GERMANY VIDEO:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTY6QKMNgpI

Goodbye Germany

Well the last few day were kind of a blur. I finished up my classes, said my goodbyes, and embarked upon my 24 hour journey back to Waco.

The flight wasn't so bad, I sat next to a girl from A&M(small world) and had the row that didn't recline for ten hours. I didn't really know how to feel,

I have so much to figure out in the next few weeks that it just seemed unreal that I was actually flying home. Well not even home yet, a quick stop in Waco to graduate was needed!

I can't even begin to describe what this trip has meant to me. I feel like I have grown so much as an individual. I feel renewed and excited about the future. I'm ready to jump into the next chapter of my life. I am finally done with classes at Baylor. Wow.

Never thought that day would come and now that it has, it doesn't even seem like it took me that long:)

I'm so grateful for this opportunity and I cannot express how rewarding this trip abroad was

thanks for keeping in touch...more to come

SIC EM BEARS!!

i can't go on!

Long Prague walking day+ sleepy Jess+ 3 foot railing= impossible obstacle.

Doesn't this remind you of my high school track hurdling days?:)

"maybe it's fog like when you perform on stage?"

We also to experience a riot. Apparently a Czech team a Slovakia team got off trains at similar times and started a little scuffle. A whole mob of police officers fled to the scene and the the bottom level of the Hauptbahnhof which was filled with tear gas.

Prague: 300 for lunch

Prague was beautiful, but almost unenjoyable. The crowds were worse then a day in Rome or opening day at Schlitterbahn. I heard Sunday was the worst day for touring and now I see why. Just herds of people flooding into the nearest souvenir or marionette store. Followed by a chocolate shop, then another marionette store, then a store with masks. But that's just how their touristy sections of a city are and Prague is banking by selling pretty much whatever they want(considering even I bought a magnet, when I don't even have a magnetic fridge.)The money was confusing and felt as if I kept getting ripped off, probably because I was. It was also really important to watch your purse. You could tell the people that were circling around tourist group just waiting to pick pocket. Luckily nothing happened to us.

It's not that I wasn't impressed by Prague, I was. The building were breathtaking and so was the drive over. I just would have liked to invested either more time there or more time over by the castle. I got a little taste of a day trip but I would need to go back again when it wasn't packed with people.

ist das frei?

The train ride back was not a comfortable one. I spent awhile just standing in a holding area with a least 30 other people. I could explain every one of them to you, thats how unsettled I was. I kept waiting for someone to move and say, "Just kidding there are open seats in the other car." But no one said anything. So I stood, and stood and stood.

I spent most of the trip listening to my ipod and observing everyone around me. There was a mother and her little girl, they were playing a magnetic board game, such a good idea. Then there was a kid next to me dressed in all green, from his glasses to his backpack. He was nice, I asked him a question one time and his English was not bad. He even managed to mutter, "Hope you have a very pleasant rest of travels," when he got off at his stop.

The rest of the car was filled with unshowered vagabonds with tattered scarfs and cantines filled with who knows what. The main leader slept most of the ride with his long ponytail sandwiched between a teddy bear and the corner of his suitcase.

I was so hungry.

You really have to be careful when you are catching such close trains, because the full ones do not have food or room for you at the dining car.

I caught my old train with no problem, at least two minutes to spare. But this train greeted me with a similar problem: no seats. It's odd to me that people don't give up their seats for women or the elderly. I guess if you did that every time you would never have a seat.I couldn't help but give an encouraging glare to every young kid who was seated, but it didn't do much. I finally managed to squeeze into the car that held bicycles, and a family of 7+dog, yep that's right. They were so interesting. The mother couldn't have been more than 7 years older than me. She was tough, oh my goodness was she tough. One look from her and the little girls would stop their clapping game and sit on their hands. If you thought that was bad, the enormous tatted up counterpart to her left would make you quiver. His head was shaved on both sides to reveal a freshly crafted skull tattoo..or maybe it was just bleeding for other reasons..then the rest of his hair was in a pony.His hands held on to the most well behaved dog I have ever seen. The brown chained pup had about two feet to move around, but he didn't even bother. He sat me still than I did the entire ride.

I felt so bad for the people standing with their bicycles, it looked so uncomfortable and awkward, every dip they would stumble to either side of the train. I offered the girl the seat next to me but she said she would look after the bike and stand. Finally she switched places with a friend and I offered him the spot with allowed the big man to speak for once and offer to move his huge baby stroller out of the way so they could stack up their bikes in the corner. Within 5 minutes everyone had a seat.

Really... after two hours of trying I was the only one who spoke up to help these people( and I can't even speak German) and one word from him and the whole room clears?! Well at least I started the revolution but it took Mr. Gruff to clear the floor. Unbelievable, so incredibly uncomfortable. He had a mild sweetness to him though. And so did she. Although they looked absolutely terrifying, I caught her a few times tenderly scratching her dogs neck or holding hands with her littlest girl. He also didn't mind being squished in a seat behind the stroller for an hour.

Oh my goodness they had so much stuff. At the next stop the big man got out of the car and picked up the dog, the stroller, and the bags one by one with his right hand and threw them off the car..then when we pulled away I saw them both leaning out the next train with a cigarette in hand.

Such an odd perfectly matched absolutely terrifying power couple.

Bayern

Bavaria is so gorgeous I can't get enough of it. Unfortunately it was raining but it didn't take away from its character. We were able to see a part of Germany that felt like home. A very stark contrast from big cities such as Berlin or even Prague for that matter. People just seemed happy and comfortable. I guess who wouldn't be when you live in such a beautiful place.