End of IUSP Fall 2010 + Mega Catch-up

Ok, so much has happened in the past little while that there is no way I could possibly fit it all into one post. So this is the abridged version. The Sparks notes. Ah hell, buckle in people it's going to be a long one.


December:
Rome and Prague with Kate were amazing. Turly a Euro-Rage Tour 2010! Kate got to Frankfurt a-ok and then the party started! I had to drag her to my last class with me, but this woman is a champ and ended up going 39 hours straight. I think she even won the Bro-King Card from the IUSP Bro Officials, Adam and Tall Mike. We hung around Marburg until Sunday and then made our way to Rome that Monday. We met up with Taylor and Danny for a little while once we got there before heading back to our hostel just outside of Rome proper and passed out. Summary: we did The Vatican and the Sistine Chapel (it was so beautiful it honestly brought me to tears). We lucked out and got to hear Gregorian chants and a mass in St. Peter's Basilica. The Colosseum, which I was in awe of, and the Roman Forum. The Pantheon. Delicious wine and pasta. One day we just wandered around Rome, down all the busy and lively back streets and just explored. That may have been my favourite, actually. Kate and I got out of Rome just as it started to snow for the first time in 20 years (go figure!) and made our way to Prague. Danny and Taylor were taking a train to Florence and got stuck 15 minutes outside of the city for I think 7 hours... Needless to say, Kate and I mocked them.





Ontop of St. Peter's Basilica.


Roman Forum

Prague was a beautiful city. We got around without too much trouble and wandered around the Christmas markets and had the most delicious goulash I have ever had in my life. Only downside is that it was FREAKIN FREEZING the entire time. We had to keep ducking into cafes and restaurants in order to keep from freezing to death. That seemed to work out just fine as we got to sample much of the local culture. Kate thought it was funny that I would skirt around the puppet stalls/stores but those things are creepy, ok? She ended up buying an witch puppet decoration for her mum that would cackle and kick it's little demon legs whenever someone walked by it. Karma did get her eventually though because when she was examining it to pack it, the little witch started to cackle and scared the shit out of Kate. I still laugh when I think about that.




Prague wasn't so much about the sites as just going and experiencing the city. I would definitely go back there. Rome was more so about going to all these important historical/culture sites but there was still so much I missed! I'd go back to Rome as well.

Anyway, we got back to Germany just fine but Kate had some difficulties getting out... Europe happened to be hit with a massive snowstorm a couple days before we were supposed to fly back to North America and no one was really prepared for just how much snow and ice there was. Kate's flight got canceled and she was stranded in Frankfurt until finally being able to get home 9 pm on Christmas Eve! It was a nightmare but a big thanks goes out to my friend Beth for keeping her company and to Connie and her family for their hospitality and help. You guys are amazing :).

It was nice being home for 2 weeks. I was definitely glad I got to see everyone again and have my amazing friends pick me up at the airport and then come chill in my living room. If I hadn't been really jetlagged it would've been just like old times!


January!
As happy as I was to be home, it was really nice coming back to Germany too. I missed it quite a bit. I hung out with Taylor, Beth and Lizzie a lot and that just always spells trouble. Particularly Lizzie. She's a trouble-maker, that one ;). Just kidding!
Mum, Aunt MaryLou and Aunt Colleen came to visit for a week and honestly I don't think I stopped laughing for more than 5 minutes. They are like the three stooges together. You three know it's true! I showed them around Marburg a bit, Aunt Colleen charmed the hotel owner with her man-killing lipstick and we ate delicious delicious auflauf. Then we went to visit Dan and Connie in Kassel for the afternoon and Connie took us to all the main sites, like the Hercules statue.



As my mum and the aunts found out, he is anatomically in proportion. There was some questions about that on our way up the hill. We spent the next couple days in Berlin and stayed in apartment style rooms, which was such a genius idea. We took a tour and generally just explored Berlin. We saw the Brandenburg Gate, the Holocaust Memorial and the Reichtag (German parliament) among many other things.



Next stop on the Germany in 8 Days Tour was München/Neuschwanstein. We only got to spend a couple hours in München, which was too bad because it's a beautiful city, but we made it to the Hofbrauhaus so I was happy :). The Hofbrauhaus is one of the oldest breweries in München - here's it's history. We took a train to Neuschwanstein (which is an area in southern Germany as well as a castle)and it started to snow. By the time we got to our beautiful hotel in between Schloss Hohenschwangau and Schloss Neuschwanstein. We lucked out and it snowed the perfect amount to make everything look like it came out of a romantic painting. We toured the castles and walked around a little. Shared some really nice dinners and some tasty wines.


This picture says that even in Europe, somethings never change.





We had a farewell dinner with Connie, her parents and Dan's parents which was really nice. I always get excited when I can communicate better using German and Connie and her parents have been really helpful with that :). Saying goodbye to mum was sad, but it wasn't as hard as when I first came over here. I've grown as a person! Yay! Actually, it was probably more so just the fact that I knew I'd see her in a couple months, rather than the year I thought it would be originally. Wow that's a confusing sentence.. anyway!

January ended with me heading to Amsterdam with Taylor, Beth and Lizzie. What a beautiful city! It has a reputation (not entirely undeserved) as party city, but honestly if that's the only thing you go for, you miss 3/4 of it. The Anne Frank museum was incredibly powerful and something you HAVE to go to if you got to Amsterdam. The canals and streets are beautiful and the houses remind me of St. John, Newfoundland, they're so colourful. I could see myself maybe living there for a little in the future, although I'd have to learn Dutch and that seems like a feat in itself.


February:

Taylor and I decided that we wanted to see the north of Germany so we basically pulled out a map, closed our eyes and pointed to a random city. We took a train to Stralsund/ Insel Rügen (the largest island in Germany) and spent sometime by the Baltic Sea. It's cold, by the way. Particularly in February. Apparently it's a really popular place to go during the summer. It was really nice to get away from all the big, important cities and just explore a little more. Experience a little more wilderness. That's one thing, no matter where you go in Germany, there are people. Lots of 'em. Well I guess it is about the size of Northern Ontario with almost triple the population of Canada... makes sense. Anyway, we stayed in this adorable older woman's renovated farmhouse and apparently were the 2nd guests she'd had...ever. She was quite a character but definitely very sweet and always had a warm breakfast ready for us in the morning.


Once we got back, we generally just hung out. Went to Frankfurt quite a bit for Visa reasons for Taylor and delicious Indian food for me. We went to Mexical (a TexMex bar, owned by Americans) and watched the Superbowl with Carissa, Steph, Beth, Bastian and Lizzie.


Soon after the newbies came! I'm still trying to process all my thoughts around that but once I do properly I'll blog. March has been all about language course and getting back into that school-type groove. I'm starting to plan some trips but nothing solid yet. I'd like to do Dublin, Paris and Budapest if I can. And Kevin is coming at the beginning of June! YAY! We might be going to Edinburgh and Portugal, if that deadbeat ever responds to my facebook/skype messages... I guess I can't really comment on delayed updates... So after 4 months here it is!