Ireland

I know you guys have missed me, but just a warning this is a long one!

The long awaited adventure began with the beautiful country of Ireland.  This was the trip that we had all been looking forward to and we were all overly excited. A little before 6 am we hopped on the bus to make our early train ride that would then take us to Munich. Once at the Munich train station we switched trains to go from Munich to Memmingen West. From there we took a bus to the Memmingen airport were we then checked in our bags, went through security, and waited patiently for good ole Ryan Air to depart and take us to Dublin. 

We had fear that we were going to start fall break one man down.  As we were going through security we noticed Autumn was going through extra security and talking to a police officer. Turns out she had forgot to take her pocket knife out of her suitcase! To top things off she had a book on Terrorism in her backpack that she was reading for CIV. Luckily after a thorough pat down and confiscating her pocket knife, they allowed her to go through.

For those of you who are unaware of Ryan Air's reputation I put together a short list for you:

-cheap, very cheap flights
-small planes
-seat yourself
-bumpy

Okay, as I started to make the list I noticed there really wasn't too much to complain about. I just get really motion sickness, so the small bumpy plane rides always seem to leave me in a sour mood.

Our plane landed and after about a 30 minute bus ride we arrived to our hostile.  The Generator! It was your typical mid-class hostile. A private 8 bedroom for our group.  I guess I should introduce you to the travel crew:

Sumer Starks- the one and only talented and beaut... okay just kidding
Autumn Denton- my fellow season in crime
Whitney Gardner- my favorite ginger
Kristen Pace (KP)- my sister my friend
Morgan Bordy- The show stopper
Allie France- The lead of the pack, agenda setter, and hug lover
Mary Jensen- She's not that innocent jk (hence my Brittney Spears reference)
Paige Dale- the always pleased, and positive 

Now that you know my wonderful travel companions I will continue.

After we got settled in to our hostile we went to dinner at O'Sheas. I had a very bland Irish burger. On the plus side there was free water with ICE and REFILLS.  The waiter probably thought we had been on a day long hike across the country the way we were downing pitchers.

After dinner I headed back to the hostile, showered, and hit the hay.

Saturday we were up early to leave for our weekend tour. We gathered our things and headed to the meeting spot for the Shamrocker tour. We loaded the bus and our tour guide, Kev, introduced himself and told us what to expect over the next couple of days.  Afterward we all went up one by one and introduced ourselves to the group. The eight of us made up the majority of the tour group. Also in our group was an amazing nice couple from Australia (Alex and Penny), a 19 year old from Australia who was traveling alone (Maddie), a 25 year old girl from New Zealand, and two other girls who kept to themselves.

Our first stop was the Blarney Castle, famous for the Blarney Stone.  The Blarney Stone is located at the top of the Blarney Castle.  The legend is that if you kiss the stone you will be granted the gift of gab, or better noted, flattery. (Watch out boys) To kiss the stone isn't as easy as you may envision. You have to sit backwards on a ledge and then with assistants you lean back over an opening and kiss the wall backwards.

                                                                        Blarney Castle

Kissing the Blarney stone!

After the castle we loaded back on the bus and headed for our hostile which was located in Ennis.  Once there we went to have a true Irish dinner.  I had pork roast and cabbage.  It tasted like pork roast and cabbage.  After dinner we went to an Irish pub.  This where we got to know Penny, Alex, and Maddie a little better.

Penny and Alex- The cutest couple ever.  Alex is an electrician, and took off from his job because it has always been Penny's dream to travel.  Penny had a job in the PR field and just quit to travel.  They just built a big house and invited us to come and stay... one of these day's I plan to take them up on this offer!

Maddie- Crazy 19 year old who is traveling around by herself.

After the first pub we migrated into the pub next door after I heard them playing MJ.  The band was called Bad Destruction.  The lead singer's voice slightly resembled Adam Levine, but not nearly as attractive.

It wasn't long before we were back at our hostile fast asleep.

The next morning, November 4, 2012, may have been the best day of my life.

