Its all Greek to me...

So I have left Spain. Madrid was really cool, we saw the Palace and the Prado Meusem. I am now in Athens. My first couch surfing experience. Awesome. The guy we are staying with is soo nice. There are like 9 people staying with him. It is so interesting to hear his point of views about life. We had this awesome conversation about Religion and God because 3 people we are with are Mormons. It was just a really neat converasation to have with strangers in Athens. WOW

We just saw Acropolis and the Parthenon. I will have to give more details later. We leave in the morning to go the island Naxos by ferry. 2 days beaching it up. I am so ready!!

Anyway Greeting from Greece!! Be home soon!

Hello Spain...

So I am writing this blog in BARCELONA!! Vanessa, Susanna, and spent the first to nights camping by the beach a little outside the city. Spent all day yesterday on the beach and swam in the Mediterranean Sea. The beach is so different than what i am used to in FL. The sand is a lot darker. Last night we meet up with Danyelle and Vincent and at a great seafood dinner right by the water at the Port. Today we switched to a hostel in the city and started touring. I am amazed at some of the architecture here. It really is breathe taking. Well I gotta run we are gonna eat some dinner then drink some wine and walk on the beach tonight. We are heading to Madrid tomorrow night!!! I will add pics later and try to update as I go... Oh did I say it was here, cause it is...

Goodbye Germany

So Last Saturday before I left for my 2 week travel, my hosts and my neighbors had a farewell Bar B Que for me. It was alot of fun! And really nice to say bye. We all exchanged contact info and i am sure we will stay in touch. I will see my hosts again on the 14th before coming home. I will add pics from it lata!!

Last Week in Germany..

Wow, I only have one more week in Germany. This year has really gone by fast. I am filled with all sorts of emotions right now. I am excited for my last two weeks of travel, excited to come home. But at the same time I have gotten into a routine here and have friends here as well. It is another change, a change back to something I all ready know supposedly. However, things at home have changed since I have been gone, and I have changed since I have been gone. I am anxious to know how it will feel when I am home again. If I will experience "Reverse" culture shock, or just fall back into my routine... Its a weird feeling really. I do miss my friends, family, Auburn, and the lake. And am so ready to get back, but at the same time I bet I have high expectations that might not be met or something. Its a weir feeling. One more week in Germany...wow...

Salzburg, Austria

Danyelle and I took a day trip to Salzburg. It is the city where "The Sound of Music" was filmed. It was really cool to see. Mozart was also born there. There was a huge Fan Fest set up for Euro Cup 2008. We saw like 5 couples getting married. I absolutely loved the view from the top of the castle! It was so pretty! It was a fun trip. Made miss miss home and my brothers tho. We all know all the words to that musical :)

Do, a dear a female dear....

I will be home in about a month! Check out my new pics on the right :)

Berlin

First sorry it has been so long since I have updated. The last week of May was our End of the Year Seminar in Berlin. Berlin was really cool with all its history. I got to see Check Point Charlie, walk through the Jewish Museum, and touch parts of the Wall. It was really good to get to see other people from the program I have not seen in a while. I learned alot about the East and West Germany before the wall came down. You can really tell the difference between where the divide was in the city. We spent all day that Friday in the Bundestag (like our congress). It was really cool. At last minute Angela Merkel was able to find time to come and greet us. It was really cool to get to meet her. I will always remember that. I have added some photos from the trip. I come home soon!

May :)

So it is May now, and it is finally getting warm and pretty outside. There are 3 holiday in May which means I only work one full week in May. Pretty awesome! On Mzy first we had a weisswurst and weissbeir breakfast at Ben's host's house. His host dad is the Prince von Bayern. It was pretty fun, we got to dress in traditional German clothes and meet lots of Germans.

My host parents love to grill out on the weekends, so I will be doing that alot this spring. Last weekend we went to this free concert thing in Olympia park. It was fun.

The pics are from the May Day breakfast, one of my host mom and me, and one of me and the girls at the concert. For more pics check the link on the right side :)

The week of May I am going to Berlin for our final Seminar. Then only June of work. The first week of July I am going to Spain and the Second week I am going to Greece. I will be home July 17th! on like 65 more days! It has gone so fast!

