this is the end

So that’s it. The end of my four months in the Netherlands has come.

I’m writing this from the long plane ride over the Atlantic, and as expected, this has brought a mixture of emotions.

Am I excited to be home? Of course.

Am I sad to be leaving? Of course.

Will there be things I miss? Sure! The people I’ve gotten to know, the ability to travel so freely, biking everywhere, and many little Dutch treats, just to name a few.

Are there things I’ve been longing for at home? Sure! My family, my friends there, my mom’s cooking, Alterra coffee, the ability to understand the primary language, etc.

And it’s bittersweet, just as I knew it would be. But even knowing isn’t enough preparation.

And I find it hard to balance the sadness of leaving with the joy of being home. I guess that’s a good thing, though, because it proves that I had a great experience abroad. It turned out to be everything I had hoped for, and these are memories I’ll cling to, probably for the rest of my life – there may even be stories for the future grandchildren in there somewhere!

How can I even summarize it? How can I explain all of the new things I experience and learned without taking days on end? We’ll try some quick facts, maybe:

TOTAL TIME GONE: 4 months, 1 week

TOTAL COUNTRIES VISITED: 9 – The Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Austria, Lichtenstein, and Switzerland

FAVORITE COUNTRY VISITED: Austria – beautiful mountain views all around, cute and colorful towns, and really wonderfully nice people.

TOTAL SURVEY OF DUTCH COUNTRYSIDE: All the way north to the island of Texel to the very opposite corner to Maastricht and many places in between.

AMOUNT OF DUTCH KNOWN: Just above 0. I can understand a decent amount of basics and can translate most restaurant menus. But I still get laughed at every time I try to say something in Dutch to my Dutch friends.

FAVORITE DUTCH WORD: “Doi!” (‘DO-ee’ meaning something like “See ya!”)

FAVORITE DUTCH MEAL: Stampot – like loaded mashed potatoes.

CLASSES TAKEN: British Literature, American Film, and Electricity and Magnetism

ARTICLES OF CLOTHING ACQUIRED: A couple dresses, a couple shirts, a skirt, some shoes, and too many scarves.

SUITCASE WEIGHTS: To Amsterdam – 54 lbs. To Milwaukee – 44 lbs.

PEOPLE WHO CAME TO VISIT: My Family (Mom, Dad, and Becky) and My “Second Family” (Sarah Sufferling and her mom!)

HARDEST MOMENT: There's a couple contenders - (1) the first few days in Amsterdam when everything was completely brand new, and we were hungry and had yet to find the grocery store (2) when my family left after their visit (3) my physics final.

A FEW HABITS TO BRING HOME: Coffee every morning, bringing my own bags to the grocery store, taking opportunities that present themselves, being very intentional in my relationships, biking all the time

THE MOMENT I FINALLY FELT LIKE I HAD ARRIVED: At one point, I was standing in line at the grocery store watching some foreigners in front of me fumbling with the system. So I helped the cashier ease the situation and shuffle them on through. Then it was my turn. And she began a conversation with me about it in Dutch. I had to ask her to speak in English instead – this was too much for my very limited vocabulary. And she apologized and said she was sorry she had spoken Dutch to me! I was so excited and assured her that it was nothing but a compliment to me. It meant I understood the system and seemed to her to be a local.

A COUPLE IMPORTANT LESSONS LEARNED: It’s better to ask questions that might be stupid if it saves you from looking stupid later. Biking in a dress or skirt is not impossible. God is orchestrating everything – every opportunity, every circumstance, every interaction.

As this journey comes to a close, I’m excited to learn what God will do with me next. 

