simply homemaker

Hello,

It’s me crawling on the Internet late on Saturday night because I can’t wait to tell you about this week even though I might be falling asleep mid blog!

Let’s start from the beginning… the weather has officially gone cold, rainy, and dark here in St. Gallen. Apparently, I moved to the rainiest part of the country… just patting myself a little bit on the back for bringing my rainboots, rain jacket, and an umbrella. Totally life-saving this past weekend! The leaves have started changing colors and it made me miss Virginia a little bit… it’s one of my favorite places to experience the changing of seasons and it’s taken moving here to realize how much I miss it!

Our classes have also picked up the pace, and I have started feeling the effects of taking classes from 8:15am to 6pm. I started eating lunch at school during my 2 hour break because it allows for much better energy in the afternoon and gives me some time to read during the break; this past week, I picked up Becoming Elizabeth Elliot from Ellen Vaughn again during a lunch break and then The Disciplines of a Godly woman by Barbara Hughes. I had fun in my macroecon class discussing value creation in a company and the state of economy in different countries in the world, including Switzerland and the U.S.

Some friends from the program and I have started a ramen night tradition and it’s been an easy way to get together and have a meal together after class! I felt a little sick and a friend let me have some of her antibiotics, and it’s changed the game for me! So thankful 🙂

Last update of the week: I went to Bern, the capital city of Switzerland, this weekend, as well as Thun, a beautiful castle city about half an hour from Bern. I can’t describe how beautiful and charming these cities are, even more in the rain I must say. I added 300 photos to my album just now! I met a friend Avery who is an exchange student from California, and she and I had the best time in both cities climbing up the cathedral tower, exploring the castle, trying out new restaurants, and spent the day shopping for fun finds. I will be thinking about this trip for the rest of my life!

Next week also marks my first whole month being in Switzerland. Wow.

How do I really feel?

I’ve been thinking about this and processing this question with the Lord throughout the past month. The answer is

I feel good

This past month in Switzerland has been everything I could hope for. I got plugged in with a church community and found friends both through my program and through my church. I am traveling with some of these friends, and Michaela invited Blair and I to her home in Germany in just a couple weeks! I have one of my close friends visiting in less than 2 weeks, for a week and a half, and we’ll be visiting The Sound of Music locations together. Are you kidding me? I don’t love all of my classes (mainly because of teaching style or repetitive content), but I really like two of them so far. I own 1/10 of the amount of stuff I used to have, but still have regular access to about 3 candles. It’s been weird and good and freeing to be 25 and tripling my step count, drinking fresh alpine water, and making new friends on a daily basis. It feels a little bit like freshman year of college 2.0, when I got to know a brand new country and a brand new group of people and a brand new culture. But it also feels different, because I am 25 and know so much more/feel so much more humbled about life now.

Being here has renewed a sense of drive in me that I really did not have in the past couple years. A drive to put myself out there. Apply for things. Interview for them. Get to know people. Ask for feedback. Go to a new event. Try a cycling class. Take the train to a new city.

It does feel great to be young and unknowing, sometimes. Life is still somewhat a blank canvas, and I still have the choice about what colors and strokes I want to use.

I’m still becoming who I am.

And that’s ok.

This past week, I am deeply comforted that having a relationship with Jesus means that you have the end figured out already. You know the end to the story. Eternity with someone who truly knows you, loves you, and has the best in mind for you.

But in a true keep it real moment, I need some help!

First, I have no clue what I want to cook/eat here some weeks. Please send recipes my way. I don’t have my cookbooks here and have been a little bit struggling 😦 about to be browsing Half Baked Harvest as I always do to find inspirations!

Second, I would love to build a fall/winter worship playlist! Please send your favorite songs and help me out!

Third, I want to know what you might want to be doing if you are living in a brand new country like me. I try a lot of new things every day, but I’m really curious about what YOU might want to do and find interesting. More brains are better than one. I’d love to hear: what would you do if you were to go to Switzerland?

All of this can be sent to me at tram.nguyen@gwu.edu. Thanks so much friends!

Next week, I will be traveling down south, to the Italian side of Switzerland, the canton of Ticino! Pasta, pizza, and gelato, here I come.

Can’t wait to bring you along.

Love,
Tram