Christmas ramblings

As I sit on this train bound for the city of Köln, (Cologne) I am reminded that I have not written for a while in my blog. So with pen in hand I begin this entry with my holiday plans. For a brief overview, I will be traveling to first Bremen, with my good friend John, after which I will take a train to Köln, a bus to Frankfurter-Hahn Airport, a plane to Kos, Greece, a ferry to Athens and Crete, a flight back to Frankfurt-Hahn, a car ride to Berlin, Germany for New Years and then finally back to Reutlingen on the 2^nd of January. I have just finished the first leg of this trip, which took me back to the old city of Bremen and my original introduction to this wonderful country. I would have to say things did not go as planned, but in the end all worked out. I stared this trip in my home town of Reutlingen on Friday morning the 17^th of December at 7am. From there I sojourned through the town of Stuttgart with John to go to my interview at Mercedes. The interview went very well, with a small introduction to the work I would be doing. The work while very intriguing, is not really anything I have experience with but I believe it would be a great stepping stone for me into the world of Database systems. I will have an answer after the New Year, as everyone is now on vacation. Once I was finished with this task, I then boarded a train for Bremen. As you might have heard, we are having an abnormally large amount of snow this year, and apparently this wrecks havoc on the usually punktlich (punctual) system of the Germans. Through the three trains I had to take, I was delayed 3 hours, so what would normally have been an already long six hours on the train became 9. I did not really appreciate this, however I had little choice. When I finally did arrive in Bremen, I was delighted to see my old stomping grounds again. There is a special place in my heart for Bremen and I think there always will be. After a wonderful weekend spent with great friends and a visit to the lovely city of Hamburg, I departed at 21:43 for the city of Köln and am currently in route and should arrive around 1:00am. My bus for the airport departs at 2:30am and then arrives at 5:00am ish. Until then, I, Brent am out.

December 21, 2010. I am currently on a ferry bound for the city of Athens. It is 1:00am and I feel like I should be sleeping, but alas there are few places to do so. In order to save as much money as possible one purchases what is called a “deck ticket” . This means just what it says, you sleep on the deck, one of the three that are offered. This trip lasts from 8:00pm until 9:00am so as you can see I am only half way through and strangely wide awake. The events of the past day have been most enjoyable though, with much time spent cruzing around the Island of Kos on rented mopeds, catching beautiful sunsets and the wonderful freedom of personal transportation again. Not having it for four months has been one of the hardest things I have had to deal with. The ability to simply wake up and say, where do I want to go today? anywhere the open road takes me. Tomorrow leads to more experiences and hopefully even better things are in store.

December 23^th 2010

Over the past few days I have seen, smelled and most importantly tasted some of the best things my senses have ever experienced. After spending a day in Athina (Athens) which included, visits to the many Soulvaki shops, the Parthenon, the Acropolis and many other ruins of this ancient city, as well as a 10km walk to the town of Athens from the port, as a result of the strike currently underway. 

We then continued our trip to Crete, the largest of the Greek Isles. Once we arrived off our overnight trip on the ferry, we had some time before we would be picked up from a German couple, that my friend Craig, had become acquainted with. During this time we took a chance to visit a castle fortress on the seaboard from the Byzantine era. We stretched out in the sun and took as much in as we could, until The couple, Roland and Manuela, picked us up from the bus station in Rythemno, Crete. After a short car ride we were in the mountains of Crete, surrounded by beautiful scenery and the incredible ever-present smell of olive trees. We stopped in Spili for some of the best coffee and sweets that I have ever had. We also drank from the fresh mountain water that flowed through an ancient aquifer. After this we then continued to the home bass of our hosts, through the breathtaking vistas that the mountain passes and dirt roads provided. The town we ended up in was Triopetra, a land of beautiful beaches and the warmest part of Crete. It was 22 c when we drove in at 3:00pm and the cliffs of Triopetra were calling for a nice plunge into the Mediterranean. Before we did this however we got the chance to meet a native Cretan that welcomed his old friends and us, the newcomers. After a quick chat, we hiked over to the cliffs and plunged in. Every time I am on the edge of a cliff, waiting to jump in a get a sense of exhilaration that cannot be rivaled. We topped this day off with a homemade Cretan meal and fresh Raki, a traditional Cretan drink, after which we drove home and shared some wonderful 14 year scotch from our wonderful host, and hit the hay.

