many of you may know, and many of you may not, but I spent this past summer in san francisco.  I have never lived in a city before (because I don’t count the Point Loma suburb to truly be “city”), and it was definitely an experience.  I’ve determined that I really am more of a small town girl who appreciates being able to smile at and talk to strangers, to find places to be quiet, and to not be surrounded by so many people constantly rushing through life.  BUT, I did enjoy my summer there and it was a really fun time.

While I was there I began a challenge with a former teacher of mine that required that we each do something new every day.  This was a perfect thing to begin while I was in SF because I think it helped me to be intentional about trying new things while I was in a place of such opportunity.  I am still continuing this challenge of doing something new everyday and I will attempt to post about those new things I’m doing more consistantly, but I want to use some of the new things I did this summer to show you some of my SF highlights.

So here we go:

I watched a LOT of basketball games because our church had multiple teams on the Chinese Christian Union League. I also achieved being the only white person in the gym several times.

I got the chance to be the speaker at Jr High summer camp which was a blast.  Love these kids.

I got to go to the monterey bay Aquarium for the first time and I loved it.  The Jelly fish were one of the coolest things to watch.  I’d pay money to see a tank with these Jelly fish as an art exhibit any day.

I went to the DeYoung Museum of Art on a free day and this was my favorite exhibit.  It’s the charred boards from an African American Church in Alabama that was burned by the KKK. Very impacting for me.

I got to show Kate around Oroville for the first time and this, of course, had to include Table Mountain, even if it was all dry and brown.

I got to preach for the first time in a Sunday Worship Service.  I also got to serve under this cool lady all summer.

I got to revisit my childhood practice of chewing Eucalyptus leaves, but this time I made kate try it with me, and we used the leaves from trees in golden gate park.

For my birthday Kate took me back to one of my favorite childhood places: The Exploratorium.  This is the endless mirror triangle.

Also on my birthday I went to an American bar for the first time and ordered a drink at a bar for the first time.  Mine was actually virgin, but I had to order something on my 21st birthday, and the bar tender gave it to me for free because it was my birthday!

I went to my very first pro baseball game — Giants won!

The wonderful people that accompanied me on my first Giants experience.  Thank you Robbie and Ash for the tickets!!

I also bought this hat (my first Giants hat that wasn’t from my days playing for the Giants softball team) the week before at my first trip to the San Jose flea market.

I went to the San Fran zoo which was a couple blocks from my apartment.  The Lions were my favorite part because they roared at us!

Went to the Golden Gate Bridge.

And we walked all the way across it and back. (Which is almost 10,000 feet of walking)

Greg and Michelle helped me have my first Dim Sum Experience.

Greg was nice enough to order a whole smorgasbord of dim sum dishes for me to try.  and we were sooo stuffed afterward.

I learned how to successfully use chopsticks.  Thanks to everyone for you encouragement and technique tips! =)

All in all it was a summer of friends, fun, noodles, rice, socks, sandwiches, exploration, barbeque , and learning.

So, I’ve always had things I’ve really wanted to do in life, and I had them on a sort of un-written bucket list. and i refer to them from time to time in conversation as it comes up. and my friend Jessica recently encouraged me to actually write it out. these are not all grand things to accomplish. they’re anything. and i hope to continually cross things off, and add new ones. I never want to come to a point where I have nothing left to do… so here it is as of now.

solid bullet pts=left to be done
hallow bullet pts = I’ve done them since i wrote out the list a couple weeks ago

