CALIFORNIA

Friends, Romans, Countrymen. . .

As I conclude this 3+ month journey, I am overwhelmed thinking back. Dublin seems FOREVER ago... and it's so strange to think how much has happened since the last time I was with each of you. I've been lucky enough to keep in contact with most of you and know (thanks to your wonderful emails) that each of your lives have had their own fair share of change and excitement. I am eager to catch up with you all!!

For now, I've tried to be reflective and think of how I've changed. (I wanna be prepared for the questions when they come.) I know people will ask, "Where was your favorite city?" "What's changed about you?" "How was Europe?!" And all those questions are welcomed and great... but, how do i answer them? Favorite city??... Uh... Paris, London, Vienna, Zurich, Florence, Budapest..... Why? oh man... Or... How was Europe?.. Uh, good. - I mean, seriously, where do I begin? What do i say to those questions? How do I sum up everything into an answer worthy of its question that people will actually want to hear? Still pondering that one . . .

As far as how I've changed, it's hard to say. Some answers are hard to come by because they require me to be objective, which I cannot be as I am still inside of the whole experience. I'm guessing it will take some time to process everything after I get home.

I prayed a prayer in the beginning of this trip that God would reveal to me my weaknesses and bring them to the surface so that I could change them. Ya, scary prayer. Well... He answered it, and Im humbled more and more as I surrender myself for His refining. I feel my faith has matured and know my awareness of things I need to work on is better. I have a long way to go, but I'm blessed to have grown over the course of these travels.

Before I left, I had anticipated returning and worried that I might not appreciate California the same because of the places I had been. I was afraid that having visited other places in the world that have more history or what not, would make me almost proud upon my return. Thankfully, I have found the exact opposite to be true. California really is my home. My family is there, my friends are there, my heart is there. I love the beach, the sunshine, my sandals.. and all my memories there. I barely know any history about it... um, Gold Mines, Indians, war with mexico... that's about the extent of my knowledge on its history... but that's not why i love it. I love it because it's home to me. Yes, the world is full of amazing, beautiful, eye-opening things outside of California, and I encourage traveling and experiencing them, but I also am a die-hard fan of my homeland!

One of my biggest fears on this trip... (this may sound stupid, but it's the truth) was that my two front teeth would break while I was here. *knock on wood - one day left* As most of you know, they are fake, and I have had many traumatic experiences of having them chip, break, or fall to pieces in my hand in the middle of El Torito while sitting next to my best friend *ahem Melissa* who wouldnt stop laughing. (But she also cried with me too, so she's not all bad!) :) Thank you GOD for keeping them in one piece. I guarantee I would have been on the first plane home if anything happened. Eating, drinking, talking, even breathing with my mouth open - are all a sick joke if those babies arent in place... so THANK YOU Lord.

For now, the best word to describe me is thankful. I am so incredibly thankful to have been here. I have learned and grown (not vertically unfortunately) and seen so much. My memories will stay with me forever. Thank you mom and dad and grandma Lorraine and everyone else for your support and prayers that made it possible for me to be here.

Im excited to get back to life at home... Ive decided I dont want to be the girl who comes back from Europe and always has a story to tell that starts with, "So, this one time in Europe...." So if ever, God forbid, I turn into her.. please slap me upside the head. :) Home home home... Im so excited. Friends and family... i cannot WAIT to see you!! Those 16 hours of travel are going to be well worth it! The traditional Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving morning at Balboa park to watch the guys play football - john, gonzi, daniel, oj, issa.... or Thanksgiving for that matter... or jacuzzi nights with my best friend Jen...or finally seeing my married best friend Melissa... man, i cant even begin to write the things Im looking forward to.

Tonight, marks our last night here. Our group is having its final group dinner at the Hard Rock Cafè (after 5 weeks, we're all Italianed out)... and then we're coming back to the hostel to sit and talk and laugh and probably cry. We've become like a big gigantic family. We've seen sides to our professors that most never get to see (and some that most would never want to - haha) and we've each grown so close to one another. God had His hand on our group as the relationships have all been incredibly blessed. My night will conclude staying up with 4 other girls in the Hotel room i mentioned in the last post (yes!) and I will wake up tomorrow morning and board my plane home.

So if you're bored at around, oh say, 6:22pm on Monday, November 22, 2004... and feel like dropping by LAX... Say, British Airways flight #269... I'll be there - accepting flowers, jewelry, money, candy, lavish gifts... you know. :) Ok fine, just kidding... I'm gonna be putting my lovely family to work as I will need extra hands to help me carry all the crap I'm returning with. So Wilson family, be ready for some hard labor with no room for complaining (as I've dragged my life all over western europe for the last 3 and half months.) haha. I'm SO EXCITED TO SEE YOU ALL!!!!!

In conclusion.... Joni Mitchell sums up my thoughts best. So I'm gonna let her classic lyrics work their magic... listen to the song if you get a chance - the melody makes them that much more beautiful (typical of a melody...haha.. kidding.. remember, I'm now Lalodia, so it shouldnt stick out when I use my former name) :)

................California...................

Sitting in a park in paris, france
Reading the news and it sure looks bad
They won’t give peace a chance
That was just a dream some of us had
Still a lot of lands to see
But I wouldn’t want to stay here
It’s too old and cold and settled in it’s ways here
Oh, but california
California I’m coming home
I’m going to see the folks I dig
I’ll even kiss a sunset pig
California I’m coming home

I met a redneck on a grecian isle
Who did the goat dance very well
He gave me back my smile
But he kept my camera to sell
Oh the rogue, the red red rogue
He cooked good omelettes and stews
And I might have stayed on with him there
But my heart cried out for you, california
Oh california I’m coming home
Oh make me feel good rock’n roll band
I’m your biggest fan
California, I’m coming home

Oh it gets so lonely
When you’re walking
And the streets are full of strangers
All the news of home you read
Just gives you the blues
Just gives you the blues

So I bought me a ticket
I caught a plane to spain
Went to a party down a red dirt road
There were lots of pretty people there
Reading rolling stone, reading vogue
They said, how long can you hang around?
I said a week, maybe two,
Just until my skin turns brown
Then I’m going home to california
California I’m coming home
Oh will you take me as I am
Strung out on another man
California I’m coming home

Oh it gets so lonely
When you’re walking
And the streets are full of strangers
All the news of home you read
More about the war
And the bloody changes
Oh will you take me as l am?
Will you take me as l am?
Will you?


Love, Love, Love,
Melody

2nd to LAST. . .

A quick sum up of missing details, cities, and last minute adventures:

Cinque Terre is a place on the Italian Riviera comprised of 5 (cinque) towns (terre) all walking (at times hiking) distance from one another. It's far from tourists and big city lights, and it's on the coast of the Mediterranean. Wow, this hidden paradise is beautiful! We worked up a sweat hiking between the cities, ate pizza at a café on the water, and even suffered a temporary lapse of sanity when we went swimming in the Mediterranean (the locals even made their way to the sea wall to watch the madness..) haha. It was a beautiful day and I wish I could have spent more time there... aww, someday. :)

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was the only thing we spent time seeing there. We took a train to Pisa, walked a good mile or two to the tower, took a bunch of typical tourist pictures in front of it... you know - the ones of us leaning to the side, or positioning the camera so it looked like we were balancing the tower up with our hands.... ya, real clever - and then we got back on the train and went home. There was a beautiful Duomo - church... but we didnt go inside. I think we were all ready to be home (aka, hostel) that day... but we got the pictures we came for.

My first impression of Venice was no bueno. It was FLOODED! Literally, flooded... However, for the first time on the trip, my sandals proved to be the brightest idea!! Everyone else had to fork over €20 for rain boots or suffer through the "squish squash" of their wet, cold shoes all day long. But not me! ... I rolled up my jeans, took off my sandals, crossed my fingers, and prayed I wouldnt contract a water-born disease as I trampled through 12" of water. Saint Marco's square, the one with all the pigeons - or the place on that diamond commercial of the husband and wife where he's screaming "I love this woman!" - was an easy foot and a half deep. Planks were set up to walk on - and others bought the flashy plastic rainboots that went all the way up their legs as they treaded water. Christina and I were sad it wasn't at all how we pictured our first trip to Venice and retired to a little pizzeria where we sat and talked for a long while. But alas, when we emerged from lunch... it was dry! The tide had gone back down! HALLELUJAH! So we rushed back to Saint Marco's Square and fed the pigeons. :) We took some great pictures and footage of them climbing all over us... I know it must be time to cut my hair as the birds couldnt stay out of it - it seriously looked like a birds nest when they were done.... sick sick sick. Finally we took a water bus back to the train station... What an excellent day it turned out to be! I saved a Gondola ride for a more romantic visit when im not too cheap to cough up the €65 they wanted for it. Seriously, if you guys have never been or want to go back.. I advise making arrangements in the NEAR future as this place may not be around for long. The flooding gets worse and worse. They're doing what they can... but there's no guarantee they can preserve it. So sad.

