Pictures

I wandered some more around Basel for 5 hours today just taking pictures.

I couldn't help myself.

Outing

Friday night I went into Basel with some of my friends...

So here are some pictures of that.

Münster Cathedral, built around 1019!

The Rhine

Tallest building in Schweiz...

Barfüsserplatz or aka "barfis"

Natural History Museum... Bear/Rhino/Horse/Ape?

Samira, Mirium, Me, Anja and ... I don't remember.

I had just met her ok?? And their names are difficult for me.

Weekend

That was officially the longest weekend of my life. That I can remember.

It basically turned out to be exactly what it seemed.

A big "get together."

Dances, speed-dating, dinners, compatibility games... you get the drift.

I was almost grateful for the language barrier.

The weekend did have a good ending though so I am glad I went.

Elder Nelson and his wife came Sunday afternoon and both gave talks.

I almost cried I was so happy to be hearing English again.

I guess it wouldn't be hard to figure out what they talked about....?

*ding ding ding!* "Finding your eternal companion"

and "Utilizing your single days."

Awesome.

I also got to ride on the Deutschland Auto-Bahn.

For all you hole-dwellers that don't know what it is, it's basically a freeway with no speed limit.

When I heard that you can get up to speeds around "160"

... I got really excited.

Until I found out that they meant 160 kilo per hours... not miles.

So basically 100mph.

Psch... I pulled that driving down to St. George.

My $120 ticket was proof of that.

No big whoop.

And also, it's only two lanes so really you can only go as fast as the car in front of you.

Sorry for spoiling any dreams folks.

I've also decided to take a lover.

His name is Sushi.

Why did no one ever tell me how DIVINE sushi was???

What's crazy is I hate fish. At least I thought I did.

Sandra taught me how to make it tonight, and that's what we had for dinner.

So be prepared for a "sushi night" asap after I return!!

We are also in pre-preparation for our 2 week excursion to tropical paradise.

A.k.a Sardinia.

We leave really early Friday the 24th, drive 4 hours through Italy, take a ferry across the little sea there, and BAM.

We are there.

Can I just say how excited I am?

You all should be incredibly jealous.

Except for my mother and grandmother who just had there tropical fun.

And don't worry, I'll be posting lots of pictures to rub it it :)

Tschüß!

DONE

It's OFFICIALLY my last day of German class folks.

Lucky too, another day and I would have lost my sanity.

Or my brain would have spontaneously combusted.

And yes, it's that bad. Probably harder then Chinese math.

Seriously, German stinks worse then all the poopy diapers I've changed this week.

I am actually doing something fun this weekend though to celebrate the end of my misery.

Every couple months all the 18-25 year old Mormons from Austria, Germany, and Schweiz get together for the weekend.

I agreed to tag along with Anja to this because I figured it might be fun.

Oh, and Elder Nelson will be giving a fireside sunday afternoon. SA-WEET!

After I was all signed up, Anja showed me the website to look at the itinerary and such.

I laughed (out loud) at what I saw. (click to see for yourself)

It's called "Spacetagung 2010- The Year We Make Contact"

Now, I'm not sure what exactly we are making contact with...

but by looking at the the pictures, I have an idea.

This may be a REALLY long weekend.

I did also go to Zurich early yesterday and spent an hour just walking around.

So here are some pictures from that excursion:

Choices

I've been thinking a lot about choices and consequences lately, and how everything we do leads us down one path or another. When I was out taking Nina for a walk this morning, I took a picture that really reminded me of a talk or something by the President Monson. He said:

"As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, our goal is to obtain celestial glory.

Let us not find ourselves as indecisive as is Alice in Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. You will remember that she comes to a crossroads with two paths before her, each stretching onward but in opposite directions. She is confronted by the Cheshire cat, of whom Alice asks, “Which path shall I follow?”

The cat answers: “That depends where you want to go. If you do not know where you want to go, it doesn’t matter which path you take.”

Unlike Alice, we all know where we want to go, and it does matter which way we go, for the path we follow in this life surely leads to the path we will follow in the next.

Each of us should remember that he or she is a son or daughter of God, endowed with faith, gifted with courage, and guided by prayer. Our eternal destiny is before us.

The scriptures tell us that we are free to act for ourselves, “to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.” (2 Nephi 10:23)

At times many of us let that enemy of achievement—even the culprit “self-defeat”—dwarf our aspirations, smother our dreams, cloud our vision, and impair our lives. The enemy’s voice whispers in our ears, “You can’t do it.” “You’re too young.” “You’re too old.” “You’re nobody.” This is when we remember that we are created in the image of God. Reflection on this truth provides a profound sense of strength and power."

Anyways, TGIF! Happy Weekend!