My Life’s To Do List:
o Go sailing
• Sail around the world
• Go in a cruise
o Go on a boat on the ocean
• Catch a fish
• Go on an archeological dig
• Go to Jerusalem
• Go to every continent (Antarctica=optional)
o North America
o Europe
o Africa
• Learn Italian
• Go to Sara’s wedding in Florence
• Go to every state in the U.S.
• Return to Rome (and every time I return, I have to throw a coin in Trevi Fountain)
• Become a tour guide for a time (bonus points for a cool historical location like the Colloseo)
• Learn to drive a stick shift
• Watch Casa Blanca
• Learn to write grants
• Work in youth ministry
• Write a book
• Be an extra in a movie
• Write about my travels
• Meet Gerard Butler
• Read consistently
• Return to Greece (w/ people and visit the Islands this time)
• Get married
• Have/raise kids
• Touch every ocean
• Go to New York City
• Learn Spanish fluently
• Go on a gondola in Venice
• Go to Vegas and play some sort of table game
• Climb a tree in every continent
• Go to a pro baseball game
• Go to a pro football game
• Meet Bono
• Return to the African continent
• Go NOSing
• Pull a grand prank
• Watch all Gerard Butler’s films
• See the FRIENDS apartment building in NYC
• Swim in one of the Hearst Castle pools
• Ring the bells in a bell tower somewhere
• Visit the rainforest
• Have a garden at least once
• Milk a cow
• Ride a camel
• Watch the sun rise over the ocean
o Have a bonfire on a beach
• Read The Brothers Karamazov
• Read the graphic novel: Maus
• Go to the Berlin wall
• Go back to the UK
o Go to Miguel’s
o Eat at Santana’s (CA burrito)
• Live in Oroville again
• Meet one of the “FRIENDS”
• Watch all the seasons of Gilmore girls
o Swim in public fountains
• Try caviar
• Go caving
• Go tunneling
• Eat at PF Chang’s
• Go up the Eiffel tower (climb all the steps. No elevator cop-out).
• Go to Scotland
• Be able to do one real pull-up
• Be able to do 15 pushups without resting
• Get BA degree
• Go to Haiti to be a part of relief work
• Go back to Busingen
• Go back to Washington DC
• Write a children’s book
• Build my own house
• Ride an elephant
• Swim with dolphins
• Swim with sea turtles
• Hold a monkey
• Fly in a helicopter
• Go in a submarine
• Give up every drink except water for lent one year
• Take a pottery class
• Learn guitar
• Read the Bible all the way through
• Watch the matrix trilogy
• Touch a penguin
• Crash a wedding
• Own a puppy
o Eat at Con Pane
• Read Moby Dick
• See the 7 wonders of the world (and find out what they are)
• Be in the live audience at the filming of a sitcom
• Read Dante’s divine comedy
• Finish watching LOST
• Live in a city
• Go kayaking (bonus points for kayaking in the ocean or at night)
o Go surfing
• Eat apple pie in Julian
• Get a henna tattoo
• Go to the San Diego Zoo
• Go to Disneyworld
• See Mayan or Aztec Ruins
• See Egyptian Ruins (in Egypt. I’ve seen a temple ruin in Madrid. Really I did.)
• Read sense and sensibility
• Read at least one more Tim O’Brien novel
• Read The Scarlet Letter
• Read Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
• Create a time capsule and put it in the attic of our flex apt.
• Go to Maui or Kauai
• Watch Braveheart
o Watch zoolander
• Sponsor a child until they’re grown
• Be able to do 15 double-unders in a row
• Go to a fair-trade coffee farm somewhere, meet the farmers/workers, and buy coffee from them.
Things I’d completely before I wrote out the list, but that were on the mental list before I did them.
o Go skinny dipping in the Rhine
o Float down the Rhine
o Eat gelato in every Italian city I visit
o Live in a place where it snows
o Hike in the swiss alps
o Try a bratwurst in Germany
o Watch the Patriot
o Watch Gladiator
o Go to Ireland (eat in a pub, and swim in the sea)
o Go into a castle
o Go to Gimmelwald
o Backpack/train travel through Europe
o Go blatting
o Go iceblocking
o Eat at Adalberto’s

it’s been a long time since I’ve written on here, so I have way too many thoughts to share at once.  not sure where to begin. or where to go from there.  here’s some quick bullet point thoughts/happenings:

-For spring break I brought my friend jessica Navarre home to oroville with me for the first few days of break.  It was super fun to be able to share my beautiful hometown with her and to show her the magic of northern california.

