Hello! :)
So basically, I'm just going to discuss some of my past travels abroad just for fun!
Also, keep in mind, some of these accounts may be strange, considering I was pretty young for some of them. I apologize for the very first one.
1998/1999 - Germany & Austria
So, I can't exactly remember when I was in Germany for the first time. All I know is that it was the summer between second & third grade or the summer between third & fourth grade.
I can't exactly remember why we went either. Eh, not important.
So we started off in Germany. I'm pretty sure we flew into Munich and from there drove to Hopfen am See/Füssen, which is in Bavaria. If you know even the littlest bit of German you may know that "am See" means "on a lake", hence why there was a ginormous lake with a bunch of mountains in the distance. I remember staying in more of a hostel type of thing. It definitely wasn't a hotel, but it was really nice and cute. I have no idea what we did in Füssen, but I do distinctly remember a giant chess board.
After Füssen, I think we went to Austria. We were in Vienna and Salzburg. We also stayed somewhere that I think was just outside of Salzburg that had a name having to do with Wolfgang, and we saw some sweet rainbows. Anyway, I know in Vienna we saw Mozart's Geburtshaus (birth place/house) and I remember going to a playground where I hung out with some Viennese girl around my age. We also stayed in another hostel that was called Hotel Strohmer? I'm not exactly sure, but I know the owner's wife loved me and the owner gave me a sweet hat. I also remember calling his car ugly. I was also introduced to Nutella here. My dad and I also did a sweet alpine luge. That was awesome. I remember next to nothing of Salzburg, unfortunately.
After Austria we went back to Munich and stayed there for a few days. They were filming a commercial in the hotel we were staying in. It was a Ramada too. We were up way at the top of the building, and I looked over the balcony (you know, when you're a kid and you lift yourself up on a bar to see better?) and my mom freaked out and yelled at me. Good times.
2002 - Cancun
So we went down to Cancun while I was in 6th grade, which I was super pumped about because I was learning Spanish at the time. Our hotel was AWESOME. It was right next to the beach and there was an infinity pool with a bar in the middle! Also, at this point in my life, I was still in the "when on vacation I want to spend all of my time in the pool" stage. Luckily, I got to spend a lot of time in the pool.
We went to markets and haggled with people. Some guy told us that whatever he was selling was "cheaper than WalMart!"
We also took a trip to Chichen Itza, the site of a Mayan civilization. That was cool too because I was learning about that in Social Studies at the time. On the way back from Chichen Itza we stopped at a sink hole where you could go swimming. That was really cool too!
I also recall taking a trip to an island called Isla Mujeres, where I got my hair braided and showed the lady who braided my hair that I could count to ten in Spanish. What can I say? I was an impressive sixth grader.
One night we also went to McDonalds to get some food, and my dad couldn't understand the cashier's accent, but I could. I have since lost that ability, as it is next to impossible for me to understand accents.
2004 - Germany, France & Switzerland
During the summer between eighth & ninth grade I went to Germany, France & Switzerland with my family. We flew into Frankfurt and drove from there to Neuleinigen, an incredibly small and adorable town. In Neuleinigen we met up with one of my dad's coworkers, Franz and had dinner with him.
This is the sweet hotel we stayed in.
From Neuleinigen we drove to Mannheim for a quick trip to meet Lisa, the girl who would be staying with us for 2 weeks later that Summer. They took us around Mannheim a bit & showed us the Fernmeldeturm (TV Tower), which was pretty cool, but unfortunately closed so we couldn't go up and see the city. From Mannheim, we drove to Strasbourg, France. This was my first major experience with French people an their body odor.
We went a few other places in France, but I'll be honest, I can't remember where we went exactly. From France we drove to Switzerland. Somewhere along the line we drove the car up Alps D'Huez, a notoriously steep mountain that is sometimes climbed during the Tour de France (my dad's a cycling fanatic).
After that we went to Switzerland. I'm pretty sure we spent a night in Bern, but I'm not entirely positive- all I really remember is the hotel. We also spent time in Geneva. It was expensive, and I remember doing laundry there and walking around the city and going to a gummy bear shop. We also went to some castle thing, but who knows what it was called.
After Switzerland we went back to Germany. We stayed in a hostel type of thing near a lake in the Black Forrest. At some point we made our way back up to Mannheim and visited with our friend Sandra, who took us to Heidelberg where we went to the castle and on a river boat ride. The next and final stop before going back home was Mainz. We went to a biergarten and met up with another one of my dad's coworkers and his family. I got to hang out with their incredibly young daughter and try to learn German from her. It was quite interesting.
