what?!?! i haven't written since italy?? oh my lanta.. well it is going to be impossible to catch you up but i will do my best. haha A LOT can happen in 5 days. where to begin...
florence. is. beautiful. haha just thinking back to it makes me smile so big. it feels like that was forever ago. we did a lot of cool things in florence but i think instead of telling you everything i have done i will tell you what i have learned. but let me tell you about rome really quick. rome wouldn't have been half as amazing if i didn't have jord here with me but because of him rome has made my whole trip. the people i have met are incredible. i will talk about them in a minute. alright so here is a list of things we have done in rome. i know i will probably spell some of them wrong sorry. we visited the pantheon (incredible!), ate gelato, saw the ancient roman city, saw the trevvi (?) fountain, the vatican, like 6 churches, ate some more gelato, shopped, went to the temple grounds, ate more gelato, and saw the pope. yes i saw the pope today. haha at one point we got pretty close to him too. it was weird though how they worship him. they put him on a jeep thing and drove him around the vatican while everyone was chanting and listening to funny music. its not what i thought is would be like at all. but im still happy i got to experience it.
shades and i went to visit three different families. i enjoyed it very much. haha italians feed you so much and we went to their houses back to back and i was dying. i swear i have gained like 15 pounds. the first two families didn't speak english. well the first knew a few words and could kind of understand me but the second couldn't at all. so i sat there for 2 hours and listened to jordan speak italian with some of his favorite people and it made me so happy because i could tell how happy jordan was. i wish you could have seen his face last night when we finally got home he was beaming. he said he would pay the 3500 dollars just for these last two days. he is in heaven. anyways the third family we went to visit was SO amazing. it was an extended family that found the gospel through their cousin (peachy) and changed their lives. they shut down their family owned restaurant so that they all could attend church on sunday. they have made incredible sacrifices for the gospel and it was so neat to finally be able to meet them and talk to them about their conversions and their lives now. we met up with sharon and jerome (cousins) and then went to eric and ann's house (sharon's sisters place) where they had a party for jordan. they even invited the chef from the restaurant peter, who was recently baptized. there was also some girl there that everyone called bing bing but i never learned her real name haha. they are all Philippians and i now want to live in the phillipines. haha do you know how cool it would be to serve a mission there? mom i bet that thought makes you so happy! haha. but they bore testimony in almost everything they said and i fell in love with them instantly. no wonder jordan was so happy on his mission.
well that was the highlight of rome. besides the food. italian food is amazing. haha we its kind of funny we all center our plans around meals and then make plans around that. i love it.
today there was supposed to be a big earthquake in rome but it never came. 20 percent of the city left last night. haha so people were kind of freaking out today in the city but luckily nothing happened. that i am aware of haha. but we were in the metros at the time it was supposed to hit and grace was freaking out hahaha.
right now i am in a city called osteo, which is a city on the edge of the Mediterranean sea about an hour outside of rome. we went swimming and played on the beach this afternoon and it was sweet. i love the weather here.
well here are a few things i have learned these last few days. number one, life is about experiences. i need to stop worrying about material things and instead look for opportunities to experience life and continue to learn and explore new things. number two, people are so amazing. everyone has a story and a reason for why they are who they are. i am SO grateful for the people i have met these last few weeks. the people in italy along with the people on this tour. i have made two amazing friends these past two weeks and they make me so happy. haha caitlyn reminds me a lot of allison and is hilarious and devyn is just awesome. number three, i am grateful for theraflu. haha i have been sick today (which is why this post is the way it is) and the medicine here just doesn't compare to my theraflu. haha.
well, we fly out for spain tomorrow. im really excited! jason aren't you jealous?? haha it will be fun. and then after sapin we are going home!! i cant believe how time flies. even though i have loves being here in italy, i will be happy to go home. i hate living out of a suitcase and i am missing you all like crazy!!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Austria!!
haha. vienna was an adventure. i enjoyed it. it is so weird going to a new country every third day with people speaking a different lauguage and eating different foods and acting differently towards you. the people of vienna were not the nicest i've met but i still enjoyed it. haha i will leave it at that.
vienna is a city of music. the first night we arrived we went to a Bach orchestra concert which was really good. i LOVE music so i think that i appreciated it a lot more than most of the others in our group. haha ok so here is how vienna went- our teachers take us into the middle of the city square tuesday morning and give us a 48 hour metro ticket and 30 euros and said we will see ou al thursday morning at 830. dont be late or we will leave you. haha my jaw seriously dropped. i was like what the crap?! haha none of us knew anything about the city. we didn't even have a map. but let me tell you 30 euros plus the money in our pockets and 2 days in vienna opens up endless possibilities. i loved it. we went to this huge cemetery where beethoven is burried along with quite a few other famous musicians. there was also a large section where they burried all the jews and it was a very humbling and sacred place. the part of the cemetery that had been set aside for the jews was SO overfilled and had been vandalized under the direction of hitler and they never went back and fixed it. so they pretty much let it go and it was honestly like a forest in there. but it was VERY very beautiful and i loved the peace that i felt there.
