Everyone has a filter on their brain, with varying degrees of effectiveness. Some people have a filter that lets practically everything through and say everything that is on their mind, whether or not it is interesting, appropriate, or kind. Others have a filter that must be clogged or something, because although they stop themselves from saying things that don't need to be said, sometimes they just don't talk much at all. Sometimes I think I fit into the latter group.
I think my mental filter is a bit overactive, because sometimes I feel I just don't have much to say. I think a lot, sure, but most of the time I find that while what is in my brain is interesting to me, it probably isn't interesting or relevant to others. So I sit in silence a lot of the time, not knowing what to say unless someone else brings up a topic of conversation. I've trained myself to do this so well (although really, I don't think it's a good thing) that now, I believe, it has trickled into my writing life.
In high school, I had story ideas bouncing around in my head ALL THE TIME. Sometimes I would just have to leave what I was doing and just type a page or two until all the inspiration was spent up. What I wrote wasn't always good, but that's the thing-- first drafts just aren't. The important thing is to get something written. You can go back and make it pretty later.
Now, though, I have to try to set deadlines for myself to get any writing done. At the beginning of the summer, I made a goal with my friend Laura to have something done, yes, DONE, by the end of summer. That was in April or May... now it's mid-August, and I have practically nothing to show. I even scaled back the goal to 25 typed pages, but all I have are 3 (which I wrote before I decided to take the story in a completely different direction).
So just like much of the country, my summer was besieged by drought, only my drought was a drought of words.
I love words-- reading them, hearing them, reciting them. Even reading people's comments in message boards, the cadence of their sentence structure. I wish I still had Hamlet's whole "To be or not to be" soliloquy memorized ( had to do it in high school English) just because the words are fun to say. I guess I'm saying this because I want to clarify that this summer was not entirely devoid of words. I devoured them, as usual, reading books and blog posts and whatever. I just didn't produce many of them.
I think maybe, just maybe, I needed a break. Maybe I needed time to just let life soak in, to sit back and observe and think and let some ideas marinate. Hopefully, though, the floodgates will open again soon, because I want to bond with words again by shaping them out of thin air, molding them into various shapes until I find one that just fits. We'll see how it goes.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Java Chip Cupcakes (no endorsement from Starbucks implied)
The other day I drove out to Malibu to hike to a waterfall (aka face my death numerous times) and have dinner with some friends from Heidelberg. It was a fantastic day, but... well, that's for another post. Anyway, since I spent the day exhausting myself and didn't get to my car until around 10:45, I wasn't sure how conscious I was going to be for the hour and a half drive back home.
About halfway down PCH I decided that I was going to get some coffee as insurance against falling asleep at the wheel (although I didn't feel too sleepy at that moment, I wasn't exactly feeling energetic, and I didn't want to take my chances). I stopped at a gas station and bought some cheap cinnamon coffee at the convenience store before I set on my merry way.
So anyway, the coffee worked, in case you were wondering. But since I really only sipped on it (not wanting to over-caffeinate myself before bedtime), I had a lot of coffee left over, and I wanted to do something creative with it. Drinking it would be a good idea. But I had a better one.
Coffee-flavored cupcakes.
But then I got to thinking about how I could take it one step further. I mean, coffee cupcakes would be good, but there had to be a way to make themfattier tastier. Then I remembered everyone's favorite Starbucks drink (and by everyone I mean people who don't really like coffee coffee and really just like sugary drinks. Which is not necessarily a bad way to be, unless you're asking your arteries): the Java Chip Frappucino, aka chocolate, sugar, cream... oh yeah, and some coffee.
After some experimentation, this was the result:
I doctored up a basic white cake recipe to be slightly chocalatey and very caffeine-y, and I liked what I tasted, so I decided to share with you.
Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute, which is what I used to save on calories)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup (ish) chocolate pieces (or mini chocolate chips)
1/2 cup coffee
Directions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Frosting
Ingredients:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup marshmallow creme
1/3 cup powdered coffee drink mix (i used a white chocolate caramel cappuccino mix, but I'm sure that just about any other flavor would work just as well).
1/4 cup milk
Directions:
Pretty simple. Combine all the ingredients until smooth. Add milk until it's the texture you want.
Frost the cupcakes (when they're cool, of course) and then they're ready to eat and DELICIOUS!
Some suggestions for variety:
About halfway down PCH I decided that I was going to get some coffee as insurance against falling asleep at the wheel (although I didn't feel too sleepy at that moment, I wasn't exactly feeling energetic, and I didn't want to take my chances). I stopped at a gas station and bought some cheap cinnamon coffee at the convenience store before I set on my merry way.
So anyway, the coffee worked, in case you were wondering. But since I really only sipped on it (not wanting to over-caffeinate myself before bedtime), I had a lot of coffee left over, and I wanted to do something creative with it. Drinking it would be a good idea. But I had a better one.
Coffee-flavored cupcakes.
But then I got to thinking about how I could take it one step further. I mean, coffee cupcakes would be good, but there had to be a way to make them
After some experimentation, this was the result:
 |
| Behold the Java Chip Cupcake in all its delicious, caffeinated glory. |
I doctored up a basic white cake recipe to be slightly chocalatey and very caffeine-y, and I liked what I tasted, so I decided to share with you.
Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute, which is what I used to save on calories)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup (ish) chocolate pieces (or mini chocolate chips)
1/2 cup coffee
Directions
1.
 |
| Cream together butter and sugar. |
 | ||
| Add vanilla and eggs. Mix until nice, creamy, and smooth. |
3.
 |
| In separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and cocoa. |
4.
 |
| Chop up the chocolate into small pieces (if necessary). |
5.
 | |
| Mix in the flour mixture and the chocolate pieces. |
 |
| The best part... add the coffee :) |
 |
| The finished batter is so delicious you could just eat it with a spoon! |
 |
| Bake for 20-25 minutes, then let cool. |
Frosting
Ingredients:
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup marshmallow creme
1/3 cup powdered coffee drink mix (i used a white chocolate caramel cappuccino mix, but I'm sure that just about any other flavor would work just as well).
1/4 cup milk
Directions:
Frost the cupcakes (when they're cool, of course) and then they're ready to eat and DELICIOUS!
Some suggestions for variety:
- Add oreos instead of chocolate chips
- Top with whipped cream instead of frosting, just like a blended drink at your favorite coffee shop
- For extra decadence, drizzle chocolate sauce over the top
- For even more decadence, chocolate ganache would be great injected into the middle or as a layer in between the cupcakes and the frosting.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
It's been one of those days of the good variety.
Let me clarify that, at least for today, when I say "it's been one of those days" I mean one of those of the good variety. The ones that are incredibly full yet at the same time relaxing, at the end of which you can sit down, eat dinner, unwind, and feel satisfied about everything you managed to accomplish in such a short time.
This morning, I got up shortly after 6 am, which one would not assume is the start to a good day. However, there was reason for me to get up with the sun on a Saturday: my mom and I spent the morning scouring garage sales, which, may I mention, is one of my favorite things to do (if I'm in the right mood, of course... otherwise it's just kind of weird looking through people's old stuff). We've been looking since last summer for a good desk to go in my room to replace the one I've had for years, which is currently in a state of disrepair-- not to mention that with it's locker-style drawers, it clashes horribly with the rest of my shabby-chic style furniture. Well anyway, today we finally found a suitable replacement! It's got some gunk on it, but the bones are good, and I wanted a fixer-upper anyway. Plus, we were able to get it for $10. That's it. And now I'll have a fun summer project painting my desk and making it good as new (if not better).