Napoli was a scary city.... not too clean. But it's known for being the first place to serve pizza... so we found an old pizzeria, the 2nd one in Naples, and ate some delicious pizza. Which, by the way, pizza here is nothing like pizza in the states. Concept is the same, but the bread is super thin here and it tastes much different - still good, but different. I think Italians must die a thousand deaths when they order Dominoes in the US.

MTV European Music Awards 2004:ROMA - Oh ya, that's right.... Hoobastank, The Cure, and lots of other strange bands performed on stage, in front of the COLOSSEUM on Thursday night!!! I hope the footage gets played in the US. I, along with tens of thousands of other fans, gathered in the streets and joined in the insanity as we cheered them on. The Cure especially was Awesome! Except, I never realized how creepy looking the lead singer is... anyway..

Hostel via Roma: FREEZING! Let's just say it used to be used as military barracks... it's cold, cold, cold. Cold showers, cold rooms, and long, dark, cold hallways... my bed is sounding better and better. I was alone in the gigantic bathroom, when I had an epiphany. (Please keep reading... it's not as bad as it sounds.) I realized I had been balancing myself against the sink behind me, running my feet under luke warm water in the sink in front of me... for a good 10 MINUTES.....and it hit me, I was loving it! I started to worry about myself, so i turned off the water and went to bed... but I realize I've adapted to odd and unusual levels of cleanliness, hygeine, and natural highs... Scary.

When I get back - Jacuzzi, here I come!

On that note... I have to go finish packing my bags to leave for a HOTEL tonight.. where some of my closest friends on this trip plan to spend our last night - warm, happy, and extremely emotional - all together.

I have one more post coming....

Love, love, love,

Melody

WHEN IN ROME. . .

... DO AS THE ROMANS DO.

Well, here I am in Rome... the center of the greatest empire in the history of the world. As they say, all the roads lead to Rome - and I now understand why. Once upon a time, this place really was the center of the universe. Today, the city seems to function pretty normally, with the exception of a 2000 year old Colosseum in the background. Although there's nothing extremely groundbreaking about Rome during this present day and age, its profound history makes it incredible to be here today.

There is much to see here, and I'm only about half way done making my rounds, but thus far, here's what's stood out to me...

A couple days into our stay here, I was coming around a corner, and I saw from afar, the Colosseum. As I grew closer, its grandeur was more and more apparant. Only about a 1/3 of it actually remains today; the rest has been lost in earthquakes and what not... but this thing has been around since 72AD. While I walked around the inside, book in hand, reading about it and trying to imagine the events that took place, I had lots of conflicting emotions. In some ways, it deserves awe and respect for it's architectural genius and 2000 year old history(It once held 50,000 screaming fans, or 100,000 thumbs).... yet at the same time, it's weird celebrating a place that was primarily used for the entertainment of the Romans by way of horrendous bloodsheds... The fights pitted men against men, men against beasts, and beasts against beasts. The gladiators were usually slaves, criminals or poor people who got their chance for freedom (or at least fame) while in the areana. Animals were brought in from all over the world for the fights - such as, Lions, tigers, bears (oh my), crocodiles, elephants and hippos - just to name a few. When the stadium first opened, they had a 100-day festival in which 2,000 men and 9,000 animals were killed! The Colosseum employees had to squirt perfumes around the stadium just to mask the stench of blood. (Disgusting, huh?) It's even speculated that Christians were murdered here... Christians were undoubtedly persecuted during certain Roman times - they were thrown to lions, made to fight gladiators, crucified and even burned alive... but it's not certain whether that actually took place in the Colosseum or not. It was an incredible/bazaar experience to stand inside and imagine what used to take place here. I recommend seeing Gladiator for a realistic idea of what it was like if you've never seen it, or you could wait till I get home as I plan on watching it again (along with another 2189573 movies that this trip has made me want to re-watch.) :)

The day after Kayli arrived, she - along with Michelle, Jeanette, Christina and I went to Saint Peter's Basilica.... where we saw the POPE! He was barely 15' away from us - we were 2nd ROW! I turned around in my seat and took a good little self-portrait picture with him in the background. haha He came down the aisle in an electric wheel chair as the church chanted and cheered upon his entrance. When he spoke, it was nearly impossible to understand him - but the church sat still to listen. He said a blessing over us all. At one point he coughed.. it startled everyone and due to his age and condition, I think the whole congregation (including myself) put our hands over our hearts worried we were witnessing his final breath. Thankfully, he resumed his message.... and the congregation let out a big sigh of relief.

Another highlight was seeing the Vatican. We waited in a forever long line to get inside... I felt like I was at Disneyland - but it was worth it. The Vatican is actually it's own country - meaning, if you buy stamps inside the walls, you better mail them before you leave (a lesson I have finally learned - 12 countries later.) The two best things inside were... Raphael's "School of Athens" painting... which we're all in the process of writing a paper on, and the second, of course, being the Sistine Chapel. Ok, so I've seen A LOT of art on this trip... LOTS, LOTS, and LOTS... at times it's a little (dare I say) redundant... yes, i appreciate it... yes, it's amazing, beautiful, brilliant, history changing, timeless, blah blah blah... but some days, you just feel like, "youve seen one - youve seen 'em all." ( I know, what an awful thing to say... but it's an honest admission... thankfully, not too familiar a feeling.) Well, anyway... the point of all that was to say that in all the time Ive spent looking at art, never have i felt more appreciation and awe for it than i did inside the Sistine Chapel. The ceiling is insane... Michelangelo spent 4 years hanging from the ceiling, on his back, as paint dripped in his eyes and the fumes filled his lungs, until he completed it... it truly is brilliant. It's said to be the greatest piece of art by one artist... To that i say, Amen. There are 9 scenes from Genesis down the center of the ceiling, the central and most famous being "The Creation of Adam" with the hand of God reaching out to give life to Adams hand. And then, the wall along the alter side of the chapel has the Last Judgment Day painted on it.. another incredible portrayal of what Michelangelo envisioned that day looking like. There's a book titled, The Agony and The Ecstasy , that is all about the life of Michelangelo. I'm in the middle of it right now, and I highly highly recommend it.

Anyways, my friends are waiting on me... so it's time I bundle up and be on my way. Ill have to write about the rest later. Daniel Acuna, I haven't forgotten you. (I couldnt think of anything clever - hope that was okay.) :)

Tonight I depart for Naples, Pompeii and the island of Capri where I plan to rent myself a vespa and zip along the island tomorrow... making the most of these final few days!

Love, love, love,
Melody

La Vita E Bella

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

It really is....

First, if you havent seen that movie - please drop everything and go watch it. It's amazing.

Second... Life really is beautiful. The Italian culture embraces that idea so well. Though a little crazy, they're zeal for living life and for living it well is constant. "Well" not necessarily defined as wealthy, rather as being content, joyful, and passionate about each day. Sometimes a little extreme, but at the same time, they're in touch with their emotions and proud of it... there's no shame or embarrassment in their self-expression... no matter how ridiculous by our standards. It's a wonder and an inspiration to experience.

Florence was absolutely sensational. Our central meeting place was the steps of the Duomo.... these steps serve as a thousand year old meeting spot to sit and talk, or to wait, or even for people - such as Michelangelo - to watch the girls walk by. Haha. (Every little place is packed with history.) From here, we branched out into every last crevice of the city.

