Canyoning Pictures

I received the pictures minutes after posting my last post. Anyways, here are some pictures from my awesome experience in Interlaken, Switzerland... Canyoning!

Here is my pride and joy picture... zip line until middle of the water and then release into a back flip. Solid landing... fyi

Week 7

Canyoning in Interlaken, Switzerland

Last weekend I got the chance to go to Switzerland and go canyoning. Just Google canyoning and you will see what I got to do. It was super awesome! Probably the best experience thus far. It was an intense morning of going down a canon and jumping in ice cold water. There was a photographer there taking some pictures as we went through the mountain and Outdoor Interlaken (the company I did canyoning through) will mail me a cd with all the pictures on it and it has not arrived yet. I think you will have a better understanding of what I did until you see the pictures.

Switzerland is a beautiful country. If I had my choice of living anywhere in Europe... Switzerland would be my first choice. It doesn't feel very to touristy and it just has a home feel to it. There are a bunch of mountains and lakes all throughout the country... very beautiful. The cost of living there is very expensive and that would be the big down side. I highly recommend going to Switzerland for anyone that wants to travel Europe...yes even over Italy! Just my opinion.

The weekend we stayed pretty local and just went to Koln, Germany. It is a city that has a lot of rich German history and it was a great place to see. The cathedral (first picture) is huge and I enjoyed walking through it. It's as big or even bigger then the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Koln is just a tourist town and some place you have to go see when you are in Germany. We were only there for a couple of hours. It has been pretty nice by staying local this weekend as I am getting a little sick of sitting in a train for hours on end during the weekends.

4 weeks left!

There are only 4 weeks left of my summer and I really hope to live for the moment here and appreciate what a blessing it is to be here. Camp is going well and I hope to make changes to make camp a little better for all involved. I really enjoy being a director and can really see myself grow as a leader. By the way my camp name is Mr. Incredible (from the Disney movie, The Incredibles) so it has been pretty fun to listen to kids call me Mr. Incredible all day long. =)

CARPE DIEM

Oh happiness

Living it up

This past weekend I was able to go to Venice, Italy and as you can see by the picture above I got to see Katie! The trip was a roller coaster ride as I hit a lot of bumps in the road to get there to see Katie but we made it happen.

Overview:

Katie and I have been planning to meet in Venice the entire summer so I was way excited for this weekend to finally arrive. Well once it did it seemed like everything went wrong and the chance of us seeing each other looked impossible. First off the people I was traveling with were not excited for the 14 hour train to Venice and then have to make the same 14 hour train ride back home all within about 36 hours... so a lot of time on the train.

Well I eventually talked my group into going so we set sail late Saturday night. We traveled all through the night (not taking night trains) so sleeping was difficult. We did not have reservations on any of the trains (which is a must) but the train conductors were actually nice and let us buy them on the train.. which is usually uncommon. So we felt pretty pleased with that. We arrived to Venice at 2:30pm on Sunday. Katie was due to arrive Monday morning. My days off from work are Sunday and Monday and her's are Monday and Tuesday. She got off work Sunday night and set off to come to Venice which is about 8 hours away from where she was at. She ran into many bumps as her group wasn't to excited for the long trip but eventually got going. They missed there initial train that had them set to arrive in Venice at 10 am on Monday. Well they didn't arrive until 2:30pm. That is just way the things go sometimes when traveling in Europe with trains. Anyways, I had to leave at 3:20pm so.. we had about 30 min to spend together.

'All that for 30 min!?' Haha yes but it was a great 30 min that I will remember for a lifetime.

Venice is a beautiful city and very unique. I really enjoy it as this was my second time visting the city.

Difference between a 'night train' and a 'regular train.'

Night trains are for traveling long distances in the night and they provide quiet sleeping beds that you have to pay extra for.

Regular trains are not geared towards sleeping as they run all through the night. Lights remain on the entire time and announcements are made over the loud speaker. Basically what I am trying to say is taking regular trains to a long distance is pretty rough on ya. I hope that made sense. I am started to understand the train system more and more and becoming quite the "traveler."

My spirit is doing a lot better and I am enjoying myself. Time is honestly flying by here and I can't believe I am half way through the summer.

Camp Adventure Aquatics Director:

I am the Aquatics Director this summer as I have stated before so I am in charge of 4 counselors. That has been my toughest challenge this summer by doing a good job of taking care of the kids as well as making them happy and doing a good job as their director. I am learning a lot about my leadership and I know this will pay off in the long run.

I am blessed and so thankful of being able to spend my summer here and see all the sights.

Love you all.

5 weeks in

Hi All

I know I have not been doing a good job of updating this often and for that I apologize. I have no excuse but being lazy about it. Anyways, I have been here now for 5 weeks and it sure has gone fast. I enjoy what I am doing here and really do have a good work schedule and really no complaints.

I have traveled to Munich, Germany and Prague, Czech Republic since my last post. I feel very blessed and fortunate to be able to go to these amazing places!

How am I?

Tired, miss my girlfriend Katie, and in a spiritual battle to be honest with you. It's tough being away from my 'normal' life. God has challenged me this summer and so far its taking its toll on me. I do believe I will overcome all my anxiety and be just fine. TRUST AND ENDURE.

I wish I had the time to make this a long post but I do not... know I love you all and send my blessings.

If you would like more from me please don't hesitate to e-mail me and I will do my best to get back to you.

I'm okay and I am having fun. =)