in the north!

Edinburgh Blog:

So, I’m sitting on the 0656 Virgin train from Edinburgh to Crewe, UK.  This ride will be about 3 hours, where I  then have 40 minutes to my next transfer to Holyhead.  It would be worth it to look at this journey because I did NOT know what I was preparing for when I booked my flight to Scotland.  I vowed to plan things day-by-day this time, to test out the non-planner side of me, and so far?  It has been so worth it.

I flew into Edinburgh because it was the cheapest flight up to the UK from Basel, and I almost wish I would have booked an extra night.  But, because I wanted to take a ferry over to Ireland, which takes about 12 hours all together, I had to “sacrifice” a day.  Now, now, I know that I always sound über-excited (note, this is the incorrect use of über, which actually means “over” in german as in the preposition, yet I choose to use it in the figurative sense) in my blogs, usually to make you guys at home thing that I’m always doing swimmingly… but I am actually so, so, so, excited to be in the UK and am kind of glad I saved the best for last.  Coming in middle May couldn’t have been a better idea!  It is so green, the town here in Schotland (tis the Yerman schpellin’) is adorable, the weather is fun (windy, rainy, sunny, all in one!), and I cannot and will not get over the fact that they speak my language!!!!!  Well… to some extent.  I’m very much looking forward to the landscapes as I travel down south.

Um.. but why am I traveling around right now??  Welp, guys, I come home in 13 days… that would be UNDER two weeks… so with my program having ended, I’ve chosen to spontaneously travel on to the UK and Ireland: a) because my friend Anders is in Galway and I need to take advantage of this whole free rooming thing, b) when in my life will I ever be able to go to Ireland and Scotland for around 200$?  and lastly c) i just straight up wanted to!  So yeah, my IES-EU adventures are complete and it actually was very sad.  I made some good friends from UPS and a girl from the east coast who I’m sure I’ll see again, but as for the rest of them?  We shall see!  As people were saying bye, I realized how terrible I am at goodbyes and how great other people are at them, seriously I got two very nice and kind compliments that I had never received before and I was totally taken off guard.  Apparently I have a great “ora” and “energy” and am very confident and comfortable in my skin, causing others to be comfortable.  I had never really heard that before and I was actually very flattered.  Normally, when people compliment me I just brush it off, but with those two, I had to say thank you.

Well off to window-watching, -insert mom’s cute noise- it’s just TOO pretty here and I’m still in the more urban area….

thank goodness, it’s raining!!!

i usually would not be so happy about this weather phenomenon, but when the pollen levels have reached “unable to sleep due to excessive sneezing,”  a night time rain is more than i could ask for!

SO.  it is currently finals week, dun-dun-dun!  I’m 4 down and have one to go, on Thursday.  My Wednesday will be spent roaming Freiburg and potentially getting my stolen wallet back. Yes I’ve been black-mailed into meeting someone in a dark, dark alley.  No, I might have to take a quick jaunt down to der Schweiz… but who ever complains about that

Last weekend was lovely, very sunny, I have tan lines. There was a local wine festival, I went hiking, i didn’t study for my finals that I passed. ah, freiburg.

My program, after an E.U. simulation project from Thursday through Saturday (I’m the president of Poland and have a very energy-minded agenda), ends on Monday and then I fly real-quick like over to Scotland/Ireland and then back to Germany and then BACK TO AMERICA!   Well with a slight pit-stop over in Iceland.  That means I have 20 days left in continental Europe. How do we all feel about that? Happy I would say, very happy indeed.  I have a busy summer ahead of me, but cannot wait to se my loverly family and friends. whew.

Alright, well I’m off to bed.  I would post pictures, but hmph. I tireds. Gute Nacht!

spring rain & spring break!

me. hiking

spring break was lovely, seriously, a great journey in new and old cities to me, seeing old and new friends. overall great success.  But, as I took the City Night Liner train home this morning to Freiburg and started walking home, it dawned on me that i DID NOT have my wallet with me.  It hit me hard, kind of like being punished for having too good of a time hiking, touring, training, reading, swimming, etc. and that yes, Nelly, you too must go through some adversity.  So, after calling the train stations and the conductor on the train, my wallet was indeed deemed lost/stolen and I had to start calling credit card companies.  With the help of Mamz, my chase one wasn’t a problem, and then I called the head quarters of the Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt.  She cancelled it right away and told me to go to my local branch to order a new one.  Dreading this step I waited around for a while, not wanting to go sit at a desk and explain how I was silly enough to fall asleep with my wallet in sight, etc.  But, upon arriving to the bank and telling her I needed a new card, the process took about 4 seconds: “Account number?” “Is this your address?” “Okay, give it 3 days.”  And bam, like that.

