Last week in Germany

I really should have written this sooner. I wanted to write a nostalgic, sad post on my last day (Friday) in Heuchlingen, but the router broke! Of course! On the one day when I actually needed the internet (to check how the flights back to the US looked).

On Wednesday I got together with my friends for the last time. We met up in Heidenheim and ate ice cream and hung out and talked. It was really nice to see everyone a last time before leaving.

On Thursday we (meaning me, Stephanie, Dominik, and Johanna) went to Schlicker, which is the bar in Heuchlingen, to have a mini goodbye party. Basically it consisted of the kids playing on the swing set and us eating pizza. The weather was really nice to sit outside, but the flies were unbearable!! Oddly enough, there was also a group of Texans visiting one of the guys who works at Schlicker who had lived in Texas for 6 months or something. It was pretty weird hearing Texan English on the night before I left. Mostly it was just weird hearing English in Heuchlingen. Usually I only hear that from me!

Let's see, what fun stuff did I do with the kids? Oh yeah, on Tuesday I didn't have to work because Dominik was at the Dorffreizeit and Johanna was at Oma and Opa's. Wednesday morning Lukas was there in the morning to play with Dominik, and I can't remember what Johanna and I did... Thursday I played "Insel der Schmuggler" with Dominik, which was actually really fun! I wish we had realized earlier that that game's not that hard. We could have played a lot more often. Thurs afternoon I played soccer with Johanna and then she climbed around in the tree for a while.

Friday wasn't much because their friends came in the afternoon to stay for the weekend. In the morning Dominik and I made a little city out of cardboard and paint. We didn't get to finish much of it, so hopefully he will later. Then Friday night after dinner I had to say goodbye to the kids when they went to bed. It was definitely tough to see them for the last time. Tabea came and picked me up around 9, 9:30, and drove me to Frankfurt. She stayed overnight with me in the hotel then drove me to the airport the next morning. All the flights looked insanely full, so she waited around to see if I had made my flight. I didn't, so we drove back into the city. We decided it was a great opportunity to do some sightseeing in Frankfurt. Unfortunately we were both really tired, so we didn't walk around that long. And Tabea, being the excellent friend that she is, stayed overnight with me yet again and drove me to the train station the next morning (by that time I had booked a flight from Dusseldorf to JFK, because all the Delta flights were insanely full with no chance of me getting on any of them). Even though it sucked that I didn't get to go home that day and had to buy a ticket instead, I'm glad I got to spend some more time with Tabea. I'm so glad she and Judith are coming in September!! It was hard enough saying goodbye to everyone, but it makes it a little easier knowing that I'll see them soon.

So, now I'm back home, after taking the train to Duesseldorf, flying to JFK, and the crazy van ride back to Elkins Park. I've already gotten most of my stuff packed up, thank goodness!! And I even got my thing for UGA notarized! I've been so busy that I still haven't had time to be that sad about leaving Germany. Mostly I just really really miss being surrounded by German and getting to speak German all the time.

I guess this is it. The end of my German adventure. I can't believe it's been a year. I still remember so clearly the beginning and everything that happened. How can it already be over?? I'm so so so SO glad that I did not only a year abroad, but a year before graduate school. I learned so much about myself this year, and did things I never really knew I was capable of. I don't know that I'd necessarily recommend being an aupair, but I'd definitely recommend taking a year to learn another language.

So that's that. I might write some more stuff later, but probably not. I think I should just leave this as it is: the end of an adventure.

(Even though I still have to write about Heidelberg and Stuttgart!)

Errr, yeah

Today I took Johanna to the playground for a while, then we came home and cleaned our bikes (Stefan asked me to clean my bike before I leave, and it's always nice to have an excited 4-year-old do half the work for you), then Johanna played in the "Wasserblume" for about 5 minutes (it took about 10 minutes to set up, of course), then she played with Alina, then Alina and Marvin came over and went swimming with Dominik and Johanna. It was a really nice day with Johanna. We had a lot of fun and she was being especially sweet and cuddly. It was also my last day in kindergarten, which was sad, but not that sad. Some of those kids are a pain! I'm glad my job is only taking care of two kids and not twenty.

Oh yeah, and at the playground I got stung by a bee. On my big toe. When I looked down to see what hurt so much, the bee was still sticking out of my foot. I had to pull it out, then the stinger too. When I told Dominik about it later, he asked, "Didn't it hurt to pull the bee out??" My response: "Well, it had already stung me!"

Saturday night was my last night in Gegenwind. It was at Andrea's house, where lots of people had brought food and they had grilled out. They gave me a t-shirt with a picture of the whole Gegenwind group on it, and it says (in German), "To remind you of your time in Germany", then they all wrote their names on the back. Cute! Definitely a nice way to remember the group.

Yesterday I went to Heidenheim to see Eveline and Irene. Eveline doesn't have a car right now, so we had to walk from the bus stop to her house--not really that far, and I'm just complaining because I'm lazy, but we had to walk all the way up the big hill and then back down the other side. Tobias also was there for a little while. Eveline, Irene, and I also went to the BrenzPark, which I'd never actually been to. It costs money--what the heck! Definitely a nice park, but man, was it hot yesterday. Well, not really that hot, but HUMID. Today it was hot again, hotter than yesterday, but not nearly as bad because it wasn't humid. Anyway, BrenzPark is nice, even though the Brenz is a rather unimpressive river (comparable in impressiveness to the Tookany Creek).

Only 4 days left...this is a sad countdown, though. Tomorrow I don't have to work, which is nice. I think I'm gonna go to Heidenheim, return some library books, maybe go to BrenzPark again. I wanna see the stuff in HDH one last time, walk up to the castle one last time. I have a bunch of pictures I could post but eigentlich bin ich too lazy. Oy. I'll just leave that. I've been having that problem lately, where a few German words come out in place of English ones. Sometimes it just so happens that there are German words that work better in a situation, especially ones where English doesn't have one word for it. For some reason a word that I often want to say while speaking English is "fahren". It's such a diverse and multi-purpose word. You can use it to mean driving, traveling, riding a bike, riding the train, taking the bus, etc. Sometimes I just can't think of the English equivalent as quickly as the German one. I hope this keeps happening--maybe it means I won't forget German!

Also..

I really really will write about Stuttgart and Heidelberg before I get back to the US.

My last Saturday

K, some more exciting things with the kids....

--Making funny faces with Dominik (that kid makes really excellent funny faces!)
--Making funny faces with Johanna (she can't really do it very well, which is what makes it so funny!)
--Johanna "cooking" for me in her "kitchen" outside
--Playing board games with Dominik
--That Dominik took Johanna to kindergarten and then picked her up! Seriously, cutest thing ever, and Johanna was so thrilled

Tonight is my last time at Gegenwind, sad :-( I think it's also the only time it's ever actually been warm on a Saturday where I have time to go? Yeah, the weather has been crazy here this year. I think it's been legitimately warm (which I'll classify as 78 and above) maybe 3 weeks the entire time I've been here? Just take a look at my pictures when traveling. The trips I have gone on where I haven't needed a coat are: Prague, Wittenberg, Vienna. Wow. That's pathetic. I mean, I know it's Europe and all and not as warm as the US, but seriously! It's summer! Last week was crazy. There were several days where the high for the day was about 55. Didn't help that it was windy too, making it feel even colder. And now today, the high's 80. Oy. Well, at least I know that Georgia weather will be hot and humid. I'm sure I'll be praying for a Germany summer once I move.

Um, right. Moving on. Thursday night I went with Eveline to a different bible study group, and it was really good. It's a shame that this is the first time I went, because the people were really nice and fun. Oh well, at least I got to go once. Plus, it's not like I really would have been able to go before, since I have to babysit on Thursday nights. It was a nice change to go a bible group where the people actually talk. I got a lot out of the evening.

