"You don't speak Dutch, do you?"

 Something I learned about myself:

There is no place like home. Even though I did not spend the weekend at my home, the Goerdt’s couldn’t have been more gracious if they tried and I felt right at home. For the first hour that I was there, I was running around like a crazy person admiring all the things that I miss about living in a home—refrigerators, paper towels, framed pictures—you know, the little things. Throughout the whole weekend, I was so blessed to be able to relax and really relish in the fact that I was spending time in a home and with such a wonderful family. The weekend definitely refreshed me, and in a very real way allowed me to appreciate all that the Lord has given me. Which in and of itself, is one of the most important things we experience as humans.

I'm not creepy enough to run around taking pictures of people's houses,
but one of the many advantages of staying in a house is the ability to make
mac and cheese at night.

The Best Thing That I Ate:

Belgium. I mean, I feel like I ate the whole country. At the very least, I ate my way through my time there. Ellie and I took a casual day trip to Brussels on Saturday and had a wonderful day soaking up the sunshine and spending time together. Not to mention, it felt so good to finally be around a language that I understand and can speak! It would be nearly impossible to pick what was the most delicious thing that I ate, seems to be a theme of this semester. . . The day started off with a Belgian waffle, aka we got off the train and I looked at Ellie with a frantic look on my face explaining that I NEEDED a Belgian waffle or else I would die. Overdramatic much? After the waffle, we sat in the main square in Brussels and had a Belgian beer. I had raspberry beer, which basically tastes like juice so it was delicious. The person watching was absolutely amazing, and I was just giddy that I understood what they were saying! After we walked by another waffle stand that looked just as delicious so naturally I had to get another one, this time with bananas, nutella and whipped cream. Gosh darn was it good. The day wouldn’t have been complete without Belgian ‘pomme frites’, so even though I felt like I was going into food comatose, I persevered and ate some delicious fries. See what I mean, I basically ate the whole country.

My first Belgian waffle. Ordered competely in french! 

Belgian Beer and people watching. Life is good.

                        

                 Must. Finish. French. Fries.                                                      Taking a picture while balancing heaping  

                                                                                                                               waffles is harder than you would think. 

An Adventure I Went On:

Biking! You know how people say ‘it’s just like riding a bike’? Whoever made that up was wrong. Everybody in the Netherlands rides their bike, and I mean e-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y. So naturally I had to take part in this little piece of Dutch culture, on Saturday night Ellie and I went on a nighttime bike ride around her little village. When I hopped on the bike, I was a little bit shaky. Aka I couldn’t steer straight. Luckily there weren’t too many cars (or pedestrians) on the road, and despite my swerving we had a lovely nighttime ride! By the next night, I was feeling a lot more confident about my abilities and we biked to dinner and then to the beach after. It was hard work, but absolutely worth it. 

Night One. Thanks Ellie for the editing!

                                                      At this moment, all of the hills were worth it. 

Just absolutely beautiful. 

The Craziest/Most Interesting Thing That I Saw:

Anne Frank house. If you didn’t know this about me, it is time that you did. . . For a long time I was obsessed with Anne Frank. As weird as it sounds, I totally went through an Anne Frank stage. I don’t know if that is normal, but it’s totally my life. So to finally be in her house and walk through everything that I have read and wondered about was so amazing. It blew my mind to think that it hasn’t even been 100 years since all of this took place, and I was again reminded of how blessed I am to be able to live out my faith in the way that I can. Being there absolutely took my breath away in the best possible way, and it is moments like that where I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be here in Europe and experience these things for myself.

You can't take pictures in the house, but I
did manage to snap a pic with my good friend, Anne.

One Last Thing:

As I was nearing the end of a long class today, I was growing increasingly weary. But then something caught my eye, I turned around and noticed the light streaming into the magnificent Gesu church through the back window. As I followed the light to the front and my eyes gazed upon the altar, I noticed something remarkable. The light coming into the Church had not only put a perfect spotlight on the Cross, but a perfect shadow was created behind it. Amidst the craziness that has been this semester, and especially as Lent has been passing by it seems so quickly, it was such a beautiful reminder for me to remember what it is all about: the cross. It is in those small moments, where we can remember that everything we have comes from the cross and Christ’s suffering that the world seems to make a little more sense. I pray that everyone is having a fruitful end of Lent as we are quickly approaching that joyous Easter Sunday.

"The Cross cannot be defeated for it is defeat."--G.K. Chesterton

MOM AND DAD!

It has been a crazy week of traveling, adventuring, trying to finally recover from an awful cold and soaking up every minute with my parents. The weather is gorgeous here, and I couldn't be more blessed! 

Something I learned about myself:

There are few people I love spending time with more than my parents. For those of you that know me (and for my boyfriend in Russia, you will eventually have to meet my parents anyways ssoooooo. . .) you know that I love my parents. They are truly two of the best people that I know, so having them here in this city that I have grown to love so much has been such a blessing. Every time I bring them to a new part of the city, or when I physically share with them something that has been so special to me in my time here in Rome, I can’t help but think that a girl can’t get much luckier. Although it is taking some getting used to on their part to do things like cross the street at any moment even if a bus is coming at you going 40 miles an hour and eat after 5 p.m., I am so blessed to be integrating my two worlds.

So happy. So, so happy!

                                  Dad has been very brave and told one of our restaurant owners to 'surprise him'!                           

