Don’t Share Your Resolutions!

One of my favorite authors, Donald Miller, wrote this today on his blog about keeping resolutions. I completely agree. If I tell people my resolutions, I feel like I don't even need to keep them because I've already gotten the satisfaction of people knowing that these are goals that I think are worthy of achieving. What? I know, right?

Don’t Share Your Resolutions!

I heard a lecture recently in which the speaker talked about goals, and how powerful they are. He did say, however, that we shouldn’t share our goals, if possible. In fact, if you shared your resolution in public, you’re already at a disadvantage. When you share a goal publicly, your brain enjoys the sharing in the same way it enjoys the achievement itself, and you’ve lost some of your motivation. This surprised me, but it also made sense.

Instead, he said, set some goals and write them down. Then take each of those goals and break them down into daily habits like “making a to do list every day” or “eating less than 100 grams of carbs per day” or whatever it will take. Put a deadline on those tasks that is realistic, saying you’ll do it by such and such a day, or you’ll do it for this long and then reevaluate. After that, just don’t talk about it.

We are all motivated socially. We are motivated when our friends think highly of us. But this year, instead of being motivated by our friends being impressed with our goals, we can be fulfilled when we have accomplished them.

Ode To Blogs

So I like blogs. I like them a lot. Last year, I finally got one of those things called a Google Reader (I'm very technologically advanced) and started reading "my blogs." I used to be really into Xanga when I was in high school (again, really cool.) But for all this love, I'm not so much into writing my own blog. Mostly because my number one interest is relaxin', and that doesn't make for very compelling writin' or readin'. But I'm kind of thinking about adding my own voice into the blogosphere (collective groan for 1. the word blogosphere and 2. the idea that there are already too many voices) and maybe firing up this here blog for everyday life, not just whenever I go to other countries. Hopefully this would translate into me also taking more pictures and documenting the stuff I do, however compelling it is or not.

Done and done.

Dear Illustrious Readership,
It is I, your fearless leader. As the number of this readership hovers around four people, I did not see it necessary post telling you that I am home because I am fairly sure I have seen or spoken to all of you. I suppose the exception to this rule is Aunt Celia, so consider this post dedicated to you.

A short recap: [Ed. Note: Um, I just finished writing the recap and it is not short at all. It is super long.]

I finished up my classes and moved out of my dorm on July 30. I had one written final and three papers, so I took the one written exam that last week and e-mailed two final papers the night of August 1, minutes before embarking on my whirlwind tour d'Europe (employing my limited French, because I have no idea how to say that in my even more limited German.)

Münster
After racing in the rain at 4:00 AM in Bamberg to catch the train, I made it, soaking wet with only five minutes to spare and took the train 3 hours to Frankfurt, where I reunited with my best friend and travel companion, Beth. It was so good to see her after five months! We took another 3 hour train to Münster, where we met my friend from my London trip, Lisa. We stayed at her adorable flat with her three roommates, who were SO nice and fun and tried to include us so much. We took a day trip to Köln (Cologne) and celebrated Lisa's birthday. The day after her birthday party, after sleeping for about 2 hours, we took a 5:30 AM train to Berlin.

Berlin
In Berlin, we stayed in a fun hostel in Prenzlauer Berg, which is a sort of hipster neighborhood in former East Berlin. We rented biked for two days and rode around everywhere. At one point on our last day, we looked at the map and could barely find anywhere else to go that we hadn't ridden on our bikes. And Berlin is super big! We went on a walking tour the first day with a crazy Irishman, Barry, and got to see most of the historical sights, the Brandenberg Gate, the Reichstag, the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, Berliner Dom, Alexanderplatz, etc. We were explicitly told that we needed to go to the Berliner Dom, but when we got there, they were having an evening service and tourists weren't allowed in. So we went to the service instead, which was a really cool experience, even though it was all in German. Beth even surreptitiously took some photographs. We climbed to the top of the Reichstag, which has a large glass dome on the top, which was a really good view, and we rode our bikes all throughout the Tiergarten, where we saw a man trip over a dog. He wasn't hurt, but he fell straight down flat and laid on the ground for a second. It was really funny. We rode our bikes away and exploded into laughter. Everything in Berlin was really affordable, so we got to go to dinner every night and had quite the culinary feast on our last day, with a huge breakfast with many cheeses and then a delicious Indian dinner. YUM! We loved Berlin a lot.

