Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Home Again
I never really did finish my blog, so I guess now is a good time. That last Friday I ended up going into the city to see off Jess and Christine. They were leaving from Frankfurt on Saturday morning. I met up with Jakob and Paul and we waited with them and Christine's host family before they left. We exchanged some tears and goodbyes. It was sad :-( After seeing them off we went to a Kiosk and bought some beers. We went to the park on the Rhine and drank the night away. It was freezing! When we all though we were going to freeze to death we walked to a restaurant and had some beer there. We were all feeling pretty good I must say! Then we decided to take the Bahn to Barbarossaplatz to get McDonald's but we ended up on the wrong one and went to Aachnerstrasse. We picked up a cab there and went back to Barbarossaplatz, and from there we decided to call it a night. I had to say goodbye to Paul there because he was leaving the next day too. That was really sad. I went home that night, and the next day I got stuff ready to leave and I watched some soccer with my family. My host dad made Gyros and Lauren came over to eat cuz her host mom sucked and left her that weekend. We hung out with my family and drank mulled wine. We had a great time. When Lauren left I went out with my host brother Timo, his girlfriend Mascha, and my host sister Yvonne. I realized that in all these months of blogging I never told you my host families names. My host dad was Udo, my host mom was Iris, and I had another host brother named Stefano too. So there you have it! That's their names! Anyways, I went out with the three of them, and we met up with Jakob. We went to a Koelsch bar in Heumarkt first. It was so cute! I wish I would have known about it sooner! After that we went to a cuba bar in Zulpicherplatz and hung out the rest of the night. After lots of beer and some tequila I was having a great night. Jakob had his first tequila ever! I said goodbye to him that night, which was sad also. I hate all these goodbyes. We had such a fun night. I really wish I could go back and savor this night with my host siblings...we really had a blast. I love them all so much! I was looking at the pictures today and just missing them all. Sunday I was really depressed. I just didn't want to leave. The reality had really set in. I went to the mall with Yvonne, but I just kept thinking about how it was all over. I really had a miserable Sunday. I spent the rest of the night packing. Monday I went into the city and did the rest of my Christmas shopping. I found the Harley store after much searching, and then went to the Christmas markets in Neumarkt and the Dom. I also walked through Altermarkt and Heumarkt, but the place was just packed with tourists. I went home that night and hung out with the family the rest of the time. We all watched movies and I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep so I stayed up and watched Enemy of the State in German with Timo until late. I really didn't get any sleep that night. Tuesday morning I mostly spent crying. I was so depressed. I was sort of excited to come home and see everyone but mostly I was just depressed. I sobbed when Yvonne went to work. I sobbed when Stefano went to school. I sobbed when I pet the dogs. I sobbed when I had to say goodbye to Timo. I sobbed when I had to say goodbye to Iris. I sobbed when Udo dropped me off at the bahn. I just cried a lot. I really couldn't stop. The people on the bahn must have thought I was crazy because I had these big orange suitcases and I was just crying like a crazy person. When I was waiting for the train, a lady came up to me and asked me in German if I could help her friend find a luggage trolley at the airport, she was from Sri Lanka and only spoke English. Luckily for her I am American and speak English quite well. I helped her friend get her luggage on the train. It turns out her name was Sister Helen and she was a Sri Lankan nun on her way home from a year long mission in Germany and the UK. I helped her find a trolley when we got to Frankfurt and together we tried to find the check in counters in the Frankfurt airport. We got lost twice and took an elevator to baggage claim by accident. Eventually we found our way and she blessed me :-) She was so sweet. I finally made it to my gate, and boarded the flight. The flight was long and miserable. Relatively smooth but almost 10 hours due to high winds. When I finally got to Philly my knees were killing me. I got my bags and immediately turned on the cell phone that hadn't seen service since August 19th. I proceeded to receive around 800 messages which I deleted without even reading. It wasn't worth it. The guy in Customs turned out to be a Pittsburgher and he waved me right on through after a couple of cracks about how Philly is the shitty side of PA. The next flight went really smoothly, and I made it home in time to find my mom, dad, and bobby waiting for me. I was really excited to see them and I couldn't help but go pulling out presents in the airport. When I got home, I was eating pierogies within 15 minutes, and drinking German beer. I tried on my Dirndl for Kathi, and