MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays! May your travels be safe and well.

9 Months To GO!

I can officially say that I will be attending the University of Edinburgh next September! I got my official conditional offer this morning (they want proof that I finish my graduate certificate which I'll be done with in May) and went in and accepted it. It's really happening!! AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! Time to start adding in "u"s and "m"s and "e"s, changing "c"s and "z"s to "s"s and removing some "l"s in order to fit in!

I am colourfully excited for this programme to instil information in my brain.

I keep trying to roll my "r"s but it's just not happening.

I believe I have all the financials situated. My next step: accommodation.
I had originally just planned to stay in a dorm but now I'm having second thoughts because I realized that really only international students live on campus since Scottish students have no guarantee. Too bad. I am now considering some type of private accommodation.

We've been officially snowed in over here on the east coast (twitterly known as the dcsnowpocalypse). We got about two feet over Friday - Saturday. It's so beautiful! I think we'll FINALLY have a white Christmas. Work was closed today and then I'm off 12/25/09 - 1/3/10.

2009 has gone by so incredibly fast! I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season.

Two Down, One To Go

After not hearing from anyone for about a month (it has been 5 weeks now since I heard from Glasgow), I decided to check in with Edinburgh earlier this week since I couldn't find anything on their website that told me how long their average decision wait time was. After having some difficulty even finding who to e-mail, I found a general e-mail who forwarded me on to the actual department I applied to. I heard back from them Friday morning apologizing for the wait. Of course, I sent in my applications when they were welcoming the new recruits I guess but I've been told my application has been expedited and I should hear my decision within a week (and if not, to check back). I'm nearly dying of anticipation! It's been nine weeks as of Friday since I've applied to my schools so I'm ready to hear!

Coincidentally, I did get my offer of acceptance to University of Birmingham this morning! It is the program (International Studies) I always imagined doing (which makes it sound like I've always dreamed of grad school so I should say 'the program I've imagined enrolling in these last five months) and would be best for my prospective career (study abroad/international education) but I believe my heart is set on graduate school in Scotland. No idea why.

This Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving in America. It's a great time to be with family. I love the tradition (the history it's based on...we'll ignore that for now - just like they do in history class!). It's my second favorite holiday after Christmas. It definitely sets the tone for the holiday season. My nearly entire family traveled out to our house. They got to see our newly remodeled kitchen and we got some new furniture as well. It was a crowded bunch, as always when we're all gathered in one place. It consisted of:
-Mom, Dad, and I
-Uncle Jimmy and his friend John who was in the area visiting
-Aunt Ann, Uncle Roland, and Christine
-Aunt Helen
-Aunt Mary, Uncle Joe, and Carolyn
-Aunt Rita, Uncle Dan, Danny, and Victoria
-Aunt Eileen, Uncle Andrew, Matt, Erin, and Kevin
-Aunt Christine, Uncle Livingston, Danielle, Madison, and nanny Pamela

That's 26 in total. Possibly a new record! If only my cousin Kelly, her husband Nathan, and their children Natalie, Sara, Mallory, and Trent could join us but they were off in KY hosting their own Thanksgiving now that they've got a growing family. And my cousin Julie is off living in Germany with her husband Andreas being all German and crafty :) We just got to see her last month as she was in America for two weeks before the holiday season blew up the travel.

Not including my mom's side (which consists of only 5 people now - quite small compared to my dad's) that's my entire family. I love spending time with them. Already, I've got two Christmas-y days scheduled for December!

I've had off work since Wednesday and although it went by slow at first, this much needed break is almost over. One more month until winter break though where I have off between Christmas and New Year's! The decorations for Christmas went up today :)

28 days until Christmas!!

Alaska Schedule AND GLASGOW!

The schedule for our lovely Alaska vacation has pretty much been finalized. I'm so excited. TWO WHOLE WEEKS OFF OF WORK!!

