theLittlethingsinLife

Ahh…the Netherlands!

This is where it all began…beautiful country side with a glimpse of the city. I had no idea what I was getting into, going overseas. My first time out of the United States, what did the rest of the world look like? What am I too expect? Well, I believe it was better than my expectations. Out of the three countries we visited, I can easily say that the Netherlands was my favorite. So what did we do?

We arrived in Amsterdam after a long flight from the states. It was around 9:00 am in the Netherlands but if felt like 3:00 am (I don’t think I got any sleep on the plane). The group joined us when we arrived, just in time for a canal ride through Amsterdam. The canal boat dropped us off at a diamond shop and the Anne Frank house for tours. Dinner took place in Den Hague, along the North Sea. The rest of our stay involved some more touring and class. While the students were in class I did some extra sight seeing. We stayed in a wonderful hotel, located about 20 min from the North Sea and 25 min from downtown Den Hague (walking distance). The people in the Netherlands are very friendly and most speak English. It is amazing how cultured most people are in Europe compared to Americans.

Some highlights of my stay in the Netherlands are…
…visiting a cheese making farm
…putting my toes in the North Sea
…running through a thunder storm
…shopping and lunch on a fisherman’s pier
…open air windmill park
…wooden shoe carving
…Delft (blue and white pottery) factory
…Shell Oil, corporate visit
…Ahold (Giant food stores), corporate visit
…and so much more, just being there was wonderful!

Here are some pictures.

House boat outside of the Anne Frank house.

Bikes are everywhere.

Downtown Den Hague.

Some of the girls in our group.

At the open air windmill park.

The North Sea.

Our coach driver, Ronny, drove us to France for our next stop. Stay tuned for stories from Paris!

I am back! Sorry I have been gone for so long, I was caused to stay away from work an extra week, so I ended up getting a three week vacation. Well, I am very excited to tell you all about my trip. I came back to work last Friday, but things are pretty busy in the office after being away for so long. This blog will be short, but I plan to write some more about each of the countries I visited in upcoming blogs.

To keep you interested, here are a few highlights of my vacation. My trip began on July 17 and ended on July 30. I was traveling with my mom and we joined a group of 40 business students, taking classes in Europe for 10 weeks. We arrived in time for the last two weeks. Mom and I landed in Amsterdam and joined the group in Den Hague, Netherlands. After the Netherlands we took our coach to Paris, France (my favorite city). The trip ended after Paris in London, England. Before coming home, our group came in contact with the swine flu. I will go into greater detail later. Because I was exposed to the swine flu, Messiah asked me to refrain from coming on campus for a week after I arrived home. This is the reason for my extra week of vacation. No need me spread the swine flu around campus. Although I did not have the swine flu, Messiah was taking precautions. Therefore I spent my extra week off, cleaning my room and getting ready to move into an apartment this coming school year.

I have plenty of pictures and great stories to tell. I will write soon!

My summer vacation is about to begin! Today I have officially finished my summer online Theology class. What a relief! I have not talked much about my class but it was a bit overwhelming. Now, I need to be careful in what I say, it was not that bad, but when you take a summer class and add a full time job, it feels like you never stop staring at a computer screen. I learned a lot in my Theology class, we had some great discussions and it really opened my eyes to the different perspectives of Christianity. Maybe in a future blog I will write more on this experience, but for now I am a little too busy to think about it.

Like I said before, as soon as it looks like things are going to slow down something comes up. Tomorrow at 2:00, I depart for my two week trip to Europe. This is the reason why my life is busy again. I have never left the United States (well…except for Niagara Falls, Canada) and I am getting a bit nervous. Tonight is designated packing night, because of my class I have not had much time to think about this trip or packing. Well, I guess you could look at this as a good thing, I have not gotten too anxious. I will be traveling with IBI (International Business Institute). My mom is the assistant to the director of IBI, so I am tagging along for part of the trip. IBI is a ten week program for college students, they take four classes totaling 12 credits while traveling the world. I will be joining them for the last two weeks to tour, de Haag- Netherlands, Paris- France, and London- England.

I am looking forward to this experience, touring different cultures. We will be going on some corporate visits, for example, Shell Oil and Ahold. I just checked the weather and it looks a bit gloom and rainy with temperatures around 70 degrees. It could be better, but I we can make it work! I will not be blogging on my trip, but I will be sure to write when I get back (expect lots of pictures). Pray for safe travels and a good experience for all of the IBI students. Thanks!

I would be so nice if every weekend lasted three days. Well…I took advantage of my three day weekend while the opportunity was available. This past weekend I was able to go to Ocean City New Jersey with a few friends for some relaxation and fireworks.

Here is something to think about. The question that someone asked me over the weekend was, why do we call this holiday the 4th of July? Why not Independence Day? We don’t call Christmas December 25th, do we? Strange.

Anyways, back to my mini vacation. Do you remember the dreams I wrote about the other day? Well, some of them came true! I was able to lay in the sun and get a little bit tanner. I was also able to read my book, I am already on chapter 21. Then what can beat laying on the beach with some amazing friends, soaking in some rays and diving in the waves. On Saturday night we went to the boardwalk to see the fireworks and do some people watching. It was great, they set off fireworks in the ocean (on a barge) and everyone gathers in the sand to watch. Blueberry pie and a few games of rook make a great ending to my mini vacation. Traffic wasn’t the greatest on the way home but we made the best of the trip with some PB&J, Amy our dying GPS, and a few brains so we would not get lost. Here are a few pictures of my trip…

Now it is back to homework and a five day week of work. Summer seems to be going by so fast!

