Munich...a little late...

Okay, I am working on updating the blog... but some of these next few posts will be short on details! My next step will be updating my weekly journal! I REALLY need to get some school work done this weekend.


Back in October we took a "day" trip to Munich. All 6 girls actually went to Munich, but 2 decided to stay the night. Kelly, Erin, Janeel, and I decided to make it a day trip. So I am a big wimp and decided not to go to the Concentration Camp. Kelly and Erin both wanted to see it so after we went to the town hall to see the Glockenspiel they went off to find the Dachau Concentration camp, just outside the city. Janeel and I decided to try and see the sites downtown. We went to two of the three churches along the pedestrian/shopping area. We walked by the palace, but it was under construction so we decided not to go in. We looked for a specific art museum, but our map was sadly lacking. It was a wonderful time. After a couple hours of walking around and site seeing we met back up with Kelly and Erin at the English Gardens, the largest green space on the continent! It was beautiful. After walking around the gardens we headed to the Hofbrauhaus for dinner. We met back up with Ally and Rebecca and made a new friend. As far as I can tell Munich has the friendliest Germans in all of Germany. I don't know why, but maybe it has something to do with all that beer! All the girls were able to finish their huge beers except for me...but I knew when I started it that was never going to happen. It was a fun night though. We left a little late for our train and didn't make it, so we had to stay in town until something like 2am! It was crazy. Luckily the other girls got us into their hostel and everybody hung out at the bar there. Rebecca was nice enough to let me crash on her bed until we left as well. It was a LONG day! We didn't make it back to our apartment until something like 7am the next morning! It was crazy.

I am officially a HORRIBLE Blogger!

Things are getting busy around here at the half way point. Not really an excuse because I don't have any more of my homework done for all that I am neglecting to update my blog. But there it is.

I think I'm going through some pretty serious burnout right now. This week I am in the CDC in the mornings and SAS in the afternoons. I should be having a GREAT week, but I'm not. I'm really frustrated with different classrooms and would much prefer to just hole up in an Infant Room for the rest of my time. Sadly that will never be an option. I think I might start spending some of my break in an Infant room. Just "volunteering" out of ration to rock a baby and de-stress...we'll see if they will let me!

I will be posting about my trip to Munich soon...we'll see if I actually get it done before the weekend. This weekend Claire and I are taking the whirlwind trip to Paris. But luckily two other girls are going as well so we are all good! I've been really lucky that my fellow Camp A's have been able to work with my schedule for Claire's trip!

Paris...aka the best city in the world!

So I have now been to Paris 5 times. I still managed to take over 100 pictures in just 3 days. Yes, half of them will be deleted because they were crap, but that's still a LOT of pictures of a city I've seen so many times. What keeps me coming back? The art, the beauty, the history, and the fact that there is always something new to see or do. Paris is different every time you visit. I LOVE PARIS. So let me start at the beginning...


Friday after work Kelly and I got the last of our packing done and took quick showers since we were on the night train. Our train left Ansbach at 9pm and arrived in Stuttgart around 11:30pm. Which gave us about a two hour wait for the night train to leave. As we got off the train, before we even made it to check out where our next platform would be, a girl camp up and asked "are you camp a's?" There were two other HUGE groups of Camp A's waiting for the same train! Half the girls were going to Paris and the other half were going to Amsterdam. We quickly got together and camped out on a nice spot on the floor to wait it out. The train station was hopping, it seems there was a big sports event or the end of a festival because the place was FULL of people. Kelly and I were the only girls in the whole group who spent the money to reserve a bed for the trip, 20 euro well worth it! We didn't see any of the girls once we were on the train but, I'm sure they didn't sleep much in the crowded seat compartments. Kelly and I both slept reasonably well on the beds, even with the snoring that was coming from the man beneath me. Seriously, he sounded like he wasn't breathing the whole time...sleep apnea anyone! I think Kelly was happy with our choice of transportation as well, we saw some of the seats on the way to our compartment..talk about cramped!


So, Saturday morning we get off the train right around 9:30am and begin to make our way to the hotel and then Disneyland Paris! From the train station we needed to take a metro to the RER line we needed. So we bought some tickets and got going! We bought a Carnet, a packet of 10 metro/RER tickets, it's cheaper than buying them one stop at a time. Unfortunately they didn't work on the RER outside the city limits. Our hotel was tops a five minute walk from the RER station. We stayed at an Ibis hotel, a European chain. It was cheap, clean, and half way between the city and Disneyland. Perfect! Once we got checked in and cleaned up we were on our way. Disneyland Paris...awesome! I wouldn't normally say a trip to Disneyland is a must do when spending time in Paris. There is already plenty to see in the city and it's surrounding areas, but this being my 5th trip I decided it was a must see for me. Luckily I only had one traveling partner and she was happy to visit as well. She has been to Disney World once, when she was 10, so she was looking forward to seeing it as an adult. It was kind of fun to see Main Street...looking so "all-american" in the middle of Europe! We decided to explore that on the way out and dive right in to the park though. First up was Space Mountain, which was so different! No little "bullet" cars for this ride. It was a normal seat with an over the shoulder harness. The ride was also a lot faster, it couldn't have been more than a minute and by the time we got off my ears hurt from being tossed between the restraint! I liked it a lot more than the original sorry to say. The worst part about that damn ride was the cars, I felt much safer in the Paris version. We also went on the Buzz Lightyear ride and had a blast, literally! :-D From there we moved on to Fantasy Land, which was pretty much the same as Orlando. But I finally managed to go on the Peter Pan ride. I really enjoyed flying in the "ships" rather than just being pulled along in cars or boats. I now understand why that ride has a FastPass. We probably had the last of the good weather this weekend! Which would have been perfect for going on my favorite ride, Splash Mountain, but no such luck. Disneyland Paris doesn't have Splash Mountain! Instead it had Indian Jones and the something or other ride. Which I got in line to ride, but saw that it went upside down and left by way of the "chicken exit." With a big, "I'm Sorry," for Kelly I skipped out on that ride. We went to the Pirates and It's a Small World. Both were up to standards. We went to the Haunted Mansion and found it dull and disappointing, a much better ride in Orlando. The best part was the castle! Sleeping Beauty's Castle! Unlike Orlando there are rooms that you can go through in this castle. They have the book from the opening of the movie as you walk up the stairs and as you go through the book is open to different parts of the story. There were tapestries, props, and stained glass windows all about my FAVORITE movie giving you the story! It was awesome. However, I've read that the dragon from the movie is in the "dungeon," however Kelly and I never found a dungeon. Oh well, next time maybe. :-D It was a fun day and I liked seeing how everything was done up for Halloween, even though we were in Europe. We got there around 12:30pm and didn't leave until around 10pm, when the park closed. It was a long day! We slept great that night for sure.