since I got home 2 weeks ago I don't think I've shut up once about my trip to Germany. I'm lucky to live in an age where I can talk to people and see their faces on my computer. I was able to see my host sister and host mom the day before Christmas Eve on skype, and Yvonne even brought the dogs in to see me. I've talked to Stefano and Mascha in facebook and Timo in e-mail. I really loved my family and I really hope we can stay in touch. I don't plan on staying away from Cologne for too long though. As soon as I can find a job there, I'm out! I really miss the city. Over the course of 4 months I felt something there that I've only ever felt in Pittsburgh. Cologne is definitely a place that I can consider home. The people there and the vibe, it's unreal. It's just like here. They have their songs and their sports and they're so damn proud. It's really something I can relate to. And I loved speaking German everyday. I love German so much - transferring to W&J and continuing with it was the best decision I ever made. After 3 years of not taking it, I figured that I'd never speak it again. I'm so glad that's not the case...I enjoy it so much. Truly, learning this language has given me the opportunity to enjoy the best 4 months of my life. How many 22 year olds have had the experiences I have? I'm so lucky! Oktoberfest, the Berlin Wall anniversary, Greece, Japan, 11/11, NFL in London, Thermal baths in Budapest, seeing Paris...these are the coolest things I've ever done. Hell, just one of those things is usually cooler than what most people have done in their entire lives! I just feel so lucky to have been able to experience those things. I know that I was given a great opportunity and I used it to my advantage. I took away much more than I thought I could. My original plan was to see Oktoberfest, Amsterdam, and Paris. My original plan was to pick 3 things that I had to do, because doing more was unrealistic. Instead I got to go to Oktoberfest, Amsterdam, Berlin twice, Paris, London, Athens, Mykonos, Vienna, and Budapest. That's CRAZZZZY! Not to mention starting my trip in Prague! Unbelievable. All the while I made 14 new American friends, got to know my amazing host family, and made friends with other Germans as well. It was fantastic. What a crazy new outlook I have on life. 4 months later and I'm surely a new person. I've grown up, absolutely, but I've also learned the good and bad in my own country and in others. I've learned to live independently, without relying on my boyfriend to bring me diet pepsi's and happy meals while I wait on rich jewelry customers. I lived without my family for the first time in my life. 4 months surrounded by a country and people who I didn't know. I feel pretty badass I must say. And I'd do it again Spring Semester if I had the money! Now I just have to work on readjusting to life back home...it's definitely been an adjustment. It seems like everything is different at work. I'm driving all over the place again and not walking anywhere. I'm getting used to having a boyfriend again and hanging out with him all the time. It's not easy. It's still a process. I miss my life overseas though. I really want to make it happen again soon.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Last Friday
Hi everyone -
I'm down to 4 more days in Germany...I'm really bummed, but hopefully I can make the last 4 count. The last week just basically consisted of a lot of studying and a lot of paper writing. I had a lot of stuff due this week. I stayed home during the weekend and got stuff done. Saturday night I hung out with my host sister and watched Germany's Got Talent which was fun. On Tuesday we were finally done with our finals, because we aren't in the Polysci class that had a final on Wednesday. To celebrate, me lauren and brittney met up with our new friends Jasmin, Irene, and Nora. They go to the Schiller Gymnasium right next to Elisabeth von Thüringen Gymnasium where our classes are. We went to a shisha bar then kinda hung out around Zülpicherplatz and Barbarossaplatz. Wednesday night we had our farewell party. We met at Frank, our program directors, house and we drank a lot of beer and had a jolly old time. After that we went to the Capitol and I ate some REALLY good tortellini and we drank more beer. As evidence by the pictures on my camera, we had a really fun night. It was nice to have all 15 of us together for a change. Yesterday we all met in Rudolfplatz for lunch, and afterwards we met our Schiller Gymnasium friends at the Cafe near the school for coffee. It was really sad to go to the cafe for the last time, and Maria who owns it gave us free coffee. Last night we went to a pool hall called Der Stiefel for a drink and then ended the night at Kim Phuc. Unfortunately I wasn't hungry at all so I didn't eat anything. Oh we also went to the Opera on Sunday which I though I was going to hate, but I actually ended up liking it. It was hard to understand because the parts that were in German they obviously didn't put the words up on a screen, but there were parts in French where they did have the words up in German so I could read that. It was interesting. I think my finals went pretty well but I'll know better next week I guess!
