Airplanes: the Good and the Bad

Ah, planes. I'm really thankful for them. They make it so much easier to travel to places that are very far away from wherever you are at the moment. I think back to the days when people had to take trains and ships, and then I think back even farther to the days when people had to take horse-drawn carts and wooden boats, and I realize that I live in a pretty good time period for far-away traveling.

Or do I?

Plane tickets are EXPENSIVE. I feel like I have to give one arm in order to be admitted on a plane, and if we're talking first class then I would probably have to give up my firstborn child. For real. It's a lot of money. At least, it is for me, as a student with loans and a minimum wage part-time job. I'm doing this all on my own, and the financial part is hard. I'm just thankful I can afford a ticket at all.

In order to afford this ticket and still be able to pay for other necessities in life, I had to search around for deals. The first site I went to was Skyscanner. I highly recommend this site. It continually has some of the lowest air fares that I've ever seen. Other sites I went to were Kayak and Hipmunk. All of them gave me good airfare options, but they were still quite expensive. I was searching for the deal. You know, that elusive, once-in-a-lifetime ticket that is unbelievably cheap yet still gets you to your destination on an actual passenger flight? Maybe I was foolish in thinking I would find this deal, but I held out anyway because I was very determined to spend as little as possible on my ticket so I would have as much extra money as possible for getting what I will need when I'm actually in Germany.

And wouldn't you know it, a friend of mine told me about STA travel. It's a business that caters directly to students, teachers, and young adults. I knew that I wouldn't be a student by the time I went to Germany, but I was under 26, which qualified me for their special rates. And boy, did they have special rates! Seriously, the flights here were way cheaper than anything I saw on the other websites.

Then I found it. That once-in-a-lifetime ticket that was unbelievably cheap yet still involved a real passenger airplane. It was a one-way ticket to Düsseldorf that cost me a good $200+ less than any other flight that I'd looked at. So I snatched it up. And now I have a flight booked to Germany for insanely cheap (well, that's pretty relative, but for one-way airfare it's insanely cheap!). Side note: for some reason, it is much cheaper to fly into Düsseldorf or Berlin that it is to fly into any other airport, with Frankfurt coming in close behind. Just a trend I noticed.

The catch is that this flight has a 10 hour layover, which brings my total traveling time to about 24 hours. Yeah, it's not the best situation, but who cares??? I got an amazing deal!!! I am very willing to spend 10 hours at an airport if that means I pay a lot less for my ticket. Besides, I saw tickets that were way more expensive that also had long layovers. And on the bright side, it will be next to impossible for me to miss my connecting flight, with all the spare time I have :)

So it's official. I'm going to Germany. I can't wait!

Köln

I'm back from the dead! My thesis is fully formed now, but still needs a lot of editing. Thankfully I can take a bit of a breather from it now!

I am so excited to live in Germany, especially the area of Germany that I am going to: Cologne! Or Köln, as it's also called. I have always wanted to go to Cologne. Not only does it look like a beautiful city, but it is full of history, the people are supposedly very open and friendly, and it is home to the UNESCO world heritage site, the Kölner Dom (Cologne Cathedral). There's a lot more to it than just this, though, as I am slowly finding out. Every time I learn something new about this awesome city, it makes me even more excited to live there. Here are some of the long list of things I want to do in Cologne, which I'm sure it will keep growing the more I learn:

1. Karneval

Rio may be well known for its tropical and festive Carnival season, but apparently Cologne has one of the largest Carnival celebrations in the world. The whole city parties all day, every day, for a good week, and EVERYONE dresses up. It's like the German version of Halloween! And I love Halloween. Mostly because you get to dress up, and I love dressing up. I will definitely be having fun this coming Karneval season!

2. Rhine River

Cologne is situated right on the Rhine River. The river actually runs directly through the city. I find this supremely awesome. I LOVE cities on the water, whether they be on a river or on the ocean. And areas just south of Cologne on the Rhine are known for their wine and beautiful scenery. And I love wine. So not only will I be living along a river (seriously am in love with that), but I will be >thisclose< to some amazing wine country. Adding to that, this particular area is the home of the Riesling, and Rieslings are one of my favorite kinds of wine. I am going to be in heaven.

