Be where you are.

Let's be honest... I was pretty skeptical about studying in the Netherlands. However, I could not have picked a better place to study this semester.

So the weekend following Switzerland, I spent preparing for finals.  However, I had not yet been to Amsterdam and so Marley and I decided that we should take a day trip that Friday.  The day consisted of touring the Anne Frank house, lunch by the beautiful canals and visiting the Van Gogh Museum.
The Anne Frank house was interesting to see. It’s amazing how many times I am reminded of how good my life is since I have been here… It is so easy to separate myself from suffering, but walking through the house was a reminder that these people were just like me. At the end of the tour, I was reminded of the compelling quote by Yehuda Bauer:

"Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but, above all, thou shalt not be a bystander."

Somehow, even in the most serious moments, Marley always manages to make me laugh


Is this bad? Maybe.



Betcha didn't know that Amsterdam has more canals than Venice? Probably more bikes too.



Found out what this memorial was for after the picture was taken... made for an interesting story.


Lunch time!


Duh. Why doesn't every city have one of these? Don't want to forget where you are...

So I'm not really into art, but I loved the Van Gogh museum because
1. He was pretty good at what he did.
2. I know who he is (studied Starry Night in preschool... Sic 'em Colonial Presbyterian)
3. As you walked through the museum each chapter of his life was told next to his most famous pieces
4. They had Picasso and Monet originals in the museum is well (3 for 1)
5. It was free with our Maastricht ID card (can't beat that).

My one complaint: How was I to know Starry Night was in New York?  Who decided it was a good idea to put his most famous piece there instead of the museum dedicated to him?  Idiots...


This is my favorite. I bought it to frame for my room in Waco... I mean, a copy of it.

Anyway, needless to say, I had a beautiful and relaxing day in this city.  I would highly recommend a visit. It is beautiful, unique and does a wonderful job reflecting the Dutch culture that I have come to love.

A few days later, I returned to this city, but had a totally different experience. Through my university, we got the opportunity to (for only 25 euros) watch Holland's national football team (KNVB) play against Hungary in the Ajax stadium.  For those of you who did not follow the World Cup last summer (shame shame), Holland came in second to Spain in the final game.  Way to go boizzz!


Of course, I had to buy a scarf and wave it around like everyone else in the stadium.  I wanted to look... you know, local. Nice try, Hans.  However, going to a European football match was on my "things-to-do" list for the semester. Check check.



Never have I ever loved orange so much.




Our small group of Baylor students that took advantage of the opportunity. I was totally unimpressed with the rest of my classmates. Americans are so uncultured. I bet if it would have a team in the Super Bowl playing more people would have gone.





This is what they call "beautiful soccer."

"Our lives are made in these small hours... these twists and turns of fate"

This was it. My last full weekend travelling before finals and before the month of travel. Next weekend is going to consist of writing an 8 and 15 page paper, and studying for finals before leaving. I'll probably take a day trip to Amsterdam, but other than that, it is going to be hard labor.  Thus, we decided this weekend was going to be one of relaxation in the Swiss Alps.  I had been to the Swiss Alps before, but I had forgotten how truly moving these mountains really are.

Marley, Hannah, Kristen, Katherine, and I took a night train to Basel, Switzerland. I was so stoked about going this weekend, that I agreed to write a 1,400 word essay on the International Criminal Court (side note: super interesting by the way... potential job one day working for them?) instead of miss out on a day of this... (the class took a field trip to see the court on Friday in De Hague).  Anyway, we arrived in Basel that morning looking swell...




What troopers!

So we hopped off this baby at 6:40 in the morning and struggled to make it on 2 more trains for another 3 hours or so until we reached the town of Bex. This is how you know you are in a solid town in Europe: no one understands or speaks English. Once again, my 2 words of French came in handy to order some food and figure out where the little tram was to take us up to our hostel in the itty bitty town of Gryon... just straight up in the alps. No big deal. We finally got on, and were glad we did when we realized the uphill hike would have probably killed at least one of us had we tried to walk with our 30 lbs. backpacks on. 

Anyway, we reached the top and this was the view before us...


Bam. I know you are jealous :) MAGNIFICENT!

But in all seriousness,  everytime I looked around me the entire weekend, my breath caught in my chest and I had to remind myself that this was not a dream. Life really is this beautiful. 












