Karneval Recap

Hallo meine liebens!

So Karneval has come and gone and this week it was officially 6 months since I have been here! Today I helped Nina and Florian set up their new page to look for a new au pair. It's so weird to think that someone else will be here after me but I suppose the other 3 must have felt like that as well.

My friend in Bonn, Fenja, left to go abroad until June so that is sad because I really like hanging out with her and her friends but it was nice that I got to go hang out with them one more time before she left.

I took the GRE and got that out of the way right before Karneval which was good. 

We had a few shows with LaBoom and at one of them I had my very fitst German Currywurst. Yum Yum

We have had lots of snow and Karneval was really cold. Crazy Germans having a holiday like that in freezing February! 

The first party in Ramersbach was right before the GRE so I went to dance and then went home with the kids but I dressed in my LaBoom costume which made me feel slightly ridiculous. 

Weiber Donnerstag was fun and this was the day we all dressed up at Flip, from Beine Maja (a sassy grasshopper apparently) I felt ridiculous all day but everyone loved the costumes. 

It starts there at about 2pm and it's just for women. There are dance groups, little skits and all kinds of things. We're there for the traditional mittags Kaffe und Kuchen, we had sekt though :)

Then later on in the night more dance groups come and men are allowed to join the party, but not until about 20:00. 

All 8 of us. We looked so crazy. 

Nina and I

Anja and I....after about 6 hours of drinking which explains my hair....

I also had to dance for LaBoom this day and was completely green!

funny....

We had lots of fun and then the rest of the week was full of parties. It was of course blizzarding one of the days which was followed by a beautiful day of sun and amazing scenery with all the snow. I went on a wonderful walk one day and just enjoyed the beauty that I am surrounded with. 

Here are some photos from that:

Winter Wonderland. 

Rosen Montag was also lots of fun. I went to Heimersheim for the parade with Tina, Mela, Volker, Marion, and Christoph. I didn't know what to dress as so I wore most of my Flip costume as a leprechaun. Bad idea because I was so cold but it was a fun day into a fun night that didn't end until about 5 in the morning at Osmans...the good bar in Bad Neuenahr. 

 Marion, Mela, Me, and Tina at the parade. 

Babette and I with Osman, the owner. He loves me. 

Then the parade in Ahrweiler was the one the kids were in and since Nina and Florian were sick I was with them. It was a cool way to be a part of everything to be in the parade. Lots of drinking and coldness but also very fun. Bennet got sick after that but for the part he was feeling okay for he had fun too. 

The kids on the parade float. 

Liv was loooooving all the goodies. 

For Karneval, the people in the parade throw things out to the crowds. Candy, chips, popcorn, etc. The adult groups also usually hand out alcohol. It's crazy. 

Mela and her friend Tina and I who were all in the parade behind the kids made it into the Stadtzeitung (newspaper). woo!!

After the parade we met up with friends and went to a party that was in a hotel. It literally felt like a house party in that there were tons of rooms all of which felt like living rooms. It was crazy. 

Center of Ahrweiler after the parade.

Mela and I at the Rodderhof, the hotel the party was at. 

Overall, Karneval was crazy and lots of fun and I can't imagine what would happen in America if we adopted the concept of celebrating Karneval. Madness. 

Last weekend there was another Box lacrosse tournament outside München, in Neubiberg. It was at the university for the Bundeswehr (the military) which was crazy. It was cool to be on a German campus though. It was fun, we got 4th place out of 11 teams after 2 really rough games in the seni finals. I have lots of bruises but as always, I really enjoyed playing and getting to know my new teammates better. 

Now it's back to the daily grind. Tomorrow we will have kaffee und kuchen with the family for Bennet's birthday which was during Karneval. 

So much planning of trips this week it was a lot of work but I'm glad I'm doing it. Oktoberfest apartment is booked and most of the places Katy, my dad and I will stay are also booked! 

I could be a travel agent now!

mehr später!

A little bit Sentimental

So I've been feeling down lately, I blame the weather. I haven't seen the sun in almost 2 weeks which is very depressing. This leads me to my first point that I now know I must live in a place where there is sun on a regular basis. None of this months of clouds shit.

