Munich Bound

*Warning - Lots of reading ahead

 

April 27, 2011 – 8:45 am

Today marks the beginning of a very big adventure! I am currently on a plane on my way to Toronto, Canada. My final destination – Munich, Germany!

For May Term, I am taking a class in Salzburg, Austria. The class is titled “German Expressionist Films”, so we will be watching old, silent, German films. I’m definitely on this trip for the travel experience, though! We will have Thursday evenings through Sundays free to travel. I already have a couple weekend trips planned with some of my friends, so I am really excited for those!

Several other friends from my class and I decided to fly out a few days early into Munich so we can get a little bit of traveling done before the class even starts. I am flying over with my friend Keenan, a fellow computer science senior. Once we arrive in Munich, we will first be meeting up with a girl who is in the other Salzburg class, Yurie. I have never met her before, but we are now Facebook friends so that we can recognize each other at the airport. She arrives 15 minutes before Keenan and me. We will then wait at the airport another 3 hours so that we can also meet up with our other two friends from the class, Caitlin and Katie. Once we are all together, we will take a train to where our hostel is located and begin our adventure!

Keenan’s dad was kind enough to offer to drive us to LAX this morning. Since Keenan lives in Temecula, my roomie Nicolette had the brilliant idea of me spending the night at her house in Murrieta so that they could pick me up from there instead of Fallbrook, which would have been out of the way. So that’s what I did!

My day started very early, as you can image for a morning international flight. Keenan said that he would pick me up at 4 am, so my alarm woke me up at 3:20 am. Almost seconds later, I get a text from Keenan telling me that he was on his way! I was very surprised with how early they were coming over so I quickly got dressed, brushed my teeth and hair, and double checked I wasn’t forgetting anything. Nicolette was so kind to wake up at that insanely early hour to say goodbye to me. Keenan and his parents arrived a little after 3:30, my bags were thrown in the car, I said farewell to Nicolette, and we were off…

It was definitely nice getting an early start because we did not get any of the horrid LA traffic. I think we got to LAX around 4:45 am, and Keenan’s parents parked the car so that they could come in with us. That was nice of them to make sure we got checked in ok. Keenan and I checked in with Air Canada, and a woman working there helped us get our boarding pass and change our seats for the second flight. There were no two seats next to each other on the first flight, so the plan was to just ask someone if they would mind switching seats. For the second flight, there were two seats next to each other, but the woman helping us was trying to tell us to pick seats in separate rows. It was kind of difficult understanding why she wanted us to do that, but I guess she was trying to tell us that we could then switch with someone and end up having an extra seat between us to lie down or stretch out. Keenan and I decided to just pick the two seats next to each other, however, so that we won’t have to deal with switching seats with someone.

We got our boarding passes, checked our luggage, got through security, and made it to Gate 27. There were barely any people there. We were both hungry and Keenan informed me that we wouldn’t be served any meals on this flight, so we decided to grab some breakfast at 6 am. There were very few choices, and of course everything was so EXPENSIVE! We both ended up getting a meal from Burger King that cost $8 each…you should have seen how small this breakfast sandwich was. It was definitely a rip-off, but we really didn’t have much of a choice.

After breakfast, we just waited at the gate until it was time to board, which started around 7:25. Keenan had seat 20A and I had seat 19F. Luckily, the man who was supposed to sit next to Keenan agreed to switch seats with me, so that worked out smoothly. The touch screen on my tv in front of me isn’t working properly, but it’s not a big deal. Will is letting me borrow his netbook (those really small laptops), and he put on a season of the show “3^rd Rock from the Sun”. I vaguely remember watching some of that show when it was aired back in the 90’s, but it’s definitely more enjoyable to watch now that I’m older. So, I will entertain myself with that show as well as the book I brought.

We land in Toronto at 3:37 pm (12:37 CA time), and then we have quite a bit of a layover until our next flight. I believe we leave Toronto at 8 pm. I hope they have free Wi-Fi at that airport! If not, at least there is always tv shows and books to read. Our second flight will take us into Munich, and we arrive at 10:05 am local time (Thursday morning, of course). Hopefully I can get some sleep on the second plane to start adjusting myself to the time change.