The Pointe Vecchio bridge, the oldest bridge in Florence, is one of my favorite places - from here, Italy looks just as I imagined it would. Along one side of the Arno river are old beautiful apartments... 6-7 stories high... painted yellow with green shudders, with balcony's where their clothes hang from, and restaurants underneath with decks extending over the river. Lining the other side are tourist shops, the Uffizzi Gallery (which is INCREDIBLE!), street vendors selling fake Louis Vutton, more cafès and busy streets. The bridge itself is infamous for it's jewelry shops, with a break in the middle where one can lookout over the river just in time to see the boys rowing team practicing up and down the river, or if you're lucky enough, (as was I) you might catch sight of the biggest and ugliest river rat known to mankind swimming beneath you (I was fortunate enough to have both experiences and capture them each on camera. Get ready.) :)

Another favorite spot of mine is the beautiful Piazza de Michelangelo which is just beyond the bridge and a little walk up a good sized hill. There's a bronze David replica in the middle, overpriced cafès along the sides, vendors in the middle, a chapel hidden above, and a spectacular view of the city from all around. To say the least, I had some great journal time up there.

I went to the Academià and saw the "David"... Michelangelo's most famous statue. An Italian TV show was there asking people to share their thoughts on the statue and Jeanette and I were interviewed... too bad we didnt have a TV to watch it. The statue really is gorgeous. It's 13'5" tall... and simply the most incredible creation to have come from a big block of stone. It took Michelangelo 4 years to finish. No wonder. Well worth the time.

My friend Jacquie came to visit while we were in Florence.... such a wonderful treat! She just got engaged and waited until she saw us to share her exciting news. Congratulations Jacquie and Mark! She stayed with Emily at her apartment, but 6 of us girls were able to go out to ZaZa's for some Italian cuisine one night and catch up with her. SO much fun!

Unfortunately, we missed Halloween back home... but fear not, we went ALL OUT to make up for it (some of us more than others *ahem - Professor Ed Westbrook.*) We had a costume party in the room we used for class at the villa, and we weren't allowed entry unless we were dressed up. Desiree had the honor of putting it all together, she did a fabulous job - we had candles and candy and prizes and music, and lots of laughing... but before i elaborate further, let me share some foreshadowing a couple of us girls had before the big night... Earlier that day, some of the guys came upstairs to our room and asked if they could borrow some rather interesting possessions belonging to a few of us girls... we werent allowed to ask questions, plus we didnt really want to know the answers, so we simply complied.

To our amazement......

.....Jon, Aaron, and Jason made some of the prettiest girls I have ever seen. My black eyeliner and red lipstick really brought out their eyes and hair... no to mention the clothes have never been worn so well. Ryan, slicked his hair back, wore gold sunglasses, and held a cigarette as he attempted to charge us to take pictures with his women... quite the believable pimp. Again, strange - but then again, what wasnt strange about the night? (By strange, i also mean hilarious.) Our professor, Ed, had warned us of his costume since Prague (without giving it away, of course) and boasted of his plans on taking first place... well, in lieu of our Day Spa experiences (some less modest than others)... Ed came as just that. A man, dressed in a robe, slippers on feet, shower cap on head, and other personal details i wont publish for all mankind to see. (Instead, I'll send a picture through the all campus Vanguard Email. haha) Michelle, Liz, and I couldnt decide what to be, and didnt want to spend a lot of money on a costume that we would only wear once that probably wouldnt even fit in our suitcases home... so alas... We were Nudists. . . on strike that is. I know, i know, original. My attire consisted of shoes, jeans, longsleeve shirt, gloves, tank top over my shirt, bathing suit over my jeans and tank top, scarf covering head, and a sandwich board reading "Nudist on Strike" on one side, and "Vespa is the place for me, Thanks to all it's Modesty" on the other. We had a picket sign in hand with other catchy phrases... and made quite a scene upon entrance. Though nothing compared to the scene we made while passing all the other strangers staying at the villa on our way to the party. In light of the pimp and hos at our party, Ed didnt quite make first place, but he did well for himself nonetheless. :) We ended the night in the underground movie theatre watching Casablanca and eating popcorn. A different halloween experience to say the least, but lots and lots of fun.

As follows are the results from the Poker Tournament I mentioned last time: I beat the one person I cared about beating, (also the one who prides themself in their poker playing ability - might I add.) That's really all I need to say about that... it felt great. :)

Finally, my other favorite memory from Firenze was the Firenze Football (soccer) game we went to. Crazy, insane, unlinke anything in the US, chaotic, FUN, intense.... none of these descriptions do justice to the experience. Let me see if I can at all create an image of what it was like...
First of all, the opponents fans were not even allowed to sit among the Firenze fans because of the intense rivalry... instead, they had to sit in their own section, barricaded in by massive plastic walls, and unable to leave until every single one of the 30,000 other fans had completely evacutated the stadium. Firenze was the underdog, but thanks to our presence (let a girl dream) our team won a shut-out game of 4-0. With each goal, the opposing fans somehow managed to throw a flare over the tops of the walls, landing on the field, lighting the grass on fire. The first time this happened, we somewhat panicked... but were relieved when our questions about why there were fire fighters standing on the sides of the field were answered... though not as quickly as we would have liked. The firemen, took their precious time as they mozied (sp?) on over to the fire (meanwhile we were saying our prayers and figured the place would burn down before we ever made it out alive.) They kept stepping on the fire until it was out and then shuffled their feet back to the sidelines completely unaffected by the enormity of risk at hand. After the 5th time this happened, we too, were accustomed to this typical display of dissatification with our score from the sore losers on the other side (though still a little traumatized.)
Oh ya, i also forgot to mention... although i paid €15 for my seat, I did not sit once during the game, in light of the fact that my entire section remained on its feet - singing, and cheering, and yelling, and lighting purple and gold flares of its own to light up the stadium with team spirit colored smoke.... After the game ended, the smoke cleared, and the cheering ceased, I found out the translation to the Italian cheers I had learned and sung along to with reckless abandon... goodnight! ... To think the songs they teach their children to yell at the opposing team, awww, it warms my heart. This is where I'll need to apologize to my parents and grandparents for the vulgarity and coarseness of the songs i proudly sang. HAHA So, in order to redeem ourselves, we decided to memorize the Italian cheers and bring them back to our Vanguard Basketball games...... they'll never know. (Rivalry has a whole new meaning to me.) Wahahaha. *evil grin*

On that lovely note, I'll end this ever long post. I will write more on my trips to Venice, Cinque Terre, Pisa and now Rome, my current and FINAL location - next time.

With much love, love, love,
Melody

Surprise!

I think it's safe to say, that two nights ago, I had the best surprise of my entire life!

It was just after midnight, and I was lying on the top bunk of my bed journaling, when suddenly, I heard our hostel bedroom door open. Michelle, one of the other few awake, started screaming! Now, there's a massive red locker in front of my bed which blocks my view of the door, so i couldnt see what she was screaming at. I also couldnt tell from her scream if it was a "good scream" or an "Im terrified scream." In somewhat of a panic, I yelled out, "What, what!?!" After no response (just more screaming) and with my heart racing, I jumped to floor worried something wasn't right. To my complete and PERFECT surprise, I saw bright blonde hair, only belonging to KAYLI OBER!! At which point I joined in on the screaming session as I clobbered her and Michelle to the floor.

That little snot told me she wasnt coming!!!

A lie has never been so sweet!

Kayli came with three other friends (we knew about the other three) and they're here for a week!! It has been so fantastic so far. I just feel bad because we just arrived in Rome the day before they got here, so we barely know the city yet, and are having to learn it with them rather than show them around. (They're getting an itty bitty taste of what our semester has consisted of.) Wahahaha :)

Thank you friends for visiting us!!!

Thank you KAYLI for lying to me and surprising me!! It is a breath of wonderful and welcomed fresh air. You're my favorite part of home here with me. We couldnt be more excited.

And I leave with this...

As I said, they're getting an itty bitty taste of what its been like and here's a prime example...

Kayli's first night hanging out with us in the hostel, Michelle and I went with her to the toilets, or "bathroom" as they say back home, and afterwards she turned on the sink to wash her hands. With her hands all wet, she started looking around, and finally asked us where the soap was..... (poor thing)

Michelle and i looked at each other, put our hand over our hearts, and said.... "Awww, honey, you're so cute... they dont have soap here." Aw, the things you take for granted.

Yep, hygeine has gone straight out the window.... a problem for me especially (concerning the whole hands washing thing anyway) being that Iv'e found myself to be OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) about having clean hands... class motto on the trip: suck it up.

Anyways... Im going out with the girls tonight, KAYLI included (wooohoooo) so I must depart. I realize there's lots left to fill in, so I will next time. Promise.

10 days until home!!

