Being on vacation

We all know I'm a workaholic but if you'd been hanging out with me in the last few weeks, you wouldn't recognize me. I started the vacation with lots of good intention in terms of getting ahead with work, reading some books for work that I should have read a long time ago...but now I've been in Austria for almost a month and I've barely done anything. Maybe it's being so far away from work, maybe I just needed a break, or maybe there are just too many distractions. I haven't even been that busy though - there's been plenty of times when I was sitting around wondering what I could do and even being bored - but work still didn't come to my mind.
So for all you workaholics out there: take some time off, get far far away from work and just don't do anything. It's possible, even for someone like us!!!

I'll probably regret not having done anything when I get back but I'd rather not think about that right now. Instead I'll tell you about the fun things that have been keeping me busy lately:

1) My three best friends and I spent some time together. The four of us met in Innsbruck for a couple days, where we celebrated birthdays and one of the girl's boyfriend getting his doctorate degree. Then, I went to visit one of them in Munich.

2) Family: I visited my grandparents, who live on the other side of Austria. I'm definitely done with riding the train...yeah, it may sound like fun for Americans who haven't taken the train very often, but let me tell you: It's NOT! The seats aren't all that comfortable. And on the ride back I got stuck with a group of middle school students, who were returning from a field trip...and they were just rude and obnoxious and annoying. I'm usually not that impatient but there was something about those kids and being stuck in a train for so many hours...
Anyway, unfortunately my parents and my sister are working, but whenever my parents have some time off (and if the weather's nice), we've been trying to do something. Today, my mom and I went hiking; tomorrow afternoon my dad and I will probably do something.

3) Sports: I've never been a huge fan of sports but I do go running occasionally and have tortured myself with the random "work-out DVD" in an attempt to lose some weight and get in shape. I'm trying to keep that up while I'm here and it's been working out pretty well. I've been doing at least "something" every day since I've gotten home.

4) Obsessions: There are a few things I'm obsessed with and during the school year I never have enough time to truly live out my obsessions. So I'm using this time as much as I can....
and here's a list of some of those obsessions:
a) Uwe Kröger: Okay, so most of you may not know him and I'm sorry...because that's really a huge loss. :) Uwe is a fabulous singer and has played the leads in a variety of musicals from Starlight Express to Les Miserables to Beauty and the Beast, Phantom of the Opera and famous Austrian shows such as "Elisabeth" and "Rebecca." I had my dad tape a show with him, "Musical Showstar 2008" and some evenings (like tonight) I just watch one YouTube video of him after the other. He was voted Germany's best musical star seven or eight times. Check him out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYhvA-BmSCU&feature=related.
b) Harry Potter: I tried to read a couple other books (for example, Barack Obama's Dreams from my Father, which was great and then a few German books...some good, some not so fabulous) but in the end, I just had to get back to Harry Potter. I can't help it; I've read the books ten or more times but they're just so wonderful.

Okay, now you know my two darkest secrets...my Uwe and my Harry obsessions.

I hope you're all having a fabulous summer!