Oslo>Istanbul

I can only say a few words about Oslo, mostly because my time in Oslo was brief, but mainly:

I'm too poor for Norway.

Kiefersfelden & Kufstein

I took a little train ride (12 hours..."little train ride") from Bonn to Kiefersfelden--a small city in Bavaria, right on the Austrian border--where several of my USM friends were singing in a summer program for opera and musical theater. Though both cities are in Germany, it was like I was on a whole different planet. I could still understand and be understood, but it took my ears a bit of time to adjust to the 'southern accent' that people had there. [Sidenote: I'm pretty sure this is the first time in my life that I have had a "normal accent" in any language, as opposed to a drawl. Personal victory!]

Incredible Ireland

On (basically) a whim, after finding out that we both had long weekends from classes, my best friend (who was also studying abroad in Europe) and I decided to meet up in Ireland and spend the weekend together.

24 hours in Belgium

In June, my BFFSling visited me before taking a train into Bavaria for a music training program. Having a few extra days and wanting to say that we had been to more countries, we decided to take a bus to Brussels, Belgium for 24 hours.

No strangers to kitschy trips together, [i.e. the Salem Witch Museum visit, Fall 2011?] Sling and I decided that priority number one in Brussels was a little place called MiniEurope, a theme park/village sort of place containing miniature replicas of all the famous buildings in the European Union.

No, really.

Summer Sequels: Rome and Paris

After our three-day-long adventure in Barcelona, we took a 15 euro flight to Pisa, Italy. In Barcelona, we had been part of a bigger group of my friends from Bonn, but after Pisa, we went separate ways--some to Rome, some to Milan, and some to Cinque Terra.

Rome and Paris are two of the most beautiful cities in the world. Tourist filled? Yes, but with good reason. They're definitely two of my favorite places, and when my friend visited and wanted to see "Europe", they were at the top of the list. Having spent a summer in Rome when I was seventeen, I was happy to go back and see if things were really as magical as they had been when I had my first travel-abroad experience.

Barcelona & Figueres

I was really lucky that just as homesick-ness began to kick in, one of my best friends from home was able to make a trip to Europe under the guise of a summer study abroad program and was able to stay with me for several weeks before that program began.

With a budget of basically nothing, we decided to trip-plan to the best of our ability and came up with a 10 day trip to 3 European capital cities: Barcelona, Rome, and Paris.

Ryanair: We'll get you there on time and in one piece. Mostly.

Beautiful Berlin

Berlin gets a bad reputation for being a city that is, frankly, not that pretty. I actually really loved Berlin--I'd probably place it at number 3 on my 'Favorite European Cities' list, after Athens and Paris, equal perhaps to Rome. Berlin in the summertime would probably be equal to the other three. 

It's a very walkable city with superbly efficient public transportation--like New York, but German. I was also giddy to find basically every kind of food known to man there, so naturally, I ate Mexican food every day. 

In Berlin, I visited a couple of museums and (most importantly) Deutsche Oper Berlin. This year is the celebration of Wagner's 200th birthday, so it's basically one giant Wagner-fest all over Germany. I couldn't be here at a better time. I saw Tannhäuser, my first *live* Wagner opera (I always see the MetOpera Live in HD series in the movie theater). As a student, for 13 euros, I got an unsold seat worth 10x that price that was at the front of the balcony (my very favorite place), and I was there early enough to hear the pre-opera lecture (in German, of course...).

Great food, great music--if only the weather was nice, Berlin would have been absolutely perfect!

Hey, it's Checkpoint Charlie and fake American soldiers.

I found it ironic that just behind the "American Sector" was a McDonalds. 

I'm too short to be JFK

Berlin Wall: East Side Gallery

The wind was so strong. I look so cold!

Berlin is like the German New York

Deutsche Oper Berlin: Wagner's 200th Birthday
Celebration... (This is my excited face.)

Berliner Dom

Before starting our walking tour... 4 hours through the snow/sleet,
just to learn about Berlin...

A day in Amsterdam

Canals!

Friends! I didn't get the memo about matching coats.

On a boat!

iAmsterdam

So windy. Terrible hair.

Bicycles and canals: the Amsterdam story

A love letter to American food...

With only four-and-a-half months left until I return to the US, I decided that I should write about one of my favorite things... food. Specifically, food in America. 

A portrait of me in four-and-a-half months. 

Athens and Venice

In trying to decide where we'd travel to for a few days during our ongoing Semesterpause, (aka 9 weeks with absolutely nothing to do but read, cook, explore, breathe, relax, etc.) some friends and I decided that we had 2 desires: to see really old stuff, and to be near water.

Really old stuff. 

Water.

London and Paris... Christmas 2012 & New Year 2013

For Christmas and New Year, it was my goal to cross off two cities from my "have-to-see" list.

It's my face and the Eiffel Tower. 

Wait, where did October go?

Somehow I missed out on writing anything the entire month of October and (almost) November as well... The last six weeks have been filled with music and food and travel, basically my three favorite things, so I have very few complaints.

It's Johannes Brahms Platz in Hamburg!

Week 3: Unrelated observations

Barbie Dream Castle and gardens in the French style in the ancient Roman capital city, Trier.

I'm keeping a running list of things that I find interesting or unique about Germany. It's too large to tackle all at once, so here goes nothing.

Week Two: [Sound of Music joke here]

This week in Bonn has been a music-packed week for me.

Week One: Key phrases, thanks, sorry.

To say this week has been an adventure would be an absolute understatement.

Last-minute packing, farewell food, nail polish puns.

I get on a plane in just over 52 hours.

I think the stage of "Oh, I'm actually leaving the country in two days; let me see how many things I can fit into my suitcase before it explodes" has begun. At this point, my suitcase weighs 49.6 lbs, dangerously close to the 50 lb. limit enforced by American Airlines. Living on the edge, that's me.

Only two more weeks...

I've managed to make some packing progress in the last three weeks. Suitcase is filling up; I've bought everything I need to buy pre-travel (I hope). I'm now organizing and checking things off lists and tying up loose ends at USM and in Fulton before my trip. 

34 days: Let the packing begin!

At this moment in 5 weeks [8:30 a.m. in Germany, July 3, 2012], my flight will land in Frankfurt, Germany.  I'll get off the plane, take a train to Bonn, and begin my year abroad! 

90 days: plane ticket

It's officially 90 days until I get on a plane to Germany, and today I purchased my plane ticket.

Introduction: 164 Days Until...

As of today, it is official that I will be spending the 2012-2013 academic year studying German at the Universität Bonn in Germany.