Until then - 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 

[PHILIPPIANS 1:2-6]

[And as an addendum seeing as I'm obviously publishing this well after I wrote it: Life back at home is great. I walked out of the terminal to find a welcoming party composed of my dad, older sister, and four of the best friends any girl could ask for. They brought me flowers and made a sign and were SUCH a welcome surprise. Oh, and did I mention that my room was absolutely decked out and that they were the culprits of that as well? It's wonderful to see those that I love that I have so missed this past semester, and those hellos are not nearly finished. Hopefully I'll have a chance to say hello and catch up with you soon! And thanks again for coming on this journey with me!]

the final countdown: the last month at a glance

I'm going to justify the delay of this post by saying that I was too busy doing things to write about to write about them. Whether or not you buy that is up to you. But maybe wait till the end of this post to make your final decision.

APRIL 30 :: Koninginnedag (QUEEN'S DAY)

It was a national holiday celebrating the monarchy, but this year it was extra special - the queen abdicated the thrown and her son was coronated. Part of this holiday is essentially a city-wide garage sale. And many people go out on boats. And EVERYONE wears orange. I joined all of these traditions: wore a neon orange soccer jersey, went out early in the morning to walk through streets of sales, watched the queen give a speech (even though I didn't understand it), and spent the afternoon on a boat. 

MAY 4 :: Harlemmermeer Museum

Bike trips always sound wonderful - until it comes to the departure time and the wind is blasting from the very direction you're going toward. This was one of those days. It took us 1.5 hours to get there, and only half that to get back. More importantly though, after visiting this museum exhibiting a drained region of the Netherlands where the airport is today, we discovered a bowling alley right next door. So of course we did some bowling! And I'm terrible and always have been, but it's such a fun activity. And on the way home, it was beautiful, and we found a random field with a beautiful swing that was a perfect set for a photoshoot! 

MAY 5 :: Day Trip! (Keukenhof and Utrecht)

Keukenhof is essentially a huge garden exposition displaying Holland's beautiful flowers. So many flowers that were so well placed and maintained. I even got a fresh flower headband to wear! Then I continued on to a city called Utrecht. It boasts the tallest church tower in the Netherlands - 90 meters high for a total of 465 steps, all of which we climbed. The only thing is, we had a bit of trouble with dinner - there was some menu confusion. But it just contributed to a laughter-rich day.

MAY 9 :: Serve the City

At this point, I'd been in Amsterdam for 3 months. I really appreciate this city and have had many awesome experiences here. But I felt like all I had done was take from the city, and I wanted to have a chance to give back. The need is there, and I wanted to be a part in meeting it. One of the days I was feeling especially convicted of this, an opportunity was brought up in church, so I signed up to bake and deliver cookies to homeless people. Honestly, I didn't get to have much interaction with the homeless people because I didn't speak Dutch like the rest in my group. The experience, though, was really enlightening, and it was good to be able to encourage some of the local people who do these things on a regular basis.

 MAY 11 :: Halfweg Pump

Another bike trip! It wasn't windy, luckily, but it was pretty wet and rainy. These are the kinds of things you get used to when living in Amsterdam, though, and it was not even close to ruining our day. We got to see some steam pumps in use to pump water as it was done back in the day. For engineering friends reading this, they even had a temperature-entropy diagram on the wall that we deciphered! Afterward, we were invited over to one of the Calvin girls' relatives house in the area. They fed us lots of typically Dutch food and helped us play some Dutch games. Ask me later, and I'll teach you how to play. 

MAY 12 :: Day Trip! (Maastricht)

Maastricht is in the very southern tip of the Netherlands, peeking out into Belgium and Germany. Because of this, the landscape is completely different. We took the train, and for almost two and a half hours, everything is completely flat unless it's a dike. Then all of a sudden, it raises and there's hills! It's almost as if you're not in the Netherlands anymore. But it was really a cute city! We got to go into the underground tunnels created from limestone excavations - a network of 8,000 different tunnels (and it used to be even closer to 20,000). At one point, our guide turned off all of the lights to demonstrate the utter darkness; we walked along the wall, and pretty soon our fingers were covered in chalk and beginning to wear. We also went to the top of a hill and got a nice view, went to a fun interactive museum, ate Vietnamese at a carnival, and looked at old Spanish gate ruins.

