Auf wiedersehen

Friday June 3rd

4:30am

Emily wakes up and I had promised her I would walk her to the bus as to make sure that she gets on and is well on her way home:)

So I wake up and put some clothes on, walk her to the bus,the bus arrives at 5:10am its so sad to say good bye

but I will see her again soon! We’ve become such good friends! SAFE Travels friend!

I walk back to the hotel, soaking up every breath and sight of my walk….I think about going for a run, one last time….Just a thought no fears! lol I go back to the room and jump in the shower so that I am fresh for my flight! I come out and get ready pack a few things and lay down on my bed for the last time, bc Vanessa needed to take a shower and the hairdryer is in the bathroom. So I’d wait on my bed….AKA Pass out until she was done and woke me up! So then I dried and styled my hair. We then went to breakfast. Back to the room to pack the last items and double check the room.

7:45am We’ve said our good-byes and to the bus we(Vanessa,Sarah,me, and Stephanie) go!

We hop on the bus, it takes 30min to get to the airport….its a rough trip! lol I was literally sweating! gross yes but it happens….(especially to me) ok so now we have arrived to the airport….

It is around the same size as STL airport…maybe a tiny bit smaller…but its much more confusing than STL….Nothing really makes sense and its in ENGLISH! like WTF right?!

Well Stephanie walks me around to try to find Delta…which is on the other end of the earth compared to where they were(flying swiss)…How nice of her right? So I get in line, 1st step: talk to a lady who gives me the 3rd degree…asks me about my stay blah blah blah 2nd step check luggage …she was so nice! 3rd security…it went very smoothly! no big deal I was like wow! 4th went to find my gate …which was on the opposite side of where I was…NBD getting my walk in b4 my 10hr flight!!!

As I walk up I realize I have to go through yet another check point…here I thought I was finished right? NOPE

So I walk up all bright eyed and bushy-tailed! The lady tells me to leave my belongings on the table and come with here she then frisks me….SO AWKWARD like she is getting PERSONAL! like WOAH lady! I don’t even think the doctor touches me like that! (lol ok not really that bad BUT close!) OH and it doesn’t stop there! Then I take my shoes off and they run it through the x-ray machine, then I put my shoes back on and walk over to the table where the other lady goes through my purse…then my chocolate( which by the way I’m sure they saw my OVERSIZED bag of chocolate and JUDGED ME! lol NBD) my laptop and my pillow(random I thought) and put it into another basket where a man took me into another room and waved some random paper like thing over my stuff then he put it into what looked like a copy machine…lol then he said I could go….and sure enough FINALLY I got to go….Then I found my gate and sat down…I was like THE 1ST one there…..prolly bc I was 2hrs b4 take off…I then sprawled out on the chairs bc who knows how much room I’ll have on the plane right?

I catch up my blog, look for an internet source….which nope not at my gate! STANDARD! thats ok I’m catching up on good stuff! ok well then I got bored had to go to the bathroom….came back and everyone and their mom had shown up…I sat next to my original seat that was now taken up by a good looking older man(by older I mean even older than my parents…not by much maybe 10 at the max) He looks so familiar but I can’t put my finger on it….All of a sudden someone comes over the intercom and says something about something not working on the flight blah blah blah you will get 100 us dollars when you get to Atlanta bc of your inconvenience. I thought they said that the AC wasn’t working and I was like HOLD THE PHONE! I’ve already sweat my life away I’m NOT about to go through hell for 10hrs! OH NO! So I turned to the good looking gentlemen and asked him what was going on….apparently the tv and sound wasn’t working on the flight….OMG THIS IS GONNA BE A LOOOONG flight! NO movie? You’ve got to be joking! Well hopefully my computer will last so I can get some good homework time down! I will finish my book! I knew I should’ve brought another one! lol oh well! you live and you learn!

So we board the plane, I find my seat and find that no one is sitting next to me HEY-OH! who is excited!

I mean I was hoping that  I was sitting next to a well to do, attractive SINGLE man who I would put under my spell during our 10hr flight….but I mean when life hands you lemons…ya kno?! lol Being by myself will be great! I haven’t had nearly enough “alone time” here we go 10hrs of it! lol

I’ll keep you posted!

