fall break

FALL BREAK 

October 26th - November 4th

Cinque Terre, Italy. 
it rained. a lot.

                                         

The Leaning Tower of Pisa. 

Left hand failure. Noted.

BARCELONA

Welcome to your Barcelona hostel! But, "BEWARE! of the creepy guy who stares at you through the window."                         ...                       Sweet Dreams!                Went to sleep with this view from the good 'ole bottom bunk at the Hello BCN Hostel.

Checking out that Camp Nou. 

FCB. 

When we ask God for things according to His will, 
He hears us. 
He presented me with this church that I stumbled upon in Barcelona in the middle of my touristy day. 
I went in for a quick prayer.
When I came outside, there was a man planted in front of the church seeking money from passers-by. 
What a wonderful thing that he should seek refuge and help from the church. 
Eager to practice my spanish, I approached him and said, "Si ayudame con mi Español, entonces puedo tu ayudar con dinero!" 
("If you help me with my spanish, then I can help you with money!" - obviously my Spanish needs help, but he got the point)
I then spent the next 15 minutes enhancing my conversational Spanish and getting to know Santos. 
I felt so comfortable talking with him that I didn't realize his physical appearance and stratification until two older women approached us with concerned looks. They appeared to be checking up on me, wondering why I was conversing with this man. When I looked back at Santos, not only did I see deteriorating teeth on a wrinkly face, I saw Jesus in his eyes. As we departed, Santos and I embraced. This must be what the kingdom of heaven is like. 
It's funny looking back now and seeing that Santos's name means "saints". I was and still am so blessed through Santos from this day. He is an angel.

CAMP BATLLO by ANTONI GAUDI. I was enchanted by all of Gaudi's artwork displayed throughout Barcelona. I decided to take the tour through this house/apartment complex that he designed in the early 1900s. 

Gaudi found his inspiration in nature, especially within the water. 

Many of his works 

suggest water, shells, and sea creatures!

Gaudi was so innovative! Everything he made had his unique touch, from fireplaces to staircases, decorated floors to oddly shaped doors!

The roof of Casa Batllo resembles the back of a dragon!
All of the streets around Casa Batllo are embellished with Gaudi's special designed tiles!

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go in :( 

The line was hours long and I didn't know to buy a ticket in advance to avoid this...

Just means I'll have to go back!!

Patatas Bravas

 top 5 best tastes I've ever had in my mouth! 

Oh my goodness. YUM.

I found myself in VENICE again for a night (:

delightful view from our hostel window

flying into MALTA

This is Popeye's Village. They filmed the old Popeye movie here. It's pretty. But it didn't look like this when we went. (It looked like the picture below) When we went, it was for the haunted Halloween village at night. It was... interesting. If cow hearts, maggots, stuffed cats and drunk vampires are your kind of thing. An experience. That's what it was! 

I WENT SCUBA DIVING IN MALTA!!!! 

That's all I have to say about that.

Mom always taught me that 

if I don't have anything 

nice to say then I 

shouldn't say anything at all.

FYI: they EAT SNAILS like popcorn in Malta.

spontaneity 

at 

it's 

finest

and out comes our 

very own azure window

The sea, once it casts its spell, 

holds one in its net of wonder forever.

Jacques Cousteau 

I read about Paul's ship wreck on Malta 

in Acts 28 when sitting on the rocks 

against the water, 

watching the sun set. 

Because of his shipwreck, 

this whole island believes and is saved. 

There are churches all over Malta and Gozo today. 

I admire the ways of the Lord.

embrace your inner child 

and play. 

you will not regret it (:

when the sun goes down in Malta

a red beach on Gozo 
that has tons of colorful stones 
instead of sea shells

be lifted high

as unimpressive as this may appear to be, 

and may actually be, 

this is the oldest standing structure 

in the whole wide world. 

ta da!

and the altars inside of it

but the coolest part to me 
was the ancient graffiti 
on the walls inside
from the 1800s!

hello azure window

This is where I spent most of my last day in Malta. For about 4 hours, I explored the cliffs and shoreline around the famous Azure Window. 

I sang to the ocean at the top of a cliff with my arms stretched out and the wind blowing me back.

I experienced great joy here. 

liberty .

4 Gentlewomen of Verona

VERONA, ITALY

 All the world's a stage! Oh Shakespeare. <3

During the weekend of October 18 - 21, I, along with three other beautiful young ladies, ventured south to the romantic city of Verona, Italy. A weekend filled with window shopping, 

even some real shopping, acoustic outdoor concerts, ROMEO & 

JULIET, the good theatre feel, 
strolling through quaint, ancient streets, making new, foreign friends, writing letters to Juliet, Italian flea antique market rummaging, breakfast feasting, Italian cappuccino drinking, and new forming friendships. It was a lovely and much needed weekend!








We went into the colosseum type building called the Arena di Verona in Verona when there had been a concert there the night before. I love how artistically driven this city is. I wish we could have seen an opera in this venue!!

And this is the view from the top of the Anfiteatro Romano overlooking the Piazza Bra!

Markets out of Piazza dei Signori where Blue Acoustic Trio entertained us both nights!

 Every third Saturday of the month, an antique flea market outside of the Basilica di San Zeno (below) decorates the piazza with unique people, paintings, jewelry, books, furniture and many more random things! I found and bought an old, Italian copy of "Two Gentlemen of Verona" there! The pretty pictures of the butterfly collections were from a German encyclopedia from 1800! I couldn't afford to take them home with me - but I'm happy I got to take a picture!

Italian cappuccinos in delicate china, plus chocolate cake... Need I say more??

This is the picturesque Ponte Scaligero Bridge giving you a wonderful view over the canal of Verona. Verona was so picture perfect. We walked everywhere and there were beautiful buildings, fountains, bridges and hills everywhere you looked!

 .LETTERS to JULIET.

 The famous "Juliet's Balcony" with sweet Jess

statue of Juliet outside of the Capulet house.

sporting my new shopping purchases here (:

 View from the top floor of Juliet's house and museum!

I also bought some gifts from the 

adorable embroidery store right 

next to Juliet's house.

 (you can see the balcony in the back!) 

   

I bought a love lock for me and Kyle Cub (:

 The lovely Verona at night. 

 We met four German guys our age who are studying in Italy after the outdoor concert last night. They were so kind and it was so enlightening to talk to young men who grew up in different country from us. We also practiced all of our languages! Between the eight of us, a total of 5 languages were practiced that night (English, German, Spanish, Italian, and French). Our German teachers would be proud to hear of us exercising our Deutsch skills outside of class!

If music be the food of love, play on. 

Shakespeare