MAY 13 :: Learning How to Fence

It turns out that one of the friends we made in our physics class fences, like the gentleman's sport most popularly known from it's appearance in the Parent Trap. Not only does he know how, but he also offered to teach some of us how! It's a really unique, physically and mentally demanding sport. It's not quite my thing due to my lack of hand-eye coordination, but it was still  very fun. And I ended up beating my friend in the end. He might have let me win, but I try not to think about that. ;)

MAY  18-19 :: Northern Roadtrip

For our sustainability class, we've gone on a number of excursions to bolster our in-class

experience. This was one of those. But for me, it served a secondary purpose. One other student and I planned and coordinated the entire trip in order to receive honors credit for the class. Seriously, best honors credit ever. So what did we do? We began at a living museum showing life in the past along the Zuiderzee (Southern Sea). It was essentially a replica town made from different abandoned buildings along the coast.

Then we took a ferry over to an island called Texel along the northwestern edge of the Netherlands. After a brewery tour showcasing the local beer, we had a delicious three course meal at a nearby restaurant, and headed out for a walk on the mudflats of the Northern Sea. We ran into a little mishap with the starting point, but we arrived late but just in time to continue on the walk. Then it was to the beach to camp in our 25 person tent! Too bad the temperature dipped below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. If I had not been sharing a mummy bag with another girl, it would have been an especially rough night.

But we recovered! Sunday we drove across the longest dike in the world (30 km or 18 miles long). We continued on to a nature reserve where we saw some wild horses and lots of other wildlife! For dinner, we ate a restaurant where they brought out a plate of raw meat for you to cook on the small grill set in the middle of the table. It was a great experience! The city it was in, though, was created on some of the new ground created by pumping out the water. It was built from the ground up by engineers - what a dream! It was the weirdest city I have ever been in. It was so completely unnatural, and I felt like it was something that I literally had come up with for myself in a dream. All in all, it was a great last hurrah with our Calvin group!

 MAY 24-28 :: Rendezvous in France

Over Christmas break, one of my best friends (Sarah Sufferling) and I came to a realization. Her mom was planning to visit me while on a European business trip and had told Sarah suspiciously to keep those very dates free. Turns out, they were both coming! I had been excited about this visit the entire time I was in Amsterdam, and it did not disappoint. It was awesome to be reunited, and in Paris of all places! We had a great time seeing the sights - Hotel de les Invalides, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, etc. In addition , we took a little day trip to Epernay - capital of Champagne country - to visit some of the Sufferlings' family friends. It was absolutely wonderful! They served us a 4 course meal for lunch and a 3 course meal for dinner - all delicious home cooked typical French food. We went on a champagne tour, saw the church where all of the French kings were ordained, caught the end of a choir concert in a basilica, and saw some breathtaking views of the French vineyards. After spending a day with these people, I felt like I knew them well and was completely comfortable with them - they were truly amazing and so extremely hospitable. And did I mention that I love french foods and especially breads/pastries?!

MAY  29 :: Tour Guiding in Amsterdam

Sarah then continued on to Amsterdam to meet me, and I got to show her some of the things I love about Amsterdam, including introducing her to many of my friends! It was so fun to be able to share my life for the past 4 months with her!

MAY 30 :: Final Exam for Physics

Oh yeah, and during all of this, I was supposed to be writing final papers and studying for my physics final. I ended up getting just about enough studying in, but the exam was really difficult. Hopefully I passed anyway? Cross my fingers?

MAY 31- JUNE 5 :: Austria Adventure

To wrap it all up, some friends and I rented a car (with a full roof moonroof) and drove to Austria for a few days! We stayed in a beautiful, spacious, luxurious apartment with a mountain view from our very own porch. I'm not sure it could have gotten much better. We took a day trip to the castle in Bavaria, Germany that inspired the Walt Disney castle, took a day trip into the city of Innsbruck, another day trip into Salzburg to reenact some of the Sound of Music, hiked into the mountains a bit, and even played in the snow on the top of the Untersburg. And on the way home, we drove through seven different countries! Austria is incredible. 

JUNE 7 ::  Home Again!