Stockholm
If you know me, you know that I have talked about my mecca, Sweden, for what seems like forever now. Beth and I took a short Ryanair flights (crossing our fingers that our bags didn't exceed the weight limit, or at least that they wouldn't check) to the cheap airport, which is about 1.5 hours from Stockholm. We took another bus to get to the city, during which I slept and Beth looked out the window (which was the theme of our trip. Every time we took a train/bus/plane, I would fall asleep for the whole thing and then when I would wake up, Beth would tell me all the things she did and saw while I was asleep.) However, as is inevitable when you have a grand idea about something that is based almost entirely on details that you have made up and have no supporting evidence for, Stockholm did not live up to our expectations. It was pretty, but it was so expensive and the people were generally kind of unfriendly. We had a nice hostel that was in the Old Town. We had a room with 24 other people, but it was the quietest and cleanest room you can imagine. There was a kitchen in the hostel where we cooked all of our meals. It was pretty disappointing not to be able to go out to eat at all, but everything was unbelievably expensive. We bought this Stockholm card that was a good deal, it gave us free public transportation and free entrance to like a million museums, and also a bike tour. Since we had so much fun on bikes in Berlin, we were excited about the bike tour. However, our guide was so terrifying. Stockholm was much less bike-friendly, and our guide would speed away into the traffic. It was so scary! But it was fun, too, because the city has so many bridges and islands, we got to see the city from a bunch of different perspectives. We also found out that there was a bus that went from the city center to the IKEA in the suburbs. It was the most elusive bus ever! It was so hard to get any answers about where it stopped. We eventually found a tiny paper sign that said the new location, and ended up running down the street flagging down the bus as it pulled away. The IKEA was exactly like every IKEA I've been to. We were excited to buy some cheap food in the cafeteria. We tried to go to as many museums as possible with our Stockholm card, because they were free! We went to the Wine and Spirits Museum, the Music Museum, the Nordic History Museum, the Aquatic Museum, Junibacken (a kids museum based on the stories of Astrid Lindgren, the author of Pippi Longstockings) and the Vasa Museum, which was definitely the coolest. It was a warship in the 1600s that sank on its maiden voyage after sailing for like 20 minutes. They recovered it in the 1950s and it was perfectly preserved in the water. It is reconstructed in this museum. Really cool! Ok I just said a lot about Stockholm. It was a nice city but not the paradise that I had dreamed of.

Prague
We took another Ryanair flight to Prague. Due to some rescheduling, we ended up with only one full day in Prague. Unfortunate, because Prague was so beautiful! I had heard how beautiful it was, but thought maybe I would be jaded after being to so many other beautiful cities. Not true! It was gorgeous. Even though Beth and I were both not feeling well on our only day, we dragged ourselves out of bed and went on another walking tour, like the one in Berlin. We were really glad, because we had a fun Scottish tour guide and saw and learned a lot. We only saw a fraction of the city, but I think we made the most of our one day. The tour guide said that if we only had one day in Prague, we had to go to the Jewish museum. Except our one day there was on Saturday, the Sabbath, so we couldn't go in. Prague is definitely on my list of places to return to. We stayed in the weirdest hostel. It was called the Dizzy Daisy (such a stupid and embarrassing name) and although the rooms were really nice and big, the staff were the worst! We asked them for totally normal things, like where the nearest grocery store was, and where we could get a mug for the free coffee, and they just stared at us like we were idiots. It was so strange. Weird hostel. We took a bus from Prague to Budapest that was about six hours long. Another theme of the trip was snacks, because Beth and I are obsessed with having snacks with us at all times. We were so worried about six hours on the bus with no food, so we went to the grocery store and bought so many snacks. We had a whole backpack filled with tons of snacks! Haha. We managed to make it without starving.

Budapest
The main reason we went to Budapest was because I had so many friends in Bamberg from there, and because my roommate, Szabina, made me promise I would come visit her. I am glad I did! She really showed us so many places in the city. We went on a boat tour the first day we got there, and went to a traditional Hungarian restaurant. Beth got a dish with catfish and I got some goose. They were both really good! It was a really cute restaurant, we sat outside and they had a little band playing gypsy music. On our second day, Szabina took us up this funicular and to the Budapest castle, which was really pretty and high up, so we saw a great view of the city. We were able to go with Szabina to Lake Balaton, which is about 1.5 hours outside of Budapest. We went to the "beach" which was sort of just laying on the grass with a million other people, and swam in the lake. It was really pretty! Szabina's sister lives in the little town where we went, and I got to meet her and also her baby, who had been born since Szabina was in Germany. Szabina had to leave to go to a college orientation week, so Beth and I took the train back to Budapest and navigated back to our hostel. This was quite a feat, because Hungarian is super hard to read and almost no one spoke English. My friend, Gabor, met us the next day and planned quite a tour for us, showing us a lot of sights in the city. He was born and raised in Budapest and really loves the city a lot, so he had tons of places to show us and knew a lot of information. Sadly, Beth had to fly back to Florida and I had to head back to Bamberg to get my big suitcase and come home. I helped her get to the airport, and then I took a bus to Vienna.

