Week 2 is over!

Hi Everyone,
I can't believe week two of my internship is already done, it feels like I have only been here for a few days! This past week has been good. Monday through Wednesday were really good and I had a great time with the kids. Thursday threw me for a loop when I had a baby throw up on me TWICE and another kid wipe his snot all over me. That wasn't such a good day. On the days that the Elementary School doesn't have school, me and two other interns go to the School Age Center all day, instead of going only in the afternoon. It was a pretty hectic day, but overall it went really well. I also found a 50 Euro bill on our walk home, so that made the day even better.
On friday night, we still didn't have definite travel plans for the weekend. We were originally going to go to Cologne but that changed to a little town called Cochem which lies on the Rhine on the Romantic Road. There were five of us going, so we found an apartment that you could rent by night that slept five people and so we booked it. Not even 30 minutes later, the owner calls us and says that our reservation was not going to be possible because the found a BOMB from world war II and everyone was evacuating. So that led us to eventually thinking about taking the bus to Luxembourg, but we couldn't decide on where to stay and it was kinda spendy trying to do it last minute so eventually we were just like ummm why don't we just go to Cologne like we wanted to? It was a REALLY stressful night but the weekend turned out being a lot of fun.
We left Landstuhl around 9am on saturday morning and rode the train for four and a half hours to Cologne. From there we took the subway and got to our hostel which was awesome. It was called the Black Sheep Hostel, and it was in the perfect location for a really good price. We walked around that area for a bit and then decided to go back to the more popular area. First we went into the Dom Cathedral, which is absolutely beautiful. It's so big but so dark inside. After walking around there for a bit, we decided to go to the Museum Ludwig. This museum is the home to most of Pablo Picasso's works and it was an awesome museum. I'm not a huge art buff, but there are lots of pieces of art work that I know and love. What I didn't know, is that one of my favorite paintings by Jackson Pollack (Black and White number 15) was there. It was such an awesome moment for me and reminded me of when we went to the Lourve this summer. After our museum, we went and got dinner and relaxed for a few hours and then went out. Today we woke up early and went to the Chocolate Museum and that was awesome as well. We took an early train and now we're home.
This weekend was rough. I had a lot of fun but I have been really homesick lately. I don't know exactly what has triggered it but all I know is it sucks to be this homesick only going on the third week of my internship. I hope things get better(:

Germany, Round 2

Hello Again!

Well to all of you that are actually reading this, I'm actually back in germany. I've been here for a week already (it seems like so much longer) and so far, I love it. My summer was spent in a completely different part of this country and while each has its pros and cons, I'm so very thankful for the opportunities I'm presented with. We got here monday morning around 8am, after a long and exhausting day of traveling. But getting here just felt so right. We spent all day monday getting to know each other and getting settled.

There are a total of 11 people at the site I'm at this time (10 counselors and 1 Project Coordinator). Five of us girls live in an apartment, three more girls live upstairs in another and the other three boys live across the hall. So far, we all get along really well and I'm really thankful for that. Nothing is worse than not getting along or not meshing with the people you'll be spending the next four months with. We started training on tuesday and have been very busy ever since. I work in the Child Development Center on Landstuhl Regional Medical Center base and in the School Age Care. I spend the first four hours of the day in the Infant room at the CDC and then the afternoons at SAC. I love the infants, they are adorable and it makes me so happy that I enjoy working there so much. I work with a variety of ages, but I feel like that my experiences with children have really helped me prepare for this job.

After a long week, the group and I took a day trip to a city called Trier, which is supposedly the oldest city in Germany. The city still has roman ruins and is absolutely beautiful. We got in around 11am and stopped for some good German food before walking around and sight seeing. We walked around and saw all the sights as well as did some shopping. We made it a short day, and came home to relax the rest of saturday. Sunday was our lazy day after our crazy week. We stayed in and watched movies and planned out some trips for our next few months.

Today was the first day of work for the second week, and it actually went pretty well. I have a split shift, which kind of sucks but overall it was nice to have a three hour break in between my shifts. I'm able to nap, shower, get on the internet, etc. which is really nice. This weekend, we are planning to go to Heidelberg for a few hours and then after that go to Cologne for the night. I think it'll be an awesome trip. Other than that, we don't have much planned in means of travel besides going to Disneyland Paris for my birthday weekend! I'm super excited about that.

I surprisingly haven't been very homesick. The few weeks leading up to my departure were worse than how I felt when I actually got here. I'm really happy to be back and really happy to be able to work with amazing kids and travel on the weekends. I have a feeling these next few months are going to fly by and I'll have the time of my life before I depart to Italy in june. Keep reading for more of my adventure!!

8/8/2010

Hello All!

I just realized how long it's been since i've written last! And i'm sure lots of you are getting anxious to know whats been going on!

Our first week of camp was crazy. We had 48 kids with 6 staff, and they were crazy. Our theme was ocean jamboree and it ended up being a good week. I worked with eight five year olds and fell in love with all of them. They were all so cute and most of them were behaved. Just so you all know, these british kids say the CUTEST things in the CUTEST accents. They say Pardon if they can't hear you and say please for everything.

The first weekend we were able to do weekend trips, we went to Munich. It was super amazing and fun! We got there really late on friday night but saturday me, kelsey and kat went and explored the city for about five hours. We walked around so much and got to see a lot. That night, we went to the famous hofbrauhouse for dinner and drinks and it was a lot of fun. We sat next to the stage where they had live performances of their band and german dancing. Sunday we walked around the city some more and came back to hohne. We were excited to be back, and it felt a little more like home.

