Well, it's been a while. Over 2.5 weeks. That was because I literally had the craziest break ever. Ever. I don't know where to even start. I backpacked through Europe! WHAT?! I did it already and it still doesn't feel real. So I'm going to try to condense this-so some things may be left out and some things may be all over the place. So be prepared. Sorry if it's too long.
I started off Thursday, el 28 de marzo en el autobus al aeropuerto. Ay. My sweet friends, Hayley and Ellen, saw me off. It was strange to say bye to them for almost 3 weeks. I missed them a lot over break. But my first stop-Luzern, Switzerland. However, I made some short terms delays along the way. My first flight from Alicante to Barcelona got delayed for 3 hours...it was fine by me, less time in the middle of the night in Barcelona. Plus I got an 18 euro voucher for food and drinks, first starbucks all semester. Not gonna lie, I can live without it. It was good though. But Spain has got the coffee down. Then I finally made it to Barcelona, I slept in an airport for the first time. #booya. It was luckily 8 hours instead of 11 from the delay in Alicante. Made it on my next plane to Zurich, hopped off the plane in Zurich and grabbed a train ticket to Luzern and an hour later I was greeted at perfect timing with my friends at the train station. God is so good, who needs technology? O wait, I do...well most of the time. I was greeted by Rusty, Emily, Jacob and Ellen. It was so great to see all of their faces.
We set off for our adventure-I was struggling after only 2 hours of sleep, but I was so happy to be with everyone and see MOUNTAINS it didn't matter. We didn't have the best weather, but it was a cool place. We saw the old wooden bridge, the stone lion, and stayed in a great little hotel with...wait for it....HOT SHOWERS!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH! I could take more than a 7 minute hot shower and it was CLEAN! Praise Jesus. SOOOO GOOD. You don't even know. But seriously. We had such fun just hanging out in the hotel too. We facedtimed so many friends, played the longest game of Phase 10, laughed together, watched random youtube videos, ate packed sandwiches, Em and I wrestled in bed (yeah, I'm a girl, no shame). I've really learned a lot about how much a difference it makes to travel with the people you love and care about. As the famous Ms. Jeanne says, "It's not where you go, but who you're
with." I didn't really understand that till I came abroad. The places are amazing. God shines through them all. It humbles you. But I enjoyed being with my friends and enjoying it with them so much more. They made the trip. I honestly believe I could have been anywhere in the world and been happy. Just being surrounded by people who all love each other was so good. It made my heart so warm and fuzzy. O I have to add my first accident proneness-I feel off this awesome rope swingset and gave my knee a wicked bruise. It was so funny.
We then hopped on a train to Salzburg! FINALLY! Okay, now I saw some amazing places this break, but I really think my favorite scenery (well the Cliffs in Ireland are about equal) was the view on this train. We went right through the Swiss Alps and HECK. They. Were. BEAUTIFUL. For one I love the mountains. I don't know if there's anything that can sweep my heart up like they can. But o my goodness, they were soooo gorgeous. Those 6 hours were a piece of cake, but yeah they were sweeter.
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| My name! But not really. |
We got to Salzburg and dropped the Liverpoolians off at their hostel and then went for a good Italian dinner. Yeah, really, life is great. We went back to hostel and watched Monster's Inc. in the room. We had too seem like some crazy kids who took over, but it was perfect. Then Em and I went back to her cute place and I met her sweet host mom and got some good pillow talk with her. I've missed that sweet friend. It's just so good to have such good friends who I can have deep life conversations with that are centered around Christ. We woke up and I got to see beautiful Austria. We made not have had the best weather, but dang, it's so beautiful and heck, I love the snow. We took an awesome hike up towards the fortress and walked all around. I ate some good food, had some black coffee, and best yet had great company. My heart was so happy. My friends are sooo cool. BAH! It was fun to have time with all of them. We had a movie night at Em's-I don't know what we watched. It was weird and I about feel asleep, but I loved being there with everyone. It was great seeing Ellen too! She's precious and her legs were SOOOOO hairy. She had man hair legs. Props. No shave semester. That takes guts-more power to her! Poor Em and Rusty had midterms and class that week. We probably could have had some better timing. But Em and I got some good one-on-one time at their school my last day. We went up to the library, spending time in the word and prayer. Jesus is so good. It was great to humble ourselves before him and open our hearts to Him and each other. Being vulnerable is such a relief at times. That night I got to spend some good time with Rusty too. It's crazy how one semester being totally uprooted can cause you to break down walls. I've learned so much about my role as a woman of Christ. It's been good to feel weak, but also good to see others around me weak as well. It makes me realize how much we all need Christ and how are strength really does come from Him. It's humbling.