Anyway so I decided to have a look at the wonderful scrapbook Katy put together for me before I left home. Although it's not the first time I'm realizing it, I thought about how extremely lucky I am to have such wonderful friends and family who love and care about me. I am lucky to be able to count my blessings in life but of all these, the one I appreciate most is the love of those that I choose to surround myself with.
Whenever I see the photos they collected and the words they left me with it makes me sad to know that we can't hang out. It makes me so very comforted and happy to know that they are all a part of my life and appreciate the relationships we all have as much as I do and support me in my crazy adventure.
So friends and family- I'm thinking of you most today and missing you.

I went back to lacrosse last night, another blessing in my life. The field was covered with ice and snow but we still played. I fell twice.....too bad I threw out my cleats before I left America....
I will be going with them to Munich in the middle to February for another Box tournament so I am looking forward to that!
It's been pouring rain all day and I just want to do some yoga and take a nap!
Tonight is the last meeting to put together our Karneval costumes (after 2 months!). Pictures to come.
Karneval is next week and the dance shows have already started! Maybe ill figure out how to add a video if I don't look like a complete fool.
My GRE is on MONDAY! Freaking out about it a little. Hold both thumbs for me that it goes well (this is the Germans way of saying "cross your fingers")!

That's all for now.
LG

The first "short" post

So we finally got snow back in Ramersbach. I've gotten to catch up with lots of friends and family this week that I haven't talked to in a while which was nice. To those of you I got to talk to- thanks for taking the time! I miss you all.
The first week back from holiday wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The kids were lovely in the mornings and Liv has actually gotten int he routine of waking up by herself when Bennet wakes up! Of course that means that by the time I get upstairs at 6:10, they are both already up but it's nice that we don't have to go through the wake up routine- it is usually not a nice one.
I have been horribly sick with a cold since Switzerland which has really sucked. Lots of coughing and blowing my nose, very gross. The day I left Switzerland I went to the Apoteke and bought Vitamin C pills which the girl told me to take once a day. So of course, I have been taking 2-3 a day in hopes that I will just naturally boost my immune system enough to get better.
Today Bennet was home from school sick so I really hope he's not getting what I have. He slept for a little while and then was as good as new so I'm thinking he'll be okay to go to school tomorrow.
We went on a lovely little walk through the woods on Sunday. Here are some photos!

Coming out of the woods at the end of the walk

With Bonn in the background there nestled behind the hills!

sunshine through the trees

Bennet needed walking sticks. As every 7 year old does on a walk through the woods. 

I still haven't been able to get back to Lacrosse practice. I was hoping to go today but because of all the snow, it was cancelled. Big bummer but hopefully I can get back NEXT week.

Not really too much else to report! Hopefully we'll go sledding with Liv's new sled in the next few days :)
Oh and shoutout to my mom for her weird Christmas presents. ET was a welcome guest star in my hangout with Alice.

giggles for days. 

Bis spater!

What a way to kick off 2013

Okay, well sorry KATY. This is probably be a long one.
So since the kids had their winter break I was feeling a little wanderlusty and decided to do a solo trip. This is something I knew that I wanted to accomplish while in Europe and I figured now was as good a time as any.
It is so wonderful that Germany is in the middle to Europe that trains are an easy alternative to flying and a cheaper one at that. I spent probably 2 days doing research on Swiss cities and train fares and finally decided on Lucerne, Switzerland and then a stopover in Tuttlingen, Germany to see my old au pair, Heike!
New Year's Eve I went to stay with a new friend in Bonn and we went to a private party in Köln. It was a really great time. At midnight here it's a big thing to light off fireworks so everyone went outside the bar and put fireworks in empty champagne bottles and lit them off right in the street. It was one of the craziest things I have ever seen!

This is me and Fenja at the party.

Me lighting my first firework!

The night was a lot of fun and I'm sad that I missed celebrating with the kiddos but I got to meet some great people and I had a blast. We didn't get back to Bonn until about 8am which left me with just 2 hours to sleep. Of course, I missed my alarm, the bus to the Hauptbahnhof and ran up the stairs to the platform AS my train was pulling away to Switzerland. It was just about the most dramatic thing that could have happened, very much so out of a movie. The awful thing about Deutschebahn is that if you miss your train, you have to buy a whole new ticket, which was awful so I had to spend an extra 64 euros to get another route that put me through 2 transfers and got me into Luzern almost 2 hours after originally scheduled. 