Canada, here we come!    

The adventure begins!

    

5:40 pm (Toronto time)

We made it to Toronto! It was a fairly smooth flight until the last hour. Then we had a bit of turbulence because of the weather over here, but we survived. 

Going through customs was easy, and the next step was getting some food. Apparently I am very ignorant when it comes to foreign matters, because I was unaware that Canada had its own currency (ok, get your laughs out now). I didn’t want to use my credit or debit card to pay for my food, because I did not tell my banks about using it in Canada. I didn’t want them to freeze my accounts, so I used US dollars. I should have used my $10 but instead grabbed my $20. She gave me the change in Canadian money, so I ended up with a lot more Canadian currency than I needed. Oops. To get “rid” of some of that money, I decided to buy a cute little Toronto keychain.

We still have about 2 more hours until our next flight leaves. Thank goodness there is free Wi-Fi here!! 

 At the Toronto airport.

 My crispy chicken sandwich and the Canadian money I didn't really want. ;)

                     

Honors Defense

Wow, I have managed to not write a blog post in 3 months! Life sure can get busy as a senior.

Speaking of my senior year, I am just about done! We are in finals week, although all I have is my ASL final on Thursday. Today was a really big day, though. I defended my computer science senior honors project in front of my committee today, and the results are in...

I'M GOING TO GRADUATE WITH HONORS!


I am filled with so much joy! I have been striving for this for almost the entire school year, and it feels so great to finally reach the finish line. As long as my GPA doesn't drop below a 3.85 (I am at 3.87), I will graduate with Summa Cum Laude! All that programming has finally paid off.

I don't think I have even mentioned what my senior project is. I created a computer-assisted instruction software that teaches beginner ASL. It has interactive lessons and quizzes to help the user learn the material. It was kind of a fun topic, since I am so interested in ASL. I presented my project in front of friends and family on April 6th, which went well. I was the first CS student to present their senior project. Today was the presentation I had to give just in front of my honors committee, who then asked me questions about my project, and then made their decision about giving me honors.

Man, oh man...this semester went by SO FAST! I am leaving for Munich in a week from tomorrow! I am really looking forward to this trip. I have been planning some of the weekend trips, such as Rome and Venice. Ah, it's going to be so much fun!

Ok, sorry to bore you with so much text. Now I'll include some pictures so you have something pretty to look at.

January: Felicia's 22nd birthday celebration!

End of Feb/Beginning of March: "Spring" break up at Will's house

(Note: my eyes are red from the the wind hitting them as I biked on a cold day)

March: Silent Weekend #2 for me! Lots of people, lots of rain, lots of fun! 

April: Tea party up at Courtney's house in Running Springs. Delicious food was made!

Still at Courtney's house...cats love me, what can I say?

Tickets!

Ok, I'm doing a horrible job at keeping up with my blog...such is life.

Yesterday was an exciting day for me because I officially purchased my plane tickets for my May Term class! For those of you who don't know, during the month of May, I will be taking a class through my school and traveling to Salzburg, Austria. How cool is that? It will be the perfect way to end my time here at the U of R!

A few of my friends in the class and I have decided that we will fly into Munich, Germany, a few days before our class needs to meet up in Salzburg so that we can have a few days to explore and travel in Munich. Even more good news is that one of these friends, Keenan, also bought his plane tickets yesterday and we have the same flights going over to Munich. We have different planes coming home, but I can live with that (even though I really hate flying). I was more concerned about being alone when I first arrived in Germany, so I feel better knowing that I will at least arrive with one other person I know.

So when does this fun, exciting trip begin? I fly out of LAX on April 27th, have a layover in Toronto, and by the time we land, it will be the morning of the 28th. Then, our class is meeting in Salzburg on May 1st, which is about a 2.5 hour train ride from Munich. My return flight home is on May 26th, which is 2 DAYS BEFORE GRADUATION! It will be very interesting to see how awake I am for graduation.

On a somewhat related note, I signed up for two more hours at work, bringing my total to the maximum 10 hours/week our school will allow us to work. I shall slowly start earning back the money I just spent yesterday...I'm certain the trip will be worth it!