we also went to a few palaces. there was one that had this GIGANTIC garden in the back. it was actually Marie-Antoinette's childhood home. well one of them. but the gardens i swear were at least a square mile and were so beautiful. some day i want to go back there.
i love the food in vienna. i have eaten more in the last three days than i have probably the tow weeks before i came. but it is so worth it haha. the food just keeps gettin better and better. we went to this medieval restaurant and they brought out these huge platters of meat and mashed potatoes and we were directed to eat the food using only our hands. haha it was good and a fun experience. and nelly made her baby crying noise in ther and people were staring and made it totally worth the whol night. haha i'll explain that next paragraph.
we also went to an opera last night. i know an opera in vienna!! haha but im not going to lie it wasn't the best experience. it was in a different language, s owe had to keep looking down at the translator screen so you couldn't watch the opera. and we had to stand so... we left at intermission. haha nobody liked it very much. haha funny story. someone said something negative about the opera, something i will not say on my blog haha, and nelly started laughing so hard that she was crying. and it reminded me EXACTLY of my mom. and then jordan started laughing so hard at nelly that HE was crying. i have honestly never seen him do that. it was so funny. nelly is the funniest lady i hav ever met. she can make this sound that sounds exactly like a crying baby and often does it when we are in concerts/restaurants just to weird people out and i LOVE it. hahahahaha.
well thats vienna. today we went to a place called velden. im not going to lie i think this place might top paris. for those of you who have been to priest lake it is like that but ten times prettier. i know i didn't think it was possible either. i have never seen a more beautiful place in my whole life. we are staying at a "youth hostile" which really isnt like a hostile at all. this place is a camp where kids come in the summer and there is a beautiful lake, canoes, boats, all kinds of sports courts, a pool, biking etc. when we first got here we went swimming in the lake which was awesome and then me, grace, shades, devyn, and caitlyn (two awesome girls i have met on the tour) went and rode bikes into town and all over in the forest for a couple of hours. today had been one of my favorite so far. but im pretty sure i have said that every day haha. well tomorrow is italy! shades is freaking out!! im so hapy to be there with him. i am SO excited for italy. i know its going to be over so soon and im sad but i have loved every moment of europe and am so grateful i have had this opportunity to learn and grow.
vienna is a city of music. the first night we arrived we went to a Bach orchestra concert which was really good. i LOVE music so i think that i appreciated it a lot more than most of the others in our group. haha ok so here is how vienna went- our teachers take us into the middle of the city square tuesday morning and give us a 48 hour metro ticket and 30 euros and said we will see ou al thursday morning at 830. dont be late or we will leave you. haha my jaw seriously dropped. i was like what the crap?! haha none of us knew anything about the city. we didn't even have a map. but let me tell you 30 euros plus the money in our pockets and 2 days in vienna opens up endless possibilities. i loved it. we went to this huge cemetery where beethoven is burried along with quite a few other famous musicians. there was also a large section where they burried all the jews and it was a very humbling and sacred place. the part of the cemetery that had been set aside for the jews was SO overfilled and had been vandalized under the direction of hitler and they never went back and fixed it. so they pretty much let it go and it was honestly like a forest in there. but it was VERY very beautiful and i loved the peace that i felt there.
we also went to a few palaces. there was one that had this GIGANTIC garden in the back. it was actually Marie-Antoinette's childhood home. well one of them. but the gardens i swear were at least a square mile and were so beautiful. some day i want to go back there.
i love the food in vienna. i have eaten more in the last three days than i have probably the tow weeks before i came. but it is so worth it haha. the food just keeps gettin better and better. we went to this medieval restaurant and they brought out these huge platters of meat and mashed potatoes and we were directed to eat the food using only our hands. haha it was good and a fun experience. and nelly made her baby crying noise in ther and people were staring and made it totally worth the whol night. haha i'll explain that next paragraph.
