Love Makes a Difference/ My View of Iasi

Well, I'm home again. At least, to Iași, my pseudo-home. I had such amazing experiences in Greece and Vienna over the last couple weeks, but I was ready to come home. That first week back was difficult, I'm not going to lie. It wasn't because the week lacked precious moments. There were so many great moments.

It was just really difficult for me to come back from a long vacation and not be able to go HOME. To have to return to a place that was still a foreign country.
Disclaimer: if I haven't already, I am about to sound like an absolute brat.


I don't want to travel anymore. Don't get me wrong, I want to keep doing what I'm doing here. But we have a long weekend coming up with a trip to Italy planned, and I really am not looking forward to it as much as I should. I think it's just because I'm exhausted from being abroad for the summer. I don't think anyone who isn't here will really understand how emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausting this trip is. It stretches me in every way, especially stretching the capacity of my heart.


Anywho, I returned from the trip and was surprised to feel as down as I was. Adjusting back to Iasi life was harder than I expected, but I kept chugging along and tying to ignore it/suck it up. And that was not hard to do at all while at the orphanage or school or hospital. But lately the huge chunk of time afterwards has felt longer than I remember. Between feeling exhausted and the overwhelming heat and humidity, we don't often feel very motivated to leave the apartment once we are done for the day. So the nights start to feel pretty long, and that's when I started realizing how badly I wanted to go home.


But I'll just start with the events of this week.


Xavier's birthday was in the week before we returned from our trip, but the orphanage put off celebrating it for a special surprise. 10 years ago, a volunteer named Robby came and bonded with Xavier through the orphanage program. He was one of the first people to recognize that Xavier was much more capable and aware than people thought he was. Robby has come back several times since his initial visit. He learned how to use communication devices and eventually a Boardmaker program for the computer that enables Alex to play games and speak through the computer. Xavier LOVES him.


And he came to surprise him for his birthday! Apparently the moment he saw Robby, Xavier just was freaking out. So precious. Maddy and I helped blow balloons up for the birthday party, and later that morning a lot of us went into the cafeteria that was all decorated for Xavier. Romanian balloons are hard to blow up. I got a bloody nose from the effort. Which is weird, because I don't get bloody noses (I have secretly always wanted an accident-induced bloody nose or black eye, just because movies made them look cool. Please, refrain from any offers to assist me in this dream).


They rolled Xavier in, and I almost started crying just watching him for the next 30 minutes. He was SO happy. He just was grinning that smile of his that steals my heart. He was all dressed up in a nice shirt and tie, and just AH. Smiling and lifting his arms. He LOVES balloons, so when we dumped the balloons out all over, he was on cloud nine. He kept looking at me and trying to get me to grab the balloons from the banner and take them down to play with him haha.


We sang the Romanian happy birthday song ("La Mulți Ani!"), which is significantly longer and more interesting than the English song. I didn't realize until I came here how I creative that song is. Seriously. It's the exact same line 4 times, with the earth-shattering substitution of "to you" for an actual name before returning to the same line for a thrilling conclusion.


Anywho, the kids who came to the party all had cake. Robby warned me that it would not be remotely appetizing to me, but the kids were thrilled and on a sugar high for the rest of the day. Xavier is 17 now, even though I think I've been saying he's been 17 for a while.


Thanks to the new supply of balloons, we had to get creative. Aside from putting party hats on balloons with drawn on faces, putting balloons on our heads, hitting the balloon around, etc. our most recent addition is balloon art! I give Xavier a marker and hold the balloon while he goes at it. They are pretty big balloons, so it takes a while. After a while he indicates that he wants me to draw something, and the guessing games begin haha. I can usually come up with a few things that are exciting enough to make it onto the balloon. Now he looks to be balloon and the marker cabinet as soon as he can catch my eye when I walk in.