The Best Thing That I Ate:

Pesto! Yyuummmm. Being in Italy, you eat a lot of pasta. I mean, A LOT of pasta. So it is easy to get sick of eating the same thing. But, when my parents and I were travelling around Italy this weekend, we noticed that there was a lot of homemade fresh pesto in the stores that we saw. Seeing all of this delicious pesto made my decision of what to eat at lunch a whole lot easier. We ate at the most precious restaurant in Riomaggiore (the first of the five Cinque Terre towns) overlooking the Italian coast and I had the most delicious plate of fresh pesto pasta. I have loved seeing my parents reactions to all new Italian foods and experiences, it is really reminding me to not take any of it for granted. It was also green which fit in perfectly with it being St. Patrick’s Day!

Clearly it was delicious.                              

An Adventure I Went On:

Cinque Terre! This was one of the top places that I wanted to visit while I was here in Rome but I was starting to wonder when it would happen. Luckily, I have the most supportive parents in the world, and they were great sports about doing whatever while they were here. We planned a wonderful trip and it was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL weekend. We started off the morning driving through Pisa, spent some time in a small coastal town, and then got to Riamaggiore. After my delicious lunch, we walked along the ‘Path of Love’ to the next town, Manarola. After some time in Manarola, we took the train to Monterosso, which was gorgeous. It was so wonderful to be able to walk around and soak in the sheer beauty of the town, not to mention everything that has to do with my parents and Italy is both comical and joy-filled.

Mom and Dad on the 'Path of Love'

                                           

                                                     

The Craziest/Most Interesting Thing That I Saw:

In an order to execute self-control, I am going to refrain from complaining about all of the countless people that I saw posing for what may as well have been an Italys Next Top Model episode on the steps of one of the largest monument in the city and in an effort to practice even more self control, I will subsequently avoid talking about how handsome the Swiss Guards look in their new spring outfits. . .Aside from the Leaning Tower of Pisa which for the record, actually leans quite a bit, I wouldn’t say necessarily that I have seen for myself anything too crazy or interesting. BUT I have gotten to see all the sites and sounds of Rome through my parents eyes for the first time which has been amazing. Just when I start to think that I am getting used to everything, I am reminded of how much more there is to soak in and appreciate. Having mom and dad here has certainly reminded me of this. On this beautiful spring day when we were on top of one of the monuments here, it was so wonderful to be able to have a complete view of this beautiful city and be able to share my ‘knowledge’ (which usually consists of me saying “Uuhhhh, well this is also pretty old I think.” Or “It’s another beautiful Church, embrace it for what it is.”) and be able to see their reactions for the first time.

On top of said monument! Our new British friends took this picture.
Conversation with the British included: beautiful Roma, an upcoming
wedding, and Social Security. Just another day in the life. 

The Spring Break Edition!

It has been two weeks. . .In the last two weeks, I: survived midterms, went to four different cities, got one of the worst colds of my life, and welcomed my parents to Roma! It has been a blur, but a blessed blur.

Something I learned about myself:

It is always possible to figure it out. When Elise and I decided that we were going to do spring break on our own, I had a feeling that we would learn a lot about the world around us, but also learn a lot about figuring the world out. From the minute that we stepped on our first plane to Munich (I’m not going to even talk about the OBNOXIOUS Italian boys on our plane),  it was up to the two of us to figure everything out. Now thanks to some preparation beforehand, countless muttered prayers and an open-minded perspective, we avoided all major snafus! That’s how it works when you are in situations like this—there is no choice but to figure it out. The one thing that we did have on our side was awesome timing, it seemed as if every city we were in and every time that we tried to travel or make it to a certain location our timing always worked out. It’s not lost on me that it is through the grace of God that this timing worked out, but I am still so grateful for it.

The Best Thing That I Ate (drank):

A whole darn liter. Okay, maybe it wasn’t the best thing, but I am just too proud of myself to not share. . . All of the cities that we visited are known for their beer and in both Munich and Salzburg we visited two different ‘Bier Haus’. The Hofbrehaus in Munich is known around the world, and I was ready to have an authentic experience. When I ordered my beer, the thought did not even occur to me to check out the different sizes so I was a l-i-t-t-l-e shocked when the waiter came to me with a huge LITER of beer. I was beside myself, but I knew that I needed to conquer the situation. Which I did, it was a little rough about 60% of the way through but after an involuntary dinner catnap, but I stubbornly finished the whole thing and have been bragging about it ever since. In addition to more beer than I have ever consumed in my life, the week was filled with authentic food, a lot of Starbucks and dessert every time we could manage it.

ALL DONE!!!           

An Adventure I Went On:

THE HILLLSSS ARE AALLIIIVVVEEEEEE! Although this break was chock-full of adventure, one of my favorite side trips that we took was the Sound of Music tour. We spent two days in Salzburg, Austria which is of course where the majority of the iconic movie was filmed. Our tour guide was an absolute trip, and it was so amazing to be able to see so many places that were such integral parts of the movie. My favorite part had to have been singing ’16 going on 17’ in front of the gazebo! Just call me Liesl.

Such a dream come true.                                    

The Craziest/Most Interesting Thing That I Saw:

Birds Eye Views. Serendipitously, with every city that we visited,  we had the chance to get a breathtaking view of the top of the city. Although this inevitably involved lots of stairs, it was beyond worth it. It was so amazing to be able to see things from a different perspective, and really gave me an appreciation for the places that I was visiting. Because we packed so much into eight days, it was so important to take these moments to catch our breath and be reminded of the beauty that we were seeing.

Munich.

Salzburg.

Vienna. 

Prague.

Although it was a crazy week, the hand of God was everywhere which I am so grateful for. With every city that we visited, and every passing day here, I am reminded of just how good He is.