Pedazo de mi Corazón: Danka!

LOOK WHO IS FINALLY HERE!!!!!

That's right folks, Heather McGill made it safe and sound and has been conquering Europe for the last week and a half. Mackenzie, Lindsay, and I all met up with Heather in Berlin, Germany last Tuesday. We spent the week exploring the city and some smaller towns around the area, eating bratwurst and potatoes, and tasting all kinds of different beers. For some reason, I had really no expectations going into our Germany trip. Germany has always been somewhere I have wanted to see, but we ended up picking Berlin because we had a free apartment to stay in for the week. But now, it has become one of my favorite cities. The weather could not have been more perfect for our sweet reunion with Heather and we all felt like we packed as much in as possible while still taking advantage of the fact that we had an apartment to come home to. (Side note: I never realized how much I would miss having my own house until I lived in Spain. The awesome freedom that comes with having an apartment is something I will never take for granted again).

One of my favorite things we did while in Berlin was go on a free walking tour through "New Europe Tours"....when in doubt, CHOOSE THEM! It was incredible to see the different famous landmarks in Berlin; the city is so rich with history. We got to see the place where Hitler died, Checkpoint Charlie, The Brandenburg Gate, The Reichstag, Museum Island, The Berlin Wall, Sachsenhausen (a Concentration camp just outside Berlin city limits), and so many Holocaust memorials. At the risk of sounding cliche, I'm just going to say that it was so cool to go to places that I have read about for so many years and see history come alive. You can totally still feel the difference between East and West Berlin from when the Berlin wall was built. Different parts of town have been architecturally influenced by communism or socialism, so every area really had a different vibe. We decided to cook one night at our apartment and made a yummy meal of pasta, parmesan cheese with bread and crackers, and a various assortment of beer. Having the apartment was really such a blessing and it was so fun to be able to cook and all eat together and just hang out and watch a movie. (Remember the Titans....duh). We had such good intentions of running a half marathon the next morning that we have been semi training for all semester, but at 6 in the morning, everything sounds like a bad idea, and it ended up being too complicated to find the city that was hosting the race (think 5 hour train/bus ride with several stops with zero transfer time.) With our luck, we decided it was probably going to end up being a wild goose chase.

We took two days trips while we were there. One to Potsdam, a quaint little town with red brick buildings and a castle overlooking the city. And the other to Oranieburg to see the concentration camp memorial of Sachsenhausen. As soon as we arrived in Oranieburg, there was an instant change in mood. The whole town seemed to have an almost eery vibe. (I think this also had to do with the fact that it was good Friday and literally everything was closed.) The camp still has some of the original structures and the rest has been renovated and recreated to look just as it did during WWII. We got an audio tour and somberly made our way through the different barracks, crematoriums, burial grounds, SS training grounds, the site of the gallows, and the execution trenches. Throughout our time in Berlin, we obviously talked and heard alot about Hitler and WWII and everything that happened in the Holocaust. But this was so different. It was deeply disturbing to be standing in the same place where thousands of people were killed. (Over 200,000 people were passed through this camp and over 30,000 died inside its walls). We had many conversations about how Christianity fits into the Holocaust and how the ideas of Hitler could catch on like they did. I still have been thinking alot about everything I saw there and want to continue to look into what the Christian movement was like at the time.

On Sunday, we went to an English speaking church that Mackenzie's friends work with. We sang "Up from the Grave He Arose" and it made me miss my Dad so much, as that is his favorite Easter song....or really anytime song....he loves it and I had been singing it all morning. It was a very unique way to celebrate Easter...to be in Berlin in a small church plant with people from all over the world. I have to say, I missed home alot on that day. We made our way back to Sevilla on Monday and have been showing Heather around for the last few days. We even made it to a bull fight....which is something that I feel everyone should do while in Spain, but I can't say I would do it again. It was definitely an unfair fight for the bull, poor guy doesn't stand a chance. But I really do see now why they call it a "dance" and an art form. Those torreros (matadors) are so talented! And they are my age! Tonight, Heather, Mackenzie, and I leave for Madrid on the 12:15am bus and will spend one night there and then it is off to Prague (where we are SKYDIVING!!)

The time with Heather has been so special and sweet and I love being able to share Spain with her and continue to grow in our friendship. We have been literally all over the world together, and what an undeserved blessing that she was able to come and visit Mackenzie and I in one of our favorite cities in the world. Prague, HERE WE COME!!