Goodbyes

The time has finally come to head back to the good ol' U S of A. It's the definition of bittersweet. I miss my friends and family like crazy. I'm really excited for snow (we've had about 2 days of "snow" where the flakes never make it to the ground and everyone goes CRAZY about it). I miss driving- I certainly wasn't getting behind the wheel here! And I have to mention that I'm craving Mexican food like you wouldn't believe.

But I've made such amazing friends here and had the time of my life. It'll be weird to not be able to be in another country in a matter of an hour and half. I can't even be in Wyoming in an hour and a half. Do you think we have toasty makers at home? This could be a problem. Thank goodness we can get Cadbury Chocolate in the States.

But before I leave, I still have some things to do. Like, well, take exams.

I just finished my stats final and it went pretty well. EXCEPT... (oh wait, this just turned into a story, back up...)

I asked Aidan if I could use his calculator because I don't feel like buying one for one exam. So he said of course, come get it later tonight. (And it was Ellen's birthday, so we were all going out). I went out and forgot about the calculator. Had a drink, perfect for falling asleep and not worrying about exams, until I woke up and realized that he was still out and I didn't have his calculator and no shops were open early and that he wouldn't want to be woken up at 8. He said it was fine, since he has so much work to do for tomorrow. So I get all ready this morning, go to his room and am knocking for ages (at this point late for my exam of course) and he's not answering the door. And I don't know if he's sleeping or not in. So he finally opens the door and I grab his calculator and run to my exam.

And I'm happily doing well on the first couple pages, bust out the calculator to find standard deviation, and realize that it only tells me answers in fractions. And I can't divide 48/251 in my head. And then I panic. It ended up being fine and they let me borrow a calculator, but it was really stressful at the time.

I have a history exam (3 essays) to write for Wednesday. And now I wish I had been to more lectures and thought about buying a book. It's fine, it'll be great.

Besides exams, which are no fun, there are a few things still on my to-do/see list. So Aidan and Liz have been great tag-a-long tourists (procrastinators) and helped me with my checklist.

First stop: Calton Hill. I just learned it was Calton and not Carlton, you know, since they refuse to pronounce r's here. Anyway, it's Calton Hill and it looks out over Edinburgh and the Parliament District.

It was another balmy day here in Edinburgh- perfect for a hike around the city. There's so much history here that I still haven't discovered. On our walk up the hill, Liz and I went in to this old cemetery. There were graves in there that are from before America was even a country!

Liz and I stayed up all night drinking tea (I still can't get the right ratio of tea to milk...) and talking before her dad came to pick her up for break at 7AM. After a not-so teary goodbye (she's British after all), she got in the car and left me with promises to visit America.

So Aidan got stuck with me for another day. And the last thing on my checklist, you ask? Haggis. That's right- the traditional Scottish delicacy.

Since you (REALLY) don't want to know what it is, I'll tell you something else.

A frequent tale is that a "Haggis" is a small Scottish animal with two legs that are longer than the other set so it can stand on the steep Scottish Highlands without falling over. According to a poll, 33% of American visitors to Scotland believe that Haggis is really an animal. ...And, uh, they're right...

Aidan stayed up with me and walked me to my cab at 3AM to head back to Colorado. With everything checked off my list and the semester at a close, here's to a good long nap on the plane!

Edinburgh Christmas Market

My days are numbered. I have about two weeks until my dreaded plane flight home to cram in everything I want to see in Scotland and to maybe study for those pesky exams. I'm going to be honest with you- (Mom and Dad, skip ahead a little. Grandma, you too). I have to get a 40% in each of my classes for credit to transfer back to CU. You read that right. Forty percent. My motivation for studying right now... probably lower than that.

My motivation for seeing as much as I can before I leave is extremely high though. We're getting very excited about Christmas over here. As much as I love the freedom of religion thing, living in a Christian country where it's okay to say "Merry Christmas" all the time makes Christmas that much more exciting. As it turns out, it's not just the Germans who have Christmas Markets!

Liz, Aidan, and I went down to the Christmas Market where we watched some ice skaters (but refused to pay 14 pounds to participate), ate candy floss (cotton candy, I know, it's a ridiculous name), and bought some Christmas presents. I was also talked on to the Ferris Wheel.

Just because it looks so pretty from a distance does not mean it is the most stable and un-rickety thing you've ever been on.

Just because it looks so pretty up close does not mean it is the most stable and un-rickety thing you've ever been on.

Liz and Aidan obviously enjoyed it. I was clinging to the middle bar for dear life the entire ride.

Overall, mostly seeing as how I didn't die and/or fall off the Ferris Wheel, I would classify this Christmas Market as a success. Except that they advertise Candy Floss. It's Cotton Candy for crying out loud!

Merry Almost Christmas from Edinburgh!

