you are my sunshine

We saw our first rays of sunshine in Luxembourg today. I woke up and looked out my window and couldn't figure out why everything looked so weird. SUN! It felt wonderful against my face this morning, despite the frigid temperatures as I waited for the bus. I even appreciated the train ride, as I saw the gorgeous Luxembourg landscape from an entirely different perspective. Oh, the changes good weather can make!

explanation

Read down for Munich and Salzburg! The first post is pictures from Salzburg, the second post is pictures from Munich, the third post is getting to Munich, the fourth post is being in Munich, and the fifth post is Salzburg and back to Luxembourg!

cheese!

Salzburg

snap, snap

1. The Residence. 2. The Old Town Hall. 3. The Glockenspeil. 4. Our new Japanese friends! 5. The station we were stuck at.

Munich and Salzburg!

I’ve been lazy. I can’t help but let the hours pass me by and discover at least one more thing to do to procrastinate my readings, emails, and blog.

But, I’ve finally settled down, caught up on some sleep and, reluctantly, homework, and am ready to talk about my weekend in Munich and Salzburg! You know it’s a great weekend when you not only hit up two cities in two days, but two countries. Phew.

SO. Friday was basically a day of trains and traveling. And, in my opinion, one of the best times I have had so far. We ran from the chateau to the Differdange train station, then the train in Luxembourg to our first train to Trier. It is very difficult living in a country where most announcements are either in German or Luxembourgish. However, we have all adjusted very well and have learned to just tune out all announcements and wing it. A great strategy, honestly. So, despite Ally’s desperate cries to try to listen to the announcement we all continued with our card games and Sound of Music viewings. That was, until the conductor came down the rows and explained, in broken English, that a train in front of us had broken down so we had to get out at an earlier stop and find a bus to Trier. Which would take as an extra hour. And our connection was in around a half hour. Uh oh.

So, our large group, backpacks on, water bottles in hand, and an unbroken spirit, found a German bus across the border, and slowly but surely made it to Trier station. To our unshocked dismay, we had missed our connection. After a few minutes of lost in translation directions, we hopped on another train, and had instructions to get of in Schweic, Germany.

Now, a lot of Europe is gorgeous. Stunning, really. Quaint old towns or impressive sky scrapers or star striking nature. Schweic is not on that list. Let’s just say we were a little nervous with graffiti lined walls, boarded windows, and stray Rottweilers. After thirty minutes of agonizing worry that we would be stuck in Schweic for the night, our train came. Thus began our long winded trip to Munich.

The train ride was amazing fun. The girls took a car to themselves for a little while and enjoyed conversation and a few glasses of wine. On our second connection train, we started to make friends. We sat in a car with two Japanese tourists who spoke very little, hardly any, English. Good news: they knew Lady Gaga and Backstreet Boys. Thus began our blasting music, screaming song lyrics, and laughing hysterically leg of the trip. The boys said they could hear us all singing all the way down the train. My abs hurt from the laughing workout.

Eventually, after four connections, including a bus, we made it successfully to Munich, Germany and checked into our hostel, the Wombats.

beerfest

Despite a late night out for some, as a whole our group rallied and left our hostel to attend a free tour of the city from the city center. My mom has continuously told me how much she loved Munich and was not able to spend enough time visiting, so I was anxious to see such a beautiful and popular city. Munich is about the exact size I expected, but the old city center is small and wonderfully charming. It is interesting to see how in these old European cities there are center sections that are pedestrian only, filled with cobble stone roads and old monuments. We don’t get that kind of charm in New York City or Oxford, Ohio.

The center of Munich was very cute, and there is no comparison to the New Town Hall. Built in a gothic style, its overwhelming magnitude and decorations is enough to make your neck ache as you continue to look up at the looming clock tower. And there is nothing like this clock tower. The Glockenspiel, a major tourist attraction, goes off every morning at 11 am and is accompanied by 15 minutes of life-sized mannequins dancing and jousting and bells and music. And, in my tourist fashion, it is not overrated whatsoever and I could have watched the hypnotic and entertaining show for an hour.

