Twee Excursions:)

This week was a busy/good one.

Tuesday our SPICE group went to Westerbork. It was a Jewish transit camp in the Netherlands. Out of 107,000 Jews only 5,000 survived the war.

People made a community here and built a hospital, schools, places of work etc. not knowing what was coming... concentration camps in Germany.

It is very sad to hear about the brainwashing the Nazis did to the Jews. They made them think that they were improving their lives by placing them near each other and giving them good healthcare... they also lied to them and said that is where they were headed when they went to Poland/Germany etc... only these places would be better healthcare.

They were lying and what was in store for the Jews was a lot worse than expected.

Here at Westerbork we took a tour by a very good tour guide and saw where the camp still stood - but today it is nothing more than a couple of monuments and replicas of how high and wide the barracks were.

On Wednesday I had my internship at Isala and it was a full day of learning/working with a nurse here.

On Thursday (today) we went to Den Haag/Scheveningen to see Dutch Parliament. It was a lot of politic talk so not very interesting to me ... but good to see. We visited with a Christian politician and we were also able to visit the Maurits House where "Girl with the Pearl Earring" is located. It is the original work by Vermeer so that was really neat to see. Then we went to the beach that I am sure is hopping in the summer but since today was the coldest day we have had in a while of course we couldn't enjoy any sun :( but a hot chocolate cheered me up and after a while of visiting we headed back home on the train.

Tomorrow I have an internship day at Eleos- a Christian mental health place in Zwolle. A student from the GH offered me the opportunity to go with her. I am eager to see the work they do. Then I am off to Switzerland for the weekend and I will be picking up my parents and lovely sister from the airport for a busy week of touring Holland and going to Paris :)

I will blog after -- I am so so excited to see them! Pray for safe travels!

salzburg - home of the sound of music

so the next morning we woke up after losing one hour of sleep due to daylight savings -boo :( - to get ready for our tour of the sound of music sights and locations - super pumped, since I played a role in the play in middle school :) naturally it made me nostalgic all day and a little homesick ... :) We got on a ridiculously tourist-y bus with the sound of music picture painted on both sides - and we even got a little sound track action with a sing-along - do--ree--miii!

1st Stop:

We get out and see the palace that was used as the inspiration for the terrace scenes at the rear of the Captain's villa overlooking the lake - where Maria and the children stood up on their boat and fell into the water. The beautiful Venetian Room in the palace was also used as inspiration for the large ballroom scene.

2nd Stop:

The Glass Gazebo, or summer house, is where Rolf and Liesal sang "Sixteen Going on Seventeen", and Maria and the Captain sang "Something Good."

3rd Stop:

The backside of Schloss Frohnbug - the backside of the building used as the front of the von Trapp residence where Mari stepped off the buss in the Hellbrunner Allee, the tree-lined road, singing, "I Have Confidence" as she skipped her way through the gates and across the courtyard and up to the door to ring the bell.

4th Stop: The Wedding Church in Mondsee

A half hour drive East of Salzburg where the Captain and Maria were married. <3

5th Stop: Mirabell Gardens

Do-Re-Mi Steps - best-known scene in the movie - where Maria and the children use the steps as notes on a musical scale

6th Stop: Pegasus Fountain - here Maria and the children marched around the magnificent winged horse

7th Stop: Mozart Foot Bridge - Maria and the children skipped off the bridge and on the grass along the bank of the Salzach river - where we took a lovely nap later in the afternoon.

8th stop: Residenzplatz - where Maria sang more of "I have Confidence"

9th Stop: Mozart's Birthplace and some shops & a pretzel of course

We also saw Nonnberg Abbey and of course the Untersberg Mountain - the location used to film the scenes of the von Trapp family dressed in traditional clothes hiking to the mountains.

CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN TIL YOU FIND YOUR DREAM! :)

So that concluded the day - and we weren't looking forward to our night train home - because we discovered that I had bought a different train ticket for ten min. earlier than they were leaving ... so essentially we would be splitting up for the whole night since my ticket included a "sleeper" - and they had purchased just normal train tickets - so we say good bye and I am sad that I will be spending the night by myself away from my two friends :(

I am on my train and the girls were leaving ten min. after me ... the train was moving smoothly until......we stop and I hear that we will be delayed fifteen min.