We arrived at our hostel: the Chalet Martin. If you ever have a desire (which you should or you're probably not wasting your time reading this) to go retreat in the Alps, stay here! It was the most amazing hostel/hotel I have ever been to. The log cabin is nestled into the side of a mountain.  I felt like I was staying in someone's home the whole weekend. All the guests are required to leave their shoes at the front before they come in. Most of the employees are college age Australians, who love to ski and lounge in their pajamas all day. It was so clean and the staff immediately treated us like family. My window next to my bed overlooked a beautiful view of the mountains, so I opened my eyes to this in the morning...





After dropping off our stuff, we took the tram up to the nearest mountain/ski town, Villars. From there we walked around and shopped.  The town reminded me of Breckenridge... except 1,000,000,000 times cooler because it was in the alps (duh).  It was beautiful. Just a sweet city surrounded by beauty. 









Not a bad view, eh?


Cute flower shop in Villars.

After exploring, we were all starving. Everything about Switzerland seemed perfect to us at this point... well almost. Prices in Switzerland are off the charts expensive, but when you're hungry you are hungry and it just doesn't matter.  We finally decided to eat at a cute little restaurant because they sold a tradtional Swiss-French dish, Raclette. My friend, Alexandra, had been telling me for years that I needed to try this because it's so amazing.  Well for 12.50 francs, we got some good ol' smelly melted cheese... not gonna lie, it was pretty good, but I expected more than this for lunch:


yup. 12.50... we try to have positive attitudes. I don't think this is what Alexandra was talking about though, haha. C'est la vie. Nothing is ever what you expect it to be when you order food in Europe... but seriously, nothing.

After lunch, we all knew we were going to take full advantage of the spacious and homey kitchen back at the Chalet.  We had been told that everyone cooks dinner together and you all eat at a big family style table. After exploring some more and snapping some pictures, we found the COOP!  This was the town's local grocery store.  After months of eating out and not having a home cooked meal, we all knew what we wanted that night: a warm homemade dinner consisting of pasta, wine, fresh vegetables, and chocolate. Following our purchases, we sat outside and extensively discussed who was making what food that night.



Groceries! Confession: grocery shopping is a stress reliever for me... No, I am not getting my M.R.S. degree at Baylor, but this shopping trip was a treat for me.

So here comes the best part...

After making our way back to the hostel with our goodies, I took my shoes off and went upstairs to the kitchen area.  As I began putting my food away, I looked up and in the front room sitting on an old leather chair was a young guy in flannel with a beard. I turned away to put my bag down and looked up again... There sat my friend from Kansas City, Kurt Nichols. We have been friends since high school, and before leaving had talked about meeting up in Europe together this semester. He is studying in Switzerland with a program called L'abri. I had told him I was travelling to Gryon that weekend to stay at the Chalet Martin.  However, I had no idea if it was at all close to where he lives and I probably wouldn't have internet or a phone to get in contact with him.  Needless to say, I was shocked when I walked in the door to see my friend waiting for me. 



Here we are at Chi O's formal the year before in Texas with friends, Jordan Willis and Leigh Sunderland (all KC kids)...




And this is the bearded mountain man waiting for me in the living room... He's the best.


Clearly pleased with the reaction of shock he got out of me, he welcomed me with a huge hug. I introduced him to all my friends and insisted that he stay for dinner.  We all took on jobs for the meal and ended up having the best time cooking, laughing, and catching up.





After travelling so far to come see me, he gets such a warm welcome...


Good food and good company



Dinner is served! Tortellini in a white wine sauce and roasted vegetables with dried herbs. Not a bad meal.





The following day, Kristen woke up sick so I ended up taking her to the doctor in Villars. They diagnosed her with some nasty pharnyx sickness and prescribed her 4 different medications, lots of rest, and a Swiss pastry of course... maybe that last one wasn't part of the deal... oops!


Kristen and I the day before...

