crazy how fast life changes....now im moving to the south coast of england!! 

Just now read through everything we wrote on the trip. it would have been nicer to have a day to day journal rather than every couple days but wow im realy glad we had that. no one may even be reading this, heck its been 4 months since weve been back, and yet the trip still lingers heavily on my mind. i still get sad realizing that im already back. its a feeling in the pit of my stomach that almost makes me feel like im going to lose my breath. i think about being on the plane going over there, various places we went highlights from my favorites and even the down times. sometimes it isnt real but then i look back on it and realize it is. and its not unattainable. a lot of people ask me why i want to move to london, like its stupid, or like its a bad thing. and yet it calls to me, its where i want to be, and every time i turn around and think about it, even with everything i beleive, being in the truth and my hope for the future, it is still where i want to be. never have i felt something that strong before....

here i am at home...woken up from a dream on some long flight that i think just made a large circle...it was the most wonderful dream though...something about being in europe for 7 weeks....

Hello Everyone! What a late update with 2 days to go. London has been amazing and amazingly exspensive. However with a well planned budget we have both made it here with extra to spare(yeah I know you're jealous Ben.) Despite how I felt before we left towards "home" and Hamilton I am actually looking forward to getting back to America. Where I know where everything is and everyone speaks American English. Here the english are very particular in pointing out that Americans don't speak english, but rather "American English." It's very odd being in a country and speaking the same language but certain things are pronounced differently, spelled differently, or even just completly different words. Here is a list that I have been compiling:

Goosebury- 3rd wheel

Crisps- Potatoe Chips

Quid- Slang for thier money like "Bucks" are for dollars

Pissed- Drunk

Squiffy- A bit drunk

Off License- Liquor store...(do you see a theme here?)

Bum Fluff- Peach Fuzz

Flip Me- My word

Grump Futtock- Grumpy person

Duffer- Tv remote

Skive- Not do something, or to blow something off

Blow off- Fart....(yes there is a funny story behind everything)

Settie- Couch

Final thoughts: I just can't beleive that our 2 months have come to an end. The begining of the trip felt very long but now looking back on everything it's hard for both of us to beleive that this day is here, just like the day we left. This trip has enriched our lives so much that we probably won't notice untill we're back in our daily lives. I feel unhindered right now in life, whoever hurt me in my past I hardly remember at this point. I feel like their is so much outside of a marriage and a family in the town that I grew up in, now that I am just itching to make the most of my life. Nothing scares me in fact I am making plans with a family in Oxford to move out here next fall for a while. I had so many dreams before this trip that have now been turned into goals. I wish everyone could see a chunk of the world before they settle for anything mediocre. Wells anyways I am really looking forward to getting home in about 48 hours, knowing I only have a few weeks untill I am on the move again. So the plan for tomorrow is 5:30 wake up and get ready, 6:30 pack, 7 am departure off to Gattwick Airport, 11:20 departure flight to Atlanta Georgia...then fly into Minneapolis, Minesota...Then arrive in Montana at 11:30 pm (mountain time.) So with 20 hours of flying/airports to deal with I think we're planning on a late, late, late night with no sleep(if possible) then we can look forward to 1 week of jet-lag after being ahead by 8 hours. (sorry if this is boring, I just thought I would think-out-loud/give a synopses of what the next 48hours will be like for us) Anyways I will see everyone sooooooon!!!!!!!!!

JESSICA:
OKAY, so heres a bunch of old stuff that ive been meaning to post. but anways, much has happened since then, now we are in switzerland. we went through the cinque terre, visited all the splendor and history in crazy rome and had a really really long train day to get to landquart switzerland! now we are here, having a blast, it is sooooo beautiful here i love it, its a lot like home too, with the weather and the mountains...oh and heres my bragging for the day... we sat in a hot spring in the swiss alps today...
ahhh the life!