I'm down to 4 more days in Germany...I'm really bummed, but hopefully I can make the last 4 count. The last week just basically consisted of a lot of studying and a lot of paper writing. I had a lot of stuff due this week. I stayed home during the weekend and got stuff done. Saturday night I hung out with my host sister and watched Germany's Got Talent which was fun. On Tuesday we were finally done with our finals, because we aren't in the Polysci class that had a final on Wednesday. To celebrate, me lauren and brittney met up with our new friends Jasmin, Irene, and Nora. They go to the Schiller Gymnasium right next to Elisabeth von Thüringen Gymnasium where our classes are. We went to a shisha bar then kinda hung out around Zülpicherplatz and Barbarossaplatz. Wednesday night we had our farewell party. We met at Frank, our program directors, house and we drank a lot of beer and had a jolly old time. After that we went to the Capitol and I ate some REALLY good tortellini and we drank more beer. As evidence by the pictures on my camera, we had a really fun night. It was nice to have all 15 of us together for a change. Yesterday we all met in Rudolfplatz for lunch, and afterwards we met our Schiller Gymnasium friends at the Cafe near the school for coffee. It was really sad to go to the cafe for the last time, and Maria who owns it gave us free coffee. Last night we went to a pool hall called Der Stiefel for a drink and then ended the night at Kim Phuc. Unfortunately I wasn't hungry at all so I didn't eat anything. Oh we also went to the Opera on Sunday which I though I was going to hate, but I actually ended up liking it. It was hard to understand because the parts that were in German they obviously didn't put the words up on a screen, but there were parts in French where they did have the words up in German so I could read that. It was interesting. I think my finals went pretty well but I'll know better next week I guess!
Friday, December 4, 2009
11 days and Finals approaching
Ughhh so I know I've been terrible about blogging the past 2 weeks but things are winding down and are a little crazy. We've actually been doing things after class so I haven't been home very much. So I left off 2 Sundays ago. I have to think about what all I actually did in that time period. Hmmm...
Maybe I'll skip over the weekday stuff. Although the Christmas Markets did open up last week and that was a lot of fun. We have done a lot of Christmas Market browsing in the last 2 weeks. We've been to the Markets in Rudolfplatz, Neumarkt, Heumarkt, the Dom, and Altermarkt. My favorite is Heumarkt and Altermarkt...they're kinda connected and really pretty. And there's an ice rink. Maybe I'll do that today? Who knows :-) They're all really nice though.
Last Thursday we all got together and had Thanksgiving dinner. They had a massive turkey which was DEEEELICIOUS definitely one of the best turkeys I've ever had. Stuffing was great, mashed potatoes and gravy were great, the cranberry sauce was the chunky kind so I didn't even try it, and there was apple torte instead of apple pie and no pumkin pie anywhere. But that's okay! The idea of pumpkin pie really freaks Germans out...this coming from the country where they eat pumpkin soup haha. We had a great time at dinner, everyone except for our professor Laurel who went back the US for Thanksgiving. We took a lot of great pictures and had a wonderful time! After dinner, Me, Paul, Hoss, and Jakob decided to try and find a brewery in Barbarossaplatz but we ended up getting lost and walking though a semi-shady part of Heumarkt. We hung out in Heumarkt for a while and then went home.
Friday I spent the day packing and getting ready to go to Budapest and we caught our flight there around 6:30 or 7. Budapest was really cool I must say. We stayed at a hostel called the Big Fish hostel. It was only $12-$15 per night! I can't believe how inexpensive Budapest was. I made it through an entire weekend - hostel included - on 50 euro. Unreal! Not to mention our flight there was only 45 euro round trip! Budapest was fantastic...I could actually eat in restaurants instead of living of dinner rolls from a supermarket. I really liked it there and I'd love to go back. Budapest is renowned for it's Thermal spas and trust me - they did not dissappoint! So anyways, we got to Budapest sometime after 8 and we went and found our hostel. We got all checked in, got our beds set up, and got a map, and decided to go grab some food and a drink. There was a little bar right down the street from our place so we decided to go there. We ate some goulash which was pretty good but a little spicy, and we drank some beer. By the time we were done eating and stuff it was already almost midnight so we decided to go back to the hostel and go to bed to get ready for the next day.
