Guten Tag and Welcome to Deutschland

The next stop along our journey included a brief stop in the sleepy Bavarian town of Sankt Goar or Saint Goar, Germany. En route to St. Goar I learned two things: 1) chicken schnitzel and fried potatoes from German rest stops makes for a very happy stomach and 2) always bring change along the way to rest stops because it usually costs anywhere from 0.50 to 1.00 Euro to take a wee. The bathrooms are always uber clean, though. The picture above is from a wine tasting of local Riesling wines from the Rhine Valley region. The wines were really good and even included an ice wine -- wine made from grapes that have been left long enough on the vine to freeze. Another highlight of our quick visit of St. Goar was a visit to their local stein shop and seeing the Rhine River at dusk.

The next step along our journey led us to the great city of Munich (or Munchen as the locals call it). I was sad to spend so little time in Munich because it was rich with interesting history, great food, and plenty of things to do. Plus we got to visit the wonderful and ever-joyful Hofbrauhaus. The picture below is of the Marienplatz which includes the Glockenspiel. We didn't wait for the good 'ol Glockenspiel to chime, but we did see many historic landmarks dusted with fresh snow.

Next Stop: Amsterdam

After departing London, it was time to depart for the city of drugs, sex and rock 'n roll. To quote our tour guide, there's not a whole lot of rock 'n roll going on in this town...you get my drift. To expedite the blogging process, I'll just cover the main points of the day.

• Up bright and early to get to the Royal National Hotel by 6:45 AM for the weighing of bags (we were allowed 20 kg worth of luggage for 11 days of traveling, but after lugging around 20 kg seems like a pile of bricks..).
• Two hour drive from London to the White Cliffs of Dover.
• Took a ferry ride from Dover to Calais, France. It was awful! It was super cold, super choppy, and everyone was super green the entire trip. Nothing says "Welcome to Europe" like a ferry heaving in the waves of the English Channel and many people heaving over the side of the ferry. :-/
• An additional 5 hour drive from Calais to Amsterdam abroad our trusty coach (much better than the ferry).
• Arrived at the Hotel Ibis outside of Amsterdam for a quick dinner and then went out to Amsterdam for some evening fun.
• Went on an evening canal cruise through Amsterdam which included little snacks at plenty of beverages to enjoy. Note to self: when using the toilet on a canal boat, avoid using it while the captain is revving up the engines. You end up with a refreshing canal washer bottom facial (well...asscial). -- TMI!
• Went on the optional excursion they don't advertise in the Contiki tour books -- a walking tour of the Red Light District along with a live show. What was going on at the show I cannot talk about, but let's just say there was audience involvement and enough beverages included with the tickets to make for a good laugh.
• After a good sleep at the hotel, we continued our tour of Amsterdam with the Anne Frank Museum. The museum was excellent and very moving. It was well worth seeing.
• Our last stop for the day before getting back onto the bus was a tour of the Rijmuseum that includes lots of Dutch art.

Overall, Amsterdam was an interesting town, but not necessarily somewhere I'd go back to. Seeing the canals and gable houses in winter was great and very picturesque. Some of the main activities in the town just aren't really up my alley..

My Adventures in Europa

As a treat to myself after graduation and one last big travel adventure before starting working full-time, I decided to take a whirlwind tour to Europe. With the help of Contiki holidays and a whole lot of my hard-earned cash, I departed on January 7th from Detroit Metro Airport on a jet plane (with two GE-09 engines in tow) en route to London Heathrow Airport. In true Michigan form, our flight was delayed (but not canceled) due to about 6" worth of snow that fell during the afternoon. It was hilarious seeing the little plows following all the planes like baby ducks following their moms. The worst part about the flight was waiting for 3 hours on the runway without being able to access the little TV's and waiting impatiently for the de-icing to commence. After what seemed like ages, we finally got on with it and were able to cross the Northern Atlantic to LHR and arrive a few hours late. The best parts of the whole flight adventure were running into a friend at Metro and being able to greet them as they returned to the US along with talking nerdy with to my row-mate on the plane. He's an astronomy professor in England so we discussed our love of "The Big Bang Theory" along with other uber nerdy subjects. One thing I didn't realize during the flight was that one of my new friends with the tour was actually on the plane. If I had known, I totally would have swapped seats and bothered him for 7 hours. Small world!

