Happy Halloween!

Halloween has always been one of my favorite days of the year but now that my boyfriend's birthday is on Halloween I like it even more. Some of my favorite childhood memories come from this holiday. My dad has always been so creative and he even made our costumes when we were little. The most memorable costumes he made are Mrs. Potts & Chip from Beauty and the Beast. We still have the costumes at my parents house. He has also made some great adult costumes one of which won a costume just a few days ago. I will post a picture at the bottom of this post.


Today I decided to continue school after I get my degree. I took Intro to American Sign Language while at ECC and have decided to become a certified ASL interpreter. It will take years to complete the program because classes are only once a week and I have to take 4 levels of classes then do training programs. I hope that with whatever job I find next summer will allow me to take the classes.


Pretty short post today but I don't have much else to say other than Happy Birthday Robert! I love you. Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

The Girl Behind the Blog

I've discovered that I have lots of new readers from all over the world. It is no longer just my family and friends who read this. I decided to write about me today so that my new readers have a better understanding for the "girl behind the blog."


My name is Brittany and I am 22 years old. I am from Buffalo, NY however I am currently finishing my duel degree program in Bad Honnef, Germany. I have twin brothers who are 16 and an older sister. My parents are absolutely amazing. There is nothing they wouldn't do for our family. My parents come from large families and I love having a large family. They mean the world to me and some of my cousins are my closest friends. 


I have an amazing boyfriend. I truly believe we were meant to be. I know this sounds super cheesy but we accept each other for who we are. I NEVER thought I would find the one at such an early age. We have an adorable dog named Manny who we adopted from the SPCA almost two years ago. They are back in Buffalo waiting for me to get home! Hopefully working on the house while I am gone. (Hey a girl can hope!)


"It's not where you been, it's where you're going. It's not who were back then, it's who you are at this moment." - Jimmy Wayne, Where You're Going
I am a strong believer in second chances. People make mistakes and I believe they can learn from them and change. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. I do not trust easily and once you've lost my trust it is hard to get it back. I do my best not to judge people. You never know what someone is going through in life. Don't be so quick to make assumptions about people. 


My goal in life is to help others and to make the world a better place. I have worked with many foundations including Hunters Hope, Make-A-Wish of WNY, Brian Moorman's PUNT Foundation and many others. I would like to work in nonprofits after graduation however I am keeping my options open to whatever I can find! 


Many people ask with my passion for helping children grow and learn why I am not becoming a teacher or a childcare provider... truth is there are so many people who want to be teachers and not enough teaching jobs. I would much rather put my passion for helping others into my job. The foundations I have worked with serve children so I put both passions into play in one job. Plus school stunk! I hated school until I got to college. The only classes I like in school were gym and business. I don't miss high school one bit. I hear people saying that they miss it and I laugh. I don't miss HS or the people there. I rarely talk to people I went to HS with but don't think this is a sob story. I wouldn't have my life any other way. I have the most fantastic friends and I am so lucky to have the support system I have.


Well that is pretty much me in a nutshell. Any questions?

To all you Parents & Caretakers!

I have decided I am going to start posting more stuff on my blog. I will be posting about anything and everything. I have always sent out an email when I've posted stuff before but I will not be doing that anymore. I will only send out the email when I post about living in Germany. 


I am well aware that I am not good at writing. In fact I find myself to be a terrible writer however, I like to just write stuff down in incomplete sentences that sometimes have no structure. I should really work on being a better writer but for now you will just have to deal with it! 


Here is a really cool website that I found! You can order temporary tattoos for your kids in case they are lost. If I was still a nanny I would order these for our trips to the zoo, amusement parks, parks, and various outings! What a great idea! 


They are also available for medical conditions! If you child has a medical condition you can use these tattoos to let people know what it is in case it happens while your child is with another person. 


http://tottoos.org/


Also check out http://www.motherinc.org/ It is this great blog all about being a parent. 


