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.