(525,600 minutes) * 3

November 22, 2010 - Will and I celebrated our three year anniversary together...wait, is that right?? Three years? Wow...it just boggles my mind!

This year, it was my turn to plan the activities for the day, as Will carefully planned our two year anniversary celebration (amazing Indian dinner + front row seats to a play = a very fun time!). I decided to keep it somewhat casual as well as local this year, so we spent the day in Murrieta/Temecula.

First, we had lunch at the Chili's restaurant in Murrieta. We had our first date at Chili's (although, it was one in San Bernardino), so I thought it would be fun to start off our day there. The food was delicious as usual, and I was happy to use my gift cards that have been sitting in my wallet for a while.

I'm not sure what this face means...

It was off to the next event! I took him to a place I visited many times growing up - Mulligan's Family Fun Center. It had been years since I last went there. It looked pretty different inside the arcade area, but we were focusing on an outdoor event...miniature golf! We made sure to play both "courses", even though I don't think they want you to do that. Oh well! ;)

My first of two hole-in-ones! =D

He's kind of sad...

...because I won both rounds! Now, he wants a rematch.

Will was kind enough to agree to our next activity - seeing the new Harry Potter movie. Although he has not read the books, he has at least seen all the movies and has a general understanding of what's going on. Maybe someday I will convince him to read the books...they are so good!

Finally, our night was coming to an end. Not before we enjoyed a delicious dinner at P.F. Chang's, though! It was Will's first time at this restaurant, and let's just say that there were no leftovers...

Enjoying my first Mai Tai...it was quite tasty!

These mini-desserts are SO GOOD!

Ah...another great anniversary to celebrate another great year together! It's been really hard being so far away from him this school year, but it certainly does make our visits with each other that much more special. I can't wait to see what is in store for year four!

Silent Weekend

Today, I am dedicating an entire post to just one event because it's that special. To give a little background, I needed to attend two deaf events for my ASL class. Back in September, I was looking online and found an event called Silent Weekend, and immediately signed up for it (and even paid a good chunk of money). Let me tell you...it turned out to be an amazing weekend! I arrived at the camp on Friday, November 12th, extremely nervous, but left the camp on Sunday, November 14th, wishing I didn't have to leave. 


I think the website does a good job at summing up what exactly Silent Weekend is:
"A 48 hour immersion of sign language for hearing ASL college students, 18 years and above (please do not ask if younger individuals can attend) who join together with our professional staff that is comprised of deaf, hearing impaired, and hearing individuals, who are affiliated with the deaf community, outside of the classrom setting, for a multitude of weekend signing activities including exposure to Deaf Culture -- with proceeds benefitting our Deaf Kid's Kamp."


Doesn't that sound like a fun time? Well...it was! I am amazed at how much I learned in less than 48 hours! I picked up on so many new signs, and learned a lot more about deaf culture. It would take me forever to write about the entire experience, but I will try to hit some of the highlights.


Total, there were 20 ASL students who attended. Then there were the staff members, and two of them were deaf. Tobin and Richard Beans were the names of the two deaf men. At first, I was very scared about signing with deaf people because I was afraid my signing would be horrible or that I would not be able to understand them. I quickly learned that the two deaf staff members were so nice and patient with us, and they would help us along by fingerspelling signs that we didn't know. Something I took away from this weekend is that I am much more confident about signing with deaf people now.

This is Tobin. He was kind of shy, but very nice.

This is Richard Beans. He was a pretty funny story-teller!

We had a lot of activities and workshops that helped us learn more signs or about deaf culture. There was a workshop where we learned about hearing ear dogs (service dogs), which I didn't even know about before coming to this camp. You always hear about seeing eye dogs, but it was interesting learning that hearing ear dogs can help deaf people by recognizing certain sounds and pointing the deaf person in the right direction. For example, if the dog hears a knock on the door, it will get the deaf person's attention and take them to the door. At the camp, they had two service dogs.

This one's name is Oki.

