Well, it is finally here - the last day of my blog for the school year. You are days away from the wonderful things about summer break: swimming at the pool, days at the beach, and sleeping late. Just think, if you were here, you'd still have two more months of school. My boys don't get out until July 31st!!
I want to thank you for following my blog during this school year, and I hope that you learned as much as I did about other countries. I will continue to blog, as I mentioned before, but the format will be more for family and friends to follow our lives and the places we visit. Postings will only occur when we have an update. If you would like to continue to follow me, please send an email to amie@clemson.edu so that I can let you know when I post a new entry.
We learned so much and saw so much over the school year, but we only scratched the surface of all the places we still want to see. We keep a list on our refrigerator, and it is always growing. We have everything from restaurants and specific sites to cities and countries.
For some of the sites on our list, we will be able to cross off after my brother's visit, but places I really, really still want to see are Italy (Süd Tirol, Tuscany, Lake Como), Salzburg in Austria, museums in France and perhaps some of the French countryside, the northern lights (perhaps a trip to Norway or Sweden), as well as places and regions in Germany: Berlin, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the castles alone the Rhine River, the Romantic Road and the Fairy Tale Road.
The men in my life also have some wishes on their lists. They hope to see the Lamborghini and Ferrari factories while we are in Italy, any auto race anywhere, the Europa Park, and Pitzal Ski Resort in Austria (that is where our oldest did his school ski trip - and he really wants us to ski there, too.)
We also want to finish our Ludwig II castle tours with a trip to Linderhof and the site of his planned by never started castle, Falkenstein. My husband also wants to go see some castles near the Austrian border that we saw driving through on a trip we took in December to a ski resort there. Lastly, he wants to see some places I got to see when we were here before several years ago: Nuremberg, Freiburg im Briesgau (both in Germany) and Glarus, Switzerland.
These are all the things we hope to do before we leave. It is a long list for sure, and likely it will have to have some sacrifices, but at least it gives us some direction and plans since there is just SO MUCH to see over here. There are many more things we could add to the list, but they are less probable to happen, so they haven't made it to the official list yet. But who knows what the future will bring...
I wish for you a chance some day to come to Europe. Europe has had such a major part in shaping who we are as Americans. Of course, if you get the opportunity to go to any other country, take it. I think it is so important not to just learn about another culture, but to really experience these cultures. It really helps to understand the bigger place known as the world and the bigger idea that we are all just people trying to make the best of our lives. I have one last homework assignment for you to do over the summer. Find a book, any book (historical, fictional, biographical), that takes place in a culture other than America and read it. See how things are different, but notice too, how some things are similar or the same. Learn what you can about that culture, and then some day, make your own adventure, and try to visit that place.
And with that ... I wish you a fond farewell.
The word for today is adventure: das Abenteuer (ah behn toy er).
Danken an meinen Blog zu lesen. (Thank you for reading my blog.)
Frau Spitzer
