So here are just some kind of random pictures of the past few weeks. Things are going good here and I have less than 2 months left! CRAZY! I still have a lot trips to plan and places to go though! We are going to Paris, Berlin, Prague, and Rome! I can't wait! School is okay, but I don't really like it that much...it's school! But the weather has been nice the past few days, so I'm just enjoying it and praying that it will last! I hate riding my bike in the rain and wind so much! I just love my car and I appreciate it so much more now! But everything else is good and I am happy and enjoying Europe. I'm sure before I know it, I will be back home again! It's a little sad that I'm missing the holidays and I was pretty homesick on Thanksgiving because they don't do anything here, but it's okay, I'll be home next year! The Hague temple! I went with the ward on Saturday and it was beautiful. It was small, but very nice and I'm really glad that I got to go. Me in front of the temple.



This is Meredith from USU. She just got here and she's a cutie and we've been making a lot of travel plans! Here is me and Chris at a basketball game. It was awhile ago, but it was fun!
These were some street performers. They were kinda creepy, but really cool.
More pictures of millions of bikes! This is at the Central Station. They have underground bike parking! I've never seen so many bikes before!


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Sinterklaas

In the Netherlands, they celebrate Sinterklaas on December 5. On Saturday, they had a huge party in Groningen when Sinterklaas came to the city. The story says that he sails to the Netherlands from Spain and his helpers are called “Black Petes. So when he comes to the city, he comes on a boat in the canals and all his helpers are running around and stuff. So sat he came to Groningen, and we went and watched the boat procession. It was so fun and awesome and all the little kids were dressed up like “Black Petes. I loved it! Then later, there was a big parade in the city and Sinterklaas came in on his white horse! It was great!This is a cute little boy who was dressed up like a black pete! This is the parade in the city before Sinterklaas came.
Black Petes handing out candy to kids.
Sinterklaas on his white horse coming into the city.
There was an elephant in the procession! There was also black petes riding camels and herding sheep! It was nuts.

More little kids dressed up. Almost every little kid was dressed up.
One of the black petes in the canal boat procession. The kids gave the black petes their pictures and letters to give to Sinterklaas. It was so cute!
There is Sinterklaas on his boat with all the black petes.
Black petes on the top of the boat.
All the people on the other side of the canal watching the boats go by.

Good times with Steph!

So my sister Steph came to visit me here! I was so dang excited about it, and we had a lot of fun. I can't believe how fast time goes, and she's already been here and gone already! It's nuts. But she spent a few days with me here in Groningen and then we went to London for a few days and then spent one day in Amsterdam. It was a short trip, but still good. We had some fun adventures and it all started when we missed our flight to London! Looking back we can laugh about it and call it an adventure, but while it was happening, it was more like a nightmare! We had to be at the airport to check in at least 40 minutes before our flight left and we got a ride to the airport. But we hit a ton of traffic and by the time we got there, the check in had closed and there was nothing we could do! We were devastated and both of us were bawling and it was awful. It was also my birthday! But then we ended up going to Brussels, Belgium and going to London on the Chunnel! It cost more money, but I just put it on the credit card and we got to London! At our hostel, they didn't have my reservations! Perfect. But it was okay because they had extra rooms and the hostel was really nice. Once we got everything taken care of, the day turned out really well and we went and saw STOMP and had dinner. So overall, I had a good birthday! We saw all the tourist sights and even though it was freezing, it was sunny and really pretty. Having Steph here was awesome and I'm so glad that she got to come and we could have fun together. After she left, I felt homesick and I really missed her! But we had a lot of fun.Here we are at the bus stop in Groningen. We were on our way to London.
This kind of explains how we were feeling after everything that had happened. At this point we were finally going to London, but it had been a stressful morning.





