Lund

*DISCLAIMER* We have hit the point in the trip where exhaustion beat taking photos of everything I saw and loved. While I do have more photos than I have posted here (and better photos), they are on my memory card, which is in my camera, which is in my suitcase, which is in the hold of an airplane. So they aren't being posted here. At least not right now.

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT: 7.14.18

Happy Saturday! Today was really cool because I had the chance to take over the BYU Life Science Department Instagram page. I basically spent my day trying to show how educational this study abroad is when in reality we just kind of play most of the time.

The day started with a group workout that was aimed at the arms and abs, and I felt it in my abs for a couple days after which is bad because I really hadn’t tried that hard. I should really work on my core more. After breakfast, we met up to have class. We walked in a group to a nearby park and started off with a country intro. The professor decided to do the country intro as a game of two truths and a lie, which mostly turned into bragging about Scandinavia while bagging on the US. It was cool to learn some things though, like how important biking is, but also that all the top safety features in cars are usually invented here in Sweden. We also learned that Swedes love black licorice, so we had it at 9:30 in the morning in class. I had forgotten how much I love good black licorice, so that’s going to be a struggle while I’m here.

I had MBH after that, and it was interesting. We talked about the health benefits of marriage. It was interesting to take the religion out of it and talk purely about the public health benefits of marriage, and what it does for communities and for the individual health of a person. It was also interesting to think of public health initiatives that could help promote marriage, such as free premarital classes or parenting classes. Overall, just a really thought-provoking class.

Then we walked to the bike shop to pick up our bikes! My bike was way too big for me, and I couldn’t really reach the pedals even though the seat was all the way down. The employee didn’t really believe me, so he made me show him before he’d fix it, and I pulled a muscle trying to get onto it to start biking, which really hurt. But then he believed me and did what he could to fix it, which involved removing the seat entirely and replacing it with one that would go further down. It really didn’t help much and I still can barely reach the pedals, but it’s just a rental for the week so oh well.

We grabbed lunch from the nearby grocery store. They have an amazing salad bar that is priced by the kilogram, so I built a great southwest chicken salad. It made me so happy and full. After lunch, we all met up for a ride to the nearby beach. The professors had warned that it might be cold, so everyone was kinda bundled up, but I’m used to cold beaches so I was wearing my suit under my shorts and t-shirt, and had my beach blanket ready to go. The ride kinda sucked. My bike isn’t the easiest to ride, and we were riding into the wind the entire time. It was not starting out great and I really wasn’t excited about the whole thing. But then we got to the beach.

 Holy Cow I have never seen or felt anything more amazing than that sand. It was white and soft and warm, I took my shoes off the first second I could. I spread the beach blanket out, and all my friends who had worn their normal clothes spread out on it, but I headed to the water. It wasn’t cold by any measure, and it was so shallow! You could walk 100 yards out and only be up to your waist. It was perfect to just stand and relax and enjoy it in the sun. Between relaxing in the water, napping on the beach, and playing bocce ball with the professors, it was a perfect beach day. Made the miserable ride to and from the beach so completely worth it.

When we got back, we changed into clean and dry clothes and then headed off to the professors favorite burger joint for dinner. It was tucked back in some buildings, and it really was pretty cute! It was also pretty pricey which was annoying. But the burgers were good and so it all worked out. I don’t know if I’ll want to do it again or not, but we’ll see.  

DAY TWENTY-NINE: 7.15.18

This morning we woke up, got dressed and ready for church, and then climbed onto our bikes! I had never ridden a bike in a dress before, and it gave me a little bit of perspective on what it would have been like to be a sister missionary (although their skirts are probably a bit longer than mine was). It was an adventure to say the least. 

The ride was quick, and we made it to church, which was in an actual building for once! It was nice to be in a stereotypical Mormon church building again. Church was good, the Copenhagen temple president and his wife were speaking, and ending up teaching a Sunday school lesson in English because of how many of us didn’t speak Swedish. Then we had relief society, which was a mix of Swedish and English. It was great, especially singing the hymns in English. We’ve been singing along in the native language in church, and while you can make your way through a hymn in French or Italian, we were all just butchering the hymns in Swedish. One of the sister missionaries started crying during the hymn because it had been so long since she had last heard it sung in English. It was also really nice to stay for all three hours of church. It can seem so long week after week, but when you go a month without it, you really start to appreciate and miss it.

After church I ran to the store to make myself a salad for lunch, and then just took some time on my own to read the scriptures for a bit. It was a peaceful Sunday afternoon that I needed and really enjoyed! Sunday was also the world cup final, and the local park in Lund set up a projector and screen to view it. We rode our bikes down to the park to watch, and along with a ton of Swedes, enjoyed the soccer game and watching France win! It was a cool experience to be in Europe during the world cup and to be traveling through so many of the countries that were involved in it. We were in France for quite a few of their games, and it was really fun!

Later that night, we biked back down to the big soccer field by the park for a Sunday night devotional. The professors had invited some of the college-age members of the ward, and so they joined us. We had one of them and one of my classmates share experiences they’ve had, and then my professor gave a great devotional about loving your brother and how to be Christlike and welcoming. We talked about the refugee crisis and all that Sweden has done with opening their borders and such. It was a good thing to think about. After that, we all just started playing in the park. We had soccer balls, frisbees, a bocce ball set (all of which my professors packed over for their trip. I have no idea how any of their bags made the weight limit). I haven’t played ultimate frisbee in so long, it was a really fun game.

DAY THIRTY: 7.16.18

This morning I woke up and had breakfast, and then met up with the group. We caught a train this morning to Denmark, to explore Copenhagen! The train was uneventful until it just stopped. Turns out the power was out in the station, so we had to wait until they got the power up to make sure the train could get in safely. It was no big deal, but it did have us running late for our canal tour! We still made it okay though. We got on the boat, and set off! It started off just super hot. We saw some super cool buildings. There was a tower made out of four dragons, the theater and opera houses, a military space. We stopped by the Little Mermaid statue, and got to see it from the water. It was cool, but smaller than we all expected, and a bit anti-climactic. Seeing the Royal Palace might have been my favorite part of the tour, it was so beautiful and unexpected! The best was that a bunch of the girls fell asleep on the tour, and so afterward they looked at the guide and asked why we had skipped the little mermaid statue. Overall, it was really cool to see Copenhagen from the water.

