Tomorrow begins another school year.  So, on the precipice of my second year as a full-time faculty member, and in honor of my move up to Lowell exactly 13 months ago today, I thought I’d pass along 13 lessons I’ve learned over the past year and one month.  In no particular order:

1. BALANCE is key.
2. Being a CUBS fan really really sucks a lot of the time.
3. At school, my REPUTATION has started to precede me.  And I think that’s awesome.
4. Politics exists EVERYWHERE.  And I think that sucks.
5. I miss my FRIENDS.  That being said, two of my closest friends have moved up to Lowell, so I can’t complain too much at all.  It’s just that I also miss my other friends from Tallahassee and Chicago.  Badly.
6. The way I see it, OREO is certifiably the gentlest, sweetest, cutest, most loving dog in the world.
7. To quote The Fray, “Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the SAME.”
8. I do what I LOVE.  And I love what I do.
9. I miss the CITY, Chicago in particular.  I’m going to make it a point to get to know Boston.
10. More and more I’m discovering that being spiritual and being religious are two very DIFFERENT things.
11. The importance of a good TEACHER, at whatever level and in whatever subject, cannot be overstated.
12. As much as I’d like to consider myself a moderate, I’m beginning to lean more and more to the LEFT.  Or perhaps it’s a reaction and I’m just leaning further and further away from the right.
13. COMMUNICATION is key.

Hallole! I’m typing this update from about 36,000 feet. Marty and I are headed back to the States after a great trip. Here are some highlights from the end of our time in Germany.

• The last couple of days of our trip were quite relaxing. On Friday, we got up relatively late after our excursion to Austria and Munich the previous two days.

• After breakfast (brunch, really), we headed south to Switzerland to meet some family friends and see some sights.

• We hung around Schaufhaffen for the afternoon, window shopping and visiting a local waterfall.

• Switzerland was nice but VERY expensive. I was hoping perhaps to get a nice Swiss watch with automatic movement, but was flabbergasted at the prices (not that I really expected to get one, but still…).

• The waterfall was cool. Not very big, but still quite scenic. Makes me want to visit Niagra Falls.

• Saturday was an even slower-paced day. We stuck around Burladingen and had an afternoon snack (cake, coffee, and mimosas) with some of Marty’s relatives. The weather was so nice that the two of us just walked to the house.

• Marty and I returned to Sofie and Gerd’s and stuffed our faces with a variety of grilled meats, salad, schnapps, and (of course) beer.

• The meal was delicious but a little on the indulgent, unhealthy side. To give you an idea, at one point I put a garlic cream sauce on top of buttered, cheese-filled, bacon-wrapped sausage. Yup, you read that correctly: garlic cream sauce on buttered, cheese-filled, bacon-wrapped sausage. My aorta hurts just typing that. It’s a miracle we didn’t keel over and die from a heart attack right then and there.

• The alarm didn’t go off so we had to rush a bit Sunday morning.

• No worries, though, as we made it to the Frankfurt airport with plenty of time to spare.

I’ll post the next (and final) TraveLog update from Long Island, including some of post-trip reactions, pictures, and things I learned along the way. ‘Til then, guten Tag!

8 June 2009

Hallole!  (Practicing my German.  Not bad, eh?)

• After a quiet breakfast at Sofie and Gerd’s, we drove to Sigmaringen to view another castle.  It wasn’t nearly as impressive as the one we saw yesterday.
• We then drove to Steinhausen, a very small town not too far away, to see the church that many consider “the most beautiful village church in the world.”  It didn’t disappoint, with beautiful paintings on the ceiling and intricate decorations throughout the space.  Here’s an upshot-selfer (yes, Mike, I love these types of pics):

• We then drove to Schussenried for some lunch at a brewery.
• After lunch, we took a tour of their “bierkrugmuseum.”  On display were over 1200 beer steins from across several centuries.  It was pretty cool, actually.
• Our next stop was Meersburg, a town on a lake in southern Germany.  While we at cake and drank coffee, we could see the Swiss Alps and watch various ferry boats cross the lake, transporting people and cars.
• We then drove back to Sigmaringen for some dinner.  I had the Jaegerschnitzel, which was yum.  The rain started to fall as we left the restaurant and accompanied us on our whole way home.
• Once home, we started planning for the rest of the week.  Our plans include a visit to Salzburg, and perhaps a stop in Munich if the weather is agreeable tomorrow.  Here’s hoping for sunshine!!

I may not have internet access for the next few days, so this could be the last TraveLog update for a bit.  I’ll have my iPod Touch with me, so perhaps I can log on and give some brief synopses of the days’ activities while away from Sofie and Gerd’s (no pics would be included, though, unfortunately).

Tschuessi!!