Busy, Busy, Busy

The last few days have been so busy and I have been so exhausted that I have had no time to write. Saturday we went to Maastricht, Netherlands; Sunday we went to Brussels; and yesterday we went to Cologne, Germany. Today we had a test in Bible (in fact, I would love to be taking a nap to make up on some sleep, but I felt if I didn't get caught up on here, I might never!) that I stayed up studying for last night and we also have a small quiz in French today. Course, we have had a quiz in French every day that we have had class. Gross :)

I don't really even know where to begin with getting caught up with everything so I guess I will try by starting with Maastricht. Until Saturday, I had only been in the Netherlands when we flew in to Amsterdam so all that I saw was the airport, some windmills and a view from the plane (and it was slightly cloudy that day) so I was really excited to go to Maastricht. It got it's name because it is right on the Maas river, which is actually called the Muse river in French and there are lots of cute little bridges and everything around the town. When we got there, they took us to a small Gothic cathedral that we looked around in for a few minutes, and while waiting on everyone else to finish looking, one of the nuns came and talked to us and asked us where we were from. She was the cutest little lady! She told us that she was from Austria, so her native language is German, but she knows Dutch and English as well (I was impressed!). She told us a little bit about the history of the cathedral and about the one that is right next to it (it sits beside another cathedral that was built after it that is of the Roman style). It was nice to talk to someone in the cathedral because usually we walk in and walk around and they tell us a little bit, but we never really know much about when they were built and all of that. After we walked through the cathedral, they walked us to the city wall (I don't really know the historic significance of it, though) and we walked around it and across it. Then, we were free to go :) So several of us walked around and went shopping. Don't worry, Dad, I didn't buy anything :) We got pretty hungry because we had been walking for a while so we walked past this cute little waffle stand and decided to get waffles... but we forgot that we weren't in Belgium anymore. Seriously, the waffles are NOT the same outside of Belgium! It was so weird because they smelled so good, but we were sorely disappointed. After our waffles, we went into a few little souvenir stores and walked around a lot. It was a very pretty, cute little town and we really enjoyed being there (Sorry for the lack of details... everything is really starting to run together. lol).

Sunday we went to Brussels, Belgium and spent the day there. It was really a very interesting and busy day. We got up and got ready and headed to the train station-- our train left at about 10:30 and we were trying to make it for church at 1 for an English service at an international church. We rode the train for about an hour and 45 minutes and then got on the subway (I have decided that subways are kind of scary and INCREDIBLY confusing. Thank goodness for smaller towns!) to get to worship. What we didn't know was that they had class starting at noon. So we arrived at the church building at about 12:45 and realized that they had already started and tried to sneak in without being noticed (in case people would not notice 30 college students carrying giant backpacks! ha!) but we more than doubled the congregation in size. They later told us that normally they have several more people, but that many people were out of town for holiday or whatever. Let me just tell you, it was so nice to have worship services in English! The church was really excited that we were there, and they gave us cookies and juice! I really enjoyed being there. After services, we went to another cathedral and then walked through Brussels. They took us immediately to what Brussels is known for. For anyone who doesn't know, the story is that Brussels had a huge fire break out and the whole city was going to be lost and then this little boy started "relieving himself" and his father found him putting out the fire. That's kind of a paraphrase, so you can look it up if you want to know more and actually read the real story. Anyway, they now have a statue of the little boy relieving himself and he is called Manneken Pis (I am NOT even joking or trying to be vulgar!... and yes, it DOES sound like it looks). Apparently other countries send him little outfits and they change his clothes every day. The day that we went, he was wearing an outfit from Ukraine. Apparently it was their Independence Day or something. After we saw the famous statue, we ate the most delicious waffles on the face of the planet. They had a little waffle stand that made like every waffle you could possibly ever dream of eating. I got strawberries and whipped cream on mine because I hadn't had a fruit one yet. It was SO messy, but it was AMAZING!

I feel like I should add that I will not weight 200 lbs when I get home from eating so many waffles, in fact, I have been having the opposite problem. Usually I can wear my jeans a few times without washing them and they still fit fine. Since arriving here, I have been putting my jeans on and they are already baggy even on the first wear, right after washing them. I have a feeling it is because of all of the walking that we have been doing, and we are not getting opportunities to snack all the time (except for the occasional Belgian waffle or ice cream cone). So despite the fact that I have been eating quite a lot, and very well (we have had some GREAT food!), my clothes are starting to get too big. Oh well.

Yesterday we went to Cologne, Germany and apparently they are known for their giant cathedral. As soon as we walked out of the train station we saw the GIANT cathedral that pretty much looked like it was about to touch the sun. I have had a hard time getting most of the cathedrals in pictures already, but this one was just ridiculously difficult to get in... I tried my best though and just took pictures of pieces here and there. It was also incredibly beautiful on the inside. There were a few specific things inside that were really neat. First, I noticed that there were tombs all over the place. I never figured out if they were tombs of former popes, or former priests because I can't read German (or maybe it was in Latin? I don't remember...), but they had carvings of the men on them. Also, they had a giant picture of the crucifix and what's really cool about this particular one is that it was made over 900 years ago and still looks to be in perfect condition. Also, during the time that it was made, most artists would portray Christ as very serene while on the cross. This one, on the other hand, showed him with his eyes closed and really looking as though he was in great agony. The final thing that we saw that was really neat, was a gold box that supposedly has the wise men's bones in it. Now, I don't really think that the wise men's bones are in that box, but it's still really neat to think about... and it was a really pretty box. One thing that I have been wanting to get since we got here, but have been holding off on is a Pashmena (sp?). It is a pretty little scarfy thing that they wear a lot over here as shawls or scarves or whatever. Well, I have seen several for pretty decent prices and finally found a REALLY good deal on them-- 3 euros! So I bought two of those yesterday (even though I already have about a million scarves), one red and one blue. They are so pretty and soft!

Anyway, today is a class day and tomorrow we are going on a cruise down the Rhine River. It should be a lot of fun, so I'm really excited about that. I got to talk to Kelli this morning which was really great. Most people I have been able to at least talk to on chat or something since I've been here, but Kelli and I have a 9 hour time difference, and apparently I have become retarded as far as e-mailing is concerned, so hopefully I will get to be better about that. Anyway, the point is, it was a nice way to start the day... even though it was after my Bible test so the day had already started. Ha. Ok, I think this blog is way past long enough. It's almost chapel time so I'm gonna go.

Love you all!! :)