Saying Goodbye

Nine months ago I was leaving the place I have lived my entire life. Tonight I'm getting ready to leave the place I now call home. How do I even begin to say my final goodbye to this wonderful place? I know I have so much to look forward to when I get home. My first summer living away from home, senior year of college and graduation, and the prospect of making the choices that will determine the rest of my life. But for now, I think it's appropriate that I sit back, cry, have my last cup of instant coffee and reflect on this past year.

I have said my goodbyes to all but one of my friends and flatmates and it has been the most difficult time of my life. The people I have met during my time in the UK are ones that I can call my best friends, and they are friends that I want to keep in touch with and continue my friendship with for a long long time. I never thought that I could grow so close to people that I just met, I mean in my two years at Central so far, I can count my true friends on one hand; here, I feel like I have met so many amazing people and I'm not even going to attempt to count.

I will miss typing 3658# to get into my building (and trying my best to remember this number when we come home after nights of drinking)

I miss cigarette breaks with Mark and Tom out by the bins. So many good conversations happened here, and so many good memories.

I miss being dumb with Jo and making fun of her inability to pronounce words.

I miss trains and public transportation, no matter how obnoxious it could be at times.

I miss coffee dates with Fay, chatting about life and planning my return to the UK.

I miss long afternoons in the social learning room of the library with Shireen, trying to do work, but just facebook stalking and eating Haribo.

I miss Tecwyn, always being a good advisor to us. He was such a help whenever things were tough, and it's going to be crazy not having him so close to help me fight with Central.

I miss going out. Pregaming with H block, hitting the pubs and then ending the night drunkenly at Occy. Where else in the world is it appropriate to do some of the things we did?

I miss Jack yelling at me, or reminding me that I'm a woman and should be in my rightful place in the kitchen. :)

I miss spending afternoons downtown with Jo, going to Boots, H&M, New Look and Costa; spending money we didn't have and drinking coffee we didn't need. Then taking the long way back to Ffridd, past Morrison's just because we couldn't be bothered with Bitch Hill.

I miss looking out my kitchen window and seeing the mountain in the distance.

I miss having so much free time, and not ever feeling like we had anything to do (even when we had essays and exams to study for)

I miss standing in the middle of Paddys, belting out songs at the top of my lungs and not feeling silly because everyone else was doing it too.

I miss watching tech reviews and silly Youtube channels with the boys.

I miss feeling like it's ok to have a beer with every meal, no matter what time of day it happens to be.

I miss paying Mark (or being paid) for food or drink when one of us didn't have any and couldn't be bothered to go get our own.

I miss trying to piece everyone's stories together the next morning to find out what exactly happened the night before.

I miss wearing the same clothes as many times as I could because trying to find a spare 2 hours to do laundry just didn't work most weeks.

I miss chill nights in Uno, having a drink or two and playing pool with the guys. I never did get any better, but they never complained about having me as a partner. :)

I miss being in class with 18 year olds who know so much about Linguistics. I feel like I knew nothing at that age (and still don't) about linguistics, and I'm super impressed at their knowledge.

I miss being able to buy a ticket last minute and jet off to another country for a few days or a week, but always wanting to be back in Bangor after a few days because I was missing everybody.

I miss trying to master the Welsh accent using the phrase "Who's coat is that jacket?" and failing every time. And then making fun of Nathan about this at any given point.

I miss chatting about boys with Jo.

I miss the nights where all I wanted to do was sleep in my bathroom (and the ones where I actually did...)

I miss forgetting that electrical plugs here have to be switched on before use.

I miss trying to plan fancy dress and theme parties. At no other point in my life have I been excited about painting my body blue and being a crayon.

I miss the British accent and vocabulary. Way cooler than anything I hear back in Iowa.

I miss picnics, barbecues and sitting outside on nice days, even when it was still cold.

I miss adventures to other places, to meet other people's friends, and coming back with new friends of my own.