Not much else. Still packing a lot. I think I've pretty much got the weight thing down. It definitely helps that Judith and Tabea said that they'll bring some stuff over when they come in September. I've already taken out a ton of books that I'll give to Tabea tonight. That's really good, because it saves me from either having to pay $80 for an overweight (obese?) bag, or having to break my back carrying 6 kg of books around the airport.

OK, I'm sure I'll post another sappy nostalgic post before I leave, so stay tuned.

Leaving soon

Wow. I can't believe it. I'm leaving Heuchlingen next Friday for Frankfurt, and then flying from Frankfurt back to the US on Saturday (hopefully--if not, then Sunday). It is so weird that I have been here almost an entire year. It really has gone by SO fast. I know in the beginning it felt like it was dragging forever, but after a month or two and once I'd gotten settled in, it just flew by. I've been packing and re-packing and adjusting for the past couple days or so, trying to get everything under the weight limit, and the weird thing isn't how empty this room looks, but how the same it looks. Most of the stuff in this room isn't even mine--it just kind of all belongs to the aupair room. I mean, obviously all the clothes and stuff are mine, but you can't really tell they're all gone, since they were in the closet. It's sort of cool though. I'm leaving my mark too. I'm leaving some of my books behind, some maps from places I went, even some clothes. A little sad that that's all that will be left here of my year.

In a weird way, this feels just like last year, except I'm not nervous at all. I'm making another huge change. Sure, I'm a little bit anxious about starting graduate school, but mostly I'm just excited. I think maybe the reason is, I managed to move to another country without knowing anyone (OK, I sort of knew the family) and rather apprehensive about planning travel on my own, and now I'm leaving a country that feels like my home, leaving behind good friends, and leaving Europe having traveled to 14 countries on my own. I feel like I can do anything now! I'm not worried about making friends in Athens. It'll happen. I'm also much less worried about putting myself into uncomfortable social situations (aka, situations where I know no one). This year has been full of uncomfortable social situations, in a foreign language at that, and I survived.

So, I told myself I would write about some of the fun moments with the kids the past couple weeks, because I don't want to forget that stuff! I only have a little bit more time with them.
--Giggling with Johanna over her "stinker sand". She always "cooks" with sand in her play kitchen outside, and when she drip-dropped the wet sand on top of her "food", it looked like chunks of poop. She of course thought that was hilarious! She adorably said, "Du bringst mich voll auf Lachen!"
--Building a marble chute with Johanna to send the marbles down. Both of us were entranced by it for a solid half hour.
--Playing Chinese checkers with Dominik
--Playing UNO Extreme with both of them
--Making a "Fußball Blume" with Dominik out of the leftover soccer ball cutouts
--Looking in the animal book with Dominik

I'm sure I'll think of some more, so I'll post them when I think of 'em.

Vienna (for real)

July 5-6

My bus (again) got in insanely early (approx 5 AM), so after lots of running around involving trying to get into my hotel, discovering that it was locked and I couldn't get in til 9, then riding the U-Bahn across town to the Westbahnhof to drop off my bags, I made it to the city center. The guidebook I got from the library had a whole bunch of walking tours in it, so I did the historical one first. It was a good choice, especially since by this point I have no desire to go in a bunch of churches. Although surprisingly, a lot of them were open!

St. Peter's Church

I went into at least 2 before 7 AM. I hit the big sites, like the opera house, the Hofburg (where the Habsburgs lived for over 600 years), a bunch of churches, a ritzy shopping street, a memorial to the Austrian Jews killed during the Holocaust, and then the big church: Stephansdom. According to my good book it has the third highest church tower in Europe, after the ones in Cologne and Ulm. I didn't go up to the top because 1) I was tired, and 2) I couldn't find the entrance. I looked around the church a little bit but I mostly used it as a place to sit down. It was pretty cool and huge and all, but eh, it's a church.

After my historical "tour", I decided that a tour of the Ring (what the streets going around the historical center are called) would be excellent--especially by tram. I walked from the Danube canal down one of the rings (they change names every block or so) past the Urania (still not sure what that is), the government building, the Postsparkasse designed by Otto Wagner in the Jugendstil (dont know what that is in English), to the City Park. Let me take a second to comment on this. Vienna has AMAZING parks. They all look like gardens on the back of castles that are maintained by teams of gardeners, with the exception of Sigmund Freud Park, which is a dump. In the City Park I tried to take a nap, but alas, even though I had almost fallen asleep in the tram, I just couldn't do it.

When I gave up on my non-nap, it was almost 12, so I decided I should eat something despite being really not hungry. Since Vienna is famous for its Sacher Torte (complete with secret recipe, ooo) I went to the Cafe Sacher to eat some. Granted, it was really good, but right after I ordered it I realized that I've had it before (just a knock-off, of course), and that I hadn't loved it. I'm not a big fan of the raspberry jam that is spread between the layers and under the top layer of chocolate. Luckily it was so chocolately that I couldn't taste the raspberry much, and even with that it was pretty good. Not the best cake I've ever had, but good. And not worth 5 euros. But it's pretty cool to eat Sacher Torte at Cafe Sacher in Vienna in view of one of the best opera houses in the world.

Speaking of opera, both the opera and the orchestra take their yearly breaks in July and August!!!! If I had been there just one week before, I would have been able to see a performance by the orchestra, which is what I really wanted. To me, Vienna=great music, so it was a little disappointing to not be able to experience that.

After "lunch" I went to the Naschmarkt, where there is a seriously HUGE flea market every Saturday. There were tons of people there, including several disappointed tourists who thought it was a regular old market. I walked around the stalls for a while, looking at the ridiculous stuff that people were selling (want a tourist-y beer stein from Augsburg?) and debating buying some it. I didn't though, because then I would have had to carry it all day plus bring it back to Germany with me.

Flea market on the Naschmarkt

From the Naschmarkt I continued on to Karlsplatz and the Karlskirche. Karlskirche had unfortunately just been closed for a wedding that was about to start, but looking from the outside was enough. I thought it was a castle from far away. From Karlskirche I went back up to the ring and went to the Alte Hofburg, which I had missed earlier since it had been closed at 7 AM (go figure). Then the Neue Hofburg and some more amazing parks and gardens. From there I had been planning to walk only to the Parliament and the Rathaus, but just my luck there was a huge protest/parade that shut down all public transport on the Ring.

View from Parliament

Luckily, since they're German (-speaking), the protest was pretty much a bunch of twentysomethings drinking beer while listening to loud techno music...with a couple protest signs draped on trucks for good measure (not to mention a dude who'd painted himself green....), which meant that they were really slow-moving and by walking at a normal pace I could get way ahead of them. I walked what I thought was all the way around the rest of the ring, and actually turned out to be only halfway. Ugh. But I happened upon an U-Bahn station and rode the rest of the way, then got some dinner and went back to my hotel (I had taken my stuff there after lunch, so I didn't have to bother with going back to the Westbahnhof again).

Umm wow, writing up all the stuff I did, I did A LOT. My vacations are NOT relaxing.

The next day I was intending to go to a museum, because that is what I had budgeted for. I decided to pick a composer's house to go to, since I've already been to a ton of art museums in Europe (although Vienna does have a few really good ones). After making another trip to the infamous Westbahnhof to drop my stuff off again, I headed to the house where Haydn lived...and found out that all composers' houses (except maybe Mozart's?) are free on Sundays! Thus began my musical adventure. None of the houses ended up being that exciting. You'd think in Vienna, where all these amazing composers were born and lived and worked, they would have truly amazing collections of objects and writings from their lives. Not so. Most of the houses I could get through in about 15 or 30 minutes. The best part about them: all of them had listening stations where you could listen to full versions of selected compositions. The houses I hit up: where Haydn lived; where Johann Strauß (son) lived; where Schubert was born;

In the courtyard of the house where Schubert was born

where Schubert died. I also went to the Hundertwasser House (house designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser (not his real name) who also designed the Martin-Luther-Gymnasium in Wittenberg). His stuff is pretty famous mostly because it's CRAZY. I mean, it can't be because it looks good.

