the hills are alive!

[edit: thank you for all your prayers/happy thoughts for my safety during my travels! the trip wouldn't have been so perfect without them!] going solo to austria and switzerland might be one of the best decisions i've ever made in my life. and i'm predicting it will remain as a climax in my life for a long time. how to go about explaining how great it was? i wish i knew. each day i kept thinking "there can't be a better view than this," or "it can't get more beautiful than this," but everyday and every step just got better and better! and now i've returned, more in awe of the world, more in love with creation (including the people who live in it), and more at ease with myself. i went with high hopes, expectations, and questions. i came back with more satisfaction, answers, and peace than i thought i would ever experience. this is the advantage of travelling alone--it would have been much different had i gone with a friend. i would still have come back happy, but it would have been a different kind of happy.

 scene from my hike in the Alps

(by the way, i suggest you click on the

pictures with mountains for a better,

larger view. they're so great...)

i don't want to sound tacky/sappy/corny but have you ever felt your heart smile? or have you ever experienced that airy/open/wide feeling in your chest? or a silent sigh in your brain? i'm not sure how aware i was of these feelings until i saw soft clouds mixing with cold, distant mountains, and glacial water flowing from wherever the heck a river begins. what was more exciting was looking at other people looking at what i was looking at. haha! the best part about being in scenic environments is that there's always enough beauty around for everybody's eyeballs to feast upon.

there's no way i can summarize my trip--i hope you understand. but here are some snippets! i'll narrow it down to a few pictures from each city. the rest you can see on facebook (when i get around to uploading my photos!)

Salzburg

 salzburg

did i do the Sound of Music Tour? of course, i did! how could i resist?? and yes, the hills were very much alive with the sound of music :) the tour was so cuuuutee--we sang all the songs on the bus ride to various locations in the countryside, and i learned a lot of fun facts about the film. below are a few pictures from some memorable scenes.

 last scene in Do-Re-Mi

 the Captain's backyard

this is one of my favorite pictures from my trip. i stumbled upon this while roaming about Salzburg. what an epic moment! huge fortress on top of a mountain (which i climbed to see), and a huge chess game below. 

Vienna

sadly, i was in Vienna for only 11 hours. but my backpack and i got around to see a lot. i didn't expect Vienna to be so beautiful and so big! i was upset that i only planned to stay for less than a day.

 Schobrunn Palace and the city of Vienna behind

i think the pointy building is Rathause... 

i love the old man with his hands behind his back :)

 i came across upon this building...not sure

what it is but it looks important!

taking the overnight train was definitely one of my favorite parts on the trip. SO COOL!! if you ever go backpacking in Europe, you must consider one night in an overnight train. get the top bunk of the train cabin. you have to be very creative with how you squeeze everyone and their luggage in the small, tight cabin. and there's nothing better than being woken up by someone knocking on your door, opening it to find a man speaking german, serving you tea and a croissant for breakfast, but being distracted by the amazing Alps looming outside the window!

Lucerne

wow. WOW. WOW

let's just say, i love switzerland. and i am determined to go back, despite how expensive it is.

on my very last day, i climbed Mt. Rigi. it was pretty badass. it was a lot more difficult than i imagined. but so AMAZING! i don't know how many times i stopped because i couldn't get over how awesome it was. for some reason i found myself taking very deep breaths...as if i could breath in the scenery...which is silly. but trying to see everything you possibly can in the Alps is an immensely vast task. 

the very top of Mt. Rigi

(those are mountains in the back! click click!)

there are many different ways to get to the top of Mt. Rigi (by train, by cable car), but i chose to hike it...i rode the cable car that took me half way up the mountain where the hiking trails began. it took me 2.5 hours to get all the way to the top!! 

view as i headed down the mountain...

then i hiked down for another 3 hours on the other side to see a little town in the middle of the mountains. there, i found a gem in the middle of the nowhere: a small chapel with a dinky/plain exterior, but an absolutely dazzling interior!

and then i took a train from the town to go back to the top of the mountain again, just because i could. (and because i paid a shit ton of money for my day pass on the mountain...)

throughout my hours hiking, i stopped quite often to enjoy the view on a bench, and read some scripture. what a different take on the book of Job! especially Job 28. the imagery in that chapter left me in a daze that day. check it out. imagine reading that on a mountain with the view of the Alps...powerful. and the last verse is just perfect.

on my boat ride back to lucerne in the evening, i made some new friends. we had a great time trying to communicate with a mixture of english, french, german, and spanish. hahaha!

