Four Weeks Later and How I Feel

I have been home for four weeks now. Everyone's been asking how the trip was and how I'm feeling now that I've been at home. I don't know why I am writing this blog entry because the people who ask how it is being home never read the blog while I was gone anyway, so I doubt the following information will ever reach them, anyway.

Ok, that was a little depressing.

Anyway, my wonderful friend Viktor came to visit a week after I returned. The two weeks that followed were two weeks of my life that I will most certainly never forget. Even after almost an entire year abroad that anyone would call unforgettable, these two weeks in my own country somehow stand out from the others. Truthfully, it was a time to truly be myself again. It was a fusing of my two worlds. That is a chance I won't have for a very long time. Viktor was a big part of my world when I was in Europe, and I'm glad that he got to come here to "this" world, because as funny as it sounds, that helped prove to me that my "other" world was real and meaningful to someone. I am realizing that most of my friends here will never really know that part of me, that part of me that speaks a language they don't, that part of me that experienced something that most of them probably never will... I will never be able to explain anything to a point to where anyone will see that it wasn't "just a trip". And even if, after this fusing of two realities, I had to say goodbye to a huge and wonderful part of one of them, I'm somehow okay with that. I guess I have to be. I never imagined that I would have this standing in my way, though, the struggle to be "you" for people who wouldn't know "you" had they encountered you in the "other" world. Most people I know who go to another country stick around with people that speak their own language, who do the same things they do, who look like them, who have been to where they live, who actually like where they live. And they don't stay very long. That's the thing. They may not even want to stay longer. It takes a long time to really ground yourself, to really become that "other" you in that other place. Apparently its the deepest desire, the highest goal of most exchange students...to really integrate themselves. And everyone is ready to be there, but no one prepares you for leaving. Not just the physical separation of you from that new home, but the mental, emotional separation. It is one thing to go to a country, stay for a while, and leave without ever really growing any roots. Never having the intention to stick around. But I felt at home there. I could speak the language. I can get a job there. Could I say the same thing if the last year had been "just a trip"? I don't think so.

I will return. Another thing that made my "trip" different.

First few days back at home

Well the flight was fabulous, for starters! It was worth every penny flying business class back home. We ended up having a 50 minute delay due to the air conditioner being out on the plane. In the 24-seat section, there were only 7 of us and three attendants. So I had two seats to myself (one for me and one for all of my crap) As soon as we got on we were offered drinks and the attendants knew all of our names :-) Our lunch was great, I had shrimp in coconut sauce over saffron rice and veggies (including water chestnuts, which I LOVE!) I watched three movies on my personal TV-- In the Valley of Elah, PS: I Love You, and Notting Hill... I also caught part of I Am Legend. So many movies were offered I couldn't watch all the ones I wanted to :-(.

I was one of the first ones off the plane and although I was tired, by this time I was really excited about seeing my folks. The drive home was long--three and a half hours (I flew into Ft. Myers), but I had a lot to talk about so it wasn't that bad at all. And when I got home, my sister and BECKY and a cake were waiting for me. I was SO surprised!! Later, Jeremy came, too! We ate cake and chatted and they were only there for about an hour because I was so tired I got a bit delirious after a while, ha ha!!

Thursday I woke up at like 5:30 am... I was wide awake and just couldn't go back to sleep. It was okay, though, I just went with Mom when she left. We went to Marshall's where I found a great pair of leather flip-flops from Clark's for $20, which, for that brand, is practically stealing, ha ha... after that we went to IKEA!!!!!!! And I must say that in comparison to Germany's IKEA in terms of assortment, its the same, but the prices are lower. Mom and I found some fabulous new furniture for my room and before we left, we snagged some 50 cent hot dogs and $1 ice cream cones! In Germany, the ice cream cones cost €1, which is about a buck and 58 cents at the moment... we put the furniture together when we got home. Court pretty much did it all herself, she is really good at putting this stuff together!! I worked on clearing out all of my stuff from my old dressers and desk. Crap, I should have taken before and after pics... didn't think about that... I just finished everything about 40 minutes ago, and the place looks great. It has been a lot of work. Mom and I were going to have a yard sale tomorrow but now its kind of up in the air since her ad didn't show up in the paper today... needless to say that after plowing through all my stuff, there is quite a lot to sell! I threw away all kinds of crap from perfect attendance certificates to pre-calculus assignments to 9th grade biology notes. Everything is GONE :-) I don't have the slightest idea as to why I thought any of that stuff would be valuable... a lot of my college stuff is gone, too... like anthropology and even some COM notes... I figure I know it or I don't, there won't be any time to read it anyway.

I did take some time to read some of my old stuff... from 10th grade, five years ago... my plans were to move in with a friend in Germany after high school and then start college afterwards, "worst case scenario, I'll go to UCF"... I don't remember feeling like I said I did or thinking any of those things. I read a lot of poems about my cat that I wrote when I was 10, 11, 12 years old, and ones about how much I hated Danielle Stevens in the 7th grade. I found my old scrapbook that I never finished, which included a collage of the Hanson brothers in their early days... lots of old books, German magazines from 2004 that I can actually understand now... and MAN was I skinny junior year!!!

Overall I have seen in going through my old things and sorting my new things just how much things can change in a short period of time... I am glad I wrote as much as I did, even though I remember back then how I wished I could keep a journal. I think what comes naturally and unplanned is the best way to document your life.

It is weird being home... before going to bed on my first night home, I saw my wall calendar, which was still open to September 2007... Mom had left it as it was. I suddenly felt scared! Even on the way home I just was overcome with the feeling that I had only been gone a month or so, but seeing that calendar made me feel like I had traveled back to the past, back to the time right before I left. I haven't gone through all the things I brought back with me from my travels yet... I unpacked my suitcases today (where the heck did I put my black USB!?), but set that box of stuff aside. I need to go through my pictures and start choosing some to put into an album... I think I will print all the pictures I want in the album before I even buy the album.... or I may do a Photobook and have that printed...

And after the 4 days I spent in Ingolstadt, it's hard to want to come back to Germany... I don't plan on going back for another year at least... a lot is just really up in the air because I don't know if I will be getting in with Siemens this fall or not... if I do, it could change things up a bit. I left a lot of crap at the Pauligs', so I have to go back at SOME point. Let me just get my life back in order, get a new job, start school again, and THEN I will worry about all of that.

I will still be traveling a bit for the next two weeks or so. I am here until Thursday morning, then it's off to meet Viktor in NYC for a few days. Then we'll be in Florida. I'll stay in Florida, and he will go back to Germany on the 17th... I don't know if I will feel sorry for him or not. Right now, I like Florida, because it's "new" again, whereas Koblenz had gotten old after 10 months. And I probably will continue liking Florida until it rains on Christmas again this year ;-)

There is just a lot of work still left to be done... a pile of mail to open, too!


Love,
Caitlin

PS: Does anyone want to buy my Mickey Mouse snow globe collection?

Ballin'

Wow! I am in the business class lounge at the Munich airport and it ROCKS! I am about to go board the plane (which bisher has NO delay, YEAH!) and I am on a computer in the lounge which is freeeeeeee to use. I also picked up a few magazines for free that usually cost like $4 each and had some free food and Fanta... plus a comfy leather chair. Blows Düsseldorf's lounge right out of the water!!

Anyway, better get moving, I will see you Heimgebliebene soon!

Bis dann,
Caitlin

Survival

Here I am. I've been in Ingolstadt since Friday evening. That means it has been less than 48 hours and it feels like 48 years. We are having a good time! Yesterday I tagged along to a shopping trip that took two hours in two stores. Later in the afternoon I biked with Maxi to play mini-golf and lost. We ate dinner and then went to pick up Maria from a birthday party, where we mortified her in front of her friends when Gaby said "Hey everyone, we are only talking English". Maxi adamantly and obnoxiously insisted that Gaby take them to the playground for "five minutes" which turned out to be 20, at the end of which Maxi broke his wrist. We spent an hour or two in the ER and when we got home, I went to bed as soon as I could and slept until 10am this morning. Mongo's is therefore cancelled. I'm bummed, but after getting on the scale last night and confirming that yes, I have gained a few pounds back at least, that's ok. Filled out the papers for my new German bank account this morning, hopefully the Euros'll be coming in soon :-) Sending my last €650 or so with Tobi on Tuesday to get changed to dollars... for once I am hoping the exchange rate to be at its worst so I can get the most dollars possible, ha ha...

The next few days are going to go by incredibly slow. However I will really enjoy it as much as I can. Looking forward to coming home, though. REALLY looking forward to it. Ingolstadt is the place to be to get that feeling, I think.

That is all for me for now, going to go pass the time in another way...
Caitlin

Last Days in Koblenz

Wow, it sucks so much to say goodbye to the people I met here. Why is it always when I leave that I realize exactly what and/or who it is I am leaving? That is, you are never truly grateful for what you had until you don't have it anymore or, have to leave it. Ugh. I hate it.

