Snowed-In at Stowe

Just a heads up: this will be a picture heavy post since Vermont is just so gorgeous and my camera traveled everywhere with me, but hopefully you will find that excusable.

For the third year in a row, the Feldman family hopped on a plane to head back to what has quickly become one of our favorite vacation spots: Stowe, Vermont. Originally this trip was created as our Christmas present since I am so into the family history of the Von Trapp Family and Austria was just too far away. Little did I know at that time that I would get to visit their actual home in Salzburg just five months later. But at the time, just even getting to go to Vermont was the biggest deal ever.




The family came over to the United States after escaping the Nazi occupation of Austria during the early stages of World War One. They made their living by touring as the Trapp Family Singers. While they toured the country, they were looking for the perfect place to settle down and plant their roots. That's when they discovered Vermont, whose scenery and mountain peaks reminded them of their beloved Austria. Maria Von Trapp was once quoted saying to her husband "We can build a house and a barn, but we cannot build a view." So the family settled on the property that is still being operated as the Trapp Family Lodge. The youngest, Johannes Trapp is still alive and helps manage the property with the help of his son, Sam.


The Lodge offers a variety of things that relate back to the roots of this Austrian family such as history talks, traditional cuisine, cross country skiing, maple syrup harvesting, and many other activities. Although many family is up there primarily to go skiing, we always try to fit in a few of those activities whenever possible. Like this year, for the first time ever we attempted snowshoeing. My parents went as a date the day prior and enjoyed it a lot. So on our final day in Vermont, the four of us set out to go explore the chapel that the Von Trapps had built up on the mountain and where they would have Sunday Mass with Fr. Franz Wasner who had accompanied the family over from Austria and acted as their manager in away. (known better by by the character, Uncle Max, in the movie)

And of course some of the most gorgeous views are from the first run of the day on the slopes when the sun is still rising over the freshly fallen snow. My family has been extremely lucky the past few years as it has always snowed while we are there. The first year we received over two feet in the four days we were there. This year it was only about three or four inches but it was still so nice to wake up and look out your window and still icicles hanging from the roof and snow falling.

I am not an advanced skier but I can hold my own on the difficult runs of Stowe, though I almost always avoid the black diamonds. Not because I can ski them but rather people are always flying down without a care and it scares them that someone will hit me and cause an accident. Unlike my brother, I am the cautious skier of the family and tend to get down the mountain at my own pace. But hey, I didn't wipe out once during the trip and he can not say the same.

Every year I marvel at the view from the top of the mountain and have to be reminded that I need to actual ski to the bottom and not focus on taking pictures at the beginning of every single run. But next year we shall have to take a break from our annual trip to Stowe. But I guess you could say it is a good break because instead of spending the first week after New Years in Vermont, my mom and I will be in the real Austria, exploring the original roots of the family. I am starting my semester abroad early by going to Austria with my mom to show her some of my favorite spots from my trip after graduating high school and discovering some new favorites I am sure! And then I will get the chance to go spend time with my grandparents in London before starting my studies in Rome. I can't wait. In typical Nicole-fashion, I have already started planning and I have assembled a basic itinerary, well at least for the Austria and Prague part of our trip! 

But we had an amazing time in our cabin for our last family outing until Easter, playing lots of card games, watching movies and of course Falcons football! With the craziness of my dad's company, it is usually hard to get all four of us in the same room for more than a few hours at a time so we always look forward to this trip and having very little cell reception. I miss them already! 

Fly South for the Winter

"Fall Break?" "No, I'll be going to South Dakota. How about Thanksgiving?" "No, then you would have to deal with my crazy relatives." This was pretty much how the conversation went ever time Mary Katherine and I tried to plan a time for me to come down to her house in South Carolina.... until Christmas break. For the past six weeks, we have been planning my post-New Years trip to Lake Wylie, SC. Well, today is the day for my flight! But of course, the one time of year that South Carolina gets snow, its today. So I was able to move up my 7:30 flight to 3:30 so hopefully I will get there without any delays and avoid the bad weather that is on its way.

Well, its a good thing I moved up my flight because my original one ended up being cancelled, so I made the right decision! But either way, I arrived safe and sound to Charlotte, North Carolina and then was picked up by Mr. Mooney and brought to their place of residence. They have an adorable and such a welcoming home. Much of time that I was there was spent lounging around the family room talking, playing games, and watching movies. And then of course there is Lucy, MK's cutie dog. She and I became quick pals and shared many snuggles during my stay.