We left our hostile, hopped on the bus, and made our way to our first stop of the day.... wait for it.... THE CLIFFS OF MOHER!!! Prettiest place in the world. I know people use the saying "it was so pretty I could have cried" well it was so pretty that I did cry.  Tears of joy were in my eyes, and I just keep thinking how I would love for my family and friends to be there with me to take it all in!  It had been sprinkling outside, and about the time we made it to the edge of the cliffs a huge rainbow appeared.  It started in the water and ended far from my vision.  The view was spectacular.  Just when I thought it couldn't get any better another rainbow appeared! The pictures don't give the view an ounce of justice.

Cliffs of Moher

Double Rainbow

Sooo pretty!

KP and I -- alpha love!

After taking countless pictures of the same thing. We loaded the bus and  took a short bus ride to another set of smaller cliffs class Black Head.

Black Head

After another short photo shoot we headed to Galway. 

We had a few hours to walk to streets and shop.  We searched the stores high and low for the perfect claddagh ring.

The Claddagh ring is a unique Irish symbol of love. The hands of friendship, crown of loyalty, and the heart symbolizing love. The tradition dates back to the 16th century when a native of Galway City, Richard Joyce was captured by Algerian Corsairs on his way to the West Indies.  When he eventually returned he settled in the small village of Claddagh just outside the city of Galway where he crafted the first Claddagh ring.

Worn on the left hand with the crown pointing away from your heart, tells are you are spoken for.  Whilst worn on the right hand in the same fashion suggest love is being considered. If your heart is not spoken for the ring should be worn on the right hang with the crown turned to your heart.

I didn't manage to find my Gerard Butler (who is actually Scottish not Irish) so I will be wearing my ring on my right hand, crown turned to my heart.

After our time in Galway we made our way back to Dublin where our tour ended.

We spent the next couple of days in Dublin walking the streets.  We managed to find a candy shop, eat at the oldest fish and chips shop in town, and walk into countless tourist shops.

The oldest Fish and Chips take away in town

Our last night in Ireland we got dressed up and went to a fancy Irish dinner show.  We had a lovely 3 course meal, and treated ourself to some wine.  The band referred to us as team America all night and sang various requested songs. Team America requested "Wagon Wheel" which we all sung along to of course.

Salad

Salmon and Veggies

Raspberry Cheesecake!

The band.

As we were working on dessert (raspberry cheesecake) some of the world's best Irish dancers graced us with their presents on stage. They were incredibly talented.  Turns out of good friends Alex and Penny were there too! It was so good to see them again.

Irish dancers.

The band mentioned that they would be playing at another pub after while so we made our way there and enjoyed some more Irish music with our new friends.

The next morning we said our goodbyes to the beautiful country of Ireland and made our way to Barcelona, Spain. More on Barcelona in my next blog.

If you made it this far in my post you must really bored, scrolled through a lot, or really love hearing about my life.

Keep it real folks,

Sumer

It is fall... nope it's winter...definitely winter!

Hello everyone--

I was going to start my blog out with a catchy German statement, but then I realized I was only kidding myself.  So, I'll stick with this:

I had a good weekend, if you wanna hear about it feel free to keep reading. 

All week long Sara and I had planned on watching a Christmas movie on Thursday to get in the spirit.  She came over to my room and we enjoyed some homemade hot chocolate, gingerbread cookies, and one my favorites... ELF!  I must say I have seen that movie way too many times, and probably got on her nerves by quoting every other line.  It was definitely a great start to my weekend.  

On Friday a group of us decided we wanted to be adventurous and go on a hike.  John gave us directions on how to get to the country side and we were on our way.  We finally arrived and didn't really know what to expect or where to go, so we began walking.  We walked down an old back road for a good ways until we stumbled upon a beautiful tree that stood out among the rest.  We had to stop of pictures of course.  Yes, we got a bit carried away. 

Ex cheerleaders... my toe-touch is slacking.

The "everyone jump" picutre. hahaha

Where do you blue and gold?!

After spending a good bit of time capturing any and every pose we could in front of the perfect golden backdrop, we continued our journey.  We walked, and walked, and walked some more until we came across a field with a huge potatoes pile.  We took another picture. 

What's for dinner? Potatoes. 

We continued to walk. The best part was being completely unaware of our destination. 

friends :)

We finally came to a place in our walk where we could continue on the path, or take a turn up a huge hill that lead into the woods.  We took the unbeaten path. It was such a great choice.  Once we made it up into the woods we were surrounded by tons of trees.  They were reaching the sky in arrangements of yellow and orange. The sun was beating down rays of light between the small holes the tree top roof was creating. So so pretty. 