Last night I went to the Koblenzer Extrablatt for the last time... I love that place man... I must admit, if the next place I go doesn't have an Extrablatt, I ain't goin'. It's just that simple. Coming back to Germany won't be the same as this time, though... I will meet completely new people, do completely new things, see completely new places. One can't expect to have the same experience twice in a row... and who would want it that way, anyway? Anyway all of my best friends here came and we had a lovely time... happy hour, baby :-) T'was grand... Jenny made me an AWESOME cake with cats and suitcases and a whole slew of other wonderful things, and from a few other friends I received sweet Koblenz mementos and cards that made me cry :-( after that and a few sad, tearful good-byes, some of us went to the Irish Pub for karaoke, where we stayed for an hour or so. Niko (my first friend here) and I sang Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" and it was really fun.

And this morning Lea and I cleaned up her apartment a bit and then met at 12 with 6 or 7 others to eat the fabulous cake. It is hard to eat something that pretty, man. She said she spent about 10 hours working on it in total! INSANE. Nevertheless I am sooo grateful for the cake and even more grateful to have friends like these!!

I have posted pictures of the last few days for your enjoyment...

Caitlin

A Few Steps Closer...

Well, one week from today I will already be in the airplane on the way home (HOPEFULLY, the last two times I have flown LTU from Germany there have been delays... but both of those other times were out of Düsseldorf, not Munich, so we'll hope for the best...) and will have about seven hours left of the flight.

Right now I am living with my mate, Lea, the Australian. hi world! (says Lea). We started packing up her stuff today. Yesterday and today I got all my money back from Studierendenwerk. Tonight we are going to the Extrablatt *tear* one last time to say good-bye to everyone (for now, muahahaha). It sucks today because the weather was so nice this morning and GUESS WHAT, now it's raining. FABULOUS! My hair's going to frizz like crazy, just like at home, ha ha...

Yeah and tomorrow? We don't know yet.

Peace out, ya'll.

Things will be different next time

Okay, I admit it, and flat out: I brought a little too much stuff. Still, I don't regret bringing two suitcases :-) I definitely need both of them. I have to mention that I am sooo lucky to have such fabulous, very generous relatives that are letting me leave pretty much half of what I brought in their cellar for the next time (and yes, there will be a next time, I didn't learn this language for nothing, you know!).

Next time I am DEFINITELY...
-- NOT bringing so much face cream under the impression that no one uses face cream with SPF in Germany
-- NOT bringing ANY books with me (a good news magazine per month will last me... those Germans are wordy!)... they are just too heavy and I didn't read most of them.
-- still going to bring a stock of makeup from home because it is seriously ridiculously expensive here AND they don't make what I use anyway
-- not going to have to buy nearly as much stuff since I have everything I need already :-D yeah!


Well that is it for now... as for the packing and cleaning situation, I am sooo close to being done it isn't even funny :-D in Business class I am allowed to bring 2 pieces of hand luggage so I am bringing my little rolly and my backpack... in my little rolly there is nothing but BOOKS and CDs and DVDs... they never weigh hand luggage, and I am allowed to bring two 6kg (14 lbs, lol). I am also moving in with Lea from Tuesday through Friday morning. Should be fun! Except we wont have ANY space with all my stuff in there. But we will make it work somehow, I imagine.


Cheers,
Caitlin

Packing up my life...

Well the last day has been spent packing up my life for the last 10 months... I have been trying to keep my heart out of it so it doesn't get tough, if you know what I mean, but I think I am ready to leave so my goal has just been to get stuff organized and into the suitcases.

Here is a picture of my progress so far:


Hopefully today I can get the Hausmeister to come check the place out and give me my €400 bond back........ that is a LOTTTTT of money and will probably be my NY, Orlando, and Key West money when I get back!

Caitlin

Dresden: City of Art, Culture, and All-Out Flair!

So, now I am in another train back westward, late by the way, which means we will probably miss our connection which means we will have to wait an hour for the next train, which means I probably won't get home til 11 freakin 30 tonight. DAMN IT I hate Germany sometimes. Gosh I just get so frustrated, something always goes wrong. Plus somehow there are always LOUD and ANNOYING people on the train that talk extremely loudly on their cell phones or allow their children to scream through the train. Ugh.

But O Dresden, how I love thee! What a beautiful city. It is like the German version of Kraków. Seriously. I don't really want to spend a lot of time writing every little thing we did (I am lazy, plus, its boring), since you can maybe see that in the pictures. Dresden has such an interesting history. On Feb 13 and 14, 1945, the entire city was firebombed and most of it was flat within 30 seconds. The Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche) partially survived but later collapsed due to 1000° C temperatures from the surrounding burning buildings. The wood inside started to burn and weakened the sandstone causing its collapse. Both the Altstadt and the Neustadt in Dresden are faaaabulous, and whats unique here is that the Neustadt has all the bars in restaurants, whereas its usually the Altstadt in most cities that all of these places are found. Not to mention a fantastic piece of art is located here: Rafael's “The Sistine Madonna”--most people know this painting, however, only partially... the two “thinking” angels below the painting are so often pictured by themselves without the rest of the painting that we all think that the two angels themselves are the painting. I didn't know any of this, so it was exciting to learn it indeed. There are just a lot of fabulous buildings there to see—the Opera House, the Zwinger, the Art Academy, all the churches... basically on Thursday that is what we did—just walked around the Altstadt checking out the buildings. We saw a few museums and exhibitions in the Zwinger. I think the entire city is a piece of art. They had to build it all over again after the bombing and it is so beautiful. There are so many parks and fountains and benches and cafes! I just love it. Definitely VERY high on the list of potential places to work in the future.

I will take a moment to praise and complain about the hostel we stayed in. I booked it because the reviews were all very good. Frankly I was disappointed and had expected a lot more. The rooms were very nice, the hostel itself was very clean and I had no complaints about that. We only paid about €13 per night. They charge an additional €2 for sheets, though, and €2 per hour for internet... on your OWN computer! I think that is the most ridiculous thing. I had expected to pay for their own terminal, but I got there and saw the list of prices and was really angered by it. Plus they don't tell you how to log off, so if you have to interrupt the session to use the bathroom or something your time keeps running. Not to mention there was only one bathroom for our entire floor with one shower and it was not separate, so if someone needed to pee and someone needed to shower, regardless, the door was locked and you had to go down two flights of stairs to the other showers and WCs. Also absurd. But there was always soap and it was always clean so I can't complain too much. The kitchen was also very nice. We saved some dough by having dinner there the first two nights and breakfast there all three mornings. I can't imagine traveling any other way except staying in hostels. But there are people out there who HAVE to stay in hotels and have to eat all meals out. Having a kitchen in the hostel is pretty much the best because it saves SO much MONEY on food. In the New York hostel there is not a kitchen :-( so I hope there is someplace nearby that isn't too expensive. I did survive in Paris for a week without a kitchen, so I imagine a weekend in NY won't be a problem.

On Friday we bought a day ticket for the public transport and rode out to the Moritzburg, a majestic-looking hunting lodge of the former king of Poland (yes, Poland), August the Strong. It was neat. There were hundreds of sets of red stag antlers all over the place, floor to ceiling. After that we had lunch and then went to the German Hygiene Museum which was surprisingly very interesting. We got there a bit after three but it closed at 6pm so we had to leave before having seen all the exhibits. We ended up going to the movies last night and saw an independent German movie called “Alle Alle”, which reminded me a lot of Steinbecks “Of Mice and Men”... what was really cool, though, is that the actors and the director of the film were in the theater with us and did Q&A after the movie was over. Felt kind of bad for them, though, since no one really had any questions. The movie had a lot of slang and drunken mumbling, so I didn't understand everything they said.

Yeah and this morning we had breakfast and walked some through the Neustadt and through the Kunstpassage, a really artsy area with some neat shops. We had milkshakes at a little cafe there before heading back to the hostel for a bit. And now we are on the train that I am trying not to get upset about. I did sleep until 9:30 after all, so I shouldn't be tired getting home at 11:30 at night anyway.