After that we went to breakfast (perhaps one would call it brunch?) at Flappy Jacks, a new(ish) restaurant in this awkward location by the freeway. The way I say that doesn't make it sound appealing, but trust me, it actually is. The decor inside is quirky, with license plates and Route 66 type things. Plus, the breakfast menu is HUGE. I debated back and forth between pancakes or a crepe with strawberries, bananas, and nutella before deciding upon the better-for-me-but-still-ridiculously-tasty Veggie Benedict, which was basically a bunch of good stuff on top of an English muffin with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. Plus there were avocados involved-- and when avocados are involved, 90% of the time that's the dish I'm going to order (perhaps this is my one stereotypical "California Girl" trait). Anyway, it was actually kind of fun eating in a booth with a view of the freeway, because it made it feel like we were on a road trip. Which for some reason made me crave a cup of good, solid diner coffee. Probably because in pretty much every movie or TV show when people go on a road trip and stop in a diner, or really pretty much anytime they're in a diner regardless of whether a road trip is involved or not, they always have a simple, comforting mug of coffee. Must be a Pavlov's dogs kind of thing.
I ordered the coffee, in case you were wondering.
So if you couldn't already tell, the morning was perfect. After that, we decided to get crafty, and I've spent pretty much the entire afternoon going crazy tie-dyeing things and cutting up T-shirts and pants. I feel like I've been pretty productive, if you ask me.
The moral of the story? Sometimes it's not so bad waking up voluntarily at six in the morning, because that means by the time 6 pm rolls around you may have accomplished a whole lot more than you do in a normal day.
This morning, I got up shortly after 6 am, which one would not assume is the start to a good day. However, there was reason for me to get up with the sun on a Saturday: my mom and I spent the morning scouring garage sales, which, may I mention, is one of my favorite things to do (if I'm in the right mood, of course... otherwise it's just kind of weird looking through people's old stuff). We've been looking since last summer for a good desk to go in my room to replace the one I've had for years, which is currently in a state of disrepair-- not to mention that with it's locker-style drawers, it clashes horribly with the rest of my shabby-chic style furniture. Well anyway, today we finally found a suitable replacement! It's got some gunk on it, but the bones are good, and I wanted a fixer-upper anyway. Plus, we were able to get it for $10. That's it. And now I'll have a fun summer project painting my desk and making it good as new (if not better).
After that we went to breakfast (perhaps one would call it brunch?) at Flappy Jacks, a new(ish) restaurant in this awkward location by the freeway. The way I say that doesn't make it sound appealing, but trust me, it actually is. The decor inside is quirky, with license plates and Route 66 type things. Plus, the breakfast menu is HUGE. I debated back and forth between pancakes or a crepe with strawberries, bananas, and nutella before deciding upon the better-for-me-but-still-ridiculously-tasty Veggie Benedict, which was basically a bunch of good stuff on top of an English muffin with poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. Plus there were avocados involved-- and when avocados are involved, 90% of the time that's the dish I'm going to order (perhaps this is my one stereotypical "California Girl" trait). Anyway, it was actually kind of fun eating in a booth with a view of the freeway, because it made it feel like we were on a road trip. Which for some reason made me crave a cup of good, solid diner coffee. Probably because in pretty much every movie or TV show when people go on a road trip and stop in a diner, or really pretty much anytime they're in a diner regardless of whether a road trip is involved or not, they always have a simple, comforting mug of coffee. Must be a Pavlov's dogs kind of thing.
I ordered the coffee, in case you were wondering.
 |
| This isn't the coffee I drank today, but that doesn't matter. Coffee is always good. |
So if you couldn't already tell, the morning was perfect. After that, we decided to get crafty, and I've spent pretty much the entire afternoon going crazy tie-dyeing things and cutting up T-shirts and pants. I feel like I've been pretty productive, if you ask me.
The moral of the story? Sometimes it's not so bad waking up voluntarily at six in the morning, because that means by the time 6 pm rolls around you may have accomplished a whole lot more than you do in a normal day.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
I'm dreaming of the end of the semester
... which is weird, because it's over.
The past two nights I've had those horrible kinds of dreams where you have to do something monumental, but you waited until the last minute, and it's just a strugglefest until you wake up and realize that you don't have to do that at all and don't need to be stressed out about it.
It's weird.
Two nights ago, I had a dream that we were packing to leave Moore Haus (wait, I did that like a week ago...). So I procrastinated on putting my whole life in two suitcases until the last moment, as per usual in dreams like this. One by one my roommates (not actual roommates from Moore Haus... nor was this my actual room in Moore Haus) went to sleep, and I was still packing in the dark, calculating how much I had left to do and at what point I could stop, how much I could leave unpacked until the morning of our departure. In the dream, we had to board the bus to Frankfurt Airport at 7 am (which is actually much more reasonable than our actual bus-boarding time, 5:45 am). So I set my alarm for a few hours before 7. The next morning (dream morning, not real morning) I woke up and played card games and talked with people, then thought "Oh yeah! I need to pack because we're leaving this country soon!" Then I looked at the clock to see how much time I had left, and it was 8:15. When I finally woke up for real, I could relax because I realized I was at home in my own room and my packing/departure was already over and done with (although my unpacking is still a completely different story).
Last night I had another end of the semester dream. This time it was a final. As we were walking into the classroom, I realized that I probably should have studied more, because I had completely blown off putting any work into it since it was the last final. We were seated and given the tests... I believe it was some sort of foreign language test. The girl next to me would not stop talking during the test and I could not concentrate for the life of me. I moved seats and was able to concentrate more, but then I realized the test was multiple pages long and required me to translate entire sentences from multiple texts we had read. I started stressing because I hadn't memorized the texts, so I didn't know what to do (this doesn't exactly make sense in real life, but whatever...dreams never make sense once you look bring them to the waking world). After I called over the teacher, she told me that the texts were in the study guide and we were supposed to bring them along. Of course, I had forgotten to do so. So then I stressed that I would not have enough time to complete this impossible test. And once again, I woke up realizing that the semester was over and I didn't have to worry about these things anymore.
I find it strange that I've been having these stress-filled dreams, because I'm not currently stressed in waking life. So it doesn't make sense that my dreams are so rushed and traumatic when that's the opposite of what I'm actually thinking and feeling. Any dream interpreters out there who can shed some light on the situation? Anyway, maybe now that I've brought it out into the open I'll dream about something else tonight.
The past two nights I've had those horrible kinds of dreams where you have to do something monumental, but you waited until the last minute, and it's just a strugglefest until you wake up and realize that you don't have to do that at all and don't need to be stressed out about it.
It's weird.
Two nights ago, I had a dream that we were packing to leave Moore Haus (wait, I did that like a week ago...). So I procrastinated on putting my whole life in two suitcases until the last moment, as per usual in dreams like this. One by one my roommates (not actual roommates from Moore Haus... nor was this my actual room in Moore Haus) went to sleep, and I was still packing in the dark, calculating how much I had left to do and at what point I could stop, how much I could leave unpacked until the morning of our departure. In the dream, we had to board the bus to Frankfurt Airport at 7 am (which is actually much more reasonable than our actual bus-boarding time, 5:45 am). So I set my alarm for a few hours before 7. The next morning (dream morning, not real morning) I woke up and played card games and talked with people, then thought "Oh yeah! I need to pack because we're leaving this country soon!" Then I looked at the clock to see how much time I had left, and it was 8:15. When I finally woke up for real, I could relax because I realized I was at home in my own room and my packing/departure was already over and done with (although my unpacking is still a completely different story).
