Germ AND revenge of the peanut butter

Elephants are cool

Amsterdam-cool cool place. I had all of these preconceived notions of what everyone had been telling me, and some of them were valid but I was pleasantly surprised by the city. First of, it's incredibly beautiful. There are canals throughout the city and the buildings are old and colloquial and it's just very picturesque. So that shattered some of my thoughts of the bustling city. Secondly, there were awesome painted elephants everywhere and so of course we had to stop and capture the moment with as many as we could. It was just a cool town. I imagined it to be dirtier and just a grungy place but it wasn't that way at all, at least not the parts we explored. There were just every type of store imaginable and people were on bikes all over and the city just felt alive. I really enjoyed it. I got some fun gifts for people that are just silly. We left around 7 so we didn't really experience the night life there but it was a great day without it and I felt like I experienced Amsterdam. The Van Gogh museum was really cool and we went at the very end of the day so it wasn't crowded at all. We saw Anne Frank house in the morning so that was a really neat. Unfortunately, none of the furniture is there or anything and so I don't feel like I really got to soak it up and let the severity of what we were going through seep in. So, I'm hoping when we get to go to Auschwitz that it will be a life changing experience. But Amsterdam is not the scary place everyone portrays it to be. I'd recommend it for sure.

Puppy Chow yes please

So, we're not really going anywhere this weekend because we have a dutch art history field trip with noor our teacher tomorrow so that severely limits our travel plans. So instead we are just going to take a day trip to Amsterdam and see the Anne Frank museum and maybe a gondola ride (supposedly they have better canals than Venice who knew?) In preparation for our all day museum adventure starting at 8 am in the morning and ending at 8 pm, we decided to make puppy chow, or what we could find to compromise. Nutella, peanut butter, and cheerios make a pretty stinking good substitute. Lets just say we are going to need a little happy snack while we saunter through the Hague and other musea as Noor likes to refer to museums and listen to her describe the paintings in these terms: Do you see the blackish, brownish, grayish, greenish, sky with white flecks in the yellowish tones. I wasn't aware that colors could be "ishes" until Noor enlightened us..really Noor? And yes I like to refer to her by her first name. Well, now that my belly is full of banana, whip cream crepes, puppy chow, and my 30 things to do before I'm 30 list is complete, I can enjoy the rest of my night.

Fair Dingum Mate

Hedi!

So this weekend was my favorite thus far hands down. Austria is so quaint. We did two cities in one weekend which was kind of hard and i don't think we're going to try that again but they were both so great we couldn't skip out! Let's start with Salzburg the city of the Sound of Music. Getting there was interesting.. we took a night train again but this time it wasn't a nice couchette to sleep in but a chair. So, on top of trying to get comfortable in an upright position when it was absolutely freezing, we were accompanied by drunken British fellows on their way to the opening ceremonies of Oktoberfest haha. Such adventures we encounter. But once we got there (we barely made it-we were running through the city to get to the bus) it was magical. The tour was four hours but totally worth it. We got all of this inside info into the making of the movie and BB, Callie and I were soaking it up. Our tour guide was super cute and made all sorts of cheesy jokes. Doing the tour was something I'll always remember and was definitely top on my list of my favorite things :) pun intended. After the tour-did i mention the incredible lake districts we passed?-we just walked around the city for the little time we had left. We made a video in the tunnel that the Von Trapp family sang in the Do-Re-Mi song and had dinner at the top of some hotel which had an incredible view of the whole city. But we didn't stay long because we were onward to Vienna! This is when it gets good (as if you haven't been enjoying everything so far). But on the train, Lauren and I sat by this woman, she was a hoot and just so boisterous, and she made maps for us and told us all the things to do in Vienna while we were there. So after talking to her for a while she told us about how she owns a stone jewelry shop in Vienna and she just came from a conference and had lots of rings she let us try on! We were like kids in a candy store. So we told her we'd come find her shop and so we set out on a mission to find it once we got there and we bought rings yay and took a picture with Hedi our lovely contact. It was such a precious memory. But lets back up to the night we arrived and the hostel dilemna with Kathleen and Rachel. So we had to separate on the train and needless to say it's a good thing that they knew the name of our hostel because they got off at the wrong stop and had to find their way through Vienna at 10:30 at night with no phone and no address to our hostel. It was so stressful, we were all nervous but the lord provided a way for them in a nice lady that guided them all the way there and it worked out but we were all praying real hard. Not to mention our hostel was a popular one but it was also in a random back street that wasn't all that traffic-friendly. But all was well and Vienna turned out to be one of my favorite cities. But i must tell you one final story concerning the title to this entry and that's George. George is the Australian guy we met on the train that was coming from Munich and was wearing a pointed Harry Potter hat and lieder-hose which were ripped by random 'blokes' he met at Oktoberfest, but according to him its a good thing he was wearing good quality underwears. haha. And he was teaching us Australian phrases, hence the title. Oh the people you meet.