Perfect... that means I miss my connecting train.

Yup...overhead confirmation that I missed my connecting train.

Oh boy - I was talking with a nice girl that told me I just had to go to the info desk and see what to do next - I also overheard I was put on a different train overnight so that was relief that I wouldn't be stuck in Munich.

So I'm in the line waiting for a info person and low and behold... my two other fellow travelers are shocked to see me - they assume I missed my train but I assured them that both trains from Salzburg must have had issues since their train was behind mine - the guy next to me in line said it was because we hit a person (5th time this has happened since I've been here in Europe...seriously?!) so we board a different train and we all try to sleep in different uncomfortable positions for the night (no luck for a bed on the train this time...not even 1st class to cheer me up) but I was soo glad to be back together with two friends even though the night only involved sleeping.

What an annoying evening being awakened several times by either the train stopping or the conductor wanting to see your ticket and yelling "Morgen" aka "Morning" in your ear to wake you up... OK it is NOT morning because you did not let me sleep through until the morning. Never again will I take a night train... too risky! But we only were half hour later than expected. Safe and sound in Zwolle.

One week until my parents and lil sis come to visit :)

neuschwanstein castle - munich, germany

this weekend my two friends and i set out on a long train ride to munich germany - we were excited to visit two special places and take two tours total on saturday and sunday :)

our train ride went well and we made it safely to munich - found our hotel just in time and slept the night in our own bunks -

we woke up the next morning and made our way to the train station to join a tour of the neuschwanstein castle two hours from munich in the enchanting old-world town of Fussen - in the foothills of the Alps, framed by one of the most breathtaking natural settings in the world -

towering far above the village, seemingly sculpted out of the very mountains that rise magnificently to the heavens, is a sight made from the stuff of dreams: the fabulous and ethereal neuschwanstein castle.

this glorious folly was built in the 19th century by the famed "mad" king ludwig II.

the shimmering white towers of the castle among the clouds are instantly familiear to anyone who has ever read the fairy tale.

it is the inspiration for disney's sleeping beauty castle - and is also the chitty chitty bang bang castle - thanks to the lovely brochure for this info ;)

Our tour guide was a minnesota native who fell in love with a german girl and moved out to germany to guide tours - it was a nice day and he gave me a free beer on the train ride bike so overall i liked him as the tour guide ;)

the castle was pretty neat too :) we decided not to walk up the the top because he told us that he has had 18 year olds pass out on the way up? but he also said that 90 year old women have been able to do it - we were perplexed and didn't know what to do - bus or walk... but since it was raining and we had all of our belongings on our back we decided to take the bus

we got a tour inside the castle but weren't allowed to take pics in there

we got some amazing scenic views though and after we were finished we made our way back to munich to look for some german-type food -but we were let down and settled with pizza -

we hopped on a train for salzburg that night and low and behold... the ball almost dropped (our phrase for when something bad might have just happened - screwing up our travel plans)

the train was pretty mediocre - and no one was announcing the stops we were at - our ticket said arrival time at salzburg "2342" or something... so when it was about that time and we stopped we naturally got out of the train ... along with three other people (a couple and an asian girl) - so we were walking out of the train a little disoriented due to our naps ... we heard the asian discussing with the couple about which stop this was ... the couple frantically began to reach for the doors of the train to open them up for the girl to get in since "this isn't salzburg ... that is one more stop!" so we freaked out and one of my fellow travelers says "tell that asian to open the door" - funny quote at the moment :) - then they got the door open for the asian girl and she got in the train and the doors shut in our face... we were left to frantically trying to open them back up agin and finally - we got let in...

we made it to salzburg safely and a short, expensive taxi ride to a beautiful hotel for a good nights sleep.

ready for some musical action tomorrow?

sound of music blog up next :D

What I Should Be Doing...