3. Kölsch 

Cologne has its own kind of beer called Kölsch. While I'm more of a wine person than a beer person, I do enjoy one every now and then, and I am very interested in trying something so iconic to Cologne!

4. Christmas Markets

These can generally be found in all of Germany, but I'm still really excited to go to one when I'm in Cologne! They look so adorable and fun! I went to one when I was in London, and while it was obviously not a real German Christmas Market, it was still pretty cool, and I can only imagine how great a real one would be.

5. Kölner Dom

So I've known about this site for a while, since I've wanted to visit it for a very long time, but I couldn't not include it! It is amazingly beautiful. And old. And I'm quite simply a huge sucker for old religious buildings, particularly cathedrals. This will definitely be a highlight. I want to climb all the way to the top!

6. Architecture

This is not a specific thing or spot, but just generally the architecture of the city. I found out that Cologne was almost completely leveled during World War II (so sad!), but some old buildings (like the cathedral, thank goodness) survived. As a result, the city is a beautiful mix of historic German architecture and modern architecture. I find the juxtaposition between old and new particularly fascinating in architecture, so I'm excited to explore all of the beautiful buildings that I come across!

7. Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum

Well, that was a mouthful! I am slowly getting used to German, but it's a process. Basically this translates to the...wait for it...Imhoff Chocolate Musuem!!! I'm not even kidding, there is a chocolate museum!!! This city was made for me, I swear. I love chocolate. Soooo much. This is a must-see. I will probably visit at least once a week and get fat.

8. Römisch-Germanisches Museum

Cologne was originally a Roman settlement a very, very long time ago (yet another super awesome thing about Cologne). This museum has a large collection of Roman artifacts found in and around Cologne. It is definitely something I must see at least once!

9. Kolumba Museum

This museum apparently has a really cool mix of ancient religious and modern secular art, which sounds extremely interesting. Plus, it has views of the cathedral. Definitely visiting.

10. Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum

This museum is all about touching everything, which is an amazing concept. It focuses on cultural diversity as well, which is yet another thing to love about Cologne. So excited to visit. Plus, right next door is an old Romanesque church that now houses a small museum of Medieval Christian art. Totally up my alley!

11. Wallraf-Richartz Museum

This is one of the biggest museums in Cologne, with an extensive collection from the 13th century to the present day, which means I am pretty much obligated to explore the whole place. I am an art history major, after all!

12. Cologne Zoological Garden

This is one of the oldest zoos in Germany. Normally I'm not a huge fan of zoos because of animal confinement and treatment, but I think its nice that this zoo puts animals in their natural habitat.

13. Claudius Therme

Natural mineral thermal bath spa. 'Nuff said.

14. Klosterkirche Groß Sankt Martin

Aka Great Saint Martin Church. Another cathedral, yay! This one was mostly destroyed in World War II, but it has since been restored. So yeah, definitely going.

15. Padlocks of Love

Probably not the official name, but that's ok! I've been noticing that many areas around the world have a setup like this now. I know there is one in Paris and one in the Yellow Mountains in China. This one is located next to the Hohenzollern Bridge on the Rhine. Basically, you get a padlock and engrave it with your name and your lover's name, and then you lock it to this fence that has a bazillion such padlocks on it and throw the key in the river. And then your love will last forever! Aww. It's pretty cute. I have to check it out just to say I went. And hey, if things continue to go well with the guy I'm seeing, maybe we'll do one of our own :)

Well, that's all I have for now. Gosh I'm so excited just looking at this list. I don't know how I'll manage to leave Cologne with all of the cool things to do. I was planning on at least traveling to Paris and other areas of Germany, but there is so much to do in Cologne alone! Ha, that rhymed. 

My goal is to do all of these things (at least!), and report back once I've experienced them. With pictures, too!

