now is not the time to think about life.

I really have no idea what I want to do with my life. I've gone from wanting to be a News Anchor, a History teacher, Graphic Designer, someone who works in Marketing (what are they even called?), and now I'm onto Public Relations. I thought this would be really awesome because I love to talk. I also love being able to persuade people.

So today as I was trying to write my paper, I got distracted by looking up possible internships with Disney. They even have a PR Co-Op for this next summer (which I won't do since I won't have ANY PR classes til this next semester), but I have hope for 2011. However my hopes were dashed when I learned someone else was equally as excited about that chance, someone who is and will probably always be better than me at this. So of course I let that person get in front of me in my mind.

This has happened with my dream of being a photographer, a Broadway singer, and a writer. There is always someone better than me, so I shouldn't even try. I shouldn't even try for that internship because there is going to be someone better versed, more colloquial, and more attractive than I am, and he or she WILL get what I'm aiming for.

I let this battle in my head start and end without any effort on my part. I will never be good enough for the positions I want in life, so I should just resign to what comes easily.

I stopped my brain today and realized that I HAVE to figure out what I'm willing to fight for. Otherwise I will be stuck working at McDonald's for the rest of my life. So is that photography? Singing? Public Relationing? I have no idea. I wish someone could tell me what I'm best at and let me figure out a way to shine at it.

Bratislava, Budapest, & Salzburg

Well I'm unsure why I write these, I think they are mainly for my parent's enjoyment, and I guess they deserve to know what their money has gone towards. Haha. But here is the latest installment of my journeys in Europe.

Last weekend we were all still pretty exhausted from our misadventures over fall break on top of working non stop on 12 pages worth of papers, (I could probably draw you my hotel room dirty clothes and all with my eyes closed.) so we decided to take it easy and just do day trips.

Thursday we went to Bratislava, Slovakia since Dr. McVey told us he was going to take us when he was here (never did). We left around 2ish to walk over to Sudbahnhof to catch a train. We got to the station at 2:20 and the train left at 2:30. So we booked it to the platform, and made it on just in time for it to roll away. When we made it to Slovakia it was about 3:40 and since the time change happened, it's been getting dark here very early.

We walked around a little bit looking for a tourism office in the train station to no avail. So we just set out on foot looking for something promising to do. We saw a steeple and headed towards it since we knew there was some church that was supposed to be cool there. But when we got inside we found it pretty grungy and a ladies service going on. Though we never figured out where the lady speaking was...

We decided that we should ask for directions to the city center or for a tourism office and luckily no one spoke any English. Seriously, if you are going to have english as your second language on ALL your signs, please be able to speak it, I have never learned a lick of Czech.

So we wandered aimlessly, unsure why anyone would ever want to come to this place, and just decided to head back to the train station since it was getting dark and sketchier by the minute. So alas our journey to Bratislava was a fail. But I got my patch (though it's a shameful patch) and that's all that matters.

We came home on a 5:45 train and then made our way to VaPiano's to eat dinner, since everyone in our group was cursing us because we hadn't been yet. VaPiano's is a cafeteria like restaurant where the people cook in front of you and ask you specifically what you want in your dish. You can choose from a myriad of pastas, pizzas, salads, or desserts. I got the shrimp and spinach campanelle pasta. It was alright, but the smell was better. I want to go back when I'm not feeling especially sick though.

The next morning we decided to go to Budapest. The UBahn was running slow and stopping a lot and we were really afraid we weren't going to make our train. So at 9:47 we're sprinting from the UBahn to the train platform for the train to leave at 9:50. Luckily though, it's been delayed and we don't actually leave until 10:10. Good heavens.

We made it to Budapest alright, left the train station after figuring out the Hop On Hop Off bus thing, and headed to the bank. We each extracted 10,000 florints. My goodness what a crazy amount! However, that only equaled to about $50. We went to find the bus stop and decided to eat somewhere before the bus came. We stopped at this place called Sloppy Joes (sounds American right?), and I got a chicken caesar salad (chicken was the only good part) and the others got burgers and sandwiches. Apparently the burgers were absolutely disgusting, requiring us to go to Burger King afterwards to get fries. We made it back in time to get on the bus and thus our tour began.