Had to find myself a walking stick!

We continued walking through the woods taking trail after trail for the next couple of hours until we made our way back to the path that lead us to where we began.  It was really great to get out of the dorm and enjoy being outside.  

I noticed the weather kept continuing to drop and by the next morning this is what I woke up to...

Yes...SNOW in October! 

We enjoyed one really pretty day of autumn, but it quickly turned cold. If watching Elf didn't but me in the Christmas spirit the snow definitely did! No turning back now. Winter is here and it is here to stay. Brrrrrrr!  (Trying to sound positive, but honestly it is already miserably cold)

That night Autumn and I made fried chicken strips, green beans, and mashed potatoes for dinner. YUM! Doesn't get much better to be honest. Later that night Morgan and Allie had a little party in there room.  It was a good time, listened to American music and socialized with our new German friends. 

Say cheese!

Sunday, I basically spent my day doing what most people do on Sundays. Being lazy! Autumn came up to my room and we watched The Holiday! Another one of my favorites.  It really doesn't get much better when you throw Jude Law and Christmas into the same movie. 

This week has been a little crazy.  We had our last GER 105 lecture on Monday and we have our final tomorrow.  We had a GER 101 test today.  Plus lots to read for HUM 211! But, it is all worth it because after tomorrow I can check one class off of my list for the semester, and on top of that my fall break begins!!!   I can't believe my eyes when I type this, but I will be in IRELAND on Friday and I will be ending my fall break in BARCELONA!!!! (It is only right that I throw a P.S. I love you showing in my room before we leave.) I'm so excited I can barely contain myself. 

Before I jump the gun I guess I should tell you that we are having a Halloween party tomorrow! So you should check back around Thursday for a Halloween blog special.

I hope you all feel up to date on every detail of my life. 

<3 Sumer

Autumn's 21st throw down

It took 21 years, but she made it...

We had class all day, and then a tour of a palace, so the fun didn't really begin until dinner. We ate dinner at the same restaurant we ate at on our first day in Regensburg.  Although I vaguely remember the first time because I was suffering from culture shock and jet lag.  It was very yummy.  I had apple cider wine that was super delicious and salmon and eggplant pasta.  I also gave my first stand up toast to Autumn.  It was more nerve racking than I had anticipated, but I made it through.  Didn't even shed a tear.

Here are some pictures from dinner:

After dinner we all made our way back to our dorms to change and get ready for karaoke night.  Every Monday night at bar 13 they have karaoke night, so what better way to spend a 21st birthday.  Bar 13 is a tiny little place that is always packed, but we managed to all find a place to sit.  As soon as we got there we began flipping through the countless pages of songs.  Once we had made or picks we turned them into the dj and waited patiently for our names to be called.  One by one, group by group we all ended up on stage at some point.  Many of us managed to make it up on stage a few times.  All in honor of Autumn of course. 

Morgan, Allie, and I 

Beautiful KP, and I :)

Had to get my picture with the Mr. and Mrs. Dunn!

Me and the one and only John Griffin

Autumn singing "Tribute" as Kate acts as her backup singer.  Best performance of the night, hands down!!

Songs from Pony, Single Ladies, Survivor, Tribute, Hey Jude, and Rolling on the River were all sung, and sung very well might I add... not! I'm pretty sure everyone in the place hated us. Autumn thought otherwise.  I remember her once saying, "Is it just me or is everyone in love with us?" That was definitely my favorite quote of the night. All in all is was a very successful 21st birthday for my best friend, Autumn.  She definitely went out with a bang! 

She gave it everything she had. 

End of the night group picture! (Which I believe I took) Love this group of girls! 

Hope your birthday was everything you hoped it would be, Autumn. Love you bestie! 

Until next time-- 

Sumer

God made it pretty over here

Hiiiii,

Our last adventure was to the beautiful city of Salzburg, Austria.  Autumn, Kristen, Whitney, and I packed up for a two day stay.  Whitney and I had art class so we had just planned to meet Autumn and Kristen at the train station. 

