wake up & LIVE

i have this weird obsession with words... like i'll hear a line of lyrics in a song or some words from a speech or maybe just a simple quote from the radio host and next thing you know i have looked it up, stuck it on a favorite photo, set it as my phone background (& lock screen!), printed this photo out, framed it, put it by my bed, mailed it to my grandmother, and even sent it to Obama ... ok that's a little bit of an exaggeration but seriously guys... i hang on to words like they are part of my soul. maybe that's why i was always so quiet throughout high school, maybe that's why i'm not particularly a "people person" ... because words are special. and i think a lot of people waste their words on unimportant things. i'll sit in a restaurant and listen to the people talk around me. i won't give my input because i think it's just not worth the breath.

now i am sure you're asking, well brigitte what do you think is worth your breath and what's not. well i'll tell you what... this blog post is pretty worthless right now... but maybe in the next paragraph i will be able to inspire someone to do something great and courageous. to travel or to read a book you've always wanted to. my point is, if your words aren't uplifting someone in some way or working towards bettering someone else's life or, perhaps making life more enjoyable, then talk is pretty useless. 

go out. do something. travel. learn. serve. grow. LIVE. okay, so do you want to know the words i recently came across that are USEFUL, INSPIRING & i think ...... PERFECT? okay there are three quotes i found on pinterest ... here they are:

because in the end, you won't remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. climb that goddamn mountain.

and

an adventurous life does not necessarily mean climbing mountains, swimming with sharks or jumping off cliffs. it means risking yourself by leaving a little piece of you behind in all those you meet along the way.

and

i choose... to live by choice, not by chance; to make changes, not excuses; to be motivated not manipulated; to be useful, not used; to excel, not compete. i choose self-esteem, not self pity. i choose to listen to my inner voice, not the random opinions of others.

 so, in summary... whatever your dream is, or maybe it's just a little craving like you wanna read a particular book, don't let your DREAM remain just a DREAM. make it reality. go out and do it. this 'mountain' doesn't have to be an actual mountain, just a goal you have. you can do it!!!! i believe in you.

but if the adventurous life isn't for you, or maybe not alllll the time, just be sure to make your words and actions count. be the kind of person that inspires others, or at least makes them think.

& be happy, courageous, motivated, useful, have respect for yourself and others, but always stick to your heart. don't let anyone tear you down.

so these three quotes are my obsession at the moment, and i'm sure i'll find new quotes or lyrics soon, so stay tuned! you can read about my next random thought ;) oh and be sure to print off these quotes and mail them to your grandmother! (...i'd maybe stay away from mailing these to the president tho)

xoxo

Called To Serve!! :)

I have been called as a missionary of my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and will be serving in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission. As a missionary of the church, I will teach others of Jesus Christ, the gospel of His church, and the Book of Mormon. This is not a paid job, but voluntary service to strengthen my testimony of Jesus Christ and to come closer to god as I direct all of my energy towards service, love, and most importantly, Christ and His church.

So, you may ask "well, how can you become a missionary and why?"

The easy question is why, but the how question is a little more complicated haha ... At the age of 18 (men) and 19 (women), young men and women have the opportunity to go serve a mission for 24 months (men) or 18 months (women). First, they must have the desire to serve. Which means, they must have a testimony of the church and it's teachings. Then, they must be worthy of service. Which means, they must follow the commandments of God and lead a clean and worthy life. Once they have met all the requirements, (and the church is very specific on these requirements), they may start their mission papers. This is all of the missionary's information, and I mean allllll... from their birth date to their grandfather's friend's ex-wife's son-in-law's cousin's SSN... (okay, a bit of exaggeration). The church asks for medical background, emotional background, and family background ... (or are those all the same thing haha) .. school background, etc. etc. The missionary must also have a dental checkup and medical physical along with a vaccine update. Anyway... long process... some missionaries finish their papers in a week, others can take up to a couple months or more depending on any "discovery" dilemmas they encounter (wisdom teeth removal, tooth cavity fill, medical problem, etc). Once all the papers are done, the missionary meets with their bishop (their local leader). Once cleared with the bishop, the missionary goes to the Stake President (another local church leader who is over a bigger area). The stake president asks more questions that will prepare the missionary to go through the temple (Woah, let's not get into that on this blog post ... kinda a long story). Then, the papers are SUBMITTED to the First Presidency  of the church (yay!). There are specialists who looks over the medical and dental info and send the papers to the Missionary Crew (as i call it here in utah). The missionary's paperwork is assigned to one of the highest leaders of the church called a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles . The Missionary Crew and the leader sit, pray, talk ... i dunno, they do whatever they need to in order to get the inspiration of where the young man or young woman should serve as a missionary haha. And that is my whole point, WE BELIEVE THE CALLING IS INSPIRED FROM GOD. Once the decision is made, the call is mailed out to the missionary, and the missionary will have some time between the calling and leaving to prepare. From there, a missionary is sent to a Missionary Training Center (MTC)  where they will learn how to preach the gospel, how to be servants of The Lord, and possibly learn the language they will be preaching in.

