Yeah, so the whole two blogs thing isn’t going to really work for me while I’m here having the time of my life in the most awesome place in the world.  For the duration of my study abroad experience (I’ll be back with plenty to say in a non-German setting in May) I’ll be posting exclusively on Iowa Girls Gone Wild.  Despite it’s name, it’s completely safe for work.  Ya’ll tell all your friends now, ya hear?

My suitcases are full, the Post-It lists on my wall are mostly checked off, the Hawkeyes are on TV in six hours.  I’ve been much calmer today than anticipated, kind of like the night before studying for a final when you just can’t care anymore about what grade you’re going to get.  I did have one mild to moderate breakdown (not for any particular reason, though being in a cemetery may not have helped) in which I found myself in a vehicle with no tissues and resorted to using my new scarf to wipe the streaming snot from my face.  But other than that, pretty freakin’ excited.  The German foreign exchange student my brother went to prom with lives in the town I’ll be studying in and although (I’m fairly certain) we never met, she’s excited for me to come and show me around and take me out on the town.

Internship application 3/3  was sent today, the one I’m most excited about, the one I’d PEE.MY.PANTS. if I got.  Maybe I’ll get ambitious and apply for more while abroad (HA).  Apparently with my spending habits, I need to find more than 10-15 hours at a sandwich place a week  to supply some cashflow.  I’m predicting around mid-March or April I’ll start freaking about my nebulous summer plans, don’t worry– I’ve accepted my self-diagnosis of CRIPPLING NEUROSIS.  I think when my mom and I went to the mall last week and I wouldn’t go up and ask the hair salon lady if I could get an appointment she realized that her daughter is a social FREAK (perhaps a new spin on the blog could be WhatMentalIllnessIsBrittneyOnTheCuspOfToday.com)

NPH keeps telling me to calm the truck down (<–see?  2010 resolution of swearing less), that “everyone loves Americans” (blatant lie) and “you’ll make friends so fast you’ll freak” (blatant Jimmy John’s rip-off.)  I’m no longer talking to him however because currently he and three other of my good friends are drunk in Miami for the Orange Bowl.  When he asked if I was just “chilling all day” and I said AREYOUHIGH today might be one of the most critically busy days of my life he responded “Oh yeah.  Well I just have drinking and football.”  I’m just SO happy for you.

My layover tomorrow in Chicago is four hours long.  I will not have a cell phone, thus it’s really a crapshoot as to whether I’ll have my sanity.  My trusty shiny new blue laptop will be with my however so I will be blogging, Facebooking, Twittering up a storm– how excited are YOU?!

Only THREE MORE HOURS til our plane takes off from Miami.  Have I mentioned how much I loathe all things associated with flying?  I like travel, just not the getting there.  The cruise was great, quite warm.  Perhaps I’ll post pics later.  I’m currently watching a boy of about four or five pelt his younger brother with stuffed animals whilst wrestling about in front of a Pizza Hut in the Miami International Airport.

For the next 48 hours I’ve pretty much accepted that I will be in meltdown mode, remembering forgotten things I should pack for my semester abroad, being extremely short with family members, trying to enjoy watching the Hawkeyes win the Orange Bowl but being jealous of my friends who road-tripped down to see it in person.  Once I’m on the plane I should be fine (oh, who am I kidding– two hours into it my legs will have severely cramped and I’ll be debating whether or I can hold it or should I ask the person next to me to move AGAIN so I can go to the bathroom.)

My horoscope today told me to exercise.  Boy howdy I wish it were acceptable for me to start doing laps through the H concourse.  After two weeks of constant eating and very little activity, my body is screaming for elevated heartrate brought on by something other than OH SWEET JESUS WHERE DOES ONE BUY A WATCH BATTERY IN THE GREATER DES MOINES AREA SO I CAN TELL THE TIME WHILE 30,000 FEET ABOVE THE ATLANTIC?!  Yes, people– these are my thoughts.

I must go find a Starbucks now or just stretch my feet or probably let little brother have time on my laptop (thanks Google for the free wireless.)

