Solo Steps...All Over Europe!

Hello dear friends!

Apologies for the long delay between posts-life has been a whirlwind of travel planning, gallivanting across Europe, riding various forms of mass transportation, studying for finals and soaking up every little moment of life in Norway (or wherever I happen to be at that particular moment!)

The month of April was primarily dedicated to travel-we had a group excursion to Germany, and from there my solo travel began! My holiday was spent in Edinburgh, Paris, and Taizé (a Christian community in the south of France...more info to come later!). And as indicated in the title, all of this travel was done all by little Laura lonesome--and I loved it! Planning was quite stressful; I was very nervous about making all my connections, getting lost, and all those other things one ought to worry about when venturing out on an adventure. But everything went perfectly, to my surprise and great pleasure, which made this holiday even more spectacular!

Okay folks, here come the travel tales!

GERMANY
The 11 of us Americans bordered an airplane at good ol' Gardemond International Airport, which took us safely (through the fog) to Berlin, Germany where we were met by Mark & Sonja Lund, who are the fearless leaders of Study Abroad at Luther College. Mark is somewhat of a Luther junkie like me, so his vast knowledge of Germany, theology, and random Luther trivia led to great conversation throughout our time in Germany.
Whilst in Germany, we toured every place that Martin Luther, the great Protestant Reformer, lived (aside from his birthplace and death place--though we did see his grave in the Castle Church in Wittenberg!). Wittenberg gave us a chance to see the Town Church where Luther preached & his children were baptized, the aforementioned Castle Church where the 95 Theses were posted (!), the Luther Tree (where Luther burned the papers sent to him from the Pope excommunicating him from the Catholic Church if he refused to recant the 95 Theses...obviously, Luther did NOT recant these things, as the papers ended up as charred little bits of ash around the base of an oak tree....). Also in Wittenberg, we visited Lutherhaus, the monastery where Luther studied and where he and Katarina (his lovely wife) ultimately lived and raised their family. We walked the streets where Luther did, had great conversations, soaked in rich history, which made this Lutheran Chick very happy!
Following our two day stay in Wittenberg, we made our way to Erfurt. En route, we stopped at Buchenweld concentration camp. It was a very sobering experience to stand in the place where so many people suffered at the hands of persecution and injustice. This was not an extermination camp; however, many died simply because the workload demanded of them was inhumane and their bodies could not handle the strain. This was the same site that Dietrich Bonhoeffer was kept at during the war, and when given the chance to walk to another camp, he and thousands of others made the forced march, believing it was their only chance for liberation. However, Bonhoeffer and many others perished on the march, and shortly after they left, Buchenweld was liberated by the Allies. That morning caused us to all pause and consider the reality of the Holocaust and the horrors that happened...
After our tour of Buchenweld, we made it to Erfurt, where we stayed at the Augustine Kloister, where Martin Luther was a monk. This was the place where Luther presided over his first mass, where he studied and lived; and it was here that we got to stay and live the life of a monastic for a night! We each had our own very simple quarters, and it was a very meaningful experience for me to be where Luther got his start as a theologian and scholar of religion!
Also in Erfurt, I had the great pleasure of spending the evening with the one and only Yvonne Zgraggen, fellow Cobber, roommate, and dear friend who is studying abroad in Jena for the year! An evening spent catching up, laughing, eating great food and enjoying each other's company made my time in Germany even more precious! And our final day in Germany was spent at Wartburg Castle, where Luther hid out, disguised as Sir George. Jaunting around a castle, a little last taste of Luther-land...I was a happy girl!

From Wartburg, we made our way up the autobond (yikes!) to Berlin, where I said farewell to my fellow travelers and set off on a ten day adventure....alone!

