Hi, I'm back...
After a one month hiatus I decided to continue the blog. My European travels may be over (for the time being) but my adventures continue. So if you don't mind, I'm going to continue to post to my blog. Hopefully people still read it. :-)
In the last month I moved, visited family in KY, finished a portion of a project, helped with Teaching Assistant Training, started my own course, and finished a huge fellowship application. Now that my 800 students have checked into lab and my room is mostly completed, I believe my life can continue on.
I miss Europe. I miss the sense of adventure I felt every weekend as I explored a new place and I missed trying new things everyday. But I've learned to appreciate the things I love about home. I love the Champaign bus service and the fact that I am walking distance from my boyfriends apartment (2.3 miles is walking distance if you give yourself 40 minutes to walk it). I also love visiting my favorite organic food store (Strawberry Fields) after I make my Saturday morning farmer's market run. I love the ability to use my cell phone to call home as much as I want without paying ridiculous roaming fees.
But I think the thing I love most is knowing that I know my country. I may not understand why we have 20 different types of yogurt, but I know which kind I want. I love not having to ask someone how to operate the vending machine or what type of food I'm ordering off the menu. I also know how to navigate cell phone customer service. I guess I just like things to be normal, so I don't have to ask for help every time I want to try something new. But at the same time, I know that after a few months of normal, I'm going to start begging for travel experiences soon.
Just as a precaution for boring days ahead, anyone want me to visit?
Friday, September 7, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Dream experience?
So I'm safe in the US now, back in the same house I've lived in for 4 years. Walking to front door, my hands began shaking, not because I was nervous about how things had changed since I left, but because so little has changed that I'm afraid the past 2 months will turn out to be a dream. I walked into my apartment, turned the key the wrong way like I always have, opened the door, and smelled the mustiness that I've grown accustomed to in the last year. My bathroom towel still hung in the same place I left it 10 weeks ago.
As I walked through the door, scenes from the summer flashed through my mind. Watching the Hungarian symphony in a a gilded opera house, watching the alps zoom past the train window in the superfast train, walking through the streets of Goslar with my long lost German sister. I have to wonder, did all of this really happen? Did I really spend 10 amazing weeks roaming the streets of 7 European countries? Did I really meet people from 30 different countries? Well, this blog, unless I can write blog entries in my sleep, proves that I did in fact do all these amazing things, and much more.
I still have so much to write about. So much happened on this trip that the blog hasn't even begun to explain all the memories in my mind. Hopefully I can catch up on some of the amazing experiences later this week as I wake up 2-3 hours before everyone else (I made it to 5:30am this morning. But until I can write again, I leave you with the last picture I took in Marbug, which really makes me think that this trip was a dream.
As I walked through the door, scenes from the summer flashed through my mind. Watching the Hungarian symphony in a a gilded opera house, watching the alps zoom past the train window in the superfast train, walking through the streets of Goslar with my long lost German sister. I have to wonder, did all of this really happen? Did I really spend 10 amazing weeks roaming the streets of 7 European countries? Did I really meet people from 30 different countries? Well, this blog, unless I can write blog entries in my sleep, proves that I did in fact do all these amazing things, and much more.
I still have so much to write about. So much happened on this trip that the blog hasn't even begun to explain all the memories in my mind. Hopefully I can catch up on some of the amazing experiences later this week as I wake up 2-3 hours before everyone else (I made it to 5:30am this morning. But until I can write again, I leave you with the last picture I took in Marbug, which really makes me think that this trip was a dream.
Monday, July 23, 2007
MIA for a while
Just so you know, I will probably be MIA for the next few days as I travel from Marburg to Frankfurt to Geneva to Amsterdam to Chicago and finally Champaign. Pray that no air traffic controllers strike in Switzerland, the Netherlands, or Chicago and that I make all my trains (I have 4 tomorrow alone) :-/
As much as Reuti wants me to have an eventful trip...I hope its plain boring.
Tata for now!
As much as Reuti wants me to have an eventful trip...I hope its plain boring.
