My first time at Ski School!

Well, for some reason I thought it would be a really good idea to try skiing.  I had no idea of the obstacles in front of me! The entire time while I was at ski school I was thinking, "What was I thinking!"  Don't get me wrong I am really glad I did, I just had no idea how difficult skiing was and scary it would be for the first time.  I learned some very important lessons:

1.  There are two ways to stop when skiing: One way is to fall and I am really good at this one!  I am not sure about the other way......

2.  You must take baby steps when taking up a new sport.  However, even the 4 and 5 year-old babies were skiing better than I was!

3. And oh yea, I am afraid of heights!  I should have though about this BEFORE I rode the ski lift.  But, I do not regret it!  I saw the snow caped Alps! (Needless to say I did not dare try skiing down the mountain from the very top.  I just took pictures.)

4.  When I researched what I should pack for skiing,  I saw on one website to pack Motrin.  I did not understand this until I fell a couple of times.  

5.  After all of this I found I really do like skiing.  I just need to go to Ski School about one, two, three or four more times.


6. I have never been so exhausted after just 2 hours in my life!  But I assure you, it was worth it!

Here are the pictures from the Ski School and from the ski lift:

London!

So I had just arrived to Munich not too long ago and I was now going to London!  When we found that Hilary had an internship just outside of London and Daniel was going to London in February we booked the flight.  I was so excited to go to London, but more importantly I was excited to see my friends again.  It has been very difficult for me to make friends and get to people especially when I am not studying at a university where there are people my age.

So London was AMAZING!!!! (and the Fish and Chips!)

So on this trip me and Cayle flew to London to see Daniel and Hilary.  Me and Cayle managed to stay in a student dormitory where some of Hilary's friends were. This was a really quick trip so we could not waste time. Me and Cayle arrived on Friday night and we had to leave on Sunday morning so this was a "London in a day" kind of trip.  I think we almost saw everything and I was sooooo exhausted Saturday night!  This was a well worth it trip. 

New Beginnings......Munich

Now it is time for my journey through Munich.....

I was really excited to come to Germany and start an internship with Océ.   Océ is located in Poing, Germany just outside of Munich.  Océ was founded in the Netherlands and makes printers, copies and scanners for office use. 

So now I'm here!

I was really excited to be in Munich when I first arrived!  The city is beautiful (all that I have seen so far).

And as for coming to Munich alone it has been very very schwierig (schweirig means difficult in German).  BUT it is getting better, day by day. 

It was difficult to get all that I need before my job began such as getting a bus pass for a month.  None of the people I spoke to spoke English and it took me three tries....but I did get my transportation pass in the end!

At my job everyone speaks English, but it is still difficult to understand at times because it is their second language.  At meeting, I have no idea what is going on because it is in German, but it is okay because some of the other interns fill me in.

I really like my job.  The people I work with are very helpful.  For the first couple of days, different people showed me around and showed me what they were researching so I could get a feel for the company.  I just started on my own project and it is very interesting.  This is the first time that I have been responsible for a project in a company, but I am up for the challenge.  And believe me, it IS a challenge.  I have to ask alot of questions now that I have started my project because I want to be sure I am doing everything accurately.  Also, it the instructions for instruments I use, the computers and the excel spreadsheets are all in German. I translate the instructions as best as I can, but direct translations are still sometimes hard to understand.  I really enjoy it, it helps me to explore my German vocabulary.  I am not sure if my advisers enjoy me asking so many questions.  I learned quickly that the German culture is very focused and hard working.  I feel bad when I have to disturb them.  They are all very self driven individuals and I am learning alot from them such as how to be more independent.

I have enjoyed getting to know the interns at my job.  When I first met them I had the impression that they just did not like me.  It was not until I began bringing my Worterbuch (German-English dictionary) to lunch that they really began to talk to me.  I now try to have conversation with them in German and it seems like the more I try to German, the more they speak English....so it is a win-win situation. 

I also attend an International Baptist Church in Munich.  The pastor and his wife are from Texas.  The congregation is made up of people from South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Germany, Malaysia and the Philippians.  Everyone is very nice and I enjoy the worship service.  I began playing saxophone with the church praise team!  There is a tenor sax player on the praise team and he just so happened to have an extra alto sax!  I played only one Sunday and it is different playing with a choir as opposed to playing in the marching band.  The songs are in English and I enjoy playing the saxophone again!