Spring Break.

This year for spring break 3 of my friends here decided to take a big trip. Initially we were going to drive to Dallas, then to New Orleans & back up to Iowa through Memphis. But after realizing how much time we'd have in each place, we decidedto go to New Orleans for 5 days & spend a night in Memphis on our way back.

This was my first time in New Orleans and I really loved it. Parts of the city reminded me a lot of Key West, just on a larger scale. The city has such a cool feel and tons of character (plus great food!) We had a ton of fun exploring & touring and relaxing in the Big Easy :)

The trip got off to a bit of a rocky start, the 19 hour drive to New Orleans brought us through a snow storm in Missouri that we got stuck in for a while, dinner at Cracker Barrel (a first for the other 3) and a huge thunderstorm in Mississippi. Needless to say we were happy when we finally made it to our hotel in New Orleans.

We spent our first day browsing the city, since this was the first visit for all 4 of us we wanted to scope out what we'd be interested in seeing.

Overall we did a lot of walking, but a lot of sight seeing too. We took a tour of the city that also brought us through

the lower 9th ward and the areas most affected by Hurricane Katrina. Our tour guide was very grateful for the many volunteers that have visited to help in the rebuilding. The picture to the left is where the levy broke. Before the hurricane the levy was 2 ft shorter and there were houses right up against the levy wall. Over 12 ft of water ended up in this area. There were a lot of houses being built or remodeled, including a few larger scale projects. But there were also a lot of houses that still need work, and many properties for sale. I can't imagine being in the city right after the storm.

We also took a Bayou tour while in New Orleans, which was definitely a must. It was a lot of fun to see the 'stereotypical' Louisiana. We learned a lot about the wildlife, and also learned that people don't live on the bayou like the movies would lead you to believe. We saw a ton of gators & turtles and even some birds. At the end of the tour the tour guide passed around a baby gator that they rescued & will release back into the wild. To the right is the 4 of us with the gator: Anna, Kristine, me & Jazelle. :)

The day we went on the bayou tour (if you didn't guess) was also St. Patrick's day. It was a lot of fun to see the city prepare. We arrived just a week after the big Mardi Gras, and if you hadn't known you never would've guessed. Everything was spick & span with tons of decorations for St Patrick's day already. Now I know that the measly St Patrick's day festivities were nothing compared to Mardi Gras in the Big Easy, but it sure was a lot of fun! There were people everywhere and there was even a parade.

Overall I had a great time in New Orleans, I'm not sure that it's a city for me, but it was fun to visit :)

Our next stop on the way back to Iowa was to see Memphis, Tennessee and Graceland. This way we could break up the long drive home and do a little sight seeing. Graceland was fun, but I was honestly a little 'Elvis-ed' out by the end of it. We toured the house, the property (the picture to the right is the entrance gate), multiple award showcases and then additional exhibits focused on different aspects of his career (acting, live shows, awards, etc.) We ate at a diner with his favorie foods, grilled peanut butter & banana was a favorite.

We were able to explore Memphis a little too, which is a really fun town with a lot of jazz inspiration. There was some kind of special event on Beale street that night so we walked around & listened to the locals playing their music and watched the tourists dance :) We also stopped by to see the Lorraine Hotel where MLK was shot and saw the memorial museum for that.

Overall it was a lot of fun packed into one week. I'm really glad we made the trip to New Orleans & Memphis, 2 cities that I've always wanted to see but never made the trip. It was fun to see 2 classic southern cities with unique characters. I'd definitely recommend visiting both :)

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year" -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Lent.

It's so easy sometimes to get caught in the hype of giving something up for lent. Often we forget what the real meaning to giving something up...

Here is something that a friend posted online this week that I wanted to share. Rather than simply giving up that favorite dessert, give up something you really struggle with. And challenge yourself to become a better person this Lent.

Give up complaining - focus on gratitude.

Give up harsh judgements - think kindly.

Give up worry - trust Divine Providence.

Give up discouragement - be full of hope.

Give up bitterness - turn to forgiveness.

Give up hatred - return good for evil.

Give up anger - be more patient.

Give up pettiness - become mature.

Give up gloom - enjoy the beauty around you.