Oh my word, what to say what to say!!! so much has happened and we are having such a good time! we are in Reggio Emilia, which is about 2 hours by train from everywhere you want to be! but its great! we have met so many people, shared many laughs trying to understand italian and get everyone else to be comfortable with the amount of english that they know. we have been having such wonderful conversations with Concetta and Alessandro (Joe's parents... we are staying with the Cecchia family, it is Concetta, Alessandro, Gianfranco, and Joe) only Joe speaks english and the rest...well has been an adventure! i love it because the 8 years of french that i took are finally coming in handy! there are many similarites and the more i listen to italian, the more i understand. i cant really speak it very well for the life of me, but i can get a lot of what they are saying. gestures help a lot too. so while gianfranco and joe are at work, we hang out with their parents! it is SOOOOO much fun and so wonderful to be able to break the language barrier and also know the love that is automatic without ever having met them before. oh, and concetta is the most amazing cook i have ever encountered, she makes these SPLENDID lunches for us everyday, mmmm i will miss her!!! and we have had some awesome dinners too, all kinds of breads and meats and cheeses, all strange kinds of pizzas, but all is very different from the US. i love Italy so much, i would totally move here. also, everything that the Italians say is so incredibly passionate it always sounds like they are arguing when they talk to each other. and they are very very very LOUD, its a lot of fun, and i think since we have been here, me and hannah have started talking louder too. hahahaha. this has definitly been enjoyable, and one of my favortie places because of the people. we toured all over Verona, Lake Garda, and some other places near here, everything is very beautiful. its also been nice to just have some down time, being at their house just enjoying not doing much of anything, except hanging out with the lively people here. also, they stay up so late here, like everyone doesnt eat dinner until at least 10:00 and then they dont go to bed until about 1 am every day... breakfasts are later..everything is late, and everyone seems to just enjoy life more here. there is definitly economic hardship since Italy switched from the Lire to the Euro, they got jipped in the whole deal, so it is difficult for them to support themselves, and yet they dont let it stop them from enjoying the good things in life. this place is wonderful!!!! Oh, and i think we have heard the Gnarls Barkly song "crazy" more over here than in the States, its pretty dang "crazy" hahaha sorry not funny at all. but they play so much stinkin 90's pop music over here, i hate it. like even in a lot of the nicer restaurants and all that...they play this crap music, its horrible. i think that they think it may either attract tourists, or they really like it, but man i miss my music (besides what i have on my ipod) but wowsa. and in italy, they are obsessed with The O.C. its funny because a lot of the younger ones here have asked me if Marissa dies...hahaha but they are in the same season as we are so... hahaha. they also like watching the Bold and Beautiful, the soap opera. oh wow, europeans and their American ways...but not really. sorry im really tired this must all sound stupid...more later and sorry its taking so long to update the page, we havent been able to hook up the laptop. anyways, talk to you soon....Jessica

on our way to rome today, rome today, rome today...on our way to rome today so early in the morning....

one of the things im definitly looking forward to is not ever having to pack this bag again...goodness gracious its getting ridiculous!! ive got a bunch of gifts that i was going to send home, but at this point in time, i will get home before they do, so i just figure i will carry them...hahahahaha. the transitions suck. and somehow my whole bag gets unpacked EVERY place we go...im in search of clothes i wish i had brought that im thinking possibly ended up in the deep dark depths of my bag and if i tear everything apart they will magically appear!! its not working so far... (the clown signifies the popularity of it in the town near us, viareggio)

but really, we are having a blast. this has been a really long trip, and though it is going by fast, time always does. it feels like weve been here for quite some time though. next time i think i want to pick only 3 places to stay and then just take day trips from those, because seeing this many places tires you out. we saw the cinque terre yesterday, it was beautiful, i wish we could have stayed there longer...we sat out on the rocks and just watched the waves come in and crash right next to us. it was cloudy and looked like it would rain all day, it made all the color in the towns very vibrant. it was nice. then today we are headed off to rome, the crazy city. there more than anywhere you have o be wary of pickpocketers... were gonna get our fill of history there, im so excited!!!

hmm.... we have this huge journal backed up on my laptop just waiting to be posted, sharing all our thoughts for the past couple weeks, hopefully maybe we will find internet access tonight and we will be able to put it on here, and also a bunch of new pictures.

so i guess....until tonight.... ciao, arrivederci, goodbye

Hannahs:

   So here we are Italy....Reggio Emmilia was a BLAST(we actually stayed in Villalunga). We started out meeting Jonathan for the first time and automatically fitting in with his family. His mother is Sicilian and one of the best chefs!! Everyday we had authentic Italian cooking, 3 courses for each meal and we were fed before we were even hungry. This women spent all of her day in the kitchen she loves taking care of her family whether she is cooking, cleaning, or doind laundry. She is always singing or whistling throughout her day. Everyone here refers to her as "Big Mama" As far as Jonathan hes very spoiled and knows it!! Every night we met a different crowd of young ones, went to dinner where everyone was excited for us to try a new type of authentic Italian style food. Even tho we didnt expect anyone to know english they still included us, and those who knew a littler came out of their shell and made us feel at home. Anytime there was a joke going the two translators, Ivano or Jonathan, would translate and then the whole table would be laughing all over again.

