The First Month

I've already been here for over a month, and yet it feels like I just arrived a week ago. It's amazing how fast time has gone and how much fun I'm having. I've met a group of great people who I enjoy spending time and going out with.

The winter is one of the best times of year to be in Germany, especially in Hamburg where everything is so beautiful. At the end of November loads of tents and booths went up in Christmas markets all around the city. The Christmas spirit here is so amazing. Besides the beautiful Weihnachtmarks (Christmas markets) there are lights up all over the city and I live right in the center of Hamburg where I see all the beautiful lights every time I go out the door. Living right in the center of town also means that I can go get Gluhwein (hot, spiced wine), bratwurst, or crepes from one of the many Christmas markets. Honestly, that is probably my favorite part of the Christmas markets here: the food.

I'm very excited for my parents and brother to come visit me in just two weeks. I can't wait to show them all of the best places in my new city.

Hamburg by Night

Christmas Market

Christmas Market

Christmas Market

Rathause

 Berlin

Schokolade

Fun story time. There are a lot of French Swiss here. Like, 2/3 of the students at my language school are French Swiss, so naturally I have befriended some of them. One of them, Tom, is often trying to get me to help improve his English, specifically his pronunciation. One of the words that he has trouble pronouncing is "chocolate." Today I was hanging out with a group of people (only 2/6 are French Swiss, although a third spoke French as his native language). Of these people I only knew three of them previously, the rest were new. So, while we were hanging out the word "chocolate" came up for some reason and Tom asked me to pronounce it. So I said "Chocolate," and the guy standing next to me, who is from Britain says: "Wow. That's a very American pronunciation." Laughter ensued. And so, that is my funny story for the month. I will try to work on my comedy skills before next month. I'll also try to write a post about my trip to Berlin, soon!

My First Week

I finally managed to make my way over to the grocery store and in doing so, I found some stores that I'm sure some of you will appreciate when it comes time for me to do some Christmas shopping. I found an amazing stationary store, a pet store, two books stores, and, best of all, a chocolate store. I may need to sample the chocolate store's goods a few dozen times before I can be positive that it's good enough to give as gifts.

Some of you might know that I recently got a FitBit. It's been very interesting because, it measures how active I am, how many steps I take, miles I walk, floors I climb, and the length and quality of my sleep. Even though I only had it for a week before I left, I can also use it to compare how active I was at home vs. here. For example, even though I have way more active minutes (ten or more minutes in a row where my heart-rate is above normal) here than at home, I am in general walking fewer steps. This probably has something to do with the fact that every time I leave the flat to go out on the street, I have to walk four flights of stairs to get back up to my room. Although, with the fact that the ceilings are probably somewhere around 12+ feet tall, I'm really probably walking up at least five stories worth of stairs everytime. For example, my FitBit measured me climbing 37 flights of stairs on Monday alone. Thirty-seven. Maybe I'll go to the Grand Canyon when I get home in May.

I know many of you *cough* mom *cough* have been clamoring for photos of where I live, so I have decided to give in.

My room has a chandelier. How awesome it that??

My transportation to Narnia

Baked potatoes are amazing anywhere in the world

My view!

Also my view!

Other things I've learned since I've been here:

• Netflix is not the same
• My Spanish will most likely get at least slightly better
• There is no Pandora Radio :(
• It may not get as cold as Chicago, but it gets cold sooner
• I can bowl without bumpers!
• English is apparently not as hard to learn as I have been told

Away I Go!

Ten hours ago I boarded a plane and left American for my six month adventure in Germany. I am currently sitting at the Madrid Airport awaiting my connection to Hamburg. I've been to the Madrid airport before, back in 2011 when I went to Málaga to study Spanish for three weeks. But, all I remember of my time here back then is running frantically from one side of the airport to the other as we tried to make our connecting flight, with a gate that kept changing. Running all over this airport is no small feat; from the center of the main terminal, it is an eight minute walk to either end. Sixteen minutes from one end to the other. Maybe I'm just crazy, but to me that's a pretty long distance.