we also went to an opera last night. i know an opera in vienna!! haha but im not going to lie it wasn't the best experience. it was in a different language, s owe had to keep looking down at the translator screen so you couldn't watch the opera. and we had to stand so... we left at intermission. haha nobody liked it very much. haha funny story. someone said something negative about the opera, something i will not say on my blog haha, and nelly started laughing so hard that she was crying. and it reminded me EXACTLY of my mom. and then jordan started laughing so hard at nelly that HE was crying. i have honestly never seen him do that. it was so funny. nelly is the funniest lady i hav ever met. she can make this sound that sounds exactly like a crying baby and often does it when we are in concerts/restaurants just to weird people out and i LOVE it. hahahahaha.
well thats vienna. today we went to a place called velden. im not going to lie i think this place might top paris. for those of you who have been to priest lake it is like that but ten times prettier. i know i didn't think it was possible either. i have never seen a more beautiful place in my whole life. we are staying at a "youth hostile" which really isnt like a hostile at all. this place is a camp where kids come in the summer and there is a beautiful lake, canoes, boats, all kinds of sports courts, a pool, biking etc. when we first got here we went swimming in the lake which was awesome and then me, grace, shades, devyn, and caitlyn (two awesome girls i have met on the tour) went and rode bikes into town and all over in the forest for a couple of hours. today had been one of my favorite so far. but im pretty sure i have said that every day haha. well tomorrow is italy! shades is freaking out!! im so hapy to be there with him. i am SO excited for italy. i know its going to be over so soon and im sad but i have loved every moment of europe and am so grateful i have had this opportunity to learn and grow.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
London
well, i haven't written since i arrived in London so i will share some of the highlights. but before i talk about london i've gotta tell you about salisbury. it was so beautiful. i loved that place. and they had amazing food haha. it is just like this cute little old fashion european town and i loved it so much. we went to the salisbury cathedral which was really neat. i fell in love with the stained glass window at the front of the cathedral. its so funny because you cant even see the stained glass from the outside but once you walk in and see the light shining through the windows it is amazing. i know i have an obsession with the stained galss windows but i cant help it. they all tell stories of the life of christ and they are beautiful. i also saw the original magna carta there which was really cool. ok so london...
friday was the day of the wedding. it was CRAZY. haha im not going to lie my first impression of London was not the best. everyone was drunk and it smelled like smoke and beer everywhere. but i love it now haha. not as much as paris, but i still love it. but nothing will ever compare to paris. ok so friday we went to this place called trafalger square. it is the city center and tons of peop0le just hang out there and it is surrounded by all these giant buildings and museums and such. but the wedding procession had just gone through there and so everyone was going crazy but it was funny. friday night was les mis. im not going to lie i fell asleep for part of the first act haha. my sleeping patterns have been so bad and so honestly every time i sit down for more than 5 minutes i am out. im not even kidding i fell aslep 4 times today just sitting down on benches haha. but the second half was really good! haha i know im lame. i would like to see it again. but the orchestra was amazing and the voices were amazing and i really enjoyed it.
saturday we went to the british museum and then to a place called portabello road. it is like this giant flee market. after that nelly got tired and so we hopped on a double decker bus to see some of the sights in london. ok now let me tell you about nelly because i have a funny story about her. she is probably 50 years old. she is a studnet at byui and has 6 kids. she is from guatemala and is no taller than 5 feet. she is HILARIOUS. her and jordan have become best friends so she comes with us everywhere. haha ok so we decide to ge t off the bus in the largest shopping mall in england which was the first mistake. we went into the nearest store and it was the craziest thing i have every seen. it was a gigantic store and they were having crazy sales and so it was PACKED. i have a picture i wish i could download it. but nelly just like took off and none of us knew where she was at. so we shopped for a while and then started looking for her and no lie we looked for an hour. so you know how difficult it is to find a 5 foot nothing guatemalean in a store packed with europeans? haha it isn't easy. so finally after an hour we found her. and i was like nelly you need to stick with me we are getting out of this store. no im not even lying we got on the escalator and turned around and she was gone. IT TOOK US ANOTHER HOUR TO FIND HER. haha i was so pissed i felt really bad for grace. finally we just went outside and sat down and the curb and started laughing/crying. haha but we eventually got out of there.
WICKED WAS AMAZING. i loved it so much. i wish i could go back. the music was better than the actual cd and it was one of the coolest things ever.
today has probably been my favorite day so far. we went to church this morning which was the coolest experience ever. this past week i have been in places that are very unfamiliar to me with an unfamiliar language and unfamiliar people and unfamiliar customs but the moment i walked into church this morning the spirit was so strong and i felt like i was home. the spirit was incredibly strong the whole meeting and it was so neat for me to realize that no matter where you are in the world you will always find the gospel and the spirit to be constant. it was just another reminder to me of how amazing this gospel is and how blessed i am to have it in my life. i cannot imagine what it would be like if i didn't have a testimony of this church.
after church we went to the buckingham palace to watch the guard change. then we went to the national gallery which i loved. i have fallen in love with vincent van gogh's paintings. then we went to st pauls cathedral. you need to look it up online it is so beautiful. then we went to an organ recital in westminster abby. that was really cool. they still had the flowers and trees in there from the wedding. and the organist was amazing. i really enjoyed that.
im sorry i just rambled forever. next time i wont be so detailed haha. it is crazy i have only been gone a week and i have gianed an appreciation for so many things already. here is a list of the top 5:
1. family/friends.
