The Past Month in Four Paragraphs!

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't really kept up the past month on the blog! It's been super busy and here's why:

So since I blogged last time, I went on a Roman Holiday!!! A group of us went to Rome the second weekend of November! It was a great experience. We saw the Roman forum, Coliseum, Trevi fountain, Pantheon, mouth of truth, and the Vatican. It was incredible (also consumed gelato 4 times in two days). Next time I go to Rome, I want to stay for a week. There is so much to see and it was beautiful!

The last travel weekend in November, Nick and I went to Berlin! Everyone else went to the Harry Potter premier in London (wanted to go so bad, but were going in two weeks :}) so we decided to go to Germany. The second time around, Germany was awesome. We both really enjoyed Berlin! After our 13 hour train ride (of course we arrived late, its Germany...), we went to our hostel in East Berlin (so crazy) and settled in. We immediately took off to see some sites. In the two days we were there, we walked a total of 17 miles seeing Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, the TV tower, and 4 museums housing the alter of Pergamon, the gates of Babylon, and the bust of Nefertiti. Berlin was a really cool city that I would love to go back to someday.

The last two weekends in Lausanne consisted of Thanksgiving, Christmas markets, making videos, and studying for finals! We had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner complete with all the fixings (and a short play by my fellow peers on Thanksgiving...haha). Thanksgiving was also the first day it snowed in Lausanne! A white Thanksgiving was great! It snowed over a foot that weekend and we all loved it! One weekend, a bunch of us went to the Christmas markets in Montreux, one of the best in this area of Europe. Christmas markets are very popular in Germany and Switzerland. They typically sell Christmas decorations, winter clothing, candies and chocolates, and other fun things! It was great to walk around by Lake Geneva and sip on some cider (spiked with some vodka...just to keep me warm :]). It was a great cultural experience! I finished out the semester strong with good grades and finished the videos for my job an for all the students.

Now, I am in Romania on the mission trip that I planned for myself and 14 other Pepperdine students who are studying abroad. Its been a great experience so far working with children in Bucharest. We have gotten to make crafts and play games at two different orphanages as well as go site seeing in Bucharest and the Brasov area near Dracula's castle! We are all having a great time and I am looking forward to traveling with Nick and one of my best friends, Lauren to Great Britain, Ireland, and Denmark the rest of break!

Barcelona/Lisbon Fall Break!

This past week we had our fall break (which was much needed after mid terms :]) and a bunch of us went to Barcelona, Spain and Nick and I travelled to Lisbon, Portugal after that!

We had a great time basking in the warm Iberian sun and seeing the sights of Barcelona and Lisbon!

We left La Croisee at 6:40 AM Wednesday to get to the Geneva airport for our flight to Barcelona at 9:35. We arrived in Barcelona at 10:30 ish and left the airport for our hostel called Ideal Youth Hostel (ironic considering it was not so ideal :/) We checked into our hostel and went looking for a some Spanish food, but settled on KFC because we all had a hankerin' for some good ole' American eats! After we devoured a bucket of fried chicken, we headed for the beach! It was about a 20 minute walk from the hostel, but it was very enjoyable. We got some ice cream and walked along the harbor. The beach was beautiful! The Spanish Mediterranean was so blue! We sat and talked for a while and walked back toward La Rambla (the area we were staying in) with some kids from the Florence Program who were also in Barcelona. After a quick power nap, Lauren, Alex, Alison, Nick, and I went out to eat. We ordered some sangria (yum!), tapas (yummier!), and paella (yummiest!). It was great. We then went on a search for churros con chocolate! Also delicious! It was a great first day of relaxation! The next day, our same group headed out early for some sight seeing! We headed toward the market where we all got fresh fruit. We spotted a Dunkin Donuts along the way and also got a few sweet treats! We started our day off going to the La Sagrada Famillia or the sand drop cathedral in Barcelona. It was gorgeous! It was under a lot of construction, but thats because it always is. They haven't stopped working on it since the 1800's! After the cathedral, we went to Gaudi's gardens on the other side of town. Gaudi is the architect who is famous for his Dr. Seuss-like buildings and use of mosaics. His gardens were beautiful! So unique and intricate! This is also where they hosted America's Next Top Model season finale 3 so of course, we did some runway walking! Unfortunately, Nick and I had to leave for our flight at 5, but Barcelona is a place I would love to go back to someday!