Weekend Fun and Updates

So last weekend 10 of us PPLers meet up in Rothenburg ob der Tauber.(Google or Wikipedia it for more details) It was a really cool little city. It was built in the medieval times and was protected from bombs during the war. The original city wall and lots of buildings are still there. It was fun! For more pics check out the new link on the right...

My internship is going well. I really like the people I work with. My German has improved so much, because I talk and use it everyday now. I cant believe I only have 3 months left! It really is going by pretty fast!

The last 2 weeks here we get to just travel. I think my plans are going to be, go to Spain (Barcelona and Madrid) the first week. Then to Athens, Greece and do some island hoping and chillen on the beach the last week! I am so excited it should be so much fun!

This weekend i just kinda relaxed. I went and saw 21 in the English Movies here. It was really good. I am kinda lay low and save up some money for my 2 weeks of travel the next few weeks. I miss you all and be ready I come home July 17th!!

Lots of love and WAR EAGLE!!

When In Rome...

Jimmy and I went to Rome Tuesday -Friday. It was pretty amazing. We saw all the main sights even in such a short amount of time. (Collisuem, Forums, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Vatican ect...) We were walking and I turned and saw my first sight of the Collisuem and literally stoped in the middle of my sentence. I was so amazed. Everything we saw was so big. We only paid for tours of the Collisuem and the Vatican. Everything else we just kinda saw and read for our selves. There is so much history there is it so cool to learn about it all. I think we did pretty good traveling together, despite the fact that Jimmy is scared of flying...ha! It is kinda surreal to think we really went there!

We took over 1000 pics while he was here, so many! I have added some to online albums on the right hand side. Check them out!

Jimmy's Visit

So last week Jimmy came and visited me. We had so much fun. The first day he was here we toured downtown Munich (Marienplatz area). We went up Alte Peter for a great view, visited the Frauen Kirche, and took pictures in front of the Rathaus (town hall). We went home and had dinner with my hosts and just hung out because he was so tired from jet lag. Saturday was a pretty day so we went to the English Garden and walked around and got Ice Cream. That night we meet up with other pplers at Hofbraühas.

Sunday we went to Dachau (the Concentration camp). And Wow It was an experience. It was huge and to see all that history, and the memorals and stuff. At the cerematory u can still smell the burned body smell. It gave me chills and i did tear up at some point...

Monday we went to Neuschwanstein, the Castle Walt Disney modeled Cinderalla's Castle after. It was Georgous. It was built by King Ludwig II. It was raining when we first got there, We went thru his parents castle first and then Neuschwanstein. When we came out it had begun snowing! It was just like a fairy tale!

Tuesday Through Friday we were in Rome. The next entry will be about that trip! The last night he was here we went to Hard Rock Cafe and ate dinner. It was so much fun! He left Saturday morning :(

Pictures

So I havent posted any pictures in my blog lately so I am adding some now. These are just random fun pictures. Mainly for Aunt Vicki who can't access my photo albums on facebook! Ha! This weekend we had bad weather. But it was relaxing to just stay at home and watch TV and stuff. Work makes me soo tired! Also check out my new Random album on the right!

Its soo pretty!

Sorry it has been a while since I have written. I have finished my first 3 weeks of my internship. Its going pretty well. Alot of paper work, but that is normal. I am usually very tired when I get home for having to concentrate all day to understand German. I think my German has all ready gotten better tho, and it should just keep improving. My hosts are still awesome. I have made friends with my neighbors too!

I went today and played Ultimate Frisbee with the team in Munich. Soo much fun. I always seem to forget how much I love playing this sport. We played for like 3 hours in shorts and t shirts and were sweating. Its like 70 degrees here. Amazing weather!! I almost forgot It was only Feb and I was still in Germany, because it feels like May at home...

Jimmy is coming to visit March 14-22nd. I am soo excited. We are going to visit Rome! It will be so much fun. How are you doing? Let me know, I would love to hear from you all!!