Some of my readers might be wondering why I am posting about parenting. Just to be clear I am not planning on having kids anytime soon! I have been a babysitter/nanny for the past 10 years and I miss all the families I babysat for back in the states. I researched things about children and taking care of kids for years and I guess it is still a habit. 


Hopefully some of the families I used to babysit for are reading this and can use these links. 


This was a good break from doing homework & searching for jobs after graduation but now its time to get back to work. :) 


If anyone has ideas of what I can do after graduation please let me know! I will have a Bachelors in Event & Meeting Management and a Bachelors in Travel & Tourism Management.  

They all went down to Am-ster-(shh) I must not say that naugh-ty word

Some of you might be thrown by the title of this post. I think any kid from East Aurora will understand I was a bit reminiscent of my time spent at Camp Ska-No-Ka-San when in Amsterdam. We would always sing song on the bus to and from camp and those are the lyrics from one of the songs. The song is called Three Fishermen. Google it if you are interested in knowing the actual song. 


If anyone know someone in Europe that would be willing to take me in for Christmas please let me know! I have not found anything to do for Christmas yet and want to figure something out soon. :) 


This week was one of my favorite weeks so far in Germany. Bob's mom sent me a care package last week and it arrived on Monday however I needed to go to Bonn to pick it up from customs. They pick random packages to search and they make you open it in front of them and they look through it. Depending on what is in there you are either free to take it or have to pay taxes on the items in the package. I was lucky and didn't have to pay any taxes! It was a great first care package! She sent snacks, halloween/fall decorations, and a Nicholas Sparks book! I was so excited! :) 


Wednesday morning Sam and Claire met me at my apartment and off we went on our adventure to Amsterdam. We had to take the regional train to Köln before getting on the ICE train to Amsterdam. Total travel time was about 4 hours. The train station in Amsterdam is absolutely beautiful. Once we left there we headed out in search of our hostel. We ended up going the wrong way but figured it out quickly. 


Once we checked in at the hostel and let everyone know that we had arrived safely we headed out to see the city. First thing we went to see was Vondelpark which was this beautiful park in the city. Great place to just walk around and relax. After the park we went to find the I AMSTERDAM letters. There was a large group of Americans taking pictures there and we had to wait for awhile because they took a picture on every letter. We each took pictures on a few letters before heading back towards our hostel. We decided to go to the Anne Frank house. I don't know how to describe walking through the house and reading all about what happened there. It was an incredible experience that I will not forget. The emotions I felt were so intense. 


After the Anne Frank House we went to dinner at this cute restaurant around the corner from our hostel. When we finished we went for a walk through the Red Light District. It was only 8 o'clock so there wasn't a lot going on. We headed back to our hostel after that. The hostel had a great cafe that you could hang out in. That night none of us slept very well. 


Yesterday we went on a New Europe tour or Amsterdam. It was the same tour company that we used in Berlin. Our tour guide Julian was fantastic. He took us all around the city and told us about the rich history and gave us some great tips. After the tour we went to the flower market and the flea market. Claire wanted to get some fresh stroopwafels. Stroopwafels are 2 very thin and small waffles/biscuits with a caramel syrup between them. They are really good. 


After we found stroopwafels we headed back to the hostel to relax before dinner. We went to a Thai restaurant for dinner. I had never tried Thai and as many of you may know I do not like trying new foods. I did enjoy the Thai food though. I ordered shrimp and white rice because I was nervous I wouldn't like anything else. I did try Claire and Sam's food though and it was really tasty! Now I can be a bit more adventurous when I go to a Thai restaurant. 


While we were at dinner I remembered that we were going to check out the English bookstore earlier but had forgotten. We decided to walk over and see if it was still open. It was and I was able to get some books for really good prices! 


This morning we got up and had breakfast at the hostel. That was one of the great things about our hostel , it provided breakfast everyday! Yesterday was eggs with ham on bread and today was pancakes. They also had cereal and fruit you could get. 


If I had to pick a city in Europe to live in I would pick Amsterdam. It was so beautiful and the people were so nice. Everyone spoke english which made life so much easier! I am so happy I went there. 


