The End

Well I was really horrible about keeping up with this blog and letting everyone know what I was up to. This will probably be the very last blog that I write and like most people, I am going to try to reflect upon my time in Germany.

It is difficult to put into words how meaningful these past five months have been for me. I have been able to see a great deal of Europe and experience living in a foreign country for an extended period of time. The people that I have had the chance to meet are some of the greatest people and I feel so honored to have had this opportunity. When I first left in February I was so nervous and worried about whether or not I would enjoy Freiburg, meet people that I liked, and if I would be able to handle being so far away from home for such a long time. Leaving Indiana and my family and friends, I thought would be one of the hardest things I had ever had to do. Well I never would have guessed that leaving Freiburg and the people there was going to be even harder.

The time I spent in Freiburg allowed me to grow as a person so much. I have learned that I am capable of doing so many things on my own. I can survive in a foreign country on my own, I can travel alone, and I can figure my way out through new cities whether I know the language or not. Doing things in the US are going to seem so simple all because it's in English. I feel like I can do almost anything any more and that is the most empowering feeling ever!

The people that I met in Freiburg came from a variety of different backgrounds and we learned a lot from each other (at least I learned a lot from them). I now have reasons to see America since we are all so spread out. After seeing so much of Europe, I realized how little of America I have seen and now I just want to do more traveling around the US and the rest of the world.

My last few months in Freiburg were fun filled and so memorable. I spent my first 4th of July outside of the US and I have to say I have never had more patriotism. We went all out with a flag cake, tons of food, swimming in Seepark, and plenty of excitement throughout the night. It was so great and the most memorable 4th I have ever had. After that amazing start to July, I did a little more traveling in Prague and Venice. Both of those trips were so much fun and I'm so glad that I went even though I had tons of work to do.

All of the people I met helped to make the last week in Freiburg really memorable. We made sure to live it up that last week and spend as much time together as we could. Eventually we had to face the facts and start to say good-bye. Mitch was the first of our little group to leave and it was a tearful one. Thanks to Todd for getting stuck on the train without a ticket and the panic that ensued, we were able to laugh and not cry too much when Mitch left. That last night was hard as we watched our last sunset, ate our last meal, and drank our last German beer together. We enjoyed each other's company though, as much as possible and hugged and said our good-byes.

Arriving back in the US was culture shock. I knew that it would be different and it would take some time to readjust, but I never thought it would be like this. I have been a pretty emotional wreck this past week and things are slowly getting back to normal. I miss Freiburg and I miss the people from Freiburg. I can't thank everyone enough for giving me such great memories and for helping me become the person I am now. I have changed and it's been for the better. I have a new outlook on life and without this trip I wouldn't be the person I am now.

If you read this I give you credit and that was my cliched wrap-up of my time in Freibug and my huge plug to study abroad.

Time Flies When You're Having a Blast!!

Yes I know, I pretty much suck when it comes to keeping up with my blog, but I have been pretty busy. Since my friend Jon decided that he doesn't want to spend any of his time in his room except to sleep, we have been very busy going on excursions. These excursions are definitely lots of fun, but I admit that they are definitely one of the main causes of my poor work ethic. I know for a fact that I have had no motivation to do any work since I stepped off the plane on February 17th and things have not changed at all. But it's easy to sympathize though because who really wants to do work or sit in a room reading long articles about political theory when Switzerland and France are only 30 minutes away and all of Europe awaits? I know I want to do as much as I can while I'm here and I have been able to do just that.

Since I last wrote, I have been to Baden-Baden, Munich, and Colmar, France. My best friend Katlyn arrived in Munich, so since we had a four day weekend, we all decided to head to Munich. I have to say that I loved it! We went cheap and took the regional trains to get there and that involved a number of changes and a very long day. We left around 9:50 and arrived in Munich at 5:15. Once we found our hostel the first place we went was the Hofbrauhaus. It was very German, but very touristy and we loved it. We had a great time and really took in true Bavarian culture.

We all just crashed that night because we were so exhausted from traveling all day. We were all in one room and had our own bathroom, which was great because it allowed us to have our own schedule and not worry about holding anyone else up or having to fight for a shower. That first day we just did a lot of walking and saw a lot of the city. A group of us went to Dachau and it was really interesting. Thinking about the things that went on there just shivers up my spine and even though it wasn't the most uplifting place, it was still a place I wanted to go to and I'm glad that I got to see it. That night we went back to the Hofbrauhaus and had another fun night.

The next day we took a day trip to Neuschwanstein, which is the castle Walt Disney based Cinderella's castle off of. It was so cool! The area was just gorgeous and since we had a long time between when we arrived and when our tour was, we explored the area and found a beautiful stream to sit by. The tour was only 30 minutes, but it was interesting. I went on the English tour and I hadn't been around that many Americans in a while. They ended up being pretty obnoxious tourists to be honest.

The trip back from Neuschwanstein was extremely interesting. On our last train to get back to Munich, the three girls (Katie, Liz, and I) ended up sitting across the aisle from a drunk man who decided he would ask us if he was going in the right direction. We told him numerous times that he was going in the right direction and Katie even got up and found a map to show him. He continued to want to talk to us and it was just uncomfortable. All the while, there was a man sitting in the corner looking right at me the entire time. He just stared and eventually got up to try to "help" us while we were dealing with the drunk guy. He then turned to me and asked me if I was Chinese and when I said no he just sat back down. He continued to stare and he got back up and asked me if I was Japanese and then when I said no, he said, "May I be curious? Where are you from?" Katie just shot back and said, "She's from America." It was obvious that he didn't accept that response and when he tried to ask again Katie just put him in his place and said, "I already told you, she's from America." He finally sat back down, but continued to stare the whole ride. Then if things weren't bad enough, Jake finally came over to sit by us to see if that would help the situation and then the drunk guy started talkign to him too. When it was his stop, he stood up, held out his hand, Jake takes it to shake (even though it was extremely gross) and then the man comes closer to Jake and literally just rested his cheek on Jake's face. The guy stayed that way for about 10seconds, which was 10 seconds too long, and then he shook my hand, Katie's hand, and Liz's hand. Since we hadn't actually reached his stop yet, he tried to open the door of the still moving train. Once he got off, we used Mitch's hand sanitizer, Jake rubbed it on his face, and we all just talked about how horrifying that whole situation was. Oh it was bad, but we sure laugh about it now.

On Sunday most everyone left to go back early, but Todd agreed to hang back with me until I had to meet Katlyn. We went to the Olypmic Park and English Gardens, which were very pretty, but it was really hot that day and we were lugging our backpacks around. We met up with Katlyn and headed back on the long train ride home. We finally got back to Freiburg arond 10pm and I had to go home and prepare my presentation for the next day.

While Katlyn was here, we went to Baden-Baden, which was a nice city about an hour and a half away. We just walked around and even went into the casino. You had to be 21 to gamble and to enter the nice part of the casino, you had to be dressed a certain way. To play the slots however, you could wear whatever, but they put you in the basement. It was still a nice basement, but it was still the basement. I had troubles having people tell me where to go because no one believed me at first when I said I was 21. Eventually we got down there and I finally got to play on slot machines. It was a blast!

For our Pentecost Break we all went to Salzburg, Austria. Our goal was to find the Sound of Music sites, sing, and frolic. We did a pretty great job finding a number of the sites and we definitely did some singing. We even went to the hill where they did some of the filming, but of course when we got there it was raining, extremely windy, and cold. We couldn't see much because it was so cloudy and we were just huddled under umbrellas hoping it would lighten up, which it never did. It was fun though, just no singing and frolicking.



Also while we were in Salzburg, Jon, Todd, and Mitch all decided to get the traditional Austrian hat called a Tirolerhut. They were quite the sight and they got a number of looks from Austrians. I did love seeing them in it and they were always easy to find in a crowd. I definitely think that was one of the greatest things they could have bought. Liz and I tried to buy something Austrian for girls and we got some scarves to put on our heads. Sadly they were too slippery (silk/polyester) and so they wouldn't stay on our heads at all.

Once we were back from Salzburg, we took it pretty easy and went to Colmar, France on the Friday before Katlyn left. Colmar was a nice little French city and we spent about 3 hours there and saw most of it. It was just a nice way to spend the day and we got to explore some place new. The boys (Todd and Jon) decided to wear their Austrian hats, along with brown polos, brown shorts, and knee high socks to look more "German." They definitely got a lot of looks then and I always smiled whenever I looked at them. It was a great time!

