Fresh Start in Germany

So I thought I would write a seperate blog away from my leave to Switzerland because I really want to emphasize that I really started a new. Since the first day I got here I have felt SO much better about many different things. I can literally feel a little lighter in how I walk, think, and act and its such a relief to be happy again! So far I have been able to spend some time with Florian and his family, and also start to get to know others in church and do some fun activities with them. Well, so far it was only one but it was a great one! We went to another members house for a birthday dinner and it was just some girls and I and it was so much fun. I also have been able to start a little of my studies for school which is another uplifting thing for me. I am catching however that I am getting a little lazy on that so I will take the necessary steps to avoid laziness and set deadlines for myself on it. I am studying Cognitive Psychology right now and really excited to learn more about the brain.

I feel that the balance between my relationship with Florian and everyday life is really going great! I really enjoy going out in the day at times to do my own thing and to see him at home in the evenings. It brings me joy to my heart to see him come home or I come home to him, even if we aren't always trying to spend every min. together once we are home, just being around him makes me feel comfort. I feel our relationship has grown even stronger and will continue to grow and I am so looking forward to the future.

Right now, during the weeks before I join my new host family I am helping out a family in the ward with their kids now and then. They have 3 kids who are very active, and its sometimes a challenge because my body is getting used to relaxation and then its up to taking care of kids again, but I really need the extra money so its no grudge. I also am going to the new host families house to water their plants and mow their lawn while they are in France. I am not sure I have given too much of an update on the new host family. Right now their house is being remodeled and therefore the family has a house in Nice, France and will be staying there for 2 months. I will be joining them on the 15th of July and will stay there for a month, then I will be back with them to Duesseldorf. Time is going by faster than I would like it to, because I really do enjoy living at home close to Florian. I don't have to see him ALL the time but it is such a blessing to come home after a long day to see him. :)

Right now Florian has alot to do for school. He has 8 exams he will have to take in Aug/Sept and its very crucial he passes. If he misses on one class it is a possibility he might not be able to graduate until 2012. Germany has a different set up with school and its very intense compared to American schools. You are able to study a topic here in Germany and you are allowed to fail a test 3 times, but once you do not pass the exam for a third time, you are never allowed to study that topic every again in ALL of Germany!! Well, I pray for him and he will do well in passing his exams, I have confidence in him and he is doing all he can to study for these big events.

Well, thats pretty much it for an update for now, I am so grateful to start a new in this great city and country with amazing people in my life around me. I miss home, yet am starting to really feel comfortable here in Europe.

My Last Days...in Switzerland

Hello one and all!
I am so sorry that I left so many of you hanging from my last blog! I actually thought about posting this today and saw that I had a friend comment that I needed to update, and it is well needed! Let me pick off from where I left off and catch you up to now.
Well, after what seemed to be a long night I woke up in the morning and decided to stay living with the family until my time was done. I think this felt like one of the hardest things I ever had to do, and time didn't seem to go by fast enough. Another 2 weeks and I was done, and already a week before my body seemed so anxious to leave! Overall the family was nice to me, although you could tell that there was distance and a slight awkwardness to the situation. I couldn't leave the house fast enough when the dad was home, as I really wanted to just get out and away from the situation in general. I was lucky though as there were quite a bit of activities I could do such as family home evening, institute, hang with the missionaries once and some other friends and then play piano at the church. It is funny because when I look back at it now, I prayed that the time would go by fast, and it certainly did, only the times I stopped to think of things and then it was slow.

My train ride here was such an amazing one. The missionaries helped me with my bags to the station and onto the train (because they were really heavy!!) I had 3 in all. One giant rolling one, a giant duffle bag and my computer bag. I left a last bag in Switzerland with a friend who will be traveling up to Germany soon so I can grab it from him. Anyway, the train was seriously like a walk through time and into a new chapter in my life. I say that because each place that it traveled through had a very significant memory of my time in Switzerland. It went through an old station that I used to wait ALL the time at in the winter when I was with the first host family, then through Basel where I met all the aupair girls at, then through the station I first arrived into Switzerland for my Nanny experience and through the station I took my first journey into Switzerland on from Germany. After I passed this last station, the stress started to pour off of me. I was so grateful at that moment for so many different things.

First I was grateful I was gone...finally out of a place where I felt lonely. Second, I realized how much I had grown up in this time (10 months) in Switzerland. I had been through some very hard times there, and had to stand up for myself as an adult many times and it made me so strong!! I was convinced and really did a great job at simply leaving all the hard times, rough emotions behind in Switzerland and really start a fresh start here in Germany.