10 YEARS

On Saturday I had a reunion with the group of people I spent 3 months overseas with. It is really crazy to me that 1) I really spent that long of a time away from everything I knew and 2) that it has been 10 years since then!!! I still run into some people on a semi-frequent basis, but I hadn't seen some of those people in several years. Not everyone came and I wish that I knew how some people were doing, but it was still fun to get together with those that showed up. Many had kids and even those that didn't ooh and ahhed over those that did. It was really funny to see some guys I just didn't picture around children letting little boys use their shoes as a ramp while they talked and pretended that was a normal thing. Some of our group have kept in close touch, but many of us have our own little worlds that we live in that really makes our time in Vienna seem light years away.

I was talking with one of the teachers that came along with us and he said that our group may go down in Lipscomb history as the biggest one ever. After 9/11 the interest (understandably) went down and now that people are into it again they are still trying to limit the number. We were the second group to ever go and I think that there were close to 40 of us.

We left Nashville just a few days after Princess Di was killed in that crazy car accident and we were already planning on beginning our trip in London. We were able to be there during a very important time in history. Several of us woke up early the morning of the funeral and lined up along the processional line. It is unbelievable to me that I watched the casket pass by and I could see the envelope her boys placed on it. We later watched the funeral on TV with the rest of the world and visited many of the memorials that had sprung up around town. After a week in London we flew to our new home in Vienna, Austria. Our group had an entire floor of a place called Kolping Haus...it was kind of a hotel/boarding house with a wide variety of people in residence. Four days a week our group took a train to a school near the Opera Haus for lessons in German, history, art and bible. Dr. Jerry Gaw was our main teacher, but Dr. Harold Hazelip (former LU president) came over for several weeks for bible and a local teacher Frau Ehler taught our german lessons. We had the other three and a half days to travel wherever we could by train--I spent weekends in Paris, Italy, Switzerland--totally crazy to think about now. We had two weeks that we spent as a group in Rome, Florence and surrounding cities. We also took a group trip to Prague and a mini mission trip to Zagreb, Croatia. So much history and we learned so much in our travels. We also had a fall break where we had an entire week to travel wherever we wanted...My sweet, sweet Daddy came to see me during this week. If you know me at all it should be no surprise that I was homesick. I missed my family and Jeff (we had already been dating a year+ at this point) so much. They couldn't all come, but Daddy did b/c he is the best!! We rented a car and drove all around Austria and Germany. The biggest places we hit were Neuschwanstein Castle, Munich, Salzburg (sound of Music's home town) and the concentration camp at Dachau. I'm so glad we got to experience these things together and it made the last month and a half easier for me:) This was the only year I have ever spent away from family at Thanksgiving...I think it may have been harder on my Mom, but I was till sad. There was also a group from Oklahoma Christian in Vienna and we had a big feast together. We invited our German teacher (who taught both groups) and had a great time. (We also had a big Halloween party with this group). One of the girls in our group spent the holiday in the hospital getting her appendix out--not exactly what she had in mind to bring her dad over for, but he was able to be there to help out which made it easier. A few days into December it was time to pack up and head home. No matter how homesick I was I enjoyed my time and knew I would never have an opportunity like that again. There was a nervous excitement all throughout the day as our group came closer to home. When we landed in Nashville the pilot let our group off first and it was a good thing b/c the other people on the plane would have had no idea what to do with the 300-400 people waiting at the gate:) It was AWESOME to feel loved by so many family and friends!! Jeff was there with open arms and needless to say this experience made us decide we couldn't live w/o each other--even if it was another three years before we got married:) I was reunited with my family that weekend (I think we came back on a Thursday night) and was so excited!! It's funny the little things you remember...I can still taste the first Dr. Pepper on ICE I had back in America--they don't put ice in your drinks in Europe--and the waffle I had that first night back at the Waffle House. Funny, right?!?!? My family still lived in Atlanta at this time so I eventually went back there for the Christmas holidays.

I know this has been a long trip down memory lane--thanks for joining me.