Gus is a snail we found outside one day. We never found him again but enjoyed playing "Unde e Gus?" (Where is Gus)

For his bird at, Xavier got a remote control car. The thing that makes it so exciting for him, is that it's controlled by the movement of the remote that is strapped to his hand. He loves it, and even though the battery is infuriatingly dysfunctional, we play with it for sometimes an hour or more. In addition to making it ram into the wall at full speed and go in circles repeatedly (sometimes I make a tunnel with my legs), he likes to drive the car into children/workers who pass by. He also finds it quite hysterical when the battery randomly stops working and I pretend to kick it or throw the car out the window. I'm mostly kidding when I have those feelings.


Other than that, most of Xavier's time was spent with Robby on the computer or doing whatever two "homies" (as Robby calls them) do in their free time. Sometimes I get to join in on the fun and be an honorary bro. Robby mentioned that he had a video game set up on his computer that they played for a while. I jokingly requested Star Wars Battlefront 2, and two days later...


I GOT TO PLAY IT WITH XAVIER. I don't think everyone will understand the excitement that this held for me. I love that game. I love that boy. It was two of my favorite things randomly joining forces in a small orphanage in Romania. Such a blessing.


Here's how it worked-- I controlled the movement and aim of the player using the keyboard and mousepad. Using the head device from the computer program, Xavier controlled the shooting. So we were the same player, but the actions were divided between the two of us. The ultimate test of teamwork. We rocked it.


On one level (I believe on Endor) we had 89 kills. I wish I could have heard some of the thoughts of the passing workers who heard the shouts and laughs coming from the tiny little room that we played in. I am very competitive, and I get pretty into this game. So I am running our guy around and before long I'm yelling "SHOOT SHOOT SHOOT!" And "ARUNCA! ARUNCA!" and then "NU MAI ARUNCA!" Robby had taught me that when I wanted him to throw a grenade I should say "arunca." But with some levels and some player options you have missiles instead, so there was some confusion when I would tell him that word to shoot a missile. I found out a few days later that "arunca" means "throw." Close enough.


Despite the chaos of him throwing multiple grenades as soon as we picked them up (sometimes killing us in the process), we had a jolly old time. Robby came in after a while and asked "ummm do you know what time it is?" Turns out it was after 11. I asked if he needed Xavier back, and when the answer was no.... Yep we ended up playing for 2.5 hours. It was glorious and kind of dizzying. All and all-- - great day.


You're probably wondering how on earth I could feel down with all of these amazing things happening. Me too! But I started to realize with each tender mercy that Heavenly Father was trying to ease the burden a bit by blessing me with such great experiences.


Before Robby left, he taught me how to create new boxes on boardmaker, so I can add to the conversations that I can have with Xavier! I really want to learn more about the communication options in technology for people with disabilities.


Xavier is always sad when Robby leaves, but he's getting used to it and knowing he comes back. Unfortunately, Robby isn't sure when he can come again in the future... I wish I knew if I'd see Xavier again after I leave.


That weekend consisted of a million episodes of "Once Upon a Time" and some attempts at being productive via cleaning the apartment. On Saturday I was just in a funk. I did not want to be around people. I felt remarkably antisocial, and I just wanted to go home. Our group walked all the way to this restaurant, and I don't think I said a single word. I just felt... Low. And guilty for feeling that way when I had been blessed with such tender moments and this amazing opportunity. As we walked I began to pray, asking for help. I just didn't want to feel that way. I just wanted to be happy and have a better attitude. I just needed help.


We went on and had dinner at this place called Vivo that the missionaries had recommended as an American food place. It had some wonderful burgers. Also, weird side note-- restaurants here always give two straws in your drinks. It's cute and interesting. I began to open up and had a good time. Some of us kind of rushed, so we could go to the Romanian language lesson the missionaries were offering that night. It took a lot for me to motivate myself to go, but I finally did. And I'm so glad that I did.