Last night I had another end of the semester dream. This time it was a final. As we were walking into the classroom, I realized that I probably should have studied more, because I had completely blown off putting any work into it since it was the last final. We were seated and given the tests... I believe it was some sort of foreign language test. The girl next to me would not stop talking during the test and I could not concentrate for the life of me. I moved seats and was able to concentrate more, but then I realized the test was multiple pages long and required me to translate entire sentences from multiple texts we had read. I started stressing because I hadn't memorized the texts, so I didn't know what to do (this doesn't exactly make sense in real life, but whatever...dreams never make sense once you look bring them to the waking world). After I called over the teacher, she told me that the texts were in the study guide and we were supposed to bring them along. Of course, I had forgotten to do so. So then I stressed that I would not have enough time to complete this impossible test. And once again, I woke up realizing that the semester was over and I didn't have to worry about these things anymore.
I find it strange that I've been having these stress-filled dreams, because I'm not currently stressed in waking life. So it doesn't make sense that my dreams are so rushed and traumatic when that's the opposite of what I'm actually thinking and feeling. Any dream interpreters out there who can shed some light on the situation? Anyway, maybe now that I've brought it out into the open I'll dream about something else tonight.
Lately
Lately I've been feeling a lot like writing. The issue with this, though, is that my moments of inspiration and the days in which I have time to write never seem to overlap. Although I've been home for a little over a week now and certainly have had plenty of time to write, any concrete ideas have been nowhere to be found, and if I have the inclination at all to write, all I can muster are vague, wispy clouds of ideas that don't materialize into anything more than a sentence fragment (we'll just blame it on the jet lag...).
Now that I'm starting to get into my own kind of new routine back at home, settling in, and getting over jet lag, I finally have inspiration teasing me with ideas I can't wait to write about. Of course, I need to let them stew in my brain a little to make sure I know how I want the whole story to play out (or really, how I even want the opening scene to play out...), but I'm thankful that I finally have some productive thoughts that I want to follow through to completion, that I actually WANT to sit and think about nothing but my story. FINALLY!
Of course, one cannot ride on the excitement of a first snippet of inspiration forever... I found this blog post to be stock full of good advice for gathering ideas for a story. I might try some of these for my next story, or even for this current one when the going gets tough.
Also, on a slightly related note, I highly suggest the aforementioned blog to any aspiring writers. The advice is so relevant and, well, for lack of a better word, good. If you ever want to make your story perfect (well, as close to perfect as anything human-made can ever be) in every detail, follow this advice.
Anyway, enough of this for now. I have go feed my creativity :) Happy writing, reading, or whatever else you choose to do!
Now that I'm starting to get into my own kind of new routine back at home, settling in, and getting over jet lag, I finally have inspiration teasing me with ideas I can't wait to write about. Of course, I need to let them stew in my brain a little to make sure I know how I want the whole story to play out (or really, how I even want the opening scene to play out...), but I'm thankful that I finally have some productive thoughts that I want to follow through to completion, that I actually WANT to sit and think about nothing but my story. FINALLY!
Of course, one cannot ride on the excitement of a first snippet of inspiration forever... I found this blog post to be stock full of good advice for gathering ideas for a story. I might try some of these for my next story, or even for this current one when the going gets tough.
Also, on a slightly related note, I highly suggest the aforementioned blog to any aspiring writers. The advice is so relevant and, well, for lack of a better word, good. If you ever want to make your story perfect (well, as close to perfect as anything human-made can ever be) in every detail, follow this advice.
Anyway, enough of this for now. I have go feed my creativity :) Happy writing, reading, or whatever else you choose to do!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Dressing for the Faire
I think I've finally come to accept the fact that I'm not living in Europe anymore. Well, maybe.
But since I can no longer traipse the same streets that people have been walking down for hundreds of years, I figured I'd do the next best thing, something I've always kind of wanted to do but never got around to doing: go to the Renaissance Faire!
I'm going to rally some friends, lend out some costumes, and of course, make a costume of my own-- any excuse to make a new historical costume is a good one.
So for the past few days I've been gathering supplies, although no exact date for this visit has yet been set (it will be soon enough, plus I need time to make my costume!).
I'm using a fairly simple pattern (at least from what I can tell), so hopefully it won't take too long/be too hard. Then again, anything should be easier than an 18th century gown, and we've been down that road before.
So anyway, I'm pretty excited about this new project and even more excited about going to the Faire with friends sometime soonish! Excessive fabric, turkey legs, weird people, and abridged performances of Shakespeare, here I come!
But since I can no longer traipse the same streets that people have been walking down for hundreds of years, I figured I'd do the next best thing, something I've always kind of wanted to do but never got around to doing: go to the Renaissance Faire!
I'm going to rally some friends, lend out some costumes, and of course, make a costume of my own-- any excuse to make a new historical costume is a good one.
So for the past few days I've been gathering supplies, although no exact date for this visit has yet been set (it will be soon enough, plus I need time to make my costume!).
I'm using a fairly simple pattern (at least from what I can tell), so hopefully it won't take too long/be too hard. Then again, anything should be easier than an 18th century gown, and we've been down that road before.
 |
| This is the lovely fabric for the bodice/vest/corset thingy (technical term, by the way) |
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| Fabric for the two skirts. The pink will be the under skirt, and the blue will be the drape-y overskirt. |
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| All the pretty fabrics! :) |
So anyway, I'm pretty excited about this new project and even more excited about going to the Faire with friends sometime soonish! Excessive fabric, turkey legs, weird people, and abridged performances of Shakespeare, here I come!
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Adventures in Baking: Toffee Layer Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
As most of you probably know already, I am no longer in Deutschland. It was a FANTASTIC year that will be hard to beat, but there are benefits to being home as well.
One of those benefits? A fully stocked kitchen, and all of the food is MINE (okay, technically my family's and not solely mine, but the point still stands: none of the food is labeled and I can touch ALL OF IT). Can you tell I'm excited? I've been itching to bake, but didn't really get around to it much in Germany because most of the baking ingredients in the house belonged to somebody else and I was too lazy (slash didn't want to spend the money) to buy all the necessary ingredients for delicacies such as layer cake.
So now, a few short days after returning home, I have finally broken out the oven mits, measuring cups, and washcloths (because I get flour everywhere, without fail). Never before has home sweet home been so literal.
However, I didn't want to do any ordinary baking... too boring. So I decided to be experimental, which is always dangerous since cake-making is really just chemistry, and any fiddling with the pre-approved ingredients and measurements can lead to some disastrous results. But if there's anything I learned this year, it's if you and some friends get in a car with a random Irishman to escape from the cold and not wait for a taxi, he may take you to his family's old farmhouse and let you hold a day-old lamb.
By which I mean if you do something a little risky and out of the ordinary, you may get something even better than you expected
So, long story short, I changed a few details of a basic cake recipe with mixed results. Some changes were out of a desire for experimentation, some were out of necessity (read: some brown sugar instead of exclusively white). Without further ado, I present to you my recipe for toffee cake with peanut butter frosting (needs a catchier name... suggestions are welcome in the comments).
Ingredients
Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups low-fat vanilla yogurt (replacement for oil)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon*
1/2 cup toffee bits*
*these ingredients I just threw in the batter until it looked like a sufficient amount. I didn't think to measure them until later, sadly, so these measurements are just educated guesses.
Frosting
2 tablespoons peanut butter (creamy, though crunchy would also be an interesting choice)
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup vanilla soymilk (regular milk will do just fine; I just like the flavor that vanilla soymilk gives to frosting)
1 stick (8 teaspoons) butter
Directions (Cake)
Directions (Frosting)
Another note: if you want a subtler peanut butter taste, try one tablespoon instead of two. A little goes a surprisingly long way.