After breakfast we walked to the train station to catch our 10:34 train. Once we were back in Köln we waited about 20 minutes for our train to Bad Honnef. It was 8:40 a.m. back in the states when I got back so I had just enough time to vote from my laptop and a few school computers before the 97 Rock Funniest Halloween Costume contest was over. My dad won it! In case you missed me emailing everyone I could about it, my dad entered the contest on 97rock.com and won a trip for 2 to see the Bills play in Toronto this weekend. He also has an overnight stay at the Delta Chelsea. My parents both work extremely hard and long hours so they really deserve it! CONGRATS Dad! I love you! 


Well that is my post all about Amsterdam! Today was beautiful and 64 degrees out. Tomorrow is supposed to be the same so I think we might go hiking tomorrow. I have a lot of work to do for school because projects are going to be due in a few weeks. Nothing exciting is happening this coming week. 


I just want to wish a Happy Birthday to my wonderful boyfriend Bob! He turns 26 on Monday. I love you & miss you! 


Hope everyone has a great Halloween! :)


-Brit 

PLEASE VOTE

Please go to 97rock.com & vote for my dad contestant 16 in the funniest costume contest!! Vote everyday!! 

PASS IT ON!! :)

Ready for a break!

This week was a stressful one to say the least. 

We had a project due by midnight on Thursday. I emailed it in at 11:50. We thought we had finished it on Thursday afternoon but in class she showed us some examples of other projects and we realized we had to add some stuff. It was stressful trying to finish it all by midnight. School ran my life all week but now I have a week off and I plan on enjoying every minute of it! 

Saturday the girls and I went to Bonn on a shopping trip! They have TK Maxx here. Same as TJ Maxx but with European brands. It was much bigger than the stores in America. The prices were discounted but I think they were still more than in the States. I bought a new skillet for the kitchen. It was only 10 euros! 

Yesterday I just hung around the apartment all day. Watched a tv show online and skyped a bit. 

Today we went on a tour of a hotel called Kameha Grand. It is a really unique hotel in Bonn. I have posted the link to their website below so you can see some pictures. It was really great to make a connection at a hotel here in Germany. You never know where you will end up! 

http://www.kamehagrand.com/index.php?app=content&contentid=1&menuid=1&languageid=2

After the Kameha we went to the Haribo store in Bonn! It is pretty big and just full of candy and chocolate! It was crazy seeing all the different kinds of candy one company makes! We each bought a few things then headed back to campus. 

Once we got back to campus Wendy decided to go to the store. She bought a bike over the weekend and asked me to lock her balcony door behind her so she could just leave thru there. When I tried closing the door it wasn't working properly. I looked up and noticed the top of the door is off the hinge. Last Friday Wendy was up at 2 a.m. and all of a sudden she heard this loud hand behind her... her door had flew open and two guys were there. When they saw her they ran away but must have broke the door because it had been locked. It was pretty scary. Once we discovered it was broken we went and reported it but it was so late in the day that it won't be fixed until tomorrow. Then tonight I found out that our friend Alessandra was in her room Saturday night and someone kept trying to break in through her balcony door too. She lives in the basement of her building and we live on the first floor. 
EDIT: Alessandra heard someone trying to open up her door from inside the building which means they had a key to get into the building. It was most likely a student going to the wrong room. We still have to find out more. 

We have decided to go talk to the building manager when he gets back from vacation. I don't like the fact that people are trying to break into our apartments. I came here because it is supposed to be a safe town. 

Tonight we went to a greek restaurant in town. We all ordered Döner and it was delicious! Only 3 euros for a BIG pita filled with chicken, tomatoes, and cucumber. The other girls had more stuff but I am picky and only like it with those three ingredients. :) 

Tomorrow I will be packing for our trip to Amsterdam! We leave on Wednesday morning and will be back Friday afternoon! I will post again when I am back from Amsterdam! I have posted a few pictures below! Enjoy! 

Brit

Just another week in Deutschland

Hello everyone! 


