one Pondering Poet

2008-06-08T14:46:00.003-04:00

Wow. So it's been eons since I've written here. Got stuck in Honduras for 2 extra days (not so bad, but a little scary), finished the semester (finally), staying up at school for the summer (yay).

Maybe I'll write more in a few months. Toodles.

Here comes the sun, doo doo doo doo

2008-02-28T07:48:00.003-05:00

Off to Honduras for a much needed break from school and - I never thought I'd say this - snow. Blasphemy and sacrilege, I know! It will still be here when I get back...

I will be thinking of all of you while I'm scuba diving in the warm waters off the coast of Honduras. Well, actually, I'll probably be thinking "I cannot believe I'm actually here! Scuba diving! And I can see living creatures all around me! (Unlike Lake Superior; although the rock formations are pretty cool, I have yet to see a fish...)

Now that I've made you all jealous, I should probably tell you that I will miss you and I hope your break is relaxing (as it should be).

Peace, love, and flipflops.

a new leaf

2007-12-10T19:33:00.000-05:00

it's time for a change, i think

sick of being tired
tired of being scared
through with feeling dumb

finished with giving up
done with failing
through it all, i've come undone

it's time for a change, i think

let's see what i can do
let's see where i can go
in this life i've barely begun

i've found my feet
and there's the road
just starting out, i've already won

it's time for a change

why didn't I wear my swimsuit today?

2007-12-05T22:51:00.000-05:00

I need to go home - where ever that is. Maybe I just need to be away from here, just for a while. Away from things that remind me that I'm a failure. Away from things that remind me that I'm not really as smart as people say I am. What do they know? They're not in this head of mine. Heck, sometimes I don't even want to be in here.

Okay, that was a little harsh, but apparently that's what I do. I beat myself up. I'm too hard on myself. Always have been and probably always will be. It's part of what makes me me. I don't know why I am like this and most of the time I do not like it, but I cannot control that.

That bothers me. I thought I could. I thought I had it all down, became cool and collected. It worked for a while, but I guess it just wore off. And now I feel especially defeated because I think I should have seen it all coming. "Didn't you see that 150 foot tidal wave coming toward the beach?" I was just so fascinated by the wall of water that I forgot to evacuate. Easily distracted, I guess.

As I tread this water, with no idea how deep it is, I have become disoriented. I am not sure which is up and which is down. Left or right? Where'd the sun go? And why didn't I wear my swimsuit today?

Funky Fall

2007-10-06T20:45:00.000-04:00

Hey folks,

I know it's been a while, but what can I say? Life happens.

The rest of my summer flew by -- working and going to summer school. I actually did much better than I thought I would in Chemistry; a nice surprise. I spent a lot of time with my Chemistry book. Something I've never done before, but was obviously needed since it paid off in the end.

Back at school is proving to be a challenge, though. I have already forgotten how to read. Well, you know. Not forgotten how, but forgotten the benefit really. I'd much rather be doing something else more appealing. And this semester is not the one to have that mindset. Two 5-credit classes? No no.

I was with a friend earlier today explaining my situation and they told me that to get out of a "funk," as I like to call it, I just need one consistency in my life. Something I do everyday no matter what. Same time, every day. No matter what. I am willing to try anything because I'm not a big fan of this "funky" thing I'm in.

Well, here goes...

Rewind - Favorite Day in Vienna

2007-06-12T14:12:00.000-04:00

Still in one piece after 4 not so fun plane rides and a month in Vienna; 2 classes of Chem II over; working for my neighbor again (nex to the old house). I'd say that's pretty good for being back in the states for 2.5 days, wouldn't you?

Sorry about the whole leaving you hangin' there thing the last bit of my trip, but if you want the whole story, you're going to have to talk to me. I'm not going to post it here.

So, the second half of my trip was awesome! I wish I had a better word to describe it, but I can't think of one right now and I'm too lazy to open the thesaurus. (I hope they name a dinosaur Thesaurus...have they yet? They should.) While my prof had us running around the city exploring and reading (it was a history course, afterall), I did some exploring of my own.

Let me tell you about my favorite day. Day 23, Sunday, 6-3-07
I woke up a little later than usual and was a tad mad at myself because I totally could have gone to church. Oh well, I couldn't stay mad too long. I started to read for class. That got really boring really fast. After 15 minutes, it was just me and Neil in the apartment and I decided I needed to get out for a while. I got dressed and packed my backpack w/ my books, some snacks, water, my camera, wallet, and rain jacket (just in case); it looked a little cloudy.

When I got to the bottom of my favorite 102 stairs and walked out the door, I headed up the street towards the Vienna University Botanical Gardens. (I went there quite often; they were only 2 blocks away.) On the way there, I passed Jenna who was coming back from her run:
"Where ya goin'?"
"I'm going to read somewhere else."
"Ok."
"I can't stay in the apartment all day."

I think she stopped listening after she said "Ok," but whatever. I kept walking and didn't look back.