We left class a bit early to have plenty of time to make it there without haven't to rush, so we thought.  We waiting for our bus which showed up five minutes late.  Then we stopped at countless bus stops where the driver had to turn people away because the bus was over capacity.  This was making our 10 minute bus ride at about 30 and we were freaking out.  Finally after arriving at our stop Whitney and I pack up our things and took off in a dead sprint.  We ran across the road, down another road, and then had to wait for a good four more minutes at a cross walk.  Once it turned green we sprinted across the road, flew into the building,  ran up the escalators, and down to our train where we bumped into Autumn who had come to look for us. Ahhhh we made it! Kristen and Autumn chuckled at us as they watch Whitney and I try to catch our breath. 

The rest of our trip to Salzburg was smooth as ice.  We had to switch trains over in Munich and two or so hours later we were there.  It was dark when we arrived, but we managed to find the bus which took us almost directly to our hostile.  Upon arrival of our hostile I looked at Autumn and said, "I feel like I'm in a children's hospital."  There were kids everywhere, bright colored walls, and then us. We received our room key and prayed that we weren't rooming with a group of eight year old children.  We arrived in our room of 12 beds, six and six, merely separated by a half wall. No kids in sight, what a sigh of relief.  We put out things away and headed out for dinner.

We ended up eating at a small little Italian restaurant that was within walking distance from our hostile.  Whitney and I devoured our pizzas while Autumn and KP had pasta.  After dinner we decided to head back to the hostile and get a good nights rest before a long day of sight seeing.

Turns out our hostile wasn't just for children.  Once we returned from dinner the lobby was full of adults who we laughing and cutting up over a glasses of bier.  

The next morning we got ready, ate breakfast, and were on our way.  This was the first we were seeing of Austria in the day light, and it was beautiful! The mountains which laid in the background of every picture were really amazing to look at.  We hiked to the lift that took us up into the mountains for a better view.  Once we reached the top it was a breath taking. 

We stayed up there for a while just chatting and taking in the view.  Then we proceeded to check out some of the museums that were located up top and then stopped for dessert at a little cafe that overlooked the city.

Whit and I split an apple strudel. 

Cute little cafe

After we spent a few hours exploring everything there was to see at the top we decided to go back down and walk through town.  We did a lot of window shopping. Then headed to the Hellbrunn Palace. We walked around and did some site seeing before taking a tour of the trick fountains.  It was a blast.  Our tour guide was a lot of fun along with the group we went with.  The water fountains would come on out of no where surprising us by spraying us when we least expected it.  It was a lot of fun though.  It's crazy to me that the fountains still work after 400 years! 

Next, we headed to the hostile to get ready for dinner.  We ended up eating at a Chinese buffet (the first thing we found) it was good at the time, but I wouldn't go back. 

After a LONG day of site seeing I was drained.  We came back to the hostile and chilled in the lobby for a bit before going to bed.  

Our plan for the next morning was to get up and go to a few souvenir shops.  Then catch our train around noon so that we would arrive back in Regensburg around four and have plenty of time to get ready before our banquet that was at six.  To save myself frustration I will keep it simple:

• Whitney got yelled at in German by an angry man who hates his job and wouldn't even let her buy anything.  We have no idea why or what he was yelling!
• Finally find souvenir shop on a street corner.
• Load train.
• Since it was Saturday we had to get off our train, wait an hour, and load onto a different train.  We didn't know this is how it worked on the weekends which put us an hour behind.
• Get off at Munich to switch trains.
• Turns out we got off at the wrong Munich.
• Wait 20 minutes for another train to pick us up and take us to the other side of Munich.
• Load train.
• Ride impatiently knowing we are going to have approximately 10 minutes to make the train in Munich.
• Arrive at the correct Munich, but another train is in our way so we can't get off for another five minutes. 
• Train pulls up, we jump out.
• Spot train and sprint with all of our things
• About half way to train and it leaves without us.
• Next train comes in an hour
• tik tok tik tok
• Load train
• Arrive in Regensburg 
• Sprint to cab
• Arrive at dorms and check to see when the next bus comes to take us to the banquet which we are now, already 20 minutes late for. 
• 7 minutes until next bus
• Run up four flights of stairs
• Put on dress, tights, and heels
• Run down the stairs
• Catch the bus (yes we are awesome, we totally got ready in 7 minutes)
• Arrive at Banquet

Okay, I said I was going to make it short but then I ended up with 20 plus bullets... oh well you get the picture. 