This weekend I am going to Berlin and I'm as excited as ever. I love Berlin and I can't wait for my friends to see one of my favorite places in the world. After we return I need to buckle down and really do work. I have only 48 days left and I have two presentations, a 5-6page paper, a 6-8 page, and then a 12-15 page paper to write (all in German). I am not looking forward to this at all. We still are going to try to go to Prague as well and there are a few more day trips we want to take. I know I'll be really busy, but I think it will be great! I love it here!!

Events of the Past Month

I know that I haven't written a blog in a while and I was reminded today when my friend Mitch and Liz were talking about their blogs. I noticed that the last time I wrote a blog was in April and I do have a good excuse for not writing more often: Classes finally started. As crazy as that sounds, classes just began on April 20th and I have successfully managed to find the few classes offered at the Uni that involve homework and lots of reading. It seems to me that everyone else I know never has homework to do and just has to worry when they have to do one presentation. Sadly I cannot join them in this feeling because I have a constant load of homework and reading to do. This is a picture of the reader I had to buy for my EU course. It was huge!!

Since our classes only meet once a week for an hour and a half, a great deal of work is independent. Seeing as though I am in Europe for a semester, I have no desire to do homework whatsoever. I want to have fun and enjoy my time here to its fullest. Unfortunately this work ethic has created more problems for me because I am always behind. I am always trying to do my reading, make sure I am caught up with my classes, and it never seems to fail that I never can manage to do this. This coming Tuesday I have to give a fifteen minute presentation in my German history class that involves a two page hand out. My teacher wanted us to send him a copy of it the Friday before and I was only able to send him an idea of what I was going to do because I wasn't able/didn't have the motivation at 12am on Saturday morning to keep going and finish it. Luckily he said it looked good and I can actually get rid of one of the topics I was going to talk about.

Overall my classes are interesting, but they are difficult. I am doing my best to understand and follow along with everything my professors are saying, but it's hard to do all that AND take notes. As I sit in class I will look at my notebook and realize I have barely written anything down. This makes me nervous because at home I always take tons of notes. I also have to make sure I am paying full attention in class. If I space off or begin to think about other things, which is a very common thing, I realize that I don't really know what the teacher just said and from that point on I have trouble staying with the teacher. Things are really difficult here and I definitely think I am going to be better at certain aspects of German after this semester.

Besides classes I have been taking a number of day trips. My friend Jon doesn't have to take classes while he's here and because no one wants to spend their time in Germany in their room, he makes sure to use his time wisely. He usually has suggestions for day trips we can take for "free" with our semester tickets. The first day trip involved myself, Jon, and Todd. We went to Neuenburg am Rhein and then walked into Chalampe, France. It was on a Sunday and we packed a lunch and the guys brought wine and champagne. Neuenburg wasn't too bad, but not exactly super exciting. We walked into Chalampe and honestly we have never seen a town so dead. I think the whole time we were there we saw about 5 people. Granted, I know that things are closed on Sunday and people relax, but not one person was outside! When we walked past someone's house we heard them closing their blinds right when we were passing. We spent our time in Chalampe at a park that was deserted and we had lunch. It was nice and relaxing and then we took a lot of jumping pictures. After lunch we walked around and then walked back to the Rhein. Jon always taps his foot in water and that was his plan for the Rhein. As Todd and I were doing something else, we hear a splash and look and Jon had fallen into the river. He fell twice because he slipped trying to get out the first time and Todd and I just took pictures and laughed hysterically. Jon had extremely wet shoes, socks, and pants. Todd mentioned there was a sign saying not to do what Jon did and we made sure to see it when we were leaving. It was a perfect illustration of what Jon did and it even had warning signs in three different languages, all of which Jon knew! That kind of just added salt to the wound, but it was still a great day!

The weekend after that we did even more. On Friday we (Jon, Liz, Joo Young, and I) went to Titisee and we rented a paddle boat and spent an hour on the lake. It was really nice and a gorgeous day. When we were about ready to go back home after walking around it just started to pour down rain. It was thundering and even started to hail as we were waiting for the train. It was so intense!

On Saturday we (Jon, Liz, Mitch, and I) met up with Jon's tandem partner (someone you speak German and English with) and we went hiking. When I say hiking I mean serious, hard core hiking. We walked for about an hour and a half up a very steep hill, which was really narrow and it was hot and humid and exhausting. I have never done such intense hiking before, but the view at the top was amazing. We were able to look out over Freiburg and just relax. Going back down was worse because it was pretty slippery and we had to go down a steep decline the whole time. Jon was nice enough to tape me at one point to catch in case I ever fell down. Luckily I made it out alive and was extremely hot and sweaty (not a good thing).

On Sunday we went to Schluchsee, which was about an hour away. It was bigger than Titisee and so pretty. We rented an electric boat because it was the only option that would fit five people. The lake was spectacular and it was so relaxing. I just sat back and let Mitch drive. It was a great way to spend a Sunday. Jon decided to try to tap his foot into the lake over the side of the boat and he managed to get his foot into the water again. His shoe got wet, but luckily it wasn't as bad as one week prior. We had another really good laugh at that. What made it worse was that the boat wasn't moving that fast at all because it had two speeds: slow and slower. It was still fun though.

Just today we went to Strasbourg, France. We went cheap and took the regional train ticket to the border and then walked into France. It was quite the long walk, but that was the theme of the day. We didn't really have a set plan for Strasbourg and I just wanted to see the European Parliament (I know I'm a nerd). Well we just walked around all day and eventually found the center of town. It was a really nice place and I liked it a lot. We had issues at first finding a place to eat and the place we did find to eat only had one thing to eat: hot ham and cheese sandwiches, French style. It wasn't the greatest or worst thing I had ever had, but definitely was not worth the money. Of course after lunch we found where all the real cafes and restaurants were. Oh well!

My last big block of traveling is coming up this Thursday. I am going to be traveling to Munich for the weekend with my group of friends then meeting my best friend Katlyn, who will be staying with me for two weeks. Then that next Friday Katlyn and I are going to Brussels for the night and will return on Saturday evening. On Sunday, all of us are going to Salzburg, Austria for the Sound of Music tour and I'm pumped! We are going to sing and dance all over Salzburg. It's going to be great. Then on the 11th we are all going to Berlin and I can't wait! I love Berlin and I hope to meet up with a number of people so that should be lots of fun. Once we finish all that the most that will be going on are day trips. I will have to get down to business and work on my remaining presentations and the number of papers I will have to write. Not looking forward to that!

You mean I actually have to study while studying abroad?

Well this is my first week of classes and I have to say it's been extremely weird being back in the classroom after 4months. It has definitely taken some time to get used to it and I know I'm not in the mood for homework already. From what I can tell this is going to be a semester of lots of reading and lots of presentations. It won't be easy by any means and I think once things start to pick up I will be pretty stressed.

My first day of class wasn't too bad. I only had two classes instead of three because my first class was cancelled because the Professor wasn't back. I guess he wanted more vacation time. My first class of the day was the course I'm taking through IES, the program I'm here studying through. This class is going to be pretty intense. We learned that we have to give two presentations, one 10 minute and one 15-20 minute, write an 8-10 page paper, and take a test. There is lots of reading and I think it will be very interesting, but really intense. The good thing is that we give these presentations in front of other IES students and we all know how hard this can be. However I know I will still be a nervous wreck when I have to give mine.

What made things worse was that when we were introducing ourselves in class, I thought it would be easier to just say I was studying German and political science because that is basically what I've been doing. Well when our teacher was trying to find someone to cover one of the short topics for this coming Tuesday he said, "Who is studying politics?" Well most of the class turned to me and then he looked up and stared right at me. The one time I say something different is the one time I get screwed. So I now have to give a 10 minute presentation this coming Tuesday and the book he suggested I use is like a mini-Webster's dictionary and I have no idea how to even sort through that.

My other two university classes don't seem like they will be too horrible. It will be challenging to understand everything, but both my professors are young and know English. I think they will be really helpful and understanding, which is the most important thing. I am looking forward to what I'm going to be learning in those classes. What's even better is that I have friends in all of them so that way if I don't understand something, hopefully someone else will have and we will be able to figure it all out.

It is nice not having classes on Wednesdays and Fridays. I have decided to not graduate early back at IU, which means I can drop a few classes for this coming semester. If I do that, the classes I would drop would mean I don't have class on Mondays or Wednesdays and I already don't have class on Friday. I can't imagine a schedule like that! I could deal with that though, no problem!

