Auf Wiedersehen SB!

I'm leaving Germany today flooded with a mix of emotions. I'm so excited to see my friends and family at home and to begin my senior year at TCU. But on the other hand, I hate saying goodbye to my little "earthfaves family" here in Saarbrücken. It's a bittersweet feeling. The only way I can organize my thoughts is into the following three lists:

Things I will not miss:

-Paying to use public toilets
-Bringing an umbrella with me everywhere I go
-Paying for water at restaurants
-The old lady hookers that hang out and smoke cigs all day on my street
-Seeing this message: “Unfortunately, this UMG-music-content is not available in Germany because GEMA has not granted the respective music publishing rights” every time I try to watch a video on YouTube.

-International withdrawal fees, paying for everything with coins and Monopoly bills, and the awful dollar to euro exchange rate!

Things I will miss:

-Sidewalk cafes
-Döner kebab
-The rolling green hills and giant wind turbines of the countryside
-Efficient public transportation
-Zara, Mango, and H&M
-Schoko Brötchen
-Pretty buildings that are older than America itself
-Good German beer
-Being able to walk everywhere
-The charm of small, non-franchised shops and restaurants
-German chocolates
-Hearing “Ach so!” every other word
-My wonderful, funny coworkers (most of all)

Things I most look forward to:

-Sunshine & warm temperatures
-Healthy food options
-Spending some days on the beach with my family
-Catching up with my roommates
-Once again having a microwave, toaster, washer & dryer, dish washing machine, smart phone, and all the other little luxuries that make life convenient.
-Ice cubes—haven’t seen those since I’ve been in Germany.
-And along with that, iced coffee!
-Businesses being open early, late, on Sunday, and even 24/7
-My comfortable bed
-Mexican food
-Driving back to Fort Worth
-My Pandora stations
-Going to TCU football games with all my friends
-Simply being in one place (for a little while at least).


I may be leaving Germany for the summer, but I'll be back one day. I left many cities unexplored such as Munich, Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg. Today I'm taking the train to Kirn, a bus to Frankfurt, and a flight to Madrid so that I can reunite with some of my favorite earthfaves interns :) 

earthfaves: I love this place.

Internshipin'

Today is the last day of my summer internship. It's hard to imagine how different my life will be when I'm back in Texas a week from now. Some of you may be wondering what exactly I've been doing in Germany for the past three months. Well, I've been a member of the marketing team for a startup website called earthfaves. The website is currently in its beta version and is expected to launch sometime later this fall. Earthfaves is a social network for sharing favorite places and a brand advocacy tool for businesses. The name earthfaves stands for "favorite places on earth," and the website makes it simple to share and discover cool places recommended by only your friends and the people you trust most. And in addition to receiving insiders' tips (or Geheimtipps as we call them at work), you can also get special discounts and offers from the businesses that you recommend. Some of my tasks for the summer included performing a market analysis, developing a social media management strategy, and improving English text for the new homepage. I learned a lot this summer and had a great time along the way. I hope the website will continue to grow and have a long, successful future. Thanks for the good times earthfaves. It's been a memorable summer.

Necco, Youlia, and me

SaarLorLux

My past two Saturdays have been like this--I wake up. Walk to the Hauptbahnhof and meet Youlia. Choose a city in France that we’ve never been to before and buy two tickets there. Stop by the Bäckerei and pick up a coffee and pastry. Hop on a train and go to France. Roam around a new city without a map. Get lost. Drink coffee. Drink wine. Repeat. Buy a bottle of our favorite French shampoo and a baguette. And at the end of the day, head back to Saarbrücken. I could get used to use this.

One redeeming quality of the Saarland is its close proximity to France. It’s almost enough to make me forgive it for the streak of unlucky weather this summer. Almost. With a SaarLorLux ticket, one can use unlimited train travel in the Saarland, Luxembourg, and Lorraine territories for a day. This ticket allowed me to explore two cities in Lorraine (Metz and Nancy) during the last two Saturdays of my internship.

Metz and Nancy are lovely cities built around rivers, with gorgeous architecture and old churches. It amazes me how these two cities, which are less than two hours away, can be so drastically different from Saarbrücken.

METZ

NANCY

Youlia and I make great travel companions because we enjoy the same things. She shares my philosophy that a city is best experienced without an itinerary and from the views of different café tables.

I don’t know when I became such a Francophile, but I’m afraid that I came to Germany and fell in love with France. Perhaps my fascination with all things French began after my weekend in Paris. The culture just seems to resonate better with my personal taste and flair. I think France just does some things better—like food, wine, fashion, music, and language. Even the toilet paper is more stylish—it’s pink!  I am starting to wonder if I chose the wrong language to learn.  Then again, maybe I just find France so appealing because it is a refreshing escape and contrast from my life in Germany. It is too soon to tell if this is just a phase or a long-lasting obsession.