Once you reached the garden wall, the only entrance was a few blocks further down the street. Or so I thought. I found another one. It was a smaller gate (about the width of a door, maybe 8 feet tall) that was half hidden by ivy. I wouldn't have seen it had it not been open. I walked up to it and peeked in. There were 5 concrete stairs in front of me, no hand rails, and 2 elderly women sitting on the right side. They were speaking German, but I wasn't paying attention to what they were saying. As long as they weren't yelling at me for using this entrance, I didn't care what they were talking about. So, I walked in and up the stairs like I had somewhere to go and went off to the right past the two women.

I love this place. We need more parks and gardens like this back at home. I walked around for a bit and took some picture of some flowers. Then I found a bench and started to read. I heard some footsteps coming up fast, and looking up from my book, I saw a runner. 30 seconds later, another one. And 1 minute later, another. I wish I could run. Another runner. Maybe I should give it another try when I get back to the States...haha.

Something peculiar I noticed on my trip was a difference between European and American runners. This may just be a fluke, but I have never seen an American run in black before. Most of the Europeans wore black or dark clothing when they ran; even if it was sunny and 80 degrees out. Most of the people I know back home wear light colors or close to nothing when they run. Not even the guys were taking their shirts off. I even saw one guy running in a polo -- aren't those heavy?! Weird? I'll let you be the judge of that.

Well, noticing that this bench was in a high running-traffic area, I decided to walk some more and find a bench where I wouldn't be so distracted. I finally found one and parked it (haha). It had some nice tree cover too, which came in handy when it started to rain. I was able to read well into the rain storm before I decided to go walk around in it. After I ate a snack and put everything back in my bag, I put my rain jacket on and started making my way towards the bigger gate at the other end of the garden. I must have walked around in the rain for at least 45 minutes. I love rain.

I didn't know what I wanted to do the rest of the day, so I told myself I'd just start walking and see where I ended up. (You should play that game one day, it's fun. You never know where you're going to go...) I walked a block to the subway and took it to Stephansplatz and, you guessed it, Stephansdom. There was something about this Cathedral that kept drawing me back to it. I wish I could have spent more time in it -- and I wish I would have gone to mass there.

I walked up to the Cathedral, stopped to look up even though rain fell in my face, and walked in the door. There were a lot of people inside, as there usually are because it is a big tourist spot, but they had gone from my sight as soon as they had entered it. It was just me in the Cathedral. I walked to the left and sat down on a pew for a while. I said a prayer. I didn't want to leave, but something or someone told me it was time to keep going. Today is my day.

I said goodbye to the Cathedral, like I always did. I got into the habit because I never knew when would be the last time I'd see it. It sounds silly, but we all have things like that... I walked down Stephansplatz. I passed people shopping, eating, being affectionate, enjoying life. Why do people care if a couple stops to share a hug and a kiss (or many)? I am constantly hearing, "PDA!" or "I don't want to see that." Get a grip. They've been blessed with someone who loves them and they're comfortable with showing it. God bless them. Speaking of which, I got to play translator between a very cute couple. I hope they figured something out...

All of a sudden, I hear: (to help you all -- guy, me, girl)

"Entschuldigung." (Excuse me.) I look to my right and see a very cute guy standing next to a girl with a hopeful look on her face.

"Ja?" (Yes?) I reply

"Verstehst du Deutsch?" (Do you understand German?)

"Ein bisschen." (A little.) I didn't know what I was getting myself into just yet...

"Sie spricht nur Englisch. Ich spreche nur Deutsch. (She speaks only English. I speak only German.) Pointing to the girl and himself, respectively.
"Kannst du bitte ihr ein paar Frage stellen?" (Can you please ask her a few questions?)

"Ja." (Yes.) With a look of shock, I'm sure.

"Thank you for doing this."

I smile.

"Bitte frag wie lange noch sie in Wien wird." (Please ask how much longer she will be in Vienna.)

to girl: "How much longer will you be in Vienna?"

raising arms: "15 minutes! I have to go back home!"

to guy: "Nur funfzehn minuten." (Only 15 minutes.)

"Nur funfzehn minuten?! Oh jeh!" (Only 15 minutes! Oh man!)
"Bitte frag sie wann wir wieder treffen konnen." (Please ask her when we can meet again.)

to girl: "He wants to know when you can meet again."

flustered: "When? How? Where? I have to leave!"

to guy: "Wann? Wie? Wo? Sie musst weggehen." (When? How? Where? She has to go away.)

guy puts hands on head, doesn't know what to do: "Danke. Danke fuer deine hilfe. (Thank you. Thanks for your help.)

"Thanks for trying."

to guy: "Tut mir leid. (I'm sorry.)

to girl: "Good luck. I wish I could do more."

"Thank you."

I didn't want to walk away, but I didn't know what else to do. I kept thinking How had they been communicating up until then and How long had they been attempting hanging out? When they first got my attention, I thought they wanted me to take their picture or something. Language barriers suck. Learn a foreign language. And USE it.