This is going to be a short post for once! Last week was pretty good but uneventful! I only had a few classes and didn't do a whole lot. 


I joined Leo Club back in September which is a "youth program" in Lions club. So far it has been great! I am helping plan our Christmas party at the local club and an event in the spring. I figure this is right up my alley and I can put it on my resume! We had a meeting on Wednesday then I went to the on campus bar. 


Saturday was our friends birthday and she lives in a house with 20 other students. They had a house party which was really fun. It was great to actually go out and really have fun with a bunch of people. I have decided I need to go out more. I am not saying I will be going out drinking until 5 in the morning everyday but just getting out a few times a week to enjoy my surroundings. 


This week will be busy with classes and working on projects! We have SO many projects here! Your CA (continuous assessment)  which is your project is worth 30% of your grade and your final exam is worth 70%. Thankfully we have a lot of time to study because I have never been good at exams and will need a lot of time to prepare for 7 finals. 


Sam, Claire, and I are going to Amsterdam Oct 26th-28th. We are taking the train for 48 euros roundtrip! The hostel is more expensive than what we have seen in the past but we were told to expect that. If anyone has been to Amsterdam and has recommendations for places to visit let me know! PLEASE TAKE THE POLL ON THE SIDE OF MY BLOG OF WHERE I SHOULD TRAVEL TO NEXT! Amsterdam is in that poll so please pick a different city! :) 


Well that is it for now! It is a gorgeous fall day here in Bad Honnef, Germany and I am going to go enjoy it before my german class tonight! 


I have heard from so many people and I enjoy hearing from them however some of you have yet to contact me! I need to stay informed people! Send me a quick email to let me know what you are up to! I promise to get back to you! 


Thank you all for your love & support. 


Brit 

BERLIN

First of all I need to share some exciting news..... I am no longer sick!!! YAY! You have no idea how excited I am to be healthy! I was better on Thursday which was perfect timing since I left for Berlin on Friday!


So Friday morning I got up at 4:30 to shower, eat, get dressed, and finish packing for Berlin. I was so excited the night before that I barley slept! I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve! Sam met me at my apartment at 5:45 to walk to the train station. We walked to the train station and hopped on the train to Troisdorf. From Troisdorf we got on a train to the airport. We got to the airport with plenty of time. We each grabbed a bite to eat and sat and waited. The flight was only an hour long.


Once we landed we went to buy our Welcome Card. It was a card for transportation and a book for discounts on food, museums, stores, etc. It was about 25 euros for it but well worth it. Once we got outside we immediately saw a guy with a Sabres hat on. I obviously did a quick "Let's Go Buffalo" chant to him and off Sam and I went to explore the city. We first had to find the correct train to get on to get to the city. Once we got on the right train we were set until we had to get off and transfer. There are no clear directions telling you how to get from the airport to the city. We finally asked for help and got on the correct train. Once on that train we had to wait for our stop then hop on the underground system to head to our hostel. We made it to the hostel without anymore confusion.


We stayed at a hostel called Inn Berlin. It was great! They gave us a map and pointed out all the major things in the city. We also had free fruit, coffee, and tea! If anyone goes to Berlin and needs a hostel to stay at I HIGHLY recommend Inn Berlin. Sam's friend Liz was supposed to get in at 1 p.m. however she was coming from Spain and had some trouble getting to the airport on time and missed her flight. Long story short she didn't end up getting into the airport until 8:45 that night. More about her later.


Sam and I decided to head out and see the city. We took the underground to Checkpoint Charlie! It was so cool and interesting to read about everything that happened right where we were standing. It was very emotional as well. The whole trip was pretty emotional for me. After Checkpoint Charlie we got something to eat & I bought a hat and gloves. It was about 50 degrees and very windy. I didn't pack a hat when I left Buffalo so I needed to buy one anyway. Since I was going to be meeting my friends at their hotel the next day we decided to go look for it so I wouldn't have any problems on Saturday. We found it easily and it was beautiful! It was across from the Opera house and the buildings were gorgeous!  After that we went to look at the museums and the Cathedral. Once we got done there we decided to head back to the hostel to rest until Liz arrived.


