Eatin' GREECEY gyros!!

Are you tired of my corny titles yet? Well, Ill be done with this blog in... 3 days! So we finally made it to our final destination and today I took my LAST final of the semester! Uff ta. Glad thats over! Greece is beautiful! I came in with a bang... and that bang was directed at my suitcase in flight from Rome to Athens. Basically, the people moving my bag decide to take a samari sword to my suitcases handle and completely mutilated it. I was soooo angry when I saw it. Usually I dont get too stressed over stuff like that but I was mad because my suitcase is dang heavy and I really need that handle to work so I can move it! And when I went over to file a complaint to the airlines they basically told me to go away. They said that since it was over weight that I could do nothing about the handle. Which makes no sense because its not like th handle fell off... it was sawed! I drew a picture of it in my journal. Its of a suitcase with a sad face and a samari sword chopping its handle in half.

But anyways, Athens is awesome. I have been eating at least one gyro a day... sometimes more (: They are so goooood! We went up to the Parthenon and Mars Hill yesterday (shout out to Jackie and Lidia- thats the name of their church!)

I am borrowing a friends laptop so I should go now... but I guess this will be my last blog while on my semester abroad! Its been such a great learning experience. Everyone has what we call 'enlargment fatigue'- meaning we have learned so much that we just can't even take it all in. Its been a fun semester and a once in a life time experience. My professors have been so cool and I couldnt image having any other ones but them with us.

One way that you could better help me process everything that has happened this semester is to ask me specific questions about certain locations of subjects I have encountered. The question "how was europe?" is pretty hefty to try to unpack in 2 minutes or less (which is usually the amount of time I imagine people could stand to listen to unless we go out to coffee together!). I have missed everyone at home and at school! I can't wait to see you all! Thanks for reading my blog! Pray for my loooong travels home... we calculated over 24 hours traveling. Eeek. But... I am so excited for the movies on the British Airways flight from London to LA. (: He he.

Thanks! T-minus 2 days and counting!!!!

Firenze!

I am in Florence! Or Firenze as the Italians say. We just got here a few hours ago and it is such a relief to have free internet at the hotel! Although there is a 15 minute limit and I have a line waiting for the comp so I gotta make this quick. I really love Florence already. We are RIGHT by the biggest attraction of the city, the Duomo with the bell tower by Giotto. I got really excited about the bell tower because weve seen pictures of it in our art book. Our hotel is right in the heart of the shopping area and luckily our street is for pedestrians only! (: But I have yet to see the city during the day. I was sad to leave Venice this morning but I enjoyed my time there. I was most excited for that city from the beginning. After seeing it in person I can say it was more beautiful than I imagined it. Although Florence I can see already that it is a more metropolitan area. Venice afterall is a series of islands so everything there was much more expensive since everything has to be exported. BeforVenice we were in Switzerland! It was prettcool,,, literally sinthere was snow! But it kind of reminded me of the mountains in Washington... FYI if anyone wants to come, I really want to go sledding at Mt Rainier when I get back! I think the last blog I wrote was from Paris. Paris was awesome but there is so much to see in that city so I think Ill just have to come back to get the full experience. It didnt help that we had a test and quite a few other projects all due here. ): But Im trying to live everyday to the fullest. Speaking of which I need to go do more preparations for my debate that is coming up on Monday!

So what is everyone doing for Thanksgiving? We decided not to have thanksgiving dinner on Thursday but rather Friday because it worked out for us to rent a kichen for that day. Oh well. We are planning on making our own turkey dinner with all the fixins! Speaking of food... I really miss Mexican food!!! And fresh choloate chip cookies! And pumpkin pie! I could go on and on... in fact I made a long list of food I miss while traveling on the bus today. Maybe Ill share it later... haha.

I like flying buttresses and I cannot lie...

Hello, I am in Paris. I L-O-V-E it here. I just got here last night but it has been sensory overload since Ive been here. But last night on the metro, aka subway train, I made some lists that I will share with you (:

Things I miss:
Pumpkin pie
Mexican food
My laptop

Things I dont miss:
Cell phones
English
Staying in one place

Things I will miss:
Awesome chocolate...right now I am obsessed with Bueno by Kinder... I eat waaay too much of it
Great public transportation... seattles pub transit doesnt even come close
Mango brand clothing stores

Enjoy some more recent photos. They took forever to post but I hope you like them. They go from most recent to least recent... all taken within the last four days... well mostly.



At the Notre Dame cathedral today... listenin to Rick Steves' audio guide to Paris' historical site... many flying buttresses where to be seen here. But sadly no hunch back.

