LOVE is in the air...

We have room checks every monday night, and we always have a theme. This week was a love theme, and our room decided to decorate for the firs time! Well obviously we go all out! Valentines day is also our guy RA's birthday so we made him a microwave cake...and we sang love songs to him when he came in. WE WON! So now we just have hearts everywhere..so fun!

So now.....my Valentine's Day:

On this collllddd winter morning in Heidelberg, I woke up early to get ready for the day as usual. I have been really excited lately for this day of love (even without a valentine!) normally bitterness comes out of this holiday, but I was feelin the love today for sure. (but not yet). So I get ready and I run into one of the girls who says 'Oh my gosh, I love our boys!'. So of course I grab my camera and head down to the breakfast room. And here is what I found:

The boys had secretly snuck around the night before and made us all little valentine notes to go along with a flower for each of us! How cute are they to think of us! Of course, I know these boys and they are pretty much unbeleivable so it figures they would do something so unexpected and thoughtful! They each signed our notes with a little 'special' comment. Here are a few examples:

'I love you and Abilene is close to Lubbock, hint hint'

'how's mrs. england sound?'

'happy valentines naked cheese!' (one of my many acclaimed nick names)

'happy v-day even though your from TEXAS' (from a bitter californian haha)

'if you ever want to date....'

and many many more funny ones that wouldn't make much sense without long explanations!

So then I walked (or froze) down to class. I went to German, then english, then we headed off to our essighaus lunch. As we were sitting down two of our boys, ben and cam, made all the girls stand up in the middle of the room. They turned their hats sideways and performed a rap they had made for us! It was HILARIOUS! They said it was just a few minutes of portraying how they feel about us (from all the guys). It seriously made my year! By the way these are two very talented boys, for real! The rap consisted of funny things about how we are the girls of moore haus, the best girls to travel with cause the rest they unravel, and talking about how they love it when we get sweaty walking up the hill so don't take a taxi! Obviously I don't have quite the rhythm they are gifted with haha but it was a whole page that made us feel so good about our selves, seriously it was the sweetest thing ever!

Now, its almost 6 and me and a few other girls are getting together a surprise dinner of pizza with blankets and candles at the castle for some of our guy friends! We figured it was our turn to do something thoughtful! Then everyone will probably all meet up somewhere after dinner to just hangout. It has been the best valentines day ever!

Oh yeah, and it was made better when I got a package from home that included the traditional valentines day rubber ducks my mom is so well known for. hahaha I love it! I hope everyone else had an amazing Valentines Day as well! It has been great to have such a wonderful day, and for once not be depressed about not having a Valentine! Shoot, I have about 26 Valentines here. Right now I would not trade any one of them for just one boy!

Well, I'll conclude with the true phrase of Valentine's day, ICH LIEBE DICH!

who needs sleep when we've got love...

Love. Such a major concept floating around Moore Haus right now. I guess its just the whole Valentine's Day sickness everyone has been infected with. I know to some in the house it creates an akward feeling, to some it causes us to missed loved ones at home, to some it causes loneliness, and to some...all of the above PLUS being thankful for all the love we have around us.

I woke up the other morning having had a terrible dream. I dreamt that I had just gotten home from this semester, but I couldn't stop crying! Obviously I love being at home, but I just had this horrible feeling in my stomach of how much I missed my family I've formed and just being in the house in general. All I remember about the dream was not being able to stop crying, and asking for just one more chance to go back and do it again. Well, I woke up and you can't imagine the relief when I realized I am still here for 2 more months! When I think about leaving though, it makes me want to cry because I realize nothing will ever be the same again. But obviously NOBODY talks about that because we all feel the same way. So instead I just am thankful and constantly reminded about how much love has grown in this house. I can't wait for my family to come visit; I know that even just walking through the house our love for each other will be so evident. (post soon to come with more specifics! get excited.)

Oh yeah, the reason I have love on my mind is as I was listening to the new Jack Johnson CD (aka my life right now)...the line 'who needs sleep when we've got love' popped out at me. Considering our house doesnt get quiet until about 2 am every night...you could just consider this our motto!

I just finished my German homework which was to write 10 sentences (auf Deutsch) about our 'lieblingsplatz' (our favorite place). I chose 'meine Kuche' (my kitchen). I really enjoy these assignments oddly enough, and I'm really starting to love speaking German! Staci, our faculty family wife, told us today how nothing can be blown off as 'not important'. She took German in highschool and part of college and realized it was a waste of time, but now she's in Germany and it's all coming back! Very interesting...

