on homesickness, a plethora a pictures, and sappiness for your sunday pleasure

i lived in germany for a year. 

there was one time where i found myself homesick for california.

it was right after my mom had gone back from her mini vaction with me in europe.

right after christmas, right before new years eve.

i was homesick for about three days, and that was all.

of course i missed my family, my friends, my little babes at work. 

but i was never actually longing for home.

lately, all of my thoughts are fleeing to germany. i'm missing everything about my time abroad. sights, smells, tastes, travels, stories, moments, but most of all, my people.

i miss summer music festivals featuring small name bands that are now large name bands

rainy day village strolls with my boo

 i miss bikes, oh how i miss bikes

i miss dutch doughnuts 

i miss having my mom in osnabrueck

i miss being in amsterdam with my family

i miss traveling by sled

 i miss being in my favorite city [amsterdam] with my mama

i miss this boy.

a lot, a lot.

i miss legal day drinking with my underage american friend

i miss impromptu bike rides to the park for a picnic lunch with this little man

i miss these kids

ich vermisse berlin!

drunk train rides to amsterdam at seven in the morning

heineken...day drinking...beer

i miss beer

 i miss this outfit

i miss holding this hand

picturesque views all around me

sharing german delights with one broski

basically, what i'm trying to say is,

one. if you got to the end of all of that, congrats.

and two. home is where your heart is.

see, told you.

"i may not have gone where i intended to go, but i think i have ended up where i needed to be."

douglas adams

would i like to to be young and stupid and foolish and move to germany tomorrow travelling around europe with my german, and being around my people and city? yes, yes i would love to do that. but i know the kind of life that i want. and i need to finish school to become a teacher and find a job teaching somewhere in the world. i am suffering form major wanderlust, major homesickness for my german home, and having travel bug issues. but i'm trying to focus on the good of this situation and dream up all of the adventures that will be had when i get to that point in my life. but for now, we'll always have germany.

here's to hoping your sunday is a little more cheerful than my whining.

but i'm not whining, just reminiscing.

promise.

la bella vita

as i was browsing through my blog, i realized my italy post was missing more than half of it's content. serious sadness up in here. so, here we go, from over an entire year ago, the first half of my italian adventure with the fabulous hoffmann family during october of two thousand ten.

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we left osanbruck early, around four in the morning, and drove all day before finally arriving in tuscany. i remember driving across the country seeing signs for milan, rome, and venice, thinking 'there is no way this can be real.' i was on a modern day highway headed towards the mecca of art and history.

the first villa we stayed in was in pistoia. each day was spent in a nearby larger town, exploring, sightseeing, and most importantly, eating. our first stop, montecatini.

small, yet charming, montecatini boasts a world famous spa sanctuary and numerous health clubs. brangelina has been spotted there before, just sayin'.

another day we went to lucca, which i was really excited for because our close friends stevo and chris have family there. i also just like the name lucca.

we spent time lounging by the pool, and enjoying each others company, and taking it easy.

during the first week we also went to siena, which ended up being my favorite spot.

this picture was purely accidental, but so cute. do these people look familiar?

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wow, that was a heavy picture post. 

for those of you who stuck around, i congratulate you. 

hopefully i'll get my act together and show you more of italy in the next few days.