Love, love, love,
Melody

Things I Miss About Home. . .

- My friends and family of course are the most obvious.... mom, dad, T, Zachary and Jack.. talking with my Grandma Lorraine, living and laughing with my Grandparents - Go Trojans!, And all my friends!! You guys are missed SOOO much! We've got lots of catching up to do....

And aside from those "givens" ... Here's a few other things i miss that may be a little more out of the ordinary to miss.... but i'm comfortable being out of the ordinary - so here they are. . . :)

- Showering without sandals
- Toilet seat covers (don't get me started)
- Driving - heck, i even miss traffic.... no, no... i take that back. i will NEVER miss traffic.
- The BEACH!!
- "Friends"
- The Universal Music offices... (i hear you guys have moved!)
- My parents jacuzzi... mmmm
- In 'n Out
- Turkey Sandwiches (it's a cruel sick joke here... Europe is apparantly anti-turkey!!)
- MY BED - and not just because of the comfort... no no... it functions as a multi-purpose miss. My bed = clean sheets that i never have to wonder about where they've been and if they're really clean, my blanket - free of strange unwanted smells, my big warm comforer (these hostels are stingy), and of course, my pillow (dont get me started on the stains on some of these pillows)... not to mention my little puppy stuffed animal that misses cuddling with me. That was long... maybe i have attachment issues with my bed. dont judge me.
- PCH
- A kitchen & homecooked meals
- PEDICURES (i know my first stop once im home...it's getting pretty disgusting)
- Renting movies
- The Esnard family that I babysit for and their two children - Erin and Cooper
- Oh, i dunno, Menus in English
- My parents couch
- My straightening iron (though i dont miss it as much as my friends who have to suffer through my hair styles)
- The Outlet aka Junior High at Rock Harbor.. (Megan, Maegan, and Keely -I miss you girls!!)
- Rock Harbor, for that matter
- Free refills... ya, drink it up over there... they´re stingy about it over here
- The radio
- The latest POP culture gossip... ie.. is Britney Spears really married? (How are all you American boys holding up??)
- Ordering water and not having to specify i want "tap, no gas"... at which point they probably fill me up a lukewarm cup from the toilet... (sometimes what you dont know, you just dont wanna know)
- Internet access 24-7.... in my own house!
- A washing/drying machine
- Diet coke (none of this coca-cola light crap)
- People who dont blatanly stare at my feet when i wear sandals ( i will not conform!)
- A closet... hangers, drawers, shelves... never has that sounded so good. Living out of a suitcase for 3 months gets a little old some days
- Not having to begin my interaction with every single stranger, "Do you speak English?" (cause i'm a lame american *ahem* Canadian, who never took the time to learn a 2nd language even though you speak 4 or 5 fluently) **however, i've learned a humble smile goes a long way**

At the moment... any and all of those things sound so good.

Maybe i'll post more thoughts on things i miss later... the list goes on.

For now... a poker tournament awaits me and i'm planning on kicking some serious butt tonight..... so I've gotta go hike up the mountain (driveway, whatever - same thing) to the villa so I can gamble away 50 M&M's.... wish me luck!

love, love, love, Melody

CIAO BELLA!

Ciao! Firenze (aka Florence) is magnificent! Italians are crazy, but I love them more for it. They're all so passionate... about every little thing. Unfortunately I missed out the story I'm about to recount, but I have no problem believing it... My friends, Des and Scott, were eating at a little restaurant one night, when their waiter had a problem with another waiter, who was literally insulting his co-workers "Mama." :) So, in the middle of the restaurant, their waiter pounced on top of the other server from behind, tackled him to the ground and began beating the living crap out of him. The manager came over to break up the fight and was punched in the face. Less than three minutes later, all three men resumed work as though nothing happened. In one word, TYPICAL. Isn't that great? Haha... just retelling the story makes me laugh.
Our VESPA group is staying in a Villa here in Florence. The place is beautiful! Seriously gorgeous... but at the same time... it's got some downsides too.
1: It's almost the last bus stop outside the city center
2: We have to walk up the "driveway" which is a 20 minute walk... Dont get me wrong, it's beautiful, lined with big trees and surrounded by vineyards - but it sucks if we're in a hurry, or if it's raining or cold coming back at night...
3: Mosquitos (enough said)
4: Boys and Girls are in separate quarters... our first time staying somewhere that literally has different sides for each... but apparantly it's normal in Italy, and for Vanguard for that matter. :)
5: The above mentioned things wouldnt nearly be so bad if it werent for this last little detail...
WE HAVE A CURFEW!! of MIDNIGHT NONETHELESS! WHO DOES THAT???
How am i expected to see Florence when i have to be at the freaking bus stop before 11 oclock... (to leave me enough time for the bus ride and up hill hike)??

One night we went to a little club called, BeBop.. (i love saying that).. to listen to a Beatles coverband. They were sooo good. We had front row tables, and rocked out to a total of FOUR songs... because, oh yeah, we have a CURFEW and had to leave early. BUMMER. There's no way around it really... you get locked out till 7am if you're not back in time.

That really is my ONLY complaint here. Otherwise, Florence has been wonderful so far.

I'll write more about the city next time.

Gelato ice cream is calling my name for now. :)

Love, love, love, Melody

Buongiorno!

Move over Swiss bankers - team Italia has arrived. I know, I know - I was going for "corniest opening line"... I think it's safe to say, I was successful. :) So, before I elaborate on Italy, Ive got a little catching up to do (surprise, surprise.)

First... before I get any more behind... let me finish "Spring Break."

Like I said, Budapest turned out to be a great move. When we got off the train (luggage in hand, and no idea where we were going) we happened to meet a lady who sold us on her flat that she rents out to travelers... So glad we went with it... she was sweet and the place was great - perfect location. A little history lesson: Buda and Pest used to be two different cities, separated by a river - the Danube, now combined into one city. We stayed on what used to be the Pest side - but traveled across to Buda, took a few good hikes, and had some breathtaking views of the city. It really is beautiful... Id love to go back again.
A quick little story...
One night in Budapest, Michelle and I were at The Old Man's Music Pub, listening to some incredible jazz and these two older men from Cypress approached us and introduced themselves. Michelle and I reluctantly shook their hands and said hello. Then... they asked us our names... sounds simple enough. My friend smiled and said her name was Michelle. They understood. Then came my turn.
"My name's Melody," I said.
"What???" (really confused look on their faces)
"Melody."
"Whaat??" (still dumbfounded)
"Mel-o-dy... like a song... la la la." Now, in the past this has always helped people understand, or at least not mistake me for Melanie... but noooooo, not this time. Instead, they both looked at one another as though someone finally turned the light switch on... and turned to me with great enthusiasm and replied...
"Ohh, LaLodia!" (Duh!)
In utter defeat, i simply nodded my head and smiled. Michelle and I walked away laughing, and have ever since had lots of fun elaborating on the fantasy life of Lalodia. Ever since, "Lalodia" has picked up a character all her own.... one might say she's my alter ego. Lalodia only comes out at night, and nearly our entire group asks of her when she's not present. It's hilarious.

Enough of that... You'll all soon meet her. :)

Munich was also great.... Shopping was great again. Although we'd traveled through Germany several times, this was our first actual stay in Germany. Once before, we had a 2 and a half hour layover in Berlin that we attempted to spend productively by trying to find the remnants of the Berlin wall.. (to no avail thanks to the parade)... So, truly, this was our first "real" visit to the country. Well worth it... especially because we stayed in a hotel. A humble little hotel, but a hotel nonetheless, which means it had real beds with down pillows and down comforters!!! It was the best Ive slept in a LONG time. Plus it had its own bathroom.... clean floors, clean shower.... it was heaven.