Now That I am MRSA negative I am able to start working in the hospital here in Zwolle. I began on Wednesday and I worked with a student from the GH (the school here) to take care of 6 cardiology patients. It went really well and I enjoyed my time working with her. The clinical went just like what I am used to only the patients were as critical as I was imagining. I get to go again next Wednesday and spend the day with her.

Then on Thursday I went to Amsterdam to do clinical with an instructor in nursing from the GH. She invited me to work with her at a consultatiebureau - where they see families of children and monitor their growth and development, as well as discuss any issues that the family has raising their children. It was neat and I was able to see babies from ages 0-3 :)

We also did some house visits of families with newborns. The area we were in was very culturally diverse. There were many people from Turkey/Morocco etc. I thought it was really neat to see.

I traveled back to Zwolle last night and I am enjoying a beautiful day before I jump on a train to go to Munich, Germany. Its a long train ride ... but I get to be in the ALPS tomorrow! I will blog when I return on Monday.

Have a wonderful weekeend.
No pictures this blog ;) but pictures will come after my weekend away. This was a serious blog about my serious new internship ;) no more fun for me here. Just kidding!

rotterdam

on tuesday we went on an excursion to rotterdam with school.

we got on a train and rented bikes when we got there to take us around the city.

it was so great to have bikes instead of walking every where :)

it was nice to spend a day with each other - it felt like a long time since I had seen all the spice students!

first we went to the cube houses - very unique -

next we went over the bridge to the hotel new york near the port where immigrants went to america

then we went on a boat ride through the port near old rotterdam harbour

then we saw the oude of pelgrimvaderskerk - old pilgrim father church - where essentially the last meeting was held by the pilgrims that were going to America to establish colonies or whatever... thats just a guess :) but it is very important and it was neat to see.

next we went to a mosque and learned about islam as a religion

then we went home and out that night.

it was a great day overall.

rotterdam is a neat city because 1/2 is old style and 1/2 is new style buildings.

it is also cool to see where the boats left for america.

so the rest of this week is filled with research, meetings, and fun evenings with friends and my host sister.

saturday i will visit my other host sister in amersfoort and go out for st. patrick's day in the evening :) i have to make sure to wear green!

sunday is an english church service with a potluck afterwards in a nearby city - I look forward to sharing some delicious snicker salad with everyone :D

then next week I hope to find out that I am negative for mrsa so I can start in the hospital.

stay tuned - i find out results monday! :)
Please pray that I can get some experience in the hospital here!

I hope all who reads this are doing well. I am looking forward to my family visiting in April!

<3 xoxo

copenhagen

on sunday sarah and i flew from stockholm sweden to copenhagen denmark.

this is another country in scandinavia :)

it was beautiful flying in over water and when we landed we took the metro to our hostel.

it was so easy to find it was ridiculous.

we started out by exploring and seeing the main sights on a map we found.

the first thing we saw was the marble bridge I saw featured on pinterest.

Pinterest is becoming my eyes before I get somewhere I want to go.

I usually find a pretty picture of something in the city we are going to visit and attempt to find it when we get there. This time in Copenhagen it was "The Little Swimmer" - a statue of the Little Mermaid.

Hans Christian Anderson - author of the Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, and many others(one of my favorite stories!)

So the marble bridge was neat but what it led to was even better...the Christiansborg Castle - currently unused. We were let in free to a museum because it was closing in a half hour but it was perfect because that is all the time we needed to get through it. It was underneath the castle showing remains of previous castles built on the same land.

It was neat to see... and especially neat because it was free :D Winning!

Next we walked a little ways to find "The Little Swimmer" - we ran into a little harbor called Nyhavn which was also featured on Pinterest. It is a charming canal with houses and many fishing boats. It reminded me of Amsterdam only the houses were all different colors and flat.

One of the houses was where Hans Christian Anderson lived... so cool!

Our spirits were lifted after we found this charming street and then onto the longest shopping street in all of EUROPE!