After picking up her meds, we spent the morning in Villars. I didn't get to go skiing like I had planned, which was a bummer, but the weather was pretty nasty anyway... rainy, foggy, and too warm. Oh well... I guess I'll just have to come back to do that one day :)

After more grocery shopping for our meal, wandering the town, and enjoying a coffee and pastry with a beautiful window view, we headed back home in the pouring rain.  I woke up early that morning, but was unaware of the time her appointment was at. I shamefully left the house in the same outfit I had worn to bed--sweat pants, my fleece, glasses, and MOCCASIN slippers!! I looked like a piece of work, and by time we made it back in the rain... I was ready for a hot shower and a nap (Sorry friends, no documentation of this pathetic look). It was a perfect time to lounge in the hostel's cozy front room with a nice view of the mountains. We read, talked, slept, and enjoyed just "being" and not "doing."  That is how I would describe this weekend: a sabbath. It was perfect. What a blessing to be in the most beautiful place in the world with such good friends.



This is the front desk area of the hostel... cozy and inviting.

After a day of enjoying (kinda) the town in the rain, and a nice leisurely afternoon, we decided that the only thing we really wanted at this point was a good Mexican meal. The day before we had seen a "fajita making kit" at the store, and grabbed it. Although none of the ingredients are quite the same, we were content with our purchase. The menu for the evening: Chicken Tacos and refriend beans with salsa!  That might sound so simple for everyone back home, but when you haven't had Mexican in two months and you live in Texas... there is nothing better.





Tasting our salsa... yummyyyyy





While eating dinner, the owner of the hostel and his wife came and talked to us for awhile.  They had met and fallen in love at the Chalet several years ago. She's an American and he's from Australia. We felt so welcomed and at ease with them. It was such a treat to meet new people on this trip. We made friends with students from all over the world... Australia, the USA (yipee...), France, Spain, Switzerland... they have such a great community at the Chalet.

Full and satisfied, we all gathered in the hearth room and relaxed after dinner. We drank wine, played games, read, and talked.   A French man and his two little kids were staying at the Chalet for the weekend as well.  Although they did not speak English at all, we were serenaded much of the night by their laughter and the father's guitar playing. It was lovely.





Kurt met up with us again that night.  We went on a walk through Gryon and up to Barbaleuse.



Buddled up for the cold. I found out that night that he had to walk 2 hours uphill in the cold because he had (knowingly) missed his train back home just so he could hang out longer. Seriously, who has friends like this? Hannah does.

We got up the next morning and headed to the train station, but we did not miss the beautiful view on the way out...



Let me just say, that if you have never been to the Swiss Alps, and have only seen pictures... what you see does not capture at all what is really there. The Alps make the Rocky Mountains look like babies comparatively. They bring a sense of might and greatness that makes you feel the reality of your insignificance. You realize that in reality, you are helpless and fragile. Your life is a pine needle on one of these many trees that rest in the vastness of eternity.  All the dreams and goals I have for my life... what are they really? Have I tricked myself into thinking that these ideas of self worth are real? 

"God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few...Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore, stand in awe of God." Ecclesiastes 5:2, 7




"Though I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks upon me..." Ps. 40:17

I've never seen anything like it

So this is going to be a long post because it covers all of CARNIVAL (not that anything I ever say or write is short... who am I kidding?).

Anyway, Carnival... how do I explain it....











(Stolen pics from WhitWakefield and GretchNyberg)... this is Carnival. Imagine Dia Del Oso, Mardi Gras, and Halloween all combined into one weekend celebration...that would be a mini carnival. I have never seen so many cross dressers in my life. Everyone gets geared up for this... like I saw 50 year old business men walking around in full-blown blue feather costumes. It was the most bizarre thing I have ever experienced. 

Baylor's spring break and Carnival landed on the same week this year, so Marley and I got to play host to two guests in our room, Gretchen Nyberg and Whitney Wakefield. They are both Chi O's at Baylor. For the weekend, the two girls crashed on blow up mattresses in our small room. It was a tight squeeze, but it was so much fun to have a taste of Waco in town.



Here we are at lunch the first day they arrived in Maastricht. Having our friends in town was a good opportunity for us to go sight seeing (something you don't usually do in the city you live in), and enjoy the city from a new perspective.

I figured now would be a good time to introduce you a little more to the place I call home this semester... MAASTRICHT.


For those of you who don't know or haven't Googlemapped it yet, this is where Maastricht is. A perfect homebase location while travelling Europe for the semester.


This is the river that runs through Maastricht. It is a key landmark and another area I love to run around. Tip: You know you are getting closer to the river when you are walking downhill in the city, and you are travelling farther from the river when you are panting your way uphill. This is a good indicator of what direction I am going when I get lost on my runs in the city.




