Letter to myself: 4/30/2013

Before we left, we were instructed to write a letter to ourselves to be opened up while we were here. Welp, we just got them today, and I figured I'd share some of my thoughts on this journey back before I came here. I hope you enjoy! xoxo

Dear Rachel,

Frankly, I don’t quite know how to begin this letter. I suppose I’ll begin by mentioning that this is a beautiful day in Valpo. Its 84 degrees, and the sun is shining, and you have a crazy amount of Biotech to study for tonight. Oh and also, you’re currently writing this at work. Aaaand you just got a $100 pledge for the ValpoFund tonight. Hollllaaaaa.

Also on this lovely day, your ticket to Stuttgart has officially been purchased. Even though its cheesy, I love the fact that I’m writing this letter on the day your ticket was procured.

111 days. Thats how many days you have until you fly from ORD to Stuttgart, Germany.  It seems so far away, but as usual, the summer will fly by fast and it’ll be August.

I wonder if you’ll feel like a different person when you reread this letter sometime this fall. Will you still be deeply sarcastic? Will you still be passionately in love with the art of theatre? Will you still feel that Chi Omega saved your life? Will you still think about him every day?  Will you be able to move on from all the baggage that North America holds?

At the moment, I see the experience you’re currently embarking on as a fresh start. Not only are going with a bunch of people that don’t know you, but you’re going to a place you’ve never been to before.

I know you’re a little scared that you’re currently missing out on some good times at home. And frankly, you probably are. But honestly, your experience is worth more than a good Saturday night at Duffy’s, and even a good weekend in Chicago with the Loyola fam, riding the CTA Red Line and going to Wrigleyville or Lincoln Park. I mean, sure, all those experiences are fun and you’ve had a blast before and I’m sure you’ll do those things again and have a good time, but THIS experience that you’re on is worth more. Its worth more because doing something you’ve never done. Its easy to fall into a comfortable routine of doing things that you know what to expect and that you know you’ll enjoy, but there something so much more invigorating, terrifying, scintillating and BRAVE about going to a strange place on your own.

My hope for you is to explore. Both physically and mentally, your world has the possibility of being so much larger and more beautiful than what you’re used to.

You and I (haha, I’m essentially talking to myself, its fine) both know that you are a deeply nostalgic person, who longs for other times that were better when things are bad, but I hope that you’re so wrapped up in the whimsical enchantment of Europe that you don’t find yourself wishing for anything other than the present...and don’t you dare think back to when times were good with him. He doesn’t have any space in your mind, and I hope you realize that eventually.

Lastly, I hope that during this exploration of both a whole new place and your adventures, that you find yourself more. Look at how far you’ve come and how much you’ve grown in the past 4 years (hell, let alone the past 4 months, I’m hoping), and to always stay true to yourself...the bubbly, effervescent, ungraceful, showtune-loving, deep, witty, Italian/German that wants to fall in love with the world.

Love always,

Rachel Noel Abbinante

P.S. I’m hoping you’re drinking a lot of beer.

P.S.S. Do the touristy shit. If it sucks, it’ll just be another memory to laugh at.

A comparison of the best of both countries: Germany and the USA

First and foremost: Happy October ladies & gents! One of my favorites months of the year back in the Illinoise/Valpz. Where driving through Thatcher woods on Chicago Avenue goes from a mosquito-infested hellhole in the summer, to a gorgeous canopy of red, orange and yellow leaves and crisp fall air, and like every white girl, I can get my pumpkin-spice latte fix on the reg from Grinders in the basement of the CCLIR. Its memories like that which leave me extremely conflicted about loving my time here and missing everything I’m used to this time of the year at home.

Obviously, don’t get me wrong, I’m still having the absolute time of my life here, and whilst I miss all my family/friends back in the homeland and I can’t wait to see them again, the fact I only have a little more than two months on this continent haunts me every day while I'm here. In fact, sometimes it still just astounds me that I’m here to begin with. I just never feel like I’ll have enough time to do everything I want to while I’m here, and that terrifies me. 

If you’ve been following my blog since the beginning, you know my need and adoration for lists/my love for organizing things in a list fashion.  So therefore I decided to make one devoted to what I love about here/what I miss about home while I eat my pasta and drink my wine this evening.

