Great way to end it

This weekend was our last weekend in Europe. Our last weekend to travel. And im glad we saved Paris for last. It really did live up to my expectations.
Even when i got off the train, when we first arrived, felt different. It wasnt like any of the platforms in the other cities. This platform was in Paris, and it felt different.
You always see the eiffel tower in movies, especially the ones that are about the end of the world. So im going to avoid Paris when the earth is threatened, but im glad we went this weekend. Now i can say that ive been to Paris.
There are other things to do in Paris other than the eiffel tower. We visited the louvre also. That was neat because i saw several paintings that i have studied in my art history class.
Everywhere you go you run into something historical. The architecture is beautiful. Overall i think Paris is the must see city in Europe. It has been my favorite city on this trip.
But if you go, try to avoid staying at a hotel in Jivusy. Its in the out skirts of Paris and its really ghetto. And you hear funny noices at night.

weekend in Dusseldorf

This weekend Kim and I decided to stay in Dusseldorf. On Friday, we went up to the AIB to work on our papers and then went shopping. I got some earrings and a couple of shirts from this store called Kult. Friday night, we just stayed home and relaxed. We also started packing and I quickly realized that not everything was going to fit. On Saturday, we went shopping for another bag to pack in and I ended up getting a pair of shoes and another shirt. I also got a really neat pair of handmade earrings in Alstadt. I might go back to that store today to get a few more gifts for people. Saturday night was a lot of fun. We went to eat at a restaurant in Alstadt with our family. I got the same thing as my dad, weinershnitzel. Kim got a steak Dusseldorf style. Both of these meals were really good. Our family took us for eis at their favorite place. The smallest portion was 3 scoops. After 3 beers and dinner, I found myself having problems finishing the ice cream. I was uncomfortably full. After dinner Kim and I walked around to let our food settle. Then we had a glass of wine at the wine fest. We met up with Jacob, Chris, Braden and Andrew. We had a lot of fun. Yesterday Kim and I went to what our host mom described as a public pool. It was really what we would call a small waterpark. We enjoyed getting some sun and relaxing. I am looking forward to this week and our trip to Berlin.

weekend in Dusseldorf

the last stretch...

Approximately day 31

I'm home from my last weekend expedition (which was amazing) getting ready for bed. I spent the weekend in Amsterdam. This city, I believe, is one of my most favorite places I have ever been. We had a long week around the more vet related part of our program. It was nice to get away from everything and relax... Well somewhat. I'm ready to head back, but I will miss this place. Where dogs aren't friendly, people push to get on public transpo, water is just as expensive as beer, people don't smile when they look at you, you can carry alcohol around in public, people look at you funny when you tip, french fries are pommes, you have to pay for ketchup, everything is expensive, people don't watch much tv besides the news, many families don't have computers, kids dress like so 10 years ago, views are a lot more liberal, couples have kids before they are married, pizza is a staple food, people use trains and trams more than their own cars, fanta orange soda is huge, the only energy drink here is redbull, bread is eaten with nearly every meal, beer is drank at all hours of the day, older people stay out just as late as everyone else, and everybody is multilingual... Yah, I think I'll miss this place.

Berlin here we come!

I am in a very good mood at the moment! Today was beautiful day with lots of sunshine and a nice breeze. I woke up this morning a little slowly,( a few of us enjoyed a night out in Altstadt last night!) but then i went for a run and worked on my paper. Our host dad dropped Hanna and I off at the local pool and we got to enjoy some sunshine and swimming which was Exactly what I needed! Our host family's daughter came in for lunch with her husband, they live in Berlin and are very excited we are visiting there this week, as am I. I am sad to be leaving Dusseldorf, but have many memories I will not soon forget. Tonight we enjoyed a light dinner of salad and bread outside in the garden and nice weather. Today there is supposed to be rain, as well as in Berlin this week, so I am not looking forward to that, but enjoyed today while I could. I amf inished with the paper and only have a few minutes left of the video, and am wondering how these 5 weeks flew by so fast. It has been such an amazign experience, I loved getting to travel on the weekends to different countries, but Germany is my favorite and am so glad the program was here. I picked the program at the beginning because it corresponded to my major, not because I was partial to Germany. If I had it to do over again, I would do the exact same thing, I love it here, the people, the food, the atmosphere. I would definitely recommend this to furture students, I dont think words can do justice to everything i have experienced, you just can't sum up seeing a double bypass surgery, or the Koln cathedral, or the view form the St. Charle's bridge in Prague. I am looking forward to seeing friends and family at home, but will definitely miss Germany. I am so glad I got this opportunity and will always remember it!

What will I miss...