It was pretty rainy out, so none of us got good pictures from the bus windows, but the city was beautiful. Definitely didn't know that Hungary was so shaken by WWII. There are still several buildings will bullet holes everywhere. :/ Oh and did you know that Budapest is actually two different cities? Buda is on one side of the river and Pest is on the other. I think I definitely liked the Buda side better. However, we weren't able to make it off of the bus in time to explore anything since they pulled away so quickly, but it might be something I would want to go back to in the summer sometime.

Our main focus after this was to find food and a patch. So we got off at this one stop that looked really great, like there would be some souvenir stores around, but alas, another sketchy dark place, because even though it was 4:30 it was pitch black. So we walked towards the train station hoping to stumble across something but never did. We went to Burger King for dinner combining the money we had left over (check my facebook for the money picture, that's what was left) and ate. But we still had a bunch left so we finally found a souvenir store in the train station which wasn't even in like the main strip of stores, it was in this secluded side section. We got our patches and postcards but still had money left over. We found a food store and bought so much stuff, and still had about $5 for each of us. I guess that's going in my scrapbook.

We made it back safely and were quite thankful for our beds.

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Salzburg. When we got there we headed towards our hotel which was called the Vier Jahreseizten or the Four Seasons. :) It definitely had some charm or could have had some charm... I mean Pavarotti stayed there it must have been good at some point! We got to the room which was actually two combined with a separate toilet and bath area. The bed Bethany and I shared was this huge king sized one which was fabulous but the one Meredith and Laura shared was rock hard. And I still apologize for that. :/

We went to find lunch before the Sound of Music tour and found this really really cute foresty place. We all got schnitzel or schnizzle as we're called it now but unfortunately actually getting the food took a good 40 minutes. We were supposed to be back at the hotel at 1:40 for them to pick us up and it was already 1:30. So as soon as we got the food we scarfed it down and ran back down the street. I'm sure we looked completely ridiculous and like we dined and dashed but we paid I promise! I was pretty sad about running out on that meal though, it was the best schnizzle I'd had so far in Austria.

We got to the van and the lady took us to the bus which was just around the corner... we totally could've walked there. :/ Oh well. Our tour guide lady was named Trudy and she was a crazy Brit. But she definitely loved the Sound of Music, so over all she was pretty good. We drove around to a lot of locations, the Mirabelle Gardens, the Nonnburg Abbey, the Mozart Bridge, to Mondsee to see the church where the wedding was filmed (also the scene where the kids are hanging in the trees), Lake Wolfgang (which wasn't in the movie but was proof that God exists), Hellbrunn Palace where the exteriors of the house were shot, and to Leopoldskron Palace which was where all the backyard scenes were shot.

It was absolutely amazing. I can't get over how beautiful Salzburg is. Quite possibly on my top 3 list of favorite cities. Sunday we went to Mirabelle Gardens since it was supposed to be the last thing on our tour but since it gets so dark so early we weren't able to. It was so cute, though I'm not sure how they filmed some of the scenes because it was pretty small. Especially the last scene of Do Re Mi where the kids are hopping up and down those stairs. There's this huge ledge thing right in front of it that would not allow them to have the proper angle for that shot... Movie magic I guess.

We played on the Pegasus fountain, found the little gnome they all patted, and ran around the mazes playing Harry Potter. After the gardens we went over the river to the shopping area. Not very much was open but we found a little merry go round (probably meant for people an 8th of my weight) and hopped on. We were especially excited about the Gartenzwerg I rode. We walked up and down that street getting souvenirs and what not, and then found a place for lunch. I really enjoyed it. It was down under other shops and was really cozy and warm. I got bacon and cheese spatzle which was deeeelicious. We walked around some more and had hints of what the Christmas markets were going to look like and then decided it was probably time to head back.

