"Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it."

10 pm Thursday night. Abby, Sarah, Cari, Ricki, and I hopped on our first (of three) overnight trains of the weekend to Berlin, Germany. We arrived around 930am the next morning and spent the next hour or so trying to straighten out our train tickets to Poland. The night before,  Meghan and Amber informed us right before leaving Vienna that the reservations we had made to get us into Poland would be invalid, since Poland is not a part of the EU (meaning our eurail passes would not work). In Berlin, we each purchased a 43 euro supplement ticket that would allow us to cross the border legally. The whole situation was frustrating because the woman at the Vienna train station definitely did not mention a word about our eurail pass being invalid once we crossed the border. After sorting out the train confusion, we self-navigated into the heart of Berlin. Our first two stops: a WWII Memorial (as seen above) as well as a  brief, but productive trip to the Deutsches Historisches Musuem, which contains an extensive WWII exhibit, artifacts included, explaining the history of the Germans, Hitler's rise to power, and European lifestyle from 1200-1990. The rest of our day was spent on the Third Reich guided walking tour. Below are some of my favorite stops of the tour: the Reichstag building, housing the parliament of the German empire; the Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park, commemorating the death of thousands of Soviet soldiers who died during the Battle of Berlin; the Academy of the Arts, formerly serving as the arts council to the government since 1931; the Holocaust Memorial, a five acre plot of land, containing over 2,700 concrete slabs arranged in a sloping field...its aim to represent an orderly system that has lost touch with human reason; lastly, the new Jewish district, containing an old synagogue that is the only surviving synagogue (in Berlin) from WWII. Sorry that was the longest, most disorganized sentence I've ever written. Nonetheless, the tour and our guide were fantastic and very informative. Although tired by the end of our 3.5 hour walking tour, we made our way over to Checkpoint Charlie, the name given by the Western Allies to the most well-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East and West Germany during the Cold War. Because we were pressed for time, we chose to have our first European SUBWAY experience. I'm not even the slightest bit ashamed...I enjoyed a roasted chicken breast footlong, just like I would order in America :) We ended up running to and around the U-Bahn station, in search of the train station platform that we needed for our overnight train to Poland.



The next morning, after a successful night's sleep, we were greeted by the train conductor, who informed us that our train was 2 hours behind schedule. Most of the girls went back to sleep. Sarah and I were too awake to do this, so we talked for awhile and had our own short Bible study of a few different Psalms. Upon arrival into Poland, we had to transfer trains to Auschwitz. I purchased all 5 of our tickets on my debit card (since we didn't have Polish money), and because we didn't know the conversion rate, I had no idea how much I had just spent. Fortunately, the tickets were only 2 euro a piece. Our first priority upon arrival into Auschwitz was food (of course). We made our way to an authentic Polish restaurant across from the train station, where I ordered tomato soup with rice, as well as borsch soup, a traditional Polish soup comprised of chopped beets and cabbage. I know it sounds repulsive, but it was SO GOOD. In fact, I plan to make it over Christmas break. After a filling and extremely inexpensive lunch, we walked 30 minutes to the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Our 3 hour guided tour allowed us to see both the Birkenau and Auschwitz camps, the largest killing center in the Nazi universe. Our guide debriefed us on a variety of history surrounding WWII. We also saw the inside of some barracks, a gas chamber, and a crematorium. The entire tour was extremely EERIE, to say the least. The sky over Auschwitz darkened around 430pm (and no lights are contained inside the camp). It felt like a ghost town. I don't even like typing about, let alone talking about my experience. I know in a few months I will be glad I chose to experience what life was like inside these camps, but right now, I'm still terrified/sad/sketched out.

blog. blog. blog.