Saturday we woke up and got ready, then got out the door around 11. By noon we had eaten lunch at the most high tech McDonald's I've ever seen, and we were on a bus towards the castle. We got to the castle and walked around. It was more like a palace, and it was nice but at this point we've all seen much nicer castles. We decided to have a coffee in the cafe and take advantage of the free toilet situation. After walking around there we went to the Fisherman's Bastion. I'm not really sure what it's supposed to be but I know it's some kind of monument. It's huge and gorgeous with towers all over the place. I really liked it. Right next to it is the St. Mathias church which, along with most important sights in Europe, was covered in scaffolding. From there we walked down to the Danube and got some pictures of the gorgeous Parliament building. At this point I was soaking wet and also cold. Luckily about 15 minutes later the sun was out. We walked over the Chain bridge and along the river on the otherside to the Parliament building. We passed the shoe memorial for the Holocaust victims that were shot into the Danube between '44 and '45. It was really a moving memorial. After walking the river we went and saw St. Stephans Basillica - probably the most gorgeous church I've ever been in. It was decorated on the inside with dark red and green marble and had gold accents. I really liked it. We walked from there over to the Christmas markets which were packed and expensive. We didn't stay there long. We then walked back towards our hostel stopping for a halusky dinner and another free toilet. We took a nap at the hostel and got ready to go out to this Rockabilly bar that we found online. The bar was so cool, although they seem to think that "Confederate" is synonymous with "American"...something that we just had to ignore and laugh off as foreign ignorance. The bar was a lot of fun, I really like Rockabilly and they played a lot of songs that we knew. We met 2 hungarian boys and played foosball with them. We found out that they were 18 years old, and we were legally drinking with them in a bar. We laughed about this. They were nice guys and taught us some Hungarian words that we all promptly forgot.
Sunday was our relaxation day. We checked out of the hostel and they let us keep our backpacks and stuff there. We went and checked out a cool synagogue, and then had lunch at a Doner place. After lunch we went to this thermal bath that I can't pronounce, but it was HUGE and so pretty. Basically it was a giant thermal swimming pool in the courtyard of this huge european building. In the building were a bunch more thermal baths and saunas everywhere. We did a light therapy sauna that was really cool and relaxing. I really liked this place, and I wish we could have stayed longer. I'd love to go to Budapest again just to do the spa stuff. The best part of the Thermal baths was that is was less than 40 degrees outside but the water was over 100 degrees. So we could run around in winter weather outside in our swimsuits! The water felt amazing, but once you got out it was FREEEEEZING! I thought my feet were gonna freeze to the ground a couple of times. It was so much fun though. After the baths we went and ate some dough thing that was really good, then went back to the Christmas markets for a little. We caught our flight back home around 8 PM.
Monday I was really tired, understandably, but I made it through the day. I went with Nick and had lunch at Kim Phuc which was fantasmic as usual. Tuesday we had a girls night, so after class I stayed in the city. I went and got some stuff at the bookstore and went to starbuck's to read the German In Touch Weekly. Then I went over to the Dom and went to the Art library there to do some research for my art history paper due next week. I found some good stuff, unfortunately I have to do some translating because I couldn't find any sources in English. No big deal though, I got the gist of everything I was reading. From there I walked to Friesenplatz and ran into Emily at the Starbuck's there. I had another coffee and waited for the girls to show up. Girls night was Me, Emily, Ashley, Alex, Jess, Christine, and Lauren and we met up with our professors Ulli and Laurel. We went to an Indian restaurant, which was my first time eating Indian food. It was pretty good, but definitely a little different. I liked it nonetheless! We had a great time at dinner - I'm gonna miss these girls!
Wednesday was our last day of History and Special topics before finals next week. I hate my history class and it was brutal getting through the last one. I've never been so lost in a class in my entire life. Oh well. Thank god it's almost over. After class I went to the Christmas markets with Paul and had a couple of beers to celebrate never having to read an abstract historical idealogy text ever again. I went home took a nap, and hung out with my host family the rest of the night after that.
Yesterday was a lot of fun. It was our last day of classes! We finally went to that brewery in Barbarossaplatz that we had been looking for a week before. 11 of us went, and we drank 2 beer towers! A beer tower is basically a tower full of beer with a tap attached to it. It was amazing. 6 liters in all. After the brewery we went home and I took a nap and had dinner. Then we met at Nick's house and had a couple of drinks before we went to where everybody knows our name - the Capitol. We ate some pizza and pasta and then we went to Kim Phuc for the people that didn't want capitol food. We had a really fun night full of laughs :-) Today I have no school or anything so I'm gonna try and get stuff done for my final papers and start some studying.
Maybe I'll skip over the weekday stuff. Although the Christmas Markets did open up last week and that was a lot of fun. We have done a lot of Christmas Market browsing in the last 2 weeks. We've been to the Markets in Rudolfplatz, Neumarkt, Heumarkt, the Dom, and Altermarkt. My favorite is Heumarkt and Altermarkt...they're kinda connected and really pretty. And there's an ice rink. Maybe I'll do that today? Who knows :-) They're all really nice though.