-Also during spring Break, Kurt’s initiative led our church to sponsor a showing of the film Call+Response in our movie theaters which is a film that details the global human traffiking situation of today.  It is a film that seeks to make people aware of the situation, and that tries to inspire them to not only get depressed, get mad, and get fired up about it, but that pushes them to do something with that passion.  When I was watching the movie, God spoke to me very clearly, and he filled me with excitement and passion against this injustice once again, and I have more to tell about this at a later time, but the bottom line is that God loves the broken, the down-trodden, the oppesssed, and that’s exactly who these slaves are.  He fully identifies with them and they are his people, and he is calling his Church to be a part of the movement that will free them from slavery.  I’m on board.  and I’m excited.  and I’m trying to figure out what comes next.  So far I’ve been being conscious of my purchases and activities as a consumer, and I’m fasting and praying for the slaves in our world.  And i’m doing a lot of research and trying to brainstorm how I can be involved further.  I’m also getting into conversations with people, trying as best as i can to be a voice for the voiceless.  “It is not permissible to add to one’s possessions if it is done at the cost of another man — that has only one true name and that is exploitation.” (from “Cry, The Beloved Country”).  I’m trying to make sure I make the switch from being a part of the problem to being a part of the solution.

-I’ve begun painting.  I find that if I don’t have an outlet to create something outside of my self for very long, I get kinda antsy.  I’ve been feeling that way a lot this semester, and because of a happenstance offer by my artist apt.mate, I discovered that I can kind of paint.  So I bought some starter supplies and am loving it.

-the semester is almost over and I’m going to Peru for 3 weeks as soon as the school year ends.  then i’ll go home for a week.  then i’m going to be spending the summer doing a church ministry internship in san francisco.  I’m super excited about this opportunity and to see how God will partner my fresh eyes and passion with the wisdom and the experience of the pastors that have been in the city for years in order to further extend his touch in the city to the broken lives there.

- I’ve also just found out that I get the opportunity to be the main speaker at the Norcal district Junior high summer camp this summer.  I’m super stoked about this.  i love junior highers. and i think i’ve got some good stuff to share with them.

-I also just watched a video about a new financial stewardship initiative that my home church is doing.  it’s called C3.  in short it stands for campus, community, and compassion.  expanding our current campus to meet the needs of the people within the community.  furthing our involvement with local endeavors to minister to those in our community and to build relationships with one another.  and to expand the ways we live compassionately by tying ourselves in a partnership with a community somewhere else in the world where we will commit to do life “with” them for 5-10 years or so.  We not only want to help where we can, but we want to learn, we want to love, and we want to get to know them and have our hearts and mind intertwined with theirs so that whatever affects them affects us and whatever affects us affects them.  This video that they made to explain C3 literally brought me to tears because it’s just another testament to the willingness of the people of Oroville who are in this church to truly do what God is telling them.  I love that our church is a constantly moving, growing, changing organism.  it is alive.  and God is on the move.  and I couldn’t be prouder of being from oroville — not because it’s a great town.  in fact it’s a super super broken messed up town.  with a lot of broken and messed up people.  but some of those broken and messed up people belong to a church family that’s willing to admit that we’re all broken, and that we need Jesus, and that we need each other.  and I pray that someday I get to be a part of the daily life of that church family and the community of oroville once again.

-I also have felt God telling me lately that in order for him to use me in the ways he wants to in the coming days, weeks, months, and years, it is essential for me to get to know him by getting to know his whole story.  So, I’ve decided that it’s about time (long overdue actually) that I read the entire scriptures in order to get a more full picture of this history that my life is extending of the Christian Church.  So, starting yesterday, I’m going to be reading the Bible in 100 days.  and I couldn’t be more excited about it!

-lastly, Klaus and Martina Arnold (the Rector of EuNC [my school in Switzerland] and his wife) are at PLNU today for meetings so I’m going to run off now and crash their luncheon so that I get to see them!  I’m so excited.  They are some of the best people I’ve had the chance to meet in my travels and I love them dearly!

-that’s my “quick” update.

It’s a new chapter.  Switzerland seems like it was almost a lifetime ago, yet I still feel the pang of longing in my heart for that place I learned quickly to call home.  However, it is clear a new chapter has begun, and this chapter happens to be in a setting where I’ve lived in once before… this chapter is once again happening at point loma.