The lesson was the first time I had practiced Romanian in a while, so it was a good refresher course as well as instruction. But the lesson wasn't as significant as the spiritual thought that the missionaries shared with us afterwards. They read D&C 29: 4-6:

"4 Verily, I say unto you that ye are chosen out of the world to declare my gospel with the sound of rejoicing, as with the voice of a trump.
5 Lift up your hearts and be glad, for I am in your midst, and am your advocate with the Father; and it is his good will to give you the kingdom."
Now, the missionaries could have gone in any direction with this, but they chose to relate it to what our summer was devoted to-- the orphanage.
I'm going to summarize what she said without all the "she said" and "I realized."


The very essence of the gospel is love. That's what it's all about. If the gospel is love, then what I am doing here is sharing the gospel with these children, because everything that we do here is about love. I am introducing these children to love. Many of the kids here are at such a fragile stage in their lives where it is so important that they experience love to develop emotionally and mentally.


One of the sister missionaries told a story of a woman that they had been teaching who was an orphan. She told the missionaries that she felt alone her whole life. She had always felt hated. Except at the orphanage...there were American girls who were kind to her. She said that THAT was the first time that she felt love.


That story hit me so hard. I had already been crying pretty much from the first sentence the missionaries said, but that story tipped it over the edge. So many tears.


Some of these children have never experienced love. We are introducing them to that. If they don't understand love, in addition the obvious emotional implications that has in their lives, they won't be able to even begin to understand that they have a Heavenly Father who loves them. That He loves them so much that He sent His son, their older brother, to die for them. Because of that love, they can be together as an eternal family. That is a message that everyone needs, and I would imagine would be especially important to an orphan.


That's why what I'm doing is so important here. I am showing them what love looks like. What it feels like. I'm bringing the love of God to them, and because of THAT... I'm a missionary here, in our own special way.


And that realization changes everything.


Like the dance parties with "Malena" when she comes into our room at the end of the day. She has clubbed feet, and the options to correct it can't be afforded by the orphanage. So she gets her legs in casts all the way from her toes to her hips. They change the position and recast her feet every once in a while. It's a painful process for her, but she can be the happiest little beautiful girl. We used to just dance by pulling her around in her wheelchair. But the workers started to let me pick her up, and now we dance in circles and spin and go crazy to the music. The workers just stare at me and laugh now, because I go crazy and look like a shameless fool. Anything to make her smile. She looks at me sometimes and just holds my face in her hands and then hugs me. It feels like something is just squeezing my heart. Saying goodbye to her everyday is so hard, just because she looks so disappointed. But those moments of pure joy in her eyes are so worth the pain of goodbye.


The realization also helps when unexpected things happen, like when Dunkin projectile vomits all over my legs within the first few minutes of me holding him. That was a good time. He needs love so badly. Not that that affected the vomit. But still.


All my interactions with the kids have more meaning now. I still have times when I am down or want to go home, but my purpose here has been renewed! I love these children. And I love answered prayers.


So there has been a big change at the school. Due to enrollment changes, the school is only open until Thursday, July 23rd. So I am done teaching! Crazy. It was insanity and sweaty and sometimes infuriating, but I am going to miss (some of) those kids. They are so cute. My favorite, Sebi, is a little animal, but he knows I have a soft spot for him. So he likes me and goofs off with me. I probably distract him more than I should.

He is just too cute.

Sometimes he looks like a little devil. And acts that way too.

But mostly he is a sweetheart.

 The mom of Ioana, one of our young gals (adorable but cries for every little reason and lack thereof), stopped a girl in our group today to thank us. She just said that Ioana has made so much progress this year, and thanks us for our effort and time with her. It was really rewarding, since we sometimes don't feel like we made a difference with them all. I really appreciated her gratitude and opinion of Ioana's progress, especially as we are saying goodbye to the kiddies.

Teo--this cutie used to not speak to us at all (in any language). He finally is letting out his goofy side and laughing all the time.

