My most favorite place so far

Where do I even begin telling you all about Croatia? To say the city of Dubrovnik was beautiful and amazing just would not do justice. The word fairytale is more appropriate when describing the Old City in Dubrovnik. It was truly like nothing I have ever seen before except in the fairytales I watched as a child.

When we first arrived in Croatia on July 11, I was amazed to see how beautiful the hills were, scattered with old houses that overlooked the Adriatic Sea. My first destination in Croatia was an orphanage in an area just past the Old City. We traveled there by bus, and as we drove there, I was amazed at the beauty I could see everywhere. I really can’t even put into words what Dubrovnik looks like. Pictures cannot even do justice, but I suppose they will have to do for now, until you can all have the opportunity to go see Croatia for yourself one day! When we arrived at the orphanage, I was pleasantly surprised to see how well kept it was. The orphanage is in a beautiful stone house with a large complex surrounding it with trees, grass, and places for the children to play. The orphanage looks over the ocean, as most of the property in Dubrovnik does. I was a little bit surprised to find out that most of the children there were not actually true orphans.  They all had parents, but their parents were not suited to take care of them. The woman who ran the orphanage explained that most of their parents were mentally ill, abusive, or negligent toward them, so they were taken away. It was strange to be calling these children orphans since they did actually have parents. But she explained that most of them are able to be adopted by a new family, and start a new life with more suitable parents.

After leaving the orphanage, we went to the hospital that is located in Dubrovnik to see the pediatric ward there. It was eye opening to see the conditions in the hospital- the rooms were very barren, nothing seemed very sanitary, air conditioning was limited, and sick children lay in their beds alone without any toys or someone to keep them company. It made me realize how lucky we are in the U.S. to have such a great healthcare system. Although these children were receiving treatment, the conditions they lived in could not possibly have been helping them to get better. On a more positive note though, the doctor we met was absolutely wonderful, and kept telling us how much she adored her job and did not care that she did not make much money (Doctor’s in Croatia make less then doctors in almost every other European country). It was refreshing to meet someone like her who just wanted to serve and help others.

After the hospital and orphanage visit, we went back to the ship. I got my things packed up and then headed into the Old City with two friends, Amanda and Megan, to find the apartment we would be staying in for the next three nights. To get into the city, you have to go in one of the three main entrances, and walk through huge arches made of stone. There are walls that completely surround that city that were built hundreds of years ago for protection, and still stand today. Our apartment was right off of the main street in the city, called Stradun. It was the best location we could have asked for! Once we got settled, we decided to go and find some dinner. We ate at this great Italian place (no I guess I didn’t get enough Italian food in Italy!) and I had a delicious pizza. We then headed back to the apartment to meet up with the rest of our friends who were staying with us:  Tiffany, Cassidy, and Rene. Then we all went to this nightclub called Fuego, and danced late into the night!
The next day, we headed down to the beach to go swimming. We quickly discovered that sand beaches are hard to come by in Croatia, and most beaches are made of rock! We ended up at a beach that was known for great cliff jumping, and spent most of the day there swimming and watching people jump from the cliffs (I was too scared to do it myself). The water was beautiful, and you could see this island just a short distance from the coast called Lokrum. After spending the day swimming, we headed back to our apartment to get ready and have dinner. We found a really yummy place that had traditional Croatian food, and I had something called a Dalmatian ribsteak. It was a type of steak cooked in a traditional Dalmatian style (Dubrovnik is located in an area of Croatia called the Dalmatian Coast). It was great! After dinner, we went to meet up with other Semester at Sea kids and headed to a night club on the beach called East West. It was so much fun!

The following morning, we got up early to take a boat with about 30 other people to 3 islands off the coast of Croatia. We spent all day out there, and it was so much fun! I was left even more amazed at the beauty of the country. We spent the day swimming in the Adriatic, jumping off the balcony of the ship, exploring the islands, and getting a glimpse of local life. It was really a wonderful day, maybe even the best day I have had on this trip! After the boat went back to the mainland, we headed up to our apartment to get ready and then meet up with friends to celebrate our friend Amy’s 21st birthday! We went out to a restaurant and, again, had great food, then headed to yet another amazing nightclub. This one was called Revelin, and was in an old fortress that was built hundreds of years ago!