Sunday afternoon we headed up to Boone, North Carolina so that we could go skiing and snowboarding the next day. I have been skiing since I was probably five years old and I am pretty decent. I might be cautious but I can do a lot of the harder slopes. But snowboarding is something I had never tried. Nathan once said that I would never be caught dead on a snowboard. Well, apparently Mary Katherine is the factor he never knew in that equation. She told me the night before that she was going to snowboard and that I should try it too, so I did. How bad can it be really? Well, my very sore butt the next day could answer that question. So, I am actually not horrible but I would start going so fast and didn't really have things under control so I would just have to fall to stop myself and that got old very fast. But I can now say that I have tried snowboarding and that is something I am quite proud of. The point of friends and adventuring is to keep trying new things! I ended up switching back to skis later that afternoon after quite the tumble, but it was a great day!


 Mary Katherine and I are both lovers of the arts and so when we were planning my visit a few weeks prior, we had discovered that the arts center in Charlotte would be showing the Broadway show: An American in Paris. It was actually a musical that I wasn't familiar with beforehand but I was excited to see something new. It turned out to be one of the best live shows I have ever seen. After coming off designing the sets for the Christendom plays, I was blown away with every little detail that went into each set change and costume. Not only could these actors and actresses sing, they could really dance. MK and I exchanged glances the entire show and couldn't have been more impressed. If the show was going to be performed even within a few hours of Virginia anytime I would totally go see it again! Even when we got home, we couldn't stop talking about how incredibly good it was!

The end of the five day visit was quickly approaching but we squeezed in some more fun stuff in the last two days such as outlet mall shopping, multiple coffee dates, and even going to a paint-your-own pottery place creating some gorgeous mugs. (which of course we can use for our regular coffee dates back in the dorms!) It was a trip filled with laughter, amazing chats, and of course adventures. Although I thought I was flying south for the winter, I ended up getting the same weather I would have had back home, but I got to enjoy it with one of my best friends so it was definitely worth the journey!

Seeking More

Just a quick one tonight. Right now in San Antonio, there is this major Catholic Conference going on called SEEK 2017 by FOCUS. This is something I really wanted to go to and I had talked to my parents initially about going and they seemed on board.. So me and my planning brain went to work. I had all the finances in order, all I needed to do was purchase my plane ticket and register for the conference. But then one day, I got the call from dad saying that they didn't want me going. There was lots of arguments in the weeks that followed. And I kept asking at what point did I get to make my own decisions etc.

Let's just say that this argument left many scars on my relationship with my dad. It was especially hard because my dad and I have been so close since I was little. And although he had said no to other things I had asked to do, this one hit closer to home. I wasn't asking to go to see a bad movie or go to a party, or stay out later than originally agreed. I was asking to go to a conference for Catholic college students. But he had his reasons and I had to live with that answer.

Well, fast forward two months and last night happened. It was the opening night of the conference, which some of my closest friends are in attendance at. Luckily, they were featuring some of the talks and Masses live on Facebook so I was able to participate to a certain degree. It was during the opening keynote speaker for the night that all the emotions came flooding back to me. It started with one tear and suddenly I couldn't watch anymore. I had wanted so much to be there and instead I was sitting in my bed at home listening while eating a salad from Chipotle. It wasn't money that prohibited me from going but rather my parents. I struggled to see what God wanted me to take away from this situation. If I hadn't wanted to receive their stamp of approval, I would have been there to hear that speaker in person. The same speaker that we used to use for our theology curriculum while being homeschooled. I had so many questions and no answers.

So what is God seeking from me in 2017? How am I to answer his call from my bed eating my Chipotle? I know there is a way, but I need to put aside the emotions to find it. Although the next few days will be hard, I will continue to listen to the messages be spread by these speakers at SEEK, at least the ones being broadcasted live online. And I will find my purpose for this year. I am luckily enough to have a great support system at Christendom, people that will continue to support me in my faith. One day, I hope to be at one of those SEEK conferences but this year I will determine what moves me from the comfort of my own surroundings.