After the tour, we walked over to the Church of Our Lady. It holds the original Christus statue, and it was so amazing to see it in real person. It was a gorgeous church, and I love seeing the amazing artwork. It was so cool to see the Christus in person and to know that’s where it began. We ran into another Mormon family while there and chatted about connections with them. They’re from Utah, and two of their kids go to the high school that I interned at this past semester! Super fun.

Then we wandered to find food. Everything in Copenhagen is expensive, and we struggled to find something we all liked. We ended up splitting up to grab food, and I ended up at 7-11. I would never eat food from there in the US, but 7-11 is different in foreign countries. I had an amazing chicken tandoori wrap and a chicken kebab. It was a little annoying because it was possibly the best chicken kebab I’ve ever had, and it was from a 7-11. But oh well. After that, we walked down to see the famous street of houses in Copenhagen. It was so beautiful! It was honestly one of the best things I’ve ever seen. The houses were all so colorful and gorgeous!

After that, the group split apart because we all wanted to do different things. Two of the girls and I wandered off to go look into some stores and then go to Tivoli gardens. While walking to the church earlier in the day I had seen some shirts outside a store that I liked, so we walked back. They were super cute, and they fit great! I ended up buying one of them.

We headed off to Tivoli Gardens! Tivoli is the worlds oldest amusement park, and its in the middle of Copenhagen! You have to pay to get in and for the rides, so we just bought admission and an unlimited ride pass. It was so fun. The gardens are beautiful, and the whole thing looks like a very vintage Disneyland. We started off with this weird mine/river thing. It was like a combination of the pirates of the Caribbean and the toy story mania rides at Disney. It was so weird and fun! Then we went off to a rollercoaster that was like a Matterhorn version of the big thunder mountain railroad. Then there was this big swing that swung us in the circle. The best part of that was that you can see all of Copenhagen from all of it! It was honestly the best view in the whole city. Then we headed to this other small rollercoaster. While we were waiting in line, the nightly parade went by! It was so small and cute, but just perfect. The whole park was like a little vintage Disneyland! The rollercoaster was awesome too. Then my girlfriends drug me onto The Demon. A Giant roller coaster with three loops and a lot of time spent upside-down. I was not excited, but it was enjoyable! It was intense, but I survived. 

At that point we had to meet up with the group to catch the train home, so we grabbed ice cream cones and headed out of the park. The train ride home was uneventful, and then we got burgers at a place near our hotel. They were seriously so good. It was insane.

The weirdest part of being in Sweden (and today Denmark) is how different their money is. Both British pounds and Euros are worth more than a dollar, but it’s a close comparison. The Krona is worth $0.11 in Sweden and the Krone is worth $0.16 in Denmark. So things cost like 100kr. It’s nuts, and I usually have absolutely no idea how much money I’m actually spending. I don’t love it, and I’m going broke. But the memories are worth it, and I’ll be back working again in another week.

DAY THIRTY-ONE: 7.17.18

Today was fun! I slept in this morning rather than getting up to work out, and it felt great. We met up in the morning after breakfast for a meeting with the Lund city planners. We rode our bikes over to the city hall, and then listened to a great presentation! It was super cool to hear about how they transitioned the city into one that is so bike-focused, and how much biking and sustainable energy sources are so important to them. Walking and biking are the most common routes of public transport, and public transportation comes next. The busses here in Lund run on biogas, which is made in the waste facilities nearby. It was so interesting to hear about! Honestly, this whole trip has had me thinking a lot about my personal environmental impact and things that I want to try and do differently when I get home. The presenter was hilarious, and so the presentation flew by. They then provided sandwiches and juice for us, and the sandwiches were so good. They were open-faced cheese, cucumber, and bell pepper sandwiches, and they were amazing. I want to eat like a European the rest of my life.

After that, the presenter took us on a bike tour of the city of Lund! It’s only a half hour ride from one side to the other, but our tour was about two hours, as we went all over the place and stopped in a few locations to talk. We saw the hospital which is connected to the university (think UW medical center), the design building in the university (paid for and sponsored by the founder of Ikea, it’s a super prestigious program here in Sweden. The building is cool, and was built around a previously existing bike path, so the path runs through a tunnel in the building!), a science center outside of town that is working on quantum physics, a lot of construction areas where they are building a new tramway, and a long ride through urban and rural Lund. It was so beautiful. Some of the gardens out here are massive, and it really just made me want a house with a big yard so that I can grow a huge garden.

About halfway through the bike tour, it started raining pretty hard. However, we were out on bikes and there really wasn’t anything we could do about it, so we just kept going. We all got a bit wet, but I loved it. Something about biking in the rain, through beautiful neighborhoods and gorgeous green areas made me happy.

After our bike ride, we decided to go to a local bakery that everyone has been talking about called Mormor’s. I opted for a pastry/donut thing that looked good, and I made the right choice. It was so flaky and soft, but the chocolate was thick and creamy, and the center was creamy and wonderful. It was amazing and so worth it.

Then the boys and I got together to finish the interviews that we’ve been putting off for so long. We asked one person in the town square who agreed and helped us out, but then we kept striking out. We figured we’d go back to the hotel and ask the front desk person, and go from there. We scored big time. Both the general managers, the receptionist, and two housekeepers were in the lobby and agreed to help us. Not only did they agree, but they gave great interviews as well! It was easy and quick, and now we only have one interview left to go! It was a huge stress off my back to have that done, I’d honestly been worrying that we wouldn’t get it done, and that didn’t make me feel good. But now I feel great!

We wandered some shops in town afterward and I was both grateful and irritated that I just don’t have the suitcase space to keep shopping. I keep reminding myself that I’ll find cute stuff at home too, but it can be really hard when I have the mentality about money that I have right now. It’s a good thing there’s a weight limit on bags or I don’t know if my will alone would be strong enough.

The group split apart for part of the afternoon, and I decided to go for a run since I haven’t in a while. I only went about 2 ½ miles, but it felt good to be out and going, despite how slow it was. I ran to the local park because they have this little outdoor gym and I was curious to see if I can still do a pull up or not. I ran into the professors' kids while there, which ended in a pull-up contest. I’m proud to say that I tied for first (we don’t need to talk about how few it was to get there). Then I kept running, and found a little climbing wall in the park! I bouldered on it for a bit (and mentally cried at how weak my climbing skills have gotten) before continuing my run. It was a good active afternoon, and what I needed to quit feeling quite as sluggish as I have been lately.