December 24^th, 2010

Today I woke up, greeted with the sound of birds singing out my window and rustling in the kitchen of my breakfast being made. After a delicious meal on the deck, taking as much advantage of the sun I could, we were interrupted by the landlord of the house we were staying in, bringing us fresh olive oil, and Christmas sweets. We thanked them for this with a, efalisto, and then tried the goods, which were wonderful. After we finished this wonderful mid-morning snack, we drove to first the town of Sivas, for a delicious lunch of goat, beef, squid, and lamb prepared in different sauces. The flavors I tasted could only be rivaled by some of the finest restaurants I have eaten and even then, there was a certain freshness to the food that could not be duplicated. We finished out time before out ferry back to Pireaus, with a visit to the hippy town of Matala, which as most of Greece at this time is pretty dead. We stopped and had a wonderful glass of Mountain Tea, a local specialty and soaked up the last few rays of the fleeting rays of sun. Our final leg of the trip took us to the bus stop of Mires and then to Heraklion. In Heraklion, Christmas spirit was in the air, with open air choirs and fake Christmas trees lining the streets. After some navigating through the roads to the harbor, we found some internet and called the folks back home to wish them a Merry Christmas and tell them we missed them very much. I would have to say that this Christmas held many firsts for me, but this was the first Christmas that I was not able to see my family, and it was much harder than I had imagined. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, I guess? Once on the ferry, a familiar scenario transpired. Search for a seat, save said seat, try to get some sleep. End of Christmas Eve.

December 25, 2010

Started the day out by arriving at 5:30 into Pireaus, we talked to the families again and waited for It’s a Wonderful Life to download, as I realized that I needed at least one constant for the Christmas Season. It being Christmas day, our thought process was, we had already seen Athens, Nothing would be open for the next couple of days anyway. This being the case we determined that a trip to the nearby island of Agena would be better for our plans of camping out for the night. After a very successful fire was built we cooked up some sausage and Pasta with very minimal materials and both of us were quite impressed with how they had turned out. We then settled down to watch It’s a Wonderful Life and take in the beauty of the moment. Merry Christmas, Greece.

December 26^th

Awaking to the sounds of the waves lapping on the shore, I had to do a quick double take of where I was. Ah yes, I remember now, Greece, on a beach, watching the sunrise, sadly my last full day in this little slice of heaven. The events up to this point have been pretty uneventful, ferry ride back to Pireus, quick check of the ol’internet and jump on the next ferry bound for the Island of Kos an our flight back to the frigid lands of the North. While I am very sad to be leaving this place, I am a little excited to be going back for more adventures this New Years when I travel to Berlin to ring in 2011. 

Wein (Vienna)

 So a quick summary of Vienna and then off to bed. It was great. Let me expound upon this idea a little more in depth. The plane ride was a success, with ease of transfer and time schedules being met. The weather was sub-par, cold but not raining or snowing. The accommodations were surprisingly nice. Me and my partner in Crime John from Pennsylvania, found a nice cheap spot outside of downtown that was reasonably priced as it was out of seasonal travel time. The food was wonderful. The first night we had a classic Vienna dish at this pub that also had a special Austrian beer, Ottakringer, both were an absolute delight. The next morning we set out to explore the city, after a delicious breakfast of bread and cereal. We then plotted out our route and were on our way. The  buildings beautiful. Vienna has this wonderful museum district with a large amount of either original buildings or post WW2 reconstructed buildings. As shown here 

After much walking we stumbled on one of the most fantastic finds yet, a gentleman's shop of sorts. The store was one of the most aesthetically pleasing stores with a posh selection of menswear only a little out of my price range (a small understatement there). Nevertheless I was able to justify buying a one of a kind scarf there and was very pleased with my purchase, hopefully I will be back for more some day. 

We then journeyed on to see the Museum of Modern Art which was surprisingly to my liking with a well designed layout and informing exhibits, plus it was the only one that was free. A couple of my favorites.

We ended the day by finding a local bar to try another local brew in but first made a stop by the University to see the place Freud and many other important men and women had studied over the years. 

Our final day was filled with traveling and staying out of the bad weather. We then had a uneventful flight back to our home city, after a short photo-op on the famous Blau Danu river or in English, Blue Danube. Famous for the waltz by Johann Strauss with the same name. Cheesy photo-op that is. All in all an amazing trip and a chance to get to know the east coast better, learn to appreciate modern art, and class up the wardrobe a little, All without the help of the Johnster would not have been possible.  See you in July Vienna.

