Hello again. I am finally in Germany! Wow, what a fulll day of traveling! We flew overnight into Heathrow, and then we took a connection flight from Heathrow to Dusseldorf right after. The flight to Heathrow was fun. I am starting to wonder if the American Airlines business class seats were formed especially for dressage riders. Sitting in these seats for 8 1/2 hours gave me a lesson in perfect posture. Seriously, the seats were perfectly upright....no room for slouching! Good flight though, watched a lot of in flight movies, and scared myself to death by chosing to watch a horror movie. It was great though!
So I am now sitting in the computer lounge at my hotel in Dulmen. This is a great little hotel with awesome food! The horses will arive around 6 pm from Amsterdam. I heard that they had a good flight in, and that they were good boys. Hopefully when we go to meet them at the barn, it will be very uneventful and calm so we can all go to sleep and be ready for tomorrow! Not quite sure what we are doing tomorrow. It all depends on how the horses feel in the morning.
I am still getting used to all the time flip flops around here! Part of me wants to drop dead in the computer lounge and call it a night...however I don't think that the hotel guests would appreciate that. It is so much here though!! This is going to be such an adventure! Can't wait to see the boys when they get here! But I also can't wait to get a good sleep! After all of that strong English tea from Heathrow, I am crashing as if I gorged on chocalte bars! That stuff is strong!
I will start to take pictures and post them on here when I am unpacked. There are so many beautiful things to see around here!
Bis später!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Adventures at the Airport
Well, we have gotten through the airport craziness! When we arrived at the airport at first and the stewards weighed our bags, we found out that one of them was overweight! Luckily, we had a very helpful person behind the counter who helped us with balancing the weight of our bags. It was a good thing that we were able to balance them out, considering that there was a pretty substantial charge for an overweight bag! However, it all worked out.
My flight is at 5 pm ET into Heathrow at 6 am London time. Then we have a connection from Heathrow to Dusseldorf which lands at around 10. From Dusseldorf we will drive to Dulmen where the barn is and finally see the horses again! Right now they are also at Miami Intl seating their plane. They were supposed to fly out at 2:30, but their plane got a little stuck in South America due to some nasty weather. We just found out that the plane will not be too late, so the horses will land only about an hour or so off schedule.
We board the plane in about 20 minutes, and I guess the next time I'll be able to write will be when I am in Germany! I am so excited. I hope I'll be able to sleep on the plane! If not, I'll just have to do what I do best: snack on chips
and watch movies!
- Isabelle
My flight is at 5 pm ET into Heathrow at 6 am London time. Then we have a connection from Heathrow to Dusseldorf which lands at around 10. From Dusseldorf we will drive to Dulmen where the barn is and finally see the horses again! Right now they are also at Miami Intl seating their plane. They were supposed to fly out at 2:30, but their plane got a little stuck in South America due to some nasty weather. We just found out that the plane will not be too late, so the horses will land only about an hour or so off schedule.
We board the plane in about 20 minutes, and I guess the next time I'll be able to write will be when I am in Germany! I am so excited. I hope I'll be able to sleep on the plane! If not, I'll just have to do what I do best: snack on chips
and watch movies!
- Isabelle
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Preparing For The International Youth Festival
Hello everyone! This is so exciting to be able to record my trip! So, my name is Isabelle Leibler, and I will be traveling to Europe to compete for the USA at the International Youth Festival along with my two ponies Depardieu and Going West! Being selected to compete at this show and train with some of the most amazing trainers still doesn't feel very real. I still can't believe that tomorrow night I will be on a plane to Europe to begin this amazing experience!
So the packing has finally come to a close...after 2 weeks! My suitcases are fully packed and ready to go to the airport! I have been reading that it's a bit chilly over there, which will be great since the weather has been so hot in Florida where we have been staying! I'm sure the ponies will feel nice and fresh and ready to go after they recover from their flight. I'm going to miss my boys until I see them again on Monday! You have to be 18 to fly on the cargo planes to Europe, and because I am 15 I don't quite make the cut! But I know that they will be in good hands during the whole trip, and I am confident that they will get there safe and sound!
