One month down!

A month into this trip already? Hard to believe!

This week was busy, busy! I remember when I came here, I was a bit worried about not having anything to fill my time with, but that has not been the case in the least! I am still running on about 6 hours of sleep a night, and finding ways to fill every bit of free time that I have…some things never change!

This week has been wonderful for many reasons! 

  One day I had a bit of free time and decided to go for a long bike ride through the fields of Heidelberg, where I randomly found a big apple tree that (I think…) didn’t have an owner! I bit into an apple and it was delicious like Garden-of-Eden-Style! I helped myself to a few to take home – thanks Jesus for free groceries!! ☺
  One of the greatest things about being here is that I have been meeting SO many people. It is the most invigorating thing, and something that I am becoming quite addicted to! The stories of how I’ve met them are random and maybe not as important, but it includes birthday parties and friends through friends, etc. This week I had dinner at a German guy’s house who lives with other international students (a couple of Americans included). The night was SO much fun. It was not uncomfortable in the least. They cooked, and my friend and I took wine and chocolate, and we all ate together and then they brought out some board games, which I could not have been more excited about! However, it didn’t occur to me when they wanted to play Taboo and I immediately screamed “YES!” that it would actually be taboo…in German! We attempted to play anyway, and had different teams with translators, but it just wasn’t quite working ☺ So we moved on to another fun game that just included a lot of laughter. It was a blast! I just love meeting people and hearing what they have done in their lives… there are people here from ALL over and there is so much to learn and hear from them! I’ve met people from Italy, Switzerland, France, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, etc. It’s also nice because they are helping me by giving me tips about travel and such. Speaking of...
   Two words: time consuming! My goodness, I have spent so much time this week trying to find plane tickets, train tickets, bus tickets, schedules, price comparing, hostel searching, etc. for all the travel I’m planning (hoping) to do here. I am thrilled as I think about it all, but I did not realize that it’s not such a simple thing! There is a lot that goes into working it all out, and it is definitely going to take a lot of time to pull things together, but hopefully it will result in smoth trips! So far, my travel plans include the following:
   o October 8-12- fly to Milan to then take a bus to Lugano to visit MY SISTER. My friend Rachel from Biola will be coming with me. I could not be more excited (minus all the stress that has come with attempting to actually get to her…which is still being worked out!). I can not wait to see Sarah’s life and see more of my FAVORITE country Switzerland!
  o November 6-9 – training to Amsterdam with my friend Nicole. We’ll spend a couple of days there, and then a couple of days in Rotterdam, and then take a train from there back to Heidelberg. I haven’t planned this one much since it’s further off, but I’ve been looking up some things. If anyone has been and has any suggestions or any friends in the area, I’d love to hear about it! I’m planning on going to the Anne Frank house and do a canal cruise. There is also the Van Gogh museum which I’m sure would be cool too.
  o After the semester, from December 7-15 travel around Spain (I’m thinking Barcelona, Granada, and Madrid), and then head to Switzerland to stay with Sarah a couple of nights. From there, she and I will go to Austria and Germany to stay in time shares, then we’ll part as she flies home on the 22nd, and I on the 23rd.

  On Wednesday morning we leave for our second “field trip” – this time to Salzburg and Vienna. I have been looking forward to this since they first mentioned it! I have been to Salzburg before and loved it, but have never been to Vienna! There is a lot to be seen in both places and I’m really excited to take it in. There is just a lot to be done before we leave, in including packing EVERYTHING back into our suitcases to store while we are gone so the owner of our Pension can rent out our rooms while we are gone. ☹ Anyway, I’m sure the trip will be lots of fun, educational, and probably tiring...in a good way of course☺
 Overall, I am loving my time here, trying to milk it for all it’s worth and take in all that I can! It is resulting in a faster pace of things that I thought, but that’s the way it must be when you only have 4 months on this continent – gotta do it all!
 Still wanting to hear from everyone, so I’d love any sort of report from you as well! I appreciate those of you who have written, so please don’t stop, even if I am a little slow to respond. Love you all!

Lots of pictures!:)