Growing...

Maybe it´s just a normal " I´m-22-and-trying-to-figure-out-my-life" thing, but I have spent, believe it or not, a lot of time this year thinking about, well, basically everything- the main thing that is always on my mind is- how can I better myself today?
I´ve met a lot of people in the past year- most of the people I probably won´t see again, but a few I will keep in contact for the rest of my life.
I have recently found myself growing tired of meeting people and having meaningless conversation. Maybe this is a little harsh, but the truth is, is that I try to treat everyone I meet as an opportunity to grow and open my eyes a little more. We all have our particular ways of doing things and ways of seeing the world- I may not agree with everything or even ANYTHING that a person does or thinks, but I always note the difference.
I´ve had some incredible conversations with some extraordinary people during my travels. The freedom that comes when you can just sit with a person and talk about whatever comes to mind is absolute.
I believe that building a friendship that will last a lifetime doesn´t take a lifetime.
I believe that time or distance can´t change the impact that people make on you and this makes any time you spend with someone worth the while.
I believe that everyone you meet changes you a little, so why waste time talking about inane things when the small amount of time I may have with a person I meet is precious. Tell me about what you think, about who you are, what makes you mad, happy, sad- The words you choose say a lot about you and impact whomever you speak to.
It feels good to speak your mind, be passionate about your interests, and connect on a fundamental level with people that are probably different than you.
This I believe.

“When you meet someone better than yourself, turn your thoughts to becoming his equal. When you meet someone not as good as you are, look within and examine your own self." - Confucius

Alemania- 31.4- 11.4

I was fortunate enough to have the chance to go to Germany in order to visit a great friend who would prove also to be a really good host and provide me the chance to see a lot of Germany
I flew to Frankfurt on the 31st of March to visit my good friend and to see a bit of Germany. I was really impressed with what I saw of Germany. I think it reminded me a bit of Mississippi because of all of the forests, and it was really easy to get out of the city and into nature which for me is awesome.
So I flew to Frankfurt where I was picked up by Erik, and then we went to Darmstadt to hang out with other guys. After Darmstadt, we drove to Pützchen, which is a small suburb of Bonn, to Stay with Erik´s family for a few days before driving to Holland. Bonn was a great city on the Rhine river- really pretty-.
After a couple of days in Bonn, we decided to make our trip to the Netherlands. It was an interesting drive because we picked up some hitchhikers (it´s an organized hitchhiking thing on the internet) and drove them to Aachen, Germany and then we went directly to Maastricht, Netherlands. We just spent a few hours walking around the city and just relaxing. After a few hours in Maastricht, we went to Eindhoven- this is where our hotel was. We didn´t really see too much of Eindhoven because we arrived late and basically just crashed at the hotel in order to be able to get up and drive to Amsterdam the next morning.
Amsterdam was an INCREDIBLE city. The architecture is REALLY beautiful and typically Dutch. The canals really make it a special city. So yes, there is TONS to see and do in Amsterdam besides prostitutes and Coffee Shops.
We didn´t spend the night in Amsterdam because it was around easter time, and all of the Hostels were even more expensive than normal. We left at night to drive back into Germany and stay at Erik´s grandmother´s house. On Easter morning we got up and had breakfast at this house and left to spend Easter with the Koppermanns in Bonn.
After the trip to Holland, we stayed and did around Bonn for several days. I saw Köln- another beautiful city on the Rhine. Towards the end of my trip, Erik, his friend Moritz and I took a road trip down to the South of Germany to München. The drive takes about 3 and a half hours but is a scenic drive- makes things easier. We spent two nights in München at one of Erik´s friend´s house, Tony. München was probably my favorite city that I saw while in Germany, although Köln was close too. Having a Maaß (Gigantic beer) in a sunny Biergarten while having some Fries and half a chicken- well it´s hard to beat that, isn´t it?

A lot happened in Germany, but I feel like it gets repetitive to say everything, but I´ll leave on this note.
It´s an incredible opportunity to travel to another country and be completely submerged in a "normal" life there. I lived for about 2 weeks with a German family and saw how they live. It can be difficult because I was sinking in German (Ich spreche KEIN Deutsch), but the people I met were REALLY emphatic about speaking English around me. I enjoy hearing the German and learning a few words, but after much time of not understanding, your head hurts and can get a little frustrating. For the most part, no problems on that part. But I digress.
It´s a different feel when you can stay with people from the country you´re visiting. Doing tourist things is fine and often very interesting, and I did tourist things; but it´s great to be able to just hang out and sit and talk to people from that country. It really opens your eyes and is a great opportunity to learn. Travelling and learning has been my goal this year, and all of my trips and the people I come across have taught me something different. I found the people in Germany really easy to talk to and extremely warm. Truly a great first impression of the country- I must go back.
I met a lot of really interesting people and had one of the best times of this year if not my life.

Germany

I´m in Germany now- I have been to the Netherlands: Eindhoven, Maastricht and Amsterdam. In Germany I arrived in Frankfurt and then went to a small city of Frankfurt (Darmstadt) for the night. Most of my time has been spent in Bonn with a few visits to surrounding cities like Cologne. Also, I went and spent Easter in Erik´s grandmother´s small city.
I am packing as we speak to go to Munich to finish off my trip. I´ll describe more in detail later.

More to come.