At the Eiffle tower last night.... kind of excited. Can u tell?

This is from when we went to Normandy. This is a memorial site for the soldier who died on D day and also after that. I felt very patriotic there. Its actually American soil given to it by France for the memorial.

Normandy beach

I cant remember the name of this church... ill find out later for u but the inside was the prettiest thing i have ever seen... many flying buttresses on the outside

Bayeux; France ... and you already know there where flying buttresses on this church

This is in Brugge, Belgium, working the sweatpants look

Brugge, on a bike ride

a few pics

ben isnt that big...


Oh Orlando


Dubrovnik, Croatia airport


Chrissie, Yuko, and Me- london


outside les mis in london


no explanation really


in london


yuko met john lithgow! from 3rd rock from the sun... and shrek


Leiden, The Netherlands


OLeiden.... notice the windmill behind me


Our tour guide for Poland, Gabriel! But this photo was actually taken in Berlin, Germany. His last day on the job


One of the professors... Dr Brothers! Hes really fun.


me! in qmsterdqm waiting to get in the anne frank house museum

Never-never land

Yo! I'm in Leiden, Netherlands. Just got here tonight... it was pretty exiting that we got here 3 hours early! So my friend Yuko and I walked around and went to this great pizza place- Donatellos. We shared a pizza but after that I still felt like I just needed... something. So we went looking for coffee. We remembered walking past a place that said "Coffee Shop" so we walked back toward it. When we got in, it was full of young men and was blasting "P.I.M.P." by 50 Cent. So we were kind of like... hmm this is an interesting coffee shop, but whatever. So we got to the counter and looked at the menu... basically we had our choice of various flavors of Hash and Joints. No coffee. FALSE ADVERTISING! So for future reference if you ever find yourself in the Netherlands just know that "Coffee Shop"s here DONT sell coffee. Haha. In case you are wondering, we DID leave right away. Ol Steffers is not that adventurious... or maybe the better word is stupid. Sadly I had to get my hot drink fix at McDonalds. The other shops were closed and it was getting too cold for me to keep going.

Im bummed that this internet cafe wont let me conect my camera because I wanted to post some fun photos! One is of me in front of a Windmill.. taken tonight in Holland. The other was of me with my bike in front of the Reichstad in Berlin- thats the house of parliment for Germany. Yesterday Yuko and I went on the ride of our lives! We went with Fat Tire bike tours around Berlin. It was sooo fun! Would have been perfect if it was 20 degrees warmer... coldest day yet yesterday. But oh well. We went on the English speaking tour and had this awesome guide, an ex-patriot from Australia with the narliest dreads I have ever seen! They were sooo long. Props to Randall (the guide)! Yuko and I were the only Americans on the tour.. except this cool lady whos husband is a professor at Stanford. Everyone esle was from all over... I was excited to see some paisanos from Mexico! Others were from Norway, Netherlands, Peru.... and thats all I can remember. I guess English is one of the most common second languages in Europe so since the tours were only offered in German or English it would make sense there were lots of other Europeans there.

Does anyone else like the song "Apologize" by OneRepublic? I love it! I wish I could get it on my iPod... Ill have to work on that one. Well I better go... need to study for another exam. Plus the door is open in here and my fingers are turning into icicles. Ill try to post some photos soon... and I really mean it this time. I keep saying that but I think I can actually get photos on soon.

Oh, one more thing I thought was funny. I was looking through some random phrases in Dutch and I saw some interesting things. First, to ask someone what their name is you say "Who hate you?"... thats the way it sounds at least. And to ask someone to marry you its "Trauma". Haha. k bye.

Knock knock

Whoäs there?
Brrr
Brrr who?
Berrrrrlin!

I made up that joke last night. Ok heres the run down:
Im in Berlin, Germany- got here on a cramped sleeper train from Warsaw Poland. We said our sad goodbyes to our awesome tour guide. Now im supposed to be studying for a massive exam tomorrow. We are going to a holocaust museum and a jewish history museum at 2pm today so i have a few hours to study as soon as i get off the internet. Im liking Berlin but still need to see more of it . Im really becoming a big fan of museums and >I am stoked to go to the Pergumum museum m tomorrow to see the Ishtar Gate and reconstructed Temple of Zues... in large part because I actually knew what they were before coming here. Im really annoyed with the keyboards here... not only do they not have an at sign on the keyboard in addition to having the z and the y switched... the space bar on this particular keyboard is jammed. haha.

hope all is well! since i dont hear news on life back home when i finally do it always seems so dramatic... and in many cases it is but its even more so to me here since i am so disconnected from life at home.

p.s. i really miss pumpkim pie.