Sunday we got up early so we could get to the city and make the most of our only full day in Paris. We got to the Ile de la Cite and found St. Chapelle right at 9:30am when it opened. We took some amazing pictures and wandered around. After that we made our way to Notre Dame, with a quick stop at the weekly flower and bird market. That got us to Notre Dame right 11am, just in time for the 11:30am "international Mass." When they say "international" it means there will be three, count them three, sentences in English and two other languages. We were really excited to go to Mass but it was really hard to stay awake listening to a French Mass, it's such a liquid language! It was literally putting me to sleep. So I decided to concentrate harder on picking words that I knew, which helped me stay awake, but I still don't know what was being said. The bulletin did have the English translations for the readings so that was good. It was a neat experience. After that was done we looked around and then headed to find some lunch. We decided to eat across the bridge on the side of the Latin Quarter. We stopped in at Shakespeare and Co. before heading towards the Musee d'Orsay. My very favorite museum in the WORLD was a bit of a let down this time around. They are doing some renovations and so everything was out of place and weird. More than half the Monet collection was on loan to the Grand Palais, and Starry Night was in the states! It was a train wreck, I was upset that I hadn't been able to find this out from the museum website, which I visited two days earlier when planning the trip! Once we were done we decided to walk across the river and down the street just a little bit to see the Louvre. We walked through some of the Tuileries, gardens in front of the Louvre, and took lots of pictures as we came up the the glass pyramid. It took a bit for Kelly to understand that the whole building around us was the museum and yes, it was all FULL of art. :-D She was in awe of the size! So we went down to the reception area, I picked up a map but we decided not to go in. We just didn't have the time. So we wandered around the museum shop, looked at the underground shopping and the Da Vinci Code point of interest and were about to leave when we ran into some of the Camp A's from the train station! They had just gotten done with the museum, after getting there at open! They had gotten carried away and spent the whole day in the Louvre. We chatted for a bit and were parted, but came away very happy we had decided to skip it. From the Louvre we went to the Arc de Triomphe. At first the plan was to get a picture and leave. But once we were there Kelly really wanted to go up. But it was 284 stairs and I wasn't sure I could make that So we decided I would wait at the bottom while Kelly went up on her own. It was just dusk and getting a little chilly. I'm so glad she went up, she got some excellent pictures of the city and the Eiffel Tower and the sky was just beautiful! I made a Spanish friend while waiting at the bottom. A nice looking older lady, she was waiting for her daughter to finish looking around and started a conversation. Which was funny because she barely knew English, but could speak French. But I could barely speak French! Her daughter came over and she spoke English very well. It was a nice way to pass the time. Our plan had been to go to the Hard Rock for dinner, just for the American menu! But I wasn't sure which Metro stop I needed so instead we decided to head all the way back to the hotel. We dropped our bags and went back out to Disney. The Disney Village had a Planet Hollywood and Kelly really wanted to go. So we did. It was a bit of a long ride and a long wait once we got there but we had a good time. We didn't make it home until after 11pm! Crazy, but fun!


Monday morning came all too soon! We got up at the same time as the day before thinking we could make it to the Eiffel Tower at open. But we forgot to add time to check out of the hotel! And then our train left late after somebody almost got stuck in the doors (everyone was fine). The Metro we took, was the most direct, but had way too many stops. We didn't make it there until 10:20am, about an hour late. The line was HUGE and we just didn't have enough time. So we took pictures in front of it and decided to do something else with our time. We needed to be near the train station by 12:30pm because our train was leaving at 1pm. We walked down the garden to the Military school. Then we took the Metro to the Place de la Concorde. My favorite spot to start a walk. We didn't have time for the walk, but we did take some nice pictures! After that we headed towards the train station. We got there just after 12pm. I had been hearing about a train worker strike all weekend and was worried about our train, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary and our train was on time and still running. However, we did run into a technical difficult at some point and had to wait for 45 minutes to get back on our way. Which completely ruined all our connections to get home. We were supposed to get into Ansbach at 8pm, but didn't make it back to the train station until 11pm! It was a VERY long NIGHT! But totally worth it. Next time I won't take the late train back!

CDC vs SAS!

This was an interesting week. I was loaned out to the SAS in the afternoons a couple days this week. The art teacher, in charge of 2/3 grade students was sick and unable to get to work. It was stressful, in terms of lesson plans and activities. Not unlike substitute teaching...walking in and finding little to nothing in the way of lessons. Not to mention little to no help from the other teachers. The routine is different almost everyday and each day I was there something else was going on. But I made it work and did my own thing. Working with the kids was great. It really reminded me why I want to work in schools. The kids are so much fun! So next week another teacher is out all week, she is in the game room and works with the kindergarten kids. While kindergarten can be a challenge, I'm really hoping I get to go back. I'd love to work with the same kids all week and especially since I've already got an idea of what I want to do with them! If I had to make a choice between CDC and SAS...SAS wins hands down EVERY time! Even though I love the infants at CDC, it's so much more fun to plan and work with school age kids!

