For Laura

Laura, this is for you! Thank you for being so faithful in checking my blog, even though I never had a chance to post to it during my trip. I will have a lot to post when I get home and I am excited to do that.

We leave tomorrow. Actually, it´s almost six now and we will be leaving at 4 a.m., so we leave in less than twelve hours! This trip has been the opportunity of a lifetime. There have definitely been ups and downs but I cannot deny that God has given me the chance to see and do things that I never would have been able to do without this chance.

I have learned a lot. I have learned things about myself...this has been a really reflective time for me. Not being able to have someone that I was necessarily very close to forced me to learn how to be okay with it just being me and God. I also learned a lot about the kids on the trip! They are A LOT of fun! I have some pretty fun pictures to show off and if my future children are anything like the majority of these kids I will be one happy parent. I learned some new words...in three different languages! I even learned some new Spanish because they use a different dialect in parts of Spain. I have learned that I am a better Spanish speaker than I thought! I know that sounds silly since I teach Spanish, but I never expected to teach Spanish. I never have a chance to practice my Spanish in Canada and here our guide for the trip was from Spain. It was great fun to practice speaking with her and today she gave me the ultimate compliment...she said I speak Spanish perfectly! That gave me a real boost in confidence. Being in Madrid for the last days has been a great time because I am ending the trip with Spanish just flowing through my brain. I love it!

A little synopsis of the trip:
Germany-While in Germany we saw many great things. We went to Rothenburg, an old walled city. I had actually been there before but it was nice to visit it again. It is a great representation of Old Germany. We also visited Dachau. This was the first concentration camp built in Germany and it was very powerful. Our time in Munich was fun because we were able to attend a Munich World Cup fan fest for soccer! We watched the final game along with 22,000 other fans at the Munich Olympic stadium. Although we were not at the actual game, watching it on the big screen with all of those people was a pretty incredible experience. We ended our time in Germany in Heidelberg. It´s a quaint old town that had a nice slow pace. We saw a castle and spent some time shopping.

France-Our time in France was great! We began with three days in Paris. We saw A LOT! We went to Sacre Couer, went up the Eiffel Tower, went on a Seine River cruise, went to the Louvre, went up Notre Dame and touched the big bell, Emmanuel, we went to the Musee d Orsay, and spent a lot of time just wandering the streets and taking in all that Paris is. It was pretty amazing and I got a much better picture of Paris than the first time I was there. After Paris we took the bullet train down to Nice and spent two days on the French Riviera. Talk about wonderful! The waters of the Mediterranean are incredible. Warm, deep blue, and full of salt! It was pretty easy to float. Two days on the beach were just what we needed after the hot busyness of Paris. We also took a day trip into Monaco so really, we visited four countries on this tour! Our last day in France we visited teh towns of Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Nemes. We saw some great Roman ruins in Nemes. Our last night in France was spent in Montpelier.

Spain-Our time in Spain began in Barcelona. We had two days there and the best part of Barcelona was the beautiful beach. It was also bordering the Mediterrean and I have to say, I am a BEACH girl! I loved it! After time in Barcelona we traveled eight hours by bus into Madrid, our last stop of the trip. Madrid has been my favourite part of the trip. We saw the Royal Palace, several monuments and we have spent a lot of time simply wandering.

When I return I will do detailed posts of all of our days, along with some great pictures. This has been the trip of a lifetime. 18 days packed with history, fun, and the HOT HOT sun! Yep, I meant to rhyme that! I hope that this finds all of you well. I look forward to catching up with you when I return. By this time tomorrow I will almost be home! YAY! There´s no place like home...if only Kevin was actually going to be there!