And finally, the last day was upon us, and we were all dreading leaving Croatia. We spent the morning shopping and then the afternoon at the beach and cliff jumping. At the last possible minute, we headed back to the ship. Everyone seemed to feel the same way about leaving Croatia! I think I could have literally stayed there for another month and been perfectly content. I will most definitely be going back there someday, and hopefully someday soon!

Italia

We are now back on the ship and heading to Greece. We boarded last night in Dubrovnik, Croatia and will be arriving in Greece in two days. I haven’t posted anything about Italy yet, because I have been so busy with school! We have had two class days and they have been very busy with homework and papers due on things that we saw in Spain and Italy. I’ll get to Croatia eventually too, after I finish blogging about Italy! Since we were there so long, I am just going to break it up day by day, so read on!

Day 1: I already talked about this day a little bit, so I won’t say much more. I woke up in Naples feeling awful, and ended up having a stomach virus. I stayed on the ship all day, and after seeing the doctor and getting some medicine, I felt a little better. When my friends got back from Sorrento, I joined them for dinner in Naples. We walked around for awhile until we found a restaurant that looked good. The city is definitely nothing to exciting, and I don’t have intentions on ever going back to Naples, but it wasn’t actually as bad as I thought it would be. I heard from numerous people that Naples was disgusting, and they hated it, but I don’t think I would use quite as strong of words. It wasn’t anything extremely exciting, but I enjoyed the day and half I was there! After going to dinner (and not eating, in fear of getting sick again), we went in search of gelato. We found a great place that had delicious looking gelato, so I decided to try eating that. Thankfully I didn’t feel sick after it, and it was wonderful! Italy definitely knows how to make their gelato. Afterwards, we all headed back to the ship and I went to bed, in hopes that I’d wake up feeling much better in the morning!

Day 2: I woke up early that morning feeling so much better. Still not quite 100%, but definitely a huge improvement. I got up and got packed, and then we headed into town to find some lunch. After lunch, we hopped on a bus to the train station. Somehow we ended up at the wrong station, but we eventually found our way and got to the main train station in Naples. This was our first ticket-buying experience, so we all weren’t quite sure what we needed to do, but it ended up being pretty easy. After we got our tickets, we found some snacks and gelato, and then got on the train toward Rome! We thought we were doing just wonderful until the conductor came by and asked for our tickets. He told us in broken English that we hadn’t gotten them stamped, and we could get fined for it. We all started to freak out a little bit because we had paid only 15 euros for each ticket, and the fine could be up to 50 euros! Thankfully, he never ended up coming back, so we got away with it, and definitely learned our lesson! Once we arrived in Rome, we went in search of our apartment. There were 8 of us total (Tiffany, Rene, Cassidy, Megan, Serkon, Ally, and Andrew). Our apartment was only supposed to have 6, so while the girls checked in, the boys hid around the corner! The apartment was tiny but very cute! After getting settled, we went in search of a restaurant to have dinner at. We quickly found out that Italian men are very forward and flirty, and that you just have to kind of smile and act like you don’t hear them! Walking by all the restaurants was so funny because they have waiters outside trying to get you to eat there at every single one! We finally found a place that looked good, and sat down. I had my first Italian meal, lasagna, with a glass of the restaurants house wine. It was so good! There is definitely a big different when you get pasta in Italy verses the U.S.! After dinner, we started walking around and just exploring Rome a little bit. We found some building that looked like it should be some sort of monument or something important, but in fact wasn’t! Its amazing how every single building in Italy is so beautiful and unique and people would go crazy over it here in the U.S. After taking pictures at the not-so-famous but very cool building, we went in search of a bar or club where we could dance! We never found exactly what we were looking for, but we found a little place that we hung out at for the rest of the night. Around 3 am, we headed back to our apartment to get some sleep and get ready to see Rome the next day!

