BRB Europe.

So it is sufficient to say that I am completely rubbish at this whole blog/photo upload thing (who was I kidding myself thinking I should be a photographer, pah! All they do is upload and blog!..I mean, besides taking the photos and all). 

Welp…I am back in the grand country of America, folks! Weird to say…Doesn’t seem like I have been living in a foreign country the past 6 months, but low and behold, that is my reality! I keep describing to people that it feels like Chronicles of Narnia, where these kids go and live this huge epic life and even grow old there, only to return to the real world where no time has passed at all and they are still just kids.  Yep, that’s what it feels like.

(side note: everyone listen to Sigur Ros’s new album. It’s pretty beastly. As per usual, Sigur Ros style.)

I have gone on more lunch/coffee dates since I have been back than I can remember. WHICH I ADORE. Seeing close friends and friends I’ve known for only a short while and friends that are froomies (future roomies) that I can’t wait to know even more.  If there was a job that required me to talk to people about life and Jesus and laugh and play outside, that would be a job I’d be ALL over (oh wait..Kanakuk Kounselor in a nut shell).  It’s been so lovely; however, in the midst of these great and wonderful reunions…I miss my London. And I say my London because that is what it feels like precisely. MY London. The city belonged to me in a way that it will never belong to someone else. Not that I, personally, took possession of it and overthrew Buckingham Palace, but in the sense that no other being will ever experience the city like I experienced London. It will forever be like a snowflake. No two are alike. I miss it more than I was expecting too (which I was already expecting too quite a lot), but completely differently than I imagined. Within this OHMYGOSHTAKEMEBACKRIGHTNOW feeling, a peace is present that I cannot describe and can only give credit to the Holy Spirit for. (Romans 8:6 “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”) Do I still desire to return to London? Yes, very much so. Am I at rest with my current location and patient in the waiting? For the time being….yes. I know eventually my flesh will crawl out and demand a time frame from God, but we all know that is just silly nonsense to ask of. Do I know for sure that I will return? No, I can only hope and pray. It does though claim in Scriptures that the Lord does give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4).  A lot of the times, this verse is looked at as “OH GOODY! I’m gunna go to church and God will give me my Ken Barbie Husband in our Dream House in the suburbs with that perfect job and red sports car and a boy and a girl who play football and dance perspectively!” Buttttttt this is not the case. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. By my heart resting within His heart and hands, my desires become His desires. So, if this want and desire to return is fully of Him, I have no doubt that I will return. Do I know the time frame to that? Absolutely not. I would prefer sooner or later, but you know what…I’m not going to question the Author of Time on His timing. Seems a bit silly to do so, don’t you think? So for now, I rest and I wait in today, enjoying my Texas sun and that Texas heat (we shall see if I still enjoy it come August….) and praise Him for this new season of my life that is about to begin. 

Let’s just sum up the past 2 months as quickly as possible:
April was my 20 days of backpacking trip, along with a weekend trip to Paris!
Starting April 9^th, I travelled to Budapest, Rome, Salerno, Florence, Venice, ending in Barcelona.
 To put some perspective into my travels. Here is a map!
(I really just like maps, that’s mostly why I have this…)

Quick summary of each location:
Budapest: SO CHEAP! Which was so great after having the pound and then the euro. Phew. Forint was the name of the Hungarian currency. We just called it HUF. 300 HUF was about equal to 1 USD. Freakin’ stickin’ awesome. A wonderful breakfast under our hostel with coffee, juice, and a full meal, cost us around 1400 HUF (aka a little over 4 USD). This is also where I had the best café latte of my life. Seriously. Italy had some great cappuccinos, don’t get me wrong. But dag. Those Hungarians know what they are doing.  Part of the reason I loved Budapest was because I didn’t know what to expect.  And if I am being honest, my expectations weren’t the highest. When I thought about myself traveling to Europe this time last year, I pictured the typical Paris, Rome, Barcelona, etc….but Budapest? But a close friend I was travelling with really wanted to go, it was cheap to get to and made our travel to Rome cheaper, so why not go!? So we went. It was beautiful and citified, yet quant all at the same time. We walked anywhere and everywhere! We planned on going splunking there, but it turned out the ONE day the company was closed was the day we planned on going. Oh well. Started off our trip on an awesome note.