Last Thursday we all got together and had Thanksgiving dinner. They had a massive turkey which was DEEEELICIOUS definitely one of the best turkeys I've ever had. Stuffing was great, mashed potatoes and gravy were great, the cranberry sauce was the chunky kind so I didn't even try it, and there was apple torte instead of apple pie and no pumkin pie anywhere. But that's okay! The idea of pumpkin pie really freaks Germans out...this coming from the country where they eat pumpkin soup haha. We had a great time at dinner, everyone except for our professor Laurel who went back the US for Thanksgiving. We took a lot of great pictures and had a wonderful time! After dinner, Me, Paul, Hoss, and Jakob decided to try and find a brewery in Barbarossaplatz but we ended up getting lost and walking though a semi-shady part of Heumarkt. We hung out in Heumarkt for a while and then went home.
Friday I spent the day packing and getting ready to go to Budapest and we caught our flight there around 6:30 or 7. Budapest was really cool I must say. We stayed at a hostel called the Big Fish hostel. It was only $12-$15 per night! I can't believe how inexpensive Budapest was. I made it through an entire weekend - hostel included - on 50 euro. Unreal! Not to mention our flight there was only 45 euro round trip! Budapest was fantastic...I could actually eat in restaurants instead of living of dinner rolls from a supermarket. I really liked it there and I'd love to go back. Budapest is renowned for it's Thermal spas and trust me - they did not dissappoint! So anyways, we got to Budapest sometime after 8 and we went and found our hostel. We got all checked in, got our beds set up, and got a map, and decided to go grab some food and a drink. There was a little bar right down the street from our place so we decided to go there. We ate some goulash which was pretty good but a little spicy, and we drank some beer. By the time we were done eating and stuff it was already almost midnight so we decided to go back to the hostel and go to bed to get ready for the next day.
Saturday we woke up and got ready, then got out the door around 11. By noon we had eaten lunch at the most high tech McDonald's I've ever seen, and we were on a bus towards the castle. We got to the castle and walked around. It was more like a palace, and it was nice but at this point we've all seen much nicer castles. We decided to have a coffee in the cafe and take advantage of the free toilet situation. After walking around there we went to the Fisherman's Bastion. I'm not really sure what it's supposed to be but I know it's some kind of monument. It's huge and gorgeous with towers all over the place. I really liked it. Right next to it is the St. Mathias church which, along with most important sights in Europe, was covered in scaffolding. From there we walked down to the Danube and got some pictures of the gorgeous Parliament building. At this point I was soaking wet and also cold. Luckily about 15 minutes later the sun was out. We walked over the Chain bridge and along the river on the otherside to the Parliament building. We passed the shoe memorial for the Holocaust victims that were shot into the Danube between '44 and '45. It was really a moving memorial. After walking the river we went and saw St. Stephans Basillica - probably the most gorgeous church I've ever been in. It was decorated on the inside with dark red and green marble and had gold accents. I really liked it. We walked from there over to the Christmas markets which were packed and expensive. We didn't stay there long. We then walked back towards our hostel stopping for a halusky dinner and another free toilet. We took a nap at the hostel and got ready to go out to this Rockabilly bar that we found online. The bar was so cool, although they seem to think that "Confederate" is synonymous with "American"...something that we just had to ignore and laugh off as foreign ignorance. The bar was a lot of fun, I really like Rockabilly and they played a lot of songs that we knew. We met 2 hungarian boys and played foosball with them. We found out that they were 18 years old, and we were legally drinking with them in a bar. We laughed about this. They were nice guys and taught us some Hungarian words that we all promptly forgot.
Sunday was our relaxation day. We checked out of the hostel and they let us keep our backpacks and stuff there. We went and checked out a cool synagogue, and then had lunch at a Doner place. After lunch we went to this thermal bath that I can't pronounce, but it was HUGE and so pretty. Basically it was a giant thermal swimming pool in the courtyard of this huge european building. In the building were a bunch more thermal baths and saunas everywhere. We did a light therapy sauna that was really cool and relaxing. I really liked this place, and I wish we could have stayed longer. I'd love to go to Budapest again just to do the spa stuff. The best part of the Thermal baths was that is was less than 40 degrees outside but the water was over 100 degrees. So we could run around in winter weather outside in our swimsuits! The water felt amazing, but once you got out it was FREEEEEZING! I thought my feet were gonna freeze to the ground a couple of times. It was so much fun though. After the baths we went and ate some dough thing that was really good, then went back to the Christmas markets for a little. We caught our flight back home around 8 PM.