Abstract

Since I won't have time to write for a while, I thought I would post my abstract for my thesis. Still in the process of finishing the complete rough draft. I have a little over 8 thousand words so far, but I need at least 10 thousand, and what I do have is in need of heavy editing. I have until Wednesday. At least I really like my topic, or else I would be hating life right now. It will be worth it once this is all over and done with though: not only will I have completed a research thesis of a significant length, but I will have an excellent writing sample for grad school and a great feeling of accomplishment. Can't wait 'til it's done!!! 

Abstract:

Veronica Franco and the Enigma of Female Portraiture in Renaissance Venice

Despite the prolific nature of artists during the Venetian Renaissance, there are nearly no definitive examples of female portraits from this time available to modern-day scholars. While this problem has been acknowledge by the scholarly community, it has never been examined in and of itself. It is time to not merely acknowledge the problem, but directly address it. In order to fully understand this phenomenon, it is necessary to examine other examples of female images and portraits from this period. Paolo Veronese’s portrait of Laura Da Pola, Titian’s Flora, and his portrait of Caterina Cornaro serve as primary examples of women in Venetian Renaissance painting. Together, traditional Italian female portraiture, idealized images of women, and allegorical portraiture combine to both contextualize and influence Jacopo Tintoretto’s portrait of Veronica Franco. One of the few identifiable Venetian portraits, this painting provides unique insight into the fluid nature of female portraiture in Venice during its Renaissance. It is this very fluidity of the female image that is the key to the problematic nature of female Venetian portraiture of the 16th century. With such conflicting roles being dealt with in one genre, it becomes difficult to determine after the fact which paintings of women are indeed portraits, especially when documentation is scant. It is therefore possible that there are more Venetian female portraits in existence than previously thought; we are simply not able to identify them as such, thanks in part to the many roles reflected in female portraiture.

I present my research on May 18, and I'm pretty nervous. At least I have a lot of time to prepare!

How I Became an Au Pair

Or really, how I am becoming an au pair (because I'm not actually there yet, sadly. Gotta graduate first!).

1) I researched what the best websites were for connecting families with au pairs.

I ultimately decided not to go with an agency because, while it is a secure option, I didn't want to have to pay a fee to join an agency and I wanted to be able to choose my own family. I have a pretty good gut instinct when it comes to people, and I wanted to make sure that I had more control over who I would be living with.

Over all of the options that I came across in my search, I ended up going with the website Great AuPair, which I highly recommend. It is super easy to use, is recommended by many different sources as a good self-serve website, and you can do pretty detailed searches when looking for families. I like that you can favorite families and they can favorite you back so you know who is interested, and vice-versa.

2) I figured out where I wanted to be an au pair and created a profile.

You can literally be an au pair anywhere in the world. As someone who has a very small list of places that I don't want to visit, narrowing down the areas where I want to work was difficult at first. I knew I wanted to live in Europe for sure, so at least I could narrow down the continent. Narrowing down the countries was the real challenge.

I speak French passably well, so I figured France would be a natural choice in the beginning. But I didn't want to limit my options, so I opened myself up to other areas as well. I know that for grad school, I will have to know two languages in addition to English, and German is highly desirable in my field, so Germany became a top contender as well. And I have always wanted to visit Italy, so I figured that country into my search as a minor option. As a bonus, all of these countries figure into my ethnic heritage, so I would be exploring my (long past) roots no matter where I went. So France, Germany, and Italy became my countries of preference on my profile.

In the end, I focused on Germany because the best families that expressed mutual interest were German families. This ended up working out really well for me because not only will I be learning a third language (so cool!) that is directly applicable to my future career, but the family that I will be working for also speaks French and Dutch (in addition to English and German), so I will have the opportunity to work on my French and possibly learn a bit of Dutch as well. Germany is also pretty centrally located in Europe, so I could travel nearly anywhere in Europe fairly easily and cheaply from my location. As an added bonus, the guy I am seeing lives in Germany, and the closer proximity makes me a very happy woman!

As far as the profile went, I just presented myself honestly and enthusiastically. I really want to get along with my host family, so it was important to me that we are truly compatible. The process was a bit long, but fairly easy.