Zurich (for two hours before my flight home)

beautiful.

and delicious.

 fondue

last thoughts (thank you so much if you actually read everything thus far!): first, i'm very thankful that my parents--despite how upset they were with me when i told them i was going on this trip after i bought everything--were willing to let me do this! second, when i think back on the trip, there were so many moments that could have gone very wrong. but each time, God gave me courage to make some very firm decisions. one of the new friends i made (the boy on the left in the group picture above) told me i was very bold to be travelling alone, without my phone and laptop. i felt bold. and i'm very proud of each adventure i had. now i just need to translate my newly discovered boldness into my daily lifestyle. lastly, i leave you with a famous verse by Babcock:

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.

This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought

Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;

His hand the wonders wrought

going solo

i hope you're having a wonderful Easter Weekend. i wish i could be with friends and family right now.

this year, i am celebrating Easter Weekend by myself. i have no church to go to right now because they're away on a retreat for Easter...

i am going solo on a trip to Austria and Switzerland. a couple weeks ago, i felt very compelled to go on a trip by myself, for several reasons. one reason is because i'm never going to have this chance again in my life, to travel by myself while i'm young/naive/stupid/spontaneous/unattached to responsibilities. another important reason was to break away from the routine/habitual/obligatory nature of my spiritual life. sadly, that's literally what it has become. i need some time to backtrack what i know about God. it'll be refreshing to think about my spiritual life in a different context/environment/world. but the most important reason is to fix this problem i have: i've always been a control-freak--it's really terrible and i've tried to hide it in the past...but it's come to the point where i stress about the smallest/stupidest things until i can't sleep, or i simply can't trust in God's providence and protection. it's going all wrong. this trip might be an interesting solution/experiment/adventure to address this problem.

basically--i want to go on my own little retreat before i dive back into reality as an "almost-adult." i might as well get my head on straight before transitioning into senior year, right?

so i asked friends on facebook about where i should go. i wanted to go some place beautiful, somewhere i could immerse myself in art, music, creation, and God's word. many suggested Austria and Switzerland. it just so happens that the cheapest and most affordable tickets at the time when i was planning this trip were to Austria and Switzerland. it also just so happens that Austria was once the capital of classical music and art. and Switzerland = Alps. can't get better than that.

it's me and a backpack with some clothes, SIGG waterbottle, some nutri-grain bars, journal, bible, camera, pens, and toiletries. 

no room for my netbook and no cellphone (i left my phone in italy...oops.)

my thoughts at the moment: this trip better be worth taking a week away from writing my final papers, and making me completely broke.

please pray for me: safety, open heart and mind, courage, growth, realizations. and if you don't pray, send me happy thoughts. and if you don't think happy thoughts, then maybe you should go on a trip too.

i'll be celebrating Christ's resurrection with the Austrians tomorrow. it'll all be in German! AHAHAHAHAA!

this is comically serious. or seriously comical.

i'll be back in a week, friends. bye!

ps.

i'm in a cafe right now and there's an old man sitting in an armchair across from me. he's writing/working on a manuscript and it tickles me how adorable he is! old people make me smile.

travelling is not vacationing.
it is work. it is play. it is something that doesn't linger long enough for you to figure out what you want to say.

you work to the bone, especially if you want to save money by walking everywhere.  you end up becoming a map navigating master. and you even go insane trying to catch a train or a plane (sorry, i couldn't resist these rhymes).

you know you're travelling the right way if you experience refreshing moments of serenity and happiness. otherwise, you're doing it all wrong, as i came to realize slowly.