Despite enjoying the Glockenspiel, I have to say, the winter weather and gray clouds dampened my Munich experience. The city center was gray and empty and it was hard to take your time and look around with cold wind nipping at your fingers and nose. I couldn’t help but imagine how adorable the city would be with Christmas Markets in December or cafes being open and people enjoying the sun in the spring and summer.

To battle the weather, we decided to apply a pub crawl method to beer halls in the city of Munich. First stop, the Hofbrauhaus. Historically the royal brewery of the kingdom of Bavaira, the Hofbrauhaus is a prime example of continued Bavarian heritage, complete with lederhosens, live music, and weiner shnitzel. We tried out first white veal sausage and sauerkraut. Not bad! And of course, our first liter of fresh beer. A full-blown glimpse into German culture in my mind. We then moved on to a few more beer halls, tasted a few more beers, and loaded up on pretzals.

We also visited the Residence, the home of the German elector and a palace in its own right. Reminiscent of Versailles, the walls were decorated in gold, statues littered the hallways, and I couldn’t help but hope that when I got back from Europe my room would look similar to the red velvet room in the palace, complete with an over-sized canopy bed. It was really cool, and I’m really glad we did it! I really think it has rivaled any other palace I’ve been in.

That night we returned to the Hofbrauhaus with the entire group. Before finding an Italian bachelor party and having Scotty be virtually adopted by a German family, we enjoyed a low key night of good conversation and good food and booze.

the hills are alive

The Hills are Alive

Sunday morning was rough. There is no other word to describe it. A shrilling 6:30 alarm, a flustered gathering of belongings, and a frantic rush to a train ensued. We hopped on a 7:15 am train towards Salzburg, the home of the Von Trapp family!

Two in our group had signed up to attend the Sound of Music tour, while the rest of us opted to explore on our own. We’re traveling! We rented out lockers at the train station to store our fully-packed bags (a very nice feature of the Salzburg train station) and made out way to the historic city center.

Situated right along a river and surrounded by the mountains, it is no wonder Salzburg is considered one of the most beautiful European cities. The little shops are sideby side, lining cobble stone streets and decorated by intricate signs portraying what was inside. These ornate signs were hung directly above the shops and were adorned with black iron or gold coverings or bright colors, labeling a butcher, a patisserie, or even McDonalds. Not to kill the HP reference, but I was feeling a little like Diagon Alley.

We decided to climb to the top of the hill overlooking the city to the 900 year old fortress that guarded the Austiran kingdom. The fortress, Honensalzburg, was also the castle that housed the royal family and acted as a defense and watch tower. It was massive! And very, very old. My history major self was loving it, as I have noticed I am really drawn to pre-modern history, specifically the Dark and Middle Ages. We saw princely rooms, the torture chamber, and the watchtower, which gave a breathtaking view of the city. Too bad we had a cloudy day, or we would probably have been able to see the mountains and had a more beautiful view of the gardens below.

After an accidental split in the group, Kate, Spencer, Jordan and I went for lunch at a small café we found down an alley. It was adorable, I was so in my element. It had heaters outside and flannel blankets on the chair to cover your laps. There were evergreen decorations and old Christmas lights, as well as a never ending supply of lates and croissants. Heavenly. It was by far my favorite place I saw all week. I love those cozy, European cafes.

We caught a train from Salzburg to (eventually) Luxembourg, arriving home about 10 hours later. Despite the long trip, I enjoyed the train rides, as it gives us time to relax, catch up on some sleep, and maybe attempt some homework, but more lately play card games.

Overall, what a weekend! It felt nice to sleep in my bed Sunday night (though it was only for four hours before my alarm went off for Monday class) but I’ll never forget such beautiful cities and am trying to suppress my strong desire to go back in the spring! There are still so many other cities to see!

and we're off!