Um, I think he thought we were engaged...

Well this is my final post about my recent travels and it's all about Italy! As many of you know I have always wanted to go to Italy and a lot of that centers around the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. Now of course this movie takes place mainly in the Tuscan region, but Italy has always been a place that I have dreamed of going to. Originally I wanted to go there for two weeks to just travel the whole country, but that didn't exactly work out, so I settled for three days in Rome and a day trip to Florence.

When I first arrived there from Aix, I asked the lady at the counter what was the fastest way to get to Termini Station. I had made ticket reservations for the Vatican Museum and the only time left was for 3pm on the day I arrived. Well my flight was supposed to arrive at 1:30, but of course it was late and it was closer to 2. The lady told me to take the bus and then get on the metro at the last stop and then get off at Termini. I did this and it ended up taking about an hour, which put me at Termini right at 3. Then once I was at Termini I had to find Alex and of course, our phones wouldn't work so I couldn't call him or anything. Luckily I was able to find the McDonald's in Termini and since I was late, we just went to the hostel so I could drop my things off.

The hostel I picked was called the Yellow and it was really a place for American students who wanted to party while in Rome. They tried to be clever with the witty names for their drinks you could order at the bar and they also had some really clever things on the rule sheet. Overall it was a nice hostel and I think the showers there were actually bigger than the one at my apartment. We were in a four bed room, so we weren't sure who our other roommates would be, but since it was Easter weekend we knew there would be people in there eventually.

Once settled, we headed back out towards the Vatican. We weren't able to get in because by the time we did get in, the museum was closing. Honestly it wasn't a big deal because we went back on Saturday, got right in after a short wait (not three hours like the people selling tours were telling us) and we got to see everything we would have wanted and not be rushed. I loved seeing the Sistine Chapel and honestly it was a little smaller than I had originally thought. The way I had always thought it was, was this big open room with this huge mural on the really high ceiling. Well the room was a pretty good size, but much smaller than I had thought, but the artwork was astounding. I could have probably stood in there for hours just looking at the mural. The whole room was painted from floor to ceiling and it was just gorgeous. You couldn't take pictures, but I honestly think that is something that's hard to capture in a picture. You really need to see it all to even attempt to appreciate that kind of work.

While we were in Rome we also went to the Colosseum, the Forum, the Trevi Fountain, the huge monument where the unknown soldier is buried, and St.Peter's Basilica. Everything we saw was huge, really old, and beautiful. We had amazing weather so that made everything even more enjoyable and exciting. I loved seeing all of these ancient sites and realizing how long they have been there. All of the history in this city is just amazing and I loved every minute of it.

On the first day we happened to see a sign for Hard Rock Cafe and Alex really wanted to go. We thought we knew where it was on the map and so we were trying to find it and we probably spent about an hour looking then finally asked someone where the street it was on was. Well we learned that we had been looking at the wrong spot on the map the entire time and we were no where close to it. We gave up that night and just went to the Colosseum. On Saturday night we decided to try again and we were walking and walking. We asked some men where it was and they said it was a little ways away. We walked some more and then asked someone in a hotel where it was. We eventually found it and discovered that it wasn't on Via Vittoria or Via Vestra (or whatever it was), but it was on Via Vittorino Vestra or something like that. Once we found it we were so ecstatic and we went straight in. I was so excited once I saw the menu because it was all American food and I mean real American food. I was so torn about what to get, but I finally settled on a side salad with RANCH dressing and a delicious veggie burger with fries. I was in complete heaven and I don't think I've ever eaten so fast in my life. I was one happy girl!

That night when we were at the Trevi Fountain, one of the many annoying men trying to give you roses or take your picture came up to us and said something. I just smiled and nodded and then he said congratulations and began to shake our hands. He asked us where we were from and then said he would take our picture. We said no over and over and he said that it was a special occassion and he would do it for free (yeah right), and finally he got the picture after we said no I don't know how many times and he left. When he walked away he said something about no money no honey. Well when he left I realized that he thought Alex and I had just gotten engaged. I was adjusting my class ring when he had spotted us because Alex had just looked at it and so this guy thought we were engaged. Oops!

On Friday, Alex and I took the train to Florence. I was super excited because I was going to see part of the Tuscan countryside and finally make it to Florence. I wasn't 100% sure about what there was to do in Florence, but I was pumped to go. We were going to meet up with Liz while in Florence, but due to poor communication and inability to call each other we weren't able to. Alex and I still managed to make our way around the city and we saw the Duomo, David, the Gold Bridge (Ponte Vecchio), and the street with all of the designer stores. It was a nice relaxing day and it was great to go for the day. The city was beautiful and so was the countryside. I would love to go back and be able to just stay in a lovely tuscan villa for a week or more.

We also had the chance to go to Easter Sunday mass at the Vatican. We were able to actually get seats and see the Pope. Our seats weren't that close, but we knew he was there and we could see him on the big TVs. It was so cool to have the chance to experience something like that and to see all of these people from around the world gather for this one event. There were people there from Croatia, Germany, France, Poland, America, and many more places. I didn't really know what was going on during the mass, but Alex explained it as it went on and I just loved being there for the experience. Plus we both dressed up in our Easter best, so that's always a plus.

I think I really fell in love with Rome and I have even more of a desire to spend more time in Italy. Rome at night was one of the most beautiful places ever. It's so amazing to see the Spanish steps lit up, the Colosseum, St. Peter's Square, and the Trevi Fountain in lights. I think the Trevi Fountain was one of my favorite places in Rome (minus the soliciters) because everyone there was smiling (except the girl that was arrested/caught by the police for climbing into the fountain, she was bawling) and almost everyone had gelato in their hand. It was just a nice carefree place where people come to just enjoy the view. I loved it!

I highly recommend Rome to anyone and everyone. It is so beautiful and rich with history. Oh and I think everyone should watch Under the Tuscan Sun as well :)

Fun in Aix...once I actually got there

Right after my parents left, I headed back to Freiburg for a few hours so I could unpack then repack and then catch a train to head to Aix-en-Provence to visit my friend Katie. Well as soon as I got back I repacked and then called Mitch and Jon. They both came over and Jon brought one of his roommates. We all decided to go on a walk up to the Schlossturm even though I had all of my things and we were going to be walking up a huge hill. I really don't know why I agreed to this, but I did and I managed to get myself to the top. It was quite the strenuous walk and I was extremely hot afterwards. When we headed back down we had to high tail it to the train station so I could make my train. I was able to barely make it on the train and I had a lovely fairwell from Jon, Mitch, and Jon's roommate Julianna.

I took the train to Offenberg and from there I was supposed to go to Strasbourg. Well due to the NATO meetings and subsequent protests in Strasbourg that weekend there weren't any trains going into France. I didn't know the full extent of this so I thought, "I'll just take the train to Kehl and try to go from there." That was a horrible idea. I had to talk to the guy at the train station, who proceeded to get mad at me because he thought I wasn't understanding him when he said no trains were running into France. I kept asking whether it would be easier to go back to Freiburg and try the next morning and after he switched to English and I continued in German and ennunciated every word coming out of my mouth, he realized what I was saying, refunded me my money and helped me figure out how to get back to Freiburg. Once I got back to Freiburg and realized I had wasted about three to four hours, I bought another ticket for the next day and then hung out with the guys for the rest of the night.

The next morning I got up early, got on a train, and set off for France again. This time I was taken mainly through Switzerland and had about four different changes. Luckily I didn't have any problems and I arrived in Aix around 3pm that afternoon. It was so warm and beautiful there! It was extremely different from Germany and Freiburg and it seemed more exotic. I immediately was thrilled to have come and it was amazing to see a different side of France. Paris was one thing, but southern France is very different. The atmosphere is different and the people seem different as well. Once I found the bus, I rode into the city and met up with Katie.

That night we went to a rooftop barbeque with her church friends and it was lots of fun. Everyone I met was really nice and even though we weren't able to get the grill to work, the food still turned out amazingly and was delicious. The worst thing about the party, but the greatest thing at the same time, was being on the roof and being exposed to all the pigeons. Shortly after we got there I felt something hit my hair and I looked around, but couldn't possibly imagine what would have been thrown at me. I felt my hair and then noticed something on my hand. I asked Katie if I had bird poop in my hair and she proceeded to laugh and then say she couldn't see anything because my hair was so dark. I went downstairs and ran into the bathroom where I then discovered a big thing of bird poop in my hair. All I can say is that I was mortified. It was so gross and I had to wash it out as best as possible. When I returned to the roof, the first thing I said to Katie was "I definitely had poop in my hair." That was the low point of the trip.