While I was thinking, my feet were doing the navigating and all of a sudden I found myself at the Hofburg Apartments (another awesome building in the city). I walked through the courtyard and found myself in a new place. Exciting. Ooh. A tour group. Yeah, I snuck in for 15 minutes. It would have been longer had the tour not been coming to an end and heading in the direction I had just come from. Oh well.

Still walking, I found myself passing an open area with some monument to someone on the right and the Vienna National Library on the left. HUGE building. I didn't want to go in, for fear of getting lost. So I kept walking. Oooh. Two buildings that mirror eachother. I had to write about this in a journal entry for my class. The Museums! I found them!

And in 2 minutes I found myself in between the Kunsthistorisches (art history) and Naturhistorishes (natural history) Museums. Guess which one I went into. That's right, Natural History, all the way. The entrance fee was only 3,50 Euro -- there are some perks to being a student. I only had 2.5 hours to spend looking around by the time I got there, but that was going to have to do. To tell you the truth, I could have spent ALL day in there. (I went back another time, but I only had 2 hours that time. It was better than nothing.)

Here's a bit about what was inside:
-a whole WING dedicated to rocks, minerals, and the like (from all over the world); i could have slept in a geode they had, it was so big!
-HUGE zoological collection : )
-cool section w/ microscopes -- up close with the microscopic world
-a little aquaruim downstairs (still better than the Vienna Aquarium!)
-nice cafe on the top floor
-awesome WING of sea creatures
-separate shark ROOM! (shark = "hai" in German, pronounced "hi", you will be quizzed at a later date)
-pretty sweet gift shop in which I carried on a conversation completely in German with the cashier (I'm so proud of me)

This museum is my new favorite. I loved it and I didn't want to leave. The displays were amazing, very realistic and some were popping out of the cases! Check out this display!

Oh my gosh. This museum also has the Venus of Willendorf. (Look it up. You should know this.) I was so excited when I saw it, I almost had a heart attack! I hope I get to go back there some day.

The museum closed at 6:30, as did most other places except for restaurants, so I decided to start heading back to the apartment. I found a subway stop I'd never been to before and went down. Wait, is this it? All of a sudden I got really excited because this was the stop I had always wanted to see from outside of the train! It was Volkstheater! This stop is so cool! When you go down the escalator, the walls are lined with huge paintings and when you get to the bottom, the floor and the display cases are shiny and glittery. It's a fun stop. I'm so glad I ended up finding it. It made my day.

I know that was a long one, but thanks for sticking with me. That was the best day on the trip. I didn't have to worry about anyone but me. I went where I wanted to go and did what I wanted to do. I had fun. It was my day. All for me. And it rained.

teh-sad

2007-06-06T07:38:00.000-04:00

sorry kids, no more blogging until i get back to the states. (grumbling in the cheap seats) hey, it's been hectic the past few days and it's gonna get worse from here on out! so deal with it. when i get home, i'll post more pictures and write more, i promise. some things happened that i wasn't expecting...such is life. so, for now, this is the Taytor, signing off.

...

2007-05-29T07:52:00.000-04:00

sorry, the blogging will have to be postponed a little longer... i have HOMEWORK to do. i know, right? who's idea was that? oh yeah, Prof. Strauss. Vielen dank (thank you very much).

Muenchen (Munich)... Just kidding

2007-05-27T15:54:00.000-04:00

Hey Kids! Sorry I was MIA for a few days, but I was in Munich, Germany! I'd tell you all about it right now, but I have a slight headache and sitting in front of the computer screen longer than it takes to compose this could be hazardous to my health. And as most of you know, my "slight" headaches are not like your slight headaches. So deal with it. I'll dish out the details tomorrow. Pictures too if you're nice. Peace, love, and wiener schnitzel. Gute Nacht (Good Night).

Fotos! (Photos!)

2007-05-23T15:05:00.001-04:00

I promised I'd write more later, so here I am! I'm going to put mostly pictures here, so please enjoy! We'll see how this works!

Here's the guy who owned the pub at which we ate the first night. The pub is called ,,Die Erste Esterhazy". (Look up Esterhazy - you'll get a little history lesson. Hint: Hungarian family connected with Franz Joseph - have fun!) Frau Strauss told him we wanted to hear about the pub and it's history so we listened to him for 25 minutes while we tried not to fall asleep. We weren't trying to be rude - we were just so tired!

This is Stephansdom (St. Peters Cathedral). It is the most gorgeous Cathedral I have ever been in. I will go to mass here soon. And, Ryan, it is not completely gold on the inside. I wish I could get a picture of the whole cathedral, but it is closely surrounded by other buildings. This is the best I could do up close. It was such a beautiful day.

These feet and hands belong to The Terminator. We found this in a mall (if you could call it that) one day on Mariahilferstrasse, so I had to take a picture. They were quite big, despite how the picture makes them seem. Oh well. "It's notta tumah!

This is Peterskirche (St. Peters Church) and I hope to go to mass sometime while I am here. Just look at it. (No more words.)

Yeah, the public "restrooms"... are underground.
Won't be trying those out any time soon...