This morning (Thursday), I woke up extra early to be at school on time for my skype date with Megan! The longer I am away from my incredible family and close group of friends, the more appreciative I am for all of them. God is certainly teaching me to stop taking advantage of my relationships. I was antsy during school today...mostly since it was our last day of the week. Our first stop after school: the Julius Meinl store, a speciality store in Vienna, most famous for its black coffee. This store reminded me of an upper-scale Trader Joe's. We had fun exploring the different products inside, and I ordered a marinated vegetable salad for lunch. After most people parted ways, Kirk and I went on our second round of shoe-shopping. I found some nice boots in Zara, an upscale clothing/boutique-like store in Europe. I might end up buying another pair of boots here before we leave for America. At this point, splurging is not a huge issue for me, since I've done extremely well in my money spending endeavors. I was able to skype call my parents for a while and have been working on my humanities journal and blog since 230. It's only 440pm here, but almost completely dark outside. I'm about to go running before preparing to leave for the weekend. I'm traveling with 4 other girls to Berlin and Poland (mostly Auschwitz) this weekend. I am excited about all the WWII sights we'll see and its intriguing history. Also, November 9th (Monday) marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which means being in Berlin this weekend should be really fun! Unfortunately, we won't be able to attend the U2 concert on Monday! I pray everyone has a relaxing and productive weekend. Is that an oxymoron? Regardless, AUF WIEDERSEHEN FUR JETZT. :)

55-56.

Tuesday, we began our school day with another German quiz. I felt good about it. We all are discovering that German is a hard language, since nouns can be either masculine, feminine, or neuter. Remembering which gender goes with which case, etc. definitely gets difficult. Classes ended today around 1130; afterwards,  I took some alone time and ventured out into the Stephansplatz area to do a little shopping/errand-running. Here in Vienna (and Europe in general), finding time to be by myself is a daunting task. Therefore, I'm thankful for the few hours today I enjoyed at my disposal. Once back at the hotel, I met up with Ricki, Sarah, and Cari, and the four of us headed straight to the laundry-mat. This was only the second time I have done laundry here since arriving on September 9th. Not too bad. While waiting for our laundry, I was able to blog and begin one of my Bible papers. We got back to the hotel around 5, met up with Professor Mandy Horton, then set out for the Vienna Opera House to see SWAN LAKE. Standing in line for tickets was enjoyable, as we had the opportunity to converse with Professor Horton about various topics. Unsurprisingly, the ballet was absolutely beautiful. Divided into four acts, the ballet was longer than I had anticipated, but definitely worth my time. The plot was easy to follow, mostly because Ricki had informed me of the story line before the show began. Watching the ballerinas move gracefully throughout the entirety of the performance makes me a little more than jealous.

Wednesday=day 56. How crazy is that?!
After classes ended, several of us walked straight to the Cafe Sacher, a restaurant inside the Hotel Sacher, for a lovely lunch. This five-star hotel in the Innerstadt of Vienna is located next to the Opera House, most famous for its speciality: sachertorte, a delicious (typically dry) chocolate cake. I ordered goulash soup for lunch (SO GOOD) and sachertorte for dessert. Although pricey, the meal was money well spent. I suppose I didn't have high expectations for this cafe, since most restaurants in hotels are often mediocre. Kirk and I went shoe-shopping for the remainder of the afternoon. I was in search of some new black boots, since the ones I brought from home were recently disposed of. After a fun, yet unsuccessful few hours of shopping, we headed back to the hotel. Then, Ricki and I ran nearly three miles around our neighborhood. This was our first time running after dark, which I found enjoyable. If Ricki were not on this trip, I would be extremely out of shape. Having a running partner has been more than helpful! I worked on my Bible papers for a little bit after our run before heading up to the Horton's room for a relaxing movie night. I proposed the idea of a movie night a few days prior, since all  of us have been so bogged down in schoolwork. Thanks for my impeccable taste in movies (only kidding), we watched one of my favorites: The Holiday!

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Sunday morning, after a beautiful night's sleep back home in Vienna, several of us attended services at the local International Baptist church that Professor Horton had taken us to just a few weeks ago for our CIVA church tour. Our time there was wonderful. The congregation is comprised of members from all different nationalities and ethnicities. The people were extremely hospitable to all of us. I couldn't tell you how many of them came up and greeted us, seeming genuinely interested in our lives. The entirety of the service was in English, which is quite a rarity here in Europe. We were familiar with most of the songs the worship team sang, including, "More Love, More Power," "Beautiful One," and "Love in Any Language." The structure of the congregation/service reminded me very much of Brit Hadasha, my home congregation in Memphis. Can't wait to attend services there upon returning to America! The church provided lunch, and because of this, we were able to converse with several different people. After a refreshing, encouraging, and inspirational time of worship at the IBC, Sarah, Cari, and I headed straight to Cafe Pickwicks, an English bookstore/coffeeshop in Vienna, to diligently work on papers and homework for the rest of the day. We arrived back at the hotel around 730; Sunday night was spent reorganizing our room and skyping good friends from home. I was able to talk to Megan, Reid, Patrick, and Matthew. Not a terribly exciting day, but certainly productive!