Oktoberfest...not so much for me

Another quiet weekend at home for me. I really do enjoy having the time to myself. If I can't travel alone, at least I can stay home alone when I need some me time! The girls were going to Oktoberfest for the day with Janeel's boyfriend and some of his friends. They were a group of 6, 3 boys and 3 girls. Unfortunately they stayed out late the night before and the boys had more than a little trouble getting out of bed in the morning! They didn't make their train...twice! But on the plus side, while in Munich Kelly was able to buy her rail pass! Which meant she was able to make our reservations for Paris! We have two beds reserved on the CNL, CityNightLine, and two seats reserved for our trip back as far as Mannheim. And it only cost us 30 euro extra.

I spent my day being productive in a couple of different ways. First, I took out the trash. Then I watched a couple hours of TV on the internet. But, I also figured out prices for rail travel for mom and dad when they visit. I found the price for a rail pass and just using the regional passes, and it's cheaper to use the regional. I was able to start looking into hotels for their stay. But I won't be able to finalize that until they make a decision about renting a car or taking the trains. We'll see what happens. I also started working on one of my papers for the Internship classes and got pictures taken for my portfolio. I don't want to be stuck with too much to do at the end. I also caught up on my weekly log. I tried to start another paper, but found I couldn't really start yet. There are a couple things I need to do with the kids and some timing that needs to happen before I can start most of my work. I really need to get done with the paper I started! I want to have something done! I think there might be one other paper I can start as well, that would be two things done and out of the way. The goal is to do that today.

It's Sunday today. We love/hate Sundays around here. It's nice to have some time at the end of the weekend to just relax, but we all seem to watch the clock. There is always the thought, "oh man, it's already 3pm; I don't want to go back to work tomorrow." But I try and keep those thoughts to a minimum and actually get something accomplished. The goals for today: take out the recyclables, start another paper, and hopefully finish the first paper.

I did take some pictures of my room here in Germany! I also attempted to make some yummy food while I was home alone, I think I did pretty good with what I had.

Stuttgart and other happenings...

Sunday Erin and I joined up with the girls in Stuttgart for a day trip. It was awesome. We went to the Porsche Museum before we met up with everyone to quickly find a key chain for Erin's brother. We though Porsche gift shop will HAVE to sell authentic key chains...no such luck. We left with postcards. So Stuttgart is the location of the second largest "fest" in Germany. Only Oktoberfest is bigger. It was like a big carnival with really big beer tents in the middle! It was a cloudy overcast day so there was plenty of space. We looked into a beer tent to see people standing on tables, drinking lots of beer, and singing! It was pretty awesome, but we're not beer drinkers so we moved along. We rode the HUGE ferris wheel, which freaked me out a bit, but eventually I calmed down. I hate to sit on the sidelines and wait and the ferris wheel is pretty tame. The high in the sky swings I passed on though! No death swing for me, thank you very much! Erin and Kelly went up and had a good time.


The weather was kind of crazy all day. It was mostly cloudy and overcast, but for a short time while the girls were on the swings the sun came out and it was beautiful! The beautiful didn't last long, a down pour started soon after and we ended up taking cover under the overhang from a ride! Luckily the down pour was short lived and we were able to get back out and walk with a little bit of sprinkles the rest of the way. At this point we decided it was time to head for the train station and home, in case more rain was on the way. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea. The train station was packed! We were luck to find seats together right away though. As we got further away from Stuttgart and the carnival the train got less full with each stop so we were able to get a bit more comfortable.




On Monday Erin and I had the day off from working on Saturday. Now that is the way to start your week...everyone else going to work while you sleep in! We had a great morning doing whatever needed to get done. Then we headed into town, Ansbach, to try and figure out the bus system from base. So I had been able to find one time for pick-up online, at 10:20am, but we were looking to leave closer to noon. So we decided to wing it. When we got to the bus stop the next pick-up wasn't until 1:50, almost two hours away! So we went to the TKS shop to buy phone minutes, we sat in the sun until it got too cold, and then we decided to call the cab. Before we left we checked the drop off times to get home! There was a bus dropping off around 6:30pm and another at 4:30pm. So we wrote all the train times down for reference later!

We decided to drop off at the castle and wander the shopping we found our first weekend here. Erin found the H&M was actually here rather than in the mall! So we stopped to do a little window shopping, and they had a plus size section as well! It wasn't as big as Heidelberg's section, but it was still nice to see. I'll probably check it out again soon. I was finally able to buy an umbrella and Erin found a rain jacket. It was a pretty productive day. When it was time to head back we went to the main bus depot across from the castle. We found that our bus came by every 15 minutes but the didn't always stop at our location. So we had to wait for 30 minutes to catch the correct bus that would take us all the way out to our stop. That gave me time to make hotel reservations for Claire's stay though! It is right down the road from the train station and looks out on the castle! I didn't even have to put any money down. I need to go back and fix some times, but for the most part, she's all set! Once we were on the bus it only took 15 minutes to get back to base and it only cost 1.20 euro to get on, which is so much better than the 12 euro it costs to get the taxi! Unfortunately the bus is only an option when we have a weekday off and we can get to the bus stop by 6pm...which will be rare. But we had a good time!

Kinder Fest - Illesheim

So today Erin Murphy and I worked at the Illesheim base Kinder Fest. We were NOT expected and may have been able to go home...such is the communication we live with! But I already changed my plans for this, I wasn't going to change again. So we stayed and ran the Bouncy House.

We got there around 9am and were told to come back at 11am because they didn't need help setting up. We worked from 11am to 4pm. I am proud to say that there were no serious injuries on our watch! NONE. We tag teamed the kids by holding it to about 10 kids in at once. Mostly keeping the big kids out when too many of the little ones were in. Erin and I also took turns in the Bouncy House to make sure that things were running smoothly from all sides! We were a great team. I really wish I had thought to bring my camera because it would have looked soooooo good in my portfolio at the end of the semester! But I'll live without the pictures.