Then Thursday came again. I said bye to Em at the bus and this time Rusty dropped me off at the airport. My peanut butter got taken through security, but I got a stamp! I jumped on the plane and off to London! I took a bus into town, jumped on the tube, and walked to my hostel to meet up with Brenna! Heck yes. I feel so grown up doing all this travel by myself-especially having to figure it all out for myself. Haha But the Lord let everything go smoothly. Thanks for all the prayers. It was soo good to see Brenna though! Ah we all had so much fun! Beth came the next day (in which she witnessed an armed-robbery on her walk to the hostel), and then Karissa the next night. We saw so much, but didn't see it all. Beth and I went to the Tower of London (while poor Brenna was sick), it was awesome, sooo much history. We saw the crowned jewels and all these crazy execution tools. So much history. We also got to go up on the Tower Bridge. We saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, West Minster Abbey, all the cool buses, the national portrait gallery, the art museum, saw VanGogh! AH! O second accident. In our hostel-we had these drawers that pulled out from under our beds and they are heavy and yes it managed to fall on my face, so that little cut across my nose you see in pictures is from that. And we finished up by going to King's Cross Station and saw PLATFORM 9 3/4! Heck yes.
Then we bought tickets and headed to Edinburgh. What an adventure. Hopped on the train, then another, and then found out we couldn't get to Edinburgh by train because of technical problems, waited for 2 hours and took like a 2 or 3 hour bus ride to Edinburgh. It was beautiful though. Who knew Scotland would be so great. We had the BEST hostel location. Literally right at the bottom of the castle. Ugh. it was soooo beautiful and green and uh great. I loved it. I really loved it. I want to go back. We saw Arthur's Seat-amazing. Amazing. It was a gorgeous hike. We saw the cafe where J.K Rowling wrote Harry Potter, The Elephant House!! AH! Nerd moment. The grave she got a lot of the names, like Tom Riddle, were right outside. It was such a cool place. We met a girl named Alison and had dinner with her and listened to some good music with. She was from Canada. How cool. It was such a beautiful place. I wasn't expecting to love it that much.
Last stop. Galway. Heck YES! I want to live there. I am going back. The nature. I miss nature. I love green grass and animals and fresh air and trees and rolling hills and NICE people. Probably one of my favorite parts of Ireland was the people. They were soooo nice and so funny! I felt so loved. I even got hugs. Our B&B mom, Mary, was amazing. We had a great breakfast every morning, she drove us into town once, booked our tours, called our taxi, gave us those warm bottles to warm your bed, talked with us and loved on us. It was fantastic. Our first full day we took a tour to the Cliffs of Moher! One of the 7 natural wonders of the world. Yeah, you know the Cliffs of Insanity (if you've seen the movie you know this reference), the cliffs that Dumbledore was on by the cave in the water when looking for the horcrux. The tour was incredible. Our driver was great. Funny, super nice and taught us so much. We saw the beautiful country side of Ireland and then these SPECTACULAR cliffs. They literally made me speechless. It was so humbling and totally awe-inspiring. It reminded me of how beautiful my God is. Amazing. I felt sick, dumbfounded, amazed, speechless, humbled, thrilled, so happy, and shocked and so many other emotions all in one. It was so much to take in. We did not have enough time, but I am going back. Ahhh. Just incredible. Really the most incredible thing I've ever seen. God is good. His creation really does proclaim His glory. And sorry, the pictures don't do it justice. We also went on a tour to Conemara Park. Ah it's just all soooooo beautiful. So beautiful. I wish I could explain it and do it justice, but you have to see it to understand. We had such good girl time too. It was so fun getting to know Brenna better and come back knowing we are all going to make sure we have a good time. We got the awesome Irish rings called, Claddagh rings, so Irish-there's too much to explain it all. We enjoyed the sweet, quaint coastal town, even though it was rainy. I got lots of Casey souvenirs. Again the company made the trip. It was Emily (Spain), Karissa, Beth, Brenna and I and we all had so much fun.
