Oh look, I'm in Soest. This just keeps happening...

Good Evening All,

To start off, I would like to state that until further notice I will not be posting pictures until I get home.
Maily because the laptop I'm using does not have a slot for my camera card. How dare it.
I will try and upload some phone photos later, but wish me luck on that one, because my phone seems to have a differing opinion.

Not a lot has gone on in my world today.

I left Berlin bright and early. Checked out of the hostel by 8, and on the train to Hamm by 9:30.
This is a pretty impressive feat considering it only took two alarms to wake me this morning. And I didn't grab coffee until the main train station. It's okay, no one was injured. :)

The train ride to Hamm was uneventful, and so was the connecting one to Soest. As far as I'm concerned, uneventful train rides are good train rides.
I would also like to mention that I had the most delicious Donair in Hamm. Really, i was quite impressed. I gobbled that thing up in no time!

Once I arrived in Soest, I met with my Aunt Margret and Aunt Suzanne at the train station and was then taken to Suzanne and Peter's house, where I am staying. It's very nice of them, and I even get my own bed in a room to myself! This will be a nice change from the rest of my trip which involves hostel dorm rooms.

(In all reality I'm actually fond of the hostel dorm rooms, until it starts smelling like boy. Because boys thus far, have proven smelly, and it's mainly all that axe crap they use. One guy literally used a whole four seconds of spraying to put his on! So I left the room, lol, silly boys.)

We enjoyed coffee and cake in the backyard/garden shortly after I got here, which made me feel very spoiled. It's much like coming home, as it's the same type of strawberry sponge cake (I'm really guessing, I have no idea what cakes are which because I can't bake. They are all yummy!), every time I am here.

Peter and Suzanne's backyard is a little haven in a fairly suburban area (European suburban, much more tightly packed in and much smaller houses). Instead of putting up a big fence to block out the neighbours, they used a variety of shrubs, bushes and planters to make a gorgeous little space for themselves.

Much of the rest of the day was spent relaxing in the garden, reading and enjoying the sun. It was thirty degrees out today, which was extremely wonderful. It may rain for a bit here tonight and tomorrow but should be gone by Wednesday.

Tomorrow promises to be filled with lots of visiting everyone, and I'm quite excited to see them all again. Most likely won't be my last time, but I still like to make sure I see everyone before I leave again.

So that is all I have for an update for you tonight. Nothing too exciting. Just that you should all be very jealous of the awesome time I'm having. Lucky for you I'm willing to share. :) (Kidding I enjoy letting you all in on my adventures!)

Peace&Love
Chow

Berlin: Day 3

To start this off, I would like to say, my feet hurt.

It's alright though, because there's good cause for it. Today was my day to see the city, and see the city I did.

My way of seeing cities is usually me wandering around with no plan and getting lost. So far it's worked out amazingly.

I saw some buildings towering over the city, hopped off at the closest train station and wandered in that general direction. I ended up wandering around for the better part of five hours (see why my feet hurt? and on cobblestone too!).

I started my wandering at the Brandenburg Gate. Just so happened to be my lucky day, as Green Peace was having a demonstration. Their message today was "Jeder Tag ATOMKRAFT ist einer zu viel", or "Germany says NO to Nuclear Power". They had a huge sign with protestors hanging off of it (well harnessed to it anyway), they had protestors on top of the gate, and on the ground with more signs.

After taking many pictures of that I continued on my stroll and took pictures of any architecturally cool thing I could see. Mainly old buildings. :) A lot of churches and whatnot. All in all, I love all the figurines and everything they have on them. I also saw a building that is 200 years old. It wasn't even a special building, just an everyday building. Made me smile to think that Alberta itself isn't even that old.

Brings me to one of the great reasons I keep coming back here. The history. Europe is old. America is not. It's that simple. We have no great old buildings that have seen wars, famines, victories, and everything in between. Sure Canada does have some history, the settlers, and the battles between them. But nothing compared to what has happened here.

Anyway, on with my day. So basically, I wandered around, got fairly lost, as in I had no idea the direction I was even headed anymore, and just kept on walking. Eventually though the heat got to me, (yes it's that hot, I'm sure if I look in a mirror my face will be tomato red, but I don't think I'm going to), so I turned home. Well after I figured out where I was and stumbled across a train station I went back, because that took some time.

So I had a great day. Yesterday also was a pretty wonderful time, as I got to do some shopping. The weather wasn't quite as nice so after buying myself a new shoulder bag (the strap was falling off mine) at a farmers market (Hackescher Markt) I went and did some real shopping in a big, huge mall. It had four floors, it was pretty exciting.