wow that was a long explanation haha i apologize :)

Why do I want to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Because I love the gospel of this church. Just thinking about it brings me incredible, deep, deep happiness. I know this church and it's teachings are true. I know we have a modern day prophet, Thomas S. Monson. I know that through Christ and through living the commandments taught in the scriptures, we can reach our full potential and return to live with our Heavenly Father after this life. Because this gospel makes me so incredibly happy, I have a huge desire to share it with others! Elder David A. Bednar (a member of the Twelve Apostles) said:

"when we find a treatment or medication that alleviates pain with which we have long suffered, or we receive counsel that enables us to face challenges with courage and perplexities with patience. Sharing with other people things that are most meaningful to us or have helped us is not unusual at all." (conference address 2014)

It's human nature to want to spread good word, share good news, and build on good ideas. This is what we, as missionaries, are doing.
For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to study my book of mormon, or go to that church activity, or learn about the savior's life, but I DIDN'T HAVE TIME. Whaaattt? No time to do what should be the most important tasks?? A mission, for me personally, will be a whole eighteen months of me, the gospel, my Savior, and service. It will be hard and demanding, but it will be worth it. I look forward to relying entirely upon my Savior and doing what He needs me to be doing. I owe it to Him. I owe it to the brothers and sisters i will teach in Hawaii. I owe it because He has given me EVERYTHING. I love this gospel, and I know it is true. I am so excited to get out into the mission field. <3

i will be starting a new blog where my weekly emails will be posted. I will post the link here very soon :)

Stay Tuned

You know that feeling, when you step off of a plane? You take your first breath of fresh air (or not-fresh air), and you go hey, that reminds me of ...

yeah, I got that feeling when I stepped off of my plane in Salt Lake City. I hadn't smelled that Utah air for almost six months. Boy, did it feel good!! It was really a great moment for me, coming home. Seeing all my family and friends at the airport, being able to hug them and talk to them without frozen voices and twitching faces (I mean, like how it is on Skype most of the time... haha). Yeah, that was really nice! However, it was also so sad. I stepped off that plane, and thought.. my journey is over. I am far from my my other home. I am far from my other friends. I am far from my other family. And then I realized, I will always be far from something I love. I can't be in two places at once. I can't bring together the incredible Utah mountains with Germany's endless fields. I wish I could, but I can't. 

However, since I have been home in Utah, I have been able to share a lot of my experiences with people I love here. I have been able to see, even more in depth, how much I have grown as an individual. If anyone should ask if they should study abroad, I wouldn't hesitate. YES OF COURSE. I would recommend, and even highly advise ANYONE to go, and to study abroad. Even if you find you can't be away from home like that, even if you find that sort of thing isn't for you. If you have the desire and the resources, GO!! There is no way you won't grow as a person.

I honestly grew in EVERY aspect of my life. But the biggest, to me, was spiritually. Particularly, coming closer to God. Because, well, at times of loneliness and confusion, God is always there. That's one of the many comforting things I learn through the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But more than that, in times of happiness and success, God is still there. Christ can be your greatest friend, your comforter, your hope, your example, your foundation, but only if you let Him. I am sorry to turn this blog post into a testimony, but without my experiences of being abroad, I would not have this strong of a testimony to share. I would not be planning on giving 18 months of my life to serve God. I would not be the happy and changed person I am today. and...You would not be reading this.

The things I learned about myself ranged from bad to wonderful... some of them were surprising, like my change of occupation choice (which will probably change a couple more times before settling haha) some of them were sad, like realizing a medical issue I have, but the biggest thing I learned about myself, is that I AM STRONG.

