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| KatieHi family and friends,
We are now safely home and extremely tired. This was such a great trip, I cannot wait to talk to and to see all of you. Thank you for all of your prayers, I know that they protected and guided us along the way. I will get in touch with all of you soon! Some pretty exciting things happened on our trip! I love you all.
Katie | | |
| The Graduates-Staying Regular There is something to say about the fact that six girls were able to obliterate two loaves of bread in such a short space of time. For this I blame Emilie. (She sits next to me, aghast.) For it was she who introduced us to the pure joy that is nutella. This wondrous substance is such that we would eat ANYTHING as long is it was topped with a shmear of nutella. So delicious I can barely move. (picture me in a comatose state) We went as far as to entertain the thought of eating toilet paper with nutella...except not only is that weird, but we are also running short and would only serve to cause serious problems later. No gooda.
Star date...Friday night. This magical night began as any other-similarly to any other. Unlike previous nights we did not attempt to fit three extra people into the van built for 7. We had somehow managed to procure a van that actually fit all the passengers, amazing. Our destination was the humble home of the Bernot's (not sure about the spelling, pronounced "bear knots".) These lovely people invited us into their home to enjoy cold ham and salads and all good things. Actually, that was Pride and Prejudice. We did, however, enjoy brats, pasta salad, and these fantastic bear shaped chips. It was all amazing. We also had the opportunity to awkwardly communicate with two lovely girls who knew way more English than we knew German. Although talking was difficult, they were really sweet and humored our endless questions regarding their lives. The night was topped off with...you will never guess... yodeling. Apparently grandparent Bernots are excellent singers. They sang us some songs in German, and then did some yodeling, they were absolutely amazin. Wow. All in all it was an excellent evening which allowed us to see how close the families over here are. They were all crazy nice, and it was neat that we were able to visit with them.
To quote Monty Python "Between our quests we wear sequined vests and impersonate Clark Gable." No that line is not fitting to anything I have written, or anything I plan to write, I just like the way it sounds.
Saturday, a day that will live in infamy. Maybe not, but it was a good day none the less. Our group was presented with a quest, okay it was more like an invitation to go visit Konstanz (again spelling dont count.) We picknicked by some crazy rotating statue which appeared to be holding Kermit the Frog aloft. Apparently this was not actually what the statue was depicting, despite this flaw it was still neat. There was also a really amazing church. There was a map in the back that showed all the different parts of the church and what time they had been constructed. It was beautiful, it was also the site of a traditional African wedding. It may have been weird that we, as well as many other tourists, refused to leave the church until the bride walked down the aisle. It was here that we went shopping. We experienced the pure joy that is H&M. What a fantastic store. What fantastically long lines to get into the dressing room. Although three fourths of the room was dedicated to mens fashions, I triumphed and purchased some awesome shirts. However, the train awaited, and we were soon dragged away by force from the store. Our night was topped off in a spectacular way...can you say "locksmithing?" Okay, locksmithing had absolutely nothing to do with our night, rather it was the Rhine Falls that dominated our evening. They were amazing. We walked down, which means we also walked back up, about three hundred stairs. It was totally worth it, the scene at the bottom was amazing. Don't worry, lots of pictures were taken, so I will not bore you with words that will inadequately express the beauty of the falls. It was an excellent day.
Sunday, what a day. We had the opportunity to sleep in, and despite this, we still fell asleep in church. I had a hard time paying attention anyway, but seeing as how the sermon was in German, I didn't stand a chance. Lunch was an excellent kabob. Although the size was enormous, Joanna managed to finish hers. Wow. I have witnessed the impossible. After lunch we went to Stein an Rhine. A loose translation being-"Amanda is full of it." This afforded yet another chance to go shopping. The area was lovely, and the epitome of the word "quaint." However, it rained the entire time, luckily we had a motley collection of umbrellas. We browsed, bought some small souvenirs, and in general, had an excellent time. We saw another church, this one less elaborate, but awesome in its own way. It contained a large wine press, and some barrels that we climbed in. We are quite the mature bunch. As usual, it was a wonderful day.