Hum drum

If you are an avid blog reader of mine I would say firstly I am sorry for not posting more often and secondly thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings and sometimes pointless drivel. You also might be asking yourself why has he not written more in the month of November. Well to be honest there really has not been much going on. That is to say I have settled down into a routine and am not traveling as much now to save money for later excursions. This weekend I will be going to Vienna on a special that the local airline offers called blind booking. Basically you have six options and from those options they "at random" pick one of the destinations. The funny part of this is that of six of my friends that have done this, all of them have gotten Vienna but at 19.99 euro the price is right. Other than this I have applied for several jobs, had an interview at one that went pretty bad but mostly because I had applied for the wrong job, thank you German language and advisors with horrible advice. This being said I am very happy that I did not get this job as the company was not that great and the person I would have been working with/ under was not the kind of person I would have liked to work with. I hope that this next job opening that I have applied for will be better, and lesson learned, I made sure the translation of the job description was right. I will say that trying to get a job in a foreign country is by far one of the hardest things I have ever done, as the challenges are not merely confined to language barriers but also contract differences and also interview procedures. I do think that the German system of education does offer more opportunity with German businesses to further grow and that internships are much more readily available as every Bachelor student in the Hochschule must complete one and a thesis on how the company they worked for could be improved. It is a very open system to constant change and improvement and I think that this is the way that Germany has remained so competitive worldwide in the export of their quality products. Today I am on my way to BMW manufacturing in Munich for a tour of the plant and hopefully one of the museums. This is a very exciting day for me as the BMW headquarters has always seemed so far out of my reach and today I am finally going to be stepping through the front doors of the hallowed ground that produced some of the greatest cars ever known to man. I have been feeling a little more homesick than normal but I think this is simply from the fact that I have a large amount of free time and do not really know what to do with it. I have been going to more lectures, workout events at the gym, running in preparation for my marathon in May, and yoga. It is nice to finally say, “I have so much spare time, what should I do with it?” hopefully I will make the most efficient use of this time. I miss everyone very much and hope you are doing well and if you would ever like to chat, I am only a skype call away. 

Fall break/Paris

So as  I look over the pictures from Paris I regret to say, I wish I would have written more about it when I was there. As of right now I am on a train bound for Rotterdam, Bruges, and Brussels which will complete my goal of the northern towns I wanted to see with exception of GB. Paris was amazing , to put it in one word. So much music, food, sites, and just overall beauty. I have to admit it was a little hard at first dealing with the language barrier but as I was there more I was able to work around it. The auto show was amazing, so many new models and concepts! I just wish there were a few less people, as you had to fight to get a look at the new models, it was still very rewarding though. After I finished the auto show in Saturday, Sunday was spent walking around Paris with a walking tour that was very enjoyable and informative. I learned about many little secrets about getting in places for free and getting the best food for the best price, as Paris can be very expensive. So in summary Paris was awesome and if you ever get a chance to go, go. School is going well, very busy, I have six classes three in English and three in German. All of them are very interesting and the school that I am going to is Hochschule Reutlingen. It has a very good international program so many of the students are international students, which  unfortunately means English usually instead of German=(. Even though I am not getting as much practice in speaking German as I would like, I have met some really cool people. Currently I am in Rotterdam, Netherlands with a Russian from St. Petersburg named Nik, and I also have found a local German Ultimate Frisbee club that I have played with once or twice but have been too busy to play with them all the time, sadly.  Through school I have seen an interesting side of the Automotive world that I would love to get involved in. Automotive Consulting. A dream come true for someone like me, and hopefully someone with the combinations of experiences I have.  I have applied for a job a MBtech, a consulting firm with Mercedes, so fingers crossed and we shall see! So this post has been in several parts mostly because of the randomness of this trip and the events that have taken place. After Rotterdam we went to Bruges, Belgium and saw the old town center and shared in some wonderful Belgium beers with some new found friends from the UK and Australia. The best part about traveling and staying in hostels is that you get to meet all sorts of people from different walks of life with such different experiences but yet we are all so similar. After this we went to Brussels, Belgium and I have to say I was very impressed with the beauty of the city and the surrounding area. We saw all of the great landmarks and also had a chance to visit some old friends in Bremen. So all in all a amazing trip with loads of waffles, fries, beer, and some good ol fashion boyhood antics. Now it is buckle down time until my next big trip to Greece in December. Until then I need to study harder, practice more, save money and most of all enjoy ever experience that I can. Bis dann. 