After that chaos, I finally got on a train that was a few hours to Mannheim. It was actually kind of nice to have the stopover because I got to wake myself up in the bathroom, put in my contacts, and get something to eat. This train was of course late so that was pretty much the story of my day. 

This train was a few more hours to Basel, Switzerland. I met a nice guy on the train who was living in Geneva but was from Madrid and we bonded over the mutual drastic change in surrounding that we shared. I had to run in Basel to catch my train to Luzern and only had 2 minutes so of course missed it and caught the next one. 

I met a guy on that train who was utterly confused when I told him we were headed to Luzern since he thought he'd gotten on a train to Milan. That was funny.

Anyway the theme of my day was referring in my head back to an article I found on Rick Steve's website written by a woman who often traveled alone, "there's always another train or plane or bus so don't worry if you miss one, just enjoy the journey and remember that is why you went on your trip". This was certainly something that calmed me all day. 

When I got into Luzern I had to figure out where the hostel was which was a journey in itself. I hopped on the bus and once I got off I had to ask 2 people directions but I did so in German and was so proud that I was brave enough to give it a go. I met a girl in the lobby from Malaysia and she had been there a couple days and after talking for a little she offered to venture out to find something to eat with me. Apparently we were roommates! funny. So we went out and got something to eat and had nice conversation. I certainly learned a thing or two about Malaysia. She was really sweet and it was crazy to hear about her life. She was 21 and was living in Poland doing a volunteer internship with an organization that helped disabled kids make art. It was 2 months long and afterwards she was moving back to New Zealand where she had lived abroad previous to Poland. So cool. 

When we got back we met our other roommates, both American who were really cool. They were both East Coasters who were studying in the UK, Annie in London and Kathryn in Glasgow. We seemed to click pretty fast which was cool. 

The next day I got up and had breakfast at the hostel, packed a little sandwich for later which of course was reminiscent of my study abroad trip last December. I headed out and caught a boat cruise across Lake Luzern to Vitznau, about 45 minutes, which was beautiful since the sun was shining and It is surrounded by alps. 

This was on the boat.

View of Pilatus from the boat. 

Once there, I was to catch the longest cog wheel train still running, up to Rigi Kulm, the top of Mt. Rigi. This was a pretty cool ride as well seeing as most of the track was on a 45 degree angle. Lots of skiing spots which made me wish I had known how so that I could have gone. 

Once I got to Rigi Kulm, I had about an hour to walk around and hike around the top to see the views. It was beautiful. It was pretty cloudy which was a big bummer because the view of all the alps from there would have been magnificent but was blocked by the clouds. 

This was one pretty cool view off the side. I love the way the clouds are reflected in the small lake there. 

Also from Rigi Kulm. The woman who took this photo was awesome. She noticed I was alone and we chatted a little. She was from nearby and liked to come up to the mountains to chill with her camera and enjoy the views. 

After I left Rigi Kulm, I took the train back down to Rigi Kaltbad and there were the mineral baths I had been so excited about. It was absolutely wonderful to go there. I didnt take any pictures there which was a bit of a shame but for most of it, we weren't allowed to. So this is the website of the place I went if you do want to see pictures. 

http://www.mineralbad-rigikaltbad.ch/index.asp?kat=galerie

Of course it looked a bit different than in the pictures because it was winter but it was awesome to be in the mineral pool and see all the mountains. It was also really wonderful after being so cold all morning on the mountain in the wrong clothes. I met up with Karthryn and Annie there and we all took the cable car, and the boat back to Luzern from Weggis. That night we went out to dinner at Restaurant Fritschi which was delicious. Of course, ridiculously expensive but we all had some soup and then split cheese fondue. It was a really cool building and the food was delish. It was also cool to hear about their backpacking adventure and what they were up to in life. Like I said before we seemed to get along really well and I am so happy that I met them. 

Our cheese fondue

the front of the restaurant we went to. 

Afterwards we walked around a little and found ourselves in a few cool old wooden bridges and then found our way to a British pub called Mr. Pickwicks. We had a couple ciders and then walked back to the hostel. 