Monday I was really tired, understandably, but I made it through the day. I went with Nick and had lunch at Kim Phuc which was fantasmic as usual. Tuesday we had a girls night, so after class I stayed in the city. I went and got some stuff at the bookstore and went to starbuck's to read the German In Touch Weekly. Then I went over to the Dom and went to the Art library there to do some research for my art history paper due next week. I found some good stuff, unfortunately I have to do some translating because I couldn't find any sources in English. No big deal though, I got the gist of everything I was reading. From there I walked to Friesenplatz and ran into Emily at the Starbuck's there. I had another coffee and waited for the girls to show up. Girls night was Me, Emily, Ashley, Alex, Jess, Christine, and Lauren and we met up with our professors Ulli and Laurel. We went to an Indian restaurant, which was my first time eating Indian food. It was pretty good, but definitely a little different. I liked it nonetheless! We had a great time at dinner - I'm gonna miss these girls!
Wednesday was our last day of History and Special topics before finals next week. I hate my history class and it was brutal getting through the last one. I've never been so lost in a class in my entire life. Oh well. Thank god it's almost over. After class I went to the Christmas markets with Paul and had a couple of beers to celebrate never having to read an abstract historical idealogy text ever again. I went home took a nap, and hung out with my host family the rest of the night after that.
Yesterday was a lot of fun. It was our last day of classes! We finally went to that brewery in Barbarossaplatz that we had been looking for a week before. 11 of us went, and we drank 2 beer towers! A beer tower is basically a tower full of beer with a tap attached to it. It was amazing. 6 liters in all. After the brewery we went home and I took a nap and had dinner. Then we met at Nick's house and had a couple of drinks before we went to where everybody knows our name - the Capitol. We ate some pizza and pasta and then we went to Kim Phuc for the people that didn't want capitol food. We had a really fun night full of laughs :-) Today I have no school or anything so I'm gonna try and get stuff done for my final papers and start some studying.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Sunday - the countdown begins
Guten Sonntag!
It feels like YESTERDAY that I created this blog and had a countdown to when I was coming here. Now I have just over 3 weeks until I leave. The reality of the situation hit me like a bus about 2 days ago. Sure I miss home, and I definitely have my moments when I'm completely homesick, but right now I'm incredibly sad that in just 3 weeks I have to leave forever. I really really like my life here, I really love my family, and it really upsets me that I might never see some of these kids again. How depressing. In 23 days I'm going to be home...I'm so bittersweet about the whole thing. 23 days and I have to go back to working all the time and doing normal things all the time. I really love Cologne. I'm just totally bummed. Either way - here's what I did this week!
I didn't end up giving my presentation on Wednesday because there wasn't enough time. I did the school thing, and then came home and did the homework thing. Thursday I did give my presentation and I think it went pretty well honestly! After the presentation we went to the Hauptbahnhof and had coffee, then made our way over to the Ludwig art museum for our Art History class. We saw some interesting abstract art. After that we went to Starbucks in the Hauptbahnhof and had some coffee and I had a really yummy turkey sandwich on a pretzel bun. I went home and ate dinner that night, then had a low key evening. I was able to sleep in a little on Friday because our excursion wasn't until 4:30. I hung out with my host mom and the kids that she nannies for. The one, Killian, is two and he so sweet. And smart! He talks up a storm! He puts my German to shame haha. We listened to some Christmas music, and then I got ready and went to my excursion. We met at the Dom at 4:30, and we got to go up to the top. It was sweet, I was nervous at first because I don't like heights, but it really wasn't that bad, and it was totally worth it. We had a great time, we were up there for 90 minutes or something. After we were done I went and had dinner at home, then got ready and met the crew at the Capitol. We had a couple beers there, then we decided to drink kiosk beers because they're cheaper, so we went and got those and sat in front of a church and drank them. We topped the evening off with some Kim Phuc - the most delicious chinese food on the face of the planet. It was a good night!
