Je t'aime Paris

So this past weekend was AMAZING!!!! I was able to head to the worlds prettiest city for a day and see some of the best sights ever. We started off the day Saturday morning at 3:00am to catch a bus that left at 4am. From there we drove for several hours, stopped at a rest stop for breakfast, drove for several more hours, and finally arrived in Paris around 9am.

Me in front of the Eiffel Tower

The beginning was a fast driving tour of the major sights of Paris. After that we stopped at the Eiffel Tour and got some beautiful pictures. I'm so glad that the weather was really nice in the morning. The clouds above the tower made it really pretty. Alyssa and I then decided that we wanted to go up the tower so we stood in line... and they're not like 3 people they're pretty long. We wanted to go up to the very top, but once we got up to buy our tickets they temporarily closed the top level. That was not so cool, but we did get to go up to 2nd floor. I will tell you this now. I probably would not have been able to make it to the top. I was scared at the 2nd level and that wasn't even half way up! From 2nd level you can see for miles. Everything looks so small.

The entrance to the Louvre.

When we finished at the tower we walked to the Louvre and I will tell you what everyone says is true. You could spend a week in there alone. 2 days if you didn't stop to look at anything, if you were just walking through it quickly. I got to see the Mona Lisa, but it wasn't as cool as I thought it would be. You can't get any closer than 15 feet and she's so small. I did get a few pictures of her, but because you can't take pictures with flash and everyone around you is pushing to take a picture just like you are you can't stand very still. This one came out ok, but it is by no means great.

Mona Lisa (no way right??)

We stayed at the Louvre for a few hours (which was not enough time for anything!!!!) and then we went out to sit and eat our lunch. During lunch I met a pigeon I named Jordan and fed him/her most of my lunch. Dang those birds can eat a lot. Speaking of eating. I had a banana nutella crepe and it was delicious! I would eat one of those everyday for the rest of my life if they were better for you.

My special friend Jordan

After the Louvre and lunch we went to try and shop... which was almost impossible! We could mostly only find souvenir shops and people on the side of the road. We did get a ton of good deals and I taught Alyssa to haggle. It was really fun... the people there were really easy about going cheaper on things they were selling. We met up with our group after that and went to an awesome restaurant where we got a 5 course meal followed by a cruise on the river. The whole trip was just spectacular... too bad we only had one day to enjoy it. I want a week to spend in Paris. I think I'd have enough time to really experience it in a week.

This is a part of our group and the people we sat with at dinner.

Last little update for everyone. I'm really glad I'm not a person who really breaks a ton of rules. I have discovered that I enjoy myself a whole lot more than some of the other girls who are here. Part of me feels as if this is because I know what is expected of me and instead of fighting against the rules (which we all knew about and signed before we even accepted the program) I work with them and do stuff I'm allowed to do. Some girls are getting in trouble for as they say "stupid things", but I'm glad I don't have to worry about that. I'm glad that I was raised to follow rules instead of griping about how they aren't fair.

Well that's the end of my little rant for the week. I am having a fabulous time here and even though I'm missing everyone I'm falling in love with the country. I would love to move you all here and stay here for the rest of my life.

LOVE!!

Last Weekend of Boringness for a While

This weekend was pretty boring. I sat around and did absolutely NOTHING. Which was nice, but I'm glad it's my last weekend of doing it. This weekend is PARIS!!!! If you can't tell- I'm super stoked. I'm going with Alyssa and we are taking of really early Saturday morning and getting back really early Sunday morning. We're going to walk around and then that night we get to go on a dinner cruise. So yes I'm extremely excited about it.

This was my door when I woke up. Surprising me was really hard for the girls... but I had no clue they were going to decorate my door! :)

My birthday was last week. I am now 23. To be honest I thought my life was going to end. Haha. It, however, did not, so I have a year to dread becoming 24. My life is sure to end when I get that old! The girls were really sweet though. I woke up in the morning with my door decorated with balloons and streamers. I also got a giraffe with a bow that said birthday girl on it. We're not allowed to wear anything except for our uniforms... but I was allowed to wear that ribbon and I was NOT going to pass that opportunity up!

Hey I made it!!! Got my fav drink and everything!

Later that night we made pizza, went karaokeing (is that a word?), and then came back and had cake. It was a ton of fun! I had never been to karaoke before that point so it was interesting. When we got there we were practically the only ones there. No one else was singing karaoke, they were at the bar, so we got in a ton of songs. Which made it all the better!

