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.