Nick and I went to Lisbon, Portugal on Thursday. We had such a great time! On Friday morning, we left our awesome hostel to explore! If you like views, Lisbon is definitely the place to go. It's situated on seven hills so there are views everywhere you go. First, we walked around the main square part of Lisbon. It was so beautiful. There are a million monuments in Lisbon so there is always something to look at. Also the architecture is gorgeous! So many of the buildings were covered with beautifully painted tiles! We walked to the ocean/harbor and made our way toward Alfama (the moorish quarter) of Lisbon. Alfama was really interesting. The area seemed to be preserved from any modern changes. It probably looks pretty similar to it hay-day back hundreds of years ago. After Alfama, Nick and I hiked up to the castle. It had such pretty views of the city. We took a bus down to the main square again, did some shopping, and headed back to the hostel.

The flight back on Saturday was probably the worst. I got very sick :( but that did not put a damper on the trip! It was a great time and I'm glad I got to go!

Venice!!!!!

So this past weekend, Nick, Alison Waters, and I went to Venice, Italy! We left on Friday morning and took the direct train. We got to Venice around 2 ish. I loved being able to go back to Venice. I did not realize how much I loved it the first time till we decided we were going to go this past weekend. We went to our hotel on Lido island, got freshened up, had a scoop of gelato, and headed out for a fun night on the town! First, we went to St. Mark's Square. Still as gorgeous as ever (minus all the billboards they've put up since the last time I was there :[ ). We walked around a bit, did some shopping, and stumbled upon this awesome restaurant right on one of the canals. I got my gnocchi fix once again, while Alison got cannelloni and Nick got lasagna. We finished or meal off with some delicious Irish coffee and another scoop of gelato! We got the last boat back to Lido and spent some quality time together in the hotel room (aka. reading for History 304)

The next day we left at about 9 and headed to the island of Murano, where the Venetian glass is made. We got to see a glass making demonstration and wandered around the island for a little while. We made our way back toward the train station, got some delicious pizza, and did some more shopping for glass, soccer jerseys, and of course some Italian wine. It was a quick trip, but we all had fun! Midterms have been going on all this week, so be praying for me and all my classmates as we prepare to write papers and take our exams. I have been in Switzerland 7 weeks as of today! I cannot believe how fast time is flying over here! God has been working in mighty ways in our house and I'm so happy with all of the people that are in the Lausanne house with me. They are all such a blessing!

Normandy Educational Field Trip!

We just returned from our Educational Field Trip in Normandy last night! We had such a fantastic time! Our program directors and assistant did an amazing job of putting a trip together that was fun and extremely educational. Here's a day by day overview of our trip to the Normandy region of France:

Monday-We left La Croisee at about 9:00 AM to get to the Geneva airport by 10:00 AM. Our Air France flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle left at 12:00PM and we arrived at 1:00 PM. We were greeted at the airport by our travel agent for the week, Jack, and our two story bus (we were all very excited about that!). From there, we started our three hours drive to Deauville, France, a beautiful seaside town in Normandy. We stayed at the Mercure Hotel and Yacht Club in Deauville for the first three days of our trip. Pepperdine really knows how to travel with class. The Yacht Club was amazing! The rooms were very nice and they had a hot breakfast for us every morning. Once we were checked in, most of us ran to the beach to snap a few sunset (and jumping :]) pictures. We all went out to dinner together that night in Deauville and since we were all tired, just stayed at the hotel or explored a little more the rest of the night.