So, relieved at the little time and energy that took, i decided to get a coffee.  I walked in smiling and ordered a cappuccino.  The barista made some sort of weird ninja movement and looked at his co-worker and they both just smiled and said “wow!”  I looked at this oddly, saying what?  Inside angry that they were making fun of my accent or something.  But, the barista was just so surprised that I was so smiley.  He told me the previous people who come in just angry and handing them money, barking orders.  He then proceeded to “lädt mich ein”  which means “invite me” which means my drink was on the house. I was honestly in disbelief and i told him how much it meant to me especially since I had lost my wallet that day.  I finished my coffee and my reading for an essay due this week and decided to ride home, only to find a torrential downpour.  I waited it out for 5 minutes, and then decided to just do it any way.

By the time I got home, i was soaked.  my jeans were wetter than straight from the washing machine and my glasses were covered with raindrops, but I was still just so giddy.

So, moral is, don’t ever think that too many good things can happen in your life, because the world isn’t trying to punish you, bad luck happens, you just can’t sweat it.  I’ll have new cards in the mail, i didn’t have any money in the wallet, and rain doesn’t make me melt. sometime, life will even give you a free coffee if you’re just nice enough.

here are some of my favorite pictures from SPRANG BRAKE!!!!!

Vernazza, a village in the Cinque Terre

Ally and me in front of some thing.

expectations.

greetings from Sofia! One of my favorite cities yet

 

What haaaave I been up to lately?  Well, today after my run we had our meeting at the center for democracy research, which was in the old north korean embassy (the epitome of communist architecture) in the old furniture from the DDR, hahaha.  After a cheesecake latte (WHAT? — yeah the Sofians try to be MORE western than american) our second meeting for the day was all about economic development in Bulgaria – THE poorest EU member state.

This past week has been a whirlwind of different cultures.  We started in greece, in the most fabulous tiny hotel with a rooftop terrace with a view, of the acropolis. Okay, more than a view, we were actually just at the base of it. amazing.  But, in between greek wine, tzaziki, 2.50 euro Gyros (ahaha) and galloping across the ruins of the agora, we did visit the center for international relations (learning about the economic crisis), the greek foreign ministry (covering every relevant aspect of EU policies in greece), and the Athens center for a history of greek/turkish relations lecture… i HOPE you all know what the issue with cyprus is!

From Athens we flew to Bucharest at night and got delivered right to our hotel (http://www.rembrandt.ro/) which was AMAZING. I think IES felt bad that we paid to go to Romania (silly people) and decided to compensate with an only 3 star magnificent hotel with amazing beds, bathroom, and best of all, from our 5th story window a view at the Romanian National Bank. We were right in the center of old town, which was a tad bit under construction, but still fun.  the food was. meh. the people, not the rudest, not the friendliest, mainly just confused as to why we were there i think.  We got a lot, of “where are you from?” “whyyyyyyyy are you here?” — but more later, the pictures tell enough and I’d love to do a great reflection.

Now, Sofia… I had NO expectations and good thing because I’ve been blown away. Compared to the quiet romanians the bulgarians here are FULL of life and are so excited to talk to me, all the time!  Even the crazy man at the mineral water fountains where everyone fills their jugs of water.  – also, more later.

We have a farewell dinner for our trip in a half hour and I must ready myself now, but I can’t believe this amazing opportunity and sadly, my interests are only spreading east

Be back in Freiburg tomorrow night on International Roma Day! Go kiss a gypsy for me

and last but CERTAINLY NOT LEAST…

a happy happy birthday to my lovely biggest sister katy!!!!!

then.

 

& now.

libya

I was co-president with Global Action Club last year with a girl named Nadia, who was actually in the Libya revolution.

 

Listen to her interview here:

http://news.opb.org/article/q-portland-woman-libya/

 

I’ve survived greece and am healthy and safe and off to Romania!

time. it passes.

