Once upon a time

Once upon a time....

I got to invent my own bar of Ritter Sport Chocolate at the Ritter Sport Chocolate factory in Berlin.

I chose Milk Chocolate, strawberry, yogurt crispies, & mini {European} smarties {the mini M&M is it's twin brother}

It tasted pretty darn good. Plus, all the chocolate was cheap 99 there! So i got one mini bar of about half the flavors they had {they had a cajillion of options.} and then proceeded to eat 4 pieces right then and there. But don't worry, I didn't look at the calories so it didn't really count, right??.... That's how i'm looking at food here. Plus I don't even know what the heck a "Kcal" is to see how it compares to just a normal calorie.

the inside of my own chocolate creation. :D

so, in order to make you jealous i will now put the flavors of every flavor i have in my bag. {they're in German, and i don't really know what they all mean. so.... maybe you won't be quite as jealous of me eating mystery chocolate.....}

• Pfefferminz {i'm assuming that this is peppermint. it's a teal wrapper}
• Kakao Krokant. {i ate this one already. it's in a maroon wrapper and was dark chocolate with chocolate filling with toffee bit stuff in the filling}
• Weisse {white. plain white. sooooo good. best white chocolate. in cream colored wrapper}
• Weisse cocos. {white coconut. cause it has a picture of a coconut on it. Also already ate this one. It was roasted coconut in white chocolate cream in the middle. mmm}
• caramel. {i bet you can't guess this one. :P but, it was a caramel creme thing}
• Alpenmilch. {baby blue wrapper. i'm pretty sure this is just milk chocolate}
• Waldbeer joghurt {wildberry yogurt i think.}
• erdbeer joghurt {strawberry yogurt i think}
• Nuss in praline creme {you guess}
• Edel-Nuss {no idea. in a multi colored package. Nuss means nut though so maybe mixed nuts?}
• Amarena Kirsch {cherry something or other i think. it has a picture of a cherry and then an ice cream cone.}
• Haselnuss {hazelnut i think. i love hazelnut.}
• Edel-vollmilch {i don't know what this is...}
• Schoko-Duo {maybe 2 chocolates together?}
• Nugat {this is some sort of hazelnut becuase everywhere that says nugat here means pretty much the same thing as Nutella.}

all of that, plus the one i made for under 5 euros. :D

and that's all for now. Don't judge me on how much chocolate i will consume in the next few days, okay?

And this song played while we were eating our chocolate at the little cafe thing. And I liked it, so here it is. 

We went to a Birkenstock store. and I tried some on. But, there were a few problems. A-they were expensive. B-they were really not that comfortable. so C-I didn't even have a hard time not buying them. :D

And we went to a halocaust memorial and saw the brandenburg gate lit up and around random places here in berlin, but i'm really tired and going to bed because it's 1am here. 

Also, in case you haven't seen this yet, you might want to. I know i'm abnormally sappy, but i kind of teared up during this. I think guys should take advice from this guy on his proposal skills. Cause this was unique and sweet and well thought out. 

Mom- don't read this part

I got my first sun burn. :(

it wasn't bad at all and now it's just a tan. but it's kind of funny because you can totally see the strap of my purse and Camera. 

All 3 stores I've looked for sunscreen at didn't have any. I'm going to have to be more persistent in this now. But, my toms tan line is coming along so that's a plus. Also, my legs look soooo white compared to my arms. 

XOXO

meet: The newest addition to my jewelry collection.

and the newest member of my pearl obsession.

This was one souvenir that was on my list for sure to get
 in Europe. A pearl ring. and i couldn't pass it up. Especially
 after i bargained the price down. :D

I realized just barely {after writing this blog} that the title sounds like i'm engaged. that would be incredibly incorrect.

we went to the brandenburg gate today

one day, i'm going to get a picture of myself
with my bangs looking like I imagine
they look in my head....

and watched these freaking ripped guys do some awesome dances!! {seriously, this was like the best part of Berlin thus far.} Their dance was close to 20 minutes long probably. Reminded me of New Orleans street performances.

saw more of the Berlin Wall at East Gallery.


And then got free hugs. :D



Today was the best day in Berlin so far. :D


XOXO

-BrI

a few funny stories.

Good news, you guys! I get to go to church tomorrow in Berlin! I'm so excited!

Also, i bought a new shirt today because I'm incredibly sick of wearing the same few every week. And good news again!- it has lace on it. :D it's pretty. But simple. Not that you even care about my shopping adventures in Berlin.


I have a few funny stories though...

1- lost in berlin-

so first night we were in berlin. we had just eaten {some delicious indian food} and were freezing because no one told us it was going to go from sweltering heat to -20 degrees in 30 minutes. so we get on the underground and are going going going and then Carsten yells all of a sudden "this is our stop, home slices!" {so maybe not the home slices part.... but the likes.} and everyone waddles off the train.... except stacey and sylvia... and then a few people cussed and then we laughed cause it was slightly funny..... And whitney decided to record us on her iphone pretending to be scared. But don't even worry because they got off on the next stop and came right back. It was funny... unless it would have been me. then i would have been worried. Carsten's face was priceless though.