Today, Staci spoke at convo. She did an amazing job! This was like the first convo that everyone stayed awake. She talked about decision making, and she kind of gave us a testimony of just the major decisions she has made in her life. She and her husband have moved so much and made so many decisions in their marraige...it was really cool to hear her talking back over and evaluating how she did it. Things that helped her decision making were: prayer as a lifestyle, knowing that God is bigger than any decision therefore he will be there either way, and knowing scripture. Things that hinder her decision making were fear, being deceived by loyalty, and a few other things. She has a gift for speaking about major life matters and making them sound so simple and clear. I really enjoy listening to her! I know that a lot of people, myself included, are finding it hard to keep a lifestyle of prayer, find God time, and really embracing each other as brothers and sisters of Christ. I came into this year with expectations of it being a completely life changing spiritual experience, and of course it is, but its not playing out as evident as we all expected. We realize that its something that is gradual...even this dream we are living in has its own bumps and curves along the way. I guess we just expected that being taken out of our safe-zones we would automatically feel more spiritual, but I know that can't just happen at the snap of a finger. I am really trying to work on this part of my life right now, and today Staci's talk really helped put us back into perspective. I love having wise older (she's not old) people around!

Alright, enough for today...gutennacht!

the rain in SPAIN falls mostly on the plane

Mark, Jess, Me, and David at Toledo


A view of the moat around Toledo


Palm trees in Sevilla!

View from the top of the cathedral in Sevilla


Jess, me, and Dustin trying to portray how warm and fabulous it was!


I beleive Eliza Dolittle was wrong because there was absolutely nothing but spain sunshine shining on us all week! It was GORGEOUS weather...such a nice change! We just spent a week in Madrid, Spain for our Educational Feild trip! It was such a great trip. We got to indulge in the fact of being as touristy as we wanted seeing as we were with a group of 60...so we lived it up without a care in the world! I really really like Spain, I can't say that Madrid is one of my favorite cities because my favorite parts of the trips were spent in smaller towns.





Our hotel was extremely nice! We were told that our hotel was right down the street from El Corte Englis (a HUGE 7 story department store which housed a supermarket). We all went to check it out because we had kitchenette and were so pumped to cook. We looked like a bunch of 5 year olds running around Toys R Us. Everyone had a dazed smile just in awe of all the food we could purchase! Needless to say, when in Spain, buy TONS of mexican food! So, my roomie and I bought a nice little stash of guacamole, salsa, queso, chips, pida bread, frozen burritos, eggs, tropicana orange juice, and chocolate (duh). We looked like such nerds, everyone running around smiling and laughing in awe of this magical place. I can proudly say that I only paid for one meal in Madrid...the rest of the time we cooked! One of the boys even made Steph and me omeletts one night!





The rest of our trip consisted of a bus tour of Madrid, eating paella (a very famous spanish dish consisting of rice, chicken, calamari, and other random things), and singing acapella as we parade down the streets. We visited Toledo, a small town surrounded by a wall and a moat, which is known for making gold things including intense swords that we got to play with! The next day me and 3 others went to the southern town of Sevilla. The weather was absolutely amazing and the whole town was full of orange trees and palm strees. It also is home to one of the biggest gothic cathedrals in Europe, and Christopher Columbus's tomb is inside. We climbed to the top of the tower (33 floors) and had an incredible view of all of Sevilla. We met up with my friend David's friend who studies there, and she and a few of her friends showed us around. They were all from Texas Tech so it was fun to talk to them! I had a funny experience on the train ride back including wine in a box. Picture me drinking wine out of an orange juice carton while playing gin rummy...it was a pretty funny sight! The next day we visited a monastary..but by this point we were all getting a little tired of planned tours. We visited a few museums in Madrid and saw paintings by Picasso, El Greco, Goya, Rembrandt, and Velasquez. We also went to an symphony which was okay, and a flamenco dance which was so cool to watch!





All in all, Madrid was an amazing trip..not only was Spain amazing, but being able to spend an entire week with the whole house was amazing! Comparing it to our EFT last semester, we have all grown so much closer which made it all the more fun. Well, time for our Sunday night dinner at Essig. Bye!!

when in ROME...

(at the colloseum, the ruins, make a wish at the trevi fountain, and in front of the spanish steps!)

Ciao! Well I just got back from an amazingg weekend in Rome! It was absolutley gorgeous/the most historical place I've ever been! To be able to walk through ruins for the very first civilization was unbeleiveable.
I went with two other girls, Kelli and Caroline, and we basically did Rome in a day and a half.