Czech me out-direct t-shirt logo

the czech republic... where do i begin? oh the stories we accumulated on this very short but crazy weekend. To start off the trip, we took a night train to prague or praha as it is referred to in Europe but of course I didn't get that memo until I got there and realized that no, praha wasn't just a funny name Callie and Lauren made up. Nevertheless praha is absolutely breathtaking. I had no real expectations of it apart from Chasing Liberty and so when I arrived it was a completely new experience. The buildings are incredible and the architecture is so unique and such a mixture of the eastern European influences and a little bit of the Mediterranean influences and of course the renaissance. Overall it was simply beautiful and I took more pictures of the buildings and scenery than of the people I was traveling with. We got really lucky with our hostel because it was right by the main bridge and the central hub of all the cultural activity. So, although at night, say 2 am in the morning, I was so abrubtly awoken by obnoxiously loud and inconsiderate male species, the place was perfect. But I feel like in the amount of time we were there we saw a good deal of things. We saw part of the castle, a beautiful cathedral, the astronomical clock, and my favorite: the mucha museum. I had never heard of the artist Mucha but one of the girls I travel with, Lauren, is in love with his work and so she took us to see his museum and it was incredible. I can't truly explain the new love of art I now have but it spoke to me. But for the most part we just walked around and took in the city. At night we went to some cozy restaurants and just talked for hours about our futures, what we want out of this trip and for each other and it was the best memories. I am surrounding by outstanding women. I say women because that is what they are, we are no longer 'ladies' or 'girls' but the Lord is forming in each of us womanhood in Him. It's one of the most beautiful processes I've ever been able to be apart of. Back to the interesting stories though: one: its about 11 pm and we are at a restaurant having drinks and it's our last night so we don't have any more czech money left we only have our debit cards but news to us-this particular place doesn't take cards OR euros. this is the moment we realize we have no way to pay...so bb and danielle take it upon themselves the sweet souls to run, yes BB ran, to find an ATM to get money but they were all closed duh our luck. but thankfully danielle found an exchange place. crisis averted. which brings us to story 2: its sunday and we are supposed to have an all day train transportation experience in order to get home but it's free so we were all about it. However, we weren't quite prepared for where the train station was and all we knew was that it left at 8:40 but we didn't have kathleen or anyone's phone number so we were kind of on our own. But danielle our fearless leader took charge and started to guide us through the city but little did we know the train station was located all the way in suburban prague/communist sketch neighborhoods of the ghetto. so after a few deep breaths, and some creepy men staring us down as we were frantically walking along the abandoned streets, we finally arrived at the station an HOUR AND A HALF LATER. but we made it! and i have never been so happy to be in maastricht in my life. I think ive hit the 'home' stage finally.

Well hello Crepe, love of my life

The animals + the eiffel
sacre coeur and andrew our awesome host
this is the apartment, but it was right by the notre dame--great view

I discovered the crepes under the Eiffel Tower and all I can say is that life is beautiful. Just for your information, heaven consists of bananas, nutella, and whipped cream. Done. Paris was absolutely magical. I really do love the city. This was my second time to go so it was a different experience than before. I felt like I could really just enjoy the places we went instead of feeling like I had to rush and see it all. But it's kind of hard to describe all of our adventures that we had because it seems like such a blur even now. We stayed with lauren's friend Andrew who just moved to Paris and he was so gracious and let us stay. The apartment was such a European apartment and it was great. We were nice and cozy. He gave us the bed so all four of us (Daniele, Rachel, Lauren and I) layed horizontally on the bed at night. We're all real close after the 3 night cuddle fest. my favorite part was probably the night we went to the montmarte district, a really artsy part of town, and had grabbed food for a picnic and just sat on the steps of the Sacre Coeur Cathedral and looked out onto the most beautiful view of Paris. It was so nice to feel the culture and enjoy the city while the sun was setting. The moulin Rouge was also in this district so Rachel and I performed our own rendition of Elephant love Medley in front of it before everyone started staring and we got embarrassed or before Lauren decided she didn't want to be the director anymore. Facebook posting will come shortly for our musical debut. The eiffel tower is still magnificent and never loses its charm. Sunday we got to just sit and read in front of it at a park and it was soothing. It was hard to be away from church but at the same time it was good to know and realize that He is everywhere and a grassy knoll can become a sanctuary. It was stressful travelling not going to hide that but we made it and hopefully next week we will be more equipped to handle the tempers and frustrations we encounter. I was just in another country...I'm still letting it seep. Whoa---

oh! I almost forgot to mention the killer market that we went to and i purchased an authentic Moroccan leather bag love it.