I've decided to make a quick post about the things that are different in Germany that I will miss when I get back home.

Deutsche Bahn. THe ability to go anywhere you want, any day, multiple times a day is one of the most convenient things Ive found here in Deutschland. Making weekend plans is very exciting because you have so many options at your fingertips without having to worry about getting bored or tired driving for hours. Train travel is comfortable and as fast as a car. We need to have a College Station Bahn.

Pfand. The german word for deposit. Its very convenient to be able to go to almost any kiosk and give back a plastic or glass bottle and get money back. Aside from the whole getting money thing its also nice to know that you are helping the environment at the same time.

The Drinking Age. While i am only 20 I will be disappointed to going back to the states and not being able to order a beer with dinner. At the same time, I doubt I would be able to enjoy the beer as much because German beer is just so DELICIOUS.

My fellow study abroaders. Awww...I know. I must say that I have had a blast ith everyone on the trip and that the experience would have been about half as fun without everyone that came. While I'm sure we will have reunion parties, its not going to be the same hearing "Morgen schön" in the states.

The language. While I am excited about going back to a language I can completel understand I will miss practicing and learning more German. Its such a forceful Language that is amazingly fun to yell in.

Haribo. Gummi Bears....enough said.

I hope that everyone else here is taking away as much as me or maybe even more.

Weekend in Duesseldorf

I'm hanging out at the Opdenberg haus at the moment, watching "Making the Band 4" on MTV because thats the only English channel we get. Its nice to be able to actually be somewhat bored and watching tv for the first time in on on month. Its a beautiful day and its nice to go out in our garden and just enjoy the great weather we've had this weekend. I'm glad that I finished my paper yesterday and that I only have 15 more minutes of video left, meaning I'll get to relax and just enjoy our last weekend in Germany.

Last night we went out in the altstadt and had a pretty good time barhopping. The drinks are cheaper than most of the major tourist cities we've been to and the altbier (old beer, but that doesn't mean the beer itself is old) is some very good stuff. It makes for a good jagerbomb, thats for sure...

Though I have been posting for more than four weeks now I don't think I have posted anything on my feelings toward this lovely country that has adopted me temporarily. Before I came on this trip I had been to many places in western europe and I had loved them. Having that experience prepared me for Germany. I was not very surprised by any of the cultural differences that exist between the States and Germany. But I have now been here for over four weeks and I must say that I have really enjoyed my time here. The country in southern Germany is so beautiful! I could live in the hilly farm land down there. What surprised me, pleasantly, was how common it is for people to speak english here. Though I would love to be fluent in German, I am not. But my lack of knowledge of the language did not isolate me from the people. I am truely impressed at how friendly the Germans have been. Not that I expected Germans to be unfriendly because of the stereotype, but I expected some animosity over us not knowing the language.

I have loved the time I spent here in Germany I would recomment a trip over to anyone.

a brief summarization

I am out in Alstadt on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. One of the activites I have really taken advantage of is people watching. It comes as second nature to me and I am fascinated by it. I was hoping to pick up some mustard but it does not look like the shops are open today. The place is still just as crowded as it is when the shops are open. People here really love to go out together and socialize with their close friends and I love that about them. I think here and back home we both appreciate family but here they value close friendships on a higher level than we do. I have always considered myself a very outdoors person but when I do outdoor things it is a sport, or going to the lake, or horseback riding or fishing down on the Brazos. I have always been anti big city, especially back home in the states. I live in Austin but I am referencing Dallas, Houston, etc. Anything with a few loops around town and an efficient public transport is too big to me. What I like here about Dusseldorf is the ability to be "outside in town" with an open feeling I get from my other activities and this what they call "Allstadt". Its the oldest part of town that exists but the cars and polluton are removed and the air is fresh and there are more trees than you'd expect. Both worlds can exist. I am amazed. It is my perfect getaway. The thing is the skyscrapers are gone and the streets are cobblestone like and its just an atmosphere I cannot experience back home. This and the street side cafes are what I will miss the most by far. In a lil while I will go grab a bench in the shade by the Rhein and pick up my new book. Reading as a hobby is something I used to do but have fallen out of in the past few years. Too much xbox I suppose. But I have rediscovered casual reading again and its great. I definitely think this is a good thing. I long to take some of my habits and my point of views home with me. For one, I hope they stick with me and two maybe I might rub off on a friend. One thing that has exceeded my expectations is the weather. It couldn't have been more perfect for me. From the ideal sun with a breeze to the cold fronts to the rain I have loved it all. I have been hesitant to admit it until now but I really will miss Dusseldorf. There is a lot I have come to love. My virgin experience of "being abroad" besides the 2 week family vacation on beaches in costa rica has really opened my eyes in ways that are hard to explain. I now have such a better understanding of the world we live in. I have made connections with those bigger than my surroundings, bigger than Texas (and I LOVE Texas)n bigger than the states or my continent. There is a group of people bigger than all of that whom we have more in commom with than we think. We are really not that different after all. Both my mom and my step mom's history are both deep rooted in German heritage. And I just feel like more puzzle pieces have come together for me while also at the same time the size of the puzzle has grown. If that makes sense. I can see why German pride is so strong. They have a lot to be proud of and a gorgeous country they call home. I have found lots of similarities between Germanuy and Texas which make me think I may actually be able to live here one day. I also have grown in independence here during this trip and I think that's a strong atttribute to have. I think its great to share with family and loved ones but taking a step backwards and looking at the bigger picture.. Where are you if you can't stand on your own two feet? I am going to go thoroughly enjoy the rest of my afternoon here in the Dussel.