Then we all got together for an early dinner at like 5. We went back to the burger place, and it was great. Still not my favorite, but sometimes you go places with people you love for the atmosphere, not the food. And the food is good, I just think it’s overpriced. It was still fun to hang out though.

We left for a bike ride after that! I didn’t really know where we were going, and my bike has been having some issues after it got knocked over yesterday, so it wasn’t really the most fun for me. I was going slower than everyone, so I was a good 200 yards behind them, and my chain kept sounding like it was about to fall off, which really freaked me out. It was insanely beautiful to be riding through the fields, but I just wasn’t enjoying it. We reached the halfway point to the destination that I didn’t realize we had, but I wasn’t comfortable going all the way and the group seemed a little done. I think I annoyed them by wanting to turn around, but I didn’t want to be stranded 5 miles away from town with a broken bike. So we turned around and headed back. I was in my head a lot, and I think that started a downhill mental slide for me. I went and read my scriptures for a bit when I got back, but I wasn’t as into it as I usually am and that was frustrating. I met back up with the group later, but I was just feeling moody and excluded, so I went back and worked on some homework for a bit.

It was still a really great day, I think I’m just winding down from the go-go-go of this trip and getting mentally ready to be back in a normal routine.

DAY THIRTY-TWO: 7.18.18

We woke up to rain, and it was wonderful. The plan for the day was to head to Ale’s Stones, which was about an hour away in Ystad. That meant we got back on a charter bus for the day, and headed off! The rain was fantastic, but it was not letting up. I was grateful I had packed my rain coat, and that once again I’d stuck my camera in a ziplock bag. We got to Ystad, and walked out to the coast near the stones to a fish’n’chips place. Coming from the northwest, I’d say that I’ve had some really good fish’n’chips in my life, but nothing I’ve had even comes close to these. They were fresh, both out of the water and out of the fryer, and the batter had dill in it. With a lemon squeezed on top, they just made your heart sing. They make it on the list of notable foods I’ve eaten on this trip in a heartbeat.

Then we walked up to the stones! They are small, about my height or smaller, and form the formation of a ship. They’re just set up on this hillside, near a cliff overlooking the sea. Anthropologists aren’t sure why they are there, but it is most likely either an astrological reason (similar to Stonehenge) or some sort of burial ritual. They were fun though! We were laughing, in the US they would be behind a fence, you wouldn’t be able to touch them. Here in Sweden, we were climbing and jumping all over them. They were soaking wet in the rain, and super slick, so it was a little frightening to climb up onto them, but we made it happen, and no one got hurt!

We headed back to Lund after about an hour at the stones, and then my friends and I ran off to a local candy store. I wasn’t super impressed (the grocery store had a similar sized selection for the same price), but it was interesting to see the difference in attitude. In the US, candy stores are more of a novelty, something that you don’t go to regularly. In Sweden, that’s where you get candy. There’s no candy aisle in target, you have to go and pick it out yourself. The store was huge, and it was full of normal, every day Swedes just grabbing the sweets they needed. It was an interesting comparison. And I did get some black licorice to bring home.

Then I had class, where we talked about religion and spirituality and how they affect your health, and the health benefits and drawbacks of leading an extremely altruistic lifestyle. MBH was definitely my favorite class while over here, so I enjoyed it.

After class we grabbed dinner from the local kebab place again. It was so good, it’s frustrating that they don’t have more places like that anywhere I’ve been in the US. We’re trying to convince one of the guys in our friend group to drop out of school and just open a kebab place in Provo. He’d make a ton of money doing it, BYU students would love the food. But I don’t think he’ll ever agree to it.

After dinner we decided to go for a bike ride as a group. It started off good, but quickly went downhill. The place we thought we were going was further than expected, and the group didn’t stay together well. A couple shot off way ahead, I was holding up the middle, and a couple were in back. My bike had gotten knocked over the other day and was having some issues, and so I was falling behind. It wouldn’t have bothered me, except I didn’t have my phone, and the chain on my bike was starting to sound like it was going to fall off. Eventually we all met up again, and decided to bail on the bike ride for the day. I think the others were disappointed, but I was grateful.

DAY THIRTY-THREE: 7.19.18

Our last day together as a group! It started off with our last activity challenge, which was a 5k. I knew it was going downhill from the start, when we asked what the course was and the response was “Oh, we’ll just stay together the whole time”. Mind you, this group includes skill level that ranges from ultramarathon runners, to byu cross country athletes, to normal runners, to people who have never run more than a mile in their life. I chose to hang in the back with one of my friends (who qualifies as never having run a mile in her life), and the professor holding up the rear. This proved to be a wise decision. We plugged our way along, stopping at intersections to wait to be told where to go, and eventually popped out about half mile from the finish, where we ran into one of the other professors. He looked relieved to see us, and said “oh good, the group found their way”. I quickly crushed his hopes by informing him that we were only ahead of two other people. Turns out, the group at the front had been going fast enough that they lost the group in the middle, and the group in the middle got very lost. So the 5k was a 5k for some, a 10k for others, and a 15k for a few others. But hey, the things you do for a sticker.

After the 5k we spent some time packing and organizing, and then a group of us decided to ride back out to the beach since it was so sunny. The ride out was so windy that sometimes I could feel myself being pushed sideways on the bike path. My bike held out though, so it was okay. It was a little frustrating, the people who like to talk sped off, and the ones who were going my speed had all put headphones in and were in their own world, so I was kind of on my own the whole ride. But we made it, and the beach was gorgeous! It was super incredibly windy, but I loved it just the same. The water felt so good, and because of the wind, there were kite surfers everywhere! It was a super fun place to be. We only stayed a couple hours because some of us had class in the afternoon, but it was worth it. One of the professors came with us, and on the way home we stopped at McDonalds because they still had money in their budget, so he got us all Mcflurrys. It was wonderful.

Then we rushed back to class! We finished off HBC by talking about how changing the environment (such as improving sidewalks or adding bike planes) is more likely to have an impact than trying to trach individual people, and talked about what we can do and how we can have that affect our future careers. Then in MBH we reviewed everything we’ve talked about so far, and talked about what we can do to apply it in our lives. And that was the end of classes (except for all the classwork and quizzes I still have left to take online. Oof.)

