people and places

i'm in switzerland now. interlaken, switzerland to be exact. today i did some hiking and had a wonderful time in the alps. they are very different than the rockies and i am really glad i came here. it's been kinda foggy since i got here yesterday afternoon, but just knowing there are giant looming mountains behind me is cool enough - even if i can't always see them.

i left jonas and germany yesterday. it was sad. i'm über glad that i got to meet his friends and family because now i know him better. his friends were really fun and we had a great time playing beach volleyball, watching football, skinny dipping in the public pool at 4 am... huh? jonas and i had our own adventures too. we hitch-hiked 350 km from his home to a central city and back in a couple days. i will surely cherish the time that i spent with him as it will likely be a few years before we can hang out again. the same goes for his friends too. they welcomed me and made me one of them. it was hard to leave but more lies ahead. for those of you that don't know, jonas was a foreign exchange intern with campus life this last year and that's how i know him.















jonas and i are really tough in wine cellars. step off.































this was the first stop on our hitch-hiking journey. just a little outside his town. we waited here for a couple hours before getting a ride out to the highway.













we waited at this gas station for maybe 45 minutes before finding a man that was going exactly where we were. he took us.













we spent night time under an awning of this business. we slept well, just like the hobos do.













here we are trying to get home after jonas visited a potential school that he decided against. it was kind of rainy which was unfortunate for us standing where there is no cover.













here jonas is talking to bernard our rather unfortunate friend that forgot to pay for his gas and ended up spending an hour explaining things to the police before we could get back on the road in his slowest-ever van. jonas was explaining him the gospel in this photo.

success! we toast to a completed trip. unfortunately, drinking germans are not very steady camera holders.














i regret that i didn't take more photos of his friends, but this is one of them: sam. he was funny.

i don't really know how to book-end this post. there is really no way that i will have that experience with jonas again. next time i see him he will likely be in school in a different city, will have less free time, will not have all his friends around, etc. i guess i should just be glad for the experience itself instead of continually looking toward the next one. tonight i'm watching football. the usa dissappointed today. just beat ghana. sad. disheartening. thank you ref. thank you landon. A+