I miss the morning after text, "You alright? Alive?"

I miss feeling so much older than everyone, but only in age. They are all much more mature than I was when I was 18 and 19.

I miss trying to figure out why Mark is such a gangster. :)

I miss being made fun of for crying so much, but being comforted when it was serious crying.

I miss crab fishing and screaming every time we caught one, because we were afraid of it.

I miss changing my life decisions every few days, and telling the flat about it.

I miss finding 8tracks mixes to fit every day (my bookmarked pages can prove this)

I miss only having 8 hours of class and seminar a week, but feeling like I learned so much.

I miss being in classes where the lecturer didn't know my name, life story, or when I didn't show up.

I miss getting take away a few times a week because cooking was just too hard. ;)

I miss getting the taxi home after a night out because we had lost our legs somewhere between pregaming and Occy.

I miss stealing posters off various buildings so I could increase my collection.

I miss spending a majority of my money on alcohol and cigarettes and not feeling bad about it.

I miss fieldtrips. Being threatened to stay awake on the bus (even when we were hungover), but being so appreciative that I didn't miss everything by falling asleep.

I miss quoting films in any and every conversation, and it making perfect sense. "Daddy would you like some sosij?"

I miss having to ask the security guys for my post, and getting pity looks when I never had anything.

I miss playing Doom in Jack's room with the lights off. Mark, Tom, Jack and I drinking beer and screaming when scary stuff went down.

I miss my little Cefn y Coed room, that I called home for such a long time.

I miss Jack trying to rub his stinky armpits on my bed and rolling around like a dog so everything I own would smell like him.

I miss catching up with everyone about their days over dinner.

I miss cooking as a flat, and sharing Thanksgiving, Sunday dinner, roast lamb and curry.

I miss climbing the hill, coming home and throwing the window open because it is so hot, and then having the heater on 15 minutes later.

I miss having mismatched kitchen supplies and eating all of my meals out of a bowl for ages because I didn't own a plate. (or a knife for that matter)

I miss every single person I know coming to check on me when I was sick (whether I wanted them to see me or not) and insisting I go to the doctor when it got worse.

I miss knowing that whenever I got bored someone was just a text away for a film, a chat or an adventure.

I miss knowing that my best friend was only three doors down and always up for a chat or a film. And my other best friend was only one building away and was always up for a little Grey's Anatomy or Degrassi.

I know my list of things I will miss is long, but it's nowhere near as long as it could be. I can't stress enough how amazing this year has been and how much my life has changed because of my experiences here. I know that this isn't goodbye forever, but just see you later while I go back to Iowa and finish school. If all goes according to plan I should be back in the UK in September of next year. I have a job offer in Bangor, and I want to get my masters degree in Linguistics. I'm looking at Essex, Sheffield and Bangor as possible schools, and I can't wait for where the next few years might lead me.

My train to Manchester leaves in exactly three hours, and I have nothing left to do until then. My bags are packed, my room is clean and my box of kitchen supplies has already been given to Tecwyn for storage until the new students arrive in the fall. So I guess it's time for some crying, reflection and preparation to leave my home of the last year. I only hope that I can make the journey home without being that girl who cries the entire journey and makes a fool of herself on the plane for it. But we'll see what happens.

So see ya later UK! It's been real, and it's been good; for now I have to leave, but I will be back so soon, and you had better get ready. :)

xxx

Tonight I've fallen and I can't get up

I remember the times we spent together
All those drives, we had a million questions
All about our lives
And when we got to New York everything felt right
I wish you were here with me,
Tonight

I remember the days we spent together,
Were not enough, and it used to feel like dreaming
Except we always woke up,
Never thought not having you here now
Would hurt so much

Tonight I've fallen and I can't get up
I need your loving hands to come and pick me up
And every night I miss you
I can just look up
And know the stars are 
Holding you, holding you, holding you
Tonight

