Catch up: bulleted novella edition.

Because my favorite thing to do on my blog is bulleted list, I am going to give you a bulleted list. Mmmm k?

Fun story first though. I am writing this on a train going from Florence to Naples. Fun story, huh?

Last part of Germany-

• ·      Went to a wooden carving store in Munich and it was incredible. Hand carved, hand painted. Beautiful nativity scenes. Wish I had a spare 500 euros to buy one.
• ·      Ate a magnum McFlurry. Magnum bars are sooo delicious so I couldn’t pass up on as a shake.
• ·      Bought some jean shorts that are really comfy,  and am incredibly glad I spent the money to get them because it is hotter than Haiti in Italy. They are my new BFF. {sorry, Betsy}
• ·      Tried on some leather leasderhousen and my legs thought they were going to suffocate because there is no breathing going on in that material.
• ·      Found that men in leaderhousen are almost just as attractive to me as cowboys are. :D
• ·      I may or may not have bought a traditional German dress. Ya know, the kind you see that has a cute lil apron with the sleeves off the shoulders and her bosoms are falling out? Well, I may or may not have bought an adorable blue one with pretty embroidery with a modest top. May or may not have. And it may or may not have a pretty white eyelet apron that goes with it. And I may or may not look fantastic in it.
• ·      Ate some more schnitzel
• ·      Skyped with Gma and Gpa cobb.
• ·      Watched an adorable video via email of my little niece, gemma being her cute, smilie self. :D made my whole life. Can’t wait to smother that child with kisses and loves when I get home
• ·      Went to church in munich and the ward memebers were amazing. So many people talked to us and a guy even invited us to the YSA dinner/ social event that night.
• ·      Went to the Englischer gartens. And have never seen so much green in my life. Pretty. Weird colored water.
• ·      Saw a slug
• ·      Saw the munich Olympic park and was amazed by the architecture.
• ·      Saw the Olympic pool and track and soccer field
• ·      BMW building
• ·      Went to the YSA activity and there were apx 25 people there, only 1 person was from germany. There were people there from 8 countries! Crazy. The Church is definitely spreading. Good work missionaries!
• ·      what appeared to be Ryan Reynolds. And then when I went to get a picture with him, I noticed it was just some guy that looked really close to what he looks like. Great LMH and all.
• ·      Got a cold and went to bed before 11pm 5 nights in row to try and pass it. I’m so glad it was a fast cold. Only lasted 6 days. And was gone in time for Italy. It was a blessing that’s it’s gone now. My colds drag on and on and on.
• ·      Ate nearly a whole bag of cough drops in 2 days. {did you know they sell cough drops here right next to candy. Like they are in between chocolate and European hard candies. Do people really eat them like candy??}
• ·      Saw the missionaries and I got really excited. I said “Hi Elders!” semi-loud and I’m pretty sure they a- thought I was psycho or b-didn’t speak English and couldn’t understand me. We’ll go with B.
• ·      Went grocery shopping for 14 people for 4 days, 3 meals a day. It was crazy.
• ·      Made 2 breakfasts and 1 dinner.
• ·      Made German food that I will make when I get home because it was yummy
• ·      Went to the documenta. It only happens once every 5 years. So it was kind of a big deal. But, it was not as cool as I had expected. I’m not too much into modern art. But some was pretty nifty. There was a section with cool eye trick paintings that made your head hurt to look at them and made you semi dizzy and looked cool.
• ·      Ate some nutella crepes. I love hazelnut!
• ·      Went to the most inept internet café of life. We were trying to print off our boarding passes so we could get our little happy selves to Italy to bask in the Tuscany awesomeness and it wouldn’t work for an entire hour. And we ended up having to go back the next day to attempt it again.
• ·      Half of facebook got engaged while I didn’t have internet.
• ·      Mailed a package home because I don’t have room for things anymore.
• ·      Went to see the castle in Kassel.
• ·      Saw an adorable, full grown, raccoon.
• ·      Took pictures of said raccoon.
• ·      Raccoon got closer and closer to us.
• ·      Backed up.
• ·      Raccoon followed
• ·      Snapped a few pictures.
• ·      Raccoon got even closer.
• ·      Started speed walking
• ·      Raccoon started running
• ·      Brianna started running.
• ·      Whole group started screaming like little girls as we ran down a hill in the middle of the forrest while a rabid raccoon chased us.  {okay, so  may have exaggerated that a little bit. But he really did chase us down a hill. And it really was kind of scary. And I really did run. And he really did chase us till we left the park}
• ·      Went back to dusseldorf to go to weeze to catch our hour flight to Pisa.
• ·      Tried to check in at our hostel next to the airport for the night- No reservation.
• ·      Beth gets out her sheet showing we booked it. Guess what.
• ·      We booked it for the wrong night.
• ·      Next good news-they don’t have enough beds for us.
• ·      Next item of good news- we booked our plane trip for a day later too.
• ·      So we had an entire day to hang out at the tiniest air port of man kind {next to Frankfurt-hahn. That one I think is tied for smallest.} and two beds for 4 people. I got the bed with no pillow and a 1/32 of an inch fleece blanket and beth got the floor with the comforter and pillow. All around it was a great nights sleep. {and this was the peak of my cold.}
• ·      So we checked in to our real rooms the next day and literally passed out from not sleeping the night before for nearly 5 hours.
• ·      Then I read my book of mormon for 45 minutes because the only thing to do I n weeze is go to the airport or chase a million {not kidding you} rabbits around the fields and forrest all day. Or get drenched by the rain.
• ·      Got cat called walking to the hostel from the airport. That’s a first, I think.
• ·       Met a really nice couple in their 60’s on their honey moon from Holland.

