Germany To-Do List

1. Find other Holzhausen(s)
2. Take picture with said Holzhausen(s)
3. Eat bratwurst
4. Go to a beer garden
5. Get mistaken for a real German when people see my last name
6. Go see cathedrals
7. Visit museums
8. Celebrate my German heritage with German beer, chocolate, & sauerkraut

I think that about covers it. In case you missed it, I'm going back to the Mutterland (motherland) this week!! Adrienne and I will be going to Cologne, Germany (yes, that's Cologne like... cologne. Köln in German) for 5 days starting this weekend and I for one could not be more excited! I am starting to think though that I have a propensity for going to cities with odd names. For one, I live in Tours, which is just bizarre. And getting non-French speaking English speakers to not pronounce the s is near impossible. It led to a lot of confustion when I told people I was going to Tours (literally pronounced like tour in English). And now I'm going to the city that has men's body spray named after it. How bizarre. But, it's supposed to be a really cool town! It's the fourth-largest city in Germany and is known for its cathedral which took over 500 years to complete! Wowza. A lot of the city was destroyed during WWII. And it's known for its museums. That's pretty much all I know, not gonna lie! But alas, though I really wanted to go to Berlin or Munich, Cologne was the cheapest city that we could get to at €68 (or around $100 roundtrip) tickets from Paris. Oh, the advantages of living in Europe! Eastern and southern Germany will just have to go on the back burner for now. But hey, I definitely can't complain! I'm pretty excited to be going to Germany at all. And I finally get to bust out that whopping one semester of college German that I took!

In other news, I apologize to my oh-so devoted fans for neglecting my blog as of late. I have to say though the reason is - and I really do mean this in the least spoiled way possible - my life here has become very, very ordinary and I feel like I've run out of interesting things to write about. While I will always enjoy exploring new places and Paris will never, ever get old, when I'm just in Tours my life is quite run of the mill. Don't get me wrong - I'm having a great time, but after living here for nearly 6 months I've sort of gotten into an everyday routine not so different from any routine I've been in in America. I know it sounds really glamorous to live in France, but the truth is that while it is a great place, when you're living here as opposed to just traveling or studying abroad, it becomes just like anywhere else you've ever lived. You get your routine and everyday life is pretty much the same. This isn't to say that I'm not having a great time, but I can guarantee you that every minute is definitely not a new exciting, adventure.

However, since the French are incapable of going more than 7-8 weeks without vacation, I'm on break again which is why you probably all figured I'm going to Germany. We've got two weeks off effective this weekend until March 11. While the six weeks paid vacation I've gotten since I started in October might sound like a dream, it has brought me to the recent realization that in life you pretty much always either have time or money, very rarely both, and occasionally neither. I've definitely got more time than I do money right now, but like I said, I really can't complain! If there's one thing I've learned though, it's that an excess of spare time doesn't do you a whole lot of good if you don't have any money to spend occupying said time. Life lesson.


Well, I guess that's all, folks. Wish me bon voyage (or whatever it is the Germans say) and I will update you all with my new exciting German adventures very soon!

Bisous