Taking Off

Tonight is the night! I leave for London at 10:30pm, and after taking a train to Liverpool and a cab to the hostel I will meet up with my group tomorrow morning at 6am! What kind of vacation starts at 6am? Haha! Then we spent the day touring London and then its off to Paris!

This afternoon I am having traditional German cake and coffee with Catherine, Casey, Christoffer, Natallie, Cesar, and a new girl from France. Im sure it will be a nice way to say bye and thank you!

I will keep updating as much as I can but the internet might be limited once we are on the road!

-Meaghan

Big News!

I am going to be a rider at Heike Kemmer's stable! Woo Hoo! The interview went great and i sat on two very nice horses. One 6 year old and a 4 year old. Both super quality! Heike and I chatted afterwards and she offered me the job! But I still had one more interview with Johann Zaggers, who is the Team Coach for the Brazilians. I spent the weekend at his farm, and rode some really excellent horses. But unfortunately they were looking for more of a student/worker than an actually rider. The facility was huge and brand new, they have over 50 horses! So I just talked with Heike this evening and its final, I start October 1st! And the greatest news is that I can have my beautiful dog Riley!!! Lets hope he loves Germany and stable life! We will see.

You might ask what I am doing between now and then! Well I am going to be backpacking around Europe for three weeks with a student tour group. We start in London and make our way all over. Here is a little bit about what places we will be going to! I forgot, we are camping out!! It should be quite the adventure!
Paris
Evening Tour of Illuminations
See the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, the Champs Élysées, and Notre Dame Cathedral

Swiss Alps
Scenic drive through the Alps

French Riviera
Visit a French Perfumery
Scenic drive along the Cote d'Azur
Visit Monaco & see the Royal Palace
Visit a Monte Carlo casino

Pisa
See the Leaning Tower

Florence
Walking tour with a local guide
See the Duomo, Basilica Santa Croce, Giotto's Bell Tower, the Baptistry & Piazza della Signoria
Florentine leather craft demonstration

Rome
See Piazza Venezia, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Colosseum & Roman Forum

Vatican City
See St. Peter's Basilica

Bologna
See the famous porticos & two towers.

Venice
Murano glass-blowing & Burano lace-making demonstrations
Private motorboat to the historic islands
See Piazza San Marco, Bridge of Sighs and the Doges' Palace

Vienna
See Schönbrunn Palace, St. Stephen's Cathedral & the State Opera House
Scenic drive along the historic Ring Road

Cesky Krumlov
See the medieval town

Prague
See Hradcany Castle, the Cathedral of St. Vitus, Charles Bridge and Wenceslas Square

Munich
See the Glockenspiel & Marienplatz

Heidelberg
See the medieval castle

Rhine Valley
Scenic drive along the Rhine River
Visit the riverside town St. Goar

Amsterdam
See the canals, gable houses and city by night
Visit a cheese farm & clog maker's house
Visit a fishing and cheese village

I am so lucky!! I'm not sure if I will have access to the internet but I will do my best to keep everyone updated! Thank you for your support!!

-Meaghan

Change is Good

Before I get to my "Change is good" explanation I have to write about Aachen. I realize it have been forever and a day since I have written, but I have been so insanely busy!! Aachen was one of the best experiences in my life! Yes, Stephan Peters and Ravel won all three classes!! An American won!! Too cool! Catherine and I were stable with Stephan because we were "Team USA" even though we didn't technically have a team there this year. We had stall curtains, flags, and blankets the just screamed USA. It was awesome! It was so nice to be around a group of Americans, especially around the 4th. When Stephan and Ravel won the GP Special on the 4th of July and the American flag was raised while the National Anthem played in front of 60,000 people, I was in tears! It was just an incredible moment.
There was a groom's party on Wednesday night which was a blast. It is so much fun talking with all the grooms and hearing about where they have been and how long they have been grooming for. Not to mention a long night of drinking and dancing!
The trade fair at Aachen is like a medium size shopping mall. You can buy everything there and I mean everything! There were so many people on Fri, Sat and Sun that I barely went over there it was just to crowded. The stable arena was much cooler and much quieter!
For me Aachen was kind of like summer camp! You have the time of your life and never want to leave and you are sad for a week afterwards.
Ok, then the day I got back from Aachen I moved into my new apartment. Really it is a WG, pronounced "vgee." There are four rooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen. My three roommates are German, so they are helping with my German! My room is quite large and I have a huge blue accent wall, kind of strange but it works. I also also have a balcony which over looks a potato vending machine. You didn't read incorrectly, a potato vending machine. Cars driving up all day long and insert 2 or 5 euro into the machine and out pops a sack of potatoes. So German, I guess. I will be learning to cook alot with potatoes!
The next day we have the Reese from Dressage Training Online come to the stable to take several training videos for the website. A very educational day. We also have a new working student come to the stable from France, his name is Cesar and he can cook!! So throughout the week we have have several dinner gatherings! It has been a hectic but fun week.
Earlier this week Catherine told me to bringing my riding boots to the barn so that I could start riding. YAY!!! I couldn't wait to get back in the saddle! So after I rode Catherine and I had a long chat about what I wanted to do. Of course I couldn't get out fast enough that I wanted to ride, 20 horses a day if possible! Grooming has been a blast and I have learned so much but really I want to be back in the saddle. But there isn't a riding position for me at Catherine's. There are already 3 riders plus Catherine and at the moment 16 horses. So Catherine has been a HUGE help in finding me another stable to ride at. This coming Thursday I have an interview at Heike Kemmer's stable. She was the Bronze Medalist in Hong Kong Olympics! So as you see alot has changed since the last time I wrote but really everything is for the best!!! Ok so I promise to keep you updated more! Wish me luck on the interview!

Thanks for reading...

Meaghan