twenty-nine.

Birthdays are funny to me. It's the same as any other day really, but I always find myself a lot more reflective on that particular day. To ring in this 29th year of life I had an opportunity to welcome my papaw and Barbara to Germany. We had dinner at a traditional German restaurant, ate gelato, and played several rounds of spades.

During my 28th year of life:

enrolled in graduate school
completed my first semester of grad school
got in the best shape of my lifein turn, lost 30 pounds
also shifted my outlook of health and my relationship with it
painted our house blue
got our sweet tillie babe

Next comes 30. That's a big number, it is also impossible for me to even believe that I am almost 30. Growing up I heard people call your late twenties "your prime." I would have to believe them. These are some of the best years!

koblenz, germany.

day 8 // fri jan 19th

School day today and a historic city tour of Bonn in the afternoon. We had lunch at an Asian/Thai joint that our friend Lin found one day. They had a curry special for 4,90 euro and it was tasty. Wade loves curry and I've now jumped on the curry bandwagon since our time together.

Our tour guide was a sweet lady originally from London but had been in Bonn for 30+ years. She had a great sense of humor and her english was obviously very good. We learned a lot of some of the neat details about this interesting city.

That evening Wade and I had been dreaming about this burger place called Burger Manufaktur that our AIB directors had for lunch one day this week. It smelled and looked delicious so we knew we had to try it. It was about a half a mile walk from our apartment, so not too bad. It was a tiny little place with such a cute ambiance. We ordered and waited for a seat. The fries y'all—they were to die for!

day 9 // sat jan 20th

Wade and I took a day trip to Koblenz, Germany. It was about an hour train ride south of Bonn. We got to the train station to purchase tickets, which we thought we did correctly, but immediately doubted ourselves and had to ask someone to verify.

We got on the correct train and made it a few stops. Then we realized we were almost the only ones still on the train. We politely asked a woman if this train was going to the Koblenz HBF and she said yes that's where she was going, too. We proceed to sit back down then frantically she comes up to us and said she had misspoken and only part of the train was proceeding ahead! We darted off the train and ran to a different car that WAS going to Koblenz. All very funny looking back at it now.

Once arriving in Koblenz we got to the main train station and I paid 1 euro to go to the restroom. I then took a selfie in their full-length mirror because well, I paid 1 euro for it. After that we got a chocolate covered pastry with a little clown on it (I'm guessing for Karneval, not totally sure) and started to explore. It was slightly raining, but then it started to come down more and more. We found a cute little pizza place and took a lunch break inside for a bit hoping the rain would lighten. We shared a salami pizza.

We eventually found the Deutsches Eck (or 'German Corner') where the Mosel river joins the Rhine. This corner is known for a HUGE monumental equestrian statue of William I, the first German Emperor, erected in 1897 in appreciation of his merits in the unification of Germany. This thing was massive and so cool. We were both in awe of its size.

We explored some more and decided it was time to head back to Bonn. It was a nice day even if the rain was trying to dampen our spirits (pun intended).

PS - today was the 5 year anniversary of Wade and I's first date. the cutest <3

day 10 // sun jan 21st

I took a spin class today... totally in German. I've taken spin classes at the student rec for awhile now, but nothing like this. The instructor taught me how to set up the bike with purely hand motions and a handful of words neither fully understood. The nice thing about spin is that it's all about rhythm and personal drive. At the end he gave me a high-five and complimented me... I think.

castle dreams.

day 4 // mon jan 15th

This was one Monday I had no problem getting out bed. I was excited to get the first full week started. We had some meetings this morning at school for our visas as well as Wade's first German class. We did a little exploring during lunch to find something new to eat. Bonn is a very interesting city, it was the capital of West Germany while it was still divided, so there are a lot of large historic buildings and landmarks. Also, Haribo (the gummy bear company) is a German founded company with specific ties to Bonn—the "bo" in Haribo actually represents the word 'Bonn'. Needless to say there are a plethora of gummies here. Wade ended up getting a chicken döner wrap for lunch and I had a spinach feta pastry thing that was yummy! Our evening was quiet, we both worked on some homework/school work and hit they hay for our early morning adventure.

day 5 // tue jan 16th

On Tuesday we left for a bonding trip with the students. Our program directors at AIB have several excursions planned throughout the semester which is a really great experience for students to see interesting museums and get to know each other outside of the classroom. We woke up very early and met at a bus stop. From there we rode about an hour and half to Bad Kreuznach, Germany. A nice little town nestled on the river. Here we went to a puppet museum, sounds sort of creepy, but not entirely–ha. Puppetry as a form of theatre was very popular in Europe, so the history behind it was pretty interesting. After our tour we walked down the river about 4 miles to our lunch spot. I had traditional German Schnitzel with fries and a delicious apple dessert. Then we advenutred a little higher the mountainside to our castle in Ebernburg. Here the students did an photography and light workshop with a local Germany artist. That evening we had dinner in an 800 year old medieval building. A husband and wife bought this structure and turned it into a working restaurant named Kurpfälzer Amtshof. It was lit with mostly candles, had uneven rock floors and served very delicious food. The owner even let us stay for awhile and enjoy the evening. Then we treked back up to the castle we were staying in and all my princess dreams came true. :)