Last Entry

Hi Everyone.

I should probably let everyone know that I am no longer in Munich, and therefore this will be my last entry on this blog. I will keep you updated about my other blogs, as soon as I create them.

The reason I am no longer in Munich is because 1) my Fulbright grant ended in July, 2) I had to come home to be the Maid of Honor in my best friend's wedding, and 3) I have no money to return... yet.

I'll get back there someday.

But as a closing, I thought I would share a list of things I learned, things I missed and things that I think are better suited for Germany.

Things I love about Germany:

1) Transportation

• a) U-Bahn, trains, Mitfahrgelegenheit
• b) Accessibility
• c) No DUIs
  

2) Language

• a) Kids speaking it so clearly
• b) The feeling I got when I traveled to foreign countries where I didn’t speak the language and then coming back and hearing German again; feeling like I was home
• c) Just certain expressions — Naseduschen
  

3) Grocery stores (mixed feelings)

• a) Very accessible but hard to find what you need

4) Everything in one place

• a) Sushi, movie theaters, Thai, ice skating rinks; you name it, Munich had it

5) Always something going on

• a) Festivals, plays, Toytown gatherings, farmers markets, concerts

6) Concerned about the environment

• a) Everyone rides bikes or walks
• b) They recycle EVERYTHING
• c) Solar/wind energy
• d) Water, electricity, gas conservation
• e) No plastic bags for shopping, or you pay for them
  

7) Tons of open space

• a) Gardens everywhere, park benches, river areas, surrounding lakes

8) Balance between work and play

• a) Germans word hard and they play hard
• b) Really utilize and enjoy their free time
  

9) No TV

• a) They watch television but mostly news
• b) Isn’t as much of an obsession with TV/movies/celebrity gossip
  

10) Music (mixed feelings)

• a) I have found great new music from there
• b) But sometimes I still feel like I am stuck in the 80s
  

11) Education

• a) Germans are very educated
• b) They often know more about America than Americans do (and the world)
• c) They read the news (especially NEWSPAPERS)
  

12) Food (mixed feelings)

• a) I love Bratwurst, Schnitzel, Brotzeit, beer, Spätzle, etc.
• b) But the “German” diet is not healthy, and I gained lots o’ weight
  

13) German directness vs. American politeness

• a) They are very blunt, to the point of being rude, but yet you always know where you stand with a German

14) Obsession with soccer instead of football

15) More cultural opportunities

• a) More chances to go to the theater, the cinema, or get-togethers with people of different nationalities
• b) You are always meeting new people who have a different perspective on life than you do
• c) So international
  

16) There is more history

• a) Germany is SO old compared to the U.S., so there is more history, more important architecture, more people that were a part of the world and how it came to be

17) Fashion/shopping

• a) There are so many high-end shops compared to where I am from
• b) People look so high class there, compared to America where a lot of people are fat and look frumpy
• c) All kinds of stores are very accessible
  

18) “German” efficiency

• a) All things in Germany are very efficient, from the trains to the paperwork
• b) Things work together very well
  

19) Health

• a) Germans take better care of themselves (statt rauchen)
• b) Exercise on a very greater scale
• c) They do eat healthier, even though they have the option of eating unhealthy
  

20) Health/employee benefits

• a) Mothers get money for their children and their employers are required to hold their jobs for three years after going on maternity leave
• b) So many public holidays (Catholicism) where people don’t have to work
  

21) Scenery/central location/safe

22) Dogs

• a) Dogs are allowed everywhere
• b) Sometimes treated better than children
• c) Always so well trained
  

Munich compared to Vienna

Munich:

1) Cleanliness

• a. One of the cleanest cities in Europe, perhaps that’s why I love it so much

2) Bavarian culture

• a. Beer, Brats, and Tracht

3) Schicki-Miki
4) English Garden
5) Festivals/holidays

• a. Oktoberfest
• b. Fasching
• c. Tollwood
• d. Starkbierfest
• e. Mai(baum)
  

6) Dogs go everywhere

7) SO SAFE

Vienna:

1) Heurigen
2) Trains come faster
3) More touristy? (Both good and bad)
4) Very artistically cultured
a. More art museums, classical music
5) Not so far to the airport
6) Better weather?
7) Not so many dogs (good and bad)
8) But I basically loved it because of the group of people I was with when I was there (I spent my last semester of college on an exchange to Vienna in 2007)

