Ich fühle mich ganz optimistisch

I like my brother's away message right now:
"Fire this friday
Meezer concert June 4th
graduation party June 13th (4 - 8)
Leave for USC August 18th
purchase first island 2016"

Ah that feeling when you graduate high school, the summer is yours to fill with parties and friends and the future is yours to conquer. Having things like that to look forward to makes anything seem possible.. if I already know that I'm going to Italy and Berlin and Ampsterdam and London... and then to UR and graduating college, then there must be even greater things after that, purchasing islands doesn't seem so out of the question. Today a celebration and tomorrow an adventure. Its a good outlook on life. This week I'm celebrating my wonderful boyfriend who flew halfway around the globe to see me :) and I couldn't be happier. Elena's boyfriend is here as well, he just finished a semester in Scotland, so the boys can hang out while we're at classes and we can do some double dating. I'm going to have to teach Eric some german though, I can't just hang out with Americans ALL the time. This week we're just enjoying each other's company in Münster before leaving for our adventures in Italy on Saturday. Life is Grand :)

Hier, Da, Irgendwo

wow this computer is going slow today....

Allrighty, lets rewind a few days shall we? Highlights of last weekends trip:
Seeing Stacy again
Checking another country off the list of places to go
Super nice Hostel, if you're ever in Prague I recomend Sir Toby's
Talking to some guys from Michigan on the night train and seeing tons of other American tourists, and being one :P
Wandering around Prague with Stacy, doing lots of shopping and lots of getting lost.
Having our own 'Pub tour' with really good Czech beer
Trying Czech food... and then making fun of how bad it is-- if you're ever in Prague don't bother trying the dumplings- they're just soggy bread
Going on 'The Ultimate Walking Tour' with people from all over the world, including a very boisterous group of middle aged english men. oiy.
Seeing all of the amazingly beautiful buildings, both walking and from a boat.
Going to a Marienette show, and then laughing over dinner and imitating the pupets wiggling their heads along to Italian operas.
Walking around the city after dark and peeking into the empty jewish graveyard where bodies are burried 12 deep. Creepy!
Going to the very pretty Chatue Troy outside the city on our last day and learning everything you ever wanted to know and so much more about Czech landscape painters of the ealy 1800s.
Meeting the super sweet little kids that Stacy nannies. Seuß!
Touring Dresden and being awed by how beutiful it is and how much has been rebuilt since the war.
Going to the spring market in the main square and getting some quality German food and Dresden brewed beer... and more shopping of course :)
Actually begining to get used to night trains and sleeping on them.

So as you can see, it was a fun trip :) I haven't stopped traveling since actually... yesturday I went to Elena and her friend Emily to Köln for a super short trip, we were there for less than two hours, which is as long as it takes to get there :P but it was fun and Elena wanted Emily to see some more of germany. We went in the Dom and sat at a cafe on the Rhine and then came back. But I still had one unmarked day on my railpass that would have expired today, so it was a free trip. Then today I went on another free trip, with the German American Society. They rented a bus and we went to Bonn, which is right next to Köln. We got to go in the Post Tower, which is a super fancy new sky scraper thats all made of glass. Normaly they don't let tourists in, but we have connections. Then we went to a museum of german history since 1945 which was a really interesting museum, very well put together. It was a nice little day trip. Today is 'Christi Himmelfahrt' (Assention) so there were no classes and everything is closed. Lazy Catholics ;) So now I'm looking forward to just staying in Münster for a bit. I'm whiped out. And Eric is coming!!!! :-D and we have some time to relax before italy. This semester already seems to be flying by. sigh. Ok, if this computer doesn't give out on me I need to try to book a hotel in Berlin... Bis Später!

