Greece and Italy

Hello my friends,

Since my last update I have been all over the place. After the Kibbutz we spent 10 days in Nazareth, volunteering at Nazareth Village and 4 of those days were spent hiking the Jesus Trail. The Jesus trail might have been my favorite part of the whole trip thus far. I really enjoyed it. To read about our experiences there you can go to

http://emu.edu/now/crosscultural/2011/04/11/nazareth-village-and-the-jesus-trail/

to read the blog written by another group member.

After Nazareth we flew from Tel Aviv to Athens, Greece. We spent 5 days there learning about Paul's missionary journies in Greece. We toured the Acropolis and the Parthenon and a bunch of other really awesome ruins. We had plenty of time to walk around the area in Athens and we got to know it pretty quick in the short time we were there. I ate lamb gyros and huge sugar covered donuts almost everyday. It was awesome!

On our last day in Greece we took a bus to Corinth and Linford gave us insight to the work Paul did there, and we read some of Corinthians. It was pretty cool, I love traveling in the land of the Bible. After Corinth we rode the bus for a long time and then reached the coast. That is where we boarded the Ferry that would take us across the Meditteranean Sea to Bari, Italy. The ferry was so fun. It was my first time being on a boat in any body of water bigger than a lake. So i really enjoyed that. I even got to see a beautiful red glowing sunrise over the water. It was amazing.

After we arrived in Bari we boarded a bus and rode all day to reach Rome. This is where I am currently. It has been an awesome week so far. We get to eat out for lunch and dinner, so you know I've had my fill of pasta and pizza and gelato. The food here is wonderful. I love it! So far here in Rome I have seen the Colosseum, Pantheon, went to Vatican City, saw the Pope and heard him give the Ash Wednesday service, toured St. Peter's Basilica, went to the Vatican Museum which included seeing the Sistene Chapel which was so cool!, been to numerous other huge and richly ornamented churches and walked until my legs ached each day. It has been wonderful.

Today is the first of the four days of free travel in Italy that we get. I am currently still in Rome but a group of us are taking a night train to Venice, staying there one night and then taking a night train back. It will be a short but I'm sure unforgettable experince. I have wanted to go to Venice my whole life, and I finally get to. And of course, a trip to Venice isn't complete without a gondola ride, so that is definately going to happen. I can't wait, I am so excited for that!!!

Next Tuesday we leave the hotel at 6 am to go to the airport. After that the plan is to arrive back in Dulles at 3 pm. It has been a wonderful semester and I am so thankful for all the support I have gotten from everybody at home. I can't wait to see you. It won't be much longer now.

Blessings to you all and see you soon!

-Allison