Happy Campers

Growing up, I did girl scouts and my favorite activity of the entire year was always the camping trip, granted we slept in cabins with tons of bunk beds and didn't even cook our own food but it was still fun. And then I would accompany my dad on the boy scout camping trips as a chaperone. Either way, the point of this, is that I love camping. This past summer I went camping with my dad and brother for the first time in like five years over the fourth of July weekend! That got the ball rolling on planning on another camping trip during the school year with my friend group. Emily and I headed up the planning and when we returned to school in the fall, we asked around for interest. Well, let's just say that it was hard to convince people. But after lots of convincing we had a group of eleven interested souls. And even a waiting list of more people that wish they could join.


At the end of October we headed off to Trout Pond National Park in West Virginia. We had three loaded down cars and enough food to feed an army. Going grocery shopping in and of itself was an adventure. Since I am a crazy planner, I figured out a meal plan for the weekend ahead of time. And then Jeremy, Emily, and I hit up three different stores to get the best bargains on everything: Costco, Walmart, and our Front Royal favorite, Martin's. Jeremy had never been to a Costco and his reaction to everything was priceless. It was like a little kid in a candy store. After getting all stocked up we became master packers with the cars. Who know it took so much stuff to take eleven people camping for the weekend. I honestly don't think that Tyrone (my handsome Jeep Liberty) had an inch of free space with all the camping gear along with me, Jeremy, and Emily and our respective crap. But luckily the drive was just under an hour and a half, so we weren't squished for too long.

Due to people's class schedules, we arrived at the campsites at different times. Jeremy, Emily, and I arrived first with the intention of having camp entirely set up before the next car arrived. But we were delayed leaving school. (Emily didn't pack until like 10 minutes before we were leaving) Well we got everything unloaded from the car. And had two tents set up (except for the rain tarp of mine-we couldn't figure out which way it was supposed to go) But Emily's tent, the big one that was going to be for the girls, was the hardest thing to figure out! So luckily reinforcements arrived in Joe Duffy's car. So between Emily, Joe, Jeremy, Nate, John Paul, and myself we got the tent set up.

The sleeping arrangements were as followed: the five girls snuggled for warmth in the big tent. And then there were the two tents that contained all the snoring. Jeremy and Joe slept in Jeremy's pub tent. And Nate, John Paul, and Luke cuddled together in the third tent. Sully had opted for the hammock when we first arrived on site. Which went fine on night one until the wind picked up around 5am. And then there was an unfortunate incident with the hammock and it ripped on Saturday. So on Saturday night he chose to sleep in his minivan instead of squeezing in with Jeremy and Joe. All and all everything worked out fine and we all stayed warm throughout the night.


Saturday was a day full of adventure as we hit the lake when we woke up. We had bought bait on our way in and the boys were so excited to catch something to fry up for lunch. But it was a flop. We didn't catch a single thing. I don't think we even had a nibble all day long. But we had fun trying and then we all climbed up on the big rock formation at the other end of the lake and sang songs to two old men fishing across the lake.

We had to make the reservations for this weekend over a month in advance, we had no clue what the weather would be like. We all just kept praying that there wouldn't be rain. But we had incredible weather all weekend. Clear skies, and it wasn't unbearable cold. In fact on Saturday we were all in short sleeves t-shirts as it was in the high 60s. And we had plenty of blankets to stay warm at night.




This blog would not be complete without including some of the funny happenings that occurred during our excursion. Luke quotes usually take the cake, "I'm smoking a leaf, not a log" or "when he has his first kid, he won't know to kiss it or to throw it." But probably the best quote from the entire trip was simply one word "NAAAAATTTEE!!" So this needs explaining. We were sitting around the campfire on Saturday night eating our hamburgers and beans for dinner. It was Nate's turn to gather firewood and he was trying to crack one of the logs in half. So he had propped it up and was going to jump on it to snap in it half. Something we had been doing all weekend long. But well this log was particularly thick so when Nate jumped, the log won and Nate slammed to the ground. But before even he hit the ground Luke had jumped out of his chair and was screaming, rushing to Nate to make sure he was okay. Nate just looked stunned for a few moments and then wanted to know what happened to his hamburger. Everyone was laughing until there were tears trickling down our cheeks. We found the bun, but never did find the missing burger patty. And we really looked around, it had mysteriously vanished.