Hundertwasser House

After visiting Schubert's death house and making a quick trip back to the city park to see the Johann Strauß memorial, I was pretty wiped out. I still had a bunch of time until my bus left, so I took the tram out to the Central Cemetary, where lots of famous people are buried. It's also HUGE. According to my guidebook, it has more than 300,000 graves with about 3 million people buried there. That's a lot. It also has the graves of such famous people as Mozart (who was originally buried in a mass grave so now only his legs occupy his grave spot; apparently the Viennese take a while after your death to realize that they really like you), Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Strauß son and Strauß father, and Schönberg. There's also a huge church there, but it was closed by the time I got there. The Vienna airport must also have been practically right next to the graveyard, because literally about every minute a plane would fly over, and most of them were low enough that I could read the Austrian Airlines "AA" on the tail (well, for the ones that were in fact AA).

Central Cemetary

After eating dinner, I went to the Donau Insel because I figured I should probably actually see the Donau (Danube) while in Vienna, especially seeing as Strauß, who lived there, had written that song. The river looked pretty cool at night, but there were some shady characters out there.

The Danube River at night

Then I almost missed my bus back by taking too long on the Donau Insel, making a stop at the Parliament to see it at night, and not getting to the Westbahnhof until about 10 PM.

Parliament at night

I got my bags from the locker as quickly as I could, but I still didn't end up leaving there til about 10:10, which meant I got to the Erdberg station at 10:25, and to the bus stop about 2 mins after that. Luckily the bus was late (it pretty much always is), so I still ended up being there about 15 mins before it arrived.

Vienna is a really cool city, also a lot bigger than I thought it would be. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to understand their dialect there, but it's really just a different German dialect. I didn't have problems anywhere else in Germany, so I don't know why I was worried. They do sound different, but most of them speak Hochdeutsch, or at least with me they did, thank goodness.

Only one trip left :-( Next weekend to Stuttgart and Heidelberg, and maybe Worms? Exciting, but also sad!

Vienna: my journey to discover if it really IS the world capitol of classical music

Long story short: yes, it is.

Bremen, Bremerhaven, and Hamburg (and a little soccer)

June 21-22

Bremen was a bust. Turns out you can see everything there in about two hours. Also, I highly recommend sight-seeing early in the morning! No one's around to get in your pictures or walk slowly in front of you.

After my train got in and I dropped my stuff at my hotel, I walked around Bremen's Old Town for a little while and hit everything on my list: Mühle am Wall, Bremer Stadtmusikanten, Rathaus, Dom St. Petri, Böttcherstraße, Schnoorviertel, the river, and I'm sure some other stuff. I realized pretty quick that there was no way I'd be able to spend all day in Bremen--there just isn't enough to do. It's actually a beautiful city and I think it would be a really nice place to live; there just isn't enough going on to make any trip longer than a few hours really worth it.

Park am Wall

So, I went to the train station to try to figure out where I could go for the rest of the day. I really wanted to go to the North Sea, but it's kind of hard figuring out where to go when you have NO IDEA what's around there. I decided to go to Bremerhaven, which is the other city, along with Bremen, that makes up the state of Bremen. Bremerhaven is right on the mouth of the Weser River, which means it's also right on the opening to the North Sea. Close enough.

I walked from the train station in Bremerhaven to the city center, stopping on the way to eat a crepe for lunch (there was some kind of festival going on, just like in Bremen and Hamburg). I walked around the harbor in front of the German Maritime Museum looking at the cool boats they have, and even went on one called the Seefalke. I really only went on it because it has the most awesome name ever!! but it turned out to be pretty amazing. The entire ship was open to be walked around in, so I even saw the engine room and all that good stuff.

In the engine room of the Seefalke

After that I went to the German Immigrant Museum, which was amazing! It was huuuge. Walking through the museum takes you through the entire "immigrant experience"--leaving home, boarding a ship, arriving in New York, then finding a place to live. It was definitely one of the best museums I have been to in Europe so far. I wouldn't say I learned a ton (just because in the US, being the immigrant magnet it is, we learn a lot about immigration in school), but it was really interesting. A very engaging museum. Wow, I sound like a loser for saying that.

Well, I was pretty tired after the museum, but I forced myself to walk through the main pedestrian zone (seriously--did all German cities get together and decide that they were ALL going to have these? I haven't been to one single city here that doesn't) hoping to see something interesting. Unluckily, there wasn't much. Instead I walked back to the river, laid down, and almost fell asleep. The temperature had finally reached the perfect point, so it was really nice laying there, even though the beach had disappeared due to high tide. I can't believe how weird the weather is here! The end of June and I legitimately needed my (admittedly thin) jacket most of the day.

The next day I ate breakfast (included, yay!), checked out of my hotel, then took a train to Hamburg. On the train I was coincidentally sitting right in front of a British lady, who also coincidentally had problems with her ticket, and the conductor barely spoke English, so I got to translate! That is seriously my favorite thing. It makes me feel so cool, even though it maybe shouldn't. Once I got to Hamburg, I walked from the train station down the pedestrian zone (see?? everywhere!), but since it was Sunday, all the stores were closed and it was boring. After that I hit up the Rathaus, where there was yet another festival-type thing going on, the former St. Nikolai Church (bombed during WWII and left as is as a memorial), St. Katarina (?) Church, Deichstrasse, and then HafenCity, which is a huge complex built out on the river.

Tour boats docked along the Elbe

I walked all the way out to the end of it, but it kind of sucks because it's mostly apt/office buildings, and they're doing a ton of construction, so there was no shade and it was HOT. After that I went to Miniatur Wunderland, which is the largest train layout in the world. That was pretty disappointing. I thought it would be one huge gigantic train layout, but it was divided up into separate rooms. And there weren't nearly as many trains as I thought there'd be! Roadside America is better.

After that I walked some along the river, while it off and on thunderstormed (is that a word?). I decided to put my day pass to good use and rode the U-Bahn up to the Justice Palace, then walked back down through the park in front of it (very nice, but not that great in the rain). Then I killed time for a while before going to see DIRTY DANCING!!!! Which was a big disappointment. I was really really looking forward to it (who wouldn't???) but it ended up being pretty much a stage version of the movie. It was exactly the same, with a pointless side story about the civil rights movement in the 1960s that never got resolved. I have a feeling that all Germans who saw Dirty Dancing the "musical" probably now think that blacks didn't have the right to vote in 1963. That's another thing! It totally was NOT a musical. Yes, there were songs, but most of them weren't even played live!! They were piped in over speakers. There were a few live songs, but they were sung by the two--count 'em, two-- singers in the show. Of course the end dance scene was AMAZING. How could it not be? Although apparently the German version of "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" translates in English to "Baby belongs to me. Is that clear?" Umm, that is nowhere near as good as the original.

After DD, I rushed to the train station, only to find out that my train was delayed 70 MINUTES, which meant I'd miss my connection, but luckily the train I was supposed to connect with was also leaving from Hamburg and was delayed, so I could get on that one. Unluckily, it also ended up being delayed 90 minutes. Whatever happened to German efficiency? Can't I just once have a train experience where I do NOT have a delay?

Oh, in other news: Germany lost to Spain in the EM final last night :-( Very disappointing. It would have been pretty amazing to be here for such a huge win! I'm glad to have been here for soccer at all though, and especially in a year when Germany did so well! It was really cool to see everyone get so excited. I don't know anyone who didn't watch the game last night, and I also don't know any big soccer fans!