Day 3:  Happy 4th of July! We had a great day exploring Rome and seeing all the touristy sites. We got on a hop on hop off bus in the morning, and headed to the city center. Our first stop was this amazing building called the Monument of Victor Emmanuel II. It was really amazing, and from a terrace off of the building we could see over the entire city. We got some great pictures that I will put up soon! After that, we headed to the Pantheon. It was really awesome to see that, and after taking pictures there we went in search of Paninis. We found a great little café that had really good food, and I had my first real Italian panini. Such good food in Italy! After lunch, we hopped back on the bus and went to see the Coliseum. We had to wait in line to get in, but it was well worth it. Knowing that we were standing inside something that had been build over 2000 years ago was just incredible. It’s so hard to believe that people were capable of constructing something that amazing so long ago, but being there made it real! While we were there, we saw some kids who snuck down to the bottom area (where the gladiators would fight) and were skateboarding! They actually didn’t get caught for awhile and it was pretty funny to watch them down there. But needless to say, once they were spotted, they were kicked right out of the Coliseum. But hey, not too many people could say they have skateboarded on the ground that gladiators fought on 2000 years ago! After the Coliseum, we got back on the bus and went to see the Trevi Fountain. It was so, so beautiful. While we were there, a couple who had just been married and was still in their clothes from their wedding showed up, and had their first dance in front of the fountain. It was so cool to see that! They were so happy and in love; and what a romantic place to have your first dance! After gawking at the newlyweds, we wandered around until we found some gelato. It was amazing as always (I probably had gelato about 15 times while we were in Italy)! We then hopped back on our little tour bus and went back to our apartment. I packed my stuff up and then went over to stay with three girls I made friends with on the ship (Tina, Danielle, and Andy) at their hotel near the Pantheon. We found a cute little place to have dinner, and then went to Campo dei Fiori for some 4th of July festivities! Tina goes to UCLA and had a friend there who is from Rome, so we met up with him and his Italian friends and hung out with them all night. So much fun!

Day 4: After a late night out with the Italians we met, we were all exhausted! We woke up in Rome to find that it was pouring rain outside. Our Global Studies professor had told us that when it rains, the water comes through the dome at the top of the Pantheon, and its amazing to see it. So, taking his advice, we decided to run barefoot in the rain all the way to the Pantheon so we could experience it! But when we got there, we ran inside to find that there was some sort of glass on it, and rain didn’t come through! So disappointing! Regardless, it was fun running there in the rain and getting stares from all the locals we passed by, probably thinking about what crazy Americans we were. After that, we all showered to warm up, and then got ready to go to the train station and head to Florence! The train ride to Florence was beautiful; we saw miles and miles of sunflower fields and vineyards. I think I may have enjoyed the scenery on the way there almost as much as the actual city. From the train, we could see these little cities built on hilltops that were just so charming. Once we arrived in Florence, we had to go in search of a place to sleep. We had just decided to wing it, and hadn’t booked a hotel…bad idea! We searched for at least 2 hours, before finally arriving at a hotel on the outskirts of town where we begged the man at the front to let us stay there. They told us they had no room, but then, feeling bad for us, told us they would see what they could do. He came back to tell us they had a room in the back of the hotel that was very small, but we could have it if we wanted to. Relieved and exhausted, we happily took the room he offered us. Once we got settled, we decided to go out and explore a little bit and find a place to have dinner. We found this cute little hole in the wall that had great food. After dinner, we walked around for awhile until it was late, and then headed back to the hotel to get some much needed sleep.

Day 5: We woke up in the morning and had a great breakfast at the hotel. They had homemade cappuccinos for us, as well as pastries, cereal, fruit, and many other things. After breakfast, we got ready and then headed to the city center to see the sites of Florence! They city was extremely busy with tourists everywhere. We first went to the Duomo, and then to this beautiful bridge (I can’t remember what its called!) and took some great pictures there. After that, we went to this vintage market we had heard about that happens only twice a year, and spent a couple hours looking at all of these wonderful vintage things, like vintage Gucci bags, very old Channel jewelry, vintage dresses, shoes, and so many other really fun things. I really wanted to get a vintage purse, but opted not to because of the exchange rate with the euro (everything is so much more expensive for us Americans!) After the market, we had lunch at this great little place on a side street. They had the best Balsamic vinegar, and I had a delicious salad and bread with it. We spent the rest of the day just wandering around the city, shopping, eating gelato, and enjoying Florence, before heading back to the train station. We were all just exhausted, and decided to go back to the ship for the night and catch up on some sleep before going back to Rome the following day.