It was amazing! We found a souvenir shop and asked about "The Little Mermaid" statue.

The worker gave us directions and said we couldn't possibly miss it because all the Japanese people would be surrounding it. She recommended we walk to see it the next day because it was getting dark.

We headed back to the hostel after I had a wonderful meal of hamburger and french fries.

We also saw the round tower.

When we got back it was almost time for happy hour :) so I enjoyed two beers (buy one get one) of Carlsberg beer.

Then we decided to get ready and go to sleep so we had enough energy for tomorrow when we planned to see the rest of the sights.

So we slept at the hostel pretty well despite some middle of the evening snoring.

that night we slept in a ten person mixed dorm room - so its interesting to see who you are going to be sleeping in a room with. Its like camp but the people speak all kinds of different languages and are in Copenhagen for different reasons etc.

Its a bit different to stay in a hostel for me and this was the first time ... but its the cheapest way to do it when you are traveling with one other person.

In the morning we got ready and ventured out to see "The Little Mermaid," Kastellet a preserved fortificaion, Amalienborg castle, and Rosenborg castle.

At the Amalienborg castle I had seen on the internet that the guards change at noon - so we got there just in time to see a marching band and guards playing -- I was very impressed!

We walked around 4 hours and were ready to head to the airport to come home.
We made it safely back in Zwolle around 8pm that evening.

Overall it was great to see Scandinavia - the most expensive part of Europe - but glad it was only for two days so I didn't go completely broke :)

scandinavia!

this weekend i set out on a little adventure to scandinavia - a part of europe i was always curious in seeing. i'm not sure why i wanted to go but i am glad one of the spice students also wanted to check it out with me. i made this wonderful journey with the one and only: sarah skidmore.

it was a lot of fun and my first time staying overnight in a hostel so that always makes for a good story.

a hostel (from wikipedia) provides budget oriented, sociable accommodation where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed, in a dorm and share a bathroom, lounge and kitchen.

so anyways the weekend went as follows:

on friday i took a train by myself to berlin, germany to meet up with sarah and the rest of the business crew that had been there since wednesday. traveling alone isn't something i would want to do again simply because i do not trust myself.

but it was entertaining to people watch. especially middle age men taking shots on the german train. these people like to party.

i made the train at 10am (barely) and arrived in berlin around 4pm. i wasted some time "shopping" in the train station and having a delicious snack i took from my host family - i had packed a lot of food for the weekend but i always end up running out or just craving a hamburger. anyways...

i walked towards the parliament where i was going to meet the SPICE group and i had some more time to kill so i sat and journaled my thoughts :)

i was proud that i found the building even though it was within five min. walking from the train station. it felt good to know i was where i was supposed to be.

i found the group around 6pm and we got to go inside and tour parliament. it was neat opportunity. i really wish i was politically minded so i could explain what we learned better but to avoid humiliation i think its better if you would look up information on the internet about it. the neatest part was about the berlin wall dividing east and west germany. we got to see where that stood. then we walked over to a famous arch in berlin and called it a night after a delicious cheap pizza and german beer.

sarah and i had to catch a flight to sweden at five in the am the next day (saturday) so we tried to settle into the hotel quite quickly. the night went so fast and before i knew it i was getting ready to head out the door and on the metro to the airport. our flight was on time and we arrived in beautiful sweden around 10 am. we took a bus into stockholm and i remember looking out the window thinking it looked like america. everyone in sweden speaks good english so it was refreshing to be around. we found our hostel quickly and it was a great place to stay. saturday evening we watched swedish tv on couches, ate free swedish candy, and had free coffee from the hostel. we made friends with one of the employees and he taught us a little about swedish culture. i really enjoyed staying at this hostel.

in stockholm we saw: city hall and gamla stan - those were the main two attractions. on gamla stan we saw the palace and a bunch of other cute shops and restaurants.

i'm sure stockholm would be an amazing place if it was a little warmer. we saw a lot of outdoor activities taking place so i would definitely come back to do some nature-related things but because the ice was half melted it was difficult to either ice skate or take a boat tour. it was simply the wrong time of year to go... maybe that is why our flight was so cheap. either way i really enjoyed my time there :)

stay tuned for a blog about denmark tomorrow! time to go to sleep! our spice group is taking a field trip to rotterdam!

