Thursday July 14, 2011

Okay everyone! This is my LAST POST..so brace yourself!! :P. Today in Elmshorn was really windy and cold..us americans thought it would be fine to wear flip flops..so we did! :P..we got really weird looks from all the germans though..oh well!! :D. Carina and I got our eyelashes died today! I burnt soo bad! But now they are pretty :). We went shopping for the last time in Germany..Kinda sad..but oh so worth it! Ligretto will now live in America! :) That's my favorite game that we have been playing! Tomorrow we will wake up early to leave the house by 6:15 am!..we will pack the car and get ready to go to AMERICA! We will arrive in NJ around noon and then part ways from the airport! It has been so much fun and I am so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends! Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers! It truly was the time of my life and I wouldn't have done anything different with my summer vacation! I made new friendships with Amy and Jamie and Carina will remain my over seas sister! <3 Please pray for our travels tomorrow and that everyone makes it to their friends and family safe and sound! Thank you for the posts and for reading all of my blogs..and RAMBLINGS about how great Germany is! I recommend everyone take a trip to Europe at least once in their lifetime! <3

xoxo
Rachel

Wednesday July 13, 2011

Today was our last shopping day in Berlin..bye bye berlin! It was a lot of fun and a lot of walking! It's amazing to see how much city life is different here, it seemed like everything was just so much cleaner! But there was  A LOT more graffiti, the berlin wall was really cool to see! Very beautiful :) something that just isn't the same in pictures. We went to the olympic stadium here in Berlin, we didn't get to go in or anything but it was def cool to see up close and personal! After seeing that, Carina's dad picked us up with the tour bus (family van) to head back to Elmshorn. It was a three hour car drive back home which consisted of coloring, listening to music and watching movies on my iPod :). We got home and went downstairs to unpack and get everything some what organized to get everything packed up and ready to go back home tomorrow! It's crazy how fast our time here has gone by..but it was so worth it and something that I will never forget! The good, bad and the ugly! <3. Thank you all so very much for the continued thoughts and prayers and I will try blogging my last blog tomorrow at some point! Sorry about the limited number of pictures posted. I will be sure to get them all up on my Facebook asap when I am home in the ville! <3

xoxo
Rachel

Tuesday July 12, 2011

BERLIN TODAY! Our morning was a rough start, sore from yesterday from all of that walking! We all got up fairly early to make our way to the big city :). First thing we did was got on the bus this morning to take that to the train station, at the bus stop Carina realized that she forgot her watch back at the apartment. She left us to go back to get it (all along we have been making "Carina left us videos" and that was one famous one we did :)). When she came back to get us, we got onto the bus and made our way! BERLIN here we come!! The train ride was your typical train ride, except the fun fact that it's 3 english speaking girls and a german. Things get interesting!! Today on the train was a busy day! Not many places to sit, so I ended up on the stairs! in the way of everyone trying to get off! When it was finally our stop, we got off and headed right to some stores! Our day pretty much consisted of walking and shopping! My feet were hurting really bad in my new european shoes but i did not let that ruin my day! No way!! We shopped shopped shopped!! Carina was telling us that she was getting tired of shopping :P. We had another funny moment on the train but that's a little too much to share! Ask if you wanna know and I will tell you in person..cause it's funny :P. Trains planes and automobiles could be the title of today's day! We met our friends Mori at dinner tonight and I told him my name was Heather :P. That was funny and everyone else went along with it :). Today was a good day, our list is this Lady with orange hair on bus, guy begging for change, lady with music box, guy playing guitar, band singing. People we met, Fernando, Mori (ask me about the restraint story), bubble guy, random winking and random waving game! Tomorrow will be our last day in Berlin and we are very sad about that! More shopping tomorrow and then we will be driving back to Carina's city! Good night all, I will blog tomorrow! <3

