My summer began with a wonderful three week trip to Europe. I was visiting my boyfriend who has been studying abroad in Vienna for the past semester. I spent the first week and a half getting shown around Vienna--visiting museums and walking around the city. We spent an entire day at the palace at Shoenbrunn. It was absolutely beautiful--the grounds, the palace, the mazes, the zoo. Of the museums, my favorites in Vienna were the royal jewels and carriage museums. It was really interesting to see the different carriages used for different occasions--but they all had a royal green color. After my boyfriend had finished his classes and exams, we spent a day in Budapest, walking around the hills of Buda and Pest and admiring the castles. We were in Prague for two days after that. Arriving in the city at 4am, we had the place to ourselves. Able to take pictures at the main touristy sites in the center of town before they were over crowded. We made it up to Prague castle in time to see the motor-corps, the military band and the drill team running through their exercises. It was a lot of fun. The bulk of our trip was spent in Switzerland. We went to Geneva and Zurich, spending two days in each city. We explored the museums in each city, went to the UN Buildings in Geneva and the zoo in Zurich. I love sitting out by the lakes, relaxing and eating dinner. I even got lost and almost went to France--but that's another story. We concluded our trip with a day walking around Lichtenstein and the cheesy Sound of Music tour in Salzburg. It was a wonderful, amazing experience and I am so thankful for the opportunity to go.
But getting on the plane to go to Austria was a challenge for me. Three days before I got on the plane, my parents came to pick me up from school and my dad told me that he has stage three pancreatic cancer. There were lots of tears and more hugs. Both my mom and dad both told me that they wanted me to go on this trip, although I wanted to cancel everything I had planned right then and there and spend the three weeks with my family. So I went on the trip, checked in with my parents regularly and am very glad to be home. My dad has started chemotherapy and will have surgery later this summer. I am so thankful that surgery is an option and that he is fighting this disease has hard is he is. If you would like to read his story, or follow along with the updates, he is keeping a blog here.
The trip was incredible, but I'm really glad to be home. Enjoy the summer!
But getting on the plane to go to Austria was a challenge for me. Three days before I got on the plane, my parents came to pick me up from school and my dad told me that he has stage three pancreatic cancer. There were lots of tears and more hugs. Both my mom and dad both told me that they wanted me to go on this trip, although I wanted to cancel everything I had planned right then and there and spend the three weeks with my family. So I went on the trip, checked in with my parents regularly and am very glad to be home. My dad has started chemotherapy and will have surgery later this summer. I am so thankful that surgery is an option and that he is fighting this disease has hard is he is. If you would like to read his story, or follow along with the updates, he is keeping a blog here.
The trip was incredible, but I'm really glad to be home. Enjoy the summer!
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