2- Lindy and the shutting doors while German lady yells at her.

So Lindy and steve were in charge of getting us to and fro the shopping places. well, we get to the bottom of the stairs in one of the stations and were trying to figure out if the train that was there was the right one... well the German lady working there started yelling & waiving this paddle thing around. me thinks, "hurry and get on if you're going to get on!" we just sit there trying to figure out if it's the one. then the alarm beeping thing starts and the lights flash.  meaning- the doors will slam closed at any given second. And so, naturally Lindy thinks this is the ideal time to jump on while everyone is still standing on the side. So i lunge forward and block the doors from closing behind her otherwise Lindy would go bye bye while we all sit and can't do anything. This all happening while the angry german lady is waiving her paddle signaling the train driver to go at us while yelling and I was slightly concerned that she was going to beat me from jamming the doors open so Lindy could get off...

and then we stand their awkwardly while the german lady lectures us in a language we don't know. When she was done, we tell her we don't know German. :D heh heh.

Anyways, Berlin is a weird place. There are some seriously strange people here. I saw a mullet on a 2 year old today too.


and here I am at the Berlin wall.

my bangs are always having a trial these days. 

Sometimes I don't like titles.

Sometimes is a great word sometimes.

sometimes i'm having the time of my life in Europe.

but

sometimes Europe is really weird

and

sometimes I wish it was a little more conservative

sometimes i wish i could breath air not contaminated with nasty cigarette smoke.

sometimes i wish that i could call my best friend, Betsy, and actually talk to her about her wedding coming up. And that I could be useful to her during this stressful time.

sometimes i wish i could snuggle with my adorable baby niece, gemma. because she's growing up too fast! Ash said that she giggles now!! She's going to be out of diapers and walking by the time i get home, it seems! STOP GROWING GEMMA! Aunt Brianna needs to watch you grow up!

sometimes i need a girls night with Laurenita. Because sometime there are things that ice cream and talking late at night help more than you can know.

Sometimes I wish my grandparents in washington would just move to Utah.

Sometimes i wish i didn't have big decisions looming in the too close future.

Sometimes I wish the plans i make for myself actually worked out.

Sometimes i wish i could just go to my institute class from last semester.

Sometimes i seriously miss my siblings.

sometimes my dad quotes disney princesses when giving advice.

Sometimes i don't really like Berlin all that much....

Sometimes i'm not in a very happy mood.

sometimes I wish everything around me didn't remind me of certain things.

Sometimes I'm really excited for italy and greece!!

Sometimes I don't really want to go to this thing called "book Days" again today in Berlin because we went to it yesterday and it was by far not my thing and type of art.

Sometimes i miss a good drink of tap water.

sometimes i miss Logan.

Sometimes i miss my roomies and random things.

Sometimes i miss country swing dancing.

Sometimes i miss going on dates back in utah. This might sound weird...  But I won't be going on any while in europe, obviously, and I tend to like going on dates. they're fun.

Sometimes I wish i could watch the season finale of Once Upon a Time but can't because HULU doesn't work in Europe. {p.s. Quinton- did you watch this???}

Sometimes i miss not living out of a suitcase and wearing the same 6 shirts every week.

Sometimes I write sometimes posts because sometimes i feel like it.

good news you guys! I fixed my Toms on the 5 hour train ride. :D you may now call me Seamstress Brianna. :D

ya know, just livin the tourist life in Germany

Learn to play the accordion. adding this to my to do list in life.

Things from home that are better-

Milk. Milk here makes my tummy hurt and tastes weird.

Tap water from a normal sink. I don’t like bathroom tap water, psychological I know, but no one drinks tap water here and so I have to fill my water bottle up with bathroom sink water cause I don’t like their carbonated water for 3 euros.

Dr pepper. The after taste is like cough syrup.

My bed. It’s more comfy than the ones I’ve slept on. Although, they’re doing good in the pillow department because the pillows are HUGE here! And you know how much I love pillows!

Screens on the windows. So you can open your window without getting bugs in your house

Things that are better here-

Music in the streets.

Everyone brings their dogs everywhere with them. To restaurants, on the trains, on the busses, around town, in shopping places. They’re so cute!

Architecture. Nothing is cookie cutter.

Flowers. There are flowers hanging from all the windows and all over the place.

Windows and doors. They are so cute here!!

Mayo. It’s really good here.

Toilets. They have two buttons and don’t make that weird gurgling sound American ones make. They’re like waterfalls here. Also, one had a little robot thing that came out and the toilet seat turned in a circle and the robot thing cleaned it! Not kidding you! It freaked me out because it literally did it right after I got up and I thought someone was going to attack me. And then I starred at it and was very intrigued.

Doughnuts. My lucky stars! Have you people tried Berliners??? They’re my new favorite treat! 2 for a euro fifty. Mmmm

Alright, so let me tell you what I’ve been doing lately.

