Who is Kathleen?

Hi my name is Kathleen, I am 20, a college sophomore and live just outside of Washington D.C., ... Any who I am keeping this blog to stay up-to date with my friends and family while I travel the world for the first time this summer. I have only left the country once and that was to Canada when I was 10, so that barely counts.

I look forward to getting comments from everyone over the summer!

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Last year all of this was true I had never been to europe, and was a 20 year old sophomore. Now I have spent 3 fabulous weeks in Germany and plan to go for 6 weeks with a friend for the FUBiS program. I am also now 21 and a junior.

Can't wait for the fun to begin :)

Love you all!!!
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So I'm back to try to do this blogging thing again! I'm now 23 and I'm headed back to FUBiS. I have received my degree, so this is more for fun and learning... no worries about the credits this time :) Although I do want to do well in the class lol.

I won't be going with any friends this time. Although I may meet up with some for a few days here or there, nothing is certain right now. My goal for this trip is to improve my German and immerse myself fully in the language and culture. I will be taking the intensive courses this go round and will have less time for touring Berlin. Thankfully I have seen a good deal of the city, so I can just revisit my favorite spots and spend my limited touring time finding spots where the locals really love and just enjoying the wonders of Berlin :)

Questions?

If you have any questions you want to ask me while I'm on my trip leave them here :)

I'm going to try to get back to everyone as soon as possible, but while I'm in Germany the postings may be more spaced out... internet is apparently pay per minute there and I don't want to run up the Wohnig's bill.

Gift for the Wohnigs

A digital picture frame! Seriously, I am so excited to give this to them! They are housing me for free for three weeks, and refuse any sort of reimbursement. I am going to load a bunch of pictures of their grandson/my cousin Noah and my Aunt Sue and Uncle Marco onto it. Pictures say a thousand words in English or German! :-D

If you are family looking at this, don't tell them ;-)

Where am I going?

This summer I will be staying with my Aunt Sue's In-Laws, the Wohnigs, in a little German village called Landenhausen for 3 weeks. That's about an hour northeast of Frankfurt. I am so excited about this trip! I will be meeting up with a friend of my Aunt's in Fulda named Katja, who has this adorable 2 year old little girl. Hopefully I will also be meeting up with my cousin Julia and go to Berlin with her! So these are my plans so far for Germany.

After this big trip I am going to Chicago! I am going to be a nanny for my Aunt Sue. I am going to be helping her out with my adorable cousin Noah and the soon to be baby Wohnig all summer. I will be speaking almost entirely in German so that Noah becomes bilingual. His daddy already speaks to him solely in German, so I would just be another German voice. :)

Anyway those are my plans for the summer!

Dates:
Germany: May 5th- 27th

Chicago: June 3rd- August 13th4


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Above was my first trip to Germany. I have since gone back to Germany and completed a 6-week course in Berlin with the FUBiS Program. It was an amazing trip and is one of the most special and life changing events in my life. I now having done both of these trips still yearn for more Germany. I am returning to Berlin this summer to do another course with the FUBiS Program. However this time I will be taking classes for 6 hours M-F, instead of M,W,F like last trip. I also will be staying for the second summer session this time and will be in Berlin for 11 weeks.

I think that this trip will be possibly even more amazing than either of the first two. Since I am going alone, I will have an amazing freedom that I had a small taste of when I went backpacking over a weekend during my last Germany trip. I can do exactly as I wish, when I wish to do it! ... as long as it is not during class hours ;). I can't wait to get there and begin my new adventure!

Two weeks until the big trip

Two weeks until the big day! I'm a bit nervous about it, because I have never been in a foreign country (well Canada, but that hardly is a huge difference). I'm also going alone, which for me is kinda a big deal. The only place I have traveled alone was to my Mimi's! But I'm REALLY excited, this is going to be an awesome experience!

Leave me comments and send me e-mails. I will be spending a lot of time alone exploring neighboring villages, sitting at cafe's, so if you know of any good songs or books I should buy let me know :) I'm really going to miss you all!!!

BTW send me your addresses so I can send you all postcards from Germany!