Give up jealousy - pray for trust.

Give up gossip - control your tongue.

Give up sin - turn to virtue.

Give up giving up - hang in there.

Regardless of your faith, you can take these next 40 days to focus on you and become a better version of yourself that will last.

"To change and to change for the better are two different things." -Proverb

Santa Fe

Hello Again!

This past weekend I traveled to Santa Fe, New Mexico to visit with family & explore a new town. The purpose of the trip was to celebrate my step-mom's birthday which was a lot of fun.

I left Iowa on Thursday & flew into Minneapolis then straight to Denver without any complications. I think Minneapolis is one of my favorite airports to connect through. I've never had any trouble and although it's a huge airport, everything is so easy to navigate. :)

So Thursday night I stayed in Denver with my siblings that live out there & then

Friday morning we started the drive to New Mexico. At first the drive was gorgeous, nothing but sunshine & views of the mountains. But the 6 hour drive proved to be a boring one. We did our best to keep it exciting (I took a nap or 2), and we even stopped in Las Vegas... (the small town in New Mexico..)

Finally we'd made it to Santa Fe and although the weather wasn't very warm (they were experiencing a 'deep freeze' themselves) the rental house was amazing & we were happy to finally have made it.

The weekend proved to be a great one. We always have fun when the family is together, especially when we can explore a new place. Santa Fe is a fun city, but has a small town feel. There is a lot of culture there, with a big heart for art. We visited a few galleries and museums and overall had a relaxing weekend.

On the way to the airport, we had some time to kill in Albuquerque so we explored downtown a little (from the car). There honestly wasn't much to see. The 'downtown' area seemed like a few blocks and not much else. I'm not sure if it was the visibility of seeing so far that made everything seem so small, but again it felt like a small town. I'd have to say New Mexico isn't the place for me, but I definitely enjoyed the visit :)

"Nothing in life is Impossible, the word itself says I'm possible" -unknown

Recap.

It's been over 3 weeks since I returned back to the states, and it's definitely been busy catching up with school and work. But first, let me fill you in on my eventful last week in Germany.

The week started off pretty well, typical site visits & end of program logistics, evals, etc. However, on Thursday Kasee (who was living about 3 hours away) and I decided to meet up for lunch so I could pick up a microwave & printer for one of my sites. We decided on meeting in Heilbronn as it was just about halfway between our 2 locations. Prior to leaving we'd only decided on meeting somewhere in Heilbronn & getting lunch.

So I left Baumholder in time to arrive in the Heilbronn area around the time we'd planned, but traffic seemed to be moving pretty quick on the autobahn that day so I had some time. I called Kasee and when she said she still had about 30 minutes, I decided to park in a 'parkplatz' just off the autobahn while I waited. As it'd been a long 3 & a half weeks, I took a little nap while I waited. (The parkplatz is like any rest stop you'd find in the states, but instead of having a parking lot it's just 2 lanes so you parallel park on the right while traffic moves on the left.)

After about a 20 minute nap, Kasee called & as we were trying to coordinate our GPS's to get to the same restaurant, a car pulled up beside me & 2 guys were looking into my car. A little weirded out, I mentioned this to Kasee so she would stay on the phone. The car parked in front of me & I watched the 2 men get out & approach my car... they proceeded to knock on the windows and show their "Polezei" papers so I quickly told Kasee the police were here & I'd call her back.

As they knocked on my window for the second time, I quickly rolled down my window to see what they wanted... immediately they began speaking to me in very fast German so as soon as there was a break I interjected with "sprechenzie English?" (do you speak English?), which of course they did. He explained that they were police and he needed to see my license to drive and my travel documents. I hastily handed them over, nervous as to what the issue could be. But as I was doing this, I noticed that neither of the men were in uniform and the car wasn't marked. As my suspicion grew I noticed a semi truck blocking traffic ahead and started to panic a little, the whole situation wasn't sitting right with me. So as I handed over my license & passport I asked why the car wasn't marked and they weren't in uniform. He then explained that it was so the truck drivers didn't recognize them and asked me about a first aid kit... I was still uneasy about this (and later found out it's a law to have a first aid kit in your car in Germany, whoops!) but they had taken my passport & ID to their car so I had no choice but to wait. As I looked through everything I had in my car, hoping something would be what they were looking for, I found my travel authorization form stating that I was in the country to work with the U.S. Army. I thought it's worth a shot, and showed the officer this form & explained it. As I've learned after talking to friends back in the states, in most cases just saying you're with the U.S. Army is enough for them to stop questioning, which was thankfully true in this case. He immediately stopped with the small talk and we waited in awkward silence for the other officer to return with my documents & I went on my way.