Since it was Halloween weekend, we decided we needed some friendly boys versus girls competition: a pumpkin carving contest. The rules were as following, each team got one hour to come up with a design and have their pumpkin carved.  We went to separate campsites (as there were many open ones) and started carving. For me, at least I had stopped carving pumpkins in high school so I was so excited to get to pick up an old tradition again.

The girls' pumpkin is on the left and the boys' is on the right. 

We had thought for sure, that the girls would win hands down. But the boys showed an extremely valiant effort and it was a split decision as to who had won. Though I believed we ruled in the girls' favor at the end of the day. But both were unique designs that allowed us to show our creativity and have fun doing it. We had met these two older gentlemen when we were out fishing earlier in the day and talked with them for sometime. They were very friendly and tried to get us to make a "drunk pumpkin" but we explained that we had already completed the competition and all we wanted was their opinion as to who had won. They chose the girls :)

Luke leading the troops into battle

Next on the schedule was a hike before dinner. Well, we waited sometime before we actually got started so now we were racing across mother nature to get up the mountain and back before the sun set. Well we had gone about a mile and a half up and it looked like it was started to get dark and the path was pretty steep so the girls decided we should probably head back to be safe. But by this point, the boys were so far ahead the could no longer hear us. So we sent Luke up to tell them to head back down so as to not get caught in the dark. So the girls headed back to camp and prepared for dinner but were going to wait to make the burgers until everyone was back so the food would stay hot. Well an hour passed and there was still no sign of the boys and it was now dark. The girls were worried as to the whereabouts of our male companions. And then, the coyotes hollows started. We were freaking out.

Turns out the boys had decided they were going to continue up the mountain and watch the sunset as we had originally planned. They had no clue that back at camp we were worried about them. We were about to call a sheriff or something to go find them. And then an hour and a half later, the boys returned. And got quite the scolding. They apologized and we ate dinner. And it turns out that the coyotes noises we were hearing were coming from a recording that those two gentlemen were playing in order to try to scare us. Well it had worked, on most of us at least.

It was a perfect weekend! We couldn't have asked for better weather or better companions. We would stay up late at night playing charades or singing songs. It is until we had a rude neighbor come by at 10pm telling us we were being too loud. We apologized and lowered our volume but that was the end to the game of charades. But the best part about the whole weekend was having time away from our studies and the stress of college. And to just be able to hang out with each other!

Meet the Fam

A few years back I started to have issues sleeping, so sometimes I will wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to fall back asleep for hours. After like 30 minutes of trying I usually stop and try to do something productive, sometimes its just watching a movie, but other times I will do homework or journal. Well tonight is one of those nights so I figured I would write another blog post.

So I was thinking about the best way to format this blog revival and I think the best starting point is trying to catch everyone up to speed on my life by introducing its key characters first!

Well, to start there's me! Right now I'm exactly 7,139 days old (so 19 1/2). I'm already a second semester sophomore in college at Christendom and I'm mentally preparing myself for the rest of my life. But seriously, I have the closer friendships at this point in my life than I can say I have ever had. Yes, my St. John's squad from high school was very close in its last two years and I am still am close with my two best friends but other than that we don't hang out except for a few times a year when I am home, which is sad but it's life. I suspect we will all always be friends but now we have to rely on texting and social media more to keep in touch since we don't have the parish as a common spot anymore. Speaking of my two best friends I will introduce them next!

Serena Hoernig is probably the most sweet innocent childlike person you will ever meet. And I mean that in an entirely complimenting way. She and I met when we were in seventh grade preparing for Confirmation. At the time, we became friends because we were next to each other for height order for the procession in and out of the Church, well I grew in high school and so did she, just not merely as much. But I am extremely grateful for this period of my life where I was short since I got to meet one of my best friends because of it. We were stuck to each other like glue in high school: youth group, mission work, sleepovers all the time. Now, we just see each other whenever we are home from college as Serena is now a sophomore at Christopher Newport University double majoring in Math and Music and hopes to be an elementary teacher post graduation.

Theresa (Tt) Crnkovich gives the best advice on the planet. A year younger than Serena and I but probably the most mature of the three of us. She has her head on straight and is always there for encouragement and rationale. We are as close as sisters and attempting to legalize that aspect. I am very lucky to have her at college with me and lives directly above my dorm room, which makes it a convenient tap on the ceiling to get her attention. I'm kidding. Instead I text her to get her butt down to my room. We also meet back in the days of middle school after Mass one day. We thought we were instant friends but we didn't truly understand the definition of our friendship until we were older and closer.


