Travel.

I am doing a little bit of reading before we head into lectures, so I thought I would just put up a few little thoughts until I can write a full post later. 

The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are. 

Samuel Johnson

All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.

Martin Buber

Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.

Seneca

Catch Up

Ok, so I've been a little remiss in my blogging concerning my current trip to Germany.  Ok, a lot remiss, but it seems as though whenever I sit down to it our internet decides to be ancient, and then I never get around to it again.  But enough excuses, I am here now, and I am writing now. 

Germany.  There is a lot to say about the past 10 or so days.  It has been an absolute whirlwind, to say the very least, but an enjoyable one at that.  First of all, I could not have asked for a better group to travel with.  Dr. Lahaie has been wonderful, and I have no idea where any of us would be if we had not had a professor that was a) German and/or b) completely fluent in the language...I do not care to think about that possibility, all I know is that I am incredibly thankful for her and her knowledge.  In addition, my fellow students are equally delightful, and even though some of them aren't well-versed in the arena of travel (one of our girls had never been on a plane, before our 8 hour flight here), they have proven to be open for adventure and full of excitement and joy to be here.  

How to catch you up?  This just might prove to be the most scattered blog post to date, but thus far we have spent about 2 1/2 days in Wittenberg, a day in Bad Wimpfen, and a day in Worms.  The other days have been filled with lectures, visits to museums, a castle, one very interesting theatre experience, and a few organ concerts.  I stood on the world's largest wine barrel that has ever actually held wine, walked through Medieval streets, climbed towers from the 12th. century, and have not been in a car in 10 days (of which I am thoroughly happy, until I look at some of the prospects here, and then I wish I was able to test drive them all!).  I have eaten white asparagus larger than my head, eaten a pretzel equally as large, and have walked more miles than I care to count, of that, however, I am thoroughly grateful, considering how good the food is.  

Well, that should be somewhat of a good start.  Tomorrow morning we are heading to Dachau and Munich, our taxi is coming at 5:30...I'm praying the alarm will go off, and that I will hear it for that matter. 

And so I begin...

Currently, I am sitting amongst all my worldly goods, deeming certain things necessary and unnecessary (even though I could, most assuredly, make a case for anything here to be "quite necessary"), to a 6 week adventure in Europe.  

My main dilemma always ends up being with shoes and books, in no particular order.  They are of equal issue to me when it comes to traveling.  I like to think that I will always have a wonderful assortment of footwear when on trips, and likewise I feel as though I must have a small library with me so that I can choose exactly what I feel like reading on any particular day.  I just do not find it appealing to lock myself into any particular "genre," in either my reading material or my foot covering.  Maybe it's an issue of commitment, and thus something I should work through, but I like to think that it is my "creative" side that wants to be sure that the whole world is her oyster, incessantly.  

I'm beginning to think it is a bit of both, but regardless this trip has stipulations...one bag and one backpack.  So however claustrophobic I might feel in having to pigeon hole each and every one of my outfits and decide (beforehand) what my whim and fancy might be in terms of books, I nevertheless must make decisions.  The boundaries of fascist airline baggage weight stipulations, combined with the fact that I am going to have to lug said baggage across a portion of Germany and the better part of England, dictates that I better make some very decisive, productive slashing of materials in the next few hours.  Thus, I better be off, but I am now beginning the series of blogging over the next 6 weeks, centered around my travels in Germany and England.  I have always had grandiose hopes of maintaining this blog in a timely fashion (and never really have), but this time around, I will.  

Word Spy

Finding new words or phrases, wordspy.com:

mindcasting pp. Posting a series of messages that reflect one's current thoughts, ideas, passions, observations, readings, and other intellectual interests.  

zombie bank n. A bank that cannot lend money because its liabilities are greater that its assets, but remains in business because of government support. 

kettle v. To maneuver protesters into a small area using a cordon of police personnel and vehicles.

Interesting, eh?