Right now I am sitting in the middle of the airport by the boards with the flight status'. It appears that they don't assign a gate until an hour before the flight's departure, which, with such a big airport, is kind of annoying. Although, it is a pretty nice airport and the center of the terminal has lots of shopping, and not just the shopping that you tend to find at american airports that have snacks and a small selection of books. No, this airport has fancy clothing stores, a Real Madrid official store (a football, or soccer, team for those of you who were wondering), and a very, very large store that appears to have a lot of makeup and candy. It also has free WiFi, hence, my ability to post this before the majority of you wake up. And, most important of all, a Starbucks.

Here is a picture of the sunrise from 35,500ft!

The Final Countdown

My time remaining in America is coming to an end and with it, my time left to pack and enjoy all of the things I am going to miss. For six months I won't be able to snuggle with my puppy, hug my horse, or hang with the goats. But, I will be able to explore Europe and, in December, I'll be able to show my parents and brother around Hamburg when they come to visit for Christmas!

A collection of the things I will miss most:

 Tachman

 Doggies: Charlie, Maggie, and Watson

 Mr. Pandor

 Tudor and Pandor

 The Zoey Pony

 My goat pal, Scruffy

 The one and only Tachman

 My family

The little Lilly

The Choo

 The adorable Charlie 

 I might miss Charlie the most

 Gus!

Pandor with a flower crown is just epic

My bookcase and all of my books

Fall Fun

Fall is one of my favorite times of year. The season officially started a couple of days ago  and the weather has turned cooler, but not yet cold. Leaves are turning all sorts of colors, but the grass is still green. It also includes one of my favorite holidays: Thanksgiving, my favorite meal of the year. And then of course there's also my birthday, nestled near the end of the season.

This year I am also partaking in one of my favorite November pastimes: NaNoWriMo. Also know as National Novel Writing Month, in which participants try to write 50,000 words in the month of November. I have participated in it three of the last four years, "winning" twice. It will be a little tricky trying to write 50,000 words the first month I live completely on my own, and in a foreign county to boot, but I'm hoping to get a lot of inspiration from Hamburg! In preparation for the first of November, this month I will be focusing on developing the world and characters in which my story takes place. Hopefully they will be so developed that (at least) 1,667 words per day just flow out onto a word document.

It's Official!

It is official! I am leaving on October 29th for Germany! I will be taking a course at a language school in Hamburg for approximately six months during which time I will hopefully travel all over Europe. There is still much to do in just over a month and knowing my procrastinatory nature, it won't all get done until the week before I leave. Or the day before, you know.

Other exciting things could be happening these past few weeks. At the IHJA "A" Circuit Medal Finals I won both the Marshal & Sterling Adult Medal Finals and the IHJA Adult Medal Finals. I even got interviewed and there is an article here about it! The following week I finished up the show season in Kentucky. Both of my parents were able to come and a fun time was had by all. I'm super sad to be done with horse showing for the foreseeable future, but with so many other exciting things coming up, I can't really complain!

New Adventures

Today is the first day of orientation at Smith College and it's got me thinking a lot about the coming year. Although I'm super excited about my gap year, I am a little jealous off all the people starting a huge new adventure today. I love new adventures; I want to have as many adventures in my life as I possibly can. But, despite the fact that I am not embarking on a new adventure today, I have one coming in just two short months. And then? Then I get to experience what a few hundred awesome women are experiencing today. I still get to go on their adventure, I just get to have another one first.

Also, I have realized why Smith doesn't start until September 2nd: Because most people will probably travel to MA the day before, i.e. the 1st of September, i.e. the day the Hogwarts Express leaves, i.e. my college is basically Hogwarts.

The School Year Begins

Today all of my friends are either at school or on their way there, while I am happily at home with my animals and parents. Even if I wasn't taking a gap year before I head off to college and life I still wouldn't be going anywhere for another few days; orientation at Smith College in MA [my college of choice for those of you who didn't previously know (also, everyone keeps asking me where it is)] doesn't start until the second of September.

I'm very excited that my parents are letting me take this year to travel and study German before college. I've always thought that gap years are a wonderful idea, we need a year to relax and not need to worry about tests and grades and the future.

My gap year will really begin in November when I leave for Hamburg, Germany where I will be living and studying at a language school for six months. While I'm there I plan on traveling all over Europe and go to as many different cities and countries as I possibly can. Eventually I want to travel to every country of the world, but for now, I think I'll just stick with a majority of Europe!

I can't wait to see what the next year brings!