Next weekend is Vienna, next week sometime Stuttgart, then the weekend after that Jugendtreffen in Schwäbisch Gmünd. I can't believe that I have less than 5 weeks left here. Crazy! I really wish I could stay after and travel. It went by so fast.

Also, I went to Bremen, Bremerhaven, and Hamburg (where I saw Dirty Dancing the musical!!!) this weekend, so I promise to write a blog post about it soon.

Fussball

I think we all knew it was only a matter of time until I wrote a post about soccer (I refuse to call it football, because that is not what we call it in the US!). After all, I AM living abroad in Europe in a country that has a soccer team. Disclaimer: I really don't care about soccer. I think it's exciting to watch, in person, because it's fast moving, but that it's really boring to watch on TV for more than about 3 minutes. I would never seek out a soccer match, ever, in my life, to watch on TV. On the other hand, I REALLY WANT GERMANY TO WIN! This has pretty much nothing to do with soccer and a lot more to do with the fact that I think Germany is the best country in Europe.

So, this got me thinking about a lot of different things, actually. I think that my feelings kind of get to the crux of people's sports obsessions and loves: everyone wants their team to win because they feel that their city/school/whatever is the best one ever. I think this sometimes kind of gets mixed up, because at least at home it is so taboo to "jump on the band wagon". You have to pretend that you have secretly liked and followed the sport the entire time, and are just now expressing a real interest in it that coincidentally is at the exact same time as that big tournament where the team is doing really well. Here everyone is jumping on the band wagon. I know there are people who legitimately like soccer here, but I don't know any of them. Somehow it's different though, because it's Germany playing, and not just FC Bayern or whatever. Everyone suddenly is a HUGE fan of soccer. Every time there is a soccer match, and especially if Germany is playing, every bar, biergarten, coffee shop, any place that serves food sets up a huge TV and the place completely fills up with loud, costumed, makeup-ed, excited crowds. It's hard NOT to get caught up in the excitement.

That is the main thing that confuses me. Patriotism is something that is not common here--at least not of the American, flag-flying variety. It isn't hailed as a virtue here the way it is in the US. I'm not exactly sure why, but I have my theories, not the least of which is that Germany was dumped on or oppressed almost non-stop in the 20th century. I think another part of it is that a lot of people tend to very closely identify with the region they come from, like Bayern, Schwabenland (where I am), etc. A while back I was thinking about how weird it seems to me that so few people move far away from where they grew up. But the more I thought about, the more I realized that it isn't that weird. In Germany, you grow up in an area, you learn a dialect that only people where you live can easily understand, and not only that, there just aren't that many options! Germany ain't that big. You move from one end of the country to the other and you're maybe 6, 7 hours away from where you grew up. In that case, why even go that far away? Why not just stay near what you know? It makes sense that people stay where they grew up, and it makes sense then that they have a stronger regional identity than national one.

Wow, I think I'm making soccer way more complicated that it has to be! But what I'm trying to say is, I have never seen anything that has caused this much patriotism, and by patriotism I mean blatant and obvious support of Germany, the country--wearing German flags, painting the German colors on their faces, stuff like that. It's pretty insane, and actually pretty fun to watch. Any time I travel somewhere in Germany now, if there's a game that weekend, I'll see crowds of people in train stations traveling to somewhere to watch the game, all decked out in their Germany gear (and of course carrying the requisite cases of beer).

Now the real question is, which team is there a bigger turnout for: Germany or Turkey? That's a tough one. I think the excitement is about equal. I obviously knew there were a ton of Turks in Germany, but they all seem to come out of the woodwork for soccer! That and ALL THE MALES HAVE MULLETS. All of them! I don't know if I've ever seen a Turkish male who doesn't have a mullet. But that's beside the point. The point is, it bugs me that all the Turks who live in Germany are rooting for Turkey and not Germany! Um, hello? Aren't you living in a country with such a wide social net that it catches even people who aren't citizens and just happen to be residents? It really bugs me that they don't support the country they live in. I know it's just soccer, but still. It's just soccer! Cheer for your home team--the one you make your home in!

Anyway, that's enough about soccer. I really don't like it. Honestly. But GO GERMANY!

Zoooo

Today I went to the zoo with Johanna! It was a trip with kindergarten, and parents were allowed to come, but obviously Stefan and Stephanie couldn't, so they asked if I wanted to. I figured Johanna would love it if we had some time just the two of us, so of course I said yes! It was alooong day though (at least for a four-year-old). We left at 8:30 and the bus ride to Augsburg took an hour and a half. Once we got there, a little after 10, we walked around the zoo for a while. Unfortunately the zoo is pretty small, so even with all the bathroom stops and eating breaks, we took, we were completely done by 12:30. Luckily there is a huge playground at the end of the route through the zoo, so all the kids played there until it was time to leave, shortly before 3. It just kind of sucked for me to sit there, because first off, the mamas are all way older than me so I don't know what to say to them/they don't know what to say to me, and second, none of them ever even try! That is the thing that really bugs me. They all obviously knew that I was new when I got there, but no one EVER tried to talk to me in the beginning, not even just introducing themselves! I still don't know some of their names, since they've never told me! And of course in the beginning I was not exactly confident with my German skills, so I wasn't exactly going to walk up to a group of people all 10-15 years older than me and start talking to them. Ugh. I really don't get them. I guess they're content on having their own little exclusive circles. Just shows you women are the same all over the world.

Anyway, so it kind of sucked having to sit there and not talk to anyone, but Johanna had a lot of fun. She was still really wound up on the ride home, so she didn't sleep at all (I'd really been hoping she would). She was pretty antsy and kept wiggling around. An hour and a half is looong for a little kid! I took some cool pictures, which I'll post on facebook, so look there eventually.

Oh, I almost forgot--I finally climbed the Münster in Ulm! 768 steps and the highest church tower in the world. Here's a pic:

In other news, I went to Wittenberg last weekend (June 6-8) to finnnnally, after four years, go to Luthers Hochzeit, Wittenberg's big festival every year, and also to visit my old host family. The festival was really cool, and a lot bigger than I thought it would be. There's not really much to say about it, since it was really just something you walk around and look at. There were a lot of bands, although they were all kind of odd, middle-ages type bands. The weirdest thing is that they play middle ages music at times other than during Luthers Hochzeit. On Saturday afternoon there was a big parade with the bridal pair, since the whole festival is to commemorate Martin Luther's marriage to Katharina von Bora. It's weird enough that she was an ex-nun; what's weirder even is that he was an ex-monk! The parade was neat, and luckily since the festival isn't THAT big and the parade route was long, it was easy to get a spot in the front (unlike the big parade in Munich for Oktoberfest...). At one point some adorable little boy walking in the parade came up and gave me a flower. Aww!

I ran into Herr Owens in the evening, just as I was contemplating going home. He showed me where the USC students were so I hung out with them the rest of the night. I didn't know any of them, but they were all pretty nice. The group this year is much smaller than when I was there, maybe 13 people? I think we had at least 21 or 22.

The next day, Sunday, I just stayed and hung out with my host family, since I had only seen them for a few hours on Saturday morning, plus I was leaving Sunday afternoon so I wouldn't have had time to do anything at the festival that day. It was really great to see them, and really great to be able to easily speak German to them! They are exactly the same and their apartment looks exactly the same. We even played the same card game that we played every night while I was there 4 years ago. I have got to get a Mau Mau card deck. Sunday afternoon they took me to the train station, and after three trains and one delay, only got home one hour after was expected. For Deutsche Bahn, that's pretty good. So is only 1 delay out of 3. Do not believe it when people say Germans are efficient. The train system has got to the be the worst, and most expensive, in Europe. Granted, the trains are nice, but they are NEVER on time. There have been a few times when trains I've been on have been on time, but they've always been short trips. Every time I've made a long-distance trip there has been a delay. But, enough about Deutsche Bahn and my loathing of them. It was so great to go back to Wittenberg, see my old host family, and just to see the city. Heidenheim is the same size as Wittenberg, population-wise, but Wittenberg is way above Heidenheim in terms of niceness of the city and just things to do. Wittenberg also isn't as in the middle of nowhere as Heidenheim is, so that probably helps, plus it's a short drive or train ride away from Berlin, Leipzig, Magdeburg, and other places.