As mentioned before, my friend eric was here last week.  on his last day we decided to walk into France from the little town of Breisach on the Rhine, into Neuf Brisach in France.  The walk was about 5k and the weather was pleasantly gray/springy.  On our way eric snapped a shot of me in front of some white petal-ly flowes.  He uploaded his photos today of his euro-whirlwind and then I saw this picture and it struck me as extremely familiar.  I dipped into my facebook skills and wandered through the 999 photos of me (since my senior year in switzerland) and came across the picture of me in Pisa, Italy, almost exactly 3 years ago on the Europareise Trip through Italy and Austria.

left: 18 year old nell nell in italy. right: 21 year old nelly in germany.

It was bizarre having this close of a comparison, to see how much one actually does change over time.  I guess this picture is kind of a bad example because I a) look like a care-free punk/hippie on the left and b) a good good posing person on the right… but I often write myself off as not changing and not very dynamic compared to the constant changing in my surroundings.  Maybe it is some sort of defense mechanism, to stay the same in the world full of change, but who knows.

Not sure how interesting this is, but just a little introspection. before i leave for athens in the morning. hee hee hee. I just had to throw that out there.

peace and love to you all.

walking on a dream

“We are always running for the thrill of it thrill of it
Always pushing up the hill searching for the thrill of it
On and on and on we are calling out and out again
Never looking down I’m just in awe of what’s in front of me”

that song, if you’re not familiar with it, is by Empire of the Sun and has come on my Shuffle repeatedly since I’ve been in Germany.  and some how it always comes on right when I’m charging a hill, 8 minutes in, feeling not too great.  needless to say though, it is hard to be in any sort of bad mood, ever, now. i really, really, really am walking on a dream.  the sun has been shining constantly all week, i feel great and on top of everything and yes, well for my last 70 days, things are finally coming together.

firstly, academic wise,  I just finished a 7 page paper on the natural state of man and the creation and need for the “State”… in German.  I was pretty proud of myself

Socially, one of my very best friends Eric Weinbender is spending his spring break with me here in Yermany and it’s been crazy seeing someone from Linfield for the first time in a while, a while  being 7 months?

Travel-wise ( i mean what would a year abroad be without it?) I am headed to Greece, Bulgaria and Romania next week for 10 days!  THEN I have two weeks of school (got to get errthang done) and then I have an extended spring break to Italia! (yeah know, the ush: Roma, Florenz, Cinque Terre) I mean, I KNOW I’ve been there before, but this time its ALL about the people: Anders (from school) Caroline (from home) and Aly (my new travel buddy from Köln/Buffalo).  Okay, I’ll stop now

Running-wise:  I did go on a 60 minute run with Eric (he went 80 so I only stuck with him the first 30 and then turned around) and apparently I could still keep a 7:15-7:20 pace… which yeah know, after a summer of solid training and salad eating i should be rarin’ (sp?) for xc

Future-wise? HA I LAUGH IN YOUR FACE. Don’t be askin’.

But, I do know ONE thing: I will be home June 2nd and have the following to do: renew my license. see my famblers, watching Gilmore Girls, and yeah, visit 1022 for the first time!

 

well, that is about it for my last report regarding march! can’t believe it is almost over. wow.

up in the ‘burg. the other ‘burg. not freiburg, the luxurious-burg.t

It is an interesting experience, being somewhere you once were, and then being there again.  I mean, of course this happens quite often, for example passing the GWL (great wolf lodge) every time I go back to school from home, but there is something different about visiting a country you once were in 3 years ago, as a different person, under different circumstances, with different people. I spent 4 hours in Luxembourg city today, the capital of (you guessed it, Luxembourg!) with IES-EU on the first day of our “Institutions Field Trip.”  I, surprisingly enough, have been to this city before, and am happy to report, I am just as fond of it as before.

Three years ago, as a senior in high school, my Swiss host family, the Schwarzenbachs, took me on a Elsace-Lorrain/Luxembourg road-trip, as a conclusion to our time together.  This was one of my most treasured moments with this great family, and coming back to Luxembourg was a sentimental reminder of how lucky I am to be here.  Today, after visiting the largest WWII American Cemetery in Europe, we made our way to cap-city and traipsed around the hilly, labyrinth-y town of approx. 90,000 residents.  I had listened to my GEO-AUDIO german podcast all about hören und reisen (listening and traveling) and was happy to hear about Luxembourg and get the insider tips.  I ended up leading a small group of gals to Oberweis, a perfectly charming/cutesy/hoity-toity cafë/conditerei/restaurant on the Grand Rue.  I ordered a divine 3 egg omelette with ham and mushrooms, served with potatoes and salad.  As desert we left through the conditerei and grabbed a few sweets.  My weapon of choice?  A little glazed lemon almond cake.  We followed our meal with a trip to the cathedral and then treated ourselves to a double shot latte… which was necessary to keep us up for our debriefing on the European Court of Justice.

