Snow and Sun

You should see the amount of drafts that I have awaiting me to finish them for this blog!

You see, Christmas break happened and it apparently happened with my blogging as well.

A final exam and then a recent sickness have both kept me from doing anything productive, as well.

Excuse the excuses! I promise, more posts will come.

But for today:

The weather has been very glum and grey since I have returned to Germany. We have had our rare sunny days and some pretty nice temperatures, especially compared to the second wave of the polar vortex that is happening back at home.

Today in particular, the weather has been exceptionally strange.

This morning I looked to see what the temperatures were doing to be for the day and it showed right around freezing and only cloudy and grey. I made my way to work (still sick, albeit a bit better than recently!) and the day began normally. I have been working with international student's International Programs transcripts for the last week or so. Both Brigitte and Karin are out of the office, so I was also on phone duty. I have finally figured out how to transfer calls back to Herr Veit. The phone was blissfully silent for most of the day.

I had my lunch break, during which I found out it was snowing outside! As I left my room to head back to the office after lunch, I actually pulled out my umbrella, as it looked like rain. I soon found it was barely frozen snow falling from the sky: a weird slushy mixture.

I headed over to Frau Böhning's office to go over a translation that I had done for her. A group of Reutlingen students completed a really neat collaboration to design the exterior and interior of a car with a group of students in Sweden. It was only a one-page translation of a speech from German to English and I really enjoyed learning more about the project. While I was in Frau Böhning's office, the weather turned from light snow to blizzard.

As I walked out of her office to return to the RIO, the snow had stopped and the sun was peeking out. Throughout the afternoon, the weather changed between sunny and snowy.

I finished up more transcripts and, as I meandered home, the precipitation had stopped completely and it was only sunny.

On my walk home from the office, I recalled summer mornings at home when I was younger, where the sun shined in a similar fashion onto our kitchen table as my family ate breakfast together.

Tonight will be an early night - I hope to get to bed early and beat this cold once and for all!

I will soon be leaving to tutor a new tutee and later I will focus once again on a Master's thesis that I am editing for a student.

Never a dull moment!

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!