Tuesday-We left the hotel at 8:30 AM to start our jam packed day of Normandy sight seeing. We went first to pick our tour guides in Caen, about an hour from Deauville, and from there went straight to Arromanches (Gold Beach for you history buffs). This is where the Brit's built an artificial harbor on D-Day called Mullberry B, and fought the Germans. We visited the D-Day museum for an hour and then ate lunch right on the water. After lunch, we visited the German barracks next to Gold Beach for about 20 minutes. We then drove about 30 minutes to the American Cemetery on Omaha Beach. There are over 9,000 graves in this cemetery. Our tour guides showed us the Niland brothers graves (the story that inspired the movie Saving Private Ryan), some of the women who perished while working for the American Red Cross, as well as the seven cross dedicated to the unknown soldiers who died during the war. We were all struck with grief as well as gratitude. Many of these men and women were our age and we all reflected on the sacrifice they made almost 70 years ago on that very beach. After that, we went down to Omaha for about ten minutes to look at the monuments some more. It was a long day, but really interesting to finally see the places that we have learned about for years.

Wednesday-Once again, we set out relatively early for Mont Saint Michel. It took a little longer to get there than the previous day (about 2 hours) but was so worth it. First, we went and eat lunch at Mont Saint Michel. Did I mention Pepperdine really knows how to travel with class? We had an awesome four course meal for lunch (Mussels, salmon with saffron rice, a sampling of local cheeses, and tiramisu!). We were in heaven! We then took a tour of Mont Saint Michel. It was once in the harbor there, but the river that flow into to ocean has created a bank so that Mont Saint Michel is only in the ocean every once in a while. It was built as a monastery and is still in use by 7 monks today. It was so gorgeous! We left after a couple of hours of walking around the little town to a biscuit factory! They had free samples (yum!). I'm sure some of you will be receiving them as gifts in the near future!

Thursday-Thursday was a driving day, mostly to drive closer to Paris so we didn't have to travel as much on Friday. We went to the small town of Honfleur. We stopped there for about an hour to see the beautiful little harbor. This is the harbor that Jacques Cartier left from in the 1500's to sail to North America. Honfleur also has only of the only wooden churches left in western Europe. Most had been burned, but this one has stayed in tact for centuries. After Honfleur, we went to Rouen, the capital of Upper Normandy on the Seine River. Rouen was gorgeous! It rivaled France in size for many centuries and was one of the main ports in France because of its strategic location. Rouen has a beautiful cathedral that we had the privilege to take a tour of, as well as well as many bell towers. Rouen is also where Joan of Arc was baptized and burned at the stake. They have built a monument to her as well as a church in her honor there. Thursday night we stayed in the town of Evreux.

Friday- Our last day on the trip and probably the most beautiful. We left Evreux at 8:30 AM and set out for Claude Monet's house in Giverny! This area of Normandy was so beautiful. We arrived at Monet's house at 10:00 AM and had an hour to go through his house and the garden that inspired so many of his masterpieces. I think we all would've loved to wander through the gardens the whole day. All of the flowers were still in bloom and it's kept amazingly by the many gardeners there. No wonder Monet had so much inspiration there! It was awesome. After Monet's house, we left for the airport in Paris and concluded our EFT.

Next weekend...Venice + Verona!

Florence/Pisa!

This past weekend, I went to the heart of the Renaissance...Florence, Italy. It was glorious! What a beautiful place. The architecture, art work, and people were amazing (as well as prices for Italian wine :]) Our group had a great time!

