My mom said my ratings will go down if I don't post more.

As I get deeper and deeper into the planning of this trip, it has become apparent that there is a good chance my family will be left stranded in a foreign country where we don't speak the language. In all honesty, it's pretty fun having all of this power. I've been using a German website, http://www.bahn.com/, to generate the "best" train routes to choose from. Here's just a short list of things that can go wrong with this.

1. We can't find the train. Who knows how any of these stations are set up. If we were staying in one place, it might be easy to look it up, and learn how to navigate it. However with nine destinations so far and connections on top of that, I wouldn't want to waste my valuable time looking up blueprints for every station.

2. We can't get reservations. On certain trains like the express or high speed trains, reservations are required. However, sometimes we are only going to use these trains for one leg of a trip with multiple transfers. So if we get to that train, and the reservations weren't made correctly, we're stuck! On top of that, every trip I've planned requires reservations that can't be made online. Which means we have to wait until we are over there to make them over the phone. I hope they don't have to be made too far in advance!

3. The final stations are miles from our house. Who doesn't like a 5 mile trek to some apartment?

4. We can't read the maps. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have no sense of direction. Seriously, take me on a car ride that lasts more than 10 minutes and tell me to point north. Every trip I've ever been on, I've had people to tell me where to go. Now it's just me and a foreign map!

5. Extra Fees. We are using Eurail passes for this trip. It would be nice if they were as simple as they seem. All you do is hop on a train and write down the date. However if we make reservations, there's a fee. If we have to use a night train for a longer trip, there's a fee. If we have to use another mode of transportation (taxi's, ferries, bus's) there's a fee. 

I spend a lot of time telling myself it will all just magically work out.

I took a break from all of this research last week for Friend Family Christmas. We took a trip to my Aunt Kenda, and Uncle Brian's house in Indy for some family time and a small gift exchange. We also got some quality cousin time in at the cabin. It only took a day for us to eat all of the candy from our stockings.

It's not a Friend Family Christmas without quality stocking
stufffers.

Arden says we look like twins because we are the same
height...

Last weekend I headed up to Purdue and was able to visit a Purduette rehearsal, and watch them in a church service on Sunday. Rehearsal was entertaining as always. From my new perspective from the outside looking in, I had a really fun time watching everyone's expressions while singing. I mean we all look at Youtube videos of our performances and find people making ridiculous faces, but this seeing it first hand was pretty entertaining. I spent the rest of the weekend spending time with friends and at Theta. We spent Saturday celebrating our 144th founders day and the rest of the time just hanging out. Thank God every room has a futon so we can still pile three people on one each night. 

I’m Officially a College Dropout

(not really) Last Sunday, all of my school friends moved back into Purdue and got ready to begin classes. Last Sunday, I sat on my friend Jordan’s couch and watched How I Met Your Mother all day. And thus begins the life of a college dropout.

I've spent my break reading some great books, playing 10 am volleyball tournaments at my grandparent’s retirement community in Florida, buying a new "travel" wardrobe, and traveling for a week in an RV to make it back to Indiana. We are staying in my grandparent’s cabin in Brown County where we can make it halfway up the driveway if we are lucky.

Now that we are here, it's time to actually plan the European leg of our trip. My parents have assigned everyone a job to keep us busy.  Mom is spending her time communicating with people who speak small amounts of English trying to rent apartments and houses. Out of the long list of destinations we have dreamed up, we have three houses, but don’t worry, it should all come together in the next two weeks right?

My dad is supposed to figure out a plan for our cell phones. He announced at dinner that once we reach the airport all phones will go on airplane mode. And stay there until May.

 I have been assigned “transportation logistics” which means if I don’t know the Euro rail like the back of my hand, we won’t be going anywhere and people will be angry.

 Arden has been told to finish at least 30% of her online classwork before we take off. She spends all day studying in the quilt room, but I’m pretty sure all she’s studying is Niall Horan. Seriously, ask her any question about One Direction. She’ll know the answer.

(This is Arden singing some 1D song with Scarlet latch hooking in the background. Maybe they'll stop stealing my phone for selfies now...)

We asked Scarlet to find cool facts about all of the places we are going to visit.  Instead she decided to raid grandmas quilt room and make a million crafts. I’m not sure if any of those supplies will find their way back to where she got them.

Brody is in the process of creating a presentation for his 3^rd grade class summing up his favorite parts of the trip so far. Instead, he found Grandma and Grandpa’s VHS tapes. In the past 3 days I’ve watched 2 years’ worth of homemade videos, Home Alone 1, Home Alone 2, and then all of those over again. He has also developed an obsession with cooking shows and is determined to be the next great chef. (I'm not complaining)

Overall, we are pretty laid back in the planning of this trip. So if anyone has suggestions for places we should visit, don’t hesitate to let me know! I’ll find a way to make it fit.