I have to definitely recommend that hotel though. The staff was so friendly. One of the guys even let us order pizza for Saturday night's dinner even though his boss wouldn't allow it. But he told us he wasn't there, and he just wouldn't look. He was even helpful enough to order it for us and give directions to the delivery man. Definitely a keeper. :)

So that was my weekend. Pretty low key but pretty fun.

This weekend Meredith and I are staying in Vienna along with Brynn, Abbie, and Meghan. Homework plays a huge factor in that decision, but there are also several things I need to get done for this next week. Sketches, about 11 pages worth of papers, two tests, and a soccer game would have done me in stress and health wise if I didn't stay to get stuff done. But Christmas markets start this Saturday(!!!!!) so we're going to hit those up as well as finish visits and go see other things we haven't gotten to yet. Overall I'm glad we're staying, even if that did mean giving up Cinque Terre and Venice. (that's ok. the cruise I wanna go on for my honeymoon goes to both those places ;) ) I think I'm a bit tired of traveling as well. I just need a weekend away from trains and staying in one place for a bit.

Three weeks from today I'll be home. Almost under 20 days.

Paris, Luxembourg, Barcelona, Geneva (gag), and Zurich

Fall break had the effect of making me never want to travel again.

However, it was an incredible 10 days, full of adventure and problems, laughter and heavy prayers.

We started the trip off with a night train to Paris which the boys happened to be on. We talked to them for a while and then got pounded at through the wall to shut up and go to bed. When we arrived in Strasbourg the next morning we were greeted with this creepy creepy sound that are exclusive only to French train stations. Pretty foreboding.

We made it safely and easily to our hotel after fighting for a Metro card and were a initially pretty sketched out by it. But the staff was friendly and helpful and we were reassured by the fact that the only people there besides us was a group of teens from the UK. After we dropped off all of our stuff we went to find lunch and came upon an incredibly cute cafe, however the food was not that great.

We decided to go on another free tour where we met at St Michel's Square. Our guide was Alex, definitely not as good as Travis, and he spit a lot. :/ But still adequate. He showed us all around the city and told us little quirky stories like how on one of the bridges there are about 400 faces, and these faces are representative of drunk wedding guests the king had sculpted. We went across the artist's bridge, saw where some of the Bourne Identity was shot, and ended up in one of the most beautiful gardens I have ever been to.

I got some pretty magnificent pictures that day, and I can't wait to print them off.

The next day we went to the Notre Dame, the Louvre, and to the outside of the Opera House. I have seen all of them before, and since I'm quite tired of art, I was pretty exhausted by the museum by the end. After a ridiculous dinner, we went to the Opera House and took pictures of the facade, and a picture with a very random French dude, but he was hot, so we didn't mind. ;)

Later Bethany and Laura decided to go to the Arc de Triomphe while Meredith and I decided to go to a movie. We saw The Informant! with Matt Damon and we rather enjoyed it. It was actually a really good head case movie, you could never tell who was wrong and who was right.

The next day we decided to go to Luxembourg. What a glorious place. In my next life I for real would love to live there. And the only thing stopping me now is that my family is in the states and I don't gots lots o' money. Though we never paid much for food or entrance fees to anything... so who knows.

I just know that it's gorgeous, friendly, safe, and easy. Probably my second favorite city behind Vienna right now.

We went to the city museum first and were very pleasantly surprised at how modern it was. Cool elevators, hands on exhibits, AND English in the displays. Who could ask for more!? The history of the city and country was pretty interesting, they broke off of Germany and were ruled by the Austrians for a really long time. They speak Luxembourgish. A mix of English, German, and French... no point in me ever trying to learn it!

