busy...

Since I have been back life has gotten back to its unorganized chaos. 

Today I had to register for my classes that I will take at the DaF( Deutsches Als Fremdsprache Programm) program. This is the program which is at the university where they teach all the German as a foreign language classes. I really enjoy these classes and have learned a lot ! My German has improved so much these past 6 months its really quiet astonishing. Last weekend was quiet fun too. I went to this outlet place nearby with a friend of mine for 6 hours of shopping. It was epic. Six hours of hard core shopping, and naturally two coffee breaks. Sunday I hiked with my boss and her daughter, and one of their friends to celebrate her birthday. It was the perfect day for a hike I have to say. We got a tad lost on the way there, but we got help from our fellow German hikers. The path led to an old Castle that had a fantastic outdoor eatery. The view is really lovely too. I have to say that this weekend was quiet busy, but nice too. I am really glad that I got to spend time with the people around me and enjoy the lovely allergy inducing weather.

Spring.

Well the sun came back to Germany, a good and bad thing.
Good because I am sick of the snow that I thought was NEVER going to leave and the fact that I am happier when I wake up. Its sorta a bad thing though because I sneeze a lot more than I would like to. Allergies aside it is nice to see more green around and the little buds of flowers coming to life. This week has so far been uneventful. I started back to work yesterday, and found out I will be switching to a different office. This means I will start doing different things than I have been doing. I look forward to a challenge, but am sad to change offices. It should be interesting though regardless and a great opportunity to grow. I start school in a little under two weeks too. Ekkk I'm excited but then again not look forward to the mundane homework load. Lastly sunshine means pause...More time to run! Yay. I am so excited for running again! Okay that is all.

Short adventures.

I recently finished a 9 day trip on my own. I really have to say it was one of the best trips I have ever taken. I went to Belgium,Denmark and Czech Republic. I have to say though, I planned a trip that went way beyond my expectations. I had an amazing time. I thought that I would spend more time alone honestly, reflecting and just getting used to being on my own. That was far from the truth. I was very lucky to meet several wonderful people on my trip. I am so grateful to all the people I met, and shared conversations with. Learning about other people and having them share their time is something I really am truly grateful for.

The first place that I went was Brussels, Belgium. I decided upon Brussels for many reasons. One of them being well chocolate. I love chocolate, and of course waffles. But there is so much more to this city than that. It is literally bursting with life and is so incredible. I was lucky enough to stay close to the Grand Place. I got to go explore the city at my own pace and see the mixture of cultures. Brussels is truly a gem. There is so much to do there, and I believe I only tapped an ounce of the surface area. I went to Brugge too. This city so lovely, no wonder it is a UNESCO historical site. It was rather cloudy though, and my tour only gave me a short glimpse of the area. I met a daughter and father traveling together there. We shared the tour together and had a wonderful time conversing. I had a wonderful time to say the least.  On the way back I met another person. She was from singapore! We decided since we were both on our own we would do dinner together. This turned out to be an adventure hahaha. We got cat called by almost every waiter in a door that we passed, which was hilarious. The next day was equally cool, as we did some sightseeing together too. Later on when I went to this pub called homemade near the grand place. There I met an amazing and interesting couple from Canada. They are spending a year doing their honey moon and making it a honey year. I think that is a superb idea personally. Their names are Colin and Janine. They live in the Netherlands as their base, and travel about. They were kind enough to invite me to visit them sometime, which I hope to do in the near future. I really have to say I enjoyed my time there a lot. I saw the Renee' Magritte Museum, the Cartoon Museum and Hotel de'Ville. I even saw the famous Mannekan Piis.

The next place I traveled was Copenhagen, Denmark. Given the fact my flight was delayed and I only really had a full day there I had quiet the adventure at the Brussels airport. I met a fabulous guy from Malmo, Sweden and another amazing guy from San Francisco. The guy from San Fransico, whose name is Andrew was a true expert on Copenhagen! Luckily he volunteered to help me find my way around from the airport to the city center of Copenhagen. He  had great tips and stories that he shared with me. It turned out that Andrew was a great person to meet when it comes to food information, because he is a personal chef in Brussels! He had great food advice on places to eat in Copenhagen. I  was so excited to meet someone who knew about Copenhagen's food scene, and really understood it. The other guy from sweden, whose name is Evaen was really interesting to talk to as well. He lives in Malmo, which is one the most technologically advanced cities in northern Europe! So cool. I  ran into a dear friend of mine on the street, which was ironic! We hung out the next day. I guess I look rather Danish and many people liked my accent. I was told several times to just keep talking. It was interesting, and it had great benefits too. I got all kinds of awesome discounts, including a tour a almost no cost! I was really glad for the tour, because I had been walking quiet a bit and was excited to have a bus to ride around on. I really enjoyed Copenhagen, as it is very easy to get around and the people there are really friendly. I really liked that they had Nachos everywhere I went too. I was so excited to have REAL Spicy food after living in Germany the past 6 and a half months.

Lastly I went to Prague, Czech Republic on what was probably the scariest flight of my natural life. I realize that it was budget airline, but it felt like I was in a pop can being shook about. This was not a good way to start my day thank you very much. I was a tad apprehensive about Prague to be honest. I chose the city on a whim, and the fact that it has such a rich history. Being a former east block country, it was really interesting to see for me. I had never been to a former east block country so it was really a different experience for  me personally. I stayed at what was a stunning hotel for a very low price, and I was really amazed by yes, the architecture. It was almost untouched during world war two, so the architecture is stunning. Prague is teeming with a rich history and equally interesting residents. I stayed near a bus station called Florenc near Old Town. Florenc is not the prettiest area of Prague, but the hotel Designhotel Elephant was probably the most beautiful thing about it. The interior is very modern and gorgeous. I loved it there to be honest. It was my favorite hotel that I stayed at the entire time I was on my trip. The old town area of Prague is breath taking, although swarming with tourists.