Cologne is where the first perfume was invented. It’s called 4711. . It smells kind of like soap. But the town is pretty proud of it. I bought a mini bottle for a euro fifty. And by mini, I mean half the size of my pinky. I wanted to bring it home for people to smell the “scented water”

Cologne also has this incredible cathedral. How it wasn’t bombed during the war but most of the rest of the town was, is beyond me. But I’m glad it’s still here!! It’s super ornate! And gothic style with flying buttresses and stained glass windows and it’s huge! Fun fact of the day. This cathedral was the tallest building in the world for quite a long time. Until us American’s showed them up with the Washington monument. Fun fact, huh?

Well, like DC, nothing in the city can be taller than this, so, we climbed to the top of the tower like a boss. 533 stairs in a narrow spiral stair cast with a rail on only one side and steeeeeeep stairs. It was a workout. And it was hot that day. And here in Germany, it’s humid. Today was 75% humidity. It was tiring, but my calves hurt for a while. Going down was worse because I got dizzy in the staircase. The view from the top was pretty cool. It’s right by the Rhine River.

Then we went to one of the largest shopping areas in the world. Called schildergasse. Google it. Things I cannot afford mainly. Fun to see though. I’ve never seen a real Prada store before and most others too. It is a shame that I can’t go on a shopping spree. Because I’m in love with the lace here!! Ah! I saw this lace dress, and if I would have had a spare 320 Euros, I would have bought it and called it my own.  

We went to Dusseldorf and that place is pretty! They have a thing like seattle’s space needle and we went to the top. They have 3 buildings designed by the famous architect Frank Gehry. He’s pretty stellar. He did the Guggenheim, the experience music project in seattle, the fish building in Barcelona, the walt Disney concert hall, etc. we went to a museum and saw a lot more famous artists. Like Picasso again, Jackson pullock, andy Warhol, etc. it was called kunsthalle Düsseldorf.

Today we went to another museum. Ludwig museum. If I was into contemporary art this would be cool. But, there were far too many naked people and especially bare breasts for my liking. Can people not be more original these days??

We went to the lock fence as well. There are sooo many locks on this fence that goes over the Rheine river. Everyone puts a lock on the fence and most of them say something like lucy and bob. June 4 2000. But, since I don’t know who I’ll marry, I put bri + ?. good, right??? :D maybe one day I’ll get to come back and put a real one on. :D

the bridge is full like this. all 1342.5 feet of it.

Then Carsten {or uncle carsten as some have been calling him, aka our professor} made us German potato cakes for dinners. They were good. Both with chives and then with sugar and applesauce.

And then Stacey, Erika, Sylvia, Whitney, Addie, and Beth and I watched both episodes of the bachelorette that we bought on iTunes cause we can’t find it online where we can watch it in Europe. It’s kind of funny that we all were sitting in this tiny hostel room, glued to the little laptop. We’re great.

Welp, I’m off to bed. On to Berlin tomorrow. :

XOxoXO

also, please take a looksy at the awesome tan line. :D
i also have one on my wrist where my pony tail elastic lives. :D
tan lines rock.

The Most Romantic Park. Sigh

So basically I’m just going to tell you about this amazing park that I went to yesterday. In Dortmund, Germany.

You know those movies, mostly in romantic comedies probably, where this adorable couple madly in love go on an amazingly romantic date to a park that is so incredibly beautiful, surreal, and fairy-tale-like, and then they end up falling in love deeper or he proposes or they just have a tender pic-nic? {sorry for the mega run-on sentence} Welp, I just found that park, people. And I am bound and determined that when I fall in love with the person I’m going to marry, we’re going to go to a park just like it. Go check my “things I will do” list at the top of this blog on a tab. It’s now on there. 

Seriously though, it’s like I was on the set of a movie.

{yes, no one needs to tell me I’m an incredibly hopeless romantic. I’ve known this my entire life. I just love, love. K? No big deal.}

This park was so lusciously green.

There was a little carousel that kids were happily riding on; a playground kids were running around and playing on.

Adorable German daddies that were giving their toddlers piggy back rides or teaching them how to kick a soccer ball. {that makes a girl’s heart goes awww!! Seriously, what is more adorable than a dad who loves their kids so much? Not very many things.}

Old couples that were helping each other walk with canes and walkers. It reminded me of president and sister Hinckley. So. Cute.

There was a dance floor where couples were legitimately dancing. Like the tango, waltz, and a ton of other dances. They were really good! And they looked so happy and in love! I want to learn how to dance like that!!

The dance floor, when it got dark, turned into the young kids {my age ish} dance. They played popular American songs and I got my groove on with Whitney, Addie, and Lindy.  Because that’s how American’s dance.  We don’t know how to do the romantic kind. Just the kind that looks ridiculous. “Embrace the weirdness, own the weirdness.” –Whitney

I saw a fe people playing badminton. {Betsy, I thought of you.}

There was this game where people were rolling these metal balls down this court thing. Lindy said, “Bowling meets horseshoes.” Which kind of looked like it was true. They were old guys who were playing.