Saturday was a fun Saturday. I met Brittney and Lauren at the Chocolate Museum around 3 and we did that. It was pretty cool you get to see chocolate being made and you get a free sample when you go in. And you get a wafer dipped in melted chocolate from the chocolate fountain. It was fantastical! After the museum we walked through Heumarkt along the river and up to the Dom and the Christmas Markets which open tomorrow! Then we walked through a shopping street, and I went back to Heumarkt by myself and walked through those Christmas markets. I came home and had dinner, and then my host sister and I went to Friesenplatz to meet the group. We went to a bar there, and then walked to Zulpicherplatz and went to the glorious Kim Phuc :-) I didn't get any food but I finished Paul's soup for him. After that we came home and went to sleep and now I'm up and I have to do homework all day...no fun! Oh well!
Jess
It feels like YESTERDAY that I created this blog and had a countdown to when I was coming here. Now I have just over 3 weeks until I leave. The reality of the situation hit me like a bus about 2 days ago. Sure I miss home, and I definitely have my moments when I'm completely homesick, but right now I'm incredibly sad that in just 3 weeks I have to leave forever. I really really like my life here, I really love my family, and it really upsets me that I might never see some of these kids again. How depressing. In 23 days I'm going to be home...I'm so bittersweet about the whole thing. 23 days and I have to go back to working all the time and doing normal things all the time. I really love Cologne. I'm just totally bummed. Either way - here's what I did this week!
I didn't end up giving my presentation on Wednesday because there wasn't enough time. I did the school thing, and then came home and did the homework thing. Thursday I did give my presentation and I think it went pretty well honestly! After the presentation we went to the Hauptbahnhof and had coffee, then made our way over to the Ludwig art museum for our Art History class. We saw some interesting abstract art. After that we went to Starbucks in the Hauptbahnhof and had some coffee and I had a really yummy turkey sandwich on a pretzel bun. I went home and ate dinner that night, then had a low key evening. I was able to sleep in a little on Friday because our excursion wasn't until 4:30. I hung out with my host mom and the kids that she nannies for. The one, Killian, is two and he so sweet. And smart! He talks up a storm! He puts my German to shame haha. We listened to some Christmas music, and then I got ready and went to my excursion. We met at the Dom at 4:30, and we got to go up to the top. It was sweet, I was nervous at first because I don't like heights, but it really wasn't that bad, and it was totally worth it. We had a great time, we were up there for 90 minutes or something. After we were done I went and had dinner at home, then got ready and met the crew at the Capitol. We had a couple beers there, then we decided to drink kiosk beers because they're cheaper, so we went and got those and sat in front of a church and drank them. We topped the evening off with some Kim Phuc - the most delicious chinese food on the face of the planet. It was a good night!
Saturday was a fun Saturday. I met Brittney and Lauren at the Chocolate Museum around 3 and we did that. It was pretty cool you get to see chocolate being made and you get a free sample when you go in. And you get a wafer dipped in melted chocolate from the chocolate fountain. It was fantastical! After the museum we walked through Heumarkt along the river and up to the Dom and the Christmas Markets which open tomorrow! Then we walked through a shopping street, and I went back to Heumarkt by myself and walked through those Christmas markets. I came home and had dinner, and then my host sister and I went to Friesenplatz to meet the group. We went to a bar there, and then walked to Zulpicherplatz and went to the glorious Kim Phuc :-) I didn't get any food but I finished Paul's soup for him. After that we came home and went to sleep and now I'm up and I have to do homework all day...no fun! Oh well!
Jess
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Wednesday November 18th
Hi guys,
I'm feeling pretty homesick today. I really just miss the comforts at home at this point. I really took for granted a lot of the stuff that I have in the States that I don't have here. Things like pizza delivery. Free refills on pop. Free water. 5 subject notebooks. Notebooks with lined paper and 3 holes, instead of graph paper and 4 holes. Notebooks that cost less that 7 dollars. Free toilets. Outback Steakhouse and really all other forms of chain restaurants that serve cheap American food. I miss lunch meat. I miss spaghetti-o's. I miss driving and not having to rely on the subway system. I really really miss Wal Mart and things of that nature - there is a separate little store for everything here and they're all privately owned and everything in them costs a fortune. We're talking 15 dollar day planners and things of that nature. I heard a rumor that there was a Staples in the area. I was so excited that I almost planned a trip there. I miss places like Eat-n-Park where I can get a meal for less than $7. They even give you free refills on coffee there! It's fantastic! Granted the coffee here tastes better, but it's over $2 a cup and it's just a tiny little cup, and that's all you get! No free refills. No free anything. Nothing is free in Germany. Not even bathrooms are free in Europe!
Ok well now that I got that out of my system I can tell you all about the week I had. It was a pretty good week, today is just kind of a bummer kind of day. I'm not normally like this actually. Anyways.