After Munich, we met back up with the group in Austria... Unfortunately we could only stay in Austria for 4 days... but it was BEAUTIFUL. We stayed in Vienna.... It's no wonder so many musical geniuses have emerged from this city... inspiration is not hard to come by. We went to the Spanish Riding School one morning and watched the horses practice for their lipizanner performance... if u click on the link below, you can see a picture of the riding hall... it's quite impressive.

http://europeforvisitors.com/switzaustria/articles/spanish_riding_school.htm

Later that night we went to the famous Golden Hall to listen to the Vienna Mozart Orchestra... The entire orchestra was in costume, and they only played Mozart (go figure)... the night was wonderful. We sat in the balcony, losing ourself in the music. Classical music tells a story all its own. It was great. The city had the most incredible shopping.... kinda like 3rd street promenade -only bigger and better. I really wanted to buy a music box, but alas i refrained... they were all overpriced and would never survive my suitcase - I guess, one day, I'll just HAVE to go back -darn. :)

On our way to Switzerland, we took a day trip to Salzburg. I definitely let the nerd in me fully flourish as I purchased myself a ticket for the Sound of Music tour bus... Julie Andrews painted on the sides of the bus... soundtrack playing the whole time... me singing along.... taking pictures... frolicking through the hills... humming something along the lines of "The Hills Are alive. . . ." and dancing through thE gazebo singing "I am 16 going on 17. . ." Yes, another glorious moment for me. Now you all know. Some might call it embarrassing... I call it, truly liberating. Everyone needs to experience that. :) I think my 3 friends and I were the only ones on the entire bus under the age of 40, but we held our heads high. :)

So finally, Switzerland... Another wonderful country. I think I already mentioned this in a previous post, but seriously, the people couldnt be more friendly. I havent come across too many rude people in my travels, but still, our entire group couldnt help but notice the welcoming spirit of the Swiss. I'd love to live here one day, or at least spend more time here. Im not sure if I could ever move so far from the beach, but at the same time, Ive never fallen so in love with mountains - the Swiss Alps to be exact. :) We stayed in Zurich for the week and visited a few other cities between our group.... Interlakken took first place as being one of my favorites. It's just at the base of the Swiss Alps... It's breathtaking. I bought some Swiss Army knives here and look forward to airport security on my way home. :)

Anyway... so far so good. Ill write more about Italy next time. We just got to Florence.... so far SOO GOOD. 5 weeks of Italian life until home. I'm still trying to decide whether or not I'll extend my stay. My friend Emily is living in an apartment here in Florence for the semester (which is a beautiful apt by the way... The Duomo at one end of the street and the "David" half a block away... not a bad location), so I may end up staying with her for a little while longer. It's all depending on how much more my bank account dwindles, so we'll see. I hear oil is higher than ever, so I'm not looking forward to gas prices when i return... but I'm not sure if itd be better to postpone that longer or come home before im completely broke. :) At this point, my ticket home is still marked for November 22.... Home sounds good too... so does Thanksgiving dinner.. mmmm. We'll see.

Alright all, I miss you guys. Love to you all.

Love, love, love, Melody

Swiss Bankers. . . .

Forget Italian men... I`m keeping my eyes peeled for a Swiss banker! They`re a dime a dozen over here.. hehe however, I`m likely to change my tune as of tomorrow morning when I depart Switzerland and head for Florence. haha
Switzerland has really been wonderful... its actually coming pretty close to Paris. The country is beautiful and the people are 10x nicer than anywhere else we`ve been. Seriously... all the locals are friendly and conversational and helpful... something about being neutral and not paying taxes that must put a persons mind at ease. Switzerland has three languages... German, French, and Italian (plus a few separate dialects inbetween).. and most speak all three plus English. Its quite impressive. The last week has been packed full of wealth seminars, business conferences, and investment classes. Ive loved it.. though felt a little out of place as I am but a wee college student with barely $10 to invest - haha.. A little ahead of the game for me.. but Ive got great notes for one day when that will be a wise move. Anyways.. these darn internet cafe computers keep running out of time, so once again, Im gonna have to cut it short. I miss you all. 5 more weeks till home!!!

Love, love, love, Melody

Spring Break!

Yes, I know... two updates in one day?! I must be crazy! But alas... it`s true. I find myself back at the internet cafe... dry, warm, and happy. So i figured Id write a little more while i have a few minutes.

So... Spring Break must sound like a strange title in the middle of October. But thats the term we coined for our time off school last week. Everyone was free to leave Prague (or stay if they wanted) a week early and travel to their hearts content, meeting back up with the group in Vienna by Friday at 7. So... with that, Liz, Michelle, Ryan and I all went to Budapest and Munich for our "Spring Break."

Budapest was SOO great! I really didnt know what to expect, i hadnt heard a whole lot about it - and now, Im wondering when Ill be able to return. Budapest is the capital of Hungary (in case u care) and it`s located in an interesting place geographically speaking... its right in between western and eastern Europe, so kinda like LA - in thats its a big melting pot of culture, specifically all types of European culture. The food was cheap... even though the exchange rate here made Prague look like nothing... 200 Forents equal $1. Ya... so for me to have $50 worth of cash on me, i had to withdraw 10,000 FT from the ATM. Guaranteed to be the only time in my life that will ever happen. It felt great. :) We ate like kings, and toured the city... Michelle and I went to the zoo (she got bit by a donkey... it was hilarious)... and the best part, was finding a hole in the wall night spot, called Old Man`s Music Pub, that even on a Sunday night was completely packed out... to listen to live Jazz - sung in English and Hungarian. It was a blast! I couldnt have been happier that night. I bought the cd and cant wait till i can get home and play it. (For now it remains at the bottom of my suitcase.)
I just checked and the time on this internet is about to run out.. so I`ll finish the rest later. Sorry to cut it short. Hope all is well.

Love, love, love, Melody

It`s Hailing Right Now!

Here I am... sitting inside a warm little internet cafe, dripping wet, in my sandals no doubt - while it`s POURING outside. Im talking, California does not know what rain is. God is literally throwing buckets of water on my head as i run (yes,run) through the sophisticated streets of Zurich - in my ever loyal flip flops, dodging hail (though it feels more like ice cold BB`s.) It`s quite a scene. Now that you know my present state ... let me catch up a bit.

While we were in Prague, we had a chance to see Amsterdam over the weekend. I wasnt planning on going, but figured it`s not really somewhere i picture visiting with my kids someday, so i might as well see it now or else who knows if i ever will. Plus, I was looking forward to seeing Anne Franks house. Anyways... we took a night train to Amsterdam (gotta love night trains) and arrived in the beautiful Netherlands early in the morning. Once we squared away a place to stay for the night (another thrilling task with luggage that now weighs more than i do in hand - dragging it all over the city till we could find somewhere...) We took off with a map in hand and went on a mission to find Anne Franks house. Now, there were three things i was interested in seeing, two especially.
Top of the list, Number ONE: Visiting Anne Franks house
Number Two: Visiting the Van Gogh Museum
and Number Three: I thought itd be an enlightening experience for me to see the red light district.

So... back to trying to find number one.... a good hour passes, we find that we`re almost there, and just as we turn the corner to her house... we see a crowd of people huddled around the window. I squeezed my way through to find a paper sign taped to the window that said "Anne Franks house will be closed ALL DAY on Saturday, September 25, 2004. It will reopen Sunday at 9:00am." Funny thing was, we were leaving at six in the morning on Sunday . Err... What can you do? We took a picture in front of the sign, laughed it off, and tried to not think about the fact that we spent a good 36 hours of travel for the one place that was to be closed the entirety of our trip. Dang.
Number two: The Van Gogh did NOT give student discounts and did charge a good $15 to get in... but at this point, we figured it was worth it. Unfortunately... I think i had set my expectations too high. The one piece I was looking most forward to, I found out is located in New York. I dont know how i missed that. But oh well. They had an Eduard Manet (not Monet) exhibit going on... (he paints lots of sail boats and ocean scenes - reminded me of my Grandpa)... so that was somewhat redeeming.
And Number three: This one turned out to be the most memorable part of my trip. Id heard stories before about how prostitutes stood in store windows - for sale... and how liberal the government is with drugs, but I still didnt know what to expect. I think its just one of those things you can only prepare so much for - and plus I didnt want prepare too much - that way it could be more real. Well.. my understanding of what smoking is like there was wrong. I had assumed that since marijuana is legal, people smoke it as commonplace as they do cigarettes in the US, however, (Im not sure what the law actually is) it seemed more like the way California is with alcohol. No one just stands at the bus stop with a joint in hand, but its perfectly legal in homes, and in cafes... im guessing u just cant consume it on public property... hence my connection with it to alcohol in CA. I also did myself a favor and visited the Cannabis Museum... otherwise called, Cannabis College (haha) and further educated myself on it. Ive personally never smoked the stuff, but for different reasons have developed an odd, closet (not anymore) passion for understanding why people love it, as well as why im against it, and whether or not the US government deals with it properly (which im still forming opinion on.) Anyway... I have a lot to learn, and would appreciate any commentary you may have on the matter. That part of Amsterdam was interesting...

