For anyone who knows us, food is clearly one of the first adventures we had to take when we arrived. While most places are closed on Sundays, there was a nice little restaurant and bar called Paradox that we stumbled upon near the train station that happened to be open! We're not going to lie...we were a little (or a lot) nervous about our first restaurant experience. Knowing us, we'd order some weird fish or offend the waitress in some way! As it turns out, pointing and talking in English actually works in our town. Thank goodness. Our waitress picked up pretty quickly on the fact that we knew absolutely no Germany except for "danke" (that's thank you for anyone who didn't know...we learned on the plane). 

We ended up going big (because go big or go home right?) and ordered schnitzel, which is a common dish here. Alex got plain schnitzel, or weiner schnitzel, and I obviously had to get something smothered in cheese, aka schnitzel parmigiano (pictured above). We were a little worried but it honestly ended up tasting a lot like chicken parmesan with thicker noodles! Of course, with dinner there must be drinks right? Well, of course there was coca cola light involved (aka diet coke, aka God's gift to earth) and then there was beer. If anyone is wondering...beer is cheaper than water here so "prost" to that right?! 

Monday we were able to make our way to two different grocery stores to scope everything out. We aren't able to get on base for another week or so, which means we needed some food to hold us over for the time being. Proudly, we got plenty of food and only spent 28 euro which is about $38. The Ecenter (first stop) was huge. Literally anything we could imagine needing was at this store and to our surprise almost none of it was refrigerated...which is actually good seeing as we blew a fuse in our kitchen and currently don't have either refrigerator (snaps to us, we know). In general, all the packaging is smaller here but everything is pretty much the same otherwise. Minus the whole "we have higher standards for food than you" deal. Some things say "tastes American"...LOL good advertising...more like "lower quality but...America"! Don't worry, we were sure the buy the "American" peanut butter (creamy not crunchy) so we won't be starving anytime soon. 

Off to make some tea (yay caffeine) and then off to Heidelberg to ring in the New Year! On that note, enjoy and Prosit Neujahr!

It has officially been one of the longest days/nights of our college career…jk we pulled an all nghter at least once a week last year, BUT it has been a little different than our average all nighter. Instead of getting to run to get Diet Coke and coffee, we had to wave down our attendant and get water so I feet didn’t swell too much. It’s probably a good thing that we weren’t allowed to take our shoes off on the plane (dance and track through high school really ruined that for us).

As a whole our trip went really smoothly and we are beyond grateful for that. We both started off by overpacking by a few pounds. The funny part of that is that the guy literally said “why don’t you just take out a couple pounds”….uhh…and magically teleport it to my house in Germany? No thanks man. Of course one of us had to get stopped at security. Yes, it was Alex. She for some reason thought the three ounce rule didn’t apply to her carry on bag. We did the whole mimosa and bloody mary deal in the morning (you can guess who got what) and of course Starbucks before the plane ride. To be honest, the biggest issue we encountered was the fact that Starbucks didn’t accept the 50% off coupon we got. Not cool Starbucks…not cool.

Our day continued in Dallas for a few hours where we enjoyed some burritos and Ben & Jerry’s (great food choices for a 9 hour plane ride if you’re wondering). We were most surprised by not only how big the plane was but how many people were just headed to Germany. This sounds very naïve of us but all we wanted to do was ask what everyone was doing because apparently we thought we were the only people going there (Hello Muncie bubble). We were both pretty fortunate for having open seats next to us on the plane flight. Yes, that means we were not next to each other. Shock and awe we know. (Okay maybe for a few hours to watch Friends and the Beyonce music videos but that's it). 

The flight was long but it wasn’t horrid. Having access to movies like Despicable Me 2 and We’re the Millers definitely made time fly a little faster. We made it safe and sound to the ever so large Frankfurt International Airport and took a shuttle to our humble abode. Alex and I will be sharing a room/floor (the second to be exact) and surprisingly we're already more unpacked than we were in Muncie. Updates will come soon enough on our house (look for a video from Alex!). We are alive and well friends. Happy Sunday from your favorite world travelers! 

