Wrong Link

Hey guys - when I put up the link for my new blog I wrote the link wrong. Here's the one that should work:

Everyday Escapades: The Story of a Girl

Just in Case

Just in case I never posted it up here, or you haven't heard yet:

I'm engaged!

Fabian aked me to marry him, so it's official.

No, we haven't set a date yet but I'll keep you all updated...

Respect

In Germany college students wait to leave until the teacher is completely done talking. Then they knock on the desk for a second or two, telling the instructor that he did a good job lecturing, and then they get up and leave. All in all, it's a very respectful process.

In the U.S. college students start getting up as soon as the clock says it's time to go, some students get up regardless of the fact that the teacher is still talking. As soon as he pauses briefly, a good portion of the students will stand up. If he starts to talk again, they'll just stand there until he's done and some of them will talk still. There's no knocking or anything. All in all, it doesn't seem like such a respectful process.

My New Home

No, I'm not talking about my apartment, I'm talking about a brand new home on the web! Yes indeedy... as I mentioned before, I started up a new blog to go with this new part of my life... now it is up and running and has a few posts up already! The new blog will eventually be the only blog I have, but I will continue to post up to this one occassionally for a little while still...so pop on over and have a read!

Everyday Escapades: The Story of a Girl.

The view at about 7 am outside my living room window.  

My First Night

I sit here in my very first apartment, all by myself at about 10:15 at night. I arrived here between 11 am and noon today, and after much hauling of stuff up to my third floor apartment, we ate lunch and ran around all over the place getting things. Or to be put exactly: I went to lunch and Savers with my family, then ran around all over the other places alone to get everything done. This evening it was visiting friends and catching up on things with people I haven't seen in a very long time. Now I sit here back in my apartment, alone.

I haven't really unpacked anything yet: my bed isn't even made. Mom put away a few things earlier, but I don't even know where she put the things at really. I put away the cold food stuff in the fridge after grocery shopping, but nothing else. And all my stuff is all over the place. The apartment is really messy and it looks terrible. But do you know what I keep thinking over and over again as I sit here?

If I put away all my stuff or go to bed or do anything besides type on my computer... the reality will sink in that Fabian really isn't here with me, that I'm really not going back to Germany and that my year abroad really is over. All things I wish I could make go away.

Okay - I'm done feeling sorry for myself now. Off I go to at least put a couple things away before bed.

Strange Country

It is now Sunday the 20th of August and I've been back in the States for a week and a half. I still find this country weird and overwhelming sometimes... a few of the things I've found strange:

1. Buildings that are short and fat instead of tall and not so wide like in Germany.
2. All the space there is here.
3. All the space people have in their homes. Seriously, I don't know how many times I was sitting in a house thinking, "Why is there so much space? What do they do with it all?"
4. All the patriotism here. I'm all for the USA and stuff, but come on - do we really need poptarts that are decorated like the flag?
5. How sweet things are here. Particularly cake. I ate half of a peice of my welcome home cake/sister's birthday cake and had to stop because it was so sweet.
6. TVs in English are still sort of weird.
7. All the people around me are talking in English.
8. Dates are in month/day/year format instead of day/month/year like in Germany.
9. I can drive again, legally.
10. If I speak German, no one understands me.

And there's more too, but those are the big ones. Tommorrow I move into my apartment. 99% of my stuff is packed and loaded already, we leave at 8 am. Until tomorrow!

I'm back.

Hey everyone. I don't have a lot of time, so I'm just going to make this short and let you all know that I got back to the States all safe and sound. My family surprised me last night as I got home in Minnesota for the first time in 13 months and gave me a surprise party (and it was a party for my sis's birthday as well). It was very nice, and lots of fun to see everyone again. Being back here is really weird again.I'm not used to all the people speaking English, dollars, miles, or a lot of other things... I'll fill you all in more later. Now I'm headed off to visit various family all week long and don't know when I'll post again. At the latest early next week. Take care and leave me a comment.

T minus 25 hours and counting.

hey all, I'm back in Germany. I leave tomorrow morning. I'm dreading it, but I'm looking forward to see my family again, and just keep reminding myself of the good things: I get to see family and friends again, I get my apartment, University classes in the english language, and velveeta salsa cheese dip with tortilla chips.

I have tons to do today, but I'm putting off doing them. Why? Because I can. And mainly because Fabian is still sleeping, so I'm using that as an excuse.

I'm officially going to create a new blog. This blog has served me well, but I feel like it's time to create something new, for the next chapter in my life. I'm not sure when I'll be switching over, and for awhile I might be posting on both blogs. I feel like anything to do with reverse culture shock belongs with this blog, whereas other areas of my life once I get back belong with my new blog. So, we'll see when I make the cut off, and once I get the blog up and running, I'll post a link up. This blog will stay available online however, for a long time to come. Eventually I want to print out the entries and make a journal/memory book thing out of it, but that'll probably be a while from now.

Anyways, I'm going to go. I can't believe my year has come down to 25 hours. It's amazing how much time flies.

spain still

so, i posted a blog up just now, but because everything on the websites are in spanish, i accidently deleted it instead of posting it... oops.

anyways, the main points of my blog were that I´m still in spain, i´m tanned, i´ve swam everyday except yesterday and probably today, and Ellen (Fabian´s mom) is here now. It´s been fun, and I leave for the States in less than a week.. but I´m trying not to think about it.

I´m currently in an internet cafe over here, where no one speaks english or german and i don´t speak spanish. The other interesting fact is that the guy next to me is looking at porn.. which makes me quite uncomfortable, I must say. I´d report it, except that i don´t know if it´s against the rules here and secondly i don´t speak spanish so i can´t really report it...

anyways, that´s all from spain, not too much more interesting going on. just relaxing and enjoying it. i finished book four of harry potter, and can´t wait to get my hands on book 5... good books! i probably won´t post now until i´m back in the states, so don´t worry if i don´t post until the end of august. i want to give my blog a new look too for the next, new chapter in my life (mainly, going back to a university in the states) so keep an eye out for that as well...

cheers to a great year in germany and the start of a new (academic) year in the states!