Adieu Düsseldorf

So as we aproach the time to leave this place I am a bit sad. We have one day left here, one week left in Germany and then back to the real world. While some are desperate to get home, i feel well earger to see my friends, see my family, but i also will be sad to leave this place. It has been great to me; the food, my family, and the program. I enjoyed everything here is Düsseldorf, down to the time i have to spend writing my paper, which i kept putting off to talk with my host brother and laugh at German TV with him. I know this is not the end of the program, and this is definately not my goodbye to Germany but for Düsseldorf my time is short. Today we will have a BBQ i guess it is because i am leaving. I dont know who they will invite since i have met so many of their friends while i have been here. The art teacher my mom goes to buy groceries with, Achim and his family whom they have known for a while, Lenny David´s friend, their adopted grandmother and her son who Doris has known all her life, and the couples i met last night and today. That really is alot of people that i have met, talked to and enjoyed through my host family. Achim and I have had long talks about the state of Germany its relation to the rest of the World. He is very educated and knows quite a bit about France as well, and he does not seem as radically Liberal as many of the young people i have met here, he is older and has seen quite a bit. But it is true what was said about the German people loving America, at least all of those who are older, even the young people have a fasination with America. They love to talk about it, they love to debate its politics, and they would love to go there. Though the dollar is dropping in value and our markets have fallen in the past few days dues to a report on sluggish job creation (among other things), it is still the land of oportunity in their eyes. The Chemist I talked to at Bayer worked in California for a long time, and would love to go back and work in America again. The problem he said was he, "met a German Lady" and he had to come back here, they also made him an amazing job offer so he came back. I still dont quite understand what exactly is the draw to America, wide open spaces or is it more simly the draw of Hollywood with lights and fame. Most shows here seem more focused on Paparatzi footage of stars and the lives of the stars than American shows are, and they are American Stars. American movies and TV are popular here, i think that has an infuence on their affinity for our country as well. Well i must go wrap up my other assignments as well, Cheers.

Six more days

Its hard to believe that ive been in Europe for a month now. It doesnt feel like ive been here for that long. Im sure its because we have done so many things, and gone to so many places. I feel like ive done more in Europe these five weeks than someone who has lived here there whole life. And it might be true, last week i met up with friends that have lived in prague there whole life and i told them what ive done and where id been in Europe. They hadnt visited any of the cities i had visited.
I love Europe, and im having an awesome time. This is the best summer of my life, hands down. But i cant wait to get home in six days. I miss home. I miss Austin. I miss College Station. I basically miss my life back in the states. I think i have a good one. I miss my friends back home. Everyday i imagine them coming with me on this trip. I will have to disagree with the people that say they could just move to Europe and live here. I wouldnt be able to do that. Yeah i thought about it also at first, but thats because Europe was a different experience and it was new.
I love Europe but i dont imagine my life over here. This was my first time in Europe, but it definitely wont be the last. Who knows, i may decide to get some schooling done over here, for a little bit.
Six more days and ill be home sweet home.

Breakfast with the Family

I would like to share a simple but very nice moment of my weekend with you. I just finished an excellent breakfast with my host family. I have not had the oportunity to spend very much time with them recently because of all of the traveling we have been doing. We spent a week traveling around the south of Germany, and then ontop of that, I have yet to spend a weekend home with the family. I believe the breakfast I just experienced is an average Sunday meal. My host family has a young boy, two years old, and an older boy, nine years old. The father works and has breakfast early in the morning before the boys are up, and I think Jennifer and I normally leave the house in between when the father eats breakfast and when the boys get up. The unfortunate timing leads to us rarely getting to eat breakfast with a family member, let alone the whole family. But this morning, Sunday morning when the father does not have work and I am not off on some weekend excursion, I was able to eat breakfast with most of the family. The nine year old boy had slept over at a friends house, so he was not present at the breakfast. My host mom had made a whole spread of food, and my host dad has just gone out and gotten some brotchen (bread rolls). We went out onto the balcony had a fabulous breakfast in the sun with a really nice breeze. It was just a really fabulous meal, and I enjoyed getting to spend a little time with the family. I also really enjoyed being out in the beautiful weather. I know it does not sound very exciting, but I just wanted to share that with you.