One of those benefits? A fully stocked kitchen, and all of the food is MINE (okay, technically my family's and not solely mine, but the point still stands: none of the food is labeled and I can touch ALL OF IT). Can you tell I'm excited? I've been itching to bake, but didn't really get around to it much in Germany because most of the baking ingredients in the house belonged to somebody else and I was too lazy (slash didn't want to spend the money) to buy all the necessary ingredients for delicacies such as layer cake.
So now, a few short days after returning home, I have finally broken out the oven mits, measuring cups, and washcloths (because I get flour everywhere, without fail). Never before has home sweet home been so literal.
However, I didn't want to do any ordinary baking... too boring. So I decided to be experimental, which is always dangerous since cake-making is really just chemistry, and any fiddling with the pre-approved ingredients and measurements can lead to some disastrous results. But if there's anything I learned this year, it's if you and some friends get in a car with a random Irishman to escape from the cold and not wait for a taxi, he may take you to his family's old farmhouse and let you hold a day-old lamb.
By which I mean if you do something a little risky and out of the ordinary, you may get something even better than you expected
So, long story short, I changed a few details of a basic cake recipe with mixed results. Some changes were out of a desire for experimentation, some were out of necessity (read: some brown sugar instead of exclusively white). Without further ado, I present to you my recipe for toffee cake with peanut butter frosting (needs a catchier name... suggestions are welcome in the comments).
Ingredients
Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups low-fat vanilla yogurt (replacement for oil)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon*
1/2 cup toffee bits*
*these ingredients I just threw in the batter until it looked like a sufficient amount. I didn't think to measure them until later, sadly, so these measurements are just educated guesses.
Frosting
2 tablespoons peanut butter (creamy, though crunchy would also be an interesting choice)
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup vanilla soymilk (regular milk will do just fine; I just like the flavor that vanilla soymilk gives to frosting)
1 stick (8 teaspoons) butter
Directions (Cake)
- Preheat the oven to 350. Trust me, you'll want to do this first. I always forget and then have to wait for the oven to heat up with nothing else to do as far as cake-making goes.
- Put all of the cake ingredients in mixer. Mix until smooth.
- Pour the cake batter into two pre-greased 9 inch cake pans.
- Bake for 30 minutes*
Directions (Frosting)
- Put all the frosting ingredients in mixer.
- Mix until smooth.
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| Super smooth frosting... mmmmm. |
 |
| Put a nice big glob on the first layer as "glue" between the two layers. |
 |
| Spread like so |
 |
| Add the next layer, frost, and sprinkle some toffee bits on top for good measure. Voila! |
 |
| Please pardon this cake... as an experiment it sinks a little in the middle... I've made prettier ones, I swear. |
 |
| The end result is a dense, spongy cake and not-too-sweet frosting. Success! |
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
A reflection.
Yesterday was our LAST DAY OF CLASSES.
Today was our first day of finals.
Which means the end is near!
I feel like this is all I've been saying lately, but that's because it's almost all I can think about. I'm not ready to say goodbye.
It's not necessarily that going home is bad or anything, it's more that I'm not ready to move on. Something about saying goodbye to this place seems so final, because it's not like you can simply hop onto a plane and fly to Europe any time you like (I WISH).
Also, the friends that I have made here are amazing, and I love them all. I can't imagine not being able to walk a few feet to their rooms and just do nothing together. I will miss all the silly little shenanigans that occur on random days in Moore Haus, walking to and from class and everywhere in between, the cobblestone streets of Heidelberg, the castle at night in all it's magical beauty, the view of Heidelberg after dark, Moore Haus and its thin walls and awesome inhabitants and rumored secret passageway(s).
While I know that life has many more adventures to come, I'm having a hard time leaving this one behind. Living in the land of fairy tales has proved to be the best year of my life.
In less than a year,
I have lived on the same street as a castle (which was partially destroyed in, I believe, Louis XIV's expansionary wars) of a prince electorate, walked in the same places as Goethe and Mark Twain, used my German outside of the classroom, and lived in the city which was a center of the German Romantic movement (the Heidelberg Romantic is actually a thing).
I have practically memorized the cadence of the Deutsche Bahn conductor as he announces, "Meine Damen und Herren, in wenigen Minuten erreichen wir ________ Hauptbahnhof."
I have been to Switzerland (twice), Ireland, England, Austria, Spain, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Turkey, and various parts of Germany.... and decided that I have to come back.
I have thrown a snowball out my window, tripped on a cobblestone (several times), stargazed at a castle, eaten Gruyere cheese in Gruyere, played games with Irish people, looked for cars in the wrong direction while crossing a London street, pet stray dogs, stopped to admire the beauty of everything that is surrounding me, run out to explore Nuremburg in the hour I had in between trains, exchanged currency several times, bartered at the Grand Bazaar, learned how to fence, made friends with a few Germans and also a girl from Siberia, and discovered that I may want to also be a translator as well as an author/publisher.
More importantly I have completely changed while still being the same person I've always been. I have grown more into myself while learning how better to reach out to others. I have made an effort to be more outgoing, more friendly, more weird, more spontaneous, and more driven.
I have made new friends with whom I have so much in common, learned how to play "zoo" and a million other of Chelsea's silly games. I have stayed up till 4 in the morning talking with some great people, built a fort and giggled in it for hours, eaten a chocolate cake while drinking hot chocolate with friends on Valentine's Day (then decided so much chocolate at once was a bad life decision), been nested upon (ask Brandie... it's odd), met fellow Diet Coke addicts, and sat in a room filled with people in which we said and did almost nothing and still felt that we had fun.
Most importantly I have learned more precisely how to define my faith, what I believe, and make my faith more mine than it's ever been before.
So basically it's safe to say that this year will be tough to top. But I don't want to make it sound like this is all about me... despite the wonderful surroundings, this year would have been nothing if not for all of the amazing people with whom I shared it. Never before have I lived in such close quarters with so many people-- and from what I've heard, it's remarkable that we all get along so well. There will never be a community like the community of Heidelberg 2011-2012 students.
Today was our first day of finals.
Which means the end is near!
I feel like this is all I've been saying lately, but that's because it's almost all I can think about. I'm not ready to say goodbye.
 |
| I want to live in a place like this forever. |
Also, the friends that I have made here are amazing, and I love them all. I can't imagine not being able to walk a few feet to their rooms and just do nothing together. I will miss all the silly little shenanigans that occur on random days in Moore Haus, walking to and from class and everywhere in between, the cobblestone streets of Heidelberg, the castle at night in all it's magical beauty, the view of Heidelberg after dark, Moore Haus and its thin walls and awesome inhabitants and rumored secret passageway(s).
While I know that life has many more adventures to come, I'm having a hard time leaving this one behind. Living in the land of fairy tales has proved to be the best year of my life.
 |
| I still can't believe this whole year was real. |
In less than a year,
I have lived on the same street as a castle (which was partially destroyed in, I believe, Louis XIV's expansionary wars) of a prince electorate, walked in the same places as Goethe and Mark Twain, used my German outside of the classroom, and lived in the city which was a center of the German Romantic movement (the Heidelberg Romantic is actually a thing).
I have practically memorized the cadence of the Deutsche Bahn conductor as he announces, "Meine Damen und Herren, in wenigen Minuten erreichen wir ________ Hauptbahnhof."
I have been to Switzerland (twice), Ireland, England, Austria, Spain, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Turkey, and various parts of Germany.... and decided that I have to come back.
I have thrown a snowball out my window, tripped on a cobblestone (several times), stargazed at a castle, eaten Gruyere cheese in Gruyere, played games with Irish people, looked for cars in the wrong direction while crossing a London street, pet stray dogs, stopped to admire the beauty of everything that is surrounding me, run out to explore Nuremburg in the hour I had in between trains, exchanged currency several times, bartered at the Grand Bazaar, learned how to fence, made friends with a few Germans and also a girl from Siberia, and discovered that I may want to also be a translator as well as an author/publisher.