The rest, was completely heartbreaking. First, let me say, that Holland, or the Netherlands, whatever you want to call it.. is like two extremes. Theres the one side... beautiful countryside, sheep, little blonde haired boys and girls with ringlets, wooden shoes, canals, and the adorable dollhouse architecture of the city....
and then theres the other extreme... the Red Light District... Men peeing in the street - in BROAD DAYLIGHT, pornography plastered everywhere - i dont think theres a word for censorship in Dutch, different drug dealers that in an average of two hours (in my experience anyways) approach you at least 6 times wondering if youd be interested in cocaine or ecstasy, and lastly, girls that have hit rock bottom, who literally stand in a window, in their underware, with no sign of emotion on their faces, beckoning for the men passing by to come in.
There`s no "caution" sign when one crosses over from one side to the next... but a definte invisible line separates the two - because they are like night and day. Without warning, I turned the corner, and immediately was aware of a difference in the air.
It began to hit me as we were suddenly surrounded by porn and sex shops... and before i knew it, brothels. The first time i realized what i was looking at, i was in shock. I stood on the sidewalk, in disbelief, with an overwhelming sense of heaviness on my heart...trying to process. I know theres prostitution in LA... so its not like they were the first prostitutes ive ever seen... but theres something about standing in front of an institution that not only tolerates it, but encourages it, coupled with seeing the emptiness on their faces... that simply made me cry. By the end of our night, it was a common occurance to pass by these brothels... i can no longer count how many i saw... but with each one, my heart went out. We took a few minutes to pray for those girls and the men of the city - Im thankful I cant imagine any more than what I saw.
::Lord, be with those girls. Teach them of their value. Please help them find hope.::

Well, by the end of the night, we were exhausted. I went to bed early (imagine that) and we made the all day train ride back to our hostel in Prague the next day. We left so early because we thought we had to be home by Sunday night in order to leave for Auschwitz on Monday... and turns out when we got home, that they pushed it back to Wednesday. (meaning, we couldve seen Anne Franks house... err)

Wow... that little update on my 24 hour experience turned out a lot longer than i had planned. I think the rain has finally stopped here, so i should take advantage of this opportunity and get back to my hostel before the weather knows of my plan. I`ll write more when I can. Im trying my hardest not to be insanely jealous of the weather report i just checked online... Home sweet home will be a sunny 85 degrees today. You lucky kids. Have fun.

Missing everyone. Past the halfway point!

Love, love, love, Melody

Onto Prague

Next...

After Paris, we took the train a good 12 hours to Prague. Prague is much cheaper than anywhere else we've been so far. We're finally off the darn Euro (for now anyways) and now we're dealing w/ Crowns. 25 to the Dollar... the value's nearly the same though... it's fun/frustrating dealing w/ such big numbers.

So Prague is beautiful - the city is one of the few untouched by bombs in WWII, so the architecture is perfectly perserved. However, it's pretty eerie here. I found out upon arrival that it's 80% Atheist, and the majority of the remaining 20% are into mysticism and witchcraft. Just walking around the city, I can literally feel the weight of it. It's apparant on the faces of the people and especially in the emptiness of the churches. We had our chapel in a Christian Cathedral one night, which was a great experience - I can only imagine the last time such joyful songs have filled their church. The Czech Repulic has only been free from Communist government for 15 years now, which likely plays a part in the oppression felt in the city. It's sad, but like I said, it's also been a good experience thus far.

We toured Prague Castle, crossed the Charles Bridge, and nearly got lost in this pub that goes underground 5 STORIES with caves and everything - very cool. I cant imagine what it would be like getting drunk on the bottom floor and trying to get out.. haha. Glad I don't have that story to share.. *wink wink* Just kidding. :)

There were a few amazing things we were able to do while we were here....

1: Visit Terezin... the model Concentration camp during WWII, set up to look half decent, so the Red Cross didn't know what was really going on.... this just barely prepared us for our day trip to....

2: Auschwitz. We left at 5:45am for what would be a long day ending at 2am. The first 8 hours were spent on a bus through Czech across to Krakow, Poland until we arrived at Auschwitz w/ our Jewish tour guide. He actually had 30 members of his family that died at this concentration camp. In case you're a little behind on your history like i am, Auschwitz is the biggest concentration camp there was... it's also the only one that branded the Jews with the number tattoo's. Absolutely horrific things occured here. Touring it was a very somber experience. We are truly blessed to not know what it must have really been like. It was a long, heartbreaking day. I think it's fair to say that our group went through a whole range of emotions... the things we saw and learned shocked us, angered us, broke our hearts, and hopefully ignited passion to take action in other parts of the world where things similar to this still take place... I'm thankful i had the opportunity to understand it better. It's hard to type out details about it. I'm sure everyone's already heard their fair share of concentration camp horror stories, so i won't elaborate further.

3: Our group also toured the Jewish Quarters in Prague and afterwards had the opporunity to meet with a Jewish woman who spoke openly and bluntly about her beliefs and culture. We were free to ask questions and she was gracious to look over our ignorance and help us understand. Again, another fortunate learning experience.

4: Karlovy Vary. Chelsea, Liz, Michelle and I treated ourselves to a Day Spa 2 hours outside Prague... Hallelujah! Karlovy Vary is a little tiny getaway spa town that is unbelivable. There's natural hot springs everywhere! It was heaven. The girls and I found a Day Spa, and I can honestly say that I havent felt so clean or relaxed in the last 7 weeks as I did that day. I didn't have to wear sandals in the showers... I could sit down without a constant to do list running through my head... and i got to wear a bathrobe for 4 hours. :) Not bad at all. In light of a few of the hostels we've fondly had to refer to as "home" in the last couple months, no one could blame us for spending money at this place - however, we barely spent any! It was so cheap! So we enjoyed it all the more.... Thank you God! You can click on the link, and scroll down the page to see a picture of how cute the town is: http://www.virtualtourist.com/m/373ab/63179/

5: And to end this note on a little comic relief... the arguably best 20 minutes spent so far on the trip went a little something like this... Ed, darling Professor Ed Westbrook, told the class on Thursday that if we all wanted to meet at Cafe Imperial that night at 9pm he'd treat us to donuts and coffee. Sounds great, right? Well, keep in mind that it's the ongoing topic of conversation that we are to be culturally sensitive and careful to not portray the "typical loud obnoxious American." And the few times someone has broken these rules, another has been quick to step in and proudly talk about our native home, Canada. :) haha.. So, that in mind... about 25 of us arrive at 9 sharp and are all seated on one side of the restaurant. They pass out donuts, (jelly filled might i add) and a couple people started complaining that they were stale. Well, Michelle had been previously asked by Ed to stand up and give a toast... So, she stands on her chair and calls attention to all Vanguard students (and the entire rest of the restaurant no doubt) when another student, Judd, starts yelling at her saying he doesnt want to hear her "Dumb Speech"... This pissed her off and she replied w/ "Oh ya?" and proceeded to THROW a JELLY-FILLED donut at his head. He then threw one back at her... You can imagine some of the reactions of our group. I was, of course, mortified - just so embarrassed that we were officially the rude, disrespectful Americans... but I was also confused. It's unlike Michelle to be so oblivious... and to top it off, after the second donut was thrown, our RA, Chelsea, stood up and yelled, "Food fight!" To which some students immediately stood and began to participate (bless their souls)... and others buried their heads in their hands in disgust... while still other Vanguard students were so ashamed of us that they left!! Ha.... Well, I didn't know what to think, and so I looked up at the waiters across the room who all stood their laughing. I was thinking... "WHAAAAAT? Why aren't they yelling at us?" But, by the time the bartender threw his own donut at us, I realized it was completely allowed there, and wound up having the best food fight of my entire life! Turns out, the cafe lets big parties pay extra to use their stale donuts for a food fight. My lovely professor had arranged it all beforehand, along w/ the several students who each played a part. It was hilarious! Once our fight was over, the place was spic and span not more than 10 minutes later. I was not so lucky as i had jelly and donut smeared all over my jeans, my sandals, my face and my hair... At least i wasn't alone. :) I imagine these donut fights go down a lot there. I've decided I'm opening my own in Newport once i return home. How great would that be!

