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! :)

Saarbrücken Photobook

I made a photo book for the first 2 months of Language school. Check it out at in my photo links on the right hand side!

I ordered one copy for myself!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas...

So this past weekend, was 'get into the Christmas spirit' weekend. Basically Holly and I are like obsessed with all things Christmas. Thus we naturally drag Hunter, Carston, Ben, and Cassandra along with us... Holly and Hunter were so kind to let us help them decorate their Christmas tree. It was sooo much fun. We went to IKEA with Carston and got a tree, a live one! I haven't gotten a live tree in since I was little :) Then we went back to their apartment and listened to Christmas music and decorated the tree! It was so fun!
The next night after praise we all baked Christmas cookies and painted some more ornaments. It was alot of fun!
Sunday I was suppose to go to Aussburg to the Christmas Markt there, but after missing our train Sat, night and not getting home till 3:45amish, I over slept. I went instead to the Christmas markts in Munich and did alot of my Christmas shopping :) 2 weeks and I am home for Christmas!!!

"Now you have met the Real Santa..."

This past weekend was actually alot of fun. Friday I spent all day at the Nordbad with Ben, Holly, Hunter, Renata, and Carston. They had 2 big pools, one inside one out, a hot tube, and a sauna. It was really fun and relaxing. On Friday night we had our praise night and then played some Tekken on Carston's Playstation. Then Saturday we hung out again and played poker and Settlers of Catan. We ended up staying so late we missed out midnightish train and had to wait till 2:39am for our next trian! But it was fun. Then Sunday we ended up playing some more Tekken on Playstation, and then going to the Christmas Market at Theresienwiese Sunday night. It was cool we ate some Crepes and had some Gluehwein.

Monday we had a Weihnachtsfeier with InWent and all the other international programs with InWent. It was interseting. There was alot of singing and Dancing from the other groups. Since we don't really have great singers in our group we just read poems. Ben introduced our group in all German, Danyelle read the Road Less Traveled by Robert Frost, and I ended the program by Reading "The Night Before Christmas." We also got to meet the Minister of Bavaria, which was cool.

After that Vanessa invited me to go to a Social with her host mom. It turned out to be a Political Christmas Social for the CSU (Christlich Soziale Union ) the conservative political party in Germany. It was cool. They are campaigning for a new Mayor in Feldafing. I met alot of new people, and had interesting conversations about the differences in politics here and the US. During the Social St Nicholas visited! The "real" one. He was dressed like a Saint from Church and read from an golden book. So now they said we met the REAL Santa... ha! It was fun :)

My First Turkey Day from home...

So my first Thanksgiving away from home was actually pretty good. On Thursday I went to Joy's (a Lady from church who is originally from AL) for Thanksgiving dinner. It was really nice, she even made sweet tea!! There were about 12 or 13 pple there including Ben, Holly, Hunter, and Lydia. It was really fun. Then on Saturday we had a Thanksgiving Dinner with the PPPLers and then on Sunday Vanessa's host mom had a Thanksgiving dinner as well. All of them were fun and very filling!!

The best part of Thanksgiving week was knowing Auburn beat Alabama for the 6th time in a row!!! I am soooo sad I was not at the game, but sooo happy we won!!

It is all ready in such a Christmas Spirit here. Decorations are up, Christmas Markets open this weekend, its just exciting! I love Christmas!! I think between Holly and I, Hunter and Ben might get tired of Christmas time real soon. We are planning a Decoration/Christmas music (Which I have all ready started listening too)/Christmas movie/Christmas cookie day!

I am also very happy I get to come home for Christmas. I think I need that. I miss everyone soo much!

Internship

I forgot to mention, I have an internship with MTU Aero Engines in Munich. It begins Feb 4th and ends June 27th. It is working with the same engines I worked with at Chromalloy (PW2000, V2500, CFM56 ect...) But they produce the fan blades. I am actually working in the Quality department. It should be intersting...