Monday, a day for Zurich. The rain continued here as well, but despite this, we shopped on what may have been the most expensive street, everrrr. We actually only shopped in the H&M, we skipped over the swiss watch and jewelry stores. Some of us attempted to find a shirt for a sister, but unfortunately were unable, and some would like to apologize to that sister in advance for the lameness of the souvenir that I will be coming home with. Sorey. Upon getting back, we tramped over to another home, and started to watch Million Dollar Baby. This was probably the only time during the entire trip where were did not giggle uncontrollably every five minutes. We ate some fantastic strawberry cake, and eventually walked home...in the rain. Vat a lovely day.
Tuesday, off to a bad start. We woke up thirteen minutes before breakfast. This in itself is not bad, except that three people intended to shower before said breakfast, and the time constraint made this rather impossible. I personally ran out of time for breakfast, but did make it down stairs in time to watch Emilie's parents throwing bread and peanut butter into sacks for our lunch. Apparently, our train was to leave in like ten minutes time. Oops. We quickly collected our things, and drove off to the train station. This was one of those times when we attempted to squish a few extras into the car, so you can imagine just how comfortable we all were. The important thing is that we made it to the train on time. It was quite comfortable and we were able to nap on the leisurely ride to Bellinzona, in the Italian part of Switzerland. Having arrived, we visited the ruins of a castle, and spent quite a while climbing up all the walls, and walking over the grounds. It was really neat, but impossibly windy. We took the liberty of taking numerous pictures of our hair as it blew straight into the air. Then we ate some very delicious, very authentic pizza. It was tasted amazing, but our waitress was rather surly, and seemed to be peeved about our inability to speak the language. We browsed some more, and took lots of pictures. The train ride home was fun in that we got to do it Harry Potter style. The train had the compartments with the sliding glass doors...and that is where the similarity to Harry Potter ends...sorry if I got your hopes up. When we got back here, we ate authentic European McDonalds. Randi and I opted for the veggi burger. Interestingly enough it contained whole vegetables, and tasted remarkably similarly to a taco. It was fab-o. So ends another excellent day for us. I should retire, and check on my laundry.
Lots of love,
AA
Hey g-ma, it's Randi- I emailed you some pictures, so I just wanted to remind you to check your email because you said you didn't check it very often. Sorry it took me so long to email you, but I hope you enjoy the pictures. Love you! | | |
| KatieHi family and friends!
We are wrapping up our experience at EUNC. It is so amazing here. I will miss ending this part of the trip. The community on campus is wonderful. Our class diversity has really opened my eyes to Christians not only in America and Europe, but all over the world. I cannot wait to share my experiences with all of you. This Thursday half of our team will be leaving EUNC to travel to Montpelier to begin our ministry there. The rest of the group will join us Saturday after their courses are complete. Continue to pray for us as our journey progresses. I miss you and love you all. | | |
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Adam Jantz
So we went to Singen today and we hiked all the way up to the top of the castle there. I would show you pictures but xanga is not letting me upload the pics. It's bedtime again. I have been up to lonng and we need to be up and ready by 5:45 am tomorrow cause we are traveling in the swiss alps. I will put pics up when ever we figure this out! | | |
| Ryan StroudHey everybody. This is only my fifth day in Europe, and I have already experienced so much. My group was able to spend the afternoon in Zurich. We were actually able to visit the home church of one of the most famous church leaders during the Protestant Reformation, Zwingli. Yesterday, we traveled on the Eurail throughout Bavaria, and we were able to tour Schloss Neuschwantstein. If I describe it, I really would not do it justice. So you will just have to look it up on Google or something like that. The trip has been an incredible blessing. I just want to say a big thank you to all those who helped me go on this trip. Please continue to pray for God's hand of protection and transformation as we experience what it means to be a Christian in Europe.
Ryan
P.S. Dad, Mom, Amanda, Grant, and Jacob, I love you guys. | | |
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