Die Heimat ist worin das Herz legt

That's my attempt at translating 'Home is where the heart is', I'm sure there's a german phrase, but I'm not good with idiums auf Deutsch. I was just thinking about home related things, its something we always talked about in German classes at UR and even in high school, I guess because germans have a lot of identity crisis issues when it comes to their homeland. But anyway, we always talk about where we are from and what we consider to be 'home'. And I was thinking... I can't really say that I'm sure anymore where home is. MN with my family of course will always be home, and yet, I don't particularily want to live there anymore, so that can't really be home can it? And I am kind of looking forward to going back to UR for a bit but I deffinitely am glad that I only have one year left there, so that's not really home. I guess it doesn't matter so much, I was just thinking about it today when I got back to Münster and was suprised at how nice it felt to be back here. Prague and Dresden was really really nice, and seeing Stacy was a lot of fun, but coming back here was nice too. Stacy is living with such a nice family, and even for two days in Prague she said she missed Dresden and was thinking about the kids all the time. Its amazing how quickly we can become attatched to a place. All I know is that I'm glad to be here, I can't wait to get back to my building and find Elena and find out how her B-day party was and meet her friend visiting from the US, and I was glad to say hi to everyone on my hall again. And today in my translation class I met a german girl, she needed copies of some worksheets so I lent her mine and went to the copie shop with her and then we got coffee together :) She was really nice. It helps of course that its sunny today... and that I just ate a chocolate bar I think :P I think a big part of it is that Eric will be here this sunday :) and my little room won't seem so empty. AND Shannon is coming at the end of June! :) So she can see Münster and the three of us will Go to Ampsterdam together :) Yay for visitors! Hopefully Stacy will be able to visit before she leaves too. I wish I had enough money to buy every one of you who actually takes the time to read this a plane ticket over here so that you could see my nice little home town... its little and rainy... but its home for now :) I know that I still have to write all about my trip to Prague and Dresden and I promise that I will... but thats just what was on my mind at the moment and right now its too nice out to sit in here... not to mention that I haven't showered since sleeping on a train :P

Nachtzug here I come :)

Arg, blogspot isn't letting me post and I just lost my whole entry. It was something about how I was in a bad mood last time because of evil german bike theives but am feeling much better now and am super excited about all my upcoming travels. I just got a travel guide to western Europe and have been reading about all the bazillions of things to see in almost every city. And Eric is coming on the 23rd :) and we're going to Rome :) and Berlin :) and my parents are coming in July :) and we're going to London and staying in a fancy hotel :) and tonight I'm taking the Nachtzug (night train) to Dresden :) and I'm happy and life is good :)

Heute Abend fahre ich nach Dresden und Prague :)

I'm going to assume that you all can figure out what that title means. So, last time I wrote I was in a somewhat bad mood after the theft of my bike which I then took out on all Germans in general for the rest of the day, disliking everyone who walked by me without smiling, and bumped into my, and rang their stupid little bike bell at me... But I got over it and and feeling friendlier toward germans today. Yesturday I didn't have class until 2 because I decided to drop 'Playwrites of the Enlightenment' which was a GREAT decision. I did my laundry, read my assignment for today AND went running all before heading off to classes. I bought a travel book on Western Europe the other day so I was reading that last night before watching some german crime shows with Elena. I read about the cities in Italy we're going to and about Berlin and other cities we could visit nearby. There's so much to see in Europe! it seems like every city hase a bazillion monuments and museums and so much history! The US is so boring in comparison. I'm so excited to see Rome! and Prague! and Dresden! And Eric is coming :-D the 23rd, a week and a half! Ah, to be in Rome with the love of my life.... why am I getting down about stupid bike thieves? I'm the luckiest girl in the world. And my parents are coming in july and I get to go to London with them and stay in a fancy hotel! which will be nice considering Eric and I will probably be in one star hotels or hostels most of the time. I'm going to sound like shannon now.... I love my life! My next entry will detail my future adventures this weekend in Dresden and Prague with Stacy... stay tuned!

:(

My bike is gone. I left it at the train station yesturday and when I got back it was no longer there. Its my fault I suppose because I knew that my lock was rusting and not working properly, but it at least looked locked and who walks around tugging on everones lock? I'm very sad about this. I nearly cried when I couldn't find it. Granted it was also late and I was tired and not having a bike meant I had to walk home, but it also just makes me sad that someone would do that. Don't people think about what they do? Didn't they know how sad it would make me? I really liked that bike, It was reliable and had a light and three gears even, which was enough for me to get over the forest green color of it. Sigh. I'm going to go back today and make sure its not there and I just didn't see it in the Fahrradmeer (sea of bikes) and if its not then I guess I'll look into getting another one. Boo. Anyway, the reason my bike was at the train station all day was that Elena, Heike and I went to Enchide, a town in the netherlands that we can get to for free with our student ticket. It was fun, we just did some shopping and walked around and ate dinner, its not a terribly exciting city, but its fun to hear a different language that sound soo funny with all their double vowels, its close enough to german that we could decipher some signs and plaques but its different enough that I would never understand someone speaking it to me. We plan to go back some day that we have more time and see the museums that they have. I really want to go to Ampsterdam while I'm hear too. The rest of my weekend was not terribly exciting. The costume party on friday was fun. I didn't come up with any specific movie star to be so I just wore a sparkly shirt and sunglasses. There were lots and lots of Englanders there along with some americans a few germans and some others I'm sure. So I was getting my english and german speaking very confused trying to switch back and forth all the time :P Other than that I got all my homework done for the week and read 'Life of Pi' which is quite good, I recomend it. Elena and I have kept up our daily jogging and pilates on the lawn fairly well also. Ok, I'm müde (tired) and I have to WALK to the train station and then home :( Sigh. I'm leaving for Dresden/Prague thursday night! :)

Achtung! You will get wet!