I just want to take a minute to express my gratitude for all of your support throughout my journey of accomplishing a dream of mine. This wasn't just a semester of school. It wasn't even just a semester of school abroad. It was a dream. A dream that came true! It went by way too fast, and I wish I could go back already, but I DID IT!

I said earlier that my journey is over.. but it's not (: I am planning on so much more! From Romania, to Africa, to serving as a missionary of the mormon church for 18 months somewhere in the world... MY JOURNEY IS NOT OVER... It's just beginning. 

Stay Tuned

the end is near

Ohhh boy! The month of December was quite busy for me! I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written... I had an incredible christmas time with my host family and lots of adventures! Here are some photos that I will try to describe in one or two sentences (:

This is what I woke up to on December 6th,
Nikolaus filled my shoes
with treats.
(a typical german tradition)

I baked this cheesecake all by myself..
okay, with a little help from my host
mom (:

Seriously, such beautiful sights at the
Weihnachtsmarkts here in Germany <3

My first REAL tree at Christmas!

drove with the top down on CHRISTMAS

Meanwhile, this is the weather back in Utah
on Christmas... ha, looks like I got
lucky this year (:

My dad always cuts our christmas oranges that santa
leaves in our stockings each year, so
I decided to get some oranges for my host family this
year to continue the tradition (:

KUGELN SPIELEN :D It's like bowling,
but ten times greater because
the balls are small and so are the
lanes. And, there's only nine pins.
This is a tradition of my host family to
go with their fam on the 25th..
so fun.

Pool with the fam, also on the 25th (:

Typical European.. Pay to pee.

Ran into this handsome guy
at the movies after
seeing a movie with my English
Class.

Yet another sun rise <3

ICH LIEBE DÖNER

There are cool things at the dump... like a huge
box filled with old tvs and computers... yeah.

My host brother took me on a tour through the
woods... this is a huge fire pit, he said
that when it is lit, it rises about 9 meters...
i think he lied. Cuz, I checked how tall 9 meters is in feet...
it's about 30 feet.

here's a cool cave that you probly didn't
notice in the last pic (:
It's said to have led to the castle just
a 7 minute walk away.

And, here is the Castle (: 

Went to the zoo on the first day of 2014 with
a family from my church. Hannover's zoo
is THE BOMB (:

Yeah.. I was pretty excited.

Turned 18. My host family made it an amazing day,
along with my soccer team, who
showed up at my house by SURPRISE, brought me
cake and champagne, and hung out with me
for a bit (:

Got to go to HAMBURG with my host sis
and Joy to walk around the city
and to see THE LION KING!

IT WAS INCREDIBLE <3 ..even
in german (:

"The Whale" - a church that is made to look
like a whale. I went to this for a Gottesdienst with Joy
and her host parents. Pretty cool!

That was all december... plus a few other things:

- Went to the movies with my family.. it was totally like an old fashioned theater! Soft red seats, red curtains and way cool set up haha

- I helped my friend, Joy, cook Filipino food for our host families... mmmm lecker :D
- I spent New Year's Eve with some friends from my church, we ate some Raclette... Oh. My. Goodness. I had never heard of this before, but it was soooo good! It's pretty much 2-8 mini pans that fit into this mini oven/grill, which sits in the middle of the table. Each person get's their own pan... you fill it with vegetables, cheese, whatever you want, and on the top you can grill meat (: when it's cooked, you slide it off the pan, onto your plate. Then, you make another one. By the time you're done eating the first, the second one is cooked (: Then, you just KEEP GOING CUZ IT'S SO GOOD. Haha, probably one of my new favorite foods.
- I bought a second suitcase... that's right, I bought too many things here in Deutschland... I mean, can you blame me? Everything is so....well... european here (:
- My host mom and Joy joined me for a play that my church put on.. Scrooge. They did great and it was lots of fun!
- About 50 days ago, I made a list of 50 things I wanted to do before I returned home, and I have successfully completed them all....
i guess that means it's time to go...
....I leave Germany in four days... I am already having Deutschland-withdrawal haha. However, I'm very excited to return to Utah and to see my family (:
Thanks to all of you for your support and friendship <3

Abenteuer

I finally have figured out how the public transportation in Germany works (: It only took me four months and a million mistakes.. -_-