The next week of camp was a lot better. We only had 29 kids and I worked with the 7 year olds who were adorable as well. Our camp theme was Space and Cosmic Invaders. The kids are pretty hyper and crazy but last week went really well. We had visits from Bobbi and Chris as well. Bobbi is our project coordinator and my trainer in oregon and chris is pretty much in charge of all of the bases in europe. They said we were doing a tremendous job and didn't have anything to critique us on. It felt good to know that i had been trained VERY well and that i was doing everything well.

So then this weekend we headed off to Berlin, and it was a blast. Every time I go to a new place in germany, i fall in love with it more and more. We took a walking tour on saturday that was about four hours long and it ended up being the best part of the trip. I learned so much about WWII and pretty much the whole history of germany and got to see a lot that i wouldn't have been able to if i just walked around with my group. On saturday night we met up with the girls from Paderborn and went out for a few hours, and it was soooo much fun. Then today we went to the Ritter factory where we got to make our own chocolate(sweet!) and hung out for a bit before heading back to base.

We got back to base around 8pm and I am EXHAUSTED. We've had a fun and eventful weekend and i'm loving it so far. Tomorrow we start another week of camp and I get to do morning bus duty(boo). I will update when i can! Love you all!

Day... I don't know:) 7/25/10

We have had a busy couple of days for sure! Friday we went to the school that we would be working at to see what our facility was like and what we could use. I believe that we honestly couldn't get any luckier. We have a huge cafeteria to work in with so many open windows and an outside eating area. We are also able to use some of the staff rooms for ourselves as well as the library area and game area. There is a "Tiny Tots" play ground right outside the cafeteria and two bigger playgrounds outside of the library. Our space is huge and i couldn't be any more grateful.

After that we came back to camp and got ready to go out for the night. We went to a little italian place for dinner and was able to chit chat a little more. The pizza was soooo good and they had about 50 different kinds! It was pretty crazy. We then went and walked around and went to some bars(sorry, mom). It was a pretty fun night. There are a few irish pubs around town and some other bars for many of the officers on base. The place we ended up at was called Viva, and it's a generally for young, drunk soldiers. Thankfully we have a guy in our group, so we call clint our designated boyfriend and he protects us:)

Yesterday we went to Hamburg for the day. It was my first time on the train system and it was pretty cool! We got into hamburg around 2 p.m. and went to this really cool bakery with sandwiches, pasta, and desserts. After that we walked to St. Peter's church and the inside was AMAZING again. But we had the opportunity to walk up to the top of the tower. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but it was SCARY and HARD. I was dripping sweat at the end of it but it was so worth it. Check out my pictures on facebook if you want to see them:)

After that we walked around the city and looked at some more things. We got back to the train station at about 9pm and rode home. It was a pretty awesome day. Today we went to brunch and soon we'll be going to the bergen belsen concentration camp where Anne Frank died. It'll probably be amazing, and i'll try and post more later!

Cheers!

Day 4-22/7/2010

Updating my blog everyday might not be so realistic now. Our internet is really bad, and had to pay about 40$ to sign on for a month. I think it's worth it, but it doesn't even reach to our barracks. So now, me and another counselor, Clint, are sitting in the cellar of the mess hall until we wait for dinner (It's 6:56pm here).

Going to a country in Europe, you probably think that you'll be able to get by with english since it's such a "universal language". But no, that is definitely not the case in Germany. Being on a British base is even hard enough. I never realized before how hard it actually is to understand someone with an english accent, even if they are speaking the same language.

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to go to a town called Celle, which is about thirty minutes away. Our POC, Lynn, wanted to take us to the place where we would be taking the bus back to camp and then she gave us a few hours to roam around the city and explore. Even this first trip to an actual german town made this whole trip that much better. It is exactly how I pictured it. Brown and white houses with geometric patterns and little flower pots in the top windows. There were so many cute stores and cafe's that it was overwhelming. My favorite part was when we were able to go to this really old church, built in 1227 I believe. The inside was absolutely incredible with original paintings everywhere. There was so much to see and every bit of it was so detailed.

There is in no way one word to describe my trip so far. Sorry to say, that I don't miss the states that much. Germany is amazing and is everything I wished it would be and more. I'll write again soon!

Day 1-19/7/2010

Well hello there, all who are following me. It is about 4:57pm on June 18th in Oregon as I write this, and I am currently flying over the tip of Greenland (Crazy right…?). It’s 2am right now and I’m sitting next to one of my friends Sarah for this long 8 hour and 5 minute flight. This morning I woke up around 2:15am and me, Mariah, mom and Megan went to the airport to send me off. It has been a long day to say the least, and I still have about five and a half hours left on this plane.

The trip so far has gone surprisingly well with little to no home sick-ness. Everyone got a little teary eyed at the airport but once I was past security with the rest of the girls going to Germany, I felt like this is where I belong. It’s going to be a weird adjustment but I know that I’m doing the right thing. There are some things that I’m nervous about and some things that I’m excited about, but I really just hope that everything goes as smoothly as possible.

My flight from Portland left at 6:10am this morning and we got into Atlanta around 2pm. We were able to get a quick bite to eat and head over to the way other side of the airport to go to our next gate. Luckily the flight was delayed a bit, so we had more time to sit and relax before having to jump on a long flight again. It took us another 30-45 minutes from when we boarded to actually take off. This plane is MUCH better than the one from Portland to Atlanta. They have movies playing and we had a delicious(as much as it can get) airline dinner. Complete with chicken, mashed potatoes, frozen veggies, bread, cheese, Caesar salad, crackers and a brownie.

Now me and Sarah are looking out as the sun is setting(so weird) and watching some shows to pass the time. I can’t wait ‘til we finally get into Germany and all this traveling can be done with. I hope to hear from all of you guys soon!