Its good to be on break....sorta

This week was supposed to be a BReAK.... but it has turned out to be pretty busy and fun!

Because I was in a place that had starbucks I had to buy a Frap!  Photo take by Sarah

Last weekend I went to Zurich, Switzerland with my friend Sarah . Together we explored the city, ate lots of yummy food and then sunbathed at a all women's pool in the middle of the city right on the river! Later on in the weekend I had some friends come over and we had a girls night with lots of wine, cheese, cake and laughter. It was superb. On Monday my friend Amanda and I went on a crazy long hike up in the woods that are near our student housing dorms. We covered some ground too! 3 hours of hiking in the German woods and enjoying sunshine. It was a blast and we got a nice work out too. Tuesday I got to hang out with my awesome boyfriend Gregor and his friend Thomas. We went and saw a movie in German( Der Diktator with Sascha Cohen). I have to admit some of the vocabulary was difficult for me to understand, and his accent was a tad difficult too. But I enjoyed it overall. To end the night we went to the neckarmuller and had some beverages. Overall this week has been great. I have even gotten in some naps, running, and lots of eating. Can't wait for the weekend to begin hehehe..

Downtown Zurich ~ such a sunny and lovely day!

Me at the cupcake place in Zurich- So yummy!

Grammatically problematic tuesdays~

Well today was really rather busy. I was tired, and whippy. I only ran 2.5 miles. This weather is getting to me. Sunny, humid then rain then thunderstorm. My ear was bothering me to, not mention my trusty ipod decided to die. To make things worse the earphones I have didnt work on the TV so I had to run in silence while watching cyclists. VERY boring. I would have liked to run a longer run, as I was feeling pretty good. My ear keeps making a popping noise though so I figured I should back off a bit for today. Also we learned about konjuktiv 2 in German. I tell ya that is not for me! I am sooo utterly terrible at this part of German grammar it makes me sick to think about it.

What part of Grammar is difficult for you ?

whats been going on since Feb!

Hello Everyone-
ITs been quite a while since FEB! Woo was I busy....

First of all the trips that I took with my Mom and Grandma were awesome. I really enjoyed spending time with all of them. Secondly when my sister came to germany, it was probably one of the best times I've had in a long while. She is so much fun! I sure got lucky when I got a sibling. I even got to show her around Munich for the day, and take her to Hofbrauhaus. We went to Vienna for a day trip to and visited the university she will attend next fall for a semester. I"m so excited for her to spend some time in Europe studying. It will be a great experience I hope for her.

During April I was very sick. It was not so fun. My dear boyfriend  Gregor took care of me and for that he deserves a medal and lots of cake. We went to Prague together too. I really had a great time, minus being sick. We went on a Beer tour and a free city tour. I had a great time seeing the city with Gregor, he is just awesome.

Now that May has arrived, I have been a busy bee catching up on my running schedule. Yes, I will be running a half marathon in August with my friend Megan! I"m super excited, and nervous too. It will be a big race for me and I've been running as much as I can handle since January! ** I added a widget today, to show you guys how many miles I run on a daily basis.** Cheer me on please!! I need posivity from you awesome people in my life*** I had to take all of april off because I was so sick( something of the sort of viral bronchitis and the doctor said " dont make sports" so either he thinks I'm super creative and can make up sports OR he meant dont run 5 miles an hour while coughing and sneezing).

 I have been happily feeling MUCH better, however I do have rather bad allergies. Thanks Germany for all your birch trees, but if I had my way I would get rid of all of them because they make my life miserable. Pollen can also go away too. University started in April too! woo I'm taking a lot of German Grammar classes, which although not very interesting are helping me I think.... I'm learning a lot of vocabulary and word order things. FUN! not.... Also Fruhlingsfest was going too. My friend Sarah and I went there, with all the Drindl wearing beer drinking Germans and had a great day! It was quiet the adventure getting home from Stuttgart though!

I have also slowly began to plan for my return to the USA. Yes, kids and adults a like I'm coming back to the USA for a while. So please come hang out with me, drink large amounts of coffee/tea with me, make fun of my english grammar, eat lots of MEXICAN food with me and bear with me as I readjust to AMERICA.  I hope to see all your lovely little faces soon! xx



Here are some photos from Feb. March. April!

Barcelona, Spain

Spain!

Salvador Dali Museum

Church of the Holy Blood

Brugge, Belgium

Paris Disneyland

-- Yes I went to disneyland in France! wooo

Munich, Germany

-- Adventures with Amy--

Prague, Czech Republic

-- Kafka Statue--

Fruhlingsfest

Stuttgart- Bad Canstatt, Germany

The next few weeks of Fun!

Happy February everyone!
I am sick again. It seems everytime it snows here I get a horrid cold. Thanks mother nature.
I am nearing the end of the semester too.( finally) I have one more final next week and then.....drum roll... I'm free for 2 and a half months YAY. I am very much looking forward to this break, as I get to see my mom and my grandmother and My sister! YAY.

First on my to do list is to go to Spain~

I will go to Barcelona for a whole wonderful week with my mom. I am sooo excited. I can't wait to see her. Not to mention do some of the great things she has planned for us. One of the things I'm really looking forward to seeing in spain is....

The Salvador Dali Theatre in Figueres, Spain. I am a huge fan of his artistry and work. I can absolutely not wait to see his work in person. Its going to be a long day to get there, but I am so grateful to have the chance to see his work in person. Its a total honor.  Secondly while I am in Barcelona I will see one of my other favorite artists......