Finally, I made it to Heilbronn and although my GPS couldn't find the exact address of the restaurant Kasee found, I was on my way to a nearby address. Or so I thought. As I drove through a completely residential area, the GPS said I'd arrived but there were no restaurants in sight. So, of course, I called Kasee to see if the area seemed familiar to her, but it didn't. So I used the GPS to find the nearest restaurant that was over a mile away, and not the restaurant Kasee found. So we decided to give in to the mercy of my GPS & go to this restaurant, and once I'd arrived I'd call Kasee with the address so she could find me.

So off I went, away from the residential area towards this cafe. I don't use a GPS in the states because I don't like relying on it to know where I am, but clearly it was necessary for my trip to Europe, despite the troubles. Anyway, just a few minutes into my next drive, someone hit my car... I was beyond frustrated at this point, and as I pulled to the side of the road I realized I'm not even sure what to do in this situation if I were in the US, let alone in Germany. So the other driver also pulled over & got out of the car, no older than 18 and looking just as frazzled. He started speaking German really fast. With the confused look and my broken German I uttered the words for I don't speak German, thankfully he spoke English. After a quick conversation we looked at our cars and found everything was fine on both cars, both of us were fine & we went on our way. (phew!)

Finally, about 10 minutes later I arrived at the restaurant to call Kasee & tell her the address. I waited a while for her, and once she arrived we went into the cafe. As we walked in, literally every single head turned in our direction. We noticed that this was a little odd but we asked to be seated anyways. As it turns out, the kitchen was closed (it was around noon) so we wouldn't be having lunch there. At this point we were both beyond frustrated that we just laughed it off, put the printer & microwave in my car and headed our separate ways. And I ended up eating McDonald's on my drive back for lunch.

Thankfully, for my sanity, the last 2 days went smooth for the most part. I'm sure there are stories that I'm forgetting, but I think I covered the jist of winter break in Germany.

I apologize for this post taking so long, but I hope to be writing soon on my life since returning to the states.

"You cannot change the direction of the wind, but you can always adjust your sails."

Week 3 & weekend.

Well, week 3 was definitely an interesting one. It was the first full 5 day week and it sure felt like it.

I was finally able to make it to Brussels for a visit, which was nice. I really like how everything there is on a much smaller scale, a lot less stressful! It was a little challenging getting to the girls' apartment as the GPS seemed to be a little indecisive. Once I'd arrived, I parked infront of an apartment building as the GPS directed. After a few minutes I wasn't hearing from the girls that they were home, so I decided to walk around with the GPS to find the actual building they lived in. After walking a little ways, I realized the GPS was telling me that I still had 5 minutes of driving time... which was odd because I parked once it said I'd reached my destination. So after a few more minutes of waiting, hoping the girls would be home to direct me, I decided to get back in the car and listen to the GPS. So I drove those 5 minutes and parked where it said I should. Right as I parked the girls called to let me know they were home. It took about 10 minutes for us to figure out where in Brussels I was, after looking at a few bus maps & trying to find Christmas trees & roundabouts (they're everywhere!). The girls finally decided that they'd have to take the bus to come find me, which they did. Once they found me, we drove to their apartment which was, ironically, exactly where I had parked originally !! In fact, I had parked directly infront of their building, you can't get a better parking spot than that! But of course, this time around we had to park 2 blocks away. I'm still not sure what the glitch was with the GPS, but that wasn't the first (or last) time I'd trusted the GPS and it guided me wrong... and this time, it made us too late to go shopping :(

Other than that, nothing too exciting or awful seems to jump out from the week... this past weekend (8th & 9th) we decided to lay low & just do a few day trips. So on Saturday we ventured out to Trier, the oldest city in Germany. The main incentive to visit Trier on Saturday was that there is a lot of shopping to do there, and that was basically the only day we'd actually had to shop (stores close at 7pm on weekdays, aren't open on Sundays or holidays).