I was talking with my friend and mentor, amy, earlier today telling her about how loma life is unfolding this time around, and how different it is from my first 3 semesters at PLNU.  I’ve come back a different person who is determined to be a part of a church body in san diego because I was sick of church-shopping/hopping.  I’ve come back as someone who values rest in a new way, and relationships in a new way.  these pieces of post-switznay-Jo are actually allowing me to do more quality things with my time, and to experience a purpose that I had only experienced when in my home church and in switzerland.  i’m being able to find ways to minister to others and to be involved in church ministry.  I’m finding ways to make sure I honor a sabbath and I partake in the holy rhythm of rest.  I’mmaking time to enjoy people and nature in new ways.

As I was sharing this with Amy this morning, her comment opened my eyes a little wider and warmed my heart.  She said, “isn’t it amazing how God does that?  Just think… if you hadn’t have had such mediocre or hard semesters your first 3 semesters at point loma, you may not have been driven to switzerland, you wouldn’t have grown in these other ways and made the connections you did, and you may not have been able to come back and experience this new exciting time of activity and purpose at point loma this time around…”

Just thinking about the whole purpose of the way God guides my feet on the road and my hands in ministry and to what purpose boggles my mind and makes me giddy at the same time.

It’s been a little bit of a rough transition time back into loma life.  It’s just very different than my last year of life abroad has been.  School is different, friends are different, and the “spiritual life activities” are different.  But it’s beginning to be good in new and exciting ways.

It’s always hard for me to leave a chapter — especially if that chapter has been full of such exceptionally loving and important people in my life as my time at EuNC was.  Yet, I’m still excited to see what God is doing to me and through me this time around.  God is on the move.  I can feel it. And I’m determined to get on board with what he’s doing this time around.

So, I’ve now officially moved back to the states.  I still accidentally catch myself telling people about “where I live in Switzerland” and I have to correct myself with “well, where i lived.”

I’ve never really permanently moved away from anywhere before.  I moved away from oroville, but I still come back here on most breaks from school.  I moved away from San Diego when I moved to Switzerland, but I knew I had to go back at some point to finish up school at loma.  But now, all of a sudden, I feel that i’ve actually experienced my first real move in life.  and i feel something very akin to grief.  I feel culture shocked and jet-lagged and swine-flued. I’ve been back a full week now, and I’m honestly struggling to adjust back into things.  and i think maybe part of me doesn’t want to adjust.

and i don’t know why it feels like this.  I love being home.  I always love being home. i have amazing friends and family and friends who’re like family.  but i’ve also made some really great friends who’re also like family and now i live half a world away from them.  and my heart hurts.

I keep telling myself to be grateful for the time I had in switzerland.  and I am grateful.  I also am a little bit scared though.  This last chapter of my life was honestly extraordinary.  and I’m a little bit afraid of what it will be like to go back to normal life.  But, i’ve got this crazy plan…

the plan: trust got to continue making my ordinary life a full life, an extraordinary life.  that’s pretty much all i’ve got right now.  i don’t know what this next chapter will feel like.  I’m gonna try to let God continue to do incredible stuff in and through me though, and I’ll let you know how that goes.  In the meantime, please pray for this time where I’m trying to figure out how to adjust back into the culture without forgetting the lessons I’ve learned and without coming across as a houighty touighty european wannabe.  I’m sure there’s a balance out there somewhere…

I really will be missing the community aspect of life in switzany though.  It’s a really unique thing I’ve gotten to be a part of, and I’m going to miss doing life with all of them.

I’ve sung the famous hymn countless times.  I’ve memorized scripture about God’s grace. I’ve heard sermons and sunday school lessons, and I’ve even seen the movie. 

I think perhaps once, when I was a small child and I asked Jesus to save me from my guilty self and he did, perhaps then, I did know what grace truly was.  But since then, I’ve forgotten.  Although I could’ve told you what grace is, and I beleived I experienced it, I knew nothing of grace until two weeks ago. 