2. the gospel
3.being able to communicate.
4. american food (i know im crazy)
5. giving tay babe a hug. haha i miss him so bad. mom could you give him one for me? hannah as well.
well i hope you guys are having fun in california! i cant believe you didn't take jason with you. you guys are mising out.
well in the morning we fly to vienna. this week consists of austria and italy this weekend. wahoo!! i love and miss you all!
friday was the day of the wedding. it was CRAZY. haha im not going to lie my first impression of London was not the best. everyone was drunk and it smelled like smoke and beer everywhere. but i love it now haha. not as much as paris, but i still love it. but nothing will ever compare to paris. ok so friday we went to this place called trafalger square. it is the city center and tons of peop0le just hang out there and it is surrounded by all these giant buildings and museums and such. but the wedding procession had just gone through there and so everyone was going crazy but it was funny. friday night was les mis. im not going to lie i fell asleep for part of the first act haha. my sleeping patterns have been so bad and so honestly every time i sit down for more than 5 minutes i am out. im not even kidding i fell aslep 4 times today just sitting down on benches haha. but the second half was really good! haha i know im lame. i would like to see it again. but the orchestra was amazing and the voices were amazing and i really enjoyed it.
saturday we went to the british museum and then to a place called portabello road. it is like this giant flee market. after that nelly got tired and so we hopped on a double decker bus to see some of the sights in london. ok now let me tell you about nelly because i have a funny story about her. she is probably 50 years old. she is a studnet at byui and has 6 kids. she is from guatemala and is no taller than 5 feet. she is HILARIOUS. her and jordan have become best friends so she comes with us everywhere. haha ok so we decide to ge t off the bus in the largest shopping mall in england which was the first mistake. we went into the nearest store and it was the craziest thing i have every seen. it was a gigantic store and they were having crazy sales and so it was PACKED. i have a picture i wish i could download it. but nelly just like took off and none of us knew where she was at. so we shopped for a while and then started looking for her and no lie we looked for an hour. so you know how difficult it is to find a 5 foot nothing guatemalean in a store packed with europeans? haha it isn't easy. so finally after an hour we found her. and i was like nelly you need to stick with me we are getting out of this store. no im not even lying we got on the escalator and turned around and she was gone. IT TOOK US ANOTHER HOUR TO FIND HER. haha i was so pissed i felt really bad for grace. finally we just went outside and sat down and the curb and started laughing/crying. haha but we eventually got out of there.
WICKED WAS AMAZING. i loved it so much. i wish i could go back. the music was better than the actual cd and it was one of the coolest things ever.
today has probably been my favorite day so far. we went to church this morning which was the coolest experience ever. this past week i have been in places that are very unfamiliar to me with an unfamiliar language and unfamiliar people and unfamiliar customs but the moment i walked into church this morning the spirit was so strong and i felt like i was home. the spirit was incredibly strong the whole meeting and it was so neat for me to realize that no matter where you are in the world you will always find the gospel and the spirit to be constant. it was just another reminder to me of how amazing this gospel is and how blessed i am to have it in my life. i cannot imagine what it would be like if i didn't have a testimony of this church.
after church we went to the buckingham palace to watch the guard change. then we went to the national gallery which i loved. i have fallen in love with vincent van gogh's paintings. then we went to st pauls cathedral. you need to look it up online it is so beautiful. then we went to an organ recital in westminster abby. that was really cool. they still had the flowers and trees in there from the wedding. and the organist was amazing. i really enjoyed that.
im sorry i just rambled forever. next time i wont be so detailed haha. it is crazy i have only been gone a week and i have gianed an appreciation for so many things already. here is a list of the top 5:
1. family/friends.
2. the gospel
3.being able to communicate.
4. american food (i know im crazy)
5. giving tay babe a hug. haha i miss him so bad. mom could you give him one for me? hannah as well.
well i hope you guys are having fun in california! i cant believe you didn't take jason with you. you guys are mising out.
well in the morning we fly to vienna. this week consists of austria and italy this weekend. wahoo!! i love and miss you all!
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