More spring break

Day Four:

This was our last day in France. We got up early enough to check out and walk around some more before we had to catch our train to Bern, Switzerland. Finally, we found a creperie and had crepes in France. They were delicious. So we got some more. Also, I was able to eat ratatouille while I was in France. It was basically just a vegetarian dish (I didn't know that). We continued exploring for a few hours, went into more souvenir shops but didn't buy anything, and just had a good time. Then we went back to the train station and headed to Bern. I think we got to Bern sometime around 4pm, and we got to see the Swiss Alps as the train was coming close to the stop. They were beautiful. We found our hostel after trying to find someone to help us find it. We decided to just stay in for the night because the three of us were pretty tired so we bought pasta and sauce and made spaghetti for dinner and chilled in the hostel.

Day Five:

We let ourselves sleep in to catch up on our rest, but then we went to the grocery store and bought stuff to make breakfast. We didn't actually get out and see Bern until probably around 3pm. Part of the reason was because we didn't know we needed to make a train reservation for night trains (something I forgot to mention: we bought Interrail passes which allow us to get on any train we want within a certain number of days. The only thing extra we had to pay for was reservations and we only needed those for the few night trains we took.) We were planning on going to Zurich, Switzerland and then on to Nice, France, but the night train to France was full already so we had to come up with where we were going to go next. We decided on Pisa, Italy. After we got our planning worked out, we bombed around Bern for a bit. There wasn't a lot to do except walk and look, but we had a great time while we were there. After dinner, I was pretty tired, so I went to sleep while Taylor and Julia went back out to see more of Bern. It was 10pm when they left and probably midnight when they got back.

That's all for now.

peace, love, and out of time.

kaeli

Spring break adventures

Man, it's been a while since I've written anything on here. I am so sorry for that. I know some of you check my blog (or used to, anyway) every day. Hopefully this will help.

Day One:

It was pretty much just a traveling day. Our trip started off with Julia, Taylor, and myself and the first step was to get to Stockholm. We took a few busses and made it there with plenty of time to spare so we decided we'd just get something to eat or drink in the airport. There was a group of us that was taking a missions trip to Bosnia and we ran into them at the airport. It was pretty cool because we got to chill with them before we caught our flight to Frankfurt, Germany. The flight wasn't too bad. The three of us ended falling asleep, but when we got there it was around 9pm. We were supposed to take a bus to get to another part of Germany so our friend Dave could pick us up, but it didn't leave until 10:15pm. We chilled in the train station for 45 minutes or so to wait for the bus. The ride from there to another train station was two hours so by the time we got there, it was 12:30am. Dave and his mom were there to pick us up. Unfortunately, they lived an hour away. Thankfully, the Autobahn is in Germany.

Day Two:

Dave and his parents were SO hospitable the entire time we were at their house. We got to sleep in as late as we wanted (which ended up being around 11:30am) and they had a big breakfast waiting for us. After that, we all went and hung out with Dave up in his room (his house in incredible) and it was a nice day outside so we sat on his balcony. Then we climbed up on the roof to enjoy the weather up there. At 4pm-ish, we went and played volleyball with Dave and some of his friends in the neighboring village. Or as the Germans would say, willage. After saying goodbye, we headed back to Dave's to get ready for the ultimate free-loading experience. Dave's cousin and cousin-in-law were having their 25th wedding anniversary that we somehow ended up being invited to. Let's just say we were the only underdressed people there (each of us only packed jeans and t shirts and like one nice shirt in our packs), but I'm pretty sure everyone there knew we weren't from around there. Haha. We enjoyed delicious catered food and entertainment. It was all in German, but when Dave's dad got up to talk about God in marriage and stuff, we could almost understand exactly what he was saying. It was pretty neat. The fact that he used tangible objects probably helped. After the anniversary party, we went to Dave's friend's birthday party. Then we stopped by his church to hang out with one of the friends we met earlier and after that we went back to Dave's to get some sleep before we were going to head out the next morning.

Day Three:

Again, Dave's parents had breakfast waiting for us when we were done getting ready in the morning. Dave drove us on the Autobahn to the train station going at around 21o kph (130 mph, for those of you who don't know the metric system. It's okay, I don't either.) and said goodbye to us as we got on our train headed to Strasbourg, France. We arrived there some time in the afternoon and the first thing we did was get baguettes and eat them. We realized at the beginning of this trip that we probably weren't going to be eating a whole lot more than bread and stuff, so we were content with that. Plus, baguettes in France are so much cooler. After that, we found our hostel, dropped our stuff off, and then went and explored Strasbourg. There was an art festival going on so we walked through that and saw some neat pieces of art. Then we found a MASSIVE cookie in a souvenir shop so, of course, we had to get it. IT WAS DISGUSTING. We basically wanted to cry as we were eating it, haha. We ended up feeding it to some swans that were hanging out in the river near us. Then we found a Claire's and Julia had been wanting to get her second holes pierced, so we went and did that. I considered getting a tattoo, but then I thought I'd wait until I knew the artist that was going to do it and that there wouldn't be any communication problems. We did a little more exploring (mainly searching for a creperie but couldn't find one) and then headed back to our hostel for some sleep.