Rome: okay, it’s Rome. How could it not be cool? The place we stayed in was about five minutes from the Vatican. Yep, that’s right. Surreal, really. We would walk out of our building all, “Sup, Pope! How’s it going up there?!” Pretty sick. It rained (pourrreedddd) all but our first day there, but it’s okay.  We pushed through the rain and saw every amazing thing in Rome! I mean, when in Rome, right! The Vatican, Sistine Chapel, Pantheon, Roman Forum, The Colosseum, and so much more! Best gelato of my life, without a doubt from Rome at a place near the Sistine Chapel. Om nom nom to the extreme.   Our last night we met up with some friends from London who were traveling and had an amazing 5 course meal for only 15 euros! And after seeing the prices of some of these places, trust me…this was a steal.

Salerno: was kind of a dud. Wouldn’t have been had it not been for the rain.  But you see, the only thing to do in Salerno was climb, hike, and beach it up all day. Pretty difficult when it rained night and day….literally.  It made for a nice break in our trip however, but quite sad to miss out on all the outdoorsy things that Salerno offered (aka, cliff diving. L ).  Despite all the rain, Salerno is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I have never seen the rain forest, but this is what I would imagine the rain forest looking like. Stunning, truly.  The place we stayed in was a classic Italian village style house.  SO PRECIOUS! It was this long stair case leading up to each person’s house. Reminded me of that scene from the Traveling Pants movie where that one chic goes to Greece. The houses were kind of like that! That was legit, let me just tell you. Here is a picture of Salerno:

Florence: WE SAW THE STATUE OF DAVID! WHOO! And it is HUGE. Wow. Never realized that before. Truly a beauty to behold. My friends and I just stood and stared at the magnitude of it for a solid 15 minutes without uttering a word.  It was breathtaking. We walked around so much here. The city is wonderfully beautiful.  One of my favorite spots is the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. I love the bridge across from it though so that I can sit and stare at this beautiful bridge from across the way. This bridge we sat on holds no significance or any special beauty, but a key to behold something so grand and lovely. Most of the streets here are all cobbled stone, which is just awesome. The best pizza of my life came from Florence. VIVA LA VIVA GUSTA PIZZA! If you are going to Florence. Go to Gusta Pizza. OH dear lawdy. We were in Florence for close to three full days and went there twice…need I say more? Oh yea, I hung out with Neal Patrick Harris as well…so that was cool.

VENICE! Ladjkadjdafajkdfkjadsadjadjkdasjkladsjlkadklsdjklsajkl Venice=mind blown. Might be my favorite of the 6 cities I saw backpacking. I always knew how Venice had lots of canals and was built upon water, but you have no idea how freaking cool it all really is until you are actually there.  We get off the train pretty late from Florence and are looking at our hostel directions.  It says take Line 2 to this stop and blablahblah. So we are all thinking oh you know…a subway or a bus or something along those lines. No. Their public transportation is a BOAT. A BOAT. And in my dear friend Jenny’s words: “OH MY GOSH. I AM GOING TO THOW UP MY ORGANS!!!” That is how excited we all were. Can you imagine? Five smelly Americans from ages 19 to 21 with massive backpacks, tired eyes, and excitement that probably resembled something like a kid injected with five liters of straight sugar. This was us. Well…manly me. I'm five years old when it comes to most things. (My catch phrase became... "Guys.... WE ARE IN [insert city of location]."...sometimes my brain just couldn't register where my body was actually residing!) Let’s get real here. Still get excited thinking about it.  We did the traditional gondola ride the next day, meandered the city, watched as they made glass blown art, saw St. Marc’s Cathedral and Piazza.  At night this piazza floods with water! What!? They bring out huge wooden planks to walk on so you don’t have to get wet, but naturally, me being me…I chose to walk in it some of the way. I mean, why not! It is just from the ocean, and when else can I play in water in front of St. Marc’s Cathedral!? Clothes can always dry.  Oh, Venice. How I loved thee.

Barcelona: At this point, it was safe to say we were all exhausted.  Our hostel was on Las Ramblas which is one of the main roads of Barcelona, which was lucky for us because who knows if we would have actually seen all that much had we not been close! Across from us was a MASSIVE food market called St. Joseph’s.  There was everything from empanadas, fresh fruit and veggies, baklava, smoothies, sheep’s head, and cow’s stomach lining. (ew. I know). We saw Familia Sagrada and just walked around a ton on the first day. The next two days we were just so exhausted, we turned this into our Salerno vacation and laid out on the beach. Looking back I wish I would have taken more advantage of the sites, but I honestly don’t even know if I would have enjoyed them at this point.  I would have just wanted to sit down and sleep and give my tired legs a break from all that walking. 

After Barcelona, I returned to London for about three days before heading off to Switzerland, but I will save that for another post….

Over and out,
Madi Mae

Check out this song from Sigur Ros's newest album...been on repeat all day.