It seems like the perfect day to be doing something other than sitting at my desk. Right now it is 86 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze, I really don’t think the weather could get any better. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could take a hammock down to the yellow breaches and lay in the shade with a book. Or I could even take a nap in the sun, getting the tan I wish I had. An office job and summer course just doesn’t allow for time to soak up any rays, I really am a ghost. I could even tell you the book I would be reading, Fame, it is the first book in the Firstborn Series by Karen Kingsbury. My goal for the summer was to finish this series, but I haven’t even started

What else could I do on this beautiful day…
…spending time with family and friends
…yard work
…go to the pool
…clean/organize my room
…finish my homework, although I would not enjoy this, it just needs to be done
…shopping
…painting (anything…walls, paper, canvas)
…coming up with ideas for the apartment this fall
…plan for my trip to Europe
…catch up on my missed episodes of the Bachelor
…taking a long bath
…relaxing
…and much more

I feel like as soon as life begins to slow down you still find plenty of things to do, staying just as busy. I am sure when my summer class ends, I will be even busier trying to catch up on everything I have missed. Oh well…I don’t mind. The busier the better, right? It is always fun to dream!

My pastor gave a sermon a few weeks ago on staying in love and I would like to share it with you. I have been thinking about it a bit because if falls into a category we have been discussing in my summer Theology class. We had a lesson on, interpreting the Bible with integrity, and in the sermon we looked at the Bible verse of Ephesians 5:21-26.

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives submit to your husband as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is head of the church, his body, of which he is Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word.” — NIV

Listen with new ears and new understandings. Submit is a biblical principle that we need to get our hands around. Think about it, Paul is saying that wives are to put oneself under their husbands, willingly and gladly. Now stay calm, I know this is a big issue and most people do not like this verse, but I found a very different perspective.

The Bible then says, “Husbands love your wife as Christ loved the church. But do you realize what this means? Jesus died for the church. So God is saying that husbands are to die for their wives like Christ died for the church. So before you get all bent out of shape from one verse, read further and make sure you have the full perspective. Wives should submit to their husbands, but husbands have an even greater task, putting their lives down for their wives (but I do not mean literally kill yourself).

I learned a lot from this sermon, but I found it even more interesting as I compared it to the things we have been discussing in my Theology class. We have been talking about putting things in perspective and comparing them to the whole. I think this situation is a good example of how we can blow things out of proportion and jump to conclusions.

Here is my opinion…my pastor got it right. I think that the husband should be the head of the household. Of course, wives should have responsibility, but the husband should take leadership in the household. Although, there is a point of working together and keeping each other on the right track. I expect my husband to then respect me as I respect him and treat me as equal. Therefore I do not have a problem “submitting” to my husband as long as he loves and has me in his best interest.

Credit: Pastor Shertzer of Slate Hill Mennonite Chruch

One of my favorite things to do is check the weather. My mom would say that I get this special trait from my dad. If we had the weather channel, I believe my mom and my brothers would go crazy. Now I do not believe that I am as bad as my dad, but I do check the weather quite often.

This summer has been decent so far, concerning the weather in Grantham Pennsylvania. Some of my Messiah friends like to call Grantham the rainy town. It seems like it is always raining at school. But I believe that we just forget about all of the sunny days. For most college students, the weather is not of concern, so when they walk out of class without an umbrella and are completely drenched by the time they get to their dorm; it is a day to remember. Ask any college student if they have a story to tell about the rain and I am sure they will. So my advice for any incoming college student is…invest in a good umbrella, not just a cheap thing, but something that will last (I have seen many inside-out or droopy umbrellas walking around campus).

You may be wondering why I am writing about the weather. Well, the problem is I have nothing better to say. So far this summer of firsts, is not that interesting! Between, work, family/friend time, and theology class, I haven’t done very many interesting activities. But I will be sure to let you know when something interesting comes along!

Every summer I seem to be starting something new, testing the waters, and this summer is no different than the others. Like many high school and college students, every summer is a new adventure. We become more involved, get a new job, and gain more freedom to explore the outside world (well outside of school of course). For me, blogging is a first, my job is a first, an online summer class is a first, and I will be traveling out of the country for the first time. This summer just seems to be filled with firsts! I am excited to share my experiences with whoever may read this blog, but please bear with me as I test the waters and find out what blogging is all about!

For those who did not read the “about me” section, here is a brief overview of myself. My name is Kelsy, I am a junior Marketing Major and Art Minor at Messiah College. My hometown just a few miles away from Messiah’s campus, known for the pickle drop and farmers fair. I enjoy the outdoors and spending time with family and friends. My favorite color is blue. I don’t really have a favorite food and I am not very picky, but the two things I do not like are peanut butter and soda. Currently, I am a work study student on campus. This summer I am living at home with my family. Along with my parents, I have two younger brothers, Jared and Benjamin, and a springer spaniel puppy named Tracker.

Hopefully this has sparked some interest! I will be back next time with some more bits and pieces of my life as a college student during this summer of firsts!