Sooo High-Tech!

As I traveled home from Ramstein, Germany with some newfound friends last weekend, I was amazed by the rest stop that we visited on the way home. Even though Ramstein is only two hours from Stuttgart, my friends and I decided that we needed to stretch and take a restroom break. LOL It was to my surprise that the rest area charged a .70 Euro fee for using the restroom, unlike home where they are always free! Not a bad thing…just different. When I fed the machine my .70 Euros, it spit out a .50 Euro coupon for an in-store purchase. Too bad nothing in the store was .50 Euro or less. Darn! LOL I love a good deal haha. Anyway, I was amazed by the toilets. LOL Everything around here is so high-tech. Self-cleaning toilets! Take a look!

Not Goodbye, but See You Later

I have some catching up to do! On Friday, October 18th, 2013, I initiated my European journey. The day began a bit rough, as I already had to change my airfare upon arrival to the airport. My original flight was delayed over an hour and would have caused me to miss my connecting flight. **Keeping a positive mindset** I said, “see you later” to my family (LOVE THEM) and boarded the first leg of my flights to DC. I now had to take a multi-stop flight from STL to DC to Frankfurt to Stuttgart, which I absolutely dreaded. Funny how God works. I had a 5 hour layover in DC, and one of my best friends who recently moved to DC came to visit me! This woman drove her car to the nearest metro station (about 5 mins from her place), then she took the metro from the yellow line to the blue line (15 mins). After that, she waited for a bus at the orange line (25 min). And finally, she got on the bus and headed to Dulles (35 mins).  Talk about an amazing friend! All that traveling, just to visit me at the airport for a good 25 minutes!! Oh, and by the way, those 25 minutes entailed going through the security line with me and walking me to my gate. LOL What an awesome friend.

As I boarded the flight, I knew the next few months would be challenging! I will not be physically present with anyone I am used to being around. No friends, no family, no man friend… 🙂 I will say, this is huge for me. I LOVE the comfort zone, but I know that growth comes outside the comfort zone and I want to grow and love. With that being said, I’ve held onto this quote by Brene Brown: “Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, courage, and joy.”

See you later!

“Each day I am thankful for nights that turned into mornings, friends that turned into family, dreams that turned into reality, and likes that turned into love.” – Unknown

As I took this courageous step to move to Europe, more specifically, Stuttgart, Germany, I’ve constantly reminded myself that I am in control of what happens to me (generally speaking), and I am happiness, I am love, I am my dreams.