What growing up in an American/NM/MT atmosphere caused me to miss (a.k.a. things I don’t like about Germany):

1) Water, water everywhere and not a drop that’s free
2) Free refills
3) Ice and real ice tea
4) Customer service
5) New Mexican scenery and good New Mexican food
6) Green chile
7) Driving (but only sometimes) and road trips
8) Density of city — small quarters in which to live
9) Backyards
10) I miss that need for entertainment, even though I wish I didn’t
11) Ziplocs
12) All-in-1 stores like Target and Costco, which make it very easy to eat healthy too
13) The German diet
14) Things in their original language, I hate dubbing; what’s wrong with subtitles?
15) German superiority
16) American politeness
17) Mounds and mounds of paperwork and having to get absolutely everything right or else no deal making/no leeway
18) Modern houses with real showers, microwaves, coffee machines, toasters, fast heaters
19) 24 hour stores/things staying open past 8 and on Sundays

Things I missed that had nothing to do with where I was:

1) My family/my dogs
2) Close friends
3) The modern look of the U.S. — no wires, poles, not so much construction all the time (this does have to do with Germany)
4) A routine

And from this experience, I now think some of the most important things in life are:

To surround yourself with your favorite people — people who are your true friends and want as much happiness for you as you want for yourself.

To be able to hold on to every memory you’ve ever experienced, good or bad, to relive them again or even just to learn from them.

To keep meeting new people to see if they can contribute to the happiness of your life or bring in something fulfilling that you don’t already have in your life — they don’t complete you, but you are a better version of yourself because of them.

Always be grateful and love life.

Live life to a fitting soundtrack.
:0 )

Thank you so much, Munich, Fulbright, Focus, The Interview People, and all of my friends and colleagues for making those ten months some of the best in my life.

Ich werde nie vergessen.

The Value of Time

I recently wrote an article for the Fulbright Alumni newsletter, called FRANKly, and it was fairly last minute because I was having such a problem deciding what to write about, but I actually am kind of fond of what came out.

The theme for the issue is "time," and that was really all the direction we were given. I find it's often harder for me to write things when I don't have a clear instructions on what the receiving party is looking for.

That's something I'm really going to have to work on, hey?

Anyway, here it is:

The Value of Time

When I first arrived in Munich at the beginning of September, I remember a time where I was waiting for the S-Bahn along with a myriad of other travelers—locals as well as tourists—and I remember that the S-Bahn was late.

The sign suspended above the platform informed the awaiting passengers that their train would be arriving in 2 minutes, now 1 minute, now 0 minutes. Still no train.

Anyone standing in that underground station as this particular S-Bahn turned out to be tardy could have immediately identified the German locals from the temporary visitors. As an American who is accustomed to changes in schedules, system breakdowns and lapses in punctuality, I just stood patiently for the few extra minutes it took for the train to arrive. But my patient silence stood out in the crowd of exasperated Germans, who could be heard sighing with impatience and tapping their feet on the ground and could be seen checking their watches every few seconds, as if calculating just how late this error was going to cause them to be.

This type of situation is rarely seen in Germany. One thing I have come to adore about this country is its remarkably efficient and, with the exception of a few instances, punctual transit system. In fact, I have become so used to the train schedule that I have my watch set to the exact second I know my train will arrive at the Lehel U-Bahn stop. And, if my train is late, you would now find me amongst the crowd of toe-tappers and watch-checkers.

The German transportation system and how Germans relate to it is not the only lesson in time with which I will leave this country. From the moment I arrived, and the realization that I was going to be a resident of this country for 10 months settled in, I started to observe vast differences in the way that Germans value their time.

It’s not a groundbreaking observation that people in America are living in a kind of fast-forward mode. Everything is centered on doing things faster, getting there faster, always rushing toward the next task. Funnily enough, people in a rush are also often late.

The American “fashionably late” concept is something that will never be a German custom. They find lateness rude and unnecessary. Needless to say, I learned this the hard way. As one who was always ten or fifteen minutes late for everything, I quickly learned that this was unacceptable in this country, and I’m glad I did. I hate waiting for people, so why make people wait for me? Still, although I have conquered punctuality, I can’t seem to achieve it without being in a hurry.