More importantly I have completely changed while still being the same person I've always been. I have grown more into myself while learning how better to reach out to others. I have made an effort to be more outgoing, more friendly, more weird, more spontaneous, and more driven.
I have made new friends with whom I have so much in common, learned how to play "zoo" and a million other of Chelsea's silly games. I have stayed up till 4 in the morning talking with some great people, built a fort and giggled in it for hours, eaten a chocolate cake while drinking hot chocolate with friends on Valentine's Day (then decided so much chocolate at once was a bad life decision), been nested upon (ask Brandie... it's odd), met fellow Diet Coke addicts, and sat in a room filled with people in which we said and did almost nothing and still felt that we had fun.
Most importantly I have learned more precisely how to define my faith, what I believe, and make my faith more mine than it's ever been before.
 |
| I'm really going to miss hanging out at the neighbors' place. |
 |
| Croatia= best first trip in which we got lost at a beautiful state park where no one spoke English and seriously considered hitch-hiking despite knowing full well the dangers. |
So basically it's safe to say that this year will be tough to top. But I don't want to make it sound like this is all about me... despite the wonderful surroundings, this year would have been nothing if not for all of the amazing people with whom I shared it. Never before have I lived in such close quarters with so many people-- and from what I've heard, it's remarkable that we all get along so well. There will never be a community like the community of Heidelberg 2011-2012 students.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Our time is running out...
It just hit me.
Next week is the last travel weekend.
Meaning it's the last weekend we're allowed to travel outside of Germany this semester.
Which means there are only three weekends left.
So, has anybody figured out that whole stopping time thing yet? Because I feel like it only now began to hit me how SOON I have to leave and how much I still want to do.....
In the meantime, this next weekend I will be going to PRAGUE, and I'm so excited to see the land of my people (I'm a quarter Czech, the most I am of anything, so I'm just going to claim that as my history for the time being)!
And, despite the homework and reading and finals that loom on the horizon (the only reason the reading is "looming" instead of something with a more positive connotation is that it's assigned reading), I will just have to make the most of the time that I do have left. You know, stray from the Hauptstrasse and explore the shops down random alleys. Take day trips on the Strassenbahn or the bus or whatever. Laugh with friends whenever possible. Try new restaurants, but be sure to say goodbye to old favorites too. Hike Philosopher's Way (can you believe I still haven't done that?).
I'm already starting to take a more proactive effort in treasuring what little time I have left, now that I'm realizing how imminent my return to the States is. Thursday night a few friends and I went to stargaze at the castle, and we hung out on this balcony-type area (I really wish I were better at explaining this...) which has a view of the whole Altstadt. It was gorgeous; just like a fairy tale ball: the castle lit up, the navy sky with stars twinkling, the large space perfect for dancing. My friend Genesis indulged my fantasy for a bit by dancing with me, and then we all hung out, looked at the stars, and played games. It was amazing, and I hope to do it more often before I leave.
Today was great as well. I went with 6 other girls as well as our visiting faculty member's wife, Mrs. Lemley, to tea in Mannheim (a town pretty close to Heidelberg). It was SUCH a lovely experience to snack and chat with all those wonderful ladies in a pretty tea room with delicious scones, tea sandwiches, and tea. Plus, I hadn't even been to Mannheim before, which is kind of ridiculous (but I will return soon, because they have an English movie theater, and a few Hunger Games fans and I plan to go there to watch the movie together). Then after that, I went with a few others to an evangelical free service (auf Deutsch, natürlich). The service is every Sunday at 6 p.m., but this was our first time there. This guy that we met there asked us why we hadn't come before if we'd been living in Heidelberg since September. Honestly, we didn't know! But we're planning on going next week... especially since they will have a potluck dinner after the service.
All of this is the beginning of the end, and it's all rather bittersweet. Of course it's only now that we realize how much we want to do that we always thought, "Oh, I'll do it later. I have plenty of time" because now we actually don't have plenty of time.
There are good things about going home, too-- don't get me wrong-- but I'm not necessarily ready for this part of my life to be over yet. I will be happy to be home, but right now I'm not ready to leave. At least the beginning of my goodbye means that I now appreciate and take advantage of so much more that is here.
Next week is the last travel weekend.
Meaning it's the last weekend we're allowed to travel outside of Germany this semester.
Which means there are only three weekends left.
So, has anybody figured out that whole stopping time thing yet? Because I feel like it only now began to hit me how SOON I have to leave and how much I still want to do.....
 |
| Not ready to leave this place yet! |
- Neuschwanstein
- Rothenburg
- Rhine River cruise
- stay overnight in a castle...
- explore more castles in general.
- Wartburg
- Speyer
- a lot of other things of which I cannot think at the moment
- explore more of Heidelberg and the surrounding area
In the meantime, this next weekend I will be going to PRAGUE, and I'm so excited to see the land of my people (I'm a quarter Czech, the most I am of anything, so I'm just going to claim that as my history for the time being)!
And, despite the homework and reading and finals that loom on the horizon (the only reason the reading is "looming" instead of something with a more positive connotation is that it's assigned reading), I will just have to make the most of the time that I do have left. You know, stray from the Hauptstrasse and explore the shops down random alleys. Take day trips on the Strassenbahn or the bus or whatever. Laugh with friends whenever possible. Try new restaurants, but be sure to say goodbye to old favorites too. Hike Philosopher's Way (can you believe I still haven't done that?).
I'm already starting to take a more proactive effort in treasuring what little time I have left, now that I'm realizing how imminent my return to the States is. Thursday night a few friends and I went to stargaze at the castle, and we hung out on this balcony-type area (I really wish I were better at explaining this...) which has a view of the whole Altstadt. It was gorgeous; just like a fairy tale ball: the castle lit up, the navy sky with stars twinkling, the large space perfect for dancing. My friend Genesis indulged my fantasy for a bit by dancing with me, and then we all hung out, looked at the stars, and played games. It was amazing, and I hope to do it more often before I leave.
Today was great as well. I went with 6 other girls as well as our visiting faculty member's wife, Mrs. Lemley, to tea in Mannheim (a town pretty close to Heidelberg). It was SUCH a lovely experience to snack and chat with all those wonderful ladies in a pretty tea room with delicious scones, tea sandwiches, and tea. Plus, I hadn't even been to Mannheim before, which is kind of ridiculous (but I will return soon, because they have an English movie theater, and a few Hunger Games fans and I plan to go there to watch the movie together). Then after that, I went with a few others to an evangelical free service (auf Deutsch, natürlich). The service is every Sunday at 6 p.m., but this was our first time there. This guy that we met there asked us why we hadn't come before if we'd been living in Heidelberg since September. Honestly, we didn't know! But we're planning on going next week... especially since they will have a potluck dinner after the service.
All of this is the beginning of the end, and it's all rather bittersweet. Of course it's only now that we realize how much we want to do that we always thought, "Oh, I'll do it later. I have plenty of time" because now we actually don't have plenty of time.
There are good things about going home, too-- don't get me wrong-- but I'm not necessarily ready for this part of my life to be over yet. I will be happy to be home, but right now I'm not ready to leave. At least the beginning of my goodbye means that I now appreciate and take advantage of so much more that is here.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Mr. Darcy: 200 years old and still making women swoon.
This morning was a typical Moore Haus Friday morning: sleep in to a reasonable hour, mosey on downstairs for breakfast, sit around, and then stay seated when someone undoubtedly decides to put in a movie to start the day.
Today's movie of choice? Pride & Prejudice.
I'm pretty sure I've seen this movie 3 times already. In Moore Haus alone. And I still stayed to watch the entire thing.
