Oktoberfest in München!

Oktoberfest.was.ridic.

This past weekend {September 25 & 26^th} I went to Oktoberfest up in München (Munich) for the 2^nd time! I went to O-fest the weekend before this one, with some girls (+ one guy) from NAU who are also student teaching but are in Aviano, Italy. The day before I left I turned my camera on at school because my kids were doing something fabulous {as always} and all it did was say ‘lens error’. Needless to say I was more than bummed about my broken camera the day before I left for another adventure. Anyway, after the train ride and the 1.5 hours of stressful waiting for the student teaching crew we all met up and had a great time at Oktoberfest! I don’t have pictures of that weekend, but of this weekend here goes the stories and pictures:

Tourist much?

My NAU supervisor came to Garmisch this past week to watch me teach for a couple of days. After this, we met my Vilseck girls for Oktoberfest. There were so many rides, food booths, beer booths, beer tents and souvenir shops. Sadly {also a little funny though} I saw more than a couple people being taken away on stretchers, falling asleep on the dirty ground or leaning {sleeping} against a booth. And in one instance, there was a man spooning a trashcan, asleep. My fav's while I was there was the bratwurst & the rides!

I had an absolute BLAST with everybody.

One of the 'happy' people. Leaning up against a food booth, passed out.

Trying on hats {notice the lederhosen next to me:) }

We got to spend the night in Munich which gave us Sunday to tour a little big before heading back “home” {can you believe I’m calling Germany my ‘home’…insane}. Today our plan was to go to Haufbrauhaus. Haufbrau is a beer and this place is a restaurant bar that is famous! Before we went there we walked around Munich and found a cute little farmers market with all sorts of veggies, meats, bread, and cheeses and knitted things. Then we headed to the Haufbrauhaus and drank some beer and ate some food. This weekend was the weekend where all the Italians came to Oktoberfest. So glad we had our professor there with us. The 5 minutes he was not with us, about 7 creepy Italians creeped on us. Good prep for Rome in 2 weeks :) Anyways, here goes for the pictures!

Haufbrauhaus!

I know it's dark, but the Haufbrauhaus is SO incredible inside! {google it!...now!}

Student teachers :)

Prost!

Rome in 2 weeks :) Home this weekend! Excited for some much needed down time in Garmisch.

-Linds

Austria!

Salzburg.was.beautiful.

So this past weekend {september 11} I took a day trip to Salzburg, Austria [can't believe I get to take day trips to European countries!]. It ended up taking about 4 1/2 hours to get from Garmisch to Salzburg. I had to head north to Munich, then back south (passing Garmisch) to Salzburg. BUT when I finally got there, I was really surprised to see a city. If you didn't know, Salzburg is where they filmed the Sound of Music. And anyone who's seen that movie knows how beautiful Austria is pictured. This is what I was expecting when I got off the train. Instead I was greeted with tons of construction and city noise. But I was determined to get that 'Sound of Music' feel while I was there. So I took a chance on a bus tour that lasted two hours and took us around the major parts of Salzburg. I knew that this tour bus was a good idea because there were many older people on this tour {and you know that these people spent weeks planning this trip while I spent a matter of minutes}. This bus allowed us an hour at a stop of our choosing. It was fun to see the fast tour of the city, but my 2nd favorite part of this day trip was a castle we saw. It was on these beautiful grounds, the gazebo scene from 'Sound of Music' was actually here. I didn't have time to find it though :(. BUT I did get some beautiful pictures.

A view from the bridge while driving on the bus

Here was a beautiful garden.

Front of a castle

This was the side of one of the castles

I absolutely love this picture. I love how everywhere here there are beautiful parks with benches everywhere and people actually use them to sit and enjoy the day!

Onto my favorite part of the trip...of course....food. On our way to the train station to leave Garmisch we didn't stop at the Bäckerei for just coffee and a croissant, no way. We go those plus an entire baguette, a thing of salami, and drumrollll......a half a stick of butter. It was THE best lunch on a train I think I'll ever have. And the Austrian dinner/dessert was wonderful too :)

hmmm dinner :)

and of course...apple strudel :)

I'm a little behind on my blogging with being so busy teaching. Next blog.... Oktoberfest!

-Linds

J'adore Paris

Paris.was.fabulous.Let me just start this blog off with saying I fell in love with Paris. I absolutely loved the city. I traveled from Garmisch to Paris with a friend I met who works at the school here. He & I thought the hardest part of this trip was going to be getting from school to the train station. Our lovely secretary, Marianna, offered to drive us to the train station. We got there about 20 minutes early. We took a bus from Garmisch to Murnou and a train from Murnou to Munich central station. Now that I've said this, let me begin the list of things that went wrong en route to Paris, in Paris, and on our way out of Paris.

1. We knew we needed to take the S Bhan 1 to the airport. We waited for it, it didn't come. We asked a person who worked there and he pointed to a train that was about to leave. So we hopped on the train. We sat down and were talking for about 25 minutes when I looked up and saw S4 on the sign. I said: "Uhh. I don't think we're on the right train" We immediately jump up with our bags and wait to get off on the next stop. As he was telling me a story of how he missed a stop once because he didn't press the button to open the door, we missed the stop because we didn't press the button. We finally get off...on the last stop. On the completely opposite side of the city of where we needed to be.
   
