St. Augustine, Florida

During our Spring Break we did a lot amazing things. One of them was a trip to the city called St. Augustine. The City of St. Augustine is considered as the oldest city in the United States of America. It was founded in September 1565 by Spanish colonists and it is truly beautiful. It was for the first time when I was walking in the city in the U.S. and I felt like was in Europe – Spain to be more specific.

I think that the city was brilliant. It is located in the northern part of the Florida, so the climate is optimal. The downtown is full of history and local restaurants. The city is very close to the beach. In the other words, St. Augustine is just gorgeous. It is definitely a highlight of our Spring Break, because it city was very original. Also, friends of one of our friends from Hope College took us on a boat, so we saw St. Augustine from the sea point of view and it was just like some southern Spanish or Italian city. If you travel north Florida you must visit St. Augustine because it is must visit city.

The coast at St. Augustine.
The coast at St. Augustine.
This historic building is in the center of the St. Augustine and it is part of the Flagler College.
This historic building is in the center of the St. Augustine and it is part of the Flagler College.
St. Augustine from the boat.
St. Augustine from the boat.

Long Car Ride to Florida.

My friends and I went to Florida for Spring Break, but we drove. It was about 16 hours, 1110 miles long drive from Holland to Jacksonville. For us it was better to drive because we needed a car in Florida, so we could visit different places. On the other hand, the ride was very long.

In the beginning it was fun. We talked a lot about different things, but after Atlanta it really got tiring. Luckily it was four of us in the car, so we took turns in driving. Two guys were awake driving and two guys were sleeping in the back. Personally, I saw new states of the United States like Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Indiana. I saw different cities like Nashville, Louisville, and Atlanta.

I did not know one of the friends that was traveling with us very well, so we got know much better during that long ride. Despite the fact that the ride was very long, I got to know a lot of things about the other people that I would probably never told me. I made a big progress in my book and I got to see different cities of the United States, so in the end the long drive was actually enjoyable experience.

The car ride to Florida.
The car ride to Florida.

I Finally Got My Driver’s License

The day I was leaving for Spring Break I took my final driving test. Not like in Europe it had two parts in the U.S.. During the first part, I had to park the car in three different positions at the parking slot between the cones. In order to move on to the next part, which is the actual driving in the city, I had to pass this one first.

The first part of the driving skills test: parking between the cones.
The first part of the driving skills test: parking between the cones.

So, I succeeded the first part of the test, so I went for the next one which was just driving in Holland for about 30 minutes. But what was surprising to me were two tasks that I had to do during the driving.

The first one was to turn up and down the volume of the radio. I did not understand the government official as well when he said it for the first time. I was driving in some neighborhood and suddenly, he asked me to turn the volume up and then down, so I did and he said “good”.

Then, couple minutes later, he asked me to do the second task, which was turning the fan on and off. I was surprised because it was just common sense, so I did it again. But I am assuming that not everyone can turn on and off the fan and drive smoothly. Nevertheless, I made it, so I got the driver’s license. 

34 Days.

Last night I had the first of my lasts (or at least the first last that I was conscious of): my last Hope Bible study at Pillar Church. I haven’t even gone to that many of these Bible studies, but I still somehow feel so connected to them – probably because of the huge love I have for and receive from so many of the people who are there each week.

Tonight was the last one for the semester as we start winding down into the tail end of the school year. It was weird to think that I will never meet in that sanctuary that I love so that I can learn with such a great variety of people and so many pastors who have taught me so much, all over plates of homemade cookies. What a gift it has been (really, what a gift Pillar Church is!).

It’s extra weird because I’m not even graduating yet. I was recently accepted to the Chicago Semester program for this fall, which is my last semester of college, so I will be spending my last few months of school living across the lake working an internship, taking a couple classes, and living closer to some loved ones. I am beyond excited, but it is weird to think that I only have 34 days left living on Hope’s campus.

I’m looking forward to moving into another phase of my life, but I am also sad to leave behind such a wonderful area and incredible people. There are many things I did not get to do during my time in Holland that I wish I would have (never drove to Canada; also still don’t have a passport), but finding out so abruptly that I only have such a short time left here has made me so excited to partake in as much as I can for the rest of college.

In August, I put together this blog post outlining my “Hope College Bucket List.” I am proud to say that I actually knocked out more of those items than I expected to, but I still have more I want to accomplish before I graduate, and I have some new hopes for the next 34 days as well.

