Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Back in the USA!!!!!

To catch you up, the Vatican was absolutely AMAZING!!!!! I really hope I will be able to go back someday and spend more time there. It really is something you have to see for yourself to appreciate its absolute beauty...it amazed me so much...definite highlight of my trip. The last day we went to the Colusseum and the Catacombs-I learned a ton! Then yesterday I got on a plane from Rome to Frankfurt, then a 9hr flight back to Detroit.

I had an incredible experience the last 20 days and I am so thankful for all the people who supported me and had faith in me along the way. The trip meant so much to me and I had an outstanding time and learned so much. I can't wait to show you all my pictures and movie that I will make!!!! Thanks guys!!! :)

Peaceout!

Love, Emily

Friday, July 17, 2009

Italy!!!

Florence was sweet yesterday! U really don't know how big and amazing the statue of David is until u r right up close to it yourself. Also yesterday I bargained a shirt from 8 euros down to 6!!! Pretty sweet. Today we were in Pisa ... Saw the leaning tower, had some incredible gelato... Best thing I've ever eaten. And now I'm in my hotel in Rome!!! Wow! Tomorrow I'm going to the Vatican!!!! I am so excited!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Updates

Sooooo a lot has happened since I last was on here. The survivor from the holocost was amazing... He spoke german and had a translator but he had some great things to say. Then Monday we toured the city of Vienna on bikes!!! Really fun. Then we went to prater amussement park... Unfortunately we only had a half hour to ride rides... But we had to pay for them so I only went on the ferris wheel. Then we drove a while to the town of Freisach... Where we enjoyed an entertaining dinner and mideivel games... And then what originally concerned me was that we had to sleep in tents!!!! That was definitely not on the itinerary... But it turned out to be fun. We had a bonfire and marshmallows and the next morning was beautiful. Then we drove to the small town of sirintz ...where a very nice lady made us apfel strudel... Which I'm not kidding ive eaten that everyday I have been in Austria. But it is sooooo good :). We got to see a typical Austrian farm and a water mill- you can drink any water in Austria because I guess it comes straight from the mountains so it is all fresh and it tastes really really good. Then everyone got to throw a wish down the river which was a real sentimental moment. Later we drove for 7 hrs on the cramped bus to Italy!!!! Yes I was so excited that I finaly made it here, but everyone was complaining because we kept getting stuck in traffic- not to mention we were in the middle of cornfields and there was traffic. People stayed pretty entertained on the bus though by putting makeup on the guys and playing charades and stuff. Last night we arrived at the hotel at 11:45pm. Wow long day.
Today was incredible though. Unfortunately had to wake up at 6:30am but we went to Venice so I was good!!! It was amazing. Beautiful place. The streets can be very narrow and crowded but it was so cool to cross the bridges to get from place to place and to ride in a gondola!!! So much fun. :)
Tomorrow were going to Florence to see the statue of David!
Talk to you all soon!!!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Concentration camps

Today I said goodbye to my homestay family which was kindof sad because they are all so nice and I don't know if I will see them again. Hopefully I will be able to keep in touch with them though. Then we drove to the concentration camp... Mauthausen. Never seen anything like that in my life. I was sick just looking at the rooms and what had happened. So sad. Now I'm sitting iin a hotel waiting... For an hour and a half for the interview with the survivor from the holocost to begin. Should be interesting.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Definite Cultural Experience Day

my mind is overflowing right now with all of the culture i have been exposed to today and my entire homestay experience. there is way too much to tell on just one blog. Today i woke up early and went to the supermarket with tina and Hans (homestay family) and they had never tried peanut butter before so they bought that and tried it like a sandwich-i think they liked it. lol. this morning for breakfast they gave me a hard boiled egg with the shell still on it...little did i know i wasnt supposed to peal the entire shell off, instead only the top and spoon out the rest...so they thought that was very funny. also they thought it was funny that i dont eat the yellow stuff (that was still liquid) inside the egg. they are learning a lot about Americans as we are learning a lot about them...so cool. then tina, elise, and i made weiner shnitzel for lunch and also apfel strudel...very good...wish i could bring some home to you all. :) then we went to watch some volleyball matches...but it wasnt professional or anything-just people who wanted to play for fun. OMG then we went speed gliding down a mountain...WOW definite highlight of my trip-you were in this bobsled thing and pulled up the mountain on this track, then you just slide down on the track-i think it goes up past 45 mph -wow that was SOOOO fun. Then Tinas parents picked us up and we went strawberry picking. Then Regina (mom) took me to church-ok that was a bigger highlight of my trip so far. it was amazing. of course i didnt understand anything because they spoke german but the mass was pretty much exactly the same Catholic mass that i attend at home...so it was cool i knew which prayers they were saying and stuff...so i said them in english. :) then i experienced more austrian culture later this evening and overall it was a super day-i am going to really miss Austria-if i could go back to one place it probably would be here. My homestay family is so nice and the people here seem nice too...and of course it is a beautiful place to live... the only thing that bothers me is that everyone smokes (luckily not my hostfamily)...but everyone else does. its part of their culture i guess. i am learning a ton!!!!!!
tomorrow though i am going to Mauthausen (sp?) ...the concentration camps. Then we have one more day in Austria, and then we are going to Italy!!!!
"Grews Goht"
(God greet/bless you) which you would normally say at the beginning of a conversation but oh well :)