So tell me why I can’t sleep? BUT I got my book read!  yay go me! first book I’ve read in like in a day (litteral read) since I was in 5th grade….NBD lol

I started on some hw to! I’m being SO productive…Not feeling well though….Oh well…being awake for 24hrs will do that! lol but We are almost to Atlanta! yay!!! I’m almost home!

ATLANTA is sooooo busy! and there are so many military people here! I’m craving a starbucks frappaccino!!! and of course after I’ve walked to the other end of the airport with all my stuff I find a map that shoes starbucks is where I had started! so Seatle’s coffee will do Mint Frappe will work just fine and a banana! yay!

I called Boogie to pass the time… I miss my friends and family….but I will be there in an hr!!! I landed in STL right on time and mom and dad were there to greet me! IHOP we go for dinner! Off to bed!

Lazy day

Thursday June 2nd

today is Father’s day in germany and EVERYTHING is closed! well almost everything and the schools don’t have school! So we have the day to ourselves…We are on our last euros and we have the option to sleep in and do a little work here a little work there and then we have been told that we HAVE TO go to the Mercedes Benz museum!

We got up around 10am to grab breakfast, then we discovered that our professor had left us money to cover the train and the entrance fee to the museum so we decided we should go.

We decide to pack a little and clean up our room, catch up on our homework, etc…Well before we know it its 1pm and we go to mail our last post cards and come back to get ready to leave…

We have worked up quite the appetite and for our last lunch we should treat ourselves to a DONER! one last time

So we did, we went to our oh so familiar Doner restaurant where they know who we are! lol “Where everybody knows your name…I wanna go, where everybody knows my name” haha Yes I just brought out cheers! lol

We went to the train station and had to buy a ticket to the museum, we knew how to get it, but for some odd reason the ticket machine wouldn’t take our “change” aka 2euros (bc their smallest paper euro is 5) so anyway long story short after looking like complete American IDIOTS some man, “who knows it all” comes up to us treats us like we’re incompetent….Oh well his friend comes over and is much nicer and really helps us out….b/c the other guy was just like pushing the buttons on the machine and changed the language to english….I wanted to be like,

“listen here you rude person! We aren’t that dumb! We had already changed our language and tried to purchase our ticket but it wouldn’t take our FLIPPING MONEY! So could you back up and let us use the other machine?! “

 

But for real! I was getting angry! Long story short we figured it out…we got the ticket and made it to the museum.

 

We get to the museum and it was SO AWESOME! It was so much more than just cars! It was the history from the beginning to current! Not just car history but World history! It was SO COOL! and of course there were SHINY cars and cool artwork and wow! it was FABULOUS! I wish we would’ve had just a bit more time….We had to be back in Esslingen by 6pm to meet our professor….However, we made it to the train just in time to miss the 1st train, and we had to wait 20min until the next one ….Needless to say we were 30min late but no worries we got what we need to get done, done…and we got some yummy food to end our last day in Germany. Wait! and our professor, even though we were late still gave us each chocolate to bring home! HOW AWESOME!!! She truly has been a great professor and I can’t wait to stay in contact with her!

 

Now hotel to pack EARLY MORNING tomorrow 4:30am!

 

Last day of Class

Wednesday June 1st

7:30am-bus

8am class

6th grade! What a great class! I loved the teacher and students! they were so well behaved and adorable! They had prepared 3 skits for us, all in english! oh and when we arrived at the school 2 students (class reps) met us at the door and handed us yummy chocolate and said how excited they were to have us visit. They then walked us to our classroom and made us feel right at home.

the nest class that we went to was out of control the teacher seemed timid and let the class ask as many questions as they wished. It was very different from the 1st class. The students also walked all over this teacher where as in the other class it was just the opposite..

 

After that class we were able to go get lunch…which was good it was stuffed peppers and rice and some veggies.  It was fabulous!

 

Then we had a wrap up session with the principals and teachers.  We got to ask questions as well as they asked us questions, which was interesting because every other meetings we had with schools they never asked us any questions. It was nice to be asked questions and to be able to have enough information to respond.

 

I was soooooooo exhausted it was ridic! I wanted to go back to the hotel and sleep my life away but we had to go to one more school.

 

zolbergschule(don’t quote me on that) it is a special school-state funded

It encompasses speech disorders, multiple disorders, physical, and cognitive disorders.  The students stay here from the beginning of their academic career and it ends here as well. They are set up with some companies that find work that they can do.