xoxo

Rachel 

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Monday July 11, 2011

Today is our trip to Potsdam We woke up at 6:30 am and made it out of the house by 7:00 am..Very early start for us americans..! The drive wasn't bad at all, I was expecting it to be never ending! But it seemed like it went by super fast. When we arrived to Carina's dad's apartment here, we unloaded the car and made ourselves at home :). Potsdam is super beautiful and there is just so many fun things to do! Carina's dad works 5 min away from where the apartment is so he was there most of the day. He took us to the city first and left us ladies there to tour and to do what we are best at..SHOP! We shopped SO MUCH today..all of us had like 5 bags each! Kinda makes me feel sick when I think about it!!..but momma keeps saying, I may never get this chance again! The first thing I thought about when we arrived to the city was "man my feet are gonna hurt by the end of today!". The streets were FOREVER long, full of shops. We hit almost every store! And I was in about 10 shoe stores trying to find my "european" shoes :)..for those of you who don't know! Germans all wear converses! So I got some converse look alike..to feel european and to fit in with the crowd ;) <3. We all got tired quick as we shopped shopped shopped! And there was A LOT of walking involved too! The funnies thing about today was at the end. We were all walking through the park a very BIG park (called Anssouci)..beautiful..but it seemed like it just kept going and going and going..I just thought my feet were going to fall off of my body! We all made it to the very end of the park..and the gates were CLOSED!..We had to walk around the gates..weird..I know..! And find a way out so we didn't have to walk all the way back! The funny thing is. I was wearing my new white I <3 BERLIN sweatshirt and I felt something on my arm..dummy me..I slapped it (first reaction) and it was a dang mosquito! The blood went everywhere and I was so upset! I had to just get over it and keep walking though! We remember we had to stop at the supermarket and get milk so we did that next. We got some things we like, like non bubbly water and other yummy snacks! We walked back to the apartment around nine and had some cereal for dinner and I colored in my coloring book while we all sat and talked on the back porch :). We all showered (much needed), and now the other 3 are all playing ligretta and yahtzee!..I'm sure we will all get sick of it soon enough :P. But maybe not!! Haha :). Overall today was a good day! Just very very tiring! We all enjoyed the shopping and seeing all of the different stores and what all they had to offer! Tomorrow will be our big day in BERLIN!! We are all very excited for that and can't wait to see the city! Thank you for the continued thoughts and prayers! I will continue to keep every updated as my time in Germany comes to an end. I'm so ready for a feet hurting shopping full day tomorrow! Good night and sweet dreams! 

xoxo 

Rachel

Sunday July 10, 2011

Today we woke up around 6:45 am and had some breakfast before Carina's dad drove us to the Bahn! We bought all of our train tickets and then got right on our first train to Denmark! We got on and off trains until we were finally in Denmark! The first thing we did was ate some hot dogs! We met some other english speaking people :) one from NY and one from CA :)  that was exciting! After hot dog eating we all shopped at one of Carina's favorite stores in Denmark and I got some more souvenirs! We had to quick catch our bus back to the train so we had to leave that store in good timing. We walked to where all of the buses were and got on the first bus..turned out that was the WRONG bus! And the right one had just left...We got off the wrong one and just waited..and waited...and 30 min had passed..and waited some more! And before we knew it like an  hour and a half had passed and there was still NO bus! By that time there were people around waiting for the bus too so we didn't feel too alone :P. After hanging out at the bus stop, listening to music and playing some yahtzee, the right one finally came! We quick got on that to our first bus to Hamburg and the conductor was nice enough to call the other train to tell them to wait for us before they left to where we need to be to go to the beach! When we arrived to the city Busum we wanted to all go walk out when it was low tide! There is a ton of mud and worm poop every where! It was really cool though! A very fun experience! The car was also 2 hours away from where we were! Long and tiring walk! I asked if there was absolutely no where else for them to park..they laughed :P After the Busum trip we all made our way to dinner..dinner was so good! I had a dish called surf n' turf! Steak and shrimp and french fries! :) everyone really seemed to enjoy what they ordered. Carina's family was nice enough to pay for our meals! <3 we are home now and talking and watching glozell youtube videos and having fun! We are really excited for berlin tomorrow and I can't wait to post more! Please pray for safe travels there and I will hopefully blog more soon to keep everyone updated!

xoxo
Rachel

The Famous BALTIC SEA! :)

Here is a sneak peak of LUBECK!