The day of the flight home has come. Three hours of sleep the night before due to packing procrastination and making time for goodbyes, but it all was finished. It's sad to see the time come to a close, but I've had such an incredible time that it's hard to be too sad. 

So there you have it. That is what I have been up to in the past month! So much adventure. So good.

 

out and about

First, a reflection as promised:

As it has now been over three weeks since my last blog, I'm becoming increasingly aware of how little time I have left and how quickly time passes. I think this is something we always talk about and seem to understand, but yet when it again becomes the reality, it hits us like a brick. So I'll blame my lack of posting on that brick. But really, when I realized I was halfway through my time here, a spark lit and a flurry of activity began, both from my intentions to make the most of my time and also from the many things that began or happened and added to my busyness. Isn't this always true, though? Isn't my time always short? My entire life is but a breath; I am only a mist. Having a very specific end date has been very helpful in forcing me to live intentionally, and while the busyness it causes is sometimes exhausting and overwhelming, it is overall a great thing. 

So, wait. I haven't made a post because I've been really busy. But what have I been busy with?

We'll start with some general updates.

The two classes I took through the local university at the beginning of the semester are over. They ended at the end of last month, which was halfway through the semester. For each, the whole grade hinged on a single final paper. Luckily, I got both done just in time in spite of travelling and other fun things.

I've started a physics course. It's great to be back in a science class - I definitely am in the right field of study. Although this class is just as many credits as each of the classes I've now completed, it meets four times a week rather than one. But it's been great. The professors are really good, and even though everyone makes jokes about the socialness (or lack thereof) of physics students, I've made some good friends and seem to have found my niche. Hopefully this doesn't mean I'm just a part of the stereotype.

Nowadays I have class everyday but Thursday. This leaves Thursdays as perfect days for visiting museums, coined as Museum Thursdays.

My focus lately has been more on Amsterdam and the Netherlands. This means that rather than travelling away from the Netherlands to other countries, I've been more intentionally travelling around the Netherlands, enjoying the city that I live in, and learning more about the culture that I'm submerged through these experiences and the friends I'm making here.

And here's some of the places/times that I've done that and a couple interesting things about them.

HAARLEM (The Founding Museum Thursday - 11th of April)

Grote Kerk: Mozart and Handel played on the famous organ in this church. It’s also where the famous artist Frans Hals was buried. It was different from other churches in that it seemed to be decorated in spurts, the most modern of which was a stained glass window installed within the past decade.

Corrie Ten Boom House: Corrie Ten Boom was a leader of the Resistance Movement against the SS during WWII in the Netherlands. She was an amazing woman of faith whose family hid six people in a secret spot behind a closet between an inside and the outside wall. Many lives were saved as a result of her efforts. She survived the concentration camps after she was arrested and went on to teach and live restoration and forgiveness around the world. This was especially neat since I so recently went to both the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and the SS and Holocaust Museums in Berlin. Obviously the background for each was the same, but the focus and perspective could not have been more different. Throughout everything, Corrie relied on God and hoped in his goodness. She saw God clearly even through these horrific events, and more importantly continued to love, adore, and follow him.

ZEELAND, DELTA WORKS (Stop One of Southern Roadtrip - 13th of April)

Neeltje Jan Delta Works: This was an semi-awkward cross between and engineering marvel and a playground. As in, there's a huge storm-surge barrier meant to hold off storms up to the ones that happen one in every ten thousand years, but there's also seal and sea lion shows, a waterslide, and a water playground. 

ROTTERDAM (Stop Two of Southern Roadtrip - 13th of April)

Rotterdam Architecture: Let’s just say it was super modern. Every building was completely different and often quite artsy. Because of WWII bombings, lots of buildings have been rebuilt, and they seem to have a lot of freedom in what sort of architecture they can use. 

Kubus Woning [Cube Houses]: These houses are basically cubes turned sideways and set on hexagonal base, meant to look like trees in a forest. It seems like it would become a lot of wasted space, but it would be pretty sweet to say you lived in one. 