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Yeah this one is for my parents...got a picture of a lamb...yes
cheesy moment but my name means precious lamb. |
Then Sunday evening we came back to Alicante, our other home. It's so familiar now. We all struggled coming back. But surprisingly now that I'm here, it's good to be back. I missed the sunshine. And it's good to be back with everyone. We have all gotten really close and it's good to be reunited. Besides only 12 days of actual class left! AH! That is crazy. 3 weeks from today I will be home. Ah. That's crazy!!! I'm so excited and pretty ready. I'm ready to see everyone, but it's strange to be leaving so soon. I want to embrace it all as much as possible. The Lord has taught us all so much. I can't comprehend how it will be when we go home and process everything.
Now I would keep going but this is SOOO long as it is, so I'm going to stop. So I hope this gives you a brief overview of Spring Break. There's so much more.
The Lord is so faithful. I'm praising Him for how He worked this last week. Pray He continues to do so and that He will change lives-Pray we all rely on Him as well and make the most of these last few weeks. Thanks for all of them this far! :)
With lots of love and a ginormous hug,
Jo :D
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| The Bros with the lion |
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| Yeah, they're goofs. But they were so happy together. |
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| Jacob had a tear coming down. |
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| This was an adjustment... |
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| I dont know what he was doing... |
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| This was a tomb. |
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| Ninja Backpack. |
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| Britt made it to Ireland |
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| These were gorgeous. |
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| Beth at the Tower Bridge! |
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| Part of the Cliffs |
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| Galway Girls! |
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| Brenna! #besties |
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| We made some old lady friends who took our picture! |
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| The Irish Horses! |
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| It was soooo pretty!!!! |
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| Kylemore Abbey |
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| This was creepy...they were in this old cottage. |
We set off for our adventure-I was struggling after only 2 hours of sleep, but I was so happy to be with everyone and see MOUNTAINS it didn't matter. We didn't have the best weather, but it was a cool place. We saw the old wooden bridge, the stone lion, and stayed in a great little hotel with...wait for it....HOT SHOWERS!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH! I could take more than a 7 minute hot shower and it was CLEAN! Praise Jesus. SOOOO GOOD. You don't even know. But seriously. We had such fun just hanging out in the hotel too. We facedtimed so many friends, played the longest game of Phase 10, laughed together, watched random youtube videos, ate packed sandwiches, Em and I wrestled in bed (yeah, I'm a girl, no shame). I've really learned a lot about how much a difference it makes to travel with the people you love and care about. As the famous Ms. Jeanne says, "It's not where you go, but who you're 
We then hopped on a train to Salzburg! FINALLY! Okay, now I saw some amazing places this break, but I really think my favorite scenery (well the Cliffs in Ireland are about equal) was the view on this train. We went right through the Swiss Alps and HECK. They. Were. BEAUTIFUL. For one I love the mountains. I don't know if there's anything that can sweep my heart up like they can. But o my goodness, they were soooo gorgeous. Those 6 hours were a piece of cake, but yeah they were sweeter.
We got to Salzburg and dropped the Liverpoolians off at their hostel and then went for a good Italian dinner. Yeah, really, life is great. We went back to hostel and watched Monster's Inc. in the room. We had too seem like some crazy kids who took over, but it was perfect. Then Em and I went back to her cute place and I met her sweet host mom and got some good pillow talk with her. I've missed that sweet friend. It's just so good to have such good friends who I can have deep life conversations with that are centered around Christ. We woke up and I got to see beautiful Austria. We made not have had the best weather, but dang, it's so beautiful and heck, I love the snow. We took an awesome hike up towards the fortress and walked all around. I ate some good food, had some black coffee, and best yet had great company. My heart was so happy. My friends are sooo cool. BAH! It was fun to have time with all of them. We had a movie night at Em's-I don't know what we watched. It was weird and I about feel asleep, but I loved being there with everyone. It was great seeing Ellen too! She's precious and her legs were SOOOOO hairy. She had man hair legs. Props. No shave semester. That takes guts-more power to her! Poor Em and Rusty had midterms and class that week. We probably could have had some better timing. But Em and I got some good one-on-one time at their school my last day. We went up to the library, spending time in the word and prayer. Jesus is so good. It was great to humble ourselves before him and open our hearts to Him and each other. Being vulnerable is such a relief at times. That night I got to spend some good time with Rusty too. It's crazy how one semester being totally uprooted can cause you to break down walls. I've learned so much about my role as a woman of Christ. It's been good to feel weak, but also good to see others around me weak as well. It makes me realize how much we all need Christ and how are strength really does come from Him. It's humbling.