 

It was so interesting to see how segregated the schools were…(there will be a blog on just the school system..in-case your confused)

 

We just get a tour of that school and have a 15min session with one of the principals.

 

Then to the hotel to change and there is a chocolate store that we’ve had our eyes on this whole trip and we must go to get some chocolate to bring home for our families. So we go on our way to the chocolate store when all of a sudden there is a man/hotdog stand! it was the best rotbrut I’d had since we had bbq in the park! and it was only 1.50 euro…where had he been the entire time we’d been there?! lol oh wel it was great! The chocolate store was overwhelming! there were so many types, shapes, sizes, weights. I couldn’t handle it…there was just to much! So I just picked up a few things that I could afford and I thought looked authentic…

 

Now back to the hotel to nap before we go out! our last night to go out!

 

We wake up from our nap with just enough time to get ready!  We had to be at the train station at 7pm to meet up with a student teacher that we had met at the gymnasium(the 1st school we visited) …We met here hopped on the train to to stuttgart we went!

We met some of her friends and we went to a cute little bar/diner. It was so chic but well within our price range! Oh and it was happy hour so drinks were half price! So exciting!!! I tried a drink called Blade…it was fabulous! I had an entire small pizza to myself NBD… I ate it all! it was sooo good!

Then after we all became friends some of the teachers left, while the rest stayed behind to take us to a club… which turned out to be more like a bar with music…lol it was fun though it played classic rock songs and ironically enough the name of the club was Classic Rock…So it was fun I found a few candidates for husbands….all of which were absolutely gorgeous and soo cute with their german accents! YUM! I had a blast hanging with the girls and dancing to my own beat of the drum.

 

We caught the last train back to Esslingen and fell fast asleep!

CINDERELLA CASTLE AND THE ALPS

Tuesday May31st

Woot woot

7:30am ready to go!!!! hop into the van and on the road we go….however there is MAJOR traffic…and we dont get to the autobahn until 8:30am NBD

We are hardcore ROCKIN it out via Adele,ingrid, and some random stuff here and there from my itunes via my macbook pro lol oh and I’m doing WORK!

I am catching up my blog and writing my final postcards! hey-oh! lol I’m awesome!

 

Cinderella Castle!

NBD!!!! on our way to the Cinderella Castle!

 

So we end up at the Alps first we take a gondola up the mountains and then we hike up the mountain to the top! oh yeah NBD I just hiked the ALPS!!!!!!! Pictures to prove it!

 

Then we decide to hike up to the highest peek of the mountain! and Legit we had to climb….like I was holding on to rocks for dear life! Sometimes you would look down and see what seemed like miles down….so NO barrel rolling down those hills! lol unless you wished to roll to your death or a broken bone and concussion. Needless to say obviously bc I’m writing this blog that I made it! You should all be proud I’ve been such a big girl this trip! The view is indescribable! Words and pictures can’t even begin to describe how beautiful the Alps are.  You just will have to go visit them and see for yourself.

After our hike, we could hear a thunderstorm rolling in, we high tailed it down to where we could catch our gondola.  The gondola wasn’t running due to the storm so we had acquired quite the appetite, incidentally enough there just so happens to be a cafe right on the side of the mountain! So we had coffee and cake German style just sitting watching the storm pass and enjoying some sweets! It was simply fabulous!

Finally the rain/storm had passed, and the gondola was running. We hopped on and down we went….When we got down we all hopped into the vans and on to the CINDERELLA CASTLE we go!

 

so ever since I’ve been a little girl(just like most little American Girls) I wanted to visit Cinderella’s Castle and I promised myself that one day I would go to the REAL one! ALL MY DREAMS ARE COMING TRUE!

 

The little village in between the Cinderella castle and the “parents”castle  is the cutest and there are horse drawn carriages that bring you to the castle….AND it just wouldn’t be right if you arrived at the cinderella castle any other way….sooooo YES I was a princess all over again! I was a little girl I was giddy and nothing not even the rain could bring me down! I was absolutely in LOVE!

 

The horses were just like in the fairytales and we traveled kinda a back way through the forest, which not only did disney steal the castle but they also took the forest! NO WAY did they get their forest pictures from ANYWHERE in the USA! (ok so there’s a slight possibility….but still!