We returned our bikes to the rental shop, and I explored the cathedral in town.

 Then we all headed off for our last book group, dinner, and closing devotional. The book this time was called Live Lagom, and was not my favorite. It was about the concept of balance in Swedish life, and how you have to find a balance and a bit of simplicity in everything in order to keep a happy life. I love the concept, it was just the book that I didn’t enjoy. But the discussions were good, and I’m grateful for the opportunity I had to read it. We had dominos pizza in the park, and then the professors took the chance to share their testimonies with us, both of what they’ve been teaching and of the gospel. It was bittersweet, it really didn’t seem like things were ending. It honestly feels like it just started (but also it feels like a year has gone by rather than just a month).

We got back to the hotel, and hung out as a group for a little while, but then said our goodbyes. It was a lot of “see you later!”s which was good, because these are amazing friends that I’ve made.

Then it was off to bed to be up crazy early (nothing like leaving for a train at 2:45 in the morning!)

And that was the end of my adventure with BYU. I have a couple more days abroad, so I’m not done quite yet, just with BYU.

Milan

DAY TWENTY-SIX: 7.12.18
This morning we woke up, had breakfast, and started the trek back down to the train station! Luckily this time it was all downhill, so we didn’t have to sweat as much (it was still a lot). It’s just so crazy humid here that any amount of physical exertion has you sweating and it so gross. We made it to the train, took the train back one stop to Levanto, and met the bus there. We got all loaded up on the bus and headed off. I didn’t notice anything wrong, I was busy updated my journal and filling in details that I had left out, but I guess people were getting sick from the way the bus smelled. We pulled off into a gas station/rest stop, and it turns out the bus was broken somehow. So they called for a new bus, but it was going to be 40 minutes. So we crammed all 60 of us essentially into a minimart for 60 minutes while we waited. Meanwhile, a storm rolls in, so it starts pouring rain, with thunder and lightning. After a particularly big crack of thunder, half the lights in the mini mart go out. And theres no sign of the new bus, even though it’s been 40 minutes. Finally the bus arrived, we transfer all of the luggage in the pouring rain (they moved to the gas area so it was as covered as they could get it, it really wasn’t a big deal) and piled on to the new bus. We take off, and the storm just gets stronger, until its dumping sheets of rain and hail, and there is lighting out every window of the bus. It was so incredibly amazing, I loved it! Pretty soon the storm passed and it was no big deal.

We made it to Milan, and the bus dropped us off in the city center. We’re staying in a hotel about an hour outside the city, right next to the airport (for tomorrow), and so the bus was going to pick us back up at 5 in the same spot. We headed off to find food and look for the Milan Duomo. We ended up at this little bistro/café thing, and it was interesting. I couldn’t tell if the server didn’t like us because we only speak English, or if I was just reading the situation wrong, but she didn’t seem to want us there at all. I ordered something that I wasn’t really sure what it was, but it turned out to be  zucchini and quinoa falafel, salad, and a huge serving of fresh steamed green beans. It was amazing, and I could’ve eaten three more plates of the green beans.

Then we kept going on to the Duomo! It was incredible. It was interesting to get there, as the streets have clearly recently been blocked off, and there are soldiers with machine guns standing around. I’ve noticed that more frequently in Europe, and it’s odd. It’s not something you see in the US (at least I haven’t), but I guess it works. Once there, the square was insane. It was full of tourists, but there were probably more pigeons than there were tourists, they were everywhere! I have never see so many pigeons in my life. The Duomo was gorgeous. It was so ornate and beautiful, I would have loved to spend more time there.

However, you needed advance tickets to get in, and my friends all don’t see the beauty or enjoyment in standing around a building like that, so we barely spent any time there. Instead, we headed across the street to the mcdonalds because people were still hungry (my joke about getting mcdonalds in every country is becoming more true than I want to admit). Those of us who weren’t hungry ended up getting deserts from the McCafe, because they actually looked really good. I grabbed a few macaroons, and they were so good. Seriously hit the spot.

After that, we started wandering back to where the bus was going to pick us up. We wandered past a store called Decathlon, and it looked interesting, so I wandered in. It was like the target-walmart-ikea mash up of sporting goods stores and I was in heaven. It was a good thing that I a)don’t have very much money and b)need to fit everything in a suitcase home or I would have bought everything in the store. I did end up buying a hammock though! It was small, compact, and super cheap, so I figured why not. Plus now I have a fun story about where I bought my hammock, and I can say I went shopping in Milan.

After the store, I ran off with one of the girls to find a grocery store because she’s vegan and needed food for the night. We literally had to run to make sure we could get to the store, and then back to the bus on time. I was dripping with sweat and it was a little miserable, but we made it back to the meeting spot in time. And then waited, and waited, and waited. The bus, of which the driver had threatened to leave us if we were not all there exactly at 5, didn’t show up until 5:30. It was actually really frustrating, but we survived and off we went to the Holiday Inn Express near the Milan airport. It was nice to be back in a familiar hotel again, with fantastic wifi and big rooms. We found a pizza place near the hotel (because it’s in the middle of nowhere, there’s literally like one pizza place nearby and that’s it) that had interesting reviews on google. One of them said that it was the best pizza they’d had in all of Italy. We debated whether that was sarcastic and something to fear, or if the person had a bad trip, or what, but decided to go because we needed food. Holy cow, the review was the most honest thing I’ve ever read. I split a calzone with one of the girls, and it had mozzarella, artichokes, ham, olives, spicy salami, and tomatoes in it. I could’ve cried, it was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. Who knows why this tiny little pizza place was so good, but it was another life changing meal that I will never forget.

Then it was just a relaxing night at the hotel, catching up on things that needed to be done on the internet and taking a long hot shower!

