A Market and Christmas Party Preparation!

Today we searched for a Christmas tree.

Lineke is holding a small Christmas party tomorrow and she is looking for a little tree to decorate - we thought that the market, which happens every Tuesday and Saturday, would have one.

Despite not finding a tree at the market, I found some beautiful roses that I wanted to have to brighten up my room.

The beautiful roses I found at the market :)

Once the early part of my morning was over, I searched then for something to make for my secret santa for tomorrow. We have a 4€ limit and I wanted my gift to be something special.

When I got home, I put my flowers in some water and ended up sleeping for a really long time - I didn't have too much to do, so a lazy Saturday was just what the doctor ordered!

Lineke and I made dinner tonight. I found this GREAT taco casserole dish on Pinterest and it ended up being really delicious.

Later, I ended up hanging out with some friends on the third floor and while many of them went on to the dasding party that was happening all around town, I went with Chris, Tammi, Lineke, Mirka, and Anatoly to the Irish Pub for a drink. It was a good way to end the night.

Regionalkompetenz USA, Weihnachtsmarkt, and Some Brownies

Having to go to work the day after Thanksgiving was such a strange feeling! After our Thanksgiving dinner, it felt NOT like a Friday and more like a Monday or Tuesday.

I went to work and everything was normal. In the afternoon, beginning at 1:45 p.m., I sat in on a U.S.A. regional competence course for students interested in going abroad, or actually going abroad this coming semester.

It was such an interesting experience to hear about my country from a non-native. I couldn't help but laugh at some of her observations because they were so true. My favorite was her description of Americans:

"They're just very indirect. Where we (Germans) would say 'Nope! You're crazy!' the Americans would say 'Oh, well maybe!' or 'You could be right...'"

 The students also asked me all kinds of questions about being from the States. I had discussions about classes (homework COUNTS in the States), alcohol (no, you can't carry open bottles of alcohol in public and most likely can't drink in the dorms), and about traveling while in America.

I had to leave early to tutor one of my tuttees, but I actually wish I could have stayed longer. I was fascinated! I also love talking about my Valpo/American experiences.

I tutored my tuttee for our normal hour, and then I met a few friends downtown. The Christmas market is up and running and we walked through it for the first time.

Reutlingen Weihnachtsmarkt

The market was nice! I got a rotwurst, tried some of the Glühwein, and ate a delicious waffle with Nutella.

The food was great, and I cannot wait to get a closer look at some of the other products that they're selling in the market.

Later in the evening, I ha gotten into my pjs a bit early and was watching a movie when I got a call from Chris - I ended up heading upstairs with some tea to hang out with Julia, Chris, and Joe for a little bit. Julia made her fantastic brownies :) Overall, a fantastic and relaxing night with friends.

An Evening to Be Thankful For

Thanksgiving. Was. Fantastic.

Everything came together wonderfully and my other thirds (Claire and Tony) were so helpful and organized. Tony and one other person picked up the plates and silverware on time around 12:30 p.m.

While the boys were doing that, I went to Penny to pick up a few ingredients to make a cheesey spinach dish - it turned out pretty good!

Then a few of us met at 1:30 p.m. to get the room all set up - we moved around tables, put up decorations, set the tables, and grabbed the drinks for later. There were just enough of us to get the job done.

I ended up at Reichwein Haus for about an hour before the dinner to hang out with Tammi and Allie. I had to head over a bit earlier in order to make sure everything was in order. People slowly started arriving and, around 7:45 p.m., there were so many people in line for food that it was crazy! There were way more than the 100 that had signed up to attend.

We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, and then the side dishes and desserts were all a pot luck situation where, if you attended the dinner, you brought something to share.

We had everything from veggies to bread to soup and everything inbetween. The desserts were just as varied and just as delicious.

Rachel, me, and Chelsea at Thanksgiving dinner. Photo Cred: Chris Ferguson

I ended up picking up what I could with half of the people still around in order to help a bit with the clean up. I then got the chance to Skype my whole family over at my aunt and grandma's house! It was so good to see them all. :)

This year, I am thankful for the opportunity that has been given to me to participate in this German co-op, for my health, the health of my family, and the happiness that I have found in the last few months.

I am so lucky to have found the friends that I have here in Reutlingen. I look forward to many more shared experiences with them, as well as for all of the new students I will meet beginning in February.

