Liesey Lou made it safely to Switzerland, by way of Frankfurt.
Let the European adventures begin!
Pepperdine University's campus is in Lausanne, which is northeast of Geneva, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. The city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva (or Lac Léman as the locals call it). This is the view from campus, which just might be better than the view of the Pacific Ocean that these students are accustomed to seeing in Malibu. I think I'd be distracted from my studies with this outside my window.
The Matterhorn in Switzerland is a little more exciting to look at than the Disneyland version... Liesey's friend is awfully cute, too!
Can you tell that this girl is just a little bit excited to get to be in Paris? Lou at the Louvre was obviously meant to be!
Our girlie got to see the Love Locks on the Pont des Arts before the removal of some hundreds of thousands of padlocks got underway on the 1st of June. It was estimated that the weight of these locks added an additional 40 tons of weight to the bridge, which it is not designed to bear. So there apparently IS such a thing as too much love.
Oooh la la!
When in Paris, one must have a maracon, or two. Or six! These are almost too pretty to eat.
Meanwhile, back in Texas, a handsome business major, that we know and love, prepared for takeoff to Barcelona. Our son will be studying abroad for three weeks.
We enjoyed tracking his travels.
Stamp of approval!
There were thirteen students traveling from University of Texas Arlington. None of them were acquainted with one another before the trip began, but they all quickly became friends.
After being in Barcelona for just a few days, Smithling #1 traveled to Rome to meet up with Smithling #2. Both brought friends from their respective programs, so there was a group of five who toured together.
St. Peter's Square, Vatican City
This whole place is in ruins! ;-)
When in Rome...
There's nothing like a sibling selfie with the Colosseum as the backdrop.
After a fun weekend in Italy, M&A spent a day in Geneva.
I think my daughter would like to work here someday. :-)
The following weekend, our two oldest met up again. This time it was in Barcelona. (I wonder if they ever take time to study?!)
They enjoyed seeing lots of examples of Antoni Gaudi's architectural designs.
The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família is the pièce de résistance of Gaudi's work. The groundbreaking for this colossal church took place 133 years ago. It is still unfinished. It may never be complete! One thing is for sure, it is an awe in-"spire"-ing structure!
These students obviously were chillin' when they went to the Ice BARcelona. Pretty cool...
It was fun to look at the "Find My Friends" app and see two of my three Smithlings in the same part of the world. With being able to text and make FaceTime calls, the world surely seems like a much smaller place. Yay for technology!
Although the technology stuff is all good, the best way to communicate is going to be having real "in your face" time with these two world travelers. I'm so looking forward to listening to every last detail of their tales of adventure.
