April 20, 2008--- Tonight at midnight my Eurail pass expires. It's weird to think about it and it feels like a big moment in my European experience. This weekend marks the beginning of the end. I'm ready. It's been great to see so much of the world God created for us, but now the creations I'd like to see most are the faces of family and friends back home. This past weekend was really nice though; I added my final two countries, Croatia and Slovenia, to my European semester abroad list. The grand total sits at 11 countries. Pretty awesome! [View Full Entry]

---

---

April 13, 2008-- The Eiffel Tower has always fascinated me. Back in my high school's art class it was the subject of some of my sketches and an oil painting. Paris the setting of many of the movies I like, including one of my favorites--Sabrina. Sabrina talks about finding herself in Paris surrounded by romantic street music, good food, flowers, fashion alongside the Seine River. I felt like every time I looked at that river I was looking into a postcard or a Parisian artist's masterpiece. It didn't hurt that the Spring flowers, including tulips in every shade imaginable, were in [View Full Entry]

---

---

If Brugge's nickname as the "Venice of the North" is true it must be because of the charm of the cobblestone streets, the meandering quality of the waterways, and the unique little shops because Amsterdam has it beat by far as far as canals go. It is said to be 100 islands attached by bridges and marts. It was far more beautiful than I ever imagined. I stayed on a beautiful loop around the city that took me past bridge after bridge over canals filled with colorful pontoons, tugboats, and floating restaurants. It was all very charming. The route I chose [View Full Entry]

---

---

When most people think of Belgium, the city to visit that comes to mind is usually Brussels. I originally thought this, too, but from speaking to Europeans as well as searching for information we decided the city of Brugge to be our Belgium adventure. It proved to be a good choice! When we arrived at night, Brugge's quiet cobblestone streets paved our way to the hostel. Along these old yet manicured passages were shops, restaurants, apartments and hotels were lined up like a box of weather-worn pastel chalks. While the city was quiet at night, it didn't feel dead. Bars and [View Full Entry]

---

---

March 28, 2008--While I went to Italy for eight days of break, I still had over a week left until my other classmates got back. The two girls I traveled with then haven't been very interested in travel, so I only went on one trip with them. On that trip with them I experienced a bit of Switzerland on a day trip to Zurich. Switzerland has so much to offer, but at least a seeing a little slice of it was nice, especially on the day I visited. The snow fell softly over the city, blanketing the bare trees and [View Full Entry]

---

---

I just got done exploring my sixth European country--Luxembourg! What a blessing this day trip has been. Last night I was feeling worn out and wasn't sure about making the long journey. When I woke up this morning early to the sound of my neighbor's loud music and checked my watch, it was just a few minutes after eight. For some reason I was renewed about the idea of the trip, jumped out of bed, packed quickly for the day and was off on my journey on the 9:09 am train. Jesus blessed me with a renewed strength and perspective on [View Full Entry]

---

---

Wow. A lot has happened in the last few days—some major sights and some major changes in our spring break plans. I’ll start with Rome, the sights. When we arrived in Rome we were all kind of tired and it was the middle of the afternoon before we were all settled in at our hostel. Hotel Colors was a fairly nice place- clean with a great little patio/balcony to eat out on. It was also close to some major sights. It only took about ten minutes to walk to Rome’s old castle located along the river. From there we could see [View Full Entry]

---

---

Before leaving for Rome, Caitlin and I went on a run around the city. It was very difficult because the streets can get narrow and very crowded even in the early hours of the morning. While it was tricky, it was worth it. I got to see a few sights that I thought I’d have to leave without seeing. We saw the river/bridge, the replica of David, and Castle Vecchio and the view of a green hillside covered in villas and large structures. It made me realize that Florence has a lot of beauty to offer if you at exploring it [View Full Entry]

---

---

I just got done straightening up the “Torre del Pisa,” not bad for a day’s work. Pisa is the third major city of my spring break tour of Italy. This morning’s tour of Florence was gray and turned bright blue by the time we made it to Pisa. Florence has some great churches…especially the St. Maria Dom, where we went to a Catholic mass for a Palm Sunday reading. It was a Catholic mass, but just felt good to go to a church service. I really miss church. The only services offered in Reutlingen are in German. I’m craving sermons, hymns/praise [View Full Entry]

---

---

This morning I sat on a train headed to Stuttgart with only my luggage and the luggage of my travel partner for this weekend to keep me company. My weekend in Budapest was a very hard one. It wasn’t a relaxing one spent in the city’s famous mineral baths as it could have been. Basically everything that went wrong did—a common theme with Micki. I tried to give her a chance but it didn’t turn out. When we left for Budapest, Micki left without a penny to her name, something that she depended on me to help me get through. It’s [View Full Entry]

---

---