, but if we had known abot it we would have been, we were wondering when your services are tomorrow.

oh, good timing our services are at 10:30, 3:30, and 5:30 but you should come to the 10:30 service cause we're recording our 3RD LIVE CD and dvd about our church and our vision... where are you guys from?

At this point Johanna and I are so excited we are nearly jumping up and down and the men had to take over the conversation.

We finished talking to them and planned to be at the Dominion theatre the next morning at 9:30.

We got to eat lunch and every pub is pretty crowded, so we walk for a bit and come across a huge demonstration of the Serbs against England recognizing Kosovo's independence. It was pretty crazy, we took the long way around. People were waving flags and banners and all were in red, white or blue. Some had a banner that called the US the UN and the UK the fourth reicht. That was strange, but they weren't really mad. It seemed like a lot of friends getting together for something they believed in.

We finally end up at this pub, it's around three and our stomachs are telling us we need to eat. So we walk in, sit down, and order. Johanna and I ordered the crazy things, like meat pie and chicken and curry. It really was one of the best meals I have ever had. (Although I think I have burned my tongue on every meal i've bought so far).

After lunch we walked around and visited buckingham palace, scotland yard, and several other random but significant places that I can't remember right now. :( I think I'm going into way too much detail on this post, sorry.

Anyway, we went to see Stomp that night. It was pretty stinkin amazing and a ton of fun. Later we walked down Camden street and got a bite to eat, all the club places were pretty crazy, every single one of them had a bouncer, intimidating. We went back to our super-comfortable hostel and prepared to wake up early the next morning for church.

Hillsong London was AMAZING. Johanna and I were both a mess afterwards, we had already talked about how we cry in church on a normal basis, when you add that we hadn't been in church in a while and God showing up in a powerful way, well let's say we went through a lot of kleenex in the best possible way. It was incredible to hear about all God has done and is doing in London and the world via Hillsong. We spent the rest of the day going to Abbey road and taking a Beatles pic and shopping. We had to leave around 5 to get to our flight in time.

And there's more:

So we were taking a really cheap airline which meant there was a limited number of options as to when we could fly back and the airport was a little out of the way. All in all I searched for an hour and a half trying to figure out how we were going to get back to Maastricht from Brussels... end result? We could get as far as Liege, which is a good hour train ride from Maastricht, but the trains stopped running as soon as we would get there. Our options were, take the train to Liege and rent a cab for six people home, rent a hotel room in Brussels (which would be about 20 euro a person and we would only be in for about five hours), take the train to Liege and sleep outside, stay in the Brussel's train station, save money, and leave on the 6:24 am train. We chose the last one. Yes, I slept in a train station. We were pretty glad the guys were with us around 2 in the morning, well actually probably all night because there were several drunk men coming around. They weren't mean or dangerous or anything just drunk and looking for someone to talk to. It was cold, but the girls snuggled together and got a few hours of sleep. All in all it was fun and I'm glad we did it but hopefully, never again.