One Year

Anniversary time! There are a lot of anniversaries lately...

One year ago today, I left for Germany. Well, I left Montana on the 20th, arrived the 21st, and wrote my first German blog on the 22nd.

What an overwhelming bundle of nerves I was... scared to death about taking my cats on an airplane. Stressed about having everything ready to go. Sad to be leaving my friends and family. Nervous about what was ahead. Yet excited to finally be with Josh. Excitement seemed to rule my emotions.

I can't believe how quickly one year has gone by, or how much has happened in that amount of time. My niece turned 2 this past weekend. I was there for her first birthday, I was sad to miss the second. I was looking at pictures my mom and brother had sent me, and I can't believe how much she has grown and changed in just one year. She is much bigger, and not just walking but running, jumping, climbing, and her vocabulary grows by the minute (as does her hair it seems). It makes me sad. I also can't believe I'm working on my Masters degree. I never would have thought a year ago that this is where I would be. I had always dreamed of going on with my education, but didn't know when the time would be "right." Even though it isn't what I had planned, I am grateful for the opportunity.

And travel... I had hoped (dreamed) we would travel travel travel. We have (as you've read). My mom was teasing me about starting to forget everywhere we've been/everything we've done. Last week I was working on a photo book, and I did have to make a list for myself to remember everything in chronological order (luckily the blog helped). However. I am still quite impressed with myself.

In my first year, we have been to or done:

Koln, Germany
Vianden Castle, Luxembourg
Black Forest, Germany
Brussels, Belgium
Pig Fest in Wittlich
Berlin, Germany
Antwerp, Belgium
Gent, Belgium
London (me, without Josh)
Amsterdam
Italy - Milan, Cinque Terre, Pisa, Florence, Siena, Rome, Verona, Venice
Rhein River Cruise
American Military Cemetery, Luxembourg 
Rothenburg *
Neuschwanstein Castle *
Zugspitze *
Munich *
Dachau *
Salzburg, Austria *w/o Josh
Burg Eltz Castle, Germany
Luxembourg City and the Casemates
Prague, Czech Republic

Not too bad for our first year. I'm hoping to continue to add to this list. We were going to (originally) do something this past weekend, but Josh still needed/wanted some recovery time post-hospital. I don't blame him. However, I'm sticking to my plan of us getting out and doing more day and weekend trips this summer, rain or not.

So happy anniversary Germany. I suppose it has been a good year for us.