 I was able to do a tour of the Kings route and Charles bridge. On this tour I met 4 lovely ladies! Three were from Montana and the last from England. I really enjoyed talking to them and we had lunch together. The one woman from England invited me to visit her ! I am so excited, and I look forward to venturing back to England sometime soon. One of the other ladies is traveling around Europe and ran in the Prague Marathon that was going on the Saturday I left. I wish I had had more time to hang out with them, because they were just so fun and interesting.

I know I use the word interesting alot to describe the people I met, but truly I dont know how else to describe them. I feel incredbibly blessed and thankful for all the wonderful people I met on my adventures, and for all the help hotel staff gave to me. I as well am thankful for the strangers on the street who helped me, find my way and gave me useful insights.  This was one of my greatest adventures and I am so glad I went off on my own. I wouldn't suggest this type of adventure to everyone though. It takes a lot of planning, patience, trust and self knowledge to accomplish this type of travel. Only do it if you want to learn how to be confident in yourself, are able to handle anything that comes up and willing to trust your gut so to speak.  That said I have grown as a person on this trip to and learned so much about myself. It really woke me up to how wonderful humanity is, and how beautiful it is to share time with people.

just keep swimming.....

Today was lovely in the land of Germany. The sun came out, finally! I got the day off even, and went for a nice run. I then went on to planning various tours for my upcoming trips. I booked a tour to Brugge. No I have not seen the movie In Brugge but maybe I will before I go there. I know that they have a chocolate museum, which sounds rad. I am also excited to see the canals there, as it looks very beautiful. I read it has been a UNESCO heritage site since 2000, and has really amazing architecture too. So it should be interesting.  Secondly I can't wait till this weekend to see my sister! ekkk.... I know a bit to excited maybe but whatever. I read the OMG news today, one of my favorite gossipy pages I read on a semi regular basis along with my news paper needs. I find it really funny to see the candid shots they take of celebrities. Like really who cares if Britney spears goes to Whole foods or Starbucks?  So weird. I as well have been reading about the Japan crisis. It is so sad, and I really feel sorry for the people that are going through all this right now. I hope that good things begin to happen there and that this disaster will end.

earmilk....its like nourishment for your ears!

http://www.earmilk.com/

So I had to share this link, Earmilk.com, its one of my new favorite places to visit on the web. It has a lot of great music that you can listen to or read about. I especially like the monday mash-up. It contains some their mixes on all different genre's of music.
As for this weekend, well it has been rather uneventful, big surprise. I know.
cheers!

März....

I haven't had a chance to solidly place a good, long blog post in a bit.
I decided to change my background today, give it  little more "pep". I had just finished admiring my friend
Jordan's lovely background, and read where she got the background for her blog. Thank you for that link dear Jordan!
Here has what has been going on.
I have been on a quasi break since Feb. from school. I have to admit it has been nice to do nothing much, wake up unreasonably late, eat at random times, and catch up on my doing nothing skills. I went to Paris at the beginning of my break, where I got to see my mom and aunt. What a fantastic trip I had seeing them and exploring a lovely city as well. I finally got to see Paris with fresh eyes and really appreciate its beauty.

I then came home to relax for a very long two weeks, it seemed. I decided mid two week relaxation time to go to Erlangen. I went to Erlangen to see my friend Emi, who lives there and is attend the University there. I had a wonderful time.
After coming home from that weekend with Emi, I felt really happy. Oh my was I tired though, so I decided to rest. Although it didn't last long, until I was awoken by my sad little ghetto cellphone. I love to hate on my ghetto phone, but the thing works pretty good to be honest. I got offered a small job, helping at the Uni in Germany. I was so excited. The only problem was I had just finished planning an amazing two week adventure. I went and talked to the department that was interested in hiring me, and surprisingly they were okay with my two week adventure plans. I now have a job here, and I am thrilled. Its not the most interesting job, to be honest, but it is good to be doing something aside from doing nothing and waiting for school to start.
Another great thing that is going to happen soon, is I get to see my dear little sister. Well she isn't so little I guess, but to me she will always be that 3 year old with the goofy hat running around in her pjs all day. She is flying to London for a week and meeting me, for a whole week. I am really excited, as I haven't seen her since September when I left out of Seattle.  After I see her I will go on a week and a half adventure to Brussels, Copenhagen and Prague. Short adventures, but adventures none the less. It should be interesting to see these places during this time of the year.

Feb.U.hairy

OHHH thank goodness. End of the semester is here. Woo.
So after a uneventful trip to London, I am now celebrating the end of a semester.
I am happy its over because well January was not fun. I had a presentation or a paper due each week
which can really wear down your health and happiness levels.
Tomorrow I go to Paris. I am excited, because I get to see my mom and my aunt.
I am especially excited to see them because its been awhile since I have seen any family.
Like family I'm related to. I have many friends whom I would consider family too though.
There has been little events to document in Germany. It snowed again, but has since melted. I am really quiet happy about that to be honest. I cant take the snow much longer. A friend of mine introduced me to the most amazing wine place in town and a bakery where everything is half price. exciting !  hmmm what else. nothing really has been going on. I am sure I will have lots to write about when I get back from my Paris escapades.
bis spater!
I thought I would include a photo from a while ago that was taken when I went to Erfurt/Gera to see a dear friend of mine. It was a great adventure, in this park.