A Little Update

Hi everyone!

I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to post on here. The first two weeks were very difficult, and so I found it very hard to blog since I wasn't feeling super great. And this last week we had a media fast, so I wasn't on the internet very much.

This third week, I've felt much more at home at Bodenseehof. I've started to make some good friends, which has really made me more excited about being here! We've also been doing a lot of fun activities, both with the school and on our own. Here are some pictures...

A picture of the dorm building

The lovely lawn, they have a lot of apple trees!

Zeppelins fly by all the time, so cool!

Canoeing on the lake

We went on a hike in the Swiss Alps the second weekend. The view was incredible!

Beautiful mountains

Meersburg, with a glorious view of the lake

Ice cream in Meersburg

Friedrichshafen, the closest "big" city

This is the view from the tower in Friedrichshafen, isn't it pretty?

Of course, one of my posts can't be complete

without a pastry picture. 😄 This is a chocolate and raspberry cake, yum!

We had international night, and this was one of the German staff women in her dirndl.

My friend from Gambia in her traditional outfit

Konstanz, a town across the lake that we visited

Some of my friends! The first girl is from California,

 then it's my Korean friend, and then my friend from Germany.

 It's so neat meeting people from all around the world!

Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement! Although it hasn't been easy being here, I hope that the Lord will use this time to grow me and make me more like Him. I hope to post a bit more frequently than I have been, but we will have to see :).

Off to Germany!

Hello everyone! I thought I would tell you all about my next adventure abroad...

As many of you know, I am leaving tomorrow to go to Germany for 6 months as part of a gap year! I will be attending a school called Bodenseehof Bible School during that time. Bodenseehof is located on the banks of Lake Constance. The really amazing thing about that area is that the lake borders both Austria and Switzerland too! Thus, I'm really looking forward to visiting those countries more as well.

Bodenseehof Bible School

© bodenseehof.de/en

Lake Constance (the Bodensee)

© cntraveler.com

A video about Bodenseehof

I am excited to be leaving tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to growing in my faith and exploring the region during my time! I'm very grateful to have this opportunity to study abroad. Hopefully, I will be able to keep you updated on what things I am doing! I would love to hear from you while I'm at Bodenseehof, so if you'd like to write to me, here's my address: 

Hannah Weber

Bodenseehof

Ziegelstrasse 15

88048 Friedrichshafen

Germany

If you do decide to send me a package (which I would not recommend because of the expense) please make sure to write NCV (no commercial value) on it! It's very important to do this because otherwise I will have to pay a large fee to receive it. 😅

Visiting Three Different Castles

Oriane's family was on holiday for Easter, and so we went to visit their grandparents as well as some nearby castles. They were very kind to give me the opportunity to visit so many amazing places with them!

This is Chateau de Chenonceau. The way that the castle is built over the water is just gorgeous. Something interesting about this place is that during one of the world wars, half of the castle was Free France and the other Occupied France! This is because the Loire river was used as the border between the two. Thus, sometimes people would escape through the castle to get to the part of France that was still free. 

Chateau de Chambord-probably the most impressive castle we visited. It was ginormous and over 200 years older than Versailles! 

The view from one of the balconies

The grounds of the castle are enormous. It was originally a hunting lodge and so the men would go hunting in the nearby woods. Gradually, the building was added on to until it was a full-sized castle.

The central tower is very interesting-the architecture is much different than other castles, I guess because it's so much older.

This view of the castle with its reflection is simply breathtaking!

Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte; my favorite castle that we saw! It has a beautiful moat around it.

This is from the other end of the castle, the view is very awe-inspiring! I honestly felt like a princess just walking around the grounds... ;)

This huge statue of Hercules is at the end

I loved the windows in the castle, so pretty!

Oriane's grandmother had some costumes which we wore around the castle, it was a lot of fun!

This is the castle lit-up by candles in the evening. The pictures do not do it justice at all; it was magnificent. We also got to see some fireworks which was very neat!

Day Trip in Lyon

I know that it has been a long time since I last posted (and since I left France), but I thought that I would finish posting some of the pictures before I start school in Germany. I hope that you will enjoy seeing these pictures from Lyon....

At the beginning of our visit, we went to an indoor market. It was so fun to see all of the yummy and interesting things! I thought these animal-shaped candies were so beautiful.

I'm sorry for the awful picture quality, but I wanted to include it because this is the most iconic Lyonnaise pastry: the Tarte aux Pralines! I got to try this for breakfast and it was yummy. It's a bit like thin shortbread with a layer of red jam/frosting (the pralines).

Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière, a beautiful church atop a hill that looks over Lyon.

The detail on every part of the churches in Europe is just amazing. Even the door is a work of art! 

The interior of the basilica was very lovely. I'd never seen a church with this interior style so it was really nice to see something different.

This is a view of the church from the city. I always think that the golden statues of Mary are so striking.

The city courthouse

Oriane and I standing outside of the beautiful theater

This plaza with the fountain was gorgeous. If I remember correctly, each of the men depicted were important craftsmen who lived in Lyon.

Near the end of the day, we took a lovely boat ride along the river

The Best of Chambery

Since Chambery is only 20 minutes away by bus, I've been going there a lot to both study and explore. The Old Town is so wonderful to just wander through. And there are a lot of nice patisseries, boulangeries, and other shops to eat at.

This little skyway is the only one remaining in Chambery because skyways like these allowed fires to pass from block to block, ravaging the town

Photobomb! My host sisters are hilarious…

 

Of course, we need to stop for Le Goûter (afternoon snack time in France)! This Chocolat Chaud (hot chocolate) was delicious, but super rich!

A yummy mango and citrus cake

The beautiful museum and library in the Chambery

On the opposite side, the Palais de Justice

The Place St. Leger, one of my favorite places in Chambery! It is so charming…

The cathedral

Inside, the whole church is decorated with Trompe l'oeil paintings! The paintings are made to look like stone designs, kind of giving an optical illusion. I guess this is one of the biggest examples of Trompe l'oeil in Europe!

The square of the church

A delicious Gianduja (chocolate and hazelnut) macaron at the Fountain

The Fontaine des Elephants, the most famous monument in Chambery. 

My kind French picture-takers explained to me that the fountain is called “the elephants without backsides” because you can only see the front half of the statues!

Some of the beautiful painted houses of Chambery. The town has many Italian influences (such as the housing architecture) since it is near the border.

The Charles Dullin Theatre in Chambery

The Chateau des Ducs de Savoie. The Counts of Savoy lived here in the Middle Ages. At that time, Savoie wasn't part of France; it only became annexed by France in the 1800s!