I remember the time you told me
About when you were eight
And all those things you said that night
That just couldn't wait
I remember the car you were last seen in
And the games we would play 
All the times we spilled our coffees
And stayed out way too late

I remember the time you sat and told me
About your Jesus, and how not to look back
Even if no one believes us
When it hurts so bad, sometimes
Not having you here

I sing
Tonight I've fallen and I can't get up
I need your loving hands to come and pick me up
And every night I miss you
I can just look up
And know the stars are 
Holding you, holding you, holding you
Tonight

I sing
Tonight I've fallen and I can't get up
I need your loving hands to come and pick me up
And every night I miss you
I can just look up
And know the stars are 
Holding you, holding you, holding you
Tonight




I'm having one of those days today. Think breakdown. Think sitting on Mark's bed sobbing my eyes out for ages. Think stress smoking and listening to sad 8Tracks playlists. Think blogging lyrics to said songs at 4 in the morning when I still have 1,500 words of an essay to write, and it's due in 6 hours. I think this makes me a proper hipster. 

Reading... Paper... Blog...

So... I have about 5,000 words to write for class before next week. Yet here I am, sitting in the library blogging. I'm really good at this school thing. :)

The last few weeks have definitely been crazy, to say the least. The weather got nice and like it always happens, we started spending all of our time outside. So far we have had two barbecues and a picnic over the last few weeks. We are big fans of buying the cheap disposable barbecue from the pound store and then loading up on picnic type food. Meat, burgers, crisps, chocolate and of course alcohol. Then we pack everything up and head to wherever we have decided to cook on the particular day. It's been amusing, to say the least, watching a group of British boys trying to light a disposable barbecue in the wind. One of my favourite days happened last week. I got a text off Jo in the early afternoon asking if I wanted to walk to Main Arts with her to turn in a paper. After getting everything turned in, we decided to hit up Morrisons and buy some food. It was just too nice of a day to not sit outside and enjoy the weather with a little picnic. 20 quid worth of snack food and alcohol later, we were sitting outside J Block enjoying the delicious sunshine. We called everyone that we thought would be available and we even convinced Lewis to bring his acoustic guitar over. We sat outside for hours and hours and only packed up the picnic after the sun went down and we couldn't stand the chill any more. That weekend we headed up to Roman Camp for yet another barbecue, and I'm predicting several more before the end of term with how nice the weather has been. :)

On a note a little more related to my course and what I want to do with my life, I can now say that I have met, shook hands with and talked to a famous and well published linguist. Bangor brought David Crystal to campus last week to do a series of talks on everything linguistics related. I went to three of his four talks (mostly because I couldn't be bothered to be up and at the lecture hall for 9am) and it was such an informative day! Language in the first year of life, Life as a linguist, and Language Death. All three of the talks were very interesting and I feel like I learned a lot and I have plenty to think about now. The second talk of the day, life as a linguist, was one that I feel I needed to hear. I love linguistics, but I have no idea what I want to do with my life at this point, so hearing this talk and hearing the adventures and things that Professor Crystal has gotten to have in his career has reminded me why I was attracted to this field of study. I bought his autobiography (around which this talk was based) and I got to have my nerdy linguistics moment when he signed my copy of the book. When I have more time and less essays to write, I'm looking forward to sitting down and reading it. The last talk of the day, on language death was interesting as well. I did a final research paper for Purnell last year on language death, so I had done quite a bit of background research on the topic prior to hearing Crystal's speech. As he started talking though, I was thinking that his ideas sounded oddly familiar, and seemed to follow the gist of what I had written about in that paper. I checked my Central folder on my computer when I got home and I found out why. David Crystal had been my main source when I wrote that paper, and here he was, standing in front of me explaining his ideas in real life. I'm just saying, it was a fantastic day and I'm so happy to have gotten the opportunity to hear Professor Crystal speak at Bangor. We definitely don't get those sorts of opportunities at Central every day!