DAY TWENTY-SEVEN: 7.14.18

This morning I woke up early so that I could enjoy breakfast without 60 other people also there. I’m definitely looking forward to being home and being able to make my own breakfast, but I’ll miss the omnipresent Nutella that you find in Europe. Then I packed up and headed downstairs to meet the group! It’s a bit of a three ring circus to travel with us right now due to the fact that most of the girls have been shopping everywhere we go, and therefore the luggage has just grown. Quite a few had to purchase another bag yesterday in Milan to be able to get on the flight today with baggage weight limits (spoiler alert, I’m not one of them). But we all got loaded onto an airport shuttle and headed off to the airport! We split into two groups, as we’re on two separate flights. The other group has a layover in Paris, but I have a layover in Amsterdam. The line to get bags checked in was extremely long, and I ended up at the back of it because I was helping one of the other girls in the group as she had a bit of a breakdown. Normally I’d be freaking out, but it was 9am and my flight doesn’t leave until 1pm. Finally got things checked in (and way under the weight limit) and made it to security. The lines were crazy long, but it went so fast because they don’t have anything weird here. Just pull your laptop out and walk through, who cares if you have shoes or a jacket on. Very different from an American TSA experience.

We didn’t have a gate on the boarding pass, so we were checking the screen to see where to go, and an older Iranian woman approached us and just kept saying “Iran, Iran”. She clearly didn’t know where to go, so we helped her look on the screen. I motioned towards my boarding pass and she pulled hers out, and it had the gate listed on it. She clearly was lost and had no idea how to get where to go, so one of the other girls and I walked with her down to the other end of the airport to get to her gate. We reached a point where she had to go through passport control, and we couldn’t go with her. With the help of google translate and motions, we told/showed her where to go and to give her family big hugs when she got back to them. She started crying and gave us both big hugs. I just hope she makes it to her plane and makes it home to her family soon. Right before we left, another person, who was going through passport control as well, approached her speaking Persian, so it seemed as though she would have continued help on the other side.

Then we headed off, but we still didn’t have a gate assignment, so we wandered into a store for a while to window shop, off to a bathroom, and eventually found some other girls from the group who were also just sitting and waiting to figure out where on earth we were even supposed to go. Eventually it got posted and we made it to the gate and then on the plane. It was a quick, hour and a half to our layover in Amsterdam, and then after a two hour layover in Amsterdam, we headed onwards to Copenhagen!

 It was fun to land in Denmark, country #8 of the trip! There we met up with the rest of the group (they had been routed through Paris and landed twenty minutes after us) and got on a bus. We drove off to Sweden, country #9! We are staying in Lund, a small little college town, and it may be my favorite place of all of them so far. Our hotel is amazing. It was built in the 1800's, and is the weirdest little maze of rooms and space, but we have a kitchenette in our room, so for once we can have food that is kept cold! 

We stopped by a grocery store, but ended up grabbing dinner at a kebab place nearby, and then walking around. It stays light until after 11pm here, and so we wandered to the park and explored while talking to one of the professors about what the plan is for the week. Overall, we've been here for about 6 hours and it might already be my favorite location of the trip.

Monterosso

DAY TWENTY-ONE: 7.7.18

This morning I woke up, still completely sore from our hike down the mountain, and exhausted from a few nights of not really sleeping well. While the hotel in Chamonix was incredible, the bed for some reason was awful and I didn’t get the best nights sleep (or maybe it was all in my head). None the less, I woke up, grabbed breakfast, and then with a few friends ran out to the Saturday farmers market before we had to be on the bus to leave. It was just your standard farmers market, but it was full of meats and cheeses, and so many vegetables. All I wanted was to stay a few more days, but somewhere with a kitchen so I could cook and finally eat green things again. I’ve never craved broccoli and zucchini as much as I do lately. And a big spinach salad.

Then we climbed onto the bus and headed off! We drove THROUGH Mont Blanc, through a giant tunnel! That was honestly pretty cool. When we came out the other side, we were in Italy! I’ve been wanting to get back to Italy for 4 years now, so it was amazing to finally be back.

We drove out to the coast, to Cinque Terre, and it was breath taking. The whole area looks so tropical, like you’re in central America rather than Italy. We pulled up to a train station, and our professors announced that we’d be walking to catch a train, and then walking about ½ mile uphill from the train station to our hotel. You would’ve thought they’d said we would be walking the entire way on our own by the reactions of some of my classmates (these would be the same ones who have looked at me like I’m crazy when I grab my bag and head for the stairs rather than wait for 60 people to get through an elevator at our previous hotels). Not that I was excited about it either, it’s not like my bag is crazy light or anything. The train was easy enough, it was just one stop until Monterosso, the town we’re staying in. Then came the walking. ½ mile was an optimistic estimation. It was probably closer to a mile from the train station, and steep uphill the entire way. I’ve never been more grateful for a suitcase that rolls, and I’ve never wished I cared less about my appearance (and therefore packed less) than I did on that walk. It was rough, and we were all literally dripping sweat by the time we made it up, thanks to being back in heat and humidity. I was missing the ice cave in that moment more than I can describe.

The hotel is cute, and nicer that the hostel, but barely. There isn’t any wifi, and the rooms are tight. But I do get to room with a couple girls who seem so nice that I haven’t gotten to spend much time with yet, so that’s good!

We pretty much immediately changed into swimsuits and headed down to the beach (it was 5pm by this point). We found the free public beach, and spread our stuff out, taking turns staying with it while others got in the water. The water felt amazing. It was pleasantly warm but still cool, and so so salty! I had to think for a moment to figure out where I was and what body of water I was even in (the Mediterranean Sea), but when I did, it was another out of body moment. I still can’t believe that I’m on this trip and doing all these things!

Monterosso is a very touristy town, and so there are Americans everywhere, and as terrible as it is to say this, I love it. Its so nice to hear English being spoken in the streets and to see a large majority of signs both in Italian and English. It adds a much needed sense of familiarity to somewhere so far from home.

After a bit of time on the beach and in the water, we packed up and started wandering to find food and see what there is. We found a street pizza place for dinner, and had cheap Italian pizza that was so good. Then we kept wandering and exploring, through shops and different parts of town. It was super hot and there was a place selling frozen lemon slush for 3 Euros, so we grabbed some. It was a small cup, and it was good for about the first half, and then I couldn’t handle the tartness anymore. I didn’t want to waste it, so I gave it to one of the other girls in the group and she finished it off. The boys were hungry again, so we found a pasta place for them to grab to go, and sat by the water while they ate. We were all feeling tired at that point, so we wandered back towards the hotel, stopping for gelato on the way (coconut and Nutella, side note, can you tell what my favorite gelato flavor is?). It seriously hit the spot, and helped with the uphill climb back to the hotel.