Tata for now!
Caught unawares....but at least I had my towel
I leave for the US on Wednesday but I had to check out of my dorm today. However, I didn't know that I had to check out of my dorm today. I got up around 8:45...headed to the shower. I share a shower with 15 other people...which you might think is gross, but people keep the shower clean so its really not that bad. But I have to walk down the hall to use the shower.
Anyways, I'm down the hall, taking a shower, shampooing my hair, when someone bangs really loud on the door. I wonder if the door is going to crash in. Then I hear a female voice yelling "drei hundert neunzehn"....which is my room number. I turn off the shower, get soap in my eyes and yell back. "Ya, drei hundert neunzehn" . She then bangs on the door again and yells something in German...I have no idea what she said....I listen...I pause...and I reply "Ich verstehe nicht"....(I don't understand) to which she says another 30 words in German of which the only part I understand is "aus".....which ussually comes paired with questions that ask about travel. I then realize that someone was coming to see me....and apparantly they wanted to know when I'm leaving. I reply...with my very limited German "Dienstag!" (Tuesday)....she then says .aa/s.mdf/.amdsf;lasjksdf;ljsa or something....I have no idea....and walks away. Thinking that the exchange was over...I finish my shower....get the soap out of my eyes...and wrap up in a towel for the 5 meter walk back to my room.
I step into the hallway, wearing just a towel (I time my escape so no one sees me) and rush to my door...only to be blocked by a large woman dressed in white with hair the color of a coke bottle. She clutched what looked to be 2 folders, one with my name emblazoned across the top. Before letting me into my room, she proceeds to pester me with questions in very fast german....questions that I only catch one or two words of before becoming completely lost. I listen and listen..and eventually figure out that she wanted to know when I was leaving and if I paid my deposit. I say yes, and then say that I'm going to pay my rent that very day. During this time she grabs a tall Arabic guy and asks him to translate for us....even though I'm standing in the hallway wearing nothing but a towel!!!!
We then finish our conversation outside, after which she explains that she needs to see my room, but she doesn't give me the option to dress beforehand. So I open the door to my room, dreading her expression. I had just started packing and entire closet now lay between my floor and bed...sorted into piles that only I understood. I had not cleaned the sink (a task I saved for tonight) and my desk was covered in piles of dead moths (another task for this evening). She quickly walked through the room, with me hurriedly throwing things into a suitcase with one hand and grasping my towel with the other. She then told me that I would be charged a cleaning fee....(not surprised considering the state of my room). And then she left, leaving the door open so everyone could see me in my towel. :-/
I closed the door, quickly dressed, and then began cleaning the room. However, damage had been done, I would now be charged a cleaning fee, all because I had no idea that I had to check out one day before I left. :-/
Thus ends my story.
The Moral: Never leave without your towel.
Anyways, I'm down the hall, taking a shower, shampooing my hair, when someone bangs really loud on the door. I wonder if the door is going to crash in. Then I hear a female voice yelling "drei hundert neunzehn"....which is my room number. I turn off the shower, get soap in my eyes and yell back. "Ya, drei hundert neunzehn" . She then bangs on the door again and yells something in German...I have no idea what she said....I listen...I pause...and I reply "Ich verstehe nicht"....(I don't understand) to which she says another 30 words in German of which the only part I understand is "aus".....which ussually comes paired with questions that ask about travel. I then realize that someone was coming to see me....and apparantly they wanted to know when I'm leaving. I reply...with my very limited German "Dienstag!" (Tuesday)....she then says .aa/s.mdf/.amdsf;lasjksdf;ljsa or something....I have no idea....and walks away. Thinking that the exchange was over...I finish my shower....get the soap out of my eyes...and wrap up in a towel for the 5 meter walk back to my room.
