Dear Friends,
Okay, I realize the title is lame, but I'm running out of creative ideas, folks!!
Last Saturday I took my first daytrip by myself. It was GREAT! I ventured to Mainz for the day, which is the capital of the state, Rhineland Palatinate. I got myself a map, a museum day pass, and I trekked through the whole city for about 6 hours. I definitely got my exercise and I saw some really cool stuff (pictures to come!). The whole point of taking this trip by myself was to get over the fear of traveling alone. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of people here that have the time and/or money to travel, so especially to get around and see the cities in Germany, I may very well be on my own.
So I successfully planned a trip to Rome, that is definitely on, and I've fully prepared an itinerary for a week in Paris! I have found someone to go with, finally, and I think the most fun part so far has been sticking to a budget... we set a budget for 350 Euro for one week (6 days, 7 nights), including all entry fees, transportation, and accommodation, and the total is 277 Euro! That is crazy cheap... that leaves plenty left over to try out some French food, get some souvenirs, etc.
I found out there is a card for 60 Euro you can buy that allows you into ALL the museums and landmarks, etc, unlimited for 6 days, and you don't have to stand in line!!
Over the weekend I went to Amsterdam with my friend Philipp from class. We had a lot of fun. We stayed in a houseboat and did a ton of walking. There are soooo many canals and bridges in Amsterdam, and only one of them is natural! They have to circulate the water manually. And there are 92138185623 bikes in Amsterdam, too. I saw a postcard with a machine pulling a crapload of them out of one of the canals. They also have really cheap flowers there... they have a flower market which is an entire street set up with merchants selling 50 tulips for $10, souvenirs... they are really good at making souvenirs... I wanted to buy everything!!! We went to the Anne Frank house and the Van Gogh Museum, but skipped out on the Rijksmuseum because it was huuuuge and we didn't have enough time. The french fries in Holland are AMAZING, there are little joints all over the place that sell JUST french fries with like 20 different sauces. I got low fat mayo, ha ha... Saturday night we went out for Indian food, it was my first time eating it and it was soooooo good!
Here are the photo albums I haven't posted here yet, just in case someone still reads this and wants to see them, ha ha...
Trier (Part I)
Trier (Part II)
Koblenz (City, Uni, etc.)
Bonn & Köln
Nürnberg
More Random Pics of Friends (Part II)
A Very German Christmas
Salzburg, Austria (Part I)
Salzburg, Austria (Part II)
A Grand Day Out
Daytrip to Mainz
I am trying to get the Amsterdam pics loaded, keep an eye out for them in Facebook...
Here is my travel schedule as of yet:
February 22--?: Headed up north with Philipp to just drive around, options and points of definite interest include Berlin, Kiel, Copenhagen, London, and definitely Bremen (he lives there :-))
March 11--18: Paris
April 1 -- 8: Rome
April 22--27: Poland (visiting a friend!)
Well, other than that, traveling and such, I am still sticking to my fitness goals and am now focusing more on eating. I've recently embarked on a quest to kick my sugar habit, that is, I no longer keep it in the house. I am going to kick the cravings in the behind!!! We have our exam in Translation in 2 weeks... I am excited to have really nothing to do, ha ha... I'm supposed to be getting more translation assignments from the VP soon, so at least I'll have something keeping my brain juices flowing during the semester break. I found out that I am actually going to miss the first day of school for the summer semester because I will still be in Rome... lol... but the professor knows and is okay with it as far as I know. Last class I got a little peeved by the professor because he said that "the political row between the UK and Russia has today escalated" was a good sentence and would likely be found in newspapers... whereas I had written down "the political tension between the UK and Russia escalated today"... I actually went home and googled "today escalated" and compared the hits located to "escalated today"... and there were THOUSANDS more hits for the latter (my sentence) than his... I just emailed him about it, I'm anxious to see what he says... I made a strong case :-).
Well it's getting late and I don't feel like sitting at the computer, maybe those pics'll get uploaded one day later this week... sorry, Mom :-(
Love,
Caitlin
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
I've Got the Travel Bug
Well just a quick post to let you all know that I've so far planned two trips... now that the weather at least appears to be getting warmer, I've decided it's time to stop being a Koblenz potato and get outta here... at least for a little while!! So here are my two trips...
January 25 -- January 27: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
April 1 -- April 8: Rome, Italy
It's possible we might head out to Italy again before school starts back again in mid April... and I'd like to make it to London and Paris before April as well... we'll see what happens!
My flight to Rome is about $61, round trip... then our accommodations there cost about $20 a night; we're staying in a youth hostel, walking distance to the Colosseum! WILD! Our flight leaves at night, but fortunately the hostel has 24 hour reception :-) The hard part is gonna be figuring out how to get to the city from the airport (it's 9 miles away). But hey, we have a week to figure it out and the worst that could happen is we stay the night in the airport. What an adventure!!
Well that's all for now. Thanks for everyone's encouragement so far in my journey!!
Caitlin
January 25 -- January 27: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
April 1 -- April 8: Rome, Italy
It's possible we might head out to Italy again before school starts back again in mid April... and I'd like to make it to London and Paris before April as well... we'll see what happens!
My flight to Rome is about $61, round trip... then our accommodations there cost about $20 a night; we're staying in a youth hostel, walking distance to the Colosseum! WILD! Our flight leaves at night, but fortunately the hostel has 24 hour reception :-) The hard part is gonna be figuring out how to get to the city from the airport (it's 9 miles away). But hey, we have a week to figure it out and the worst that could happen is we stay the night in the airport. What an adventure!!