Then Thursday came again. I said bye to Em at the bus and this time Rusty dropped me off at the airport. My peanut butter got taken through security, but I got a stamp! I jumped on the plane and off to London! I took a bus into town, jumped on the tube, and walked to my hostel to meet up with Brenna! Heck yes. I feel so grown up doing all this travel by myself-especially having to figure it all out for myself. Haha But the Lord let everything go smoothly. Thanks for all the prayers. It was soo good to see Brenna though! Ah we all had so much fun! Beth came the next day (in which she witnessed an armed-robbery on her walk to the hostel), and then Karissa the next night. We saw so much, but didn't see it all. Beth and I went to the Tower of London (while poor Brenna was sick), it was awesome, sooo much history. We saw the crowned jewels and all these crazy execution tools. So much history. We also got to go up on the Tower Bridge. We saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, West Minster Abbey, all the cool buses, the national portrait gallery, the art museum, saw VanGogh! AH! O second accident. In our hostel-we had these drawers that pulled out from under our beds and they are heavy and yes it managed to fall on my face, so that little cut across my nose you see in pictures is from that. And we finished up by going to King's Cross Station and saw PLATFORM 9 3/4! Heck yes.
Last stop. Galway. Heck YES! I want to live there. I am going back. The nature. I miss nature. I love green grass and animals and fresh air and trees and rolling hills and NICE people. Probably one of my favorite parts of Ireland was the people. They were soooo nice and so funny! I felt so loved. I even got hugs. Our B&B mom, Mary, was amazing. We had a great breakfast every morning, she drove us into town once, booked our tours, called our taxi, gave us those warm bottles to warm your bed, talked with us and loved on us. It was fantastic. Our first full day we took a tour to the Cliffs of Moher! One of the 7 natural wonders of the world. Yeah, you know the Cliffs of Insanity (if you've seen the movie you know this reference), the cliffs that Dumbledore was on by the cave in the water when looking for the horcrux. The tour was incredible. Our driver was great. Funny, super nice and taught us so much. We saw the beautiful country side of Ireland and then these SPECTACULAR cliffs. They literally made me speechless. It was so humbling and totally awe-inspiring. It reminded me of how beautiful my God is. Amazing. I felt sick, dumbfounded, amazed, speechless, humbled, thrilled, so happy, and shocked and so many other emotions all in one. It was so much to take in. We did not have enough time, but I am going back. Ahhh. Just incredible. Really the most incredible thing I've ever seen. God is good. His creation really does proclaim His glory. And sorry, the pictures don't do it justice. We also went on a tour to Conemara Park. Ah it's just all soooooo beautiful. So beautiful. I wish I could explain it and do it justice, but you have to see it to understand. We had such good girl time too. It was so fun getting to know Brenna better and come back knowing we are all going to make sure we have a good time. We got the awesome Irish rings called, Claddagh rings, so Irish-there's too much to explain it all. We enjoyed the sweet, quaint coastal town, even though it was rainy. I got lots of Casey souvenirs. Again the company made the trip. It was Emily (Spain), Karissa, Beth, Brenna and I and we all had so much fun.
Jo,
ReplyDeleteThis was such a great blog! You had some amazing adventures with some wonderful friends. I am so impressed with your independent spirit and how well you got around. Thanks for sharing your last hurrah with all of us. We share in your joy. Cannot wait to give you a welcome home hug.
Love, Ms. Jeanne
Oh yeah, and thanks for the "shout-out"