ITALIA!

• ·      Flew over some beautiful scenery.  Snow capped mountain ranges with little red-roofed villages nestled snugly in them.
• ·      Landed in pisa.
• ·      Got off the plane and immediately felt like I needed to drink a liter of water and put on more deodorant.
• ·       Keep in mind I had my life on my back {close to 30 pounds} in a black backpack that heats up faster than you’d think that helps keep me hotter than normal, a black camera bag, and my tan bag. All full. So lugging all this stuff around in 90+ degree weather was really fun.
• ·      We only had 3.5 ish hours in pisa till we had to catch a train to Florence. So after we located the right bus we needed to take to see the leaning tower and shoving more than a comfortable amount of people onto a city bus, and us with all our luggage, we made it to the tower. It was pretty nifty. And actually, the tower was leaning more than I had imagined it to be leaning. IT was pretty cool.
• ·      Took plenty of dorky pictures of ourselves next to it.
• ·      Ate pizza in pisa.
• ·      Train ride to Florence. But we have to have a trial because that’s what this trip is about. Learning all the ways that we can epically fail and have miracles that get us out of our hardships. We didn’t know we had to validate our train ticket. So when ticket master Luigi comes by and sees we don’t have a stamp on it he throws us off the train in to the middle of a dark alley where rapists and cereal killers live.
• ·      Just kidding, he hands us a sheet of paper in English {because I guess somehow he got the “American Tourist vibe”} saying how if we don’t validate our ticket we each have to pay 40 Euros. 40 euros??? Our tickets only cost 9 euros! But Mr. Luigi was nice enough to only make us pay 5 extra ones. So that was a miracle on 34^th street.
• ·      Got to Florence and got lost.
• ·      We lugged our luggage all around that city till my back felt like it didn’t want to be a part of my body anymore.
• ·      We finally locate our hostel after some help from this nice couple from London literally gave us their map and pointed out the street to us.
• ·      Inside our hostel room it was heaven at that moment. It was semi-air conditioned and it was magnificent. I then drank an amount of water that might have resembled the Atlantic ocean. :D

(Train travel update. I am just passing through rome. I’ll go here in a few days. :D)