Sofia-- easily the most beautiful child I have ever seen. So fun and loving and smart!

Tomfoolery.

Mihai! This goofball used to be a nightmare to teach, but lately he has been playing teacher's pet. He folds his arms and looks up at us with these huge eyes. His favorite thing to say now is "English only!" to his classmates. He is so fun and loves when he can honestly say the kids' favorite saying..."I'M BEING GOOOOD!"

She is a model. And bored by the lesson apparently.

Just focus on her face and not the strange human behind her. 

Okay, last bit of this post. I've mentioned before how I feel like people probably think I am just vacationing all the time, since I only post the pictures of beautiful moments and adventures. But when I look back on my time here, regardless of what others have seen, I want to remember the real places I'd been. Yes, the pretty pictures had their moments, but I decided I want to show Iasi through my eyes. Because this city is dirty and smelly and beautiful and special to me. So I'm going to feature a little bit of Iasi with each post until I leave.


So enjoy!

This is a pretty normal sidewalk in Iasi. 

I trip approximately 7 times a day.

Still part of the sidewalk.

It seems like EVERY day, a new section of the street/sidewalk is being torn up. There is ALWAYS construction going on. And it often means loud machinery and huge holes.

Cute, old Romanian ladies and some more quality sidewalk.

Yard and a home.

Typical apartment buildings in the city.

Gypsy children playing in the street

Greenery overtakes the yard

Pretty view of the canal thing...?

Typical graffiti. The white one in the middle says "I love the government, I love the police, but most of all I love cannabis."  So there is that.

It's pretty common to see men and women going through the trash cans like this in alleys. Some carry their belongings and things they collect around in HUGE bundles on their backs (with a bed sheet) or push it around with a small wagon. 

Not sure what this little hay structure is, but it reminds me of the larger ones we saw in the countryside. I assumed the large ones were dwellings for poorer Romanians, but I don't know for sure. 

Red-roofed houses are very common. As are junk piles between houses, as they seem to be a a home of a sort for some poor people.

Beautiful rooftop view

The canal/sewer line that smells so good all the time...

Podul Ros!

Little markets outside our apartments.

Notice the pigeons.

Notice the sidewalks.

Closer view of the typical apartments.

It's very common to see gypsies sitting/standing on the streets begging for money. It is really difficult sometimes to just walk by them.

The ice cream place that we love so much. Sometimes my apartment messages the girls who live across from it to find out if it is still open when our nightly craving kicks in. We are pretty lazy by the end of the day. 

You can also see a woman selling flowers on the street. There are also many gypsies who sell flowers, herbs, and produce on the streets. Some gypsies are crippled and they get pity money from many Romanians. I learned that some gypsies intentionally cripple their babies, so that the children can bring in more money out of pity for their condition.

Fun fact: since I've been here I have been exposed to children with lice, AIDS, hepatitis, and chicken pox. And that doesn't even include children from the hospital.

Another fun fact: Sometimes our food is really good. Sometimes it looks like this.

So to sum it all up... I'm part of something great here. I know I've said that before. But I don't think I understood that completely before this week. I still am ready to go home. But I also am appreciating things here a lot more. I miss lots of things about America. Like American ice cream (it's different. Just trust me on this.). Cookie dough. Mexican food. Steak. Free refills on drinks. Complimentary water. Being able to pet stranger's dogs without being judged hardcore. But I have a list of things that I'll miss about this summer, and the list of children from my room is already longer than the list above.


I think this last 27 days will be the part where I find myself and am really tested. Now that I'm tired and ready to go home, I will be pushed to the limits for this last bit. I am confident that the encouragement I received this week will help me to face the challenge well. I probably am going to end up sitting on the kitchen floor eating ice cream a few more times before I go home, but the good outweighs the bad. And I intend to "take the good with the bad."

Stay Classy, America.