The next day I got to sleep in a bit, then wander around town. While Katie was in class I just wandered and did get slightly lost, but managed to make my way back. Then we went shopping, which is always a good time. That night when Katie had a meeting for her trip to Uganda, the other people in the group with friends visiting sent us out together to go watch the football/soccer game at the local Irish pub. We watched the game of Manchester United against Porto and it was a great game. I had fun and I met some great people. There was one guy who was from England, but studying in Brussels, and he was just amazed that we liked football. He said most British girls don't like it at all.

For my last day in Aix, a group of us went to Cassis to see the Mediterranean. It was so pretty!! We took a bus to Marseilles and then a train from Marseilles. We then had to walk a bit to find the beach, but we eventually found it. We purchased from bread and strawberries and had a nice little picnic. Once we finished eating we decided to put our feet in the water, but it was the most difficult thing ever because the beach was covered in rocks, not sand. I don't think my feet have ever hurt so much. I then had the bright idea to take a few jumping pictures and most of them just turned out pretty poorly and we all had looks of pain on our faces. It was fun though and while we sat there James, the guy visiting from Brussels, created a game called Rock Jenga. You had to move a rock from the side of the hole he dug, but you couldn't make any other rock move. I sucked...I never once was able to do it, but it did pass the time. Then we searched for green glass, but that became pretty violent as we struggled and fought with each other to steal each other's glass.

We then left and I stayed in Marseilles with James and his friend Adam. There really isn't much to see in Marseilles and honestly it's a pretty unsavory town. I felt a little unsafe and I was just glad I was there with two guys. Katie said that someone usually gets pickpocketed there and it honestly wasn't the best place I've been while in Europe. It was different and nice to see, but I would never take time to just go there. That night once I got back I went and watched another soccer game. This one was Bayern Munich against Barcelona I think. Bayern was killed and it was a sad game to see. It was fun though and I had a great time in Aix. It was so great to see Katie and to take it easy. Plus I got to put my feet in the Mediterranean!

Thanks Katie for the great time! It was nice to meet new people and I would love to come back!

Traveling with the Parents...

Well immediately after I returned from Paris, I had to gear up for the visit from my parents. They were arriving at 5:45am in Frankfurt the very next morning and I had to get myself to Frankfurt. The earliest I was going to get there was 7:30am, which required me to leave Freiburg on the 4:47am train. Thanks to my friend Mitch, I was reminded that the Trams don't run that early so I would have to get a taxi or walk to the main train station. This just created immediate stress because I had no idea how I was going to manage to get a taxi. Luckily I was able to ask a roommate what to do and I booked a taxi online.

The next morning I got up at 3:40am to meet my taxi at 4:15. It was soooo early! The taxi driver smacked her gum so loud that I thought I was going to go crazy. When we got to the train station I only had a 50 Euro bill to give her, so she proceeded to chew me out about it in German at 4:30 in the morning. I definitely was not in the mood for that. The good news was that once I got on the train, I was able to sleep for pretty much the entire ride.

I was able to find my parents really easily and that was when the fun began. They had one huge suitcase, a smaller rolling suitcase, a huge Vera Bradley bag, and a black bag. Essentially way too much, but we were able to get it all on the train. I knew right then and there that it was going to be a long week with all of those bags. When we got back to Freiburg, I showed my parents the city and my room. I was able to get all of the goodies they brought from home, like a gigantic jar of peanut butter, girl scout cookies, and other nicities from home. We then had lunch and I put them back in their hotel because we were all buckling down for the big NATO protest that afternoon. I was able to hang out with Liz, Jon, and Mitch for a while and run some errands. We went into DM so Jon could buy some things like shampoo. I found it really funny when Mitch suggested the volumizing shampoo (no offense Mitch, but you're hair has never struck me as voluminous). Then, while Jon was trying to smell the conditioner, he squeezed it too hard and he got it up his nose and all over. We all just burst out laughing and had a good roar. What a great way to end that day!

The next morning I was up early to go meet my parents so we could head off to Zurich. Well the first disaster of the trip involved us getting off one stop too soon in Basel and then having to figure out what to do. I did discover that even if you miss your train time, your ticket is still good so we were able to eventually get on another train to get us to Zurich. The bad thing was that my dad was rushing to get off the first train with the huge bag and ended up really hurting his foot and limping the rest of the week. Not good! Once we arrived in Zurich, we were able to get to our hotel and settle in a bit. The greatest thing about Zurich was the hotel. I have never stayed in such an amazing hotel. We had a huge room, huge bathroom with a TV in the bathroom (my dream come true), and lovely swiss chocolates awaiting us. Sadly because it was so cloudy, we couldn't see any mountains at all, which was kind of the whole point of coming. We mainly spent the day walking around and having a delicious Italian meal. That night I took a great bath, yes I took a bath, while watching TV, and then I slept extremely well.

The next day we set off for Innsbruck. We had amazing weather and the entire train ride we got to stare out at the Alps. It was so breathtaking to be able to see all of that for hours on end. Innsbruck was really nice and was surrounded by the Alps. We spent the day walking around and having two lunches. The first lunch was at a trendy restaurant that wasn't what it said it was in the guide book. After paying too much and not getting enough food we literally got up, walked a bit, and then went straight into another restaurant. That food was actually better and cheaper. We saw a few of the sights in Innsbruck and like usual, took it pretty easy. This trip was definitely not like Paris where we walked for hours and hours every day.

After Innsbruck was Salzburg. We took the train and saw a few more mountains. Sadly we were all crammed into a Harry Potter-like room on the train and it was a little uncomfortable. Once we got there we did lots of walking and saw where Motzart was born and where he lived. We also went and saw a few of the places related to the Von Trapp family and the Sound of Music. We could have taken the Sound of Music tour, but we decided not to. I think I want to go back and do that sometime. It would be awesome! The one thing about Salzburg though was all the tourists. I heard a good amount of English and the Americans were always easy to pick out. It was a nice city though and I would definitely go back.

One of our last stops was Rothenberg ob der Trauber. This is a medieval town that is still surrounded by the wall that was built a long time ago. We had to make three different connections in under 10 minutes and that was just stressful in itself. We were bookin' it a lot that day. The funniest thing though was discovering what kind of water my dad had actually bought. Throughout the whole trip, we were having troubles buying plan water that didn't have that mineral water, bitter taste to it. Well he decided to just get some sort of flavored water. As we were sitting on the train, I looked at it closer and realized it was strawberry and pepper flavored water. Yes, it had pepper in it. He was not too thrilled, but he did laugh really hard about it.

Once we got to Rothenberg, we just walked around a little. We had a nice lunch, but it went pretty slow and by the time we were done a lot of things were closing or about to close. So we didn't get to see everything in Rothenberg, but it was still nice. I thought there were lots of Americans in Salzburg, but the number is Rothenberg was astounding. They were everywhere! I couldn't believe how many people knew about this city and actually wanted to come. It was nice, but I don't know how special it was.

The last day we went to Frankfurt because my parents were flying out of there the next morning. Our hotel ended up being out by the convention center and not near the center of the city at all. Since we were all to tired, we didn't even attempt to go into the city with the bus and metro. I think all there really was to do was shop, so it wasn't a big deal. I don't think there was that much to do in Frankfurt unless you were a businessperson. Since we used the hotel shuttle to get out to the hotel from the airport, which was complementary, we assumed it was complementary to go back to the airport. Well we were wrong. It actually cost 7 Euros a person to go back to the airport, but we had to pay it and were on the first shuttle out the next morning.

I saw my parents off at the airport and then headed back to Freiburg all by myself. It was a great week, but very exhausting. I was really glad to have seen my parents and I think they came at a good point so that it put off any possible homesickness a little while longer. Once I got back I had to immediately get ready for my next adventures!

How do you say water?!

What can you say about Paris? It honestly is really all it's cracked up to be and more. I really loved it and I thought it was extremely beautiful. The Eiffel Tower was awesome, Versailles was so pretty, and the view from the Sacre Coeur was breathtaking. I think I would go back to Paris in a heartbeat, but the only difference is the second time around I would have more money and have a nicer hotel. Other than that it would be just as great.