This was a cool sign I saw by the London Bridge. (Which isn't so cool by the way, it's just a plain bridge. It's pink at night which is kinda cool, but the Tower Bridge is much better!)
Another crazy pic of us being weird. We went to Harrod's and looked at all the super expensive name-brand clothes that we couldn't afford. It was fun.
This is us with the Tower Bridge in the background. The Tower of London is on the other side of the River Thames.This is the city hall and the London Eye is the huge ferris wheel. We went on the eye and it was awesome! We could see the entire city and it was such a clear day so we got some good pictures.
Steph and I on the London Eye.
This what we were sitting in on the Eye.
The views from the Eye.
Buckingham Palace at the Changing of the Guards. It was really cool, but there were SO MANY people and everyone was pushing and running around trying to get the best picture. Dang tourists...
Double-decker bus! They're all over in London.

The famous telephone booths.
Steph and I with the River Thames, the House of Parliament, and Big Ben in the background.
This is us at STOMP. It was an amazing show and extremely entertaining. We loved it!This is in Amsterdam. We went to the Anne Frank House and it was pouring rain and really cold while we were waiting in line. But as soon as we got inside it cleared up (of course)! The Anne Frank House was really cool and it was awesome to see her original diary and where her family hid out for so long.We went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in Amsterdam and it was nuts. This is the view of Dam Square from the museum window.Here I am jamming with Bob Marley. Psyche! He's fake!Me and Elvis just chillin'.We also went to the Red Light District in Amsterdam. It was very interesting and nobody worry, it's not dangerous and we were there at like 6pm! But it was crazy and we weren't supposed to take pictures, so I just took this one of the Hash Marijuana Hemp Museum.Me inside a giant wooden shoe!
I love Holland!

More Adventures

Okay, so after I got back from Italy, I stayed in Amsterdam and the Hague for two days until my sister came! I went to a place called Madurodam in the Hague and it was really cool! It had all the main places in the Netherlands in miniature! It was pretty sweet. Then Steph came and it was so great! She stayed with me in Groningen for a few days, then we went to London and Amsterdam. I was really really tired, so my eyes are a little droopy. But it was still fun!This is Madurodam. Here is me and Steph! This was the first night she was here.We went to a professional basketball game in Groningen and it was pretty cool! Steph bought some new European clothes so she's looking pretty stylish! One of the many teeny tiny cars they have in Europe and especially the Netherlands.
We took about a million pictures like this. I like them though!

Cinque Terre: Save the best for last!

Okay so Cinque Terre was AMAZING!!! Wow, I can't even tell you, but it was so beautiful and I really hope I get the chance to go back there someday especially in the summer because it's awesome. It was definitely the highlight of my trip and my favorite place. It was so beautiful and warm and there were hardly any tourists! I loved it! Cinque Terre is 5 tiny villages along the Italian Riviera. They have really awesome hiking between the villages, but it had rained before we came, so they were closed because of landslides. I was really disappointed, but we just took the trains to each city and wandered around. It was so relaxing and the views were beautiful. The ocean was clear and warm and the last day it was like 85 degrees! I felt like I was in Hawaii or something. And there were hardly any tourists so that was really nice. Me on the beach in Cinque Terre. We had to leave this day, or I would have jumped in, it was so warm!
Beautiful beach!
This is the village we stayed in, called Manarola. There were huge hills all around us covered in grapevines and the people there make wine. This is our hostel in Manarola. It was awesome and really cheap! They made us breakfast and we could order dinner and the girls we shared a room with were way cool and fun. It was a great place to stay.
This is the view from the roof of our hostel.
Me on the beach again. This was the first day and it was a little colder and not so sunny. But still nice!
I like playing with the settings on my camera, and I really liked these pictures.

This is another village, I think it was Vernazza.
These purple flowers were EVERYWHERE.

This is the village we stayed at. Isn't it amazing??!!


More lovely views of Cinque Terre.
This is the Cathedral in Milan. It was HUGE and really pretty, but I wish they didn't have that thing covering it! Milan wasn't my favorite place in Italy, but it was good to go for a few hours!