In other news, I am ready to go home. Yes, I said it. I had hoped that by this time I would be and by golly, I am. Next week is my last week in Koblenz. I have to be out of my apartment by 10 am on Tuesday morning. And until Friday morning, when Gaby and Tobi pick me up, I will be living with my Australian mate, Lea. Should be fun. A lot of stuff has to happen next week: I gotta close my Koblenz bank account, let the citizens office know I'm leaving, turn in my cafeteria card, get the Hausmeister to inspect my room (after I clean the place from top to bottom or at least make it look like I did, lol) and get my €400 bond back... and have a great last few days. Of course if the last few days were utterly miserable, it might make it easier to leave. It sure is a heck of a lot of work to get things organized here and back at home. I have pretty much decided that before I do anything crazy in Germany again, I will go home like a good girl and finish my degree...which could happen within a year, even!! And then maybe I won't have to worry about how much money these stingy Germans would pay me for an internship, since I could apply for a real job. Plus, who knows, I might really get a job at Siemens Orlando this year. I had kind of thrown that idea out the window since one of my “in-people” doesn't seem like he wants to help at all. He told me to look at Monster.com to see if there was anything I was interested in, but there are only regular positions there and no internships so that does not help at all :-(. However Mom told me (thanks, Mom) that apparently my uncle is still working on something for me, and although that could mean everything, anything, or nothing at all, it is something. I really hope to find an o.k. job back at home... I would like to continue saving since I haven't been for almost a year. And I don't want to get ripped off like I did at the animal hospital (I still get really mad when I think about having worked there!!!)

But there are a few things I will miss about this place, and there are some that I will not. Actually, I lot of people have asked what I'll miss most when I go home... so...

I will miss:

1. Bakeries all over the place—i.e. Fresh and healthy bread for like $1!

2. travelling without a car (even though the trains are late most of the time) and the fact that don't have to drive thirty minutes to get anywhere

3. my cute Häuschen and living in a dorm with friendly people that come knocking just to say hi (like Rike and Niko!)

4. some of the people I have met here

5. Cafe Extrablatt: namely the cocktails and the breakfast! YUM!

6. Ritter Sport Erdbeer Joghurt chocolate

7. DM Markt and all the great quality, inexpensive stuff there

8. being able to walk places

9. Sightseeing! Everything is so pretty.

10. Döner!!!!!!!!!!! I love it! We need to get some Turks to come to Orlando! They can even live with us, lol

11. Cheese and how cheap the real good stuff is: Havarti! YUUUM!

12. Cream cheese with herbs and garlic!

13. my economical laundry stand that I bought for €5... saved me sooo much money!

14. just speaking German all day every day.

15. Ditsch pizza and pretzels

16. only having one class lol

Things I will NOT miss:

1. the cold, grey winter and (usually) spring.

2. the sheer inconvenience of having to wait on trains, buses, etc.

3. the expensive Euro

4. the rudeness of so many Germans (make that Europeans): I don't mean this in a mean way, it is just fact that a ton of them consider foreigners to be the spawn of Satan and their own country to be the center of the planet, even if it is just Luxembourg, for example. I know Americans can be just as rude but generally are not. At least they ACT like they care, whereas here, most people are quick to show you they don't. At all.

5. paying anywhere from 30 cents to €1,10 to freakin' pee (even at McDonald's!)

6. the fact that there is just a shortage of toilets in general.

7. how expensive using a cell phone is here

8. how expensive it is to get your hair cut

9. how expensive it is, period!

10. never knowing what to wear because its never always hot... at home its always hot so it takes two seconds to get dressed and I can ALWAYS wear flip flops... so I always do.

11. Koblenz itself... it was great for the time I was there, small, quaint, a good way to get used to Germany, but it is too small for me, I think. 2 buses per hour, none after 11pm, and you are screwed on Sundays and holidays. Its pretty there, but there are plenty of other cities that are just as pretty if not prettier with a lot more to offer. Like Dresden, for example. *sigh*

13. all the paperwork and technicalities that go with everything, and the general unwillingness of authorities to help you out (see also #4!)

Things I have learned or changed while here:

1. I like tomatoes

2. I can cook chicken. Make that cook, period, and it actually taste good. WITHOUT using a recipe!

3. I eat bread, cheese, and salami for breakfast and I like it!

4. I can hold a pleasant conversation in a foreign language. Hey, that was the main goal!

I suppose most of those things will occur to me after I've been at home for a while... but don't worry, I still don't wear socks with sandals... lol... and PLEASE no one get offended by that, it is just a thing a LOT of Germans do.

Caitlin

quick update

I have been in Dresden for two hours and I think I am in love with it...

12 Days in Spain (feat. Morocco & Gibraltar)

Well, I have been back from Spain for two days and now I am sitting in a train with Jenny on the way to Dresden. Dresden is my last trip before the big trip back home to Florida. Had the brilliant idea to bring my computer along to get some things done...it takes about 5.5 hours to get to Dresden from Koblenz—in other words, I'll be here for a while.

I flew with Ryanair and had a terrible flight as I expected with the loudest screaming child I have ever experienced! Ryanair sucks. I will say it loud! But they're cheap, and offer the best and most convenient flight times to Málaga. It took me almost 12 hours to reach my final destination in Granada. Setting out at 8am for the Koblenz Hauptbahnhof, I arrived in Granada at 7:45pm, four bus and one plane ride later. Thank the Lord for iPod (I mean it!!!)

We watched soccer at an overcrowded, sweaty Irish pub the first two nights and Friday afternoon we flew to Barcelona for the weekend. It was getting late already by the time we got there but we still got to check the place out a bit—we walked to the marina toward the large monument of Christopher Columbus and to the Barcelona bridge there where we were greeted by hundreds of fish and several giant seagulls (Big Willy of course among them).

First thing Saturday we took the Metro to Gaudí's Sagrada Familia, which is still under construction and “financed by the people”. It is estimated to be finished by 2025. We also took the elevator up one of the towers and were afforded with some fabulous views of the city from there. We took the stairs down and on the way got to inspect the building a bit more, too. After that we walked a lot and ended up getting totally ripped off at this sandwich shop... for two grilled cheese sandwiches and a little Frenchbread pizza, we paid €16, which is about $25! That made us mad for a while, but I guess we could afford to lose a little money since we had saved so much on the accommodation and flight there. Plus, we had breakfast and dinner at home which saved a lot o' cash as well. We got to see a lot of Gaudí's stuff after that, like the Casa Batlló. It was closed that day so we decided to go the next day... We walked through Barri Gotic district which is really really pretty and has a medieval feel to it. There are some pretty churches in there we got to see as well. We stopped by an old Roman cemetery, which wasn't in its original state, obviously, but it was still neat. Inside the Cathedral in that district, we saw the geese that live there in the cloister! Some of them have little tufts of feathers on their heads :-) Walking down La Ramblas afterward, which is the famous hoppin' street in Barcelona, was really fun! There are a bunch of little pet shops there selling everything from chickens and geese to turtles and chipmunks. I read something about how they are getting shut down because of animal cruelty regulations of some sort. There are all kinds of people there putting on all sorts of shows-- we saw one who was a really good robot!! If they stop moving, they won't move again until someone puts money in their jar, hat, can, or whatever they have sitting there to collect it with. I imagine the ones that are really cool make a killing!!

We slept until 10am on Sunday, but then got going because there were still a lot of things left on the list to get done!!! First and most importantly was to go see “Gat”, which is a HUGE and wildly random cat statue standing quite inconspicuously to the side in Rambla del Raval... I fell in love there. It was so neat! I think we took the most photographs of that one thing than other single thing we saw (except the Sagrada Familia, lol). After that we were saddened that Palau Güell was closed Sunday and Monday and we wouldn't have a change to see Gaudí's chimney pots there. Schade! We headed onward to the Battló House though, which was really neat (and expensive--€13,20... that is how much I pay for the bus to the Frankfurt Hahn airport!!). It came with a pretty neat audioguide though and it was just wild to walk through a house like that, knowing it was built sooo long ago. To have it look so modern even today, I can't imagine what it must have been like to see a house like that back in Gaudí's day! Park Güell was next on the list, which was also one of Gaudí's fabulous masterpieces... interestingly, the park was supposed to be a private playground just for the rich people's kids...

Barcelona's fab and hot beach was next on the list, so we hopped the Metro to check things out on that side of town... the sand was very sand-colored... I was surprised. I was also surprised by the amount of women baring all on the beach who shouldn't be baring ANYTHING... what I loved most about the beach was when you reached into the water to pull up a handful of the watery sand, you got a bunch of beautiful stones instead!! I took some home! One of them reminded me of Gaudí :-) so I called it the little Gaudí stone. Later that night after dinner and such we watched the Europe cup finals at a bar on the beach... after Spain won, it was surprising how calm the Spaniards there were... I think cuz there were just a ton of Germans there as well, maybe they were being polite—but somehow I doubt that. Needless to say no one got much sleep that night since everyone in Barcelona who had anything to make any sort of noise was out in the street doing so! I slept anyway. Most of the problem had to do with how freaking hot it was in Barcelona and just how poorly ventilated the building was. Normally it is cooler inside buildings than it is outside, right?

Some sidenotes for which I found no convenient place in the last few paragraphs:

1. OMG there were so many invisible mosquitoes in Spain and they bit me and bit me and bit me and NO ONE ELSE. I am so serious, no one I asked got bit and you can believe I asked EVERYONE. They bit my butt, my hands, my feet, my shoulders, my arms, legs, every where and I never saw them when they bit me. Not one.