2. We waited a good 25 minutes for the S1 to get us to the airport. Realizing that it was about 1:15 when we got on the right train we were praying to make our 2:05 plane. We finally arrived at the airport's train station. The marathon began. Since I had already checked in I ran through the airport through security like a crazy person. I got to the gate which had no person and no plane. Saw another gate with Zurich (our layover) on it, I spoke to a lady who informed me the plane left 12 min. prior to departure. I was there 5 minutes prior to departure. i.missed.my.plane. After some tears and being told I would get no money back for a new ticket and my return flight was canceled, I had to go find Matt. Took me about 20 minutes to find him. Now comes the very undetailed list of mishaps and adventures.
3. We had to buy all new tickets roundtrip to Paris.
4. I left my very cute h&m coat at the Munich airport.
5. I made my friends go crazy (they waited for two hours in Paris instead of me being in Paris an hour before them).
6. The train ticket machine would take none of our 6 cards we tried to give it to get tickets.
7. There was a bomb scare two train stops ahead of ours when we were on the metro.
8. Woke up 2 1/2 hours late to leave for the airport back to Munich.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way I can tell (show) you my beautiful trip.

1. Arc de Triomph
   
2. Eiffel Tour
3. Notre Dame
4. Sacré-Coeur (and when I say I saw this beautiful place, I actually mean I took a nap below it on the grass because I had no energy to climb any more stairs after going all the way up Norte Dame.
5. Moulin Rouge
6. Food :)
7. Museums (for free!)
8. Other fun things. . .

Needless to say I had to choose amongst literally over 800 pictures. Wish I could show you each and every one, but that's not happening. This will have to do for now!

-Linds

Well well well

Well well well. Haven't been blogging for quite a while it feels like. I should be writing a lesson plan right now, but my mind is exhausted and it won't think about place value. Lately I have been feeling like I'm much older than 21. Right now, it's 2058 (that's 8:58 non military time) and I am flabbergasted that my eyes are still open. I don't know how people can function with less than 8 1/2 hours of sleep each night. Oh well.

ANYWAY, today is the first day I have internet in my BOQ's. GOD IS GOOD. Honestly, my life is completely different here now with it. I feel like I'm a part of the world again. I now don't have to work around the rain (I wold catch the free wifi at the coffee shop here on base and the only place I can get it is outside). So life here on base. Right now it's been pretty busy with school and stuff. But the biggest news that I have is the day after tomorrow (Friday September 3rd) I am going to PARIS! I am meeting 3 girls that I flew over from the states with. I have a half day at school on Friday and the day off on Monday, so it's perfect! Even better... I found a person to travel to Paris with! YAY :) That is what I was most nervous about, traveling on my own. Again, God is GOOD! Well my brain can't function must more than this so I'll leave you with a few new pictures.

-Linds

The chapel where I go to church (look at the Zugspitze in the background!)

My 1st German beer!

The first part of my walk when I leave my side of the base (that wall is the edge of the other side of the base).

Deutschland!

I am in Garmsich! It is beautiful! My words wouldn't do it justice, so here are some pictures!

This is the BOQ's where I'll be living! I've go the BEST view of the Alps right outside my window!

Here is Garmisch Elementary/Middle school, where I'll be in 4th grade and resource!

I am already loving the city! Can't wait to see what this next semester brings me!

-Linds

Three

Three has always been my favorite number. I love things in 3's. Don't know why...my birthday's 3/3 maybe that's it. Maybe it's the Irish in me. Anyway, Germany is 3 days away and my organized self can do nothing but organize, pack and make lists. Seeing how I just got back from a 9 day vacation (which was wonderful by the way) all I've been able to do is make lists of things I need to do (I made 3 different lists of course). Now I have about 2 full days to complete a page-long to do list. Can't wait to cross all those things off!

I found out yesterday that about 4 other people from NAU are going to be on my flight to London and also to Munich. Feels a lot better to know I'll know a couple people on the flight! They aren't going to Garmisch, but at least I'll be on the flight with them! I also found out today that my boq housing has been approved! YAY! When I get to Garmisch on Monday I'll probably be staying with my mentor teacher and her family the first few nights while everything gets figured out with the rest of my housing situation and base id card. This should be fun!

Three days from right this second I'll be on a plane. Can't wait for you, Germany!

-Linds

Ticket!

So for the past week or so, I've been frantically trying to get a hold of people to try and sort out this visa deal. It's been pretty difficult since we're smack dab in the middle of summer and most people aren't checking their email as obsessively as I do. BUT I was finally able to get an email from the school in Garmisch which really put my mind (and my parents) at ease.

So with this new found ease, I was able to finally get my plane ticket!!! I just got it this morning! Now it's preeeetttty official... I'm going to Germany! In 36 days to be exact! I've said this for the past few months, but this past week or so I'm really feelin it.... I just want to get there! Especially since I officially turned my two weeks in to my work a couple days ago (I'm moving from Flagstaff in two weeks and back down to Phoenix for three weeks before I leave). But... back to my flight...I am leaving Phoenix to Munich Aug 22 and coming back Dec 23! Hopefully my mom is going to come out to Garmisch on the 17th (or around there, that's when I'd get out of school. but we've got to work around her finals schedule... how cute is she... she has finals!) and we'll play around Germany and fly back together! We did this with one of my cousins back when I was 15. We went out and met her for the last 10 of her study abroad program and all flew back together. I'm really excited for that part of the trip! Hopefully I'll be a Germany expert so I can show her around!

One of my friends from Praxis is going to be student teaching with DoDDS also but she'll be in Aviano, Italy (its about an hour North of Venice). She's going to be there for 4 months also (I originally thought it'd be two months) so I'm exited for that! Anyways, Kristi and I have been coordinating and we're taking the same flight from Phoenix to London. Yay! So happy to have someone I know at least on the same flight as me, if we don't end up sitting together that's fine... I just want to know someone!

-Linds