My favorite part of the museum was actually the creepiest. They had a temporary exhibit going on called Murder and ManSlaughter where they delved into people's motives for killing others, from September 11th to serial killers to companies deciding that recalling something on a car was far more expensive than letting people get in car wrecks (Momma and Daddy, they had the Pinto as an example of this, apparently a lot of the engines just randomly burst into flames but the car company didn't recall any of them). The most unique part of the exhibit though was the end, they gave you a card and told you to place it into the box labeled for what you would kill for, self-defense, revenge, jealousy, embarrassment, kill a tyrant, etc. I was glad to know that the box the most full was the self defense, but there were some even in the embarrassment one which really scared me for some reason.

After the museum we went to the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was gorgeous inside. Warmer and friendlier than any other European churches I've been into so far. Next we went to the castle ruins and took a tour of the crypts beneath. We went to Michealskirche and then headed back to the train station to depart for Paris again. But not before we got an authentic Luxemburger! ;)

That night we met up with about 10 of our group to go up into the Eiffel Tower. I hadn't realized how much I missed them until we saw all of their smiling faces. We rode up to the top and took several pictures all the while catching up on our adventures so far from the trip.

Monday we tried our hardest to get to Brussels. But French people (especially train station employees) are mean and very unhelpful. They only way we could get there was to pay 41 euro. One way. I mean I really do want to go to Belgium, but not potentially for 80 euros when I have a perfectly good Eurailpass my parents paid 784 euro for. Nope sorry evil lady, I will not pay that.

So after being sad for a little bit, we decided to just check out Montmartre but got off at the wrong stop and were practically eye raped by sketchy sketchy SKETCHY men. And surprisingly in this district there were bridal stores every single place you looked... Luckily a nice fellow in the Virgin Megastore pointed us to the right stop and we got back on track. We took a sky liftish thing to the top of the mountain and paused to take pictures, listen to a great harpist, and watch a very interesting man do yoga on grass I'm not sure he was supposed to be on.

After we checked out Sacre Coure, we explored just about every single tourist shop on the top of the hill, got lunch (QUICHE!!), and then explored the artist's ring where I got a really neat canvas Eiffel Tower and some cute prints from this precious Asian man.

We then went to see Moulin Rouge and even though it was perfect daylight I was still sketched out by the numerous men just standing outside of sex shops just appraising every female human being that walked by. But we got our pictures, I got coffee and we were off to try and tour the Opera house. Unfortunately it was just about to close so we decided to just go back to the Arc to take pictures but we ended up just watching traffic go by. Actually much more fun than you'd expect, especially with 12 lanes of traffic going around at once and people trying to run across it.

We went down the Champs Elysees in search of the Disney Store (for my project) and dinner. We came upon some really awesome break dancers and a really nice couple from New York who willingly took a picture for us. We made our way to the store, I got my picture and we decided to find grub. We went to a pizzeria, but all of us got burgers (we're sad I know), and then we headed out to find ice cream.

The next morning we slept in a little bit, checked out, and then stopped at a near by grocery store to get food for our Eiffel Tower picnic. Then we took our bags to the train station we were leaving from that night and were pretty sketched out again. The stations we had been to previously were large and light but this one seemed run down and we had to put our luggage through a metal detector just to put it in lockers. And it broke our baguette. :(

We then made our way to the Eiffel Tower, found a nice bench, and had a bread war. I think Laura won that war... We were enjoying our picnic of bread, cheese, turkey, chips, chocolate, and cookies when this gypsy approaches. Everyone had warned us about them, so I froze not know what to do. But she was just asking for food, and I obviously don't need it all (I mean have you seen me lately?) so I handed her some bread, cheese, and turkey and she went on her way. Then I proceed to get pooped on yet again. UGHHH. I guess God was trying to tell me that I did in fact have much more to give her. So another one approaches and this time I give her money and Bethany hands her the rest of our cheese package. I guess even the least of these like cheese right?