On Saturday night, everyone had to participate in "Saturday Night Live", which means either performing a skit or song (in ASL of course). I didn't have anything prepared, so I joined someone else's group who had brought music and lyrics. The song that we signed to was "Love Can Build a Bridge" by the Judds (I had never heard the song before this weekend), and it turned out much better than I thought it would. We had some of the staff members helping us out with signs that we did not know. Also, we had learned that when signing songs or stories, you don't want to sign it out word for word, but instead to sign the overall meaning of what is being said. It was really fun watching the other groups (including staff members) perform as well!

The young girl is the granddaughter of the executive director of Silent Weekend, and the other woman is a staff member named Rebecca. She has the craziest laugh! Right here they are performing "The 12 Days of Christmas" from a dog's point of view.

The executive director's name is Buffy, and she was once married to the man who started Deaf Kid's Kamp (a free camp for deaf children) and Silent Weekend (a fundraising event that supports Deaf Kid's Kamp), Terry. Unfortunately, Terry died of a heart attack in 1994, and Buffy would share some of his stories with us. Terry was a deaf man, but he would also use his voice to speak to hearing people.

Buffy has some health conditions of her own, and needs a lung transplant. She was very sweet and told us so many stories about Terry and the Deaf Kid's Kamp.

So, I pretty much had a wonderful experience at Silent Weekend. I don't think I've ever had so much fun learning before. I also won a certificate for 50% off my next Silent Weekend...I am seriously considering going again in the spring! Whether or not I use ASL in my future career, I definitely want to continue learning the language and hopefully someday becoming fluent.

The 20 ASL students (plus my mom, who was just there picking me up).

Had to hold up the sign for "I love you"! :)

The staff - they were so incredibly helpful!

To sum up: I loved Silent Weekend!

The Happenings of Senior Year

It may seem as though I have forgotten about my poor, lonely blog. I keep finding other activities to occupy my time - mainly school, but I would be lying if I said that school work took up all my time.

Speaking of school, I am shocked at how quickly this semester is going by. My senior year will be over with before I know it! What will happen then? I'm not 100% sure myself, so for now I am just focusing on the present. My three classes this semester are the following: Software Engineering, Intro to Modeling (mathematical modeling...I'm not learning to walk the cat-walk), and American Sign Language. The first two classes are not very exciting, but I am really enjoying ASL. That's right - I am actually enjoying a class! I can honestly say this is my favorite class I have ever taken here at Redlands. I don't know what exactly it is about the subject, but I look forward to the class every week (it meets only once a week). It's fun, challenging, and learning about deaf culture is very interesting. Needless to say, I am continuing with American Sign Language II next semester.

Let's move on to the non-academic activities! In the last two months, I have...

Made new friends:

Sabrina, my roommate's sister

Received visits from old friends:

Kristen, Felicia, and I at the local brewery - Hangar 24

Visited Will during Fall break:

Taking a break from making tasty lasagna.

Attended the "Light the Night" walk:

From left to right: Me, Jayla, Nicolette, and Courtney

Walking in memory of Courtney's dad and my sister

Braved the mazes at Knott's Scary Farm:

Wouldn't have made it without Courtney's courage! ;)

Of course there were more events in the past two months than this, but these are the only ones I have pictures for. Overall, my senior year is going well, but it is going by too quickly. So much to do, so little time! 

Two Months

Yikes! I haven't written a post in over two months! I suppose the cause of that is a mixture of being busy and being lazy. A lot happened, and I don't think anyone wants to read about every detail of them. So, to summarize the important parts of the past two months...

I went on a 5 day cruise to Ensenada, Mexico for my grandma's 80th birthday. It was such a great trip!

Fast forward about a month to MY 21ST BIRTHDAY! I can hardly believe I am so old. ;) 

Note: My hair is shorter in those last two pictures because I decided to cut off and donate 8 inches of hair!

On September 5th, I moved back into the dorms at the University of Redlands. We've been in school for a little over a week now, and it's still weird to me that I'm a senior. I'm only taking three classes, which has been really nice so far. I shall update more about classes at another time. For now, I leave you with a picture of my craaaazy roommate and I:

"YOU'RE A JERK!"