It ended up being a perfect day, the sun was actually out for once & the temperatures were in the mid 40s, it felt like April! We did see a few of the sights, Porta Nigra was the original city gate (right) & the Roman Baths were pretty neat too...

Sunday we ventured out to Heidelberg to see another castle. Unfortunately for us, the weather wasn't quite as nice. It was much colder and poured rain the entire day... but I guess it could've been worse :) The castle was really neat, not as extravagant as the Neuschwanstein but it was still very cool to see the inside. And since Germany has had this abnormally large amount of snow this winter, and then it warmed up and rained all week... the river running right through the middle of Heidelberg flooded part of the roads. Thankfully it seemed only roads were covered at this point and it hadn't reached any buildings yet... but the forecast calls for more rain so we'll see!

For dinner on Sunday we searched for the "Schnitzel Haus" which was recommended to us by a few friends and was supposed to be worth the trip. After asking a few people for directions & finding the flood waters, we finally found it & were so glad! The menu had over 100 kinds of Schnitzel (101 to be exact). So all 5 of us tried a different kind, and we loved them all (I got the Ratatouille Schnitzel). Definitely a recommendation if you're ever in Heidelberg, it's right along the river, just down the hill from the castle by one of the bus stops :)

Now I'm off to the last week here in Germany. Hard to believe it's over so soon, but it feels like I've been here a few months! It's definitely been an adventure and a challenge for me. I'm looking forward to getting back to Iowa and relaxing a bit... (and not answering my phone!) :)

"Sometimes you can only see as far as your headlights can shine, but you can make the whole trip that way"

New Year.

What a weekend !! I was finally able to travel for a weekend trip, and it was exactly what I needed. Thanks to the New Year’s holiday, we had another 3 day weekend & took advantage of it.

Thursday night I stayed in housing & got an early start on Friday. Friday morning we (Nicole, from UNI & was in Key West with me, Christine from BGSU & I) left early and drove out to Dachau. It was a long drive, but nothing to complain about.

In prelude to Dachau, it’s a memorial site of a former concentration camp just outside of Munich. I’d been told many stories from friends & family that had visited Dachau during the summer, and had pretty moving experiences. This was my first visit to a concentration camp, and it was very moving.

Visiting during the winter months had a different effect too... everything was cold & dull and nothing to it. I think it added to the somberness and just the overall feel of the place. I think it would've been a very different experience in the summer. We toured the grounds along with the museum, some of the cells, the memorials & the cremetorium. Overall it was a good visit. It seems that the concentration camps and everything going on at that time is jsut something you hear about. Having the opportunity to visit a site, especially as well kept up as Dachau is, really put it into perspective for me. I would definitely recommend this visit.

I included 2 pictures from Dachau, the first is the ovens in the cremetorium & the second is the roll call area, where you can see the memorial sculpture which was added after the camp was freed & became a memorial site.

After our visit to Dachau, we headed into Munich to find our hostel. We were a little skeptical about the hostel, but it turned out to be great :) After settling in & resting for a little bit, we headed out for our New Year's Eve dinner. We found a nice restaurant along the way & stopped in. We didn't even think that every place would need reservations for New Year's Eve (silly Americans)... thankfully this place said we could have a table, but only until 8. Since it was just 6:30, we didn't see that as a problem. We looked over their special menu for the holiday and didn't recognize a single item. Luckily our waiter was nice & patient with us, enough to explain that what we thought was a salad was actually a nice arrangement of deer meat. I used my German phrase book to order Lobster Soup. It wasn't extremely filling, but it was very good!