I think this quote most aptly describes what the last six months of my life:

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I've ended up where I needed to be."
-Douglas Adams

Despite not going where I expected to go, I know that everything in my life happens for a reason; this experience, and everything that has happened thus far, has all happened to shape my future in the way that my life is supposed to go.

I love college... But not when I'm woken up at 3 a.m.!

There are times during my internship that I am very much reminded that I am still in a college setting.

Today, I was woken up around 3:00 a.m. to someone knocking on my window and yelling my name. This, of course, is not ideal, as I was already asleep for a few hours.

After a grateful thank you and some excessive chattering (on his part), I was able to go back to bed in peace. 

I'm feeling a little bit like all of these tired GIFs today... I have to power through, though and help put on the best Thanksgiving dinner that these internationals have never seen!

After getting a taste of some homemade biscuits that an American brought into the office for me to bring tonight, though... I don't think we're going to have a problem.

The First Snow

After about a week of not much work, today I was finally given enough projects to keep me busy throughout the entire day!

The difference between having enough work to do and not is huge - by having something to do, my days go by so much faster and I feel so much more useful. I must get better at inventing projects for myself to complete during my work days.

A project that takes my colleague days to complete was something that I finished in a few hours - it is nice to know that I am being efficient and helpful.

After my day, I went home and, due to the cold, had absolutely no intention of leaving my room except for food and bathroom usage. I did exactly that! I caught up on a few tv shows, drank copious amounts of tea, and got the chance to Skype with not one, not two, but THREE of my best friends from back home.

During all that, it started to snow. I just cuddled beneath yet another blanket and remained in my room. Snow = Cold and I just am not ready for it!

The first snow in Reutlingen, Photo Cred: Tammi Bordelon

Between me and whoever reads my blog, though, I do find snow absolutely breathtaking -  I have nothing against snow, but rather against the cold that it comes with.

The first snow in Reutlingen, Photo Cred: Tammi Bordelon

Another relaxing evening - I need to remember to schedule these in more often!

It's the Weekend!

My weekend was a wonderful mix of keeping busy and relaxing after a long week.

On Friday, I got off of work a little bit early - there was not too much going on in the office (I had actually gotten some non-urgent work to do in the morning which was a good project!) and Brigitte told me to take the second half of the day off. This was a great day to have some off-time - one of my friends was going through a breakup, so a trip to Penny was necessary for some chocolate and I brought up some tea and Puffs kleeenex. They're a hit here!

I had to leave after about an hour because I had to go and tutor one of the kids. We spent our hour creating a dialogue about school uniforms in English. We would discuss things half in English and half in German. As always, I feel like I am learning just as much as my tuttees are learning during our sessions.

Once I was done tutoring, I walked home to meet up with my friends again. We decided to make some pasta together for dinner and it was fantastic! We got this bell pepper pesto sauce that we mixed with some veggies, canned tomatos, and cream. So good.

My night ended with a movie that I didn't quite make it through.

The following day was a good, but busy one. Saturday morning, I met up with some Valpo students at the Pestalozzistraße bus stop to head downtown for some bowling. I felt kind of bad that I didn't bring a German student, as the whole point was to introduce the Valpo kids to more Germans. As an international office worker and a student who takes no classes with other German students, the extent of my German student interaction is in other student's dorms and in the office when they want to go abroad.

The Germans I did invite were busy this weekend, which was too bad. We still enjoyed our day. I hung out with Daphnie, the resident director's daughter. She is adorable and full of so much life and energy!

Hanging out with Daphnie while bowling with Valpo!

I ended up winning both rounds (in what universe am I living right now?!) and got the second and third highest scores of the day (we played two rounds). I even have proof:

That's right - a 113 and a 117!

After our games were over, Allie and I went to grab some lunch at Alexandre in downtown Reutlingen. Allie recommended this chicken salad that was fantastic and we chatted over lunch.

After that, I took a quick nap and then met up with Tammi and Allie for dinner - we ended up making burgers and mac 'n cheese (a good old American dinner!). I love making burgers, so I was happy to contribute to the dinner-making. We also had our first taste of Glühwein for the season! We picked up some from Penny that was fruit flavored, which made it a bit sweeter. Warm that up on the stove until the wine is almost boiling, and you have the hot mulled wine I've been looking forward to all year.