Speaking of hotel, the first big "adventure" in Paris was all about our hotel room. Here's a good tip for everyone wanting to go to Paris: You can't sneak people into a hotel room in Paris. We tried and we failed. Our hotel made us turn in our key before we left and then pick it up when we came back. When we first checked in, Sammy, Todd, and I went in and found out that we couldn't get into our room until after 3. We could have left our bags there, but decided not to since the other three couldn't. When we came back after 3, we had six bags between the three of us for three nights. The man helped us by putting all of our bags into the lift so it could meet us at the top of the stairs, but I'm sure this only aroused suspicion because why would three people need six bags for three nights? Well we were concerned about what we were going to do the rest of the afternoon and by the time we were ready to go back we just decided that we would all go in and just go for it. Todd and Jake went straight up the stairs, but we were all stopped immediately. There were two men and they began questioning us, asking us how many people there were, didn't we only have three beds for three nights, who is actually staying in the room, why are these other people there. We all kind of froze, but Jake was able to spit out quickly, "Oh, we're not staying, we're just getting our bags." They wanted to know why we had their bags and we explained that they couldn't check into their hotel earlier so we were holding them. Well the asked who was actually staying and Sammy pointed to me and Todd. They let us go up and get their bags, but the other three couldn't come up. We got their bags and we all said good-bye and planned on when we would meet in the morning. I walked with Katie, Jake, and Mitch to find a hotel and we were just worried about not finding anything for three nights at 11pm. We were very lucky though and found a hotel around the corner, but sadly it was not the nicest hotel ever. They only had a tiny room for the toilet and the shower was just in the middle of the room. I think we had the slightly better deal in terms of room, but trust me when I say our room wasn't much nicer.

Another disaster we had was when we went to a cafe the first day to just get something to drink. Well Sammy wanted water, but none of us knew how to say water. When the woman came to take our order, we were able to spit out the other things we wanted, but we had no idea how to say water. We asked if she spoke English and she said no, so we proceeded to say water in four different languages. We're pretty sure she knew what we were saying, but she wasn't going to budge. We gave up on the water and then we stared at the menu and finally found some bottled water. We asked for Vittel and she immediately knew what we wanted then. I think that was one of the most frustrating parts ever.

Another thing that happened on the first night was our horrible decision for dinner. We were all so tired and had walked around so much that first day that we were all fine with settling for fast food. Well we saw Quick Burger, which we assumed was like McDonald's. We were horribly wrong. It was actually pretty expensive for a meal and the food was horrible. There was nothing quality about it and I think my sandwich had been sitting there since they opened that morning. My bread was hard and the chicken and tomatoes were practically stuck into the bread. The place wasn't that clean either and there were some really sketchy people there. We were bothered by some women asking for money for their families and then we saw a man talking to himself in the corner. It was not a nice place at all and I would never ever go there again!

Besides those problems, we had a pretty easy time of getting around the city. After getting a free map on the first day from a very creepy man, who Katie wonders if he even had pants on, we were able to find our way through the city. I was even able to give a French girl directions on the first night to a museum! That was a very proud and accomplished moment for me.

When we went to Versailles, we all went with baguettes to eat for lunch and some of us had 1.5 liters of water with them. Well we discovered when we got there that we couldn't take food or drinks in, so what did we do? Naturally we then began to eat everything. We were all standing outside the building where you buy your tickets pulling and tearing off pieces of bread and dipping it into peanut butter. Todd even had a little jam from breakfast that morning. I'm sure that everyone that saw us probably wondered what the heck we were doing and we definitely looked like peasants. Todd then chugged practically all of his water and we were all pretty full after that. It was quite the sight to behold.

It was a really great trip though and we were able to see so many awesome things. I can now say I've seen the Mona Lisa, climbed to the second level of the Eiffel Tower, been to Versailles, had a real French baguette, and walked along the red light district of Paris. Those are some major accomplishments!

Wait...I was just where?!

So I have just completed the best break of my life. I still have about two more days of break before I start class next Monday, but I will be in Freiburg until then. Since the 25th, however, I have been in five different countries and I have seen some of the most amazing things of my life. I don't think I could have ever imagined that I would ever have the chance to see the things that I've seen and have done it within a two and a half week period. This post is mainly going to be about reflection (corny I know), but there will be others about each of the places I've been.

As I sit here thinking about everything I've done, I am just awestruck by the fact that I was just in Rome on Monday and I was in Paris 17 days ago. I have seen some of the world's most famous sites and that just blows my mind! Time goes by so fast here and it seems like things happened so long ago. I can't believe that I have been away from home for two months now. I have never been away from home that long and I still have three more months to go!

Life here in Germany has been relaxing, so far, and I think life here is great. Now since classes haven't started yet I may change my mind and prefer the American way of doing things, but until then I love it here. The weirdest thing to think about is that I have already scheduled for my fall semester at IU, but I have yet to schedule for my classes in Germany and they are starting on Monday. Everyone else is getting ready for finals and Little 5, which I completely forgot about and couldn't even remember when it was, and I am here getting ready for my first day of class.

I think so far I have already changed and begun to become a somewhat different person. I think all of these changes are for the best and I can't wait to see what I'm like at the end of this trip. My new favorite thing to do is meet people. I really love meeting people from around the world. I have met so many amazing people since I've gotten here and it's been a blast. I have so many new friends so far and I love it! People have been so friendly and I think a large part of it is related to the desire by everyone to have friends. Everyone is in the same position of not really knowing anyone and being in a foreign country having to speak a foreign language. There is just an unspoken bond formed between everyone and we all just seem to connect. I love that!

Things these past few weeks have been pretty crazy, but I am so glad to be back in Freiburg. I think that this has definitely become a new home and I feel so comfortable here. When we were in our "intensive" language course they made us write about what is home. Well after being here for a while, I've realized that I have a new idea behind what is home. It's definitely where you're family is, but it's now so much more than that. It really is all about where you're comfortable and where the people you love to be around are. I have made some great friends here and coming back to them was one of the things I was looking forward to the most. Traveling is great, but being home is even better sometimes.

Now let the stories begin....

Just Dropping By Switzerland for the Day...

Well time has certainly flown by and I can't believe that I only have three more of my intensive language classes left. I am so glad that they are almost over, but I have to say I will miss things about them. These classes have really focused on grammar, the one thing I really don't like, and I realize that I needed the help and I have learned things, but, unfortunately I just haven't enjoyed all of the time I have spent in these classes. Besides that aspect, the people in the classes have been great and I really have a great time walking to class.

The first day of class, SLI took us there as a big group and they had us walk from the Kursburo to the tram stop. We then waited and packed onto a tram to only take it to the very next stop. We then stumbled off of the tram and then hurried to get on a bus. Once everyone had managed to get on the bus, we rode to the very next stop, got off and then walked a good ten minutes. Everyone was wondering where the heck we were going and then they told us we would have to do this alone the next morning. I think at that point everyon had a look of panic on their faces because we had no idea how to do that alone.

My class has been great though because everyone gets along, there are people from all over the world, and we all aren't that great at German. At this point, even though the class is almost over, everyone has reached a pretty solid level of comfort and we have even more fun and joke around a lot more. It will be sad when it's over and we don't get to see each other as much.

Besides class, I have been having a great time. I went on a "bar crawl" the first Friday night here and it only included two bars. I tried a "cola bier," which was beer and cola (I'm sure you figured that out). A lot of people at my table tried it and thought it just tasted like flat coke, but of course I could taste the beer and I thought it was horrible. At the next bar I decided to play it safe and just get a hot chocolate. It was pretty great.

I did go to the Schwarzwald one Saturday and that was lots of fun. It was the first excursion put on by SLI and we took a bus to a few villages nearby. We got to see Germany's highest waterfall, the first original world's largest cuckoo clock, and a beautiful church. It had just snowed so all the trees were covered in a perfect blanket of snow and it was just breathtaking. I loved seeing that even though it was cold for us. We also went to a glass blowing factory and got to see some man blow a few vases. Our tour guide, who had an English speaking boyfriend, told him on the phone that she was going to "blow some glasses" and he just responded with "what are you going to blow?" She told the four of us (Katie, Jake, Mitch, and I) and we all laughed. I don't think she quite understood what that meant in English, but she was laughing along with her insane laugh. She was pretty funny all day/her laugh was so funny sounding that everyone else laughed just because she was laughing.