Warsaw

Hello! I am on an energy high right now because this evening was very eventful. And really had nothing to do with the history of Poland or of Warsaw- that was all day earlier. Tonight we went bowling! Yeah, doesn't so great or cultural but it was fun. There were all these Polish young adults there singing Kareoke (sp?). Then some Westmont kids started singing it too, at which point we all stopping bowling and started singing along and dancing... all while other people were probably hating us because they wanted to bowl and were waiting for us to get off the bowling floor. Then we decided it was time to go... but that we had to be at the tram within 4 minutes. But the problem was that it was way the heck down the street so our whole group just RAN through the street to get there. It was so hilarious because we totally took over the bowling alley and then all of the sudden we all just left running. Anyways, we jumped on the tram but then it started leaving without everyone! And out tour guide was running along side until he totally ate it! He fell! I was so worried that he might have gotten hurt. And we couldt get off the tram because it wouldnt stop until the next official stop. Luckily I just saw the other group and they made it back safely on the next tram. And out guide was fine. Poor guy! Oh but he was so funny... he was dancing so hard to Billy Jean. haha. He was having a solo dance that we all just watched. It was funny.

Ok, but on the serious note we did some major historical touring today. I think I mentioned before that Warsaw was 90% demolished by the end of WWII. So we walked aroudn the city and saw the last 10% that was still left over. It was sooooo cold! Warsaw has been the coldest place we have visted so far! Way too cold! But we survived. We also visited the former Jewish ghetto which was super depressing. Warsaw is kind of a depressing place. All the buildings here were built by the Soviets so its all communist style- all are super tall and square and UGLY! But there is some sign of capitalist life here... the massive mall in the middle of town! Its huuuuuge! I actually like it...

Well, thats all for now! Miss you all! Comments are very welcome! Oh, and tomorrow night we will be taking an overnight train to Berlin, Germany so that will be interesting... and I might be updating on Auschwitz later. I have been trying to push back time to reflect on it mostly because its such a heavy topic! But I will be journaling on it tomorrow on the train.

Poo-land

Haha, real mature, right? Well I am indeed in Poland, in Karkow to be exact. Love it here. I haven't minded our bus aka "coach" rides. We took the coach from Prague to Krakow. We got a new tour guide who is really... energetic. He is British but loves guiding tours. Hes actually really intelligent- used to work for BBC. I guess the real dough is in the tour guiding biz... maybe? We are staying in a hostel which I was pretty nervous about. But seeing how we are the only ones staying here since our large group took all the rooms, its not so bad! The first day here we went to the castle- ABC as our guide says- "Another bloody castle". It was actually the best one so far! Plus there is this amazing legend (which Im finding there are a lot of legends in Poland)that a dragon used to live right under the castle hill. So now they sell little stuffed dragons and all sorts of other dragon paraphernalia in town. They are pretty cute, actually. Then yesterday we went to the "jewish quarter" which is where for hundreds of years Jews lived there before the war. During the holocaust they moved a few blocks away to the "ghetto" and then later a few blocks away a concentration camp was built. We walked there yesterday too, but it had been completely demolished when the Nazis knew they were going to lose the war. Same thing happened at a lot of concentration camps- most notable the complete demolition of the city of Warsaw (which we will go to later this week). Do where the former concentration camp was here in Krakow is now a huge field with three monuments.

Today however, we are going to Auschwitz. I'm kind of nervous but I know it will be an experience that I will value because of everything that has happened there. In case you don't know, Auschwitz is where the largest number of Jewish people were murdered during the war- I'm pretty sure it was a death camp.. well maybe not because I hear they will have barracks which death camps don't usually have since they usually just had gas chambers. Well, Ill let you know which kind of camp is was. Another thing to note is that during the war the highest number of Jewish deaths occurred in Poland. I should saw the deaths occured at the hands of German Nazis in Poland. Man, we are reading this book, War and Genocide, and it talked about how many other people besides the Jews died in the holocaust- Gypsies, Slavs, the disabled, homosexuals, etc.

Thanks for checking up on my blog! LEave a comment if you visit my page (:

Rain, Rain, go away

I am in Olomouc! Its still in the Czech Republic. We are onlz here for the night and so far it has been verz interesting1 First, on our walking tour we were blasted bz a sudden thunder-rain storm1 We had to take shelter in a random building because it was so intense! It just snuck up on us. Oh and our tour guide was this cute ýá zear old ladz named Peva who has lived here since a child. SHe told us some reallz interesting stories about everzthing she has seen. From the Nazis rule here to Communist take over. She had some choice words about manz of the former communist buildings we saw.