Even 4,000 miles away from the country in which I grew up, I can’t seem to rid my routine of this incessant need to rush, to cram everything I can into a day, or into an hour even. It seems as though I measure my success on how many things I can accomplish in one day.

The people I have met during my time in Munich seem to have noticed this. “It seems like you are always worrying about something. Do you ever truly relax?” they have said. And they’re right. I make to-do lists probably as often as I brush my teeth.

Not to say that Germans do not have goals to accomplish, they just accomplish them with an entirely different approach. The German couple I live with wakes up early in the morning, eats a nice breakfast together, reads the newspaper, and then heads off to work. In the morning, you can catch me scrambling out of bed, hastily getting ready for the day and then grabbing a granola bar as I dash out the door. It’s not even 9 a.m., and the way we have spent our morning differs greatly. Even on the commute to work, Germans use their time well. On my 50-minute train ride to work, I never seem to miss the sign onboard that reads “Endlich Zeit zum Lesen” (finally time to read). To me, this is just another way the German people really take advantage of the free time they are given, and it seems like they don’t waste one second. Similarly, when my host parents return home from work, they sit down for a dinner that almost always lasts longer than an hour, and then they relax by reading or watching their favorite television show, while I can usually be found in my room, sending E-mails or updating my blog.

It’s been said to me more than once here that Germans work hard, but they also play hard. While interning for Focus Magazin, it became apparent to me that while at work, Germans use their time to really work. They don’t dilly-dally on the Internet, they don’t take personal calls, they don’t chat incessantly to coworkers. And, they don’t bring their work home with them either. It seems as if they have figured out the ideal way to balance their professional life with their personal life, and this is an achievement I am eager to employ.

So many lessons have been learned during my time here that will stay with me forever. Even as I sit and write this article, I somehow cannot fathom how it is almost the end of my grant period, and that I will be leaving this wonderful country in one month. No matter how tightly one tries to hold on to something, the passing of time brings all things to an end. Yet if there is one overall lesson I have learned during my Fulbright year, it is to spend time like a German would: cherish every second of each opportunity, indulge in your free time and use your time wisely, not taking one moment for granted.

If I can’t bring all of Germany back with me, at least I can bring back a part of it within myself.

Social networking—the end of journalism?

So while reading The New York Times, I stumbled upon an extremely interesting and well-written (of course) story about the effect of social networking tools on countries with repressed mass media.

Here's the story.

While reading this I was hit with two major thoughts: One, it is amazing how far our technological innovations and new social networking tools have allowed for the free flow of information, even in countries where the government strives to limit information or even misinform their public. It's like the story says:

"... An Internet blogging service that did not exist four years ago has the potential to change history in an ancient Islamic country."

That hit me hard. These tools; Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, have changed the way information is shared all over the globe, forever. It can only grow from here. And it always astounds me how fast things progress. I mean, it took man millennia to perfect the wheel, and the Internet hasn't even been around for half a century! It boggles my mind... I can't even imagine what we'll be able to do in five, ten years. One, even.

Which brings me to the second thought I had while reading this article.

Are these social networking tools making journalism obsolete? I mean, if people worldwide can instantly share something with anyone and everyone with the click of a button, then what is the use of my job? It even stated in the article that "journalists were told on Tuesday that they could not cover protests without permission. The restrictions 'effectively confine journalists to their offices,' a spokesman for the BBC said."

So if people are in the middle of the action getting the story while a journalist is restricted to the bleachers... then what?

Oh me oh my... it really causes a journalist to break out in a bit of a sweat.

Well, to conclude, while I think this flow of information is ground-breaking and no-doubt critical for Iran, what's a journalist to do?

Thoughts?

Fishing Poles and Irish Spring

Today, when I stepped off the ALEX train at the Freising train station, a liter of Big Apple Apfelschorle in one hand and my black H & M jacket slung over the other, the blast of cool air in my face caused me to stop in my tracks. Just for a moment. I immediately thought to myself, “It smells like Grandpa.” And it did, exactly as if I had opened the back of his blue SUV—a mixture of fishing poles, Irish Spring and the Minot, North Dakotan air.

I think that is one of my favorite smells ever. I could have stood there for hours, just breathing in the breeze, letting all the people coming from the S-Bahns and the regional trains to sidetrack around me, almost certainly giving me a disapproving glare as they passed.

But I wouldn’t care—I had found the scent of my grandfather hiding in a place 4,670 miles away from the last place I had breathed it in.