In other other news, I'm going to Bremen and Hamburg next weekend! I'll only be up there for two days, but from what I've heard and what I've looked up, one day might be too little for each city, but there's not that much to do in either one. And, next Sunday night in Hamburg....I'm seeing Dirty Dancing the musical!!!!!!! Ahhh!!! God, I love that movie. Patrick Swayze, I'm saying a little prayer for your cancer right now. And then the first weekend in July, I"m going to Vienna! I'm hoping to get in one more weekend trip after that. I was thinking of going to Zagreb, but I'm just not sure it'll work out. Maybe I'll do a weekend in Stuttgart, or Zurich. I'll have to think about it. I can't believe I have only a little over a month and a half left here! There are still so many places I want to see, but oh well. My money is starting to run out.

Prague

May 31-June1

No, I'm not going to make any lame jokes like "Czech yourself". It always really bugs me for some reason when people do that. Summary of Prague: the most beautiful city I have been to so far! Oddest thing about Prague: it really really reminded me of Budapest--not in the stuff in the city, but in the physical layout of it. It's divided into two parts by a river, just like Budapest. The left side has two big hills, just like Budapest. The southern hill (mountain?) is larger than the northern one, just like Budapest. The northern hill has a large castle, just like Budapest. I didn't realize the similarities until I was on the top of the southern hill looking down at the castle on the northern one. I felt like I'd seen it all before....I guess that's kind of what happens traveling around Europe for a year, though.

I was only in Prague for two days, so there's not too much to say. I took a bus Friday night from Ulm and arrived into Prague on Saturday morning. At 5 AM. It was already light out. Needless to say, not much was going on. I walked to my hostel (Prague is a very walkable city, by the way), and no one answered when I rang the buzzer. I had to call them from my cell phone and ask them to let me in. Their response? "Someone will be there at 9 AM." AKA in 3.5 hours. Uh, no thanks. Luckily, getting angry gets results in every country, and they told me someone was coming at 7 AM to take people to the airport and he would let me in (why didn't they just say this the first time?). So I sat in the Old Town Square for an hour and a half and read a book. One great thing about being out so early is that there are NO other tourists. I never saw the Old Town Square that empty again. It was pretty nice actually.

Old Town Square at 7 AM on a Saturday

After I dropped off my stuff at my hostel, I walked across the Charles Bridge, also pleasantly tourist-free, and up to Prague Castle. There wasn't too much to see there since it was so early, but I walked around a little bit until it was 9, and then I went to a musem about the history of Prague Castle. It was incredibly boring. I do not recommend it if you're there. Luckily it was cheap, so I only wasted about $3. There was some kind of military band playing up there as I was leaving. That was pretty neat. I was gonna go into St. Vitus Cathedral, but the line was insanely long, so I vetoed that. Instead I walked back down, swung by St. Nicholas Church (one of the two St. Nicholas Churches in Prague), decided against that because it cost 50 Kr (what kind of church costs money to get in???), and instead walked to Wallenstein Palace, which had really nice gardens and some loud peacocks. Then after lunch I went on a river cruise which I 95% decided to go on because it was so hot out. It was pretty expensive, but whatever. I was so tired from the bus and walking around that I could barely keep my eyes open on the boat. Then afterwards I rode the funicular (no way was I walking) to the top of Petrin Hill, then climbed Petrin Tower, supposedly a mini-version of the Eiffel Tower (although still a good 90 m high).

View from Petrin Tower

Then I exhaustedly walked back down the hill. Mistake. That sucker is STEEP. I also inadvertantly walked more to the right, making it a lot longer. For some reason after that (maybe I was feeling like torturing myself) I walked across one of the bridges to see the National Theater, and then down to the Fred and Ginger Dancing Building, which is SO COOL. I didn't go in or anything, but you don't need to. It's just awesome-looking. Afterwards I walked to Wenceslas Square, which was a big disappointment, since it's not so much a square as a strip in the middle of the road with some benches. After walking about 18,975 miles, I ate dinner, went back to my (burning hot because it's Europe and they don't have air conditioning anywhere) hostel room. Oh well, at least I had my own room and a nice view.

The next day I woke up semi early, because there was a sign that said that check out was by 10 AM. At 9:30 I went to check out.....and no one was there. I waited for a few minutes, checked the common areas, and then had to call the hostel. Again. They told me someone would be there at 10:30. 10:30! FYI: If you ever go to Prague, do NOT stay at the Condor 1, because they have HORRIBLE service! Actually, it's non-existent, since no one is ever there! They also said I couldn't leave my bag, because my bus left late at night, and naturally no one would be there. Great. So I had to walk to the bus station and leave it in the luggage place there (luckily really cheap) and then walk back. I wanted to go on a free tour at 10:30, and with having to walk there and back, I just made it. The free tour was pretty good. I learned a decent amount about Prague. We also saw a lot of stuff that I had seen already, which means I could have saved myself all that walking. We saw a bunch of the synagogues in the Jewish Quarter, the Charles Bridge, the National Theater, and the theater where Mozart's Don Giovanni premiered, plus assorted stuff in the Old Town Square, including the astronomical clock, which is really cool. After the tour I ate lunch then went into the other St. Nicholas Church, which luckily was free to get into. Then I couldn't hold out in the hot weather anymore and went to one of the parks on the Lesser Side and read for a while, and afterwards was finally able to find the Lennon Wall! Which wasn't that exciting. I'm still not sure what it's about. Something about John Lennon, obviously. Then the Municipal Hall, which I got stuck inside for a little bit while it rained, then the mall since I decided that would be more interesting, and then dinner, since it was still raining. After dinner I walked up to the metronome (what's it keeping time for?) on another hill above the city, where there were a bunch of slightly sketchy people hanging. I walked back through the Jewish Quarter again, which is actually pretty nice, and since I wasn't on a tour I could stop and look at stuff.

The Spanish Synagogue

Then, back to the Old Town Square where I whiled away some time before heading to the bus station to while away some more time. Then I came home. The worst part--the train I took from Ulm to Heidenheim got into Heidenheim at 6:58, the exact same time as the bus to Heuchlingen was supposed to leave. I got out of the train the second it stopped, ran as fast as I could while carrying my bags to the bus station, and got there just in time to see the bus pull out. I was too far away to flag it down. I even tried running to the next stop, but since no one was waiting there, I had no shot. Instead, I had to wait 3.5 hours until the next bus left. Luckily in that time I was able to take a 15-minute power nap in the mall.

Prague overall: really cool and a beautiful city. Two days was enough though. If I wasn't museum-ed out, I probably would have wanted more time, but as it was I thought one weekend was perfect. Europe has GOT to get air conditioning though. Or at least fans.

Paris

May 22-25

I'm finally getting around to writing about Paris, only two weeks late! I figured I'd better write about it before going on yet another trip--tomorrow I leave for Wittenberg, to visit my host family from four years ago and finally see Luthers Hochzeit! Who knows, maybe I'll even see the USC study abroad group there.

So, before I say anything else about Paris, I have to say that above all, Paris was a bit of a disappointment. Not that it wasn't a great and exciting city, and an awesome trip, but I think it has been built up so much as such a fabulous, amazing place, that there was no way it could live up to my expectations. Surprisingly, it wasn't as beautiful as I thought it would be. Everything was really nice, of course, but the buildings were all pretty much the same, nothing too distinctive. Prague (where I went last weekend) was a much nicer city to walk around. I also think what spoils my view of Paris a little bit is all the freakin TOURISTS. I mean, not that other people shouldn't go to Paris and enjoy it, but there were SO MANY other tourists there. It seems like most tourists are just completely absent-minded too, and don't think at all about the fact that there may be other people walking around with a different agenda. They're like, "Hmm, I can't figure out where I'm going. How about I stop here in the middle of the sidewalk with my eight children, husband, parents, and dog?"