So just a moment ago I got back from this cute coffee shop across the street from our hotel. I got a mocha with a friend but when the bill came thez wouldnt let us paz qith credit card!

To be continued... we are leaving for dinner now! Sorrz for mz bad writing... kezboard is confusing.

Praha-ha-ha

Hi all! I decided that since I have a computer with free internet in my hotel room I should take advantage of writing some more not only about where I am but where I have been. I haven’t been able to write about certain details about the semester so I just wanted to write more on them so I don’t forget (:

[Prague]
Well, I’m in Prague! And there are so many things to ‘czech’ out here! Har har. Get it?? Anyways… Prague is a very pretty city- I really like how the old architecture is preserved. There are unfortunately a lot of tourists here so that is a bummer. Our group has been so busy with classes since we have gotten here so I felt like today I was finally able to explore. Another bummer is that my right knee has started hurting so walking around has been hard! It’s so mysterious because I have no clue why it hurts. Hopefully it will get better by tomorrow.
This morning we had our first exam! It was for our IS 123 class, The Arts in Europe. I think it went well, but everyone else who I have talked to about it hasn’t been as positive about it! So either I did better than everyone (not likely) or I am not good at gauging how difficult tests are. Hmm…
Yesterday we had an excursion to Terezin, a city just outside of Prague. It was once a Jewish Ghetto from when Germany took control of former Czechoslovakia. It was a sobering visit for sure. Although it wasn’t a concentration camp or other kind of camp, there were still many, many people who died under the terrible conditions there. Terezin had a holding area for Jewish people being transported to places like Auschwitz. We watched a short video about the ghetto and heard terrifying statistics, one after the other that described the number of people who were sent out from Terezin to Auschwitz and then the number who survived. It kept repeating something like of 1,000 people transported at one scheduled time, 2 survived. I’m not sure if I am explaining this in a comprehensible way, but they just kept saying stats over and over again like, out of the 1,500 transported another time 3 survived, then of the 1,200 transported another time 0 survived, etc.
It was strange to go to Terezin and actually walk through the campus and the buildings because I have read about this types of places and seen drawings and photos and even pieces of the bunk beds that were at the ghettos or concentration camps but I had never actually been on site! Our guide told us horrible stories about how the Jewish people were treated at the ghetto… and as horrible as they sounded, I know that it is not even half as bad as the concentration camps or extermination camps like Auschwitz! Our group is leaving the Czech Republic tomorrow for Poland and in less than a week we will visit Auschwitz. I’m kind of nervous because I don’t know what my response to being on that site will be like…
It’s horrible to think that genocide still occurs today. It’s happening in Darfur, it happened in Rwanda, Cambodia, Turkey, Iraq… I mean, we visited Northern Ireland and Bosnia and talked to people who lived through the height of the pure genocide that was occurring all around them- losing family members and friends for the stupid reason of being part of a people group that another people group hated. I mean, who’s to say it couldn’t happen where I live?

[Austria]
I’m kind of glad to have left Austria. I don’t mean this in an offensive way at all but I was having a hard time really appreciating the culture there because I honestly don’t know much about it! I mean, I know the ‘Govenator’ is Austrian, that the Sound of Music is set there in the city of Salzburg, and that Hitler was originally Austrian... but that was it initially. While I was there I did learn that Mozart and Beethoven lived most of their adult lives there and that Vienna is still to this day a great center for music. I also learning that Vienna is one of the only big cities in Europe to have a smaller population today than it did 100 years ago! Vienna used to be a happenin’ place!
I did enjoy visiting the U.N. center while in Vienna. It was actually very cool. I kind of want to work for them someday. I was just struck by how awesome it is that they work to make sure all people have equal access to healthcare, education, and safety. I bet they could use a Medical Anthropologist like little ol’ me. (: While in Vienna I also enjoyed the Opera that we went to. We attended The Barber of Seville. It was interesting because it was sung in German, but it is based in Spain, and everyone there was reading translations of the lyrics in German (except our group of course). The opera was especially interesting considering the fact that we couldn’t actually see the stage or the actors. We managed to see half the stage if we stood up and hung over the side of the boxes we were sitting in although that may have been awkward for the people seated below us… but the music was fantastic! It was fun because I actually recognized many of the songs. My favorite was the “Figaro” song.
While in Vienna we also did some other things like visit the Belvedere Palace (beautiful!) and rode a boat down the Danube river. We did a lot of fun stuff there so I can’t complain about it, but I don’t think it will make my top list of highlights of the semester.