3) I found a family that I am excited to join.

Finding a family is the hardest part, though it's definitely worth it. It involves a lot of back-and-forth communication, exploration, and thought. I went through families that I ultimately decided against and narrowed it down to a few families in Germany and one in France. When I video chatted with the family I will be staying with, however, I knew that I had found exactly what I was looking for. Thankfully they felt the same way!

I am so excited to meet and get to know my host family. They seem so warm and friendly, and I have a good feeling about them. And, like I said, I tend to be right about my gut feelings. It will definitely be a big change from living with my family in the US, but I'm up for the challenge and I know that I will really enjoy myself and have a great time with my host family. I'm actually really excited about hanging out with the kids, too. They seem super cute and fun, I can tell we are going to have a great time together! I'm currently trying to find them small presents that I can bring with me from California. I want to make a good first impression after all! And I love giving people gifts.

I know I will miss my family back home, though. I'll be gone for nearly a year, and the longest I've been away from home is two weeks. Despite our differences, I really do love them and they love me. The excitement and joy with living in a new place will keep me pretty occupied though, and I'll be able to video chat with them, which will definitely make me feel better. Thankfully, while they will miss me too, they are all very supportive of my decision, so I think I'll be leaving in a good place with them. Now I just have to finish my thesis and graduate so that I can focus on getting to Germany! I probably won't be able to write for about a week because of thesis work actually, but I'll be back soon!

On Bravery and Traveling

This is the single most common comment that I received when I told people that I was traveling to London on my own, and that I am getting again when I tell people that I am moving to Germany for a year to be an au pair:

"You are so brave!"

I was always confused when I heard this, no matter how often I was told this. Who, me? Brave? Pshhh.

I've never considered myself to be a particularly brave person. I am scared of spiders and most other bugs. I am not too fond of the dark. I am startled by sudden, loud noises. I cannot watch any horror or scary movie, no matter how "light" it might be, without completely freaking out. I had a panic attack in a haunted house and had to be escorted out by the workers. I started sobbing before I even walked into Knott's Scary Farm, just from anticipating the horror before me. I probably shouldn't even be admitting any of this because now anyone reading this will think I am a total wimp.

So of course, hearing myself being described as "brave" just didn't make any sense in my mind. Not only did it not make sense because I don't consider myself particularly brave, but it didn't make sense because nothing about traveling on my own genuinely scared me. I was simply not at all scared to go. Excited, yes. Over the moon, yes. But scared? Worried? Anxious? Not at all. Of course, there are things you have to consider and be careful about when you are a woman traveling alone, but I wasn't actively afraid for my well-being. How could I be brave in traveling alone, in going on a genuine adventure, if I was not at all scared to do so?

But then I thought about it for a very long time, and I recently came to a realization. I had been viewing "brave" and "scared" from only one lens.

There are many different kinds of brave. I may not be brave when it comes to the little things, like spiders crawling by my feet, or being alone in the dark, or a moment of horror in a movie. But I realized that I am a lot stronger, and a lot braver, than I give myself credit for though. See, when it comes to embracing life's adventures, and standing up for the ideas and people I love, and being comfortable with who I am, I am strong. I am brave.

And then I realized that those who told me I was brave most likely did not feel this way about themselves. They are scared to do what I had done, what I am doing, and because of this they find me brave. And I find that to be tragically sad. People should not be afraid to go after what they have always wanted in life. They should not be afraid to be themselves, and to live authentically. And yet so, so many people in this world are. Now, that is truly scary.

I hope that more people discover that they really are brave, and that they too can do what they never thought they could do before. I know I am still in the process of discovering this myself. And if we all discover, together, that we are capable of far more than we thought possible, then perhaps that realized potential will make this world a little bit better.

London Calling

Ah, London. I had the very good fortune of going to London this past winter to do research for my thesis. It is what ultimately sparked my deep desire to travel, though I've always known that I would love it once I started. Yes, this was my first trip abroad!

Well, that's not entirely truthful. I've been to Mexico. But still.