As per usual, most men ran out of the room (or said "this movie's torturous!!" in passing, much to the amusement of those watching) while women flocked to the couch, touching their fluttering hearts at frequent intervals. This is only slight exaggeration here.
All of this makes me wonder, just what is it about this story that is so relevant two centuries later?
I suppose there's a few things that we love to return to time and time again: the twists and turns of love, hate turned to love, an opinionated, intelligent, and (fairly) independent female protagonist (I only say fairly independent because the times restricted the amount of independence a woman could have... however, she was definitely independent for a woman of that time). But definitely, everyone's favorite is MR. DARCY.
So, why does Mr. Darcy never fail to make women swoon?
Anyway, I'm not quite sure why I wrote this blog post about Mr. Darcy. Maybe because this blog is Daydreaming in Deutschland and there were several girls daydreaming about Mr. Darcy in Deutschland today? Or maybe because I will always love Pride & Prejudice in its many incarnations. It's such a subtle, beautiful, touching love story... and sometimes, that's the kind of story we all need to hear.
Today's movie of choice? Pride & Prejudice.
I'm pretty sure I've seen this movie 3 times already. In Moore Haus alone. And I still stayed to watch the entire thing.
As per usual, most men ran out of the room (or said "this movie's torturous!!" in passing, much to the amusement of those watching) while women flocked to the couch, touching their fluttering hearts at frequent intervals. This is only slight exaggeration here.
All of this makes me wonder, just what is it about this story that is so relevant two centuries later?
I suppose there's a few things that we love to return to time and time again: the twists and turns of love, hate turned to love, an opinionated, intelligent, and (fairly) independent female protagonist (I only say fairly independent because the times restricted the amount of independence a woman could have... however, she was definitely independent for a woman of that time). But definitely, everyone's favorite is MR. DARCY.
So, why does Mr. Darcy never fail to make women swoon?
 |
| Because he walks in the morning fog, shirt billowing open, to propose to the love of his life. |
- The brooding romantic hero never goes out of style.
- Mr. Darcy is kind and generous, helping save the Bennet family from scandal by paying for Lydia and Wickham's wedding.
- He dotes on his younger sister.
- He's rich, but doesn't let it get to his head too much-- he's willing to marry beneath his station for the sake of true love, and he doesn't lord his money/station over people (unlike his Aunt Lady Catherine...).
- Modern women long for the gentlemanly manners of eras gone by. If you doubt this, ask one.
- He is in agony/torment over the strength of his love!
- He's quite eloquent. Exhibit A: "In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." This also ties in quite nicely with the whole tormented with love thing. Unfortunately this quote was not in the recent film adaptation, but oh well, c'est la vie.
An equally eloquent quote which actually was in the movie (and not in the book, if I remember correctly): "My affections and wishes have not changed, but one word from you will silence me forever. If, however, your feelings have changed, I will have to tell you: you have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you. I never wish to be parted from you from this day on."What girl doesn't want to hear that from a brooding hero? - His witty banter with Elizabeth. Nothing's better than a man who can think on his feet.
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| One of the best scenes ever. |
Anyway, I'm not quite sure why I wrote this blog post about Mr. Darcy. Maybe because this blog is Daydreaming in Deutschland and there were several girls daydreaming about Mr. Darcy in Deutschland today? Or maybe because I will always love Pride & Prejudice in its many incarnations. It's such a subtle, beautiful, touching love story... and sometimes, that's the kind of story we all need to hear.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Some logistics here...
So, I am aware of the fact that I have a back log of things to write about....
Today's basically your typical Thursday: I got to sleep in, since I don't have class on Thursdays until 4:25. Today was slightly different, since all the humanities classes sat in for an hour of the fine arts class at 11 am, but that's still sleeping in :) And that, my friends, is a wonderful thing. Especially after a long weekend of traveling (long weekend meaning Wednesday- Sunday). After all the classes were done for the day, a whole bunch of us watched Inception and made dinner... basically, a relaxing day.
Also, in German class this week we started reading Der Junge im gestreiften Pyjama ( The Boy in the Striped Pajamas). I've heard how it ends, and I'm not necessarily looking forward to reading that part, but it's pretty good so far and interesting, since it's Auschwitz (or "Aus-Wisch") from the eyes of a 9 year-old German boy. What I find kind of funny is that it's actually an English book translated into German. Luckily, though, it's pretty simple to read (probably because of the fact that it's translated). Anyways, I'm pretty excited about that. It will be my first full-length novel that I've read auf Deutsch.
That's my boring updates for now... the exciting stories shall come later :)
- My Switzerland trip to Lausanne and Gruyere
- Our Madrid field trip
- My trip to Istanbul over the long weekend
- To let y'all know that there is more to come
- To remind myself/ hold myself accountable over the internet, meaning I HAVE to write these posts someday, now that I essentially told the whole world (though only a very small portion is actually listening) that I am going to.
Today's basically your typical Thursday: I got to sleep in, since I don't have class on Thursdays until 4:25. Today was slightly different, since all the humanities classes sat in for an hour of the fine arts class at 11 am, but that's still sleeping in :) And that, my friends, is a wonderful thing. Especially after a long weekend of traveling (long weekend meaning Wednesday- Sunday). After all the classes were done for the day, a whole bunch of us watched Inception and made dinner... basically, a relaxing day.
Also, in German class this week we started reading Der Junge im gestreiften Pyjama ( The Boy in the Striped Pajamas). I've heard how it ends, and I'm not necessarily looking forward to reading that part, but it's pretty good so far and interesting, since it's Auschwitz (or "Aus-Wisch") from the eyes of a 9 year-old German boy. What I find kind of funny is that it's actually an English book translated into German. Luckily, though, it's pretty simple to read (probably because of the fact that it's translated). Anyways, I'm pretty excited about that. It will be my first full-length novel that I've read auf Deutsch.
That's my boring updates for now... the exciting stories shall come later :)
Monday, March 5, 2012
Major Decisions...Literally.
It's interesting to think how much can change within a year and a half. Last year, as I entered college, I was convinced that psychology was the major for me. Halfway through the first semester, I decided that it was actually too science-y and I changed it to a double major in English Literature and Creative Writing.
When I planned my classes for my year abroad, I decided to tack on a German minor since I could complete it in one year by taking two upper-division German classes per semester (which was made possible by my fabulous German teachers in high school-- thanks Frau Mueller and Frau Kaulard!).
Now, I've done it again.
See, it's that time of year again-- registration. With all this important life-planning going on around me, I figured I might as well look into my major requirements again to plan my next semester/next two years of my life. For some reason, I decided to look at the requirements for a German major as well... just for curiousity's sake. Well, it turns out that I only need 12 more units (aka 3 more classes) tacked on to my almost-completed minor (just a few more weeks now!) to make it a major. I did some calculations, figured out what I still need to do for two established major, and discovered that by some miracle I have enough room to fit a German major. Not dropping my other two. Simply adding a third. And rather comfortably, at that.
I definitely didn't see this coming when I stepped onto Pepperdine's campus in August 2010. Really, I didn't even see it coming when I came back to Heidelberg after winter break in January 2012.
Like I said, it's crazy how things change.
This whole year abroad has been ridiculous in the best of ways, and I can tell you for sure that I never would have considered that third major had I never come to Heidelberg. I probably would have patted myself on the back for sticking with a foreign language for four years in high school, labeled it all as a great experience and eventually see my German wither from disuse.