Day One: Fly to Anchorage, AK.
Day Two: Leave Anchorage and drive to Kenai Peninsula.
Day Three: Kenai Peninsula.
Day Four: Kenai Peninsula.
Day Five: Kenai Peninsula.
Day Six: Leave Kenai Peninsula and drive to Girdwood.
Day Seven: Girdwood.
Day Eight: Leave Girdwood and drive to Talkeetna.
Day Nine: Talkeetna.
Day Ten: Leave Talkeetna and drive to Denali National Park.
Day Eleven: Denali National Park.
Day Twelve: Denali National Park.
Day Thirteen: Leave Denali National Park and drive to Anchorage.
Day Fourteen: Fly home.

I think that sounds like a pretty nice trip! It doesn't seem like we'll be running around/driving too much like we did one year in Canada. We're going during the summer so there won't be any night, meaning we won't see the Northern Lights which kind of bums me out because I think they would be absolutely amazing to see! Oh well...guess that's just an excuse to go back.

I have two upcoming trips I hope to plan for the spring:
1. Visiting my friend Allison in Chicago, IL where she is going for grad school.
2. Visiting my friend Meg in Columbus, OH where she is going for grad school. Hopefully my friend Bri will come too. These ladies were my roommates from when I studied abroad in Ireland in 2006. They're pretty awesome and I'm so glad I've been able to keep in touch with them. We've been trying to see each other once a year. In 2007 we met in Saratoga Springs, NY, in 2008 we celebrated New Years in Cape Cod, MA, and last year we tried to meet up in Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN where Bri goes to grad school. I made it but Meg's flight was canceled for snow. That weekend led to my first awful adventure trying to get home. Therefore I have a feeling a spring trip might be better.


Great news regarding Scotland - I've been accepted to University of Glasgow! I'm so excited!!! Still waiting to hear back from University of Edinburgh and University of Birmingham. I CAN'T WAIT!

Applications

My applications for graduate school abroad have officially been filled out! I submitted my applications to University of Edinburgh (2 programs - Gender History and Social and Cultural History), Glasgow (a general History program you can sort of tailor to your preferences and specialize in your own thing), and Birmingham (International Studies general program) last week and mailed out some application materials on Friday. I have no idea how long it's going to take to hear back - hopefully about just a month - but I can view the status of my Glasgow and Edinburgh applications online so that's helpful. Please cross your fingers. I got great letters of recommendation from my professors and I hope I wrote a few good personal statements. The university I'm most worried about getting into is Edinburgh...they state the normal GPA is a 3.4 usually for undergrad and I had a 3.36...I do however have a 4.0 from my grad coursework so maybe that will count for something.

If this grad school thing does work out, I've got a lot of money to start saving! It wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for the conversion to the pound...that pretty much doubles everything. I'm thinking I need about $30,000. Not sure if that's possible. I'll definitely need a loan. Any federal loan recommendations I can use abroad?

A few interesting things coming up while I wait - this weekend we're celebrating my cousin Kelly's birthday with a 'roast' and next weekend is my friend Caitlin's wedding. The following Thursday is my birthday! 23. Old.

Baby Steps

The baby steps have begun to the next travel! Mother has begun planning the Alaska trip. It's still in the very early stage of planning but so far we're thinking mid-late June for about two weeks. We'd fly into Anchorage and do stuff around there and then rent an RV for the remainder (we did this while touring the four corners when I was in my early teens and had a lot of fun) and go up to Denali National Park. I'm really excited about the prospect of this.

Speaking of traveling (well, of course), I was trying to print out a map of the world today so I can hang it up and color in new areas as they've been traveled but I couldn't find any maps that also had the United States drawn into them. I couldn't even find one that had every type of state/territory/province for all countries on it. It made me sad. I couldn't even photoshop one together because for some reason an individually drawn map of the United States is not the same shape as the United States on a world map... If someone could please invent one of these, it would be greatly appreciated.

Another baby step has been taken towards the possibility of graduate school in another country next fall. About a month ago when I last posted, I had just e-mailed professors asking for letters of recommendation. I FINALLY heard back from one of them who said hers would be done this coming Monday. Hopefully the second will get back soon as well. I WANT TO APPLY SO BAD and there is SO much other stuff I have to do after applying that I really need to get a head start on it.