I’m currently enjoying free Internet and an ice cold Bud Light in the most awesome bar ever on the island where I’ll someday live– Grand Cayman.  We swam in the ocean this morning, the water was actually warm, we have to get on the ship earlier than expected because a storm is coming.

The cruise has been pretty great so far– quite relaxing, great food, I brought earplugs so sharing a room with my brother hasn’t been as bad as expected, room service is free, I learned some German with Rosetta Stone, there are amazingly good-looking foreigners everywhere.  Ben has been my pseudo-wingman, by far the best quote so far is him turning around while exploring the ship and informing that “You just totally got eye-fucked be some Eurotrash.”  I am so flattered.

New Year’s Eve was bitter sweet– I would have given my left nut (Ben informs me I should adopt the phrase “my left ovary”) to be in IC with my friends, I literally physically hurt at time with how much I miss NPH, but the ship’s festivities were fabulous as well.  Lots of drinking.  We have our personal bartender, his name is Michael.  I’m quite certain if I asked him to kill a man for me, he’d do it no questions asked, as long as I slipped him a twenty after.

Jamaica was quite scary.  But I climbed a waterfall BOO-YAH.  Oh and about twenty guys offered to sell us coke and/or weed. Um, YES PLEASE?!  (Haha T-Bone, I’m kidding… kinda.)

Happy 2010, my loves!!!  I hope your hangovers are being kind.  Supposedly Diet Coke from McDonald’s has medicinal powers on the brown bottle flu– really whatever works for you: Taco Bell, Pepto-Bismal, staying in bed all day, a gun…

This year is set up to be the best ever.  Four months in Germany, come back and turn 21, then only two semesters of college left?  Yes, please.  I’m not quite sure how I feel about New Year’s resolutions– I’m not exactly the “If you want to change your life, don’t wait til January!” type person, but I also haven’t ever kept a resolution to date that I can remember.  But in the spirit of blogging, I will now put some down and check back in a few months on my progress. 

MY 2010 RESOLUTIONS: (holy balls I just realized that this is also the start of a new decade and this time NEXT decade I’ll be 30.  Hyperventilation.  Do you know how many of my friends are going to get married and have kids in the next ten years?  I’M probably going to get married– dont worry, no kids– WEEEEEEIIIIIRRRRDDDD.)

1. Stop swearing so much.  I curse/swear/cuss a LOT.  I should probably stop.  At least in mixed company.  Or at least stop having the F-bomb be the first word I say pretty much every morning (I actually tried to monitor that and it is fact.)

2. I ALWAYS am trying to lose weight– in a constant quest to wake up one morning with Gisele’s body.  So far this hasn’t really worked out for me.  So uh, I guess resolution #2 will be to work out more.  Or at all.  Even just like a brisk walk around the block on every full moon.  Baby steps.

3. Give at least one compliment a day.  Contrary to popular belief, I am not a heinous bitch, I just often avoid conversation with others.  Often I have thoughts about people “Oh wow, cute sweater” or “Her hair doesn’t look like complete shit today” but don’t vocalize them.  Whenever people give me compliments I think WOW nicest person ever, thank you– yet I don’t do it for others.  So I will try.  Even if it’s “Your face doesn’t look like it’s been horribly burned” which YES I’ve said in actual conversation to a person I thought was cute.  It didn’t translate well.

4. Get me one of them boyfriend things.  Yep people, it’s time.  Brittney has had over a year to sow her wild oats around the greater Eastern Iowa area, but it’s time to settle down.  I’d like to think I’m a fabulous girlfriend, and since I’m gonna be a “senior” and stuff, soon to “graduate” and hopefully find “steady employment,” someone to share the ride would fit nicely.  (This one is post-study abroad, of course.  Not that I’m opposed to any Hans or Franz becoming smitten with me– who could blame them– but I’m generally not looking for monogamy in ze Motherland.)

Can four be enough?  The chances that even one of these will happen are quite remote (okay, the working out more actually will because when I get back to Iowa City it’s peak running outside weather and I really enjoy that.)  I supposed #5 should be find an internship but that’s LAME and it reminds me of the goals we make for class and WHO CARES because sandwich making and drug dealing are really all I aspire to in life anyway.