Just a slight hello before we continue our jet-set across the European continent.

Luxembourg has continued to be great. I know we are all running a little ragged, barely functioning on no sleep and in cold weather. But, classes have been interesting, homework has been mostly minimal (besides history of witch hunts, which is kicking my booty) and the food has increased its edibility and eligibility.

Overall, I think everyone is ready for the weekend. We are starting our trip at exactly noon, heading to Munich for Friday and Saturday nights and then Salzburg for Sunday. Here we go!

Interlacken photography

Lux love.

where I spend my time!

The castle where I take classes and my room in my host family's house!

walk this way

In New York City, jay-walking is an integral part of life. In Oxford, people don't even know there's a name for the crime. In Luxembourg, they actually wait for the little man to turn green before stepping foot on the perilous road. It blows my mind how they all wait so patiently on the sidewalk, as no cars approach. My just don't have that kind of will power and am forced to restrain myself from bolting across the road just to cause a scandal.

Interlacken: Friday Travels

Oh, goodness. What a weekend. I have divided these entries up into Friday, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday, so just keep reading down!

If you want to skip the bajillion word essay that is to follow, the summary of my time in Interlaken is: I want to move to Switzerland, adopt a Burmese Mountain dog, and live on Swiss chocolates.

I have never been more excited for a weekend. Phi Delt’s formal in Gatlinberg was close, but God knows Switzerland trumps the Tennessee card. We caught a 4:00 train from Luxembourg City to Basel. Now, I know I take class in a castle and already want to run around screaming “Expalliraumus” and waving my wand, being on the train just magnified it. We were on the Hogwarts Express in our little cars with a little trolley truck serenading us every hour. We had made reservations beforehand, which was clutch. If not, we would have been stuck sitting the aisles or standing as the train got so crowded.

One of the American studies classes offered in Luxembourg is the study of European tourism. According to the students in the class, the teacher goes into depth about the difference between traveling and touring. Our transfer to our second train in Basel was a fresh breath of traveling. We had about 15 minutes to gather all our large backpacks (those darn American tourists) sprint across the train station, and in that sprinting from France to Switzerland, and hop on another train to Interlaken. Scary, but so much fun, and a lesson in traveling! We safely made it to the train, thanks to kind instructions from a 15 year old in our train cart.

Accepting we were the obnoxious Americans on the train, we continued to have a great time getting more and more excited as our ears popped and the train climbed higher into the Alpine altitude. We made it to Interlaken by 10 pm, not too bad!

We had made reservations at Balmer’s in Interlaken, one of the highest-ranking hostels in Europe. Our consensus at the end of the weekend was that it deserved such applause. Imagine a wooden cabin, attached to taller wooden cabins, built by the Swiss Family Robinson (hah, didn’t even realize they were Swiss, how ironic) with hammock hang outs, bonfires, a distoteque downstairs, a mirror room for card playing, a beer garden, and staircases and hallways popping out of all directions in the most discombobulated manner. It was beautiful.

After dropping our large backpacks we headed down to the discoteque (no one saw that coming) and bought our first Swiss beer. However, to my shock and disappointment, I was carded at the bar. Upon asking the age to drinking in Switzerland and finding out it was 16, I was more than a little embarrassed to tell him that it had been half a decade since I’d been under the drinking age. His answer, “but you look so young!” Despite the small bump in the road, we jammed and boogied and got down that night to some American old school music.

Welcome to Switzerland!

Saturday Morning Mania

Spencer Kubin is synonymous with an alarm clock. At various times this weekend he acted as the wake up call to everyone. And, as kind as it was, I swear to goodness I shut my eyes and he was shaking me to get up at 6:30 to make sure we got to the mountain nice and early. Groggily and dehardratedly, we layered on everything we owned, from tank tops to Under Armor to those three new sweaters grandma got us for Christmas. With arms stuck straight out and a slight waddle, we grabbed a free breakfast, rented another layer of snow pants, and headed, cluelessly, to a train station to find our way to Grindelwald.