2. It smells bad in Spain. They apparently wash the streets and I think that is why everyone lets their dogs shit on the ground and then they just leave it there—oh, someone will clean it up. Plus when its hot it smells even worse.

3. a bird pooped on me for the first time in my life while in Spain. Weird.

4. I love sangria

   5. I DID photograph every cat I saw, and several times.

Monday we went back to the cathedral to go up to the rooftop since it was closed on Sunday and it was really neat. We got to see the geese again which was also a treat for me!! We walked through Barri Gotic again and then went back to check out but we left our luggage there and headed to Montjuic on the Metro. By then we were soooo tired we just wanted to sit. The parks in Montjuic are really pretty and are even home to at least one cat. After tiring out in Montjuic we metroed back and had lunch, then strolled up La Ramblas again before making a quick stop off at the big cat in Rambla del Raval. There was a cute group of kids playing on that cat who quickly noticed us and wanted to be friends with us. We took pictures of them at their request. After that we just went back to the hostel and chilled for an hour or so before heading to the airport... we met a really strange fanatical lady in the train... at first she seemed friendly but just got SOOOOO preachy--- she is from California and just started talking to us about how shes going around the world spreading the message not to support the war in any way... she went on to list all the keys to heaven like no eating meat, no getting married and/or having sex, no having children, etc. etc. etc. and a whole lot of other unbiblical things. I asked her if she had been married and she said she had been and had also had kids but was now married to Jesus. Which is great and all but come on... it doesn't say in the Bible that you can't get married, for Pete's sake. She also claimed that China has a 2 million man army sitting and waiting to devastate Europe and take over the world and that Jesus has already returned........ she just kept talking and talking and we just kept listening and then this French-sounding guy started arguing with her so we were grateful and got to sneak out before it got any more intense, lol...

Our plane was delayed an hour, laaaaame.... so we sat there for several hours but finally made it back to Granada. And the next day we washed laundry and other such exciting tasks.

And the next day we rented a car and drove to Tarifa, the southernmost city in Europe!! Tarifa is soooo pretty. We went to the beach to which there were two sides-- one calm but crowded side, and one empty, really windy side. We met a family of cats living in the rocks near the beach, including three kittens—a black and white one and two little orange kittens. SO cute! Was definitely a highlight for me. In the hostel we met some Italians who are from Süd Tirol which is the north of Italy close to Austria... it was neat to talk to them... we heard them talking and they sounded German but I couldn't quite understand what they were saying... and it turned out they spoke to each other in dialect ;-). What's also cool is that you can see Africa from the coast in Tarifa... and coincidentally, that was our next stop!

The next day we took a ferry ship to Morocco (specifically, Tanger). It was crazy! I haven't felt seasick ever before, but this ferry was so fast and it was such a bumpy ride I really did feel sick. Even now sitting on train going backwards I don't feel queasy in the least... something about the water, I think. Anyway our tour guide in Tanger was really cool and spoke good German. We thought we got stuck on a French tour, when really there were a lot of Germans, Spaniards, and French people on the bus. I think I was the only person there whose mother tongue was not spoken during the tour....but it was cool. We walked through the old town and were continuously brought to shops and street performers and we got the feeling it was all kind of organized to help people out... which was cool. I rode a camel, held a snake, and tasted some real Moroccan bread! We had lunch at a real Moroccan restaurant where the food was surprisingly NOT salty... and I ate couscous for the first time in my life...and liked it! The people selling stuff on the street in Tanger are really pushy... at times there were 2, 3, even 4 of them trying to sell us different things at once and we just had to keep walking and ignoring them and even saying NO and they still wouldn't leave us alone. They were all desperate to sell their stuff! In one of the markets in Tanger we saw a huge bucket of snails and the lady selling them got mad that we took pictures of it, but it was neat and the snails were all still alive just crawling around. A lot of time was spent looking for a Fanta can with Arabic writing, which we finally ended up finding at the concession stand on the ferry, AFTER we had searched for it all day, lol...

The next day we went to Gibraltar, which is in Great Britain, incidentally... there is even border control there... there was a looooot of traffic to get into the place, but we parked in Spain and walked (the more I think about it, the more this place seems like a theme park than a country!!) The main street there was soooo cool and everything was like a little England, I just loved it! They have their own coins (the British pound but some still say Gibraltar on them). They have Barclay's bank there from whose ATMs I can withdraw money fee-free... which I did, since I was running out of cash. Turned out we had exactly enough money to go on a Rock Tour. The cable cars we would have taken were out of service since it was kind of a windy day, but in the end we lucked out with a mini-bus tour and saved some major dough and time along the way. My favorite part of Gibraltar were the rock apes-- I didn't know there were apes here until the day before we went there! They are really funny and just kid of sit around and interact with the tourists, all the while trying to steal food whenever they can. We took a lot of great pics, so check 'em out :-) Upon leaving Gibraltar it REALLY felt like a theme park.. everyone in their sneakers and backpacks leaving through a common exit... the only thing different was going through customs for Spain on the other side :-) ha ha... I think we ate at McDonald's twice that day, too... did they change their ice cream cones since I left? Now they have regular ice cream cones for their soft-serve and not those nasty styrofoamy ones...

Back in Granada for the weekend, not a lot happened, so we got a chance to relax for a little while. Viktor's birthday was Sunday, and so Saturday night we were out till 3 am celebrating. On Sunday, two of Viktor's friends from Germany (whom I also am acquainted with) came to visit. It was a lot of fun hanging out with them. We walked around in the city with them and ate a whole bunch of free tapas in a bunch of different bars in Granada. That was really neat. I don't know how people can eat those all the time, though-- they're soooo salty and greasy for the most part, I started to feel a bit sick after a while, ha ha... some were really good though, like a real Mexican taco. Okay, I had to admit it tasted like one from Taco Bell off the dollar menu, but it was still pretty good. Yeah and the next day we all took a bus to Málaga, and though I had hoped to hang out with the rest of the little group for at least a little bit before having to go to the airport, but it seemed to make more sense to just head to the airport instead of risking getting there too late—traffic in Málaga at the moment is horrid... the entire city is under construction!!

So I went to the airport and the Ryanair flight—the last one I will have to take for at least a year!--was not that bad...I got an entire row to myself in the back of the plane with NO kids around. It was fabulous. I just listened to my iPod the whole time and the flight was over before I knew it. Then I got on the bus home and only after paying the fare of 13,20 euros for the last time did I discover that there is a 3,30 discount for BahnCard 50 holders... and the tightwad wouldn't give me my money back even after I asked THREE times VERY nicely and after I watched him sell a woman a child's ticket... jerk jerk jerk. Just dealing with this rigid unfairness and, I forgot to mention, the rain and COLD in Germany I was greeted by upon stepping out of the plane, really made me homesick and I just felt like crying the entire way home. It didn't get any worse till I got into my building in Koblenz and fell flat on my ass by the mailboxes because the floor is so slippery. Can I blame it on my wet shoes? Maybe. But no building housing 200 college students should have that slick of a floor, seriously. Luckily I emerged uninjured from the fall, just a little shaken.

Well those are the 12 days in Spain and now as I said, I'm heading to Dresden and Leipzig with Jenny. We are staying all three nights in Dresden, but will be traveling to Leipzig on Friday to check it out, too. Apparently the Hauptbahnhof there is the largest in Europe. Wow!

In other news, packing is WELL under way... and I officially bought way too much crap, lol. Things that were useful while I was here, but a pain in the butt to take home. I am leaving a lot of items in Ingolstadt at Gaby's. Also in other news, I think I have decided to finish my degree at UCF in the next year (I hope to graduate in August 2009, if not May) before going back to Germany. That would leave me with more options than before—meaning, internships AND real jobs—plus leave me more time to save money... interrupting the degree program takes a lot of work and getting it back in order afterward again also takes a lot of work..... not fun.

Today I called to reserve a biiiig table in the Extrablatt for Wednesday next week... I would honestly rather not have any sort of going-away party at all, but a lot of people have been asking about one and it seems like the custom here—if someone goes away for any amount of time it seems, they're gonna let people know ;-) I have to be out of my apartment by Tuesday at 10 am... after which I will be living with Lea the Australian until Friday morning, when Gaby and Tobi will pick me up to take me back to Ingolstadt with them. I fly two weeks from today at 12pm... in exactly two weeks, I will already be in the plane.

I will be back again to write about Dresden and maybe another time before leaving Koblenz for some last thoughts, and perhaps once while in Ingolstadt. But until then, the adventure continues...

Caitlin

Pics up

Just updated my photo links... should have all the albums from my first trip to Poland back in April all the way up to yesterday. New albums are added chronologically, so check the end of the list for the newest albums. Thank you for your attention.