Our last 24 hours are slowly dwindling here in Carmel and it's safe to say we still feel unprepared. Crossing our fingers our checked bag is under 50 lbs and scrambling to choose the most important items to squeeze into our bags have been the only things on our mind. Now that it's pretty much here, we're taking these last few precious moments we have to say our goodbyes to family and friends. We've never been the best at goodbyes, actually we are the queens of avoiding them like the plague (more Alex than myself). We will "accidentally" leave and more often than not we are called out by our friends (*cough* Looker and Taelor *cough*), but this time we are actually doing it. 

Between the emotions of that and the anxiety that's settling in, it's safe to say we are definitely going to miss good 'ol Indiana. I know personally I went to Dunkin' Donuts to get a glazed doughnut sandwich (they actually have less calories than the bagel one) and am headed to see Saving Mr. Banks with the fam. While Alex is shopping (again) and having a fam dinner later. We are truly lucky to have this experience and we are even more lucky to get to go together. So to all of our friends and family that we may not have had the chance to see, know that we love you and we'll be back!! And remember, if there's anything you'd like to see on here or hear about just shoot us an email, text, tweet, fb message, etc. We aren't falling off the face of the Earth! 

The countdown began and now it's literally around the corner. Take out the next couple days for Christmas shenanigans with the family and we have about 2 days (now 1.5) to get our lives together because no matter what we're going to be at the airport Saturday morning at 9:30 am. So as far as updates go...we've been scrambling around making sure everything is in line, including that 50 lb. weight limit for our checked bag. We've both found way too many never worn clothing items or things we forgot we had (Carmel girl prob according to our friends). 

In case anyone is wondering the exchange rate is SUPER awesome right now *cough* not *cough*. Just some tips for fellow travelers and info for anyone curious: First, the bank (at least Chase) can order money without the international fee added. If you want 500 euro right now, that's about $725.40 (and by about we mean definitely that exact amount, at least today). We are pretty lucky because there are ATMs and banks on the base but budgeting is going to be necessary (LOL we're pros). Pretty much we've decided we will be sacrificing food for travel and that's our budget plan. 

While we're preparing as much as possible, we are well aware we're going to have to roll with the punches on some things. For example, we're getting into Germany on a Sunday and for those who may not know (we didn't) Sunday is actually a day of rest there. While we are totally cool resting after a 9.5 hour flight, we're a tad concerned about the whole no food or supplies in our house thing. Don't worry, we know we won't wither away with the amount of Puerta's we've consumed in the last three years but Diet Coke and mac n cheese would definitely be comforting to have when we arrive. 

So for now friends, we will be enjoying the holidays with our families (and all forms of social media) and we we hope do the same!! 

For those of you who haven't heard anything about our semester...we are more than thankful that we managed to pass everything. After many all nighters and attempted all nighters (because we're old and no longer excited freshman) we made it to the end of our classes on Ball State's campus forever. To that, we say HOLLA! While our excitement levels were very high yesterday morning (2pm because that's when we both woke up), they were quickly lowered when we realized the daunting task of packing for four months had to be started. As you can see in the picture...we have a LOT of work to do.

There is some organized chaos going on here because of Alex's addiction to Pinterest and her hate of my terrible packing skills. Apparently everything is going to be done in "pods", which means that we can only take certain colors and clothing items that can be switched around. This is actually pretty smart seeing as we get one checked suitcase, a carry on and a backpack...for FOUR months. (Yes, I will continue saying that to let it sink in).

After talking to our classroom teachers, Alex will be allowed to wear jeans while I'm still stuck in good 'ol teachers clothes. The good news is, the schools there are ten times more laid back than they are here so some high waisted pants and a sweater are totally acceptable (not to mention our nose rings!). One thing we will be packing that we (I) didn't utilize in the last 3.5 years of college is our workout clothes! Yes...we will let that one sink in for all of our friends (Dad) reading this. Apparently there are full on teacher workout classes with trips to the pool/jacuzzi out back afterwards! Basically, we have to participate in the activities our teachers do because we will most likely be hitching rides with them to the school. So...workout clothes it is. 

All of you out there who know about our shoe hoarding and packing problems (mainly me, fine) feel free to send ideas or encouragement as we attempt to conquer this task. 

It's crazy to say it, but we will be on a plane in exactly 2 weeks anxiously awaiting our arrival in Frankfurt. Alex will probably be passed out, waking up all the neighbors with her snoring and I'll probably be up counting down the seconds until we land.