This is Todd- he was our DJ who became "professional" photographer and singer for the night!

Now I remember saying last week that I was going to post some pictures of Trier number 2... but I forgot to do it. So I'll do it now!

This is Porta Nigra- it was the old entrance to the city when it had walls.

Amy and me in front of a bath house. It was a then time spa and was really fun for us to run through, but I couldn't imagine not being able to take a bath in my own house!

As always I find a pair of shoes that I love. I just couldn't bring myself to buy them at the time... but no worries. If (when) I go back they are 100% mine!

Be excited for next weeks post and pictures! I'm super excited to tell you all about my weekend in Paris! (It's cool just saying that I'm going to Paris for the weekend!)

Shopping is a GREAT Stress Reliever

Just a little update... I'm not sure if I told everyone before or not, but I will be on every Tuesday from 1pm-4pm Central time. PLEASE hop on and skype me! I would LOVE to hear from everyone!!!!

So this past weekend was pretty chill. I didn't do a whole lot. I woke up on Saturday morning, made breakfast for one other girl and myself, and then went back to Trier. I had a pretty stressful week last week, so shopping was great. I went into fitting room after fitting room and I had one goal in mind- I really wanted to get a nice looking black shirt. And I found one! I also found some really cute earrings to match! It was great and amazing and a ton of other adjectives. Shopping was quite really what the doctor ordered.

Aside from shopping in Trier I also did more touristy things. I didn't get the chance to do a whole lot the first time I was there because we were on a time schedule... trying to catch trains can make things even more stressful, but not this time. This time I went with Amy who has a car and it's a lot faster and you run on your own time!

The last time I was in Trier I only went to see the Dom. This time in Trier I saw the Dom, some baths, gardens that would be beautiful if it were all green, and tons of other sights. Baths sound really dumb, but they weren't. We got to go in them and walk around. There were tons of underground tunnels for us to walk through and everything. Also it was a gorgeous day! It had to be pretty close to 60 degrees with the sun shining and calm winds. Can you say perfect day for some relaxing?

As some of you may know, I was getting pretty tired of being here. It has been a lot of the same thing and I felt as if I could be doing the same things at home, but there I'd have the people who love me all around me. After beginning this blog and looking outside to another beautiful day I'm realizing that maybe I'm not finished just yet. The glorious weather makes doing more things capable and more easily handled. Actually I just walked outside with my iPod playing and closed my eyes. The song (Right Round) I first heard last year about this time when the weather was getting nice again. It made me think I was back at Ames walking across campus. Yes I'm thousands of miles away from Ames... but I've discovered that just those little things help me out a bit. My day is brighter and I'm remembering that not everyone gets to do what I'm doing now... why in the world would I start complaining?

On that note- my lunch break is over and I need to go out and work with some kids. Some kids who like me are not all in a place they know. Kids who, like me, don't have both of their parents with them all the time. And kids who are well just kids and miss things just like I do, but those kids look forward to the other girls and me coming in each day. It's crazy how attached you get to them and how much they really do lift our spirits. Kids are so full of hope I don't know where they get it. I know that these boys and girls here have seen more things than most in the US. They've heard more horrific stories (not usually intentionally) than most kids in the US, but they still manage it. I can't imagine being in their shoes worrying about my parents 24/7. That's who I'm here for- that's the rewarding part to all the "hard times". That's what I'll live for.

Sorry there aren't any pictures right now... I forgot to upload them off my camera. I'll get them posted on here and facebook tomorrow! Be sure to check back!

Taking the Phrase Stop and Smell the Roses to Heart

So I had a pretty uneventful weekend this past weekend. I didn't go anywhere and that was 100% good by me. I went to a couple movies this weekend- Dear John (which has a much better ending than the book) and Valentine's Day. They were both pretty good movies, utterly predictable, but good.

I don't think I have anything going on for the next few weekends. I know this coming weekend I just plan on chilling again. I enjoy not doing a whole lot on my weekends because it gives me wind down time. The weekend after that, March 6 & 7th also the weekend after my birthday, I had a trip planned to go see Munich and a Dachau. Dachau is the concentration camp closest to us. Anyways like I said I planned to go there and so did some other girls. Actually we signed up and paid the money for it and everything and now the girls are backing out... so that pretty much means I can't go either. We have to go with at least one other person and it looks like they're not going... so I guess I don't get to. :( Sad? Yes... actually a lot a sad. So I don't know if I really have anything going on until the 13th of March- if people don't back out of that one too. Ugg.