We got a call from Liz saying her flight would be in around 9 so we decided to go pick her up from the airport so she wouldn't have to figure it all out on her own. After we got back to the hostel we hung out then went to bed to prepare for Saturday.


Saturday morning we set out to see the city around 9 a.m. First we went to Brandenburg Gate where we had breakfast at Starbucks. We got attacked by some birds but it was good. While we were sitting there two little boys came out and sat down and pulled a football out of there bag and were throwing it around. They were so cute and we could tell from their accents they were American. The dad then came out to tell them to stop throwing the ball around. Sam asked if they were American and we all got to talking from there. We told them that we were there for the hockey game and it turns out that they live on the base of the hospital the Sabres visited earlier that week. The dad is a surgeon and he talked about how great it was that the team took the time to visit with the patients. He told us how stuff like that is great for them because they are so far away from home and injured. I teared up listening to him talk. I know my friends were so proud to go visit them.


We had decided to take a free walking tour of the city. Most people would be skeptical of a free tour but it was fantastic. It is all people who love the city and know a lot about it. They do the tours because they like to and work off of tips. This is great because they need to be good to make money. Our tour guide Paulo was amazing. He was from England but had wrote his thesis on Berlin. After writing his thesis he decided to move there and continue his education. He was very informative.


My friend Scott who was in Berlin with the Sabres called me about halfway through the tour so I left to go see him. We walked around the city and bought a few gifts for people. He brought sudafed, cough syrup and hydrogen peroxide with him for me. We went and grabbed that from the hotel and shipped it back to my apartment. After shipping it we went out for lunch/dinner. We were able to hang out for about 4 hours. It was great. I was also able to see my friend Kevin who also works for the Sabres. We grabbed coffee with him. It was great. I am happy to be in Germany but I do miss home, so seeing friends from home was amazing.


They had to head to the arena so I headed back towards the hostel to meet up with Sam and Liz. We went to the arena for the game. When we got off the train we could see the Berlin wall. It was amazing... it was the wall with murals painted on it. It was very pretty. Unfortunately it was raining and dark out so we didn't stop. Once we got to the game we decided to look for merchandise. The first floor was sold out so we headed upstairs. This time we found merch but it was almost sold out. I was able to buy a tshirt for myself though.


Liz had bought her ticket separate than ours so she headed to her seat and Sam and I went to get food & beer. With a pretzel and beer in hand we entered the bowl. It was a great atmosphere! We got there just in time for the line ups to be announced and the team to come on the ice!


The crowd was probably 95% Buffalo fans! It was great! We ended up sitting next to some of Jochen Hecht's friends. They were so nice. The anthem singer was pretty terrible. Those of you who watched it at home were lucky, you could mute it! It was awful in person!


The whole game was great! I was able to see Scott and Kevin again and say goodbye (again) before they headed back to Buffalo. I also got a 1 liter beer. I did get some help drinking it but I would say I drank at least half of it.


After the game we headed back to the hostel. Liz had an 8 a.m. flight so we pretty much went right to bed when we got back. The next morning Sam and I hung around the hostel until it was time to head to the airport. We had some troubles getting to the airport because the train that goes directly there was not running. We had to get off and take a bus but nobody could tell us where the bus stop was so we took a taxi instead. It didn't cost that much and saved us a lot of anger! ha.


The airport didn't put up our gate information until 10 minutes before we were supposed to board! Unfortunately the plane we were taking was late getting in so our boarding was pushed back. Our flight left pretty much on time though.


We had to pretty much run from the plane to the train to catch the direct train. If we had missed it we would have had to get off and switch trains halfway through and it was raining. Luckily we made it in time.


Once I got back I made dinner quick and headed out for the Bills game! What a game that was! I am so proud to be a Buffalonian! I can't wait for next week! It is really the highlight of my week. Hope both teams keep up the good work!