The banquet happened to start a little late, so we really didn't miss much.  The banquet was to celebrate the 20 year mark of the Murray/Regensburg study abroad program.  There were many people there who had studied in Murray many years ago.  They all had slide shows and stories about their experiences in Murray. Dr. Dunn and his wife, and Fred Miller and his wife all flew in for the occasion. We were served a free meal and got a chance to chat with a lot of people. 

Autumn and I sat at a table of German students who studied in Murray just last year.  To my surprise I got to meet up with Elena there.  Elena and I sat next to each other in class last fall at Murray. It was really cool to get to reconnect with her on her home turf.  

 

Well that basically sums up last weekend, aside from Autumn's 21st birthday which deserves a blog post of its own.  Hope you enjoyed. 

Tschüss!

Happy Homecoming!!! (in december)

Hey gang, 

I kept telling myself, "yea, I'm missing homecoming but I'm traveling the world!! I'm living in a different country, and that is way better than MSU homecoming."  Well that isn't necessarily the case.

I admit it... I mourned! Homecoming just so happened to land on a weekend where we had absolutely nothing planned! When I say nothing I mean I stayed in my room from the time I got out of class on Thursday until Monday morning when I left for class.  Minus a trip to get toilet paper (total of 20 minutes) and a walk to the park with Whit G. (total of an hour) I was in my room.  So out of approximately 85 hours, 1 hour and 20 minutes of my weekend wasn't staring into a computer screen.

I'm embarrassed to say how many episodes of Modern Family I watched along with two movies and constantly refreshing my social media sites to see the latest homecoming dresses and etc. 

Whitney and I pulled up the game on my lap top and watched it as if we were there. Yelling Racer chants and booing the other team after each touchdown. By the time the game was over it was around 1 AM our time and we decided to hit the hay.  When Sunday morning rolled around I realized something. Homecoming was over and everyone I was envying all weekend would be recovering from their late night out and hitting classes the following day.  Oh and I'm still living it up in Germany...okay just living in Germany.

Yes, I miss home... A LOT! But I would give up Homecoming ten more times to get to experience what I am while I'm here.  I'm almost over the half way hump and I still have so many journeys to go on.  So when I miss home I focus on that.  It will be December before I know it and who knows when I will get another opportunity to come back.  I'm going to soak up every last minute of it!

And when December does roll around that will be the real homecoming... My homecoming!! :)

Much love-- Sumer

To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive

Hallo, meine Damen und Herren!

It was another great weekend abroad.  This past weekend we spent our time in the large and in charge city of Berlin.  

The trip started off a little rocky for me personally.  We took a bus that was similar to a charter bus, minus the bathroom.  Which brings me to my next point.  Anyone who knows me well knows that I always have to pee, and I get motion sickness very easily!  With this in mind I managed to only drink a tiny tiny coffee with breakfast, a sip or two of water, and go pee right before I left our dorms.  We get on the road and all is great.  The bus driver says that he will take a break at the two hour mark.  About an hour in I feel like I'm going to pee on myself.  I quickly turned into that little kid in the backseat who manages to ask "are we there yet?" every 5 minutes.  I have a little pow-wow with myself... "Self, you can do this!! Just a little farther!"  On the edge of my seat with my face buried in the seat in front of me, I wait.  Whitney and Autumn realize my pain and tell me to ask the bus driver to pull over.  What do I do?  I start crying my eyes out just like I did on many trips to Florida as a child.  Being the friend Autumn is she tells John about the issue and is told that we have to wait until the two hour mark.  They are laughing at me, but in a nice way, if that makes sense.  About two and a half hours in we finally stop and all is well, but let me tell you that was miserable!! 

Along with all of that I managed to get a bit car sick, but I wasn't going to dare drink another sip of water to down my Dramamine, so after we stopped I took one which knocked me out the remainder of the trip.

Once we arrived we broke off into groups of six per room.  In my room it was Autumn, Whitney, Allie, Morgan, Kristen, and me.  Our room basically consisted of four bunk beds, lockers, and a terrible shower.  We made it work though! We got settled in and then hopped back on the bus for a short tour.  It was raining and cold so we just did the little bit of site seeing from the bus.  We stopped at an Asian restaurant where you pick what type of stir fry you want to eat and then they cook it right in front of you.  It was very yummy!  It wasn't long before we were back at the hostile and out for the night. 