The boys had gone ahead, so we just hopped onto a train that looked like it was heading towards the mountains. Little to our knowledge was it the annual snow festival or something in the Alps and the world cup version of skiing was going on. Painted faces and people wearing flags squashed together in the trains, chanting and day drinking and excitement everywhere. We joined them and headed at a 90-degree angle up the side of the most beautiful mountains in the world. The half-hour train ride composed of gazing out the windows in awe, spotting yaks, and wondering if we wore too many layers.

Grindelwald was the most adorable and beautiful place I have ever been in my life. The hilltop town was spotted with wooden cottages, store fronts full of homemade chocolates, ski rentals owned by the friendliest people, and St. Bernard’s and Burmese mountain dogs everywhere. The backdrop to such an amazing place was the most astounding and awe-inspiring views, the Alps. These mountains just dwarfed everything around them and stuck straight into the sky. Can you say Christmas heaven? I could have walked around with my camera for four months.

After renting skis, we trudged to the gondola, and began our epic ascent of the mountains. Packed into the enclosed lift, we snapped photos and looked far below at the skiers beneath us. To my astonishment, the entire mountain was peppered with little log cabins, isolated from much of civilization but surrounded by such a view. It was my dad’s dream house.

Saturday Afternoon and Attempted Survival

After allllll this, we began our day of skiing. Despite waking up at 6:30, we probably did not hit the slopes until close to 11:30. My first run was just amazing. I couldn’t help but stop and just say to Brooke, “my life is a joke.” How is it that I am here, skiing the Swiss Alps? My life is a giant vacation and I am beyond blessed. We slowly made our way down the mountain, stopping numerous times to shoot more pictures than our cameras can handle. (Don’t worry, I will post them all to Facebook even though they’re all of the same thing.)

Brooke and I were a little more confident in our skiing than the other girls, so when the boys miraculously spotted us from a chairlift, we decided it would be a good time to switch around our travel companions, Brooke and I heading of with Scotty and Sam, while Kubin joined the rest of our original group. Worst decision of our weekend, no offense to the boys. Brooke and I were doing just great, confident in our skiing, owning the greens and blues, and feeling high on life and light air. Oh no. Don’t worry, with these boys, survival was questionable.

We handled the beginning well. I tried to keep up, Brooke wiped out three or four times, but we were okay. Then, we got to a fork in the road and Sam decided to screw the fork, let’s make our own path down some fresh powder. About 10 feet deep. I followed hesitantly and made it down without incident. Scotty follwed. Brooke, however, had an epic wipe out. Just sliding down, losing a pole, laying in 10 feet of snow, and laughing at herself the whole time. We made it to the bottom, when to our dismay Brooke, terror in her eyes, informed us that she was missing her phone.

Goodbye, Blackberry. Hope you enjoy the Alps!

After a quick meeting to chastise Brooke for keeping her pockets open and to decide it was pretty hopeless, we made motions to try just once to retrace our steps. The boys would go back up the mountain and come back down, while we used my phone to call hers to see if someone would pick up. After the boys parted ways on their own search and rescue mission, I told Brooke it could be worse.

Me: Hey, it could be way worse.

Brooke: How??

Me: It could be your passport?
Brooke: silence.

Me: Right?

Brooke: Uh oh, that may have been in the same pocket.

Phone: gone. Passport: gone. Good time in Switzerland: well on its way out.

With a slight panic attack we weighed our options as we waited for the boys. We saw them on the top of the hill, beginning to work their way down to us, when Scotty wiped out. Sam pulled up to him. And as we watched, we heard the most miraculous sound.

“WE FOUND IT. Wait, AND your passport!”

Alas, both had been about 50 feet above us, right at the location where Scotty wiped out. Someone was looking down on us and laughing, teaching us all a lesson about keeping track of our stuff. Just a straight up miracle.