After we went around the Tower again we decided to head off to the Opera. The fee was small, and I was so terribly glad we went. It was like walking into a movie, and one of my favorites no doubt. I felt like I was at the Masquerade waiting for Patrick Wilson or Gerard Butler to just pop up somewhere, which would have been ahhhhhmazing. :)

We had some time to explore before we needed to catch our train so we went to the Galleries Lafeyette which is a huge 7 story mall that umm well I will never be able to afford, however I did get me some sour jelly beans for 2 euro. Score! It was so incredibly beautiful inside though but very very crowded. We made our way to the top floor and out onto a terrace and took some incredible pictures of Paris at sunset.

We made our way to the Hard Rock for dinner. I know a waste, but it was as much if not cheaper than anything else in Paris, why not? I got a salad and it was glorious. I really never though salads were going to be really the only food I miss from America. In fact I want my welcome home dinner to be at Pei Wei just so I can get their Asian Chopped Chicken Salad, or Panera if the Fandango salad is still a possibility to get.

We found a Starbucks to just chill in for a few hours until it was time to go to the station. We were all freaking out because this train ride was going to be the one with two other people and we were very afraid that they would be super weird or creepy and that we'd have to sleep in shifts so our stuff didn't get stolen, but the Lord answered our (and I'm sure many of your) prayers that night and sent us a little old couple who hardly spoke to us but made their presence known in snores and flatulence.

We made it safely to Cerbere, France but had to wait in the most deserted lonely station for about an hour until our train was supposed to get there, however it was an hour late so we spent some crazy time laying on the pavement "sunning our backsides". :) The train finally arrived and I felt like I was climbing aboard a Spanish family's RV. It was a little crazy but they were friendly, though they made fun of me for not switching my clock on my backpack back an hour for daylight savings time.

The train itself looked like it was made in seventies, with think woolen curtains you could pull across to keep the sun out and bouncy squeaky seats. And to make me feel a little more uneasy, a bunch of police man came barging through our carriage to check passports and tickets. Not just a ticket checker man, but 6 police man... I guess Spain is intense about their security!

We move along the tracks for about 4 minutes and stop and suddenly we're in Spain. So close!

We finally pick up speed and make it to Barcelona about an hour after we were supposed to. We were all starving and desperate to get to the hostel so we tried to quickly get directions to our stop on the metro and get tickets. So Barcelona's stations might be super sweaty, but their trains are super nice. We got off at our stop (which is entitled Clot. Clot? Really? How much more disgusting of a name can you think of??) and walk towards our hostel. I'd looked it up previously so when I saw the skyscraper in front of us I knew we had made it. Our room was super nice. Just no AC... and there were tons of kinder there so no internet access the whole time (you see they don't have the decency to keep up with the 15 minute time limit).

We went in search of food and found a place called DinoPan where we got pizza, a drink, and a dessert for under 5 euro. I was super impressed. By that time it was getting pretty late so we decided to try and find something worth visiting. We came upon the Sagrada Familia, which is this church that has been under construction since 1882. And there's no sign of stopping. It was kinda cool on the outside to see all the different parts of the structure, but odd because they didn't really all go together. One side was like dripping candle wax, while the other was rigid figures telling of the Crucifixion. We all paid the 9 euro to get in (while I made a fool of myself trying to go through the spinny counter thing to which the ticket man got a nice laugh out of) and took the tour. Though it wasn't much of one. Everything inside is under construction as well. I mean it'll be nifty when it's finished but they basically are getting a donation from you for something that they just need to hurry up on.

We did some souvenir shopping after that, found dinner (yes I got some tapas, and they were pretty good!), and then headed back to go to bed. Since I didn't get any sleep on the train (due to my overwhelming claustrophobia) I crashed as soon as I had brushed my teeth.

The next morning we went to find a free tour but stumbled upon a bus tour instead. It was just 21 euro and we could hop on and hop off at any stop there was. We took the east tour first which was basically in the hills and included the FCBarcelona stadium, the Olympic stadium, and the National museum. We rode it til the end and got off to get lunch. We found this cute place called Divinus where we got a 3 course meal including rolls and a drink for 10,95. I got Caesar salad, a whole chicken, and ananas (pineapple, but I just enjoy saying ananas). :) It was all very wonderful. We got back on the bus and took the West tour and got off at the beach. Sigh... I love the beach. It was so beautiful and so warm. We took a lot of fun pictures and enjoyed the cute kids that were playing around us even though the threw sand in our direction repeatedly.