People were having Picnics. Couples on dates kissing on their blankets.

Everyone had a BBQ. We bought German bratwurst and grilled with red and orange peppers and it was delish!!

The people on the study abroad doing 19^th century work brought their tent and were doing tintypes via the collodian process. So they had their 8x10 cameras out on big tripods and were getting people to model for them and then the park took on an even more movie-like quality. People would go up to them and ask what they were doing and took a particular interest in the process because most of them had never seen that kind of thing done before.

We met some photo students from the college of photography there in Dortmund that were in the park and helped them with a random photo project they were doing.

There were gorgeous purple flower bushes throughout the park.

There were food vendors and booths selling things.

A live band playing music and most of it was in English!

An outdoor movie theatre thing were the huge soccer game London vs. Berlin was playing and people were so excited about it!

This park was seriously amazing.

The only things that could have made it better would have been-

No cigarette smoke

And

If there was some sort of pond or river or water feature.

Here’s a funny part though. You know how in movies there are usually homeless people in the big city parks that try to steal your food or things or dig through the trash? Well, here, the bums steel your water bottles or pop bottles because they can turn the bottle in to most any store and get 25 cents per bottle!! I saw this happen with my own two eyes! I think 3 or four people in our group got their drink bottles stolen when they were not even 10 feet away from where they were sitting. Mine never got touched, which is weird because I’m pretty sure it was less hidden than everyone else’s. The bums literally had 3-4 huge bags of bottles! I should have been doing this too! I need some extra money!

the dance floor

If America started doing this, there’d be a lot less littering.

Anyways, to say the least, I’m in love with this park.

I want to put like 50 pictures up, but every where we’ve stayed has incredibly slow and annoying internet. For some reason, blogger takes soooo long to upload pictures and facebook is a lot faster, so hopefully I can put pictures up there soon.

Happy Sunday. I’m in Cologne, Germany now.

p.s. I’m in need of a large dr pepper. I’m scouting one out tomorrow. None of this coke crap. They have 6 drinks here- coke, diet coke, fanta, apfel {apple} juice, sparkling water, and this weird stuff that’s like my brother’s “suicide” drink where a few flavors are mixed together. Oh, and beer. Lots and lots of nasty smelling beer.

XOXOXOXOXOXOxoXOXOXOXOXOXO

this post is mostly about food.

Remember how I was telling you about how great the food is?

I just tried a few new things-

Currywurst. German sausage put in this curry sauce stuff. A little spicy, not bad though. And they gave us this fresh roll and a huge thing of frites. {fries with red and white sauce as they call it. Which is just ketchup and mayo. They almost have fry sauce. Almost.} Also, a drunk guy at our last hostel told us that currywurst was the best hang over food there was. Just in case any of you need to use this for future reference.

Not very many things are opened today because it’s some holiday. I can’t remember what it’s called.

But we did find a bakery that was open and they seriously had the most delicious looking things I’ve ever seen. I tried this cake that had about 6 layers of different chocolate looking stuff and crème and cake stuff. I have no idea what it’s called or what I just ate, but it was divine!! I will be eating that in heaven. And I’m sure you all will too.

Want to know a fashion trend here? High heels with cute ankle socks….. I think I’ll skip this one.

Also everyone smokes here too. If I come home with lung cancer, you’ll know why. I can’t wait to breathe Utah’s fresh air again!

But good news, you guys, Lindy and I went and bought a straightener. And I did my hair for the first time since being in Europe. :D I had time cause there’s not much to do here in Dortmund. I mean, I like the town. It’s cute, but unless you have an endless amount of money to buy clothes from the shops and delicious food from the food places, there’s not much more to do than just walk around and snap pictures of flying rhinos, chase pigeons, talk about funny names, and pretend to know German…. Oh, and take naps. I did that both today and yesterday. :D Naps in Europe are my new favorite.

I am not sure if German’s have music of their own but the only music I’ve heard is popular American songs. Kind of fun to sing along to; Especially eye of the tiger while eating currywurst. Currently a lady gaga song is playing.

Well, maybe I’ll go chill for a few before the group meets to go to an old mill they light up at night with big machines or something.

I will now start a part of my blog that’s titled-

Things Whitney says-

 “Is anyone else hungry?” 13 times at least.

“Who needs to go to the bathroom?” times 7

“I am not getting fat here!” times 54

“I have had dreams about getting fat in Europe.” Times 5

“who wants to go running?” times 3

“nihowshinshongtonggon {trying to speak Chinese}” just once, but it was funny.

The story about a german guy laughing at her while running and her mimicking the guys laugh. 3 times. I wish she’d do it more. It was hilarious.

I’m pretty sure this study abroad is not going to be dull at any time. 

it takes too long to put pictures up on the blog so i'll put them on facebook. 

Everything was made better by chocolate hazelnut ice cream

Alright today wasn’t so great.

Wanna know why?

Remember my beautiful toms? The ones that I’ve wanted for like 3 years but never wanted to spend that much money to buy? And then decided to get them for my trip?