It was nice to see some Americans too. It was interesting that we should see one from Virginia Tech...

Hilary and Alcha getting their books signed by Lonnie Johnson. He's the author of one of the books we had to read for GR 310. That's right, we got to meet the author and listen to him talk for an hour and a half!

And here's how Neil felt about that...

And last, but not least, the apartment

Our front door...102 stairs above the ground.

Stepping through the front door, this is what you see in front of you - the end of the kitchen with the very tiny table and little tv in it. It's cute, though... Directly to the right is the toilet and to the left is the shower, through which you get to one of the bedrooms.

The toilet. In it's own room. Interesting...

The shower room. Awesome bathtub. Great for doing laundry.

The shower room leads into the bedroom of Alcha and Hilary. And through the bathroom is the only way to get in and out.

The rest of the kitchen looking at the very tiny table and the small tv from the other side of the apartment. It's a long, skinny kitchen; it's cute.

Neil's room. It's the hang-out because it has the really cool couch. It also has the computer.

And the room that Jenna, Laura, and I sleep in. Home sweet Home until June 10th!

Well, I am tired and should review before my little test tomorrow. I love you all! Bis dann! ('til later!)

later today, wednesday

2007-05-23T02:18:00.001-04:00

i'll write another one today...i love you and miss you all! mwah!

Here it is! Day 7, Saturday, 5-19-07

2007-05-19T17:59:00.000-04:00

Wie geht's? (How goes it?/What's up?)

The 7th day was awesome! Well, the first part anyway. I got up at 8am because Alcha, Charlotte, and I went to the ZOO today! SOOO AWESOME! The Vienna Zoo (Wien Tierpark) is the oldest zoo in the world. How cool is that? And it is the best zoo I've ever been in. Okay, so I haven't been in more than, oh, maybe 5 zoos in my entire life, but it was pretty sweet. I have lots of pics, a few of which are just below!

OMG, I have to tell you about our trip TO the Zoo. Okay, we had to take 3 trains to get there. I know that sounds like a lot, but it wasn't. We rode one for 1 stop, the second for 2 stops, and the third for 7 stops, I think. That's not very far in this city. I keep trying to compare this city to Chicago. No, no, no. I could spit from one side of a Vienna city block to the other. In Chicago, I would die trying to run a block. I love it here. :) Okay, back to the real reason I'm telling you this side story. So, we get off at a stop called Schoenbrunn, named for a castle, to walk to the Zoo, because that's what one of our buddies on the trip, Jeff, told us to do. (Shakey fist! We discover later that there is actually a stop on the map labeled specifically for the Zoo. Thank you Jeff. Because of your stupidity, you have added at least 1/2 mile to our walking distance for the day. Vielen dank (many thanks).) On this extra 1/2 mile walk, we were on a sidewalk next to a very busy one way road going the opposite direction we were walking. We were talking about the cool animals we were going to see, wondering if we were even heading in the right direction, when all of a sudden we hear a car honk its horn. Alcha said "Oh no." I didn't know what she meant because I'm used to people honking their horns all the time. I thought, um. it's no big deal. someone's probably being stupid somewhere. Oh, no. Some guy in a very small, yet extremely expensive gold convertible with a black top pulled over to the side by us and got out with a map and said "Budapesht?"

My stomach sank. All I could think was, Crap, I'm the closest to this guy's car and neither of the other two are going to talk to him; we can't just walk away. That's rude. Here's my attempt at a conversation - in GERMAN - WITH A STRANGER.

Budapesht? (i know that's not how you spell it, but that's how the guy said it)
"Ich weiss nicht. Es tut mir Leid." (me: I don't know. I'm sorry.)
Budapesht. guy points to map
"Ich weiss nicht. Sprechen Sie Englisch?" (me: I don't know. Do you speak English?) i look at Alcha, who looks a tad worried - flight mode out of fight or flight
Nein. Budapesht? points to map again
"Es tut mir Leid, aber wir sind nur Touristen. Wir wissen nicht wo das ist." (me: I'm sorry, but we're only tourists. We don't know where that is.)
Budapesht. guy's finger still on Budapest
"Ich weiss nicht." (me: I don't know.)
Ja. Okay. guy folds map
"Es tut mir sehr Leid." (me: I'm very sorry.)
guy gets back in car - - - we quickly start walking the same direction we were going

That was a little nerve-wracking. I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't tell if Alcha and Charlotte were upset that I told him we were tourists, but I didn't know what else to tell him because he kept asking. They sure weren't helping me. I figured if he knew we weren't from there, he'd go away and find someone else to talk to. What else was I supposed to do? Ach, meine gute (oh my goodness). Thankfully, a few minutes after that shenaningans was over, we found the entrance to the entrance to the Zoo. We had to walk through a garden first; it was B-E-A-UTIFUL.