The Euromast: Rotterdam’s version of the Space Needle. Super great views of the city! 

Pannenkoekenboot [Pancake Boat]: Two and a half hours of all-you-can-eat pancakes while on a boat along the Rhine River. It even had a ball pit (but I didn’t do that because those things are nasty). And we could go on the deck of the boat and look at the passing shipping containers, lit up in the night. My favorite pancake was one with brie and bacon, although the one with apples, cinnamon, and banana was also quite good. It really doesn’t get much better than that.

 DELFT (Stop Three of Southern Roadtrip - 14th of April)
        

     

Delft Blue, Delftware, Delft: We took a half canal boat, half walking tour of Delft. It's a really cute little city! Points of interest were the hundreds of bikes thrown into the canal as a congratualtory move after university graduation (since you should be getting a car soon), pretty but expensive Royal Delft pottery originally fashioned to mimic Chinese porcelain (ironically, now China makes some of the fake Delft), and the fact that the Old Church tower leans over 3 meters toward the water (which is more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa!). 

LEIDEN (Stop Four of Southern Roadtrip - 14th of April)
     So I thought I loved Delft, and then we went to Leiden...

Museum of Antiquities: Netherlands take on the Romans and the Egyptians and their own ancient history. 

Walking in the Sunshine: I think I had forgotten how nice the sun was. It was so nice that we got ice cream. And this ice cream happened to be the best coffee ice cream I've EVER had. 

Windmill Museum: We got to go up in a windmill (finally!), and it was winding while we were out on top on it's deck. I can finally check that one off of the Netherlands-Must-Do list!

Horticus Botanicus Leiden [Leiden Botanical Garden]: Just beautiful.

The Dunes [technically in Katwijk, but close enough]: So we got there literally about a minute before the sun was completely below the horizon, but after climbing through bushes, over barbed wire fences, and through stinging nettle, we got to see the sunset over the North Sea. It was cold, but it was beautiful. A great end to the day and a great couple days. 

AMSTERDAM (Museum Thursday that actually happened on Friday - 19th of April)

Van Gogh Museum: The actual museum is being remodeled, so it was temporarily in the Hermitage, but this was really quite neat! It gave a good description of the life of Van Gogh, and his paintings were organized by theme, color, and setting. I really like him.

ROTTERDAM AMSTERDAM (A Day Trip turned into a Day Stay - 21st of April)

 [The four sophomores of the trip had planned to go to Rotterdam for the day as most of the group was in London for the weekend, but on second thought, we did a little exploring of our own city instead.]

Museumplein Lawn: We joined the smattering of  people scattered on this lawn in picnicking in the sun. We bought a bottle of wine to make our picnic classy, yet only realized after that it was corked. What'd we do? Just push the cork into the bottle, of course! I was actually surprised at the fact that it actually worked. It was a wonderful picnic, too.

Rijksmuseum: This just opened, and it's one of the biggest art museums in the world. It was great, but it was packed. I saw Van Gogh, Vermeer, Rembrandt, and many other lesser known names.

Begijnhof: A real life secret garden. It was a group of houses for the Catholic beguines (basically nuns who hadn't taken vows). From 1580 for about two hundred years, Catholicism was illegal in the Netherlands, yet the government allowed this area to persist since they were peaceful. It is still a place where only women can live and is a nice oasis from the bustling city in which it lies. 

[And all of this happened basically because of our tram breaking down on the way to the station...]

ROTTERDAM (First Stop Travelling on the Day Train Pass - 27th of April)

Keringhuis: It was time to do a little engineers exploration, so a friend and I went on the hike out to one's of the world's biggest movable storm surge barriers. And it really was a hike. It was a good 45 minute walk from the train station, assuming you know where you're going, with no public transportation available. But after walking out on an abandoned train platform, crossing over one fence and through another, and then doing some interval running, we finally made it to our destination. This thing is huge - each fan is the size of the Eiffel Tower on its side. It takes 2.5 hours to close and has only closed once due to emergency since its inauguration in 1997. And for a single cycle, it uses 9 MW of energy, which is apparently about what 10,000 houses use in a year. You can't put a price on safety, though. And this thing was pretty sweet.