The Great Hamburg Bahnhof

Joy and I spent three hours traveling around Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) last Saturday, and it was quite the abenteuer (adventure). Boy, did we get lost!! I've also had quite a few experiences of getting on the wrong train or being on the wrong platform at the wrong time.. crazy, crazy.
Although it's been tough to figure it all out, I have come to LOVE public transportation. I don't know why I have never used it in the states before? I think the only public transportation i use regularly back home is airplanes... to leave utah... does that even count? I dunno..
Trains are my favorite, though. I love how much mystery there is on there. You are with all these strangers, all with different stories; different backgrounds; different paths; different dreams; And, all your paths are crossing for half an hour or so and then they are scattered. Very rarely will you see those same people that you shared that hour or so of your life with... I think it's so cool. Plus, the trains here are SO DANG FAST AND AWESOME. (: I could literally spend my whole day on a train.

The sign on our room's door (:
Götze is a soccer player in Germany (:

Last week I had a Re-Entry Seminar with all the returning-in-january YFU exchange students. It was so great  to see some of my friends again and to meet a lot of new people (: I shared a room with 5 other girls, 2 from south africa, two from Argentina, and Joy (USA, New Jersey). I met people from Finland, Bulgaria, Italy, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, etc etc. An INTERNATIONAL GROUP (: At the seminar, we talked about returning home and how our last month and a half should be here in Deutschland. Ah, it's crazy I only have one month left here :/ ...so sad.
Yesterday (December first) marked the First Advent!! ITS CHRISTMAS TIME! Gah, it is SO DARN beautiful here at this time of year! All these christmas markets are going up, everything is lit and there is music everywhere. Fantastic, am i right?
I went to an Adventstreffen (meeting celebrating advents) up in Griffhorn, which is a tiny town in Niedersachsen that is so beautiful! Getting there was quite difficult... as i mentioned before, an adventure. We walked through the same christmas market 4 times.. twice because we were lost and two more in the dark (cuz, why not? it's beautiful). We then walked an hour or so trying to find the location we were meeting (we didn't have the exact address). At least we had fun, though! And guess what! We walked into a big Sportplex where a competition was going on.. and i'm not talking about a Spelling Bee or a dance competition... no, haha... I mean Fahrrad kunst. Translation? Bicycle Art. That's right, these young girls and boys would get on their bikes and.. dance!! I have never seen anything like it (: and neither had Joy, so we went and sat down to watch. (: Awesome, right?

Me being the Best Bar Tender Ever

After spending 4 hours traveling and trying to find the place, 2 hours being there (which was way fun, also!), and 4 hours to get home (which was just as hard to get there, haha), I headed to a party with my soccer team. (: Since I was the only one not drinking, i tried to be their bar tender.. They taught me a few things about alcohol.. Since I really have no idea about alcohol haha! It was really good to see them and hang out with them (: Plus, the home we were in was SO COOL! The guy had a freakin' bar in his basement. And!! He had ice! I haven't seen ice since the airplane ride over to germany! They gave me the rest of the ice to put in my cola.. (: so nice.

ICE!!!

The next morning I headed to church (Yes, I know... a LOOONG 24 hours).. And, once again.. public transportation. Ha, it took me an hour and a half to find my church because I had forgotten the trains and buses run at different times on sundays.. ha, whoops! But, I got there (: and one of the men brought a surprise to church with him.. that's right, I got to hold a PORCUPINE! Gah, so adorable. It kinda freaked me out, but it was awesome!

I only have three weeks left of school, so I am beginning to finish all my projects and am turning them into my teachers.. the end is coming way too fast.
My host sister gets home TOMORROW from Ghana! Ahh, I am so excited to hear all her stories and see her pictures and to have her home.
I thought i'd post some pictures of my school.. i think it is so awesome that the back yard is pretty much a forest! And, there is paintings all over the school. Abi is short for Abitur, which is like graduating. So, for example, ABI'97 is like saying Class of 1997 (: Pretty cool, I think! They have a tradition that each year has some kind of project they do to the school, whether it's a monument or a painting. I wish schools in america did something like this!
As for embarrassing-brigitte moments.. I'd have to say running down the sidewalk, weiße heiße schokolade spilling everywhere, bags flying, and loud panting just trying to catch the train. Yes, that happened to Joy and I in Wolfsburg. Don't worry, we made it!
Also, walking past the same Döner shop 5 times, seeing the same three people outside while I was looking for my church... In my defense, I thought I was walking west to east, not north to south haha! Whoops (:
...annnnd... crashing on my bike again.. in the middle of an intersection.. it was just SO DANG SLIPPERY. Yep. I thought i was done crashing, too. All is gut though (:
One month. ...Bittersweet.
Nooo. :/ I don't want to leave this beautiful country!