Well, they need surgery.

Doner. this picture does not allow you to
 see how huge this thing really is!
note the cobblestone.

You see, it all started on this freeeeezzing bipolar weather day in Dortmund where it rained, hailed, and sun shined. I was getting done with the city tour given by our lovely German professor, Carsten, and was eating my second Doner {pronounce duuuunair. I pronounced it wrong and apparently it sounded like a dirty word and everyone laughed. NBD} of my trip and opened the door to the hostel and my overly large feet got in the way and the dumb door got caught on my shoe and ripped the side, ripped through my sock and sliced my toe. I think they have razor blades on the bottom of the doors. So I went straight to the bathroom in the lobby to get some TP to wipe the blood off and when I came out the receptionist wanted me to pay 50 cents cause I used the bathroom. I said sorry, hun, your stupid door just ripped my cute shoes. And then I didn’t pay. Ha!

i would have put the sock in too, but it had blood on it
 so i thought i'd save you from being grossed out.
notice- the nail polish

Grace is not a part of my name clearly…. As illustrated by my next story as well.

Here in Europe they believe in making their streets in cute designs with cobblestone. And while I enjoy how this looks, I’ve tripped countless times on how uneven it is. Today was no different. Only this time I hurt my knee. My right knee. The same leg that my poor toe is beat up from the evil German door. So now I look like an injured gazelle with a hole in it’s shoe because everyone walks so fast here and I have short legs. {gazelle’s wear shoes, right?}

But do you all want to know what I’m most upset about? Ripping my shoes!!!! Uh! I only had room to bring 2 pairs of shoes and after buying my toms, they were my favorite pair I own! So now I’m going to attempt to buy a patch and a sewing kit and work some magic on them. My toe and knee will heal, but my poor shoe will require some serious TLC and maybe a Christmas miracle too. L

we never figured out what the orange tomato thing
was. it tasted like an un-ripe strawberry in a
tomatillo skin thing

And all of the not ideal things that happened today was made right when I ate the most delicious thing my little taste buds have ever had the pleasure of tasting- Chocolate Hazelnut ice cream! :D be jealous. But I’m still upset about my toms.

So you know how I’m sort of a girly girl sometimes? And that I have a thing for lace and pearls? Well, lace and pearls just happen to be in right now in Europe. Which makes walking by ALL 300+ clothing stores hard to do without drooling. Cause who can resist a darling lace pencil skirt, a flattering lace shirt, or a lace shirt with pearls intertwined in it?

Me. Because I don’t have that many euros. The whole resisting the pearl jewelry is easier because I already own a pair of real pearl earrings. But I only brought my fake ones with me because I didn’t want someone to mug me for them ‘cause they’re that pretty.

I’ve decided that because it’s not fair to myself to not buy anything, that I’ll limit myself to 1-2 clothing items per country.

Note to all you shopping fiends- you might want to never come to Europe. Cause you’ll never ever ever ever ever leave the shopping areas. Which pretty much are every where. 

I’ve never really been the type of girl to want expensive clothes and who cares that much about nice clothes. Europe is ruining my bargain-shopper self.

I bought a shirt in London and wore it today. Want to see it? I’m kind of in love. Especially when I wore my pink sunglasses that match the design on the fabric. Also they’re the perfect color. Also, my nails and toenails match it. Not planned. :D

Notice the glasses and the fun bow!

{sorry, I’m usually opposed to the whole putting pictures of yourself posing in front of a mirror type thing so i photographed it on the hanger.}

Germany- the funny story version.

Remember that one time that I told you you can’t judge me on my blog?

Well it goes for this post too. Cause this is sort of like my blog.

You know how there are certain regulations on the airlines? Like they only let you bring a teaspoon of liquids and ½ an oz of shampoo? And how you can’t bring razors cause in Europe no one shaves anyway so why bother? And how you can’t have scissors cause they don’t want you getting into a fight, and you can’t wear stilettos cause you could stab someone with them…. Wait, I don’t think that’s one…. And how you pretty much have to strip naked to go through the metal detectors, and how you can’t even wear earrings cause it will set it off, and how it takes forever to go through, and then you have to get patted down because it beeped when you went through even though you aren’t trying to sneak anything on? Etc.

Regardless, I didn’t bring a razor with me. And every time we were at a spot in London that I could buy one, I forgot. AND For some reason, I forgot lotion too. ANDDDDD I was totally going to paint my nails before I left. Yeah, totally didn’t have time.

So without further ado-

People of the United States- I look like a girl again!! 

A week without a razor is not a pretty thing. A week without lotion on my poor hands hurts, and a week without nail polish made me want to paint them bright pink. So I bought some and did. :D

So now, I resemble an American girl instead of a German man….

I have a slightly funny {looking back on it… not at the time} story to tell you. Because I have time sitting in this hostel where the internet costs 5 million euros a second to use the internet {don’t worry, I’m using word to type this and then as fast as speedy Gonzalez copy and paste it to blogger cause it saves a lot of moneys.}

Now, revert back to remembering the part about dumb airport security and not judging me.