That night we went and got ice cream with Liz, Jon, and Rachel. Jon's phone rang while we were there and he answered it with "Talk to me." All of us burst out laughing and what made it even funnier was that the older couple sitting right by us laughed a bit because they could understand him. There was another occassion, just recently, when Jon said something that the people around us understood. When we went to see Slumdog Millionaire this past Friday, we saw a horribly made commercial that was supposed to look like it was filmed somewhere in Hollywood. Well Jon then made a comment, "Aren't they supposed to be Grrrmans?" We all started laughing and then even the old man sitting by Liz and the guys behind us started laughing pretty hard as well. Liz told Jon to be quiet at that point. It was pretty hilarious.

We do laugh quite a lot here. It's been pretty impressive that I have managed to laugh really hard at least once every day. Usually it's at someone's expense, but we all have a good laugh about it. I think Mitch gets the brunt of it, but he's a good sport at least.

Today I went to Basel, Switzerland on our last excursion. It was a beautiful day with clear blue skies and sun. It was just a bit chilly, but I was able to deal with it. We thought we were going to be taking a boat ride along the Rhine, but we were terribly mistaken. All we did was walk down one side of the Rhine, get on a little boat (we had to split into two groups), then we practically floated to the other side in about five minutes, got off, waited for the other group, then walked back down the other side of the Rhine. Now what would have made more sense was to have us walk across the main bridge and never even have tried to get on a boat. We just ended up at the other side of the bridge and wasted time on the boat. I don't know if they were trying to give us the chance to be on the Rhine, but really it wasn't that necessary.

We also got to walk around the city, see the Muenster, walk up terribly steep, narrow, and winding staircases to see the view from the top of the Muenster, and see some modern art. Going up the Muenster was pretty terrifying since I have managed to increase my fear of heights as time has gone by. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact I over think things and make myself think about the possible ways I could die walking to the tops of these churches or anything else high up. It was a great view, but the most difficult climb I have had thus far.

We also ate at the most amazing italian restaurant. After a very long search for something cheap (which does not exist in Switzerland), we went to a nice little Italian restaurant. We all ordered pasta: Liz, Mitch, and I all got tortellni, and Todd and Jen got rigatoni. I think we all almost died with how great our food was. Liz and Mitch didn't want to finish theirs because they knew it would all be over and they would never get anything this good again. Sadly it took some time to figure out the bill because the woman had to put it in Euros for us. We were told that we could pay with Euros anywhere and of course we managed to find the place that didn't really want us to. I couldn't really understand the woman because of her swiss accent, but I thought she said it was going to cost us 87 Euros total. I was really shocked and just hoping that we all had enough money, but luckily I heard her wrong and it was only 60 Euros. Now that came out to 12 Euros a person, which was really expensive, but it was worth every penny.

I do love the fact that I can just go to Switzerland for the day or France. A few people have gone to France for day trips and I want to do that soon. I am going to Paris this coming Thursday for about three days, then my parents will be here to go to Zurich and Salzburg, then I'll be off to Marseilles to visit Katie, and then Rome for Easter. I'm very excited!

Hallo Hallo! Japanese Japanese!

So I realized that I haven't written a blog for a really long time. Unfortunately I don't know how long this one will be, but I want to give you a quick summary of what's been going on so far.

I moved in to my place in Vauban, which is one of the living communities in Freiburg, and it used to be old army barracks. It is actually pretty nice and I have a pretty big room, with a nice sized closet and living space. I live with five other people, four of whom are German and the other one is another international student. Three of the German students will be moving out at the end of March because they are going to be Ph.D. students and they are not allowed to live in Vauban as Ph.D. students. I'm not sure who will be moving in or if anyone will be moving in. My roommate Benjamin asked me if I knew anyone that needed a place, so that sounds like they don't have anyone lined up.

It did take some time for me to get used to living here. It is definitely not the cleanest place I have ever lived, but I know that it could always be worse. The bathroom is extremely small and there is really no difference between the floor and the shower floor. I haven't flooded the bathroom so I think I'll be okay, but there is a giant squeegee in the corner in case something were to happen. The kitchen is a pretty okay size. There is a microwave, very old one, but at least we have one. My friend Liz doesn't have a microwave at all and at my friend Mitch's place, they leave their microwave on the shelf when it's not being used. I have my own drawer and fridge space for my things. The freezer is extremely small and you really can't put anything in there.

I haven't quite gotten my eating habits down. I go to the store and I really don't know what I should buy because I don't know what I will be able to make and I want to keep things really simple. I also don't really like to cook as much here, at least big things, because I don't know that I have the room in my fridge to store the leftovers and I have to wash all the dishes by hand (no dishwasher). I have been eating out probably too much for lunch. It's usually under 5 or 10 Euros, but it adds up fast and I know that I don't need to do that unless I want to be 300lbs by the end of the semester.

I am in an intensive language course right now and I have two teachers. I am the only class that has two teachers and I really don't know why I have two. I like the one that teaches on Wednedays and Thursday. She is really nice, laid back, and helpful. The one that teaches on Monday and Tuesdays is a little crazy, interrupts everyone so often, and just gets on my nerves. I can't stand the days when she teaches and they just feel like they go by so much slower. I have learned a good amount in these classes and I think my understanding of other things is getting better as well. I have a test on Friday and I'm not looking forward to that at all.

I have to say that based on these first few weeks I am really happy with Freiburg. The weather isn't always the best, but these past few days have been really sunny and nice. I think the city is like Bloomington, but there is definitely more to do. I can make my way around the city easy enough and I think I will enjoy living by the Black Forest with big hills and scenic views all aroun me.

The other great thing is that I have met some great people. I already know that there are some people that I am going to be friends with well after this semester is over. This really amazing girl Liz, that I was able to meet through a friend of Alex's in Copenhagen, is someone I love spending time with. She and I are in the same language class and we get along reallly well. We made an agreement that we would have a really good laugh every day and so far we have been able to accomplish it. We are are able to laugh super hard every day with a little help from our friends Mitch and Jon. Mitch is also here with IES and goes to school at Minnesota University. He is really nice and really funny. He always has a sarcastic comment to make or something like that. Then Jon is a guy that always has a story to share. He's really funny and he loves Ketchup. Jon will carry his own bottle of ketchup around because 1) it's not free in Europe and 2) when they do give you some at restaurants, it's hardly enough to satisfy him. I love hanging out with these three and we always have a good time together.

Everyone else that I have met has been great. I don't think I've met too many people that I don't enjoy being around. Everyone here is in the same position of being abroad, alone, and looking for friends. It is great to have people that are so open to meeting new people and wanting to do things and just have fun. I will definitely have a great semester here in Freiburg.

Oh and to explain my blog title (I know this isn't a great transition), when Liz, Jon, Mitch, and I were walking to the Tram after class, this homeless man spotted me as I walked by and said "Hallo hallo, japanese japanese" in this really creepy, but funny way. I really don't think you get the full effect by just reading it, but if you ask I think I can try to re-enact it. It was really uncomfortable when he did it, but I cracked up after we passed him. Sadly no one else heard, but I promise it happened.

I will be writing more, hopefully within the next few days, with more funny stories and good times in Freiburg.

Bis dann!

I'm not sure I should admit that I can't read...

So when I first got to Germany I really had never had any problems when It came to reading signs, understanding what people say to me, and my communication skills weren’t great, but I could definitely survive. Well I guess that wasn’t as true as I thought it was based on my two fairly significant mistakes since I’ve been in Berlin.

Both of these mistakes are related to ordering food and subsequently ordering the wrong thing. The first time was while Katie was here and we went to this restaurant/bar called Treffpunkt Berlin. It was a nice place that had menus is multiple languages, so naturally we got a German menu and an English menu. I decided to go with fish for lunch and I looked at both menus to make sure I knew what I was getting and I wasn’t translating anything incorrectly. I thought I was ordering two filets of fish with onions (I figured they would be cooked) and bread. Well when it came out it was definitely not what I was expecting. There were two things of fish, but the fish wasn’t cooked. It was more like another version of lox and there were a bunch of raw onions on top, four slices of rye bread, which I don’t like, and then a salad with some sort of yellow, dill dressing. Needless to say I was glad that I at least liked lox and was able to eat the fish. It wasn’t exactly something that hit the spot, but I was able to stand it and choke it down. The bread I couldn’t do and luckily Katie liked it so she ate that. The salad I just ate the stuff that didn’t have dressing on it. I honestly thought that was one of the worst lunches I had ever had in Germany and I just felt stupid for ordering the wrong thing. I do think though that the actual dish didn’t translate because there was no mention of raw/smoked fish on the English menu and I think that you just know what that type of fish is in German.