• ·      After updating ourselves with the WWW we went out on the town and this, my friends, is when I fell in love.
• ·      Everything here is my favorite color. Everything is cute. Everything is romantic. It smells like flowers walking down the street sometimes. I feel like skipping or kissing a random Italian man to check off kissing in Italy off of my life’s to do list.
• ·      Ate not 1, not 2, but 3 whole scoops of Gellato. And it melted faster than you can say yum.
• ·      There are cute water fountains here that you can drink from, bath in, stick your face under, fill up your water bottles from, or just admire. It’s probably a must here otherwise there’d be a lot of people passing out from heat exhaustion.
• ·      We were on a bridge during sunset and I marveled at how pretty Tuscany was.
• ·      Saw a couple on a gondola in the water during this time and I’m pretty sure he was going to propose. Because let’s be honest, if this was just a date, imagine what kind of thing he’d have to do to propose. It was adorable.
• ·      Went to a little market thing and I bought a few souvenirs for people.
• ·      Went to the Accademia gallery and stood in line from 9 am till 1:30 pm to get in. I saw the David statue by Michelangelo!! And it is an amazing sculpture. Everyone knows this statue. It’s probably one of the most famous pieces of art every made but it was really cool to see. In all these art history classes I’ve taken I’ve learned a lot about this statue and the picture in all the textbooks and on the web do not do this thing justice. There are so many little details that you miss when looking at the pictures. Like his sling around his back, the veins in his arms and hands, and his neck muscles and Adams apple. It was a really neat experience and totally worth the really long wait outside in the heat of the day.
• ·      Tried to climb the Duomo but alas they were closed. L I was incredibly sad! So we took pictures outside of it instead.
• ·      Saw a parade that I’m still not sure what it was for. It was really long, almost all men in traditional Italian renaissance dress, some in armor on horses, and I was impressed they could wear that stuff in the heat.
• ·      A really annoying lady kept getting in our way to take pictures of the parade. She was literally in the middle of the parade and making people stop at her will so she could get a picture. She was just a tourist with a little point and shoot camera and I was baffled at her.
• ·      Saw the gates of paradise
• ·      Probably spent a little too much money on some things I can’t use till the future.  But it’s worth it. And I’ll be grateful I bought something nice in Italy.
• ·      Bought Betsy her souvenirc . :D
• ·      Ate some delicious food in a really cute little garden area. Mine had tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and egg plant. So good. Mmm.
• ·      Went to Michelangelo’s plaza {hiked a ton of stairs} to watch the sunset from high above the city. Best idea yet.
• ·      Watching the city change colors was beautiful.
• ·      We saw a few brides getting their pictures done. Jealous they have such a beautiful place to do it at.
• ·      Took some creeper picture of some cute couples
• ·      Watched the sun go down.
• ·      Rubbed the boar for “good luck”
• ·      Took a cold shower. Literally. Almost as cold as it could go.
• ·      And this is when I started to notice even more mosquito bites all over me.  I had about 5 I’d been itching all day but then I kept noticing more and more and more and more and more and more. And I’m pretty sure I was eaten alive by mosquitos in the period of 10 minutes. I have 7 on the top of my right hand, alone. It was hard to fall asleep last night because I was so itchy and hot. Poor lindy has one on her eyelid that swelled up. I did not know that bug spray was something that needed to be packed/bought. 
• ·      Packed up this morning.
• ·      Am on a train to Naples. Can’t wait to go to the beach! :D

fphew! that was a long one!

and here are a few pictures. 

XOXO. 

ii'm going to go explore Naples. and eat dinner on the beach while watching the sun set. 

Random Post with lots of pictures of Bavaria

here are a few things that I've done lately.

visited Neuschwanstein castle

Takin from a tiny kind of shaky bridge a little ways away. 

watched my professor do weird things



fell in love with bavarian landscape, houses, windows, and shutters.

Wild flowers. :D

Love these shutters.

found an awesome pearl bracelet

yes, that does have a pretzel on it!
 i didn't buy it. Even though it would
have been hilarious.

drank an interesting flavor of capri sun

Cola mix. 

ate some mystery meat that was really gross and our professor wouldn't tell us what it was until after we tried it. It looked weird and tasted weird. And I can tell you i ate cheese liver. Which is the liver of a pig. Nasty. Sorry i didn't take a picture.

saw a girl who i'm pretty sure was a boy. probably most definitely starred too long at said individual because i was trying to figure out what was so off about them.

saw some cool waterfalls

Also, my headphones want me to be a pop star. I can now hear the music and the background singers but not the main singer. It's like listening to karaoke music. So, it must be a sign that I just need to sing my lungs out to the music because it's weird listening to music without the words being sung. They're really thoughtful like that.
or... maybe I should just buy some new headphones....? sigh. i liked these headphones. they're metallic light purple and i've had them for apx 4 years. Maybe even 5. I think I got them sophomore year of high school.

I saw a street sign that said "John F Kennedy straße"  {straße means street. and you pronounce that weird b thing like an "s"} I wasn't quick enough in the bus to take a picture.

Improved more on my tan.

I have a shower at my hostel right now that has a thermostat. Like you twist it to the temperature you want it to be at and it will give you that temperature of water. I was quite concerned at first because it doesn't go above i think like 55 or something and i thought i was going to be showering in freezing water. then when the highest temperature was scalding hot i realized that it was in Celsius.... And I have no idea the conversion for this so i fiddled around till it wasn't burning or freezing me anymore.