The Birth of Ginger Cheeks... Photo Dump of Greece and Vienna

Goal: write this blog update about the vacation before I land in Iasi. Reasoning: I am going to be too tired this week to write it, and it will undoubtedly be pushed off to the last minute.

I'm scheduled to land back in Iasi at 1:30 AM after flying Vienna--> Rome--> Iasi. So here comes the update of the vacation of a lifetime.


We boarded our plane to Athens from Bucharest, and I lucked out with my seat. I was placed between two interesting characters. As we took off, I became acquainted with the one on my right. A man in his 40s or 50s, who began to twitch violently as we started to lift off from the runway. You know those moments when you're just taking off and it feels like the plane is dropping a bit? Every time that happened, he jerked in his seat. I thought at first that he was asleep and the flying was causing him to twitch. But as we hit turbulence on our way up it just got worse. Every bump or dropping sensation, he jerked his arms, leaned forward, grabbed at the seat in front of him. It took everything in me not to laugh/state when I realized he was just terrified. The man on my left stared at him openly and with a rather rude face. He didn't look too kindly on my face that was pained as I held back the tears of laughter I was dying to release.


Finally the man on my right turned to me and said through a thick accent, "I have a fear for flying!" We talked for a while after that, turns out he was from Syria. He was such a nice man, but any bit of turbulence and he was lost. At one point he jerked so violently that he elbowed me in the side of my rib cage, hard! It hurt for the rest of the flight, but he didn't even notice haha. He was either hugging the seat in front of him or leaning over the arm rest to the point where he was almost cuddling with me. It didn't help that the descent into Athens was the bumpiest ride I've ever had on a plane. At one point he looked to me in panic asking, "what's happening??" So that was my first adventure.


Athens was not what I imagined. Walking down the streets was like a normal city. Graffiti EVERYWHERE though, more than the other cities I've seen while being over here. Some of it was pretty impressive.

The colorful metro

We weren't really sure what to expect when we got there, with the whole financial crisis and Greece potentially leaving the euro zone thing. The only visual signs we had of the crisis were lines at ATMs and graffiti/posters advocating for the "yes" or "no" vote all over the city. To say we lucked out is an understatement; we were blessed. Our time there was absolutely wonderful. Exhibit A-- we step off the bus in Syntagma and are discussing how to find out hostel. A man walking by overhears and stops to tell us exactly how to get where we need to go. So kind!

Best part of the financial crisis (for us)? Public transportation in Athens was free! They wanted to relieve the burden on people who commute to work since the banks weren't reopened and the ATM withdrawals were limited. So we took advantage of that and became metro masters. We took it everywhere! It was pretty amazing.

Gelato

Our first day in Athens was on Independence Day back home. And what better way to celebrate America than... -- the Acropolis in Greece!! Oh man, did I dork out. My thought process was basically..."WOW look at those Corinthian columns! Oooh acanthus leaves at the top! AHH the Porch of Maidens!! The caryatids are so pretty! Wow, check out then coffering on ceiling over here." Luckily another girl in my group had taken the same humanities class at BYU, so we could make use of random facts in casual conversation like, "It's interesting how you can hardly see the effects of them manipulating optics by creating the Parthenon with slightly curved lines rather than straight ones."

Parthenon at sunset

Basically, it was amazing. It felt really strange, though, walking through a normal city and then all of a sudden being in front of an ancient piece of architecture. It just felt so randomly placed, but it was also cool seeing the current culture that has just grown up on the same soil as the ancient history everyone has learned about.


On Sunday we visited the temple of Zeus! So cool.  Then we headed to the port to get on our ferry to Santorini. The ferry was HUGE. Basically a mini cruise, except the food wasn't included in the price. It was about a 6 or 7 hour ride, but we had a jolly old time with it. My group of 5 that went to Greece adopted this new card game as our theme for the week almost haha. It was called "Pit," and it is basically an intense version of Go Fish. It was super super fun, but impossible to play quietly, so we got some stares haha. Other than that, the ferry ride consisted of eating, listening to music, chatting, and then watching the gorgeous sunset over the water from up on the deck of the ferry. 

