Update

Why hello there!

It's been a while since I've written. I haven't had the motivation to lately, even with all the free time I've had on my hands. Let's see...

Well, I went to Ireland two weeks ago. That was pretty FREAKING AWESOME. I was lucky enough to stay in Killarney from February 15-21st on my school break with my friends Eric and Brittany. Overall, I had a really good time.

Ireland feels like home. Whether it's the convenient shops on every street corner or the use of "English" (half of the time I couldn't understand what they were saying), I'm not sure. But I felt more welcomed and comfortable in Killarney than I ever have in Frankfurt. The scenery was beautiful and the locals have a great sense of humor. It was also nice being able to lay on the couch and watch American Pickers and Pawn Stars when I wasn't feeling very well. German television really sucks for some reason.

The hostel was decent. The staff were especially helpful in recommending sights, restaurants, hiking paths, ect. A simple breakfast of coffee, tea, cereal and bread was served every morning for free. We all went grocery shopping the first night, which ended up saving us a lot of money. Eating out in Ireland isn't cheap! But every time we DID eat out, we weren't disappointed. Mmmm... Irish breakfast, fish and chips, lamb and cabbage...

We visited so many charming, little pubs during our stay. We heard great local bands play every night and we had ourselves plenty of Irish beer (Guinness, Kilkenny and ... something else that starts with a "s"). It's true that Guinness is better in Ireland. I didn't like it last summer when I bought a pint in Minneapolis, but it was really rich and creamy fresh off the tap in Ireland. Oh, did I mention it was only $4 for a pint?

Hot whiskeys are my new favorite I-kind-of-feel-like-shit-but-I'm-going-to-drink-anyways drink. I ended up getting sick at the end of the trip, but those Irish whiskeys made it much less miserable. Thanks to John O'Neill who was kind enough to show me around town and buy all of my drinks. He says that in return I just have to marry his son so I can be his daughter-in-law. No biggie. He was our tour guide on the Ring of Kerry. In exchange for writing him a good review on Trip Adviser, he agreed to buy me a beer (or two..or three..) and show me around town. Before I left to Ireland, I said I wanted to meet a local- and meet a local I did!

I tried to learn some Gaelic on my trip, but gezz is it difficult! The spelling does not relate to the pronunciation whatsoever! It was written on signs along with English. It's being taught as an official language in schools now, which is pretty cool.

So the last day on our trip I got sick. I had a fever of 101 F, chills, runny nose, cough... the whole shabang. When I got back to Germany I skipped out on the first day of class and ended up going to a German doctor on Thursday. It was relatively easy to schedule an appointment, and I only had to pay a one-time 10 euro fee. Meinen Arzt took my temperature by putting his hand to my head and my weight, height, ect. were never recorded. Kind of funny, that'd never happen in the States! Since I was really dizzy, he wrote me a prescription for nasal drops to clear my passages and I was on my way.

Round 2 of classes are going really well! I really like my two teachers and all of my classmates. I feel like for the most part we all have the same level of German. It's pretty easy so far.

My friend Kumiko who I met online at couchsurfing.com is leaving Marburg tomorrow! She was an au pair, so she wasn't with the group from Wisconsin. She's leaving her job early after discovering baby-sitting really isn't her thing. Her and I have been hanging out a lot lately and I'm really sad that she's leaving. Sigh. On to trying to make more friends... Now I know someone in Seattle though!

I was a bit homesick this past week. I think it's because things have slowed down and now I'm just focusing on going to school. Things will pick up again soon in a few weeks though and I keep reminding myself that I only have 3 1/2 months left. Time is passing so quickly! It's weird. Especially with the weather warming up, it feels like summer's suddenly rushing in out of nowhere. I'm hoping my boyfriend Steve can come visit sometime. I miss him lots.

My friend Jacob and I are trying to plan a trip either to Paris or to Amsterdam together for the weekend of March 10th. We'll go to Amsterdam if his friends are ok with him cancelling their planned trip to Amsterdam in April. Otherwise we'll go to Paris. Seems like hostels are less expensive in Amsterdam, but there's lots to see in both cities and they both have their own sort of charm. I'll have to brush up on my French... oh god. That one semester of French I took just might come in handy! Jacob and I met at UWSP. He's studying abroad in Spain at the moment. :)

I'm also trying to plan a trip with Brittany (from UWSP) and maybe Katherine (from UWEC) to Weimar, to visit Buchenwald (a concentration camp). We originally wanted to visit Auschwitz, but it's too expensive flying or taking the train to Poland so we decided against it. Weimar is only 3 hours away by train. We might go the weekend of March 17th.

Ok, that's all for now. Why do I always end up writing so much? Gah.

Prüfungen sind vorbei... Urlaub beginnt!

Hallo alle!

This past week is all a big blur to me. Let's see what I can remember...
Friday night I met up with Kifah and Brittany. We wanted to go to a jazz club, but there wasn't any music playing that night so instead we went to Sudhaus. Sudhaus is a really old, classic German restaurant/pub in the old part of Marburg (Oberstadt). We were just sitting in our booth, minding our own business when a group of drunk assholes threw a lighted match at us. Brittany got up and walked over to them, struggling to scold them in German. If it were me, I would've given up and started yelling in English. I give her props for trying!

Afterwards we went to Unixbar, a nightclub also in Oberstadt. We had a few drinks and danced a lot. It was fun! I was tired and sweaty (ew) by 1:30, so Brittany and I caught a cab back to our dorm. I don't know what I did, but I didn't go to bed until 4 that morning. It's so easy to waste time online.

Saturday Jean and I walked around Oberstadt and I finally was able to go in stores and take my time looking around! It's usually too late by the time I'm normally in Oberstadt, all the stores close by 4 or 5pm. I was able to get a few souviners for friends and family. Yay me!

Sunday.... I was really lazy Sunday. My stomach was bothering me so I laid around for most of the day. Later I met up with my friend Kumiko at the Aquamar, an indoor waterpark here in Marburg. It was so awesome! There was a body slide, a lazy river but without tubs and the jets were super strong. It was nice just being able to be pushed around in a big circle by super strong jets. I think we did that for atleast half an hour. Then we went into a deeper pool, where there's a rock wall sticking out of the water! It's so cool. You climb as high as you can, then drop in the water. They had some diving boards there, too.

The receptionist at the front desk was a beyotch, though! She overcharged me and I didn't bring it to her attention until we were leaving. She said she needed my ticket and since the machine already took it, it was too late. I knew she remembered my face, because there weren't that many people there that night. She was really rude. I understood everything she was saying, but I didn't know if she completely understood my reasonings so I asked her if she spoke English. She responded "nein" and started giggling. Come on, EVERYONE here is taught a bit of English in some point of their lives. She won that time....

I had my written test on Friday and it went really well. Today was my spoken test and it also went well, though I scored higher on the writing than on the spoken which surprised me. Either way, I passed and I'm now moving on to the next level when I get back from my break next week.

Speaking of break... I'm going to Ireland tomorrow! I'm superrrrr excited! I'll be staying at Neptune's Hostel in Killarney from Wed-Mon. with my friends Brittany and Eric from UWSP. I'm not sure if I'll be online at all... haven't decided if I'm taking my laptop yet. The hostel has free wifi, but I don't think I will. I'm looking forward to all of the awesome photo opps. I'll have lots to talk about when I get back!

Tschüss!