Christmas time in Klagenfurt, I live in a postcard...

X-Mas card 2012

Hey Friends and Family!

It's mid-December and Klagenfurt is covered in snow... It's hovering at a balmy -10 C (14 F) during the daytime, and nights drop to around -20. Yikes! I am never ready for this. But more than any year before I've been able to enjoy the outdoors a little more this winter, and I can really understand why some people just love the snow!

Hike up the "Goat Slope" with the Breithubers and Hank

I mean let's not get ahead of ourselves... I don't know if I can really say that I love the snow, or the conditions that cause snow in the first place. In fact, I can say with utter certainty that I HATE when my fingers freeze into cement, making it impossible to quickly grab my keys out of my pocket or fasten the snap that keeps my hood attached to my jacket. I HATE THAT. Really annoying. Stupid freezingness.

But I do love how I practically live in some kingdom out of The Lord of the Rings. Some mornings, when the ground and trees and houses and streets are already covered in snow, a bright white fog sits on top of Klagenfurt, like a cloud has just taken over the place. I need to rememebr to bring my camera with me on my way to school tomorrow. It's really like driving through a cloud LOTR kingdom! So yes, the snow is beautiful.

Another awesome thing about the snow is that Hank, the center of my universe nowadays, absolutely loves it. Can't get enough of it! And he thoroughly cracks me up everytime we go outside to play and he does a mad puppy run through the fresh snow. Love it.

Hank doing what he does best: being cute!

Anyway, besides the stark changes in weather since my last post, everything here is chugging along rather nicely! I did get to take a nice trip to Munich for Oktoberfest before the school year started, which turned out to be a great hangout with Dresden and Klagenfurt friends alike. I got to wear Marco's lederhosen, which were surprisingly comfy. Who knew?

We made it!

Germany is great for pretzes bigger than your head

Dirndls

Tesha and I

Tanya and I

In other news, I'm back in the rhythm of school life (procrastinating from studying for a final in Cultural Skills at the moment), and really enjoying it (besides the final parts). I have 20-some-odd classmates from around the world, and it's turned out to be a really fun group of people. We're off for three weeks over Christmas, which will also be nice, because despite the fact that I'm back in the rhythm, I do still miss sleeping in 'til past 6am!

Volleyball is going well, and my team is currently in third place in the Austrian league. We were on a roll at the start, then hit a few bumps in the road, but are hoping to get back on track on Saturday at home against Graz. Besides wins and losses, it's also a great group of girls to be around, and I'm happy I decided to play with them this year. Gotta love the Wildcats!

If there was a prettyness championship, we would obviously win

Back to the center of my universe, Hank (otherwise known as Hanky-poo, Hanker the Wanker, Hanky Panky or Bürli) is doing great! We marked his 6 month birthday on 12/12/12, and I can't believe how much he's grown. Obviously, he's awesome, and I really can't remember what I did with all of my time before he was a part of my life. Dogs rule!

On a last note, while I'm used to celebrating the holidays away from my family nowadays (this will be my fourth year away from home at Christmas) I do get a weird sense of homesickness around this time. It's probably because all of my awesome family (parents and siblings and cousins and friends) get to hang out with each other and take pictures and send them to me to make me jealous share the fun...

But despite the fact that I wish I had a wormhole that could deposit me anywhere in the world for an hour of hangout and then send me straight back to Austria (free, of course, no one has $2,000 to spend on a wormhole trip!), I am really looking forward to celebrating the holidays with the Austrian family over here. Marco's family, as always, has been taking care of me as if I'm really one of their own, and that'll continue throughout the holiday season. So yay for celebrating Christmas on the 24th (that's the way they do it here) and eating fondue instead of honey-baked ham. Still delicous, and one day early! Yay!

I hope that all of you have some awesome Christmas plans of your own, and that you get to spend it with someone who makes you feel as loved as Hank does when he climbs up to lick my face in the morning (OK.. too far? I know, I'm going crazy, I think I like my dog too much. But wait... there is no such thing as liking your dog too much! Nevermind, I take it all back!)

Love,

Anna

PS: Sara, thanks for the reminder! It was time....

PPS: Sorry for the horrible picture layout. Blogger changed something, and now I can't really choose where the pictures go. Soooo hey, willy nilly pictures everywhere!! YAAAY

Tschüüs Dresden, Hey Klagenfurt, Hey USA, Hey Klagenfurt again!

Hello Friends and Family!

I've been slacking on the blog updates, but my silence has definitely not been due to a lack of material! It's been 6 months since my Valentine's Day post, and since then there have been several important developments in the life of Anna.

Before jumping in to my new endeavors, I should write the last chapter to my story in Dresden. While I was surrounded by a great group of girls there and had developed a pretty great net of friends in town, I struggled with my role on the team as a perpetually injured player. It's something I hadn't experienced since my redshirt year in college, and it was no easier the second time around! By March I had started to think about how I could change my situation for the following season, since I knew I couldn't handle playing that role again.

Meanwhile, the team kept on course against the German League competition. By the end of the regular season, we had stolen the top spot from Vilsbiburg, entering playoffs as the 1 seed. We played against a great Münster team in the semifinals, winning both games to move on to the finals. Then, in a terrible case of déjà-vu, we lost once again to Schwerin in the last 2 games of the year. Just like last season, we played on the road first, keeping the score relatively close but losing, and then lost at home in front of a booming crowd. It's hard to have such a strong season only to lose at the end, but that feeling is enhanced when it happens at the hands of the same team, 2 years in a row!

