The meaning of life...

The meaning of life is to live it.

I have this quote posted everywhere.
It seriously does SO much for me.

It makes me spontaneous, it helps me through hard times,
 it motivates me, it is the theme of my life. 

Being here in Europe I have seen dozens of memorials and read hundreds of plaques that all have the same message as well. I thought that I understood hard times, I thought that I understood war. I thought that I had a grasp on what living your life to the fullest meant. I was wrong. I have learned so much here in Europe and everyday I am reminded of what a blessing life is. 

Each country I visit, each city I see,
there is something new to learn
 and something new to apply to my life. 

Berlin is one of the coolest cities I have ever been to. I didn't think much of it while I was there. It was not flashy like Paris, it was not culturally rich like Prague... It was... Berlin. Berlin has had a past that you cannot understand until you visit it. Berlin was the center of WWII and the Cold War. It has been destroyed and rebuilt several times and is still in the process of this. My favorite part of this city? Hands down, the memorials. They seem to be the only things in the city that are not under-construction or that stand solely for good reason. The entire city is under construction but every corner you turn you are reminded of how precious and beautiful life and peace are. 

In Amsterdam we went to Anne Frank's house and it was definitely a highlight of my trip there. 

Anne Frank was a young jewish girl who desired to be free. As she hid with her family whispering, tip toeing, and holding back the screams and tears of life, she wrote things that are profound and will stick with me forever. I have taken dancing, laughing, crying, yelling, jumping, and running for granted. I have the blessing of not only life, but a free life. I am able to be who I want and do things as I please. Can you imagine not being able to cry or laugh? I can't. They tend to be my favorite ways of releasing my emotions, Anne Frank and her sister were not allowed to do either. 

Dachau, Germany is home to the Dachau WWII concentration camp. This is the biggest camp in Germany and it was incredible. I cannot begin to explain the feelings that were felt here. The world's most cruel people were here stealing the lives of thousands of innocent people. I cannot begin to put into words that emotions that I felt here. I wish that I could. I wish that I could better explain my experience here. But I can't seem to find the way to say it. It was the saddest place I have ever been, not the let's break down and start sobbing, but the heart wrenching, perma chills, speechless, cold sad. If the victims of hate here had hope; I need to have hope too. There will always be a brighter tomorrow, you just can't quit or lose hope before it comes. You may think life cannot get darker or that things couldn't get worse. And they will. Things will get brighter and better though as well. It just takes time, hope, and healing. Endure. 

A few more reminders of what life is and what we need to make of it.

Holocaust memorial (Berlin)

(Berlin)

Memorial and Dachau Camp (Dachau)

(Dachau)

(Dachau)

Jewish grave of ashes (Dachau)

(Dachau)

(Dachau)

Czech is free (Prague)

Destroyed in WWII (Prague)

Parts of building are the only things that remain (Prague)

Statue standing across the line of the border to the Jewish Ghetto

(Prague)

Oldest remaining building is a Jewish Synagogue 

(Prague)

Graveyard of Jews 20,000 headstones, possibly 100,000 buried

(Prague)

An entire building for one statue of a mom holding her soldier son

(Berlin)

Gestapo and S.S. head quarters (Berlin)

Check point between freedom and not. (Berlin)

Hope for a brighter tomorrow (Berlin)

Where a wall stood that encircled and captivated an entire society of innocent people

(Berlin)

Remaining pieces of The Wall (Berlin)

(Berlin)

(Berlin)

Anne Frank House (Amsterdam)

(Amsterdam)

Living is a blessing.
I have always known this but it is always nice to be reminded of it.
Thousands and thousands of people all around the world
 have had their lives taken away from them.
 Mine has not yet been taken, so I need to live.
I need to live my life to the fullest and so do you. 

scream, laugh, jump, and be happy. 

rainy days in vekwa..

Let's go back in time a little bit.... 

once upon a time I went to India.

It did not only rain there, the entire city flooded.

but the people carried on life like it happened EVERY day.

Do  you remember the last time that it rained like this?

I do..... 

it was today.

I have tried to convince myself multiple times to love the rain...

it has never worked.

Living here in Vaxjo, I am learning to love the rain.

It does not only rain here every single day... it POURS. 

It often times feels like buckets of water are being poured out above us. 

There is no break in the drops... there actually aren't drops...

It is just a constant flow of water.

and I am learning to love it. 