I decided to spend the weekend with my host family in düsseldorf instead of going away for the weekend. My sisters also flew in this weekend because we are going to travel in italy after the program. They were overwhelmed by the trains and German speakers like we all were a month ago, and they were impressed that I was so comfortable getting around düsseldorf. I'm sad that I'm about to leave düsseldorf and I'll probably never see my host family again, but I'm also really excited to see Berlin and Italy and looking forward to going home. Yesterday we walked around Benrath to see the beer festival and then we took my sisters to the alstadt. It was really hot and crowded so we didn't stay long. Today the Erps are taking us all to Köln to see the Dom again, the Chocolate Museum, and some kind of medieval festival that's going on there this weekend. I don't like having to think about leaving because it is so hard to imagine being in real life College Station again, but I feel like the program has been a good length and it's time to leave. Hopefully Berlin will be a good note to end on.

Au Revoir Paris!

I loved Paris! Well, except for the public transportation system and our hotel out in the boonies, which took us a good two hours to get back to each night. Thank goodness there were couple of very nice French people that we asked for help along the way. We didn't really experience the whole rude French people thing. But we did get scammed on the first night on the way to the Champs Elysses and I ended up with a 4 Euro bracelet made of string that I haven't been able to get off, oh well though.

I think we covered a lot for such a big city in a day and a half. We went to the Eiffel tower both nights and went up to the second floor on Saturday night. We went to the Louvre Saturday morning and its size was pretty overwhelming. We tried to hit all the high points the rest of the day, the Notre Dame, the Palais Royal, the operahouse, and we saw a lot of other beautiful buildings but weren't sure what they were. And of course, we shopped as much as our time and money allowed. My favorite was definitely the Eiffel tower, and I'm pretty sure I took way too many pictures of it. It was so cool to see it glitter and the view from the second level was amazing, and let us see how much we walked. This was a great trip for the last weekend, and I am glad we are getting back in the early afternoon to Dusseldorf because just a day and a half in Paris wore me out. So if I can just finish my paper then I can enjoy our last two days in Dusseldorf!

Last weekend in Dusseldorf...

Well its my last weekend in germany and so I decided to spend it in dusseldorf with my host family. Friday I just spent working on my paper most of the day at the AIB and then I in the afternoon laura and I went to the Aldstadt and met our host mom there. She showed us some of the good shops and we bought a few souvenirs, including a garden gnome from a garden store :). We got some ice cream, which is something ill miss about germany. Satuday laura's sisters were coming into town and were going to stay ith us for a night. It was nice though because I was able to sleep in and read a little harry potter. But for lunch, my host mom made the pancakes, which I love! And I watched her make them, hoping I might be able to make them that pretty when I get back home! After we ate with laura's sisters just us girls went into benrath, where we live, to the beer festival and walked around there and tried some of the beers. We even walked across the street to that castle in benrath that we saw one of the first days we were here. It was cool because by now we knew about it and could tell them about it. I also realized how accustomed to living here in general that we've become because seeing her sisters, completely unused to all of this public transportation, and its just like second nature to us now. We are all easily able to get around by now and so it was relaxing to spend the day in dusseldorf and showing someone else around for a change. We went into the aldstadt and just walked around and showed them the rhine. It was a fun day and I'm really glad I stayed in town this weekend. Today we are all going with our host family to a medieval festival near cologne and then we are going to spend the afternoon in cologne going to some museums and just walking around. It should be fun and a good memory with our host parents!

Paris was amazing, but
I think Germany is better than France. The metro was very unorganized and hard to figure out. Plus, hostelworld lied to us about it taking 10 minutes to get from our hotel to the center of Paris...it took 2 1/2 hours!!! Last night was funny because as soon as we opened the door to our floor at the hotel, we heared these loud screams...a couple was having a good time (hint hint) and wanted to share it with the entire floor!!! Then the man walked out of the room, while zipping up his pants and then asked us for on on cigarette. It was gross, but so funny. Paris was amazing though. We spent all morning in the louvre and it was amazing to see so many works that Ive been learning about since high school.