Well I thought that was one of the bigger mistakes I had ever made, but I was mistaken because I made a worse mistake on my last night in Berlin. We all went out to dinner at this nice Italian restaurant we had been to earlier in the week and I thought I would get something different. I decided that Spaghetti Marinara would be good and I looked and I knew I saw mention of tomato sauce and I just figured it was like spaghetti with marinara sauce. When the waiter/ober brought it out, I saw stuff sticking up along the sides and I couldn’t imagine what that was. Then when he put it down in front of me, I realized that they were mussels and I had ordered seafood pasta. Jeannine asked me if I liked mussels and I just said that I had never had them before. I looked in the pasta and I thought there were some mushrooms in it so I ate those first and they were definitely not mushrooms. I never really figured out what they were, but I managed to eat them. There were also little shrimps, some octopus or squid in there, and I think something else. I really don’t know what all was in that pasta bowl, but I know I was very nervous about how this meal was going to turn out. The good news is that I was able to eat most of it and it wasn’t the worst thing I had ever eaten. The mussels weren’t eaten and neither was the squid that I could still see the tentacles. That meal then took over the spot for one of biggest mistakes I have ever made.

Katrin asked me after dinner if I enjoyed myself and I said I did. She then asked if I enjoyed the food and so I just explained that I had misread the menu completely and thought it was only pasta with tomato sauce. She laughed and I reassured her that I did still like it, but it just wasn’t what I was expecting. During the meal I did have to try not to laugh because I was pretty amused by the fact that I had managed to misread the menu for a second time and I knew I should have stuck with what I had eaten last time. I knew my dad would laugh hysterically at me like he did when I told him about the first menu mistake I made. I really worry myself sometimes with my horrible comprehension skills.

Not only is it bad that I ordered that horrible seafood pasta, but the first night in Freiburg we went out to an Italian Restaurant with our program. Well I ordered something that was not called Spaghetti Marinara and the people around me knew about what I did the night before because I said something. Well they brought out my food and it was exactly the same thing from the night before. I somehow managed to order the same meal, mussels, squid, something else fishy tasting, and little shrimp. I seriously thought I was going to die. Everyone laughed and I think they did something wrong. I stared at that menu to make sure I got something I would want. Apparently I failed at life yet again :( I was lucky though that Noah, another IES student, was willing to trade with me so I didn't have to eat it. It was pretty embarrassing though.

Those three mistakes have definitely taught me to read the menus as closely as possible and to make sure I understand everything. I will always point now to what I want and say the number and get things that I know what every single word is. Never assume! You know what they say about assuming…;)

And then a horse and pig appeared on stage

As you may or may not know I have been in Berlin for about ten days now and I have done quite a lot. My friend Katie came to visit for about five days and we went and saw a lot of the city. We took this great walking tour on the first full day we were here and I really enjoyed it. Sadly it was really cold, but we saw a lot of the city and I saw a number of things I had never seen before. I learned a lot too. We also went to Madame Tussaud's wax museum one day and saw lots of famous people. It was really neat to be able to go and even though it was small, it was really fun.

I also got to see old friends, which is always nice. I went to the school that participated in an exchange program with my high school and surprised a number of people. The classes were a little boring, but overall it was a good time.

This past Saturday I went to my first German disco with some of my German friends. I was a little hesitant about it because I didn't know what to expect and I wasn't sure if I would really like it. They picked me up around 10:15 on Saturday night and there were about seven Germans and then me. We piled into our two cars and were off. It was a little bit of a drive and we ended up over by Alexander Platz and the East Side Gallery. There was a very long line to get in and one reason was because the doors had just opened, I think. We were a little concerned about one of the girls getting in because she had to use the ID of one of the girls with us because she wasn't 18 yet. Besides that when we went up there the guy was really looking at the IDs and not just glancing. Another girl waited with this girl for a bit to let some other people through and we just waited inside and hoped she made it in. Luckily she did.

Once we were all in we checked our coats at the coat check (naturally) and then we went in. There were three rooms: one that played techno, one that played hip-hop, and one that played rock. When we first got there and entered the techno room the first thing that came to my mind was that this was just like a Homecoming dance. There were a few people dancing, but it just seemed like really awkward dancing that you do with your group of girlfriends and then there were a few guys dancing, but not with girls. I thought it was going to be a long night with a depressing end.

When we walked into the hip-hop room there were more people in there and it was a little less awkward. We began to dance there for a while and it was fun. It took a while to get into the "groove," but I managed to get there. I was surprised by the number of guys that were there alone or in groups and would dance, but without a girl. I haven't really seen that before. I did keep my eyes peeled for any creepers and there were a few.

After a little while we went to the rock room and it was probably the loudest. People were dancing a lot in there and it was fun. I just know that I quickly realized how loud it was in that place. As the night went on more and more people appeared and the dance floor became much more crowded. I did notice one guy in the techno room that seemed like he was trying to dance with one of us and it was kind of awkward. I think I was the only one keeping my eye on him. There was another guy that had a shirt with the different bars on it that you would see move when the music increases or decreases in sound (I hope that makes sense) and the bars were actually moving! His shirt was animated! It was great!

Later that night when we were in the rock room a band appeared on the stage. This was no ordinary band but there were guys dressed in animal suits with different heads. One was a pig and another was a horse. I think the third was something at some point, but took his head off. They were mainly on stage just pretending to play the drums, or maybe he was, and the others were just running around. I honestly think that was one of the most random things I could have seen at that disco.

Eventually we left around 2:30 or so and drove home. I passed out in the car from exhaustion and smelled horribly of smoke. I just wanted to sleep, but being me I had to take a shower and then I could sleep. It was a great night, but I don't know how often I'll be frequenting the discos...

Excuse me, but I think you're speaking gibberish...

Okay so I haven't blogged yet about my trip to Copenhagen so here it is. I have to say first of all that the Danish language is not hard to read since I know German, but hearing it is a completely different thing. It really does sound like gibberish and I never thought it sounded like they were making sense. That drove me crazy! Anyways, after leaving the train station and finally meeting up with Alex we started the long trip back to his apartment. We had to lug around my two huge suitcases, I had my back pack and my other bag so that was fun. All of those cobblestone streets are not fun with suitcases and lots on your back. Luckily we were able to get my stuff down to the train platform and then onto the train without too much of a problem.

The train ride home was about twenty minutes. We had a little more difficulty getting the suitcases out of that train station because we had to go up stairs and then down some stairs and there weren't any escalators or anything like that. The walk home was about twenty minutes with the suitcases and not fun. Once we were there we had to go up to the top floor, about three flights of stairs, with the bags and by then I thought my arms were going to fall off.

Once we got into the apartment, dinner was waiting for us and I met Elinor and Rosie. They were both very nice and I really liked Elinor. She was an 83 year old woman who liked to folkdance, do yoga, and gymnastics. She was the typical spunky old woman that would tell you like it is and she was pretty sarcastic. She made us a lovely dinner with some kind of pork dish, red cabbage, and potatoes. It was pretty good and it was nice to have real food after my long long day.

After dinner Alex and I went to meet some of his friends at the Australian Bar located across the street from his school. They were having beer pong night and there were only Americans there. It was fun though to meet some other IU students and other DIS students. I wasn't in the mood to drink, but I had fun. Once we got back home I hit that bed and was out in no time. I was lucky that Alex didn't have class the next day so I could sleep in til 10.

On Wednesday, Alex, myself, and his friends Adam, Amber and Syed all went to the National Museum because it was free on Wednesdays. Before Syed got there we walked around and saw Parliament and some of the buildings around there. The museum itself was really nice and there was a lot to it. We mainly saw medieval and renaissance art, but it was cool. Afterwards Adam and Amber left and the rest of us stayed to look at the great, but small toy exhibit.

Afterwards, Alex, Syed and I all walked to try to find Christiania. Elinor had suggested it to me that morning, but I didn't really know what it was. Alex and Syed knew more about it or at least had some idea. I think I kept thinking she was talking about something related to Hans Christen Andersen so when I first saw it I didn't think we were at the right place. Let me just say that was a very interesting place. I knew right away that we stuck out and people were giving us looks. I was glad I was there with Alex and Syed.