And it was mine again.

Der Regen

I love the rain.

I love when you can feel it coming—when you just stand on your porch or your balcony or on the sidewalk and turn your face to the breeze, sensing the electricity in the air as you realize you are holding your breath in anticipation for the first drop to fall.

I love how it feels on your skin—how each following drop seems to be a different temperature than the last as they splatter on your forearms and give you the chills as they splash on the back of your neck. I love how the pavement’s breath seems to reach up toward the sky, as if begging it to again quench its thirst.


And of course, I love the smell of rain. It is no surprise that the rain here in Munich has a different scent than the rain of New Mexico. Here, the rain smells of the grit that you can feel and hear crunch under your feet as you walk atop the cobblestones; it smells of the flowers that beckon to the passersby from their shelves in front of the Blumen shops, and the earthy tones of soil and old wood, as if someone succeeded in bottling the essence of log cabin and added a drop or two to the mix.
The scent of New Mexican rain is one you can taste. The rain hangs heavy in the air, weighed down by the desert sand. Here, the drizzle is warm—the kind of rain shower that makes you take off your shoes, peel off your socks, roll up your jeans and bound outside to let the mini river that is swiftly coursing by the curb flow up and around your bare feet as it finds the fastest route downward. This rain causes waterfalls that last only for a few minutes, but if you are lucky enough to know where to go, you can be a witness to the cascading streams’ sporadic moments of fame.

It is not only my plan to compare the rains of Munich and New Mexico, but I intend to compare many things about the two vastly different places in my upcoming blogs. I think this will paint a better picture of my time over here and how my life in one location contrasts my life in another.

So please stay tuned…

May oder Mai (and April) in Munich oder München

Hello, hello...

Die Gedanken kreisen immer im Kopf, aber...

Recently I have been obsessed with rehashing every day I have spent here and figuring out EXACTLY what I did that day. And making as detailed a list as I can. Hmmm... I am not going to do that here, obviously, but it's odd... when I studied in Vienna during my last semester of college, I went home every night and documented the day's events; every single detail. And I did it without fail.

Now I have been trying to figure out why this studious day-documenting has for some reason not carried over to this year abroad in Munich. Perhaps it's because I feel like I am living here; I think I subconsiously feel like it's not temporary, that this is my life and therefore there is no real reason to remember every single detail. And maybe that's true. But the fact that I am mad at myself remains... I am mad at myself for several reasons.

My new thing is, however, that I will try my hardest not to dwell on things. That I will let things go. That I will not try to control the uncontrollable.

But. Blah blah blah. Yadda yadda ya. Wow, I really use this blog as my own diagnosis for my inner psychological workings, don't I?

Anyway... there is much to write. Another long blog entry ahead, kein apologies for not writing, it obviously does no good to even say I'm sorry for not writing, so why do it anymore. (P.S. I have been in the on-going process of writing this ONE entry since May 10. Yeah.)

First! An update...

So my last update told of my March wanderings, and now I will try my best to remember what I did in April.

The first weekend in April was celebrated by going out for my friend Hillary's birthday. It was a weekend filled with old friends meeting new friends that happen to live near Die Bank, followed by fun at the Hofbräuhaus and of course a Sunday trip to the English Gardens for a picnic. I love it because everytime we head to the gardens for a picnic, I think, "I need to get some mustard!!!" (Essential) So I buy a new tube of mustard every time, and thus have accumulated about four tubes... all somewhat used. Awesome.

The legendary trip to Nice took place over Easter weekend, and the "crew" (Me, Joshua, Tim, Michael, Viv and Hillary) rented a van (yesssss) and drove the so-called 8 hours to Nice, France. Well... we had a rough (or scratchy) start to say the least. :0 ) And it actually took us about 11 hours to get there, which none of us anticipated. BUT the trip was beyond awesome. Hillary drove all of us down there, bless her, and she also booked us the six-person apartment that had an ocean view. It took almost all of Friday to drive there (seriously Hillary is awesome), Saturday was spent wandering around Nice and checking out the night-time scene, and then on Sunday we took a train to Monoco to check out Monte Carlo. It is a very interesting city, to say the least, über clean and very strict about what you can and cannot do. (Even more so than Deutschland!) None of us did any gambling, but our eyes did glimpse many extremely nice cars and women who have had so much plastic surgery they seem to not walk correctly but there was nary a piece of trash in sight.