One of all of our favorite Maastricht treasures, and a great place to study, read, and grab coffee. It is an old Cathedral converted into a beautiful bookstore. I'm not sure if it is sacrireligious, but I love it anyway.


Such a great substitute to Jones Library for studying... I don't know how I'm going to return next semester.


While exploring with Marley and Gretch, we found this old church. The great thing about travelling with Marley is you always get into some mischief, and end up somewhere you probably shouldn't be. After snooping around a bit, we found a special entrance to this place, which led us to....


This church isn't world renown or famous at all. It is the typical and ordinary every day life of Europe... I don't think the residents realized what beauty surrounds them.




As we continued to explore... we made some friends. This is a rather tame costume compared to some of the others (see above and below).




We grabbed lunch that afternoon at a restaurant by the river.


This picture was taken from a night out at our favorite bar, the Highlander.  Sic em Chi O.



This is another old church that I bike past every day on my way to class... It's under renovation constantly (meaning since last spring... typical), however, it is a constant reminder to me of where I am and that my life is not ordinary either.

Although Carnival was fun, cross dressers and loud music are not exactly my cup of tea.  Needless to say, I was stoked to get out of the city for a little bit and head to IRELAND for the rest of the week.  The great thing about Europe is you can find ridiculously inexpensive flights between  the EU countries.  With that being said, checking bags is a huge hassle. Baylor girls tend to be stereotyped as rather high maintenance, however, Marley and I constantly pride ourselves on how low maintenance we have become since moving here. I guess that means we wear a lot of the same clothes over and over, tend to shower quite a bit less, and usually spend less then 5-10 minutes on our hair and make up. I'm not sure if these are good things, but once again we are learning how to pack light and prepare for a month of travel with just our backpacks. Ireland was a good test of this


That's us on any given weekend... I treasure that little blue bag like it is my own child.


Our first encounter with Irish people happened just before this picture was snapped. A young man went out of his way to show us how to get to the bus stop and where we needed to go to get to our hostel. We fell in love with the country immediately.


We arrived in Dublin late Monday evening and found our hostel.  We had 7 people in an 8 person room, which means one bed was left for a stranger. That stranger... that man... that Spanish man... that Spanish man who taught in the Lawrence, KS school district... that man was Gabriel. After showering, getting dressed like he was going out to the bars and spraying an ample amount of AXE in the room, he would crawl into bed and go to sleep. Around 5:00 every morning, we would hear his alarm go off and by 5:30 he was gone. Bizarre little man, but he was our angel for the week.We were convinced one of our dads hired him to make sure we didn't get into any trouble... to be continued...

We woke up early Tuesday morning to explore the city of Dublin. Let me just say, if you plan on ever going to Ireland, do not spend more than one day in Dublin. It is not Paris. It is not Rome. It is not Malmo. It's Dublin.


This is my friend, Quentin. He was a football player for Baylor's defensive line. There have been multiple times where I have been glad he is around... no one sketch messes with us when he's there. Plus, he's a great friend... just a sidenote.


Whitney and I at Trinity College. We explored the campus a bit... it was nice. The best part was the day we visited just so happened to be...


Layne and I have an on going joke about feminism... he isn't actually a chauvinist, but I always give him a hard time for being one (long story... don't ask questions. I already have too much to say). Anyway, this is obviously his favorite holiday.




She never follows the rules...




In the daffodils

found this wall... meant to be.


We started a girl band. This is our album cover shot in an Irish castle. It's fine. We are trendy.


Cool friends...

Here are the famous Dublin doors... not that cool. These pictures are a joke. I'm not actually that excited because the doors were everywhere in Dublin. Here's a few nice ones. I was always worried that while posing someone would open the door to their house and find me in their doorway looking like an idiot. To my disappointment, that never happened.


Orange


Blue


Baylor. Sic 'em.


Now on a rainy day in Dublin there is not much to do, so we did what most tourists who have 11 euros to burn do...



We went tot he Guinness factory. I don't even like Guinness. I gave my "free-11-euro" beer to an English man with bad teeth. The best part of the whole tour, besides the talking digital visual of barley and malt being processed, was the view of Dublin from the top of the Gravity bar. That's not saying much. It was ranining.



