Where did the time go?

Alas, I have failed you - it's been ages since an update! In the past month I have been to Vienna and Slazburg (with my mom for spring break) Berlin (with my english class) and Jerez de la Frontera (with lee). Every city was absolutely amazing.
Today is my last day here in luxembourg. tomorrow i'm off to brussels for a day and a night, and then on saturday afternoon i will be home. or at least, the home that i know best. to be honest i feel like i really belong here too - four months have changed my life.
Never fear though! I shall update within the next few days with more details about my final travel adventures. everything from lugging pinky toscadero (aka the giant 50 lb pink suitcase) around austria to narfing around in berlin to laying on the sunny beaches of spain.
it's been a wild ride.
love,
me

the stockholm exchange

...ah stockholm, what a fabulous weekend.
i caught a 10pm flight out of frankfurt hahn last thursday to go hang out with sandra and susie in stockholm for the weekend. after landing at about 1am and finally getting to sandra's apartment around 2 (i was freaking out because i had no money to pay the cab and i didn't know where sandra even was), it was time for .... well, it was time for bread, cheese, juice, gossip and bed actually. haha. not very exciting.
sandra had work the next day, so i just sort of lolled around the house doing not much of anything - although i did finally get to finish watching "the shawshank redemption" which is an AMAZING movie. i hung out with sandra's sister jessica and her boyfriend adrias in the morning too. definitely good times. jessica showed me the pictures that she has of the time she came to visit the states four years ago. we were all so young!! man, that was a trip down memory lane. we all used to have so much fun together.
when sandra got home we struck out in a blizzard to go find somewhere to eat, at which point i realized that all of the english, french and spanish in the world could not help me understand one word of swedish. i think i would have died of starvation without sandra and adrias there to order food for me.
that night was a blast. we got all dressed up and went over to take's apartment for some good old fashioned fun. i met sandra's boyfriend and take's girlfriend, who were both really awesome (and pitied me and my lack of swedish, so spoke to me in english and explained what everyone else was talking about). we headed over to this place called "after" after that to meet up with susie and some other girls. it was there, of course, that i took a fated spill onto the ground.
here's a note: when there is a blizzard, and you are drinking, and you are walking on cobblestone streets, four inch heels are NOT a good idea.
(but damn, at least i looked good).
we didn't stay in After long because Adrias couldn't get in (apparently they have something against mohawks?) so we shuttled off to a different club called Medusa - the name of which i only remember because i took a picture of it.
it was there that i was mistaken for a bartender, actually made drinks for people and handled their credit cards, and chatted up a danish guy while pretending to be a brit who was working her way through school here in sweden.
it kind of rocked. haha.
the next day we went to the vasa museum, which is basically a building built to house this giant ship from the 1600s that was salvaged from the bottom of the bay, where it sank on it's maiden voyage. it was so cool!!! i might be a little bit of a nautical nerd. after seeing that we just went shopping ( I <3 H&M) and wandered around the old town, taking in the sites. stockholm really is a gorgeous city. i want to go back!
we took it easy saturday night - chinese take out plus "mamma mia". definitely a good combination. i caught about 3 hours of sleep before i had to be up for my 3:40am bus to catch my 6:50am flight from the airport. i thought i was going to murder a group of (possibly drunken) swedish guys on the plane. bastards would NOT shut up!!
anywho, about 6 hours later, after travel by plane, train and automobile, i got home to my beloved bed in noertzange.
for the next two weeks, i'll be off traveling again - first to austria for a week with my mom and then to berlin for another week with my english class. after that, only one week of school left, a weekend in spain, and finals. then i'm done!
oy. time flies.
love,
me

Paris holds the key to your heart...

