having sat on a chronically uncomfy plane ride, sleeping through Spanglish with a tummy ache that never went away, amazingly delicious airplane food (never thought that would happen), popping ears until i could almost like a few others, maniac bus rides, trying to get used to the unusual European food and culture, greasy hair because of the lack of showers on the plane, swollen feet being unable to fit into my sandals, running around in airports, chilling at airports to wait for the next flight, eating weird tasting hungarian food like fruit soup, talking to friendly strangers on the plane interested in what our team's mission was to go to europe, i'm finally settled in Oradea, Romania. in the midst of all that i was looking forward to experienceing a lot with the group, with God, yet at the same time wishing i was back home with Johnny, and my lovable family and friends. in addition, me being on bus one arriving way earlier than bus two because of their trailer issues, there was an interesting beginning bond between us in the lobby that foreshadowed what we had yet to encounter in the days to come.
april 25
today all of us went out to a Romanian Arts Academy. everyone there was so musically talented i was truly amazed. though both schools had language barriers, we still managed to interact and get to know one another. all the guys were playing soccer and basketball outside and to our bball guys' surprise, the romanian ballers are pretty good and finally got owned the pca-ers in balling. the guys are soooooooo flipping cuuuuute! i made friends but too bad i couldnt pronouce half of their names, so i made nicknames for them. philly, demmy, benny, van, raoul, cami, teodora, and others i was acquainted with i cant remember. then our concert went okay, always kinda boring but meh, the romanians enjoyed it. everyone in Romania is so friendly and passionate about what they love, music, friends and God alike. i'm getting so attached to these people. i cant believe philly kissed my hand! what a cutie, you would never get that everyday. and it totally made my day and i couldnt stop thinking about it. i didnt know i could make friends that easily with foreign people. and now that i have i dont want to leave. i should really stop speed talking cuz half the time the romanians are telling me to repeat what i say cuz they dont understand english too well. i dont want europe to end, its so beautiful. i really got to take more pictures. christian worship here is so amazing, after the concert, some romanian teens stayed behind and gathered at the piano and started singing "shout to the Lord" in romanian, causing a bunch of us canadians to sing with them also in english. then God's presence just filled us, united our two cultures. some people were in tears of awe of how great God was. then after there was a Christian event outside ministering to the romanian citizens involving a large crowd surrounding the presentations they were doing. what i found was that European people are really genuinely nice and dont back stab like us north americans. we're such snobs and we really need to change that. God is good and on a final note, everyone kept singing the michael keoshkarian song hahaha we're so jokes.
april 26
today is our last day in romania and i know we all dreaded it. it was a sticky and rainy day going to the bear caves aka jen's ear and nose. LOL then we had a performance at a romanian church where once again i could see my newfound romanian friends. eager i was in my seat to finally talk to the romanian cuties after the performance even though knowing that itll be the last time i'll ever get a chance to see them. i was on the verge of tears hearing the romanian pastor talk about our connection with each other. they love us, we love them. i wanted to cry today, i'm going to miss philly, benny, teodora, cami, david, mir and everyone else that came out to see us. it was funny because matt hoskins got all these european girls talking to him. talking to teodora was just enlightening because she's so amusing.
april 27
still very attached to Romania though i'm finally in budapest, hungary. it's pretty and nice, but people are still nicer in romania. there was this really nice guy i met in hungary that helped me with my luggage, but i only spoke my limited hungarian to him since he dint speak any english so too bad. i called my mom today, making me miss home.
april 28
- romania is still my lover
- toured Budapest today, its a BEAUTIFUL city
- sightseeing was tiring though
- city streets are tiny and makes me claustrophobic when cars are passing
- drivers are rude
- hungarians are very horny which is why we call them horny hungarians since they stare at you in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable
- called johnny today and it made my day when he said he missed me
- matt hoskins is a european babe magnet
- souvenir shopping was hectic and i bought such useless and rippy-offy stuff
- bought a pretty display of brandy but had it broken in the hotel, what a waste of money.
april 29
took off for vienna bright and early in the morning. vienna is TRES B-E-A-UTIFUL! i did A LOT of shopping for souvenirs. poor me, i lost 5 euros and had to pay 74.90 euros at one souvenir place. we played at an austrian school earlier that had a super duper nice facility that got me jealous. the guys there were sizzling but we did not get a chance to befriend them. worshipping God was amazing tonight it should happen everyday. i say it all the time but i'll say it again. God is good. all the time. exhausted i am...
april 30
toured vienna again today and shopped. i really got to stop spending money on useless things. after that we went to a catholic church to play music. i expected it to be really dry but it wasnt. the priest or bishop or whatever it is they call them was really nice. even though his sermon was in german it was translated later and it really tugged on my heartstrings. i played a lot better today but i think its because the orchestra was in the balcony where no one could see. me nd christine spent our whole day making fun of mike keoshkerian. what jokes. then we had dinner at a wine restaurant. there were so many ants at our table and in our food that everyone got all antsy and couldnt sit still and kept squirming and twitching and you would hear random screams from our table that we would get evil glares from others. a violionist and an accordion player came to serenade our group with soothing and upbeat music that everyone was so connected in singing and clapping, dancing everyhting of the sort. we were all so happy jammin along. it was a night to remember. after we went outside and the dark night sky was eally cear where the stars were so visible; we could even see the big dipper. it reminded me of the stargazing back in my chandos days. i cant believe that theres only going to be 5 days left. the night life in vienna is so romantic, ravishing, beautiful, like wow. i miss the people in romania still, i cant believe i'm still attached. and yet again, jen rolls her eyes when i say that.