DAY 1: We mastered the metro/bus finding our hotel. Then we went to the Colloseum. Walking up the stairs and being greated by this gigantic monument was crazy! We went inside, walked around, took tons of pictures, and then headed for the Palletino. This was incredible. We walked through gardens and orange tree vinyards that overlooked basically everything monumental in Rome. Then we walked down into the actual ruins. The sun had come out by now, and we could actually feel the heat from it! I became obsessed with the sky during this trip. Of course, leave it to me to be fascinated with something I see everyday, in Rome haha. I'm sure my friends were about to kill me if I were to say "oh my gooodness, look at how cool the sky is!" one more time! We then made our way to the Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain. I LOVED the Trevi Fountain. It was probably one of my favorite places. We went to it 3 times! Over these 3 times I ate a lotttt of gelato, saw a PROPOSAL and took a picture of it (now i'm semi stalker-ish), and then saw a BRIDE AND GROOM and took like 40 pictures (I had just figured out the 'burst' setting that takes consecutive pictures...and now I'm a complete stalker). We then ate pesto pasta at a cute little restaurant called 'that's amore', drank a glass of wine, and then made our way back to the hotel


Day 2: We got up and made it to the Vatican around 10. We saw St. Peter's Basillica, which is gigantic! Then we went to the Vatican Museum that has 'School of Athen's' and the Sisteen Chapel. It was veryy amazing seeing such famous paintings! Each room of the Vatican Museum leading up to the chapel was completely decked out with paintings on all walls and ceilings, very intense. We didnt get to see the pope, kind of disappointing, but I think I'll live. Then we just went back to the places we loved the most--then ciao roma!


Now I'm back in Heidelberg thankfully, it was a great weekend, but always nice to be home. Austin and I just devoured an entire large pizza...guess thats what happens when you only eat like 2 meals over a weekend! Austin had a veryyy eventful weekend as well so we've had a lot to catch up on today. Tonight is the Superbowl, and we get to watch it! Except it starts at midnight so tonight will be a late one. We have school tomorrow, and then Tuesday we leave for our field trip to Madrid! It should be just lovellyyy weather there this week so we are very excited. Well, time to catch up on my TV shows I've missed this week aka One Tree Hill. goodbye!

Wednesdays at Moore Haus

I figured I could post some pics of our house! This is probably one of my favorite parts of the day is when I round the corner to see our home, Moore Haus! After the 20 minute walk up the hill, finally seeing home base is amazing...even though it takes about 100 more stairs from the street to reach the door! Wednesday is the day I get to relax up at the house all day because I only have German for an hour in the mornings. I usually hang out in the classrooms for another hour, and then I meet my roommates for lunch! We call it room 10 time, and it's just our time to talk and hang out without interruption (even though every interruption we get in our room is a good kind!). Then I head back up to the haus and either take a nap, read, or do homework (or blog hehe). The house is nearly empty for majority of the day which is so nice! Finally around 6 we make our way down into town to our 'special dinner'. Each wednesday night we are taken to a different restaurant. We've had Turkish food, Greek food, Asian food, and Italian before...tonight is Asian! Its always a welcomed/the best meal of our week! This explains why Wednesdays are so wonderful!

Now, for a quick run through of our house. The first floor consists of our 'Breakfast Room' which is where we eat breakfast/hang out. It has couches, our TV, and our little miniature kitchen. Through this room you open a door and theres a hall that comes to spiral stairs--this is called the Tower and about 7 of the boys live up there. The rest of the first floor has the offices and laundry room. Then you walk up 2 flights of stairs and you end up on the first floor. This has our Library, Reception room (where we have church), and the Faculty Apartment. Then you keep walking up MORE stairs and your on the girls floor! there are 7 rooms on this floor plus our bathroom. Through another door (which use to not be opened ever and was reffered to as the 'berlin wall' that seperated the boys from the girls...luckily we're past that age haha) you walk up moree stairs to the 4th floor that has 5 rooms for boys. This is our humble abode!

If your looking at the second picture, find the majorly white windows...and stay on that floor and move to your right. There are two little windows, and those are my room! We have a picnic table that sits right in front of them that we use as desks. I'm sitting here right now looking out! Well, thats all for today. Time to study for German. Joy. Tschuss!

tuesday as it was in Heidelberg...plus pictures!

I opened the door for the classic England picture..and the phone started ringing! I didn't quite know what to do with myself haha


The room in Christ Church where Harry Potter was filmed!

My roommates for next year in Dresden...I know its pathetic...but we couldn't help ourselves!

Well, I'm keeping my promise so far! Today was a good day...nothing spectacular...but then after I say that I realize how truely spectacular each day really is. Tuesdays drag themselves out with only 3 classes but all with about an hour in between...keeping me from returning back to the house until about 7:30 at night. We went on an excursion to Frankfurt today in my english class to the Goethe House. Johann Goethe was a famous German author from the romantic period, and so after reading his book 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' we got to go see where he grew up. Me and my class of 10 students rode on a mini-charter bus (new experience!) an hour there and back which we took advantage of as nap time before out humanities class. I had to give a presentation on Franz Schubert in Humanities today. All I was doing was reading a few pages off of wikipedia, but I still got nervous! Silly nerves, thanks for those mom.