We got back on the bus and decided to head towards Park Guell, a famous park by Gaudi full of mosaic animals and other designs. It was getting pretty dark so I don't think we got to enjoy it fully but it was still cool to look out on the city. We got back on the bus and stayed on until we made it to the train station to book tickets for the next days trip. After wards we found an Italian place and I got beef medallions. They were super tasty. And cheap. You go Barcelona, you go.

We got snacks for the next day at a sketch store where the owner gave us like 8 bendy rulers and that we were able to wield as soon as we stepped out the door. We made it back to the hostel and prepared for the next day.

Friday was the beginning of the longest 50 hours of my life. We got on our train to Montpellier fine, but when we got to Montpellier there was a huge line to buy other tickets. Oh yeah that's another thing I hate about the French... You can only buy train tickets leaving from anywhere in France in France. They are real persnickety about letting you be responsible and book before the day of your journey.

So we stand in this line for about 45 minutes, missing our original train to Geneva. The ticket guy gives us another way where we'd be getting in about 11 pm. Not too bad, but definitely a lot later than the original 7:30. We get on a train to Valence, France and then from Valence to Geneva. Little did we know that the train to Geneva just happened to split in the middle with one side going to Geneva and the other to Annecy. Guess which one we were on.

Yup. So we land in Annecy, believing it's just a different name for the Geneva train station, grab up our stuff and get out. But then we hear the awful bum buh da dah! and realize we are still in France. We try to get someone to help us, and luckily we run into a man (from West Virginia, now lives in Berlin, and has heard of Lipscomb!) who tells us what has happened and that we now have to get on a bus to Annemasse, France and take a taxi into Switzerland. A kindly conductor takes pity on the 15 of us who made the same mistake (seriously there were NO train people on board to tell us we were on the wrong side!!!) and lets us get on the bus for free, after the bus ticket machine wouldn't take any of our cards and no one had 9,50 in coinage.

The bus is already packed and we're jammed into the seats with our huge packs in our laps completely separated from each other. There were these strange guys on the bus who just insisted on being completely ridiculous and tried to talk to Bethany multiple times. But then the mean bus driver gets on and starts shoving us off. Apparently he had sold enough tickets and we were taking up space. But the kindly conductor saves us again and orders a special bus for us. So the 11 of us pile on and we are taken pretty haphazardly to AnneMasse. We arrive and there is absolutely nothing but some creepy hotels that looked like they belonged in a ghost town and some cafes. Our WV friend is still with us and calls the taxi company. He just needs to get to Geneva because he's staying with a friend, so he lets us take the first taxi. Since there were four of us I took the front and I became the driver's walky talky holder, but not before he grazed my leg a couple of times.

The ride was 10 euro each but when we finally made it to the train station we realized that the last train to Zurich left 45 minutes ago. Great, there goes that hotel reservation. We looked at all the close hotels to figure out if there was at least some place we could stay but every hotel was around 180 to 220 euro a night per room. So pay the 90 euro or risk our safety? Well we risked our safety.

I called the hotel and told him we had to cancel and he got all mad at me but I was just like if I could be there I would be dude. And he had to charge the full amount to my card... however I think that card was mostly gone anyway so boo on you man.

The first hour at the train station consisted of playing MASH and watching every passer by really closely. We all got pretty chilly since there were no enclosed parts of the station so we decided to go to the bar across the street. We actually got carded or rather passported when all we had were Cokes. But going there wasn't much use since they closed at 2. We went back to the train station and sat in this hallway with these creepy woodchucks (which I think were actually our protectors) until 3 when the train station kicked us out. They told us we could go to an underground mall and stay, so we removed ourselves to that location. I've never felt more like a homeless person in my life. There were actual homeless people (who were probably a lot warmer than me at that point) in that area with us. And all these men who decided to try and talk to us but we just didn't look at them. There was this man who was standing around us the whole time just talking to himself and oddly I felt more at peace with him there.