love Emily

Friday, July 10, 2009

Amazing Austria Adventure

wow!!!! today was a super fun day in Austria. woke up at 5:45 am and got on the bus with Elise and Tina and rode for an hour to her school. we had to switch busses three times and met other Austrian students on the way. This is when i really began to notice the cultural differences between them and Americans. for example at the age of 16, they are allowed to smoke (and drink) so yeah there are a lot of cultural differences, including fashion, they hug and kiss each other quite a bit, etc...it was tina´s last day of school, so all they did was get certificates, but it was cool to hang around students from austria. then we took the bus (note: not a yellow school bus) to the city of Linz and went shopping!!!!!! we ate chinese food - all you can eat for lunch and then went to see the movie Bruno....please please i warn you not to go see that movie!!!!!! lol it was soooo fun though to hang out with everyone-kids from our delegation and kids from austria. then i ate an amazing dinner that Regina made for us...it was an omlet filled with ham and cheese...soooo good i will make that when i get home!!!!!
wow very fun day today. now i am SOOO tired but i am looking forward to tomorrow!!!!!!
peace

love Emily

Thursday, July 9, 2009

more from austria

also something I forgot to mention that happened today... in Salzburg, I bought myself this amazing donut-pretzel...so yes grandpa I have eaten a donut in Europe...best thing i´ve eaten in my life!!!! wow that was so good!!!!! ok i just had to write that!
bye!!!

Austria

Wow what a day today. Started off in Salzburg where we got a guided tour of the city. It was awesome :) saw some really cool churches, amazing scenery, and then we rode the bus for 2 hours to Hagemberg where we met some students from Austria - which this was considered our service project. It was fun. :) Then we met our host families!!!! Tina, who is 16, and her mom, Regina, picked us up at the school and brought us to their house. It is BEAUTIFUL!!! They have an amazing view from their backyard- and all around is so gorgeous. Tomorrow is Tina´s last day of school so Elise (whos also staying with me) and I are going to school with her and then going shopping!!! yay!!
We also met Marco, (Tinas brother) and her Dad, and tonight we went out for icecream :) so fun!!!!! tina speaks the best english... and it is fun trying to communicate with the rest of the family :) having a great time!!!!!!
ttyl

Emily

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Switzerland/ Austria

Hi all
So I was kindof dissapointed I couldn't update this yesterday but there was absolutely no wifi at our hotel. :(
Well we had a long busride from Strasbourg to Switzerland, but the view was gorgeous. Then we had 2 hours of freetime to shop in lucerne!!! We also had to find our own lunch somewhere- luckily everyone spoke English so it wasn't hard to communicate with people. Bought some famous Switzerland chocolate yesterday- they wouldn't let you test anything though do idk if it tastes good or not!!! The mountains here are unbelievable- really they are outstanding. I can't describe them - they are beautiful. Then we took a ferry ride on a river through the mountains and ate dinner.

This morning we drove to innsbrook- a little town in Austria and made afelstrudel (sp?) it was sooooo good :). At lunch, steffano, our bus driver, who only speaks italian, decides to sit with us and just speak all in Italian. We were all quite entertained- specially when I tried to speak back to him using the translator book Mrs. Stephan gave me... By the way thanks for that it has helped me
A lot :). Good times
Then in Salzburg, we got to our hotel and got dressed up for a classical concert. The violinists were really good... But most people were struggling not to fall asleep- I'll admit- me too. But at intermission, I went to the bathroom and when I was done I tried to get the door open (the locks are very weird in Europe and the doors go all the way to the ground) but I couldn't!!!! I was literally locked in the bathroom for 10 minutes, feeling really closterphobic, people laughing at me- LOL but finnaly my leader talked me through how to get it open. I thought it was hysterical though!!!!
Tomorrow I get to meet my homestay family! So excited but everyone else is freaking out- idk why.
Miss you all! :)

Monday, July 6, 2009

Chilled day

Hey everyone! Sorry about yesterdays post- I literally had 2 minutes left of Internet time that I paid 4.50 euros for one hour over 30 days. This hotel in strasbourg has free wifi though so I'm so excited!!!! :)