DORDRECHT (Second Stop Travelling on the Day Train Pass - 27th of April) 

Ark van Noach [Noah's Ark]: Yes, a boat built to scale of the ark Noah built chronicled in Genesis. The place itself seemed quite tacky and expensive, so we didn't go in. But it was neat to see with my own eyes how big the ark was. Too bad the plastic animals weren't quite so realistic. Also, the nativity scene didn't actually happen in the ark, did it? Didn't think so. 

S'GRAVENDEEL (Third Stop Travelling on the Day Train Pass - 27th of April)

Festival for the Prince's Birthday: It was the soon-to-be-king's birthday, so this little Dutch town was having a party! It was really great, and they had delicious potatoes cooked in the local style - in lard! 

Zip Line: And then we zip lined from the top of the church tower onto a platform in the nearby lake. How many people can say they've done that?

Giant Game of Musical Chairs: About 500 people played musical chairs around the lake!

So there's a lot of what I've done in the past three weeks!  Hope it wasn't too dull for you - it sure has been keeping me busy and has been quite enjoyable! At this point, I'd like to think I have a fairly good handle on the Netherlands and that I've been to quite a bit. And yet, there are still new things I learn everyday. I love it.

And tomorrow is Queen's Day! Exciting stuff happens all the time. It's too good. :)

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!

All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him.

Let the Amen sound from His people again,

Gladly for aye we adore Him.

blustery brussels and bustling barcelona back to back

It was a B-city girls' weekend! Six (sort of 5.5) girls travelling to two cities in five days = trouble waiting to happen? But both cities brought their A-game. (Don't worry, the puns end here. You can keep reading.)

In all seriousness, it was an incredible trip with some really beautiful, wonderful ladies. And yes, we took advantage of the all-girl-ness with some nail painting, MASH playing, chocolate eating, photo-op taking, scarf shopping, dress wearing - need I continue? I learned more about them than I otherwise could have and came to appreciate and love each and everyone in new and incredible ways.

I know, enough of the sappy. But what did we actually DO?

(brussels, belgium)

We hopped off the Megabus, landing almost in the very heart of Brussels. After getting our bearings a bit, we pulled out the Rick Steve's travel guide as discretely as possible and began exploring the city. We stopped at the main tourist attractions in the famous Grand Place, including the overrated Manneken Pis. Maybe part of that was the fact that I didn't understand his history: apparently, long ago many monarchies and government figures sailed into Brussels for an important, international meeting, and as they were landing "red carpet style", a young, nude child stood on the edge of the dock relieving himself. He was clueless, they were amused, and now a fountain stands in commemoration. We ended up using him as a reference point due to his proximity to our favorite waffle place and his popularity - if ever you turned a corner and saw hordes of tourists, you were almost certainly by this little guy. 

We then found some things Brussels is known for: chocolate, lace, and waffles. The Belgians really seem to love their chocolate, or at least know that tourists do. With chocolate shops littered all around and chocolate elephant and Town Hall sculptures, the temptation was all too strong. I've always loved lace, so that was great. And the waffles, oh the waffles. Over the short amount of time in Brussels, I got waffles three times because I loved them so much. Belgian waffles are actually different and incredible. Some were savory, some sweet. Some had the "toppings" as fillings, including one with bacon, cheese, and tomatoes, another with brownie batter. Then there were other sweet ones which had the syrup baked into the waffle itself and dark chocolate drizzled on top. YUM. 

We went to a choir concert inside the old St. Michael's and St. Gudula Cathedral. It was quite a neat experience, and they even sang some songs I recognized from my choir days! 

And then we were back to famous foods, eating mussels in Brussels. We were given free drinks of our choice and treated like princesses! At this point we were quite full from all of the Belgian cuisine and retired to our hotel for some good, old fashioned girl time. 