That's all for now. Don't worry, you'll have a lot more to read. I was traveling around Europe for fifteen days. And this is only three.

peace, love, and sojourns.

slapshot

We Are Broken

About two weeks after I got back to Holsby on a Saturday, I was sitting in bed just talking to God about things I was worried about and things I was thankful for and other things. I knew I hadn't been on the right track with Him for a while and I wanted to fix that, so I asked God to break me. After I finished praying, my friend Jess walked into my room and sat down. We started talking about how we were sick of being complacent with where we were in our walks and how we wanted to feel that passion and fire for God again. But we had no idea how to make that happen. We talked for about forty five minutes until she decided to go to bed.

On Sunday, things seemed to be going okay. Church was pretty good and I was worshipping in the back with Bekah during the songs. Afterwards, we all went back to our dorms to change into more comfortable clothes and headed to lunch. Most people go to the computer room to check their Facebooks after lunch, and yes, I am one of those people. It was then that I found out. I received a message from Kaydee saying last night Sennit had died. I saw that I had another one from Alyson but I didn't have time to read it before tears were going to explode out of my eyes. I hit the log out button and ran upstairs to my room. There were people gathered outside of the computer room and as they saw me running, I heard them say my name but I didn't care to stop. I needed to get to my room. Two girls had followed me up there but I had no idea who they were because I was already collapsed on the floor crying my eyes out. I could hear people coming in and out of my room, feel people touch my shoulder or my leg for a brief moment, and then leave, all the while one word kept floating through my thoughts like a broken record... "Why?"

After that, it seemed like Murphy's Law was surrounding me; it could've been that I had a more pessimistic view of things. I couldn't be home with the people that knew and loved Sennit as much as I did. I lost my True Love Waits ring in the snow on a trail in the woods. I felt alone all the time. I was behind in my school work. I got strep throat and couldn't go on my outreach for outreach week. What else could go wrong?

But I think that there's a reason as to why all of this is happening. I asked God to break me. I asked Him to rock my world so that I could be on fire for Him. And I think that is what's happening. It's definitely not going to happen overnight, but I think that His love is slowly creeping into my life; at least that I can see. I still don't have my True Love Waits ring. I'm still not home with my friends. I'm still behind in my school work. I still miss Sennit. But I have hope. Although it's a good reminder, I don't need that ring. There are a ton of people here in Sweden, though nothing like you guys back home, that would do anything for me. I'm actually doing my school work. My strep throat should be gone in a few more days. And I will see Sennit again. So, yes. I am broken, and there might be parts of me that still need to be broken, but I do know that God knows what he's doing and I'm going to trust Him with that... as hard as that may be.

peace, love, and brokenness.

kaeli

Apology and tenacity

Hello everyone who is currently viewing this on the interweb.

I just want to apologize for not blogging in, well, a long time. I owe you all more than I've been giving you because of all the support I've received from you. I really am sorry.

It's just been difficult to do a whole lot of anything lately. I haven't picked up my guitar since Sennit passed away. I haven't tried to write any new songs, I haven't really even prayed a whole lot.

I guess I'm just confused and scared about a lot, and also still grieving. I will blog again soon.

For those that were wondering, I am back in Sweden and things are going pretty okay. There's a lot about myself that I need to change and I'm going to start with one of those things today. As much as I wish I could be back home with all of you to grieve with you, I know that God has me here for a reason. I have no idea what that is, but I am determined to figure that out.

peace, love, and not giving up.

tick tock

Hold up, wait a minute

Time has FLOWN by.

It feels like I've been here for maybe a month, but I've been here in Sweden for about three. I leave in three days to head back to the States and I'm pretty excited about that because I get to see my family, Cory, and, of course, all of you guys!

I have been considering something, though, and I think it's good for you all to know before I actually get home. I really want to come back for winter school here and I applied for a visa and everything and praying for a way for money to come in. Well, the staff obviously knows that I've been trying to work out all the details, and they have offered me a scholarship for spring school if I come back for winter school. That means that I will just be in Sweden for free. I won't have to pay for tuition for that year, or anything besides personal expenses.