That should be the first line of the description of studying abroad in Münster. Yuck. Wet and cold. Right so... it's friday and I have another four day weekend streached out before me... hmm. Last night was fun, going over to a real apartment and hanging out with a few real germans and watching a movie (in english!). They were really nice. Tonight should be fun as well, I should take pictures because I haven't here yet. I shoudl probably actually do lots of reading and homework this weekend too. Yes, tha twould be ideal. Next weekend I'm going to Dresden and Prague!!! yay! I'm excited, and I'll finally have a reason for schedualing all my classes into three days!

I just bought Nora Jones tickets!!! in Berlin June 20th!!! EEEEEEEEEEE!!! I got them on e-bay because they all sold out right away, they are somewhat pricy...but its floor seats and come on... its Nora Jones in Berlin, its once in a life time :) So I'm excited, and Eric has his birthday present since it will be on his birthday weekend :) Now I just have to figure out how I'm supposed to pay for them and get them... I've never done this e-bay thing before.

Alright, i guess its eally not going to stop raining, so I should go. Ciao!

It's raining again :( so I'm going to sit here for a bit and hope it stops... although that seems somewhat unlikely. I found out last week that riding a bike in the rain is much less fun than it sounds, and it doesn't sound very fun. I miss my car!! You know what else I miss? D-hall. Thats right. I want my big huge salad bar with pre chopped veggies and cheese and ranch dressing and I want someone else to cook everthing for me. I'm never going to complain about mean d-hall ladies or mass produced food again. I love d-hall ladies. Our closet sized kitchen shared by 14 people is getting to me... I can't even get in to cook when I'm hungry and I have to go grocery shopping every other day because there's no fridge space. Arg. sorry, ok, I'm going to stop complaining now. I just got out of my Kafka class. I guess the Prosiminar classes are at a lower level than I was expecting, we spent the whole class going over the basics of reading a text... types of narrators, indirect vs. direct diolog. Things that I vaugly remember learning in high school lit classes. But I think we'll get on to more interesting analysis later. Its at least good for me to learn all the german literary terms and a refresher in literary analysis can't do me any harm. So yeah... other than that... I had some classes yesturday too but I wont bore you with further descriptions. I felt really icky last night so I just stayed in. But tonight I'm going with Elena to have a movie night with some girls she knows from class last semester. Should be fun. Friday night Cathy (from England) is having a birthday party, with costumes, we're supposed to dress as movie stars. I guess Chelsea isn't as odd as we thought ;) I have no idea what I'll wear, I don't have much with me, but I'll figure out something. Time to head home, looks like the rain may have stoped and I want to hit the kitchen before the dinner rush!

Reading away messages about exams and going home for the summer is making me homesíck... not for UR, or for home, just for that nice feeling of being done for the semester and looking forward to summer. I kinda got a raw deal, spending winter in MN instead of summer. but oh well, summer in Munster should be nice as well, and winter would have been icky. This past saturday was Mai Tag (May Day), which the Germans celebrate, I think they'll just take any excuse for a day of work and a chance to bbq and drink beer all day. The big thing to do is go on a bike tour and for some reason to affix a birch branch to your bike. I joined in the mass of holiday bikers lead by Herr Puschnover, the head of the German american society. He took Elena, Brandon and I out for a spin. A several hour 30Km spin. Good times. And his wife made us dinner after :) Since then I've been doing mostly nothing. Luckily I have Elena to get me out jogging and such. But otherwise I mostly sat in my room all of sunday and read. But it was rainy, so thats ok. A rainy sunday in Munster is an excellent time to do nothing, as there really isn't anything else to do. Four day weekends are nice, but its hard to stay motivated, but I'll be traveling soon enough. The weekend after next I will hopefully be going to Dresden to visit Stacy! yay! She took this year off school to be an Au Pair in germany. So I'm going to see her and then we'll go to Praag for a day or two as well. :) I also just bought flight tickets to Italy!! yay! for my spring break in June with Eric :) Ok, Ich habe Hunger! (I have hunger, thats how they say it here)
Ciao!