The situation went from enjoyable skiing, moment of terror, to utter joy. Thank goodness.

The rest of the afternoon was relatively uneventful: besides me getting stuck on a black run, losing both my poles and skis in the process, calling for help, having a German man ski my stuff down the hill for me, his 5 year old daughter skiing circles around me, and sliding down the rest of the mountain on my butt (thank goodness I rented snow pants.) But, beyond that, a great time!

We were exhausted by the time we made it back to the hostel. After grabbing a traditional Swiss dish of American pizza, we took a small nap, and rallied for the evening, celebrating our successful visit to our first European country as a group! What an amazing time, despite Kubin again acting as an alarm clock at 2 AM, but I’ll skip that memory for now.

Sunday Funday

The title of this entry is in dedication to Katie Jo.

Although our phone alarms were set for 7 am, we didn’t have Kubin up and rallying everyone until around 9, when we booked it out of the hostel to avoid a late check out fee and made cautious plans to spend the day in Basel by catching an earlier train. After a confusing trip to the train station, we grabbed a noon train to the border town.

The train to Basel was just unfair. As we passed picturesque mountains to lakes that put Maine to shame, I felt that I was watching an episode of Planet Earth right outside my window. It’s just not fair that such beautiful things exist and people to get to live right there. The rivers were even the color of Ice Gatorade. You can’t make this stuff up.

Basel is located right on the border of France and Switzerland, with half the train station in one country and half in the other. Luckily, on the train there, we met an American couple from Wisconsin who recognized Yuker (a mid-West card game) the others were playing and struck up a conversation. Turns out they lived in Basel for a year and gave us the locations of some good places to eat and pointed us in the direction of the city centre.

We ventured into Basel, backpacks in tow, hopped on the trolleys of this wired town, and made our way to a quaint city centre and scavengered for somewhere to eat. This was the epitome of doing it live. We made a plan basically on the train, hopped off in an interesting looking town, and went with it. We had all we needed on our backs and each other to laugh about all the memories.

Basel was very adorable, with cobblestone roads and cafes lining the streets. We saw their stunning town hall draped in frescos and our mouths-watered outside the bakery and chocolatier windows. We have decided everything is cuter in Europe, from the towns to the shops to even the dogs and children. It’s just not fair.

Eventually, we caught the train to Luxembourg city, all of us finding time to nap or play cards. Ahh, down time at last!

We had such an amazing weekend it just wasn’t fair. I can’t help but think we had the best weekend first, because nothing can be as much fun as what we just did. However, I am holding my hopes high for Munich and Salzberg next weekend. I’ve got a great group of friends, a backpack full of clothes, and a semester to see it all!

Bonjour

Everyone knows the stereotype about the French. Their thoughts on Americans overall, “les incompetent,” as Kevin MacCallistar’s older sister would say. It is enough to frighten any young college student with stammering French away. However, Luxembourg is different. The Luxembourgish people, as a whole, are very familiar with English. However, French is more in their comfort zone. As I stutter my way through directions and… well, basically directions is the sole thing I ask for… I can tell the Luxembourgish people are waiting patiently to understand and respond slowly so I can comprehend. Let’s just say, Madame Shmidt of Darien High School French would be proud- I’m finally utilizing the language and finding people who are helping me do so. Overall, I’m surprised at my ability to communicate. I have to say I have gotten the basics of “take a right” and “turn at the roundabout” down.

Saved by the Bell

And with the end of orientation came the beginning of class. It sounds like the ultimate doomsday. Us young students, on our semester-long vacation, dreams dashed by the distinct memory of readings, homework, and exams. Ah, to rain on our parade.

However, despite this mentality, I was excited for class to start. I am a creature of habit, and class meant a schedule and a way for me to organize the fast-paced life I am now living. I am enrolled in the history of European witch hunts, the history of the Renaissance, the history of the rise and fall of Hitler, political science and the European Union, and a French text in context class. As nightmarish as these may sound to an outsider, I cannot help but say I’m pretty fascinated with the material.