Before I actually got to Sweden, I never really prayed about it very much. But once I got here and started to experience God in a new way, I really started praying about it a lot. And seriously over the course of two days, we found a way to apply for a visa (long story), and I was offered that scholarship. So I think God may be opening some doors for me to come back. It's still not definite, but I wanted you to know.

We (the girls) pranked the guys last night. They ALL went out for pizza as an end-of-the-semester thing and we went and stole their sheets, pillows, and blankets. Each girl had one guy's stuff and we left them to go on a scavenger hunt in which they eventually found out which girl had their stuff and had to do what the card said before we would give it back to them. 95% of the guys said it was a good prank and did what the cards said, but then there was that last 5% that had really bad attitudes towards the whole thing. My philosophy is, if you can't take it, don't dish it out. This prank on them was revenge for the two pranks they pulled on us. They just need to put some M-A-N on their attitudes. Oh well, it was fun.

Everyone packed up their rooms today which was a weird feeling. We find out who our new roommates are tomorrow and then we're putting all of the stuff we're not taking with us in those rooms and staying one night with our new roommates. I'm pretty excited about that.

That's all for now.

peace, love, and coming home soon.

tunes.

I'll Blog if Yule Blog

'Tis the season, as it's said. Well folks, it's that time of year again... the time when everything around you is red and green and you hear "Ho ho ho" everywhere you go. Unlike Thanksgiving, Sweden does celebrate Christmas (I hope you understand my humor) with lights and advent and Christmas trees, just like we do. All of this is making me very excited because I get to go home for Christmas in less than two weeks. Crazy, huh?

For the past month and a half-ish, we have been preparing for the big Julkonsert (Christmas concert) that is held at Alseda Kyrka (a really nice Lutheran church) and it's been happening every year for about 30 years. We spent many an hour practicing and preparing and tweaking for this thing, and it was well worth it. Megan, Jenn, Julia, and I got together and wrote our own arrangement for "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." It started off traditional, and then the last three voices were more upbeat and jazzy. We each had a solo verse and had sick harmonies in the chorus. Also, a group of nineteen of us sang "Silent Night" in four different languages. There was a small group that made up "the band" and sounded freakin' fantastic. And then there was Tyler, Danny, Spencer, Colleen, Joanna, Steph, and myself that performed The Everything Skit for the 400-500 local Swedes, most of whom had never heard about Jesus. That was exhilarating. It was very emotional for all of us. Well, you guys have seen it. You know. I will be posting a video of it on my Facebook soon. (The picture was from the dress rehearsal, so not everyone is in their full costume.)

What's even cooler is there's a Christian TV channel here and on December 10, our entire Christmas concert will be on that channel. How awesome! More Swedes will be able to hear and see the love of our God. Uhh, exciting much?

Afterwards, we invited everyone back to Holsby for some fika and conversation. It was really neat to be able to speak with them afterwards. I was COMPLETELY exhausted at around 10pm, so I signed out of breakfast and slept in.

peace, love, and still catching up on sleep.

kae

Walk, Jog, Run

So I have been working on some songs lately, but they're not quite finished yet (that's why they aren't up on my Myspace page). But I want you to be able to see the lyrics and let me know what you think about it so far. Here you go:

"Walk, Jog, Run"

By Kaeli Riccardi

Where do I go from here

Now that Your Name's in my ear?

I can't escape it

This hurling wave is

Pulling me on down

Why are you so near

When I have to give is fear?

I'm being so selfish

I feel so worthless as these

Screams fall from my mouth

I'm battling with myself

I run to You

Putting all my fears aside

Carry me through

Take away my pride

I want to see you clearly now

Even though I don't know how

How do I love You more

Than I love myself?

I'm feeling so nauseas

Not being so cautious

I feel like I might drown

Why did I walk away

Instead of fall on my knees and pray?

I'm tired and hungry

I need You to love me

Pick me up off the ground

It's turning me inside out

I run to You

Please take away my pain

Carry me through

'Cause I remembered Your Name

I'm beginning to see You clearly now

I'm starting to learn how

I ran to You

You held me in Your arms

Carried me through

Kept me from the Dark

I can see You clearly now

Praises escaping from my mouth

Nothing on earth can stop me now

Nothing on earth can stop me now

You found me bruised and broken

You saved me with words unspoken

I came to You

You pulled me through

You gave me

Everything I've ever needed (I'll hold)

On to

Be made anew

And see that

You will never leave me

You will never leave me

You will never leave me

Alone