Aside from the tourists, Paris was really nice. The weather was perfect. It only rained one day, and only about half the day at that. It wasn't too hot and it wasn't too chilly.

The first day I got into Paris around 10 (a 3-hour delay that no one mentioned, due to construction), and after dumping my stuff at my hotel (which was really nice for only 33 euros per night, by the way) I began my Paris sight-seeing experience. First I went to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed it, walked down to the Eiffel Tower (eating a crepe for refreshment along the way), took one look at the line and decided no way was I going up right then. Instead I walked to the Hotel des Invalides, where Napoleon's tomb is. I didn't go in because I thought that it wasn't included in my museum pass, but I found out two days later that it was. Oh well. After that I went to the Rodin Museum, which was disappointing. I like the one in Philadelphia much more. Afterwards I walked along the river, thought about going to the Sainte-Chappelle but the line was too long, and instead went to Notre Dame. I climbed that (second climb of the day!), which was pretty cool, especially all the gargoyles.

The Rodin Museum

The next day I tried to get to the Eiffel Tower exactly at 9:30, which is what time it opens. The line was pretty long, but luckily it moved fast since I didn't want to take the elevator (I'm too cheap). I climbed the stairs to the first and second levels, but from there you have to take an elevator to the top. I wasn't about to miss out on that, so I forked over the 4 euros. What an amazing view! It felt so surreal to be so high up, at the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was kind of hard to get a good view though, because there were so many people up there. I'm glad I didn't go any later, because the line only got longer. After Eiffel Tower-ing, I ate some lunch then went on a free tour. The tour was good, but I was expecting it to be better--I think from my free tour experience in Berlin, run by the same company, which was excellent. Almost all the people on the tour were young college-age students, and I met a girl, Yvonne, from Canada traveling around by herself. We walked around a little bit together after the tour, and made plans to meet up the next day to go to Versailles. After we ate dinner I went to Sacre Coeur, which wasn't too far from my hotel. That was quite an experience. The church was pretty amazing, but the shady people selling lame bracelets outside weren't. I'm glad I didn't go any later than 7:30 or 8; I would have undoubtedly gotten raped, mugged, and clothed in string bracelets.


Third day I met up with Yvonne near her hostel so we could take the train out to Versailles. Versailles=biggest disappointment of the trip. The palace was nice and all, but it was kind of boring inside. Of course it was ornate, but it looked pretty much like every other palace I've seen, plus it had almost no furniture inside. I shared Yvonne's audioguide with her (since one didn't come with my museum pass and no way was I paying 6 euros for one), and I'm glad I didn't pay extra, because it didn't give much info at all. On top of that, it costs 8 euros to get into the gardens! Neither of us went in because 8 euros on top of the 13.50 entry fee is just a little too much. After we got back into Paris we walked around a little bit in the rain and ate dinner. Then we parted ways and I went back to my hotel, making a detour to see the Moulin Rouge and peek through the gate at the Montmartre Cemetary.

Versailles

My last day I had designated my Museum Day. My goal: go to three art museums in one day without keeling over. Somehow I succeeded. I started my day off my walking down the Champs Elysees (another highly overrated Paris attraction) to the Jardin de Tuileries and the Louvre. In the Louvre I decided to see the Mona Lisa first just to get that out of the way. It was cool and all, but there were about 50 people standing in front of it all trying to take pictures. I'm glad I'm small; it took me about 5 seconds to squeeze my way up to the front. Luckily once I got away from the Mona Lisa and to the opposite end of the museum, there was hardly anyone around. My Louvre highlights: the Spanish painters, Napoleon III's apartments, and the Dutch painters. After two hours in the Louvre, I fortified myself for my next museum by eating some crepes in the Jardin de Tuileries, then head to the Musee de l'Orangerie. The Orangerie was by far my favorite museum. It has two huge oval-shaped rooms housing a bunch of Monet's Waterlilies paintings. Downstairs it has the Walter-Guillaume collection of impressionist paintings, which I loved, since impressionism is my favorite art movement. After the Orangerie I dragged myself across the street to the Musee d'Orsay. I breezed through most of that, because I really only wanted to see the impressionist paintings.

Family Reunion by Frederic Bazille, my favorite painting in the Musee d'Orsay

After finishing with all the museums I walked along the river for a while, trying to not fall over from exhaustion. Somehow being in museums wears me out much faster than just walking around. Afterwards I went to the Place de la Bastille just to see if there was anything interesting. There wasn't. Then I went and ate dinner, collected my stuff from my hotel, and went to the train station to wait to go back home. When I got back to Heidenheim the next morning, I had to wait a while for the bus, but while there I was able to get the second part of Johanna's birthday present: sparkly, flowered flip flops from H&M which she LOVED. Every time she wears them now she tells that her flip flops are much prettier than mine.

Glasgow

May 15-17

So yeah, I got to Glasgow Thursday afternoon. Best thing about Glasgow: I had a hotel room!! It was quite a nice change from the hostels, and actually a pretty nice and big room, considering it was only 25 pounds per night. Bad thing about Glasgow: there are a ton of steep hills, atop one of which my hotel sat. Good thing: makes for great views.

Glasgow was very different from what I'd expected. Actually, I'm not really sure what I expected, but I think maybe a mini London? One thing I did not expect was that I would not be able to understand ANYONE. I mean, in England and Northern Ireland it was kind of like, oh teehee, they talk funny, but at least I could understand what they were saying. In Scotland I felt like an idiot pretty much every time I had to talk to anyone, because I almost always would have to ask them to repeat themselves, usually twice. When walking in large crowds I would try to listen to what other people were saying, but I honestly couldn't understand it. I was torn between thinking they were speaking other languages, and thinking that I just can't understand the accent. I think it was the latter. Made me wonder though: did all the Scottish people have trouble understanding me? Or is the American accent so prolific (through TV and stuff) that they don't have trouble with it?

Anyway, Glasgow. The first day I went on a (free!) tour of the Glasgow City Hall, which is pretty amazing. It's nicer than the State House in Columbia, and that's saying something--not only because the State House is nice, but also, it's for a state! Glasgow's is just for a city. The tour guide was talking about St. Mungo (apparently the patron saint of Glasgow) and the "medicals" he had performed, and I stood there thinking, "Medicals? Huh? I guess that's some kind of Scottish thing. Maybe St. Mungo is a patron saint of hospitals" (where did I get this thought? That's right, from Harry Potter and the Mungo's hospital). Um yeah. Took me about 10 minutes to finally realize that she was saying "miracles". She also pronounced "worldwide" with three syllables.

After the tour I walked around Glasgow a little bit to just look at some of the buildings. I went to Glasgow Cathedral, where St. Mungo's tomb is. That was pretty confusing too. My map showed the cathedral as being in a place where it actually isn't, but that was hard to figure out, because there was a church there, plus a hotel called the Cathedral Hotel. Fortunately I found the cathedral (and the oldest house in Glasgow) and also the St. Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art. Another good thing about Glasgow: all the public museums are free! Bad thing: the museums aren't that great. The religious museum was mildly cool, but not that exciting. I walked around it for about half an hour, and that was enough. Afterwards I made my way down to Glasgow Green, but the road I walked down looked kind of shady so I opted not to continue. Instead I walked along the River Clyde (most Scottish name ever) and just looked around. All the buildings in Glasgow are so cool! They're all old and stuff, but they're all really different. It's probably the only city I've been to where walking around and looking at buildings could be an actual activity.