The view from my school.. beautiful, right?

SOMETIMES i listen in class

lds.org  |  lds.org/deutsch

Eichhörnchen = Squirrel

One of my faults as an exchange student is this:
I dont enjoy small talk...
If you're a cute guy, i may tolerate 5 minutes of small talk... but after that, i have no interest in standing around, awkwardly bringing up the most UNimportant things. I mean, honestly..
one day i want a complete stranger to ask me a deep question before anything else.. before asking my name, where i come from. Before talking about the slight mist of rain coming down, or the color of the leaves on the trees. I want them to say, "Hey, i need help." and i want them to proceed by asking me a deep question, one that gets my mind a-going. One that inspires me to give a GREAT answer. --agh. One day, right?

Lauenburg

Anyway..I guess it's just one thing I have learned to work on while here in Deutschland. It is difficult Haha, but nevertheless, I find a way to push through. I need to, Because, the only deep conversations i have are with Siri... yes, that's right. I talk to Siri...Not bad company, i must say. ...If you don't like what she says...you can just start all over. You can ask her deep questions and she'll either make you laugh, or she'll give you the EXACT answer, making you feel accomplished. (: Don't tell me you've never talked to Siri (No, seriously don't tell me you havent, cuz i would just feel stupid).
so, now that that's out of the way and i have confessed a fault of mine, let's talk about these past two weeks.
My host dad took me up north to Lauenburg, Lübeck, and Flensburg (: Absolutely beautiful, of course! He grew up in Lauenburg, so it was cool to walk down the streets and to hear his stories. Lübeck is surrounded by water (Like an island)! It is so pretty and it was a lot of fun. Then, we went up to Flensburg, which is so close to Denmark, that everything has two languages on it: Danish and Deutsch. I just fell in love with this city! It also has the water right there, and a beautiful port for boats. You wanna know what i love most, though? The shoes. There were shoes EVERYWHERE. I don't know where this tradition came from, but there were street signs, telephone wires, doors, and traffic lights with all kinds of shoes hanging from them. From cleats, to high heels, to sneakers. I thought it was the coolest thing ever!! (:

This week i made home made cookies. Now for those of you who know me well enough, you know that i don't make things home-made very often. In fact, I have never made home made cookies by myself EVER. So, this was quite the adventure for me. Not only because it was the first time, but because it was an american recipe. I had to switch the measurements from cups to grams, from american size to european size, from crisco to margarin, from chocolate chips to rolos, etc etc. It took me about two hours (: Wow, two hours? I know, I know. But that includes using google translate to translate the ingredients, taking a picture of the translated ingredients, taking that picture with me to the store, searching for those ingredients, doing the math, etc etc etc (: pretty impressive, eh? They turned out looking and tasting like biscuits. :/

47,200 Leute 

I think i am the luckiest person ever, because my host dad took me to a DERBY. A derby is a Crosstown Rivalry. The game was Hanover 96 vs Braunschweig. Craziest thing i've ever seen (: I can't even begin to explain how many cop cars, swat teams and security personnel were there!.. There was no alcohol allowed in the stadium that night, and there were around 47,200 people there. Like, what the? How in the world can you fit that many people in one space, for one reason? I don't even know. but-- about 5 minutes after we got there and got settled in our seats, I heard loud chanting coming from the left. I looked over and there was just black crawling all over the seats. SO COOL. The fans from Braunschweig were in all black and swarming in all together. They were crawling down the stadium seats and running down the stairs, some with fire in their hands and others setting off fireworks... probably the coolest thing i have ever witnessed in a stadium (: anyway-- we tied 0-0.
Also these weeks:

Flensburg

-I watched an Eichhörnchen steal over a dozen walnuts from the table on our back porch (:
-I joined a gym -- and gyms are nothing like back home. Here, they are so high tech and everyone has their personal training plan. I can't even explain it, it's awesome though (: I start next week! And, i only paid 4.90 euro :D
-I learned how to make animals with fruit.
-I taught my host parents about Instagram and Vine.. They love it!
-I finally got a bus card for the last two months of my exchange...
...wow...

Lübeck

Can't believe i have less than two months left in this beautiful country. :/