So as Princess Tasha arrived at her castle….it was as if nothing else mattered! I ran to the gate where we had to wait for our tour to start…but WOW was it worth the wait! I wish I could share pics with you but there were no pictures allowed…I did buy postcards tho so Some of you will be able to see those when we meet!  so long story short the Castle was everything I’ve ever dreamed of and I will move there in 2014 when I marry Robert my german husband! lol Everyone is invited and will have you own  room in my castles yes I will have 2 seeing how the other castle just one hop,skip and a jump away will be where my parents will stay…Its slightly smaller but just as cute!

 

so after the tour, all my adrenaline had run out and I was fading fast…Quick!!! Someone get me some food!….We hiked down the mountain to the village bc the horses weren’t running anymore…and we ate at this very nice Swabian restaurant and had very yummy food! Of course right I’m still in Germany! Of course the food is good!

 

Then on the road again we drive all the way back to Esslingen (2hrs) We have an early day again tomorrow. We have to be at the bus at 7:30am.

Hauptschule

Monday-May 30th

So its 7:50am and theres a knock on the door….We open it to one of our classmates saying that we have to catch the bus at 8:15am….NBD Needless to say I rocked the ponytail and no make up…..cute I know

 

We arrived at the school to realize that we were super early so we chilled outside on the larger than life itself playground!

 

The school actually is the most colorful and largest that we’ve visited…their gymnasium is also large and has a lot of room for equipment.

 

This particular school is a grundeschule and hauptschule put together so there are about 480 students and about half are in the grundschule part and the other half are hauptschule.  This is the first time that I’ve seen diversity of teachers…there are more diverse students in the classroom with race and size/shape….

The PE classes that I got to observe were very interesting! the 1st one the teacher didn’t have ANY control of her class but they played fun games oh and they ran 3 killers( which are like buildup ladders) I didn’t do those until hs in my sports and they were usually for punishment!) lol these 1st graders did them NBD…..

The next class was an indian/african American teacher who had a gentle voice but had complete control of his class….And they began to do track things like sprints, long jump, and I’m sure that if they would’ve been better behaved they would’ve had the chance to do shot put with tennis balls sad day i was waiting like a child on xmas eve waits for xmas morning! lol

All in all it was great day! Then we we went back to the hotel to grab lunch then off to the mercedes benz museum so we get on the train….only to get to the museum to find out that its closed on MONDAYS sooo sad! So quick on our feet we decide that we should go to a dinosaur museum…which ends up also being closed on mondays….So after brainstorming we decide to just go back and get ice cream! Have I mentioned that I prolly gained back all 20lbs that I’ve lost! lol NBD all worth it! I LOVE GERMANY and its WONDERFUL food! lol well truth of the matter is that I LOVE FOOD in general….My clothes still fit…so thats a good a sign right?

 

Ok so I may or may not have given up euros for food and bought the CUTEST maxi dress! it looks SO german! and I’m in love…so much that I will prolly go hungry thursday and friday! lol oops Its all about being a poor college student right?!

 

Well we go back to the hotel grab some money so we could go to the grocery store to pick up food for our picnic at the castle! Who is excited!!!! PICK ME PICK ME!!!

 

We got our picnic(enough for 3 of us) for 15euro! thank you REVE!!! lol that is complete with grapes, bananas, fresh rolls, salami,ham, 2types of cheese, beef jerky, and drinks! (aka H2O)

1/2 of us walk up to the castle while the other take the bus…we meet in the courtyard of the castle where we picnic and later have class with Bettina. It was simply fabulous!

 

Then off to bed bc we leave at 7:30am….ouch thats ok we can do it!

Monkeys!!!!!Lake of Constance

Sunday 29

So we have been on the road for what seems like FOREVER!!! but I am all caught up on my blog! I know I know Everyone is excited! lol

 

oh and side note: no advertisement on autobahn b/c they value their landscape! Like wow Germans have it together! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Germany???!!!!

 

Ok so before we arrive at the lake, which just so happens to be THE LARGEST lake in central EUROP! NBD! We go to a monkey habitat!

Now before you go judging me and my study abroad planner! It’s probably by far the CUTEST thing besides the fairytale land that I’ve done AND I was literally inches away from the monkeys AND I got to feed them! NO JUDGING!!! Yes I’m still an 8yr old at heart!