I only have two incidents that bothered me all day. First, when two "older" boys came into "the house" and immediately did a couple of somersaults. Those were not allowed in "the house" and I told them that. They looked at me like I was either crazy or the wicked witch and left. I felt like their parents were not amused by my intervention. But those were the rules of the house I had to make sure that EVERYONE was safe! The other incident happened with a couple of "older" girls. They looked to be playing at ridding on each other like a horse game maybe. I told them that wasn't a good idea because of the number of people and the way "the house" moves. They were fine with that and would have kept on playing but a dad like guy came over and told them to get out. I'm not sure if it was because I had to correct them or not, but I felt like it was. But they had corrected the behavior and would have been fine! I felt kind of bad for the girls because they hadn't given me any grief about it. Oh well, that's the way it goes.

The day itself was kind of crazy! There were a couple of kids I saw running around but never did see a parent attached to them...some doing fine without the parental supervision and others not so fine. This all happened inside a hanger on base because it was raining cats and dogs! ALL DAY LONG! The weather this weekend is VERY German weather. The hanger was nice for the Bouncy House because it kept the dirt to a minimum and we didn't have to worry about people/kids knocking over our air supply (nothing but wall behind us). The noise was a little annoying from some of the games because the way things echoed, but for the most part it worked just fine. There was a good turn out, but I think it could have been better. Because even though the event was moved indoors parents have a hard time wanting to take kids out of the house when it's raining like crazy.

Now it's time for a hot shower and finding a movie to watch! My legs are already sore from jumping/bouncing around that stupid "house" all day long! The plan is to head to Stuttgart tomorrow for a day trip, but if the weather keeps up like today we may have to cancel. We are supposed to be going to a carnival and it won't be any fun in the rain!

Good News and Bad News

Bad News: I am working all week all day in Preschool 1 next week. The only teacher they listen to is off for the week...I am helping to fill in...very BAD news.

Bad News: I am working Saturday from 9am to 4pm on the other base to help cover a special event. No trip to Heidelberg for me. :-( Very SAD news.

Good News: Because I am working on Saturday I will have Monday off. Giving me a four day week instead of a five day week in Preschool 1...little ray of hope.

It seems that the bad news is outweighing the good at this point. Hopefully it will get better soon.

Do I look like I can be in two places at once? Wait, don't answer that!

So This week's schedule was crazy! Every other intern was assigned one room for the whole week. Not me, I am all over the place and in different rooms depending on what time it is and what day of the week! So I was going along pretty good, 3 hours each morning with Preschool 1, but it wasn't too bad. We went to the park and I would help them with lunch. Ending the day in Preschool 2 with another intern, Rebecca, she's so awesome with her class. And doing everything and anything in between.

Then came Tuesday...my schedule this week has been in bold so that I could easily find my name. So I look at my schedule for Wednesday and notice I'm not in bold at Preschool 1. I am actually assigned to work there from 8am to 5pm all day! WHAT?! Because the rest of my schedule has me all over the building like normal. So I go in Wednesday morning and the lady at the front desk sends me on my way with my schedule in bold. But little did I know that Preschool 1 had been looking for me all morning! One of the teachers finally looked at the schedule and noticed I was scheduled all over the building. And I didn't have to go, they made due without me because Infant 1 was down a teacher. I spent all day with just one other intern in that room. It was her second day with infants and I had never worked in that room before! It was a crazy day, but we made it!

So the rest of the week has been a slightly better time, even with my room jumping. Mostly I'm being told to skip out on my Preschool 2 assignment in the afternoons because they have been down people in the infant rooms. So most of my afternoons have been with the babies, and I like it like that!

Now to live through the weekend. As usual around here plans change quick. And now somebody, MIGHT have to work Saturday...putting a wrench in all our plans. Anyway, we'll know by tomorrow, but hopefully it will get worked out.

A relaxing weekend at home...aahhhh...

Well, I had a wonderful weekend. I spent the entire weekend at home! I finally looked at the homework for the classes that go with my internship...I even started work on one project...out of like 16...

The girls who live with me took a day trip on Saturday to Garmish to try some hiking while the weather was still nice. Well, the weather wasn't as nice as they had hoped and the hiking didn't really pan out either. But they had a good time and a fun adventure. I really enjoyed some time to myself in the apartment. I experimented with cooking while my picky eater roommate was away for the day! It was a fun time. But mostly it was just nice to relax...and eat some sweet sweet ice cream bars! Do you see the "M" that's how you KNOW it's a Magnum Bar!

Week Three

As I said before this was the week of injuries! First, Erin Murphy sprains her finger deflecting a book being thrown at her, and then Kelly gets knocked in the jaw by a child's head. Apparently my apartment was targeted for disaster this week. However, I believe I was able to avoid disaster. I had one minor hiccup today when my finger was closed in a car window, but no trace of the injury remains so I'm giving myself the all clear!

Most of the girls had a half day today. There was a picnic for the community that everyone was encouraged to go to, so the CDC closed. The boss decided not all the interns needed to be there. So we owe them hours now, which will work out fine for them because we'll pay them back in Saturday time. Whatever, I've already worked one Saturday and it wasn't that bad. I spent my time today watching bootlegged movies on the internet! That and one of my friends from the CDC gave us a lift to the commissary! So I was able to get some cold medicine and some Aleve! That's right, I'm still sick! The cough is better, but now I seem to have a runny nose. I think this is a different cold than I had last week, because that was basically cleared up by Sunday. Arg, working with babies is hazardous. The goal for the weekend is to get some homework done and get rid of the cold!