Downtown Market
One of the items from my original bucket list was to visit the Downtown Market in Grand Rapids, and I’m so glad that I did!
  1. Give a friend a tour of South Haven who has never been there.
  2. On said tour, stop at Sherman’s Dairy Bar (I LOVE that place).
  3. Go to the Windmill Restaurant early in the morning and start my day with a deep-fried cinnamon roll. What a terribly great inauguration of a new day of my life.
  4. Run to Holland State Park. Have a friend pick me up so that I do not get stuck out there for the rest of my life.
  5. Visit every coffee shop in Holland (I’m typing this while sitting in Starbucks – clearly I’m not doing so hot at this, but I want to try!).
  6. Run every day for ten days straight (I’m just being realistic here, and I’m already heading into day four!).
  7. Visit every park in Holland (I think this one might be a little more ambitious than I want to believe… I guess we’ll find out!).
  8. Go to Madcap Coffee in Grand Rapids.
  9. Get into Lake Michigan water all the way over my head in April (this one might be related to #4!).
  10. Eat Jimmy John’s on the beach with people from the worship team.
  11. Ride the bull at my last Spring Fling.
  12. Eat a cinnamon roll from DeBoer Bakkerij.
  13. Run at Sanctuary Woods and embrace the hills of Holland.
  14. Figure out where the heck Lakewood Beach is and go to that place.
  15. Eat vegan for a week.
  16. Finish reading Jesus for President, which I’ve been working on for like six months now (it’s hard to read for fun when you spend so much time reading for school!).
  17. Sleep in my hammock in the Pine Grove.

    These aren’t all as ambitious or adventurous as I might have originally hoped, but if I can do them (or even some of them), I think I will have spent my last 34 days well. I’m excited to see how well this goes.

#10 will be the easiest. Worship team lives for JJ’s.

Which of my bucket list items do you want to hear more about? Let me know on Twitter (@hopekathryn17) or send me an email at kathryn.krieger@hope.edu. Thanks for reading!

“The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

—Numbers 6:24-27

Finding Hope in Florida

Over Spring Break I had the chance to go to Ft. Myers, Florida, with my parents and my friend Heather who is studying to be an ASL interpreter at RIT in New York. It was so nice to get away, soak up some sunshine, and relax with only some guilt at not making any progress on my school work to-do list.

One day we decided to check out this ice cream place we had heard about called The Love Boat. Inside the little building was packed with people and we made our way to the back of the line. While checking out the place I noticed two things:

  1. They had Blue Moon ice cream. This is my roommate’s favorite flavor and one that I, to her surprise, had never heard of before. So naturally I had to get some.
  2. They had a Hope College pennant on the ceiling – right between Calvin College and a school near my hometown, California University of Pennsylvania.
A circle of college pennants including Hope College and Calvin College.
Hope College is in the top left of this picture. It was an exciting time.

Since Hope is a small school even around my hometown more people don’t know about it than not. So being somewhere as far away as Florida and finding a little piece of Hope in a little ice cream shop was a sweet surprise. And a nice excuse to send a snapchat to my roommate of my Blue Moon ice cream and a little reminder of our home away from home.

Thanks for reading!
Erin

An Immersion Excursion: New Jersey Immersion Trip 2016

Hope’s campus is filled once again and bursting with life, especially now that the sun is out. Yet I feel a little bit lost and in the wrong, all because I’m not in New Jersey with the 12 other people I spent the last week with.

Last Saturday, our group left bright and early to drive over to New Jersey. We drove all day, finally making it to Highland Park, NJ, that night. The next day, we spent time in the church and even went to visit a Russian Orthodox church to hear a speaker talk about the Syrian refugees.

The next four days were spent serving and immersing ourselves in the church’s culture. We went out to the Jersey Shore to help a family prepare their house to be lifted, which is required by New Jersey law since Hurricane Sandy hit. We also put up dry wall in another house and painted a house in the High Land Park area.

We did other things as well, such as visit a detention center for undocumented immigrants, receive a tour of the church’s outreach in the area, and attend a seder service.

On Friday, we got to visit New York City for our day off.

It’s very hard to sum up the week in a 300-400 word blog post. I can’t elaborate on any of the deep and meaningful moments that we shared together as a group. Every morning and night we had devotionals and a breakdown of the day, which really helped to process the way that we saw God working in every day life.