2005-2006 - Germany
On December 26, 2005 I left to go to Germany with my church. We were going to Mannheim to visit our sister church, and I stayed with Lisa and her family. I spent two weeks in Germany and we traveled around to Heidelberg, Mainz & Munich. It was really cool because I got to go to places I was learning about in my German class like the Frauenkirche in Munich, we also went to Dachau. We also went to a pretty awesome movie production place called Bavaria Filmstadt. I also got to spend New Years (Sylvester) in Germany, which was pretty awesome.
Unfortunately I don't have a whole ton of memories from this trip.
2006 - Australia
During Summer 2006 I spent 3 weeks in Australia with a student ambassador group called People to People.
Let's start with the flight from LAX to Sydney. Uh... Wow. It was long, and grueling. Especially because I got sick. This is the perfect segue into my first time I was in Sydney... And first of two times that I've managed to be sick while in Sydney. Just getting to Australia was awesome- knowing that you're that far away from home and in this awesome country/continent that few get to go to was so cool. One of the first things we did was go to an opal shop that has the world's largest opal in it. We also did a lunch harbor cruise, which was so cool! I think the first day we also did a tour of the Sydney Opera House - it was so cool! We also got to do the Bridge Climb! AHHH! It was the best thing ever. Basically this is what happened: we had to put on these crazy outfits, attach ourselves to the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and climb up it. So awesome. Terrifying, but awesome. We also visited Aussie Stadium in Sydney and got a tour.
After Sydney we went up into the Blue Mountains and did this adventure thing where we confronted our fear of heights. I still have the hoodie I got there. This commemorates the first and last time I will ever do a zip line.
I think that the next thing we did was go to Wauchope, NSW where we had our homestay. The homestay was great, a friend & I were living with a really sweet older couple who positively loved us and who 4 years later when I returned to Australia I met up with and had lunch with on the Gold Coast! :) We got to go to Aussie high school for a day, which was pretty sweet too.
Next was Byron Bay. I love Byron Bay. We only got to spend the day there, but in that time we ate lunch by the beach and went up to visit the lighthouse & the eastern most mainland point of Australia. Again, I love Byron Bay. Also, little did I know that four years later I'd be back having a romantic lunch with my now-roommate, Erica just next to the same place where I had lunch four years prior. Beautiful. We then spent the night in Surfers Paradise on Gold Coast, QLD ♥ . I also never would have thought that four years later that would be my home for 5 months.
The next day we spent the day in Brisbane ♥ shopping at Queen Street & chilling in South Bank. From there we took a boat over to Moreton Island, the world's largest sand island that used to be home to huge whaling company but is now home to a dolphin sanctuary. Tangalooma (the dolphin sanctuary) was awesome. I freaking love Queensland.
I think after we went to Tangalooma/Moreton Island we went a bit west and spent a few days on an Aussie cattle ranch. So cool. We slept in this giant barn, drank billy tea (I don't recommend it), got covered in dust from the bush, and just had an overall great time.
Next stop was Airlie Beach, which I just found out is in the Whitsundays. Huh. Interesting. Anyway, I don't think I remember much about Airlie Beach, except the beach and the hotel.
At some point we also stopped at the tropic of Capricorn. I guess it was cool? Finally we went to Cairns. We took a day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef and snorkeled (but I didn't snorkel, which is why it was so important that I did when I was there in 2010). The reef is awesome. AWESOME. We also did a tour through the rainforest called Sky Rail, and from there went to an Aboriginal education center called Tjapukai. Tjapukai was pretty awful and over-done. I felt like I had learned next to nothing except that you can make a didgeridoo out of PVC pipe.
Now it was time to leave, so we flew back down to Sydney and departed, and here began my love for Australia.
2008 - Canada
Now, when I say Canada, I mean we were in Seattle and decided to hit up Vancouver, BC for a couple of days. It was pretty cool because Vancouver was gearing up for the Winter Olympics, but as a whole we didn't really do too much.
2009 - Spain
So I went to Spain with Arcadia on a program they called First Year Preview. When I went you had the option to go to Spain, London or Scotland for $250 for all of Spring Break (all-inclusive except for most meals). Now Arcadia has way more options for Preview, including the aforementioned destinations along with Ireland, Paris, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Auckland (yeah, New Zealand) for $500. Outrageous! Anyway, Spain was a blast. Let's just ignore the fact that I had mono at the time. We started out in Toledo, a tiny and adorable walled city. From Toledo we went to Madrid and stayed right in the center of the city. It was awesome. We did day trips to Avila, Segovia & somewhere else cool. I loved the whole thing, it was just awesome! :)
2010 - Australia & New Zealand
I already have a blog entirely devoted to this time abroad. I spent five months (February-June) studying at Griffith University on Gold Coast, Queensland. I traveled to Sydney (twice), Cairns, Brisbane (frequently), and Christchurch, New Zealand. Click
here to read all about my 5 months abroad.