So besides trying to get through these three essays and still have time to hang out with everyone and enjoy the weather (the second option may be getting more of my attention at this point...), we are getting sooooo close to Easter Break! We get a full three weeks off from the university, and I'm getting excited. I think for the first week I will head over to Granada, Spain and see the study abroad students there and then the second week, Shireen and I are going to Italy!!! :) Tickets are booked, hostels are reserved, money is changed over to Euros, and now all we have to do is pack and get on the plane. A week wandering around Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples with Shireen is sounding pretty awesome at the moment. :) For the last week of break it's probably going to be pretty chill. I have a paper due soon after Easter and so I will probably need a few days to actually get to work on that... and I may head down to London for a day or two to see Jason and the Central students there. I really like this three weeks off business, and I'm thinking that we should adopt it back at home. One week just doesn't seem like enough time to fully enjoy a break from school. ;)

After Easter though, I know that time is slowly running out until I have to catch a plane and head back to America. I'm still not ready to leave yet, and I know that when we get back to Bangor and into exams after all of our travels that it will start to hit me how little time I have left. But for now, I'm not thinking about it. I'm going to focus on school, picnics, Italy!, and just enjoying the time we have left in Bangor.

Oh hey, USA. I hadn't seen you in quite awhile...

Well... I can officially cross "Be an illegal immigrant" off my to-do list. Not that that was on my list, but hey, it's there now right? To explain, after my decision to stay in Bangor for the full academic year I was never told I would need a visa. So instead of going home and getting that taken care of over Christmas break, I went to Germany, Austria and the Netherlands and had a rockin' time with Erik. When we returned to Liverpool on our way back to Wales, I was stopped at border control and then had to wait in "passport jail" while they decided what to do with me. Technically trying to enter the UK again without a visa was very illegal and they weren't very happy about it. Understandably. So the immigration lady let me in with a stamp for one month, long enough to finish my exams and get out of dodge. Well then I got ill and was in no shape to get on an international flight, so I had to wait until I felt better and we got stuff sorted out with Central and Bangor about how we were going to resolve this issue.
So on Valentine's Day, instead of going to class, going out with friends and hanging with my flat, I was on a train headed for the Manchester airport at 5:15am. I flew into Chicago and then back to Des Moines and was once again in my own house with my parents before dinner. It was good to be back home (though not on the best terms) but it was really weird at the same time. I wasn't supposed to be home, so I was pretty bitter about that. I would have much rather still been in Bangor; going to class, partying and hanging out with everyone. I had my paperwork finished, fingerprints done and application mailed off before lunch on Tuesday, so then I just had two weeks to blow in Iowa. Hm... what did I do for fun when I lived and studied there? Needless to say I learned pretty quickly that the UK and Europe in general is based around a much more social scene. There always seems to be something to do and even in the down time I don't feel bored. I ended up spending most of my two weeks driving around DSM, drinking coffee and being a hipster in Smokey Row, and keeping up on the classes that I was missing. I did get to see a lot of my family and catch up with them and I also had a really good weekend at Central.
I didn't tell any of my friends that I was coming home (except Erik and Lucy) so when I showed up on campus it was definitely a surprise for people who weren't expecting to see me until June. I had a lot of fun walking up to my friends and watching their faces as they tried to work out why I was standing in front of them. I got to meet some of the new people to campus that I didn't get to meet since I was gone, and I learned that some people in Pella can party like we can in Bangor. :) I have hope for next year not being as boring...
My two weeks at home also gave me a lot of time to reflect on my time in Bangor so far, and the time I have remaining. Basically this was a good practice for the day that I actually have to pack my bags, get on the train, and leave this country. I have grown to love this place and the people I have met and though I want to come back as soon as I graduate from Central, I really have no guarantee that that will actually happen. I was missing everyone from Bangor while I was in Iowa (even though I had a lot of contact with them on Facebook) and I realized how much each and every one of them means to my life and my experience this year. It will be so hard to leave in June, but I am determined to make the most of these next few months before then.
My visa came to me in the mail early in my second week at home, so that was a huge relief. I now have legal clearance to be in the United Kingdom and though it cost a ton of money and a lot of stress in my life, I'm glad I can be back in Bangor enjoying time with everyone. My plane back left Des Moines around 11:30 Monday the 28th and after a five hour layover in Chicago, we were flying back towards England. I love traveling, don't get me wrong, but international flights are not my favorite. There's something about flying for all those hours and then having to drag my luggage on four different trains to get home that just doesn't make me very happy. But after I paid the cab and dragged my suitcase up to our flat, even though I was jet-lagged and dead tired, it felt good to be home. After unpacking and getting the smell of sitting by too many people you don't know off of me, I heard Jack and Tom talking in the hall and threw open my door to see them. I was greeted by happy screams and even a nice hug from Jack. After we caught up for a bit, Shireen came over and we got to catch up. A lot happens in two weeks, so we talked for a bit and then headed down to high street. Obviously my just getting back means we go shopping and buy new shoes right? Right. Then I went to Pizza House with Jack, Tom and Lewis and we got some delicious pizza for dinner. (Buy one get one half price!) After dinner we watched a film in the kitchen which made my heart very happy, it was picking up right where we left off two weeks ago. :) I slept through the middle part of the film, that awkward sitting up sleeping because you just can't physically keep your eyes open, and at 9:30 when the movie got over I was ready for bed. 12 solid hours of sleep later and I feel much better. Shireen and I went back to high street this afternoon so she could buy her shoes, and we enjoyed our free pizza from Dominoes. (It's about time those coupons came into date!)
The week is my reading week so I have no classes. I should be working on the papers that are due in about a month... but instead I'm enjoying the sunshine and getting to catch up with everyone. Tonight we are going over the H block to hang out and it will be awesome to see them again. The rest of my week is filling up quickly with Skype dates, coffee dates and nights out. Our crayon party (where we go for a pub crawl dress as Crayola crayons) is on Friday and Jo and I still have so much to get ready for that! My papers might have to wait until next week, but it's alright. I'm so happy to be back in Bangor. :)