When dinner was done, a few of us decided to go into town for the Fire and Ice night in downtown Reutlingen. A lot of the shops were open, and there were food and drink vendors in the streets selling their goods. As the theme was Fire and Ice, true to it's name, there were fire blow-up things and ice sculptors in the streets. There were so many people, and it was wonderful to see the city so alive and bustling. 

Fire and Ice in downtown Reutlingen

Glühwein and Fire and Ice

We ended up at the Irish Pub and played a few hands of group 'War.' We had to explain the rules to the international students with us, but as it's a simple game it was easy for them to understand. A 9-person game of 'War' tends to go pretty fast, so we played a few hands and that kept us busy and laughing.

The Irish Pub and some 'War'

Chris and I ended up catching the 11:30 bus back to the university.

The next day was my day of rest - I woke up at around 10:30 and went on to do not too much with my Sunday. I ended up going upstairs around 1 to hang out with Julia, Chris, and Joe. We stayed on the couches in the lounge for about 3-4 hours doing nothing but enjoying each other's company, showing off YouTube videos, and watching winter sporting games.

Being the devout Valpo alum that I am, I showed my international friends Bryce Drew's buzzer beater from '98 and the similar buzzer beater that Ryan Broekhoff made just this past year that pushed us into the NCAA tournament!

It's days like this that I will remember for forever. There is an article about the 10 things about studying abroad and the last one is particularly true - these are people that I will have to say hello to for the first time and say goodbye for the final time all within the course of a few months. I don't know how I am going to handle saying goodbye to these people who have become my family!

I'm an Intern.

I feel like a real intern today - I learned how to use the coffee maker at work!

I scanned/made copies of an agreement between Hochschule Reutlingen and two universities in China for exchanges - more intern-ey work.

I lead an exciting life ;)

A New Goal for My Lifetime

After a long day at the office, I went home and decided to have a relaxing evening.

I put on some Norah Jones, made myself a cup of tea, and started reading Wuthering Heights - it is a goal of mine to read through as many of the classics as I possibly can. There's no time limit on this; there's no goal of how many of these classic books I want to read by next year. This is going to be a lifetime goal.

There is a reason these books are famous and have been passed down through history and I would like to know why.

Post Birthday Fun

Last night was everything that I could have hoped for! In terms of birthday fun, I had just the right amount :)

I got to sleep in today. We were out a bit late, so it was necessary. As soon as I woke up and got ready for the day, Tammi and I decided to head over to the Campus Kebap for some lunch. When I returned home, I saw a message from Lineke and Mirka who were interested in going to Bad  Urach for the day - I had completely forgotten that we had discussed it, but thankfully saw the post in time to go with.

Mirka had never been to Bad Urach, so Lineke and I showed her the waterfall and contemplated walking up to the castle. 

Me with the Bad Urach waterfall behind me

Our walk to the Bad Urach waterfall

As we had left Reutlingen so late, walking up to the castle wasn't an option, as it was already getting dark around 5 p.m.

After our walk to the waterfall, we headed over to the Alp Thermen, or thermal baths, of Bad Urach. It was a big spa-like situation with a bunch of pools and a sauna. The coolest part were the pools outside. The pools were warm enough that you were comfortable, but you could still feel the cool air on your head and shoulders.

It was a nice way to end the day that started with a pretty cold walk and a great way to end my birthday weekend in general!

My Birthday - A Night of Food, Ice Skating, and Fun

Today was the day! My 23rd birthday. I had always looked at 23-year-olds as old, but now that I am at that stage in my life, I realize that 23 is not anywhere near the time where I have my life together and figured out.

And I kind of life it that way.

I woke up and went grocery shopping first thing in the morning. I needed a few ingredients for the spinach artichoke dip that I was making for tonight for my pot luck dinner!

Once I was done grocery shopping, I headed home to get ready for that evening. In an attempt to get my hair curly, I tried a new method. Instead of using my straightner to curl my hair, I used strips of fabric that I wrapped my hair around.

Thankfully, that actually worked and, after a few hours of waiting and blow drying, my hair was curly and fantastic.

The finished product!