[Bosnia]
Bosnia on the other hand will definitely be one of my favorite highlights from the trip! Not to say it went without its issues…. Speaking of which I have still not completely recovered from the food poisoning incident that occurred there over 2 weeks ago… but I won’t get into that. Oh but Bosnia was awesome! I really liked the people there! I think I just really like Eastern Europe in general which for some reason is surprising… I thought I wouldn’t like it. I think another reason why I liked Bosnia so much was because we had two tour guides, Mu’stafa and Sa’mir, who we got to know pretty well and who took us under their wing. (:
Sarajevo was a great city and I learned so much there. I think its cool how many of the people there are proud of the ethnic and religious diversity there- mostly split into the Croat, Serb, and Bosniak groups who are mostly Catholic, Orthodox, Muslim, and Jewish. It was sad however that there seems to be a lack in integration between the groups… maybe it is too soon since the war for the groups to completely integrate without major problems. Whatever the case, I hope that the healing process will bring them to more integration soon.
It was really interesting to have visited the city of Mostar in Bosnia because it is especially divided between Croats and Bosniaks- they live separated by the river that runs through the city. The city itself is super old and has a great bridge- which is it actually named after. I was surprised by how many Minarets were in that city- a Minaret is a tower at a mosque from which someone calls Muslims for prayer multiple times a day- most Bosniaks are Muslim. Most if not all. I’m actually not sure if someone would be considered a Bosniak if they weren’t Muslim… anyways, we visited the biggest mosque in the city and then visited an old traditional Turkish house. Our tour guide in Mostar was super cute… I’ll have to find a photo to put up of him. (:
We also went river rafting in Neretva- which is where we all ended up with food poisoning. Hmmmmm. But before that I had fun! The river was SO beautiful! It seriously looked like I was in a article of National Geographic. We were told that the water is completely safe to drink because Bosnia has never experienced eColi or other contaminants we have in the US water sources. The river runs through some cool canyons, and I even saw some goats at the top of a cliff near the canyon! I’d like to think they were wild… but maybe they were just the neighbor’s goats. Haha. Oh, and I learned some Bosnian from our cute rafting guide. That was fun. It was pretty funny because at one point the river got rougher and I kind of fell directly backward in the raft and I got stuck! I got stuck on the floor of the boat because I was wearing this huge lifejacket so I couldn’t move. My legs ended up sticking straight up in the air and everyone was laughing at me! It was pretty funny… then over another rougher part of the river I accidentally fell forward into the middle of the boat head first… but straight into the girl on the other side of the boat and she flew out head first into the river! I couldn’t stop laughing! She laughed too. We had fun. (: It was too bad our cute rafting guide was a chain smoker… and didn’t speak a word of English. Haha. Oh. I thought of another reason I might be able to come back to Europe in the future- maybe I can return as Medical Anthropologist to Bosnia to help set up more programs to help people quit smoking- 70% of all Bosnians smoke!
ANOTHER great thing we did in Bosnia was go to this awesome little village in the mountains… I can’t remember what it was called. We went on a short but strenuous hike to a great view of the Serpintine River and we got to meet some cute ladies dressed in kind of traditional kind of peasant outfits. They were a treat for sure! Then we ate some “salty cakes” and some kind of interesting curdling goat milk… that was very sour and had many chunks in it. I’m going to be honest, it was hard to drink it but I at least gave it a chance. Later some of the people living there dressed up in traditional outfits and danced and sang for us. They showed up what a traditional wedding ceremony would be like. Their way of singing was so interesting! I wish I had a CD of it! It’s not like anything I had ever heard before! I don’t think many of my friends would like to listen to it because at first it sounds like what we think of when someone is in pain and is moaning… but then imagine them singing that kind of flat note really loud and for a really long time. Then you can almost start to imagine what their music was like. I liked it. It was definitely unique.

[London, Cambridge, Belfast, Dublin]
I feel like I was in these 4 places so long ago! I was definitely happy to have been able to catch up with my friend Chrissie in London. She was my R.A. (resident assistant) last year at Westmont and now since she has graduated she has returned to her home in London and is attending graduate school there! She is so sweet and so cool. She always dresses in thus uniquely European way but still throws in some fun ethnic accessories. She was kind enough to show me and Yuko around to this cool outdoor market in London. It was awesome because there was seriously no tourist there! It was amazing! It was all artsy college people- all of them were super trendy and too cool for school. Even though they mostly all in college. Haha. It was fun to hang out with Chrissie again!
Um… what can I say about Cambridge? It was very beautiful, serene, and relaxing. Belfast I have already talked about… and it was so great to be able to meet up with my cousin in Dublin! I am so glad that I didn’t miss that opportunity… even though I slept through my alarm clock and didn ‘t wake up until like 3 hours after I was supposed to meet her! I’m so glad we still connected though. I am still really embarrassed about that whole oversleeping thing. That seriously never happens to me! I was just extremely jet-lagged.