The next day I got up really early and had breakfast and set out. I had fought the Tell Pass which was 2 free days of excursions so I needed to make use of it and decided to go to Mt. Pilatus. I had to get new hiking shoes since the ones I had were awful so I found a huge after Christmas sale and found some great new winter boots that will last me a long time. I felt really confident navigating my way around at this point which is always really cool in a new city. I hopped on the bus, walked up to the cable car spot and hopped in one. It was about 30 minutes to the top and it was so pretty. It was a lot higher than Rigi and since I went earlier in the morning, a lot clearer. The sun was shining and once I got up there I just walked around and enjoyed the amazing views. I wanted to go hiking to the other side but because of all the snow, they had closed the trails. 

Cable car route

selfie at the top

lake Luzern at the bottom there

tons of alps. I loved it

where I chilled and ate my snack

There was a man playing this too which was awesome. I talked to him for a couple minutes. This photo just looks so cliche alps.

At around noon the clouds rolled in and I decided to go down. It took about an hour to get back to the Luzern hauptbahnhof and when there I walked around the city a little bit. Went to a bakery and got a coffee an chilled on the river. It was a great day. 

The river with the famous Kapellbrücke and Rigi in the back. 

An awesome wooden nativity scene. Apparently there its traditional to have really ornate ones. 

Then I met up with Annie and we went to the Rosengart gallery where much of Picasso's late work is housed along with some impressionists and some other good stuff that we both really enjoyed. 

Then we met up with Kathryn at Starbucks, enjoyed the free wifi for a little and walked around some more. We then decided to go back to Mr. Pickwicks as there isn't much nightlife in Luzern and we knew it and how to get there. We sat down and soon met some locals that were very nice. They were 3 guys that were from all over but had worked together in Luzern, one was from Brazil, moved there but was studying abroad in Alabama, another was from the Phillipines, moved to Australia, and then to Luzern and I'm not sure about the other one. We enjoyed a couple local beers and chats with them and then headed back to the hostel. 

Me, Annie, and Kathryn in front of Pickwicks the last night. 

We all headed out the next day, them to Zürich and me to Tuttlingen to see Heike. 

She picked me up from the train and we drove around then went to her house which is lovely. I got to met her boyfriend Peter and her awesome 5 month old baby, Paul. Sooooo cute. We had some raclette for dinner and afterwards drank some red wine and looked at her photo albums from her stay with my family when I was 5. She saved everything so it was really cool to see and to hear about now having the experience of being an au pair. The next day we woke up, had breakfast and coffee and went to Konstanz to see the lake and walk around. 

Heike and I at Lake Constance

We took the ferry across the lake to Meersberg and walked around which was so cute. I think it would be absolutely lovely in the summer. 

Heike and Paul on the ferry. 

We headed back and had some cake and coffee and then they had some work friends over for a small party. It was nice to meet all of them and see Heike's life now as she has a family and has settled down. We went on an awesome walk the next morning and then I was on my way back home. 

It was a lovely trip and I'm so very happy that I decided to go. It seems that if i just listen to my inner wanderlust I will not be disappointed. I was nervous about traveling alone but it was awesome. It was great to meet new people that I very well may not have met had I been with company. You put yourself out there more as a solo traveler and I think you're more willing to approach and become friendly with new people. 

All in all, Awesome trip and start to 2013. 

Frohe Weihnachten aus Deutschland!

Hello all and Frohe Weihnachten aus Deutschland!
I have gotten a request for shorter but more frequent posts so I will do my best to honor that.

It has been a somewhat crazy December. We started off with lots and lots of snow, we got a couple feet in the beginning and it was absolutely beautiful! I'm truly in a winter wonderland. Unfortunately, the temperatures went from reallllly cold to feeling like spring is on the way and we have a bleek and rainy Christmas instead of a wonderfully white one.

The Ramersbacherstraße going from Ramersbach to Bad Neuenahr- Ahrweiler.