My roommates weren’t back, and they had the key, so I couldn’t shower like I wanted to. Instead I hung out outside with a bunch of the other students. There ended up being a big group of us hanging out and talking, and it was great! But I also really wanted to shower, so I finally texted one of them to see when they’d be back, and ended up walking halfway down to meet them to grab the key. After a long hot shower, I’m feeling so much better about life in general and ready to crash so I can be ready for the morning.

DAY TWENTY-TWO: 7.8.18

I love Sundays! We woke up and caught a train in Monterosso off to La Spezia. Getting the whole group onto a train on time can be an effort, and so I’ve learned that as long as I make it onto the train, I don’t care what happens to anyone else. It’s not my problem if they’re running late or not. But we all made it, and made it to La Spezia. Then we walked a bit from the train station and caught a bus. Again, imagine cramming 60 Americans onto a tiny little Italian bus. It was a struggle, and we definitely didn’t pay for the bus. I don’t know how it worked out or what happened, but I was told to get on the bus and so I got on the bus. We got off a little while later, and walked a couple blocks to the church building. It was small and unassuming, but also looked like a church from back home when you walked in, which was really nice. There was a sense of familiarity in all the same art that you’re used to seeing in church. The meeting was fantastic. It was in Italian, but between the branch president and a returned missionary who happened to be there, the whole thing was translated into English. So the members still gave their talks and testimonies in Italian, but we got to hear what they were saying in English. They also asked one of my professors to bear his testimony, and it was another opportunity that I loved, to see a professor in that church setting, and hear what he knows and loves about the gospel. It was really amazing and unique. We also sang all the hymns in Italian, and that was a bit of a struggle. We were butchering them left and right, but it was a cool experience, and now I can say that I’ve sung hymns in Italian!

After church, we walked about a mile down to the pier to catch a ferry back to monterosso. We had a while before the ferry arrived, so we just kind of hung out on the pier and enjoy the blazing hot sunshine and humidity (aka dripped in sweat). It was finally time to get on the ferry, so we got on and walked up to the top to grab seats in the open air. The ride was super cool, but it was also much slower than we expected, and stopped in like every town along the way. We had some insane views though, ones we wouldn’t have had otherwise.

We ended up getting off in vernazza, a stop early, to go find lunch. Someone had said that Vernazza was the best place to get pasta, so we all wandered a bit (while hangry) to find food. We settled on a place, and I got gnocchi with pesto because someone had had it and said it was amazing but I wasn’t impressed. It was actually pretty bland, and as awful as this sounds, the Costco pesto back home tastes waaaay more flavorful. We caught the train back into monterosso and headed up to the monastery where we all took afternoon naps. It was so ridiculously hot that napping in the AC was the only thing that sounded mildly appealing. We walked down into town to grab food, and had some incredibly amazing pizza. It was life changing. I got the vegetarian pizza, and it had peppers and tomatoes and zucchini and eggplant on it, and it was everything my stomach and heart needed.

Then we walked back up to the monastery for a Sunday night devotional that we were having. The professors all introduced their wives one by one, and they all took a few minutes to talk to us about whatever they felt like. For about a day beforehand, I had been feeling really stressed and anxious, and just kind of unhappy in general. However, the words these women spoke somehow calmed my mind and heart exactly as I needed, and it was a wonderful night. Hillary talked about trusting in the path of the

Lord, and mentioned a scripture that says something along the lines of who trusteth in the Lord, happy is he. Korri talked about expectations and comparisons, and something that stuck out to me was when she said that comparison drains our ability to thrive. Layne talked about a scripture story, and the gist of it was that there is no evidence of a lack of God, but everything around us on this incredible planet is evidence of God. Finally Sharon, the grandma on the trip, talked about how we can’t just endure to the end, we have to prepare our way to get there, and it’s something that we need to be working on every single day. That was really impactful, and made me think about what I need to be doing to get where I want to be going. After the devotional, a bunch of us stayed up outside in the lounge chairs, just enjoying each others company and the weather (since it had cooled down a lot). It was such a great night! I love getting to know a wide variety of people and learning from everyone’s life experiences. I honestly really enjoy being around the majority of the people on this trip!

DAY TWENTY-THREE: 7.9.18

This morning I woke up for bootcamp, and then promptly rolled back over and went to sleep. I was tired and exhausted and decided I was much better off getting an extra hour and a half of sleep, and I was right. After breakfast (which is not amazing here, but hey, free food is free food), we had class! I only had MBH today, but it was fantastic. We talked about anxiety and what it does to the body, and a little bit about depression. It was a really good talk, and after all the worrying I’ve been doing lately, it was what I needed to hear. I feel like it was the capstone to finishing my thoughts about Prague and my worries there, and helping me be able to enjoy the moment here in Italy while I’m here.

Then we went down to the beach! We have spaces on the beach reserved today and Wednesday, so we walked down and claimed our lounge chairs, and promptly got in the water because of how hot it is. The water here is amazing. It is so incredibly salty, you float without any effort. I literally just lay back on the water, and float. All the reserved beach lounge chairs have umbrellas with them, so it was perfect to alternate between being cool in the water and just relaxing in the shade. I grabbed focchia with cheese, zucchini, and sausage for lunch, and then bartered my way to a linen blanket that I liked. It’s massive and beautiful, and I was able to get it for 10 Euros (which is probably still a rip off considering it’s a giant piece of fabric, but the guy was trying to sell it for 35 Euros, so I’ll call it a win). We found a place that had gelato for super cheap, and of course grabbed gelato (coconut and dark chocolate-it was like eating a frozen mounds bar), and then enjoyed the beach more!

I stayed in the water until I was fully pruny, and then napped in the lounge chair for a while. I headed back up to the Monastery where we’re staying in the late afternoon with some dinner for a friend who wasn’t feeling well and stayed home today. Then I enjoyed the AC, changed out of my suit, and recharged my phone for a bit.

