One Year France-iversary

"Long day of travel from Dublin to Brussles then on train from Brussles. Arrived by taxi at 4:30, got oriented and went to Cora, bought makings for tuna sandwiches (HORRIBLE!)."

My Pittsburgh bff and soul-sister, Adrienne (and her finace Shannon) got us a cute little diary as a wedding present before we shipped off to Europe last year. That text above is what I wrote (ignore the poor grammer, or absense of grammer, really...the diary only has a small space for writing and I was dang tired by this point in the evening) in the August 10th, 2009 slot.

Michael and I have spent the past few days reminiscing on what it was like only one year ago for us. At the time I had been to Europe once in the past, at 16, with my Mommy, on very planned, structure, and guided choir tour. Michael had never been farther out of the USA than the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. We were completely unprepared for what actually happened on that first day of travel through Europe. There were plane delays galore, three train transfers (in an unfamiliar language) and one of our trains actually split in half at one stop, half going to our destination and the other half (the half we were on) going to an entirely different destination. We had no idea whatsoever what was going on. One thing we were sure of though was that we would soon be eating well, but after that horrible tuna sandwich (full of unidentified crunchy things), we weren't even sure of that anymore. If we hadn't had the comfort of one another, if either one of us had gone it alone, I'm pretty sure that both of us, independently, would have been ready to hitch a ride back to Brussles and fly back home.

Thankfully, the tides soon turned and we have embraced this once-in-a-lifetime chance to eat, sleep, drink, travel, and live in Europe.

And to recap, here are some favorite moments (in no particular order) from the past year:

 Arriving in Brussles

 Curing our own olives (which we are still eating)

 Constructing Snow Ogres

 Buying our first car together

 Drinking our first Sauternes

 Car camping in Austria in the dead of winter

 Acting out The Sound of Music

 Exploring the remarkable city of Venice

 Growing herbs

 Exploring southern France

 Eating many a fabulous picnic

Swimming in rivers

 Drinking free Champagne with friends

 Eating authentic Chinese food 

 Picnicking with more friends

 Game nights at Janice and Jeramy's place

 Making stovetop pizza

 And our first pizza in our tiny oven

 Re-visiting Prague with my best friend

 Experiencing Christmas Markets in Rheims

 In Strasbourg

And in Metz

 Celebrating my 23rd

And Michael's 24th Birthdays (funny that we both chose steak)

 Making our first Christmas Eve Smorgasbord

 Celebrating our first Christmas together

 Welcoming our wonderful family to our quaint city

And going with them on a grand Catalonian adventure

 Experiencing Paris with Harry and Camille

Drinking beer in Brugges

 Witnessing a beautiful light show in our very own city

 Traveling with friends

 Eating Kebabs in Metz

 And sausages in Germany

 And Dunkin' Donuts in Berlin

And visiting the Little Mermaid herself in Copenhagen

It's been a wonderful year indeed! We only have 4 months left in this wonderful country and it will be flying by. Michael begins his last semester of school (ever!) very soon, before we know it my parents will be visiting, and after they leave we will have just over a month to get ready to jet home. Time surely flies when you're having fun!