Christmas here has been a little weird. I'm missing all the traditions and spending time with my family, up and down the river, decorating the tree with my mom, her holiday bread, hanging out in Northbrook with my friends, visiting Freddy, and lots more. I never really thought I would be so homesick or miss my family this much but I do. It's nice to hear that I'm being missed on the other side of the pond as well. As a wonderful present, my dad and Katy let me know they booked their flight here to visit me at the end of April so I am very much looking forward to that even though it is crazy far off. 

Nina and Florian were so nice and gave me Florian's old smart phone for Christmas and now I have whatsapp again so communication is more accessible. I am so thankful and it's so nice that they are doing everything they can to make me feel comfortable here. 

The kids have off school for like 3 weeks and they were so excited on Christmas. It was so cute. Bennet's favorite present seems to be a remote control mini lambourghini he got. He has been driving it all over the house. Liv's is hard to tell since she got so many new clothes and little toys. Polly Pocket, Barbie house, Barbie Rapunzel which she really wanted and she also got a big lego Police station that I have been helping her put together. They were so cute opening everything and Bennet put the Bears shirt my mom gave him on right away and wore it the rest of the night. So great to form baby bears fans :)

We went to IKEA last week to get new furniture for Bennet's room which is now finished. He got a new bed and a new closet thing. We painted his walls and they are white and bright green but he loves it. It does look very good. Maybe I'll post a picture next update. 

Anyway, I'm kind of happy that Christmas is over now but I know that New Year's will be really hard since it is a night that has always been spent with close friends. I'm trying to find something fun to do to distract me from the fact that I can't be with any of them this year. Hopefully I will find something to do in Bonn or Köln. If i had a buddy to travel with, I would try to go to Berlin. Apparently it is the place to be in Europe for New years. Unfortunately, I do not and that is not a trip to do alone. 

More later. 

German phrase to learn: Frohe Weihnachten (fro.vi.nack.ten)

It means Merry Christmas :)

Thanksgiving, Lax, and Roma= My November

Sooooo Thanksgiving was a success and it seemed that everyone enjoyed the food. The goose turned out okay although it was so hard to find the meat. I wasn't the biggest fan but the kids really liked it and there was so much other food that it was okay even if you didn't like the meat. 

Cooked goose.

Opa carving the goose.

Garlic bread, glazed carrots, Jan;es gooey potatoes, yummy salad, sweet potato casserole, and not pictured is the corn casserole and the stuffing which were both awesome. So all in all I'd say a successful first Thanksgiving

Christian, Oma who isn't looking, Opa, Me and Florian. 

Oh and the pumpkin pie that I made entirely from scratch. 

Everything else in the everyday has been pretty much the same. I got to go to Göttingen, pretty much 3 hours just straight west of Köln. There was an indoor box lacrosse tournament that I got to play in with the Köln team and it was an absolute blast. It was pretty much a big lock in at the Göttingen sports club with 16 teams from all over Germany. We got there late Friday night and there was a huge party going on there so it was really cool to be there for that. They had a ping pong table and people were playing beer pong which I guess is a pretty uncommon thing for them. That night there were people just sleeping anywhere there was space so that's what I mean by a big lock-in. Saturday the games started at 9 and went all the way to I think 8:30. They alternated between men's and women's and each had 8 teams, one being a pick-up team. So we had 3 games and I played 2 pick-up games...so much lacrosse and so much fun. It was also cool to see how close the men's and women's teams are at Köln in that whenever they were playing, we were watching and vise versa. That night there was a big party at a bar for the whole tournament so we all walked there about a half hour together. It was like lacrosse players on parade which was really cool. I got to meet lots of new people and feel like I had some sort of a social life while being able to play lacrosse so it was a pretty great weekend, with the exception of 2 things. Saturday night I chipped my fake tooth on a beer bottle that some girl accidentally hit me with so that really sucks. 

Sunday we got up and had the semi finals and won that then the finals against Stuttgart who I guess usually beats us. We won! We won the whole tournament and then went upstairs to watch the guys who were in the men's finals and eat pizza that they had ordered for us. They won and we ran downstairs and everyone was singing viva Colonia and it was all very exciting. There was a short awards ceremony where they got a giant bottle of beer and we got a giant bottle of Champagne and had a shower party, which is exactly what it sounds like. European style so it was a little weird for me. When we were packing up to leave I realized that my iphone, which I had barely taken out of my bag all weekend was gone and still is. I'm really bummed that happened. 