Things that are better about Germany:

1. Well obviously, the beer. And the chocolate. And the wine. And the cheese. And the ice cream. And the sausage. And the bread. And the gummy bears....
2. The train/bus transportation systems, and how owning/driving a car really isn’t a necessary because of above^. Plus, walking is much more encouraged here than it is at home (which I’m totally fine with because it keeps my ass from gaining any weight because I spend so much time on my feet). The use of the Eurail is also quite nice, as, for the next two months, I can easily travel country to country whenever I so please.
3. The clothing. Dear God. The clothing here is absolutely divine. While it can be ridiculously expensive, you can easily find shoes/scarves/skirts for 5 euro (my pitfall), and they have a Forever 21 in Berlin, and they’re opening another one in Munich. So. Yeah. Bye money.
4. Doner boxes. A sickly delicious meal/snack/artery clogging treat of shredded beef, french fries, and yogurt sauce that has become my drunken kryptonite.
5. Drinking. Now, I realize how broad and slightly alcoholic that sounds, but drinking is a whole different culture here, and while the ingest much more of it here, there are SO fewer drunk driving accidents here and people here are overall much happier when it comes to reasons they drink. There’s an abundance of less stress here, which means no one drinks to “escape” like how they typically do at home.
6. The scenery. The mountains here are absolutely breathtaking. Frankly, it feels hardly real to be surrounded by such beauty, and oftentimes I find myself just staring out the window in our classroom in awe of such beauty.
7. The men. The men are so freaking beautiful here, and they dress impeccably (no really, my head turns so much on campus from their good looks, I’m sort of shocked that my neck hasn’t broken yet)  They’re also typically tall....and they style their hair...and the accents are just as much of a turn on as it sounds like it would be. They’re also so much more upfront with you if they find you attractive, which is extremely refreshing.
8. The history. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a total dweeb about history. It fascinates me to go to museums and look at art of the past, in addition to studying how past country decisions have affected where they are today. I find German history very unique, and a interesting country history to study, between Otto von Bismarck and WW2, theres no way one can run out of country history to study. Plus, being in a place that has long established history, especially in comparison to the USA, the given events that have happened here are much longer, interesting, and more complex than at home, where the general history of events begins in the late 1700’s.
9. Oktoberfest. The way that a society can come together, dress up in lederhosen and dirndls, and celebrate a 21 day long drunk fest where everyone drinks liters upon liters of beer sounds more like an exaggerated dream than a reality, and yet I can testify: this is real. And thrice as more fun than your wildest dreams can imagine.
10. The cars. Lets be real here: raise of hands if you’d do sickly naughty things to drive a Mercedes Benz, BMW, Porsche or Audi? *raises hand*. Guess what? They’re all a product of German engineering. Now about that sexy S Class I want for Birthmas mom....
11. Recycling. So I purchase my 1,5 L of water for 19 cents, and get 25 cents back every time I return any of the Pfand marked flashe (bottles in German). So basically I’m getting paid to Recycle. Fine with it.

Things that are better about the USA:

1. My friends and family. Well, this is obvious. Every time something insane or funny or dumb happens, I want to tell my friends from home, and my mind still hasn’t wrapped around the fact that I won’t be in a Tryptophan/Italian food baby coma after Thanksgiving at my Grandma’s house like all the other countless years of Thanksgivings. Spending it here will certainly be an adjustment, as I can’t imagine such a holiday without my family.
2. American food. Now I’ll be real with you: USA has nothing on the bread/ice cream/chocolate/etc here, but my God. The things I’d do for Giordano’s deep dish pizza/corn on the cob/A McGriddle breakfast sandwich/blueberries/Chipotle that doesn’t cost me a limb and isn’t 2 hours away in Frankfurt are downright naughty.
3. The exchange rate. You know what’s really cute? When you take 200€ out of the bank and its actually $270......actually more like $275, since I don’t have a German bank account.
4. Electronics. As some of you may or may not know, my dear cell iPhone perished an absolutely epic death during Oktoberfest a few weeks ago, and in effort to replace old Sally (thats the name of my iPhone, don’t judge me), I would’ve cost me 599€ ($817 HAHAHAHHAHAHAH) to replace her here, vs $200 tops back at home
5. Free water. There are literally NO water fountains here in Europe, and as a girl who downs roughly 3L of water a day, this can make my day stressful when I can’t get to PennyMarkt to buy more water. Especially when I fill my bottle up with tap water and I get weird stares from people.
6. Free bathrooms. Let me preface this complaint by saying that as irritating as it is to pay anywhere between 50 cents to 1€ to pee in a public bathroom, typically in a train station, that money that goes towards bathroom usage creates some of the prettiest, nicest, and most overwhelmingly clean bathrooms I’ve ever seen, especially in comparison to the disgusting/shady as hell/FREE bathrooms in Union Station in the loop of Chicago.
7. The washers and dryers. Not only are they confusing as hell, but they typically like to rebel against you and lock you out from your clothing. Or at least they rebel against me. Plus, since dryers don’t typically work well, so oftentimes you might as well just hang dry your clothes, and it takes at LEAST 48 hours for that to work. On top of everything, its expensive... 1,50-2€ a load. I miss my incredible/FREE (or at least to me) washer and dryer at home.
8. Everything but restaurants are closed on Sundays. This means you have to remember to stock all your stuff up on Saturday nights until Monday. Like I swear, my life would be so much easier if the grocery store down the street was open on Sundays.
9. Starbucks on every corner. Lets be honest. I’m a white girl...and I really like my pumpkin spice lattes ;)

Thats all for now folks! Miss you/love you all!

Auf wiedersehen,

Rachel :)