The waiter brought over my Pad Thai, and Andy and I dug into our meals. Neither tasted authentic or overwhelmingly delicious, but the flavors were decent enough for what we were looking for – inexpensive and short walking distance from home. What we hadn’t bargained for was the food poisoning that hit us both a […]
Boxes are everywhere. Sheets are taped up over the windows. Light bulbs are hanging out of the ceiling. We often have trouble finding things that are still packed away. It looks like we just moved in a couple days ago, but it’s actually been three weeks. And it’s driving me nuts.
I love to travel, I really do. I think it brings wonderful experiences, makes you look at the world differently, and builds confidence. One of my main reasons for blogging is to encourage others to travel. But sometimes I suck at it. Sometimes I wonder what was going through my mind when I booked the […]
March was a bit of a blur. I’ve mentioned a couple times here that I have a disease called ulcerative colitis. It’s an intestinal disease that I have to take medicine for each day for the rest of my life. It usually doesn’t bother me, but occasionally problems come up. I won’t get into too […]
Shortly after arriving in Germany, Andy and I went into the immigration office to get my visa allowing me to live here. Since Andy has a job here and we’re married, there really wasn’t much to it. But I was told I needed to take a German integration course, which is 600 hours of language […]
I know you probably didn’t think you needed an instruction manual for throwing out your garbage. Just put it in the garbage can, right? Maybe separate your glass, plastic and aluminum containers for recycling. Simple. Not so here. Garbage and recycling in Germany is way more in depth. Throwing out the trash is like a […]
One of the things I miss most from the US is Mexican food. Maybe it’s really Tex-Mex, but regardless, I miss the spicy salsa and the unlimited baskets of warm crispy tortilla chips, the quesadillas, fajitas and tacos. Two years ago on one of my first visits to Freiburg, Andy took me to meet two […]
I’m sure you’ve faked something at one time or another. We do it to protect ourselves. No one wants to be made fun of or seem vulnerable. So we cover things up or pretend we’re someone we’re not to hide the insecurities. We’ve all been there. Sometimes I fake it too.
Culture shock comes in many forms, lurking behind unexpected corners, and attacking when you least expect it. I’ve experienced it on short trips, when the stress of travel hits and I just wanted things to be like they were at home. So I always knew I would have to deal with culture shock when I […]
The past few weeks have been a huge struggle for me. I know many people struggle on their round the world trips, so I kept trying to push through. I kept trying to figure out what was bothering me so much, why I felt so paralyzed, why I just wasn’t enjoying this trip.