We left our London hostel a little late, I guess…. And then ended up standing in a line for a while that we didn’t even need to stand in because I apparently can’t even read signs in London’s English….

Well, after standing in the line we’re supposed to be in and the one we really were supposed to be in, we had to go back to a different place to get a weird stamp thing on our boarding pass because we were foreigners. Then stand in the first line again.

Which lead to an even longer line, that led to the blasted security screening.

At the salt lake airport and the Frankfurt Hahn airport they didn’t make us take our teaspoons and ½ fluid oz of liquids out of our bag, but surprise! They did at the London Stanstedt one. So While I’m digging out my 2 months worth of shampoo, conditioner, soap, face wash, make up, contact solution, etc, out of my bag that is also stuffed to the brim all divided into these itty bitty containers that take up far too much room it gets to be my turn. Not ready, so I’m stuck behind. Get ready and then seriously rush to get it thrown into a plastic bin thing. 

Well, my water bottle that is strapped to my backpack was full. I forgot to dump it out and I couldn’t chug that much water so the lady took it from me and wouldn’t let me dump it in the trash can. Some people’s children. That was a nice USU water bottle! Lucky person who gets it!

In the rush of everything I forgot to take my baby camera out of my right jean pocket and so when I went through the metal detectors it beeped. Sigh. So then they literally gave me a full pat down. Super super awkward. Luckily it was a lady; The awkwardness level would have dramatically increased if it had been a male.

Well, while this was all happening, my plastic bin gets thrown into a middle row thing because there was a problem.

{random tid bit of information- at this point it was 10 minutes till our gate closed for our flight. Panic mode-high}

so while the airport workers seem to think we have a month till our flight leaves they take their time to get to asking who’s bag it was even though I was jumping up and down like a prairie dog telling them to hurry there small selves up!

{random tid bit of information- I had to take my belt off to go through the detector thing too, so I’m also trying to hold my pants up. And they’re kind of stretched out because that’s what jeans do. They want to be like spandex sometimes.}

while waiting I notice a small problem- my boarding pass is missing.

Stress level- higher. Well after panicking about this long enough the guy comes with my bin and tells me that my little bottles of liquid can’t be in gallon size bags, but sandwich size bags. {Who in the heck cares what size of bag they’re in!? I’m going to miss my flight.} I don’t know the metric system. Apparently a gallon bag is larger than 20 cm long. Who knew?

So then he grabs like 7 bags {remember, 2 months worth of stuff} to re organize the stuff. I go to try and help him to speed up the process and he puts his hand up and says I can’t touch it. But his explanation as to why took a good 15 seconds. Even though I didn’t ask for one.

Stress level- panicky.

And then I remember that I don’t have my boarding pass so it’s not like I can get on the plane that I’m going to miss anyway.

But the guy stuffing my bottles into little bags tells me they can just look up my info at the boarding station and it’ll be fine.

Stress level- a little relieved. Not that it mattered cause I was pretty sure at this point we were going to miss it anyway.

So after he has to put the liquid back through the x-ray machine. Everyone helped grab all the stuff out of it and bee lined it to terminal 43.

Problem- we were flying Ryan Air. Aka-devil airlines that only allow 1 carry on instead of 2, which means I have to stuff my big camera bag, all my liquids, and everything else back into my backpack before getting on the airplane. Which is how it was organized perfectly to fit before they made me take my little liquids out.

{remember- I don’t have a belt cause I didn’t have time to put it back on. and everyone is helping me carry my stuff while running while I’m trying to cram it in my bag. At one point I was crawling on the floor while zipping and scooting the bag along. ALSO, I was wearing 2 jackets because I couldn’t fit them both into the backpack and it was incredibly toasty in that airport while running with 2 jackets on while being stressed. Just saying.}

and we get onto the stairs and a bag broke with my little bottles of liquids going flying down the stairs while I’m trying not to let the whole world see my underwear.

It was a trial. Well, Lindy was helping me pick them up and carry some of my stuff and lug her suit case and while she was helping me, she accidentally left her suitcase in the middle of the walk way and didn’t realize it till we got to the desk to hand them our boarding passes.

First good news in a while- while cramming my stuff into the backpack, I found my boarding pass! It was with my socks.

Luckily, Lindy’s suitcase was still there and no one even put a bomb in it!

Next lucky thing- we made our flight!!!

Bad news- my carry on wouldn’t fit in the over head compartment because it wasn’t organized will so I had to sit on the plane with flip flops and journals and cameras and other miscellaneous things under me to get the bag to fit.

And then I put my belt on, took my jackets off, and really wished that I had my water bottle they took away from me.

And said a prayer for yet another miracle of this trip.

This was not funny at the time, but looking back on it now, I know when I get to heaven that I’m requesting a video of this short period of my life.

Golly, that was a novel! Maybe I’ll turn it into a book!

Germany so far- TONS of rabbits. There were so many of them outside the airport!!