Home Sweet Home

Ah Heidelberg! It just feels like home. I could happily live there for the rest of my life...sigh... :-) We had a beautiful weekend to explore and have fun. The best part about Heidelberg has to be the shopping! I love the castle and the main street, but you can find those types of things in a lot of German towns. But shopping on the main street is THE best. The H&M sells plus sizes, up to 26! There is a shop devoted to Irish...stuff! The tea shops, the fake Hard Rock, not to mention the Doner Kebaps! Basically I spent too much money this weekend, but I can't regret it.


I found an awesome record shop where I bought the Soundtrack to Flash Gordon, all music by Queen. It was only 12 euro! I bought three shirts at H&M and the most expensive one was only $19.95 euro. I bought some tea because it's gonna get cold here pretty quick! I bought a sweet bag, that if I was really good I could have made myself...but I like that it's handmade. Anyway I had a wonderful time. We spent most of the day Saturday getting our hostel figured out and shopping because we knew that nothing would be open on Sunday except the tourist attractions.

Sunday was a great day. We went to the castle and the student jail before we skipped town. The student jail was nice, but I think the people I'm traveling with had built it up in their heads. I don't know but I feel like everyone I was with was a little disappointed with the city. They all had a good time, but it's not home to anybody else. Anyway, the castle was much more the thing. We actually made it to the tram that takes you up! I was sooooo happy not to do the 300+ stairs! Kelly was perfectly happy to take the stairs, she likes the feeling of accomplishment, but I wasn't having any of that. Sorry! Been there, done that, I'm NOT doing it again! :-) I think she understood. I love the Heidelberg Castle and I wanted to sing the whole time I was there! "I got locked in the Heidelberg Castle. The people all left and they shut the door!" So our trip was great, shopping on Saturday and site seeing on Sunday! But the train ride home gets it's own post later this week!

What a week!

Okay so I still need to post about my trip to Heidelberg, but I wanted to comment on the week first. Yesterday, Monday, Erin Murphy was working in one of the preschool rooms and got hurt. One of the students threw a hard back picture book at her head and to deflect the book she put up her hand. Well, it hit her fingers just wrong and her pointer finger is swollen, bruised, and unmovable now! It was a rough morning. Today we get back from work to find that Kelly spent five hours at the emergency room!! Apparently her jaw was smacked by the head of a student...pure accident and the student has a pretty good sized goose egg on his head. She is supposed to rest and not talk much...we work with children! All we do is talk! And she is expected at work in the morning! This seems to be the week of accidents...I hope it does not continue but now I'm on the lookout!

Prague Part II

Day 2:
Well we are big on castles in this group so that was the first destination for the day. It's a pretty long walk, but everything is! We tried to stay along major streets that didn't break up to keep us out of the twisty turning maze. It worked fairly well...we really only got "lost" once. And we figured out our mistake pretty quick and fixed it. However it did allow me to get a photo of some Czech duckies! Now I have French and Czech duckies! Sorry you can't really seem them, but they are there!


The climb up to the castle reminds me of going to Sacre Coeur, or Montmartre, the wrong way! It got to be a bit steep near the top, but it was a pretty neat castle. We decided against paying for the tour to go inside. Nobody really knew enough about Prague to want to spend the money on a tour that might not have interested anyone. I wish I had done a little more research before we went. But we don't really plan ahead very well as a group yet. It's early in our trip and I'm hoping to fix that eventually. Cross your fingers!


So on the way down we went across the Charles Bridge, the old one with all the cool statues and tourists. It was really easy to get to from the Castle, but it wasn't so easy to get across! The bridge was loaded with tourists, street musicians, and vendors. It felt like it took an hour to get the whole group across the bridge. I didn't really take any pictures, because there were so many people everywhere. A good picture never really presented itself. But I did buy a picture/print of the bridge from the castle gift shop. I know that is way better than anything I could have done in the middle of a busy day!

At this point it was about 1pm and out group was getting a bit hungry and tired. It's a lot of walking, and the cobble stones seem to make everything worse. Rather than try and find a spot that 8 people could agree on we decided to split up and meet back at out square at 3pm. I went with Megan U. and Kristyn to a close restaurant that advertised traditional Czech food and pizza. We decided it would be good to have a back up in case the traditional food didn't seem like our thing. Which we all ended up buying pizza because the traditional dishes looked a little odd. Plus the menu English was a bit sketchy, however I was glad it was there at all so there's really no cause for complaint. Too bad we picked the WRONG restaurant. Before we sat down we specifically asked if they took cards, because Kristyn and I were both out of Czech money. They said yes, great! So we ordered and over an HOUR later Kristyn and Megan got their pizza. Ten minutes after that I got my pizza, well I got a pizza. It was not what I ordered but was close enough that I let it slide because we didn't have the time to fix it! I had to scarf that down in 15 minutes so that we could quick get going to meet everybody back at the square. It was a mess. Then when the bill came I gave him my card, again no problem. A couple minutes later he comes back..."I'm sorry the card reader is down...do you have cash?" Um...NO! They took American dollars and Euros though so between the three of us we got it figured out, but it was a mess! Not the best dinning experience I've ever had.

After meeting back up at the square we basically decided that it would be best to head to the train station. Everyone was carrying their backpacks today and nobody had gotten very much sleep. We were tired and had seen most of what we wanted. Nobody was looking forward to the 6 to 8 hours of travel, but it was cheap. It was a long night but we made it home a little after 1am on Monday morning. I called the taxi service again and asked if my bag had been turned in. They said no, but to call back tomorrow night. I don't know if that is because the guy who was driving me might not have worked again yet or what. But I'm thinking it's a lost cause. I will however keep calling...maybe until this weekend and then give in. The lesson I learned was don't put your bag where you can be allowed to forget it! And don't put anything in it you couldn't live without!! Here's a summary of my missing bag experience/stuff:

Tally of lost items:
1 Pair of comfy gray activewear pants (PJs)
1 Reba/Brooks and Dunn Concert Tee (PJs)
1 Sweet Sixteen UNI tee
1 Baby Blue backpack
2 Pair green LB panties
1 Travel size hairbrush
1 Toiletries bag...Lands End
1 Spare Toothbrush in Travel Case
1 Bar Soap in Travel Case
1 Pepto stash
1 Travel Shampoo
1 Spare Deodorant
1 Small bottle of Bath and Body Works Body Mist
Unknown quantities of tampons

Items to be mourned:
Lands End Toiletries bag...they just don't make 'em like they use to (and Grandma no longer has her discount)!
Sweet Sixteen Tee...I hate to lose a "comfy" tee right now!
Travel Size Hairbrush...I don't know why, but I'm attached!