This weeks Labor Day travel plans: head down to Reedville, Virginia aka the middle of nowhere to enjoy a few days of nothingness.

What are you up to?

So where am I now?

So you've heard a lot about my past travels to get a catch up and might be wondering, what's going on with me now? What exciting travels am I up to next? Well, none at all sadly. Right now the only traveling I'm doing is my 30 minute commute each way to work Monday through Friday. I'm sure that's the same story for a lot of people. However, there are a few interesting things coming up in my future...

Sometime next summer my parents and I will probably make our way to Alaska. That's all the news I have about that because that's all I know. I don't think my mom has started planning yet but it's definitely something we want to do and it's been a dream of my parents to go there. They're smart and have decided to travel before they retire when they are still making money with the way the economy is going.

A few months ago, I made the decision I wanted to go back to school. Initially I was just going to go if I found the perfect program and was going to select a school somewhere in the US. I wanted to go somewhere far away and interesting with a great campus since I hadn't gone far for my undergrad (just a two and a half hour drive from home in the same state) and had found a few prospects. But after speaking with the director of my study abroad program at my undergrad (note: I'm wanting to break out into the study abroad field and become a study abroad advisor/get a job in that kind of program that sends students abroad but haven't had any luck) to see how I could make myself more marketable. He suggested I look into a school abroad. I felt so stupid - WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT?
Well, that's why I'm looking into now and will be updating it on. I've been doing lots of research trying to find a program in a taught masters that is somehow related to cultures or international studies. Right now I'm currently focused on University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland, University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland or University of Birmingham in Birmingham, England. I imagine I'll be applying to all three and then deciding but I'm still looking around slightly and have e-mailed some past professors for references. I'll be sure to post updates about it - what else is better to lead me to traveling than grad school in Europe???

San Fran and Maui - May 2009

In May of 2009, I went on vacation with my parents to California and Hawaii.

We had a 5 hour flight to San Francisco and took a boat tour of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.


We also took a ride on the cable cars and walked around Fisherman's Wharf


We took a day trip to Muir Woods, a national park full of huge Redwoods.


We then had another 5 hour plane ride to Maui, Hawaii. Needless to say, it was absolutely beautiful. Even the view from our resort was amazing.


We went snorkeling twice (pictures didn't come out that great) and saw spinner dolphins, whales, coral, fish, and a reef shark. There was a luau at the hotel as well as a fancy one we went to later.


We took a day trip to Haleaka crater and drove around Maui a bit.


We also went on a star gazing cruise the one night it was cloudy and started to rain but overall it was an amazing 10 days. It was so nice to take off work and just sit around at the pool and doing nothing. I loved Maui and can't wait to go back and see more and all of the Hawai'ian islands!

July 2008 - Germany and the end

Jul. 21st, 2008 at 4:44 PM

HEIDELBERG (July 8th - July 9th)
We only stayed in Heidelberg for a night because we just wanted to divide up the super long train ride to Aachen. The Banks had arrived the previous day but we weren't planning on seeing them until we met on the train on Wednesday.
The main thing to do in Heidelberg is see Shloss Castle. So that's what we did.


It's got the largest wine barrel in the world. I thought it was this one...
But it turns out to be THIS one... it's HUGE.

And you'll never guess who we found by the wine barrels. The Banks! Imagine that :) We joined forces and hit the town. Along the way we stopped at a park the girls had seen coming up and it had a super duper crazy slide. Madison went down first...way too fast. She landed way too hard, knocking the wind out of her and hurt her tush but she ended up being okay. We then continued to walk into town and some guy started singing some British song to us (umm I think it was that God Save the Queen song) which made us laugh. We stopped at the most amazing, lovely beer garden ever for some yummy food (and beer) and drank honey wine from a horn that was supposed to grant us eternal youth.

Our hotel (the Ibis) was right near the train station which stunk so I was pretty happy to get out of there and onto Aachen! There were lots of castles and cool buildings along the way!