Once I put on my dress and finished up my makeup, I got the chance to Skype home with some sisters and then my mom. It was great to see them all and to feel a bit caught up with what was going on back home.

My mom was fantastic - she had balloons, my presents set out, and a birthday cake that I 'blew' the candle out on. I miss her so much and was happy I got to talk to her. :)

My friend Nicki arrived while I was Skyping with my mom, and we headed up to the 2nd floor all together to meet up with people.

Slowly, everyone started to trickle in, and the feast began. We had a beer-cheese dip from Wisconsin, Chelsea made salsa, guacomole from Alejandro, tacos from a few of the other Valpo students (among many other things!) and then had a few desserts as well. We were all stuffed by the end of it!

Hanging out with the Valpo kids for my birthday! (and Chris)

With some of my fantastic friends for my birthday dinner

After our dinner and the clean-up, we hung out on the 2nd floor with those who ate dinner with us and with friends who arrived a bit later. 

 

Some of my fantastic friends from Reutlingen

Roman and Anatoly walked in with flowers and champagne, Julia/Joe/Chris gave me a box of birthday goods, other friends got me cards and candy. I am so lucky to have the amazing friends that I do!

In Russia, it is normal to give someone flowers and champagne for their birthday!
How sweet is that?!

A bit before 10 p.m., everyone left to catch the bus to the Eishalle in Reutlingen. Roman, who had rented a car for the weekend thinking he was going to Paris, drove me, Dawn, Tammi, and Anatoly to the ice skating rink for the Eisdisko!

Waiting to get on the ice!

We had SO much fun! A few of my friends had never been ice skating before, so it was fun to watch them learn. Others had very obviously been ice skating for a very long time and were speeding around the rink. Just having the music and the cool air and skating around the rink with friends all around was such an amazing way to spend the evening.

Ice skating with friends

Tammi, Allie, Eric, me, and Thea :)

Group shot of some of my fantastic friends who went ice skating with me.

Poor Chris somehow managed to put his skates on the wrong feet, so that was a story all in itself! Eric was helping people around the rink, whether it was a new skater or a few girls who wanted to learn how to skate backwards. Joe and Julia captured the whole thing by taking a million pictures for us to remember it all by.

The night wasn't over after that, though. The night continued at a shisa bar in town, and then we closed up the Irish Pub!

Overall, a fantastic night (and morning!) for my birthday. Despite missing home and wishing I could celebrate with those people back in Valpo, I got to spend my birthday with some of the best people I have ever met. It is going to be unreal to have to say goodbye to all of them in just a few months.

My Birthday Eve

After my day at work, I went shopping with Julia, Mirka, Tammi for a birthday outfit - we found the perfect dress! Yes, I know we will be going ice skating tomorrow, but I will just deal with the cold by putting on some leggings and hoping that I don't fall.

This evening, I headed up to Lineke's room for a bit. I haven't seen her all week, so it was fantastic to catch up on what was happening in my life and in hers!

I ended up staying until about midnight when Lineke pulled out a tea set for me for a birthday gift! It was totally unexpected, but so fantastic :)

I am blessed to have such fantastic friends!

A Professional Networking Experience & International Girls Day

So far, today has been a fantastic day! There were two people who arrived at the university around 10:30 a.m. to give a presentation about studying in the US. The man came from Berlin and was a part of an organization that helps student who are considered "free movers" go abroad. The woman came from a university in upper-state New York. Both were really easy to talk to and I enjoyed my time with them.

We grabbed some coffee and talked about my experiences here in Germany and what I wanted to do when I got back to the States (or if I WAS going back to the States). It was great to hear about how a young woman got into the international education industry, and what exactly she does. Hearing about her experiences was fantastic and has definitely swayed me a bit more into getting into international education.

RIO had this presentation and was not expecting very many people to attend - however the entire room was filled with interested students. There were so many that there were not enough chairs for everyone! The interest is fantastic and I am so excited for all of these students who are considering going abroad in the near future, particularly to the US.

In other news, today is International Girls Day! I am so blessed to be a part of an organization that supports such a fantastic cause. In honor of International Girls Day, I suggest you read this article that I found while scrolling through my Facebook - Girl Power Campaign.

Today I will be making some dinner with Dawn, and tonight I will be participating in a competition. My teammate and I probably won't win, but it's all about the fun of the sport. :)

Study Abroad Like It's 1998?