Also, we witnessed history in the making as we watched the Greek vote on whether to accept the EU's financial arrangement for Greece's crisis. The vote was "no," which means Greece may. Be leaving the euro zone... But we got to be there for a lot of that time!

On the port in Santorini, we were met by the Hotel Perissa host, who shuttled us back to the hotel for free. Even at night I could tell how beautiful it was there, winding up the cliffs, lights in the distance of the villages on the edges of the cliffs, and STARS. I hadn't realized how much I've missed them while living in Iasi.


When we got back to the hotel, the owner cut the price we expected to pay for 2 rooms. Online there was only an option for 2 rooms with three beds for the 5 of us. But he switched some this around and didn't charge us as much as originally planned. He was so so nice. And so so Greek. It was really cool seeing how his family was all involved in the business and hearing them speak Greek to each other. It's an interesting language.

View from my room at Hotel Perissa

 The next day was a piece of heaven. We walked the 20 minute walk to the Perivolos black sand beach after breakfast. On the way, I saw a horse tethered in the middle of a field, and I couldn't resist. I walked right on over and whistled to it. He stared at me for a few seconds and then walked right over and nuzzled me while I pet him. He and I became pretty good friends, and I stopped and pet him every time we passed. I secretly was hoping to just steal him and ride off into the sunset.


Anywho, we got to the beach pretty early on and our bare feet soon discovered that renting an umbrella and chairs for the day was the only way to prevent permanent damage to the soles of your feet from the black sand in the heat of the day. Then we just lay out in the sun for hours and hours. We ran into the ocean and it was BEAUTIFUL. The first day on the beach was so so windy, that the heat from the sun felt PERFECT. I cannot stress how wonderful that day was on the beach.


After a while, Sabrina and I decided to go play beach volleyball with a group of random guys nearby. Turns out I am really bad at volleyball, and I always want to use my feet instead.

Sequence of our friendship

Our graceful entrance into the sea

We went to a family owned restaurant for dinner that night that was recommended my our hotel. I got Mousaka, which is a typical Greek food that is layers of potato, vegetables, meat, and then cheese. 'Twas delectable.

"WHAT is THAT?"

"It's mousaka!"

"Moose caca??"

It didn't take long to discover the cost of 6 hours in the sun...unlike some of the naturally tan girls in my group, I canNOT come away just darker. I got burnt. Badly. On mY back, my chest, my bathing suit line all around my bum. And my butt cheeks. My group officially named me "Ginger Cheeks" for the duration of the trip. That's what I get for wearing a swimsuit made in Europe that shows part of my butt that has never before seen the sun.

The burn was so bad by the time I went to bed that even on pain killers and slathering moisturizer all over me, I was waking up all night. It hurt so badly, much deeper than a normal burn. My whole body just ached to the point where I felt nauseous anytime I moved, not to mention touched anything. With some extra strength pain killers multiple times a day, I was able to suck it up enough to still have an awesome time the next few days.

Sorry, but you need to understand my pain.

We took a local bus the next morning to Fira, Santorini's capital. We spent most of the day just exploring up and down the hilly streets and checking out the many shops and views. Then we went to Kamari beach and relaxed there some more. I kept the middle portion of my body out of the sun and tried not to move and just enjoy the beauty around me. Wasn't difficult to do. To get home, we took a boat ride around the bend of the island instead of taking the bus all the way back. We had to walk out into the water to get into the boat, and it was so cool! When we disembarked at Perissa, I had one hand full and thought I could lower myself down into the shallow water with just one hand on the ladder. I thought wrong. In front of a big group of people wait into get on the boat, I swung out and slipped off the ladder and fell with a splash into the water. But with style, so it was okay, right?