The air hostel we stayed in had this ginormous, deep, beautiful bathtub!! So, I totally took a bath last night. I haven’t taken a bath in like a year and a half. It was so fantastic! A great way to end a stressful day!

This morning we left Düsseldorf and are now in Dortmund. Our hostel is really nice and it’s so good to see all the other faces from usu!

I ate a doner for dinner! The place looked a little sketchy because they shaved meat off of a spit thing with what looked like an electric razor but it was the best food I’ve had on this whole trip so far!!! And it was huge! Mmmm. :D

Congratulations!! You’ve made it to the end and word says it is now 1614 words. And now I will go eat a piece of German chocolate and sing a song of happiness about feeling like a girl again.

i'll put up another picture later. the internet is slow here too. i miss american internet!

Xoxoxo

My time in London.

I feel like it's been a year since I've blogged.
and it's only been a few days! But, I've walked my little {or if you know me, you'd know they are really huge, actually.... :(} feet off.

here's a list of things i can remember.

• Tower of london
• crown jewels
• Tower Bridge
• london bridge
• globe theatre
• st paul's cathedral
• an olympic building {I think... it had flags...}
• a bridge that was in harry potter
• platform 9 3/4 at kings cross tube station
• trafalgar square
• piccadilly circus
• M&M world
• Camden shops
• Primrose hill
• creepy stalker photos
• double decker busses
• bought a suuuuuuuuuper cute shirt. 
• red telephone box pictures
• buckingham palace
• willington arch
• church
• saw a girl i knew in high school
• stonehenge
• little sleep
• loud roommates in the hostel
• learned too much about some.
• watched some lots of drunk people. {the hostel we're staying at is right above a tavern. and everyone who stays here nearly ALWAYS has a glass of beer or some sort of alcohol.}
• heard the f word faaar too many times
•  ran all over london to make it to a tour on time.
• took a nap on a bus
• saw the cool guardsmen with poofy hats
• did some yoga on the  "mind the gap" line
• did some yoga on the escalators
• etc

sorry for the lack of pictures, the hostel we're staying at officially has the slowest internet of my life and takes nearly 10 minutes to upload 1 picture to blogger. so, you get those two. :D

i'll see if it goes faster on facebook. stay tuned. 

weird things about here

Weird things people do here-

• they keep there eggs on the shelf. {not in the fridge}.... i'm concerned for my health
• they call everyone their "love" or  their "darling" {for instance- I tripped on a cobbled road thing [like 10 times... i need to "mind" my feet] and nearly knocked over this, may I add attractive guy, and i said, "ssssss ss sorry." and he said, "no worries, my love". and I replied,  "I will be your love!"  just kidding mom. i didn't say that. following your advice, I'm not talking to boys here. :P }
• they don't say hi. like they keep to themselves.
• everyone smokes
• people use the F word more than they do any other word x10.
• leaving the tube it says "way out" instead of "exit"
• instead of "watch your step" people say "mind the gap"

days 2&3-One tired traveler

So, remember how pulling an all nighter was on my bucket list? If in 24 hours one only gets 1.5 hours of sleep does this count? What if it’s 1.5 hours in 30 hours? Cause that’s how my life just went.

Sleeping on an airplane is very difficult, especially when there’s turbulence. Especially even more when you’re flying over the ocean and the pilot tells you there’s a storm. Then every time you just drift to sleep the flight attendant keeps asking you questions like- chicken or pasta? Orange juice? Coffee or tea or orange juice? Orange juice? Water? Golly gee whiz! How much orange juice can one person drink! I don’t know why they were so adamant for everyone to drink orange juice.

AND. The plane felt like it was in the arctic. That super thin, super see through, dark blue, 100% polyester thing they called a blanket did little to make my Goosebumps go away.

Oh! I forgot to tell you about “my new best friend”.

The lady that sat next to me from phoenix to Philadelphia was crazy!! Seriously. She talked the ENTIRE time. She told me about how no one messes with her because she could beat the crap {but, insert other word there} out them. And how her parents were heroin addicts and how her boyfriend and the father of her adorable little 1 year that was with her has triplet boys with another woman and they were born 6 months after her daughter. But how she loves him still even though he’s a bad father. And how her house burnt down, and how some guy did something at a grocery store to make her knock down 4 shelves. She was talking so so loud and the lady in front of her was annoyed with her and she kept looking back at us and glaring. So then she talked louder to annoy her more. But, the best part about this lady was that her baby started to cry for like 15 seconds and the lady in front of us looked back and glared. Well, that’s when fierce mom came out in her. So then the entire plane got a lesson in swear words, especially the f word for the next 20 minutes about how no one disrespects her daughter. Ad ven ture. I had no idea what to do with my self.

But, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. She finally shut up long enough for me to do my own thing for like 10 minutes and I read the book of mormon. Well, this lady wanted me to tell her what it was about because she’d never heard of it and I told her. And guess what? She totally wanted one. So she wrote down her address for me and I’m going to send the missionaries to her house with a BOM.  I’ve never done this before, but it was really cool. Even though this lady was kind of nuts….. It makes for a great story and adventure.

