It'd be truer to say...

Written 10 Feb. 2011:

So this isn't for anyone in particular. Just for me... for me to get my thoughts down faster than with a pen and paper. 



First picture upon arrival in Europe. Yikes! Lookin good after about 10 hours on a plane...Taking our bus from Amsterdam to Maastricht...

Maastricht. One of the most charming places I have ever travelled to. Truly, I have never met people who are so gracious to each other. They are helpful and I have found mercy for my lack of knowledge in the Dutch language.  The food has been good and I have yet to encounter a soul who will not smile back.



Ready to go for the semester...


London was a blurr. The city is so busy...beautiful but busy. I had an eye infection, but nonetheless, what a blessing to be in such a grand metropolitan area.  Everything from High Tea at Fortsum and Mason to crossing Abby Road was endearing.


Our first of many trains to come... On our way to London (photo courtesy of Layne Hancock).



St. Paul's with Kristen and Marley



So I look like I'm crying, but really I just had an eye infection (don't judge). Anyway, this was at High Tea... the highlight of London.



Enchanting.


Some of my favorite girls I'll be travelling and studying with this semester. They are all wonderful!


This felt unreal. sophisticated. lovely. If you ever get the chance, have high tea in London... worth every pound (out of my bank account and on my behind).



Saw Billy Elliot... well half of it. My eyes were burning so bad that staring at a spotlight for 2 hours led to many trips to the restroom to get kleenex. The box office workers must have thought they did a great job producing their show since it moved me to tears... Anyway, I left after intermission with my friends ,Jake and Quentin, to go get coffee. I wasn't that impressed with the show and could not take the tears any longer.


Every girl has to go while in London.. this was one of my favorite afternoons in the city because it led to...


A lovely pub where we had mulled hot wine! Delicious. This is my friend, Hannah Taylor. She is one of my favorites.


Two of my other beautiful friends, Kristen Andersen and Marley Huckabee.



Dragged my friend, Layne, to the British Museum... would have been a complete fail because unless you have a library card you can't go anywhere in the library. Luckily, they had an exhibition on the original Magna Carta and orignal writings of Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, the Brontë sisters, and a few other famous writers...



Yes, it is still standing... saw it with my own eyes... wow... okay, it was kinda cool.


Let's be honest... this was probably the best part. A few of my friends decided to reconstruct a human Stonehenge.


Eye infection was not going to slow me down...





Sic 'em! Representing Baylor U all the way from Europe.



Roman Baths... not something I'd ever choose to get in naked with 50 other of my closest strangers. To each his own. I'm not judging.



Best hot chocolate I've ever had... so good on a rainy day in England.



This is Marley. She is lovely and I know that I will always have a good friend to rely on when she is around.  So thankful for her!



We spent 30 minutes looking for this and taking pictures outside of here thinking it was Westminster Abbey... wrong. It is Westminster Cathedral. Totally different... made for a good laugh though.


Here's the real thing. We went to a church service there later on during the week so we could go inside for free... I fell asleep. It made me thankful for Colonial, that's for sure!



Chi O's at Buckingham Palace... did not get to see the changing of the guard while standing on top of a fence post....


Now this was more like it... (London 2008)


Good to see you again, London.




Berlin... who knew a city could be so modern and, yet, historically compelling at the same time. The rise of Nazi Germany. The destruction of an entire ethnic population.  Continual oppression and segregation by a grand empire. But, as in every work of the Lord, the veil always tears.  The people are set free. By accident? Precisely. No one could have predicted it to end how it did.  It is in every story.


So we arrived at our hostel in Berlin.. Hotel Bax Pax... something like that. It was really nice. Very clean. I would definitely recomend it. This is my friend Anna Bland and I upon arrival.


When we arrived it was midnight, and none of us had eaten since around lunchtime... so in typical American fashion (although I will give myself credit-- not Hannah fashion) we made a trip to a McDonalds that we passed by on our way to our hostel. Definitely a low point, haha... but, it tasted so good at 12:30 a.m!


Before beginning our first day, we stopped for breakfast at this nearby restaurant, Oratium. It became a favorite on the trip... I think we ate there for breakfast, got drinks and dinner there...3 times. It was a beautiful restaurant though... candles the tables at night, a cool bar area, and...


This cool light fixture. I took a picture of it because I figured mom would want it for her dining room or something...