Oh Paris, still my favorite place in the world. There's something magical about being able to walk down a completely normal city street, look up, and see the eiffel tower glowing before you.
Harry and i arrived with surprisingly little issue, especially considering our history with trains. After walking for about ten minutes in the wrong direction once we got off the metro, we finally turned ourselves around and ended up at our hotel. it was a nice little place, literally five minutes from the eiffel tower (just as they'd promised), so we dropped our things off and decided to head up to the top. we walked to the first level, then took an elevator the rest of the way. we got there just at sunset, with the whole city lighting up as we stood and watched. needless to say, i was in heaven. i can't imagine a better place in the entire world.
after we came back down, we wandered over to the louvre and then strolled arm in arm down the champs-elysses (mostly just for the pure entertaining irony of it. we looked ridiculous). after awhile we stopped for dinner at the restaurant hippopotamus - it's sort of like france's answer to applebee's, except better. hehe.
we headed back to the hotel after that for a good night's sleep. on saturday, we had a breakfast on the go of water and a baguette while we took the metro and walked to the centre pompidou museum of modern art.
let me tell you, there was some WEIRD stuff in there. blow-up furniture from the 60s, an exhibition called 'air conditioning unit' of nothing but empty rooms, and another room filled with rolls of felt and one grand piano. i can't say i enjoyed all of it, but i think it definitely widened my perception of what i consider art to be. i looked past whether i personally liked it or not and instead focused on what the artist was trying to say ("intentionality", as my english professor calls it). very interesting - definitely not the sort of place i would have gone on my own, but i'm glad harry suggested it.
after that we headed over by notre dame to the shakespeare & company bookstore, which might be one of my new favorite places. it's in the latin quarter and literally overflowing with books. new, old, stacked up on staircases and pianos, the place looked like something out of a children's book. not to mention the fact that a bunch of british guys were working there (including one named percy. fantastic.) anyway, i was thrilled to death because i finally got to pick up a copy of "Rebecca", which i've been dying to read since anushka lent me her copy in venice.
we stopped back at the hotel for a quick nap before freshening up and heading up to Montmartre for the evening. it was wonderful up there - i even got some video on the steps of sacre cur of the eiffel tower lighting up and sparkling. honestly, every single thing about paris is storybook-like. we wandered around for awhile before going to eat dinner at a little place that i can't quite remember the name of, but where i consumed the best chocolate cake of my LIFE. seriously, it was incredible. words can't even described.
in the interest of money, we stopped and bought a cheap bottle of wine and headed back to the hotel room, where we spent the first part of the night drinking out of the glasses provided for us by the hotel and watching BBC news about tax evasion.
i kid you not.
however, we did get it together and go out to a bar near the eiffel tower later on. good times, good times.
the next morning, after breakfast at mcdonald's (i'm not proud of it, but hey, it was there and it was cheap) we headed off to the train station and back to Luxembourg.
the only thing i'm disappointed about really is that i didn't get to see my friend ben, who is living and studying there. although i suppose that just gives me an excuse to go back...
love,
me

I'd like to take a moment to thank the academy...

I just want to take a minute, right now, to realize how incredible my life is.
First, I didn't fail my French exam. yay!
Second, I bought my train tickets to Paris today. I'm spending the weekend in the city of lights!
Third, I got the job as an RA of Collins Hall. i'm so proud!
Fourth, Today I went to get a kebab for dinner at a to-go stand, and the guy remembered me and we carried on a conversation in French. I'm improving :-)
and Fifth, my homework for tonight is to watch the Bourne Supremacy.

It doesn't get much better than this - even though I'm coming home in two months.
I <3 being me today!

love,
me

Ciao Bella!

