Mein Leben in letzter Zeit...

My life lately... :)

Finally, an update!

Yep.  It's been entirely too long since I've posted on here... So, where do I begin?... My life is good! :)

Things I haven't blogged about yet:
-My trip to Ljubljana, Slovenia
-My trip to Venice, Italy
-My trip to see my friend Alex who lives in Slovakia
-My Spring Break trip to Amsterdam, Netherlands; Middelburg, Netherlands; Brussels, Belgium; Dublin, Ireland; and Galway, Ireland
-My trip to Vienna, Austria
-My trip to Prague, Czech Republic

So, I've obviously been traveling soo much! But, its been so fun and such a blessing... I've posted tons of pictures on facebook, so y'all should check out those pictures if you haven't already.

One big thing that happened last week was my 21st Birthday... Hurray! I was in Vienna, so we had lots to do... We went to an art museum with the school, and then some of my friends took me to different restaurants around the town to buy desserts.  Then, we went to the Opera House and watched, "Madam Butterfly," which was really fun!  Afterwards we went out for drinks, and then I skyped my mom and dad... Overall, it was a really great day!

This weekend is my first weekend to be in Salzburg in a while... the weather is so nice here now!  Its been in the 70s this whole week! I LOVE IT!  Lots of tourists are starting to show up here too, so its fun to see all the different kinds of people in the city... also, since its so warm, people lay out along the river and sun tan... I joined them today :)  OH! AND, my host parents gave my roommate and I bikes to use around the city earlier this week.  So, I am now officially an Austrian who rides my bike around! Well, there's so much more I could catch y'all up on, but I'll just try to post more often from here on...

Please pray:
... that I'll continuely love Christ above all else.
... that I'll bring my faith up in everyday conversations.
... that I'll do well on my new courses we began this week (We had our finals before Spring Break, and now we've begun our other courses for the semester)

One final update:
Thanks so much for the prayers y'all have made so far for me! God has done amazing things here in Austria, and has connected me with amazing people! He is so good!

Die spätesten Nachrichten, gerade für Sie!





The latest news, just for you!

Meine Beine sind sehr wund!

So this week was really fun!  Last Tuesday, I went to my first hockey game... EVER.  It was so awesome! I love watching hockey... We watched the Salzburg Red Bulls get killed by Hungarians, but it was still so great!  On Thursday night, we just walked around Salzburg and saw some of its night life.  There's a bar next to our school that we'll go to every so often, and we met a bunch of American students there!  They were nice and gave us some travel tips... On Saturday, we went and watched the MozartCup, which is a figure skating competition... There were teams from all over the world there.  We were able to watch the US teams perform, and they were pretty good.  Yesterday I climbed Mt. Zinken with snow shoes in Hollein, Austria... I think this was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life! (No exaggeration...) I think the hike was only like 2 1/2 miles up, but it felt like much further... Then when we got up to the top, the view was so pretty!  We went inside the restaurant for about 30 minutes, and then we went butt-sledding down the mountain.  The butt-sledding was so much fun!  We would slide down under the ski lift, and all the skiers would laugh at us... I had one guy yell out, "Oh! Training for the Special Olympics!"  We just laughed... Overall this week went really well... I passed my first few German quizzes and my other class is also going great! :)  Please continue to pray...

• ...that God would open my eyes to new things on this trip.
• ...that I would turn to Him in every situation (both the hard and the easy, the good and the bad).
• ...that I would be aware of the hurting people around me.

Thanks so much for the prayers and encouragement!  I love you all! Auf wiedersehen!

Oh, the title means, "My legs are very sore!" :)

Hallo!

Here's an update from Austria!  Sorry about the background noise... I guess I was scratching the computer while I was talking... I didn't realize it made that much noise, but now I know! :)

München, Deutschland

I have arrived! Since yesterday morning, our group has been in Munich, Germany... We'll remain here for a few more days.  Yesterday we did lots of traveling around the city.  One thing I've already learned: Don't pack so much!  Its not very fun carrying your luggage around a city... I had about 3 german men laugh at me and say, "...so much luggage..." (of course they had cute accents so I wasn't bothered by their mockery. :)  We also had lunch at this place called Hofbräuhaus... I ordered the Bavarian Meatloaf, and when it came out, all the people at my table looked in disgust.  It was a huge loaf-shaped chunk of bologna.  I'm not even kidding.  However, even though it tasted like bologna, it had a little better flavor. I also had a couple sips of my first german beer last night... honestly, I wasn't a fan.  However, some of the others were, but that's another story completely... 

Last night was pretty rough trying to get over jet lag, but hopefully tonight will be much better.  Today, we walked from 9 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon... it was intense.  We got to see lots of cathedrals and we visited the Deutsches Museum (The German Museum).  This museum was huge and mainly focused on the German's engineering progression.  I also had my host family interview tonight, so I should find out who I'll be living with tomorrow morning.  Overall, its been fun so far... I have already had a few challenging times, but God is good and He's never left my side!  Please pray...

• ...for the others in my group.
•  ...that I will be a light to the people around me... (As a believer, I don't agree with drinking to get drunk...it was hard for some of the people to understand this when we talked about it)
• ...that I would settle into my surroundings and be open to a new way of life. 

Eine Woche.

One Week.

I can't believe how fast my time has gone by... at this exact time next week, I'll be flying to Munich.  AHHH... so crazy!  So, usually the first question people ask me when they find out I'm studying abroad is, "What will you be doing in Austria?"  Well, I'm glad you asked!  While in Austria, I'll be taking 5 courses at a college.  These courses include Photography, Understanding Austria, History of European Art, German II, and Printmaking (oh!, plus a hiking/biking/rafting extra curricular).  I plan on living with a host family provided through the college I go to.  I have no idea who they are yet, but I'm so excited for the chance to live with legitimate Austrians.  Travel will also be one of the main things I'll do in Europe.  It's going to be so fun... and SO COLD!  The forecast is calling for a high... yes, a high... of 36 degrees in Munich the day I arrive.  This will be a rude awakening seeing that the low... yes, the low... here has been around 38 degrees.  Oh well!  Life will go on and I'm going to embrace every new experience I can!

I've been so blessed with this opportunity, and I know God's going to do some great things in this season of my life!  Please pray...

• That my heart will be prepared and sensitive to whatever God has planned...
• That I will be open to the people who live differently than me and that I wouldn't come across as judgemental...
• That this week will be spent wisely and that I will be productive with the time given to me...

Thank you all so much for the support... I'll try my best to keep this thing updated as I go.  If you want to be notified by email everytime I post a new blog, please sign your email in the bar to the left.  Also, be checking in on my FB page for pictures!

Philippians 1:3