After relaxing a bit, I headed back down to the beach with one of the girls. We grabbed pizza and sat and ate on thhe water front. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and the pizza was honestly life changing. It’s one of those meals that I’ll never be able to forget. About halfway through our dinner, someone somewhere started to play the piano, and so we had this flawless dinner on the waterfront with incredible music playing from behind us. It was one of the best nights I’ve ever had. Then we walked in the rocks on the beach, and found seaglass! It was really cool to find, because you can find not only seaglass, but also bits of ceramic tiles that have undergone the same process, so they’re smooth and small, but you can still see the painted side of them. We met up with the group for FHE on the beach. It was fun to have it right next to the water, at sunset. We learned about the early years of the Church in Italy, and heard a story and testimony from one of the professors. It’s been a really cool experience to see these professors outside of class, and see them in the church settings and in their families. Honestly, it’s been one of the best parts of the trip in my opinion. After that, they bought us all gelato at a little place on the beach (strawberry, mango, and of course, coconut). Then we went home, and just called it a night!

DAY TWENTY-FOUR: 7.10.18

Today was the group hike day. Due to the heat and the size of the trail, it was decided that it would be better if everyone went off on their own in small groups. I started off with a group of 6, and we hit the road at about 9am. The trail is a path that links all of the towns in Cinque Terre together. The five towns are Monterosso (where we’re staying), Vernazza, Carneglia, Monorolo, and Riogmatti. It was a bit of a hike-as-far-as-you-can-and-take-the-train-back kind of a deal. We made it to Vernazza, but barely. Some of my friends here are not great hikers, and it was an intense hike. Very steep, and tons of stairs. I would say its about 50/50 for up and down hill, but almost entirely stairs. We kept each other entertained by essentially ruining a bunch of classic chick flicks for the boys by rehashing the entire movie and telling them all the details of the plot. It made the hike go so fast. At Vernazza, we left two behind to take the train back, and then kept going. It was slow going because one of the girls who stayed with us was not a very good hiker, but we didn’t want to be mean and tell her to stay behind for everyone’s benefit. So we kept going. About halfway to Carneglia was the peak between the two, and it had a couple little shops. We just kept going, and made it down into the town. We were all dripping sweat this entire time, it is so hot and humid. At Carneglia, we left the other two girls to take the trian back, and Chris and I kept going. We wanted to make it all the way, but the trail between Carneglia and Monorola had washed out, and the detour was adding a few hours onto the journey, so we decided to just hike all the way back instead. So back we went, up all the stairs we’d come down and down all the stairs we’d come up. It was a long hike, but we cut our time going back in half by going at the pace that we preferred rather than the pace of the group.

We were so thirsty and hungry by the time we got back, it was about 2:30 and we really hadn’t stopped at all the whole way, and both of us had drained both our waterbottles. We grabbed pizza and refilled our bottles at the sketchy spicket before heading back up the hill to the monastery (side note, if I die on this trip, it will be from one of two possible causes: dehydration, or some bacteria I pick up drinking water from not amazing sources). After a long cold shower and some food, we both felt significantly better.

 I had class, so I headed off to one of my professors Airbnb’s because he had wifi and so he wanted to hold class there. It was weird to have class in my professors living room, but it was fun! We talked about the importance of friendship and connections, and the difference they make in your physical health. Turns out that loneliness is one of the leading causes of death in the US, and its something that can really only be combatted if both the person who is lonely and the people around them are trying to fix it. It made me think a lot about what I can do to reach out to those around me, because I know what it’s like to be super lonely, and so it’s up to me to try and keep others from feeling that way.

Then we ran back up to the monastery for dinner! They had this amazing meal planned and prepared for us. It started off with an incredible seafood risotto, possibly the best I’ve ever had in my life. It was so amazing. Following that, there was a course of a seafood stew. It was so good. The seafood in it was a little sketch, you could definitely see tentacles and such, but I loved it. It tasted so good. However, a large majority of the group did not have the same feelings as I did, and they made it obvious. Barely picking at food, asking if they had anything else to eat or if they could just make a salad, being loud and frankly rude. I was so embarrassed and horrified. These people, to whom food is so important in their culture, had taken this time to make this amazing meal, and people were being rude. It was just said. To finish off dinner, they had fresh watermelon and a custard dessert, and they were both so so good! Honestly, the whole meal was amazing and was a highlight of the trip for me.

After dinner, I went out to talk to Savannah. She’d thrown her back out the previous morning, and had spent the last couple days laying in bed or on the floor in the monastery, basically completely alone. She needed a chiropractor, but there were none in Monterosso, or even in La Spezia, the closest city. We talked about how her day was, and she shared how lonely she’d been. This is where things got interesting in my head. There was a group going to Pisa the next day, and they had invited me to join them. I’ve always wanted to go to Pisa and see the leaning tower, but for some reason on this trip, I’ve had no desire to go. At all. Any time anyone mentioned it, my only thoughts were “meh” which was strange because it’s always been something I wanted to do. But in that moment, I realized that it was because I was supposed to spend the day with Savannah, just keeping her company, and this way I didn’t have to make a hard choice, it was easy to decide what to do. I decided to google where the nearest chiropractor was, and it was in a city called Genoa, about an hour and a half from Monterosso. I checked the train schedule, and there was a train leaving Monterosso at 11 am that was directly to Genoa Brignole. I ran off to Savannahs room to see if she wanted to make the trip to try and make it work, and she did! We made plans for the morning, and then headed off to bed. Before I crashed, I texted my family to ask them to pray for us the next day, as it was going to take a miracle or two to not only find the chiropractor, but also one who spoke English and was able to help her. It’s interesting, with how much I’ve been reading in the scriptures, and all the miracles that I’ve been reading about, there was no doubt in my mind that if we prayed and put all the work into the effort that we could, then we would find the solution to the problem and things would get worked out. On that note, I went to bed!

DAY TWENTY-FIVE: 7.11.18

We woke up today and got ready to trek off to Genoa! It’s interesting, when this trip started, there was either a morning workout or group run every single day, but now, more often than not, we’re all too tired to care and no one wants to get up and put forth the effort. Or maybe it’s just cause its so hot and hilly here in Cinque Terre. We’ll see if it changes in Sweden or not.