Now, I'm seeing so many possibilities opened up before me. I'm thinking maybe of translating German literature into English, because that requires both German knowledge and some creativity. Of course, that won't be my only job. I'll do that on the side while I work in a publishing house. Oh yeah, and write novels. I'm not sure how I'll have time for all this, but then again, I never would have imagined having time for 3 majors in 4 years, either. I thought two majors and a minor were going to be a tight squeeze and that maybe I was being too ambitious... guess not! God's taken care of all the details so far, so I'll trust that whatever career is in the future for me, be it 1 or 3 or 5, will fit in my life in just the way he intends.
For now, I'll just go on planning and studying (lots of that!) one semester at a time.
And on a slightly unrelated yet still somewhat connected note, I can't believe that my time abroad is now 3/4 of the way finished! I'm flying home April 10... and not sure how I feel about that. Not that there's anything wrong with home, it's just that this is such a unique time in my life (living in a foreign country with 43 peers? what?!) that I don't want it to be over too soon. So now that I realize how limited my time in Heidelberg is, I'm started to linger more on my walks to and from class, walk down streets I always thought I'd explore sometime later, browse in stores on the Hauptstrasse I ignored before, stare at the castle some more, and realize that while life in Germany may now have a "routine," it is completely out of the ordinary and something I should never take for granted-- especially now that my time here has a rapidly approaching end.
It's good to know that at least now I won't completely be leaving Germany behind when I go back to the States.
It's also good to know I may run into more excuses to wear my Dirndl again.
When I planned my classes for my year abroad, I decided to tack on a German minor since I could complete it in one year by taking two upper-division German classes per semester (which was made possible by my fabulous German teachers in high school-- thanks Frau Mueller and Frau Kaulard!).
Now, I've done it again.
See, it's that time of year again-- registration. With all this important life-planning going on around me, I figured I might as well look into my major requirements again to plan my next semester/next two years of my life. For some reason, I decided to look at the requirements for a German major as well... just for curiousity's sake. Well, it turns out that I only need 12 more units (aka 3 more classes) tacked on to my almost-completed minor (just a few more weeks now!) to make it a major. I did some calculations, figured out what I still need to do for two established major, and discovered that by some miracle I have enough room to fit a German major. Not dropping my other two. Simply adding a third. And rather comfortably, at that.
I definitely didn't see this coming when I stepped onto Pepperdine's campus in August 2010. Really, I didn't even see it coming when I came back to Heidelberg after winter break in January 2012.
Like I said, it's crazy how things change.
This whole year abroad has been ridiculous in the best of ways, and I can tell you for sure that I never would have considered that third major had I never come to Heidelberg. I probably would have patted myself on the back for sticking with a foreign language for four years in high school, labeled it all as a great experience and eventually see my German wither from disuse.
Now, I'm seeing so many possibilities opened up before me. I'm thinking maybe of translating German literature into English, because that requires both German knowledge and some creativity. Of course, that won't be my only job. I'll do that on the side while I work in a publishing house. Oh yeah, and write novels. I'm not sure how I'll have time for all this, but then again, I never would have imagined having time for 3 majors in 4 years, either. I thought two majors and a minor were going to be a tight squeeze and that maybe I was being too ambitious... guess not! God's taken care of all the details so far, so I'll trust that whatever career is in the future for me, be it 1 or 3 or 5, will fit in my life in just the way he intends.
For now, I'll just go on planning and studying (lots of that!) one semester at a time.
And on a slightly unrelated yet still somewhat connected note, I can't believe that my time abroad is now 3/4 of the way finished! I'm flying home April 10... and not sure how I feel about that. Not that there's anything wrong with home, it's just that this is such a unique time in my life (living in a foreign country with 43 peers? what?!) that I don't want it to be over too soon. So now that I realize how limited my time in Heidelberg is, I'm started to linger more on my walks to and from class, walk down streets I always thought I'd explore sometime later, browse in stores on the Hauptstrasse I ignored before, stare at the castle some more, and realize that while life in Germany may now have a "routine," it is completely out of the ordinary and something I should never take for granted-- especially now that my time here has a rapidly approaching end.
It's good to know that at least now I won't completely be leaving Germany behind when I go back to the States.
 |
| Yay German! |
Monday, February 6, 2012
Ireland
Ok, I know that I have been majorly slacking in regard to updating this blog... whoopsies! I get distracted a lot. Not a really good excuse... more of an explanation, I suppose.
So, I have a lot to catch you up on! My first trip of the semester (to Ireland) was amazing, to say the least. And, like the vast majority (or perhaps all?) of trips this year, plans changed, and we had to expect the unexpected.
The original plan was this: fly in to Dublin on Friday. On Saturday, make a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher. Sunday, spend the rest of the day in Dublin, then fly back to Germany. Then a little thing called the NORTHERN LIGHTS decided to show up on the internet in an article claiming that the northern lights could be seen from County Donegal, Ireland. I showed this article to Chelsea, our fearless leader, who has had pretty much a life goal to see the Northern Lights and saw this as the perfect opportunity. So, through a series of changes we finally came up with a solid plan: fly into Dublin, spend a few hours there, and then take the bus to (somewhere in) County Donegal, then from wherever we ended up, take a taxi to our hostel in Malin Head.
Things for the most part went off without a hitch. The one problem with our departure on Friday morning was that there were only two options with the bus to Frankfurt Hahn Airport: one at like 5 am and another one that would get us to the airport with only about 45 minutes to get on our plane. We decided to play it safe and get up ridiculously early (we could nap on the bus anyway, right?). Once we were in the airport we had hours to hang out until we even needed to go through security, but we had fun being our delirious, sleep-deprived selves.
We landed in Dublin at around 3 and found a pub in which to eat lunch (dinner?). There we sampled some authentic Irish food while hearing some great live music.
After that we essentially spent the rest of the day on public transport making our way to Donegal (and catching up on sleep again!).
We finally reached Sandrock Hostel at about 11 at night. And you know what? The long day of travel was so worth it! Our "hostel" was really more of a cozy guest house, owned by a very sweet Irish man who stayed up late just so he could be there when we arrived. He gave us maps of the area, told us what interesting things there were to do, warned us about the dangerous tides, and even made us tea (which was ridiculously delicious, by the way).
The next day we got up relatively early and walked around the area, exploring the gorgeous Irish countryside. It was cold and windy, but none of us really minded because it was so gorgeous! We saw excessive amounts of sheep (and took excessive amounts of pictures of sheep) and explored the coastline of Ireland's northernmost point. I can't even describe what a fantastic experience this was. The beaches were covered with beautiful pebbles (we took a few...or more), and the hills were covered in long, green, squishy, soft grass. We also kind of almost got blown off of a hill into the ocean by the most powerful wind we have ever experienced. But don't worry, this was all perfectly safe! Maybe.
After that we got an early lunch and most of us headed back to the hostel to arrange our afternoon plans: horseback riding. Tom wasn't feeling the whole horse thing, so he said farewell to go on a solo manventure with promises to meet us at the tower at 5ish.
Horseback riding was so much fun. Unfortunately due to the weather (I wasn't kidding about the cold and the wind...), we had to have our lesson indoors instead of out in the beautiful Irish countryside. But it was a great experience regardless of what we looked at while on our horses.