Monday morning came far too early. It felt like we had been out of school for over a month since we had a 10-day fall break. There was a miscommunication between us and our German teacher, who had been told we did not arrive back in Vienna til Monday night (instead of Sunday). Because of this, he did not show up for our 8am class, which we were all VERY happy about. Instead of sitting through German class, that free time allowed for us to swap a few stories about our fall break adventures and watch ridiculous videos on youtube til it was time for humanities. After a quick lunch, Sarah, Ricki, and I headed back to school to work on different papers for our research projects. Around 4pm, we realized we were no longer being productive, so we headed back to the hotel for an ab/pilates workout. The rest of the night was spent again at Cafe Pickwicks studying for our German test and editing papers.

As you can see, we haven't had the most adventurous, exhilarating past few days since returning from fall break. We knew once we were forced to get back into school mode that we would be swamped with work. It hasn't been unbearable and the majority of the work is already out of the way for this week. I only have two more short papers to wrap up before Thursday. One month from today our group will be flying back to America! That just doesn't seem right to me. Time FLYS. Sorry this particular post has been less than exciting, but I suppose everyday can't be full of crazy, new experiences, right?

can I get a BARCELONA?

We arrived in the wonderful city of Barcelona around 8am. Our first priority of the day: find our hostel and shower (considering we hadn't showered in 48hours). We spent a few hours at the hostel getting settled, talking to the owners, and using the free wireless internet computers that our home for the evening had provided. Around 1130, we began our day inside the city in search of another wonderful Spanish meal. However, our instincts must not have been fully functioning that day because we picked a cafe where the majority of our meals tasted like stale high school cafeteria food. After an unsatifsying lunch (the first of our fall break, I might add), we set our sights on finding the beach/MEDITERRANEAN SEA. The weather in Barcelona was in the upper-60's. All of us decided we wanted to relax on the beach for awhile, until Flener and I both agreed we were getting in the Med. Sea, no matter the temperature. We proceeded to the nearest grocery store in search of some decent swim suits/beach gear. Flener, Amy, and I all left with 9 euro one-pieces...yes BRETT FLENER was a part of this. Words just really can not describe how hilarious and ridiculous this situation was. All of our suits were far too large for our young adult bodies. In fact, I looked like a 65 year old grandmother. The rest of the girls decided to lay out on the beach while the three of us ran straight towards the water, which was more bearable than I had anticipated. These few hours at the beach are the most memorable of my entire fall break. Brett was in a multi-colored one-piece. I just can not get over that.

After our comical and relaxing time at the beach, we made a quick stop back at the hostel to put on dry clothes, then headed out for a 3 1/2 hour guided bike tour of the city of Barcelona. Besides the 7 of us, the only other people on the tour: 8 obnoxious and immature college frat boys from Indiana, who were studying in Florence. The bike tour was one of the best choices we had made in Spain. Our guide took us through different urban neighborhoods, to a "magical" fountain with mulit-colored lights, down to the beach at sunset, and to other historic sights around Barcelona. The bike tour concluded around 8pm, and we headed straight towards a restaurant our guide had recommended we try. I ordered pita+hummus and a delicious helping of chicken fajitas. Our last supper was a big success and we all decided splurging was okay. And thus concludes the end of a highly memorable, exciting, and hilarious day in Barcelona.