Annemarie Speer, well this insanely crazy girl and I met through Tt my sophomore year of high school. Her family was coming into town for the March for Life 2013 and needed a place to stay. And thus this perfectly odd stranger showed up on my front doorstep. By the end of three days, I was so upset to have to say goodbye. The commute to and from Sarver, PA became a familiar one to me the years before college started. We had a tradition of me going up for Annie's birthday which lands on New Year's Eve, but sadly the tradition only lasts two years before we both landed ourselves at Christendom and wanted to spend the time with family. But our adventures are far from over. We dominated the softball field together during the spring and rock out on the dance floor together making fools of ourselves whenever humanly possible. Who knew this stranger would become one of my closest friends.

And then there's Miss Mary Katherine Mooney. And this picture had to be used since MK never goes anywhere without her camera. It's her prized possession and she takes the best photographs I have ever seen. She hails from Lake Wylie, South Carolina and is a genius.  We met on the third or fourth day of freshmen year at Christendom, I don't really remember how (neither of us do) but us and Mary-Grace Handy quickly became a trio first semester. But that faded second semester as we all went our separate ways in friend groups, never leaving each other but we were part of different groups now. But come sophomore year, we grew super close again. Living two doors down the hall, does that to people. We have spent many a nights sitting up talking and saying, for over an hour, that we need to go to bed but never want to drop the conversation we were having.

Ahhh, Katarina Schwake, what would Christendom be without you? Freshmen year we lived across the hall from each other and we said hi in the bathroom. That was all. Well, at least it was for the first two months, we were invisible to each other. Until the Sunday after Homecoming where we bonded over the latest couple gossip (I mean we are teenaged girls after all) And second semester, we became inseparable. I lived in her room more than I lived in my own. We would make smoothies, go to Martins' at all hours of the early morning, laugh until we were rolling on the floor crying (or screaming Southernly). She graced me with her presence for my 19th birthday and spending the whole weekend down in Maryland. I guess I need to venture to New York next. Anyways, she and I, we are tight yo!

Meet Ali Van Sambeek, who was still Ali Kremer when I first met her in high school but now she is all married and has that gorgeous baby girl, Tilly, that you see asleep in her arms. Ali used to volunteer for my youth group when I was a sophomore and junior in high school while she was going to Christendom's graduate school for her masters in Theology. She became like a big sister to me, someone who I could seek advice from. For this past fall break, I got the chance to fly out to Hermosa, South Dakota and stay with her and her husband for a week. It was truly a blessed experience and I got a glimpse at married life. And she is the perfect role model to get to watch and I look forward to many more trips to South Dakota as Tilly grows up and even more little ones join the picture.

Nate Reyes, don't remember how we met. Just that we both had Dr. Tsakanikas for Theology and I showed up at this study group for Midterms and determined it wasn't going to be productive so I left. So that basically would have been my only experience with him. Except second semester, we were in the same friend group and thus forced to become friends, just kidding. Nate is hilarious! We share a love for Christendom's theater "department" if you can call it that. Although we have been in all three plays together, it wasn't until the most recent one, The Crucible, that it meant anything. Lots and lots of hours spent learning lines and discussing the latest theater drama (always in abundance).

 Never have I met a person that makes me laugh as hard as Luke Majewski does. This kid is the source of entertainment of our entire friend group. His laugh is quite unique and can be recognized from across campus. Although he is the oldest of our friend group, he often refers to me as his mom which always makes me chuckle seeing as he is a whole year older than I. But he definitely adds a distinct dynamic to our friend group which would be absent otherwise. The ability to carry on a conversation no matter the circumstances. And to obsess over girls with blonde hair, although he plans on entering a monastery at the end of the summer. And of course, no one can rock the dad bod like Lukey-Poo.


