Cooking/Hannover/?

I rounded off my second week at the job with some fun days centered around student ticket-booking and creative cooking- no rhyme intended.
I had to do a lot of nit-picky, number typing; something that, when it comes to plane tickets, you want to pay a lot of attention to! I must admit, sometimes I get a little de-stimulated with OCD sorting and computer faceplant tasks, but lunch time helps me to revamp.
I've been starting to recognize that cooking is a true soul-soother for me. Before I was kind of critical of myself; everything needed to be perfect or else noone would enjoy it. I've started approaching it a different way, though: rather than having it be "perfectly" healthy, tasty, or aesthetically pleasing, I am trusting my own palate and sense of creativity. It truly is enlivening. First planning your potential plate in your head: decorating the naked meat (or vegetarian-friendly protein :) ) with any herbs you may desire, steaming/sauteing/baking earthy vegetables, and rounding it off with a hearty grain. I write down my ideas, linking the flavors together to create a satisfying, whole meal, and then I begin to cook.
If you let it, rinsing, chopping, stirring- even the post-feast cleaning- is meditation. One of my older brothers has taken his passion for this art and is a Zen master of his kind; I am very proud of him.
Including today, I've cooked for my coworkers for the past 4 days; stir-fry and a peanut-cabbage salad, mexican salad with homemade whole wheat tortillas, eggs typical German bread and meat/cheese/mustard spread, and basil-lemon chicken with balsamic asparagus, broccoli, and toasted seed salad. Tomorrow: whole wheat spaghetti with shrimp tossed in an olive oil, garlic, and sun-dried tomato 'sauce' and a salad with olives and feta cheese. I am having a blast :)

After a fun Friday of train ticket-fetching and an intern-typical Starbucks run (the first one!), I packed up my bags and headed out to Hannover for a fun evening with friends.
One of Texas State's partner schools is in Hannover, and some of the German students were in San Marcos this past March. One of the kids I had gotten to know better had a birthday party planned, so I took a 3 hour train trip north.
It was great getting to see some friends from school, as well as meet some new people.
I didn't have much time to walk around the city, but what I did see was beautiful. The buildings there are so grand and historic; one of my friends laughed when I said this, calling them "just old", but I stand to my point!
Cologne definitely has its share of old and beautiful; all of Germany does.

I am really enjoying my time here. I have grown more, personally, and I have met many beautiful people already. I am feeling more and more settled in, greatly independent and forming a rhythm out of my life here. I am now officially a member of McFit, a well-known chain fitness center here in Germany; I was granted a special, 2-month workout visa :)
I am getting a feel of my role at work, as well as getting to know each of my coworkers individually.
I am looking forward to next week, when I'll get to see my parents, as well as celebrate my birthday with some good, old friends in Montabaur, where I lived last year.
In a few weekends I'll be hanging out with my oldest brother who, living and working abroad, I haven't seen for a few years.
July will have visits from friends, hopefully a trip to Saarbruecken to see a lovely relative, and a trip to Paris to meet up with a good friend from school.

Wunderbar.