Our First Weekend of Camp

After our first full week of camp, we were ready to relax and travel!

On our first Friday here four of us girls took a taxi into Ramstein Village. Our plan was to show up for a 9 o’clock reservation at Big Emma’s restaurant. However, it was a very short drive (about 5 minutes) so we got there an hour early. While waiting we decided to walk around and explore which lead us to find this Irish pub down the street. We all went in and sat down to hang out until our reservation. The pub was very American (American servers and lots of American music) but it was our first taste of German Beer.

Me and Kayla with our first German Beer!


Once at Big Emma's, we all ordered our food. Big Emma's is known for their GIANT portions, and boy, they aren’t kidding! Two of the girls we were with ordered HALF burgers that were the size of their heads! Imagine what the full would be! I opted for a more traditional meal getting Bratwurst, Sauerkraut, Spetzel and Beer. It was delicious and fun to have an authentic German meal! After eating we were all STUFFED so we decided to head home full and happy.

Me, Kayla and Brittany enjoying our first German meal at Big Emma's

Big Emma's GIANT half-sized Burgers

For Saturday we did our first day trip. We decided to go to Heidelberg, Germany because it was close and we were told it was a fun trip. The train ride there was about an hour and 15 minutes, which means I napped. J

Once we got off at our stop, we were overwhelmed with the wonderful sites of Heidelberg. It is a beautiful small town along the Rhine River and looked exactly what I would think of when I think of the typical German town. After taking some pictures, we walked into town and found our way towards the castle. On our way there we stopped at a little coffee shop and we all got coffees and pastries. I got a chocolate croissant and it was delicious! After scarfing down our food and buying a few postcards, we were ready to conquer the 300 steps up to the castle! It was quite the workout, but the view from the top was definitely worth it. We decided not to pay to go inside the castle, so we just walked around the outside. We stopped at the look-out point in the castle, and the view overlooked the entire valley. The view was breathtaking, and our pictures definitely don’t do it justice.

The view from the top of the castle in Heidelberg

After looking around the castle, walked down a different way to avoid doing the 300 stairs again. The streets were all cobblestone, which gets a little rough on the feet, but it was fun to look on the back roads. After making it to the bottom, we walked around the “tourist” area of town, which consists of shops and restaurants. There weren’t any local, small shops,  which was a bummer, just bigger chain stores aimed at the tourists. We walked in a few cool looking stores, but didn’t buy anything.

Once we were shopped out, we were ready to take a little break! We stopped in a small restaurant for a drink and a snack. By the time we were done chatting and eating, it was beginning to get late so we headed back towards the train station. On the train platform we noticed people speaking English. Turns out there were a group of American Army Men from Utah that were traveling for the weekend. It was interesting to talk to them & it sure made the train ride go faster!

Brittany and I in Heidelberg along the Rhine River

On Sunday we decided to be lazy & take a day to relax. We all slept in till eleven and then made coffee while watching the Sound of Music. A few of us also thought of this as a way to honor our dad’s on Father’s Day because they love the movie. I remember growing up and watching the movie with my family. Heck, I still do!! Later this summer we are going to Austria to do the Sound of Music tour so this was also a good way to get us excited! Well that’s it for now! More later!

My First Blog Post!

            Hello! If you are here visiting my blog, you probably already know the drill- I will be living in Ramstein, Germany for 10 weeks while working with the program Camp Adventure. Camp Adventure takes place all over the United States at college campuses such as Iowa State University, California State University-Chico, Florida A & M University, University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa, University of Oregon, University of San Diego, University of Toledo, and Washington State University.

The idea behind the program is that college students (like me!) can travel the world while helping out children. We get placed on a military base and work with the children of military families. This summer I will be working on Vogelweh (an army base) in the Child Development Center (a.k.a. CDC) with children that are infants through two years old. I’ve never worked with this age group before, so it should be fun!

Hailey, Amy and I in our super cool camp uniforms!

            The trip here was relatively easy- a 3 1/2 hour plane ride to Iceland, then a 2 1/2 hour ride to Frankfurt, Germany. I got through the airport easily by following a retirement group that was going to tour Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Once I got through security, I ran into BJ! It was nice seeing once last familiar face before I left! Then, once I got to my gate I ran into two other counselors that were traveling to Frankfurt with me! It was nice to meet some counselors right away and I was glad I didn’t have to travel by myself!

Once on the plane, I sat next to a girl who was studying abroad from Norway. She had been in Minnesota for high school for 10 months and she cried practically the entire time because she didn’t want to leave her new friends. I wonder if that will be me by the end of the summer?!

The ride went quickly because of the free movies and extra leg room (I sat next to the door so I had an empty area to stretch out my legs). Once we got to Iceland we had just enough time to get to our next gate and board our plane. We got to board the plane “celebrity style” where you walk up the stairs on the side of the plane. It was cool to say I’ve been out in the Iceland sleet! Once on the plane we realized we were supposed to be in “Economy Comfort” a.k.a. Business Class. The staff was nice enough to switch us around and it made all the difference! We had extra wide seats, complimentary food/coffee, and hot towels. Talk about riding in style! We’re going to make sure we get the same treatment on the way home!

Once at the Frankfurt airport, we found our luggage (luckily all of our luggage made it safe!) and then met Kasee Fuller, our program director. She was nice enough to meet us and make sure we knew our way around the airport. We had to sit around in the Frankfurt airport and wait for a couple of hours for another group of counselors to get there. Unfortunately they never showed up (their plane was delayed and they missed their connection), so we sat at the airport for nothing!

After a very LONG travel experience, we finally got to our apartment. As I mentioned earlier, we will be living on Ramstein Air Force Base, which is the headquarters for all of the Air Force in Europe. Because of this, it is the second largest population of Americans besides the states, pretty cool!  Our apartment complex consists of all 28 counselors for the 3 sites around here: Ramstein, Vogelweh and Kapaun. In our individual apartment there are 8 girls sharing 4 bedrooms (2 in each bedroom) a kitchen, a living room, 2 bathrooms, and a washer/dryer. It sure is different from living with 60 other girls in the sorority! In my bedroom I will be living with another girl from Iowa State who is also in Elementary Education. Our other roommates are from UNI, University of California and University of Toledo. They are all very nice and normal, so it should be a fun summer!

Our bedroom at the apartment!

Ok, that’s enough blabbing for now! Lots more later including travel updates and camp stories!