Ah, Venice. A mysterious city of canals, winding streets and hidden buildings.
Also, the site of my somewhat shortened Carnival break. I say shorted because rather than continuing on from Venice to Stockholm last Monday, I instead found myself too sick to do anything but catch a plane home.
But, back to Venice...
I arrived at Camping Fusina for a two night stay on a Thursday evening, all alone but prepared to take on the city. Well, sort of. I decided to stay on site for the night, grabbing dinner at the little pizzeria close to my cabin. While eating, I heard the six boys in the booth in front of mine speaking english. Not just english, american english. So, I did what any American girl would do when she finds herself alone in Italy - I struck up a conversation with them.
That's how I came to meet (and spend the night drinking and bonding with) Danny, Chris, Chris, Kenny, Joey and Sam. They're from Georgia Tech and are currently going to school in Metz. In fact, they came into Lux city last night for some dinner and drinks (good times).
The following day, after declining the boys' invitation to go with them to Milan I struck out into Venice. I took a ferry there, and I have to say that those first few minutes of sitting on deck, with the bright Italian sun sparkling on the water as beautiful churches loomed in the distance, I felt pure happiness.
To be honest, I had an absolute blast on my own. Once we docked I wandered over to the Accademia Galleries, full of famous paintings by artists like Bellini and others we had discussed in my history class. It was pretty awesome to actually see the things Dr. Haag has been talking to us about - somehow just hearing about the different Madonnas doesn't quite do them justice.
At any rate, I continued to wander wherever my feet took me, and eventually found a fantastic place to eat lunch. It was done inside like an elegant bar from the 1930s, and I have to say it was the sort of place where I half expected to see Jay Gatsby or Cole Porter. The waiters wore white tuxedo jackets and called me "madame", and it was all really quite lovely.
Eventually, I found myself in the Plaza San Marco - where the real Carnevale festivities were happening. Stalls and kiosks where costumes and masks were available for sale were everywhere, and some of the people were absolutely dressed to the nines. It was like stepping back in time.
Because I was already at the Plaza, I decided it was worth a shot to try to find the hotel my family stayed at two years ago when we were in Venice. I must admit that I'm rather proud of myself, because I did indeed manage to find it (what's more, I didn't get lost on the way back). So of course I snapped a picture.
I also spent a fair amount of time just sitting around and thinking - there are a lot of good places in Venice for that, and I found myself down a little alley with my feet dangling out over the canal composing letters in my head and wondering how I would describe this people. I wandered back to the water front too, and sat at a cafe on the water front, watching the sunset. I explored a church, and bought myself a mask to go with my costume .... all in all it was an incredible.
The next day was when Zach, Jetty, Anushka and Megan arrived. I left Camping Fusina (at just the right time, as they'd lost power for some reason) to go to the Hotel Al Piccolo to meet them. It was a lovely little hotel - although quite frankly the girls got shafted as far as the rooms were concerned. Please explain to me how it's fair that the boys not only got a balcony, but a bath tub too!? Our shower wasn't actually big enough to turn around in.
Saturday was also the day that I dressed up. All out, 18th century ball gown, dramatic make up, and a feathered and sequined mask. When we finally got ourselves out of the hotel and into the city, I must admit I felt like I was in some sort of dark romance novel. It was evening already, so the streets were swarming with people in costume (and also with tourists) we even ran into some other Miamians.
We made our way to San Marco, and nearly died when we got there. It was beautiful - they had created a garden in the middle of the square that was lit up with hundreds of lighted shapes, and there was a woman suspended from a balloon in the air who was doing acrobatics. It was like stepping into another world.
After helping Zach, Jetty, Megan and Anushka pick out masks, we all struck out to look for a place to eat - turning wherever we felt like it. I really enjoyed the adventure, trotting across bridges in a gown and talking and laughing amongst ourselves. Eventually we ended up at a nice little place tucked away in a shopping district. We'd just ordered our food when Chris called me to say that he had arrived and was in the Plaza San Marco, so I left to meet him.
It isn't many times in your life that you are on the phone with someone and you can say "all right, i'll meet you in the plaza san marco underneath the spotlight shining on the garden".
ha, love it.
The rest of the evening was pretty low key, and unfortunately by the time we got back to the hotel I had lost my voice completely. It was then that I knew...illness was on it's way.

The next morning, we got a late start and decided to eat at a lovely little authentic restuarant called Santa Anna's near our hotel. Lunch, as it turns out, was about all I was up for, because while everyone else left to explore the city, I promptly decided to return to the hotel room. For the rest of the afternoon/evening, I honestly did nothing except lay around, sleep, and read. It was that night that I called my parents and asked for them to arrange a flight home for me. It was also the first time I really found myself thinking of Luxembourg as home. All I wanted was my bed in the apartment - my apartment.
The following day, after lunch at Santa Anna's, I began the trek home. I walked to the train station, took a bus from there to the airport, landed in Frankfurt, took a bus to lux, and then took a train to Noertzange.
All in all, it took about 8 hours. ug.
However, home I was, and home I stayed for the next five days until just last night when I ventured out with the boys.
I'm rather glad I ended up back here though. I'm upset I missed out on the rest of my vacation, but at the same time a lot of good things happened for me here. I talked to good people, I came to serious self realizations, and am in a generally hopeful mood prepared to start some self-improvement and feel some self-love.
After all, I am worth it.
love,
me

AmsterDAM!