We arrived in our business garb, got real professional visitors badges, had a small tour of the premises. We then were sent to a room for an informational video and then got to ask as many questions as we wanted.  I got to offer the last question, much to the disapproval of our guide as we were out of time, but I’m lacking knowledge of Latin, and just could not fgiure out why “curia” was written everywhere.   My impressions of the court were, well, for lack of a better word, impressive.  There are many different “modern” looking buildings, and the interior of the main building was very mental, black, sleek, and long.  Odd descriptions, but true!  There are also a large amount of windows and light to represent one of the court’s foundations: transparency!  Yeah, take that democratic deficit!

After only a quick stop over in good ol’ Luxembourg, we are now off to 3 JAM-PACKED days in Brussels, the one and only hub for everything EU.  Just to give you a little idea of what exactly we’re doing, I’ll list our lovely group itinerary (with some of my personal goodies!)

Day 1: Visit European Commission (9 AM) – Debriefing on Enlargement strategies, & Monetary & Exchange Rate Policy.  — okay, maybe day one, not so hectic.

Day 2! Since, we’re technically mid-semester, yes, there are course-related meetings involved here.  Mine include:

Meeting a member of the Flemish Government (fyi, Belgium currently has no permanent gov’t right now do to the major regional divisions between Flemish and French speaking regions Flanders and Wallonia — this is for my political cultures course).

Interview at the European Roma Information Office (for research purposes).

United States Mission to the EU (for my EU-US relations class).

Day 3:

Council of the European Union (7:45 AM!) Debriefing on the European Council (heads of governments) and Council of the European Union (various Ministers from the members states who serve on various committees regarding varying policy areas, hahahah. confusing enough?)

Interview at the Open Society Institute on their Roma Initiatives (SOROS!SOROS!)

Day 4: PARIS! (ugh, again? serrrrrriously? fine, i guess)

-Visit the EU Institute for Security Studies & the French Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs (this last meeting is specifically on the French EU POlicy and Perspective on European Integration… hmmm do the Roma seem applicable here?)

RESEARCH JACKPOT this week & I’m stoked.

I’ll keep the updates coming, I’m doing great

a day devoted to radiohead.

for those who didn’t know, Radiohead released their new album today: King of Limbs.  I have been a big fan of them since I started listening to them near the end of middle school/ high school and wasss soo excited  Overall, it’s pretty radiohead-ish but my favorite is by far Codex.

This then inspired me to see how much Radiohead i have in my iTunes, and how much i don’t have.  Therefore, I’ve been gathering tracks and increasing the library

It made my day, well actually my 8 mile run in the sun along the Dreisam was kind of lovely.

Also, I finally purchase a bike!  My semester ticket runs out at the end of March and I forgot how much freedom I have with it. amazing. but he still needs a new name.  he’s red and shiny, and pretty classy, so i’m willing to accept names. I would like a very strong british sounding name.  maybe prince harry, or Rupert?  they are both gingers.

I digress.

Life is going at this point, I’m somewhat overwhelmed at the amount I’m having to plan the rest of my life.  I’m probably going to apply for a Fulbright for my post-senior year, but who know’s where that’ll lead me.

 

love, peace, and health to all. if you have the chance, go on a bike ride. it’ll change your life.

the german stare.

if you are unfamiliar with it, i don’t pity you. in fact i am extremely jealous.

i wore loafers today. stylish, library-esque loafers that my grandmother bought me. i love those loafers.

what’s with ‘em?  well, you see for german’s it seems to be a problem, when it’s a BEAUTIFUL day out and i choose not to wear socks. big deal, right?  well, no. in fact i had to put up with about a bajillion stares, or looks of disaproval today.  and yes i know it’s february and i shouldn’t put all germans into a category, but i’ve been continually stared at for the past 5 months so i can very well complain if i want!

 

so you know what, freiburg???

TAKE THIS!

 

I’M WEARING TiE DYE!!!!!!!!!

HAND MADE TiE DYE!

 

*but i did put some socks and tennies on.

 

 

oh and i just found out that 2011 is international forest year! how cool!