London really is something else. I can't believe that I almost didn't go! It's all thanks to my thesis advisor, really. I had a meeting with her and we were discussing my application for undergraduate funding at my school, and she said that I should try and get money for travel so I could see the works of art I was writing about. She suggested London (surprisingly, since my thesis is on female Venetian portraiture). I hemmed and hawed. Wouldn't that be expensive?? They would never give me the money. There is no way they would take me, an undergrad, seriously enough to give me travel funds. 

Basically, I just gave tons of excuses. But she ultimately persuaded me to at least try. What's the harm, right? Right. And guess what?

They gave me travel funds.

And then I worked my butt off to fund the rest of the trip. But it was sooooo worth it. I can't believe that I almost didn't apply for the travel funding, and I cannot emphasize how much this trip changed my life, in more ways than one. I finally discovered the joys of traveling to a foreign country. I got to see my good friend from England, who I hadn't seen in 6 months, and establish an even deeper connection with her. I gained a new perspective on life. I experienced traveling by myself, and how freeing and wonderful it is. I gained more confidence in myself and my abilities.

I even found romance, in a way that you would only expect to see in movies. It was ridiculous and amazing at the same time, and I'm happy to stay that it's still going. You always find the greatest things when you least expect them and are not at all looking for them.

And now I shall post pictures, because who doesn't love looking at pictures of amazing places??

View from my hotel after waking up from a jetlag-induced coma. My first official morning in London!

The iconic red telephone booths.

The National Gallery, which houses a lovely collection of Venetian Renaissance paintings that I was studying. 

St. Martin-in-the-Fields, shortly before meeting an amazing person. 

Big Ben! 

Me in front of Buckingham Palace! 

View of the Thames. 

The London Eye on New Years' Eve. New Years is extremely fun in London, my friend and I didn't end up watching the fireworks show but we DID end up dancing the night away! 

St. Pancras. Goodbye London :(

Oh the places you'll go...

I am embarking on an amazing adventure this summer, and I am so incredibly excited that it is starting to affect my school work. Who can focus on thesis writing when they are going to live in another country after they graduate??? Not me. Nope.

So, backing it up, a few months ago I was thinking about graduation and what I should do with myself once I finished my bachelor's degree. I knew that I wanted to take a year off before heading to grad school. As much as I love school, I am WAY burnt out right now and I need a break. But what to do with that whole year before going back to higher education?

I thought about working full-time and saving money. It's the responsible choice I suppose. I already have a part-time job which could potentially turn into a full-time position after graduation. But then I thought about it more and realized that whatever job I got would most definitely not be in the field I want, and on top of that I would most likely not make that much and still have to live at home. Now, I love my family, don't get me wrong, but I've been living with them for 22 years. As an independent soul, this has killed me over the years. On top of that, I do not have the same values as my family, which makes home life very complicated and stressful. I don't think I could handle much more of this, especially as an adult with a job.

So I started exploring other options. Ever since I traveled to London (which deserves a whole bunch of other posts on its own!), I've had the worst case of travel bug. I knew I had to get back to Europe as soon as possible. I looked into working abroad programs through my university, but ultimately I would have had to pay first to join the programs, and then pay more for airfare, lodging, living costs, all that fun stuff, on top of having a meager payday. This is just not financially feasible for me right now. But that didn't deter me! I knew there had to be some other way to travel that would actually work for me.

Then I remembered hearing about au pair work. I hadn't seriously considered it before, since I wanted to do "real" work and use my education. But then I realized the value of living with a native family in another country, and I thought that if I could find the right family, the experience would be very much worth it. Plus, it seemed like the easiest way as a young, broke woman to get a full cultural experience in another country. I researched the different options for finding au pair work, picked the option that fit me best, and then actually found an amazing family who I'm really excited to work with.

So in short...I'm moving to Germany!!! I can't believe this is happening, and I am beyond stoked about this entire situation. I'll post more details about how I found my job and what led me to choose Germany later on, but first I wanted to share the good news :)

Now I have to at least pretend that I'm working on my thesis so I can actually graduate and get to Germany. Til next time!