Barcelona

Soo on Thursday we took a bus to the airport to catch our flight to Sorrento. We had to leave quite early so with my diet coke and ipod in hand it made for a good morning :)

We waited at the airport for quite a while and got some free samples of wine and perfume. The flight was disgustingly hot and when we got off I was so excited to meet up with the sixth girl - my good friend who was coming from Holland to meet up with us :)

She never showed up so we got a little worried. We waited and decided to split up our group in two. Me and another girl would stay at the airport to wait and see if she had made a different flight. The other three girls would go to find the apartment. So I got a spanish beer and sat to wait for her. By our agreed upon time, we left the airport without our friend to also find the apartment in Barcelona. We got on a bus, frustrated and disappointed. When we got to the city center of Barcelona we hopped on another bus to get even closer to our apartment. When we were on the bus one of the other three girls spotted us. They ran to us and called our name so they led us to the apartment. It was quite amazing! They told us the bad news that our friend missed her flight and wouldn't be joining us. :( We would have had a difficult time finding the apartment so it was so nice they took us straight there. Barcelona was beautiful at night. We went to go eat tapas and were bummed to find out they were nothing more than expensive appetizers. I tried fried artichokes and they were amazing. We also met a rich Texan couple that recommended we try a club called "Obama's" haha. That night I found out Barcelona is the city that never sleeps. No I did not go out but I probably should have. I hardly slept a wink because it was so loud outside our apartment :(
In Barcelona we did a lot of sightseeing and met up with two other SPICE girls that were training through Spain. We also laid on the beach for quite a while but it was a bit colder than Capris so no swimming. We did go out one night and it was a lot of fun. We also went to a beach outside Barcelona called "Sitges" - it was cold there too but very beautiful. It reminded me of Sorrento - Spain style.

As time went on in Spain I got sicker and sicker - I ended up losing my voice so I communicated via "twitter" with the other girls. I am getting better at "tweeting" :)

I loved Spring Break - we made it back safely - laughed a lot and it was so JOYFUL to be with the girls I was with! I also got to see so much of God's amazing creation. I am so thankful!

Nothing too scary happened and we made smart decisions. Be proud, mom and dad!

Next up... Sweden and Denmark this weekend. Crazy. All while I am taking 6 medications to clear this MRSA while working on two big assignments due before I leave. Wish me luck. Bye bye blog.

Almalfi Coast

On the other side of the coast where we were staying is one of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. We had to opportunity to take a bus there and stay for the day. It was one of my favorite days on our vacation. It was hard to beat the Island of Capris though ;)

We went on leap day. It was such a good day. First we ate breakfast in bed... again. We got ready, walked to the supermarket and grabbed some fruit for the go. The bus we were on winded up and down to our final destination. It was actually warm there so we were excited to lay out. We changed and began to tan our white bodies. We also had round two of Nutella buns. Then we jumped back on the bus to another small town called Positana. We met some fisherman that were interested in us riding with them to catch 'sharks and whales' haha. I swam quite a ways in the water so I could eat more gelato that night :) It was freezing and that is probably why I got so sick later in the trip. After our day trip we came back to Sorrento to have our last round of Italian pizza and gelato. The man at the pizza place was so cute he said, "I love my job, I love Americans" after he gave us a free appetizer. The lady at the gelato shop was also adorable because she said that we should all come back next year to see her. :)
I love Sorrento but tomorrow we head out to Barcelona, Spain to see what it has in store for us! :)

Island of Capris

This morning we woke up to breakfast in bed. We then were prepared to get on the ferry to the island of Capris. The island is absolutely gorgeous. It was so neat to see the bright blue water :) It was breathtaking. We literally walked onto paradise.