The entrance fee to the zoo was only 5 Euro (student discount) :) and it was so worth it. It was worth every bit of it. Here's some of what was there:

-Their aquarium was awesome - even included a walk-thru tunnel where fish swim over you :)

-they had fountains at some places for kids to play in if it was hot
-they had more animals than the brookfield zoo and lincoln zoo combined :o
-they had birds i've never seen at a zoo before - couldn't tell you what they were, tho - the signs were all in german and i didn't bring my dictionary. can you tell what this sign is for? it says ,,Flusspferd"

-they had stuff you don't normally see in a Zoo, like Giant Pandas

-and they do not have shops every 20 effin feet! just one at the exit - i was a fan.

Vienna also has an Aquarium called ,,Haus des Meeres". We were so excited to go there, especially for the FEEDING at 15:00 (3pm). We hop on some more trains and arrive at 20 'til. The building is weird. It looks like a war fortress; ugly grey except for a strip of blue from the ground to 8' up, almost no windows and a look-out post on each corner at the top of the building.

-entrance fee - 10,30 Euro (student discount - 7,20: only on Monday, Friday = RIPOFF!)
-up to 5th floor for sharks: there's only ONE in the tank and it's laying on the bottom gasping to move oxygen over it's gills
-tanks dirty
-poor variety of fish
-some fish dead
-some fish sick, swore some had ick
-2 best things about place were: view from top (saw all of Vienna) and Tom (we named a Pufferfish who kept swimming the same exact route in it's tank - kinda looked like it was smiling too)

The aquarium was sooo NOT worth it. It was very disappointing.

Well kids, it's almost 2am here and I'm tired. I love you all and I hope to hear from you soon! Oh! Before I forget to tell you, it looks like I'll get to go to Salzburg and Munich afterall, thanks to the P's and the sister. I have such a great family. I'll never be able to thank you enough for everything you've done and are doing for me. I truly am blessed to have you three and I thank God every day that He made it so. Love, hugs, and kisses meine Familie!

Love,
the littlest one

coming soon!

2007-05-19T13:56:00.000-04:00

hey avid blog-readers! i have lots to write about, but not a lot of time to do it now. i will be updating tonight after i get back from Pirates 3. : ) (it starts at 10pm my time-your turn to do the math. that means you ROB!) i love you and miss you all! hugs and kisses! bis spaeter! ('til later!) deine kaitlyn

Guten Tag! (Good Day!)

2007-05-16T19:17:00.000-04:00

Well, actually, good morning for me and good evening for you all. It's 1:17am here and 7:17pm for the Yoopers/6:17pm for the Fam. Today was a good day. It was kind of cold, though. And grey. I need to buy a hoodie or something. : /

I woke up at 8am and went to my new class at 9am. It was really cool because my german ability was actually challenged. My grammar teacher is really nice (and "hot!" according to Neil) and my conversation teacher is cool too. His name is Matthias (pronounced Mah-tie-us). I LOVE the german language! After class, Neil, Jenna, Laura, and I went to Mariahilfstrasse to shop around - we were told that the cheaper department stores were there. We were correctly informed. I found some things I may want to purchase, but I have to check on the money situation - I hate money.

So, due to money, and my need to go to Greece and see Kristin, I'm not going to London. Laura is still going, but I had to tell her today that I couldn't. I just don't think I'll have enough money for the rest of the time I'm here and for the trip to Greece. And Neil and Jenna are going to Munich this weekend - and I don't think I can afford that either. That sucks - cuz that's in Germany and I really want to go. Oh well, I guess it's just not meant to be this trip.

So, this weekend, I will be hanging around Vienna working on homework (yes, we get homework from ActiLingua, but not much) and exploring more of the city. Hopefully, I will find someone to clown around with because all my closest friends will be gone until Sunday.

On a happier note, today, Thursday, May 17th, is a Feiertag (Holiday)! We have NO CLASS! The roomies and I are going to do some exploring for our NMU class and get some note-taking out of the way. Maybe I'll write my response paper this weekend...

Okay, ich bin ein bisschen muede. Jetzt schlafe ich ein, um einen guten Tag zu haben. (Okay, I'm a little tired. Now I'm going to fall asleep in order to have a good day.)
Deine Kaitlyn

der dritte Tag in Wien (3rd day in Vienna)

2007-05-15T14:53:00.000-04:00

Hallo alle! Hello everyone! I miss you all so much! I am doing very well and adjusting just fine to Viennese city-life. We already know how to get to the inner-city by train/subway (both are required) and have been there once every day. We found a pizza place 3 m from our Jugendherberge (youth apartment building) and that's where we got dinner from tonight. We didn't feel like walking very far because it was a bit colder than it has been - and it was raining. The roomies are talking about going out for drinks later, but I don't know if I'll go with tonight; next time.

This weekend, Laura is planning to go to London and I'm thinking about going with her. I have to talk to the P's, though. (Yeah, that's right, this is where you come in Mutti and Daddio; I'll be calling you later.) The exchange rate is not in our favor. Example: $100.00 = 60 EURO - Not so good. I really want to go shopping for something cute to wear, but I need some convincing to try stuff on (ERNIE! this is where you come in!) I also don't want to spend too much money, but there are so many great stores here!

