Mormons are the same wherever you go.

Ok so I made this cool video with a bunch of clips I took this weekend at a YSA conference I went to... But it's pretty small and I doubt you'll be able to read most of what I wrote. So, I'll give you a little rundown.

I arrived Friday night after a beautiful, four hour train ride. That night we ate a yummy dinner and danced all night long. These Germans really know how to party. Everyone was going strong till 2 AM and they drank this non alcoholic beer that is completely disgusting. ewe I don't know how they do it. I met a bunch of really fun kids who all spoke amazing english. Saturday I went to two classes and everything was in German, but my new friends are really good translators. After the classes and lunch we went bowling and played pool. So much fun! And I got to meet even more wonderful people. Everyone was so friendly. Saturday night we listened to a fireside given by a member of the seventy (i'm not sure which quorum). And even though I was really really tired, I still managed to dance quite a bit. The German members do this funny dance step thats like a swing dancing feel but a little different. And they partner dance to every song, usually two or three songs in a row!! haha so you better have a good partner. But all the guys are really good at dancing and are really really good at leading you around the dance floor. Sunday we attending sacrament meeting and sunday school and, unfortunately I had to take off early to catch my train.

The whole weekend was really great. I love meeting new people, and though I may never see them again, this experience was pretty priceless for me.

Rain

I wake up in the morning.

The clouds have blocked my sun.

I wash my face and tie my shoes

I wanted to go on a run.

I close the door behind me

and what is this sound that comes?

I hear it whisper through the hall

It's the sound like little drums.

I look out the window

and what do I see?

But sheets of rain

and no room for me

Now I am here writing this post.

Because it's you people who I love most.

YEAH!!

Pretty Crazy Conference Week

My weekend has just been filled with scary, crazy, smelly, beautiful, painful, cold, hot, uplifting, fun, and good times!!

It all started on Friday. I was hanging out in the common area with lots of people when religion was brought up... again. I get many opportunities to teach because drinking and smoking is a way of life and I participate in neither. So I talked about how our bodies are temples that house our souls and we continued discussing stuff for a few hours. In which I explained the book of mormon and the First Vision and I bore my testimony at least twice. It's usually so SCARY to talk about the church with people because I'm afraid I'll say something wrong or just not have an answer. But I had an answer for all of there questions. It was CRAZY! Not only do I think they understand mormons better but I understand mormons better too. haha. We had a good time discussing stuff until out Italian friend came over with his SMELLY weed, started passing it around and started talking crap about there being no God and no such thing as religion... meh but I felt good about our talk any way.

Then Saturday morning we all got up early to go on another hike in the Schwarzwald (black forest). It was so flippin hard! it was 5 kilometers of uphill climbing! There were three girls there including me and one of them was in front the whole time but me and Johanna were huffin and puffin the whole way. It was a PAINFUL hike. At the top there is a tower that you climb so you can see over the trees. It was really COLD and windy and there were alot of stairs but you can see so much when you're up there. The forest is huge and flipping BEAUTIFUL.

This is Anjelica. She's such a cutie. She is from Sweden and is here studying German.


When we finally got home I took a nap, a HOT shower, and then headed down to the church for the much anticipated first session of general conference!!! woo!!! Mostly all the ward watches the session translated in German but me and the elders and sisters watched it in English. It's weird watching conference live but at 6 in the afternoon, since we're 7 hours ahead of Salt Lake. I was in such need of being UPLIFTED by the spirit and conference really did it for me this weekend.

But the fun doesn't end there. I hurried home to finish some homework and then I had decided to go out with my friends. They were planning on getting drinks and then going clubing or something. I was hesitant to go because of the spirit I had from conference, but I decided to go anyway because there would be girls there and I need to make more girl friends. Luckily my friend Johanna, who also sings at the school i'm studying at, wasn't drinking either because she had to drive. So i wasn't totally alone. There were four girls there and they were all super sweet and we had a good time talking and stuff. Even though it was waaaaaay different then what I normally do on conference weekends, or any weekend, I still had a good time and never had to compromise my standards and could just be myself. So life is great out here in Germany. Can't wait to talk to my parents about there trip to Salt Lake for general conference:)

Three Cheers for Priesthood Holders

I really do love the guys that I go to school with here. We have a lot of fun and they respect me and my mormon ways. But when it comes to knowing anything about life, happiness, virtue, and respect... they don't have a clue. From what I've observed of these guys, I don't know how our young men today have made it this far. We were hanging around after class today and they were talking about how the rating system of movies is really messed up now-a-days. They were upset that the ratings will allow violence more freely than nudity. I don't know, that just got my blood boiling. THERE SHOULD BE NO NUDITY AT ALL! EVER! How can they ever have any respect for girls if they can't understand that the body is not a display piece... It's not something to show off or make fun of. I try to think of ways to explain truths to these boys and to help them see even small rays of light, but it's so discouraging when they don't have any foundation, let alone a floor of morals to build off of. I love these guys. I want them to be happy. But they have no idea what happiness is.

Thats why today I am so grateful for the young men of the church who strive so hard to honor their priesthood. Who keep themselves from stupid movies and music and any influence that offends the spirit. I feel the young men of the church probably have it the hardest out of our generation, and look at how many are serving the Lord by serving missions and getting married in the temple.