After dinner we asked the desk clerks for advice on where to spend our New Year's. He suggested a nearby park, which turned out to be really awesome. There were different tents set up and a ton of people near by. It seemed almost like a community event for that part of town. We spent most of the evening in the tent with all of the food, as our dinner wasn't too filling & that seemed to be the only place to find an open seat. It was pretty fun & relaxing. We tried the beer, but I definitely wasn't a fan... but at least I tried :)

The entire night we'd heard fireworks going off at the most random times, so we decided that just before midnight we'd head outside to see the firework show & countdown. We went outside & more people gradually came outside too. It was a little odd as there was no big countdown or big clock to know when it was officially the new year. Instead we just went off of our phones, and the only difference between 2010 & 2011 was that a lot of couples began to dance. It was fun. During all of this, fireworks continued to shoot off in every direction, which made it a really cool atmosphere.

After enjoying the fireworks & excitement for a while, we decided to head back to our hostel to see what was happening there. To our surprise, as we left the park, all of the fireworks that had been going off the entire night weren't professional. Apparently New Year's is one of the few times of the year when anyone can buy fireworks to shoot them off, and they do. It felt like we were running through a war zone to get back to the hostel. Fireworks were being shot off in the park, on the sidewalks, in parking lots, in the middle of the streets, on bridges, everywhere !!! We literally had to watch where we stepped to make sure a firework wasn't ready to go. Some of the others weren't even phased by this, while the 3 Americans were ducking for cover at every loud noise. It was quite the experience & definitely a New Year's I'll never forget :)

Saturday we slept in a little & went off to explore Munich. We had lunch at the Augustiner Beer Hall & dinner at the Hofbrauhaus. Both were good & really fun. Since it was New Year's day there wasn't any shopping open, but we managed to find enough churches & beer halls to pass the time :)

Sunday we woke up early and headed off to Fussen to visit the castles. We stopped by the Hohengwenshau Castle on our way to tour the famous Neuschwanstein castle. I remembered the hike being a challenging one in 2008, so we'd decided we'd opt for the bus, especially in the snow. But Fussen had other plans, the busses weren't running that day due to the weather conditions... yikes !! It was a challenging walk, just as I'd remembered, but it was also the busiest day of the year, so it was plenty worn down which made it easier to walk. We toured the inside & had a nice and relaxing day. It was pretty cold & windy outside, so we were glad once our tour finally started. Here's a picture of the castle from the front at one of the view points.

The drive back to K-Town was a struggle. I didn't even think (again) about the holiday traffic and we were stuck in staus (traffic jams) for what seemed like an eternity. There wasn't any accidents or any construction, it was just simply too many cars for the road so everyone was backed up. It seemed we were either going 5 mph or 100 mph, but no where in between. It was pretty frustrating as our 4 hour drive took just over 6 hours, but we passed the time with fun games, madlibs and the German radio station :)

All in all I'd say this was a successful weekend in Munich. Driving is definitely not my favorite way to travel within Europe, but we got to see a lot on a budget. Hopefully next weekend will be fun too!

"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."

2010.

Thankfully, week 2 went much smoother than week 1. I still wasn’t able to make it to Brussels, but I got caught up on paperwork & site visits, etc. I’d say it was a pretty good 4 day week. I’m hoping to spend more time in the centers next week, something I haven’t been able to do enough of quite yet.

Of course, it’s that time of year to reflect on how far you’ve come since last New Year’s. These past 5 years have been pretty eventful for me, if it wasn’t a year of huge decisions to be made, there was a lot of travel and other big events to keep me busy.

This past year has tested and challenged me, and although I still have a long way to go, I’ve grown a lot. Supervising in Key West this past summer was probably one of the biggest learning experiences I’ve had. There were definitely days when I just wanted to give up, and when I finally left I wanted nothing to do with that summer. Looking at it now, I can appreciate it for the experience it was. I learned a lot about myself, how to handle stress, leadership, management and communication. All of which has helped me at work & here in Germany (and I’m still learning!)

As always, along with the reflection on the previous year comes the resolution for the next. This year, I’m not going to make some extravagant resolution that will be too out of reach. Instead, I’m keeping it simple. This year my resolution is to approach those new & potentially challenging situations (and there will be plenty) as opportunities for growth. I tend to put a lot of weight on the negatives, and hope to make that one small change this year that can have a huge difference.

I hope you take a minute to reflect & make a resolution this week :)

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” -Nelson Mandela