Amsterdam!

Bonjour! Just returned from Amsterdam this weekend and absolutely loved it! Now, when you think about Amsterdam the immediate thoughts that come to your mind are all the things that are legal there...but Amsterdam, putting all that it is known for aside, is probably one of my favorite cities I have been to.

A group of us left very early Friday morning (4:20 AM to be exact) to catch our flight to Amsterdam. I had no idea what to expect. Would I love it regardless of all the things that it is known for or would I hate it because of the things Amsterdam is known for. I was surprised to say the least. We arrived and immediately started by going to the Rijksmuseum where the works of Vermeer and Rembrandt are housed. It was really interesting to see all of the flemish artists that I have studied in school. Right after, we searched for a place to each lunch. We found a restaurant where I had a traditional dutch meal: a chicken burrito. Needless to say, it wasn't quite like Southern California Mexican food, but it did the job. After lunch, we went to the Van Gogh museum, probably my favorite thing we did all weekend. Van Gogh is my favorite artist so getting to see all of his works in person was incredible. I could've spent days in the museum looking at all of his work. We got to stay at a nice hotel just outside of town which was great. we were so tired from getting up so early that we called it a day after seeing those two museums and rested the rest of the night.

The next day we started out pretty early again to make sure we got a ticket to go inside of Anne Frank's house. As we went through, I started to remember her diary and all the things she wrote about at just the age of 13. The house has been beautifully preserved and the way the museum set it up with quotes on the walls just made it so much more touching. Walking behind the bookshelf into the Secret Annex was so surreal. The one room that tore my heart to pieces was her bedroom. She had put up pictures on her walls of celebrities, people she looked up to, animals, etc. To see all of her personal belongings there just filled me with sadness. Anne frank was an incredible person and writer for being such a young girl. After going through Anne Frank's house, we explore the rest of Amsterdam. The canals and buildings are gorgeous. People ride bikes everywhere! There is a bike lane and light on every street. It was crazy. I have never seen so many bike in my life. We also had an opportunity to see the beautiful flower markets. The Dutch are very welcoming and friendly, probably the most friendly in Europe. I had great experiences interacting with them.

If you ever have a chance, you should definitely visit Amsterdam for the things its not well known for. The canals, museums, and the people are great!

Greece EFT!

Kalimera everyone! I just returned from our group educational field trip to Greece! Here's and overview of my incredible experience there!

Monday-We had to get up at around 6:00 AM Lausanne time to get to the Geneva airport for our flight. I got lucky and got on the direct flight while the other half had to go through Zurich. We arrived in Athens around 3:30 PM. I love Greece and I was so excited to go back! We drove through Athens to get to our hotel (a four start at the base of the Acropolis!) We had the chance to explore the city and see all the ruins in Athens. Our whole group of 72 got to go out to dinner together for a traditional Greek meal at the base of the Acropolis. It was amazing!

Tuesday- Tuesday was our day to explore the islands of Greece! We had to get up super early (but the Greek yogurt for breakfast made it worthwhile) We took the hydra-foil boats to the islands of Poros and Hydra. It was about an hour boat ride to the island of Poros. Nestled in a little cove of islands, Poros was a gorgeous island. We all got to explore for about an hour. A bunch of us hiked up to the clock tower on the top of the island where there were panoramic views of all the islands! After we walked for a bit and saw the town we had lunch at a cute little restaurant over looking the bay (Greek yogurt again for dessert, so good!) After lunch, we went to the island of Hydra. Hydra was beautiful. All the houses were on the hills and there were CATS galore. We literally counted about 30 of them in this one garden. Aside from the stray cat problem, Hydra was a gorgeous island that I would love to go back to. The views were completely breathtaking. Every second seemed like a little slice of heaven. It was a very long day, but definitely one of my favorite on the trip.

Wednesday-Wednesday was our longest day on the EFT. We drove three hours the the archaeological site of Dephi (think about the movie 300-oracle at Delphi). It was a beautiful drive through the "breadbasket" of Greece and into the mountain ranges that still had traces of snow. Once, we got to Delphi, we took a tour of the museum there that is filled with artifacts, statues, and jewelry all found on the site. The most spectacular part though was walking among the ruins of this sacred site. Seeing the Temple of Apollo and the original Olympic track was amazing and the view couldn't have been any better. One of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It was great to go to such a historical and sacred site for the people of the ancient world and see a completely amazing city with most things still relatively in tact for thousands of years.

Thursday-On Thursday, we got to explore the wonders of Athens! Although, I had seen the sites of Athens previously with my parents, it was great to go and experience it with all my friends. First, we stepped out of our hotel and went to the Acropolis (notice the use of the word stepped, literally thats all we had to do!) Seeing the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena Nike, and the Erechthion was incredible. These ruins are so great! After we wandered around for about an hour (and took plenty of jumping pictures in front of the Parthenon) we went to Mars Hill where the apostle Paul preached in Athens. This was something I never got to see with my parents. It was such a spiritual experience. To have our whole group standing on this giant rock in front of the Acropolis (were the ancient Greeks worshipped their gods) was so cool. Our professor read Acts 17 (Paul preaching to the Athenians from Mars Hill) to everyone and it was the most incredible experience. I cannot even begin to describe how awesome it was to just feel the power of God in Athens that day with our whole group. We then made our way below to the Agora, the ancient marketplace. It was so fun to walk around and see all the ruins there. After a extremely long Greek lunch (so good!) we went to the New Acropolis museum right next to our hotel. It was really neat to go in there and see all the things from the Parthenon and the Acropolis because the last time I was in Athens they were still building it and the old museum was closed while they were transferring all of the artifacts. Seeing what was in the Parthenon and on it, the metopes, friezes, and pediments was amazing. Last year at Pepperdine, I took a Greek and Roman art history class so seeing all of these things specifically that we studied from the Acropolis truly made my learning come to life and I realized how blessed I was to have taken that class (no matter how difficult it might have been-over 150 slide memorized!) It was a great way to end the trip.

I loved having the opportunity to go back to Greece. It was great to actually get to stay in Athens this time and do it with my friends. It's such a unique experience getting to travel with basically 7o ish of your best friends. Once again, the EFT blew my mind!