Tschüss Bremen, Hallo Reutlingen.

As I sit currently on the train from Bremen to Stuttgart I think back over the past two months in the lovely town of Bremen. The memories made there I will never soon forget and the friends I have from this experience I will always keep in my heart and thoughts. Since my last update it has been roughly a month and so much has transpired in that time, I can hardly recall it all. There was the weekend trip to Bremerhaven for the Sailing Festival, which was pretty cool. Then was the weekend of hanging around Bremen, going to various festivals and always having a great time with the peeps. This last weekend was the trip to the infamous Oktoberfest. One word describes the annual Fest, Verruckt! (crazy) So many people and so much Beer! This was the first year that they did not allow smoking in the big tents and as a result the smell of sweat, beer and thousands of  inebriated  young people, mostly men, was a bit overwhelming at times but also I really could have cared less at that moment. I was in Mecca! Although most native Germans will tell you that Oktoberfest is simply for the tourist and that they never go there, I did meet several there. The most interesting part was definitely going to the bathroom. Picture this, one bathroom six or seven thousand men, and ungodly amounts of beer. Needless to say , many elbows were thrown and much shoving took place. After getting into a beer tent , which holds about 6-7 thousand people, you cannot leave the tent or you forfeit your spot.  So I was in there from 8am-8pm and would have to say I have never sang or danced more in my life! It was very memorable to say the least. After we returned from the weekends festivities, we had to get ready to move to our final placements so which meant loads of busy work and transportation arrangements. We also went out for a fantastic dinner with the peeps at the Ratskeller, which has some of the oldest wine in Europe. I had a fantastic roasted Duck and glass of delicious Spätburgunder, which is a really good German red wine. We also had a chance to tour the Werder Bremen Soccer Stadium which is currently under reconstruction, it was pretty cool to get an inside look at the workings of a Bundesliga Mannschaft. So in conclusion I cannot thank everyone enough for the wonderful time in Bremen, meine Leute, Meine Oma und all of the Bremenites, Thank you!

Norway

So here is my update. I am currently on a bus to Seljord, Norway in the Telemark part of the country. I could not be more excited but to understand my excitement we need to go back a little further. This trip started its’ evolution in the Month of  August the recommendation from a friend that you must see Norway! I thought great, so I booked my trip on Ryanair (a discount service that flies throughout Europe) for the bargain price of 45$ and Started my planning. As I started to search for cheap places to stay I ran into the problem that Oslo is one of the most expensive cites in Europe. Great, ok , so now what? I cannot afford this trip! But wait one sec, isn’t Norway one of the hiking Mecca’s of the world? Yes. And isn’t camping aloud anywhere in the Country as long as you are 200 meters away from a residential area? Yes! So the logically I chose to go to this little town in the middle of nowhere with the most amazing views I have seen, or at least hopefully at this point. So you see my friends I am on the brink of something amazing here I feel and I could not be more excited at this point. I will report back with more details when they are available, but until then peace out world. After I got back it has been non-stop! One thing after another.The trip was amazing, the sky pristine and the stars were the most vivid thing I have ever seen. There was a three dimensional feeling to the sky, as if you could see galaxies beyond. In one word breathtaking. I have some video of the event and eventually I will be editing it and making it into one. Other than that life goes on at a normal clip, one event leading to another, trying to get ready for my move. I miss everyone and hope all of you are doing great. Bis dann!

Monday update

So were to begin. I am sitting here at my computer trying to think of all the events since my last post but I guess I will go with the important ones. On Wednesday we went to a football game or fooßball or soccer game. Werder Bremen is the home team here and I have to tell you it was awesome. We played an Italian team named Sampdoria and it was so much fun to hear all the chants and the excitement. After this we went for

a delicious dinner of Dönner, which is kind of like gyros and of course the team brew for Werder, Becks 12

On Thursday we then had cultural training with Ute from InWent, our program coordinator in Germany. On Friday this was followed up with many hours of more culture training in recognizing the differences between the cultures and trying to be a good example of our culture, while trying to also appreciate the other person's culture as well. I also found out were I will be staying for at least the next three months if not ten and this is in Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg. It seems like a beautiful town, filled with mountains and beauty, while only being 30 mins from Stuttgart!      