The information we've gotten in the last few days about our trip has been pretty overwhelming. For example, we were told that it's rude to be loud in public places like restaurants...seriously? Anyone who has been anywhere with Alex will know that this alone could be the biggest issue we have in our four months there. As for myself, I'm more worried about the fact that apparently food standards are higher there so I won't be getting access to a $1 McDouble.

As the two week mark smacks us in the face we've realized we're getting sick of each other and packing is going to be a disaster. Hopefully (because we have to) we'll get over this soon so we don't strangle each other before we get through security. Happy countdown to us eh?

We are officially headed into our final week of school. While we frantically try to figure out when our special ed final is (really if anyone knows...hit us up), we let it sink in that it will be a week of lasts for us. To this day, we have yet to hear anyone say "Leaving college is the best! You're going to love it!" So, you can see how we could be slightly sad knowing it's our last all nighter in the bhood with our friends and our last time dreading Monday on campus because the alternative to all that is the real world. The big, scary, dreaded, real world...where staying up late is 10:30 because of that 6am alarm and it's exciting to try a new low calorie recipe because you care about your cholesterol (or whatever). WOW...the excitement and anticipation is KILLING us. This means we are not looking at finals week with the impending doom that most people do. Instead, it will be a refreshing reminder that we are still at the point of avoiding those $80,000 in loan debt. 

So our top 5 list of things to look forward to this week (including but not limited to):

1. Bhood all nighter (as mentioned above)
2. Victoria's Secret Fashion Show (Tuesday at 10pm on CBS...you're welcome)
3. Work...because who doesn't like to get paid to study for finals (*cough* write blog posts *cough*)
4. Eating campus food (if you don't like Woodworth mac n cheese you are WACK) 
5. Going to the Germany presentation done by this semesters student teachers!! (Wednesday at 10 in TC 1008 if anyone else is interested)

Clearly we plan on taking full advantage of our last week as stressed out college kids in Muncie because we know looking back it's these times we are going to wish we had back. 

While joining in on procrastinating final projects and going to Dill in honor of the final weekend in Muncie, it just hit us yesterday (in the middle of our student teaching orientation meeting) that we will be headed across the globe in T-22 days. So in honor of finals week coming up we'd like to introduce our blog! We've decided to have a two part blog actually...one for the family and friends who read and one for everyone else (our friends at school) who are too lazy to read and would rather laugh at our GoPro shenanigans. 

We aren't 100% sure how we're going to set up our posts since this is a whole new world for us technologically challenged friends. Keeping that in mind, we figure the basics should come first. You know...who are you? Where are you living? Why are you going? To help out the family or friends who may not know one of us, here's a quick review.

Directly above, you will see a lovely picture of us riding a bus to King's Island. As you see we are already world travelers. We are seniors at Ball State University studying elementary and special education. (Yes, we have two majors...only because we are overachievers of course). Some of our hobbies include eating and watching Criminal Minds or NCIS while in our fuzzy pajamas. We both recently finished in our roles as VP of Risk Management and VP of Recruitment for the Delta Rho chapter of Alpha Phi. Actually, we met the first day we joined the sorority and really haven't been far apart since. (Literally we live 4 minutes away from each other in Carmel). Basically, we're just two normal girls that bonded over McDonald's diet coke and never looked back. 

As to where we will be, please refer to the map below. Honestly, that's pretty awesome that we can literally give you a google map to click on...maybe that's the whole technology challenged thing coming out but regardless, COOL! That is pointing to Ramstein-Miesenbach, which is where the Ramstein Air Force Base is located. Yes, we will be student teaching on an American AFB, so for all of you worried about us not knowing German...well you still should be because we aren't living on the base. Alex will be in first grade and Kelby will be in kindergarten at Ramstein Elementary School. Plans are still up in the air right now for living arrangements but we should be in a house with approximately eight other student teachers from Ball State. From what we are told, it is a three story house about ten minutes from the base. From what we are also told, they don't plow the streets so our love of winter will only be exemplified I am sure. Have no fear, we have both invested in fur lined boots and fur hooded coats. (Fake fur...don't worry we only eat the animals, we don't wear them). 

That's probably plenty for our first post...and we have class to get to. So, over and out internet. Get ready for some interesting reads!!