Oh! I almost forgot! I went to ActiLingua today with Frau Strauss and she was able to arrange it so I could take the placement test again! I am now in the next class up. Yay! So, tomorrow MORNING I go to class with Neil and I'm done at 12:15pm! Woo hoo! And then after the afternoon class is done, we are all sprinting to the inner-city to meet the author of one of the books we're reading for our NMU class. That should be interesting.

Okay, I think it's time to share Neil's computer again. I love you all and I miss you all so much! Tschau! (Later!) Deine Kaitlyn (your Kaitlyn)

der zweiten Tag in Wien (Day 2 in Vienna)

2007-05-14T17:21:00.000-04:00

Hello all! Today was day 3 on the Vienna Trip, second day in the city of Vienna! We started our language classes today and I think I may be in the wrong one. It was a bit too easy. We spent one half working on grammar and the other half on conversational skills. I understood every single word my teachers said and got every single answer correct on the worksheets we did. We test every Thursday, though, so hopefully I will be moved soon. Oh yeah, and my class is in the afternoon (2:15-5:30pm). That kind of sucks - most of my roomies have class in the morning (9:00-12:15). That makes going on excursions a bit difficult. I don't want to have to rush around seeing things in the morning and get to class for a few hours. And the next class up is in the morning. Let's hope I get into that one!

My roomies were so nice today! They waited for me to get done with class to go "shopping" at Stephansplatz. We figured out the subway and the train on the first try, despite a mix up yesterday while we were all together as a group. We walked around for a while and went into some shops, but I haven't purchased anything yet. Then we found a cute Pizzeria outside. Brace yourself, B-rock. I ate the best pizza EVER for supper tonight. It was authentic Italian pizza - and it was AMAZING. I know that's hard to believe, but don't get mad until you try it. : )
I haven't had any alcoholic beverages yet - sorry Ernie - but I will, don't worry. I'm waiting until I'm at the top of my game - my stomach is still a little iffy. Neil and I made a pact to share them all because neither of us are big drinkers. He's psyched.

Anywho, our apartment rocks. There's 6 of us staying here; 5 girls and Neil. I asked if he'd be okay living with 5 girls and he said he couldn't wait. Awesome. It's cool, Mutti. He has his own room; Laura, Jenna, and I are in a room; and Alcha and Hilary are in a room. The kitchen is cool too. It's fully loaded. The bathrooms are interesting, though. The toilet is in a completely different room than the shower. And to get to Alcha and Hilary's room, you have to walk through the shower room, haha. We're working it out, though. No worries there. Oh, the one bad thing is that our apartment is on the 4th floor. That's over 80 stairs to get here. And we walk EVERYWHERE. I love all the walking, though. We won't gain any weight with all the food we're eating! And there is food everywhere. After supper tonight, we had Gelato - the best ice cream in the world. I'm told we're going to eat it every night, but I'm not sure I can handle that. Neil and Jenna are very excited, though.

Some of the excursions we're planning are a trip to Germany this weekend, if our ActiLingua excursion is cancelled, and a trip to Greece the weekend of the 25th to see my first NMU roommate, Kristin. I'm so excited! I hope it all works out!

Well, I'm using Neil's computer, so I should share now. I love you and miss you all! Bis naechsten Mal! (Until next time!)

I'm in Vienna!

2007-05-13T16:34:00.000-04:00

I arrived in Vienna today (yes, safely)! (I'm 6 hours ahead of you Marquetters, and 7 hours ahead of the Family). And I'm very tired, so I'm going to bed. I'll blog tomorrow. Love you and miss you all!

auf Wiedersehen! (See you later!)

2007-05-12T12:18:00.000-04:00

Check ya later, kids! The next time I write here, I'll be in Wien (Vienna). I hope you all have a great next 4 weeks and I'll keep you posted as often as I can. I'm not making any promises to blog every single day because I don't know what our schedule is going to be like yet. I love you all and I'll miss you lots! Tschus! (Later!)

Dairyland, Day 4 -- May 9, 2007

2007-05-09T22:42:00.000-04:00

What did I do today?

-woke up way too early
-had vanilla pudding for breakfast, and then later some left-over pasta for brunch
-organized some kitchen stuff for my mom (including the china; that was fun)
-packed most of my stuff for Vienna
-went for a bike ride and found: a catholic book and gift store, the recplex
-got a tour of the RecPlex facilities - we may join (they have Racquetball Courts! : ) and one wall is all glass so people can watch you play - not sure if I like that feature...)
-took a long, but much needed nap
-had ice cream for dinner - I ate a whole banana split by myself! : ) yay me!

I'd say that's a pretty good day. I still have some packing (and buying) to do; I hope I'll get it all done!

Time for bed. Gute Nacht! (Good night!)