Dorm Life Again...so fun

So the past two days I feel like we have been quarantined in the dorm doing constant reading and homework for school. We literally have only left for class and this morning-the market. Other than that we have been super ansy all night trying to concentrate with little success. I have discovered a love for making others videos of myself lipsinging to old songs and it makes me happy. Others should be blessed by it as well I'm sure. Tomorrow is Paris! I love that we can just say that like it's no big deal. "Oh, we're just off to Paris" This is my life and its a wonderful dream I've decided to stay in which probably means a comatose for the rest of my life but I'm ok with it. I'll always have Paris...and the animals. Clearly I'm a bit delusional from the studying. Love you all.

First Day of School (kinda like kindergarten)

School has finally started! While the rest of my friends are rounding off week 2 we are just beginning. Today was one of my dutch classes and the other was my baylor class. Dutch class: cute old man but his voice is a little too soothing a.k.a I'm going to need coffee. My human rights and dissidence class though is going to be wonderful. I am so excited about learning and discussing things I have a passion for learning. Otherwise, the random train ride to liege to try and buy paris tickets for this weekend (unnecessary) but what a great experience and it gave us an excuse to buy chips and salsa. Surprising that we found good salsa, i know but we did it. Then we made ridiculous videos and it was a highlight of my day. check out nicole's wall-the two and a half minute video so worth it. now it's crepe time and chilling after our first day of studies. It was intense but I keep having to tell myself I am here for school.

80's is my jam

gotta love that 80's music for all but a good 6hours of the day. That is what rach, lauren and I were all about this morning as we sat at a cafe and just read, talked, and people watched our sunday away. At first we convened outside an asian cafe (do those really exist and yes they do that's confirmed) and just read our Bibles together, discussed life love and other mysteries and really took in the beauty of the city. We even saw a street-side parade equipped with tubas, a 5 year old assistant director in an adorable red coat and renaissance style attire and headdress. It was a day for enjoying the scenery. However, the weather is unpredictable and we decided to take things indoors when it got colder which meant moving about 100 meters to one of about 10 cafes located right next to each other and sat inside. We sipped some tea and read for our first day of classes tomorrow almost in vain as a blaring 80's soundtrack was our trusty companion the entire time we sat in the restaurant. Amusing? yes, helpful or productive? not so much. But now we are back in the dorm waiting for dinner and I am just giving thanks to God for the people I know and the blessed day He is giving.

This is my life yo

((dutch tour guide))
we are settled! yesterday was our last day of group-time and orientations so we are now on our own living in the city. We took a boat trip and then explored some caves which were pretty much just dark and damp but what made the whole thing worth it was our dutch tour guide who had no idea he was so funny but kept making dry humor comments the whole time. quote: wanna know what's better than walls? (click on the flashlight to the ceiling) an arrow. and he points to a small arrow carved on the wall with such a straight face and we just lost it. After that was girl's night out with the hummus (we think) that we bought at the cool market that happens every wednesday and fridays and some bread and wine and celebrated drew and rachel's one year anniversary with her since he is in the states. And while everyone else skiddaddled on down to belgium for some chocolate, some of us who stayed just sauntered around the city and were complete tourists for the day. i bought some red wooden clogs and my life is complete. Everywhere I look I am hit with the realization that I am in Europe-how did this happen and why am I so lucky that I get to wake up in a city that is filled with rich culture and a history. So blessed. But let's talk about the fact that the Lord has been constantly blessing me. Everywhere I turn I'm bombarded with little sweet nothings of emails or great skype dates or notes from my friends back home or countless other moments of Jesus filling my soul back up again. Yesterday morning a steady rain began to fall on us as we were browsing the market and of course I had no umbrella or rainjacket but it was just a cleansing experience to walk in the rain and be soaked but He was filling my cup which earlier that morning I had been reading about the Lord turning bitter water sweet and that was my surprise for the day. THIS IS MY LIFE. what could i possibly have to complain about?