   A Few things we learned here was Parmesan Cheese originated here. A product of the towns Regio and Parme....the name here is "Parmegiano-Regiano"...(I hope I spelled it right) Another interesting story is about a type of Vino we tried here, which is refered to as red beer. The Celts had come to Italy and in an effort to make beer and failing they began to experiment with the vines, creating a sparkling red wine (champagne as we know it) which they called a red wine. (I hope I remembered the story right Ivano!)

   In meeting some great people here we also made some great friends!!! Mary, Manuela, Padidre, Esther, Vincenzo, Mary-Louisa, Ivano, and Jonathan and Family.....Thank you all so much for everything, (yes even you Platen...you crazy Albanian, well never forget you!) your hospitality and love will never be forgotten. Ivano...just let us know when you would like to visit Montana and we will set it up!

   Now we are in Sarzana, Italy. "The countryside of Italy" the mountains here are mined for their marble....so when they look as tho they have snow on them, its really not. (Something I have never before seen) Here we are staying with Taylor and the family he is staying with. I will write more when I have some more crazy stories for you!

sorry again for the delay, well have an update as soon as i can hook up the computer!!!!!!!!!!! so sorry!!!!!!!!!!!! and we will have tons more pictures, etc...journal. were doing really good and still having a lot of fun. its rainy today and it makes us both a little homesick but in a good way. were thoroughly enjoying ourselves!!!

well here we are in venice, i cant tell what the weather is like cuz im still sitting in my room... but it really really really sucks because here i am in one of th emost beautiful and well known places in the world and im sick. not like really sick, but i could certainly feel it coming yesterday. its a sick that i know will get better if i could sleep all day, but i refuse to waste this day. i have all next week to get better... so i guess i will dose up on whatever cold medicine i have and really hope that it works. so lets see... yesterday we went searching for a pair of flip flops for me, i was going crazy because it is so much hotter here than in the last places we have been and i was too stupid to bring my  own, completely forgetting that it is still warm in italy! now i just need some shorts and more tshirts...hmm... and everyone else here seems to think it is cold, all they sell is heavy heavy winter clothing. hahaha i guess it does get cold here too. so then we just kind of went exploring, wandering around, its easy to get very very very lost here, but there are signs everywehre that point either to S. Marco Piazza with an arrow or S. Rialto with an arrow. so basically if you know where you are staying in relation to one of those two you are doing good. we are staying near the rialto. so we went and sat in san marco plaza for a while, that is the place in my dreams!! i think tonight i just want to sit there for awhile, maybe go get some cheap pizza and just listen to music. somehow the orchestra just gets to me. like the music gets to the very core of me, calms me down, and just opens me up to amazing things. that sounds all crazy and like im trying to be poetic, but i dont really know how else to describe it. somehow everyone around just disappears for a moment and it is me and the music. and then when they reappear,  the people are all dancers in this amazing performance, and the pigeons in the background swoop through it all. theres my poem :) hahaha but really this place is wonderful. i think it is always packed with people too. our hotel is full, and.... are you ready for this? dun dun dun... we have to SHARE our bathroom with a whole floor!! haha its not reallya problem though, i think by the time we get up there most of the people will be gone. then we searched for this place that advertised cheap food, got totally lost, tried to find it again, got lost again, read some more menus, had a really hard hit because we are so used to things being incredibly cheap in prague, and finally found it. it was horrible service, small portions, not the best food by any means.... ugh. but i guess we ARE in venice. and back to the Euro. shucks. but this place is still amazing. and now im starving so i think i will venture out and hope that they are still serving breakfast while hannah is still sleeping. and today, my mission is to find: a book. with all the train rides, and travel, and some of the down time weve had, all i want is a good book. ahh... so until we speak again...ciao from venezia

Well, i lied. so sorry. im wayyyyy too tired to put pictures on here tonight, but i will tomorrow. things are crazy here....after only 3 hours of sleep, all the tourists and teenagers and creepy guys saying bonjourno... all of that... the only thing making me sane is the orchestra playing in the background. it is my favorite thing ever... when i think of europe that is what i dream of, just sitting there in san marco piazza listening to the orchestras...
so goodnite for now, and better things tomorrow