Easter Weekend and other Shenanigans

Well hey there folks!

I know I'm basically a week behind on this whole Easter thing, but forgive me; this week turned out to be full of homework, social events and royal weddings.  But none the less, here we are and I am going to catch you up on my oh-so-thrilling life.  Okee here we go.

Last Thursday I boarded the train to Hamburg to stay with my friend Patrick and his family for Easter.  Usually when I travel to Hamburg I never have to reserve a seat; it's an option always, but why bother spending 3 extra euros when you're 80% certain you can find a seat for free?  Richt.  However, silly little me forgot that it was Easter weekend.  Aka Travel mania.  Aka a large variety of German families wanting to get a headstart back to the home city of their relatives boards a train or jumps on the autobahn all together and creates a manic traveling chaos (Basically, same as the traffic in the States over holidays, just add trains to the mixture..).  So that left silly old Steph with no seat on the train and standing for 3 hours next to a family with god knows what type of food residue on their clothing, an unfamiliar odor and no teeth.  Lalala happy easter.  Uh. But hey, I made it to Hamburg!

Hamburg was a lot of fun.. basically just chilling, partying, bonfire-ing, shopping and eating.  Oh and tanning.  Yep.  That basically sums up the entirety of my easter weekend.  (Just a side note for all of you at home.. it was a darling 80 degrees for Easter here..) I also went with a friend to a town in northern Germany called Heide, which didn't have a ton to offer but was near the beach.  The beach was cool- the water actually receeds 2 km during low tie, allowing beach-goers to walk along the bottom of the sea.  I didn't do it due to my hatred of crustacions and other such creatures living among the not so inviting looking muck of which people were pushing their baby strollers through like complete idiots.. err.. ehm.. I mean, walking through it it just wasn't my cup of tea.  But the beach was cool.  I would definitely hit it up in the warmer months if I had the chance. 

Also while in northern Germany I was able to witness the extreme use of wind energy.  Wind energy actually makes up 7 percent of Germany's total energy production.. how cool, right?  I know I'm thoroughly jealous.   That's 7 percent of their energy they don't have to rely on the Middle East for.  Winners in my book.  In the USA at the moment we're only attaining 2.3% of our nation's energy through wind.  Yes, I'm aware of the difference in sizes between the two nations, but still!  Let's kick it up a notch, USA :)  Apparently there is a plan in place to have 20% of our energy be produced through wind by 2030.  I suggest we get a move on.  But anyways, back to Germany.  As you can see, the north is just covered with these little wooshing towers.  Here, have a look..

My friend and I took the liberty to park underneath one of them, and let me tell you from a first hand witness account, they are definitely NOT loud.  Not sure what all the hype is about wind farms in the US.. they're great.  Ok enough plugging for new energy sources.

Back to life in Germany.. 

Here are the usual photos of the Hamburger group..

Yep.  The first one is during Patrick and I's escapades in making Milkshakes, and the second couple photos were from when a group of us all went for cocktails on Easter Sunday.  Gooood times.  So yes.  On another note..

Happy Belated Easter!!

Ahhh my little Easter bunny from Patrick's mom.  Sooo cute.  Gotta love the German chocolate industry. :)  The bell on his neck even rings.  Classy.  It's just so adorable I wonder if I'll ever bring myself to eating it...  Highly Doubtable. 
Easter here in Germany is basically the same as back home in the States;  little kids search for eggs and chocolate baskets while the adults all bring their families together in the afternoon for a lunch/dinner.  The only difference I noticed was that the night before, many of the German families have bonfires in their backyards as some tradition from the church involving ghosts or sins or something.  The explination to me wasn't really that clear, but oh well.  The whole city smelled like one big bonfire for a few hours.  But yeah, the bonfire was nice and relaxed.. nothing too special.

Oh my goodness this post is getting so long I kind of am forgetting what I all wanted to write about in here.  Well I do know that one thing I wanted to do was brag about my cooking advances.  Check out my cayenne pepper rubbed chicken breasts with Avocado lime salsa on top.  Heck yeaaaaah I made that!