Things are the same, but there's just something missing...

It is sooo good to be back in Bangor after our adventures in Europe. I like having my own bed, clean clothes and not having to live out of a suitcase. I had such an amazing time in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, and it was good to have Erik in Bangor. Now I feel like my stories and everything will make more sense when we talk, and I love showing this place and my life here to friends from home!

After Erik set off for Dublin and his plane back to the states, I had to get ready to greet the 20 new Americans. They got in Thursday, and my first introduction was that afternoon during one of their welcome meetings. Tecwyn had told me I could stop by at 4 to meet everyone, but sometimes timing is difficult. I got to the Greek Room in Main Arts at 3:57 and he was already talking to them about the important information they need to know. I couldn't walk in during his instructions on what to do in the event of a terrorist attack, he would just get distracted and they would never actually know what to do... so I just stood in the hallway for a good long time. Once he started handing out their info packets, I thought that would be a good time to make my entrance. Super awkward. I open the door and am greeted by 18 tired and jet lagged students and Tecwyn stopped what he was doing to introduce me. Needless to say, I didn't have anything profound to say to them at that point, so I just found a seat and listened to the same info I heard several months ago. It was good to walk back to campus with them though, and I got to meet several of the non Central students, and catch up with some of the Central kids. When we got back to Ffridd, I got to get rid of most of the boxes I had been storing in the kitchen (which will hopefully make our cleaner a happier lady), and my flatmates got to help several people set up their internet.

