The first ever Europe meeting we ever have they tell you to get you shoes and start breaking them in. Well that first meeting was at the beginning of fall semester, and "Oh! Smart One" here did not get them but a week before she left for Belgium, thus "Oh! Smart One" has the worst blisters of her life after a full day of walking from 8am to 8pm today, not to mention the shoes she believes are too small. I have never been in so much pain in my life.
What should of been a fun filled day of places I have never seen and never would of seen if I had not been on this trip, quickly turned in slowing my group down, pain and agony, and had now slowed down walking for me for the next few days. Other then that I got to see two things and taste one thing that not everyone will ever get to see and taste. Today I Saw: (1) A Michelangeo’s Statue that was the only one of his statues to ever leave Italy (Brugges), and (2) The North Sea (Oostends)!
Today I Ate: THE BEST BELIGUM WAFFEL I HAVE EVER EATEN!!! (Oostends)(OK, so I only have had one before this one, but it beat the first one).
It has been a hard day and it makes me wonder what is to come... I know that it is going to be fun and I am going to see things that pictures and words cannot even do it justice, but I am in pain now and I have not only been here a full week. Luckily I have a second pair of shoes that I just happen to get, two days before I left, and they will have to do me, until the end, which will go fast, but is still a ways away.
Regardless, I am doing fine, and will be glad when I can have a day to rest. Sorry this is kind of a downer of a post. I felt the need to complain but had no one to complain to. Promise and hope that the next post is more upbeat! I love you all! E-mail me I would love to here from you!
Well folks, I am finally here in Verviers, Belgium, and I can’t say that I am totally acclimated to the culture, to living here, or to the new sleep pattern, but despite all of it I am doing well and slowly beginning to love it here. For instance, I am sitting at one of the three desks they have here in our room that faces out the window, and facing me our buildings that are probably hundreds of years old and still look fantastic and rich in wonderful stories of the things and people that have been in them throughout history. That is one thing I know I will enjoy here is all the rich architecture and history that goes along with so many of the places I will get to see.
Ok, so something I am not use to and probably will not get use to until I leave is French. It intimidates me when I go to shops here, it intimidates me when I am in French class (well, the one I have taken so far), and it frustrated me and will probably frustrate me for a while the fact that I cannot understand anything that is being said in church. I do know that I will most likely and hope to grow stronger from this last setback and strengthen my relationship with my Father. Although this is a slight predicaments, I must say one of the neatest and coolest thing I will ever get to hear in my life is fellow brother and sisters who I have never met and am not able to speak to through my own language, sing to the same God, the same songs I have grown up singing, to the same tune but in their own language. It almost brought tears to my eyes to think what an awesome bond we have with our spiritual family all throughout the world, through Christ.
The majority of the group went today after lunch to the ruins of an old castle, while myself and a few others stayed behind to do some studying, because we are actually in school over here… :( which slaps me in the face every time over the past few days when I remember I don’t know French and am suppose to be learning or we visit somewhere and I am suppose to write a journal about it. Oh, well, I guess that’s the price you pay when you sign-up to “study” in Europe for three months. With that being said it also means that this first official Europe blog will be cut short. I have begun to put pictures on facebook, so take a look! I also have a new cell phone number, if any of you may need it, please just send me a message and I will get it to you!
I hope all my readers are doing well and hope that you know I am missing you all and think of you daily. Good luck to all my Freed friends who start classes this week! And my 3 girls I have left behind… don’t stay up to late this semester and by all means DO NOT HAVE ALL THE FUN WITHOUT ME!!! MY- I love you!
As I have grown up through my teenage years, the life of a business woman who had the best living arrangements, job, car, clothes, and jets off every week on a plane around the world has ALWAYS appealed to me. Most of the time this woman was not married and if she was her husband occasionally would meet her on the weekend for a getaway in an exotic far away place. Ok, so I am nowhere near close to a well-established business woman, I am living at home for the summer, with my parents I might add, I am a nanny for an eleven month year old which has left my wonderful wardrobe I have come to acquire and love in the drawers and closet. And the only jetting off I have done thus far are weekend getaways from Nashville to Cary and vice-versa. But in less than a week and a half my glamorous daydream will be coming true. I will be getting on an airplane August 13, at 7pm and jetting off to Belgium for the next three months. But for some reason the glamour scares me and excites me all at the same time and it makes me wonder if I am really in love with the jet set lifestyle or the people that actually have it.
There are many positive and negatives that come along with this whorled-wind adventure.
Positives: (1) I GET TO TRAVEL EUROPE! I will get to go and see parts of the world and witness parts of history that I have never seen and have only read about in history and travel books. I get to see places from Paul’s missionary travels, see and pay honor and respect to soldiers who gave their lives for our freedom, and see so many famous landmarks I have seen in all my classic movies! (2) The shopping!!!! A favorite pastime!!! Antiques, lace, t-shirts, figurines of every historical landmark, CHOCLATE, and jewelry just to mention a few are all favorites of mine and can’t wait to sample them all. (3) The Christians I will be getting to meet in other countries!!! How cool is that!?! I will get to meet brothers and sisters I did not even know I had!
Negatives: (1) I am missing some onetime only FHU memories of my SR year, memories that include many of my friends that came into Freed with and many that will be moving forward without me, including my Scott basement besties and my wonderful Ashley Payne. Not to mention my social work buddies. That is hard to swallow. (2) Three months without my best friend, the love of my life, and one of my biggest encouragers, Michael. Long distance has not been our friend this summer but somehow we have made it through and I know somehow we will make it through this. He has been one of the best things to ever happen to my life and I am so blessed that God has lead each of us to each other. I know that He has big plans for the two of us and the new journeys we are about to begin in our lives, and I know as long as we keep Him as focus we can get through anything. (3) My Family! I am going to miss them like crazy! But I do have to say that one good thing that has come out of going to school 12 hours away from home is that I believe that it has prepared me for the great adventure I have before me and the wonderful parents I know I have supporting me back home.
Ok, so maybe some positives outweigh the negatives and vice-versa, but I do know that I am going to have the time of my life, make memories I might have never had the chance to make otherwise, and I am getting school credit for it! I know this introductory post may have been scattered brained, unorganized, and off the cuff, but get ready guys, cause (1) what else would you expect from me? (2) I GOING TO EUROPE!!!
on What They Really Mean When They Say "Study in Europe"...