Well that was one really long post. Parts of it are probably boring too. Oh well. If you don't like it, don't read it! :)


Until next time!


Brittany

                                                            Checkpoint Charlie

                                                            Cathedral

                                         Breakfast at Starbucks in front of Brandenburg Gate

                      My favorite picture from the Berlin wall being put up on a piece of the Berlin wall

                                                        Scott in Berlin

                                                            NHL Premiere

                                                        Hockey & beer :)

Blind Booking

First of all I would like to point out that I am STILL sick! It is terrible! I feel pretty good all day but at night I get this nasty cough that keeps me up all night. Last night I woke up about a half hour after falling asleep coughing so hard I started gagging! Gross I know but it is a pain. I haven't gotten a full nights sleep in almost 2 weeks. 


With that being said I will go back to last week. 


Classes were the same.. homework.. projects and presentations galore. Thursday morning we found out that the bus to Munich had been canceled! We were all really upset but decided that we would try blind booking instead. Friday morning we got up and booked our flight... it was to Leipzig, Germany. We were hoping for somewhere outside of Germany. For anyone who does know what blind booking is, here is the excerpt from Germanwings.com

New: discover Europe last-minute with our low-fare surprise flights.

We guarantee our low fares to get you to the beach, the city or to do some shopping.

The actual destination is revealed to you at the end of the booking process. Beforehand you can obviously decide when and where you’re leaving from and what you’re in the mood for.
Simply select your departure airport and the theme of your holiday.

We picked Culture as our theme. There were a lot of options. We will surly be trying blink booking again. The one problem we ran into was that you can choose the time of your flight. We ended up on a flight that left at 6:45 a.m. Normally I would not have a problem with an early morning flight. I actually prefer them however, we did not have a way to get to the airport that early. Our options were

a. Take a taxi and split it between us approx 20 euros per person

b. Take the earliest train and get there at 6:05 (given the train is on time) 

c. Take the last train out and sleep in the airport

We chose option c... it was an adventure to say the least. It was cold sleeping on the airport chairs plus I couldn't stop coughing which made it worse. 

We got on our flight and made it to Leipzig no problem. Once we arrived in Leipzig we went to our hostel to drop our bags off. We were not able to check in until 5 pm so we decided to head our and explore the city. There was a market there and so we went there and ate and looked at all the different stands. 

Once it was 5 o'clock we went back to the hostel, checked in, and just relaxed for an hour or two. After relaxing we headed to a Mediterranean restaurant for dinner. Claire had been searching for hummus since arriving and we finally found some! I had hummus in a pita. It was delicious! 

Sunday we spent the day going to museums and exploring again. It was more enjoyable than Saturday because we weren't exhausted! We went to a restaurant for doner kabob. It was fantastic! We headed back to the hostel after dinner to pack up and get a good nights sleep before our flight back to Bad Honnef in the morning. We had to be up and out of the hostel by 6:15 to make it to the train station. It was a quick train ride to the airport. We had no problems getting on our flight and made it back to Köln in one piece! We got back to Bad Honnef around  10:30. Yesterday was German Reunification day so everything was closed. Usually I would not have a problem with this however I didn't have much food. I was able to make some noodles and survive on that for the day. 

Today we started classes for the week. I only have class Tues, Wed, Thurs this week! 

Friday morning Sam and I are flying to Berlin for the weekend! We are meeting one of her friends from Buffalo there and the three of us will be attending the Sabres game on Saturday night. 

We will fly back Sunday afternoon and get back to Bad Honnef just in time for the Bills game! :) 

I have decided to come home for my month off in February/March. I was going to spend that time traveling however we have a week off at the end of October, 2 weeks at Christmas, then more time during the spring & summer. I think I will satisfy my traveling during those times. I think a month home will do me some good. Plus I can work while I am home and make some money! :) If anyone needs a sitter I will be home February 11th- March 9th. Let me know! 

I love hearing all about life at home so keep me updated!

Thank you for all your love and support! I would not be where I am today without all of you! 

Brittany