Life is like a camera; Just focus on what’s important and capture the good times, develop from the negatives and if things don’t work out .... just take another shot.
- Unknown
It is time for me to end my Journey here in Cologne, Germany as an au pair. I've been here for eight in a half months and have gone through a lot of ups and downs. In life things happen to each individual person for a reason. Some are good things and some are bad. When bad things happen to us we often ask ourselves why me ? and at the moment you ask yourself that question you may not find the answer, you may not find the answer for years or maybe you will find it sooner than you think. Although my time as an au pair wasn't all that I hoped it to be I got to experience so much over these past eight months. I've met some amazing people who I hope will stay in my life for a long time. I got an opportunity to help out at an International School where I worked with a wonderful bunch of kids who showed me to never give up on anything and know matter how bad a day your having just give someone a hug!
Thank you to all my friends and family who have followed my blog over the past eight months. It truly meant a lot to me as I enjoyed sharing my stories.
So Cologne I bid you adieu!
XO
Class 3/4 A
On Sunday my mom left and I even though it's only been two days without her I miss her already. We spent three wonderful weeks together. We travelled to Zurich and got too see a bit of the Switzerland countryside which was really pretty although it was a bit foggy .The old part of Zurich was really nice with a lot of expensive shops. While we were in Zurich we learned very fast that it was very very expensive. I think we spent 100 euro in three days on starbucks coffee. During the week we saw a lot of Cologne and when I say we saw a lot of Cologne I mean we saw a lot of the shops. My mom and I have a serious shopping addiction and I don't see anything wrong with that.
I made sure to give my mom the full German experience which means you're aloud to drink beer everywhere so of course we got some beers and drank them on the streets ... we felt so rebellious since back home it's illegal and of course she enjoyed a German sausage.
During my moms second weekend here I surprised her with a trip to Paris for her birthday which was an experience. It was my second time in Paris and I could never get sick of the city it is so lovely. The first day in Paris we walked and found our hotel which took about 5 hours because we both can't read a map ... kidding, kind of. The next day we woke early and walked for almost 7 hours and saw a lot of the city. The highlight of the whole trip was getting a ride home with some real winners. My moms a talker and for a five hour car ride home that was the longest she has gone without talking in all my life. We did mitfahren which is the carpooling i've done a couple times before ... it's always an interesting experience to say the least.
During the last week we just hung out and walked a lot. We got to see a lot of the German countryside which is so beautiful. If you plan to come to Germany i'd suggest coming in the fall it's so colourful. She got to meet some of the friends i've made and she got to meet the teachers I work with at the school. We had a really fun three weeks and I'll never forget the fun times we've had.
Mom,
Thank you for being all that you are. I couldn't have gotten through these last three weeks without you.
I love you SO much!
We will always have Zurich and Paris!
XO
Nothing to crazy has been happening here. The boys have been off school for two weeks for fall break which really doesn't make any sense to me seeing as they just had 6 weeks off for summer. During these two weeks they got two little black kitties named Findles and Amora. I am definitely more of a dog person because well dogs are awesome but I do like cats especially when they're little. These two little black fur balls have such personalities, i love it. They are way more entertaining then the boys and I have only known them for a week and already they're showing me love and affection. That's why I love animals no matter how bad a day you've had they always cheer you up ... except for happy she has issues.
Tomorrow is the boys last day of vacation and so after that nothing will really be going on ... KIDDING!!!! After 7 months of missing my mom I FINALLY get to see her on Saturday and I am so excited. For three weeks I get her all to myself and I can't even express how excited I am. In 20 years 7 months is the longest I have ever gone with out seeing my mom and it's not easy. I have always been really close with my mom and that is something I am so thankful for,even being half way across the world she is always there for me know matter what time it is. The truth is no matter how old I get or how far apart we're from each other I will definitely never stop loving my mom but I will never ever ever lose closeness with her.
Mom,
See you in TWO DAYS!!!
I love love love love you.
xo
Friday night my friend Jess who is also an aupair and I packed our back packs and set out for our Oktoberfest adventure.