Upon entering London, my biggest worry was trying to figure out the Underground. Luckily, all I had to do was hop on the Picadilly and it was about an hour ride across town to Russell Square. There were even some other girls from the States on the train to chat to.

My first night in London was pretty calm. After a lunch of fish and chips with a little reading and a nice nap to recover from jet lag, I met my roommate (from Melbourne, Australia), went to our tour group meeting at the Contiki basement, and enjoyed some classic London pub food.

And there began our adventure!

Back to my Mobie Self

Four months after leaving the great state of Texas, I'm back to my old tricks. I officially completed my last semester of my undergraduate degree and have a fake rolled up degree to prove it since I'm still waiting for the real thing. This last semester was probably one of the harder I've experienced. There was hardly enough time in the day to try and get all my work done and I had to try very hard to spend time with friends and family before departing. Luckily, the things I gained since August were significantly more than the things I lost. I managed to lose a set of adenoids and tonsils (thanks to my trusty surgeon), lots of sleep, and a bit of my sanity to my engineering senior design project. In contrast, I gained some great things. I successfully completed my senior design requirement by fabricating exercise equipment for our local hospital's pediatric physical therapy center, accepted a full-time job offer for after graduation, and managed to fit in some quality time with friends and family.

Since walking across the stage at graduation, I've actually managed to do very little. As I mentioned earlier, I lost a set of anenoids and tonsils. I had them removed three days after graduation and spent the following 10 days or so on the couch watching lots of movies. It was a very painful process, but I survived so I can't complain too much. It was the first time that I've been incredibly happy to sit down for 10 days straight. Now whenever I eat solid or "sharp" foods, I appreciate them so much more considering I was on a diet of Ensure shakes, soup, and mashed potatoes for 10 days.

The holiday season was quite enjoyable in the snowy north. I only managed to get my car stuck in a ditch once (not bad for 6 years of driving a rear wheel drive car) and spend lots of time with my extended family. My youngest cousins both put me to shame height-wise now, but they seemed very happy to hang out with their older, shorter cousin. I sincerely hope that while moving for my full-time job I can move closer to them.

With all the familly gatherings and academic obligations completed. I am currently en route to the UK and Western Europe for an 11 day tour throughout England, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and France. It should be quite an adventure! The weather will be very similar to home if not a little warmer so that should be fine. The trip is through a tour company called Contiki that my cousin recommended from a trip she took several years back. I had originally planned on taking the trip later, but due to some complications with work, I had to expedite the trip to much earlier. Overall, the trip will be a quick sampler of some of Western Europe's hot spots and a small dip into their cultures. It will be interesting to see the differences between this trip and my previous study abroad to Western Ireland.

Beyond this little trip to Western Europe, I will be southern bound yet again to my full-time rotational program. The program will take me to new locations every six months for the next two years and will be a fantastic learning experience. Accepting the program was a fairly simple decision since I've worked with the company before and have been amazed by how small the company seems when I seem to find connections at every turn.

That's about all for now, but I will contribute more later. Possibly during the trip or at least a few photos when I return.

Lions and Tigers and Hurricanes, Oh My!

All of a sudden, it seems like hurricane season has approached. When I left work on Thursday afternoon and when I checked on Friday morning, there was only one tropical depression in the Atlantic Ocean. Now that has turned into another and brought friends! Since this is my first hurricane season near the Gulf and I only have 2 weeks left in town, I'm really hoping that these storms avoid the Gulf and more specifically, our area. So far so good.

Lately things have been pretty calm around this area. Work went really well this week. I'm about 4 days from my final deadline for my big intern project so I've been spending a whole lot of time working on that. Last Tuesday we had a set of intern presentations in front of a lot of the big wigs at our plant. The assistant plant manager laid out a little competition. The top three presentations received $50 gift cards. Given that I'm competitive and in need of funds for the drive home, I was definitely focused on getting one of those top three places...and I did! : ) The presentation went well and I managed to get most everyone laughing with a cheesy joke.

Aside of telling jokes at work, all has been going pretty well. I got a chance to tour one of our units with one of the subject matter experts and hunt down some machinery I've been trying to validate. It was a great experience to get out into the field yet again and see what all is out there. The only downside is that it was SO hot outside! When I got back inside and downed several bottles of water, I realized that there was only one itty bitty dry spot left on my shirt. Lovely, eh?