That evening, we had the welcome meeting in Bar Uno, and that was tons of fun. I don't say no to a free meal and it was a good opportunity to chat with everyone and answer some of their questions about life in Bangor and things at the university. After dinner I headed back to the flat to get rid of the final few boxes and then headed over to Uno to play pool with my flat. Jo, Jake, Grant, Ben and Lewis ended up joining us, so it turned into quite the party. After a few rounds of drinks and pool, we were asked if we would be interested in joining the Pub Quiz. For 3 quid, we decided we could give it a go. Pub Quiz is hard though! Grant and I kept saying how stupid we felt, like American school taught us basically nothing. With our seven minds working on it, we managed to answer all of the questions with some confidence and sent our sheet away for marking. When the "host" announced that Gay Mark (our really creative team name) had won, we laughed at first... and then we realized what she had actually said! So we were 15 pounds richer. Instead of splitting the money between seven of us, we turned around and bought alcohol with it. We got a relatively nice Top Shelf and a few Cokes for our money. It was a good night out with the flat, and it was good to have everyone else there as well! After Uno, we came back to the flat and Grant joined us for some Russell Brand. We ended up drinking a bottle of vodka rather quickly between three of us (which lead to an interesting end to the evening... one broken mug, some vomit and me trying to get Jack not to sleep on my bed. Typical night in the flat though. ha ha).

The next day the new students had another meeting which I was invited to, but the vodka was not treating me well in the morning, so I just stayed in bed and revelled in the fact that I am not obligated to attend any orientation meetings. That evening Tecwyn had asked me to pick up one of the new students who was coming into town late at the train station. He said her train should have been in at 5:30 and that I should just bring her back to campus and make sure she was settled and such. Sounds easy enough... So I head down to the station around 5:15 and wait at the platform. The problem with this task though was that this student is not from Central, so I have no idea who she is. I did a little Facebook stalking before going to the station, so at least I had an idea of what she looked like, but it's difficult to look through crowds of people piling off the train for someone you have only seen in tiny Facebook photos. Well, she wasn't on the 5:30 train, so I decided to wait around for the 6:45 one, just in case. I didn't see her on that one, or the five or so that came in after that point. I was at the station until about 8:30 when Tecwyn called me and asked if I had found her yet. Nope. So I walked back up to campus, hoping that she was alright and would find her own way back to Ffridd. I then get yet another call from Papa T, asking if I would get her building code and go check and see if she maybe was already here. Things are hard when they don't have phones yet... So I went to security, got the code and headed over to Y Borth to check for her. Low and behold, there she was! All settled in and chatting with flatmates. It's a good thing I like train stations, because three hours sitting there and then missing her was just ridiculous! But I'm glad she is safe and sound! I answered some of her questions and then introduced her to a few of the other new people who were going to show her the way to their Saturday meeting. Then I headed back to the flat to watch some Star Wars.

After about three hours of sleep, I was up again and on a train heading for the Manchester airport. One of the other favors I was doing for Tecwyn was picking up the final student from the airport. She had to get in late because of a class trip to Costa Rica. So I had a nice early train from Bangor to Manchester. When I got to the airport, Shireen  (who was flying in this same day) had found her and they were buying their train tickets. This made my life so much easier, not having to search the terminal, so after reuniting with Shireen, we hopped back on the train and started our adventure back to Bangor. This was made much more difficult with three huge suitcases, but it was all good. After getting back to Bangor, I spent a good long time chatting with Jake and Ben as Ben ate soup in their hallway. The Deanna, Shireen and I headed to Morrisons for some groceries and things to get us through a few days.

After shopping, I had like 20 mins to eat a quick dinner and get ready to go out. I had made plans with my flat and some of the new Americans to have a night out. It was super windy and gross outside though, so we made it a relatively tame night. Uno, Paddy's and Rascals were our calling points, and it was actually a really good night! We had a lot of fun, and it was a good opportunity to get to know some of the new students better. The night ended with cheesy chips, a run to Late Stop and Russell Brand in our kitchen. A good night if I do say so! It's interesting though to see the new Americans out on the town. It makes me wonder if we were that timid about drinking and partying when we got here (which I assume we were), and it is interesting to see them coming into this sort of culture as someone who has lived in it for a semester already. I think it's going to be a good semester with all of them though, and I'm excited to get to know them more! We are planning a big night out at the end of this week when everyone's exams are finished, so that should be fun.