On our way to Munich we did a thing called mitfahren which is a carpooling service that is used all across europe. If you have some extra seats in your car you can go on the website and give a time, date and price you want. It is a lot cheaper than trains and our ride was a lot more fun than a train ride. We lucked out and had a guy who had a DVD player and a really great singing voice. We watched the movie " Catch me if you can" and after that our driver and one of the other passengers sang to carnival songs which are songs that are really popular Cologne songs that play during carnival season. It was hilarious and gave me a good laugh. We arrived to Munich at 11:30 pm where our next mission was to find the place we were couchsurfing at. Couchsurfing is free. It allows you to meet locals and well sleep on their couch except Jess and I lucked out again. We got a guy who was a male nurse and lived in a dorm and the dorm next to him was vacant and for some reason he had the key so we got our own little private room. After meeting Benni, our host for the weekend we go to sleep. We tried to be up at 5:30 am so we can get a spot in the tent we wanted but for me that's impossible we made it to the grounds at 9 am which I was happy with. The one thing I wanted to see most was the tapping of the keg that is done by the Mayor however since it was opening day and didn't have a table we ended up only being able to hear the count down to the tapping of the keg which hey is good enough for me. After the tapping of the keg the beer drinking began and it was so much fun. Even though the weather was really bad it didn't stop anyone from having a good time. We got a table outside of the tent that was covered a bit so we sat down with an older Canadian couple and four Germans who showed us how to order in Bavarian and drink like Bavarians by the end of the day I was full beer and ready for bed.
Oktoberfest,
Thanks for the beer!
xo
The one thing I love most about Europe is that you can drive two hours and be in a completely different country where they speak a completely different language. I find it so very cool. Saturday a friend and I decided to go Brussels which takes about two hours and twenty minutes. We spent the day walking around the lovely city. It is true that waffles taste better in Belgium but another type of food that Belgium is known for are their french fries and let me tell you the french fries were so brusselicious. Seeing as french fries are my favourite food I was in heaven. Brussels has much more to offer then it's food, it is a very cute city that was very busy. in the city centre it was so alive and the scenery was beautiful. There is so much to do that I found one day wasn't enough so I do hope to go back and since its so close it shouldn't be a problem!
A new week starts tomorrow which means it's another week helping out at the school. I have been helping at the school for about a month now and so far it's been going really well. I am always helping these two little boys who are both very funny. I told them one day that I wished I had a younger brother and they both told me they will be my brothers hahah it made me laugh. So if I come home with two little kids at the airport don't be surprised.
Have a great week!!!!
xo
Today was my second day back at the International School. I will be there until my time in Germany is over. I am helping in a grades 3/4 class. I went into this class because the english teacher is very good and was recommended to me. So far I am really enjoying it. The class is a lot of fun because I helped some of them when I first volunteered back in March and then Yannic is in the class along with most of his friends all of which I know pretty well. When I first met the class they made me count up to ten in German I of course did it with out any problems. One of the things I am excited out by being here in this class is that I will hopefully become better at German because I will be speaking with kids all day and I find they use vocabulary that is easier for me to understand.
Not a lot of drama has happened with the kids seen as it is only their second day of being back. The only thing really to happen was today a boy in grade 4 locked himself in the boys bathroom and wouldn't come out. Finally he let some of his good friends come in who talked to him and convinced him to come out. His reasoning was because he had a bad music class and didn't get along with the teacher. I find it to be that boys at that age are a lot more emotional then girls and cause a lot more drama. Every time there is some sort of arguing or crying it always seems to be involving boys. Maybe it's just they need to get it out of their system so by the time they reach being a teenager they never cry and then its girl who take on having the issues.
Since summer is over everything is slowly getting back to normal in the house. I had to watch the boys on Wednesday evening . Every time I am left alone with them one of them always wants to test me, this time it was Yannic. Over the summer Yannic got an Ipod that he is obsessed with. He is always playing it and once he starts playing he won't stop. When he came home from school I let him play thinking it wasn't going to be that hard to get him to stop but i was wrong. I have been here for six months almost and not once has Yannic ever cried to me until that night. I took away his Ipod and he started crying and yelling at me because he was being chased by cops and now he is dead and has to start all over. I was thinking to myself why can't you just be like a girl and go play with barbies. It's funny to me the things boys cry over compared to girls. Us girls always have a good logic and reason to why we cry .... right ?
After that night Yannic got his Ipod taken away because he wasn't listening to me and then he hit Dominic in the face with a towel which caused Dominic to be upset and since we're best friends he asked me to lye with him in his bunk bed which made a good ending to the hectic night that it was. As for Yannic and I we're currently friends off.
xo
It's been a while since I last wrote and since then a lot has happened. This summer has been a summer I will remember for ever.
