First Thoughts

 1/13

Warning: I have never blogged before, read at your own risk, some things might be superfluous, but this is a work in progress :) You may know more about me than you wanted to know!

To go along with the pictures I posted I wanted to let everyone know how the first 31 hours of my trip have been! Yes, I have been awake for 31 hours straight- a record for me! So here is an overview of the adventures so far :) 

It all begins Saturday morning a little before 7 am. 

- Ooohh!! First of all, the big challenge of the trip so far had been reducing the contents of my big suitcase so that it didn't weigh more than 50 lbs. Additionally, I was quite paranoid that my brand new backpacking pack was going to be too big as a carryon. Let it be known that the scale at the airport read exactly 50 lbs for my suitcase, and my backpack passed as a carryon. Booyah!! Bring on the rest of the trip!

- Had a fun send off with Mom and Leah and the Butler's, and talked to Dad on the phone (Karl and Dad I wish you could have been there though!) Didn't cry then, but definitely teared up when I found sis's secret note tucked away in my journal. I'll miss all of you very much!! The first flight went smoothly, I love airplanes, and Rusty and I passed the time by poring over the puzzles in the airplane magazine (we’re smart, we figured them out!) and playing cards. 

- Thought our 6 hour layover in Chicago was going to be long, but it passed surprisingly quickly, I enjoyed talking with Molly Anne and Victoria, getting a chance to really get to them both and they are both awesome so far :) We talked about all of the maybes and whatifs and hopefuls for the semester, can't wait as they are about to become reality :) Met Greg, a fellow study abroad student from Truman State University who is also very cool! 

- Settled in to our seats for the long plane ride from Chicago to London, met a couple little Indian girls (11 months and 2 years) who seemed to enjoy our attention, watched a couple movies- laughed at "Pitch Perfect" and almost cried multiple times at "The Perks of Being a Wallflower." Ended up journaling a bit after than and didn't sleep a wink. Bet I'm going to pay for that later..

- Had a neat conversation with a couple of University students from Munich on the last plane ride, got some neat travel advice as well as being told that "Sorry, you'll never be able to pass for a European..." basically I'm too bubbly and enthusiastic haha :D (I pretty much got excited about everything new... especially the first time we heard British accents in London!!! Those of you who know me well understand ;P)

- After the tiring part of airline travel, the rest of the day was awesome!!! We were all very proud after we figured out how to get train tickets from the Munich airport into the actual city, figured out how to get above ground again, and finally found our hostel, all in a foreign country where we couldn't really understand anything! The hostel is sweet, we got freshened up and walked to a restaurant about 10 miles away where we experienced our first German meal! Pretty funny when Molly Anne tried to ask for the check in German- let's just say we have a lot to learn! On the way back to the hostel we took a long way around (in the freezing cold...) but enjoyed exploring! Rusty and Greg dubbed me the "leader of the day- LOD" and I was in charge of following the map and keeping track of where we needed to go! (This for me was a tremendous task, as I am absolutely terrible about getting lost even with the clearest of directions!) But we made it back safely, and have enjoyed catching up with technology before hitting the hay early and getting some beauty sleep before tomorrow's tour of Munich with the school group!!!

- (random tidbits: German bathroom sinks are very small- that's cool, why do we have huge ones? We only spit in them and wash our faces and hands... Also, Munich was really really really really quiet. Very different from every other big city I've been in! We almost felt like we should be whispering on the train and while walking... )

- All in all I have had a fantastic time traveling and meeting these friends and meeting different people along the way and seeing so many different cultures and thinking and talking and dreaming about what the semester will hold! Excited for the Lord to stretch me both in my faith and in sharing Him with others. Looking forward to the incredible experiences to come!!!

- That’s all for now! Post again soon! Sorry for so much rambling :P