Oh it was so deliciuos.  Clearly I've come a looooong way since the beginning of my L.A.A. (Living Alone Abroad) adventure began.  Heck, last semester I lived off store bought tortellini, broccoli and chicken breasts with only salt and pepper.  Oh and Special K.  Seriously people, it was getting pretty habitual.  And bland.  And then all hell broke loose once tortellini was removed from my diet after it's little food poisoning stunt (it was kind of like losing a good friend..), resulting in me becoming a Marthastuart.com frequent visitor.  Yes, I know.  It was indeed an all time low; admittance is the first step to recovery they say.  So I admitted to myself I can't cook alone and boom.  Now I'm making chicken with avocados on top (I didn't even know how to cut those things, let alone put them with lime juice and call them a "salsa") and no longer tortellini dependant.  Oh, it is such a liberating feeling.  Gotta give the jailbird Martha some credit.  That woman can teach Steph to cook! Wallah!

Oh I also made broccoli omlettes :)  (for those of you who aren't aware, broccoli is, and forever will be, my guilty pleasure.  At least it's not the stereotypical chocolate, right?  Yay originality..)

Ok enough Julia Childs-ing.  Life otherwise is still consisting of an unusually large amount of reading (and probably will through the rest of May, sorry in advance for future blog references) but oh well.  I can now see the end in sight, which is a strange feeling.  I'm not ready to pack up and fly back to the place which feels more foreign to me now than here, but there are moments, I must admit, some good old Target shopping or Qdobas fast Mexican food are just screaming my name.  Sure, I miss all of you back home, but it is unusually strange how fast one can adapt to not seeing certain people or places for so long.  I usually don't think of home much when I'm out and about, and when I do, I always think of it as a relatively not-so-far away place.  It's basically allowed me to avoid homesickness the entire year I've been here (minus the few moments, such as food poisoning, where I just wanted my mommy..) and I'm quite content here.  I'm amazed at how strong friendships have grown in one year; some even overcoming friendships back home which I've been building since elementary school.  It's amazing how also, you find out who your true friends are; some pushing their way back into your lives to make sure they're not forgotten while you're abroad, some just falling off the face of the map.  It's that time of my life, for people to come and go, so I'm not entirely disappointed.  I'm actually quite fascinated to see how my life is turning out.  There is no doubt in my mind that I will return to Europe for at least another full year of my life; grad school, career, research, glorified vacation.. who knows.  At the moment I feel almost in the middle of an identity crisis as to where I really "belong."  Yes, I'm American, true and proud, but somehow the lifestyles here just seem to fit my mentalities and lifestyle better sometimes.  I realize now that I'm always going to be torn between home and the other home, but at least in today's modern age it isn't nearly as impossible to visit as a mere 50 years ago.  But yeah.  Enough deep thought/ philosophical talk.  Life is beautiful. 

We celebrated the first of May here in Marburg at a celebration in the middle of the city square.  They had a really great cover band named The Les Cloechards (check them out!!) and some great wine/champagne drink mixture.  It was definitely a great time.  At midnight we all sang some strange May song all together and then headed homewards.  Ch-ch-check it out.

 Yep yep.  It kind of reminded me of our hometown little celebration called "Bay Fest" back in Green Bay.  Only minus the fireworks and river view.  Buuuut minor details. 

I finally finished that book, A Mercy by Toni Morisson.. definitely not a favorite.  It was way too strangely written and jumpy.  Novels about Slavery are generally interesting to me, but this one was just.. strange.  Next on the list?  Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books  by Azar Nafisi.  I really find myself interested in Middle Eastern cultures, so I'm predicting that this novel will be of particular interest.  Or at least I'm hoping so after that last one.  Dear god.  I'm amazed my eyes haven't fallen
out of my head after all this reading in the last few weeks.  I've also got articles, essays, short stories, chapters of other novels and whatever else to read for my other class and this one as well.  Oh crap.  I just realized I have some reading to do for today's class yet.  Boo.  I should probably get on that.  Good luck to all of you back home with finals this week or on the horizon.  Summer for you has basically arrived.. yayyyy working season! haha.  Alright.  Well off to read my article.  Tschauuu Leute.