Every student is required to take at least five classes, or 16 credit hours. Amongst these, they must take a language (German or French), a base course study, and a mini-field tour study. The base course study is a four credit hour class in history, music, art, American Studies, etc that will be one of your main classes for the semester. This class will meet during the week, and also in April will go on a weeklong tour of the places you may be study. The rise and fall of Hitler is my base course, and I will be visiting Cracow, Auschwitz, and Prague. Other classes go to Amsterdam, Rome, etc. The mini-field tour class is similar. It is a sprint class, meaning it only meets until March. In February, you go on a five-day trip with your class. My mini-field class is the history of the witch-hunts, and I will be travelling to towns in France and Germany, including Trier, where the hunts were the most active.

I only had one change to my schedule. Everyone has his/her mini-field tour class on Thursdays. However, most students only have this class. Therefore, when this class ends in March, people have the day off to do day trips around Luxembourg, France, and Germany. I was stuck in a 400 level class Thursday afternoons. I decided it would be in my best interests, and that of my travel itinerary, to switch to the political science and take a French class back in Oxford next semester. For anyone going to Lux in the future, this is definitely something to look for.

Overall, my classes are good. It’s difficult having class start at 8:45 after an hour commute. I also go straight from 8:45 to 4:00 with only a half hour break for lunch. At least the rest of my week will be easy. My witch-hunt teacher is a little intense with a lot of reading, but the material is interesting. Political science will be a three hour long class once a week, and the material is difficult since I have never taken a political science class before, but I think it will be very useful. French is what I am most excited for. I actually feel as though I am beginning to understand the language living here.

Okay, these blog entries get so long and I’m sure no one wants to read to the end, but I’ll be sure to keep posting!

Home Sweet Home

We got to Gatwick the next morning by getting up at 3 am London time, God knows what time my body thought it was… but our flight ended up getting delayed anyway so we were at the airport for a good amount of time. EVENTUALLY we took off, got to Lux, and went straight to the chateau.

By now, our host mom is like our favorite person, is so nice, and is letting us use her Internet and is cooking us food. She’s 51 and divorced and her 24-year-old son lives with us. He is really nice and is trying to find a job, something we all know is hard to do in this economy. We each have our own bedroom and share a bathroom. Our house is in a nice little neighborhood, but is still only a 15 to 20 minute walk from the train and only a 5 minute bus ride. The good news is the bus is right outside our door.

We’re about 45 minutes from the campus, so we have to commute but omigoodness Lux City is GORGEOUS. I think it is more beautiful than any town I saw in Ireland. It is very old and all the buildings are stunning. It’s build over a ravine, so you can see everything. The city center is all cobblestone and small thin roads and cafes. It’s so adorable all dressed up in Christmas decorations, like a scene from Love Actually or something equally cheesy that I would totally cave to. The Gund is the bar district at the bottom of one of the ravines and built around a river, very old-European. I have been attempting to take pictures, but the near Artic temperatures are threatening to take my fingers if they are out of my gloves for too long.

Orientation was difficult. You really do hit the ground running from the second you get here. It’s three days long and composed of various activities, meaning you are up at 6:45 am and going until at least 7 pm. We catch a 7:50 am train with about a bajillion (maybe an over exaggeration) other Miami students and walk from the train station to the chateau in Differdange. Differdange is much larger than I expected, and very adorable. The chateau is actually smaller than I would have thought. It’s very classic looking, almost like a fairy princess’ home. The mornings of orientation are composed of some of the single most boring lectures I have ever sat through. I know the professors are doing their best, but there is only so many ways you can say “don’t be rude to your host family and don’t travel alone.” Despite some dreadful mornings, the afternoons have been much more interesting. The first day we did a walking tour of Luxembourg City, visited the Battle of the Bulge field sites and graveyards, and a wine tasting at a Luxembourg vineyard. The frigid temperatures made it a little difficult to enjoy the tour of the city, but it was beautiful. The graveyards were very cool for a history junkie like myself. The difference between the German and American grave sites was extraordinary. The German graves had four names per cross, you entered through a small iron gate, and it was all gray with no flags. The Americans, on the other hand, screamed patriotism with huge marble memorials and flags draping everything. We even saw George Patton’s grave. The wine tasting was by far everyone’s favorite (no one saw that coming.) The second day we visited a high school, listed to some lectures on something no one can remember, went to a military museum, and then a Catholic church to see the monks perform a chanting ceremony. This would have been much cooler if we all hadn’t been dead on our feet and unable to concentrate to the rythmatic lullaby. Overall, decent days!