As usual, Im happy to go back to dusseldorf. My goal is to finish my paper today so that tomorrow we can have the whole day to finish up in dusseldorf. My host family wanted to take me to a lake near the netherlands today, but I would kind of rather relax in dusseldorf.

Im looking forward to this week, but am getting sad that its ending!!!

Last Post Till Back in the States

Alright, so the way things are laid out for me, I leave early Wednesday morning, which means after the weekend all I am left with is essay writing, turning the essay in, turning in the camera, the crackberry, etc. Berlin will only consist of me travelling there, and a bike tour and dinner, so hopefully not much to tell in that department, although it would be cool if something interesting/funny/exciting happened.

So this weekend has been nice to hang out and relax again. Flight to Venice, train to Florence, day and a half in Florence. Tomorrow back to Venice early to spend a good part of the day there and fly back to Dusseldorf. The art at the museums has been alright, but my concept of art is different: architecture and the female body (in all seriousness). Other than that Joey and I have just wandered around, enjoyed the sites, great food and shopping. Venice should have some handmade glass, or so I've heard and some markets, after which we'll head back to the airport. Of course all train/airplane rides entail me handwriting my paper until I can type it on Monday.

Unless anything interesting happens that was unexpected this will be my last post till we get back to the States. I have to say though, Europe has been interesting, travelling fun, but now that we've been gone so long I'm ready to go home. I'm not homesick or anything, but I love my family, my dog, my fish camp and Texas, and they all happen to be in the same place... and they are what I'm used to. Oh, that and my dog understands more English than some people here so it'll be a nice change to return to our normal.

At the beginning of this I said this would be the beginning of the new us, and for me at least I think that statement was correct. I have changed, not necessarily in the way anyone would have thought, but changed nonetheless. Adios.

Edit: Forgot to mention we met a random white guy from Japan with a Maroon Out 2001 t-shirt, no clue what Texas A&M or Maroon Out is. Sad day. Also we made pasta for about 5 and our guy at the hotel laughed at us. Good times.

ESSAY: Turned in, although I felt rushed at the end and it felt pretty crappy since the topic felt rushed too. Oh well, I'm figuring Musser/Wasser are looking that we actually did the research and we looked at a topic we had an interest in and went with it. We'll see what happens. So I guess this is it until I post back in the states.

Last Full Week

Alright, since I'm leaving Germany two days early the layout of things for me will be a little different.

This past week was sort of boring for me. The veterinary facilities were great, but I'm not pre-vet so it wasn't particulary my thing. The baby animals were cute though. Also, the fraternity finally gave me the opportunity to socialize with a larger group of younger, English-speaking Europeans and to actually get an insight into them and their lives.

Bayer was also interesting, but I got bored a bit because I like the biomedical engineering/chemistry idea, but in all likelihood I will probably end up working with biomedical engineers/chemists rather than develop a drug myself. I'm more into the finding out of what causes a disease and then working with those guys to cure it or treat it somehow.

Also, this week I naled out the research portion of my essay. Good deal.

Interlaken

So this post should be really short, not because Interlaken was lame, but because it was me. Simple. Great scenery and tons of outdoor activities.

We arrived and basically did this: Ate at Hooter's the first night and attempted to eat cheap at the grocery store (Coop) thereafter; signed up for white water rafting, tried to find the lakes before rafting, went rafting, went out both nights and had lots of fun, walked around tons and avoided Swiss Army knives, and then finally founds the lakes after rafting, hiked to some ruins we saw, and napped a few times.

I loved it so much. It was beautiful and fun, and made me realize how much I miss outdoor activities since I've been at college. I'm going home, buying an old Jeep to fix up, getting a nice kayak and travelling to rivers/coasts one weekends with my dog. I love it, and it made me realize Texas is just that awesome too.

Bavaria

A little behind, but late is better than never.. Bavaria was AWESOME. Monday we went through some ruins while it was lightly raining and it was interesting to see how such great architecture just slowly fades out into the nature around it. At Nurenburg the next day we had a walking tour culminating at an attempt to lecture at some restaurant tha took a while to get to, but it would have been too noisy for the locals. Instead a few of us took off witth Musser to a microbrewery where we tried four types of beers and had a truly authentic, but delicious Bavarian-German meal.

Next up on our week trip we went to Munich and toured around with an awesome tour guide, a genious to boot in Lederhosen named Marc. The tour of Dachau was amazing and moving, but was sort of ruined by a couple making out on the steps of the museum. I have to say though that it is a tragedy that people could ever be convinced to do such things.

For the weekend we headed off to Interlaken, Switzerland which will be another post of its own.