For the next month and a half, I am going to be a sponge. I am going to take everything in and let it inspire me and help me to be the best I can be! I am also looking forward to making this a really personal show tour with my ponies. I am sort of becoming my own manager, and I can't wait to fully take on the responsibilities! To know that you are the one who the horses will look to for support is the most amazing feeling that not even the most amount of hard work will be able to take away!
I am also excited that I will be able to use my German skills! I have been taking Germa for the past two years along with French in school, and I am thrilled to be able to put it to use! Of course, I haven't had the conversational experience yet, but I am confident that I will be able to get around with what I have! And yes, I did invest in a $5 phrase book from Barnes and Noble. It will be a blast to see how much I understand and how much I am able to speak!
The schedule for the whole tour is pretty lose except for the shows of course. First, we will go to Cornelia Endres' farm to train for a couple of weeks. Ms. Endres is the coach for the German Pony Team, and I am so excited to be able to work with her! Especially since my ponies from her stable! It will be great because she hasn't seen them in a long time, so to be able to train with her again and have her evaluate how my training has gone will be awesome! I will train with her through the two shows that I will compete at: a national show in Duisburg as a warm up, and finally the International Youth Festival in Hagen! I am so excited to be working with her and making some new friends from her own national team! After the shows, I am planning on staying at the show grounds, which are held at the Kasselmann farm, and train with Jurgen Koschel who is across the street. It will be great to see some different sights!
The feelings and thoughts that are running through my head are hard to describe. It's weird because it's like a calm feeling mixed with excitement. It's a little confusing! I'll be blogging throughout the whole trip and posting a lot of pictures too! This is going to be so awesome, and I can't wait to share it with everyone who has been supporting me throughout my whole career! I can't wait to get started!
- Isabelle
So the packing has finally come to a close...after 2 weeks! My suitcases are fully packed and ready to go to the airport! I have been reading that it's a bit chilly over there, which will be great since the weather has been so hot in Florida where we have been staying! I'm sure the ponies will feel nice and fresh and ready to go after they recover from their flight. I'm going to miss my boys until I see them again on Monday! You have to be 18 to fly on the cargo planes to Europe, and because I am 15 I don't quite make the cut! But I know that they will be in good hands during the whole trip, and I am confident that they will get there safe and sound!
For the next month and a half, I am going to be a sponge. I am going to take everything in and let it inspire me and help me to be the best I can be! I am also looking forward to making this a really personal show tour with my ponies. I am sort of becoming my own manager, and I can't wait to fully take on the responsibilities! To know that you are the one who the horses will look to for support is the most amazing feeling that not even the most amount of hard work will be able to take away!
I am also excited that I will be able to use my German skills! I have been taking Germa for the past two years along with French in school, and I am thrilled to be able to put it to use! Of course, I haven't had the conversational experience yet, but I am confident that I will be able to get around with what I have! And yes, I did invest in a $5 phrase book from Barnes and Noble. It will be a blast to see how much I understand and how much I am able to speak!
The schedule for the whole tour is pretty lose except for the shows of course. First, we will go to Cornelia Endres' farm to train for a couple of weeks. Ms. Endres is the coach for the German Pony Team, and I am so excited to be able to work with her! Especially since my ponies from her stable! It will be great because she hasn't seen them in a long time, so to be able to train with her again and have her evaluate how my training has gone will be awesome! I will train with her through the two shows that I will compete at: a national show in Duisburg as a warm up, and finally the International Youth Festival in Hagen! I am so excited to be working with her and making some new friends from her own national team! After the shows, I am planning on staying at the show grounds, which are held at the Kasselmann farm, and train with Jurgen Koschel who is across the street. It will be great to see some different sights!
The feelings and thoughts that are running through my head are hard to describe. It's weird because it's like a calm feeling mixed with excitement. It's a little confusing! I'll be blogging throughout the whole trip and posting a lot of pictures too! This is going to be so awesome, and I can't wait to share it with everyone who has been supporting me throughout my whole career! I can't wait to get started!
- Isabelle
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