Do you know what this is? This is an advertisement by Scandinavian Airlines toting themselves as Europe's most punctual airline. I would like you to know, that this is completely true. In fact, Scandinavian Airlines is so punctual, that they somehow managed to land the plane in Denmark at the exact same moment as my connecting flight started boarding, and I had exactly negative two minutes to run through security and through customs. Scandinavian Airlines is so punctual, I almost didn't make it. But I did make it. You know what didn't make it? My bags, which are still in Denmark. A+ on punctuality to you, Scandinavian Airlines, A+.
On the plus side, my family is lovely, and when we arrived at the house, I was greeted by the sight of giant German carpenter men in traditional ruffled shirts and flared pants hammering things. I am probably going to wind up sleeping in my airplane clothes, but I do know awesome when I see it, and that is awesome.
Said goodbye to all my barn folk yesterday, and I was fully prepared not to cry, until Rachael handed me a little bag and said "I made you a bracelet, I used Austin's colors and a few pieces of his tail." And that was the end of the no-crying policy.
Aaaand...that's about it! I am more or less packed and just have to run a few last-minute errands. But next time you hear from me, I won't be here!
America, it's been real. Adios, and see you eventually.
So, right before I left for Germany in 2008, my friends created for me a bucket list of Things To Accomplish While Abroad. The list was as follows:
1) Speak German to a stranger and be completely misunderstood 2) Get hopelessly lost and have no idea how to get back to wherever I got lost from.
3) Stop liking horses (this was an old bet.) 4) Beat up a German dude.
5) Consume wienerschnitzel and wear lederhosen, and/or consume lederhosen and wear wienerschnitzel.
6) Become a dachsund farmer 7) Visit Dresden
8) Learn to blow glass and sculpt them into ballerina figurines. 9) Speak German to a stranger and be completely understood.
All things considered, I did not do too badly for myself.
However, Sam, Jen, and Claire have created a new bucket list for me, and this one is a) much longer and b) much more difficult. But I am determined! And I have a shitload of time on my hands. And so, these are the things I must do this time around:
1) Be mistaken for at least six different ethnicities
2) Be physically assaulted by a PPB (which Sam has defined as punched, kicked, or slapped, which is a much better alternative to what I thought she initially meant.)
3) Give a stranger a flower
4) Start an English language trend
5) Make a Tina video
6) Wear blue nail polish and convince everyone that that's what Americans do
7) Be/meet a German soap opera star
8) Stall out my manual transmission in a highly inconvenient place
9) Wear the German flag colors/wear a flag as a dress
10) Go Christmas caroling
11) Climb a German mountain (clothing optional)
12) Get into a magazine (preferably a golfing one)
13) Learn to sail
14) Go to Iceland
15) SHBF
16) Discover the difference between Euro and gay, and be able to spot it at 90% accuracy.
17) Meet Angela Merkel
18) Go to the British military base
19) Do the Deb voice somewhere, to someone who doesn't know what it is.
Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana, not Louisiana, Paris, France, New York, or Rome! Everyone I know needs to go watch The Music Man.
Domestic trip number two was to Indiana, for the third annual Ukulele World Congress. I may or may not have told most of the people I know that it was just a general music festival, but only because I am loathe to admit in person how much of a serious geek I am. It was a ukulele festival. It was also FABULOUS. So sue me?
No seriously, it was the best weekend of my life that I can remember. For starters, while we were still on our way down, we stopped at a CVS, where I found myself in line behind an old guy as he ordered pictures. The cashier asked him for his first name, to which the old guy responded (in a thick drawl) "Well, my name is Maurice, but my friends call me Pete." First thought: What is this place? Second thought: This is fucking awesome.
And it truly, truly was. I'm also at a loss for how to explain it, other than "there were a lot of people with ukuleles and everything was fabulous." I used the word fabulous a lot over the weekend. I got to see a lot of old friends and make a bunch of new ones. I kayaked, and almost died in the process. I went up on stage twice, and almost died in the process. I dared Jon to pour a shot of tequila on his pancakes and he did it, and now I owe him money. There were hot tubs. There were bonfires. There were marshmallows as big as my face. There were bra-less dancing hippie ladies. I drank bourbon, and I did not die in the process. It was fabulous.
A lot of truly wonderful music came out of the weekend, and there are about a million videos floating on the youtubes. One of my personal favorites was this video, which took place not on stage, but in one of our cabins. It's an original song by Narciso Lobo, the guy in white, and I'm sitting behind the camera having my mind blown.
I'm also out of words, so here are some pictures, most of them courtesy of Colin (who, at the time of this posting, has not yet given me his permission to use them, but I'm just kind of assuming it. Thanks Colin, you da best!):
In other news, today Jovanna, Patricia (two of my friends from the Bolivia trip) and I went archery-ing, or whatever you call it. The point is, I got to shoot arrows at things (not people), and it was really fun. Also really difficult. I never realized it was so hard to kill someone with a bow, so I think, should I ever find myself in a zombie apocalypse or whatever, I will ditch the bow and just radio in the napalm, assuming the air force isn't already compromised.
In other other news, I am leaving on Wednesday which is...really soon. I'm still waiting for the complete and utter panic to set in, but we're so close to take-off date, I'm beginning to think it might not come at all. It helps that I have Red Lobster as my "Option 2 for Immediate Future," and that reminds me that I need to get the hell out of here, because Endless Shrimp is coming up fast.
In other other other news, I have had this song stuck in my head all week, so now, you can have it!
Having just come back from my final domestic travel trip, I decided we needed a recap post, and since this blog is basically a dictatorship, we're doing a recap post. Actually, two of them.
First up: Nebraska!
Becca got married, Becca got married! And I was a bridesmaid, which was awesome. Omaha was fabulous as ever, mostly because Becca and her family live there, and I love all of them dearly. The weekend started off with a Hellish Airport Experience, in which I spent nine hours in the Philadelphia airport, as flight after flight was canceled. I wound up having to take a six am flight out of Newark the next morning, which means that, all together, it took me exactly twenty-four hours to get to Nebraska. So basically, I should have driven because it would have been faster.
Friday we ran around doing last minute preparations, and Becca got her nails done while I wandered around Walmart taking pictures of Edward Cullen birthday cards and spelling out random messages for Becca to find later as she went back through her pictures. For example:
And when all the last minute things got stressful enough, we laid down on the floor and pretended we were starfish.
Saturday was the wedding itself, so it was off to the hair salon, where I had half my scalp pulled out, but the end result was quite pretty. Also, I wore make-up for the first time since prom. The wedding itself was lovely, and I, being the graceful swan I am, tripped on the way back down the aisle. I was hoping nobody had noticed, but then I saw Becca's mom in front row, falling over laughing.
Other things that were interesting:
--it was forty degrees out, so we bridesmaids were freezing our asses off when it came time for pictures.
--the venue had giant bronze cut-outs of cows in the driveway...so obviously, we took wedding pictures with them .
