times, they are a-changin'

You know when you read about "times changing," you can't really imagine what it was like before, or during the change? Sometimes you just wish you were there to experience it. You know, like black and white people having to use different drinking fountains. Or even further back when women were switching from wearing dresses to trousers. It's strange finding myself in the middle of a change like that.

After a fairly uneventful travel day, we arrived in the Skovsta airport south of Stockholm, Sweden. It was a small airport (about the size of Evansville's, for those of you who know what I mean). We had to go to the bathroom before catching our bus to Jönköping. So we see the restroom signs, (or rather, toliette) and head in that direction.

There was a sign on the door that had both the men's and women's sign, so Andrea opened the door, thinking it would lead to a hallway or something to the restroom, but when she opened it she immediately closed it again. "It's the men's restroom," she said. I turned around, looking for another sign. "But wait... that sign has both on it....why...?" Just then a woman came out of the door. Then a man. "Um... is this for both?" Then i remembered. Someone had told me that Sweden was really pushing gender equality. So much so, they were trying to invent a word that meant both he and she, but not "it." If they were trying to invent a new word, then what's stopping them from making universal bathrooms?

Andrea, Junior and I ventured cautiously in. No one seemed to notice or care. The bathroom was the same as any other bathroom - 8 stalls, 5 sinks. But both men and women were coming out of the stalls. I laughed the whole time. Not gonna lie, it was awkward.

Who knows if it will catch on to other countries, but I may find myself explaining someday to my children that "before you were born, men and women had separate bathrooms!"

not-a-missed connection

"Don't you recognize me??"

I was in Sweden. I had been there for five days, and four of those had been inside a church with 20 other people. The old, brick-paved street was deserted. The voice came from inside a shop whose door I had just walked passed. Who ....?

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::four hours earlier::

"Are you students at the International School of Business?" 

Andrea, Junior, and I turned to see an elderly couple standing next to us at the bus station. We were flattered that we looked young enough to be taken as students. "No, we're here for a leadership training course with an organization. We're just here for a week." The man asked me what part of the states I was from. I said "Indiana," he said "Wyoming." I noticed he had a Swedish accent. "Oh really?" I asked, hoping he would explain. "I grew up there, but I fell in love with this Swedish woman (he cast a quick smile in his wife's direction) and I've lived here for 50 years. We met and married in the States, but she wanted me to visit her home. Fifty years later, we're still here."

We talked with them for awhile about how they met, and how they got married, (they were engaged on a Thursday, and married that Sunday) and their kids. They mentioned working with their children for an organization called "Teen Challenge," a drug and alcohol rehab programme, and we talked about there being a centre in Ireland. From there, the conversation led to OM, which they had heard of. Their bus arrived, and we parted ways. A nice encounter and a great start to our sightseeing day.

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The three of us stopped in our tracks and walked backwards, looking through the shop door. An old man was sitting behind a counter facing the door with antique radios and TVs stacked behind him. "We met earlier!" Then we all recognized him. It was the older man we met at the bus station. We went in. There was a sign on the counter that said "Radio Museum, admission 20 Kronas" He told us he ran the museum. "I know you're busy sightseeing, but come back here at let me show you something special." And he took us to an Edison, one of the first sound recording devices ever made. It had a blue wax cylinder that recorded the sound, and when you didn't need the recording anymore, you just scraped a layer of the wax off. 

We walked back to the front, and I noticed on the counter he was working on a sign. "I realized there isn't a sign saying what this place is!" He explained. "So I'm making one." It looked professional, so I asked him if he had any experience with design. He said not so much design as art, and he bent down and got something behind the counter. It was a coffee table book of wildlife. He opened it up, and inserted in the book was a beautiful drawing of a crane. It was on black paper drawn with a white pencil. "I'm color blind, you see. So I focus all my attention on the detail." And he had too. Every feather, every shape. "My son owns an art Gallery on the island in the middle of the lake, so he sells some of my stuff." I wish I could've gotten something.

He was a talker, and told us more stories, but finally we had to go, and we wished him well. The two things I regret most are that none of us can remember his name, and I didn't get a picture of him. 

It's encounters like this that make traveling great.

Oh, what are men compared to rocks and mountains?

Bonjour, Guten tag, hello!

We have come to discover the Swiss are trilingual. When anyone looks at my name, they speak french to me. And then when I can say "je ne parle pas francais" they switch to English. Katie looks more German, so they speak German to her. On the train, when they took my ticket, they said "merci" and then looked at katie and said "danke" unfortunately, they finally realize we're American and halfheartedly say "have a good day."

I don't think anyone could have a bad day in Switzerland. That's what I've decided. Everywhere is absolutely beautiful and majestic. The first two nights we stayed in the valley of Interlaken in the oldest hostel in Europe. It actually seemed very new and was extremely more organized than our hostel in Venice, and they gave us local "Swiss cheese"!! The view from my window was overlooking the tallest mountain in Europe, called Jungfrau.