See? Cathedral House Hotel!

River Clyde

The next day I managed to find the metro (there's only one line and it has, like, 10 stops) so I could go to some other museums. I went to the Hunterian Art Gallery at the University of Glasgow, which was cool, but I was able to see the entire thing in about an hour (like I said, the museums are kind of lame). The coolest part was the attached recreation of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's house. Mackintosh was an architect who designed a few famous buildings in Glasgow, as well as several interiors. The house was awesome. Of course it was forbidden to take pictures, and there were guards hovering everywhere so I couldn't sneak any. After the Hunterian I went to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Again, disappointing. It was pretty much aimed at people between the ages of 10 and 12, although there were a few paintings by actual well-known people. I was able to breeze through that museum pretty fast. In the afternoon I went to the Tenement House, which is a flat inside a former tenement that was occupied by a woman who saved pretty much everything. They've set it up the way she most likely had it, and had an interesting exhibition about what life was probably like for her, complete with pictures, ticket stubs, concert programs, etc. (she really did save everything). That was probably the coolest part of my Glasgow visit. Later on I went back down to Glasgow Green to look around a little bit more, since I found a brochure showing some of the cool stuff there. Luckily I discovered that it's actually quite nice--and no one else goes there! Much better than in London where in the big parks every square inch of space is taken.

University of Glasgow

Forbidden picture inside the Tenement House

So, did I mention that Glaswegians apparently LOVE to shop? There is a huuuge pedestrian mall there, probably the biggest one I've ever seen, complete with at least two malls. I think there were more, but I'm positive there were two. And, of course, since it's Glasgow, the buildings were all amazing. I can't even really remember what stores were there, but I can picture the buildings! Oh, and there was a Nelson Mandela Square?!

Saturday I woke up early and took the train from Glasgow to Edinburgh, then Edinburgh back down to London. I didn't see much in Edinburgh, but I did see the castle from the train. It looked pretty cool. In London I pretty much had time to go to my hostel, poke around the Portobello Road market for a while (my hostel was in Notting Hill), then go see a ballet at the Royal Opera House. Then I came back and went to bed around 9:15 so I could wake up at 3:15 AM to get my plane back to Germany. I think my roommates just loooved that.

And then I came back. And while waiting for the bus, I ran into Eveline and Tobias. I seem to always run into them when I'm coming back from some long trip. All in all, it was a really good trip, I think my favorite one so far. I liked Northern Ireland and Scotland a lot more than I thought I would. Also, it was REALLY REALLY nice to finally go somewhere where I KNOW they speak English. That makes things a lot less intimidating.

OK, finally done with my UK trip summary! Stay tuned for Paris, hopefully coming soon.

Belfast and Northern Ireland

May 12-15

No, I didn't get killed. Or maimed. Or anything. Belfast was a lot nicer than I expected, plus it seemed really cheap compared to London. My hostel was about 83 times better for about 2/3 the price. It wasn't in the city center, but luckily, Belfast is so small that I could walk to the city center in about 10 minutes. I only had to use the bus once the entire time, and that's because Belfast Castle is on the side of a mountain.

The first day I wandered around Belfast looking at the random sites. Unfortunately, there isn't really THAT much to see there, and both the city hall and the Ulster Museum were closed for renovation. The bonus: almost everything is free! I saw the city hall, St. Anne's Cathedral, St. Patrick's Cathedral (Church?), the Prince Albert clock tower (which apparently leans to one side, but I didn't really notice it), and the river. I also saw a bus on fire. I wasn't sure if that was really what I was seeing, but everyone who was walking stopped to watch it, so it definitely was. I also saw the fire trucks come to put out. Luckily it looked like all the passengers had safely gotten out. Didn't make me too eager to ride a city bus, though.

After lunch I went to Belfast Castle which I incidentally did have to take a bus to get to. Fortunately it did not catch fire. I walked around the castle for a little bit, but it wasn't really a castle, more like a very large house. It's pretty much just a place where they have weddings and stuff now, but on the top floor was a visitors' center with a history of the castle and the area. Afterwards I hiked up to the top of Cavehill, also called Napoleon's Nose (if you look at it from far away, it really does look like a face with a nose). It was a lot harder of a hike than I thought it would be. I had been planning to do the whole route, but I was assuming that the times they told you for the routes weren't accurate, since a lot of times they say it takes a lot longer for the out-of-shape tourists. I guess they don't get too many tourists there though. It was a good hike though, and the view from the top was amazing! There were some serious cliffs up there too, so I tried not to get too close to the edge. Later, in the evening, I walked down to the Queen's University Belfast campus and the botanic gardens. Nothing too interesting, but it was nice. Would have been nicer if it had been warmer out.

The second day I went on a tour up to the Giant's Causeway in the very northern part of Northern Ireland. We also made stops at Carrickfergus Castle (kind of ugly), Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge (fishermen originally built the rope bridge so that they could get to a small island which had better access to salmon), and Bushmills brewery (honestly, why did we stop there?). Carrick-a-Rede and the Giant's Causeway were really awesome. There's not much I can say about them. I'll just upload a bunch of pictures, but of course they won't do them justice. The day was really really good, with perfect weather. The only downer was the bus driver/tour guide, who was without a doubt the worst tour guide I have ever had in my life. He did not shut up the ENTIRE ride up to Giant's Causeway. And that includes several stops. I would highly recommend going to Giant's Causeway, but I do NOT recommend taking the Mini Coach tour from Belfast. I would have rather had no info from him than his constant yammering.

The next day I left early in the morning to go to Glasgow. I took a boat from Belfast to Stranraer, and the boat was soo awesome. It was pretty much like a mall. It had an arcade, mini movie theaters, restaurants, coffee shops. I couldn't believe it, mostly because it was so cheap (23 pounds for the boat ride and my rail ticket from Stranraer to Glasgow). I guess booking ahead of time really is a good idea! The boat ride was pretty cool, and I ended up in Glasgow by 12:30. But that's for the next post...

Carrick-a-Rede:

Giant's Causeway:

London!

May 9-12

What a great trip! We were so lucky--the whole time the weather was amazing. It didn't rain at all the entire three days we were there. In fact, the sun shined the whole time. The only bad thing about it being warm out was that our hostel was SO. HOT. Obviously it didn't have air conditioning (since it seems like nowhere in Europe does), but that would have been ok if the room we were in had a window larger than a doggie door. It was actually cool at night outside, probably around 60, but it was at least 20 degrees hotter inside the room. Not exactly the most comfortable sleeping conditions.

We got to London super late on Friday night, then the next day we had to wake up kind of early so Jonathan could check out of the hostel (it was complicated--because he booked later, he wasn't able to get a room there the second night and had to move to a different hostel, so he had to check out and check back in the next day, but then the third night we weren't in a room together...like I said, complicated). After getting some pounds, we walked to Buckingham Palace and saw the changing of the guard. Boring. (Yes, I said it.)
Then we saw Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey (which we didn't go in because the line was long), the London Eye, all that good stuff. Then we ate lunch at Borough Market and walked across the London Bridge. After discovering that the London Bridge isn't the cool one, we went to the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge (indeed the cool one). We passed on the Tower of London because it was way too expensive. Then we rode the tube to Regent's Park and walked around there for a little bit, which wasn't that exciting. We wanted to do the paddle boats, but it was 7 pounds per person for a half hour! After sitting down for a little bit and a brief rain scare (it almost started drizzling), we went to Chinatown and ate some dinner, then walked to Piccadilly Circus, then to Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column. Then we went back and went to sleep.