Despite ending the season with a silver medal that we had all imagined would be gold, I knew that I wouldn't be returning to Dresden again after the season was over, so I tried to make the most of my remaining time there. I have many great memories of hangouts with Tesha (my rock in Dresden) and Stefan (our trusted host), as well as the Dutch girls who made a lasting impression on my heart (and abs, from laughing so much).

I'll also never forget the moments with the German girls, who were great competition during Germany vs. The World bagger-tennis, and were probably the best life-teachers I had during my time in Germany (what does "nu" mean??) . Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I'll hopefully be able to maintain some level of contact with these people who all played such big roles in my life for the past 2 years.

Mareen and I celebrating an obviously hard-earned point

Me with one of our many adorabe young fans

Margon Arena, packed to the brim!

Nothing better than winning on home court

Tanya's bachelorette party, with my favorite Dresden girls

Me with the Dutchies and Silvi

Trip to the Bastei

Jutith, Tesha and Robin

Diagonal meeting

Volleyball is still fun...

... and still makes me smile like a doofus. 

After the season ended, I packed 3 HUGE suitcases (how do you always seem to accumulate stuff so easily?) and headed to Klagenfurt for 6 weeks. There I began the application process for the university in town, looking to start a master's program in the fall. By the time I left at the end of May, I had made some good progress in the application arena, and had begun a seemingly endless process of accumulating the documents necessary to be a legal student residing in Austria.

I flew home to Newark on May 28th, and was greeted at the airport by my three younger sibs who provide lots of entertainment and laughter. Our cousin Daniel was getting married that follwing Saturday, so Talia joined us in New Jersey the next day, bringing the 5 of us Cmaylo children together for the first time in a year. We had a pretty epic journey over the next week, taking the train to upstate New York to meet our grandma in Rome, then road-tripping with her to Portland, Maine for the wedding, and finally roadtripping back to New Jersey the following week. There we used our creative talents (and my MacBook's iMovie capabilities) to make a music video, you know... for posterity's sake.

Talia and Tyler teaming up to crack all of us up

Staying warm at Chase's hockey practice

The Cmaylos, cleaned up for the wedding!

Dan and Caitlyn's big day

Twinners!

the Boys

Missing Chase... where you at?

Cousin reunion!

After Talia left NJ, I had a couple more weeks of family fun time on the east coast. I also got to see Tesha and Stefan in NYC, and meet up with one of my best friends from elementary school, who is also living in the city now. 

Tesha, Stefan and I

Samanta and I in the subway station

After leaving the east coast, I got to spend 10 awesome days in Austin with Talia, with Jack joining us halfway through my visit. We're trying to make it a yearly tradition, and by now Jack and I feel like Austin locals.

Barton Springs, our watering hole of choice 

The graffiti wall with Toni and Edishid

Blues on the green, daylight

Blues on the green, nightlight

Sibs

Next, I got a nice weekend stopover in Denver, where I got to visit 3-time college roommate Jordan on her home turf. We saw a Rockies game (complete with a fireworks show watched from the field), went to Red Rocks, saw some dinosaur tracks, and met up with several other friends in and around the Denver area (JGo and her Perma Pup Jack, Matthias in Boulder!).

Rockies game with 3 of the 4 famous sister-wives 

Pretty good viewing area by 3rd base

At Red Rocks 

Dinosaur tracks! 

I FINALLY get to meet Jack the Perma Pup

Next stop, California. My mom and Anthony picked me up at the airport and took me to my first meal, Thai food in Emeryville. One of the things I complain most about during my time in Europe is the lack of authentic ethnic food like the kind we have in California. Sure, there are great things here that we don't have at home, things that I complain about not having while in California... But sometimes I just want to go to a delicious Thai place, or get some awesome Mexican food, or order real yellow curry! Therefore, a pit-stop for Thai food was the perfect way to start the trip.

Over the next 4 weeks, I did a TON. I spent time with my Mom and Anthony on the boat, went to one of my best friend's bachelorette party in South Lake Tahoe, coached Santa Clara Volleyball Camps, met a friend's baby for the first time, saw my Santa Cruz family, hosted some German friends in Napa, hosted former roommate Megan and husband Tyler in Napa, and watched aforementioned best friend get married. It was a blast!

out in SF bay

he's catching up!

all cmayls at Crow's Nest beach (get it!?)

Silvi and Paul watching Megan and Tyler finish the Wine Country Half Marathon

Megan, Tyler, Silvi and Paul: wine tasting post marathon

Tyler, Meg, me, Paul, Silvi

above the Golden Gate

reunion in the dorms at SCU

I've been waiting a year to meet this girl!

stand-up paddleboarding on Lake Tahoe

the bachelorette crew

The wedding

I spent my last 2 weeks in the states back on the east coast, first at my cousin Jessica's wedding in Vermont, then with my mom and Grandpa on the Maine coast, and finally in Cape Cod with my Massachusetts family as well as Jack and the twinners. The wedding went off without a hitch, I found Maine to be rediculously beautiful, and my time at the Cape was wonderful as always (especially considering that none of us died while running the 40th Falmouth Road Race!).

Jess' wedding, babysitting Merritt

Grandpa with Jess

June, Tal, Grandpa, Mom

All the grandkids, but missing Shelby!

Me, Mom and June in Kennebunkport

SO READY FOR THIS 12k!

Last and final chapter to this update: upon my return to Klagenfurt, Marco and I drove to Ilz, in Styria, to pick up our newest family member, an Airedale named HANK. Welcome puppy!

OK, I think that's a pretty extensive update on my life. I'm playing for my old team in Klagenfurt on a part-tim basis, and I'll start school at the university here in early October. I'm excited for this next step in my life, and excited to be sharing it with a canine!