I am here! For all y'all keeping up with my journey, I am safe, enthusiastic, and running on adrenaline and van naps (it's my energy plan for the summer) in the Czech Republic! How did I get here, you ask? Well, beloved children, gather around my metaphorical rocking chair, for my literal one is in Bloomington and no offense, but if you all gathered around it, you'd frighten the sweet girl subleasing my room. You also wouldn't hear my story.
On Tuesday, I embarked on my journey. On my long flight, I bonded with a girl going to study abroad in Germany over the Lego Movie, as we laughed about 3 seconds apart despite our best attempts at synchronization. I arrived in Munich Wednesday morning with maybe an hour of plane sleep to claim for the day. Along with a billion or maybe 50ish other interns, I hopped on a bus to drive through 5 hours of beautiful scenery and the Austrian Alps to Slovenia.
When we arrived in Slovenia, we started THE AMAZING RACE. I don't know if you've ever seen the show The Amazing Race, but I saw part of an episode once a couple of years ago and am an undeniable expert.
The first challenge was at GORGEOUS Lake Bled to swim to a buoy quite close to shore and grab a key. So this is why they told us to bring a swimsuit, I thought. I CAN DO IT RIGHT NOW, I yelled, thinking of how light my breezy, loose Indonesian pants were and what a piece of cake it would be to swim in them. Out of all 19 teams, probably to no one's shock, I was the first one to dive in the lake. I am a decent swimmer. But I made a crucial mistake. Never, ever, ever swim in pants with yards and yards of extensive, flowing fabric, for they will turn on you. First, they will try to humiliate you by falling down, leaving you horribly indecent, especially considering your very Christian audience. Next, when you resist that, they will try to drown you. I overcame these perils, however, it was unfortunately the slowest, most pathetic looking swim of my life. And that was how my team started our Amazing Race.
After a rowboat challenge and a bridal shower game gone physically demanding at an island chapel, we took a train to Ljubljana. This train ride evened the playing field, since we all ended up on the same train. In Ljubljana, the overwhelmingly charming capital of Slovenia, we located, learned, and performed in public the Slovene national anthem, finishing the day in an impressive 2nd place out of 19 teams.
In the morning, we awoke to a day of fresh fruit at the market, a hike up a steep hill to a castle, a frustrating Lego teambuilding challenge, Andrew jumping off a bridge into a river, and going to a cemetery. After a decided a penalty was great for snackie time, we headed into a FOOD CHALLENGE. I was at first relieved to find that we were to eat a horse burger. That is real food. However, the sheer amount of food and unwanted toppings made this challenge super...well...challenging. But we did it. And you know what? It tasted exactly like our dinner the night before, so that is the story of when I ate horse two days in a row.
I'm getting kicked out of WiFi land, so this is TO BE CONTINUED.
Love you all,
JB
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