Our full day in Interlaken was spent being pretty outdoorsy. We took a hike for the first half of the morning passing a brewery, playing around on old castle ruins, walking by a river, and walking into town to take pictures of the extremely picturesque wooden buildings with amazing carvings and brightly colored shutters with flower boxes in each window. The second half of the day was awesome. The most exhilarating two hours I've spent in a long time. We went white water rafting down the river that cuts through the valley. My biggest fear was falling out. The only scenario I didn't think about was losing my paddle. So of course, ten minutes into our two hour excursion I lost my paddle. I got my paddle back about 20 minutes later, but for those 20 minutes our guide had to make fun of me, and christened me group photographer, so I moved to the back of the raft with him and filmed and photographed the rest of the team. He saw I was enjoying myself way too much and claimed I did it on purpose and scoffed "women." After I got my paddle back he used his paddle to dump water on my head.

So all that being said, I did NOT fall out. And the trip down the river was extreme, and I was definitely under a two-hour adrenaline rush. It was awesome.

Today we headed further up the mountain to a picturesque town called Lauterbrunnen. (Don't even ask me how to pronouce that.) The most charming feature of this small town is not its 930 inhabitants, an amazing view of the tallest Alps, or the little wooden houses dotting the side of the moutain, but the HUGE waterfall that gushes out of the side of the mountain. It's the predominant feature of the town, being able to see it from every point because it's so large. Unfortunately, I can't upload pictures right now, but if you want to google "Lauterbrunnen" you'll definitely get some good pictures.

Our hostel is run by older mothers. We have to take our shoes off to enter the house, and there are signs everywhere that say "you are old enough to clean up after yourselves." Katie and my beds are in a loft, and our own personal window has a view of the waterfall.

Today we took a train to the top of Jungfrau (the tallest mountain in Europe.) We can officially say we've been to the top of Europe. The view was spectacular, too aweseome for words. So I will post pictures as soon as possible.

Tomorrow we're going to take it easy and hike around this area, then head back down the mountain and we're off to the sunny beaches of south france. C'est la vie!

Transitions.

Hello everyone!

It has been quite a long time since I last updated. I think I find travel adventures easier to write about than normal life adventures. Although I have been told I should start doing that.

Here's a quick update on my life:

1. I graduated from Taylor University on May 22 with a BA in Media Communication.

2. I leave for Europe tomorrow for 2 1/2 months. Two of those weeks will be spent traveling Spain, Venice, Switzerland, and south France with my best friend Katie. The rest of the time will be spent doing what I did last summer in London with Operation Mobilization.

3. When I am finished with OM, I will be flying back to the states with my friend Hannah who will also be working with OM this summer, and we will hang out in her home state, Minnesota and look for potential jobs in Minneapolis.

this is hannah and me as we try to imitate the stereotype of "graduates in a movie"

Here's how I'm feeling:

Graduating is a strange thing. My thought process has been something like this: "Wait, I don't have to do homework ever again? Am I supposed to feel crazy? Everyone is asking me how I feel during this great transition. What transition? The transition from leaving school on Saturday and leaving the country 3 days later? Or the transition from school to no school? Will that question finally hit me when I don't go back to school in August? Am I supposed to be pondering graduating? I don't have time to think about that. What about my friends? Will I ever see them again? Why didn't I get to say goodbye to everyone at school that I wanted to? Will I ever even speak to them again? I most certainly will never see them again unless by chance. Where do I want to live? Where do I want to work? Should I be thinking about that when I only have 3 days to pack, repack, throw a party, and leave again? Where are my passport and plane tickets again?"

Here's my hope for the future:

The future to me is the time period from May 25 to August 15. I'm extremely excited about what this summer is going to bring. I can't wait to spend time with my best friend tramping around Europe and being free from school and every obligation. I'm hoping this will be a great time to catch up and reconnect with Katie and just soak in our new stage of life.

I'm equally excited to spend the rest of my summer in London and ending with the youth conference in Germany again.

Then, I'm looking forward to a few relaxing days in Minnesota to debrief the summer with Hannah and our good friend from school, Ryan, who also lives there.

Like last summer, I'll keep you updated as frequently as possible, and hope that you will continue to read and keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I embark on a new chapter of my life yet again.

whirlwind

I can't believe the last time I posted anything was during TeenStreet! I apologize for the lack of updates.

After TeenStreet, I had about five days until my parents and friend from Taylor, Maggie, came to visit me. They arrived on Thursday, August 13 and spent some time in Carlisle and met the people I had worked with over the summer in the office (especially my supervisor boss lady).

On Saturday, the four of us left for Scotland which was an adventure of its own, and later I will retell the tale and post pictures. But for now, I must be quick.

We arrived back in the States late Friday (Aug 21st) night, which as soon as I got home, I slept for 12 hours. Since then, it has been a whirlwind of visiting people, dinners, showing pictures, etc. I barely had time to unpack, wash my clothes, and repack. But thanks to mom, that was all possible.

In the morning, I leave for Upland, Indiana to embark on my last year at Taylor. I'm a senior...eep!

This isn't the end of my blog though, as it is titled there and back again. So in the next few updates I'll talk about Scotland, final thoughts on the summer, and then I'll start doing updates of my senior year since I will be co-editor of the Life & Times section of my school newspaper, and have various things (including more traveling!) planned for the year.