I'll Need an Army Knife.

Switzerland!

So, after looking through some information, I think I'm going to want to go to Interlaken when I go to visit Switzerland.

My goal there is to do some hiking. Whee!

A helpful little site!

http://www.interlaken.ch/index.php?id=53&L=3


Also, a thought on Germany -- Ludwig's Castle.

http://www.neuschwanstein.de/englisch/tourist/howtoget.htm
http://www.schloesser.bayern.de/englisch/palace/objects/neuschw.htm

I Have A Pass!

My train pass arrived in the mail today. I now have a train ticket for ten days over a two month period for any W. Europe country (basically...minus the UK). Wow.

And so I begin to think of where I really want to go while over there!

First up -- places I would want to see in Austria!

I think the two areas I want to focus on in Austria would be Salzburg and Vienna.

Salzburg:

Eisriesenwelt Caves; the world's largest ice caves



More to learn about Austria, but it's a start!

May This Month Go Slowly!

Okay. I'll admit it. I'm nervous.

Four months isn't that long. But at the same time, it is!

I leave to do this thing one month from today.

Minor Panic

Friday night I fully realized the fact that I won't have any income at all while I'm over there and that I'll be wholly limited to what I have put away in the bank. That has really been the first time I've ever been worried about money, and it caught me off guard.

I think what's added to the worry is the fact that I am also going to try and do a "Missions Boot Camp" next year over in Scotland (if they should host it there again, anyways). That's another plane ticket to purchase. Yikes!

God's so neat, though. Today's sermon was on money, and how we need to give God our trust rather than money.

My conclusions based on the sermon are that I need to have faith in God as my provider (who better to trust than the person who owns everything!), that He'll prepare a place for me to work when I return, that He'll be with me in Europe and will do some miracles, and that if that Boot Camp is in His will for me to do, then He'll make a way for it!




Besides money, I've really been hit hard this weekend that this fall semester is going to be big. I can't even anticipate what situations I'll be in or what lessons I'll be learning. Something is going to be done in my life, and I can only pray that I can have the courage and gumption to stick it through.

It's All About Location

Very exciting news! I found out my homestay address! It's about 15 minutes away from the school in the city. I'll be living with a Belgian couple who have been hosting study abroad students for more than 15 years. Apparently, they're awesome cooks, which is really cool! I can hardly wait to learn to cook some new dishes! I've worn out chicken fettuccini alfredo, I'm afraid.

What's also really cool is I'll be living there with three other American students!

Wow. I have an address!

It's Beginning to Feel Real...

Hello.

So, the background to all of the madness -- last fall, I attended a meeting on studying abroad for a semester, picked up a book listing program options, and made up my mind to do it. I browsed through options: New Zealand, Australia, England, Italy...the possibilities were endless!

But, for whatever reason, one caught my eye. Belgium. So, I started to (waaaay too early) read up on the program, try to find out what exactly I needed to do, filled out paperwork, waited, received more paperwork to fill out, filled it out, sent it in, waited, and filled out more paperwork.

In the midst of all of the paperwork, I bought plane tickets, made payment arrangements, and did a minimal amount of research on Belgium. The city I'll be moving to (holy cow - moving to???) in just over a month is Brussels - the capital. It hosts the European Union (I can hear some people groaning as I write this, but I'm interested in learning what they're about). It's essentially an international hub, which is pretty nifty!

Now I'm coming down to departure day (D-Day, just to be ominous) and am suddenly realizing that holy guacamole, Batman - I'm going to be living in another country for most of the rest of the year! I'm having some doubts - am I doing the right thing? Is this just an incredibly selfish indulgence where I'm putting good resources to poor use? Am I abandoning everybody back home to go on a big huge vacation?

Yet at the end of the day, I have to remind myself that it probably is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, that a good chunk of it is being paid for in scholarship money, and that I should consider myself blessed instead of spoiled.

Today was a big day in the study abroad saga - my passport came back to me in the mail, complete with student visa on page 13. Yeah, that's huge.



Upcoming posts are likely to be kind of boring: mostly me planning stuff out for my own benefit (where I want to visit, when, and so on).

But, overall, my general feeling is one of amazement - this is really happening, isn't it??