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND
From Berlin to Edinburgh (a seamless journey, save for the five minutes I spent trying to explain to the poor man at the customs desk WHAT in the world I was doing in the UK (they wanted an address for where I was staying...which I did not have), WHY I didn't have Biz's address ("Um, I just haven't ever had it, and I don't have a phone or computer access to ask for it now....), WHO this crazy Biz character was and what SHE was doing in Edinburgh ("She's another American, volunteering through the ELCA working with the homeless and doing a year of service abroad) and after all of my sleepy Laura explanations (give me a break people, it was 12:30 in the morning, I had just woken up after the soundest plane nap ever taken and I was a wee bit discombobulated.), the man decided I was harmless, took mine & Biz's full names, and let me go through, where I was greeted by the beautiful Elizabeth Sorenson!
Our week together was lovely-mostly sunny days spent drinking coffee, catching up, exploring the city of Edinburgh, and causing a few shenanigans along the way, as we tend to do! Much of this time was Laura time, as Bizzy bee had to work, so I spent many a day scampering about the city, relishing in the English speaking nation, sipping good (and reasonably priced!) coffee, snacking on Cadbury chocolate, fresh fruit, and other little treats I found along the way. Visited a few gorgeous gardens that were in full bloom (in direct contrast to Lillehammer, which still had a great deal of snow on the ground when I had left several days prior...and this is mid April people!), explored the castle, wandered Princes Street, took myself out to the ballet. Biz and I climbed up to Arthur's Seat (read: scaled a cliff, descended down a ravine-we didn't feel much like staying on the paths!), spent a day at the beach, where we were chased away by a trio of naughty little boys on holiday who were stirring up mischief by picking sand battles with innocent young women like us, throwing sand at us & attempting to snatch our things. We ate well, laughed a lot, and even found yet another Cobber, Miss Kari Beth Shobe, who happened to be spending her holiday driving through the UK with Mamma & Papa Shobe and friends, so we met them several times for dessert-Cobbers, Cobbers everywhere! All in all, it was a lovely holiday!

FRANCE
From Scotland, I flew to Beauvais, France, where my travel planning was less set in stone and I was most nervous-though all went well! From Beauvais, I took a bus to PARIS, where I hopped on the metro and navigated myself (using my five years of Français and my newfound map reading abilities) to my hotel, where I dropped my things, printed my train tickets for the next day, freshened up a bit, then took myself to the Eiffel Tower, where I soaked in the warm spring evening under the glow of the lights, the buzz of excited chatter, and the decadent chocolate crepe that I treated myself to! An American girl in Paris-a very happy girl indeed!
And the next morning dawned bright and early, taking me to Gare de Lyon, where I boarded a train that would take me south to Macon and to Taizé, where I spent four days among fellow young adults from all over the world, singing , meditating, and being in community. It was incredible to be there over the Easter holiday; On Easter Sunday, there were over five thousand people there, singing and celebrating the fact that we are a Resurrection People! I learned a lot, had time to rest, give self care, meet people from all over the world, be in conversation with people of all sorts of stories, faith journeys, all the while being surrounded by the beautiful sights of the south of France-rolling hills, trees in blossom, gorgeous water...ah!

NORWAY
When my time at Taizé was over, I boarded my 12 hour bus/train/bus/airplane/train combination of transit that would take me back to Norway. This day was spent marveling at my newfound independence; not only that I had successfully navigated my way through numerous airports and train stations, "parlez-vous français"-ing my way through the stereotypical view of Americans, but also realizing how much I enjoyed my solo travel! Never had I envisioned myself as one who would choose to venture out alone, but here I was, exhilarated from my week and a half of independence. What a life-giving experience. I am so proud of myself, thankful for the help I received along the way (Mark & Sonja for dropping me off at my airport in Berlin, setting me off on a successful beginning, Biz for her hospitality & friendship, all of the beautiful people I met at Taizé, and throughout my travels, and of to Dad & Mom for helping with all the logistical planning stuff-and for worrying, of course!).

And here I am. Sat my exam on Friday morning (and afternoon: this was a four hour written exam! Not a “four question, write as much as you need to to sufficiently answer the question” but rather, “here are three questions, answer two, and write the entire time.” Yikes!), so I’m mostly done academically. A couple short papers, then I’m finished with junior year. And in two and a half weeks (18 days from today!), I will be on Minnesota soil. Weird.

I’m not sure how I feel about being home. Okay, that’s a lie: I am SOOO excited to go home! To see my family, friends, prep for camp, hear about life in Esko, Moorhead, at Trinity, Red River Dance….it’s going to be fantastic! But at the same time, there is so little time left here in Lillehammer, where I have built a bit of my life. I’ve learned so much in my time here-and I have some dear friends who I hate to say goodbye to. It’s not as easy to leave as I thought it would be. But May 19^th is coming soon-I’ll be home within this month! YAY!

In the meantime though, I have two more group travel excursions: tomorrow I am setting off for a trip to Bergen (in Western Norway) and Copenhagen, Denmark. We’ll be going for the shear benefit of going, so that will be lovely! Then next week we’re setting off to spend a week at an organic farm north of Lillehammer-which sounds fantastic. Then we’ll have four full days here in Lillehammer to pack, say goodbyes, celebrate 17^th de Mai and head for home on May 19^th.

So much to do.

So little time.

So much growth.

So much potential.

Thanks for all the love!

SEE YOU SOON!!!