On that note, i'm off. I arrived in Budapest yesterday and will have more updates on here and Amsterdam in the next update. :)

I miss you all. Today marks the halfway point of the trip. 7 more weeks until home. Aww.. home. :)

Love, love, love, Melody

París *sigh*

If ever one could fall in love with a city, I'd say I've done it. Paris makes my heart beat. I cant believe my time there is already over. The city is fabulous! Definitely my favorite place so far. And I've decided that I don't care how cliché it is to like the Eiffel Tower... cause I love it! I now understand the fascination with it... I managed to spend nearly every night hanging out around it. There's thousands of tiny lights on it, so at night time, every hour on the hour, for 9 minutes - it twinkles... it's really beautiful. The only thing I didn't do was go up to the top. **Gasp** I know, probably sounds retarded... but I figured that I've seen just about everything one can see in a weeks time in Paris and figured that I will for sure be back again one day, hopefully with my future family, and would love to have something special saved for that visit. So the Eiffel Tower it is. Maybe that will be my new criteria for dating... "So have you been to the top of the Eiffel Tower?... Oh you have? That's great... gotta go!"... or "You haven't? Me neither!" DUN dun dun.. Ok.. Completely Kidding..... moving on...

A few friends and I started the week in France early because we wanted to see Normandy the day before we met up with everyone else... And even though the bus we took there forgot to pick us back up (awesome) I'm still really glad I got to go there. I brought back some rocks and seashells from the shore... some for my Grandpa who fought in WWII and the rest for my mom who will undoubtedly find some use for them in our ongoing backyard art show. :)

The rest of our week in Paris was spent quite productively...

We went to a million museums... ok, more like 3... but they were each great. Of course the Louvre was one of them. I've always heard it's huge and that it would take months, if not years, to really give each piece it's fair share, and now i know what they mean. It's massive. And I only spent about 4 hours there, however - though short, I learned a lot! I'll elaborate.... So, I went alone, a slightly overwhelming thing in itself when one realizes how enormous it is, but I had my Mona Winks book in hand (the best European tour guide around.) Well, I was standing in the middle of the room, holding the book up, spinning in a circle, searching for a painting it was referring to... (i'm sure i looked brilliant) when low and behold, an older French man approached me and pointed me in the right direction. Well, we got to talking, and turns out - he used to give tours at the Louvre for years and ended up giving me my own personal tour!! (In English, thank God.) It was great!! :) I saw Venus de Milo, Napoleon's apartments, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpieces, and of course, the Mona Lisa.

The Louvre beat the Orsay Museum a hundred fold... especially in light of the fact that while headed up the stairs at the Orsay (once again alone) I tripped and fell flat on my face.. in front of EVERYONE, everyone except for a familiar face who could laugh w/ me. Ya, go figure. I think i'm forever cursed w/ tripping. You'd think it'd get better w/ age...

Other productive uses of our time included:
shopping on the Champs d'Élyseé.... I purposefully got lost in the biggest Sephora store I've ever seen!!
Climbing to the top of the Arc d'Triumph.. not as easy as it looks my friends. :)
Taking a day trip to Versailles, the Palace once belonging to Henry XIV... Oh my gosh... this thing is INCREDIBLE. If you're only going to see one palace/castle in all of Europe - make it this one!! Henry XIV wasn't messing around. A few of us rented bikes and rode through the gardens for a good hour and a half but probably only saw 1/5 of the gardens. They were beautiful... they seriously thought of everything! We were also fortunate enough to run into our professor who was taking a carriage ride through another part of the gardens and fountains and were invited to jump on board - to which we reluctantly - ya right - enthusiastically accepted. Then we toured the interior of the palace - wow wow wow. We finally concluded that night with worship/chapel in front of the Eiffel Tower. Not a bad day. :)

Another particularly good night in lieu of Sarahs birthday = 10 girls dressed up, pizza, French guards - under the Tour d'Eiffel, followed by dessert on a boat anchored on the Siene River facing Notre Dame..... ya, i told Sarah good luck with my next birthday.. :)

One of my favorite parts of Paris was visiting the church, Sacré Coeur (the Sacred Heart) and Montmarte. The church possibly topped Notré Dame. In fact, it did. Notre Dame was insanely gorgeous, but it was gothic and dark inside... granted, i realize that was kind of the point...but still... So Sacré Coeur is this magnificent white church. We climbed what felt like a thousand stairs to get there, but it was completely worth it. We walked inside just in time to hear the sound of the nuns singing the most beautiful acapella song that echoed through the entire church. WOW. We walked quietly around the sides of the church to the individual chapels, and had some good time to ourselves to sit, light a candle, pray, reflect - all the while listening to their worship.... it was perfect. Afterwards, we headed down the street a little bit to the artists district, Montmarte. Another highlight. This is exactly how i pictured Paris... crooked streets, cobblestone everything, cafés, and artists everywhere... some selling, some painting, some asking to draw your portrait.... we ate a late dinner here and soaked it all in. Later we walked back down the hill and saw the Moulin Rouge.... being that tickets are nearly 85 American dollars, we decided against attending... but we of course snapped away some good pictures outside as if we weren't cheap tourists. :)

So, despite the awful rumors you may hear (or possibly spread yourself) I actually didn't have any trouble with the French people... and I'd like to say it's because my highschool French really paid off - but that'd be a big fat lie... my highschool French got me nowhere, except to take a picture w/ the cute French guards underneath the Eiffel Tower. :) In my experience - the French were friendly as long as I was friendly.

Anyways, Paris is undeniably number ONE so far. Im anxious to see if anywhere else will top it... I almost hope it will just because of how great that city would have to be. :)

Everyone at home is greatly missed. Thanks for your prayers, I know God has heard them as He is blessing our time and keeping us safe. And thank you for your emails - they always make me smile.

Love, Love, Love, Melody

Ahh.. I'm so behind!

Where to start?

Im sorry I've fallen so behind... A lot has happened since Dublin, but i'll try and sum up the highlights...

Liz, Michelle, Jon, Brandon and I went to Scotland for the four days in between Dublin and London. Scotland was so beautiful!!! We toured Edinburgh castle, watched a fireworks show from their Military Tattoo, took pictures with The Scotts Monument, Shopped on Princess Street, took pictures with true blue Scottish Bagpipers, thought about buying kilts, met a really cute Australian boy... not so bright, but very pretty :) ... and visited William Wallaces monument and his home - Sterling Castle... I had plans to see Dashboard Confessionals in concert there and nearly cried when they were sold out (even though they told me a week ago they wouldnt be.. err.) Someone please watch Braveheart in honor of me... im dying to watch it again!

And now I'm at the close of my time here in London, i am truly sorry i will have to summarize everything here. We have squeezed so much in these last two weeks.
Let's see... Ive been to the British Museum twice now... (there's SO much to see) the most interesting things i saw being the Rosetta Stone and the corpse of a man they refer to as "Ginger"... an egyptian man buried in sand in 3400 B.C. who was almost perfectly preserved by the hot sand in the fetal position... so he still has skin, and a little bit of hair, and his teeth... ya, it's really disgusting, but incredible. Um, also visited the British National Gallery, saw Van Gough, Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, David, and Ingres... that was great! We went to the Tate Modern - weird museum, with lots of random "modern" displays... some were interesting, but most seemed to have a big fuss made over nothing... i.e. - the piece of wood, completely painted blue... one shade... nothing special... seriously couldve been dropped in a big bucket of paint and left to dry... and the plaque next to it said it's considered one of the most important pieces of 21st century art!!! HA! Ya... like i said, weird. Michelle and I went to a parade in Notting Hill... (Someone please watch that movie for me as well!) Yesterday, Liz, Des and I were able to help out at homeless shelter - i met some wonderful people there. i wish i could go back again before i leave. Ive seen Buckingham and Kensington Palace... both amazing! We went to Cambridge one day - wow... that University is beautiful!! We all went Punting there... it was hilarious! Picture a little boat, similar to a canoe in shape, w/ a platform on the back for one person to stand and Punt... it's steered much the same way a Gondola is - only it's not nearly as graceful. That day easily ranks as one of the best so far! Westminster Abby is gorgeous... i cant begin to describe what it's like inside... I took a tour of Parliament - saw the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Saw the Tower of London and Big Ben... Ive been to 3 musicals!!!! Les Miserables, The Woman in White ( new play by Andrew Lloyd Weber w/ Michael Crawford in it!) and Phantom of the Opera! Les Mis was another highlight of the trip so far - it made me cry 3 times. Beautiful story. See it if you never have!! There is so much to see here and so many details i wish i could include.... but all in all, everything has been great.