Anyways I know it's a short post, but like I said I don't have much to report. Although I do have one last thing! I will have the internet EVERY Tuesday night. So if you want to skype me I'll be on there! Basically from 1pm-4pm central time (or later if you plan it with me) every Tuesday. Hop on and call me! :)

Peace!

When You’re Having a Good Time… Don’t Rub It In It’ll Cost You

Weird title for this one I know, but I can explain. This past weekend Kristen, Alyssa, Jenny and I went to Berlin. It was the perfect weekend because we had a 3-day weekend. Today is Monday, but it still feels like a Sunday to me. I must say Berlin was AMAZING. We had snow everywhere and it was pretty cold, but the charm and wonder of the city is impossible to ignore.

We started off the weekend by getting on a train at 3:43 in the morning. Kristen and I decided not to go to sleep, but to instead sleep on the trains. This sounded like a good idea because we were looking at 12 hours of train rides before we finally arrived in Berlin. Like I said SOUNDED. Stupid me forgot how much I can’t sleep in public- so on Saturday I slept for about 30 minutes, hour if I’m lucky.

We missed one train connection on our way, which delayed us by 2 hours. We arrived in Berlin at 6pm (18:00!) and found our hostel very easily. The hostel was great too because we ended up having a room and bathroom to ourselves. We also met 2 really nice guys from Argentina. Saturday night we walked for FOREVER trying to find this club the guy at the hostel referred us to, but that was not so successful. We ended up finding a club called Weekends where techno was the music of choice and we later learned is a high-end club. It is crazy to think that we could have been denied access to the club.

Alyssa and I at the club.

Saturday night we finally ended up in bed at 5am and turned right back around in the morning for a walking tour of Berlin. This was an amazing walk that lasted about 4 hours. To be honest I thought we were on it for much longer because of all the history we learned! We learned 800 years of history in that time. Obviously not everything, but it really was great. We talked about the Holocaust and how everything progressively went down. And for those of you who know me the Holocaust interests me a ton. I learned about and even walked over Hitler’s bunker that became his final resting place. There was an amazing memorial for all the Jews who were killed, a memorial for the tens of thousands of books that were burned just outside Humbodlt University because they were written by Jewish authors, a path marking where the Berlin Wall had once stood, and even part of the wall. Did you know there were really 2 walls? Did you also know that the wall falling was a mistake? A mistake made by one man? If you’re wondering how in the world that could happen ask me sometime.

This is the Holocaust Memorial set up. In this picture I'm in the middle of it.

There is just way too much for me to tell you about Berlin. This is one city that at least one other time in my life I will return to. There is just too much to see and never enough time to see it all.

So now it’s Monday and I am currently sitting on another one of these darn trains. (Only 10 hours of traveling this time!) And now I get to the part of the story where I say it’ll cost ya to brag. Not to say that I was bragging, but I was telling someone last night how good of a time we were having. Anyway this morning we woke up at 5 to catch a 6:17 train. We got there a little early to get our tickets for the train. We assumed that it would cost us all 37 Euro together with this awesome pass we could buy. Unfortunately we were under the impression that it would be a pass for any time not just on the weekend. That was our mistake… instead of costing us each 10 Euro to get all the way home it now cost us each 67 Euro to get to Frankfurt where we still had to figure out how to get the remaining hour and a half home. Thankfully our PC agreed to come pick us up if we paid her back for gas.

Me in front of the Berlin Dom.

Aside from the unexpected cost at the end and not actually being able to shop I had the best weekend since I’ve been here in Germany. I wish you were all here with me so you could personally witness it, but because you can’t I’ll leave you with a few pictures. Although pictures cannot account of the glory that is Berlin… it’ll have to do for now.

And a great quote from the weekend (sorry no kids this week)

Kristen to some random guy- Sprechen se English?

Random guy- I. Only. Speak. English.

A Very Unwelcome Gift

So I'm mostly enjoying myself- I'm just really wishing for a "normal" week. Last week was a killer. On Tuesday one of the girls in our group started itching her head a lot and had someone check her out. A few minutes later we discovered that 5 out of the 6 Camp A girls at my site had lice- including me. It was not very fun. Not very fun at all. BUT! Now we're all good :) Thank you kids.... not.