I’ve lived a life committed to Jesus of Nazareth for the last 17 years of my life.  I’ve had an intimate relationship with him, and I’ve known that he had saved me.  But knowing, and expriencing are two very different things.  I’ve often felt like my relationship with Christ is an ebb and flow of falling in love with him, and then falling away from him into church-like complacency.  It’s been a life of giving him everything, and taking it back again.  Talking to him, and then talking only about him. Of Loving God, or Loving others.  And then there’s also the sin thing in there where I stumble and “fall backward” in my walk with him, whether that sin is complacency or against one of the explicit commandments. 

Two weeks ago, I was having a quiet time, starting the “Solo” devotional. The passage was that of Gensis 3:1-10.  The story of the fall of man in the garden of eden.  As I read through the passage several times, I was disheartened.  I saw that my life has been an ebb and flow, continually reliving this garden scene of sin.  A pendulum swing life of sinning and then trying to catch up with God, never fully accepting the grace he’s offered me.  I got discouraged because I saw that this one tiny chapter of the Bible  is the cause of the REST of the books of the Bible.  This one chapter set into motion a journey of thousands of years, billions of lives, as God tries to redeem his people back to himself.  It took one chapter for man to seperate himself from God, and it takes God the rest of the 1045 pages (in my Bible) to redeem humanity back. 

My thought immediately was that if it takes GOD 1045 pages, and thousands of years to overcome this sin, how am I ever going to get to a point where I can actually move forward… a point where I’m not just trying to “catch up”.  And even though I knew about grace… it’d never fully penetrated my life enough for me to understand how grace works. 

BUT, at that moment, suddenly the curtain was lifted from my eyes… I was blind, but then I saw.  God showed me that since he HAS taken that long, painful effort to overcome that one small garden scene, I don’t have to do it.  He gives it to me for free.  I AM FREE.  I don’t have to play the “catch-up” game.  He lets me move forward from where I am. 

I’m sure I’ve done a sucky job at describing this moment, so please pardon me.  But I just had to share… I AM FREE.  MY CHAINS ARE GONE!  MY GOD MY SAVIOR HAS RANSOMED ME!  LIKE A FLOOD HIS MERCY REIGNS. UNENDING LOVE. AMAZING GRACE.

For the first time in 17 years of my Christian life, I understand what grace is, and i’ve finally accepted it.  It’s this flood that covers me, making me  gush with tears of thankfulness and want to shout and dance in the streets.  Being in the church my whole life, and being sure that I knew Jesus, I had always sang the hymn believing that I was one who was found, and who could see.  I’d always been grateful for the fact that I hadn’t had to spend so much time as many people in the stage of life where I was lost and blind.  But now, now I see that somehow I had been blind this whole time.  and I only realize it now, because now I can see clearly.  I can see the truth of the depraved human I am, and the awesomeness of the Holy Father, and the Amazing Grace that he bestows on me that makes it acceptable for me to even be in His presence.  I have never felt this way before, and it’s the best feeling I’ve felt in my entire life. I see everything that I am not, and everything that Jesus is, and yet still he loves me and he saves me.  It’s the most beautiful thing.

There are chestnuts on the ground, and the mornings and evenings are filled with a slight chill and sometimes fog.  Fall is slowly arriving here in Busingen, Switzerland.  (for those who didn’t know, I returned for a second semester to European Nazarene College.) 

Many things are just as I left them.

The Rhine is still breathtaking.

The Alps are still in view on clear days.

The Fields are still vast.

The Forest is still dark.

Cezi is still my RA.

I still begin every lunch meal with a large salad.

The pace of life is still quiet.

I am still involved in the “spiritual life” team which helps plan chapel.

I still get to be a part of “rice and prayer”

Ben still tries to get people to play soccer every friday afternoon.

F&F still happens every Friday Night.

We still go to the Walker’s on sunday nights for TV watching.

My English grammar still suffers.

But, many things are different, as well.

I have a different roommate.  Good to be with my old Loma roomate, Kate, again.  But I didn’t realize how big of an impression Jenna had made on my life.  I miss sharing life with this special gal. But I’m happy to be sharing life with Kate again. 