The next day was the British Museum (cool, but we just weren't that into it), Covent Garden, and of course lots of walking. We ate lunch at Subway because it was the cheapest thing we could find (two people having lunch for 6 pounds? Sounds good to me!). After lunch it was more walking and then the Tower Bridge Experience (I think it's actually called that). It showed how the bridge was designed, built, etc., plus we got to go up to the two walkways above it.
After that we went to St. Paul's Cathedral, where we got lucky and since it was Sunday it was "no visitors allowed" aka we didn't have to pay 10 pounds to get in. We just weren't allowed to take pictures. After that we went to Regent's Park and walked around a little bit, then ate dinner in Covent Garden.

Monday, our last day. We didn't have the entire day since I had to leave for the airport from our hostel by 4:30. We went to the British Library, where we saw the Magna Carta and some other famous stuff. There was also a video about the Magna Carta starring a woman with the worst teeth I have ever seen. Very British. Then we sweatily rode a double-decker bus part of the way back to the hostel (It was just way too hot to go the whole way. We gave up and rode the tube). Hence the sweaty, unfortunate picture of the two of us:
Jonathan rode with me to the airport, and then I headed off to Belfast. He went back to the US the next morning. It was sad to leave him, but we'll see each other again in two months, and then it'll be all the time!

My birthday

May 8

Let's start there. My birthday was really good. Jonathan, of course, was here, so that was nice. The day before my birthday the family took me out to dinner. It's crazy how going anywhere with small children is such a process! We played Go Fish in English and German (difficult for Jonathan, since he doesn't speak German) while waiting for our food. I think Johanna won. After we'd eaten, Dominik threw a mini fit and ended up changing his entire outfit because of a tiny bit of tomato sauce spilled on his shirt. Once he'd calmed down, he decided he wanted to figure out how much the bill would be. He and Johanna went up to the waitress and asked for a pencil and paper (Johanna almost threw a tantrum over being allowed to walk the three feet with Dominik). Dominik then added up the entire bill, then when the real bill came, he discovered that they had accidentally not included the waters Jonathan and I had ordered, and wanted to rush up and tell them to add it in. Luckily every adult at the table stopped him.

The weather was sooo nice on my actual birthday. Jonathan and I walked around for a while after I was done working, and then after dinner Judith picked us up and we went into Heidenheim to meet up with some other people from Gegenwind. Ingrid, the nicest woman ever, had organized everything last-minute (I hadn't been sure if I'd have to work or not that night) and gotten together a good-sized group of people. We ate ice cream and then walked up to the castle. It made me really happy that all the Gegenwind people tried really hard not only to include Jonathan, but to speak English to him. I know that a lot of them don't speak it very well and have trouble understanding, but they all made the effort. All in all, a really good day.

I know

I know, I know. It's been forever since I've written anything. BUT I have a good reason. Well, several. Jonathan was here in Heuchlingen for a couple days (including my birthday!) and then we went together to London for three days. After that, he went back to the US and I continued on to Belfast, then Glasgow, then back to London shortly, then back to Germany. I was back here for three days, then I went to Paris for four days and got back yesterday morning. Cleary I have a poo ton of stuff I need to write about, so I'll break it up into smaller blog entries. That way you (my rapt, often-commenting audience) won't have to deal with a massive, unmanageable post. I'm sure it'll take me a while until I actually get to all of it, so at least it'll give you something to look forward to?

Looks like I'm way behind on the posting.

Last week was nuts. I was alone with the kids from Wednesday afternoon until Saturday morning, while S&S were in Barcelona. Luckily the weather was really nice (excluding several heavy rain showers), they went to friends' houses, and friends came to us. We had a good time all around, although I wouldn't say that my favorite part was the getting woken up at 6:30 every morning.

On Saturday and Sunday I was completely alone...which was niiice. I baked a cake Sat. afternoon to take to Gegenwind with me. I found a recipe online, because I wanted to make something typically "American" (I've never seen any cakes here that are like the ones people typically have at home). It came out well and everyone seemed to like it. I'm pretty proud of myself for actually making a cake from scratch. I think the last (and first) time I did that was 7th grade.

In other news: I have done a ton of trampoline-jumping. Johanna is a bouncing machine. Every time I'm alone with her, or even just have her in the afternoon, we jump on the trampoline. I'm getting a lot better too; I can actually jump for more than 10 minutes without getting tired! The downside: jumping always makes me have to pee, even if I went just before going outside.

Jonathan's coming tomorrow! I'm really excited! Hopefully he'll make it to Heidenheim by 11 so that we can take the bus back together. If not...he'll somehow have to make his way to Heuchlingen on the bus and then to my house, on his own. This really is quite a challenge. The stops are only listed in German (obviously), and I would say about 50% of the time does the bus driver actually press the button to move the stops along showing what the next stop will be. It was hard enough the first time for me, and I speak German and know what Heuchlingen looks like!

Then Friday, we're going to London together, where we'll be until Monday night. I then go on to Belfast, and Jonathan goes back to the US. After I get back from London, I'm going to Paris a few days after that, then the week after that I'm going to Prague. I still have several trips to get in, including one to Wittenberg for Luthers Hochzeit. Hopefully I'll be able to fit everything in.

Oh yeah, and my birthday's on Thursday! Send me potato chips!

Hop on Pop

The weather has been so nice lately! Not as a rule, but as an exception. It's actually generally been pretty bad, but we've had a few realllly nice days. There's a German saying about the crazy April weather: April, April, er macht was er will (April, April, it does what it wants). For example: on Friday, there was snow on the ground until about 10 AM; in the afternoon, it was warm enough to sit outside without a coat. Sunday was also really nice. All the other days I'm not mentioning were pretty bleh and rainy.

Since it's starting to be pseudo spring-like, they put the trampoline back up! On Monday Johanna and I jumped for a while. She kept wanting to play games that she'd make up, but her games always involved me crawling around under the trampoline on the wet grass. No, thanks. Instead we just jumped around for a while. It's really tiring to jump on a trampoline for a long time. Since Johanna's little she of course has endless energy; I, unfortunately, do not. Not a good combination. Every time I'd sit down for a rest, she'd wait about five seconds and then say, "Jump! Jump!" Kind of like when she tells me to tickle her, then yells that I should stop, then as soon as I stop, she tells me to start again.

Yesterday I just had Dominik since Johanna was at Oma and Opa's. Lukas and Lena (Lukas's sister) came over. They also came over on Sunday afternoon; apparently they had been talking all day about getting to jump on the trampoline! They called to ask if they could come, and about 3 minutes later they were there. I suspect that the reason Lena wanted to come yesterday was largely to jump on the trampoline. They of course only jumped on the trampoline for about 15 minutes, leaving me to have to put the wet cover back on by myself (it's too big for little kids to put on alone). When they came back inside, they colored for a while. Lena colored me a picture and wrote on the back, "Für Laura, von Lena". Little kids are much more likeable when they draw you pictures (not that I didn't like Lena before).

Hmm, what else have I been doing? Not too much. Still reading about Sophie Scholl, of course (same book). Downside to reading stuff in German: it takes a long time. Of course, this is a more academic book so it's bound to be harder. That makes me feel a little better. What makes me feel a little worse is that it's a kids' academic book. That's right. I got it from the juvenile section of the library. Well, at least it's meant for teenagers. I hope.

Jonathan's coming in two weeks!!! And we're going to London!!!!! The more I read about stuff to see in London, the more excited I get! It will also be extremely nice to go somewhere where I know people speak my language! Oh, speaking of traveling, I discovered a bus line that has really cheap (as in, 65 euros or less) round-trip bus tickets to cool places like Zagreb and Ljubljana. I had pretty much given up hope of getting to go those places, so I'm glad that I'll actually be able to. I'm also hoping to go up to Wittenberg in June for the Luther's Hochzeit festival. Not sure if that'll work out, but I hope it does. While I was typing this, I booked a trip to Prague for the weekend after I get back from Paris!

My birthday's in two weeks! Send me potato chips!