Last weekend didn't go quite as we planned- because of the lice mostly. We were going to go skiing/boarding and instead we went to Trier. By we I mean Alyssa, Jenny and I. We kinda travel in a group of 3. In Trier we went to the Dom and oh my goodness! It is crazy. It's like the a place where you can't talk- not because of rules, but because you don't feel like you can you're in awe. Also the Dom is HUGE. I can't imagine what it was like in the day. Also I wonder if they've ever had a Church service in there. One of the coolest things about the Dom is that in there is Jesus's tunic. One of the girls who had been there before said she felt a presence in there when she was there and I can understand what she meant. It was weird. While I was in there I kept feeling the urge to cry. I didn't, but I still felt the urge to.

Aside from the Dom we did a lot of shopping in Trier. I got some REALLY cute new shoes for 14 Euro- so really $21. Like I said... they're REALLY cute. They're a black and white plaid color. I also got a pink scarf, headbands, necklace and a giraffe metal thing. Now before you ask, no it wasn't all that expensive. I spent like 18 or 21 Euro. So it was a lot of fun :)

See I LOVE them!!

We also got really cool pizza while we were in Trier. It came in a box thingy and you ate it while you were walking around. This is Alyssa and me eating ours.

Next weekend we're not going to hit up Paris. Some of the girls were a little- well... it just didn't work out. Not everyone could get a ride there so the 3 of us decided to do something else. We're now going to go to Berlin for our 3 day weekend. We're going to hit up Paris on the 13th of March. We're booking the trip today.

Again with the children quotes- this was a good one this last week.

"I don't get why boys are boys and girls are girls... like how does that happen?"- 8 year old Marsha. I mean really? Haha and 8 year old asking me that. That was a little funny- or a lot anyways.

Tata for now! Love you and miss you all!

Kids Say and Do the Darnedest Things

I’m now on my 3^rd week being here in Germany and it still doesn’t feel like I’m in another country. I’m not sure if it’s because I adapt well, who knows? I feel like everyone is just a call away and that’s because you all are. I’m really enjoying my time so far!

This past weekend I didn’t do a whole lot I wanted more a weekend where I can just sit and do nothing else. Some of the girls went to Trier- sorry about the spelling I’m not sure if that’s quite right. The rest of us met up with some of the guys who live in our same barrack and went to The Sports Bar. It was pretty interesting watching people around. There was one guy, contrary to his belief, who could not dance at all. He was great entertainment I must tell ya!

This coming up weekend some of us are going to head to Austria and ski/board in the Alps. Yeah, who can really say that? Oh this weekend I’m just going to head over and ski in the Alps… Well I can now! Alyssa and I are going to try to find some snow pants and such warm clothes at the thrift shop so we don’t freeze while we’re out there.

Last week was a pretty fun week in the way of children. Alyssa, Heather and I all go to SAS in the afternoon unless the kids don’t have school and then we’re there all day. Friday was one of those days and I’ll tell ya, it was awesome. We played all sorts of things all day. We even built the Eiffel Tower out Knex. Try that without directions! It’s not really easy, but it was fun and the kids loved it.

Update on the Internet- we didn’t end up getting it installed. Several people told us that it was really unreliable and would be even worse with 11 people trying to use the same router. So that wasn’t going to work. Instead what we did was we went and bought sticks that let us access the Internet. They are expensive though, so 3 other girls, Kristen, Lisa, and Heather, went in with me and we got a stick to share. That means that only one of us can be on it at a time, but that’s ok. I get Internet during lunch so I get facebook and email and such taken care of during my lunch break and then every 4^th day I can get on Skype and what not. That’s what we decided to do. If someone needs it pretty bad then we’re all pretty flexible girls so that’s not a huge deal.

Last thing I wanted to do is leave you with (and I’ll try to do every week) is a few quote from children. You know they say the darnedest things! (names will be changed for privacy issues)

“Miss Angie you’re a super hero.”- 4-year-old Kayla

“Oh and why is that?” –Me

“Well, you cleaned up Becky’s tears with your shirt and then she didn’t cry any more.”

“Miss Angie I like when I’m tired and I hug you cause you have pillows for my head.” – 3-year-old Ashanti (yeah awkward, but funny as all heck)