We stayed in Monte Carlo for dinner, and then we had a relaxing last night at the hotel, playing cards and such. Monday, Hillary drove us all back. This time, she was able to squeeze into the parking garage jusssssst perfectly. Hee hee. It's a fact though... their European garages are definitely not built for large van types. Ha ha ho ho.

The next weekend I made a SUPER spontaneous decision to go with one of my friends to Maastricht, Holland. The trip was all right; the town was very pretty. But there wasn't much to do. Although I had an ok time there, everything was ruined when on the way back to Munich on Tuesday, all of the trains to Köln were either late arriving to their destinations, or they didn't come at all. So I missed my flight. And in Germany, they won't just happily put you on to the next flight out. Nope. You have to buy a WHOLE new ticket. Gahhhhhh. I see red all over again just thinking about it. Basically, most expensive trip ever... and I really should not have gone...

But all was forgotten the next weekend, when I headed to Krakow, Poland to see my friend Anita, whom I had met at the Brussels conference. That trip was a blast! Our friend, Nikki, also from the seminar but who is stationed in Barcelona on her Fulbright, came for that weekend as well. She didn't want to do super touristy-stuff, so Saturday, Sunday and Monday were spent wandering around Krakow, enjoying the sites and laughing our heads off. Krakow was also super cheap. I think it was something like 4 or 5 zloty to 1 Euro. Aweeeesome!!!


Nikki had to leave super early on Tuesday morning, and then Anita and I went to see Auschwitz. What can one really say about that... it hits you hard, and I definitely left the infamous concentration camp with low spirits, a sick stomach and the baffled thoughts of how something like that could have happened weighing down my mind.

Then, I had to leave at 4:30 in the morning in order to make it to my flight on time, but it actually wasn't too bad... except for the whole no sleep thing. And THEN, wouldn't you know it, I arrived back in Munich and only had a 5 euro bill with me, decided I really didn't want to go to the Geldautomat for more, and ended up buying the Außenraum ticket instead of the Gesamtnetz ticket that one needs to get back into town from the airport. It was the ONLY time I rode without the exact ticket I needed. So I had to outer region ticket, PLUS my monthly card which included the inner three rings, and I was only missing one ring. The fourth ring. Never had I been checked before and GUESS which ring they decide to check me in. Yup. Boom. 40 euro fine.

I hate Murphy's law. I really do.

Boooo so that REALLY was lame. Seems the universe always tries to put a damper on my trips... Well, the next weekend in Munich was one of the worst I have had. The ʺcrewʺ had invited me on a trip to the Schwarzwald, but because I was sleeping all day that day (hadn't slept a wink the night before I left Krakow... 4 a.m., are you kidding me?), I didn't get the invite until that night. Which apparently was too late, as the car they were renting had filled up. So the five of them went to Freiburg without me, and instead I was left to a) be abandoned by my friends at a birthday party and left with a guy who made me fall on an escalator, b) be called a really-not-nice-name by a girl who I thought was my friend and c) wallow in my stupid attitude. (It's really wasn't that bad looking back on it, but still not a great weekend.)

BUT, I did get an e-mail from a guy at The Interview People, which is a press agency is Freising, while I was in Krakow. And I had an interview with them on May 6, and began an internship with them on Monday the 11th. So far, it's been a really great experience. They are mainly an entertainment-focused press agency, so they have a huge pool of clients that come to them for specialized content. So what I do is translate interviews from German to English (so far I have done ones with Jarvis Cocker, Miley Cyrus, Audrey Tautou and I have transcribed audio interviews with Jim Carrey, Willem Dafoe, Quentin Tarantino, etc.) My job is also to read through interviews and write synopses for the Web site, as well as picking out quotes to highlight the main idea of the interview. I like it, it's pretty cool. And because I am a big fan of music and movies, it also alerts me to new stuff that is being released, which is always a plus.

www.theinterviewpeople.com

So I have a regular work schedule again. Well, I did.

I have had this cough thing ever since I went to Holland, and have not gone to the doctor... because I am not a very big fan of the doctors here, and I thought it would clear up on its own, but alas, it turned into something not good over the weekend of the 22nd. I called in sick from work on Friday and again on Monday, and when I went back to work Tuesday, feeling fine but still showing remnants of my cough and a stuffy nose, I was sent home. And also told not to come until I was 100 percent healthy.