I ended up spending about an hour cleaning out most of the information on our bookshelves outside the office that holds our study abroad materials - I threw most of it away because it was out of date. It was hard to navigate through any of it because of the sheer volume of information.

I found a brochure from 1998.

I was eight years old.

What.

A Matrix Kind of Day

What a cold, rainy, disgusting day today ended up being!

After my two hour train ride back to Reutlingen, with two transfers, I had to walk through town to catch a bus back to the university. I felt like my fingers would never be warm again.

Alas, I made it back to the university, albeit a bit cold and wet, and immediately took a hot shower, followed by a long nap.

After feeling significantly warmer, I joined a few friends in Litt Haus to enjoy two different types of Finnish pancakes (one was baked in the oven, the other were a variety of crepes), which we enjoyed with the 6th floor residents.

Afterwards, I had some tea to catch up with Julia and just enjoyed a night in! 

I decided to watch a movie and, after looking at IMDB's 30 Great Movies You Must See Before You Die list, I settled on The Matrix, which I have never seen before, believe it or not. 

A good end to a great weekend!

Aalener Jazzfest - Xavier Naidoo!

Aalener Jazzfest - officially one of the best things I have done this time around in Germany!

 

Our Aalener Jazzfest tickets

I took the train from Reutlingen to Stuttgart, and then on to Aalen with the Baden-Württemberg ticket this morning. On  my stop in Stuttgart, I downloaded Instagram - as I finally have a smart phone, I figured it was worth a try.

 

The beautiful sky on my way to Aalen

I am in love. It is my most recent social media addiction.

When I arrived, Nicki took me to her favorite Asian buffet - it had sushi, a Mongolian barbecue, and  the standard Chinese buffet. We stuffed ourselves and relaxed a bit before we did some shopping in Aalen.

After our shopping, we headed back to Nicki's for a quick nap. The grocery store was next to grab some food for later and breakfast in the morning.

All of this led up to Xavier Naidoo. Naidoo, one of Germany's best-known R&B singers, was performing at the Aalener Jazzfest - I was excited, sure, but I had not heard too much of his music before I went to the concert.

We walked over to the gymnasium where the concert was being held and waited, amongst many other excited Naidoo fans.

The opening act really good. I told Nicki that the man (who played the guitar and sung in English) sounded just like John Mayer. And for his third song, the man sang John Mayer! I was ecstatic.

Naidoo came on the stage after a quick break, and the crowd went wild. As he went through his set list, I became more and more fascinated with him. His voice was just as good (if not better) live and he engaged the audience and had them participate.

The background for his performance was constantly changing, and most of the time, there were three sections with different camera shots of Naidoo or his band members live performing.

Naidoo joked with the crowd, brought up specific places in Aalen he had been to earlier that day, and he stunned us all with his musical talent. 

 Xavier Naidoo

There was also a portion of the show where Kool Savas came out and rapped with Naidoo's singing. Together, they are called XAVAS and this was one of the best parts of the show! The bass they had going was unreal.

XAVAS

Again, easily one of my favorite memories in Germany so far! Much like Wasen and Wiesn, the atmosphere was something that is not easily forgotten. I would love to go to more concerts while I'm here in Deutschland.

Mustache Movie Night

My work duties were minimal today. It seemed like most of the people in the office were already on weekend mode. I decided to take the afternoon off to enjoy the day.

With my free afternoon, I had tea with Julia and Joe and I made some banana bread. As Joe was going home for the weekend for his dad's birthday, the three of us wanted to get some quality time in before he left.

Around 4:15, I headed over to tutor my second student. I got to the house and knocked on the door and no one answered. I was stood up!

I suppose it could have been worse - it could have been raining on my walk over. I could have been run over by a car. I could have tripped and hurt myself. In any case, I just took a deep breath, turned around and headed home.

Once I got home, Eric messaged me to make dinner - as he has been traveling for the last few weeks, I hadn't seen him in a while. We ran to the Penny to grab some pasta, veggies, and sausage, and made a nice dinner AND chocolate chip cookies. They ended up being more like sugar cookies with chocolate chunks, but they were still good. 

Chocolate chip cookies are another thing that have been added to a running list of foods I miss from home.