On the Island are two locations: Capris and Anacapris. We took a bus up to Anacapris to see the top five sites there. They were close together and very cute. There was a map there that I could actually read and appreciate. Then we walked to a gorgeous lookout and ate our Nutella buns and chips. We went down to the beach area and changed into our bathing suits. We thought we were crazy because we were the only ones. We ran in the Sea because we didn't care! Later... we made our way to the other side of the island where more swimmers/sun bathers existed. Ha ha. I performed some synchronized swimming there. It was a bit cold but so worth it. Later we enjoyed some pizza and gelato. We also discussed that we would try "going out" in Sorrento that night. It was a lot of fun although it was a very quiet night in the little town.

Spring Break: Safe in Sorrento

In the morning we took the train to Sorrento - it was a sweet escape. We arrived in the cutest beach city I have ever seen. We walked through a vineyard with lemons and oranges. Our bed and breakfast was also amazing. We met the owner and she was so nice. It was a windy day but we walked to the coast anyway. We got some amazing photos of the water with the white caps. We walked around the city and found what Sorrento is quite famous for - some type of lemon liquor. So we had to try it. It was a fun day and we decided that we would take a ferry to the Island of Capris the next day. I couldn't wait to get on a boat on the Sea!

Spring Break: Naples

So we arrived to Naples, Italy in the morning. We made it safe and found a taxi driver with a low fare to take us to our hotel. Once again, we bartered. :)

The taxi driver was nice and helpful. He was even so kind as to tell us that the area our hotel was located in "wasn't so nice at night." We were a bit worried when we heard this. He was so right.

The area our hotel was located looked like the ghetto.

I felt very uncomfortable there. We were not quite sure how we ended up in a third world country. Our plan for the day was to sightsee to the historic center ... but it was too complicated to figure out and our group was getting stares and attention we weren't sure how we felt about it.

Two other people mentioned to us that we needed to "keep our cameras away" and "don't walk around with important things" - it was not expected that Naples would be so "sketch."

We took the metro to the furthest possible destination and actually found a few beautiful places there. We found a great pizza place that gave us a surprise at the end - a plaque for my house someday ;)

I wrote about Naples in my journal -

5 min. into our flight our plane got struck by lightning. It was cool to see and maybe this was a sign that we should not be going to Naples. There are no tourists and the traffic is crazy here. On the metro I met a man named David. I did not share any personal information and he began to tell me about his life in Naples. He sells knock-off purses. He told me it was difficult for him to find a job and it is all he can do for now. When we got of the metro we found our way to the beautiful coast and saw the "ritzy" part of town. When we got back to the hotel it was only 6pm but it was dark and we were worried that the area would not be safe. In the hotel we came up with our "gameplan" to leave Naples and escape to Sorrento. :)
Stay tuned... it gets better!

Peace out, Naples!

Spring Break: Venice

My initial plan was to blog about each day over spring break which would equal 9 blogs. Now that I am back in Holland I realize that is too big of a commitment.

I am so excited to summarize my experiences but please note - this does not mean there are not more stories I could tell that are perhaps more personal.

I will start with our day in Venice.

We left Holland at approx. 1:45pm on the train to Nijmegen. Then we took a shuttle to Dusseldorf to fly out with Ryanair. The cheapest flights there are in Europe. When we arrived in Venice we took a bus the area of the hotel. We stopped and asked for directions and our stomachs were growling for pizza. So we stopped and got some. It was amazing! :)

We woke up the next morning ready to see Venice!
The first thing we did was get a gondola ride. We got the price lowered because one of the girls in our group is good at bartering.

During the afternoon I bought a postcard and one of the girls had the idea to write our families ... since I already sent a postcard not too long ago I just wrote a journal entry on the back.

I wrote, "Its beautiful here. Canals everywhere. Bridges, water, up and down stairs. I love it"

Overall, I really enjoyed our day. We walked a lot and took so many pictures. It was a great first day of Spring Break. In the evening we had pillow talked and laughed a lot with a bottle of wine :) We prepared ourselves for our journey to Naples the next day. Another plane.

See the next blog post.

Ciao!