We started by leaving at 6:20 on Friday for Milan. I'm so excited to go to Milan in December, if the city is anything like the train station, it must be gorgeous. Anyway, we got to Florence around 1 and headed to the Pepperdine Villa. The Pepperdine Villa is great! The rooms are a bit small, but the villa is homey and comfortable for the weekend. We got to stay there and they provided breakfast at an awesome cafe not to far away. We put our stuff away and immediately got some great Italian food at a cafe! With a full stomach, we were ready to walk till our feet were about to fall off the rest of the day. We saw the beautiful Duomo, the Church of Santa Maria Novella (not quite sure if thats what its actually called but it was beautiful!), and walked all over town. The Duomo is so magnificent! Like nothing else I've ever seen. Its so beautiful, I took probably about 50 pictures of just the Duomo alone. We were so tired that we came back and slept before dinner (I had gnocchi...yum!) and that was about it. On Saturday, we had a full day planned. We left at about 8, got a delicious breakfast at the cafe, and went off to see Michaelangelo's "David" at the Academia. We stood in line for about 2 hours and we finally got in. David is so wonderful. Its amazing the size and detail of this sculpture. I wish I had pictures but they would do no justice to Michaelangelo's workmanship. After that, some of us walked to the top of a hill in Florence to get some awesome pictures of the city. It was beautiful! We came back across "Ponte Vecchio" the famous bridge filled with goldsmith and jewelry stores, got some good ole' Italian gelato, and headed back to the villa to get ready for the night. We went to the same place for dinner that night and went out with some of our friends that are at the program in Florence.

On Sunday, we decided we wanted to go to Pisa! Its only about an hour from Florence so we got up early again (4 1/2 hours of sleep!) and headed to the coast toward Pisa. Finally, after a 30 minute walk we saw what we came for, the leaning tower! You would never believe just how much it leans! Its incredible that its still standing. It was in such good condition though, as were the other buildings in the plaza with it. It really is remarkable.

One of the best trips I've ever had! We had a great group that made the trip awesome! This weekend is a rest weekend in Lausanne and then were off to our educational field trip in Normandy next week!!!! Au revoir!

Bern/Montreux and Oktoberfest

Bonjour!

I'm sorry its taken me so long to do an update. I've been really busy with orientation and school and whatnot. Anyway, so last week was my first week of school. I have a lot of reading, but nothing too overwhelming. I am taking French 152, History 304, Humanities 212, and Communication 180.

Two weekends ago I went to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. It's in the German speaking part of Switzerland so that was very different considering I don't know any German (aside from "danke" and "nine") It was a really neat city. Its only about an hour outside Lausanne, so it was perfect for a day trip. Nick, Kristina, and I tried to find all of the famous fountains in Bern (11), but missed one! They are all very pretty...except for one which depicts an ogre eating small children (the Swiss like to try and keep their children in line). We also saw the famous bears for which Bern is also famous. The oldest bear, Pedro, is the cities mascot and they had just finished his new habitat this past year and added another family of bears as well. We also saw Albert Einstein's apartment, the one in which he discovered the Theory of Relativity. The apartment is about the size of a kitchen. We basically walking in and turned around and left.

The next day we went to Montreux which is only about 20 minutes from Lausanne on the opposite end of Lake Geneva. Montreux is apparently a very historical site for music buffs. The song "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple, was written in Montreux and Freddy Mercury of the band Queen, died there in 1991. This part of Switzerland is called the Swiss Riviera, and for good reason, its gorgeous! We walked along the boardwalk all the way to Chateau Chemin, the castle that sits on Lake Geneva. It's of huge historical importance to this region because it was the go between for the French to get to Italy. It is also where Lord Byron was held captive.