Reasons to be thankful:
I had thought to bring my MP3 player, in my backpack.
I had also thought to bring my book...my out of print book, in my backpack.
I did not bring a change of pants...I have at least two more pair of the "comfy" gray pants at home waiting for me!!!
I did actually clean out my toiletries bag before I left and so my number of tampons lost is a lot less than it would have been...since I took the space to bring them over in the first place.

Ahhh Prague

We had a three day weekend due to Labor Day on Monday. We decided we were not ready for a big trip that would really be worth our three day miracle, so instead we decided on Prague. There was talk of Rome and Amsterdam, but in the end Prague won out. I was very excited by this choice since it was the number one destination on my list of places to see this time around. It's technically about 5 hours away, so we could have plenty of time to see what we wanted and come back late Sunday night. Which leaves everyone Monday to catch up on SLEEP!!!!

We left at the BUTT CRACK of dawn Saturday morning at 5:30am to catch our train. In order to save about 80 Euro we decided to take the roundabout route rather than the 5 hour bus. I think we were traveling for about 8 hours each way. But we only spent around 20 Euro a piece for the roundtrip! But what should happen at 5:30am when I get to the train station??? I left my backpack in the trunk of the cab!!! Oh no!! So I immediately call the cab company and ask what can be done. They say to call back tomorrow at 10pm because the night shift is just getting off so my driver will be on his way home. Since I didn't get the driver's number they won't make a call for me. So I let it go because darn it I'm headed out of town for the weekend. I don't have the time to go back and get new clothes so I decide to just live with it. I can spend two days in the same clothes...and I did! (I've got the picture to prove it!)

Prague!! The train travel was a little long, we arrived in Prague around 3:00 on Saturday afternoon. We were all tired and hungry from a LONG morning/days worth of travel. So all we really wanted to do was find our hostel and drop our gear. Easier said than done. Due to a LONG and boring explanation we arrived in Prague with no set reservations. There was a chain of two hostels that we were going to stay at one or the other. By the time we found the first one, around 4:00, there were not enough beds for our group of 8 girls! So they called over to the other location to see, and LUCKY for us they had room for us. However we took the long way there...due to some sketchy map reading and some poor communication skills. We arrived at the Old Prague Hostel just in time to drop our gear and get some grub! We were hungry. On our way back to the "Old Town" we stopped at the Dubliner, an Irish Pub like restaurant just off the beaten path. Have I mentioned that all of the "Old Town" is cobblestone streets and sidewalks? Well they are, and my feet have the blisters to prove it! It's a miracle nobody tripped and sprained an ankle.






After we got some food in our bellies and a few less bags to carry around we were ready to see Prague! We stopped at a marionette/souvenir shop, and walked back to the "Old Town Square." I'm not exactly sure that's the name, but it's where everything touristy was centered. It's been a while since I've seen tourists in crowds like that! Everyone all milling about, and on all the little roads there were people looking lost and pulling out maps! The Old Town in Prague has all cobble stone roads and sidewalks and all the roads are twisting and turning into one another. It's like a maze, which is not helpful when you don't have ANY sense of direction! We walked around took some pictures and then decided we wanted to head towards the river. We ended up walking down a pretty main street that had lots of people going to shady looking bars and clubs. But the street was full of people and it was fun to watch them all. At the end we came up to this huge building, and since none of use even remotely know Czech we had no idea what it was. From what I have figured out from looking at our free map from the hostel I THINK it was the National Theatre, but I could be wrong.

After that we turned around and THANK GOD decided against going into any of the shady looking clubs along that street. So we headed back to the square because it's the landmark that we could find other things from. It was really funny, before at the square I heard so many different languages I couldn't tell them apart, but when we made it back I heard a LOT of English. Back at the Astronomical Clock there were a bunch of different tours and such headed out. Most of the group decided to take one of these lovely "tours." However, I'm not much of a "tour" type of girl and I was TIRED. So I went back to the hostel with our new member Megan. She got in a week later than everyone else and we seem to be on the same page for a lot of things. We only got slightly lost on the way back, and sat and talked for a while until the rest of the girls came home. I, of course, slept in my clothes...never leave your bag in a cab!!

We had to be out of the hostel by 10am the next morning so we decided to get up by at least 8:30am because breakfast was free. We all seemed to be up by 8am, with the exception of one anyway. This was a really nice hostel. The bathrooms and showers were clean and well organized. The beds were acceptable and the linens were clean. There was free internet and wi-fi, breakfast, linens, and towels. The breakfast was funny. Everyone gets a sandwich and can go to the common room for cereal, coffee, juice, tea, or milk. The sandwich was a good base to the morning since I wasn't really into the cereal choices though. This post is way too long so I'll have to finish Day 2 in another!

Work

This week was nice. I was stationed at Infant Room II all week where things went smoothly. This coming week I will be moved to Toddler Room I for the entire week. I think it would be great to work in either of these classrooms so for now I'm pretty happy with work. It seems that the two Interns that were placed in the preschool rooms last week would like to remain in those rooms for the rest of the semester...I think they may eventually change their minds, but I like that they are digging right in! Now on to the stuff you really want to hear...Prague!

