Category: Fulbright
Big brother and sister-in-law came for a visit :)
Happy happy happy
A little video of Spring 2018
A rough cut of iPhone footage from this spring 🙂 Enjoy!
iPhone Photos from Life Lately
Things I’ve Learned
- How to fix the chain on my bike when it falls off
- Why the internet won’t stop talking about how good this show is
- How long to boil pasta for the perfect consistency
- How to combine two PDFs into one
- It only takes one good friend to turn your day around
P.s. Photo of Weinheim in spring 🙂
Spring has Sprung in Germany!
Hello Spring, I thought you would never arrive! Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Did I say how happy I am that you’re here? It felt like you took your sweet time, but you were so worth the wait.
As you may have gathered, this winter was a bit rough for me. I like snow and reading and wool socks as much as the next girl, but by the end of March it was, well, let’s just say it was a bit much. Now that I can sleep with the windows open and show my pale legs to society, I am one happy lady.
Yesterday I went to Heidelberg to visit a dear friend. Everyone was out enjoying the warm sunshine. Live music wafted through the market square and I ate a ginormous gelato cone that later gave me a stomach ache from all the sugar but I didn’t even care. Spring in Germany is something special.
The tourists haven’t arrived, the towns are still waking up again from their long hibernations. This is our reward for surviving the last five months. Thank you God!
A Weekend in Croatia
I spent the weekend in beautiful northern Croatia with my beautiful friend Ruth! We spent most of our time in the ancient Roman city of Rovinj. It was a dream. I can’t even articulate how lovely every corner of the place was! I want to come back one day in the summer when the water is warm enough to swim! It is cheaper and less touristy than Venice, which is only a two hour boat ride away across the Adriatic channel. I would definitely recommend it to anyone!
Happy Birthday Mama!
I love you so much 🙂
A Personal Note
I just want to say a little something. Before this year, I had never really struggled with depression or loneliness or hopelessness. I was always the motivated, ambitious girl with a smile on her face and a certainty that her future was bright. I hate to admit it, but when I used to encounter other people with problems like depression or anxiety, I would secretly think to myself, “Can’t they just shake it off?”
Well, never again.
This year has taught me so much about empathy. Over the last few months I have often felt like I just can’t connect deeply with people. They are all around me– on the train, in the coffee shop, at work– but I felt unable to reach out in any meaningful sense. This made me lonely in a new, profound way. And this loneliness led to depression. There were many other factors (ahem, bad winter weather, I’m looking at you!), but it was heavy. Really heavy.
I lost motivation for a long time. I struggled to do even little things like cook a healthy meal or send an important email. And if I could barely do those things, how could I possibly have a bright future?! I deleted my Instagram because I didn’t know how to respond to people’s comments on my photos like “You’re living the dream! I’m so jealous!” when in reality I felt so bad. Then I would feel bad about feeling bad! It was a negative cycle.
Now that’s I’m feeling so so much better for a myriad of reasons, I just wanted to share this little piece of my story in the hopes that maybe it might help someone out there reading. I now have so much more empathy and compassion for
Foreigners
People who just moved to a new place
Refugees
Lonely people
Those who are going through a breakup of any kind
People who just started a new job
Recent graduates who are disoriented
Singles who just want someone to do fun things with
People struggling with depression, anxiety, chronic stress, etc.
People grieving
Language learners
The list goes on! It is so cliche to say that you can’t truly understand something until you’ve gone through it yourself. But in my case, I think the cliche holds true. I am sending love, encouragement and hope to anyone out there going through something heavy today. Thank you all for reading along this year. It means a lot to me.
P.s. Photos from London, where I visited a friend 🙂
Osterferien 2018 Video
Here’s a little video I made of my Osterferien, or Easter Break. I return home to Germany in a few days, so I wanted to capture these sweet memories. Enjoy!