Well that’s it for now. All is well over here for me. At least all is well concerning the big things- I’m happy, I’m mostly healthy, and I am not in need of anything. Although to be honest I feel like all this knowledge about horrible things in this world have made me even more of a tortured soul in a lot of respects. I don’t mean that I am depressed or anything but it is so sad and so hard to think about all the terrible suffering that goes on in peoples’ lives all over the world. I think after going to Russia last summer I became… I guess more serious? That’s the only way I can think to describe it. There has been a deep impact on me after learning about and meeting people who have gone through horrific experiences and I just can’t ever be the same after that. Its definitely a good thing although its not something that feels good. Its like I have a new responsibility for the burden of the knowledge. There is a saying in the bible that “With much knowledge comes much responsibility”- and I totally agree with that. I’m not sure what I will do with my knowledge but I have to do something.

With all this new knowledge I am also becoming very sensitive to ignorant remarks I hear. Most of the people on the trip are smart and sensitive as a whole but there are always like one, maybe two people who sometimes just really push my buttons. I just cannot handle it when I hear people laugh at Chrynobl, or think its funny to joke about landmines in Bosnia, or just blurt out that they don’t want to have daughters because they don’t want to worry about ‘rape and stuff’. Today in class we were reflecting on the previous day’s visit to the Jewish Ghetto and one idiot had the nerve to say that with all the advances in technology today he found it comforting that genocide could never happen again because the international community would definitely come to their aide. My blood was boiling after he said that. Seriously, how stupid and self absorbed do you have to be to say that? I mean, even if he doesn’t like to keep up with the news, we freaking went to Northern Ireland and Bosnia and heard first hand accounts of the wars and genocides that happened there! Anyways, I’ll stop there but I am definitely more sensitive to ignorant comments like that. I don’t have any patience for people like that. Luckily, I think there are more people out there who are somewhat concerned with people besides themselves and have at least some knowledge of vulnerable people groups around the world or at least in their own communities. It’s not that hard to identify people who are hurting because of a lack of money, education, respect because of what they look like, disabilities or illnesses…etc. Even if you don’t even do anything about it to help them, most people at least can identify issues that indicate an imperfect world.

Some photos from here and there...

The internet here is such a pain. I just deleted an important email because i thought i pressed "reply" but it must have been delete. I didnt know since everzthing is in German. Speaking of which, I am in Vienna, Austria! Its funny because here they call it "Wien". Just like Lidias maiden name! And everything is either "wiener" or "wienershnizle" haha. ok ive run out of run... again. i really have a lot i want to update you all on. Sorry that my blogs have been basically me typing out my streams of conciousness as they hit me. I hope you can still follow my thoughts!

Miss you all. Please leave comments (: Ill try to label the photos another time... but until then lets play "guess where that photo was taken" haha. the winner gets a post card!!!

Bosnia

I'm in Bosnia! I love it here! I really do- it feels so good to be in a non-english speaking country. People think Im being sarcastic when I say that but Im not! I love it! Im trying to learn some of the language but not being so successful. Seeing how Im only here for 5 days you cant really expect much. I found out that the language here is Slavic so I keep trying to say things in Russian hoping that people will understand... but they dont. Its very sad.

Not sure if many of you already know this but our ENTIRE group has been battling food poisening. I think only 4 people didnt get feel at all. I was one of the first to go down... a martyr if you will. (: We think we got sick from this fish that was served to us after we went rafting on... um... man the days fly by here and I have not idea what it was but sometime earlier this week. Haha. I wish I had the photo of me eating fish the day before we all got sick... they prepare it here with the scales, head and tail still on. And for some reason I wasn't grossed out! Im actually pretty proud of myself for that... I think eating crab with Jera before coming here helped me ease into the idea of being able to eat something that I could fully see what it looked like before it was dead. Haha.

