A Little Switcheroo

As you may have noticed I am changing a few things around. I realized a couple weeks ago, I spelled the name of the blog wrong, and also got a couple of phone calls to inform me of the fact as well. Thank you Dad and Princton. As a result I have moved the blog, all the old posts and some new ones to a new address. And you are here, congratulations :P

I have also changed my youtube user name to Eulaliastolz. I have set up a facebook and a gmail email for with that name as well. That way you can contact me if you want to. I have used Eulalia as my German alter ego for a couple of years now. I have done this to make everything linked together a little bit more. All of the videos are up on the new youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Eulaliastolz?feature=guide.

So you know what to do now,  follow me here, and don't forget to follow me on youtube as well. Feel free to leave comments to help me make the vlogs more interesting to you, or to let me know what you are enjoying. Thanks for reading/watching :)

You're a mean one Mr. Grinch

Today is Christmas Eve, and time has run out for me to muster up some holiday spirit. I don't know if it is the lack of snow or the hovering feeling of an end, (An end of one part of my life and the beginning of something new. Something very different for my life.) whatever it is, I just haven't been able to get excited about Christmas this year. Perhaps it has something to do with not doing some of the things I usually do around this time. I didn't put up a Christmas tree, or any other decorations for that matter, and instead of watching classic movies like Holiday Inn, It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. Krueger's Christmas, White Christmas, and the sort, I have been watching Harry Potter. No matter, tomorrow is Christmas, and I am looking forward to it more now, than I have before today. Still, that isn't much. I think, I will go hunting for Christmas lights tonight while listening to Josh Groban's Noël and Michael Bublé's Christmas, before Megan and I exchange gifts. I think it will help me get into a more Christmas-y mood. 

I haven't done a lot of filming lately. It isn't that interesting things haven't happened, but more that I haven't had my camera with me, or on at the very least. I have been alone quite a bit packing and cleaning to move apartments; two activities that are not very interesting for you to watch. I have so many things to go through and decide what I want to keep, what is worth storing, and what should be trashed or just given away. Then I have to go through the keep pile and ask myself what will be going with me, and what I will be leaving behind. 

All of these decisions certainly haven't been helping my emotions. Not that I am extremely emotionally attached to my things. Although I am attached to some degree, otherwise I wouldn't have the things I do, but it has been extremely draining just going through it all.  Somethings I look around my room and fear I am a hoarder in the making, which scares the tar out of me. I want to just throw it all out sometimes and just start from scratch. In the end however, I know that would be even more taxing. 

Speaking of being scared, I had a bit of a melt down on Sunday. I am not super scared about going, but mostly it I will be able to maintain the life-style I  so enjoy here.  I want to integrate the German way of life  into my own life, but I do live a little differently. I am or really more was that I wouldn't  be able to live the same way I do here in some instances. For example, I go to church every Sunday, and it is really important to me, that I go every week.  Now, I have been able to calm down I am not as frightened anymore. I know that if it is important to me to go, I will really be able to go.  So anyways...

I will be putting up the small amount of footage I have soon, and maybe I will add to it tonight and tomorrow a little. I will see what I can do about having something else for New Year's. I will be going to a big party New Year's Eve, so I will at least have some footage of that. Well, that is all for today.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!! :)

Video 2

So switching over to the new blog has messed up the order of things, but I think you will be able to figure out what goes where :) Here is the second video, third to come soon...

A Sad Day?

