We're in Dallas!

We made it to Dallas safely and smoothly. No problems at all.

Cool stuff for those that travel through Heathrow:
The store where you can buy bottles of overpriced alcohol gives out samples! We tried gin with cucumber, something like a mohito, and Prim's lemonade. I was hoping they'd offer Bailey's, but no go this time.

Then I had a dark mocha light frappucino at the Starbuck's kiosk. We had a two hour layover.

We flew American Airlines from Heathrow to Dallas. It seems everytime we travel now, the time to go by faster. I'm sure it has something to do with all the movies and tv shows they now have available. I watched two movies, an episode of The Office, an episode of Monk, and I played Tetris. I also read the magazines they have available, one of which has Rain Wilson (Dwight Schrute) on the cover, so naturally we had to read that article.

The flight wasn't full and I had an open seat to my left. But the plane was just freezing. I am so glad I thought to take a sweater. (I had planned on just wearing shorts and a tank as Dallas temperatures are around 100 degrees F. )

We flew out of Budapest at 8:30 am (1:30 am CST) and arrived at my brother and sister-in-laws around 7:15 pm CST. Zara, my niece, is so much fun. She cried upon immediately seeing Justin because of his facial hair. But she laughed with me! :) (We knew she didn't like facial hair, but Justin ran out of razors Sunday and decided to wait until we got here to go buy more. I'll keep you posted as to how Zara reacts when his face is clean shaven.)

And oddly, I didn't sleep well at all last night. Usually I can sleep fine the first two nights, so we'll see how easily I fall asleep tonight. Justin slept fine.

I'm Home!

I arrived safely to Budapest yesterday (Saturday). It is so great to be back with Justin! And he greeted me in the airport with a bouquet of roses and a gift! Thank you to everyone who prayed for us while we were apart!

Adelboden, Switzerland

This past weekend we visited Adelboden, Switzerland. It was absolutely beautiful and those words do not do it justice. The Lord has renewed in me an awe for His creation.

Eis Cafe...the Second Coming

Don't get mad at me, it's not blasphemous.


Mr. Allen, Jacob, and Bethany (the director of the program) are headed to Riquewihr, France, right now. They will be back around 9 pm and we arranged to meet at the Eis Cafe at 9:30 pm for one last time. Unfortunately, Florentina and Patrick will not come. Patrick can't come because he's got a family and he commutes from France, so he leaves right after class.

Florentina can't come because she is leaving at 6 pm by train to go to Frankfurt to see soon-to-be-husband. I will not be seeing Florentina next summer because Justin and I will be in Texas. So, I asked if she would like to go with me right after class to the Eis Cafe. She said yes and we had a nice time talking about her "almost actual husband" among other things. (It's an inside joke...kind of. )
This is Florentina.
So, tonight when I go at 9:30, I'll tell my Theology prof it's my 2nd coming to the Eis Cafe. :) I know he'll probably laugh.

Almost Done!

Today is my last day of class for this summer!!!! I am really excited and have loved being here, but I GET TO GO HOME AND SEE JUSTIN TOMORROW! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!

This last class is Overview of Christian Theology and there are four students. Jacob is from Cameroon (and has been here 5 weeks!), Florentina is from Romania, Patrick is from France, and then there's me. It's been a really fascinating class as we look at Christian doctrine. I know...how could doctrine be fascinating? It's all about the prof. He is truly excited about it and gets us excited about it and encourages us to talk. He encourages us to know why we believe what we believe and where in Scripture we can find it. I've learned a lot about what the Bible says about man, God being three persons, salvation, how the New Testament was decided, spiritual gifts, etc. Granted this class was an overview, but there was a lot I have been challenged to think about in this short week.

Anyway, we have just two and a half more hours of class to finish up. We had a take home exam, which was nice. We are all pretty tired. I don't know about post-course work yet, but I still have those assignments from two of my other classes.

Tonight, I will be eating any food I have left over and cleaning the place where I'm staying. I'll probably go to the Eis Cafe one last time, but I'm not sure. Then, I'll try to find a movie on-line and sleep restfully. :)

JUSTIN, I'LL BE HOME SOON! I LOVE YOU!

Sunday in Riquewihr, France

My roommate and I were invited to go to Riquewihr, France, with a group from our class. We went on Sunday. I went to this little village last summer and quickly said YES to the invite! It is a really cute place and I'd love for Justin and me to go one of these summers.

This medieval city is surrounded by a wall and the city itself is very quaint. Inside the walls you find German-influenced architecture, colorful flowers in the windowboxes, and cobblestone streets. I couldn't believe I was there!

Here are some of my pics.

eating lunch

Abby's tarte flambee

the Dolder Tower has the date 1291 on it!

one of the streets

this is a portion of the wall from the outside

One week down...three to go

Friday was the last day of Curriculum Theory, Design, and Assessment. It was a good class and I really appreciate the knowledge and experience of my professor, Dr. Sheryl Vasso. She is a great teacher and has a great sense of humor! We did not have a written test, but we have a project that will be due no later than July 31.

Several of us went out that night to have dinner. Here is the group. To the right of me is Dr. Martha MacCullough, who will be teaching me Philosophy of Education this week. Dr. Sheryl Vasso is in the yellow cardigan.

Then more classmates met us at the Eis Cafe for ice cream. Here is my chocolate mint sundae!

Pizza!

Last Wednesday night my class got together for pizza! I LOVE pizza and was thrilled to be able to help out. Kay is a classmate of mine and she was hosting the party. Abby, two other classmates (Debbie and Betsy), and I went to her house after our class let out. We helped chop up veggies for snacking and as pizza toppings and got her place ready for everyone. She had a 5-minute pizza dough recipe, which I am excited to try out sometime!

Kay was staying in a nearby town named Auggen. So, after eating and chatting, we headed through town and up some old steps, past a church, and into the vineyards! It was beautiful! We had a great time!

This is a bit of a crazy pic of Kay and me. She is currently living in Stockholm, Sweden, with her family and works for Greater Europe Mission to provide curriculum and resources for home schooling and start up schools.

Debbie and I are working on veggies. She taught in Tanzania for three years and is now back in England.

These are the steps leading up through the vineyard. (I love the way this picture turned out!)

Here's the group that walked up to the vineyard.

Sites of Kandern