After wandering around the city for a little bit, we happened upon the Monument to the Murdered Jews in Europe. It sits in the middle of the city to remind everyone what happened...not just those who will take their time to visit a concentration camp close by. You walk through it and the cement blocks get higher as you get closer to the middle... your vision soon becomes tunneled... You feel disoriented. You can't see what is around the next corner. The blocks overwhelm you and you are not sure which way to go to get out. It's claustrophobic and all you want is to be able to see clearly again. I can't say this is representative of what it must of felt like to live in Germany during World War II, because I know it is unparallel. However, it makes you think and feel.  2,711 cement blocks. Peter Eisenmen, the American architect, designed this without any specific symbolism in mind. The monument is supposed to provoke an individual reaction for each person. Beneathe it is a museum, which we walked through. Sobering.


2,711



The Brandenburg Gates. The national symbol of Germany. So many powerful people have marched triumphantly through this walkway... They just recently added Hannah Beil to that list. No really. Wikepedia it.


Waiting for our walking tour to begin and we saw this little jewel... AmERica!


So we went on a walking tour... best thing ever! First of all, it was free. Second of all, our tour guide, Matt, was awesome! Thirdly, we saw the whole city on foot (good for our buns!). These our some of girls I enjoyed Berlin with... The only negative part of the day was that it was SO cold! Check out this wind action...


Berlin Wall. You know how there are those stories or moments that you hear about and forever change the way you see the Lord? This was one of those stories. Hearing about how, by accident, this wall of oppression came down made me realize that nothing is impossible for the Lord. In the most grim circumstances, He will "rend the heavens and come down."  His will and His way will always be.

This is Meredith Millard. She is great. The cathedral behind us... well, I don't remember much about it, other than it is not that old (even though it looks it).


Just jumpin' around.


At a German pub after a long day of walking in the cold. The beer tasted good. Lookin' good, Hans.


So cold. Waiting for the metro... which by the way we didn't pay for transportation once in this city. Bam! Work the system.


In Potsdam. We went to see the hotel/palace. This is outside a market. On our way there, at 10 am, we were in the metro station getting breakfast and saw all these men buying beer. Our first thought was, "It's kind of early, but whatever. It's Germany."  Next we got on the train and it hit us. Scarves. Blue scarves and red scarves. We asked a girl and her grandpa who was playing football (soccer) that day. Answer: Berlin. "Berlin and...??" Answer: Berlin.  East and West Berlin were playing their rivalry match. The entire train ride there was cheering and chanting back and forth between the two sides on the train. The game had been sold out for weeks. Too bad... We would have been willing to pay big bucks to go to that match.

Added to the "bucket list" of things to do before I leave Europe: go to a European soccer match.


We cut through this muddy mess to make it to the palace grounds...


Meredith, me, and Katherine Johnston (Senior... her last semester at Baylor she is studying in Maastricht and then is going home to get married to her very attractive Australian fiancé... not a bad life).


The long awaited palace... we walked miles to see this. Let's be honest, I wasn't that impressed.


We waited for the bus... in the cold...for about half an hour. We were getting fed up, so Meredith decides she'd (jokingly) hitchhike back. As soon as she stuck her thumb out (right after this picture), some creepo white van pulls up. HELLO! CREEPY KIDNAPPER RAPISTS!!! AHHH!!! She quickly pulled her thumb away and ran away in the other direction. Quite entertaining...

No worries, we did eventually make it back to Berlin for one last night! All in all, I loved this city. It was incredible to be in a place where so much happened that changed the world. Somehow, I feel like being here changes you. If you ever get the chance, you must go to Berlin.




Since I've been in Europe, I have learned a lot from spending time in the Word. I've realized that the Lord is the one who moves and provokes us to move. No one can predict God's plans for the world...
 
I've learned what it means to be where you are and trust that the Father's hand instructs the world to move as it should. His hand has set this world in motion and he continues to reveal to us the 'shadowlands' of what is yet to come.

This is a quote out of my French Revolution book... go figure. You may not read it and think anything special about it, but I thought it was profound.

"Nobody then could have predicted that things would work out as they did. Hardly anybody would have felt reassured if they could.  For the French Revolution had not been made by revolutionaries. It would be truer to say that the revolutionaries had been created by the Revolution."