2014 Recap

Hello friends!

Today is the last day of 2014.... which is kind of weird to think about since the year passed by so quickly. Okay so it flew by in what seems like is the blink of an eye! I wanted to take the time and kind of for my own memory keeping purposes, recap this past year with what I can actually remember.

January and February brought prepping for my move to Germany, packing up all of my belongings, clearing Fort Bragg, and then preparing the things I didn't want to take to Germany to drive them back home. The begining of March brought a four day trip to my parents house with a truck full of stuff to put in my new storage unit. My best friend Linz, our friend Sparky, and I all took a trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter for my firat time and we had a blast. I bought Hermione's wand since she was always my favorite character and some chocolate. We took a ride through the castle and it was great. After that 4 day trip I headed back to Bragg to finish some last minute thigs before I left for Germany, including finishing my half-sleeve tattoo.

me, Linz, and Sparky with the conductor of the Hogwarts Express

As soon as I got to Germany I started working immediately since we were in a rotation with foreign countries. April brought Daster, my first train ride to see a couple of friends, my truck arrived in Germany, and then it was my first drive on the Autobahn to see friends and then I met Morales. I visited friends in Illesheim, went to my first Wine fest and bought my Lederhosen before attending the fest at my own base. May and June brought rotations and trips to see friends. Morales and I started dating officially in July before I went to school for the Army, where I spent 4 weeks working on how to be a better leader. While in school we attended the Graf Fest with some new friends from stationed in both Germany and Italy. I surprised Morales after he had mouth surgery when I had an early weekend off of school, and after graduation at school, it brought more rotations and not a lot of time off. I got position qualified on the first one in November and then again on the second one in early December.

I went to München Oktoberfest with my unit late September, went to the  Nürnberg and Regensberg Fests, attended both the Spring and Fall Stuttgart fests, and  the Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Fest in October. I went to the Stuttgart Christmas Market and attended the Esslingen christmas Market two seperate times. My first week in Germany brought inprocessing and "cultural college" to learn about the basics of German culture before taking a tour of Nürnberg and learning about some of the city's history.

I've made a couple new friends in my coworkers, made some friends in Stuttgart where my old friends live, and I decided to participate in december Daily, which will be finished when I get home to Germany and more of my supplies.

All in all 2014 has been a year of firsts and of adventures for me. I've learned a lot about myself, the German culture, and photography. I'm planning to travel more in 2015, have more adventures, and new experiences.

Tell me about your 2014!