I would sum up the trip by stating two things that I learned:

  1. I met and saw God working through so many people this past week. It’s incredible the way that these people give up everything for Him. I learned a lot about what it truly means to be a servant to God and lay down your life to Him.
  2. I met people with incredible stories and incredible faith. These people did not and do not lead easy lives, yet they trust in God and keep such strong faith in Him. It helped me to see what it really means to have faith in God, and also how much one can go through and still keep that faith.

I’m a little sad without my team. They’re still all around Hope’s campus, but I miss spending every day with them. I miss New Jersey and the work that we did there, but I still see God working in all of our lives here.

If you can get a chance to, sign up to go on an Immersion Trip through Campus Ministries. It truly was a life changing experience. Unfortunately the blog platform won’t upload my photos! I will try to get them up as soon as possible.

100 Years Ago…

Readers, I hope you had the greatest Easter! It was truly a time to celebrate, especially in Dublin. Let me explain.

100 years ago in Dublin on the day after Easter, the first shots of the Easter Rising rang out. This was the significant event that led to Ireland gaining their independence just a few years later. Since I’m still learning about the Rising, I’m not the best one to be explaining it to you so here’s the full story if you want more background.

Anyway, since it was the 100th anniversary of this significant event, Dublin was the busiest it’s been since the Pope came to do Mass in Phoenix Park in 1979. To put it more in perspective, there were 1 million extra people in the city for St. Paddy’s Day, and there were an extra 1.5 million extra people for the remembrance of the Rising. That’s a ton of people.

So naturally, my friends and I decided to go out and see what different things were going on. It was actually a really fun day and didn’t feel too overly crowded.

The first place we went was St. Stephen’s Green where there were tents set up with food and souvenir vendors. It was cool to see the different things people were selling – it was all authentic and made in Ireland. Next, we went the National Library of Ireland to hear W.B. Yeats’ poem “Easter 1916” read. It was so different to hear that poem be read when I knew the different motives behind it. The reading room there was amazing and someplace I’m planning on going back to very soon. There was also an exhibit in the library about W.B. Yeats and we perused that after we attended the reading.

We then stopped at a food truck to get a fresh crèpe. Nutella and banana never tasted so good!

This wish said, “Homes for all our citizens and open and welcoming hearts for refugees.” Powerful.
There were slips of paper that you could write wishes and dreams you had for Ireland or yourself and then hang them on the trees. It was inspiring!
Reading Room
Reading Room
Reading Room of the National Library
Crepe Stand at the street fair!

It was such a privilege to be in Dublin for this historic event. There was so much to do and see and I loved seeing the city so proud of its history. The homestretch is here

The homestretch is upon me! It won’t be long now until I’m home, but I still have a few more places to see before I leave Ireland. Looking forward to showing you them all!

Until next time!

The Best (And Partially Hidden) Allergy-Friendly Places in Holland

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I’m a food connoisseur – not just because I’m a college student – but also because I’m a, well, hungry college student.

I lived my first two years in the downtown strip of Holland, running triathalons between JP’s, Jimmy John’s and Lemonjello’s- but this third year, I discovered there’s so much more to explore.

Especially with gluten, egg and milk allergies, the options can feel pretty slim at times. Here’s a list of Holland’s hidden gems with allergy-friendly menus:

Hops at 84 East

Can anyone say, “Vegan, Gluten-free pizza with extra pepperoni?”

Simpatico Coffee

Yeah, I’ll take a gluten free chocolate chip coconut muffin, a vegan berry cookie, an almond milk chai and a strawberry mint smoothie.

Thai Palace

Everything here is gluten-free, basically. And just say, “hold the egg,” if applicable.

SaBai Laotian Cafe

Like Thai, rice noodles are a gf’s bff. There’s even less egg here.

Baja Grill

You might call it Qdoba or Chipotle… but this is delicious x10. Super fresh, super yummy. And you get a free fountain drink when you show your ID.

Anna’s House

The options are great, the fresh-squeezed orange juice is even better. I hear the milkshakes are good, too. And the pancakes. And scrambles. You can’t really go wrong here.

The next time someone asks you out to dinner (especially toward my allergy-related friends), take a deep breath (without being afraid of your allergy). There’s plenty of food to go around.

Taking Things My Philosophy Professor Says Out of Context

This is not meant to discredit my philosophy teacher in any way but rather commend his unconventional teaching habits; his weird phrases often stick to my mind and help me remember the material. The post’s purpose is a good laugh so enjoy!

Based on a true story.

Oh cow, why are you so beautiful. Is it because you have reached actuality?

Out of Context: “Take the cow. A nice, beautiful cow.”

