Four Weeks!

It's truly amazing how quickly the time passes. Just Twelve short months ago I arrived here in Garmisch, Germany, and now I am preparing to leave. Of course, at the time, I felt that a year was an intolerably long time. But looking back, it was an incredibly short amount of time. So, being one month from my leave date, I decided to do a quick recap of the past year.

From August 10, 2009-August 10, 2010 I have:

-visited nine countries (Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, England, Scotland, France, and Spain.)

-ridden the train to Munich approximately 50 times (1 and a half hours each way.)

-Sledded down a mountain at midnight.

-Purchased two Dirndls (traditional Bavarian dresses-think bar wench.)

-Been to three traditional German festivals-Frühlings Fest, Garmischer Fest, Partenkirchen Fest

-Seen BMW World-and sat in a brand new BMW-5 series.

-Seen more churches and cathedrals than I can count!

-Been to a Monastery where the monks spend one month out of every year extremely drunk.

-Done the majority of my grocery shopping at Germany grocery stores-which is more difficult than it sounds!

-Eaten five Doner Kebaps-if you've had one, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, that is the reason you have that empty feeling in the pit of your stomach sometimes.

-Eaten at least five pounds of the finest European chocolate.

-Seen at least four castles (Schloss Linderhof, Buckingham Palace, Edinburgh Castle, and the Rezidence.)

-Seen two Operas (Jenufa and Il Turco in Italia)

-Seen one West End show in London (Wicked)

-Had more amazing Italian food than is strictly healthy...oh well.

-Had at least two gallons of Gelato. Per summer. Mango is my favorite.

-Discovered Stroop Wafels. Thanks Angela. They are Belgian waffles with caramel in the middle. 'Nuff said.

-Had two dinner parties.

-Tried Buffalo Burgers. Yum!

-Started charcoal all by myself! It doesn't matter that it went out...

-Befriended some incredible people in Munich and Garmisch. Just to name a few: Munich-Angela, Melanie, Kay, Andreas, Nate, Elodie and Isabel. Garmisch-Ben, Tyane, Katie, Kelly, Emily, Ryan, Renee, Jen, and Zack.

-Had some incredible days and nights with amazing people!


I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to meet so many awesome people an see so many amazing places. Not many people have had the luxury of traveling so much so early in life, and I am so very thankful that I have had this experience. I hope to continue to travel, as theer are many more things I would love to see. But for now, I am ready to see what kinds of adventures I can have back in th good 'ol US of A!