Dairyland Day 1 -- Sunday, May 6, 2007

2007-05-07T16:50:00.000-04:00

Wisconsin...how shall I describe thee? Cheesy comes to mind. Anywho, I arrived at the new house on Saturday night around 9:30 or something. It was weird. I got out of the truck and my mom was waiting to give me a hug. Then right away she whisked me inside to give me a tour. It's a great place. It's really nice; just what they wanted - two bedrooms, two bathrooms, laundry room, and a greatroom with an eat-in kitchen, living room, and dining area (all on the same floor). Oh, and a 2 car garage that is so small it won't even fit my dad's truck. Sorry Daddio! And the best part is my room -- the full basement underneath it all. Well, for the summer I get to stay in the "guest room" which is cool, but after that my stuff is being demoted to the land below. It's alright though, because I'll be up at school. And hopefully when I come home for my first break, they'll have the hot tub in the basement by then. That's right, i said hot tub.

After the tour, I ate some food and then set myself up on the couch for the night. I slept for a long time - 9 hours, I think - which brings us to the official start of Day 1 in Dairyland.

Sunday morning I got up after my mom came out into the living room and said "what was that beeping noise?" "Oh," i said. "I forgot I set my alarm." Actually, I didn't even hear it the first two times it went off. Oops. Breakfast was sweet after an hour of searching for the frying pan. We had pancakes and bacon. I love pancakes.
Then we went to church at St. Anne's. Mass was at 10:15am and we left the house a little before 10 because my dad likes to be early. Wait, no. He doesn't like to be late. (Trust me, there's a difference.) And we were there at 10:05am. Apparently, they don't live that far away from the church.

Okay, let me tell you about St. Anne's. The building is beautiful. My mom said it reminded her of Frank Lloyd Wright, but I don't know where she gets that from. Anywho, we walk through the doors, both of which are held open for us by younger boys, about 10 I'd say, both wearing name tags. That's cute, I think to myself. And they both say hello. Even cuter. Then we get inside. I look around and it occurs to me that EVERYONE is wearing a name tag. And not one you get at parties that you haphazardly write your own name on, oh no. These are printed, laminated, and put on cords that are worn like necklaces. And they're all kept on a table in folders organized by last name. You know, so you don't have to worry about leaving your identity at home on Sunday mornings. In a way, the name tag thing is cool. Everyone knows everyone else's name and if you forget someone's name they never have to know. All you have to do is read their tag and hope they didn't see you!

Everyone was so friendly too. When my parents and I sat down, this girl in front of us, "Becky" I read on her name tag (I forgot her last name, but when I see her again, I can just read it), introduced herself, welcomed us and started asking us a bunch of questions.

"Are you new here or just visiting?"
"We just moved here, but we know the area. We moved from down by Antioch."
"Oh, okay! I know the area. Are you in school here?"
"No, I'm in college. I'm just here for the summer."
"Wow. You're home already? Isn't that early? Well, I guess not. I just had some friends
graduate this weekend. Where do you go to school?"
"Northern Michigan University, in the U.P."
"Oh, cool! I graduated out in Portland not too long ago. It's on the west coast, but it's pretty
much the same."
cue music
"It was nice meeting you!"
"You too."

Their music was AWESOME. Their choir was at least 25 strong and they had percussion. You don't realize what percussion does to music until you put it back in. It really livened up some songs. Oh, and they sang ALL THE VERSES OF EVERY SONG. I was a fan.

This is weird, but cool. The priest's homily was all about new things and change. He started with "think of something new in your life." I thought, Um, this whole past semester. Especially the past month. Oh, and the new house I just came from. He went on to say that as humans, "we don't like change, but Jesus gives us the grace, patience, and strength to do just that." I thought about this more during the day and it is so true. Change is what we do, whether we see it or not. It's how we live. So thank the Lord for all he has given you and for what he has done to see you through the changes in your life. You couldn't have done it alone.

After church, we came back to the house and I changed into what I still lovingly call "play clothes" so I could do some stuff around the house. But, alas, I didn't do much. I talked to Cat online (thank you!) and checked my email. Then I put something away here, something there, and waited for my mom to go shopping - I still needed some things for Vienna. (Countdown: 5 days. OMG.) We ran to Kohl's and got some Khakis, solid color t-shirts, socks, a belt, and some black slides.

When we came out of Kohl's, my mom wanted some coffee so she drove through McDonalds. She pulled up to the speaker and pointed to a pretty little waterfall next to me - That's random - but actually, it separated the TWO speakers that this McDonalds had.

"This McDonalds has two speaker things?"
"Yes it does."
"That's weird."
"More and more McDonalds are doing that now to make the drive thru faster."
"Wisconsin's messed up."
"No it's not. They're advanced."
"Ha. You're funny, Mutti."

Now, there's one thing wrong with this situation - making the drive thru faster. Is that really necessary? Is it even possible? It didn't seem faster to me. If anything, it seems like it would be more dangerous. Which car goes first if they're both done ordering at the same time? I predict some fender-benders and hefty law suits in the future, but that's just my opinion.