When I first started writing today's blog I was sitting outside the writing center, waiting to talk to Iris (over Skype) before starting my very last shift. I was contemplating how today was a sad day when one of my former professors and chair of the English Department walked by. She told me she has been using my portfolio from last years argument class, as an example of good work! Ir was the boost in my day I needed :D

I talked with Iris for a bit after that, Ben joined in on the conversation too :) for a few minutes at least. I am looking forward to getting to know Ben a little better. He seems like he is going to be a real fun guy to hang out with. Yesterday, he started following Chis's and my blog, like you all should be doing ;). He used a different name from the one he uses on Facebook, so we didn't know who he was. After a bit of shameless social network stalking, we still couldn't figure it out. Chris posted asking if anyone knew who that was and of course, Ben all cool and sneaky says he might know who that is. Iris thought it was all a joke, but eventually we figured it out. Ok fine, she told us :P If this is an example of how things are going to be in Germany, we certainly wont have a dull moment. Not that Ben is a prankster, but just the combination of personalities will be great fuel for some comedy.

 Iris and I at her Birthday party last year. No the purple wasn't planned

This morning I learned I am not a recipient of the Gilman Scholarship, I applied for. It was the only scholarship I could apply for in the time frame I was working with. Chris didn't get an award either, so that will cut into our travel budgets a bit. Don't fear. We will just be a little more creative with how we travel and a little stingier with our budgets, and we will still have plenty to do. We did invest in an ISIC (International Student Identification Card) which will give us additional discounts and give us a bit of travel insurance. We also got a Hostel.com gold card at orientation that will give us free bookings. So that will help as well. Otherwise I think the booking fee is something like three percent.

Pretty much every down today had an upside as well. Even the power being out. I am writing (well, I was) this blog post on paper first, by candle light. I didn't want to stop an think and waste some of the battery I have left on my laptop (not knowing of course when the power will come back on). Writing by candle light is fun and different. What isn't fun to do by candle light? NOTHING! The best part i think is watching the wax run down the side of the tapers I stuck in a bowl, making the candle all knobby and rustic. The only thing that would make it better is if I didn't have to force the wax to run down the sides. Stupid drip free candles. Well, maybe they really aren't stupid, but smart. It's just I like drippy candles. I think I did a pretty good job at making it look genuine. 

I am working on another video, that is a little more general, as in: this is my everyday life. Having the power out isn't exactly helping me edit the footage, and it need some serious editing for time alone. I might make it into two vlogs. Right now I have 30 plus minutes of grade A entertainment. Ok, maybe it isn't the best, but entertaining nonetheless (no I didn't mean to make that rhyme: it is just a bonus! :)). I don't want to make any of the videos that long. I think at the longest a vlog will be is about 15 minutes. Anything more than that just seems to be just a bit much.


Only two more months to the day! :D

THE FIRST VIDEO!!!!! :D

Finally I have gotten the first video edited and ready to upload! It isn't the best, but it does go through my story, as to why I have decided to go, and the steps that I have taken so far. If you listen closely you can hear some German! I think it is my friend Maxi, just by the voice, I never actually saw who said it.

I will be writing more later and getting another video up here soon. The second is going to be more of what my life is like right now. Different activities that I am doing and so forth. It probably wont be much but I think it will still be fun! :)

A Few Bumps along the road

On Wednesday, the International Learning Office held orientation for study abroad. I was able to talk to a few other students who are also studying abroad in the Spring. I already knew a few of the students who are going, and it was great to see them as well. Orientation was interesting. I already knew a lot of the information presented, but there were a few other things that I hadn't thought about.  One of the papers we were given had a list of things we should know before we leave. I am sad to say that I didn't know a lot of them. For example, I can't sing the Germany national anthem. I am familiar with the music, but I couldn't sing it. I have no idea how to calculate the exchange rate in my head, but I do know how to do it on a calculator. There were many others that I wont go into them here.  Another thing that I hadn't thought about was how many shoes I am going to take. I thought, well I will just take them all, but then maybe I shouldn't I am starting to think that packing is going to be a whole lot harder than I thought at first. Not exactly looking forward to that part. I am going to have to make some lists. This goes in this bag this in that bag and so on.  But that gets to wait until after I get the rest of my life packed away into boxes and moved to, well who knows where at this point.

