Hello Everyone,
Many weeks later, I return to make my last post. On Apirl 12th, I left Germany, where I last updated my post at. Since then I spent a week in Italy and six days in Austria. Those two weeks, were definitely some of the least stressful travelling times, because I was almost constantly with my grandma, and I could pass on responsibilty a little bit, and let her take care of things for a while. Lucky for me, she was willing to do this. During my week in Italy, I completed a bus tour- that travelled about 3,500km round-trip- with my grandma. We headed down to southern Italy, and I got to see three different islands (Elba, Capri, Ischia). I also got to go to Rome and see Pompei and climb up Mt. Vesuvius. Each day was very busy... but I saw so much. The special thing about this bus tour is that it is designed for seniors. By doing a seniors bus tour, I could go on a holiday that my grandma felt comfortable travelling with. Fortunately, it all actually turned out differently that I expected. My expectations were much too low, when they shouldn't have been. All of the people (seniors ) were so nice, we talked a lot, and I got to share a lot about Canada, something they were all interested in. After Italy, I spent my five days in Austria visiting family, and experiencing the Easter traditions in Catholic Austria. In Austria, students have 1 1/2 weeks off of school, and Good Friday through to Easter Sunday each have their own traditions. Though I don't agree with all of the traditions that they follow, seeing how important this holiday really is was a good reminder to me. Sometimes tradition is nice because it adds more formality to certain occasions, and in the example of Easter here, I think that we could have a little bit more tradition in our North American Easter. But it was really good experience to spend Easter away from home, the first time in my life!
      So after my time in Austria was up, I flew to Alicante to pick up the rest of my suitcases (I only had a small backpack during my month of travelling). There, I spent my last, and final, night at Rio Vida.
     Now I am home, back in Kamloops! These past 3 1/2 months have been an incredible journey, and it is so amazing how fast it went by. It is still sinking in that it is all over, and that now I'm home. So much has happened and changed in past months, but coming home was so familiar, and it was so nice to see everyone at home and church this morning. What I am learning is that travelling is a wonderful break from real life; it is a chance to pause from the regular routine of life and take a moment to stop and breath and discover more about oneself and the world that God so beautifully created for us. I am so thankful for all of the oppotunities that I had in the past few months, for all of the things I got to try, for safety while travelling, and for all of wonderful people that I've met.
Thank you so much everyone for all of your prayers and thoughts throughout this adventure. Hopefully I will get to share some more stories and/or see you sometime in the future.
May the blessings and peace of God be with you,
Adios,
Christi Schröttner