The Management

P.S.: Lea also took pictures of the trip, here they are.

Kraków...

Well here we are back from another weekend rampage. This one took place in Kraków, Poland. What a FABULOUS city, just teeming with life, bursting at the seams with all kinds of people and things to do... apparently its also the city in Europe with the most bars per square km... we had a fabulous time and were really sad to leave. We got there late Friday night due to a flight delay in Köln. We stayed three nights in the Flamingo Hostel and loved every minute (except how smelly the guys in our room were, YUCK!) They had a great breakfast for free, super clean bathrooms, friendly staff, free internet, and all for $20 a night!!

Saturday was our day to explore the city. We started off at Wawel Castle, then wandered through the Jewish quarter which was really neat. We found Schindler's former factory and some remnants of the old Kraków Ghetto wall... after heading back to the castle area, we visited the "dragon's den" which sounded really cool in the description we had, but we were somewhat disappointed because it was just a walk through a manmade cave, lol. But Lea was a great travel buddy, so we had a fun time no matter what we were doing.

Next, we happened to by chance catch a bus going to the Wieliczka Salt Mines, a Kraków must-see, paid a freakin' CHEAP $1.15 for the bus and went on out there. It was really really cool! We first went down 380 steps way way down into the earth. 2.5 km of the mine is for visitors, and the mine in its entirety is so huge, that 2.5 km is only 1% of the whole thing!!! We were so hungry by the time we were done and we were lucky there was a restaurant down there. And it was sooo neat to eat that far underground. I ordered a porkchop and some pierogies, both of which were just oh-SO-tasty!! Lea ate french fries (or "chips", as I have learned to call them). Afterward we rode with a crazy crazy old Polish dude back into the city on a bus. Not just some random Polish guy, lol.

Ummm and then we hung out and saw more of the city. The town square is HUMONGOUS, allegedly the biggest in Europe and there is so much going on there. There are so many bars and restaurants and clubs in Kraków, I wish we could have stayed longer just to eat and drink in this cool city. It just has such FLAIR!

We were also smart to have gone to the Salt Mines when we did, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten it done. The original plan was to go to the concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau the same day as the mines, but after spending ALL DAY Sunday traveling to Oswiecim, visiting both camps (3 km apart from one another) and traveling back on a hot, sweaty, terrible, 2-hour-long city bus ride that we would like to forget over time but unfortunately won't be able to, we finally made it back to Kraków in time to take a shower (we sweat buckets all day, it was SO HOT) and meet David, our old "tutor" from the winter semester and his friend to watch football (soccer, for the uneducated, lol... just kidding) at a local Irish pub. I was hoping for Spain to win, and they did, finally... and I'm wondering, is it wrong to support the country with the hottest players (and best looking temporary residents, if you get my drift)?... because Italy's guys were a bunch of whiney babies, ha ha ha... anyway this was the first time I had ever watched an entire professional soccer game on television... you get into it, I guess :-)

Well anyway, then we went to bed and this morning after breakfast and a strange discussion with an old Australian guy in a Switzerland shirt and an Irish womanizer, we set out to sweat through our shirts for a couple hours before catching our bus back to the airport... which came a few minutes late and really had us wondering there for a while whether we would need to find other means of transportation... but the guy finally showed up and the way there was funny because there was a younger nun sitting behind us who asked Lea to wake her up when we got to the airport, and the nun spread out over three seats and just ZONKED out... I got a picture. We just thought it was hilarious because before we left we said to each other how neat it would be to meet a nun and to see what her life is like... and we rode with one to the airport... apparently, they're people, too, just like us!!

We were happy the flight was on time and in general that we had such amazing luck with the buses and transportation we had to work with for the whole weekend. Seemed like we made good timing each time we needed to get somewhere. It is fun to travel like that, it makes it exciting and almost like a big maze each time you go someplace.

Oh yeah I guess I should mention a few things about the camps... skipped over that a tad, didn't I? Well, Auschwitz was "fancier", for lack of a better word, than we both expected... there were several two story buildings and nothing like we had really imagined... the museum there was really good and informative, plus we had a guide we got for like $2 at the shop and watched a film. The pictures I took will explain more of what we saw. When we got to Birkenau, that was when we both said that this is how we had imagined the camps looked like back then. It was just so... systematic, the way it was set up. symmetrical and efficiently laid out, one could really get a picture of what took place there over 60 years ago. I really can't put this into a description, though, so check out the pics and there will be a few words from me there. And in a way we felt blessed to be able to speak German, because there were just a lot of papers there written in German that the English descriptions just did not do justice to... we saw a lot of "Meldungen", which were requests from officers to their bosses to punish inmates... for the most ridiculous reasons too... someone was putting vegetable waste and old bones in their pockets and he was sentenced to six weeks of nights spent in the Stehzelle, which was a tiny cell not tall enough to stand in, and since he would be put in with three other people, he wouldn't be able to sit, either... they spent their nights there and were expected to work as usual each day afterward. the people got two bowls of soup a day, about 1300 calories. They worked for 12 hours each day or more, and each day they had to drag back the bodies of those who died that day. There are just so many horrific things they did and seemed to ENJOY doing to the poor prisoners, it was overwhelming. Did you know that the Nazis sold train tickets to the Jews before they were literally herded off on that train to Auschwitz? They sold them fake land, gave them fake jobs, and took all of their stuff once they got there. There was a painting of a guy who had just gotten off a deportee train and the SS man took his wedding ring right off his finger :-(. It was all just so overwhelming... but more so after the fact, I noticed... it all seems so incredibly unreal when you are there. Then it all starts to sink in.


The weekend went by soooooooooo fast and I just wish we could have stayed longer :-( A weekend really wasn't enough in this case. I will have to go back someday...


And now I am swamped with a bunch of little things I gotta do and I just gotta fit it all in somehow.................

Caitlin

Fun times

Man the last week has been fun! Been kinda busy with going-home preparations and stuff, but still managed to meet friends a lot this week and just enjoy the last few "sane" days here in Koblenz before my travel frenzy starting...today! That's right, Lea and I are going to Krákow, Poland until Monday. We are really looking forward to it... Lea is my Sangria drinking Australian mate, lol. Last night we had a lot of fun, we went to the StuBi on campus (something we needed to check off on our to-do list for stuff we had to do before we left Koblenz) and brought our own Sangria, LOL... we saw Edward (our translation prof) and I still wish we would have gotten a picture with him!!!!!!!

Here are some fun pics from yesterday, this week, and last week (click to make pics bigger if you must, lol)...

Is this "L" for Lea? ;-)

I think more or less here I was laughing about the idea of getting a picture together with Edward, LOL...

I tried on the yellow sunglasses too... they fit Lea much better I think!!

I think we did establish that it is ultimately impossible to look seductive in huge yellow sunglasses...


This week Lea and I also got to meet Juuuuulia for breakfast at the Extrablatt and I found some fab deals at H&M... I swear I'm not going to buy any more clothes before I leave!!! And Wed. night I went back to the Extrablatt for girls night (although there were a few boys, ew) and had a grand ol' time as usual. Here I am with "my Long Island":


So we get back Monday night, and Tuesday I have class and then we are going the movies... "we" equals Julia, Lea, and I. Quasi (Julia spent some time in NZ and Oz), Mate, and American Mate, LOL... we have fun together. Here is a pic of us on Lea's 20th birthday last week (yep, Extrablatt again)

And that's it for now...!


Caitlin

Belgium, ya'll got some good waffles

Hi

This weekend Jenny and I went to Brussels. Our tickets were really really cheap, from Koblenz to Brussels and back was €46, and Brussels is almost 4 hours away by train. We got to our hostel at about 8:30 after buying some surprisingly affordable food at the train station... our map indicated that the best Belgian french fries were just around the corner so we decided to go check it out... looked like what I had read previously was correct: in Belgium, they are shutting down a lot of the fry stands for health concerns. Perhaps that's a good thing, but we never found any french fries that evening... we ended up going to the 21:45 showing of M. Night Shyamalan's new film "The Happening" which I found terrifying but great at the same time. Felt bad though cuz Jenny had her eyes closed the whole time and she seemed reluctant to talk much afterward.

Saturday was pretty much our only day in the city (otherwise our tickets would have been like 4x more expensive!) so we first went to the big cathedral in Brussels, The Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula. A legend surrounds this cathedral that in 1370, some Jews stole some communion wafers from a chapel and stabbed them with daggers... it is said that blood flowed from the wafers, and the event is now referred to as a "miracle". There is even stained glass windows inside the cathedral depicting the event, blood and all.

After that, we walked around town a bit looking at the palace, another church, some squares, and made our way to the city's tourist center to see the famous statue of the little boy "Mannekin Pis". Legend has it that a little boy got lost and his father vowed that when he found his son, he would erect a statue in the spot depicting the boy doing whatever he was doing when he was found. Well, when they found the boy, he was peeing. So the statue is peeing, too. Someone changes the little boy's outfit a few times a month as well.