 

Just look at the pics and don’t you tell me that you wouldn’t want to cuddle them! oh and surprisingly enough they did NOT smell! I know I know GERMANY is AWESOME!

 

so after the monkeys and other various animals in the preservation CUTE DUCKS!

 

We hop back into the van and off to the LAKE we go!

 

Have I mentioned that we are HUNGRY and slowly fading? We decide to park the car get our stuff for swimming and go find FOOD!

We stop off at this CUTE little cafe and get WONDERFUL food! Despite the waitress speaking NO English we survived and put her mind at ease by speaking what little German we knew! lol All in all it was Fabulous! Now that our bellies are sooo full….We must go put on our swimsuits :/ I mean NBD we all look pregers! lol Hey german boys!!! lol JK

 

Ok so luckily the only naked people we saw were little kids…so No big deal…However there was an older man who was borderline naked….lets just say speedos are NBD here! lol

 

We got to lay out in the “German Sun” lol yes its different and it stays out longer! True story based on Real events!

So we could’ve taken a tour of the stone age village, which would’ve been really cool but ….we could take pics just the same and stay in baking in the sun! we choose the baking in the sun! lol We are about all toured out lol …..then of course standard we get Ice cream on our way back to the van! It was DELICIOUS!

 

Then we drive home…by the time we get home we are all hungry so…we decide to on an adventure for food…In which we go by our STANDARD Doner place! lol but this time I try a lamachun which is tortilla wrap covered in what I can best describe as “pizza roll sauce” and lovely german salat lol all wrapped up in DELICIOUSNESS! lol I have found a NEW LOVE sorry, Doner!

 

Walk back to the hotel and Off to bed

Sommerfest!

Saturday 28th

 

We catch the bus to go back to the grundschule where our students are putting on a festival about their wind,earth, fire, and water.  We were suppose to dance with them but when we got there we couldn’t find our cooperative teacher.  So we just watched they did a great job! They also sang and did fun little skits while their parent video recorded and watched! they were sooo cute! Then after that they put on a play that was soo cute! All in all they were super cute! lol

Then we left and went back to the hotel. Emily and I went for a run (which by the way if you’ve been keeping up with my blog I’ve been running a lot! I’m just saying)

we found a new path BEAUTIFUL!!! I just absolutely LOVE the landscape! Emily had a semi long run today so we parted ways she went more on the awesome path and I turned around walked/ran back to the hotel and stretched and took some time to myself before I went up to the room…It’s nice to have some alone time to soak everything up!

I then went upstairs to my room and waited for Emily to come back so we could go to the street festival that was going on in Esslingen on the oldest street.  We got a great rockwurst! and 2 pieces of cake! lol it was absolutely FABULOUS!

Then back to the room to nap and catch up on hw/blogging!

After we woke up from our nap we got ready for the night…aka we got cute and went to dinner at the cafe in the park! Can you tell that we all love the park?! I got a DELICIOUS salad with ham and cheese! and a colawiezer YUM-Tastes like cream soda! lol

We were then suppose to get together with our German friend Ina….but she was sleeping so we must make our own adventures!

We decide that we should go for a walk and see what comes our way! oh but never did we have this in mind! lol

We walk through the park past the fountain where a group of boys were hanging out….They all began to giggle and say things in german as we passed but it was dark and I didn’t get a good look at them to see if they were worth any of our time…so we kept walking and we saw a swing that we had been DYING to try since we had gotten to Esslingen but all the children had been on it during the day… NOW it was OUR TURN! lol we ran to the swing and began to go back to our childhood days when all of a sudden the swarm of boys from the fountain suddenly were surrounding us!

They turned out to be around 17yrs old…so yes they are boys! lol but they were very funny…one boy who claimed to be turkish was very flirtatious! lol All in good fun tho! they had many good quotes!

lol they had the stereotype of american police they had down from the simpsons! lol and chicago schools are filled with nothing but students with guns…and we still hate england bc we wanted independence! One boy said I LOVE YOU to one of us! lol just randomly blurted it out! lol while another one invited us to the pool where we would wear our bikinis! lol he was very specific on that! oh he was the same one that said that  he was married to all of us! lol

OH what a great time! More adventures to come! Goodnight!