I have to fight for quiet time this semester.  The tyranny of the urgent has hunted me down. The haunting noise of society came with me this semester. It feels less like a safe haven, and more like regular life.  I have to learn how to live within this new tension.

I have to take more gen ed classes and less ministry classes. It feels more like real school. I’m not trying to savor and soak up every bit of every ministry class that I have here.  I am learning German, though, which is handy.

I am not the only Californian.  This sounds silly, but really it makes a huge difference.  California has it’s own culture, and I learned last semester how to balance that culture and all the cultures here into a precarious balancing point.  Now with more weight on the californian culture from the others here, I find myself falling to the california side of things into a comfortable groove.  This is bad because I do not learn as much, and I am not as attentive to the appropriateness of my culture to those of others’.  I’m exhausted by just trying to balance relationships all the time.

There’s so many americans.I got used to forgetting about what country we were all from.  But with all these other americans here, it’s hard to forget.  Especially when an American gets going on the whole “Well we do this where I’m from” kick, like it’s so easy to do without thinking about it. 

I don’t have as much money. I want to travel, to see places and people, and collect stories.  But it’s all having to happen on a budget, and trying to figure that all out is hard.  Last semester was kinda my splurge semester.  This one is back to real life in many ways.

I’m determined to not gain the 18 lbs that I did last semester.This means eating different, which is hard because fried and fattened foods come in abundance here.  And the desserts…. oh the desserts.  Conscientious eating choices are hard to make while here… but even so, i’m really trying.  Again, last semester was a splurge semester.

I’m trying to be one hundred percent present.Last semester I left to go home for the summer with the thought: “I am so ready to go home and see my family and friends and church.” and it was easy to be ready for this, because I was comforted by the knowledge that i would be coming back to busingen in 3 months time.  Now, though, I know that when I go home at the end of the semester, that’s it.  So, now I’m trying to soak it all up, but because of murphy’s law or something, I’m missing home a lot more this semester than I did last semester.

There’s a lot of new people. This has been a cool thing to see the personality’s of different people unfold.  I’m really enjoying these new individuals and the ways they bring new sight to the community.  They’re a fun bunch, and I’m glad to have them here.

I miss the old people. I miss Jenna and Lars and Signe and Rubyand Tammy, Katelyn, Christin, and Nathan…. and yes, Brady, I even miss you.  =)  I especially miss the Brady-Victor duo-ness of last semester, and I miss walking into the kitchen, talking to Jenna while she baked delicious treats and hearing her say things like “Ten cuidado!” or “This is the thing” or “Bag (pronounced “beg”)”.  As I heard Bekky describe it as one, it’s like have your heart ripped out twice a year when you’re able to make such good friendships that can only last so long.  I’m trying not to think about the next heart ripping session that will come with the Christmas break.

Today Michelle brought a good thought to us in our study abroad students meeting.  She talked about the steadiness of the Chestnut season.  As Acorns have made me think about at home, Chestnuts have now made me think of some things.  As the coming of fall is signified by these nuts on the ground, I’m reminded that lots of things can change in a year of life, since the last time the acorns or chestnuts fell.  This time last year I was at loma and I had no notion of ever going to switzerland in my life.  Now I’ve lived here for 7 months.  A lot can change in a year.  But still, somethings stay the same.  Life has a rythm.  God has a rythm.  God is the same.  His covenant with us stays the same.  His grace remains the same.  His love remains the same.  His providence remains. His glory remains.  And these things won’t change no matter how much else changes in life.  Just as the acorns and the chestnuts will always fall, every autumn, no matter how much change the other seasons bring.  A rythm exists amidst the chaos.  God reigns steadily over this ever-changing world. He reigns over this ever-changing me.

I Landed ship in Bari, Italy.

 From there I took the train to Roma where I met my parents!

And we visited lots of sites and saw many things that strange and wonderful, familiar and old.

San Sebastian’s church: we went into the catacombs here. However no pictures were allowed underground.

Then We went to a separate country: Vatican City. (Smallest, and richest country in the world and which is protected by the esteemed Swiss Guards.)