Once this was all set, it was off to Amsterdam for the weekend! Got a chance to see the Anne Frank house, which was moving and inspirational. It actually was quite a nice city, but very big and very busy, at all hours. Stayed in my first Hostel with a group of 5 other guys who had just finished their service for the Israeli army so they had a little too much fun both nights, but is was not horrible. Everything was sooo expensive though, so I will be cutting costs for sure over the next month. Today was just a normal day of classes and this week, who knows what the week will bring! Bis dann!

Sunday update.

Since I will be pretty busy these following days I will be doing a major update, as in a weekly recap on Sundays. So here we go:
We got here on Monday the 2nd we met our host families, they are awesome. My Oma gives me so much food, is one of the nicest people in the world! They live in a small neighborhood in Bremen, which is a town with viel Gemütlichkeit, which is a German word that is kind of a mix of hominess or comfort. This being said it is a gorgeous town with many attractions and many things to do and a population of over 500,000. So Monday we went home with our families had dinner and then went to sleep. Tuesday included our first day of classes that went extremely well with our teacher named Andre and the meeting of our new classmates. We had a equal balance of us 6 American students to 6 students from all over, Italy, France, and Spain. It was pretty interesting dynamic for a while but it has since then settled down and everyone has become used to each other. After classes we went on a School sponsored Kneipenbummel, which is a pub crawl. I just love the fact that drinking is not seen as this evil thing but something that should be fun and friendly but under control. On Wednesday we had classes again and then set about getting details cleared, up like bank accounts, cell phones, work visas and the like. Our day usually consist of two one and a half hour sessions in the morning and then a more cultural and historical lesson for another hour and a half. Pretty much a standard week with much friend making and beer drinking and then came the weekend. We went to Hamburg and toured the city seeing many of the famous sites, including the St Nikolai tower and the Rathaus. It was pretty cool and there was many things to see, unfortunately we had to catch and early train back, so only limited sightseeing was available. There really is too much to see, and I just need to remember to keep that in perspective. After that weekend this week has consisted of many things, from a international party on Monday and Becks Brewery tour, which is the local brewery here so everyone drinks becks or hakke becks the regional beer. The tour was great, much beer drinking again and a little insight into the liquid of the gods. After this we had a trip to Norderney this weekend which is a island to the north of Bremen on the north sea. It was a very nice day so much swimming and sunbathing was taken in. After this I had my first Germany disko club experience and I have to say I was not impressed, it was just the same american songs and the same meat market feeling. But still a lot of fun to witness at least once. One thing I will say is different is how long they stay going, the place got packed at about 2 am and was still going at 5am?! It was pretty nuts but no more for me. For tomorrow I will be looking forward to breakfast with my Oma, like every morning with orange juice, coffee, schinken, which is a German cured ham and nutella, which if you have never had it before you do not know what you are missing! I will then ride my bike to class, of which I bought my bike last weekend and it is super sweet having wheels here everything is so connected and bikes are given the right of way and paths everywhere! I love it and wish I had my bike here for some training rides, as my Oma's good cooking and the amazing Beer have definitely filled in a few flat spots, yikes I better watch out. Anyways this weekend is Amsterdam and the next weekend somewhere new and exciting! If you would like to see the photo's accompanying these events they are on my picasa web album. Guten nacht to all of you who got through this horrible post, thank you for reading it and I promise I will not try and fit two weeks of amazingness into a couple paragraphs!

2010-08-04

Oma und Opa

So I am in my first of two placements, Bremen. Just a quick note here before I am off to bed. I am so excited, my host parents are a grandpa and grandma and they are so sweet. Everything has gone so smooth to this point. Tomorrow I begin language school and I could not be more excited! So far I love Germany, it is just like Western Washington but more old and efficiency, so for that I am really happy. I have uploaded more pictures to the picasa web album if you would like to see what I have got so far and there will be only more to come! soon some video and other stuff as well! From Bremen Germany I bid you all gut nacht und schlaf gut!