We tried Belgian waffles... those things are small pieces of heaven. You seriously do not need ANY toppings because the sugary goodness is baked right in. I have never tasted anything better in my life... not even Mexican food tops these babies... we ended up getting another one later that evening :-) We visited the main square and the chocolate museum after that which cost €4 but I thought was incredibly boring and not worth it at all. Then we walked around some more and looked everywhere for french fries again, and finally found some, and were disappointed that they were nothing to write home about after all. I don't get it... everyone seems to think that Belgian and Dutch french fries are so much better than normal ones, but I cannot taste the difference whatsoever. Maybe its the cute little fork you get to eat them with...

In town we also found the two other peeing statues, one of a dog and one of a girl called Jeanniken Pis, which was built by a restaurant owner to bring more business to his restaurant. She doesn't pee anymore though, since the restaurant closed...

We went to Mini-Europe after that, which is by the giant atom science center, called the Atomium. Mini Europe was cool but also not worth the €12,40 it cost to get in. Really really really not. We had fun taking silly pics of all the different monuments there... most of which will be on Facebook. We went searching for Belgian chocolate seashells (the Guylian ones are sold here too, the same ones you can get at Ross for $5 back home, lol) and went back to the hostel after that... made pasta for dinner in the hostel kitchen and drank half a carton of sangria, which made me nothing but lonely, depressed, and tired. We hung out in our dorm for a long time just talking to our roommates, a cute (presumably gay) guy from Argentina and a French Canadian from Quebec. I fell asleep at like 10pm while the rest kept talking and we slept til 9am this morning....

It was real knapp this morning, too, since there were less trams to the station, and we got to the tram stop at just the right time to make our train back to Germany... we stopped in Cologne to change trains and went to have lunch at Mongo's, a Mongolian buffet restaurant... it was faaaabulous... today was especially good because they also had appetizers and dessert included. At Mongo's, you choose a sauce and the waiter writes it on your little tablet, with which you go to the buffet (they call it the Food Markt (no, not a typo), which we thought was ridiculous... either all English or no English at all, we agreed), grab a bowl and fill it with as many veggies, types of meats, spices, fish, noodles, rice, anything you want. At the end, you give it to the cook who cooks it in the sauce you chose. Then they bring it to your table! It was delicious!! They have literally every type of meat you can think of, and I couldn't even tell you all of them because I'd never heard of most of them... but they had kangaroo!!

Yeah, then we went home. We were both a little disappointed by Brussels, but had a good time goofing around there anyway and we were happy to have something to do.

In other news, I think I'm leaning more toward Munich now as for where I want to work next summer... even if that may mean I'll be gone longer... it is just way cooler than Frankfurt, period! I know Frankfurt would be closer to my friends here, but hell, my friends here could come visit me (Jenny has never been to Munich!!!!!!!!!!)

In further news, next weekend Lea and I are going to Krákow... I found a free guide shop in Brussels and I picked up a neat guide to Krákow there. Gotta go to school on Tuesday though. Otherwise I doubt I'd be here right now, lol...

Cheers,
Caitlin

New Stuff...

Well it has been a good week... Sunday was just the worst day ever, but thank goodness its my last Sunday without something to do. I really don't know how people survive it!

Lately I've been doing a lot of research and planning for the next year. Actually I think it's dumb to plan ahead, since stuff can change SO fast, but I happen to find it dumber to not plan at all. So I've been looking for internships in Germany... there are two companies I have my eye on for next summer (starting in May), which would put me back in lovely Germany for anywhere from 2-6 or more months... depends on which company I am accepted at. Possible locations include Frankfurt and Munich. I kind of prefer Munich, since it is farther away from Koblenz... not that I hate Koblenz or anything, its just that I have spent so much time in West Germany, I'd love to spend time in South Germany. Bavaria, yay! The weather seems to be better there most of the time anyway. Plus my relatives are there. But I think I'd get paid less in Munich... pros and cons. There are plenty plenty PLENTY of internships in Germany, many more than in the United States. In Frankfurt, I'd be there 2-3 months and get paid €800, whereas in Munich €600 and be there a minimum of 6 months... that is a big difference!! So I also kind of prefer Frankfurt for the money thing...

So those types of things have been consuming my thoughts lately, along with all the CRAP on my to-do list for when I get home, including search for a job for September--April. I may end up at Publix or something, lol... flexible hours, pretty good pay... probably more than I got working at the vet in ANY case. Perhaps I'll get a job at Siemens? The outlook is good. Maybe I won't do anything but be a lazy mofo..... but I can think of at least one person who wouldn't enjoy that (besides me).

This weekend I am going to Brussels, Belgium with Jenny and since we are getting back to Cologne early Sunday afternoon, we're going to have lunch there at a Mongolian restaurant. I'm looking forward to eating french fries and Belgian waffles!!!


Caitlin

100th Post!!! It's been one wild ride

This my 100th post! I've been keeping this blog since March 29, 2007. I must admit that I'm impressed at how consistent I've been with it.

They say when you get home is when it first hits you, all that you have seen and experienced. I hope that's true... of course I don't know if I could handle it. It may completely knock me over.

Here's a pic of the door at home where Mom has been sticking all of my postcards from the last year:
There are only a few missing since I'd gone to a few more places since she took this pic... and Luxembourg may never make it up there since I lost the postcard somewhere. Oh well. Maybe I'll make my own postcard from a picture I took, lol...

It's going to be sad coming home. It's a lot of work, a lot of change... moving. I have a feeling that moving back home will be more of a shock to me than moving here. I am going to have to leave all of my friends I met here... Rike, Jenny, the Annas, Liane, Julia, Lea the Aussie... and so many more. Fortunately enough I have all of these memories to take with me. All of my friends, all of my experiences here have made this trip unforgettable!

I hope I can just fall back into my other life. Yeah, my other life. If I can just go back to it as the other me, that is, as soon as I set foot in the United States, my home, something will change inside to make me not forget everything that happened in Europe, not forget everyone I met, no... but change to where I can keep the experiences isolated somehow. Of course I want to use the knowledge and experience gained here in my "other" life as well, but I just think trying to hold on to too much of "this" life will make things unnecessarily painful in the "other" one. I'm just scared of how the person I've become will fit back into the life that has changed, as I have changed since I've been away.

So I guess it'll be like coming here... just doing it. Just jumping in and moving forward each day, hopefully not falling down, hopefully not skinning my knees up too badly. And as time goes by, things will be ok.


Cheers,
Cait

P.S. I got new shoes yesterday and I painted my toenails for the first time since I've been here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Starting the Moving Process

I've started packing. Everything's off my walls, I've got a "free stuff box" for things I am not taking home with me, and I've found new owners for my tabletop fan, microwave, and toaster so far.

It was tough taking down the stuff from my walls. It was symbolic in a way. I have a box full of memorabilia now... but now that the room looks more empty, it feels less like mine and therefore it may be easier to move out.

Stopping to Think

I'm taking a break from my evening of researching dinosaurs, extinct shark species, and watching Mickey Mouse cartoons on YouTube to post this simple fact.

81 of my currently 96 Facebook photo albums are related to my travels.


Only fifteen albums are record of my normal life. I have been here longer than I thought. Once I get home, I will have spent 11 out of the last twelve months overseas. I'm surviving better than I expected I would. I don't think I'm going to have much to say when I go home... heck, I've been talking the whole time through my blog and pictures.


What a wild ride it has been! It's not over yet!! I feel so blessed to be here and am looking forward to the next 49 days :-) Note: I would not have this count if my mother did not update me daily.

For those of you Facebookless, which I doubt many are, the following trips are coming up:

June 13-15: Brussels, Belgium
June 20-23: Kraków, Poland
June 25-July 7: Various locations in Spain, including Barcelona, feat. Viktor
July 9-12: Dresden, Germany

July 13-15 will be spent moving out/in with the Australian for the last 4 nights in Koblenz before going to stay in Ingolstadt until the 23rd when I fly out of München to Ft. Myers... homeward.


Okay, going to bed...
Cait

Also Relevant...

Ok, I must apologize to the general audience (aka Mommy) for my depressing previous entry...

Sure, I am allowed to feel down sometimes. And I do. Sometimes. But the song was really negative.

How can I think that the adventure is coming to a close when it has barely begun! These last 8 months have opened so many doors to me and allowed me to make many changes, take many risks, see, do, and explore... I've gotten so much experience and my German has improved ten-fold at that... yes, I have to go back to school when I get home, but it is almost over and I get giddy thinking at the possibilities learning this language has afforded me... I can work in Europe! My skills are sought after! And how valuable it is to learn that one's own country and language is NOT the center of the universe!

