A Snow Day in Texas
We are enjoying a rare snow day in Texas– everyone is freaking out! For context, below is a photo of this day last year in Germany:
I wonder which was more enjoyable…;p
We are enjoying a rare snow day in Texas– everyone is freaking out! For context, below is a photo of this day last year in Germany:
I wonder which was more enjoyable…;p
If you scroll through the archives of this blog, you will see several posts with titles similar to this one. I think I’ve said goodbye to Germany at least four times without knowing if or when I would return. But each time I knew I wanted to return, so I pushed to make it happen: I connected with a family to work as an Au Pair, I found an internship, I applied for a Fulbright and then a graduate program. I knocked on doors (or kicked down doors) to get myself back across the pond. I have not one, not two, but three visas from the German government. They’re probably like “Really, this girl again?!”
I say all this to show what a big role Germany has played in my formative years. I grew up a lot here. This country has taught me so much, and for that I am forever grateful. I have friends here who I know will always welcome me with open arms and host me on their sofas when I visit.
But I feel so much peace about saying goodbye. Once I made the decision to leave, I’ve felt zero regret or doubt. This time I am saying goodbye without the intention of finding my way back. Sure, I’m young and who knows where life will take me, but I am thrilled to live near family and friends in my home culture. I can’t wait to start my career and make friend and call people in the same time zone.
So goodbye, Germany (for real this time!). You have been true to me and of me. Thank you for everything.
I spent the weekend in Heidelberg with my two life-long girlfriends who flew in from Spain and Greece, where they are teaching English. It was so fun to spend time with them in my old hood :p
I spent my first full day in Münster today. It was really great! My flight was, well, less than great. But I got through it and now I am enjoying the beautiful fall weather here in Germany. I love my flat and my flatmates, and am slowly starting to discover the city. Below are a few photos. Miss you already!
The main university building. It is literally a castle. No joke.
My room. It is soooooo cool. I don’t know if I’m cool enough for it to be honest ;p
My apartment building
Hello friends, how are you? I’ve been having fun traipsing around Europe with my little brother and our childhood friend who is conveniently studying abroad in Germany this summer. It feels so nice to be able to let loose completely and be around people who’ve known you your whole life. There’s nothing like it. After I spend time with them, I always stop and think why did that feel so different?
Because being known is everything. It is so important and I’ve missed that feeling a bit this year. You don’t realize how much your body and soul needs to be known until you’re placed in a new environment. I’m so glad to share these summer months with them. Below are a few photos from life lately. Enjoy!The neighborhood of Kreuzberg was my favorite spot in Berlin. So funky. So punk. So cool.
Euro brother in Frankfurt.
Bowling. Reader, I was HORRIBLE. Consistently horrible all ten rounds. My pride is still recovering.
At the Heidelberg castle.
Well, enough said.Hiking to the petting zoo with a class from school. The bus didn’t show up so it turned into a rather long adventure, but at least the scenery was pretty ;p
Have a good one!
Happy happy happy am I
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!
Hello friends! How are you? What’s new? My mood is much improved lately because the sunshine has been visiting us here in Germany, which does wonders for a person. I can’t tell you how much I missed it. If you live in a consistently sunny place, don’t take it for granted haha! Below are a few random iPhone photos from life lately. Enjoy 🙂
I went to Hildesheim last weekend to visit my friends from the summer I spent there. Above is a part of the University of Hildesheim campus. Isn’t it pretty?
Drinks with my sweet friend Alena! She is such a doll. I miss her!
Woke up to fresh snow on Sunday. Such magic.
Chillin with my favorite little guy Lasse, the son of friends 🙂
My other main squeeze. He was only a week old when I arrived that summer and lived with his family as an Au Pair!
Snow AND sunshine at my school.
Found this cutie behind my school and petted his nose!
Breakfast with my girl Elena. I may have spoon eaten Nutella…
Colorful houses in the village where I work.
A trip to Ikea in which I bought more than I needed. That place is like a casino- no windows, no natural light so you loose track of time. You could spend a week and all your money in there if you’re not careful!
A bought this striped rug and I do not regret it.
Have a good one friends!
1. Yoga is not necessarily relaxing, especially in another language.
2. You don’t have to justify your life or tell people your ‘plan for the future’ if you don’t want to. It’s not required or even necessary
3. Any amount of sunshine is some kind of magic in late January.
4. Patience and all is coming.
5. For the love of God, you need to take out the trash more than once a month!
Notice things.
Notice the men in their dark overcoats and thick scarves, huddled together on the train platform talking on the phone to their wives, mistresses, mothers. Notice the Persian youths who exist in clouds of perfume and hair gel and broken German. And of course you can’t help but notice the Americans– military perhaps, or other wise on long-awaited vacations basking in their romantic visions of Europe at Christmas time. Then there– the unmistakable screech of the street car as it lurches towards you: your life line, connecting everywhere to you and you to everywhere. Board the streetcar and sit between worlds– rich, poor, men, women, black, white, young, old. Public transportation is the great equalizer. Notice how it calms you, lulls you into a sort of fellowship with the other passengers. A fellowship of transience.
Ease in your headphones to drown out your mind. Pretend you’re in a music video. Notice a couple kissing on the doorstep of an apartment in a neighborhood you only ever see in passing through tainted windows. Observe the refugees– unmistakable by the weariness in their brows as they slink down the sidewalk with bags full of groceries with foreign names no German could ever pronounce.
Listen as the man being interviewed on the podcast tells how he became a famous comedy writer. “No,” he says, “I was not the class clown. I was the quiet kid in the back of the class who observed everything the class clown did, wrote it down, and became a famous comedy writer.” Nod. So it is with you. And so it should be with a great deal more people, perhaps. Less lions and more chameleons, noticing the world in all its broken beauty. Less centers of attention and more payers of it. To notice is to cut a thin slice of joy from the meat of life and savor it as long as you can.
So go on…notice. I dare you.