new day, new month!

As I flipped my planner to October, I realized that today marks a variety of [exciting] things for me.

It's been 60 days since I tearfully said goodbye to my parents, which is longer than I've ever gone without seeing them (I know, I'm 23, but I am still a baby about seeing my family). But, on the bright side, my mom will be here in just over a week! I literally can't wait!

This is me and my parents on our cruise at the end of July! Sadly my dad isn't coming back this time because he says "Someone has to work around here!" Clearly, me and my mom are letting him to do the work while we play :)

I like to plan little things to look forward to, just because if I wasn't careful it would be easy to get lonely over here, and one of those things is that I get to buy my favorite shell chocolates only on the first of every month. So, happy October 1st to me.

Don't ask me how many I've eaten today...

The absolute worst part of my job is the five hour staff meeting every Wednesday. Any five hour meeting would be pretty exhausting, but this one is in German, so I can only understand bits and pieces of it and I leave every week with a headache. The good news is, that I do not have any staff meetings in October! This Wednesday is German Independence Day so we have the day off, next Wednesday my mom will be here so I got excused, and then we have fall break for the rest of the month!

I get to be out adventuring rather than sitting around trying (and failing!) to understand German.

Speaking of fall break, I have some exciting travels coming up this month. After my mom spends a few days in Germany with me, we are flying to Italy and exploring Naples, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, and Rome for a week! My mom leaves from Rome where I will meet Lisa and Kate, two of my good friends from college, and we are going to Florence to visit Wake friends who are abroad there this fall. When we are full of great italian food and feel that we have seen enough of beautiful Italy, we are flying to Istanbul to celebrate Kate's birthday in Turkey (where she is teaching this year!) By that time, October will be coming to a close and I will head back to my sweet little dragons.

Kate, Lisa, and I the night before graduation...can't wait for more adventures together!

Another exciting event in October is that there are three big German holidays/festivals. Oktoberfest, I celebrated early (but it only lasts til mid October anyway!). October 3, Tag der Duetschen Einheit, is basically their independence day, but my students are getting the day off and hosting a "Disco" the night before and the town is having several celebrations, so I look forward to seeing what that is like. And, then after I return from an almost 3 week vacation, on October 31, the Germans celebrate Reformation Day, which I have been told is comparable to our Mardi Gras. So, once again, all of these will be a sight to see and I am excited to experience so many authentic German holidays this month!

This is me after the last festival. Yes, this is a selfie. And yes, my face is painted like a fairy. Laugh all you want!

Here's to hoping this month is as good as it sounds like its going to be!

xoxo