Ruin of Werdenfels Castle

June 19, 2008 Lisa Marie and I like to having hiking dates at least once a week just to hang out and catch up. This particular week we hiked to the Ruin of Werdenfels Castle. We decided to hike down a different way and ended up in Farchant, the town next to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Lisa Marie enjoying some fresh mountain water

Hut by the ruins

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

The ruins

Chillin on the ruins

Lake Garda

June 13-15, 2008 Laura, Courtney, and I drove down to Lake Garda for a weekend of Italian wonderfulness. Unfortunately, it rained most of the weekend but we were still able to do some exploring around the different towns on the lake and enjoy scrumptious Italian eateries. more pictures

Us huddled in the tent..."cooking" s'mores in Lazise

Sirmione

The Scaliger Castle of Sirmione

Harbor in Bardolino

The beach at our campground

EuroCup

June 7, 2008 Just a few pictures around Munich...a large group of us went to Munich for the day to take part in the EuroCup festivities. We ended up watching one game at the Hofbrauhaus and one at the Augustiner Haus.

You never know what kind of street "performers" you'll see in larger cities

Marienplatz

Marienplatz

Walchensee Camping Trip

May 31-June 1, 2008 In celebration of Terri and Sebastian's birthdays we had a big camping trip on the Walchensee. (Terri is my roommate and Sebastian is her German boyfriend) The Walchensee and its surroundings were so beautiful and everything just seemed so peaceful. The lake is made of glacier runoff water and was freezing but that didn't stop us...we had a surf board that kept us entertained for over an hour in the water. Our campsite was a part of Sebastian's parents' sailing club; camping isn't really allowed here but we did it anyway. As darkness fell upon us we started a bonfire to warm up from the lake and roast marshmallows for s'mores!! The next day we enjoyed the continued beautiful weather. Lisa Marie, Kari, and I took a little hike that resulted in a nice skinny dipping excursion. After lunch at a hut by the lake, I took some of the group back to Garmisch for work but then caught a ride back with Bailey, Laura, and Jeff (who went home to get Bailey's sailing license) to lay out by the lake with the group for the rest of the day. more pictures

Kari and I at the Walchensee

Bonfire and S'mores

Flohmarkt

May 31, 2008 This was my first time going to a flea market (or flohmarkt) in Europe. Murnau is a cute, small town close to Garmisch so Lisa Marie, Marcie, and I made a quick roadtrip to see what the flea market was all about. We found several cheap finds and had some tasty brotwurst.

On our way to the flohmarkt...follow the yellow signs!

The beginning of the flohmarkt

You never know what you might find...exhibit A: classy zebra umbrella, very useful in rainy Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Marcie found a great Drendel...too bad it was a tid bit too small :(

Sand Storm

May 29, 2008 Just a quick post to comment on the craziness of the world. For about two weeks Garmisch-Partenkirchen looked like it had a permanent cloud overhead...but it wasn't a cloud at all. The air was filled with sand from the Sahara Desert. There was a big sand storm at the time and we got the remnants of it all. I don't have any great pictures because I kept forgetting to go out and take pictures but one day at work I had my camera and snapped a few. The pictures almost look like I'm shooting into the sun or something but no, it's sand in the air!

Ingolstadt and Lake Starnberg

May 25, 2008 My first weekend back in Germany was a three-day weekend (Memorial Day weekend) and I didn't want to waste a perfectly good weekend but was still recovering from jet lag and unpacking. On Sunday, I figured I had made enough progress in unpacking and cleaning that I deserved a break. Lisa Marie had the day off so we went to Ingolstadt, a small Bavarian town about two hours away from Garmisch. On our way home we stopped at the Starnberg Lake and rented a paddle boat for an hour. more pictures

Army Museum

Grabbing Life by the Horns

Main Square in Ingostadt

Intriguing Door

Boat Houses at Starnberg Lake

Graduation

May 14-19, 2008 As a December graduate there is no winter ceremony to celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime achievement. Mom and I decided that walking across the stage to confirm graduation was important enough that I decided to fly from Germany back to Newport News for the spring commencement. Although my visit to the States was short, five days, it was well worth it. The memories made that weekend will last forever. It was so great to see friends, family, and of course, sorority sisters after being away for five months. My parents were so great all weekend, funny and possibly annoying at times, but looking back I appreciate it...mom walked around with a video camera in hand and dad walked around with the digital camera all weekend documenting every moment. Not knowing when I might see most of my friends again I have plenty of pictures. more pictures

Alpha Phis with the Tribles

Alpha Phis at GoodFellas to dance the night away to the Heather Edward's Band AND celebrate Fanny's engagement!!!

With Mom and Dad after the Honors Convocation...Magna Cum Laude

Alpha Phis at the candlelight ceremony

Alpha Phis on graduation day :)

Black and White Party

May 12, 2008 Everyone loves a theme party and there are no exceptions here in Garmisch. There seems to be a theme party every time I turn around. Usually planned by the fabulous Nique, an employee at the hotel. This particular time it was a black and white theme party at Peaches. Peaches is a local bar/pizzeria that allows customers to pay in dollars OR euros on Tuesday nights. This is a no brainer as to which currency you should take with you if you are going to Peaches on a Tuesday night! Anyway, here are some pictures of my friends and I at Peaches.

Myself, Kelsey, and Laura

Dena, Laura, and I

Nique, the fabulous coordinator, and I

Kari and I

Myself, Lisa Marie, and Marcie

Darmstadt Opera

May 10-11, 2008 When I first moved to Germany I missed my friends, family, and my sorority sisters tremendous amounts. So, I decided that in addition to the friends I was making in the Abrams I wanted to continue my involvement in Alpha Phi. I contacted Alpha Phi Internationals to get a spreadsheet with contact information of all the Alpha Phis living in Europe. With a spreadsheet list of over 200 alumnae Alpha Phi's in Europe I was bound to meet someone who was interested in meeting up and hanging out. I emailed all of the Alpha Phis that had email addresses included on the contact list and began getting responses immediately. Sisters from all sorts of backgrounds. I noticed that there were several sisters living in Germany. One of those sisters, Margaret, responded to the mass email informing us all that she was an Opera singer in Darmstadt, about 4.5 hours away from Garmisch. Tara, another sister, living in Zurich, Switzerland and I began chatting on facebook and thought it would be fun to travel to Darmstadt to meet and watch Margaret perform in her dream role, Guilda in Rigoletto. The weekend of May 10, 2008 Tara took a train to Darmstadt and I drove to Darmstadt to meet and attend the Opera. We had a great time hanging out and getting to know one another. We laughed and shared our college Alpha Phi experiences and almost missed the Opera we were having so much fun. Margaret had given us a private tour of the Opera House earlier in the day and invited us backstage during intermission. After the show we went to dinner with Margaret and her friends and family. (Just so happens Margaret is very close with the manager at the Best Western and managed to get us the employee rate for the weekend -- amazing!!) We had a great time celebrating her wonderful performance over champagne :) The next day Tara and I explored Darmstadt before making our separate journeys home. Tara even gave me her senior Alpha Phi shirt, which I wear all the time :)

Tara, Margaret, and I at intermission


The Darmstadt Opera House - it is shaped like a boat


Odd bench in Darmstadt

The prince's garden

Playing in the park

The Waldspirale -- apartments with NO straight lines