MORE OF Saturday July 9, 2011

We decided to go to a place where you can paddle boat around a pond for half an hour if you wanted so all of us went paddle boating at 6 pm and while we were on the water it began to rain!! After paddling we went to Carina's grandparents house, they are so cute! There was a HUGE language barrier but no worries! Carina was the famous translator. We had coffee, water and apple juice there with some cookies. We took a look at some maps of where we have been and where we are going. Her grandparent told her what to take to get to Denmark tomorrow so that was good to find out too! After visiting there we all went to the store to buy some things for food and we got more beer too! We bought small good stuff for our stinky room :P. We took longer than planned at the market and dinner was already done with the table set! When we got home everything was all ready for us to eat. We ate yummy beef, cheese potatoes and veggies! After dinner we all just talked around the table and had some dessert :). Now we are all relaxing because we have a VERY busy day tomorrow! Waking up around 5:30 to catch the train at 7:00 to take that to Denmark! All of us are very excited but we all know that it will be another very exhausting day! Good night everyone <3 please continue to pray for safe travels and I will blog more tomorrow.

xoxo
Rachel

Saturday July 9, 2011

Complete chill day! Nothing but games and music at Carina's house!!! :P

xoxo
Rachel

Friday July 8, 2011

It is our last day in Lübeck, we all had to wake up at 9 this morning to pack up and clean our room. We were checked out by 9:30 and went out on the town one last time! Lübeck is so beautiful even when it's raining! We did more souvenir shopping today and took pictures with this gold man who stands like a statue and tweets like a bird! We made our way back to Carina's house, grouchy, tired, hungry and in need of sleep! When we arrived at the house we got dirty clothes together to get some of that washed! There is still a pile that is very smelly and just waiting for someone to put it in the washer!! We all took naps and showered and left the house by 8 pm to go to Carina's aunts house where her family had a cook out in her aunt's backyard! Around 9:30 we left and drove a barn out in the country, where her friend's birthday party was. They had music played and good german beer!! We made it safe and sound back to carina's house and then all went to sleep!

xoxo
Rachel

Thusrday July 7, 2011

Today we left the youth hostel and our plan was to meet up with Carina's aunt to go cycle (her word for riding bicycles). We left for her city to meet up at her house to check out what kind of bikes she has. Jamie road on one of the aunt's bicycles, and the rest or us drove to the rental place in that city to rent all of our bikes. From there, we started the intense cycling experience!! We went up and down hills, through fields with wide open skies all around us!! We took a lot of breaks in between this 27 kilometer bike ride ( approx. 20 miles). Carina's aunt provided us with water, cherries (we had seed spitting contests), banana muffins, chocolate and she even made us sandwiches for lunch! We were all so tired and it was perfect that we biked to the Baltic sea! We all layed out on the beach and took a long nap in that Germany sunshine with the nice breeze! When we all woke up we were burnt some and we all wanted ice cream! Carina's aunt knew about these really yummy ice cream parlor's! The one we went to was called Banana-Boat and it was behind a really long pier that we all walked out on after we ate our ice cream! After biking, we all went to Carina's aunts house and we all made noodles and vegetables and for dessert we ate more birthday cake that one of Carina's friends made for her. We left her aunt's house around 9:00ish and then went back to the youth hostel so we could all get showers! There was a last minute decision to all go out and get drinks so we all got dolled up and went out on the town with a group of girls that we had met 5 min. before! We all talked with them and had a good ladies night! We were back in the room by 1:00 and we played more card game sand then went to sleep!! It was a good day! Very longgg and awesome! :) 

xoxo
Rachel

Wednesday July 6, 2011

The city of Lübeck is BEAUTIFUL!!! The good smell of morning air and all of the people on their bikes and people walking in the city is the first thing we saw when we walked out of the youth hostel. We walked to find our car and then got the map out to make our way to the amusement park called Hansa Park. We started out getting our 50 cent locker, then we made our was to some rides, the first one we stated with was as upside down roller coaster! That was a good start! There were some interesting moments that almost got me into some trouble!! People enjoy spitting on rides that go 180..NOT COOL!..Some may not know that when you spit, it could land in someone Else's face!! So that is how my morning started!! :P. Carina claims that she did not hear me scream to tell them stop spitting in German!! I told her IF ONLY I KNEW GERMAN!! Amy found it very entertaining that I was getting so mad, Jamie had no idea what was going on and Carina heard some of it but not the spitting part! Oh the memories that were made today!! :P There were some neat opportunities,..there was a sand pit with a giant jumpy bubble that everyone was on and that was really different and super fun!! Carina really enjoys a ride called Fluch Von Novgorob, it's a roller coaster that goes really fast and it hangs you backwards, and throws you down hills! Very scary!! I nearly lost my voice from screaming so loud! :P It ended with a maze at the end of the ride to find your way out, and then you slide down a sliding board! After the roller coaster we got lunch which was pitta and ice cream!! We enjoyed sitting and just talking!! I think a memory that non of us will ever forge was the high ropes course! There were some laughs, scared moments and give ups but overall it was a lot of fun and really different experience! Oh..and now I can sat I will forever have sunglasses in Germany..haha SORRY NAY NAY!!..:P Kind of lost on the course! While at the theme park there was this awesome acrobatics show that all of us really enjoyed as well! Some of it was in german but it was more of a show that was really really neat! It's amaying how people can make twisting your body into a pretzel look easy!! The park took up all of our day, and the moment we left at 6 it began to DOWN POOR!! On the way back we to the hostel we had to stop to get some "normal" water (non bubbly)..germans like bubbly water!! Club soda..kinda weird for us americans :). We had cereal for dinner tonight! Momma, I thought about you <3. Later we played more Yahtzee and another game Carina introduced us to that is called Ligretto. It's a really fun card game, it get's so intense! SLEEP IS NEEDED! It was one very busy day! Ciao for now!