In Context: According to Aristotle, all things in nature try to achieve actuality, their final form. Take the cow. A nice, beautiful cow. A calf has the potential to become a cow, and therefore strives to become a cow, which is its species’ final form.

 

When He crowed, the Light entered the Universe.

Out of Context: “God is the Chicken of the Universe.”

In Context: Concerning the infamous dilemma “Which came first: the chicken or the egg,” Aristotle would argue that the chicken in the form of a purely sentient “god” not only came first but had always existed. His existence propels the universe around him to move, thereby birthing eggs. In this sense, God is the Chick of the Universe.

 

“Euuh!”

Out of Context: “I think the cabbage would scream in French.”

In Context: There are three types of souls: the vegetative soul, the animalistic soul, and the human soul. Aristotle teaches that what differentiates humans and animals from vegetables is the fact that we can feel pain and emotions. On a side note, if a cabbage felt pain, I think the cabbage would scream in French. I’m not sure why.

 

For the sake of the three souls, we live off of candy!

Out of Context: “If we could just live on a diet of cotton candy.”

In Context: (Continuing off of the last one) If vegetative souls could in fact feel pain, all the vegans would be at a crossroads. If we could just live on a diet of cotton candy…

Dublin’s St. Paddy’s Day Weekend

Wow, friends, what a weekend! As you know from my last post, it was St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland on Thursday. However, since it’s Ireland, the city was abuzz with events all weekend. There was so much to do we had to choose the events we went to wisely to get the most out of our weekend. Here’s a little peek at what we did!

Thursday: St. Paddy’s Day

We didn’t have any classes because it’s a national holiday. Some friends and I decided to head to the city center for the parade that packs the city. It was great! There were TONS of marching bands and bagpipe players and it reminded me of the Detroit Thanksgiving Parade. After we saw about half of the parade, we packed it up and went to the next event that we had planned for the day: the Hurling and Gaelic Football finals at Croke Park! The teams that were in the finals had never been there before, so that made the crowds electric and so much fun to be a part of! We then walked back to the city center to grab some dinner (the streets were mobbed with tourists) and then we headed home. Dublin was absolutely packed for the whole day and it was an odd experience seeing my sweet little city of Dublin that’s usually so quiet and easygoing stuffed to the gills.
The streets were packed on St. Paddy’s Day for the parade!
There were people climbing everything just to get a good view.
The people that were in the apartments shown here had the best views of the parade. We were jealous!
The Hurling Finals were my favorite event of the day. The crowd was fantastic!

Friday: Dancing!

The festivities continued on Thursday into Friday. I had homework to finish on Friday morning so I stayed in, but during the afternoon, I ventured out to the city center again to check out an event one of my professors had told me about – Ceili Dancing in the Streets. This is exactly what it sounds like. A whole street of Dublin was shut down and a stage was set up where Ceili dancing was being taught to the crowd of people who had gathered in the street. We learned some traditional Irish line dances and one of our friends even got asked to dance by an Irishman! It was so much fun! After, we grabbed some gelato for the trek home, because we needed nourishment obviously.

Saturday: Field Trip Day

The RAs of the IES Program wanted to do something fun for the weekend, too, so they planned a field trip for Saturday. We went to Causey Farm where we got to do many fun farm things. Here’s a quick list of activities: baking our own soda bread, learning to dance an Irish jig and play an Irish instrument called the Bodhran (pronounced Barron), play Hurling, play with sheep, milk a cow, and jump in a bog. Yes, jump in a bog. I personally didn’t do it, but my sister did and it sounded like a lot of fun! It was a great day and broke up the weekend well.
The cow in the back is the one we milked, but this little calf is just the cutest thing!
It looks like a mud hole, but it’s actually a bog that’s 9 feet deep. And people jumped in it! When they jumped in, it was hard to get out!
Yes, it was very dirty. It was also very cold!

Sunday: The Festivities Continue

Even on Sunday, there were activities going on for St. Patrick’s Day! Around noon, some friends and I went down to the Chester Beatty Library behind Dublin Castle to hear traditional Irish storytelling. It was for families, so there were a lot of little kids there, but also a lot of older people. The story was about the Irish Fianna (Irish warriors) and how they met time, youth, and life while out exploring one day. It was so educational and we got to explore the library afterward. It was the perfect end to a great weekend! How did you celebrate St. Paddy’s Day?
I realized yesterday that I only have four weeks left here in Ireland. There’s still so much to do and I still have travel plans for this beautiful country yet. I’ll be sure to keep you up to date!
Until next time!