Day 1

Here we go. In an attempt to talk about my trip and all of the awesome things that happened on it, I am going to go through each day and talk about what happened on that day.  I will also post pictures for your viewing pleasure.

June 25, 2013

At about midnight, Josh and I finally went to bed after frantically cleaning our house and packing for the trip.  Then, at about 4:30 a.m., our alarm clocks go off.  We got up, got ready, and drove to Fanning Springs Community Church to meet the rest of the team at 6:00 a.m.  Here is when the first bummer of the trip started.  Jesse forgot to grab her awesome professional camera when walking out the door.  She was pretty upset.

Then we packed up the trailer and drove to Miami-freaking-Florida.  This drive was about 6 hours long.  We checked in our baggage, I was yelled at by the German employee for not buying my ticket under my maiden name, and we boarded our plane at 3:55 p.m.  We were all super excited about our trip and we were ready to go!

This basically concludes our first day.  We flew overnight to Dusseldorf, Germany and landed there early the next morning.  My next post will be about the flight and our next day in Europe.

-Ashley

 Bobby asleep in the van on the way to Miami.

B.J. asleep on the van on the way to Miami.

 Josh and I showing our excitement for our trip to Slovenia.

 Becky waiting in the airport.

 Kiara waiting in the airport.

 Jesse making a face while waiting in the airport.

Tori (aka Skittles) waiting in the airport.

I think I just made a hasty decision...

Lately, I've been looking at my old blog posts and thinking, "Ugh! Did I really post that? I hope no one reads it because it is so embarrassing!" The more I thought, the more I hated them. So, in an effort to make this blog have one theme, I reverted all of my old posts back to drafts (so they are not permanently deleted, but you cannot see them) and I have decided to make this my Adventures in Slovenia blog. This blog will be about all things Slovenia. Examples include:

Stories from my first trip.

Stories from my second trip.

Fundraising for future trips.

Stories from future trips.

Prayer requests for Slovenia.

Praise reports from Slovenia.

My "Cherished Memories" series.

People that I have met through my trips to Slovenia.

And much much more!

I'm probably gonna regret this decision later. Most likely I'm gonna change the name of this blog and create a new Journey (the way up is down) blog and start that one fresh. We will see.

-Ashley

(Josh and I at orientation right before English Camp in Slovenia)

I'M BAAAAAAACK! (Cherished Memories part 1)

OH EM GEE!  I absolutely, 100 percent, cannot believe that I made it through my trip to Slovenia.  Craziness!  Let me tell you, it was a whirlwind of a ride.  So many memories will be cherished forever.  Because of that, I will start a new blog series called, "Cherished Memories in Slovenia" (original, I know).  Today will be my first post:

I know this sounds backwards, but I cherished seeing all of the students that I met on the last trip that were not at English Camp on this trip.  Let me explain.

This girl's name is Karmen.  She went to Winter Camp last year.  I loved getting to know her and the friendship we made there, but she was unable to go to English Camp this year which was a total bummer.  BUT she made a special trip out to Ptuj just to see our team!  What a special treat!  This is a cherished memory that I will never forget.

Other teens that I saw that were not at English Camp were Simona, Urška, Mateja, Tina, and Lina.  I'm sure I am forgetting others, but it was so sweet seeing this ladies!  The fact that they took time out of their busy schedules to come see us was an honor.

More cherished memories to come next Monday!

-Ashley

T minus 2 days

Here I am.  It's almost midnight, two days before Josh's and my mission trip to Slovenia.  I'm trying to muster up the energy to pack, but I believe that is just going to have to wait until tomorrow.  As I was sitting here, pondering whether I should go to bed or not, I decided that this was a perfect opportunity to post in my blog that has been seriously neglected recently.

On Tuesday, June 25th, a group of nine of us will embark on our trip to Slovenia.  We will get up early, and make the (very) long drive to Miami.  From Miami, we will fly to Dusseldorf, Germany and then to Vienna, Austria.  We will have a full day in Vienna to sight see and the next day we will fly from Austria to Ljubljana, Slovenia.  In Ljubljana, we will have training for several days.  Here we will be trained how to teach English at English Camp.  Once the training is over, will we embark on another long drive to Millstatt, Austria, where English Camp will be held.  We will be staying in a CASTLE (woot-woot)!!  We will be here for a week teaching English, playing games, swimming, hiking, drinking coffee, dancing, connecting with new friends, reconnecting with old friends ("Reconnect" is the theme of the camp), and talk about why we do what we do (Jesus).

After camp, we will head back to Slovenia for a post-camp debriefing.  Once this is over, we have several activities planned for our group, including a day in Croatia (FUN FACT: Croatia is joining the European Union on July 1st)!  And then, on July 12th, we make the long journey back to good 'ol Chiefland, FL.

I am beyond excited about our trip!  I cannot wait to get there and take lots of pictures and make lots of memories and hug lots of friends.  It's going to be a blast!

-Ashley