I am indifferent about the curly hair, the smudged make up, 

the wet jeans, and constantly wearing my jacket.

but I truly love riding my bike through big puddles,

my feet being dry and warm inside of my rain boots,

the way the rain makes the lakes look like oceans in a storm,

the shiny droplets on the fallen autumn leaves,

the smell of freshness and renewal after each storm,

the laughter that goes on while getting drenched,

the screams of joy when it goes from raining to pouring,

the dry sweats you get to put on after,

the sound of the rain on my window,

I really am loving it all.

Some things can be a little more difficult than others.

Number one on the difficult list for me is my ability to BLOG.... I am fully aware that I am not so good at keeping it up to date..... sorry..... I am just really busy and have a REALLY hard time putting my pictures onto my computer. Here are some pros and cons to living in the beautiful little town that I do....

con: We get lost EVERYWHERE we go....

pro: I live with a model named LUDWIG.

con: Bacon is allowed to come in a tube but Mac&Cheese is toooo processed for Europeans...

pro: Jan, Tobi, and Stefan are the 3 nicest German boys I have ever met, and I have the privilege to live with them. 

con: It is always raining so it is impossible to take a picture with straight hair or without a coat on.

pro: my church is less than 1 mile away and is in a yellow farm house!

con: it is impossible to find ingredients to make Chocolate Chip Cookies.

con continued..... With the ingredients closest to the correct ones.... you get baby chocolate chip pancakes. ish.

pro: I get to Skype the cutest boy in the world almost every single day.

con: my shower curtain is slightly too short....

pro: people back home love us and send us American food! (yes, it is stored in a cabinet that locks in my bedroom)

con: my bike doesn't have a pedal.

pro: I am able to take a stunning picture of Vaxjo at least once a day.

con: the decorations at some parties slightly look like stake dance decor or blown up colored condoms.

pro: Kebab. I eat it every single time I go out for dinner.

con: when riding bikes home in the middle of the night in heels, you can sometimes fall and rip your tights.

pro: I have the loveliest friends.

 I ran out of cons so I will continue with the pros.

pro: old men race sailboats as a hobby here.

pro: when you get lost, it often times looks like a fairy tale.

pro: Katie's bike is harder to ride than mine...

look closely at how straight her tire is.

pro: I have friends who will walk to the grocery store with when all I am craving is a chocolate bar.

pro: I have more pictures of stain glass windows than I can count.

pro: I get to walk on beautiful streets every day.

pro: Katie and I are pros at taking self times pictures now.

pro, pro, pro, pro I could go on forever. I LOVE it here!

Ultimately there is so much to say and so many pictures to show from my adventure here! And I hate to bore you all though with the SUPER LONG posts. I try to sum it up shortly but it never seems to work. Maybe if I posted more often it would be easier.... but I don't.... so as for now you have to deal with this.

the pictures are here!

We have been here for 2 weeks now and are still surviving! I am really bad at this whole blogging thing so here are pictures to go with our last post haha. One day I will be able to do all my posting at once, as for now let's quickly recap.

arrived after traveling for 2 days and eating nothing we got fed this for dinner. p.s. this picture makes the food look like 3 times it's actual size.... 

This is down town Vaxjo, and this church is the landmark that gets us home when we are lost.

who knew such a friendly sign meant, this way to the insane asylum?

oh... did I forget to mention we live in the towers?

on the plus side, when we walk to school it looks like we are walking to Hogwarts.

oh yeah, first important document I receive blows into a swamp while self timing a picture that didn't even turn out. I got it out of the water though and let it air dry as we walked and got lost for another hour in the rain storm. 

I hope you didn't forget the story of my shower blowing up. This is the man saving the day.

looking so much cleaner than when we first encountered the  "shisa"
Seriously though, this is like 3/4 cleaned up.

as the sober mormon girls, we got the responsibility of carrying beers for our friends into the party...
Stefan's just happened to be open in Katie's purse. lesson learned.

Celia and Doro... yes we actually have made a few friends.

oh this is us waiting for the bus... two of them had just driven past us....
and those beautiful grocery bags....
didn't know we were supposed to pay for them until after we had gotten home...

on the bus...
after it went to the end of the route...
waited 15 minutes for it's new route to begin.....
middle of no where....
us and the driver.....

finally someone actually feeling bad for us and making us an american dinner!!
Jan, Tobi, and Stefan=lifesavers.

our walk to school is about 45 minutes but we pass 3 lakes and it is beautiful!

I may make it seem like we are having serious issues over here..... but we really aren't.
We are so happy and truly LOVE it here!

our walk to school is really out of a fairytale.

As our journey in a foreign land is only just beginning,

 it is starting to really feel like home. 

I absolutely love where I am and am truly blessed to be here. 

I love you and thanks for taking the time to follow me on my adventures in

 VAXJO, SWEDEN!!