I wish I could have had internet access before because I feel like to have to compress everything right now so that I can tell you all about what Ive been up to! Ok, well, lets see when we left London we were flying to Dubrovnik, Croatia which were were going to drive from there to tribuje (SP?) in Bosnia. On our way there we had sooo much traffic- it took 3 times longer than it should have to get to the airport! And then two people got motion sick so we had to stop a million times for them to throw up. Thats nota surprise since the same two people have been getting car sick every time we get on a bus but it didnt help that we were already late tot he airport. So we got to the airport with less than an hour for all 47 of us to check in and get to the gate. We got there at 11am and the flight left at 11:40am!! Thankfully I can say that we didnt miss the flight! PTL! THe flight was delayted and we got there just in time (: What a relief.

Croatia: so beautiful! It was so hot! I couldt believe how hot is was. But it was great. We were only there for 3 hours though.

Bosnia: love it!!! We went rafting on this river and it was so fun. But it was also extremely cold... someone even went into shock from the cold so that was scary... and our rafting guide was cute (: I kept trying to speak Russian to him but he kept giving me blank looks. haha. Finally at the end I got him to teach me some Bosnia. I just kept pointing and thing and he would say the word and then when I would try to say it he would crack up. Not like chuckle politlely to himself- like he was laughing so hard he almost fell out of the boat! I think the other Americans he met before didnt really want to speak the language so I think he just never heard an American accent on Bosnia words.

So yeah after rafting we are more fish and then almost died. We had to cancel a bunch of our lectures and outtings because people were practically in a coma from being so sick. But I am happy to say that we are doing much better! I still feel a little weak from not eating but Im doing good!

Im really sad that we are leaving tomorrow because I havent had time to enjpy the city here! Ive been cooped up in my hotel room sick. Haha- oh man I wish you all could see my hotel room. Its rediculous! It looks Turkish (: Ok, so you walk in and you see the futon couch and it has two sheep skin rug on it. Different but not too foerign. Then you look tot he right and you see this room with beads hanging from the top- kind of 60's style. And then on the inside is this carpeted room with nothing inside with bathroom tileso nt he wall and a single shower head sticking out. Why? I dont know. It doesnt work but hey- this is Bosnia. And then my bed room- ok it has this funky wood wall that doesnt reach the ceiling and has the beaded entry way but no door. Haha. We have a great view of the city tho- I feel bad because almost everyone else has a view of a brick wall. haha.

What else? Well today we are doign osmething that I was way stoked about! We are going to this isolated village in the mountains where everything is still traditional and very rural- im not sure if they even have electricity. Its going to be awesome. The other day we (all 10 of us who were not barfing every half hour) went on a short trip to this monarstary- it was cool. Sorry Im not being very good at describing things... still a little delusional and running out of time on the computer before we leave for our day trip.

Ill leave you with this- yesterday we went to this tunnel museum- the tunnel was bascially the only way anyone in Sarajevo survived the Serbian seige on the city between 92-95. It was the only was food and supplies got in and it was was long but very short and narrow under ground tunnel. We got to walk through a part of the tunnel- it was so small. It was 3 feet tall and 3 feel wide so you would have to bend over the entire walk through. We have two translator/guides who have been going everywhere with us so far and one of them- Mu'stafa was a soldier in the war and knew the tunnel very well because he guarded it and had to go throguh it to bring supplies to the city. It was kind of emotional toi think this new friend of our went through so much. And to talk to him now he is so up beat and always cracking jokes. You would never know about his past. Ive noticed that a lot of the people here are like that- retty up beat and like to joke a lot. Maybe its ac oping mechanism for that kind of post-traumatic experience. Oh, one more story about Mu'stafa. He is so funny! Ok, so he has this strong accent but he speaks English really well. But anyways my friends said this happened to them- they were the only people who hadnt gotten sick (at least not until after that day) so they went into town with Mustafa. So he directed them tot he ATM so they could get some money but then he runs back after them when they are on their way to the ATM and says with his strong accent "Oh, one more thing I think you should know. There is pick-pocketers here." And so the students were like "well, how do you know that? How could you recognize them? Do they all look the same?" and he responded, "Oh. I know him." Hahaha. So I guess he is friends with pick pocketers? haha. We were all confused about that- but i think since he lives in Sarajevo he knows who are the pick pocketers, but the way he said it it seemed like he was buddies with the guy. (:

Headed for a new world

Hello! Today is our last day in London, England for tomorrow we are flying over to Dubrovnik, Croatia! Just for the afternoon, but we will be crossing the border to Bosnia where we will be staying tomorrow evening. Its crazy because I just got into this mindset where I was all settled in London- where we will have spent the longest consecutive nights in one place. Now I have to get rid of this state of mind and get ready to be moving around and staying different places almost everynight. Well, not every night... but we definately will have stayed in London the longest.