Today was pretty chill. I actually slept for most of the day while the new students went on their first fieldtrip. After some entertaining conversation with the flatmates over dinner, we went to Uno to meet   up with Nathan, who just got back into town today. Now it feels like everyone is back in Bangor, and I'm excited for when exams are over and things are back to how they were. More going out and waaaay less studying! ha ha! After a few episodes of Adventure Time, we called it a night and I decided to watch Up before heading to bed. I forgot what a good movie it was, but I ended up crying, of course. I'm a sap when it comes to movies sometimes, and this one gets me everytime.

I don't know... things here are so good! I love being here, and I'm pumped for another semester in this place I have come to consider my home. It's great to have everyone back on campus, and I'm excited to be done with exams and get into my second semester classes. My crying during Up turned into crying about last semester though, as the movie ended. Things here are so normal and everything is just the same as it was before Christmas, but there are nine important people missing from my life. Knowing that I can't just pop down to Lucy's for a chat or meet up with Jessika for coffee is difficult. It's going to be an awesome semester with my Bangor friends, flatmates and 20 new American friends, but it will never be the exact same as last semester. I cherish the memories I have with them, and I'm looking forward to Hannah's wedding when we will hopefully be reunited! But for now, I will just remember all the good times, crazy parties and awesome memories that we had last semester!

How Many Countries Can We Cross on a Train?

Well, the adventure continued at full speed after we left Vienna! We spent the New Year at the Rathausplatz in the middle of the city, celebrating and dancing with tons of people under the background of a beautiful building. There was a live blues concert and fireworks. This is the way to welcome in the New Year for sure! We even danced the traditional waltz at midnight. After the year changed over, we headed down to the subway to find a train that would lead us to food. We ended up getting noodles and pizza and then just wandering around amidst the thousands of partyers. I can say that I will honestly not have another New Year's Eve like this one, and it was so fantastic! We crashed in the office after getting home from our evening out and we spend the next day recovering and saying goodbye to all of the friends we had seen over our time in Vienna. Our train was leaving around midnight, so we spent the day packing, cleaning the office and doing our final adventures in Vienna.

Then we were on the night train and off to Munich! Night trains are an adventure, that's for sure! It is exactly like you would imagine in Harry Potter or something. A cabin with 6 seats and not a ton of room to relax. Our train to Munich we got lucky though, it only ended up being Erik, myself and this other girl for most of the journey. We got a little bit of sleep and tried to pass the hours as best we could. We ran into a little bit of trouble though as we approached Germany. Our train started it's journey in Hungary and crossed into Austria with no problem. When we got to Germany though, the insurance or something didn't work out and we couldn't go any futrher. Lame. Not what you want to hear at 4 in the morning when you are tired and stuck on a train. So we had to wait almost 2 hours for them to sort something out. We ended up switching to a way less comfortable train and continuing our way to Munich in that. But we finally made it and ditched our luggage at the hostel as soon as we possibly could. Then we bought a ticket and hopped a train to see some castles in the mountains!

We hiked up a snow covered mountain and saw the castle which was the inspiration for the Disney Castle. So beautiful! It was a cold and miserable walk up the mountain, but it was worth it to see the breath-taking mountains and castles. Then we took the horse drawn carriage down the icy path and did some souvenir shopping before catching our train back to the hostel. We were so tired by this point that it was all we could do to enjoy our free drink at the hostel bar and head back to our room to pass out. I think we literally went to bed at 8:00. We are so old! ha ha. The next morning though, we felt so much better when we woke up, if it was rather suddenly. Out of anyone we could have been staying with in our hostel, we got the world's six loudest Asians on the face of the planet. Wow, they can make soooo much noise when they are getting ready! But it's alright, we were well rested, and just hid out in our beds until they left, and then we had the place to ourselves to get ready for our adventures.