That was pretty much my yesterday except going back to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) to reserve seats on some Italian trains. Apparently Italy, France, and Spain require you to reserve your seats. And because of changing timetables I had to wait until I arrived here to reserve most of them. And I still only have just over half reserved. I'm not completely sure why, but the lady working at the ticket office spoke less English than I did German. But I got three of them done so not all bad. I'll do the others in Munich I think.

Also while entering the Hauptbahnhof I may not have been paying attention and almost fallen down the stairs. Quite noticeably might have almost fallen down the stairs. But for those of you who've witnessed me walking a few times, you will realize I have A LOT of practice in stumbling, and oh so gracefully saved myself and continued on my way as if nothing happened.

Well that's about all I can tell you up until now. Tomorrow I move on to Soest bright and early. I'm not sure what my internet situation will be like there as it is a much smaller city (I do love it so), for those of you wondering where it is, it's about an hour from Dusseldorf.

(Just as a side note, since I haven't heard anyone speaking English as a first language in awhile my English is not so great anymore. I keep wanting to through in a lot of random German words, and my grammar is getting fuzzy. The good news is though, I ordered my entire lunch in German today! I'm learning. I may be screwed though when travelling elsewhere. Just saying.)

Until next time!

Peace&Love
Chow

In Berlin!

Hey all.

So after many adentures yesterday I made it to Berlin safe and sound, and to the hostel with only slight troubles in finding the right train. It's not my fault, they make it difficult.
Yesterday I stayed outside and enjoyed the sunshine for much of it. I ended burning my arms, shoulders and face a little. Of course my legs stayed white. I don't know why I'm shocked this happened.
It happens every year.

Then while at a cafe, drinking a beer (which I ordered in German! Look at me go), reading Dracula on my ebook, I ended up talking to another journalist. Originally he's from Palestine, but has lived in Germany for thrity years. We talked about a great many thing for a few hours.

Then later that night, after a relaxing afternoon and lots of window shopping, I met some people at the hostel bar and danced, bar hopped and drank my night away.
It's quite easy to lose track of time when bars stay open all night, so I didn't make it back to the hostel until six a.m.
That's alright because I was able to enjoy a freshly backed croissant while the sun came up.
I love the bakery's over here. They are everywhere! Not even joking.

Anyway, after passing out for three whole hours, I checked out of the hostel and made my way to the main train station in Hamburg. Now that I've used it a few times it's becoming surprisingly easy to navigate.

Once comfortably seated on the train, in excellent seats that had two seats facing two seats with a table in between, I stretched a bit and was quite excited for my next bit of the journey. Everytime I get on a train or plane I become very excited, one of my favourite parts of travelling.
I was then joined by an elderly couple as they decided to sit across from me and then give me no leg room (at all, my legs were tucked under my seat the whole time) and give me stares of haughty indifference. It was like they knew I existed, didn't really care to aknowledge it though.
Oh well, they chose to sit there.

Once making it to the Berlin main station, it took some time to find a train to the hostel. The station is absolutely massive! It has five or six different floors that all lead to some mode of transportation, be it taxi's, the U lines, the S lines, or the ICE trains. Just amazing. I did get pictures for those of you wondering, and I know you are.

So after a small issue that was easily resolved after finding a map (it was hiding), I made it to the hostel with ease. And then I showered and passed out.

Anyway, tomorrow it will be time to check out Berlin, lots of wandering to be done here.
I will probably be going to check out the Brandenburg gate, I saw it last time, but I would definitely like to see it again.

I'm off to bed now, becaue it's closing in on two a.m. over here.

Peace&Love
Chow

Back in Germany Baby!

It has been, well, probably a month since my last update.
I'm blaming that on the fact that I've graduated :),
been working full-time (yes full-time you non-believers, I was not sitting around doing nothing all day and you know it!)
and I was planning my glorious trip of the year.

Speaking of such, here I am again back in Germany, and no ones surprised I'm back.
Already it is clear I am a foreigner. Not because of my lack of German speaking, but because I'm wearing shorts. At 8 a.m. And I'm the only one. I don't even have goosebumps!

The travelling over here was pretty easy. The only issue was the severe lack of sleep, that made me start passing out in the Brussels airport. Thanks to the volcanoe, I was stuck there for about seven hours instead of the quick 50 minute change over I thought it was going to be.
Funny, I wasn't aware until I arrived in Brussels, went through customs, and the guard told me the Hamburg airport was closed. He thought it was funny.
The guard was right, my plane was cancelled, so I switched to the next flight.
Which also was cancelled after being delayed. Good thing they have a flight to Hamburg every few hours.
Finally, after switching flights again, I boarded the plane to Hamburg. I would've cheered out loud but everyone else seemed pretty grumpy so I just cheered quietly inside my head.

