Missing Deutschland

I've been missing Germany so I thought I'd reminisce about my time in the country. This is where I lived for half a year in Germany. *Schützenweg 42. I took the first picture in September when the weather was still great, a few weeks after I'd arrived. I can't believe I thought it was cold when I first got to Oldenburg in September. I always wore my red sweater from Forever 21 and leggings under my jeans. Once winter came along I realized how good we had it that first month! The second picture was taken in February. By this time I was so used to the rain and snow (snow I never see in Los Angeles, rain I only see so often and always leads to news about an upcoming apocalypse). This was the view from my window after the constant snow turned into constant rain. From my window I had a view of the train and if I remember correctly the brick building across from this view is a daycare. It's something to do with kids. If you were to go down the path near the daycare you would be lead to the botanical garden. I went down to the garden once and saw a few animals and plants that weren't yet in season. So a lot of it was just brown and green. I also saw a cat chasing a mouse. The cat actually caught the mouse and was playing with it...like viciously playing with it. Then a German lady grabbed the cat and reprimanded it. I thought that was hilarious! ^__^


Now that I look at the pictures they sort of represent my outlook at the time of being in Germany. The weather definitely plays a big part of your outlook on the world. First arriving in Germany everything was new! The sun was still out (although there were rain showers all the time) and I had so much to learn about the German culture and people. I became comfortable speaking the language even though I knew I making a lot of mistakes. I feel like I transitioned really well into the German culture because I went there with an open mind.

There are so many differences between American and German culture and after a while I just got tired of it all. The picture from my window is just that. Me looking out into the cold German world. That sounds so dramatic but that's how it felt at times. I think it was the weather that did it! I figured that culture shock finally hit me because all of the things I was having trouble with were things I didn't mind when I first got to the country. Even after all the emotions and leaving the country abruptly to get home for a funeral I still have love for that country. Germany is das Land der Dichter und Denker. I can feel it in the history of the cobblestone streets and churches. I can't wait to get back to the country!

*I don't know how to type umlauts from my laptop so I copy and pasted the ü from the internet. That's why it might look weird.

I'll write more about my travels in Germany and Europe. Soon!!!!!!

The Beehive State

Who knew that Utah is the Beehive State? I certainly didn't! Truthfully, I now want to know what every state's nickname is. This is what I'll be searching the internet for right after this blog post. I bring this up because I was recently in Utah. I took a roadtrip with 3 other girls (and fellow world travelers!) to a state none of us had ever been to. We drove the 7 hours from my house and ended up in the southern part of the state which is full of hiking and sightseeing adventures to be had by all.

This is a picture taken from the backseat of the car on our way to Utah. We were in the high desert at this point...meaning we were still in CA and almost in Nevada. I got this picture of sunrise because we left my house at 3am! I don't really drink coffee but I had one of those iced mocha coffees to make sure I didn't fall asleep on the drive to Utah. Did it do me any good? I guess so because I was awake for 2 days -_- haha. Okay, I blame the non-sleep on the change in elevation, weather and excitement. All 3 of those definitely did something to me. Also...I had to idea there is an hour difference between CA and Utah. I thought we were in the same time zone! It was really easy to get used to, but strange. 

We slept in a ski resort which is lovely in the summer time. The trees and the cabins higher up on the mountain reminded me of my time spent in Taos, New Mexico. There were deer running around and on our last day we saw ranchers herding their cows to a barn or wherever you herd cows to. A field? Yeah, probably a field. I'm not a country girl :p On our first full day we hiked at Zion National Park and then took a drive to Bryce Canyon National Park and took another hike there. It was a very eventful day! The next day we drove 4 hours to Arches National Park and took some pictures in a few of the arches. That day we also had some trouble at a gas station. I'm laughing just thinking about it right now. All I can say is if you go to Arches National Park DO NOT use the first gas station you see when you go into the small town. It's right across from a Denny's. DO NOT use that gas station! The next day we were tired from all of the driving so we went to the sauna and the hot tub. I'd never been into a dry sauna before. It seemed like it was going to be unbearable but it wasn't bad. Especially after being in the wet sauna! The next day we drove back to CA returned the rental car and went out separate ways. All 4 of us will meet up again next year in the Midwest! It'll be really fun! Hopefully we can stay a little longer and get a lot of sights in. We were planning on seeing the Grand Canyon and the Antelope Canyon and the Horseshoe Bend during this trip but there wasn't enough time! But I have to say, I was really amazed with all of the national parks in Utah and I truly had a great time :) Now here are pictures!!!!!

ZION NATIONAL PARK

 This was our stop at Zion. We got off at the shuttle stop called Temple of Sinawava and hiked the Narrows through the Virgin River. The views are beautiful! 

 Every picture can be made into a postcard. The views are unbelievable. 

 The water is so clear and blue. There was a man jumping from a rock into a deeper section of the river. It looked like fun but I wasn't prepared for that! 

 Me in front of the beautiful blue water. This was the most convincing smile I could give haha. 

 We hiked through this!

My shadow in the water

BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK

 We hiked the Queens Garden. This is supposed to be the easiest trail but it wasn't easy coming back uphill!

 This is one of the safer rocks I took a picture on. 

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

This was my favorite rock to climb!