The next day entailed a photoshoot at a park with 52 statues to emulate, a trip to the Notre Dame of Brussels, shopping in both an antique market and a typical-for-us shopping mall, a choco-crawl to some of the most famous and oldest chocolatiers (like Godiva and Leonidas), and a tour of a Belgian brewery where the beer was fermented by the yeast in the air.

What a rich food culture! That seemed to be what made Belgium different; the architecture was not very distinct and it seemed to be more of a conglomeration than it's own identity. At least that was our impression until we took the hour long train ride from the city to the southern airport. Needless to say, the airport was quite a ways outside of the city, but it really was a cool chance to get a more well-rounded view of the country.

(barcelona, spain)

If I could live in Barcelona, I think I would be one happy girl. We came off the plane (minus a girl who had to return to Amsterdam, hence the earlier "5.5"), it was warm, people spoke some Spanish, and that was just the start. We took a bus to central Barcelona, basked a bit in the sun, and then had an (unhealthy but) satisfying lunch of chocolate and churros. But this was no ordinary hot chocolate. It was almost the consistency of pudding it was so rich. You'd think by this time I'd be sick of chocolate, but I think it just made me more addicted... 

And then we went to our hostel, called the Hipstel. Though the name sounds a bit tacky, this was one of the coolest places I've ever stayed. It was clean, safe, warm, welcoming, well-decorated, and had free coffee. It's kind of an issue that this is the first and only hostel I've stayed in and it set the bar about as high as it could go. 

In Barcelona, I was just a girl chasin' her dream. In all my years of Spanish I developed a love for the language and the culture - being there was really a dream come true. We saw La Sagrada Familia, a modern day cathedral yet unfinished, followed by Parc Guell, a gorgeous mountainous park filled with artistic formations and mosaics, both designed by the famous artist/architect/mathematician Gaudi. These were things about in school, and I was seeing them with my own two eyes! (And it was still great though it was POURING when we were at the Parc. So much for rain in Spain staying in the plain...)

One of my goals when I go to another country is to try the indigenous foods, which in this case was fulfilled by a Catalan dinner of baked cheesy tomato bread, goat cheese topped beef, and flan with sangria to drink beside. Incredible. I also had helado (ice cream) and paella the next day to top it all off.

Another girl and I decided to go back to La Sagrada Familia so that we could go inside. After a little hassle and confusion due to lack of signage, we had tickets and entered what would prove to be one of the most breathtaking structures I've ever seen. I was overwhelmed with the beauty and creativity of this church - it was so different than any other we had seen in all of our travels and still utterly incredible. For a minute, I was speechless, and when I finally regained ability to speak, all I could say were things like "This is so beautiful! This is amazing! Oh my gosh!". Gaudi is officially my favorite artist. Everything he did was inspired by nature - the columns supporting the church collectively look like a forest, the spires resemble bunches of grapes, some of the detail shows that of a honeycomb. And then he used math to make it all work; the windows are strategically placed to let light into the church at the right angles and positions. So take some of the things I love most (architecture, math, and nature), give it to Gaudi, and out comes beauty. 

And then add to the trip a cable car ride up to the top of a mountain overlooking the entire city and the Mediterranean Sea, a dip in the Sea itself and it's sand in between my toes, a walk down the famous La Rambla, and another night with the girls. 

I was quite sad to say goodbye the next day and make the long journey home. But I could not have been more pleased with how the trip worked out and how wonderful it had all been. At some point on this trip, we made the realization that we were becoming quite the competent tourists. This was further proved when though arriving at the airport only one hour before our flight, we were still second in line to board.

So in a nut shell, we went to Brussels to have wonderful, fattening food and then to Barcelona to soak up some sun and maybe even a hint of artistic genius.

And then, like a splash of cold water in the face, I was back home to write a paper worth my entire grade for a class in less than 24 hours. Smart? Meh. Worth it? Totally.

Now physics starts, marking the halfway point of my time here! Reflections to come? Until then...

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (ROMANS 15:13)