xoxo
Rachel

Tuesday July 5, 2011

Today started as any other day..it started with a DELICIOUS BREAKFAST! We hit the road for Lübeck around noon, when searching for a place to park we came across the perfect place to get our food! We stopped at a place called sky and then left there to go to the parking lot. We all didn't want to go and find a parking spot at another place because we were all so HUNGRY :P. Soo we decided to have lunch in the car! The famous AMERICAN way to do things :). After lunch, we all got ourselves together and drove to find another parking space. After parking the car, we all went for (what felt like) a two mile hike to where the youth hostel was! When arriving to the youth hostel with all of our baggage, we all unpacked everything and then got ready. I had to shower, and Amy, Jamie and Carina all played Yahtzee! We went out on the town around 4 pm (10 am VA time) and toured another beautiful church called st. Mary's, shopped at H&M (my fav store), took pictures in front of the "symbol" building for Lübeck and then our stomachs began to grumble! We searched for a good place to eat..and found somewhere nice..a little too nice!! And too cold!!..It was the first time I could actually say that I was offered a blanket in a restaurant! :P. We then went to go and find some where that had good drinks! And we got our first drinks! We met Norwegian, Swedish, and British guys too..they all knew English and we all felt at home haha  :P. It's really hard to find English speaking people sometimes! One of the Swedish guys bought us ladies a round of drinks! It was very nice of him and the drinks were very good! We sat there until 1 ma just talking to them and having our own conversations as well! We had a lot of fun out on the town and now we are very tired! But..NEVER too tire to pass up a good game of Yahtzee:P Jamie, Amy and Carina are back at it! I may join in after blogging!! I can't let my American folks back at home down! Although I can't really do much about not having wireless available!! Thank you for the continued prayers and I will continue to blog on all of my days here!!

xoxo
Rachel

Monday Julý 4, 2011

Happy 4th of July USA :) Today was WE GET TO SLEEP IN DAY!!! We all slept until 11:45 am..much needed sleep. Amy, Jamie and Carina all stayed up until 3:00 am while I went to sleep at midnight! We had ANOTHER delicious breakfast..well..brunch :P. We biked to the market and bought all of our american food! We cooked Cheese burgers, mac n cheese french fries and baked a cake! Carina's friends brought chips and teddy cracker things :) We ate A LOT! The house was all decorated with american stuff..the front door had a sign that we made that said "Welcome to the...USA" and the sliding doors going to the back patio said "Happy Fourth of July". There we towels hanging over the railing going to her upstairs..and there was a towel hanging over the door that they would see after they walked into the house. We played all american music on my laptop..and even the germans sang a few! :P After dinner we all were talking about going to the indoor/outdoor water park that is called Arriba...Carina really wanted to take us there and her friends said that they would go as well. But there was NO WAY to get there..her mom had takin the car that we call "the tour bus" and the other friends live forever away! But the two guy friends saved the day! They quick biked home and got us with the cars! I was really suprised how fast it was (considering it was 30 min to one of their house by car!). After getting the cars..we all started the drive :) When we finally got there..everzthing was so overwhelming! There was just so many funt hings to do :) We all jumped in one of the pools and swam for a few minutes..and then we all went for the water slides! All seven of us really enjoyed them! When the end of our time at the waterpark was getting closer..all of us went to the diving boards and did all sorts of jumps! That was a lot of fun! We had spalsh competitions too! We were sad to have to leave..but we had a great time while it lasted :) After Arriba, we all went to a friends house to watch the 4th Harry Potter movie :). We stayed there until midnight. and then Amy, Jamie, Carina and myself went to Carina's house to do our famous fourth of July SPARKLERS!!! We took some pictures (that I REALLY want to post) and we took a video too! We all are driving to Lubeck today and we are staying for three nights there..so I really don't know if I will be able to blog again..until we return (I hope there is WIRELESS)!!! Reguardless..we are all really excited and can't wait for this new adventure! I am excited to blog more about lubeck and all it has to offer to us american girls! But I'm sorry to all back home if it takes me a while to blog! I know all of you are eager to hear! Keep praying and I will post again soon!!

