3 1/2 Month Update
Updated: May 14, 2020
It’s been so long since I last blogged I almost feel like I don’t know where to start. The last month and a half have been crazy for us, crazy awesome. I will recap all of our travels with itineraries and suggestions in a different blog post but for now here is an update on us.
From December 8th to January 6th I was home in Ulm for a total of 6 days. Thirty days, 25 cities and 12 people we love. (I have an awesome video recapping our travels on our @schroederstakeeurope instagram & my facebook, but my blog isn’t cool enough yet to allow me to upload videos.)
Our travels began December 8th when Randy and I took a train to Nuremberg for the day, to see our sweet friend Carah. Pretty cool that she had a trip planned to visit Germany before we even knew we were moving here. Our day was spent in the famous Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt, exploring the Kaiserberg Castle, eating dinner in a dungeon and buying Pop Tarts.

After a 6 hour bus ride to Frankfurt and a night’s sleep in a hotel, we boarded a plane heading to London.

We then flew to Miami where we had a few hour layover. My sweet college roommate and maid of honor, Michaela, drove 3 hours round trip from West Palm to the Miami airport to come see us during out layover! She even brought Chick-Fil-A and açaí bowls, that is true love!

We then boarded out last flight and were on the way to Turks and Caicos! We were reunited with Randy’s parents when we landed on Wednesday and on Saturday his sisters arrived.

Oh what warm weather, sunshine, the ocean and family time can do for the soul! No time spent with family is long enough but we cherished the memories made and the time we did get to spend together!

Also, we rode horse in the OCEAN. Coolest thing ever! If you ever get the chance, do it!!!
There’s nothing like being reunited with family, it does one’s heart so much good. We miss all of our people so much!

After some more “see you laters,” my family was on a plane heading back to the States and Randy and I got on a train heading back to Ulm (for all of 42 hours).
New Years Ever Randy had to work two plays at the theater. Then we celebrated New Year’s by listening to the fireworks outside of our bedroom window (we’re an old married couple and had to wake up 4 hours later). Germans celebrate New Year’s in a crazy way. I have never seen & heard so many consecutive fireworks at one time going off from every direction possible. After a little 4 hour cat nap, Randy and I hopped on a train heading to Rome, Italy to be reunited with our friends Joey and Lauren Gass! Our trip through Italy with them had been planned before we even moved to Germany!

Randy and I were blessed to find an unreserved sleeper car on the train from Munich to Bologna so we both got to sleep at least 6 more hours on the train, super nice! After 11 hours traveling we made it to Rome. Pretty cool it’s that easy to get around in Europe! We were then reunited with our friends! (I will also write a separate blog on where to go, what to do, and where to eat in Italy) But, we stayed 2 nights in Rome, 1 night in Florence (and got to see Rebecca who just moved to Milan!) and 2 nights in Venice. Then we were all on a train headed back to Ulm!

What a whirl-wind, super awesome past 30 days it was & it went by so fast!
(If you have made it this far reading, congrats & thank you, it’s almost over). Now we are back in Ulm and settled into life here again. Football picked up right when we got back and we are super excited for the upcoming season! The divisions were just released this past week so now we are waiting for the game schedule!
If you read my previous blog I mentioned a job opportunity I had with an inside sales position… after a lot of praying and advice from my closest people I decided the job was not for me. I am learning that sometimes there will be good opportunities but it doesn’t always mean those opportunities will be for me. I learned so much already through the interview process and I feel at peace with my decision. I am already seeing blessings from it, I now have a different potential job opportunity with a company that live streams sporting events in the Ulm area. Prayers for this if it is meant to workout, we shall see in the near future!
Oh, and we did get our work visa, finally! Praise God! Thank you to everyone that was praying for this and knows Randy’s previous experience in the Czech Republic.

So that is about it from us for now!
“Tschüss” – bye
Xoxo
Caroline (an American just trying to live in Germany)