We woke up around 9am on Saturday morning and started packing. Brett guided us to the bus station in Barcelona so that we could purchase our bus tickets to the Girona airport (where we would be flying out of later in the day). We assumed the airport was not more than 20 minutes from our hostel, but it turned out to be closer to an hour and a half away. Good thing I chose to check on the distance the night before or else we would have missed our flight and had no way to get back home to Vienna! After purchasing tickets, we had a few hours to kill and spotted a little league soccer game just down the street. We stayed for the entirety of one of the games, not because we had nothing better to do, but because the mini players were SO talented. They would have destroyed my high school team's without shame. The game was so entertaining. Once the bus arrived at the Girona airport, we eased through security and baggage check with no trouble. Our flight back to Bratislava took around 2 hours. Then we had to catch a train from Bratislava, Slovakia back to Vienna. We arrived back at the hotel around 9pm. This is the first Halloween I spent traveling, but I wouldn't have given up my experiences for the world. Who can say they were in 3 different countries on Halloween besides my group? (Spain, Slovakia, and Austria). I was able to skype call my parents and talk to them for almost an hour, which made me so happy since I hadn't been able to talk to them over fall break at all. I also started the first few days of my blog.

This concludes my fall break blogs. I hope you enjoyed reading them. I wish I could sit down with all of you and go hour-by-hour conversing on all the stories, but until I return home, this will have to suffice. More to come tomorrow!

tiempo para Espana.

After a near restless night's sleep on the train from Paris to Spain, we arrived in Irun around 730am before getting on a bus that arrived in Madrid around 3pm. Once in Madrid, we tried to book a train from Madrid to Barcelona, which we had been told was only 3 hours. However, we were informed it was a 12 hour train ride, so we had to book another overnight train for the next night. Because of this confusion, we had to cancel our hotel in Barcelona for one night. The whole situation took much longer than we anticipated, so we didn't arrive at our hostel in Madrid til 5ish. After getting settled, we sought out to find authentic Spanish food as if we hadn't eaten in a month. We decided on a small, hole-in-the-wall type place close to our hostel, which ended up exceeding all of our expectations. I'm not sure why I assumed Spanish and Mexican food are similar, because they certainly are not. We enjoyed different dishes such as Spanish omelet, Iberian salami, cheese and salmon, and Spanish sheep cheese. Trust me, it's more appetizing than it sounds. Or maybe I'm just not a picky eater? After a fun dinner, we planned to head straight back to the hostel and go to bed, considering we were all exhausted from a terrible night's sleep on the train, as well as a full day of traveling. We were greeted by one of the hostel workers who informed us he was leaving in 10 minutes and taking a group to a local flamenco show, which we all agreed to go to (and sacrifice sleep). Although it was in the basement of a dilapidated building in a sketch neighborhood, the experience was well worth the time, money, and trepidation. It's hard for me to describe the logistics of a flamenco show, so if you're uncertain what it is, I recommend you do a little outside research. We arrived back at the hostel around 1030pm and enjoyed a glorious night's sleep, which we had grown immune to.

The next morning, we woke up well rested and headed to the travel bureau in Madrid to purchase tickets for a 1 1/2 hour walking tour of the city. I hate to admit this, but it was one of the worst walking tours I had ever paid for. Our guide was less than informative and did not take us into the heart of the city. Oh well. You win some, you lose some...right? The rest of the day was spent shopping in a local market and other stores, before we went to the Retiro Park, the main park of the city of Madrid. The beauty of this place (even better since the leaves were turning) certainly made up for the money lost on the less-than-average walking tour from the morning. After good quality time at the park for over an hour, we headed to the Musee del Prado for about an hour so we could enjoy paintings by El Greco, Caravaggio, and friends. We had our last meal in Madrid, which I enjoyed my first serving of Paella, a Spanish staple dish that is a free-style combination of meat, seafood, vegetables, and sometimes beans. After dinner, we ventured off for our final overnight train to Barcelona. Once again, we all slept poorly. I could not get comfortable to save my life. It didn't help that the men inside the compartment with me, Amy, and Allison smelled like rotten cat food. Still grosses me out. Thank God for good hygiene!

I'm almost caught up with the blogging...all I lack: our adventures in Barcelona, which were hilarious and extremely fun! Hopefully before school tomorrow, I can finish writing. Love to all.

you can never have too much time at the Louvre.