The taxis here are top of the line! Ive become a champ at the Underground (subway) and even the big, red, two-story buses are fun... walking is our primary transportation, but the above three choices are always easy to navigate.

The weather here has been wonderful - a rare thing according to the locals. Someone told us that we must have brought the sunshine with us and asked us to please never leave. Haha...
Ya, i think this is the last of our skirt wearing days, as the weather reports in the rest of the locations do not sound promising, but i'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Oh ya, and a tip if you're traveling here anytime soon... When someone asks where youre from, "California" provokes a much more positive response than "America." Trust me on this one. Even say "Canada" before you dare say "America" - ya, at least that's been my experience. ha.

Today is 9/11, so i'm sure there are many special events going on there today... we attempted to have our own little meeting this morning in honor of it. Wasnt too successful, but the families and friends of 9/11 victims and the leaders of our nation are especially in our prayers today. On a lighter note, today also marks the 54th anniversary of my grandparents! So excuse my shoutout, but it's definitely noteworthy!

Well, if i'm leaving anything out - i'll include it next time. Sorry for the scattered thoughts in this update... i just didnt want to let one more day pass without writing. As you can see, we've been busy... and i didnt even elaborate on my homework. Ya, that deserves its own blog. Not really. It doesnt deserve much. :) haha.. no, it's actually not too bad, there's just a lot of reading and mandatory trips.... but all in all worth it.

Tomorrow I'm taking the Chunnel across to Paris, staying there for the night, and then taking a day trip to Normandy on Monday. We'll have a week in Paris after that. I'm looking really forward to it, but dreading the idea of this being my last night in an English speaking country for the next 2 and a half months. Time to put highschool French to use! :) Please pray i forget to bring my wallet with me while shopping in Paris... i have a bad feeling im gonna go crazy. ha.

Alright, hope life has been wonderful back in the states. Thanks again for all your emails... Feel free to ask me any questions or lend me any good tips you might know of. :) All feedback is welcome. I hope this blog idea is working out better than the mass email lists. I know those get obnoxious and can be really impersonal. Its much easier to write personal emails in response to yours - so just in case youre experience "melody withdrawels" - Remember, 1 - you're not alone, and 2, all you have to do is email me ( Skrupples@aol.com ) :) haha..

Love you friends and family. Stay healthy and safe and in good spirits. I miss you all.

Love, love, love, Melody

Dublin: Part 2

Hello family and friends!
Ok, so i hope this whole blog thing is working out for everyone. We'll see how it goes.
So to catch up on everything else in Dublin...
I went to the Guinness Factory!! Not a world record store my friends... but a heck of a tour. :) They have displays set up on every floor about the history and process of their beer. And it ends on the top floor, at Gravity Bar- which is a big, circular room, w/ glass windows all the way around, so you get a fantastic 360 view of Dublin. And in the middle is a bar where they serve a pint of Guinness to everyone once they complete the tour. No worries there... Guinness is gross.
We also took a walking tour of Dublin, visited the Dublin Zoo (definite highlight), saw the Book of Kells (which i was really looking forward to, but it turned out to be awfully BORING), toured Trinity College (which is really old and really beautiful... totally reminded me of Vanguard... um, or not quite)
We visited the Kilmainham Gaol/Prison... that was really somber... but morbidly fascinating as well. The tour was heavy and rather depressing; however, it really helped get a better grasp on Irelands history.
Oh ya, we took a day trip to the city of Cork as well. It was freezing all day and the gloom made the city feel especially quiet. Then compared to Dublin, most places are quiet. We managed to find some great photo spots though and toured a Beautiful church, called St. Finn Barre's Cathedral. Christians have been gathering to worship there for over a thousand years. It's incredible to think how many times God had been glorified in the same spot I was standing. There's something tangible about faith in a moment where i could recognize the years of history behind my personal conviction to serve God. I hope to experience that intensity of pride in my God at other points of this tip. I'm sure there will be those opportunities. Not that my faith or security is dependent on experiences or feeling, but simply for the sake of having my breath taken away. All in all, Cork wasn't too excitiing, but that church was definitely worth the 3 hour train ride.
Overall... my perception of Dublin drastically changed from beginning to end. I think my adrenaline rush in the beginning clouded my vision on the city at first. In retrospect, Ireland had a depressing overtone in general to it, at least Dublin did. I'm sure my perception of it is also largely affected by the particular literature I've been reading on it for classes. James Joyce wasn't entirely sold on his homeland and every short story our clas read seemed to reinforce that feeling. Even W. B. Yeats poetry was down. Not to mention the gloomy weather didn't help. But even with all of that aside, I think that as I've left, I'm maybe able to see it more objectively and recognize the sense of heaviness and even spiritual oppression that seems to hang over the city. Literally, it seems the entire city thrives on alcohol. It's sad... But at the same time, there is still much to appreciate, lots that i learned, and wonderful memories that im thankful for. Good times were definitely had.
Anyway, I'll update on Scotland soon. Sorry I'm so behind. I'm trying my hardest to upload my pictures here so everyone can see the places I'm talking about. I'll try and do that soon! :) Thank you all so much for your emails. Everytime i check my mail and find one from a friend, (rather than some lame spam) i get so excited! Thank you for thinking of me! It helps home not seem so far away. Keep 'em coming! :) You are all in my thoughts and prayers.
Love, Love, Love, Melody

Dublin: First Impression

Hello All!
I've arrived!! After leaving my house at 11:00am Monday morning, I arrived here, in Dublin, Ireland last night (Tuesday) at about 8pm. Surprisingly, i think i've already adjusted to the time change. It's roughly 5 in the morning back home - and we all know i'd be incoherent if i wasn't adjusted. :) So... really cool story.... I bought an ipod before i left.. thinking it'd be a great investment so i could have all my music with me.... downloaded nearly one thousand songs from my computer the night before i left... and discovered, while stuck on an airplane for 10 hours, (next to a very smelly man, i might add) that it barely downloaded a third of the music it was supposed to! Err. Go figure... So slightly disappointed to say the least. I won't be singin along to any of the jams i was looking forward to. Haha.. Ahh well, such is life. But alas, I will somehow survive. :)
Another great little story (can't believe i'm going to share this - please dont use it against me)... well, about a week ago, i was talking with my friend jason about stuff to do while we were in Europe. He told me that he was excited to tour the Guinness Factory in Dublin... to which i replied with enthusiasm that i was equally excited to see where all the world records are. (To those who are not following: Guinness is a beer brand.) Ya... so after he finally stopped laughing and threatening to share my stupidity w/ our entire plane (to which he already did) i thought that would be the end of it. But no. There are stinking Guinness signs on EVERY corner here. I can't escape them! Ahh.. So left and right, i keep hearing - "Hey Mel, you should go see if there are any world records in there!" Gotta love it.
Well, Dublin is amazing so far. It's raining today. Guess mom was right about needing a raincoat. Oh well. Our hostel is great! It's four stories, with an adorable little garden outside.. tables, candles, flowers, vines all the way up the walls of the hostel.. so cute. The whole bathroom scene is as coed community as you can imagine... with a truly tragic shower situation... but for now, i'm still appreciating the adventure side of it all. Some of us went walking around downtown Dublin last night.... everywhere you walk there's music and lots of dancing. All the men call the girls "love" and "lovely"... it's rough. :) It's all lit up at night, with cobblestone streets, beautiful brick buildings, and hole in the wall irish pubs on every corner. Today, we had breakfast together at this sweet Irish lady's restaurant. She made the Irish special... eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese, and beans. Good times were had by all. It's wet, but wonderful outside. I'm sitting in a little internet cafe right now preparing for our first "school" meeting at the Dublin school of Business in a couple hours. So far, so good.I hope everyone is well back home. You are all missed. Please email me (Skrupples@aol.com) and catch me up on your lives. I'm sorry to ramble on in this email/blog... Well, maybe sorry isnt the right word as i undoubtedly will ramble in emails to come. :) But if you'd like to "unsubscribe" to my mass email list at anytime, just let me know :) hehe. Again, you're all missed and in my prayers. Please pray for the safety and protection of everyone here and that our stuff wouldnt get stolen. Thank you.
With Love Love Love, Melody