Vienna
When I arrived in Bamberg, my friend Lukas from English L'Abri sent me a message and invited me to visit him in Vienna. I had heard wonderful things about the city, so I made a stopover there on my way back to Bamberg. When I arrived, I didn't know that it was his birthday! He showed me one of his favorite local spots in the city, a really cool garden that is owned by the city and also used by some agriculture students. There were so many different plants and flowers there, and a labyrinth made out of hedges! The labyrinth was actually really hard, but I figured it out (eventually.) That night, I went with Lukas and some of his friends for drinks to celebrate his birthday. His friends were really nice. We also went on a little night tour of Vienna, which was really pretty. I made a point of seeing every city I went to by night, because it looks so different! When I was in Paris, I only saw it at night one time in the whole month, so I said now everytime I go somewhere, I make sure to see it at night. The next day, I was on my own in the morning, so I went to Schönnbrun Palace, which was really beautiful! I didn't go inside, but the gardens were really nice. I also just walked around for a couple of hours and saw so many places! I met Lukas in the afternoon, and he had planned that we could hike up this mountainside and see a pretty view of Vienna. Lukas was leaving to study in Poland in a few weeks, so while I was seeing Vienna for the first time, he was going to some of his favorite places for the last time for several months. I had been walking around all day and I was so tired! I was also wearing sandals, not the most appropriate hiking shoes! Lukas said, Don't worry, it's just walking straight up a hill for an hour. Ha! One of Lukas's friend, who I had met the day before, came too and we managed to make it all the way up. It was a great view of the whole city and I felt very accomplished to have climbed the whole way, especially for a Florida girl. I didn't know Lukas very well at all before I went, but it was really nice of him to host me and we had a really fun time!

Bamberg
I was only in Vienna for 1.5 days, and then I took a train back to Bamberg. I was excited because I got to take a direct train, the fancy ICE (Inter-City Express) train. It was really nice! I bought something in the little cafe on the train and felt super cool. When I got back to Bamberg, I stayed with my friends Sonca and Sinisa again. I was so tired when I got back to Bamberg, and hoped that I could just sleep for like three days, but they had tons of activities planned! We went to a festival one night, and to an awesome pool for most of one day, and then to lunch and a mini-tour of Bamberg. Although I hadn't wanted to come back to Bamberg before I left, because it meant I had to make a big circle, it was pretty nice to be there one last time and see some friends and see the place that had been my home for five months.

Whew! I was not at all expecting to write all that out! The trip was wonderful. I am so glad that I got to spend it with Beth. I always have the most fun with her, and we travel really well together. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for helping make this trip happen.

Thanks, everyone, for reading this blog. It started as a France blog, morphed into a L'Abri blog and then turned into a Germany blog. Who knows where I'll be next or what adventures I've got coming up. For now, it looks like I am in Orlando, working and figuring out what to do with my life.

I've still got three continents that I haven't been to, and like 150 countries, so this blog could have many more incarnations.

got a lot of this going on right now. thanks to an eleventh hour mix-up, i got some more work piled onto my already overwhelming pile. can't wait to have that osprey-emblazoned diploma in my hand come december. SWOOP.

What's up, dudes? I'm back.

So, believe it or not, the time has come for me to do some actual academic work! "Wait, Alison, who didn't get the memo that you are in Germany to hang out and watch soccer all the time?" Well, the World Cup is over and I am now crunching for neuroeconomics and regression models and crash courses in calculus that I never took and preparing for my final exams ever! This is of course a lie, there is no way school is done with me, despite how done with it I am right now, but for someone who hasn't taken any exams since the beginning of December, it is quite a bit of a groove to get it. Plus, reading during the day when it is so hot and muggy is really not a welcome task. But I'll get it done, sing "School's Out For Summer" and traipse around the continent.

My final exams are on July 23, 27 and 28. I have one group presentation/paper, one written exam (the most difficult one) and then two oral exams. Shouldn't be too bad but I'm still a little nervous.