Do you ever encounter people or realize certain people around you that were sent to protect you? I felt like he would've had our backs if something happened with those sketchy men. He looked at the same display of books for the entire hour we were down there, just 2o feet away from us. I felt the same way about those old people on the train to Barcelona. They were silent and just there probably to be the fillers to keep other people out.

After we could go back up to the station we sat back in our spot until we couldn't take the cold anymore so we got our bags out of the locker and put more layers on. We found what platform our train was on and went back to sit in the hallway. Meredith started to rearrange her backpack when suddenly this greasy gross large large man with sausage hands came over to us and asked us if he could sleep in front of us. He got on his hands and knees and just started mumbling. Bethany and I grabbed for our bags since he was so close and he mockingly grabbed for them as well. I sprang up and he started laughing at us and tried to give his bag to Bethany telling her his wasn't worth as much as hers. He got up as well and I just pointed towards the opposite side of the hall way and told him to go. He got the message and left but not before he found it necessary to bow to us. Definitely glad this happened in the last 30 minutes we were there and not the beginning.

The train finally came, and as soon as we got on, pottied, and tried to find food, we all crashed on top of our bags taking up two seats for ourselves. The next time I woke up our cabin was full and I just assume that everyone walking by took pity on us poor weary travelers.

We got to Zurich, found lockers, and found breakfast. Or rather I found coffee, the donut was disgusting. Then we planned on going up a mountain to go look at the Alps. The train was actually pretty cool and the foliage at the top was beautimous. I got more coffee and we explored and then as we came back down, we all fell asleep on the train. After that we got lunch and went to find the trolley tour we signed up for. Good thing we paid 33 francs for that since we all completely fell asleep on that as well. However we got to see more of Zurich than just the train station which was good.

After that we went shopping and Laura and I got Swiss Army Knives. It's totally girly and purple and I love it. :) Then we tried to find dinner and settled on chinese. I have been craving chinese practically since we got to Europe, so even though it was 27 francs I completely enjoyed it.

We made our way back to the train station and met up with some girls who were on our night train back home. We sat in the waiting room for probably 3 hours just waiting for our train to show up on the board. But it was good catching up with them and hearing their stories. I think we definitely had the worst story out of the group. Oh well, it's a good story to tell.

We finally got on the train and were ready for a night's sleep. However when we found our cabin some Middle Eastern men were making their way towards us, we looked into our cabin and there were five sets of bedding instead of the four that we booked for ourselves. We all instantly put the two together, threw ourselves into the cabin and started praying fervently. If we had to be with this man, none of us would be able to sleep and we couldn't do that for a second night. But as soon as we all stopped praying there was a knock on our door and this young lady not much older than us tells us she is supposed to be in there with us. We all breathe a sigh of relief. She was another example of the people there to guard us. They are silent and just fillers. But i know God placed them all there to be our protectors and they probably didn't even realize it.

The train pulled in to Wien Westbahnhof at precisely 8:03 and I cannot tell you how excited I have been to see a trainstation before. I love Vienna and was very excited to come home.

On another completely different note, I think my home sickness has just hit full force. I'm realizing my relationships at home are completely failing and I hate not being there to do anything about it. I miss my Mommy & Daddy, Elizabeth, Rob, my kitty, my car, my bed, my friends, Lipscomb, choir (surprisingly enough), my job, and texting. I have 28 days til I go home and I cannot wait.

However depressing or ungrateful this sounds I have completely enjoyed this experience. Perhaps not all the lame work we have to do, or the countless art I have had to glue my eyeballs to, but the traveling and the people have been wonderful. There are so many countless laughs shared, so many adventures we'll have to tell, and incredible bonding ties that will last forever. I'm so glad my parents were able to send me on this trip, it's one that will be forever cemented in my mind.