Aside from work, this are going well here. I've been spending a lot of time with friends around this area. It's definitely been a good time and I'll miss them when I leave for the North. We're really been pretty busy this weekend with a farewell/welcome party of the outgoing interns and newcoming engineers, trip to the beach last night, and I got the chance to see "The TIme Traveler's Wife" with one of my friends as well. I managed to cook up a little culinary goodness for the party on Friday night with the help of some fresh fruit, chocolate, and bamboo skewers. Oh, and some marshmallows. The result was fruit fruit kabobs with a semi-sweet chocolate drizzle. They were a big hit!

Our visit to the beach last night was quite an adventure. It was my first time to the Gulf of Mexico so it was pretty cool to see. By the time we got there, the sun had set and the mosquitos had set in with a vengence. Between admiring the stars, sound of the ocean, and lights from all the offshore rigs, all of us were completely swarmed by some of the most blood-thirsty mosquitoes I've experienced in a while. We finally gave up due to lack of blood and came back into town to scratch our wounds.

All in all, the weekend has been pretty decent and I've been able to get quite a bit done (including packing for home). Now I just have to survive 9 more days at work, my final presentation on Friday, and hopefully avoid any hurricanes that may approach the Gulf.

Dear Michigan-Get ready. I'll be home soon. Love-Eva

It's hard to believe, but 3 weeks from today, I will officially be back in Michigan! After spending this much time away from home, I'm starting to get really excited to see my friends at home, at school, and all my family. I knew it was going to be rough staying away for so long and I'm glad I decided to come down here, but I will definitely be happy to get back.

The last week in Texas has been rather hot, but good. We've apparantly had a milder August than usual (it's only in the lower 90's instead of the upper 90's) so that has been nice. A lot of my projects at work have started to wrap up and before I know it, I'll be doing my final presentation. One very cool thing that I got to do with week was to take a little trip all day Wednesday with some of the other interns from work. We got the chance to visit one of the refineries in Houston, had a lovley lunch, and went to an Houston Astros game. I had never been to a covered/air conditioned ballpark so that was pretty cool to see. I learned at the game that the vast majority of people who attend afternoon ball games end up being retirees. This was pretty funny since there were two very opinionated older gentlemen sitting right behind me and about 20 grannies behind them. It was rather funny to see the older gentlemen trying to show off to the ladies. Things never change. ; ) Probably my favorite part of the whole time was BSing with the rest of the interns during our 3 hours of van time. We all get along pretty well so it was fun just to tell stupid stories, make bad jokes, and get some time to catch up on what each of us have been up to.

This weekend has been fairly relaxed around town. We had a pool party Friday night at a friend's house nearby which was interesting. There was definitely a girl who was chain smoking and pregnant there. I hope very much that in my lifetime I never see a pregnant woman chain smoking again. Beyond that mishap, the party was fun and it was good to relax with some of my friends from work. Yesterday I got my first hands on experience with a classic Southern crap boil. The place I went to managed to cook about 50 lbs of crab, a whole bunch of shrimp, fries, hush puppies, etc. To say the least, it was a feast. The crab was very good and well worth having to bash the shells with my fingers and the plate. By the time I got done attacking my plate full of crabs, I was almost completely covered in spices, oil and crab guts. I even managed to get some down my shirt. : / I'm glad I got the opportunity to try out new food, though! : )

Beyond all those events at work and this weekend, things have been pretty calm around here. One of my very good friends and ex-roommates from back home has agreed to fly down here and drive back up to Michigan with me. I'm very happy about this! : ) It's been really hard for us to connect since she's graduated so it will be a whole lot of fun seeing her again. True to form, I've already booked her flight and two of our hotel rooms for the trip. I just have to figure out what we're going to do for lodging in Cincinnati then we will be all set!!

This coming week should be pretty decent. It will be sad to have my roommate move out this Wednesday, but I know she's ready to get away from this small town. A lot of my friends will be finishing up their internships in the next 2 weeks so things will start getting a lot quieter around here. Pretty soon I will have to start packing and getting all my stuff together for the big trip home. I'm hoping to donate anything I don't need from the apartment and hopefully go home with less stuff than I came with. We'll see if I can manage that. It may take some serious effort, but I'll definitely make it happen.

That's about all for now. Back to doing laundry and getting my stuff taken care of so that I'm set to go for the week!

Mmmm...Kabobs!

Grilled Teriyaki Beef and Veggie Kabobs

Homemade Apple Dumplings

Yum! : )