for example... clothes begin to require desperate and intense washing and drying.. talk about needing reshaping, ironing, and some serious de-odorizing... yiiikes. if you've ever been to Europe you know the funky smells that go on and you can imagine the collection I've picked up with my clothes the last 3 weeks.
Anyways.. the one session of general conference that I've seen so far has been awesome. To no one's surprise, Elder Holland's was my favorite talk. My favorite quote (not word for word) from him?
"Ours is not a feeble message. It is not hapless. It is not hopeless... It is a message that is meant to change the world."
I'll let you know if anyone else is in the running for my favorite talk once I watch the rest of the sessions, but I highly doubt it. If you haven't seen conference, at least go watch his talk.
And because I don't feel like organizing this post in any form...
- We had this bus driver named Peter who drove us around for the first week and a half of our travels. Yeah it's as eccentric as it sounds especially considering the fact that I absolutely cannot stay awake on that dang bus and wake up feeling groggy but Peter made it a good time. He loved hearing the sound of his own voice and would always spout off the most random comments in his dutch accent. Our favorite is that he would get on the intercom and say things like, "it is Monday. It is a great day today, the sun is shining, we are in France." Thank you captain obvious! Here's him telling us a story about going to the market with a q-tip in his ear.
- I'm aware that the new missionary announcement threw everyone in Provo into a complete frenzy, but imagine being with 37 girls who are ages 19-21 and what that announcement did to this group in the Netherlands! Lots of mission talk has taken place in the past 48 hours around this part of Europe.
- Yesterday we went to these museums in the Netherlands, (which is where we are right now- I know.. I'm having a hard enough time keeping up myself) and there was a 50s fashion display and a room dedicated to Marilyn Monroe! Definitely my favorite exhibit I've seen in a museum here. True girl at heart. (sorry for the bad quality photos... sneaky photos=no flash)
- We watched the Sound of Music on one of the bus rides... why does that movie never get old? We also had a singing session a few days prior from the soundtrack on the walk to Mont St. Michel... No we don't stick out. A huge group of blonde girls singing "doe, a deer" loudly is totally European right?
- Today we had a little missionary experience outside of the Anne Frank house (which deserves a blog post to itself). It was quite interesting. The guy in line behind us looked a couple years older than us, and asked where we were from. We responded with Utah and he then asked us how long we had been in Amsterdam and the whole nine yards. He began to talk to us about the red light district and if we were planning on hitting that later. Need I remind you that Amsterdam has no laws? We are fairly certain everyone there was high. Anyways, we began to talk to this guy about the Church and how we don't practice polygamy ("you guys all have like 8 wives right?") and got to talk to him a little bit about what we believe. It was kind of neat to think that we were representatives of the Church at that moment and were able to give him some true facts that pertain to that part of our lives. I've basically grown up in Utah county so it's a great experience for me to be around mostly nonmembers; it really puts our peculiarity into perspective and makes me grateful for what I believe. Go missionary moments!
- Kylie buckles hard when someone starts speaking to her in English but with an accent. The other day, someone asked her where we were from. She replied with the United States and then they proceeded to ask her how long we were in Europe for. Before they could even get through their whole question, she blurted out "Utah!". She became flustered and started to blabber over him all the while we sat back and watched him become more and more apprehensive. She finally turns to one of us and says (in a completely nervous and annoyed tone): "someone else try talking to him." hahaha Kenzie replied with, "Ky... He's speaking English." Definitely one of the better moments of the week.
Kenzie, Kylie and I at Monet's gardens!
In the past week, I've been to 11 different cities, 3 separate countries, and stayed in 5 hotels.
I've visited countless castles, museums, historical sites, and other significant locations.
And I feel like I've learned more in three weeks than I do in an entire semester at school, and have had a blast doing it.
So here's to two more months of studying abroad and having the experience of a lifetime!
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