New Hosts, New Hause, New Job

So the past few days have been crazy. I moved on Friday. My new hosts Silke and Sigi are AMAZING!! Just a married couple in their 40s, and super nice. Completely awesome personality, and I think we are gonna get a long sooooo good the next 5 months. My room is huge and I have my own bathroom on the 3rd floor of the house. The only downside is they only have dail up internet. Thas right folks I am writing this blogg on dail up...

My new internship. It is good. I am a 'quality engineer' If u have worked a Chromalloy u will understand why this is funny.Yes everyday everbods speaks GERMAN all day long. But what is cool is my German is gonna get 100x better. Alot of their customers are American tho, ie GE, PW, Boeing, ect.. As a matter of fact GE is coming to do an audit on Friday and I am gonna be the main on talking to them since I speak English the best...Downside to work, Google is blocked. Almost the whole internet is blocked, so no checking email or goofing off at work... :(

I met our neighbors and they had kids my age and I am excited I get to hang out with them. I think the next 5 months are gonna be really good!

BTW sorry if I have typos or dont put of pics alot, its because I dont have my laptop and am on someone elses comp and trying to hurry.

let me know how your doing!!

New Address

So I am moving tomorrow and I am super excited! It is so much closer to the city and where I am gonna be working! Here is my new address incase you want to send me something snail mail:

Elizabeth Barrett
c/o Silke and Sigi Lochner
LohmeierWeg 13
81245 München
Germany

I start my internship on Monday! I am super excited!!

(s)He went to Paris looking for answers to questions that bothered him(her) so...

Well, not really. I did go to Paris tho and I always think of that song when I hear Paris...

I spent Friday thru monday in Lille, France with my Friend from Saarbrücken. She goes to school there. Lille is about 45 mins above Paris, close to Brussels. We had so much fun. Her friends are so nice! We toured and hung out. Then I spent Monday in Paris before heading back to Munich. I only go to see the Effel Tower and Notre Dome, because of time. Paris was really dirty and not quite as exciting as I thought it would be. I would like to go back and go to the Louve if I get the chance.

Check out the new pics on the side!!

Mid Year

So I am back in Germany. Things are going really good. I just came back from Bonn/Cologne and our mid-year Seminar. It was really good. I enjoyed seeing all my friends I haven't seen in 4 months or more. It was also encouraging to hear everyone's experiences and to be reminded about the reasons I wanted to come here.

I toured Cologne and Bonn. It was awesome. We went to the Haus die Geschichte (house of History) in Bonn. It gave the history of Germany from the end of WWII up till the present. It was really interesting learning more about the Cold War and the effects it had on Germany. I also learned alot about the division between East and West Germany and the unification process. In Cologne we toured the Dome (its the 3rd largest Cathedral in the world) and went to the EL DE Haus (headquarters of the Gestapo for Cologne in the war). Again all is very interesting. I guess I am more like my dad than I like to admit when it comes to liking History :) Check out my new pics on the right hand side :)

I will find out next week exactly where I move next (still in Munich, just another house). I am really excited about my new internship! And I am going to visit my neighbor from Saarbrucken in Lilles/Paris France next weekend! Oh and I found out I can fly home from NYC July 17th after 4pm... So I'll be home that night sometime!

I also thinks it is really messed up that its pretty warm here and snowing right now in Alabama... not fair!! :)

Long time..

So it's been a while since I wrote. I went home for two weeks for Christmas/New Years. It was good despite having to stay in the hospital with Kevin over Christmas. I don't think I will ever take America for granted. It's funny how your view changes, even after only being gone 5 months. I am sure my view will still grow and change the next 6 months while I am still here.

The next few weeks are kinda laid back. Next week I go to Bonn/Cologne for a Seminar with about 1/3rd of the other ppplers. Then the week after that I mover to another housing situation. On Feb 4th I start my internship with MTU Aero Engines. Should be exciting! I will let everyone know when my address changes in the next couple of weeks!

Oh one more exciting thing happened over my Christmas break, I started dating Jimmy Rape. He is an awesome guy and as hard as the whole long distance thing is, we are gonna try to make it work. Skpe and web chatting are awesome!! Hopefully he will come visit me in Marchish sometime! Anyways the next 6months should be as exciting and intersting as the first were!!

Love you all! :)