After my classes today I walked down to my ward building and played volleyball with a bunch of people and there were 4 elders there. I marvel at the spirit they carry with them. The difference between the elders and my friends at school is just crazy. Seeing them gives me hope that I can still have an influence on these boys. That somehow they will remember who they truly are.

Thank you priesthood holders. You make this world so much more bearable.

It's a Beautiful Day

So last week was super super slow. And by the time saturday came around I was just itching to do something CRAZY! so a bunch of the kids from the Berklee crew traveled up to the Black Forest (Schwarze Wald) to enjoy a nice hike. It was so beautiful and peaceful inside the forest. It was just what the doctor ordered. Here are some pictures



This is John. he ran all the way out there so you could see exactly how tall the trees are.

This is the road that Snow White took when she was running away from the hunter. you can tell because it's really dark and scary when the path goes under the trees.















This is my friend Brittany. I met her my first week at church. She's from Utah and was here for four weeks studying German. She's so great! She told me everything I need to know about Freiburg, including the bus and train systems, good grocery stores, and she helped me sign up for a Young Single Adult event that i'm going to in a couple of weeks in Augsburg. AND she's staying in the same housing as I am! how crazy is that? She was such a blessing to me especially in church when she would translate all the meetings for me. She served a mission in Hamburg so she knows German really well. Anyway, she rocks!! But she left just this last thursday to go meet her friend in München. Don't really know how i'm gonna understand anything in church. The gift of tongues would be good right about now.

In contrast, this week was a lot faster and pretty fun. I mean I didn't do a lot but I found a good book; The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It's SO great and I haven't been able to put it down. Laura if your reading this you need to stop reading it start reading this book because it's set in the 1940s in London. So that helped my week go by quickly and it also helped that I am getting more invloved in my school studies. I have six classes adding up to 14 hours a week. Somethin that might be a little trying this semester is that I have the same teacher for 3 of those classes. Florian is an interesting middle aged man who likes to talk slowly, explain slowly, and chuckle heartily at his own jokes. I have to make sure not to give any pity laughs because he'll keep adding on to the not funny joke and I'll have to keep fake laughing. But he's a nice guy and he is a good teacher. we'll see how it goes.

Today is yet another beautiful saturday and I was excited to go to the market and pick up some flowers and just to walk around. When I started on my way I came to the park near my place to find it totally packed with a flea market! It was awesome. There were so many people and so much stuff to look at. There's always something going on during the weekends here. And it always surprises me because even if they advertise for it I wouldn't be able to read the advertisement.

Here are some pics from the city.


I love this. But, honestly, I think I would
rather be forever 21 rather than 18.












They eat cacti here instead of ice cream. JK. But there are whole booths on market day with little pots of cacti. Pretty funny to me.
Maybe I should start breeding saguaro cacti
and set up my own booth.












This clown is pretty freaky but really good at drawing
a crowd with his loud buzzing noise he does.

Chateau McDonalds. I havn't eaten there yet. But i'm sure it's fabulous just like all the food in Germany.

And these are my flowers I bought:) I'm very happy about my purchase. Even though I made a fool out of myself trying to tell the flower girl what I wanted. We chuckled at eachother.

Absolutely True Facts About Germany

No one in Freiburg wears flip flops. They all have cool boots and Vans and sneekers. I could probably pass as a European except for my love of the flip flop.

I’ve noticed that there are so many pregnant women here. I mean you see them everywhere and they usually have another kid or two hanging around. I told this to my friend and she said it’s because the government has started giving incentives for couples to have more children. Yeah! They pay for all the hospital bills and they give them money yearly until they’re 18: as long as they have them within a certain time frame. I looked it up online and there’s a whole article on it in the NY Times.

Google weather doesn’t know anything about Freiburg. It’s pretty much always over cast and gloomy. It says there’s supposed to be sunshine all week, but the sun has yet to come out on this Tuesday morning.

Out side the States, pepperoni is an actual pepper. If you want a “pepperoni” pizza, ask for salami.

The stores don’t have grocery bags or baggers. So you better bring your own and bag your stuff fast or everyone will be really mad and you’ll feel like a stupid foreigner. However they pretty much always have the amount you owe showing on a screen. So if you don’t know how to count in German you’re saved a little embarrassment.

Jay walking is in fact illegal here. Everyone waits for the light to turn and the cops will fine you a hefty fine if you’re caught crossing the street out of turn.

There are as many bike riders here as there are car drivers. Old, young, fat, skinny, boys, girls, the poor or the wealthy. So watch your back or they’ll run you over.

Skinny jeans are in. But I’ve also seen quite a few people wearing those India Jenie pants we got in India. Can’t believe I didn’t bring mine….

If you need to pay for a ticket when you get on the bus, just put whatever money you’ve got on the table in front of the driver and let him give you your change. Don’t keep talking to him in English because if he knew English he would have said so ten minutes ago.

People here have the coolest dogs. And they take them everywhere. Even into the grocery store and restaurants.

If you get caught on a bus or train without a ticket you can get fined from 40 to 80 euro!!

Entschuldigung is the word for excuse me or sorry. But you don’t hear it very often. If some one wants to move past you they’ll kind of just stand there until you notice them. Awkward.

Most German guys are attractive.

People get kind of freak out if you tell them you don’t drink alcohol. (not really but kinda)

Just like in the states, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints is also true here in Germany.