I leave tomorrow for Italy! We are going to Pisa, Florence and hopefully Cinque Terre. From what I hear, it is blazing hot, but also I'm from Florida so who knows more about blazing hot? Any recommendations for places to go in Florence? So far it has been an über-cheap trip so we're hoping to make the whole thing cheap too. 10 euros a day. I think it's possible. Actually I have no idea. I remembered that my cousin Taylor was in Florence for a semester but I forgot to ask her for recommendations before she is traipsing around Great Britain.

It seems like everyone is traipsing these days! Everyone I see on FB is all over the world! Oh, globalization.

As far as my future: No clues as to yet where I'm going to be. I'm starting to get a little bit worried about it, although I have plenty of options. Actually, too many options seems more like the problem. I will be officially graduated in December but free from August 24 until.......infinity. So keep an eye and ear open for jobs anywhere. Thanks, dudes.

BUGS BUGS BUGS

Ahh! My room is inundated with bugs! My window is open basically 24/7 in an attempt to get some fresh air into this un-air-conditioned room, and along with the air comes thousands of bugs, buzzing around in my face and near all my lightbulbs. Annoying!

I finally got notice that my lease for my dorm can be terminated early, so come July 31, I will no longer be a resident of Bamberg, Germany. How did this happen so soon? Beth is arriving on August 2 (one month from today!) and we will begin our grand European tour (much like the young monarchs and duchesses of earlier days).

Borrrrrrring blog.

PS Germany vs Argentina is tomorrow! Might be the end for Deutschland...but maybe not! An apparent psychic octopus named Paul has chosen Germany as the winner of the match. And if there is something I don't argue with, it's psychic octopi.

You can't make this up!

June Gone

So, WOW, where did June go? Guess I just spent June watching soccer. Now we have only four weeks of classes left! Ridiculous!

Um, a little recap, I guess. I can't really think of too much that I've been doing. My friends, Sonca and Sinisa, live in a house and they have a great living room for watching matches and a great backyard for BBQs. I've been spending a good amount of time over there. It's fun! Very summer nights-y and laid back. Especially since my living area consists of the distance between my bed and my desk.

We sat outside at the table and watched TV through the window. Then we realized that was ridiculous and went inside.


Delicious food! We had bratwurst (see how small the Bavarian bratwurst are? They sell them two at a time (ein paar) with a piece of bread), chicken wings, rolls and a super fancy salad that this guy just whipped up really quick. Check out the fancy tomato!


We had another bbq Sunday to watch Germany destroy England. The next round (Germany vs Argentina) is on Saturday, so I'm not sure the plans for that. They always show the matches on big screens downtown, so we might go for that. After Germany won, all the cars were driving around honking their horns for hours.

Here is a silly video that is Germany's official WM song. (WM is Weltmeister (world master), Germany's name for the World Cup)

Sportfreunde Stiller -- 54, 74, 90, 2010 - MyVideo
It's called "54, 74, 90, 2010" which are the years that Germany was world champions (assuming they win this year, haha). This German girl that I met said that last World Cup they had the same song, but for 2006, and right after they lost they changed it to 2010. I wonder if they have a 2014 version ready just in case.

On Saturday, I met up with my friend Thomas from Munich, the one I went to London with. I hadn't seen him since the trip, so it was fun to hang out. He came to Bamberg and I showed him around, and then we went to Nürnberg. We went back to the Nazi rally ground museum, and since I had been there before, I got to be sort of a tour guide. The student becomes the teacher? Haha. On the train, some kid asked me a question in German, even though Thomas and I had been speaking the entire time in English and I had been talking about the most American subjects (US soccer team, 4th of July, Americans at Wimbledon). He thought that I was the German one and Thomas was the American one! It was so funny. I laughed about it all day.

In Nürnberg, the US vs Ghana match was to be on TV right when I was going back to Bamberg. Since it was such an important match, I didn't want to miss it. Thomas had to take a train back to Munich, which is about 2 hours from Nürnberg, but since Bamberg is only 40 minutes away, I stayed in Nürnberg and watched the match at a random Irish pub near the train station. There were a lot of Americans there. The game ended up being really long because it went into overtime and I got back pretty late. Oh well! It was a fun experience even though they lost. Boo! Now I am a Germany fan.

It was really fun to hang out with Thomas! He's really fun and we get along really well. I hope I can see him again before I leave.

Wow! This whole entry is about soccer. Look at me now!