Jeremy Mersch is the practical one of all of us. The handy dandy boy scout, who never was part of boy scouts. (Luke was though) Thanks to him we get delicious pancakes when we go back to my house for meals and his grilling skills were a highlight of camping. Jeremy and I first met in Latin 199 Study Group but that quickly ended as we were the only ones who would show up and we weren't much help to each other, that is except for my study guides that were clutch for midterms and finals. Too bad we didn't know how to memorize 17 pages of translations. But we survived and moved onto bigger and better things...well Professor Hahn's class, but I don't know if you can call that a better thing. Jeremy often gets roped into my schemes for tech crew and has to build all the structures I design, but that's okay. He does so willingly...well if you bargain with coffee and donuts for the early morning start that is.

The youngest of all, even younger than Tt, falls Emily Farabaugh. But she is the most mature 18 year old that I have ever met. Emily was roommates with Mary Katherine and Mary-Grace first semester freshmen year so I was constantly in her room and so we would carry out little conversations here and there. But it wasn't until she joined my yearbook staff that the two of us became close. I honestly don't know what the yearbook would have done if she didn't join the staff. Emily became my lifeline every time a deadline would approach and she provided the necessary encouragement when staff members had failed to reach expectations. Now she has been promoted to an editor and still serves me well in that role! She is also my paper writing buddy, we can often be found with coffee or hot chocolate in our mugs plugging away at a paper that is most likely due the next morning and then we'll reward ourselves with an episode of Downton Abbey once the task has been completed. But for the two of us, our biggest adventure is still ahead. Emily and I will be travel buddies before the Rome Semester commences, traveling to Austria, Czech Republic, England, Scotland, and Ireland, and I can't wait. I have already written a fairly detailed list of places to visit.

So that about wraps up my closest friends as of sophomore year. But there are truly so many more that I wish I could write every single detail about. But these kiddos will appear in most of my stories and adventures and therefore were the most important to introduce. I hope you liked all the little tidbits, I sure do!

So... I am in college?

Grab a cup of coffee and catch up on my life.

Yeah, so halfway through sophomore year is a little late to realize that I am grown up now but its true, sometimes you just sit back and think about how much you have grown up and how much your life has changed. Like for example, when I made this blog I was going to use it constantly! Document my whole trip to Germany and Austria and then my Midwest trip, etc. But if you go and look, I only ever wrote about Munich and then once I fell one day behind, I never started up again. And I am not going to say that now I will do exactly that. But I am going to try harder. And to start: over this Christmas break I am going to try to make catch up blogs. Highlight my semesters in college so far and maybe even go back and try to finish my blogs about my summer 2015 adventures which is why this whole thing started.

And I have even more exciting adventures to come! This break alone I am heading to South Carolina to visit one of my best friends from school, she shall be introduced later. And then we are going on our 3rd annual family ski trip to Stowe, Vermont where we stay at the Trapp Family Lodge! In March, I am heading to Guatemala City on a mission trip to an orphanage with some of my closest friends. And that's all in the next three months. Just imagine how many adventures are on the horizon!

"It's been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind firmly that you will." -L.M. Montgomery

A Walk Around Munich

 WE ARE HERE!! After two fairly long red eye flights and very little sleep, 18 LOTAs arrived in Munich, Germany where we are spending the first three days of our travels.

After a super long wait for all our luggage to arrive from the baggage claim. We were greeted by our tour guide for the week, Rolando. We got to get onto to this super nice Mercedes coach bus. We got to see some sights while driving to our hotel. Honestly, despite the excitement of being in a foreign country for the first time without it being a family trip, all I wanted to do was sleep. But why waste the precious time we were being given to go around Munich and explore.

We got to our hotel and were given our roommate for the first hotel and got some time to freshen up before starting our afternoon walking tour around Munich. 

Below are some pictures from our walking tour of scenic Munich:

These are just a handful of the pictures I was able to snap while we were walking around the city to the various destinations we explored in just the first day or two in the city. 

Amy and I ventured into one of the soccer stores and had to take a selfie with the World Cup champions.

We went to the most beautiful Cathedral of St. Peter. It had amazing gold work and such grandeur of architecture. Since I am the daughter of an architect, any place that I get to admire such great historic work is a good day in my book! 

Then we ventured into the city's center, Marienplatz, and location of city hall. It was such an amazing building and we got to listen and witness the ringing of the bells. We also explored all the shopping districts which we are returning to tomorrow. When then ended the day by going to Ratskeller, a very popular restaurant under city hall, for dinner. We then got to experience the German subway system to get back to the hotel. It was then an early night to catch up on missed sleep.