Its also been sad to think that I won't see my friends from home or Westmont until... a while. I'm OK with it until I hear about my nephew's first day of 1st grade which I missed, or that Jackie is starting a new college, or that my dad was injured on a motorcycle. And its my instinct to think the worst... like that Anthony really needed me for his first school day, or that Jackie is going to have a horrible time
adjusting to school, or that my Dad broke his arm or something... all of which are not true, but I just think the worst when its hard to get in contact with loved ones. Nobody better have any actual traumatic events occur because then it will be REALLY hard for me if all those things I worry about actually become real.

Anyways, things over here are going great! I really love London- and its been great weather the whole time we've been here. My only complaint- if you can even call it that- is that my days are always so busy! I get up in the morning still tired from all the walking and moving around I do in the day. Oh well, I only get to go on Europe Semester once, right? So I'm trying to live it up! I just wish I had unlimited amounts of money, but doesn't everyone, no? I feel bad having to tell people that I can't go with them to the theater or whatnot because I can't afford certain sights here. But there are still lots of free things to do that are fun- many of which the following pictures show. One thing about the photos, they aren't in chronological order... I could fix it up but it just takles too long. Haha, sorry.

One thign about the title of this blog- I feel like going to Bosnia is going to feel like entering a new world. It will be the first country we visit that doesn't speak English (all of them won't be English after this), plus it is so small! I have never been to such a small country! And I think that it will also be a shock to go from this huge city of London where you can do or get anything you want where there is so much wealth and everyone is stylish and have cool accents. I mean, I probably will like Bosnia's accents but it won't be in English... pray for me and my group!


This is at Hillsong church here in London. I had to visit it since I have heard so many of their Christian worship music at church and I have some of their CD's. Its crazy to go to the church knowing that so many churches all over the world sing their songs and translate them into into their language. I definately have sung their songs in Mexico in Spanish. The original Hillsong church is in Australia, but they have planted churches all over like this one in London. I hope to visit another one of their churches in Paris. It literally was a concert church service because they rent out this huge theater right in the middle of the city.


So this is Orlando Bloom. He is in a play here in London called 'In Celebration'. I didn't actually see it but I saw him leaving the theater after it was over. I think last night was the last night of the play... the crowd there was rediculous! People were close to getting in fights and as soon as he came out the crowd all rushed at him so I think he had to leave right away instead of signing of autographs and what not. I'm kind of bummed that I didn't feel starstruck when I saw him. It really wasn't all that cool. Oh, but I absolutly LOVE the following picture...


Orlando Bloom looks like a stoner!!! And the sad thing is... this was the best picture of him that I was able to get!!! Oh my goodness... I laughed hard when I saw this on my camera after I was walking away from the madness. Look at his beady red eyes and his evil expression.... lol.


This is at Harrods- I think its one of the biggest if not the biggest department stores in the world. I got lost inside. You could start a new city inside there- it has everything you need. Since we all know we need designer Gucci dresses...


More Hillsong pics...




Buckingham guards on horses... not that exciting. Maybe thats just because I was super tired when I saw it. People were beign rediculous... they were yelling that they could see the queen and prince Harry.... come on. It was just guys on horses.


I love this park.. its across the street from Buckingham.. I think its Saint Johns park.


I went to a cool outdoor market in Nottinghill. It was the Portobello Market.


I just had to make a quick stop at the Waterloo tube/train station since it was in the Bourne Ultimatum. The cameras were a big part of that segment!


Waterloo...

Buckingham tourist

Startford-upon-Avon. This is where Shakespear is from. I dont know why I have so many dang pictures posted of the geese. I dont want to take the take to delete them. Oh, but one thing to note- we saw a Shakespear play in Stratford and guess who was in it... ok he isn't like a big name but I was excited- John Lithgow. I didnt know he would be in it but as soon as he spoke I knew it was him- he was in 3rd Rock from the Sun and was a voice in Shrek- the evil prince of something. Anyways, he was amazing in the play- he is so funny!!! He played Molovio in 12th Night.








Tower Bridge tourist


My friend Yuko when we went to the Tower of London.


Coventry- a small town that was bombed by Germany suring WWII. Their main cathedral was bombed and instead of building the church back where it was they left the remains as a reminder or forgiveness and how all of mankind if evil in some way and that all need God's forgiveness. They had this funky 60's style cathedral built next to it with many decorations donated from people all over the world.


More stupid stratford pics...


...hmmm....


More Tower fo London






I took this pic of one of the crown jewels.. I got yelled at and it wasn't even a great pic but oh well.