Other than those up coming hurdles I still have to figure out how I am going to finish up my school work in the next couple of weeks. I am sure it will all get done eventually, perhaps not at the level of completion that I would like, but it will be done. I am just crossing my fingers that I will pass with decent grades. I am not so sure this year that I will have a very good GPA, not the best for applying for a Fulbright Scholarship, but you know I do what I  can. 

I have been working on getting my very first video up here and on youtube. Check out my channel:  http://www.youtube.com/user/Eulaliastolz?feature=guide  I have a little teaserall finished for you, and unfortunetly I feel like it is actually better than what I have edited of the vlog. I wasn't being very smart the other day and actually deleted some of the fotage that I needed, so I will have to refilm before I finish up the post, but then I will get it up here for you all to see. 

It's official, and oh so real :D

I have my plane tickets bought, and an acceptance letter from Saarland University sitting on my coffee table. As I sit here on the couch with my Chinese leftovers, and can of coke, listening to Styx's Paradise Theater on my roommates new record player, I know it is real. I am leaving for Germany in just a few short months. I am so excited, and a little scared too. I have been waiting for this opportunity for a very long time, and now that it is finally here, I almost want to take it all back. I like my little apartment and the life I have set up here. Six months isn't much time, but it is long enough for so many things to change. 

Even though I am looking at six months now, I am applying for a Fulbright teaching assistant scholarship, which would allow me to go to Austria, just a month after I get back to the states. Life would be a little different on the second trip, where I will be working as a teaching assistant. If I get excepted, which I want or else I wouldn't be applying, obviously, I would be looking at being gone for a year and half. It's a long time, but I just have to keep reminding myself about all the opportunities I have waiting for me on the continent. :)

Back to the here and now. My mom has graciously agreed to take care of my Hank. My child/cat. --notice that child is before cat, well, that just might be because that is how he is treated. Where my mom will have him at her place, and will be letting him go out of doors, she has asked me to try and get him to start wearing a collar.Which he of course hates, and I think it makes him look just a tad silly. Now matter what I think, he has managed to take it off twice this week. I think that after wearing it for about 8 hours he is done, and so slips his collar somehow. I have no idea how I am going to be able to get along with out my Hankers, but I guess I will have to manage. I guess Skype calls to my mom will also have to include some time with my little mister. 



I went to the mall today. Thank you Chris for not making me go alone. We looked at luggage, and I think that I will be getting a pretty good deal. I am getting a hard sided 28" suitcase, a 20" carry-on, also hard sided, and a 24" rolling duffel. It will cost me $100 dollars at midnight on Friday. I can't believe I will actually be going shopping in the mess of black Friday, and at the mall of all places, but for that kind of a deal, I think it will be worth it. The original price is $300. The sale price seems to be a good deal, better than what I can find quickly online. So I think it will be good. There were only two in the store today, and I didn't want to spend the extra $50 to buy it right away, so the salesman, was kind enough to stash it away where people probably wouldn't look for it. Hopefully that way I can just run in buy it and get out. Cross your fingers for me.

I am hoping to find a camera for cheap as well this weekend, but I haven't found one that is a really good deal. I have found a couple that I will be looking at, but they are regularly priced well. I also haven't been able to find anywhere it is on sale; so if I can avoid any other black Friday sales, I think I will. I am looking at getting a Sony Handycam, that will transfer easily to my computer, and can take stills as well. My regular still photo camera is several years old, and although it still works great the zoom isn't the best so I might be able to get some pictures with the camcorder that I wouldn't be able to get otherwise. I am excited to get a camera and start doing some filming. I will have to ask you all to bear with me as I get used to editing and filming my life. Hopefully, I will have enough practice so when I actually get to Germany the films will be better. 

I think that is all for now. There is lots more I could say, but I will save it for another day. I have plane tickets, I have an acceptance letter, I have a great friend traveling with me, and I have great friends waiting for me. Now if I could get all the rest of the stuff out of the way, like packing, and moving, and saying good bye, oh and finals, I think I will be ready to go! Wish me luck! :)