Day 6: I woke up feeling great and ready to head back into Rome and do some more exploring! We took a train into the city, and headed straight to the Vatican. Unfortunately we didn’t have a tour booked, so we knew it would take hours to get into the city. We decided to just visit St. Peter’s Basilica, which is a part of the Vatican you can get into for free without waiting in long lines. It was absolutely amazing to see that, and so beautiful inside. I got some wonderful pictures that are on my Facebook, and I will put some up here eventually too. After that, went back to the Trevi fountain, just to see it again. Then we explored the city a little more, did some shopping and then we went back over to Campo dei Fiori, where we had a great dinner at this lovely Italian restaurant right in the main square. I had a very traditional Italian meal: Spaghetti and tomato and basil along with a glass of Italian wine. It was definitely the best pasta I have ever had. Such good flavor! After dinner, we went across the plaza to a restaurant and bar called Sloppy’s, where we hung out for a few hours. Afterwards, we went back out to the center of the square and found a ton of other Semester at Sea kids there, so we hung out with them for the rest of the evening. We had intended to go back to the ship on a late train that night, so we hadn’t booked a hotel. But, being the silly Americans that we are, we didn’t think about the fact that the trains may not run all night, and we missed the last train to Civitavecchia. After all of us had a mini panic attack, we finally ran into two friends of Tina’s from UCLA who was studying abroad in Rome, and offered to let us stay in their apartment for the night. We graciously accepted and headed to their apartment and slept for a few hours before taking the 7 am train back to the ship. We were all, once again, absolutely exhausted, and I went straight to my room to sleep when we got back!

Day 7: Slept all day!

Sorry that was so long, I hope I didn’t bore anybody! I just don’t want to leave anything out! Lets just say that Italy was amazing. It was probably most amazing to me because of the history. It was just incredible to think that so many of the things we saw had been there for 1000-2000 years. What a beautiful country!

Just something I stumbled upon

So I was just reading one of my friends blogs, and I came across a post that she had put up a little while ago, and just wanted to share it with you all. Its a blog post from a pastor in Tennessee named Pete Wilson, who has some really great things to say. Its a blog about timing and waiting for God, and I think that is something we all struggle with. We all want things to happen on our time, not His. Go ahead and read it, I know that its something that is 100% applicable to every one of our lives. I hope you get as much out of his words as I did!

STUCK IN SATURDAY

by : Pete Wilson

"The other day I stood in line at my local coffee house. I was in a curious mood and just watched the four or five people in front of me as we stood in this unusually slow line. Their body language and facial expressions said it all. There were hands on the hips expressing disgust at the current inconvenience, some were rolling their eyes as they glanced up momentarily from texting on their cell phone, and there was the predictable looking at the watch and then looking at the line and then looking back at the watch.

Most of us do not like waiting for anything. We live in a day of fast everything and waiting for anything seems like a major inconvenience. I must confess I don’t like waiting either. I don’t like standing in line for my favorite cup of coffee, flipping though magazines in the waiting room of the doctor’s office and I sure don’t like waiting in traffic. And if I can just be honest with you, I don’t like waiting on God either.

Lewis Smedes described waiting like this: “Waiting is our destiny. As creatures who cannot by themselves bring about what they hope for, we wait in the darkness for a flame we cannot light. We wait in fear for a happy ending that we cannot write. We wait for a ‘not yet’ that feels like a ‘not ever.’”

This is what we often see in the anatomy of hope. There is an event that takes place that sucks the life out of you. Something goes horribly wrong:

A dream dies.

A relationship ends.

A job dissipates.

A desire is crushed.

You’re left there standing, waiting, paralyzed by hopelessness. You start to wonder…

Did God forget his promises?

Does God know?

Does God care?

Luke 23:44-49 44 It was about noon, and the whole land became dark until three o’clock in the afternoon, 45 because the sun did not shine. The curtain in the Temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, I give you my life.” After Jesus said this, he died.

47 When the army officer there saw what happened, he praised God, saying, “Surely this was a good man!”

48 When all the people who had gathered there to watch saw what happened, they returned home, beating their chests because they were so sad. 49 But those who were close friends of Jesus, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance and watched.

