Spring

Well its been quite a while since I last posted anything and a lot has happened. Winter school ended March 17 with commencement for the students who were going home. This was a sad time at the school cause we know that we most likely won't see most of the people we met here. We've become like a family, since we basically live and do everything together, so it was hard to say goodbye to people. We also had our "last supper" this evening where we did the passover meal. Our head cook directed us in the passover that the Jews normally do with a few differences of course because we know Christ has already come, it was really cool to do that and to experience it. 

The day after I left on Spring break with two other girls, Tanya and Meagan. During the two weeks of Spring Break we travelled around Italy and Malta. Our first stop was Rome where we saw a lot of sights including the Vatican and Colosseum along with the Trevi Fountain, some ruins. We also had great pizza on the street... we made sure to get pizza as much as we could afford in Italy and it was so good most of the time. They have some very weird toppings though such as potatoes or cream cheese!

From there we went down to Naples. When we got out of the train station at Naples we were scared, it looked like we had arrived in Mexico or something like that. There was a trash can on fire and vendors everywhere, we were quite uneasy about it. But when we got to our hostel we felt better, it was an amazing hostel and we were in a better part of town that wasn't scary at all. We walked around and saw some castles from the outside. While there we went to see Pompeii, the city of ruins, it was so cool to see. Everything looked like it would have thousands of years ago when it was buried, the only thing was the paintings were faded because of air and sun but you could still see them which was really cool. 

Then we went up to Florence where we had a lot of fun. One day we were walking around trying to get somewhere i think, but ended up finding a street market. There were so many cool things, we all got a few things from there for decent prices. It was so nice that we even went there again the next day. We also went to Pisa while there to see the leaning tower of Pisa, it was really cool! 

Then we went up to Venice which was super nice. On the way into Venice we didn't realize that the city had 2 train stops, so we saw the sign and it said Venice so we got off. Only when we got off the train we realized that it wasn't the right stop. We tried to push the button to make the doors open again but it was too late. So we had to buy a ticket  for another train to get to the next stop 10 minutes away. We ended up getting to the city fine and the owner of the hostel we were staying at while there met us at the train station and led us to the hotel which was super nice. We went on a gondola ride which was possibly one of the biggest highlights of the whole trip, so much fun and definitely highly recommend it for anyone going there. 

After that we flew out of Italy and went to Malta where we met up with 3 other students from Holsby. It was fun to hang out with more people. We went around the island one day and went into the city that is surrounded by walls, it was fun. We ended up just sitting on the wall talking and just hanging out. That week was more relaxed and we spent most of it just chilling. We were staying at a 4 star hotel there which was cool, and it was cheep enough for us. We felt so out of place cause everyone else was dressed nice and it was a really nice hotel. 

Then Spring School started April 4. There are about 10 new students then a whole bunch of new interns here but its nice. Its sad to be here with the other students gone, but having new people is fun. Its nice to have new faces and to get to know more people. 

Recently the staff ladies on campus put together a afternoon tea for the ladies with a devotion and food. It was very nice, we all took the opportunity to dress up in spring dresses :) 

This past Sunday we focused on the persecuted church so in the evening we had worship together in our pavilion by our pond. We had dinner there of sandwiches and afterwards walked around a sort of "cemetery" they made. There were a bunch of crosses set up and on each cross was a story of a persecution of someone somewhere around the world, all of which happened in the past few months or year. It was very humbling and solemn experience, it at least made me think a lot about my life. 

Then monday was my birthday which was a lot of fun. I got cake during lunch, got a package from my mom, a letter from a friend, and flowers from my family group here. In the evening me and my roomies had a fake fire in our room and had cold smores which weren't too bad. We were going to have a fire outside with real smores but it had rained so everything was wet :( but it was still lots of fun just hanging out with them. 

Spring in Sweden is wonderful, april was the warmest april they have ever had so we took the chance and sat outside a lot and tanned while reading. It was very nice for a change! The days are definitely getting longer and longer, its weird having the sun go down at 9:30 p.m. so late in the day compared with what we're used to. And now everything is green, the trees are budding and flowering and its absolutely beautiful. My new room looks over the front of the building and we have a deck which is nice for tanning. And every night we get to watch the sunset from our room (something i have yet to get pics of but definitely will!). 

That's most of what's been happening around here. I go home in 3 weeks and I can't wait! So excited to be home and see everyone... but at the same time sad to leave because ill probably never see many of the people here again, at least there's facebook :) Ill see you all soon... and ill be sure to keep this more updated in the future :)