----some things i'll never forget----
the ultimate nap in venice:
i took a nap on the street with some friends on my second day in italy with this in front of me:

and this thing behind me (the Doge's Palace):

hope for happiness and love:
jiwon and i hung out with a bunch of other travelers from our hostel at Piazza San Marco in the evening:

this band was playing for the crowd:

and we spent a good hour laughing and smiling at the adorable, aged lovers who were playfully dancing cheek to cheek (i wish i took pictures of them!!). they made me want to grow old with someone, just so i could return and dance with him there :) who knew sharing cheerful memories with strangers could make me feel so sappy?

crawling bodies:
there is so much art in italy. it is ridiculous. the medici family did more than succeed in supporting the arts--they basically made the entire country a peninsula of art... i can't even begin to tell you about all the amazing art we came across, most of which we weren't allowed to take pictures of. some of my favorites include The Birth of Venus, and Venus of Urbino.  but i still can't get over how epic the Sistine Chapel is. we weren't allowed to take pictures, but i couldn't resist, so i snapped a few. michelangelo, raphael, and the other artists who worked on the chapel (i'm not sure how many there were) somehow made this chapel full of crawling bodies. everywhere. naked, clothes, semi-clothed, semi-naked, all beautiful, and all giving off amazing vibes of energy. it was a shame there was a large crowd. crowds = noise.  i think it pretty much sucked out the anticipated moment of sacredness and spirituality i hoped to experience upon seeing it. but nevertheless, i was full of chills. i had my head looking up until my neck couldn't support the awkward weight shift. (sorry the pictures are blurry. i did my best to be sneaky...)

aside from a few unfortunate events that happened along the way to my friend, the trip was beyond perfect. the weather was flawless (except for some drizzles on our last night in florence), i went with a super chill girl, and i had an awesome (literally!) time getting to know her throughout the trip :)

Vatican City over yonder

 Venice

Rome 

oh--i forgot to mention that everything was FREE

while we were there! we just so happened

to be in Italy during Culture Week!! 

What great timing :D

 view of Florence from Piazza Michelangelo

oh, Pisa...

italia, await my return!

a series of mysteries

black&white photos always look like they're straight out of mystery novels.
here are a couple i did not include in my facebook albums.
(i'm working on trying to write a single entry that can encompass my thoughts on my ten day trip to italy. will post that up later tonight. or tomorrow night.)

Venice

 this is what rich people do in venice. they drive their 

personal boats and text on their blackberries...this guy

just looked so classy in his work outfit, with his legs

crossed, not even glancing at the busy "road" during

"rush hour." 

Rome

non-english english speakers

the past 24 hours have been a bit stressful, trying to get research done for my final papers (that way i can relax during my trips!) while hosting my friend Sanghee who came to London on very short notice. i met her last year in Korea when she was working at the NGO i interned at last summer. she was in Africa for the past few months, caught malaria, and decided she needed to get out of the continent for a while. so she decided to visit London for a few days before catching a flight to Dublin.

the day she arrived, we went out to see a really cool exhibit called Evolving English at the British Library.

super cool!! unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures, but i saw all sorts of rare books--all the gems of English literature. i even saw the ONLY surviving manuscript of Beowulf! it was written in the year 1000 (although it was probably around in oral form in like the 700s). the manuscript was fire-damaged and was sort of glued on to pages of another old book. other displays included rare copies of the Canterbury Tales, bibles, poetry written in SMS text form, and audios of famous/charismatic speeches in English.

 get it??? oh, puns...

anyway, the exhibit was a great way to complement the book that i'm reading right now, Globish. check it out! English can be reckless and powerful, yet comical and sensitive...

this morning, Holly, Sanghee and i went to Spitalfields Market, where we saw these two guys playing ping-pong on an old wooden table. what a clever idea...

afterwards, i had to rush Sanghee to the Tube so she could catch her flight at Heathrow. never have i come across such a slow-moving person...but i still love her dearly :)