Well that's all for now. Thanks for everyone's encouragement so far in my journey!!
Caitlin
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
It's a _________ life in Germany
Well hello, folks, not sure if anyone actually reads this anymore (it's ok, I don't read it either) but I haven't posted in over one month and that is very very bad!!! In 10 years, I won't remember jack crap about the last 40 days or so! What a shame... or perhaps not.
I can say that the newness is wearing off. I spent Christmas in Ingolstadt and lived to tell about it (will someone make me a T-shirt bearing this information?) I can't believe I have been here for three months (ok, up until I wrote that sentence I thought I'd actually been here for four months, not three, I had to go back and count! maybe time's not flying that fast...). Anyway, I'm feeling at home. I've lost a lot of weight, about 16 lbs. My goal is to lose a total of 20 (maybe more) and I think if I stop eating all these Christmas cookies, that might just happen!!
Soooo what have I been up to? I guess my photo albums can tell you where I've been since I last posted. Back in early December, we went to Trier. I think I'll want to go back there sometime when it's not so bloody cold. I've since been to Bonn, Cologne, Nürnberg, and Salzburg (Austria). I do believe next on my list is Aachen, and I am planning a trip to Rome in April. Just gotta find someone to go with me... workin' on that one.
Court gave me all three seasons of The Office for Christmas; am therefore working on watching all the episodes and extra footage, REALLY FUNNY!!!!!
At the moment I am rather low on food... I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. I also need to go to the bank because I had to borrow money to buy a 6 Euro train ticket earlier, lol... Gotta clean this place up, do my laundry, and get back into the swing of things. I also have work to do *ugh* but I am remaining calm.
Life here is somewhat desert-like... but it's cold and dark, sometimes lonely, ... basically everything a desert is not... but it feels like a desert. Sort of. I miss my friends and family... I feel as if I can attribute all the non-funness to the fact that the weather sucks. I'm not kidding about that. Over the summer it was so much easier to enjoy yourself when it wasn't dark at 4:30, when you didn't have to put on half your wardrobe just to take out the trash in the morning,... and oh, no one wants to get up at 8:00am to work out when the sun isn't even up yet. Yuck.
I know I'm complaining a bit, but I think this is confirming that I may very well seek to spend the rest of my earthly days hovering close to the Equator.
I'm reading a really good book right now, called "Where Rainbows End", by Cecelia Ahern. I'm reading the German version, and it's SUCH a good book... I recommend it! It's so neat to read in German and actually understand it.
On the Saturday before Christmas, we went to Nuremberg in Bavaria to the Christmas Market there. I have to say that that's one of the neatest cities I've been to yet. So far my favorite is definitely Bremen, though, where I went over the summer. On the day after Christmas, Michi and I went South to Salzburg, across the boarder into Austria... I made it out of Germany, wild!!
Well time to go do something productive that does NOT include sitting in this chair...!
Caitlin
I can say that the newness is wearing off. I spent Christmas in Ingolstadt and lived to tell about it (will someone make me a T-shirt bearing this information?) I can't believe I have been here for three months (ok, up until I wrote that sentence I thought I'd actually been here for four months, not three, I had to go back and count! maybe time's not flying that fast...). Anyway, I'm feeling at home. I've lost a lot of weight, about 16 lbs. My goal is to lose a total of 20 (maybe more) and I think if I stop eating all these Christmas cookies, that might just happen!!
Soooo what have I been up to? I guess my photo albums can tell you where I've been since I last posted. Back in early December, we went to Trier. I think I'll want to go back there sometime when it's not so bloody cold. I've since been to Bonn, Cologne, Nürnberg, and Salzburg (Austria). I do believe next on my list is Aachen, and I am planning a trip to Rome in April. Just gotta find someone to go with me... workin' on that one.
Court gave me all three seasons of The Office for Christmas; am therefore working on watching all the episodes and extra footage, REALLY FUNNY!!!!!
At the moment I am rather low on food... I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow. I also need to go to the bank because I had to borrow money to buy a 6 Euro train ticket earlier, lol... Gotta clean this place up, do my laundry, and get back into the swing of things. I also have work to do *ugh* but I am remaining calm.
Life here is somewhat desert-like... but it's cold and dark, sometimes lonely, ... basically everything a desert is not... but it feels like a desert. Sort of. I miss my friends and family... I feel as if I can attribute all the non-funness to the fact that the weather sucks. I'm not kidding about that. Over the summer it was so much easier to enjoy yourself when it wasn't dark at 4:30, when you didn't have to put on half your wardrobe just to take out the trash in the morning,... and oh, no one wants to get up at 8:00am to work out when the sun isn't even up yet. Yuck.
I know I'm complaining a bit, but I think this is confirming that I may very well seek to spend the rest of my earthly days hovering close to the Equator.
I'm reading a really good book right now, called "Where Rainbows End", by Cecelia Ahern. I'm reading the German version, and it's SUCH a good book... I recommend it! It's so neat to read in German and actually understand it.
On the Saturday before Christmas, we went to Nuremberg in Bavaria to the Christmas Market there. I have to say that that's one of the neatest cities I've been to yet. So far my favorite is definitely Bremen, though, where I went over the summer. On the day after Christmas, Michi and I went South to Salzburg, across the boarder into Austria... I made it out of Germany, wild!!
Well time to go do something productive that does NOT include sitting in this chair...!
Caitlin
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