I'm sorry. I am truly very, very sorry for the way this blog turned out. I created this blog as a way of sharing my year abroad with everybody who connected themselves in some way with it, and I have almost completely failed in the task of managing it to any state of satisfaction.
This will be, unfortunately, my last blog post. I am closing this blog mostly because, as this coincides with the ending of my exchange year, and I have so many more pictures and experiences which I could not possibly post without simply breaking the internet, it makes the most sense to share those directly with the great, great majority of the people following this blog.
Maybe, had I been more diligent in this pursuit, this blog would not simply die as a result of impracticality. For that, as I have said, I am sorry, although my lack dedication has many reasons. I suppose the biggest of which is just that I am not a blogger sort of person. I discovered this during my year. At any point in my year, regardless perhaps of the very beginning, I don't think I ever really enjoyed doing this blog. As much as it seemed like a chore, I always felt like I was betraying the purpose of this year when I was sitting down to do my blog, wanting instead to be actually doing something, wanting to have some other experience during my time in a different country. Now, I would be lying if I didn't say that sometimes laziness and procrastination wasn't a factor, and for that, again, I am sorry.
If it is for some reason impossible for me to share with you all of these pictures and experiences directly when I am again in the states, post in the comments below, and I will make an effort to post here more pictures of my time in Germany. I can guarantee that it would be a much more full, regularly posted blog than this one has been, simply because of the difference in the way that I will live in the states, compared to the way I have lived here in Germany. If there are people that wish for me to keep this blog going, rather than me sharing directly with them when I am again in the states, then say it here, and I promise it will be better in the future.
Having said that, I will now post a general mix that should give a fairly broad, vague description of the last 4-5 months of silence.
This is my brother and I in Barcelona, having just bought half a dragon fruit from the main market on La Rambla.
Another shot from Barcelona, over the main harbor.
Me and my sister in Paris, with Notre Dame in the background.
Me and La Tour Eiffel.
The Chain Bridge, the main and the oldest bridge across the Danube in Budapest.
Peace! From Berlin. It was cold.
Me and the Cathedral outside our window in Marseille.
View of the Marseille harbor and the Notre Dame de la Garde above.
Sunset over the harbor in Marseille.
Sunset over a random canal in Venice.
Me! In Murano, a small island off of Venice famous for glass blowing and sculpture.
Gondolas in Venice! Although most everyone uses the main water buses, or water taxis. Gondolas are extremely expensive. Just getting around in Venice is expensive.
So, thank you all for being interested enough to follow this blog! And thank you all SO MUCH for helping this year become a reality to me; however you helped, I know you did. I'll be coming home SOON!
~Nils