Once in Hamburg it took no time to grab my backpack, hop on the train (I love taking the train, this is the only transit system I'm familiar with), and find my hostel.
And by this time I was wide awake. After almost 24 hours of travelling in which I had two short naps, I was surprisingly alert. And by that I mean ridiculously overtired. So I made myself go to bed. At eight p.m. :)

All in all, good trip though. I had the best luck of having an open seat beside me on every flight, so on the first two I was actually able to stretch out. Not that I take up a lot of room anyway so it was pretty awesome.
I noticed there seemed to be quite a few open seats on all the flights. Almost every other time I've gone, planes have been packed, so I'm wondering if flying is really starting to become too expensive, or if it's just a passing trend because of the economy, fuel prices, volcanoes, and airline issues. Either way, I enjoyed the comfort of it. (Still a little jealous of those lucky ducks with footrests in first class though. Reclining footrest chairs!)

Now it's 9 a.m., and I've already showered (which felt amazing, by the way, being clean is quite nice), and walked to get breakfast and coffee.
Everyone be shocked and amazed.
So now I think I'm going to check out the city and enjoy the nice weather, and get stared at for enjoying said nice weather. Apparently they think it's cold.
I will try to keep updating, and I will try to keep it interesting, because I know how you like to be entertained.

Peace&Love

Chow

"Hey now, you're an Allstar"

Good Evening All,

I opened my facebook page tonight and noticed a poll being done by InStyle Magazine:
Do or Don't buy clothes one size too small hoping they will motivate you to lose weight?
http://www.facebook.com/InStyle?v=app_68682102181
I voted Don't.
Personally this is not an issue I've really had to deal with, but for those looking for motivation to lose weight I do not believe this is a healthy way to get motivated.

I think it's better to buy clothes that fit now and make you feel good, instead of buying clothes you will take home and have to stare at, yet not be able to wear. Chances are that won't make you feel any better and you may just end up stashing them in the back of your closet.

It seems like it would have negative mental impacts, something along the lines of saying to yourself that you are not good enough to even buy yourself clothes you can fit into.

If you go with your actual size and learn to feel good about yourself first, then with a positive mental state goals are usually more attainable or at least obstacles may seem less daunting making the whole experience more tolerable.

These are just my thoughts on the matter, though I am really no expert.
Check out the link above and weigh in (pun intended) on what you think.

Peace

Chow

"Until the day you finally wake up, and you're not, afraid" Spill Canvas, Battles

I have my ticket for Fabricated April 16th and oh boy am I excited for it.

LG Fashion Week is happening in Toronto right now, one more day to go. Looks like it is only getting better year after year.
So I saw many things for all the Fall 2011 collections. A lot of dark. The occasional colourful collection did strike through such as Joe Fresh, but I feel it was dominated by black.

Texture is HUGE. Fur especially, I don't think I saw one collection without fur, it is everywhere. If you don't like the idea of fur, texture came in many forms this time round, there was fringe, rope, sequins, scrunched and bunched fabric.

Definitely a few knits, and knits are on the chunkier side, but also on the loosely knitted side.
Accessories are big. Literally, necklaces are long, and bracelets are cuffs. The silhouette itself is still very feminine and there is quite a bit of draping but everything seems to be pulled together with layering and honkin' accessories.

Coats cover your (ass)ets. They are fairly long and almost always end after the hips. Long dresses seem to be coming in, with draping fabric not to the calves, not to the ankles, but all the way to the floor. Nothing to poofy, just long and lean.

I noticed a lot of flapper hair. Not only that but eye make up is dark/bold/big. Very few eyes were left untouched by the smokey effect, as well as many dark lips, red or otherwise.

If colour is more your thing, I saw a lot of reds, roses, and blues.
Adding shine in some way was there too, be it just of the gleam of leather (which was well done), or from sequins or safety pins in some cases.
Tans, golds, and light browns are also very in.

Almost every collection had some dropped v neckline and a tunic of sorts.

Here's IZMA, one of my favourites. I do really enjoy the shiny-ness of everything and the inside of the jackets. I also adore all their fur. Lurve it.


Peace

Chow

"But I set fire to the rain"

I'm not sure I like cracked nail polish.
I wear polish to create a nice finish. Cracked nail polish is not a new idea, but OPI is bringing it back.

Not much else is going on. Spring is here. Spring is still hiding somewhere under the slush, but I know its here.
School is back in full swing, practicum is over.
Had a great time, probably going to keep contributing.

Peace
Chalsie