I step into the hallway, wearing just a towel (I time my escape so no one sees me) and rush to my door...only to be blocked by a large woman dressed in white with hair the color of a coke bottle. She clutched what looked to be 2 folders, one with my name emblazoned across the top. Before letting me into my room, she proceeds to pester me with questions in very fast german....questions that I only catch one or two words of before becoming completely lost. I listen and listen..and eventually figure out that she wanted to know when I was leaving and if I paid my deposit. I say yes, and then say that I'm going to pay my rent that very day. During this time she grabs a tall Arabic guy and asks him to translate for us....even though I'm standing in the hallway wearing nothing but a towel!!!!
We then finish our conversation outside, after which she explains that she needs to see my room, but she doesn't give me the option to dress beforehand. So I open the door to my room, dreading her expression. I had just started packing and entire closet now lay between my floor and bed...sorted into piles that only I understood. I had not cleaned the sink (a task I saved for tonight) and my desk was covered in piles of dead moths (another task for this evening). She quickly walked through the room, with me hurriedly throwing things into a suitcase with one hand and grasping my towel with the other. She then told me that I would be charged a cleaning fee....(not surprised considering the state of my room). And then she left, leaving the door open so everyone could see me in my towel. :-/
I closed the door, quickly dressed, and then began cleaning the room. However, damage had been done, I would now be charged a cleaning fee, all because I had no idea that I had to check out one day before I left. :-/
Thus ends my story.
The Moral: Never leave without your towel.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Success!!!`
As the title suggests...I achieved success today as the 11th person in Marburg to obtain a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The evening started around 10pm when Amir and I walked to the city center (busses stopped running so we had to walk.
After wandering around for a bit, we finally found the bookstore that sold the book at this hour.
Around 12:30, a line began to form, so we decided to get in line.
By 1am, the line stretched around the block.
But at 1:01, the doors opened and we all walked in to obtain our copy of the book, which was even gift wrapped for us. :-)
So here I am with the bag...and the book...
I'm happy to report that the ending is...........
After wandering around for a bit, we finally found the bookstore that sold the book at this hour.
Around 12:30, a line began to form, so we decided to get in line.
By 1am, the line stretched around the block.
But at 1:01, the doors opened and we all walked in to obtain our copy of the book, which was even gift wrapped for us. :-)
So here I am with the bag...and the book...
I'm happy to report that the ending is...........
addendum to Harry Potter post
I should also add that I was able to watch the fourth movie in Germany this week...in English even. I'm beginning to wonder why I need to go back to the states...I can get all the books and watch all the movies I want.
Exciting plans for the weekend
Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the last year, you know that Harry Potter book 7 is released at midnight tonight. Well, the book is released at midnight in great Britain, which means it will be released at 1am in central Europe. Even so, 1am in Germany is still 5 hours ahead of midnight in the states, so if I go to a book store at 1am, I will have my hands on a copy at least 4 hours before my friends in the states. :-) But I will also have the original British version instead of the "translated" American version.
I figure, I'm in Europe, I might as well take advantage of the timezone change. :-) Yesterday Reuti, a labmate, found the only bookstore in Marburg that will actually open at 1am to sell the book. So this morning I set out to the Altstadt (old marburg) to reserve my own copy of the book.
Thanks to Reuti's excellent map, I quickly found the bookstore and went in to order my copy. The bookstore owner laughed when he heard my american accent and said "you traveled a long way to get one book!" I successfully ordered my own copy of the book, so keep you eyes open for an exciting picture to appear around 1:30am my time, (6:30pm CST). Perhaps I'll even open the last page for you. :-)
I figure, I'm in Europe, I might as well take advantage of the timezone change. :-) Yesterday Reuti, a labmate, found the only bookstore in Marburg that will actually open at 1am to sell the book. So this morning I set out to the Altstadt (old marburg) to reserve my own copy of the book.
Thanks to Reuti's excellent map, I quickly found the bookstore and went in to order my copy. The bookstore owner laughed when he heard my american accent and said "you traveled a long way to get one book!" I successfully ordered my own copy of the book, so keep you eyes open for an exciting picture to appear around 1:30am my time, (6:30pm CST). Perhaps I'll even open the last page for you. :-)
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