So we packed up our luggage and made plans for our second day in Munich. We tried to go to Dachau first, but then found out that everything was closed that day, so we decided to head to Olympic Stadium instead. So cool to walk around the snowy grounds and see where the Olympics were held! After that, we shopped around for a little bit before spending our lunch time in the Hofbrauhaus. Such good German beer! We had a super funny waiter, and had a really good few hours drinking beer and just relaxing a bit. We explored the city a bit more for the rest of the afternoon, and eventually made our way to our train. Another night train would take us from Munich to Berlin. This one was there on time, and it had actually had technical problems, meaning that we got a more comfortable car to sleep in than we had actually paid for. Thank you technical problems. We were so tired at this point though, that we would have slept anywhere. Our cabin mate this time was a Polish boy who talked a lot. Wow. So we just slept and then he couldn't talk to us. ha ha.

We only had a day in Berlin, so we ditched our luggage in lockers and set out to explore the city. My days of German Cultural History were definitely coming back to me as we followed the path of the wall, and saw the historic places associated with that time in German history. Such cool stuff to see! At one point, we were standing near Checkpoint Charlie, reading on the history of the wall, and we saw some American students getting a tour. We asked one of the girls where she was from and she said America. She went to Luther College! What a small world. We got to talking and found out that they were on J term in Germany, and that she actually worked last summer with one of the second semester Wales students! So crazy!

After seeing the wall, we had a picnic lunch in a park outside a huge cathedral in the snow. Such a good and cheap way to enjoy the city! We did so much more walking and exploring after lunch and when we finally got tired and cold, we ended up in a coffee shop at the internet cafe. We were trying to think of what we could do until our next train took off, and we decided to see a movie. So we found a theatre, and saw Little Fockers. The movie itself was not the funniest thing I have ever seen, but I enjoyed seeing how the Germans reacted to the humor. They were the best part! After the movie, we headed back to the main train station to wait for our train.

Now we have not had the best luck with trains up to this point, and our luck would not change in Berlin. Our train first said it was delayed by 45 minutes, which sucked, but we could get over it. We sat in the ticket office on the floor, trying to keep warm and watch all our luggage. I fell asleep for a bit and then we headed back to the platform to see how our train was doing. Delayed even more, 60 minutes. So we headed back down so we didn't have to stand in the cold for that long. We got to experience a crazy drunken guy yelling at the door in German and kicking things, which was interesting to say the least. He was our entertainment for a bit before we headed to the platform once again. We ended up standing there for ages... but finally over and hour and something late, our train showed up. Our compartment this time was full. All six seats were taken, so it was not very relaxing at all. As we made stops through the night though, we slowly lost our cabin mates, until it was just Erik and I. Then we were able to pass out until Amsterdam.

We woke up to the beautiful Dutch contryside as we wound our way towards Amsterdam. So we got ready and we were definitely glad to be off the train and in Amsterdam! We took the tram without buying tickets, and just hopped off at a stop near our hostel. I was so nervous at this point, but that was the sleep deprivation talking. We were able to check right into our hostel, and it was awesome to know we had a home for a few nights! We had a good time exploring Amsterdam and seeing everything it has to offer. Definitely a different culture here, but I'm loving it! We are going to see the Red Light District tonight, and Anne Frank's house tomorrow; other than that, we are just enjoying our few days here and relaxing a lot. We fly out of Amsterdam and into Liverpool on Saturday morning, and then we will catch the train from Liverpool up to Bangor.

I'm excited to sleep in my own bed again, and to not have to live out of a suitcase, but this has been such a fantastic adventure! I got to see so many cool things, and I'm glad Erik and I could have this European adventure together!