After class me, Austin, Dex, and Royce snuck away from our usual dinner and went out to eat at Coyote Cafe, a cute little american-ish type place (that has guacamole!!!). It was fun to just hang out with a few other people which doesn't happen very often for meals. For some reason tonight my appetite was quadrupled. My meal consisted of: my chicken fingers and french fries, the boys guacamole and chips, 1/4 of austins sandwhich, and then popcorn back up at the house. My new motto--when in Europe...eat lots of food and not feel guilty. I think I've mastered this one. Once we made it allll the way back to the house (which did make me feel better walking uphill about eating so much) we had our Tuesday night worship time which then broke up into our girls group. We didn't have any homework for tomorrow, only studying for our German test on Thursday. So, seeing as we didn't actually have to learn anything tonight...some friends and I hung out while I tried to teach them the 27 EU states in German (yes all the names are spelled differently...lucky us).

Now, I'm about to go to bed. I think tomorrow we might go up to Philosophersweg just to do something fun (and to procrastinate our german studying)! Oh yeah, and I decided to go to Rome this weekend! yay! Well, goodnight!

My life abroad...semester zwei

Okay, so for all you anxious fans out there--here's the deal. I WILL be better at blogging these next few months don't you worry! They might be pointless and such, but I will try to make them entertaining.

Well, I've been back in Heidelberg for a little over 3 weeks. Coming back here was just like coming home. I got here about 5 days before I had to be back, and so I was at the house when everyone got back. Everyone arrived at different times...it was seriously the BEST feeling ever hearing the bell ring and then seeing who walks through the door. Being back with everyone has really reminded me how lucky I am to be so close with these crazy kids. As excited as were to see each other we all calmed down and fell back into our comfort zone immediatley, so much better than the first few akward weeks last semester! We do have about 9 new students who we are still getting to know, but they are all great!

School is a lot harder this semester. I have an 1.5 hour presentation on Kazhakstan (I'm pretty sure I just misspelled that) the day OF my midterm for my Modern History of the Middle East class. Enough said.

My first weekend of travel me and my 3 roommates for next year plus Kyle went to Dresden. It was bombed during the war by us, but luckily the altstadt (old town) wasn't touched. The first day we were there we managed to do nothing but make our way from restaurant to restaurant indulging in conversation. We spent at least 3 hours at lunch, went straight to dinner from 6-9:30 and then went and had dessert until about 11. Its funny how much now this semester we realize how its not just about seeing history...getting to know who your traveling with even better is vital! The next day we walked around the altstadt and loved it! It was so cute.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to go to Oxford to visit Casey and Jessalyn! It was so great to be with friends from home...definitely good timing! I got to see alot of friends from church...it felt just like being at home only in one of the most gorgeous cities in the world! Most of our weekend consisted of doing things only I would enjoy such as...picnicing in university park, eating at the same restaurant multiple times because it was just that good, putting 'walk around a bookstore' at the top of my list of things to do...and so on. Luckily my amazing friends and I think alike when it comes to these things. I traveled back to Heidelberg by myself for the first time Saturday night! It was a very long trip...basically a 3 hours bus ride...2 hours in an airport...plane ride...2 more hours in an airport...and finally bus to heidelberg. A VERY tiring adventure lasting allll night.

I've been freaking out lately about where else I'm going to travel this semester. Most everyone has things planned out, and its stressing me out. I'm fine not traveling everywhere in Europe, I just need to learn how to pick where I do want to go! I might be going to Rome this weekend, but a 15 hour train ride is not sounding so appealing. Next week we leave for Madrid for a week for our Educational Field Trip! I'm super excited...finally traveling without planning--SO nice!

Well thats all for now. Oh yeah, I just made cookies! It felt so good. We dont actually have an oven so I settled for the oh so famous Gram cookies consisting of peanut butter between Ritz crackers (one of the only american things we have here) dipped in melted chocolate and then cooled in the fridge...as my mom told me I now have LOTS of more friends! haha I even had people offer to pay for one! WOW! Maybe thats how I need to go about paying for all these trips!

I'm off to study for my german quiz tomorrow...and then for my german test on Thursday. Now I'll leave you with a final thought...Why can't we just have a semester of 'hanging out abroad' rather than adding that whole 'study' aspect in?

(i tried to add pictures, but it wont let me...i'll try later)