 Also, European beaches are weird. Even when it's not a "nude beach," women are often seen topless. Sometimes their husbands are even helping rub tanning oil on their topless wives and you are scarred for life because of what you see.


Walking up and down the boardwalk makes you feel like celebrities, because of all the restaurant hosts calling out to you. They always yell to us saying we are beautiful and trying to convince us to eat with them.

Look closely and you can see that the statue is a man's exposed butt.

That night we hung by the pool at our hotel and played Pit again, to the entertainment of everyone nearby. Some guys even stopped swimming to ask us what we were playing (we kept yelling loudly during the game). It was so nice to just relax and have fun with awesome people in a beautiful place.

Sunset over the pool at Hotel Perissa

Two guys in the room next door to us in the hotel talked to me and Sabrina and invited us to hang out with them. There must have been some miscommunication, because when they realized there were 5 of us later, they bailed. BUT we ended up having the time of our lives and a night none of us will ever forget. We got all dolled up, bought a huge tub of ice cream and ate out of it on the beach in the dark. We played on the edge of the water and walked barefoot on the black sand that was finally cool on our feet! We even went for a night swim.......

The next morning we rented 3 four wheelers and conquered Santorini! We went for a little joyride around the Perissa beach just to celebrate the freedom and get used to the quads. We spent the morning at the beach for our last time and then headed home to the hotel to get all packed up. We wanted to be all ready to go after our final adventure.

We rode our four wheelers all the way to Oia at the other end of the island. We had to travel on the main roads to get there and it was pretty scary sometimes. Beautiful. But scary. After a while of maneuvering through some towns we hit the cliffs. And I mean CLIFFS. We were riding the four wheelers on these windy roads that climbed up and up the most beautiful cliffs overlooking the ocean. I found myself freaking out at this point, because I just felt like my quad wouldn't make the turns. I could easily maneuver my motor scooter on them, but it felt like I wasn't going to make the turns. I have only driven a four wheeler on an open field of a farm, never on a real road going close to 40 km/hr and on the edge of windy cliffs!

Such ignorant bliss before we reached the Cliffs of Insanity

We finally made it, and I survived. Oia was a major tourist hub, especially in the evening, since Oia is famous for the view of the sunset. We explored a bit and had a loverly dinner before finding a place on a wall to sit and eat ice cream while watching the sun set over the water. The view was pretty incredible. Nothing blocked it's view, just the sky, the sun, and the sea meeting gradually in the most beautiful red display I've ever seen. It was the perfect night to end on. Sitting on the wall with some incredible girls, I couldn't help but think of how blessed I am.

And with that, our time in Santorini came to a close. We went to the port and boarded out midnight ferry back to Athens. It was much less comfortable than our first one, unfortunately, so none of us slept much.. And finally it was 5 AM and we were in Athens... And nothing was open.
So we got to pretend we were backpackers for a little bit, and had no home to go to haha. After a while we found a bakery that just opened, so we bummed it off there for a while. We then decided to sit on the sidewalk in a populated street and play Pit some more. Oh man, we were a hit. We had so many old men and women coming up to us and smiling or saying something to us in Greek. Someone told us we were beautiful (funny, given our sleepless, homeless state). Many passing tourists took pictures of us sitting in our little card circle.

We spent the rest of our time before our flight at the Acropolis museum. Incredible. Dorkiness. History. Such wow.

We had booked a super cheap flight from Athens to Bratislava, Slovakia. So then we had to take a bus to Vienna ( about an hour ride). It was beautiful! We passed these huge fields with these large windmills with the sunset for a backdrop. So I can say I've been in Slovakia now, which is cool. By the time we made it to our beautiful hotel in Vienna, we nearly cried she we fell onto the most comfortable beds in the world. 

The complimentary breakfast buffet helped them win my approval as well... I may have abused that. Especially since I went back for seconds... And thirds.