The next morning we woke up for breakfast and we were off to our walking tour. We spent a good three hours walking around in the freezing, windy, rainy city of Berlin. It was very interesting though. I will take you through some of our stops:

The Berlin Wall which went up after World War II separated east and west Germany.  It came down in November of 1989.  Everywhere that the Berlin Wall once stood they placed this long strip of cobblestone for remembrance.   

The Brandenburg Gate is the only remaining gate of a series through which Berlin was once entered.  Due to all of the damage it encountered during World War II, it was restored between 2000-2002.

Hotel Adlon.  You might be asking yourself why this is important.  Well to my understanding it is just very very expensive, and where the celebrities stay.  You might remember when Micheal Jackson dangled his baby over the balcony... well that was at this hotel.  This is also where the Mavericks were staying this past weekend.  A couple of my friends actually saw Dirk Nowitzki signing autographs.  

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews in Europe, The Holocaust Memorial.  The memorial is 19,000 square meters and is covered with 2,711 concrete slabs arranged in a grid like pattern.  The memorial designed to produce an uneasy, confusing atmosphere, and aims to represent a ordered system that has lost touch with human reason. 

After we finished up the tour we headed to a mall that had the best store in the world.  Ladies it was a European-ized Forever 21!  It is called Primark, and they have everything you could ever want for the best prices ever!  We spend a lot of time there.  Finally caught a subway and packed all of our shopping bags back to our hostile. We did damage for sure.

Yes Autumn has more things inside the suitcase, which she also bought. :)

After watching each person reveal their purchases one by one (like Christmas) we then ordered pizza and got ready for the nightlife.  Lisa and Caroline had told us about a really fun club called Matrix so that's where we were headed.  After playing beauty salon it wasn't long before we were on our way.  Yet again we hop on the subway and shortly after we were there.  The club had two different rooms.  They played pretty good music and we all managed to have a good time leaving sweaty and tired! 

The next morning we had another bus tour.  Being the sports lover I am I was super excited to see that one of our stops was the Olympic Stadium.  

Just preparing for Rio, 2016

Our next stop was Schloss Charlottenburg.  We basically just looked around the gift shop and played around outside. 

Next, we went to see a section of the Berlin Wall the is still up.  It was very neat to be able to see something I had read about all through school. 

After our tour, we went to the Ritter Sport store! Holy cow it was awesome.  We made our own chocolate while also searching through tons and tons to buy.  Mine was the perfect mix of dark chocolate, raspberry crisps, raisins  and sugar coated almonds.  

It goes on and on and on...

Then we headed back to Primark because some girls didn't get a chance to go and I had to exchange my coat. We all managed to pick up a few more things while we were there.  Afterward we went to eat an amazing, but super expensive Mexican restaurant.  By the time we made it back to our hostile we were dead. 

The next morning we had until noon to get packed up before we had to be on our way back to Regensburg. A few of us decided to go to the zoo, while the others decided to hang out at Starbucks   Sara, Will, Morgan, Paige, and I went to the zoo! It was AWESOME! One of the highlights of the trip.  It was the only time it didn't rain, and since we were there so early it was like we had the whole zoo to our self. I did have my hopes up to finally see a real panda bear, but it turns out is happened to die in August. :( The rest of the zoo was amazing though, explains why it is number 1 in Europe!

I'll start with all of my monkey videos:

This first one wanted to do a little flip for the camera--

This next one thought the window tasted nice--

This next video was my favorite!! This baby monkey had so much energy the whole time and the momma just kept trying to get it to calm down haha--

This next video is of a seal that made us all laugh!--

Here are a few more of  my favorite pictures from the zoo, but if you want to see the rest you can find them on my facebook page.

The baby elephant was so adorable.

I had to resort to the fake donation box panda.

Berlin was a great city, I really loved it. I would love to go back and enjoy more of the city someday.

I arrived back in Regensburg to find that I now have a roommate.  I have never shared a bathroom with another male other than my brother, so I don't have very high expectations for Johannes, but I love surprises.  He is super friendly, and I hope that he is super clean too. 

Have a great week!! 

Sumer 

"He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled." -Joshua 24-17