The first stop on mine and Lucas's travels was the lovely city Barcelona. We loved Barcelona because it was hot and the city was really fun. One of my favourite things about Barcelona was the Gothic Quarter. It had small side streets with tons of little shops. On our second last day we decided to rent bikes because we thought it would be fun to bike in the Gothic Quarter and make it easier to get to all the things we wanted to see. We had the bikes for 24 hours. We took the bikes out at night which we enjoyed a lot because it was nice and quiet. We biked all the way to the magic fountain that was supposed to be covered in lights but when we got there it was dark and very anti climatic. We ended up climbing up these stairs where we got to see a really nice view of the whole city. The one thing we wish we did more of was go to the beach. We went and sat by the beach a couple times but not as much as we wished. I find it hard to do everything you want when you have so much to see in a city but aren't there for long but we saw and did as much as we could so in the end our Barcelona adventure was a success!
Next stop was Krakow. We went to Krakow specifically to see Auschwitz. The first day we arrived it was 8pm. We found our Hostel and then walked to find something to eat and since we had to get up early for the Auschwitz tour we just hung out back at the hostel. In the morning we left for the Auschwitz at 8 am where we did a five hour tour which included the hour ride there and hour ride back so in total we had a 3 hour tour of the Auschwitz. The Auschwitz was very sad however I found the way the set up the museum to be very well done. After the tour we went back to the city where we were just going to relax and hangout so we weren't to tired for our long train ride in the morning but being young that didn't happen. We went out on a pub crawl that was run by 2 girls and 2 guys. Where we went to meet them was in the city centre of Krakow and it was the coolest city centre I have seen so far I only got to see it for a few hours and so it's definitely a place i'd like to go back to. Anyways back to the pub crawl, on the pub crawl it ended up just being Lucas and I which was a lot of fun, it was so much fun the 12 hour train ride to Budapest the next morning was very interesting to say the least.
Next stop Budapest. We arrived really late to Budapest so we found our hostel and just went to sleep. The next day we woke up and walked around the city which was very beautiful. The buildings that surround Budapest are so detailed and old but they have kept them all in good shape. It was very cheap in Budapest. We found an all you can eat buffet for 5 euros a person. Lucas was in heaven. Everyday he always ate there because it had pretty good food and you can beat 5 euros. I found it was more expensive to go to the bathroom then it was to buy a 1L bottle of water. My favourite part of Budapest was the Citadel. We walked up these stairs for a good 45 minutes i'd say and when you reach the top you get a 360 degree view of Budapest which was so very cool. Another thing i'd recommend doing if you go to Budapest is going to the bath houses and asking for a massage .... you will have quit the experience. To end our last night in Budapest we went on a Booze cruise along the Danube. They handed each person on the boat a full bottle of champagne ... long story short the next day was awful. I am never drinking champagne again.
Next stop Amsterdam. We flew into Eindhoven where we caught a bus that took us to Amsterdam. The bus ride was about an hour. When we arrived in Amsterdam we got a hotel because we were tired of hostels and wanted to have a nice relaxing last weekend away. We thought getting a hotel would be hard but it was really easy and not that expensive. Our first night we just relaxed . On our second day we walked threw the canal streets and did the Heineken experience. We got to see how Heineken beer was made and we got a lot of free beer. Amsterdam I found to be so unique and pretty. It was a good place to end our trip.
After two weeks of travelling we came back to Cologne where Lucas spent his last week. He hung out with me and the boys. We took the boys to the zoo and did a gondola ride across the Rhine which is Colognes main river. The boys grew to like Lucas very fast and enjoyed having him visit. They were just as sad as me when having to say good bye.
Two weeks after Lucas left the family gave me four days off because they were going on a trip with the boys to see some friends. I decided to end my summer by going to Rome. I had never gone anywhere alone and so this was a good test for me. Rome is very cool because it is filled with so much history. I found myself walking so much because I wanted to see as much as possible. My favourite place to be was the Trevi Fountain at night. It was so pretty and peaceful although very busy. I could sit and watch the fountain for hours. I ended up meeting a girl in my hostel. We spent most of our time together which was nice and I enjoyed her company. I was so nervous to go alone but in the end it turned out to be a really fun time which makes my future of travelling alone something to look forward to.
Summer,
Thanks for being so great, I will see you next year!
xo