Last wednesday it was off and away to Amsterdam and other assorted parts of the Netherlands with my Jazz and Blues music class.
This meant that 14 American college kids (4 girls, 10 boys), one professor and his wife, and one student activities coordinator were thrown into the city where just about everything that can be legalized, is.
We arrived on wednesday night, and trotted off to a jazz concert in the main music hall of the city. it was, to say the least, not at all what we were expecting. the lead trumpet player was in lederhosen, his drummer was in a neon spandex shirt, and they played a song inspired by the sounds their neighbors made while having sex.
let's call it "alternative" music.
on the bright side, there was free wine.
on thursday we went on a canal tour of the city, followed by a visit to the van gogh museum. it was interesting, but to be honest i can't stand museums for more than about two hours. after that i get hopelessly tired, and can think of nothing but how nice it would be to sit down on one of the strategically placed leather couches and take a nap.
we had the afternoon free, so after a few rounds of pictures at the "I AMsterdam" sign, we wandered over to a diamond museum and then made our way to a place to have a drink, then dinner at a tai restuarant. the whole gang gathered there, which was really fun (great ribs), and then we went to Bourbon Street.
kick ass jazz bar.
we had a beer with our professor, then just spent the night sitting around and listening to what i would call proper jazz music. the main guitarist started seriously hitting on me, which was pretty entertaining seeing as how he was about 50. we had an interesting conversation though, and garcia (my professor) was getting a kick out of watching it happen.
the guy was actually from america, which was really cool. i asked how and when he got to amsterdam and he said "20 years ago, because i followed a pair of legs". hm, interesting.
at any rate, once he found out we were from ohio he actually played 'hang on sloopy' which absolutely rocked our socks, so of course we all added the O-H-I-O.
friday was probably my favorite day. we went to the anne frank house in the morning, and then took a bus into the countryside and visited a cheese factory and a shoe factory. it was pretty awesome to actually see the little wooden shoes being made, and we even stopped by a real "dutch windmill".
after that we went to the little seaside town of Volendam for an hour or so, just to shop around and sight-see. it was breathtaking. quite possibly one of my favorite places on earth - the boats, the architecture...everything just seemed so perfect.

that evening we went to what can only be described as the worst musical experience of my life.
the place: Bimhaus, a jazz venue.
the band:(someone's name) and the chicago tentet.
the sound: eleven people. eleven instruments. and every single one was playing a different song. it's called 'collective improvisation' or some such nonsense, and it was absolutely painful. eleven different songs. not even garcia could handle it. halfway through the second set my right eye started twitching. absolute nightmare.
at any rate, saturday eventually rolled around and we found ourselves in Delft, the town where Vermeer lived. Being a huge fan of the book "Girl with a Pearl Earring", i was thrilled to death. there was even a little outdoor market, so we all did some shopping and just had a generally good time. it was nice to forget that it was valentine's day for a bit. stupid holiday really. totally comercialized.
we had the rest of the afternoon free when we got back to Amsterdam, so a group of us went shopping and then headed back to the hotel to freshen up (and have a few drinks) before going out again (to have more drinks).
we ended up at an irish pub that we'd found the night before when they lured us in with sparklers. we got a 3 euro discount on all drinks, and the bartender absolutely ADORED us so he kept pouring us free shots. then, because we were american, he started playing this fantastic medley of songs - including cotton eyed joe and grease. we about died. later on that evening we met a few irish boys, who insisted on buying us a few rounds. all in all, a fantastic night (though i wasn't feeling so hot the next morning).
and so sunday came, and it was back on the bus to come home to luxembourg. of course the trains not running on sundays due to construction meant that it took a few of us about 3 hours to make the 25 minutes trek from the chateau back to noertzange (it involved a bus, an hour's wait, and two trains), but we made it.
i survived amsterdam.
and it rocked.
tomorrow it's off to venice and stockholm for carnival break!
love,
me

