Again sorry its been soo long since i have last written...we have been super busy and internet has been hard to come by. I dont have much time now either so this will have to be a quick update.

Paris was incredible...I love love love that city. It was just so great walking around and soaking the city in. One of my favorite places was the Latin Quarter. Its so lively and fun. The Orsay was probably my favorite museum out of all the ones we have been to so far. It has so many beautiful impressionist paintings. I went to Versailles Palaces as well on probably the coldest day of the whole trip. It was absolutely freezing and so windy. The palace was soo ornate and over the top. I cant imagine how anyone could have actually lived there. On our last night a bunch of us went up the the top of the Eiffel Tower to watch the sunset. It was a perfectly clear day and a great moment. Overall Paris was wonderful. A much better experience this time around. It was just too bad that we had so much school work to do during it.

Interlaken, Switzerland was absolutely goregeous. Words can not describe how beautiful it was. The town was so cute surrounded by the swiss alps. The town is situated inbetweeen two lakes so one day I walked out to one of them and discoverded an old castle. You could walk up to the top and see a great 360 view of the lake and the mountains and the town. One out of the two days I went up the the town of Murren. It was one of the top days of the trip for sure. When we arrived it was snowing pretty good. The down was deserted with only 2 shops open. We got hot chocolate, had a big snowball fight and made snow angels. It was just such a great day to play in the snow. Right before we left, the weather cleared up and it was soo sunny. You could see for miles. It was breathtaking. Nothing but snow covered mountains surrounding us. Switzerland was a great break to get away from the city life and enjoy beautiful nature

Last week we were in Venice. i can think of only one word to describe it...Magical. There is nothing else like it. All the canals and gondolas. Its so great just to get lost in the streets of venice. We visited San Marco and a few museums. Went to a Vivaldi concert. Drank Bellinis. Tried on every mask possible. Went to the island of Murano to watch them blow glass and bought some pretty jewelry. It was once again really cold in Venice. For some reason i was not expecting italy to be very cold...boy was i wrong.

We are now in Florence, another great city. Our hotel is not the greatest...it is more like a hostel and my room is freezing with no heater and no hot water. It is making me miss home and my own bed more than ever. I have a bad cold too so thats not helping. Went to Cinque Terre yesterday. It was unreal. Everyone who comes to Italy must go there. It is 5 towns on the Italian coast. You can hike to each town or take a train. We hiked between 2 of the towns, had lunch on a terrace above a cliff overlooking the coast. We sat on the beach and some of the boys went swimming. We lucked out and had amazing weather...we all striped down to tank tops after being bundled up from Florence. it reminded us so much of Santa Barbara, from the weather to the atmosphere. It was just a great relaxing day. Im so excited to see what the rest of Florence has to offer. Cant believe that we only have about 2 weeks left of this trip. More to come later love you all!

Pictures Finally!

Here are some pictures finally...just a few snapshots of our adventures


the steps of sacre couer at montmartre

picnic at the eiffel tower

at the eiffel tower

becca and i at the beaches of normandy

outside of bayeux, france

the beautiful sunset on our coach ride into france

amanda and i enjoying our belgium chocolate in brussles

in a field of wild flowers during our bike ride

the boys on our bike ride in bruges

jess, charley, and bo in bruges

happy 21st Jason

a little side street i stumbled upon in bruges, belgium

pretty amanda

biking with kelsey and amanda in leiden

leiden, the netherlands

berlin, germany

the most beautiful tree i have ever seen...at the berlin zoo

potsdam, germany

the berlin philharmonic

the berlin wall

the pionters singing "my heart will go on" at a bowling alley in warsaw

the tour guides from our crazy communist tour in poland bought all the girls flowers...gerber daisys..my favorite

Auschwitz

pretty lauren

beautiful prague

on the Charles Bridge in Prague

pretty castle crusing down the Danube in Austria

melk abbey in Austria

going to the opera in Vienna

River rafting in Bosnia
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Mortar, Bosnia


Chartres Cathedral in France

The Netherlands, Belgium, and now France

Wow, its been forever since i've last written. things have been soo hectic and internet has not been easily accessable so i'll try to give a recap of the past 2 weeks without overwhelming you.

Leiden, the Netherlands

went to a few museums in Amsterdam including the Van Gogh one which was incredible, one of my favorites so far. walked through the red light district with a minister who has a ministry there. it was interesting to talk about what we saw with a christian perspective. We had a free day and i went back into Amsterdam to see Ann Franks house and then renting bikes with a few people and rode out to the beach. it was about 1 hour each way and soo much fun. we rode throught some residential neighborhoods and got to see parts of Leiden that we wouldnt have gotten to otherwise. it was so unbelievably refreshing to be at the ocean. we have all missed living in santa barbara and being 5 minutes away from water. Also went to a Mexican restaurant in Leiden. i had been craving mexican food soo much! it wasnt very good but what can be expected from a mexican restaurant in the Netherlands. but i got my mexican fix so it was great.

Bruges, Belguim

Belgium was wonderful...one of my favorite places we have been to so far. The town of Bruges is so cute: cobble steets, large squares, hidden streets, canals, chocolate shopes everywhere, chirstmas stores everywhere, amazing waffles. We didnt really do much as a group here. i spent most of my time wandering the streets and exploring. Had a horrible experience at the post office just trying to send some things home. it took forever, was too expensive, got yelled at in French but eventually got everything sent. Had one of my favorite days on the trip here. in the morning about 15 of us rented bikes and rode outside of the city. we didnt know where we were going and just went down random roads into the country side. there were no cars, fields of yellow flowers, farms, it was absolutely beautiful. After our bike ride our whole group spent the afternoon playing games in a park. we played steal the bacon, duck duck goose, and capture the flag and then all got waffles after. it was so much fun to run around and play games like we use to in junior high. We also went into Brussle for one day. The weather was horrible, it was raining all day. we went to the offices of the European Union and had 2 guest lectures. The rain def. ruined the day since we couldnt really go out exploring but the chocolate shops in the city were incredible. Almost everyone offered free samples; i went into a lot of chocolate shops that day!

France

We spent 2 nights in a little town right outside of Bayeux. Our hotel was soo nice. it was right on a golf course with ocean views, had a pool and a sauna. our group was in heaven. We saw the Bayuex Tapestry and got to explore the town. it was such a great introduction to France. There was this great open air market, flower shops everywhere, people were so friendly, amazing crepes from street vendors. For Halloween we had a party. It was so much fun. Everyone dressed up and we had a costume contest. Since our resourse were limited about half of us dressed up as someone else from the trip. Me and a few other girls dressed up as our professors and their families. Our costumes were pretty fantastic. we got second in the constest. We bobbed for apples, made mummies and ate tons of candy! We spent one day traveling around to the different beaches and important locations of Dday in Normandy. We also went to the American cemetary. The cemetary is on American soil; it was strangly comforting.

We arrived in Paris 2 days ago. I love love love this city. So far my experiences have been way better than the last time i was here over spring break...ie a waiter hasnt made me cry. We are not staying at the best place. It is like a mix between a dorm and a hostel. There is a cafeteria where we have to eat 2 meals a day. Its not the best but its a place to sleep at night. Our first night here a bunch of us went to the Eiffle Tower to watch the light show. it was so beautiful. Went back again last night and had a little picnic. It was so much fun... i want to go there every night. Today I ventured to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. There are amazing views of the city and you can see the Eiffle Tower in the distance. Saw the Moulin Rouge as well. Our week in paris is extremely busy but im sooo excited to be here and am having a great time so far.

i love you all and miss you soo much. cant believe i will be home in about 1 month...this semester is going by too quickly.