Last night was our first night out, since jet lag was finally beyond us and orientation was over. Biggest reason to celebrate by far! We went with a large group of Miami students to two of the bars located in the Gund: Fire and Ice and Scotts. The amount of Americans at each bar can be demonstrated by the first song played: Welcome to Miami by Will Smith. Do you think they knew where we were from? Alcohol was more expensive than healthcare (okay, impossible, but it felt like it) and the music was 90’s retro, as well as throwbacks to Grease and Celine Dion- who can go wrong with those. It was about time we all had fun, and my happiness meter went from about 10 to 110.

Overall, the cultural change has been difficult. The Luxembourgish people do not believe in lights, heaters, long showers, closets, and Internet. Most of these being requirements in my life, I am slowly adjusting. However, I am adjusting! I’m excited to begin traveling and class starts tomorrow! I’ll be in touch when everything is more in pattern mode

off to a great start!

So, it's been a little shaky.

Saying goodbye to everyone was hard, but that was eclipsed by my excitement to begin my life in Europe! My mom dropped me off at Newark, leaving our house at around 1:30 pm. (I did tear up a little saying goodbye to the dogs) I met my friend Cary at the airport to begin our long trek to our new home. We took a red eye from Newark to London Heathrow. Not too bad. We arrived at Heathrow at around 6 am local time then took a shuttle bus (only 20 pounds) to London Gatwick. Actually, it wasn't nearly as bad as we thought. And, the views of the British countryside covered in fresh snow were breathtaking. We were immediately enamored with London and the idea of the United Kingdom, referencing Jane Austin, Shakespeare, and Harry Potter (another classic) in almost every statement. However, the beautiful snow soon turned into a nightmare. All flights out of London Gatwick were canceled and Cary and I were thrown into a whirlwind of lines, non-working cell phones, an awful currency exchange, and trollies that made us want to look for Platform 9 and 3/4. Who knew that snowfall in London is the apocalypse and completely catastrophic as the entire city comes to a stand still. After hours and hours in the airport and about a billion dollars worth of long distance phone calls, we finally booked a sketchy hotel in Crawley, took a taxi, and arrived in a little inn connected to a pub. I felt like Carrie Bradshaw dropped in Ohio during a blizzard as I attempted to get all my luggage up the unshoveled path. However, we were too excited to see a bed with sheets after over 24 hours of traveling and passed out before our heads hit our pillows or our cell phones made it into the charger adapters. Now, we're waiting for our 7 am flight out of Gatwick before heading to straight to the campus in Luxembourg for orientation. Sigh. Welcome to Europe!

At least it's been entertaining.

here we go again...

I'm off to Europe again this afternoon for four and a half months in Luxembourg! I will be studying at the Miami University Dolibois European Campus in Differdange, Luxembourg. There will be around 130 other Miami students with me on the program, and we’ll be dispersed into three Luxembourg cities, attending class five days a week at the university center. I will be living in Luxembourg City, a forty-minute commute from my classes, with a host family and rooming with my best friend Kate Kiyosaki. I am taking classes in history, art, and French while traveling all over Europe and northern Africa on the weekends.

For more information, visit http://www.units.muohio.edu/luxembourg/

Leave comments and email me! I love to hear from everyone.