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!