I love Picasso too, and will spend some time seeing his work as well. I am hoping I will get to go to his old cafe named Katz too.  If you haven't guessed already, I will undoudtably also see Gaudi, the Saragada di Familia is a MUST. I think my mom is looking forward to seeing too.

After all these adventures I will head to Belgium to see my lovely Grandmother. Can you believe my grandma is going to fly to Belgium just to hang out for  a week with little me? I'm so SO blessed. I can't describe how grateful I feel.

Together my grandmother and I will meet in Brussels for a week filled with lots of ......

Waffles and chocolate duh.... We will as well venture out to Brugge to see the older areas and go on some other adventures as well.

 Not to mention in March my awesome Sister will fly to Germany and see where I call home at the moment. I can not wait to see my family and spend some much needed one on one time with them. I am sure I'll be sick of em' by the end but its okay with me. I am so lucky to have them in my life and to have them willing to hop over the atlantic ocean to see me!

I hope that my sister and I will get a chance to go to Munich together while she is here. I love Munich very much and would love for her to see it. Maybe we can even go to the Castle if it isnt snowing! ( one can dream right? ) Here is to the next month and the adventures that awaiting in the near future.

Weihnachten/God Jul~

This december was quiet a bit less snowy than last year is all I got to say. It was without a doubt cold though.  Due to the fact that there wasnt as much snow as last year I was able to go to the christmas markets a bit more this year. Which I loved, minus the fact that this year they were insanely packed.

 In Tubingen we had an amazing chocolate market, which I loved. I think it is one of my favorite things about Tubingen, Germany. I was a bit sick during it but I got to see it on my own and with some friends too.

 I went to Norway again this year to spend my second christmas with my dear friend Caroline and her sweet family. I had a great time with all of them and I am really happy they shared their  Norwegian holiday with me.  My friends mom, Tone, made me some great cookies too. During the traditional holiday dinner we eat a lot of food. I eat a lot of different kinds of potatoes and other things as I am a vegetarian. No matter what though at the end of dinner, everyone is stuffed.
As part of a Norwegian tradition we drink Aquavit after dinner. Its basically a digestive liquor, and it actually really helps with all the carbs one eats during christmas dinner. To be honest that stuff burns and tastes pretty bad but it is helpful. All in all I would say christmas was a great success and we all had a great time sharing the holiday together.

November....

Here I am in Munich! During the weekend of Oct 21-22 I went to munich to celebrate my 24th birthday. My actual birthday is the 23rd of October, so that day I had a lovely dinner with friends. However I got to spend the day going around Munich and seeing the sights. I went all over the city, and eventually made it to Marienplatz. Its really a lovely place. I spent the night having dinner at Hofbrauhaus. Which was a lot of fun. Hofbrauhaus is like a oktoberfest everyday of the year.
The beer there is wonderful, the atmosphere playful and the food well is pretty good. The next day I ventured over to the Englischer Garten to see the sufers. Yes, they have surfers there! I was so excited to finally see them in person after seeing them in so many travel videos.

After my birthday things got really busy. I have been working quiet a bit and learning even more. 

I also joined a gym, my present to myself to get back into some sort of functional shape

after drinking so much delicious german beer. I love beer and well my figure sorta speaks for itself. Hopefully I will be able to get back to my pre germany figure, before the end of march. I think thats an attainable goal.  I have been learning a lot in my classes! I have somewhat more difficult classes, but they are by far more interesting than last year. I as well figured out I have about 2 terms left till I'm done with my bachelor degree. Its exciting but scary too! That means I need to figure out future plans a bit faster than I thought. I am starting to study for a German language exam and as well getting as much german as I can at work too. I am so grateful for my co-workers never ending patience with my german, it means a lot to me that they help me with my language skills. I really am happy to get to work with such a talented and awesome team. This past week I've been pretty sick and now am on the upside so I made myself some macaroni and cheese and even watched a whole tv show! Next week its back to work and school, which I welcome because I really dislike being ill. Lets hope my health keeps kicking this evil sick bugs butt. Enjoy the photo I took during November. Happy thanks giving to all!

Affenberg- Monkey mountain

Last weekend was filled with trains and monkeys. My friend Amy and I went to a special place in Germany in the town of Salem. It is  place called Affenberg( monkey mountain). Here you can feed monkeys from the palm of your hand popcorn. I am sure there are reasons why you feed them popcorn but I cant say I was interested in learning. I was way to busy by the pure awe of being so close to a wild monkey. Its really amazing. I can't describe it. They are tame because they are around humans a lot. However this is not a petting zoo. You are not allowed to pet them, you can watch them and feed them popcorn. You are only allowed to feed the ones on the wooden fence. The wooden fence serves as the only barrier between a path that is well not up a mountain but a hill from the Monkeys habitat. It is so odd when the monkey grabs the popcorn from your hand it looks you straight in the eye, then slowly takes the popcorn. Its like for a split second there is a animal human connection, and I tell you it is quiet awesome. I throughly enjoyed exploring this wildlife conservatory. In addition to the monkeys they have huge storks, a lake with fish and deer. Its a lovely place to spend a day. My friend Amy and I unfornately had to leave after spending about an hour and half  of feeding the monkeys to catch a train home. It was well worth it though.