xoxo
Rachel

Sunday July 3, 2011

Today's day started with anoter yummy breakfast all set out for us before we got ourselves ready and hit the town! We left the house around 11:00 which is 5 am VA time..weird when you think of it that way :P. We drove to a parking lot where we could keep our car for free and then we walked to where the train would come and get us. The train ride was really nice! It was a mix between a Metro and a subway..it's called the bahn! bahn is obviouly train in deutch! :) we took the bahn to hamburg and there we walked around A LOT and took a boat ride in the harbor and we had our first crepes!! Mine was with nutella..I love nutella!! :) then we went to st. michaels where we went to the top of the steple and took lots of pictures there! From there we went to get lunch at a nearby place and ate somewhat healthy ;). After that we went to the train station and shopped more! Bought more things to take back to the USA of course! <3 After that we walked to catch the bahn again and go back to pinneberg where we found our car! We were going to try and go to this awesome huge pool that is 45 min. away from Elmshorn (where carina lives!) but there was stand still traffic for like an hour and a half...sooo we jammed to some music and played the random waving game! :) we made some friends with that too! Haha :) after all of the traffic cleared we made it back to carinas and now we are haning out and Amy, Carina and Jamie are playing yahtzee! Tomorrow Amy, Jamie and I are all cooking AMERICAN foor for the 4th of July and some of Carinas friends are coming over!! It should be fun! We are all going to try and go to the pool again with all of her friends there too! I will try and blog tomorrow for all of you back home! I can't get pictures up as of right now..but as soon as I find wireless internet I will try uploading them!! Good night everyone! I hoped you enjoyed the blog! And make some comments so I don't feel like I'm just talked to myself :P <3

xoxo
Rachel

Friday July 1, 2011/ Saturday July 2, 2011

Our morning on July 1st started at the diner in NJ it was yummy northern food and I was craving some biscuits and gravy..but I was denied that very quickly! Then Amy and Jamie took off with Amy's parents to get starbuscks for some caffine! I was headed back to the grandparents house to finish getting ready for the rest of our morning! Shortly after arrival back at the grandparents house..we turned right back around to head to the Newark airport..enotional, stressful, and exciting all balled into one! Our tickets said gate 135 and all around us were people going to CA so at the last minute..(30 min to spare) we made it very quickly to the correct gate where we found the rest of the german people..on the total opposite side of the airport! But we made it and that's all that matters! Boarding the plane was very exciting and we were right on time for take off at 5:40 pm. I enjoyed watching all of the movies available (justin bieber, princess and the frog and some of slumdog millionair) while Jamie enjoed soduko and Amy enjoyed reading and trying to catch some sleep! Looking out of the window was verz exciting as well :). The dinner was delicious..pasta and salad! After that we all slept for a good 45 min. when coming to find out that it was 6:00 am in germany and midnight in VA! Carina met us with a big smile at the gates and helped carry out baggage! We all went to her car and first thing that came on the radio was Jason Mraz- I'm Yours. The autobon was very exciting as well! Got up to 160 kmh :) (100 in VA)!!!!!!!!!!! Crazyyyyyyyyyy...We arrived at Carinas and had a wonderful breakfast that her family provided for us and after that we all had a glass of wine! Carina, Jamie and Amy looked through Carina's scrapbooks and I took an hour power nap! Then they woke me up and we all went biking around the city! Made some purchases and had coffee with mint chocolate!! :) I am blogging now (obviously :)) and soon to eat a very good smelling dinner that Carina's mom is preparing for all of us! We will blog more tomorrow! And hopefully have some pictures up soon too!

xoxo
Rachel