There were lots of incredible things in the vatican museum… including lots of naked men statues which had been demasculinated.

and both the sistine chaple and St Peters Basilica (we climbed the dome) were absolutely incredible!

That night we followed Rick Steve’s night walk which took us through different piazza’s, but the most memorable part was the Bernini Fountain of Four Rivers (especially since I had just read Angels and Demons).

The next day we went to the Colloseum.  Absolutely mind-blowing.

Then across the way to the Roman Forum. the center of ancient roman life in the capital.

The forum was a menagerie of temples, houses, political buildings, and memorials all fallen to ruins.  However, there is a place of current life there, to this very day: The mound of dirt marking the spot where the body of Julius Caesar was burned is still adorned with fresh flowers from loving and dutiful romans.

Also attached to the forum was Palantine Hill where all the emperors built their palaces.

We then visted the Mamertine prison where Paul and Peter escaped from their cell:

  And then on to the new rome. Capital Hill.

Then we hit up the Pantheon. However one of the bishops was having a private concert given so we weren’t allowed to go inside.

Then we hopped on the train and headed to…

POMPEII

In pompeii they had ancient style fastfood joints also.

                                 And they had indoor plumbing supplied by the gravity leveraged by building these big water arches throughout the city.

Even some of their mosaics on walls and floors were still preserved with perfection.

Then we went on and stayed in a quaint coastal town called…

SORRENTO

the whole time we were in italy we loved eating in the restaraunts everynight.  This was one of our favorite waiters because he came and gave all the ladies these lovely flowers. 

Venturing onward we trained our way to….

FLORENCE — FIRENZE

We went to the Uffizi, and the piazza where the David stood for years

                           We also saw the incredible Duomo.

so, I promised I’d tell ya the rest of the places i went after the semester ended so here’s some of the high lights and pics.

I finished my last final (actually the night before it was supposed to be), packed up all my belongings and put them in storage except my backpack, bade farewell to the students that would be leaving while I was away traveling, and I headed off for an adventure.

Train to Basel, stayed the night on floor of hostel dining room after wandering streets of basel for hours alone at night trying to find said hostel without knowing directions or address.  Flew from Basel to London. Sat in outter part of London airport for 9 hours. Flew from London to Athens. Wandered streets of athens trying to find next hostel. found it.

GREECE:

So, I was in ATHENS and saw:

The Acropolis: where even the marble ground is ancient.

And I went to the ancient Greek Agora:

And I saw some amazing artifacts in museums.

Also Visited Zeus’ temple. And i’m pretty sure it’s the largest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

and the original olympic stadium. it was refurbished for the first olympic games of modern times.

Then I went to Patra where the water is magical and the mountains are mystical.

Then I hopped on a ship and traveled through the waters and islands to make my way to Bari, Italy.

Well,

After March of this spring, life pretty much took off and I was lucky if I was in one place for more than a few days.  However, life constantly on the move was exciting, exhausting, stretching, and full of adventure.  There’s lot of stories to tell, and lots of pictures to show, however I’ll spare you the massive amounts of these aspects of travel until later.  Hopefully I’ll continue this throughout the rest of the summer and I’ll post some of my random stories from the spring (including photos) throughout the summer.  For now, I’ll just give you a quick highlight of where I’ve been since the last time I wrote:

#1. Germany Train Trip – March 28, 2009

      When:21 hours Where: 4 German Cities How Much: 7 Euro Who: 8 Friends How: Countless trains 

I got a group together to go travel throughout the country semi-spontaneously on the train.  We left at about 4:45 AM on a saturday morning, and hit cities (Ulm, Augsburg, Nurnberg, Stuttgart) for anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours, deciding once we got to each city where we wanted to head next on the train.  We got home at about 2 AM the next morning.  It’s become known as the “Whirlwind Germany Tour”.

Highlight of the trip: I climbed to the tippee top of the tallest church in the world in Ulm.

   

And then I studied hard, took a final early, and began my post-semester travels throughout Greece, Italy, Switzerland, France, and Ireland.  Those tales will have to come a little later….