There was a lot of graffiti and a few dogs running around. People were selling some things and standing around fires in barrels. It was a very different place then what I was used to. Most people were smoking and you knew they weren't smoking cigarettes. I don't think I have ever smelled that much weed in my life. We walked up some stairs and then asked some random man where the center of the town was and he pointed to where we had just come from. We asked him about the drugs and he said that people only really smoke weed and if you ask about other things like coke they will get mad. When we asked about prices, the guy just whipped out a joint and told us how much one of those would cost and then preceded to light it and smoke it. It was really eye opening to say the least. Afterwards we went back home and had dinner. I just watched a movie and Alex did homework.

The next day we had to be up early for Alex's class. After his first class we did some exploring and found the pharmacy since Alex was sick. We then walked along the water and saw the palace where the royal family is. We saw the city church, which we think was Lutheran, and it was really pretty on the inside. I love going into churches and that one was extremely beautiful. Then we got to see the changing of the guard which was fun. A band came marching in and then around the square. The guards did their weird thing and it was pretty funny to watch them. We didn't stay for the entire thing since it looked like they were just staring each other down.

We also went to this little quant tea shop to buy a gift for Elinor. This place looked like something out of Harry Potter. They had little scales to weigh the tea and they gave you a piece of candy after you bought some. It was great! We had a little lunch at a bakery and I had some pizza. It was served cold, which was okay, but not my favorite. I then agreed to go to Alex's Hans Christen Andersen class and they were discussing the Little Mermaid. It was a really said story and I would much prefer Disney over his original version any day. Once class was over we went and found the Little Mermaid statue. It took a bit to find and we started by going the wrong way, but we managed to find it. It really wasn't as exciting as you would think, but it was nice to see. Since we walked around all day, my shoes ended up getting soaked and then my socks. It sucked because I had to walk around with wet feet and I was concerned that by the time I took my shoes off I would have really stinky feet, which would not be pleasant for anyone. Luckily that didn't happen.

That night I just took it easy and Alex and I watched a movie. We also watched some TV with Elinor and that was fun. It was a nice night to stay in and I'm glad I did. The next morning we had to struggle again with my luggage and this time the handle on the biggest bag wouldn't come up so we had to drag it. Not fun!

It was a great time though and I highly recommend Copenhagen to everyone!

The Most Terrifying Moment of My Life

So this is my first blog after arriving in Europe. I am currently sitting at the DIS Center in Copenhagen, Denmark while Alex is off at a meeting with one of his professors. I have been here for a few days and I have really enjoyed myself. I will definitely write more about what I have done in Copenhagen, but I have to recap my flight(s) over here.

I had to drive to Chicago in order to catch my flight because most of my flight options would have taken me there any way and this way I wouldn't have to worry with any connections. The drive there wasn't too bad. My parents got frustrated with each other because they were trying to take directions from both the GPS and the Map Quest directions my mom had printed off. I finally just said they had to pick one to listen to. As we were driving, there was a police car that passed us that was followed by three or four big, black SUVs with very dark windows, then a van/truck of some sort, and another police car. We were convinced that it was Barack Obama on his way to the airport since he had been in Chicago for the weekend. I have to say, it was pretty cool.

Once we got to the airport, a little more frustration arose in the car because we were having major troubles figuring out where to park. Once we did it was better, but those ten minutes were not enjoyable. It took forever to check in because there were two different groups of Asians that were over the weight limit and were trying to repack right there. Both of them had bought a large supply of items, such as lotion and vitamins, that are more expensive in Asia. It was very frustrating having to stand there and wait on them. Plus it didn't help that there were only three lines open that then decreased to two, but had the option of having around fifteen to twenty people working. Stupid airlines! Once I got up there, it took about five minutes to check in and my bags were 32 and 42 pounds respectively.

Saying good-bye was not pleasant. I realized that after a while we were just going to have to get it over with. There was no point in sitting there any longer so after a teary good-bye, I went up the escalator and never looked back.

My flight wasn't full and I regret not switching seats. I could have gotten a roomier seat with more leg room had I just moved across the isle, but I decided I could manage. I was poorly mistaken. I was extremely sore during the flight after my first attempt at sleeping. My knees have never hurt so much. The upside was that I got to watch The Secret Lives of Bees, part of The Dutchess, and Nights in Rodanthe. The flight was pleasant and besides the lack of leg room there really wasn't much to complain about.

I arrived in Frankfurt at 5:45am. I had to go through customs and the guy ended up asking me a lot of questions. He asked me where my final destination was (I said Frankfurt), how long was I going to be there (1 day, then I am going to Copenhagen), and what was in Copenhagen (a friend). When he was done asking he just smiled and said Cheers!

Then I had to go and rangle my luggage. I was lucky enough to have a cart so I didn't have to try to lug them around on my own, but I had a very hard time finding an elevator. Once I found one, I just sat around until about 9 to check in for my next flight. I did discover a sex shop in the airport that had a woman seductively eating a strawberry on the outside and then a sheet covering the door. When I saw two older men walk in I was a little grossed out.

Sadly I had to pay 110 Euros because my bags were overweight. This I knew going in and I knew I couldn't avoid because I had all of my things with me. I just had to suck it up and pay it and I'm going to have to pay it again when I go to Berlin. The flight there was extremely horrific. The flight wasn't full, which was nice, but it wasn't the smoothest. As we were ascending, all of a sudden the plane got really quiet and it sounded like the engines just shut off. We then felt like we were falling, people were talking and sounded nervous, I was waiting for the air masks to drop down and screaming in my head "Oh my god I am going to die and I'm going to die alone!" Luckily, about a minute or two later things went back to normal and we just continued on.

Once I got to Copenhagen I had to get my luggage again and then figure out how to get on the train. I had to get to the central station and that was easy enough to buy my ticket and find the platform. Unfortunately the trains weren't labeled that well so I wasn't sure if I was getting on the right train. Trying to get on the train was extremely difficult with my bags and no one was about to help me. I looked like a complete fool as they fell down and I didn't know how to get the automatic doors open to the seating compartments. I just stayed close to the door and asked someone if I was on the right train. Getting off the train was another ordeal because my bags fell again and then I almost tripped over one and I was trying to avoid the three people that were just standing there on the platform looking at me. It was horrible.

Then I sat in the McDonald's for about an hour and a half, listening to old 90s music and writing in my journal. I didn't eat anything because it was actually really expensive. I did see that instead of fries, you can get carrots as your side. They also had things called Chili Cheese Poppers and some kind of chicken sandwich with cheese. I was also amazed by how busy it constantly was. It was never empty and the line was always to the door.

I finally got picked up by Adam, one of Alex's friends, and he walked me to DIS. Once Alex was done with class, I would say my trip really began!

Hopefully the last post until I leave

Right now I'm still in Indiana and I haven't yet for Europe, so the title of my blogs are a lie thus far. I will be in Europe very soon (less than two weeks) and I'm getting very excited. I have a lot of packing and organizing ahead of me and I'm not looking forward to it.

I don't want to think about all what I need to take for five months. I know that I will want to take lots of my clothes and I have already done an initial run through what I had at my apartment and I pared it down from there. Sadly I think I may need to go through and take out a few more things because I know that I will be doing lots of shopping. I will have about a week and a half in Berlin to do whatever and of course I am going to want to go shopping. I love to shop, especially in foreign countries. So I'm pretty sure I will find clothes in Berlin and based on my previous visits, I will.

This weekend is kind of like a mini farewell tour. I am at Purdue right now visiting some friends and seeing some people before I leave. This afternoon I will be heading back to IU and then seeing people there. I'm going to go out tonight to celebrate by 21st with my friends there. I'm really excited because I get to go to all the IU "hot spots" and finally celebrate being legal! I don't know exactly what's going to happen tonight, but I'm sure it will be fun.

Tomorrow night we're having a great dinner party/party with all of our close friends. It will be the last time that I see everyone and I'm excited to see everyone, but I know I'll be sad when everyone leaves. It is going to be really hard to say good-bye to everyone for such a long time. I know that we'll still be in touch and that's what's so great about technology, but it will still be hard. Until I have to say good-bye I know we'll have a great time and I can't wait!

After all of that I'll head back home and begin to think about the things I still need to buy and the things I want and how I'm going to pack. I'll have to make sure I have all the proper documents that I need and anything else important. I'm sure I'll forget something, but at least I know my parents will be coming in April and can bring it then or send it. I will have to carry around a lot of my stuff when I go to Denmark and Berlin, but it's a small sacrifice to say the least. Hopefully it won't be too bad trying to maneuver on my own.

I can't wait to go and see old friends and to make new ones. I'm going to have an experience of a lifetime and I can't wait til I can actually blog about my adventures in Europe :D