The night was still young, and Dawn, Chris, and I decided to watch a movie with a little bit of a game. As Chris had never seen Despicable Me (one of the best movies of all time), we watched that and taped little mustaches on the screen. Our regular movie night turned into one of constant expectation as we waited for one of the three mustaches to line up with a minion, Gru, or one of the other characters.

Once the movie was over, we went our seperate ways - as I have to get up early in the morning to head off to Aalen, I packed up a bag and headed to bed.

Teaching the Internationals About Thanksgiving

Today was the day - presentation day.

I practiced my presentation a few more times before I had to leave for work, and dressed up to look professional. As the international office has a casual dress code, I have never really dressed up before - my colleagues were shocked that I was wearing a skirt. Perhaps I should dress up more often!

During my lunch break, I practiced more. While I get a little nervous while speaking, I actually like giving presentations! The difference between this presentation and a normal presentation was a huge one - the language. I can talk all day in English, but in German, my vocabulary is more limited.

My presentation included points on the history of Thanksgiving, the food we eat, and the activities associated with Thanksgiving. As almost all of my classmates are from other parts of the world, I hope that my presentation gave them a better understanding of why us crazy Americans take the day off and eat turkey once a year.

Despite my presentation being in another language, it went very well! According to my Italian classmate, I could have used my hands more (but even he admitted, he is Italian..), but that was one of the only criticisms.

I felt a weight lift off my shoulders as I realized that I was finally caught up on all my obligations for the week.

A Busy, Busy Day

Today was not my standard day in the office. I had the pleasure of accompanying my colleague Max and about 30 international students on an excursion to the Diamler-Benz engine factory, as well as the Mercedes-Benz museum, both of which are in Stuttgart.

We left around 8:45 a.m. and, despite having to drive through a bit of German traffic, made it to the factory on time.

Despite my little knowledge of cars, factory tours like this and the Audi factory tour are completely fascinating. To be able to actually see how, in this case, the engines for cars that are sent around the world are produced is much more interesting that just hearing about how it is done; it's much like the difference between watching a sports game on television versus being there in the stadium.

After seeing how these engines were made (no photographs allowed, unfortunately), we had a short break, and then were allowed to wander through the Mercedes-Benz museum nearby (where we could take pictures!). Each person got a listening guide and we could wander the museum at our own pace.

 Visit to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart

One of many Mercedes-Benz vehicles that we found in the museum

Advertisements for Mercedes-Benz

Once we had completed our visit to Stuttgart, we came back to Reutlingen just in time for me to tutor one of my tuttees. I made the 15 minute climb to her house and, once again, feel like she taught me more German than I taught her English. And my day did not end there.

Tomorrow is my first German presentation at Reutlingen. For my B1 German class, I have to give a presentation about American culture - the topic can be whatever I would like it to be, but that almost makes it more difficult than if I were assigned a topic. To choose one of the millions of things that make up American culture?! Yikes. In the end, I settled on the topic of Thanksgiving.

I began to put together an outline for my presentation, but was interrupted around 7:45, as I had my dance class. It was a welcome distraction!

We learned more of the routine that we will be performing in December. There were a bunch of new people and we did some review, which was nice.

Once that was done, I was back to it. I completed my presentation, ran through it a few times, finished up the homework that I had to do for my German class as well, and now I am heading to bed.

It was a long, slightly stressful, but very rewarding day.

Germany Observations

1. Germans have slugs, not worms, when it rains.

2. It is an unspoken rule that everyone should avoid saying the name "Adolf." No further explanation needed.

3. Remember Mittagspause and keep it holy. When the hours of an office say that they are closed, they are not opening that door for anyone.

4. Every restroom has a new faucet to conquer.

5. The 3 "C's" of Europe: Castles, churches, and confectioneries.

6. No screens in the windows = hello bug world.

7. Despite the no screen thing, the German tilt and turn windows are awesome.

8. One word: Bakeries.

9. Okay, another word: Fashion.

10. Debit cards as credit cards aren't really a thing here. Carry cash.

11. Doner Kebabs are the fast food of Germany.

12. Holidays happen often.

13. Almost everything is closed on Sundays. Only bakeries, a few gas stations, and some bars are open.

14. Wiesn/Wasen are even BETTER than the stories you hear about them.