Notice how Jesus’ closest followers react. The gospel account says they “stood at a distance and watched.”

Have you ever been so hopeless you couldn’t do a thing? You couldn’t get mad or fight or even cry? Have you ever felt so hopeless you didn’t have the energy or passion to even get ticked off?

I believe this is the emotional state of Jesus’ followers. Nothing seems to be happening. They feel hopeless, as if they’re completely alone.

Now, we know the end of this story. We know that God was in fact doing his best work yet. But there would be a waiting period.

It was Friday, remember, when Jesus was crucified. But the paralyzing hopelessness the disciples experienced continued to intensify as they moved into Saturday.

I think it’s interesting that we don’t talk a lot about Saturday in the church. We spend a lot of time talking about Good Friday, which of course we should. This is the day redemption happened through the shedding of Christ’s blood. It’s a very important day.

Nobody would argue that Easter Sunday is a day of celebration. We celebrate that Jesus conquered death so that we can have life. It doesn’t get any better than Easter Sunday.

But we don’t hear a lot about Saturday do we? Saturday seems like a day when nothing is happening. In reality, it’s a day of a whole lot questioning, doubting, wondering, and definitely waiting— a day of helplessness and hopelessness. It’s a day when we begin to wonder if God is asleep at the wheel or simply powerless to do anything our about our current problems.

While we don’t spend a lot of time talking about Saturday, I think so much of our life here on this earth is lived out feeling somewhat trapped in “Saturday.” I’m trying to get to a place in my life where I can embrace “Saturday.” I’m trying to get to a place where I can view it as a type of preparation for what I believe God might be doing in my life.

You may currently be in the midst of a horrible, out-of-control situation. You feel as if God is not there, that there’s nothing that can be done.

But here is the message of the gospel for you while you’re stuck in your helpless, hopeless Saturday life: God does his best work in hopeless situations.

We worship a God who specializes in resurrections. He specializes in hopeless situations. After all, at Easter, we celebrate the fact that he conquered death— the ultimate hopeless situation— so you could have life.

His followers were dejected and dismal and hopeless— and then Jesus rose from the dead. God did the impossible and in a matter of hours the disciples journeyed from hopeless to hope-filled; from powerless to powerful. They saw him risen and everything changed. The story of our salvation was born out of extraordinary uncertainty. But that’s the way hope works.

And no, that doesn’t take away your cancer.

That doesn’t erase the bankruptcy you’re in the midst of.

That doesn’t heal your broken relationship.

That doesn’t replace your shattered dream.

But it can remind you that while life is uncertain, God is not. While our power is limited, God is limitless. While our hope is fragile, God himself is hope.

Your world may feel chaotic, especially when you’re stuck in a Saturday struggling hopelessly and waiting desperately.

But no doubt about it, God is still in control. And one way or another, Sunday will dawn."

Dubrovnik, Croatia

We just arrived in the beautiful country of Croatia this morning. I am working on my post about everything I did in Italy, but its very long, so it will probably not be up for a few more days! I just wanted to let everyone know where we are now. I will have internet in my apartment that we rented in the Old City, so if you want to skype, now is the time!

You can find me on skype if we aren't already friends by searching: Alexandra Crowder or allie_crowder

I am loving Croatia already, it is so beautiful and so different than the other places we have been so far. The Old City is over 1000 years old and the original walls are still standing. Pretty incredible. We are going to walk the city walls tomorrow I think, so I will be taking lots of pictures and updating everyone soon!

La Boqueria

These pictures are from the market in Barcelona. I have lots more but these were just some of my favorites!

Just a Few Pictures from Spain

La Sagrada Familia

Fat Tire Bike Tour in Barcelona

Arc de Triomf

LOVE Barcelona

Off to see Italy!

I'm feeling 1000 times better today thank goodness! I have just finished packing and I am about to go have lunch in Naples and see the city a bit, and then head to Rome around 4 pm. I'll be in Rome for the 4th of July, and then leave for Florence on the 5th, then back to Rome on the evening of the 6th. I'll stay in Rome until I have to come back to the boat on the afternoon of July 8th. I probably won't have a chance to get online and update my blog, but I will as soon as I'm back to the ship later this week.