Get out, people, we must get OUT... it's dangerous to stay home!

Relevant

Well, I was listening to the radio today and heard a song that seems pretty relevant to my life in a way, at this point... reflects some thoughts going through my head as my time here draws to a close...

Here's the video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZy2xq1DTNo

And the lyrics:

Honestly, what will become of me?
Don't like reality
It's way too clear to me
But really life is dandy
We are what we don't see
Miss everything daydreaming

Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end?

Traveling, I only stop at exits
Wondering if I'll stay
Young and restless
Living this way I stress less
I want to pull away when the dream dies
The pain sets in and I don't cry
I only feel gravity and I wonder why

Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end?

And the dogs were barking at the new moon
Whistling a new tune
Hoping it would come soon
So that they could die...

Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end?

When the dogs were barking at the new moon
Whistling a new tune
Hoping it would come soon

And the sun was wondering if it should stay away for a day
Til the feeling went away
And the sky was falling and the clouds were dropping
And the rainfall forgot how to bring salvation
The dogs were barking at the new moon
Whistling a new tune hoping it would come soon
So that they could die   

Picture Links

Ok, I just posted album links from late April onward... under "Summer 2008" to the left... hopefully Facebook does not change these links... if you would like to see pics from a different trip, sign up for Facebook and add me as a friend (if we are friends) or leave me a comment so I can send you the public link to the Facebook albums.

Cheers,
Cait

London (and All the Pounds I Lost There)

Wow! What a fantastic weekend!! I went to visit Anna in London on Friday. She's an au pair there for an uppity uppity British family with quite the pistol for a daughter. Buttttt the mom, Anji, is cool, she ordered us pizza on Friday night from Papa John's (tastes the same!) and Anna and I went to Croydon (on the 403!) to see Sex and the City. I really liked the movie, even though I'd never seen the show. The Flowers (last name of Anna's host fam.) have THE CUTEST CAT! His name is Tobey Juan, lol... he was so skiddish and friendly at the same time... here's a pic of us together [for Blogspot users: click on the pics to make them BIGGER]:
It's a shame, really, he's a lot cuter in person and if I were a cat, I would leave everything I know to be with him.

Saturday was a really busy day!! First we took the bus ("403, to, WEST Croydon!") to the train station and then bought a day ticket for the transport system and took the train to London Victoria station... man, transportation is mondo efficient in London. We went to the London Eye first, that's the biggest ferris wheel in the world and it costs $31 to ride it for 30 minutes. But it was absolutely brilliant! Here's a pic of it from across the Thames river:

Afterward we took the tube ("Stand on the right!") to St. James' Park where there are is a diverse multitude of large and small birds: pigeons, swans, gray geese, and HUGE white pelicans. We walked through the park, although my fascination with the large white pelicans prevented that from happening very quickly, and wound up at Buckingham Palace, where people were beginning to crowd for something... we found out that there was going to be a parade in rehearsal for the Queen's birthday two weeks from then. We stayed for like 40 minutes until it started, it was neat! Saw a bunch of those fuzzy-headed guards, too!

We had a 2-for-1 ticket coupon for Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, so we headed there, next. We waited in line for about an hour and then the place was sooo packed, it was hard to get pictures because everyone would push you out of the way to get there first. It was definitely neat, though, and there was a haunted house like at Halloween Horror Nights in the basement, that we were supposed to pay $6 extra for, but the guy was like "you know what, go ahead!"... I think it was because we are sooooo cute! See?


After that we were in search of food. And as shocking as this may sound, I consumed fish for the second time since being in Europe... I had to try "fish and chips"... it didn't taste any different than the fish Dad used to fry back in the day, and the french fries were mediocre as well. Not sure what the English are all abuzz about this for... anyway for dessert we had an Oreo + Toffee McFlurry... and then went to find the Platform 9 ³/4... and I went to Hogwarts for a while.

We then checked out the Piccadilly Circus, which is mainly a building with a bunch of HUGE screens on it. We ate donuts that cost $2.70 each, and then took the Tube to Oxford street, where we went to the giant store, Primark, which is like Penney's in Ireland... it was sooo cheap. I actually bought a few things that I ended up taking back, but found a shirt for $4. I really wanted these brown leather flip flops buuuuuuut... they didn't have my size.

By then I was running out of money for the day, anyway, since I only brought 60 pounds with me and left the rest at home. It sure does go fast in London, geez. I also was lucky enough to find a banana lying in the street... I could not believe my luck and immediately picked it up and took it home, although I wasn't the lucky one able to consume it...

Sunday was also a busy day. We went to the Camden Market, where no one is allowed to take pictures apparently, of anything. The market is sooo cool and so much stuff is overpriced, but we found a store where there was a lot of really cheap (even in dollars!) stuff. The "food court" at the Camden Market is CRAZY... all sorts of ethnic foods and everyone is trying to get you to buy theirs... I bought Indian food... wasn't too impressed, but it was ok. Anna and I split a giant donut for dessert:

And I bargained with a really tough Asian lady for the most amazing handbag in the entire world... it's hand-stitched "quilt" style with a ton of different fabrics and is totally rad... I only got it for a pound cheaper than what she wanted for it, but I'm still proud of that because that lady was TOUGH as nails!!

Then we headed to the Imperial War Museum, where we saw about an eighth of what they had to offer... we saw the Children's Perspective exhibit, where we walked through a war bunker and a really neat replica of a house from those days, and talked to an older lady about what it was like to have lived in a prefab. We also visited the Holocaust exhibit, where we were a bit hesitant to speak German to each other, for obvious reasons. The Holocaust, though not the only instance where people were ruthlessly racist and killing other people, is significant in how systematic and efficient and swift the Nazis wiped out all of those people. Six million people... that had never been seen in history before at such a magnitude. That's what makes it so hard for people to wrap their minds around it.

Next we went to Harrod's giant department store, where we saw the Diana and Dodi memorial and the Egyptian escalator hall, walked through the Food Halls (just a really expensive grocery store), and browsed greeting cards. Trafalgar Square was next, where we discovered a big screen showing Romeo and Juliet (opera/orchestra version), which had consequently packed the square. Here I am with King Tut:

We went to the evening service at Westminster Abbey... I saw Isaac Newton's grave!! It normally costs $20 to get into the Abbey (but all the national museums are FREE!?) so we figured going for the service was the best way to see it without losing too many pounds. I was at a loss for words... I think one of the first things I said while in the church was "who the hell is that?"... not exactly pious, I know, but the service was centered on a guy named William Cowper, and the whole 45 minute service included three hymns, some readings, and poems by that dude... his picture was on the front of the program. The service was also soooo boring!! The Abbey has that weird church smell that makes me want to throw up, and I remember sitting there and looking at my watch and being SO surprised that only 15 minutes had passed. Time slowed down. On TV, the Westminster Abbey looks so much bigger...don't get me wrong, the place is HUGE, but I guess when the streets surrounding it are covered in people, it looks like a much bigger venue... here's a pic of me in front of the Abbey after the service.

After that we went over to London Tower and the Tower Bridge (which I, stupidly, had always though was the London Bridge... why isn't there a song about Tower Bridge, if that's the famous one!?) and walked around there for a bit... we had been soooo lucky the entire weekend that it did not rain a DROP on either day... here I am at the Tower Bridge

We were both staaarving so we headed to London Victoria station and ate at McDonald's, lol... I have never been so excited to see a McDonald's in my life... we were so hungry... the guys at the counter were funny and when I told them (after they asked me) where I was from, they had all kinds of questions about McDonald's in the USA... they were amazed that the cheeseburgers only cost 60 cents and that the double cheeseburger is on the dollar menu... it was really funny. I even told them that I would get as many free refills on my Sprite Zero as I wanted, and proceeded to ask if I brought my cup back, if he would give me more... he said yes, ha ha!! Anyway, in keeping with the pattern of absolute irony that was this weekend, I ordered my first Big Mac EVER at the London Victoria McDonald's...

On Monday, we went back into London and, after checking to see if Primark had restocked the shoes I wanted, to no avail, went to the London Dungeon... we had a two for one coupon for that as well and it was really neat! It was a scary place and I got "picked on" by the actors a lot. When our group was getting "tried" and "condemned for heinous crimes", I was picked out by the actor and I had to stand on the podium thing and they said that I was guilty of dancing naked and would only be allowed to go free if I plead insanity, which I did, lol... and somehow I was always the first one to leave the different rooms in the Dungeon and so I was the one the actors all jumped out at to scare when we entered a different room. The whole place was superbly well done, even down to the smells. There were two rides and at the end was a drop ride because we were all to be hanged, lol...

Afterward we ate greasy pizza next door at a seedy place called "Fantastic Chicken", but only because it was cheap (a 7" pizza with two toppings for $4) and then headed to Croydon to see if THAT Primark had the shoes I wanted, which they didn't, but they did have the Florida t-shirt the other one didn't have in my size. So, I achieved one of my mini goals for my trips around Europe: find a Florida t-shirt. YEAH!