Never before have I had a job where they got mad at me for coming into work when I wasn't completely healthy. I explained it was due to the American work-work-work mentality, but Matthias, my boss, explained to ME that Germany was different. And that I was no good to them sick. I see his point, but it is still very odd...

SO I am starting work back up tomorrow. I tried to go in yet again today, but Matthias thought it best to give me one more day to be completely sure. It is so foreign to me I find it kind of funny.


Ok wrapping up; this is pretty much a novel. Before I got sick, Leanne (my college roomie) and her boyfriend Jon came to visit me for four days over the May 15th weekend. It was TOLL and we did all the major touristy stuff, including Neuschwanstein. I loved seeing her! I hadn't seen her since November, when I went to London to visit.

It is awesome when people come to Munich and I get to show off this magnigicent city.

My sister and my uncle Mike are coming for ten days soon!!! So I will be sure to write about that.

BUT, I am honestly, seriously, totally going to try and write SOMETHING every day. Even if it is just a paragraph. I will do it!!!! I will!!!!

So dann, bis Morgen!

The Discovery

Once there was a girl who loved to write. She loved to relate stories about her life to others. And although this was her passion, she lately found herself unable to find the time she needed to devote herself to what she loved.

"Why is this happening?" she would wonder. She could think of several things to blame for the departure from her duties. First of all, she had been traveling a lot these past few months, and because it was too much of a hassle, she had decided not to bring her trusty laptop along. Secondly, when she did find the time to settle down in front of her luminescent computer screen, completing other tedious tasks, like balancing financial accounts, applying for jobs and keeping up with Facebook (shameful, but true) would take precedent. Finally, Bavarian weather (despite today) had been gorgeous the past couple of weeks. And she had a bike. And an iPod. And she lived approximately two minutes away from Munich's English Garden. This particular girl also loved to be outside... almost as much as she loved to write.

"This has to stop!" she said to herself. "If I am going to be a writer, which is what I know I want to do, then I have to concentrate on bettering myself and I must stay focused!"

The girl paced back and forth in her room, pondering her situation much harder than she had before. The realization that it was almost May, and that she only had about THREE months left in this beloved city, had really started to sink in... and this weighed on her more than anything. She couldn't see a solution on how she could stay. It was hard enough for a German citizen to find a job in the current economic climate, so an American (who is technically near the bottom of the job-finding food chain, following all of the EU citizens who didn't have to find a job that would also sponsor a visa), would have even tougher luck. And she had been trying. Conflicted between acquiring a job just to stay in Germany or finding one that would help her career back home, the girl was utterly confused. What did she really want. And how was she going to get it.

That night, whilst asleep in her bed, the girl found her answer. Eyelids fluttering and breath slowing, her mind started to churn out the answers for which she was looking.

"You are the kind of person that can be happy in a number of places," the voice inside her mind said. "Your life has been blessed and it will continue to be."

"You can only do what you can do," it continued. "You will always have regrets. You will always make mistakes. But this is how you learn. This is how you grow. There is nothing else you can do but keep trying and see where life will take you next."

When she woke up, the girl realized that this was the attitude she had lost. Instead of counting the days before getting on a plane and departing this city she loves, not knowing when or if she'll come back, she should just be grateful for every single day that she got to experience this. How many people get to live in Germany for a year, on a Fulbright grant, basically just being able to discover themselves and find out what they want out of life?

"You're not quite there yet..." she thought.

But she was on her way...

She had so many things to be thankful for already in this life: her family, her friends, her mother's calm advice and words of wisdom, the opportunities given to her, all of the things she'd been able to experience.

The time she had spent in Munich thus far had been absolutely wonderful, albeit nothing like she thought it would be. This city had given her a new outlook on international culture, new understanding to how and why people in other countries lived their lives and it had acted as a gateway to exploring other new and exciting places. It had also introduced her to people she knows will be life-long friends, and helped her make what she knows will be very useful contacts in the future.

No, she probably won't be leaving Munich with a job offer to return a few months later and work for a German newspaper/magazine. She probably won't stay and teach English at a school. She probably won't be able to come back to this magical city for quite some time.

But hey, life hasn't really led me astray as of yet, and I have faith in where it will take me this time. And I can't wait to see what it has in store.

Everything happens for a reason.