Town Time

Today was orientation day 1 which consisted of us being guided around the town and different university centers by a dutch student and that was nice to know the town a little. However, everything is really far apart and therefore getting from one class to the next could be a 25 minute walk. Enter mr. bike, the only thing with riding a bike is that it is an intense activity. There are specified roads and about 80 percent of the population rides around so there's "bike traffic". I on the other hand don't even remember hand signals let alone using them and riding with one hand. but it is going to be an experience which is what this whole semester is going to be about. This weekend is apparently a festival type event so I think most of us plan to stay and explore. The town is much bigger than I expected. There are cobblestone streets and cafe's on every corner, its incredible. I am living in a dream, definitely in the honeymoon phase. We've already started planning for our weekend trips and it's all a buzz. I just want to soak as much of it in as I can. This is my home for the next three months and these people are my family. Adventures here I come! (was that a bit Indiana Jones like-yes but that's ok I like it)

Maastricht- We Are Here

We finally arrived after a super long day of travel and bus rides and the early flight but the town is really cool (from the 10 minutes I've seen of it outside my dorm) and the dorms are really nice. Our rooms are huge compared to baylor dorms and we're all close so that makes it nice to have that close community. It hasn't really hit me yet that we are here for 3 months and that we are studying here everyday. I'm still in tourist mode but as of today I am an international student?! who knew this would ever actually happen and now it is! It's going to be an adjustment getting acclimated to the new school and schedule but that just comes with time, like all things in life I'm slowly learning. Orientation starts tomorrow so more to come but for now I made it!

The Animals

These last days in Iceland have been jammed packed with long days of sight-seeing. In the morning we took a 3 HOUR whale watching boat trip which sounds really awesome but o wait, it was just a big sick fest. It was super choppy and windy and the waves were incredibly rough and although we got sweet body suits to wear, so many poor souls were just green. Thankfully after that excursion we got to relax at the blue lagoon which was super cool and chill. It was like a spa treatment and just really surreal to be able to experience things people dream of doing. At night its great because just a group of girls will go to a restaurant together or coffee bar and enjoy the time in the city talking and eating the best apple crumble I've ever had. But today was absolutely beyond words. It was majestic. We saw two huge i mean 60 ft drop waterfalls that were breathtaking and a black sand beach which of course is an the arctic water or something so it was freezing and starting pouring on us but no big deal we just ran to the nearest cave of course. only in iceland. But i soaked up every minute of it. There was a full rainbow while we were driving so we just had to stop and see it. And it was incredible because I had just been reading about the ark and the rainbow as a sign of restoration and I just couldn't believe the blessings God keeps offering to me. I just have no words but only facial expressions of my joy at the wonders He has created. Today was just a good day. Our dinner was at this awesome icelandic bar and we just laughed the whole meal. I haven't laughed til I've cried in such a while and it was refreshing to my soul. I don't want to take those small things for granted and I have hope that this is just a beginning to a crazy crazy adventure. I am ready to be in Maastricht though and just be settled which we finally get to do tomorrow at 4:30 in the a.m so yay for no sleep.

ICELAND

So, not really sure how this whole blogging thing is going to go but here's a try (this is for you mom). We are ending day two of Iceland-so random but ridiculously awesome. This country has been blessed with the most incredible natural wonders you will ever get to experience. We've spent the past two days exploring Reykjavik-every thing is this long and complicated its great- and just seeing the beauty of the earth. The bus tour today was really long with a random side trip to see an electric plant-my number one sight seeing stop-but it was a good journey. We've seen gushing geysers which were really phenomenal and the landscape is just such an interesting terrain. Everything has a mountain backdrop but with water and short shrubs and a sky that changes every few seconds from being mysterious and dark to clear blue with perfect white puffy clouds. It is a constant reminder of the magnificence of the Lord. Who is man that we are mindful of him? kept ringing in my head the whole day. But besides the incredible women that are on this trip with me who have opened up with such honesty about what they desire from this trip while we sip blush wine at the quaintest romantic restaurant in downtown, the most amazing thing I've experienced so far is the waterfall. My first waterfall and i was in the words of lauren on cloud 15 if that is possible and it was such a beautiful thing. The pictures don't begin to do it justice. It was so wonderful to feel the rushing wind (and there was such crazy wind going on all day) and to know that God is in control and is powerful without a doubt. And that is comforting and scary and awe-inspiring because when I hold on to life so tight He is there to remind me that He is God. period. And it was powerful but gentle because it was mine and mine alone. It has been such a dream of mine to see a waterfall and I tear up even as I'm talking about it because although 40 + students and other tourists were right there with me snapping thousands of pictures from every angle possible, it was just me and God and He was blessing me. Why is it so hard to receive sometimes? Well, so much more to see and I can't wait to explore the rest of Iceland/Europe. Love and miss you all dearly if you're reading :)