I have a friend from the Philadelphia stake who is doing a study abroad with BYU in Vienna. She just so happens to be named Hannah! Well, lucky for us, she was willing to hang out with us for the day! She became an honorary temporary member of our group and took us all over the city for our first day.


We visited Stephansdom, this church that she practices the organ at, Mozart's house, the Schönbrun palace, and just the beauty of Vienna. Oh, and for lunch? I GOT SPAGETTI EIS. Unless you were in my German class, you can't understand the emotions I felt. I al,last cried in excitement when I realized I could get it there. It was beautiful and delicious. I can tell my German teacher I finally made it.

Schoenbrunn Palace

Lizzie McGuire would be proud.

Gardens at Schoenbrunn

Reenacting the statues. Nailed it.

Once again, nailed it.

Cliche jumping picture in the Schoenbrunn courtyard

TELL FRAU TONEATTO THAT I MADE IT.

Spagetti Eis melting as I take pictures...

Another variation

It was really exciting being in Austria for a little, since I have rarely had an opportunity to use German outside of school. I never thought I would actually end up in a German speaking country, even though I always wanted to.

We crashed the local YSA waffle night with Hannah for dinner, so we were feeling pretty healthy and satisfied with the day. Vienna was a VERY different vacation style vacation than Greece, but still so incredible!


The next day we met up with Hannah again and headed to the Prater, this huge park with an amusement park in it. It was so fun to even just walk around in and see people from all over the world. We rode this HUGE swings ride and got an amazing view of the city. I almost threw up beforehand because it looked so scary to me. But it was so worth it. Later I befriended a pony. They told me I was too big to ride it though. Sadness.
We had the LONGEST bumper cars round and few of us made it out unscathed. It was pretty violent and bouncy haha.

I love horses, in case you haven't noticed. 

The rest of the day was spent looking at local stores on some of the Vienna streets. Did I mention I LOVE thrift shops? This one shop in particular, I found a Dirndl that fit me perfectly! For only 29 euro! Oh and they had vintage Star Wars rings. No biggie.

Fun with two Hannah's in the same city.

Dirndl!

That night we got all fancy and went out to dinner before our Mozart concert. Hannah had recommended this place called Vapiano's, and it did NOT disappoint. It was basically an Italian food chipotle. In the sense that they cook it in front of you when you tell them what you want. Then they hand it to you and you go sit down. It was so good and such a fun environment!
The concert was in the Vienna state opera house, so it was beautiful and impressive in the architecture alone. I loved the music, even though the orchestra was pretty goofy looking since they were dressed in wig and costume (we had selected a pretty tourist-y concert haha). But it was beautiful and such a fun experience.

Weirding out my personal chef.

George Washington and Pocahontas. (I think he is supposed to be Mozart?)

View from our balcony...

View of us in the balcony.

Selfie with the grandmas that we will someday become.

Oh and then there was the drunk guy who came up to me and talked to me in German in McDonald's.
And I had a classy moment where I sneezed so hard in our apartment bathroom that I head butted the door I was shutting and fell on the wet bathroom floor as a result... Good times.


On Sunday we went to the international ward (English speaking, yay!). It was SO uplifting. And the people there were so cute! I loved it and love seeing how there are so many strong members in the far places of the world.


Well we just landed. The only other thing I have to add is the fact that in our flight to Rome from Vienna, I sneezed so hard that I head butted the chair in front of me, and two attractive Italian boys laughed at me.
But on our flight from Vienna to Iasi, they upgraded some of us to first class, and I had a dance party to the music on my iPod, because we were in class 1, and I'm classy.

I have been incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to go to all of these amazing places and experience so many unique experiences. But I am starting to get to the point where I am ready to go home. I love what I am doing here, and I am not ready to say goodbye to some of my children at the orphanage, but I also am just exhausted. But this is an experience I can never forget, so I am going to take the good with the bad and remember how lucky I am.

Stay Classy, America.

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