Ellie B In Italy

Hey Blog People, Last week I went on my first official trip with ACA. We traveled 2 hours away to Le Cinque Terre, which I said before, means the five towns. These towns include Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernassa, and Monterosso. I'm excited to tell you all about it.  On the way there! We woke up early and left the school around 7 a.m. We took the bus to the train station in Le Spezia, which is a town that has the starting point for the Cinque Terre train tracks. Then we were set free into the town until around 4:30 in the afternoon. The thought of having free rein in a bunch of towns I didn't know felt a little intimidating. But on the way there, my friends and I made a plan for the day. I researched what there was to do in each town, and ultimately decided to walk around three of them: Manarola, Vernazza, and Monterosso. It should not be a surprise that I needed a plan for this day.  We stayed on the train until we got to the second town, Manarola. We got off the tra...

 Hello Blog People! This week has been very busy so far. There has been a lot of excitement and a lot of learning happening on this side of the world. I'll do a little recap for ya, since this week is pretty special. I arrived on Monday, which I've already said a little about, and that was just a long day. A lot happened on Tuesday. First of all, I had my first breakfast at Villa Aurora. I learned how to use the coffee machine that is free for students in the morning. It's basically a coffee vending machine, which is very good, though it takes a while to figure out what you want since all the options are in Italian. But cappuccino is still spelled the same. Go figure ;). In the morning I explored the grounds with a few friends, and we met one of the gardeners. We learned that Villa Aurora likes to grow some of their own produce that they use in the cafeteria, such as eggplants, basil, and varieties of tomatoes. They even have some fruit trees that are small, but we eventual...

  Hey Blog People, I took notes on my thoughts while traveling to Florence, and I have a ton of pictures. So I thought I would share those. Here ya go! There's the fam! My Chicago to Zurich plane I love the sky Me in Zurich Italy <3 The first sunset in Florence Thoughts throughout the trip:  - The trip theme song is I Lived by OneRepublic. Totally encapsulates everything about this adventure.  - Airplane black tea is pretty good. The pasta and breakfast sandwich was ok. - United has a great selection of movies: Shrek, LOTR, Harry Potter, In the Heights, Miss Congeniality, Sabrina, Cars 3 (not as good as the original but I'll take it), How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, etc.  - Airplane pillows are awful! - The whole day seemed surreal. I never cried on the plane which was good. I am just excited. The whole thing seemed most real when I was flying over small French towns and saw the lights from down below. And when I saw the little airplane above Europe on my airplane s...

  Hey Blog People, I'M FINALLY IN FLORENCE! Ugh, I cannot express to you how surreal this feels. It's just crazy that I'm actually across the world in Italy after dreaming about and working toward it for so long. This whole day (I'm not actually sure what day it is) has been absolutely crazy. So let me fill you in.  *** Fair Warning: I'm currently confused about what day it is and what yesterday means because I haven't slept, but we will get to that. So I'll just try to be explicitly clear on times and days.*** ****Second Fair Warning: Buckle your seatbelts, cause this post is going to be very long.**** On Sunday morning, I woke up and finished my packing. It had taken a couple days and some serious procrastination, but everything fit in the one BIG suitcase, one very stuffed carry-on, and one backpack that looked like it had a hernia (plus a fanny pack). The whole family left around 10 to drive me down to Chicago and see me off. I left them at security, but...

 Hello Blog People! Well, the adventure begins tomorrow. I cannot believe that I am finally leaving. I wanted to write down my thoughts, for you to know and for me to look back on.  First off, it still doesn't seem real that I'm going to be leaving for months to live in a different country and culture. It's crazy, and I don't think it will seem real until I say goodbye to my family or until I'm on the plane. The vocal I've been using has gone from "I'm leaving in September." to "I'm leaving in two weeks." to now "I'm leaving tomorrow." It's nuts! But, also, very cool. Second, I'm actually very excited to leave. It seems like it has been a long time coming. I've been praying for a while that God prepare me, mentally and emotionally, to leave. And He has done that. I'm looking forward to no longer talking about this big trip, but actually doing it and officially starting the adventure. I have been at home f...

 Hello Blog People,  I got to go on one last trip before I fly out to Italy. I was able to go back to Union and see all of my favorite people. It was an absolute blast  I drove out on Friday and got there in time to go to Harvey's Harvest. (Harvey's Harvest is a special annual Campus Ministries and SA chapel that's off campus). I got to sing with some of my friends for the worship part and I didn't realize how much I missed that atmosphere until I was there again. I also found that randomly showing up and seeing friends I haven't seen for months brings me a certain sense of joy that cannot be compared to much else. That evening we had a surprise party for one of our friends and I got to just hang out with everyone in a group setting again. I couldn't help but recognize how grateful I felt to just be in the presence of all my friends again.  Saturday I went to The Well and church at CVC. I thank God that I got to go back because I love that environment and the pe...