Ansbach and Wurzburg

This being our first week in the country and next week being our first 40 hour work week it was suggested to only do day trips this weekend. Which actually works perfectly because it gave us the opportunity to see Ansbach, our town, and to figure out the train system on a short trip to Wurzburg with less pressure.


Saturday afternoon we decided to head into town after not hearing anything from the girls out at Illesheim, I have NO idea how to spell that, our base decided to head into town. A quick taxi ride dropped us off in the middle of everything, at the castle. Which was less than impressive and under some construction. Ansbach is actually a pretty small town. We walked ALL over it with no problem. Don't get me wrong my feet are SORE, but it wasn't like trying to walk from one end of Davenport to the other! As my group of girls were getting done checking out the train station we ran into the our friends from Ill. I think I'll call the other base Ill. for short! It's prefect! Anyway we spent the rest of the night together and finished the evening at an Irish Pub in town. It was a fun evening.


Sunday was a much more organized trip. We decided to go to a Wine Fest in Wurzburg with both bases of girls. That's eleven people to walk around with...it's a lot of people to keep track of! We were to meet up at the Wurzburg train station around noon, but turns out we connected with them while on the train! So off we went. The wine fest was good for some awesome food! I had a bratwrust on a bun, a crepe with Nutella, and a glass of "sweet" wine for lunch! It was delicious! There is a castle, the residence, and a fortress in Wurzburg. We made it to the Fortress. It was a LONG climb up through a grape yard to get there! It felt like my first weekend in Heidelberg! I was pretty surprised that I made it all the way up. By the time we got done there it was time to head back to the train station. Wurzburg was a fun city to walk around, but I could have taken a tram back to the train because my legs were like jelly! And now my legs are quivering and cramping from all the abuse! Time to find someone to take me to the Commissary for Aleve and/or Mortin IB!

Oh yeah...here's some of what we did all week!

I guess I have neglected to mention some of what we have been up to in our "off" hours around here! Monday was the day we landed so basically we came back to base and crashed but Tuesday was a little better. After work we were taken for a quick Commissary trip and then spent the evening all having dinner together. We had wanted to go bowling but the ally was closed on Tuesdays. Instead we went bowling on Wednesday night. It was fun, but we only managed one round because there were so many of us it was taking FOREVER! But it was nice to check out what seems like the ONLY spot on base that is open after 7pm! On Thursday night everyone, except me went and had some fun on the playground here on base. Apparently there is a MONSTER of a metal slide down the road a bit. So they had fun, but I was too tired and there was...you know...a really interesting part of my book...bad on me I know! But really it was just one outing that I missed! Friday night I took the trip to the German store and the half of our friends were moved to the other location. I think the girls in the apartment above us went out and about on base for the evening, but my apartment all stayed in and chatted because we all signed up to work on Saturday. I can't imagine what we'll be up to next week!

Deutschland at last!

So here I am finishing my first week in Germany, otherwise known as Deutschland! I have had more jet lag this trip than I remember from any other...however, this may have something to do with the week long marathon of paperwork and training meetings. I have never sat around so much at the start of any trip.

There are 6 other girls living and working with me here on Katterbach Base and 6 more girls working on another base about 40 minutes away. We trained together all week and had a pretty good time getting use to the base. We hope to travel together on weekends even though we are now apart! My roommates are Kelly, from Missouri; and Erin, from California. Yes there will be two Erins this semester! I'm the only Iowa girl this time around. There are three girls living above us all from California, they are Janeel, Ally, and Rebecca.

Today I observed all day at the CDC and had a really great time. I started my day with the an Infant room, the babies were really lively and happy. Then I went to a Toddler room and watched the chaos that is Lunch. Then I had my own lunch, it's so nice to be able to spend your hour break at the apartment! After lunch I looked in on a Pre-School room, another Toddler room, and I ended the day in another Infant room. It was a LONG day, but it was fun to visit the different age groups!

After work our Camp Adventure "leader" took my roommate and me to the local German grocery store. Long story short we are supposed to shop on the Economy (AKA Germany); but will probably be able to beg privileges to the Commissary from our co-workers. But since I never really felt like I was LIVING in Germany last time around I decided to embrace the rules and head out...I may have been completely out of food with no other options at the time as well. It worked pretty well, I got mostly basics, but nothing that is going to last forever or anything. I tried German mayonnaise, which turned out okay, as well as some pre-packaged lunch meat. Both were better than expected; however the meat only came with two servings and no way to re-seal to I had two sandwiches for dinner along with some delicious tiny green grapes and Pepsi Light!!! We are supposed to be able to get a weekly ride to German store, I think I'll be able to live with that!

I'm digging in and starting work right away tomorrow. They have a special thing going on and needed extra help and since both my roommates volunteered I thought I should too! It'll be a short day only 4 or 5 hours, THANK GOD! I think after that we'll head into Ansbach to check things out and get a feel for the place. On Sunday we are thinking about going to Wurzburg for a wine festival! That whole plan could change, but I'm pretty excited to be getting off base.

Wow I suck

I am the worlds WORST blogger. I can't keep up with this, it reminds me of my diary keeping skills! I may have to kill this blog, except I really love the idea of it, and I feel like it could really work. I think I may give it another year. I think this could be an exceptional tool during my semester in Germany, we'll see how it goes.

BTW I'M HEADED BACK TO GERMANY!! I don't have a specific location yet, but I'll be working on an American Base for the Child Development Centers. I could be working with children from Infants to School Age. I'm a little hazy on the details right now. I will be leaving around Aug. 22 and returning Dec. 18. I'm excited to be headed back! I'm nervous to be working in a new setting, but after volunteering at the UNI Child Development Center I'm getting comfortable with the idea!

It's the end of the semester...am I dead yet?

Here I sit, in my Monday night class, taking notes and trying to be productive. Last time this class met I completely forgot, but it's a good thing I made it today because if not I wouldn't know what I've got to get done this week!