I feel like I haven’t slept in a week. But good news, here at the Frankfurt Hahn airport, they have really nice hard cement floors for sleeping on. Yes, I did sleep on the ground. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned about Europe {ya know, because I’m a pro cause I’ve been here 12 hours….} it’s that nothing is convenient or complimentary. There aren’t drinking fountains even at the airport because they want you to buy a drink. But guess what? I filled my water bottle in the sink in the bathroom. And you people probably know that I strongly strongly strongly dislike drinking water from a bathroom. But it’s worth it.

 

I guess I look I know what I’m doing and that I’m german {compliment or insult?} because 3 people have asked me for help in german. And then when I say  “umm…. Uh, sorry, I speak English….” They look confused. Regardless, I have no idea what I’m doing.

during our layover, lindy, steve and I went on a little adventure. where we found cool things! :D 

like horses, a playground, yellow flower fields, cool village, nice cars, soooo pretty! 

 

Well, I wrote that first part at the Hahn airport.

we walked around 

Next on our adventure, fly to London.  Ryan air is…. Interesting.

I slept most of the flight. When we landed these horns and music went off and congratulated us an on-time flight. Haha

Last night was theeeee craziest night ever. Customs took forever, the train took forever. By the time we got to sleep it was close to 4am. And the in between parts I’m not sharing because some of them may want my mom to come pick me up. But, I’m alive and safe and well. So, it’s fine mom.

This morning, we were provided an “English breakfast” Didn’t know what this meant and I forgot to take a picture so I’ll describe it to you.

Toast

Eggs sunny side up

Bacon

Sausage

And baked beans

Never in my life have I heard of breakfast being served with baked beans. I thought those were strictly for BBQs… But it was really good! Especially because I’d just eaten junk food airport food the past 2 days.

We bought an any bus/train/tube pass today for London and made good use of it. We went to waterloo {and I started singing the abba song and no one in my group knew it. FAIL!} the eye, parliament, and Westminster abbey, and this thing called elephant and castle. Oh! And I rode a double-decker bus. :D I had the idea that there were like 10 double-decker busses in London. No no.  more like 10 thousand. Literally! I understand why people think of the double-decker bus when thinking about London.

I must say, Westminster and parliament building are so incredibly detailed and elaborate. They are stunning!!

Also, every vacation I’ve ever been on people get annoyed with me because I stop and take pictures of everything. Being with photo majors is awesome!  ‘Cause we ALL stop and take pictures and understand what it’s like.

Also, I’ve decided that if you read this blog that you can’t make fun of/laugh at/judge how I look in pictures the time of the study abroad. Because a-I don’t have a straightener so my hair is going to look funky. B- because I’d rather sleep than put makeup on. C-because my suitcase was too small to fit clothes and jewelry in so I’ll be wearing mostly the same few things. D- Because it’s humid here. E-because walking around all day is tiring. F-because it’s my blog.  

Anyways, here are a few random pictures. {from my point and shoot. I didn't edit any of them. so, don't judge those either.}

our hostel

cool, no?

and there are some weird packaged food here. coconut covered mushrooms in a bag?? I'll pass.

weird flavors, right? they're all over the place too. 

And a few from my big girl camera.

west minster

parliament. honestly, why do they need such a HUGE building?

London Eye.

Here I sit, at the phoenix airport, waiting for my adventure to really start.

My adventure finally started at 3:35 am this morning when my alarm went off. Not that I was sleeping. {because who can honestly sleep when the greatest adventure of their life is about to take place?}

The plane trip from slc to phoenix was probably the bumpiest ride i've ever been on.

It still could have been a lot worse though.

Regardless, I can't wait to be in Europe and not in the phoenix airport.

I've never been to phoenix before. The smog is smoggy and I can see a billion palm trees. good combination, no?

If I remember correctly, the phoenix airport is in a book that was/is popular. Twilight. Have you heard of this?

The story included a bathroom in the phoenix airport that had 2 entrances/exits that Bella escaped from.

not that this is the first thing that came to my mind about the phoenix airport.

I used to be a die hard fan of that book. Haven't read it in probably 4 years though.

In case you were wondering what his airport looks like, I will show you a picture.

This, my friends, is all of my stuff for 2 months. And 'they' say I can't pack light. 22 pounds, baby! Complete with a baby book of mormon. 

apx 5am, beth and steve pose.

our terminal. And a cowboy. Although I'm pretty sure by how he was dressed and acted that he was gay. Bummer. I didn't know the broke back mountain thing was real! What happened to the manly man cowboy that defends womens' virtue and saves her from peril while still  being completely attractive?? Ya know, the kind i'm going to marry one day....

and here we are at apx 6am. All tired and we haven't even gone on a real adventure yet!?

sunrise at the airport.

 Phoenix

Well, I'm going to go eat some food or sleep or wheel chair race or attempt to find the cool bathroom or something.

ciao