After breakfast, we checked the train schedule, and found a train that ran directly from Monterosso to Genoa. Then we found that there was a chiropractor directly across the street from the train station. This was all good and uplifting, so off we went! We got to the station and bought our tickets, and found our platform. Literally, like 3 minutes before our train was supposed to arrive, they changed the platform. So we rushed off to the other one, and right as we got to the other one, they switched it back. So we had to rush against traffic of tons of people to get back, and all of this while Savannah’s back is killing her and walking is difficult. But we made it in time and got on the train! We didn’t realize we had assigned seats, so it wasn’t until a couple stops later when a couple people arrived to where we were sitting that we realized we had to move, but we got it figured out, and after about an hour and fifteen minutes on the train, we were in Genoa! It was about 12:30 at this point, and when we got to the chiropractor, they didn’t open until 2. We walked down the street to the local McDonalds to grab lunch, and discovered that McDonalds in Italy has both Mozzarella bites and bacon cheese fries, so of course we bought both. While in line, someone asked if we were enjoying Genoa, and we were both a little confused because a)we’d literally never heard of this place before googling “chiropractors near me” and b)we didn’t really think there was anything to see or do here. While eating, we checked to see how far the other chiropractors we’d seen were, and we found one that was a three minute walk from the McDonalds that closed at 2. It was a little after 1, so we figured we’d go give it a try. While walking over, we found the insane beauty of Genoa. It was incredible! The architecture was amazing, the streets were gorgeous, it was such a hidden gem!

Then we found the chiropractor. We rang the bell because we couldn’t figure out how to open the door, and a lady answered, looked at us, asked “English?” and when we said yes, she goes “I thought so. Come in” and just walked away! So we walked in, and a doctor came around the corner! Turns out he studied in Canada, so he spoke fluent English! It was really incredible. He dropped the price of an alignment down so that Savannah could afford it, and after she filled some paperwork out, he invited both of us back into his office. I was a little confused why I was going into her appointment, but oh well, I went. He asked her a couple questions, and then told her to take her clothes off. We just kinda looked at him. He laughed, and said that in Italy, chiropractors need to feel the body to fix the body, and that was why I was there, as a chaperone. It was weird, but she stripped to her underwear and climbed onto his inversion table. He started with her neck and worked his way down her spine, chatting with us and explaining what he was doing to her. It was interesting, it turns out he is never in his office at those hours, but happened to be there today because one of his regular clients needed their appointment later in the day than usual. It really was nothing more than a string of miracles that allowed everything to come together, and he was able to fix her so that she wasn’t in pain! After he finished, I asked if there was anything in Genoa that we should see before leaving, and he looked at me surprised, and said “everything!” And then just started rattling off a list of things that I couldn’t even keep up with. I clearly need to do more research into Genoa and everything about it cause I am missing something here. We ended up walking down the street further to see this really cool fountain and a square that had some museums. When we got to the fountain, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the miracles that had occurred to get us to the Chiropractor, and how much I knew it was the Lord’s hand, and so we stopped next to the fountain, sat down, and said a prayer of gratitude for the amazing blessings that we had received.

Then we kept wandering the streets and alleyways to see what there was, and wandered back towards the train station. There was a little bakery on the way that had Nutella filled cannoli’s for a euro, so obviously we stopped and grabbed cannoli’s. After that we spotted this really cool street/alley thing that had an art installation of rainbow umbrellas!

We took some pictures and just loved life, and headed back to the train station to get tickets home. We just missed a train, so we had an hour to wait. We walked to a park nearby and sat and talked for the hour, and then caught our train!

This time we knew that we needed to be in a certain seat, so we found the right car and seat, but there were people in it. We showed them our ticket, but they showed us theirs that said the same thing, and then started talking in rapid fire Italian, so we just walked away cause we didn’t know what else to do. The whole train was full, so there wasn’t really anywhere else for us to go, so we moved to a car that had some open standing space and just kind of chilled there. Turns out we were right next to a train officials office, so he came by and said “go sit in your seat”. We explained the situation, and he grabbed our tickets to check them, and after checking the tickets and a computer screen and other things on a tablet he had, he handed us back our tickets and said “just go sit in first class”. We were surprised, but we didn’t ask any questions and off we went! It really wasn’t that different from any other train car, but we did have way more leg room and a nicer seat. It was so nice that we actually ended up missing our stop, so we ended in La Spezia instead of Monterosso. We were going to grab a ticket back to Monterosso since you can’t ride the trains without them, but the next train to Monterosso was leaving right when we got there, so we just took a chance and hopped on. Right as we pulled into the station, the train official came by checking tickets, but we got off the train before he checked for ours, so all was well.

We walked straight down to the beach to find the group, and the waves were insane. It had been stormy all day, and so they were crashing down left and right. All of the reserved beach spaces had to adjust and pull out the front row of lounge chairs because of how far up the beach the waves were crashing. I was almost a little sad that I didn’t had a suit on, because it would have been so fun to be out in the water! I split off from the group to grab a pizza before heading back up to the Monastery for our class that night, which was book group. We had read the book French Women Don’t Get Fat, with the plan to spend time in France and Italy talking about diet and such. Most people in the group didn’t love the book because it makes a lot of sweeping generalizations about Americans, and the authors doesn’t have a ton of credentials, but I actually really enjoyed it (and would recommend reading it). We talked about her suggestions of life changes (regarding diet and exercise), and created our list of our top favorites. Then we all chose one in specific and set a goal regarding it to be better about it somehow. The one I chose was enjoying the ritual of planning and preparing meals, so I’m going to try and be better about meal planning in the future. We followed that up by talking about the Mediterranean Diet, which is really more of a lifestyle than a weight related thing, and it was interesting to talk about. It’s something that I think I would enjoy trying to implement in my life more, so that’s something I’ll have to look into as I start meal planning more.

After that, some friends and I walked back down to the beach to get gelato again (coconut and mango!) and enjoy the beach for our last night there. It was so beautiful and just surreal. It’s really an amazing place to be, and I loved the opportunity I had to be there and to see and do everything!  

When I got back up to my room, we had lost power in the room. We got the professors to reset the circuit breaker and get power back, but the electrical outlets never came back on. To top it off, somehow in the power outage, my power converter had stopped working, and my phone was totally dead. I went to borrow one from a friend for a couple minutes, and it turns out she had an extra, so I still have one to use for the rest of the trip! Hopefully mine will work if I try again tomorrow. I sat out in the hall (where there was a working outlet) and read my scriptures for a while and just enjoyed life. I feel like I’ve been getting so much out of them by reading them so frequently and really trying to meet this goal that I’ve set to read the whole book of Mormon on this trip, it’s pretty incredible.