Freiburg, Germany

Well, the trip to Germany has come to a close and I am back home in Indiana. The time I had with my friends was priceless and I had an amazing time, I really hope I can go back to visit again someday.

Our last couple days we spent in Freiburg which were amazing. It was so nice to get to see where Heather went to school while she was there and the city where she met Mike! While we were there we stayed in our friend Ben's flat which was very generous of him and his roommates.

The trip home was a bit rough with the time change and the many layovers with trains and planes. I can say though that for my flights to Australia and back I'm going to need to find more to do to entertain myself!

It's so sad to say that the trip is over. I really wasn't ready to leave, a goodbye has never felt so hard before. My friends are very dear to my heart, especially Heather since she's been my best friend since we were little, it's so hard having her so far away and leaving with the thoughts of not knowing when I'm going to see her in person again. But the Lord is good and I pray that I'll be able to spend more time with her and her husband in the future.

I am so thankful that I was able to go on the trip and definitely will be using what I have learned from it for my trips to come.

Some other photos from Freiburg:

Kristin, Heather, Jenny

Kristin, Mike, Heather, Ben, Jenny being silly. :)

Bergneustadt, Germany

Well, now that I've been in Germany for a couples I'm going to have to say that it's just beautiful here. Heather and Mike live in a Beautiful town called Bergneustadt. I know that I have mentioned this before, but the fact that it is surrounded by forest in absolutely beautiful.

Speaking of these forests, Kristin and I went on a really nice walk today in the woods while Heather was at school and gave my some alone time. It was so nice and we were able to take some beautiful pictures. Being in a place like this is like looking at a beautiful painting created by God, He is so awesome!

Tomorrow we are supposed to go with Heather to a couple of her morning appointments and then explore a couple other towns possibly as well as get to see the new apartment that her Mike will be moving into in the next few weeks I believe. I know they are very excited.

Here are some photos from Kristin and I's adventure in the woods:

The road Heather and Mike's house is on.

The bridge that covered the starting point of our trail.

A pretty little stream we found.

In the woods.

The moss that covers the entire ground.

Kristin and I

The tall and thin trees

Kristin looking pretty!

Bergneustadt, Germany

Hallo aus Deutschland!

So, we (Kristin and I) have been in Germany for two days and it is amazing. We've been kept busy so I haven't taken as many pictures as I did in Paris quite yet, but we'll be here longer and there will be plenty of opportunities for picture taking. :)

Heather and Mike have a very cute apartment and they've decorated it up very nicely. The landscape around them is also very beautiful. Can you imagine looking out your kitchen window and seeing the woods?! From what I've seen so far, that is how most of Germany looks. I love it!

The one thing about the two countries in Europe that I have now been to, is the driving. It is rather intense to me; there is no being polite and allowing the other person to go, it's drive into that traffic and pray for your life! :P People also just walk out in the street to cross with all the fast cars. Sooo, I guess you just hope that the car can stop in time?!...

Well, as we continue to spend more time with Heather and Mike I'm sure there will be more to write.

Some pictures from our past two days:

The Cathedral in Cologne, located right outside the train station!

A picture outside the Cathedral.

Kristin's picture outside the cathedral.

We found an H&M in Gummersbach!

The main strip in Gummersbach.

In Gummersbach.

Le Troisième Jour

Well, today has been a pretty relaxing day and another good day of wonderful weather. The day started out a little rough, my stomach and my medicine didn't mix well, but by about 11:00 I was back to working.

Our adventure of the today was walking up and down Le Rue Mouffetard the older street in France, which was cram packed with restaurants, bakeries, la glace, and many different kinds of shops. You could definitely tell that it was older due to the street itself becoming twice as small as the streets we have been walking on the past two days.

Tomorrow we leave on the train around 8:00 in the morning for Klone, Germany where we will explore around until Heather and Mike come to get us once they are done at school. It will be very exciting to see them and share time with them over the rest of our trip.

Pictures of the day:

Le Rue Mouffetard

A part of the stairwell that was very tight

and a lot of fun to get our luggage through.

The never ending stairwell to our room on the 4th floor (5th in America).

Another view to the left looking out our window.

I love all the bold colors that they paint with!!!

La deuxième journée

Bonjour!

So our second day in Paris has been wonderful! We did an extreme amount of walking, we added it up at the end of the day and ended up with 15 miles. Let's just say our legs and feet our feeling it, but we are not complaining.

Today we walked past le Palais du Justice as well as stopping to see le Tour Eiffel. We sat in the grass and just looked at le Tour Eiffel for a while, it is so massive!

We've also stopped and had amazing french food. It's so great how you can go into a bakery and get bread for super cheap. We bought a bagguette too with one of our meals and it only cost 1 euro which equals out to be about 75 cents. It was so good!

We also walked about le Louvre. A lot of things are closed on Tuesdays, which was the case today with le Louvre. I don't think we are going to actually go in though, the art museums are expensive and have super looooong lines. But just the outer parts of the buildings are very beautiful!

So here are some pictures from our day!

Le Notre Dame de Paris

A city view.

One of our delicious meals!

Enjoying our bedroom view.

Bienvenue a Paris!

So, after a delay in Indy and in Chicago due to severe storms we finally made it to Paris about an hour later than scheduled. Getting out of the plane and going through customs was very simple. The unnerving part was going to get your luggage and making your way around the airport because there were soldiers walking around the airport with rather large automatic weapons swung around their front ready to use.

It is so beautiful here, it is hard to believe that I actually AM here. Our hostel is in central Paris, very close to Le Notre Dame and Le Louvre, as well as the University of Paris.

It is a tad bit strange when you get into the city where our hostel is (very central and "downtown"). You would expect a big city to be loud and super busy, but the people here are not all that loud and everything just seems super calm. The people we have met so far have been very kind, probably because I have been attempting the French that I have not used since high school, but I did have a waiter teach me some new words!

Something that made me and Kristin giggle were the sirens for the emergency vehicles and how different they sound. We decided that compared to the ones used in America they sound like an apology, "Excusez-moi, pardon moi!"

So, we will be here for all of tomorrow (tuesday) and Wednesday. Then we will take the train to Koln (I couldn't find where to get the accents, but technically there should be two dots above that o), Germany where we will meet up with Heather to stay with her and Mike!

Here are a couple pictures from our first day!

This is a view outside from our hostel room.

Looking out our window just a little bit further.

Hello!

Hello Everyone!

So it might seem like I created this blog and then left it to sit. Well, I created it with the intentions of keeping my friends and family updated on my summer and next years activities. The first exciting adventure will begin tomorrow Sunday 6 May 2012 after Church as I leave with my friend Kristin to France and Germany to visit our dearest and closest friend Heather and her husband Mike Leppert.

I can't wait to share the experiences that I will be having and the Lord has been so good to provide me with the ways to get to my destinations of this next year.

Pictures and stories will be posted as soon as I return!