Our pillows here on the other hand are a struggle. they are the size of a germ. Like half the size of a normal american pillow. Every other hostel we've been to here have given us pillows double the size of an american pillow. So, this was difficult for me considering I sleep with as many pillows as i can get back at home.

So, the humidity here is pretty high and my skin and hair really like this. My hair is so soft here! But for some reason, it's making me break out like an 8th grader. Not cool. Maybe this is TMI but, I haven't had this much acne since beginning of high school.

Today I went to a concentration camp

And it was quite perfect because it was pouring buckets of rain. gave it an even more somber feeling. And made for some great pictures.

this means "work will set you free"
on the gate that everyone had to walk through when entering
the camp

The words that went with the pictures from Potsdam.

 Last post was mostly just pictures of Potsdam, Germany.

This place was…. Incredible. I’m pretty sure there are no words in the English language that can mean what I want them to mean about that place.

I was getting really sick of Berlin. It smells bad, it’s huge, it’s cramped, It’s dirty, the pace is fast, and there were a lot of things that I didn’t really care to see. When you hear people talking about the world becoming more wicked, I'm pretty sure they were talking about this city. when I got the chance to leave the city for the day I jumped at the opportunity. You see, 12 days in Berlin was 8 days too long. I could have spent at least 3 more in Potsdam and would have thought I was in heaven.

In fact, I’m pretty sure heaven will resemble this place. There were so many gardens, so much manicured landscape, so many water fountains, so many gorgeous palaces, windmills, statues, rococo style art and décor, so much to see. So much history. So much to love. So NOT enough time to see it all.

I literally thought that, once again, I was in a movie. Or book.  Jane Austen must have written her stories with this type of place in mind. I swore Mr Darcy was going to come down the street in a carriage and I was going to witness a famous, classic romance first hand. 

We left Berlin with the knowledge that that it would probably rain in Potsdam that day, and yet we went anyways, hopeful that we would still manage to take some good pictures. And it was perfect. The light was even. In other words, perfect for taking pictures for. It rained lightly every once in a while throughout the day and it was magical. It added a ton to the experience as whole.

You know how sometimes you’re living life and you think, “it can’t get better than this!” and then somehow, it does? This was one of those times. Here I was in the most beautiful place I’ve ever been, with 3 really fun girls, seeing a place that in my mind looks exactly how I had imagined Europe looking, thinking “it can’t get better than this right now” and then it started to rain. And I swear, this rain let every plant and flower release a delicious smelling perfume into the air and then I really thought it could never get better. And then it did again. All the different palaces and orangeries closed and most of the people and tourists left and then we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves to wander and do as we please. And we took our time and I enjoyed the peace and quiet, listening to birds chirp, running water, the rain, and my feet meandering down a path in between 2 rows of large tall trees that covered the path from the rain and at that point, the only thing that could have made that moment better, would have been if I was there holding hands with a man I was in love with. This isn’t just because I’m a romantic either. This place shouted romance in every direction and decided at this point that-

A-    one day I’ll come back here when I’m married and then it really would not be able to get any better.

B-    This is my most favorite place I’ve ever gone to in my life.

C-     this is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.

D-   & I wondered why on earth anyone would choose to live in Berlin, when Potsdam is only 45 minutes away.

We decided we’d leave. :'( When we got to the bus stop to take us to the train station, it started to rain harder. And by the time we got to the train station, it was pouring. It’s as if it held out for us so we could enjoy that day. Like Heavenly father I needed that quiet time to think and just feel.

This trip has been filled with many experiences, little miracles, and tender mercies that I cannot attribute to anyone but my loving Heavenly Father.

Some of the girls here and I sometimes joke when things work out when they should not have, “It’s cause we went to church this week.” But, really, I know that my Father in Heaven loves me and is watching out for me.

Yesterday I too got to leave Berlin for the day. This time we went to the Venice of Germany: Spreewald. And got to ride in a gondola thing throughout the canals of this darling traditional German town. Spreewald was a part of East Germany during the cold war, it is pickle capital of Germany {or the world… :P}, and their post office is even located on the canal and you have to have a boat to get to it. Everything was so green. SOOO green. There where lots of cute ducks, dragon flies, baby sheep, baby goats, pickles, pickle stuffed animals, pickle key chains, the house {or castle} that a guy who tried to kill Hitler {from the movie valkyre} lived in, and houses and buildings that resembled those in Levinworth, Washington. Going there made me feel better about not being able to go to Venice, Italy. Even though I’m sure they’re very different.