There is one week of regular classes left in the semester; next week is finals week. I thought I was pretty stress free and on the ball. Opps! I have a 7-10 page paper to write by Friday. (This new paper is for another class, but I found out about it tonight.) Oh happy day...or not. I think I've figured out when to do it, but it completely puts me off. I was going to use the whole week to finish up revisions to my Research paper and start reading any and every book I can get my hands on! I guess that'll have to wait for next week.

I had been on a self imposed ban of reading for pleasure. There was just too much going on and too many distractions this semester. I've got a couple books started but decided they would be too involved for me to concentrate on at the time. AARRRGGGG!!!!!!! I'm ready to be done with this semester and all the baggage that goes with it.

I guess signing up to extend my Thursday night shift was actually a good idea. Instead of reading the first book on my list I'll spend the night working on one paper or another! Yup, I've got from 7pm Thursday night until 2am Friday morning! But wait, here's a problem: the library is going to be crazy busy, probably all night. It IS the week before finals. So reading a book was going to be the perfect set aside and pick back up activity for the night. I'm gonna get cranky and pissy if I keep getting interupted while working on a paper. So maybe I'll REALLY have to get moving and try and get it ALL done Wednesday...seems unlikely. We'll see how well I hold up to the late night. It might be a good idea to give me a call Friday (AFTERNOON) to make sure I'm still alive!

There are two sides to every story...

Exploring iGoogle

Can you guess? Today I have been exploring iGoogle. On Wednesday I will be helping my "cooperating" librarian with her teacher workshop on iGoogle Sites. I've had an iGoogle account since I set-up this blog, but haven't really done much with it. So today during my practicum hours I'm giving myself the crash course in everything iGoogle!

I've spent a LARGE chunk of my time adding gadgets to my iGoogle homepage! I am trying NOT to add a bunch of junk games and such, but it's sooooo difficult to stay away. I have added and deleted a couple of gadgets after seeing them on the page and testing how they work. My first gadget was my hamster! My friend had one on her page and it was so cute! It's useless...but darn cute! I also added a Wikipedia search box, I find I'm less opposed to Wikipedia these days. I'm not saying I want kids to use it as a reliable source for serious research topics, but it does have it's uses! I plan to spend the rest of my day playing with the Google Sites.



After searching the site for more information I was able to figure out how to delete a whole site. So I'm going to start playing around without the fear that my practice site will be forever "out there." :-) I'll have to think of something FUN to create a site for!!!! Maybe I should call for back-up...I'm not the most creative person...



On a completely different note I am starting to choose YA SF titles for my research! I have some great recommendations to start so I have no fear I'll have PLENTY of titles to choose from. One title I will be using for sure is Carbon Diaries 2015, as I have been asked to lead a book discussion about it! I'm excited to do it, but I haven't read the book yet, and the discussion is on Wednesday...that only gives me two days to get it finished! I'm on a mission tonight...I haven't been able to find a copy within a 50 miles! If I can't find the copy in the library today then I'm driving until I do! I'm just gonna say, this is a fairly NEW book, and a sequel JUST came out but not a single bookstore in the area has had one on hand!!!!!! Which may actually be impossible!

How pathetic...

So I'm a horrible blogger, is anyone really surprised about this? This semester has been kicking my ass almost from the start. Next week is Spring Break, this week is mid-term. I haven't been on this for half a semester! Where did all my time go? Oh yeah, I've been writing a research paper, poorly. I am currently trying to fit 120 hours of "student teaching" into less than half a semester. I still work at "The Rod" and every now and then end up at the mall for a shift. As well as taking a media class that has been fun, but kind of stressful. So here are some details!

I am currently working on "chapter 2" of my research paper. This is my chapter for Literature Review. I have to write summaries for nine other research studies already completed about or related to my topic. It's crazy and I'm horrible at it, but I think I've finally got my head wrapped around it. My plan is to have ALL the summaries written before I leave for break. That way all I have to do is revise and write transitions before I turn it in. It is due during spring break, but that's wonderful because is had been due on Monday (which would NOT have been happening for me!).

I have (finally) started my practicum, which is the fancy name for student teaching in the library. I am at the high school in Jesup. It's been very productive which is another way of saying stressful! My second placement will start after break and I'll be in a Cedar Falls elementary school. I'm hoping that will be a lot less stressful since I already have a lot of experience working in that setting. Cross your fingers!

I am so glad that I took Media Planning and Production this semester! Prof. Marchasani is one of my favorite teachers ever. That said, it's been a busy class. We have four assignments, one class presentation, one mid-term, and a final project. The goal was to get all but the final project done by Spring Break, that's a lot of work to fit in half a semester. But it worked. We just got done with the last presentation and assignments this week. The mid-term is take home and will be due when we get back from break. It's been a busy couple of weeks! I hope we get our final project stated right away. It would be kind of nice to keep up this crazy pace and get done a little early. I'd like to be less stressed at the end of this semester!

So, as I'm working in this library I've been doing something horrible...I've found more books to read! Like my "to read" list wasn't already a mile longer than it should be! Now I'm seeing interesting books coming across the desk and browsing the shelves to see what kind of collection she keeps. I don't think I've walked out of that library without adding another book to my list! It's driving me up the wall!!! Here's a small sampling of what I look forward to reading...SOMEDAY...

A New Semester!

As you can see in the made crush to get everthing done at the end of the semester I abandoned writing here at all. Yesterday was the first day of the Spring Semester. I had my first Research class, and I'm just as freaked out as I was before. We are supposed to have our topic in time for our next class, in two weeks! I didn't have a clue before class and I still don't! I've got my first Media Planning and Production class this afternoon. I'm looking forward to it. I hope this is a good semester. I know I won't be doing as much fun reading as last semester, but I should still have some fun things to do. We'll see...