We had to take two separate taxi trips to the tower to meet Tom because we were using one taxi driver who had only four seats. I was in the first group (along with Genesis, Jaimy, and Emily), and once we got there we realized something: if we thought it was cold and windy before, we didn't know anything: there, at the tower (literally the northernmost point of Ireland) it was so wind thatit was hard to stand up straight! We met up with Tom and heard his adventures, but we weren't sure how long we wanted to stay at the tower. Don't get me wrong: it was beautiful and we were still having fun. We just weren't sure how much more cold and wind our bodies could take
Meanwhile, the ever fearless Tom stayed outside of the random buildings and made friends with this Irish guy named James. When the second group came up in the taxi, we told them we planned to go back to the hostel soon, so if they wanted they could get out of the taxi real quick and take pictures and such. We were thinking of maybe taking two taxi trips to the hostel, but instead those of us who had been waiting ended up getting a ride home from James. I know, getting in the car with random strangers in a foreign country is rather inadvisable, but we figured it was okay: we were in small-town Ireland (so small that James' family had been living there for over 200 years, and he knew the owner of our hostel (whom our taxi driver also knew)). Plus, the Irish people we'd encountered so far were all incredibly nice (seriously, I think that as a whole the Irish are the nicest people I've encountered in my travels thus far) and we figured we could trust him.
So anyway, we hopped in the car with James and started talking to him. He mentioned that some lambs had recently been born on his farm and when we city-slickers were overcome with excitement, he asked us if we wanted to go see them. So we said YES. He turned around right there in the middle of the road (not like anyone was on it anyway) and took us to his farm, where we got to bottle feed and hold a week old lamb. Then he even showed us his day-old lamb!
We had been looking at sheep for about an hour (maybe even an hour and a half?) by the time we decided it was probably time to go home-- after all, none of us have cell phones, so we hadn 't been able to tell the other half of our group about our spontaneous change of plans, and they'd been back at the hostel for who knows how long wondering where we had gone with this James they had never met.
When we finally got back, we found that only half of the other group had been waiting up, worried. While Chelsea and Edith had visions of us getting human centipeded (Edith's words), Josh and Ben were sitting in the living room playing connect four, wearing war paint (aka coal used for the stove/furnace thing). They weren't worried about us since they though (in their words) we were adults who could take care of ourselves (even if James had wanted to murder us, it would have been five against 1), while Edith and Chelsea had rather sensibly been wondering, "Who on earth is James?!?!?!?" and understandably doubting whether he could be trusted.
After all was explained, we settled down, made spaghetti, and played zoo (one of Chelsea's favorite travel games. We played it in Croatia, too. To those of you at home, I'll have to explain in person). We even got our new hostel-mates, some Irish guys, to join in the game too, although they were thoroughly confused and probably scared by our weirdness.
All in all, the trip was an absolutely incredible experience. We never did get to see the northern lights (both nights were too cloudy), but it was all worth it anyway. Our crazy quest to see the natural phenomenon led us to the most random Irish town, far away from all the usual tourist attractions, straight to the reality of what life in Ireland is really like. It was both low-key and an adventure, and most certainly a weekend I will never forget with some of my favorite people.
Ireland, I hope to see you again sometime. Maybe soon :)
So, I have a lot to catch you up on! My first trip of the semester (to Ireland) was amazing, to say the least. And, like the vast majority (or perhaps all?) of trips this year, plans changed, and we had to expect the unexpected.
The original plan was this: fly in to Dublin on Friday. On Saturday, make a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher. Sunday, spend the rest of the day in Dublin, then fly back to Germany. Then a little thing called the NORTHERN LIGHTS decided to show up on the internet in an article claiming that the northern lights could be seen from County Donegal, Ireland. I showed this article to Chelsea, our fearless leader, who has had pretty much a life goal to see the Northern Lights and saw this as the perfect opportunity. So, through a series of changes we finally came up with a solid plan: fly into Dublin, spend a few hours there, and then take the bus to (somewhere in) County Donegal, then from wherever we ended up, take a taxi to our hostel in Malin Head.
Things for the most part went off without a hitch. The one problem with our departure on Friday morning was that there were only two options with the bus to Frankfurt Hahn Airport: one at like 5 am and another one that would get us to the airport with only about 45 minutes to get on our plane. We decided to play it safe and get up ridiculously early (we could nap on the bus anyway, right?). Once we were in the airport we had hours to hang out until we even needed to go through security, but we had fun being our delirious, sleep-deprived selves.
We landed in Dublin at around 3 and found a pub in which to eat lunch (dinner?). There we sampled some authentic Irish food while hearing some great live music.
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| The group! Completely filled with awesome people. |
We finally reached Sandrock Hostel at about 11 at night. And you know what? The long day of travel was so worth it! Our "hostel" was really more of a cozy guest house, owned by a very sweet Irish man who stayed up late just so he could be there when we arrived. He gave us maps of the area, told us what interesting things there were to do, warned us about the dangerous tides, and even made us tea (which was ridiculously delicious, by the way).
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| Drinking tea in the living room of our hostel |
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| The beautiful, rugged, northern coastline of Ireland. Watch out for the waves. Seriously. |
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| All the girls :) |
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| This was higher above the water than the picture makes it look. |
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| Giving up on movement in the face of ridiculously strong winds or sitting meditatively taking in the extreme beauty all around us. However you want to look at it. |
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| Much frolicking ensued. |
Horseback riding was so much fun. Unfortunately due to the weather (I wasn't kidding about the cold and the wind...), we had to have our lesson indoors instead of out in the beautiful Irish countryside. But it was a great experience regardless of what we looked at while on our horses.
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| Genesis with lucky. He was a big flirt with everyone. He also tried to eat her coat. |
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| All of us in our snazzy riding gear in the stables. The funny thing on Chelsea's head is her GoPro camera :) |
We had to take two separate taxi trips to the tower to meet Tom because we were using one taxi driver who had only four seats. I was in the first group (along with Genesis, Jaimy, and Emily), and once we got there we realized something: if we thought it was cold and windy before, we didn't know anything: there, at the tower (literally the northernmost point of Ireland) it was so wind thatit was hard to stand up straight! We met up with Tom and heard his adventures, but we weren't sure how long we wanted to stay at the tower. Don't get me wrong: it was beautiful and we were still having fun. We just weren't sure how much more cold and wind our bodies could take
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| We took shelter from the wind in some random buildings there. |
So anyway, we hopped in the car with James and started talking to him. He mentioned that some lambs had recently been born on his farm and when we city-slickers were overcome with excitement, he asked us if we wanted to go see them. So we said YES. He turned around right there in the middle of the road (not like anyone was on it anyway) and took us to his farm, where we got to bottle feed and hold a week old lamb. Then he even showed us his day-old lamb!
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| The week-old lamb! |
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| So fluffy! |
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| The day old lamb! Inside an unoccupied, super old farmhouse that belongs to James' family. |
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| So precious! Also, the lamb's not dirty. That's just its coloring. |
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| The neighborhood dog Scooby tagged along. Even the dogs in the Irish countryside are super nice and friendly! |
When we finally got back, we found that only half of the other group had been waiting up, worried. While Chelsea and Edith had visions of us getting human centipeded (Edith's words), Josh and Ben were sitting in the living room playing connect four, wearing war paint (aka coal used for the stove/furnace thing). They weren't worried about us since they though (in their words) we were adults who could take care of ourselves (even if James had wanted to murder us, it would have been five against 1), while Edith and Chelsea had rather sensibly been wondering, "Who on earth is James?!?!?!?" and understandably doubting whether he could be trusted.
After all was explained, we settled down, made spaghetti, and played zoo (one of Chelsea's favorite travel games. We played it in Croatia, too. To those of you at home, I'll have to explain in person). We even got our new hostel-mates, some Irish guys, to join in the game too, although they were thoroughly confused and probably scared by our weirdness.
All in all, the trip was an absolutely incredible experience. We never did get to see the northern lights (both nights were too cloudy), but it was all worth it anyway. Our crazy quest to see the natural phenomenon led us to the most random Irish town, far away from all the usual tourist attractions, straight to the reality of what life in Ireland is really like. It was both low-key and an adventure, and most certainly a weekend I will never forget with some of my favorite people.
Ireland, I hope to see you again sometime. Maybe soon :)
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