This is a team photo of all of us after the guys won. So fun!

Last weekend (well, Thursday to Monday) I went to Rome. I got to see friends from DePaul and explore a new city, both of which were great. The food was unreal, of course. The first night we went and got a couple drinks and made it to one of Steve's favorite pizzerias. Then we went out in Trastevere and it was just like going out in a college town but it was in Italy. Most of the kids there were Americans studying abroad so it was cool to meet all Steve's friends but also not very Italian. 

There is a chocolate bar somewhere near there and we went and got chocolate shots which was really cool. It was some sort of chocolate lacquer and alcohol mixture in a shot glass made of chocolate topped with whipped cream. It was very interesting. 

The next day we got up and walked around for a bit, found a great little place to get a delicious lunch that looked like someone's kitchen. I had some sort of spaghetti with eggplant and ricotta cheese and tomatoes, delicious. 

We met up with Steve and went on a walk, ended up in Villa Borghese which is a big beautiful park. We got to hang out there for a while and see the sunset which was very cool. After that we walked to the Spanish Steps and down what I would call the Champs Elysee of Rome. We ended up at a wonderful restaurant near Piazza Navonna and had some delicious bruscetta and this pear pasta. For dinner there I had a creamy shrimp risotto that was awesome. We went out that night to a few bars and after much of the debauchery had already gone down, Tommy and I followed his twin friends from home to the Pantheon and we saw that by night. This was a preface for the rest of the trip and how much late night sight seeing we would do, regardless of crazy downpour. 

All 5 of us on the Spanish Steps. Me, Emma, Steve, Tommy, and Emma

The next day Tommy and I got up and go tout the hostel, we walked to find something to eat and then to find the Vatican. We walked through the museum and I was amazed at all the art. Not realllllly my style but still breathtaking and wonderful to see first hand after learning about all the paintings in art classes. We then met up with Steve and his friends and walked to St. Peter's Square and got pulled into this crazy Italian dance with all these silly Italians. It was pretty hilarious and we were all laughing the entire time. We then walked around a bit more, saw some more cool stuff and made our way to the Trevi Fountain. On the way we stopped at St. Ignatius church and that was cool to see the famous painting ont he ceiling there as well. 

Trevi Fountain

Then we walked to dinner for the best pizza of my life. It was crazy to wait for a table there because it was super busy and there was a mob outside the door. The guy would open the door and people would just yell how many they had. 

Best pizza I've ever eaten from Pizzeria Baffeto. So good. 

We went out that night to a great Irish bar and watched the Georgia vs. Alabama game which was fun. I haven't gotten to watch football since I've been in Europe so I was happy all the guys wanted to watch and we made it happen. We then made the trip to the Colosseum with a bottle of red wine and that was awesome. Afterwards apparently Tommy and the twins and I weren't tired and went back tot he Trevi fountain which was really cool because it was about 4am and there was no one there. 

Colosseum at night.

The next day we woke up late and Salvador, the man who ran the hostel, was banging on our door basically telling us we needed to get out and I hopped in the shower very fast and he turned the water off on me while I still had shampoo in my hair so that was a very unpleasant way to start the day. It was unnecessary as they didn't even start cleaning or anything when we got out. 

We went to a place for lunch close by and it was UNREAL. We had 2 different kinds of bruscetta, one caprese and one truffle and they were both absolutely amazing. We also got pastas and Katie got risotto. Following was some great tirimisu. This was probably my favorite meal there. 

Probably the best lunch I've ever eaten. Dont worry, not all three are mine. 

That day we walked around, went to Campo d'Fiori and there was a farmer's market with spices and oils and things which was cool. We walked around cute little streets until we reached Piazza Vittorio which was a lot of steps up to a wonderful view of the city. Did some more walking around and went back tot he piazza to watch the sunset from there which was awesome. Katie and Emma had to go catch their train and Tommy Steve and I went back to the Irish pub to watch the Bears who unfortunately lost. 

I left the next afternoon. 

It was a wonderful weekend with friends, great sights, amazing food, and fun times. Despite all the rain we got stuck in every night it was such a great time and I'm so happy that I went. 

Ciao!