This past weekend, Dani, Nick, Ben, Scott, Lauren, and I all went to Munich for Oktoberfest. We left Lausanne at 6:20 in the morning and got to Augsburg at 3 to check into our hostel and get ready to leave. It was a sunny warm day, so we all were wearing shorts and t-shirts and Iwas wearing sandals. We got to Munich around 6. There is absolutely no way to describe what Oktoberfest is like. Its like a giant (and I mean giant) fair with tons and tons of rides and people. It was extremely overwhelming. There are about 10 beer tents and they are huge as well so we figured we would have no problem getting in, getting a beer (they serve 1 liter which equals about 5 cans of beer) and having the quint essential Oktoberfest experience. We started to wait in line at a tent, when all of a sudden it started to pour! We were soaking wet and couldn't find cover anywhere. We started to sprint back to the train station and decided we would come back the next day on our way out. We were prepared the second day for rain and cold (it was about 55 outside) and headed to Oktoberfest around 1. We figured that we would for sure get into a tent because not only were we coming earlier, but it wasn't raining so more people would be outside. Nope, we were wrong. We gave up on trying to get into a tent and just walked around for about an hour. So our Oktoberfest turned into Oktoberfail. I would probably never go back. It was pretty gross on the grounds and just way over crowded. So our itinerary back to Lausanne was pretty simple. We were to leave Munich at 4:43 for Goppinggen, take the 7:02 train to Basel, then be back in Lausanne by 10:45. Easy right? We get off at Goppinggen and start looking for our train (ps we were running because all german trains are 5 minutes late) and we could not find the platform or the train route at all. I ended up asking some ladies in german where that train was and they said it doesn't exist. They were right. So, really confused about our schedule, we decided to take a train to a larger city to find a route. We left for Stuttgart, a larger city at about 7:30. When we got there at 8, I went to the info booth to find a route to Lausanne and this is what they gave us. Stuttgart-Karlsrhue, Karlsrhue-Basel, Basel-Olten, Olten-Bern, walk, bus to Montreux, sit in Montreux for 2 hours, train to Lausanne at 6 in the morning. At this point, we all wanted to cry. So we get to Bern at 1 in the morning on Sunday. We cannot find the bus station anywhere! We walked around for an hour trying to find our bus that leaves at 1:50. No luck, so we ended up sitting in Bern from 2 AM-5AM waiting for a train to go to Lausanne. We finally got back to La Croisee at 6:30 on Sunday morning. Needless to say, none of us want to go back to Germany ever again. Anyway, so planning on going to Florence this weekend. Hopefully that trip works out a little bit better than this one did...It was a fun experience and a lifelong memory for sure.

We're Finally Here!

We finally made it! Everything is so picturesque in Switzerland. The Pepperdine house is absolutely amazing. From the staff to the building itself, nothing could be better. Lausanne is by far the most beautiful city I have ever been to! Since we got into Geneva at 8:00 AM, we had a full day of orientation and got to go to the Olympic Museum! It was really interesting seeing all the Olympic memorabilia and the spectacular gardens with sculptures dedicated to athletes or the Greek gods. Lake Geneva is gorgeous! Luckily, Dani and I have the best view ever from our balcony and I got some awesome shots of our first sunset in Lausanne! More updates soon! XOXO

The sunset view from our balcony!

Nick and I, after 24 hours of travel, in Switzerland!

Contact Info and Travel Info

Bonjour mes amis! Just wanted to give all who are curious some information about where I will be staying and where I am planning on traveling first semester!

This is my address in Lausanne:

La Croisée

Av. Marc Dufour 15

CH-1007 Lausanne

Switzerland

I will have skype both on my phone and my computer so feel free to call me anytime!(free skype to skype when I have wifi for my laptop or phone or $0.02 on a landline). My skype name is Ally156.

So Nick, Dani, and I worked out a tentative schedule for traveling first semester using our three country/10 day eurail pass.

September 8-arrive

September 10-12-Lausanne

September 17-20-Bern/Montreux, Switzerland

September 24-25-Munich/Augsburg, Germany

October 1-3-Florence/Pisa, Italy

October 7-10-Switzerland

October 11-15-France EFT

October 22-24-Verona/Venice, Italy

October 29-31-Heidelberg/Darmstadt, Germany

November 3-7-Barcelona, Spain/Lisbon, Portugal

November 12-14-Nick weekend to plan a trip.

November 19-21-???

November 26-28-Lausanne

Seventeen days left in the states! Please pray for our group and for our hearts to be open to experience God's beautiful creation! Au revoir!

So Close!

Hi everyone! Welcome to my blog! I've never "blogged" before so cut me some slack with formatting and what not. As I was thinking about my study abroad experience, I realized that I would regret not chronicling all of my travels and thoughts. I decided that creating my own blog would be the best solution, not only for myself, but also for all of my loved ones back home to see where I am, what I am learning, and what God is teaching me while living in Europe. My flight to Switzerland leaves at 7:00 AM on September 7th!