After not finishing our drinks, but enjoying the view and resting our tired feet we walked back in the rain (I didn't bring my coat that day... stupid I know) and went to dinner at Irish pub for a traditional meal and live music. We love this country. They give us huge cups of tap water for FREE, extra ketchup with our fries, and the waitors approach your table in less than fifteen minutes... all European novelties. Oh! Not to mention every pub we went to has live Irish folk music.We felt close to home.

Next stop: Cork. We woke up early that morning to make our train, and of course, Gabriel (the roommate) had already left for the day. However, as we were walking through the train station Meredith spotted him and enthusiastically shouted, "GABRIEL!" as we walked by. He looked at her like he had no idea who she was and kept going. Considering we shared a bedroom with this man for two nights, I feel like he should've recognized at least one of us. Not to mention, his bags were still in the room that morning when we left. What was he doing at the train station? Weird little Spaniard.

Anyway, we travelled 2 1/2 hours to see Blarney's Castle because apparently if you kiss the Blarney Stone you get good luck or something. I was completely grossed out and totally disgusted by the thought of kissing some random rock that millions of other people had also puckered up to. Can't you catch a fatal disease from doing that? I'm Desiree's daughter. This is how I think... but to my surprise, I kissed the damn thing. Immediately following, I felt symptoms of the flu, mouth herpes, AIDS, strep throat, and the bubonic plague coming upon me all at once... I was convinced I caught something. By time we made it down the hill and back to the town, I was surprised to see I was still living. Des, we might want to reevaluate our lives.


City of Cork.


The beautiful park we walked through to get to the Castle.


Oh! That was another reason we love Ireland. We saw the first signs of spring in Europe: TULIPS!


At the top of Blarney... before I did the dirty and kissed the stone.


beautiful, green and an old. Everything I wanted Ireland to be, she was.





After coming down from the castle, we saw a deceptive sign for gelato. It didn't exist... we got these in the grocery store. Groovy.

This was one of those times when I was happy to have Quentin with us. After eating lunch at a local breakfast place nearby, some creepo Irish guy with hair highlighted like my fourth grade crush's was done in 1999 came by on his bicycle and gave us a whistle. We laughed of course and to be sassy I whistled back... clearly in mockery of this piece of work. Well, he thought that was cute... and road up and down the street at least (not exaggerating) 12 times staring at us. I mean, I'm Europe. Creepy men are not a novelty, but really? Someone should find him  a job.

The big finale of this week: GALWAY... one of the most astonishing places in the world. The Cliffs of Moher have been placed in the running of the "7 Natural Wonders of the World..." vote for it http://www.new7wonders.com/en/

After arriving in Galway and having a Bulmers, we made our way to Barnacles Hostel.  The next morning we headed to our tour of the Cliffs of Moher, where we met our wonderful, little Irish guide, Desmond. Desmond has been giving the Cliffs tour for over 17 years and has taken over 196,000 people up to the top. He was a jewel.


On the way up.





Burial rock... over 5,600 years old. Cool. It was raining. We didn't stay long.


The stereotype is true...sheep are EVERYWHERE in Ireland. Baaaa! Love it.


Before heading to the cliffs, we stopped at a pub for lunch in Doolin... what are the odds? Every Irish Man a Wild Cat... EIMAW.


First view... on the rocks.




Walking up to the Cliffs...


Nothing can capture how beautiful this really was, but here is a pretty good shot I found online of what I saw.


I took this one. Impressive, eh?




Don't let them fool you... they were scared.



I was brave.


At the top. This is illegal. People die, but we conquered.




Can't get enough. We spent several hours up here and still felt like our time was cut short.


On the way down.


Exploring.





E
Ended our last night in Ireland enjoying Irish music, bulmers and good conversation with friends... Oh! and we stopped at this department store called Penney's (Cheapest shopping I've ever done in my life... better deals than any thrift store has ever given me). As I was trying on shoes, I looked up and there is Gabriel in line waiting to pay for his purchase. Again, what are the odds? Kind of creepy...





In closing, the Irish are lively people.


I spent a lot of time alone this week and wrestled with a lot of different questions. The type of questions that keep you up at night because the answers seem so unclear. However, as I looked out over the Cliffs and mountains before me, I concluded that I am going to have to accept that there are certain things I will not ever understand.  There are certain aspects of God that I can't and should not be able to wrap my mind around. However, is anything worthy of your worship if you can understand it?