Germany and Austria

Prepare yourself for yet another extremely long story.
Day 1
Let's begin at 2 in the morning on Friday when I woke up to get ready for the airport. I got into my taxi at 3 in the morning. I arrived at the airport at 3:30 in the morning. I had a 6:30 flight, so I was there exactly 3 hours in advance like you're supposed to. Except no one is at the airport at 3:30 in the morning. So I waiting around and read a book and finally checked in, made it through security and settled into my gate. And whoever designed the Edinburgh Airport should be hired for any and all future airports that need designing. Heathrow is a whole other story. Whoever designed that airport should be sued.
I got on my plane from London to Germany and realized that I needed to retract my previous statement about my undying love for British Airways. Luftansa... Those Germans, they know how to make a plane... I was desperately tired and should have been sleeping on the planes, but I have this great book from Aidan that I couldn't put down. "Dead Air" by Iain Banks. I highly recommend it.
I arrived at the Munich Airport and although I don't speak a touch of German, never fear, those Germans, they know how to make an airport that is a piece of cake to navigate. So I followed all the signs for the U-Bahn (like the metro) all through the airport and arrived outside. Except, there was no U-Bahn to be found. BUT there was a Christmas Market that I became hopelessly lost in. Upon reaching the other side, I came out right at the U-Bahn station. Tricky...
I got a ticket for the U-Bahn after a short call to Macy because I had NO idea what to do. I got on and met her in Marienplatz. We got on another 'train' and headed to her house where we chatted and I took a nap (this being about 4 in the afternoon). I got up at 5 and we went back to Marienplatz. We came out of the metro and another Christmas Market!! The first thing I saw was the biggest tree I've ever seen:



We examined the Christmas Market.
And then headed to other parts of the city center.

Where we found Santa.

And another Christmas Market!

We then found an Advent Calendar on the side of a building. These Germans, they take Christmas seriously.
We also came across various historic buildings, as you do.
This is said to be where Hitler started his march.
After a little more perusing, we met up with Macy's friends, Jonathan (Ireland) and Emma (Finland) for dinner and sat discussing the state of the world for a few hours. Macy and I returned to her house and I promptly fell asleep in my sleeping bag and didn't wake up till the next morning.

Day 2
Macy and I woke up and headed out to Olympia Park.
And there was snow!
We passed the BMW building and headed towards Olympia Tower.
We did a little hiking and went to Olympia Stadium.


P.S. The sign says "life danger" in the background.After we had our fill of the park, we hopped back on the U-Bahn and headed for the English Gardens. First we made a pit stop at Macy's school:

Outside the fountain we found these:

They are newspapers written by students who were protesting Hitler and the war and were thrown from the balcony down into the fountain area.

One of the gates of the old city.

After this detour we were off to the English Gardens.

We ate lunch up here and watched people walking their dogs and playing frisbee. We walked over here and found, guess what- another Christmas Market!
As we were heading out, we got a little lost and found ourselves in a very quaint neighborhood I would like to live in.

And then stumbled upon this guy.
After we found him we were oriented again, jumped on the U and headed back to Marienplatz.
We first went in St. Peter's Cathedral.

And then hiked all the way to the top for views of Munich.
The Frauenkirche (which we visited later).

Mace.
Alex.
We made our way down, stopped at another Christmas Market we saw from up top and found a bakery.

And ate Diabetes in a pastry.
Cause, you know, those Germans, they know how to make good sweets.

Exploding sweets, but good nonetheless.

We headed back to the Christmas Market in Marienplatz.

Ordered Kinderpunsch and shopped a little.
Then we stopped by the Haufbrauhaus.
We bought some bratwursts for dinner and headed back to Macy's. See we got to talking during the day about how much we love traveling, but how expensive it is. And Macy says, "actually, there is a Bayern Ticket and it's only 27 Euros for up to 5 people to go to Austria." So I said, LET'S GO!!!
We went home, researched Salzburg and went to bed early.

Day 3
We got up early and caught the train to Salzburg.
We were a little excited about the Alps.
Keep in mind that today is not about Salzburg and the history of the wonderful city. Today is about finding as many places in "The Sound of Music" as we possible can.
So first stop is Mirabell Gardens. The site of "Do-Re-Mi" with the stair and the fountain dances and the tunnel they run through while singing.


After about 70,000 pictures Macy was finally content and we headed into the city.
And stopped at a famous Church... I think St. Andrew's...

Then on to Mozart's birthplace:

We read with Mozart, and then crossed the river to the other side of town.

Once on the other side of the river we found the city center and many churches. First Franziskaner Kirche... and the second I can't remember the name...


City Center.
Next stop: Mozart's House. Wonder if it looked like that when he lived there...

We watched some people play chess and headed up to the cemetery where the flight scenes were filmed in "The Sound of Music."

From there we headed up to the nunnery where "Maria" is filmed.
This is the view from the nunnery.
When we got to the top we both stopped in our tracks.
I forgot about the Alps.

After many pictures and "Oh My God"s we headed to the fortess.
Almost got lost.
The fortress doesn't actually look that defensive. Until you start climbing it and realize that no one in their right mind would try to take it!
This wasn't even the hardest part. We thought about warning these people.
But it was definitely worth it.

And we found the Alps again. And some more photo ops.
And yes, I'm glad you asked, there was a Christmas Market in the Fortress.
We stopped at one more church on the way home.
We took one last look at the city and got back on the train.

We got home, ate some dinner, had a nice long chat and fell asleep.
Day 4
We woke up early and went to the train. I got to the airport, navigated it, got a stamp in my passport and waited for my place. Loved Luftansa again, hated Heathrow maybe more than the last few times and got back to Edinburgh in time for dinner. I had been traveling all day. Liz, Aidan and I ate, caught up about the weekend and I went to sleep early.
I have finals in the next few weeks and then it's Christmas!