To catch you up on yesterday, yes it was a crazy day- kindof unorganized and we had a lot of bad luck- including getting split up on the subway, our bus broke at the beginning of the day so we walked several miles around Paris... But it was still amazing b/c I was in Paris France. OMG thought of you all at the top of the eifel tower. Sooo before getting here I thought we were getting our own tour of the tower... Wow I was wrong... You wouldn't believe how many people were there it was insane!!! Ate the best icecream ever while walking down!!!! Wow best days of your life :) Then walked 2 miles to the metro and it was about 9 pm before we ate dinner!!!! It was spaghetti- seriously I think I've eaten more Italian food in France than the traditional French food...which Is ok because the only food I think is good here has been Italian- dad you would like the food because they eat a lot of hard boiled eggs! ew :p

So today I had to get up early- 6am because we had a seven hour drive on the newly fixed bus to Strasbourg France. Beautiful town- I may like it better than Paris- it just feels more like a home and safer... But still with amazing shopping stores!!! Went inside gorgeus catethedral - notre dame of Strasbourg. Amazing :)
Then people went swimming in the rain at the hotel- but I along with several others were cold and were instead entertained by our Italian-only speaking bus driver and other funny things.
Having a great time- sorry I can't call you that often because my calling card doesn't work- hopefully it will in another country but otherwise it is expensive to use my credit card :(
Miss you all!!!!

Love Emily

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Crazy day

Bus broke down today... Used subway-sweet! Went to top of eifel tower! IMF awesome! Ttyl running out of paid Internet time sorry!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Paris day 2

Hi all!!! Today was an incredible day. Woke up at 7:30, ate cereal for breakfast, boarded the bus for a tour around Paris. Our tourguide showed us all the amazing sites and stories that go with them. Then I got to get a real feel for Paris as we walked through the streets. They are very narrow and crowded...it can be difficult to cross the crosswalks sometimes. People are crazy drivers-I don't think I could handle driving here. Also something you don't think of is that the streets are very dirty-filled with trash and the bathrooms are tiny- I will def. miss am. bathrooms:)LOL. We also saw the notre dame cathedral, went a little shopping, then went to the louvre to eat lunch in the foodcourt. I had frances version of pizza- pretty much the same. Then we got to see the artwork-hey jas, there are a lot of naked things here!!! LOL!!! But you gotta remember its art. I saw the mona lisa and other famous stuff. Then they let us loose on groups of 3 to shop!!! Omg so much fun... Of course we don't know where to go but it was fun looking around. I learned how to say a little in French "merci" is thank you. French like it when you speak their language. Then we walked up many stairs and had a great view of Paris...they let us loose again and I went into a beautiful catholic church and sat and prayed and thanked God for this experience. Amen! Then we ate dinner-I thought the appetizer was egg, but it really was fish- GROSS omg!!!! but know that i didnt order that- i had no choice cuz everybody gets the same thing. But I ate some good beef for the main course. Then we got on the bus to go back to the hotel, where nobodys calling card works which stinks but hopefully it'll hey figured out. Wow today was amazing!!!!!
Well tomorrow I'm pumped b/c I'm going to the eifel tower!!!! Wow

Friday, July 3, 2009

In Paris!!!

So we landed in frankfurt germany around 9am this morning... Then went through customs again to fly to Paris. Flights were very smooth, had decent food and overall went well. Watched 17 again on my 9 hr flight and barely slept :p Got into Paris around 1:00pm and rode the bus to the palace of versaille! Sooooooo beautiful OMG it was simply incredible. Inside was all gold and phenomenal paintings ...all of Frances royal monarchy. Then we walked outside to the gardens ...never seen anything like it in my life! The weather is absolutely perfect here it is BEAUTIFUL!!!! Seriously can't believe I'm here :)!!!!!!! I don't like French food so far but I've tried everything...you won't believe I ate duck for lunch today. It tastes like chicken-that wasn't bad but the egg was nasty:p!!!

Tomorrow I'm going to the notre dame cathedral and mona lisa!!

God bless you all!!!!! :)

In Detroit

I'm sitting in the Detroit airport waiting for my 6:00 9 hour flight to Frankfurt!!! Had a yucky chicken nugget meal at mcds but I was soooo hungry!!!! Saw mom and dad hold a sign to me as they stalked our bus...just kidding they were driving to PA
One hour till departure!!! :)

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Today's The Day!

aaaah! Can't believe I'm leaving today! That's crazy!!!! I definitely did not sleep last night but thats ok. :) Well I can say that I'm almost finished packing...Moms picking up some last minute stuff at the store for me-thanks mom :) Then at 12:45 I'm meeting in Kalamazoo the 40 other students who are going with me-we'll get on the bus to Detroit-then my flight to Frankfurt leaves at 6pm!!
Again, I'll try to keep this up to date everyday...keep checking back :)

Goodbye Michigan!!!!!

Peaceout :)