Gorlitz, Poland and Easter :)

 The other day a group of us went to Gorlitz, which is a town about 20 min away from where I'm staying and also...Poland! We were planning on going to Prague but moved it to next weekend. 3 countries in two weeks, not too bad.  I love traveling and seeing new places! It's such a privilege that I get to do that and I'm soooo grateful. :) Anyways, We left at about noon and took 3 cars. The town was bigger then I thought but anything is bigger then Hurrnhut haha :p When we got there we broke into smaller groups and shopped and went sightseeing. We took so many pictures. I'll try to upload them all later, I have a few up so far. 
 Yesterday was Easter! :) Hope your day was amazing, mine was. A group of us woke up at 5 and went to the cemetery and listened to a sermon. I love, love, love the cemetery here. It feels like the most alive place in the town. When you get to the top of it there is a huge field that's so beautiful. You can see Czech and Poland from there. 
Well this is just a quick update. Today's pretty quiet and relaxing, just got done with our lecture and lunch so I have the rest of the day off. :) Take care!

Boredom....not a beautiful thing..

 So it's been a week since I've watched any type of television or movies. That's pretty crazy but I didn't really notice until now. It's relaxing being here, maybe almost a little too relaxing. Today I got my first case of extreme boredom. I knew this day would come sooner or later haha it's the staffs day off so the castle was super quiet. The people in my class kept to themselves a lot today. I read a lot, slept and went on a couple walks.           We get a new group of students in a couple days so this place will be packed with people. I guess I shouldn't complain about the tranquility of this place because it won't be like this forever. Im just excited for more people but not that the bathroom will be taken over by mass amounts of girls in the morning haha
 Tonight we did something I've never done with a group of people before. It was very nice and uplifting. 8 of us girls sat around and told what we liked about each other. They said the nicest stuff about me, I was so touched. I love this group of girls! 
 So our mini outreach is in a couple weeks. Its where we go out and apply what we've been learning in our lectures. Its way smaller then our big outreach we will be going on in a couple months but it gives us a preview of whats to come. I know last time during the school they went to Hamburg, Germany. So I'm excited to find out where we will go.
  Anyways, I miss everyone. Thank you so much for all the fb messages and emails. Keep them coming!

Life's great!

Today has been the best day here by far! I really feel like I've reached a new level with the girls and I absolutely  love it. :) So basically, I love, love, love it here! I'm having the time of my life and I can't get enough of everything Germany has to offer! Miss you all but I'm not ready to come home anytime soon :p

Guten tag! :)

I've been at the school for a couple days now but we haven't officially started until today. Today we all got up really early for breakfast then had a time of worship with all the school and most of the staff then it was lecture. The lecture was one of the best I've ever heard and got me thinking a lot of my future and what I want. After that was lunch, then we learned the rules of the school, had dinner, then we all walked to the store which is about a 20min walk to town but the scenery is amazing so I can't complain. Overall, I love the people, the culture, the school etc. I love it here!  The end! 
So my school has a very wide variety of student/staff from all over the world. Everyone from the US, New Zealand, Germany, England...and so on, and I LOVE hearing about other cultures. Today during work duties I had a conversation with a guy from Australia, probably one of the most interesting conversation I've ever had, as with any person I talked to from somewhere else. :) I just can't get enough of learning about other cultures. Oh so this is pretty cool......I'm heading to Prague. That's in the Czech republic, this weekend with some of the other students.:) I'm pretty stoked! Life is great right now. I couldn't ask for anything more. Also, thank you for all your support and positive comments/messages Facebook and email. I'm still trying to read them all but it's taking some time so bare with me if I don't respond quickly. I've been very busy but I'll get to all of them as soon as I can.   

Guten tag!

April 15- So this day has been on of the craziest of my life. I feel like I've traveled the world in 2 days with as many planes as Ive taken and I'm still not to my destination but I'm sooo close! One more plane ride...and a train then I'm done. Oh also, I  realized that I love traveling alone. I feel so free and I've not gotten motion sick once (aren't you proud of me Connie) hehe


April 16- Today was my first full day here and Im already in love with this place. It's still surreal to me. I live in Germany ahhhhh! I have the best roommates and although I haven't known them for very long I can already tell that we will be close. :) 


April 17- Today was a pretty relaxing day. We got ready, ate breakfast, went to a German church, had a scavenger hunt and now I am laying in bed with my roommates all around just eating, playing on the computer and relaxing until dinner at 6. So the German church we went to was WAY different from my church back home. It was German speaking with English translation, which I must say, was very hard to understand in itself. 
So this is just a quick update. I'll update more later.
-Ali

Less then 24 hoursssss! Ahhhhh!

So I am officially less then 24hrs away from heading to Germany and I've never been so nervous in my life plus I somehow managed to get a sore throat because I am just that lucky..
So this morning was really hectic. I was up really early running last minute errands and then came home and got some catch up sleep in, now I'm off to pack the last of my stuff. Oh man, packing for 5 months is pretty epic and has been taking me about 3 days to do haha...don't wanna forget anything.
For those of you who don't know, yesterday was my last day of work and I was super sad about that :) For all my customers reading this: I am going to miss you so much! Work was awesome because of you guys.
Also!! I finally got skype for all those who have been wondering when I was going to. :)....Ali_Johnson7 so add me and we'll chat!

Too many emotions bottled up right now..

So its official, I am losing sleep over my upcoming trip. I average about 4 hours a night and these dark circles under my eyes can't be very attractive. On a better note, I have started packing today and it's better then I thought and am going at a reasonable pace and could finish today. Yay!

Life pretty much rocks right now!

Jake and I! <3

Herrnhut Germany

Home away from home..

Random thoughts...

So I'm leaving in a little over a week for Germany and all I want to do is stay home and soak up the last tiny bit of time I have left with my family. I'm such a home body, I'm nervous when I get over there that all I will want to do is come back so I don't know if it's weird for me to say this but right now I don't want to hang out with my friends...all though I still love you guys bunchesssss!! It's just that when I go out and do something fun it makes me not want to leave....I know this is all crazy talk and I'm just rambling, I just had to get this off my chest.
Also!!! I'm just going to say that I'm going to miss my best friend Sasha soooo freakin much. I really don't know what I'm going to do without her for 5 months! She's gotten me through so much and I just can't imagine being away from her for so long. :( I love ya girly!
So anyways, on to a more positive note! :) This trip is going to be so good for me and it's just what I need in my life right now. I need to put myself out there and although I am very outgoing and confident, that's only because I'm around people who have known me for years. I want to break out of my comfort zone and be around a whole new group of people and hang out with people who are completely different from me and maybe some people who I thought I would never hang out with before.
Random though: Yesterday was such a relaxing day and exactly what I needed since I won't have maybe of those, I'm assuming, when Im gone. Anyways, I was watching animal planet and there was a show about the ASPCA and how they rescue injured and abandoned animals from homes with people who just don't care. I can't believe how emotional I get watching those shows. It got me thinking how awesome it must feel for the employees when they help or rescue an animals from a problem and how when I go off on my mission trip that I will make an impact in someone's life just like they do for the animals.
I'm so excited to impact others lives with my gifts and talents and I can't wait to be impacted in as many ways as possible. :)