We started off the day with a lovely breakfast at our Hotel, consisting of a (real) French croissant and a delicious cup of hot chocolate. Then, we headed to the metro station to purchase our day pass for the public transportation that is ever so confusing in Paris. Of course we purchased the wrong ticket and ended up watching 5.70 euro go to waste. Oh well. Next stop: THE LOUVRE. Besides Sarah and I, the other girls only wanted to stay at the Louvre for a few minutes, mostly just to see the Mona Lisa. She and I refused to do that, so we proceeded to spend from 9am-3pm exploring the different sections of this extensive and extremely overwhelming museum. Call me a nerd, but I could have spent at least two full days there. In the  six hours we were inside, we saw maybe 1/10 of the Louvre's offerings. Is that not ridiculous? The Mona Lisa is extremely overrated. There, I said it. I was thoroughly disappointed at the number of people who only paid for entrance to the museum to see one miniscule painting. Some of my favorite sightings of the day include: "The Four Seasons", works by Raphael, "The Raft of the Medusa," The Code of Hammurabi, and "Liberty Leading the People." After a sad departure from the museum, we went to purchase some meringues at a local bakery and walked inside the Descartes University in the heart of Paris, before making our way back over to the square surrounding Notre Dame for a 3 1/2 hour free walking tour of the city of Paris. Those walking tours are so wonderful for people like me who eagerly desire to experience every aspect of a big city, but fail miserably without a decent guide. We learned some important historical facts about France and the city of Paris. The tour concluded around 8pm, and then Sarah and I headed straight to the Arc de Triomphe, honoring those who fought for France during the Napoleonic wars. The Arc also contains the tomb of the unknown soldier from World War I. We ended our night with a late dinner at a local cafe, where we both ordered authentic French onion soup (INCREDIBLE) and baguette. Then, we knocked out another one of my sites for my research paper: the Hotel Pont Royal, where Julia Child and her husband Paul lived for the first month upon arrival in Paris in November, 1948.

The next morning, while everyone else decided to take a day trip to Versailles, Sarah and I decided to be nerds again together. We started off by finding our way to the Bastille monument, then arrived at the Musee d'Orsay, and waited in line for a ticket for nearly an hour. This museum is a compilation of many different time periods, including impressionism, naturalism, and surrealism. We alloted ourselves only two hours, which was almost just enough for us to see the museum in its entirety. We got a quick lunch at a local crepe stand, and I ordered a chicken/cheese crepe, which I honestly enjoyed more than any of the previous chocolate crepes I had tried. Down the street, we arrived at another of my research paper sights: the E. Dehillerin, an extensive cooking store where Child's used to purchase her utensils and cookware during her time at The Le Cordon Bleu school. The store is certainly not your typical Williams-Sonoma. In fact, you can barely walk through the obnoxiously-narrow aisles because the shelves protrude with copper and metal cooking ware. I loved the experience though. The store has been around for over 120 years! After a short stop there, we arrived at the Opera House, where we paid 6 euro for a self-guided tour. I felt like I was inside the Phantom of the Opera...certainly puts the Vienna Opera House to shame.

Afterwards, we met back up with the group and headed straight to The Le Cordon Bleu, for a free tour of the cooking school. This was the highlight of my day. A precious Frenchwoman guided us through the demonstration rooms and kitchens the students use to prepare the course(s) of the day. This is the same school Child's attended, which initiated her desire and skill in cooking. Let's just say, this tour certainly sparked in me a renewed passion for cooking, which I plan to utilize over Christmas break, once back in America! Before departing, we all bought a generous amount of souvenirs for friends/family back home before heading to Moulin Rouge for our free 2 1/2 hour walking tour of the lovely district of Montmatre, a hill district in Paris, where artists such as Picasso and Van Gogh once lived. The tour was great; we saw the red light district of Paris, different artists houses, and Sacred Heart. I had been having a frustrating day and felt like my patience with people was running on E. While inside Sacred Heart, I chose to read I Corinthians 13, a passage I am extremely familar with, but instead of saying, "Love is patient, kind, etc.," I inserted the phrase, "Leah, you MUST be_____" which helped me so much. It was quite an experience, and I came out of the church feeling refreshed and completely joyful. We enjoyed our last authentic French meal inside Montmartre. I ordered my first helping of Beef Bourguignon, which was SO, SO delicious. One of Child's favorite dishes to prepare as well.

We headed to the train station after a satisfying last supper in Paris for our overnight train to Madrid! I apologize in advance for being so scatter-brained.