may 1
danube cruise: kind of pointless really since everyone was on the open deck where as we were playing inside where barely no one was there to hear us play. but anyway, we were supposed to eat lunch there but the stupid waiters wouldnt take our order and was being really rude, just merely nodding to acknowledge that i needed to order food resulting in me being tres pisse and my starvation. then it resulted in me and sandra paying like 9,90 euros for a small stupid box of fruit. bus ride was funny because me sam and chris had selective hearing for eavesdropping on josh and mike k talking about their love lives. what funny kids. then we arrived a super confusing hotel. exhaustion once again. we had acoustic worship today, a bit mellower so not as hype, but probably because everyone was really drained. my skin is getting worse, it better be because of my lack of sleep or because of the different environment i'm in because i feel very dirty and ugly. but anyhow, this trip is definitely worthwhile, bonding with other people, strengthening relations just a bit before the year ends. i cant believe i was discussing school today, i gotta cram so much on the weekend we get back and AHHH! my zits are pising me off. i must tie my hands together and stop trying to pop them to make them go away
may 2
last day in austria. went shopping with seven guys: matt, adam, dan, lester, drew, josh, nathan. i'm never doing that again, so bored and i didnt get to do everything i wanted to do, but i love them anyway. there were so many beautiful sights in salzburg. the sound of music areas and fountains we visited. a bunch of us also went to mozart's home, amazing architecture. it was ordinary but interesting. today we worshipped GOd and and it was amazing. i looked tres oogley today but i didnt really care to fix myself up since it was like HOT. like dying hot. sighs during oasis there were so many bring ups about Romania and made me really wonder if i would ever talk to them again, see the picture i took with the romanians... we were playing at the mall today instead of the seniors home and it once again was really dry. though different, it was a worthwhile experience. the audience was a bit underappreciating and was REALLY passive. meh, something to remember at least. and i swear i'm going to die from lung cancer cuz of the second hand smoke. hmm, now that i think about it i'm reallying to miss the grade 12s though some are just acquaintances turned friends, i'm still going to miss the way we connected. it always has to end this way. once you get something good, it's like it disappears before you're able to grasp a hold on it.
may 3
headed off for Munich today. we all went shopping at city central rather than touring a castle that would have exhausted us like crazy. i spent a lot of money on a skirt, purse, jewelry and souvenirs. then we arrived at a DINGY hotel. it's so dark and closed that its scary. worship and oasis again we had. it was deep and teary-eyed knowing that this is one of the rare times that we're focused on God and each other. then after everything, everyone was chilling in the halls all hyper on who knows what. laughing, enjoying ourselves knowing that just in less than a few days we'd be leaving our new found love: Europe. it aches me and i know it aches many others. it was here where we did God's will, it was here where bonds of friendships were made and strengthened. i'm gonna miss everything about Europe aside from all the smoking and excessive porn
i love europe and everyone the team. all the jokes we share, the one love we share.
may 4
today breakfast was good, cuz of Nutella. MMMMM then we went to Dachau, a concentration camp. it was a pretty lifechanging experience for me. seeing all the pictures, words, descriptionsl acutally being on site where torture happened. i've had a totally different view on everything. after seeing everything we went to a chapel meeting one of the Holocaust survivors. it made me tear. he talked about his hopes and dreams, how he always questions God but never got his answers. then a few people like me,dana,megan, dani started tearing because he was crying himself. so mr vernon instructed josh r to hand the survivor a bouquet of flowers. from that i think he was really moved and he went up in front of the group and smoke of how he was going to go back to Jerusalem a changed man, how we as a group impacted him, how he feels something really different in his heart. and i know that God was in us, through us in that room that day. we started singing Psalm 23. it was a heartwrenching time for everyone. i cant even put into words all the emotions that went through my heart and mind that day. after that we had dinner. my waitress was kind of rude but meh. and again we had worship and open mic. wow, just winding down like that gets everyone emotional with their last words, encouragements, heartpouring, and the "i miss you's". after all that, we decided to stay back and just be with each other. hahaha it ended up being a dance off where chan norris and josh were dancing and everyone else was setting up the beats. oh yeah, and mike seto did his seizure dance which was way cool. i love the euroteam. its so sad how tomoro we're leaving our beautiful haven overflowing with memories.
may 5
went on the plane, i sat with chris the first round. we havent sat down and actually had a real conversation in too long, so that was really great for us. then the second time me jen dani and helen sat in one row. like hello, thats destined. i kept trying to sleep but people around me were getting restless n then i got a bit pissed. but its okay, thats only cuz i was trying to sleep, and tired ppl get cranky. i tried to watch in good company, i did but only the first half, because it got so boring i fell asleep. n then they played ocean's twelve. i didnt watch that either but instead just started talking to people.
overall
it was a blissful trip. full of jokes, smiles, laughs. like our accents, our songs, our teasings, our openmouthed sleepery and so much more. it was really great for everyone dressing up nice, not being in just tshirt and sweats but actually living up to the european higherclassed culture in fashion. everyone looked so much more mature. and everyone is a lot more mature. we've grown and i am soooo freaking proud of you guys. i'm tearing cuz of how happy i am for everyone, from the retreat and eurotrip. renewed in God we are.
we're going to be history makers, we're gonna create a revolution. this is a Jesus generation.
