Oh, the places you'll go: Dresden

January 22

Breakfast, hotel checkout, and then a two hour drive to Dresden, Germany, for a church service at the Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady). The service was yet another experience, the whole thing was in German and though it was a Protestant service, the structure was very similar to a catholic service- very organized and set in its ways, and the pastor would turn his back on the congregation when praying or reading the bible. It was just very different- I'm looking forward to going to an English speaking church. However, it is pretty cool to meet in a huge cathedral and worship the same God with unfamiliar people, and not understand anything but still know that they are sharing the same faith as me. After lunch we had a few hours to kill in Dresden to get lunch and site see, but it is SOOO cold (apparently warmer than MI, though. Yikes!), so some friends and I got lunch at a cafe then found a coffee shop and literally chilled there for two hours to kill time. I also got my first European Gelato- so good! After our afternoon there we had a two hour drive to Leipzig where we will be staying for the night. Right across the street is an Aldi so I stocked up on candy and also got our favorite European drink (Bessen Genever with Sprite- delish) for girls night in the hotel. We had dinner at the hotel with the group and then a group meeting to share some of the things from the past few days that we've experience. My insight was: walking through Dachau showed me how much the Jews suffered- the work they had to do was meaningless and brutal, their murders were brutal, the way they were starved was brutal, stuffing 2,000 people in a building that is meant to hold 200 people is brutal, but what oddly hit me was what I was experiencing in the camp. I was in two pairs of pants, socks & boots, three shirts, a fleece coat and a shell coat, as well as mittens & a scarf and I was absolutely freezing! The Jews though were just given cotton pajama looking clothing- year round. EVERYTHING about their life was brutal. At least at night I look forward to a warm bed. They never got that. It was just very eye opening. Many of the other kids had great insights, too. After our group meeting I had a solid and much needed bonding with the girls at the hotel.

Sorry for the lack of pictures- it was just honestly a pretty boring day!