Swiss Adventures!

Bonjour from Lausanne! It's been great being back at La Croisée for three weeks now. The new semester is going great and I love all of the spring semester students that have joined us here! I've gotten to spend a lot more time exploring Switzerland the past couple of weeks during new student orientation and the past two weekends.

During the new student orientation during the first week of school, our whole group go to go see Fribourg, about an hour outside Lausanne, and the Swiss capital of Bern. Fribourg was very interesting. It's the one of the only cities in Switzerland where half of the population speaks French and half speak Swiss-German. Fribourg is also home to the Tinguely Museum of Modern Art whih we also had the opportunity to visit. After lunch, we drove to Bern, which I had visited previously. This time we got to take a tour of the Swiss Parliament! It was so interesting to learn more about Switzerland and their government.

The next weekend I had the opportunity to go to Verbier, Switzerland to do a little snowboarding on the Swiss Alps! Verbier is gorgeous. The alps majestically surround this tiny Swiss village. The area and scenery was truly inspiring. Although my snowboarding skills are not the best, it was fun to go to Verbier with friends and just have a great day.

This past weekend, over sixty of us in the Lausanne program went on a spiritual retreat in Villars, Switzerland. We all stayed in a Swiss chalet together and had a great time! It was a time for us to reflect on our Creator and on our relationships as followers of Jesus Christ. We spent time worshipping together, hearing messages from our visiting faculty, Professor Daum, and in small groups. I think we would all say that we got to know everyone better in the house on a deeper level, regardless of their spiritual affiliation. Some people also took this opportunity to snowboard, ski, snowshoe, or just walk around Villars. It was great weekend and I believe that I saw God move in enormous ways in the house.

This weekend I am going to Versailles and Disneyland Paris with some friends. I hope that all of you are having a great 2011 thus far and continue to pray for me in my last couple of months abroad!