DC day 2

Well it has been two days since I landed in DC and what can I say, other than it is hot and humid. Other than that it is a pretty sweet place. I was able to see quite a bit yesterday, namely a few of the Smithsonian buildings and the Washington Monument and the White House and Capitol buildings. After all that walking I was already drenched in sweat so I thought, ah what the hell I will go for a run. I now know what the people who sweat a lot normally feel like, and I have to say I did not like it at all. Lets just hope that Bremen will be significantly less humid. Next on the agenda is the welcome BBQ in Georgetown U and after which we shall be in conferences for the next couple of days.

So begins my longest day of the year.

I am sitting here at 6:14am and in exactly 24 hrs I will be on my flight to DC. I am tired, a little sun burnt, and definitely the most excited I have ever been in my life. I just got back from a beautiful weekend with the most important people in my life, besides my family of course and it could not have been any better. The weather was perfect, the company perfect, the cabin, you guessed it, also perfect. Now all I need to do is pack which as of right now is not going great, but I will soldier on. Pictures and video to come from the weekend when I get a few spare moments.

Baden-Württemberg

This is the district where I will be spending my ten month stay after my initial language school stage of two months in Bremen. It is ideal, and I could not have asked for anything better! Not only will I be close to the best skiing in the world, but the auto center of Stüttgart is in this district state as well. I really cannot believe this time is only  27 days away but I am definitely feeling the crunch, as I am trying to sell my big stuff and minimize the possessions that I will need to store when I am gone. I am still planning what I want to see when I am in DC for the three days and would love suggestions from anyone that has been there. Up to this point there really is not else to say, other than excitement is building and Germany is going to win the world cup if they can get past Argentina.
Bis später,

Brent

Bremen.

Is the place I will be staying for the first couple months of my year long stay in Deutschland! I have to admit it was not my first choice but I am still really excited as it is just a jump and a skip to Denmark, Berlin, and of course Amsterdam. I also found out that plane tickets to the London or Edinburgh is really cheap, like 20 euro round trip. Oh the adventures I will have! As of this point though I still have one more pesky paper to finish up and a 8am final tomorrow and then I will finally be done with school for the year.  So until then I will solider on. Goodbye blogsss.

Events planned

So as this spring is getting into full swing, after getting to a slow start, I will have the pleasure of doing a couple of really awesome things. I will get a chance to participate in the Ski to Sea, climb Mt Baker, do a San Jaun kayak trip, and a long awaited summit of Three fingered Jack. I am looking forward very much to these events and I will post pictures and video from them.

Washington DC!

Hotel and flight are booked, notice/vacation time put in, last day is July 26th and I leave on the 27th. I am going to spend two nights in DC before my conferences on the 29th. I am really looking forward to seeing the sights and checking out our nations capital, as I have never been on the east coast let alone in DC. I am staying at the http://www.washingtonplazahotel.com/, courtesy of my employee of the year award. It is definitely making it feel more real each step I take and I cannot wait till the next one!

Gear!!!!

One of the cooler parts of preparation is the cool gear I get to buy. I love gear so much and this is an opportunity to get some things I have been putting off. Such as a sweet new camera, one more travel size oriented. Also a new laptop to replace the one that was stolen, and I am waiting for them to come here today and they should be here any minute...It is like Christmas! Oh and another cool part is all the congratulations. Keep them coming people I do not mine one bit, it is nice to be appreciated, and on that note and the horrible structure of this note, tüschss!

Doctors Apt

Went to get my physical done the other day, clean bill of health which was great. Now I just need to get a couple of other small things done and I will be all set with the initial paperwork. Of course there will be much more to go but as of right now things are looking great.

First steps.

Hello all! Since I am sure loads of you will want to keep up on my adventures while I am in Germany this coming year, I have started this blog. I must say that I have been very anti-blog in the past and the only reason I am staring right now is when someone asks, "So how is your trip going"? I will be able to say, read the blog. This simply a time saving effort and also an experiment to see how many of you will follow along. I do not promise an amazing story that will thrill and excite, most of this will be inane details so that I remember this trip, but I do promise at least a good waste of your time. I would like to say that when I received the news that I was accepted to this program I have never felt so good about anything, and even though I know it will not be easy at times, I know I will have the most amazing experience I can. I would like to say a sincere thank you to those of you who have supported me through this endeavor and I hope that you will find reading about my adventures enjoyable. Thank you, you are the best friends in the world.