My life abroad...semester zwei

Okay, so for all you anxious fans out there--here's the deal. I WILL be better at blogging these next few months don't you worry! They might be pointless and such, but I will try to make them entertaining.

Well, I've been back in Heidelberg for a little over 3 weeks. Coming back here was just like coming home. I got here about 5 days before I had to be back, and so I was at the house when everyone got back. Everyone arrived at different times...it was seriously the BEST feeling ever hearing the bell ring and then seeing who walks through the door. Being back with everyone has really reminded me how lucky I am to be so close with these crazy kids. As excited as were to see each other we all calmed down and fell back into our comfort zone immediatley, so much better than the first few akward weeks last semester! We do have about 9 new students who we are still getting to know, but they are all great!

School is a lot harder this semester. I have an 1.5 hour presentation on Kazhakstan (I'm pretty sure I just misspelled that) the day OF my midterm for my Modern History of the Middle East class. Enough said.

My first weekend of travel me and my 3 roommates for next year plus Kyle went to Dresden. It was bombed during the war by us, but luckily the altstadt (old town) wasn't touched. The first day we were there we managed to do nothing but make our way from restaurant to restaurant indulging in conversation. We spent at least 3 hours at lunch, went straight to dinner from 6-9:30 and then went and had dessert until about 11. Its funny how much now this semester we realize how its not just about seeing history...getting to know who your traveling with even better is vital! The next day we walked around the altstadt and loved it! It was so cute.

This past weekend I was lucky enough to go to Oxford to visit Casey and Jessalyn! It was so great to be with friends from home...definitely good timing! I got to see alot of friends from church...it felt just like being at home only in one of the most gorgeous cities in the world! Most of our weekend consisted of doing things only I would enjoy such as...picnicing in university park, eating at the same restaurant multiple times because it was just that good, putting 'walk around a bookstore' at the top of my list of things to do...and so on. Luckily my amazing friends and I think alike when it comes to these things. I traveled back to Heidelberg by myself for the first time Saturday night! It was a very long trip...basically a 3 hours bus ride...2 hours in an airport...plane ride...2 more hours in an airport...and finally bus to heidelberg. A VERY tiring adventure lasting allll night.

I've been freaking out lately about where else I'm going to travel this semester. Most everyone has things planned out, and its stressing me out. I'm fine not traveling everywhere in Europe, I just need to learn how to pick where I do want to go! I might be going to Rome this weekend, but a 15 hour train ride is not sounding so appealing. Next week we leave for Madrid for a week for our Educational Field Trip! I'm super excited...finally traveling without planning--SO nice!

Well thats all for now. Oh yeah, I just made cookies! It felt so good. We dont actually have an oven so I settled for the oh so famous Gram cookies consisting of peanut butter between Ritz crackers (one of the only american things we have here) dipped in melted chocolate and then cooled in the fridge...as my mom told me I now have LOTS of more friends! haha I even had people offer to pay for one! WOW! Maybe thats how I need to go about paying for all these trips!

I'm off to study for my german quiz tomorrow...and then for my german test on Thursday. Now I'll leave you with a final thought...Why can't we just have a semester of 'hanging out abroad' rather than adding that whole 'study' aspect in?

(i tried to add pictures, but it wont let me...i'll try later)