there's whiskey in the jar

ireland....what's not to love? rolling hills, castles, sheep, guinness, jameson, and cute accents. this past weekend was an absolute blast.
wendy, chris, grace, taylor and i all trekked our way on ryan air over to the emerald isle with relative success - well, except for the fact that i bought a bus ticket not for 2:30pm, but for 2:30am. Luckily, in a fit of european niceness, the bus driver let me on anyway. i seriously owe that man.
our flight was on time, which meant that we got to hear the signature ryan air trumpet call followed by "you're arrived on another on-time flight with ryan air!" it was rather funny, but not as funny as us miming britney spears, katy perry, and tommy tutone for all to see. on the flight grace also tried desperately to explain to us an 80s movie she'd seen in which an alien is sent to earth to impregnate a female and rule the species, but he has no penis so they give him a vibrator.
at this point we stopped listening, and told her that she had most likely been watching alien porn. if such a thing exists.
we arrived at our bed and breakfast, Sandy Hills, to freshly baked scones and the kindest woman any of us has ever met. her name is mary, and she was our hostess for the weekend. not only were there fresh scones and tea waiting, she also invited us into her sitting room in front of the fire to watch television. the house was just lovely - heaven, actually. i didn't want to leave. our room was a little chilly, but that just meant it was time for a cuddle puddle in wendy's bed!! cuddle puddles, by the way, rock.
morning brought a fresh breakfast of eggs, biscuits, homemade jam, tea, and fresh fruit. we trotted off to dublin for the day and went to see the oldest book in the world (not on display, so we saw an 'artistic copy'. psh) at trinity college. honestly i think we were all more impressed by the library - we're talking beauty and the beast here. everyone's jaws just dropped when we saw it.
after lunch at a little cafe, we hit up grafton street for some shopping. i got myself a claddaugh, which is a traditional irish ring that you wear facing one way to show that you're single and another to show that you're taken. it's been switching around quite a bit. we then tried and failed to find the guinness brewery, were sucessful in finding the jameson distillery, ran out of time for a tour, and took a tram to the Gin Palace, where i ordered my first official "pint". ha. yay.
eventually we found ourselves in a cab and heading off to a kareoke bar, which actually provided private rooms for everyone so as to avoid public embarassment.
it was freaking hilarious. we tackled such hits as achey breaky heart (seriously, you should listen to the lyrics sometime), that don't impress me much, i like big butts, and a full group collaboration of "summer nights". that had to have been the crowning moment.
we then proceeded on to our musical pub crawl, which is really just an excuse to drink and listen to awesome music. i also got mooned by a few irish boys in the bar due to the rugby match that was going on (irland v. france. the irish get quite excited when they do well...) it was a positive experience. haha.
sunday our saint of a hostess decided that it was too much of a shame for us not to see the countryside because of our lack of car, so she drove us all over the coast for the whole day. it was rather snowy so it wasn't as green as i was hoping, but it was BEAUTIFUL.
i mean, we're talking the ireland of the movies here. rolling hills and mountains, sheep, seaside towns, and quaint pubs where you can order fish and chips. i got some fantastic pictures.
we made it back to the airport with little issue, but of course there was a discrepency with the passenger list which resulted, upon landing, in us having about ten minutes to get across the runway, through customs, through the airport, and down a street to catch our bus to lux city.
did we do it?
hells yeah.
i didn't get back until 1am (and had zero cash left) and by the time i got to bed at 3 i was down to a little less than 4 hours of sleep for my frankenstein in-class essay today.
that, admittedly, was rather unpleasant.
at any rate, i'm home safe and sound, and off to amsterdam on wednesday for my mini-field study tour. fast times and good jazz music awaits.
love,
me