AACHEN (July 9th - July 12th)
We were met at the train station in Aachen by Julie, her husband Andreas, and my dad's sister Mary (Julie's Mom). We walked to our hotel, the Mercure an dom which was probably the nicest we'd stayed in so far although I found the street outside to be a little noisy...then again I am pretty sensitive when I sleep. We went out for a nice German dinner and called it a night.
The next day Andreas and Julie (who have been living there for about a year now) played tour guide and took us all around Aachen to the major sites. We smelled the stinky sulfur water, saw Aachen Cathedral, and just all the little things with the Charlemagne (it was pretty much his city) markers all over the place.

The Sydnor-Finkelmeyers then treated us to an authentic German lunch after which we all split up for a little while before convening again for the important stuff. Beer. There I discovered my love for Weiss beer with flavoring.

The first is raspberry flavor and the second one Andreas tried to describe it to me as tasting like "earth" or "green" haha which wasn't very helpful. Julie couldn't describe it either but finally I solved the mystery. It tasted like lucky charms! We had a fun time!

Danielle and I made sure everyone could do this...(we had to teach Dad and Madi)

At the end of the night we got treated with a show from a man juggling fire and also with a crazy downpour. It rains in Aachen like it rains in Ireland...everyday!!

On Friday we had all been planning on going to the Bad Aachen Spa which people come from all over the world to go to but slowly people backed out. But Mom and I ended up going anyway! We relaxed in the thermal pools before getting some relaxing massages (my first! it sure was nice but I think she missed something and left a kink in my neck) and going back in the water a little bit longer. Then we went to Julie and Andreas' apartment for dinner where we met their friends (well really Andreas' since Julie only had met them once before but they were SO friendly that it didn't seem like it) Ralph and Simona and their children Jannika (9) and Nielt (3). So cute! Only Ralph spoke English although Simona understands a lot. Jannika, Danielle, and Madison managed to play without much need of interpretation. But with Nielt all you can really do is say "VROOM!"

Saturday was Julie and Andreas' wedding. Yes..they got married in 2006 in Las Vegas (by a grim reaper haha) but this wedding was about celebrating it officially in front of family. I got a pedicure in the afternoon (I had gotten one right before the trip errr but it got messed up along the way) and then just spent the day getting ready. The wedding was a lot of fun! We met Andreas' German family although no one really spoke English and just ate and laughed at our English table. My BFF Nielt specifically asked to be pushed around in his stroller by the "blue lady" which made me feel special. Here are just a few pictures.

^my BFF Nielt^
There were lots of German traditions. First, after the ceremony, they had a race to cut through a heart (Andreas won) then at the end of the night there was a picture matching game (Julie won) and they ended the night sending "hot air balloons" with wishes into the sky. It was pretty cool.


The morning after the wedding, everyone met for brunch...and then everyone went their separate ways :( The Germans went home...The Banks and Aunt Mary got on their separate trains to Amsterdam...Andreas and Julie left for their fake honeymoon to a poolside villa in Tuscany...and we headed back to Paris...well the airport.
Because Iberia changed our flights we stayed at the Novotel Fitness and Wellness Convention Center which was really nice and had delicious food. It was all healthy. But we were just waiting to board a flight to Madrid. It ended up being delayed and taking forever (it was Bastille Day) but blech.
But gosh was it good to see Julie. I miss her!! I'm so impressed with her German. She really knows a lot and we had fun making fun of her speaking it ;)

MADRID
We were only here for a night but we got to see what it was like...it was crowded and the sangria was not good. I liked Barcelona MUCH better! But it was nice to say we'd been there.

The flight home was BORING. The sound on the movies didn't work so I sat there for six hours bored out of my mind. The airlines didn't even seat us together. Good thing we got home an hour early. It's good to be home. I missed home but LOVED being in Europe. Ugh I can't believe we're back in the real world now. I'd really been hoping to come home and have an email or voicemail from a job but no luck. I have nothing. booooooooo. Can we go back yet?

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Wow, side note: reading these posts again a whole year later really made me realize what am awesome time we had and how much I love Europe. I can't wait to go back!