Back to important matters, we still have some shopping to do.
Also on the "to do list" this week before I leave:
1) talk to my neighbor (at the old house) about work this summer
2) go to the bank (i hate money)
3) finish getting stuff i need for Vienna
4) double, triple, and quadruple check my stuff for Vienna (i would keep going, but i don't
know the correct word that comes after quadruple)
5) dinner at Grandma's
And I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff. I'll think of it later. Hopefully.

We came back to the house after shopping and Mutti (Mutti = my mom) started dinner. It took a while because we had meatloaf and baked sweet potatoes. It was so yummy. Pay attention here, Bridget! Ten minutes before dinner, I decided that I couldn't wait any longer and ate the 2 left-over pancakes and 2 pieces of bacon. Then for dinner, I proceeded to eat 2 slices of meatloaf, a sweet potato, and a salad. I can just hear you now, "Well done!" I knew you'd be proud.

After my scrumdiddliumptious dinner, we put some more stuff away while LOTR was on the little tv my daddio bought for the kitchen/greatroom. It's a flatscreen and it's mounted on an arm on the side of the cabinet so it swivels. It's pretty sweet. Then Mutti lit a fire. My P's have a sweet fire place here. It's not gas or electric, but it burns cans of fuel and actually sounds like a crackling fire. And what happens when you curl up on a comfy couch in front of a fire? Yeah, I fell asleep in 15 minutes. I was out. And I mean out, down for the count, out. I didn't hear anything until my mom said, "okay katy-kate, time for bed." I don't even know how long we'd been sitting there. I guess I was tired, but I didn't know from what. Stress maybe. I didn't want to leave Marquette. But that's another blog in itself. Maybe I'll write that later, maybe not.

Change can suck. It's not easy and we can't do it by ourselves. We just have to remember that we're not alone and that no matter what may change around us, the most important things in our hearts stay the same.

racquetball gain is so worth the pain

2007-04-15T00:50:00.000-04:00

Racquetball (noun): a game similar to handball, played on a four-walled court but with a short-handled, strung racket and a larger, somewhat softer ball.

I love playing racquetball. I was introduced to this fast-paced, crazy sport a few months ago, but I had first heard about it in high school from one of my teachers. She played a few times a week and told me how fast and wild it could be. I could never picture myself doing anything like that because I wasn’t much of a long-term exerciser. I don’t have very good endurance and from the stories she told me, I pictured non-stop running. I hate to run.

After leaving high school I had completely forgotten about the sport until I met Rob. Good ol’ Rob. Talking one day, somehow we got on the subject of sports. Racquetball came up and I told Rob I had never played before. Rob had – and he was willing to teach me how to play! So, one day we went to the PEIF (for those of you who don’t go to Northern Michigan University, PEIF stands for Physical Education Instructional Facility) and I finally learned how to play racquetball. I was hooked.

I love everything about the game. The pace (which is not as overwhelmingly fast as an on-looker might think), the rules (you can play the ball off of any of the walls and the ceiling – as long as it’s not on a serve), the colorful racquet balls (blue and green, baby!), and what would a game be without your partner? (I love you Rob!)

As with any game, though, there are ups and downs. My downs just happen much more often and occur when I manage to hit myself – with the ball. Yes, that’s right; I am just that skilled. I have clocked myself in the stomach, the legs (in multiple places), the ankle, the back of the head (don’t ask), the back of the head (don’t ask), and most recently, the eye. Hmmm. Maybe that’s why they recommend eye protection… Actually, though, I think that if I had goggles on, the ball would have jammed them into my face causing even more injury. Does that sound like fun to you? Me neither.

So, racquetball is my new favorite sport and I love the fact that it is played in a “four-walled court”. But as for that “soft ball” part, I disagree. When a little round green thing comes flying at you at 90 mph and clocks you in the head, let me know how it feels. We’ll have lots to talk about.

All You Need Is Love

2007-04-12T23:04:00.000-04:00

"All you need is Love." Very wise. And oh so true. I believe love is the root of all emotion. Think about it; every single emotion you can think of can be traced back to love in some shape or form. Even the ones associated with the not-so-fuzzy side of life. Have you ever really thought about what love means to you?
I read something today and I think it may have changed the meaning of love for me forever -- for the better, of course. I got that feeling of "butterflies" in my stomach and felt a smile on my face. It was wonderful. It was something that changed a mediocre day in to a great one. What more could I ask for?
Yes, all we need is love. That is all we need. Now go give someone a hug. And call your mom and tell her you love her. Because you know you do.

The "new" Blog

2007-04-12T16:56:00.000-04:00

So, this is the new blog. I was forced to create an entirely new one because, apparently, even with all this awesome technology, we cannot figure out how to get a password from an old version of blogger to open an updated version. Even with the same account information. I LOVE technology.
For all of you dedicated blog-readers, this is how I will be keeping in touch with y'all when I am in Vienna this summer. The trip is from May 12th to June 10th. I leave a month from TODAY! And as soon as I figure out how to put pictures up, I can try to do that too. No promises about the pictures though -- I am going to be busy enough as it is!
Oh, I am so proud of myself! A whole blog post! Let's see how long I can keep this up.