Then I took the train to Gatwick and met these CRAZY Irish guys while waiting at the gate. At Gatwick everyone waits in the same area until their boarding and gate number is announced. I was trying to read my magazine and eat my Turkish Delight and the guy next to me kept looking over and commenting, like "what is she eating, lads?" and "what is she reading?"... I looked over and said I was eating Turkish Delight, but I shouldn't have said anything because the crazy one took it as an invitation to talk to me for the next 40 minutes. He was SO annoying and kept taking my magazine and telling me his mom was German, then his dad was, and then his mom was Spanish... he also had eaten a lime a few minutes prior to talking to me, so the whole time he was talking to me he smelled like LIME... gross. And he kept just getting too close for comfort so I had to tell him to stop touching me. Creepy. I got offer after offer to go to Dublin with them, that'd I'd definitely be in the top three most beautiful girls in Ireland, to which I said that certainly isn't saying much about the other women in Ireland, ha ha... anyway he was sooo annoying but it made for this funny story and I finally got a gate number so I had an excuse to leave...

Then the flight was delayed 40 minutes or so, AFTER we had already boarded. Apparently there was bad weather. But how lucky I was that finally the bad weather started as soon as I left. Sweet!

So now I am home and today I have school (hence why I am even here). I had a faaaabulous time with the best tour guide EVER, and although London ate up my money, everything we did was awesome and I loved every minute of it!

BANANA!


Caitlin

How I Saved Myself $750

Communication is an art. It's nice to be able to put it to use sometimes, and in a different language at that!

...the following takes place between 10am and 11am.

I thought I could deal with having to pay two months' rent to this place even when I'm not even going to be here. I thought I could deal with the fact that these mean people would have the key to my apartment that is MINE by contract until September 30, while I was paying for it...meaning they could rent it out again if they wanted to and make double the money... I thought I would just give them the money and go home and be fine with it.

No. After being here almost 8 months with two more to go, I realized that was NOT going to fly. I found someone who needs a room for those two months and was told I was not allowed to sublease it. So this morning I went in there, where I sat for about 20-30 minutes while she told me all the reasons why it wouldn't work, and I told her I had stuff to pay for at home and this kid really needs a place to stay... and I kept asking "why can't you make an exception for exchange students; they HAVE to move out in July, PLUS we are foreigners and have essentially no idea how to get an apartment in a foreign country anyway. They always offer rooms here to exchange students and everyone has to pay out the butt to stay here even when they have to leave two months earlier. She even told me that two years ago everything was different and it may have worked then. She told me over and over again that she couldn't change anything, that I knew what I was getting into when I signed the papers, etc. etc. and asked me "Do you understand?" and I said "NO. Why can't you make a new contract? You can give him a contract for two months, you CAN make an exception, I have OTHER THINGS TO PAY FOR."...

And then I cried a little. Not because I'm super dramatic, although I am very proud at how dramatic the moment must've looked like... I was VERY frustrated and angry at how unfair they are to exchange/Erasmus students. Here, everyone gets money for everything. Most students get money from their parents and have to pay about $300 per YEAR to go to school in this region. And even for the regions that do have tuition fees, its like $700 a semester. That's NOTHING compared to what we have to pay. Not that I pay anything anyway, but it's still not cheap for me and just because I HAVE money, doesn't mean I have to spend it on stupid things like rent when I'm not even living there!!!!!!!!

She immediately printed me out a lease cancellation form. I signed it and Voila! I don't have to pay the rent for the last two months of the contract. I KNEW it was possible! Exceptions can ALWAYS be made and I learned this from working in customer service for 5 years (it doesn't take long to pick up on that, though). There are always exceptions, always always always.

I am moving out on the 15th. Hopefully I can find someone here in the Wohnheim that will take me in until my cousins come to pick me up on Saturday the 19th.

Now I just gotta wait for the guy getting my room to reply to the lady's email saying he will go through with it (he'll have to pay both months rent + €400 bond (which he will get back) up front... which he will be fine with, I think... he's a medicine student from Hamburg, which means the kid must have some dough. :-)


Caitlin

Hej everyone, I'm back from Stockholm

We set out at 6:30 am Wednesday morning and paid €21 to park at the Hahn (German for "rooster") airport for three days, which really wasn't half bad. I had to really really FIGHT with the lady at the counter when we went to check in because she was trying to make us pay €5 each to check in since we were using the counter... Ryanair charges anyone who doesn't use online check in BUT anyone who doesn't live in the EU is not allowed to use online check in. Discrimination? Yes, but they don't care. Anyway not getting into that. We experienced some terrible turbulence for about 6 seconds during the flight there and it was so bad we all thought for those 6 seconds we were really going to die, it was terrifying.

The hostel we stayed in was really really cool!!!! It was also very clean. They have free pasta! We bought our own sauce (found the yummy kind we had in Italy!) so that made for quite a few Euros saved on dinner in this expensive city. The beds in the hostel were also really comfortable and there was just a lot of space to hang out and meet people. I met and chatted with sooo many people it was unreal. Had a grand old time chatting with a bunch of English boys, although I had to ask them to repeat just about everything they said, ha ha!

We walked around the town pretty much the whole time we were there, photographing the fabulous and enormous statues and gardens. Stockholm is situated on 14 islands connected by almost 60 bridges! Gamla Stan is the old town and is soooo pretty and picturesque with old, old houses and narrow alley ways. The city is ridiculously clean and I saw TWO people's dogs poop on the street and the owners promptly cleaned it up! We witnessed the changing of the guards at the Royal Palace (when the guards walk they swing their left arms up really high, its funny). We caught a random acrobatic show in the town on Thursday. A Swedish specialty we really enjoyed were the cinnamon buns... the best of which were NOT purchased in a bakery, in my opinion, but in a package of six at the grocery store... Sweden also has the most amazing chocolate I have ever tasted, and as I write this am fighting the urge to get up and retrieve some of it from my cabinet... RESIST!!!

Stockholm has a fabulous shopping district--over 4,000 stores. We walked everywhere. On Thursday we went to the Vasa museum, a huge museum that's centered on a 16th century war ship that sunk 15 minutes into its maiden voyage due to being too top-heavy. That was fascinating-- we were there for almost three hours. After we visited that museum, we stopped for lunch and I had a hotdog wrapped in a tortilla with mashed potatoes, lettuce, tomato, and ketchup/mustard. They overdid it on the potatoes in my opinion...

Our evenings we spent hanging out downstairs in the hostel just chatting away with other travellers. I enjoyed that immensely... by the time most of those other travelers made up their minds about which bar they were going to that night, it was time for bed for these two old ladies ;-)

Most of the pics (should be posted on Monday) will be of all the pretty buildings and squares and guardens and statues we saw... Sweden is a beautiful country!!

In other news, I may be getting a sublease for my apt. for August and September, two months that I'd planned on, reluctantly, having to pay regardless that I'm going home before August even begins...

My head behind my eyes still constantly hurts, but only when reading. It seems harder to focus on the words than ever before, as if my eyes were going out of focus by themselves somehow.

I just planned a weekend excursion to Brussels, Belgium, for June 13-15... Iwona is coming to visit Koblenz on the 16th-17th so I am looking forward to that as well.

My next trip is on Friday, and I'm going to see ANNA in London!! I am very excited and feeling very grateful, as her mom is going to pick me up and take me to the airport and then pick me up again when I come home on Monday night. And also grateful that Anna is hosting me and sharing her 2 for 1 coupons with me :-) and picking me up from Gatwick, YEAH :-) Thanks Anna :-)

Tomorrow there is a giant flea market on the Moselle...we're going to walk there and check it out. I hope I don't find anything I can't live without... I can't afford to have any more STUFF...speaking of stuff, I just got a new webcam for my "new" computer (I got it fixed last week for FREEEE) which is a really really cool webcam and it works way better than the old one, which means, Mom, I'll be calling you more often :-)

Now I am going down to see my Australian buddy--we took my bike to the shop today to get a new tube in the back tire, ate ice cream, and walked home--to sip sangria and talk about life. It's quite possible I may get so drunk that I won't be able to find my way home, which is downstairs and to the left, leaving me at the mercy of a most merciless Aussie.


Cheers,
Caitlin

UPDATE: I just read my entry (it's the next day, 9:12am) and I must have been drunk when I wrote the entry (I really wasn't) because "my way home" from the Aussie's as a I described in the last paragraph is NOT "downstairs and to the left"... it's UPSTAIRS and to the RIGHT... downstairs and to the left is how to get to the Aussie, who lives on the lowest floor, LOL.

I did make it home last night, it was a fun time and the lights in the hallway don't work. Hmph.