I got to try Snitzel and Spargel with delicious hollandaise sauce yesterday too. Snitzel is breaded and fried veal, and spargel is German white asparagus. It was delicious! Probably the best food I’ve had here so far.

When we got back to Berlin we got another doner. From the best doner kebap shop in Berlin. I can never eat another doner anywere else. They grilled all the veggies and put this special sauce and seasoning on their kebap meat. And toasted this pita type bread and then added zucchini and lettuce and tomatoes and topped it with feta cheese. Mmmm. Delicious. And not terribly expensive either.

QUINTON JAMES- I found out for you how much a whopper costs cause you asked me to. 8.99 euro. Which thanks to my handy dandy conversion ap on my iPod = 11.28 American dollars. I believe that was for the meal. I don’t know, I didn’t buy it. You could get a much better German meal for that much money.

Also, in case anyone wanted to know or was wondering, they sell pregnancy tests and other such things in vending machines here. And they are called the “mayby baby”. Fitting, right? That was an interesting discovery. One that I had to photograph.

And that ends my time in Berlin.

But first, {because the first part of this post was serious and not particularly funny}

I have a funny story for you to imagine. {this will work best if you close your eyes and imagine this as someone else reads it to you. Just an idea….}

This morning we leave the hostel in Berlin, happy as can be to leave this place, hoping like no other that Munich doesn’t smell as bad and that people don’t pee on the side of the road as often as they do here. I have my 26-30 pound back pack on that is the size of Texas, my cute little summer yellow purse, and my camera bag,  attached is a bag of food for the train, and a water bottle. This equals my life’s needs for 2 months. But, then imagine 12 of us with this amount of stuff. Only some of us didn’t pack as “light” as I did. So we make our way to “Hallesches tor" train stop just fine, and even make it on to our first train with no problem. This, my friends, is where the good luck ends.

The next stop, “friedrick strase”, we were at was a lot busier. And the train shows up at the platform already full. And we have to cram 12 people {that take up the space of fifty} into space that would comfortably fit maybe 5. Crazy. I thought for sure we’d just wait for the next one, and then Carsten begins to conquer that train and I run to 3 different train cars to see if I could fit on any. Well, I end up back at the one that everyone is trying to also get on and the doors begin to shut. At this point everyone was crunched in except me and Stacey. She was getting on and Carsten is body slamming the doors to stay open so I can get on even though it doesn’t look like even a mouse would fit. So he’s literally pulling me on while pushing the back of my backpack on the train while my face is literally being squished into the poor people already on the train. The doors keep trying to close and they can close because my dumb backpack is in the way. So the doors are slamming over and over again on my backpack and then I finally make it on the train and I have no where to stand up straight so I’m 100 percent laying on the doors. Luckily we only had 1 stop to get to the hauptbahnhof, or main train station. When the doors to the train opened, because I was laying on them, I literally fell out of the train on to the platform and by some miracle, I caught myself and am unscathed.

And because it was a miracle we ALL made it on to that train, nearly in unison we say “it’s because we went to church on Sunday.” I’m telling you, there are some serious miracles happening.

And then it was relatively smooth sailing to get to the ICE {or up to 250 mile an hour train} headed to Munich. Which is where I am now.

And to answer your question, yes it does smell better here. And we get free dinner at our hostel and it was divine after a more than 5 hour train ride here. 

I received a few fantastic emails from Ashleigh the past few days. Of Gemma bear smiling and laughing. It’s so cute! She’s still a doll. Ashleigh said she’s finally starting to fit into the newborn size clothes but now they’re too short for her even though the waist is the right size. I sense she’s going to get her daddy’s height. I’m excited I get to be a part of her life and watch her grow up. Even though I am not there to be an aunt right now, it’s the best!

I’m excited to see Miss Caitlin too. She told me on Skype she wants to go to yogurt land when I get back. :D I told her I'd love to take her. Seriously, once again, being an aunt is my favorite.

In case any of you were wondering, a few things that usually happen every summer are happening very fast. Namely my annual summer freckles over my nose and under my eyes are popping up like they haven't done in a few years and my hair is getting bleached by the sun and is going golden this year instead of red. This is good news. I miss the days of my childhood when i was a freckle faced blonde. 

And now that I wrote another novel, I’m going to be done with this post.

Congrats to everyone who finished reading it. You’re truly champions.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

no pictures from spreewald. the internet is even slower here than in berlin. sorry...

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.