Wednesday last week was 11/11 which here in Cologne is a massive big holiday. It's the start of their Karneval season which comes to an end right before Ash Wednesday with a huge party from Thursday to Tuesday. The 11th is a giant party in preparation for the giant party in February. We all met downtown around 10 and it was already packed. Everyone is dressed up in silly costumes, and a lot of us wore our dirndls and stuff like that. 11/11 is a big drinking day, so I stocked up on beers and we went to Heumarkt which is jam packed with people. We hung out there for a little while, I'd say an hour and a half, then we walked to Zulpicherplatz to have some lunch. We ended up hanging out there and eating pizza and NOT drinking until about 2:30 or 3 PM when the others said that they wanted to go home. Which sucked in my opinion, because we really hadn't celebrated Karneval at all. So I met up with Nick and Andrew and their friend and hung out with them for a little while, about an hour or so. At this point I was kinda tired, but I didn't feel like going 40 minutes home for a nap, so we went to hang out at Nicks, and then we were gonna go back out around 7. Around 7 no one wanted to go back out. Defeated and sad, I went home to Rath Heumar, which took an hour and a half. When I got home I was very sad that I didn't get to properly celebrate Karneval, so my host sister Yvonne told me she would take me out! 15 minutes later she's dressed as a scottish girl and we're ready to go! We met my host brother's girlfriend Marsha at Subway in Friesenplatz with her friend and the 4 of us went to a club nearby. We had a great time and we celebrated really late. Needless to say I didn't make it to my first class the next morning.
Thursday after class I came home early because I wanted to get ready to go to Paris on Friday morning. I got all the Paris stuff figured out, and woke up really early again on Friday morning. I really hadn't slept well in a couple of weeks, because I'd been doing lots of traveling. I met Lauren at the Hauptbahnhof at 7, and by 1 PM we were in Paris! We went to the Nord train station to meet up with Brittney, and the three of us made our way to the Etap hotel that we were staying at. None of us really knew anything about the hotel, and we were a little leary, but it ended up being great! It was really clean, and it was just the 3 of us in a room so we didn't have to worry about sharing it with 10 other people like in a hostel. The hotel was a tiny bit out of the way, but it wasn't bad at all when we took the metro. That first night we did walk everywhere though. We first walked up to the Eiffel tower and we got to it just in time to see it sparkle! It was gorgeous! After we hung out with the tower for a while we went and got some food, then walked to the Champs de Elysees or however you spell it. We saw a famous bridge on the way and the beginnings of some Christmas markets. We went in a Disney store and saw a huuuuuge Louis Vuitton. We walked up to the Arc de Triomphe and around it too. This doesn't sound like a lot, but by the time we were done it was almost 11 or something and we were exhausted! We took the metro back home and crashed.
Saturday we woke up and went to the grocery store to get food for the day, since it's cheaper than eating in restaurants. Then we got on the metro and headed back to the Eiffel tower for day pictures. Lauren and Brittney sword fought with their baguettes and that was pretty funny. There was some sort of large protest gathering in front of some military building, so we decided to get out of there. We walked for about 20 minutes, then hopped on the bahn to Saint Michel. We stopped and got a coffee and then we went to the Notre Dame. It was really sweet! We didn't see the hunchback however, which was disappointing. We then made our way over to the Louvre and we walked around there for a couple hours and saw the Mona Lisa along with some other paintings that we learned about in Art History which was exciting. After a while our legs were tired so we found a bench and wound up sitting on it for an hour and a half til the Louvre closed! It was pretty rainy and miserable (as usual in Europe) so we went and found a place to eat. Afterwards we went and found Moulin Rouge, which was covered in scaffolding (like everything else in Europe including the Eiffel Tower). After Moulin Rouge we made our way back to the hotel to watch a movie and go to sleep. The next day we found the train and it took us 8 hours to get home which sucked. Either way though, Paris was cool! I enjoyed it a lot!
Monday we only had History class which was cool, then we all got to visit 1Live, a radio station here in Cologne. That was pretty cool, we were able to see a lot of the radio personalities and also watch people doing radio while listening to it! Yesterday was pretty low key, we ate pizza after class and that was it. Today I have to give a presentation. Not fun!
I'm feeling pretty homesick today. I really just miss the comforts at home at this point. I really took for granted a lot of the stuff that I have in the States that I don't have here. Things like pizza delivery. Free refills on pop. Free water. 5 subject notebooks. Notebooks with lined paper and 3 holes, instead of graph paper and 4 holes. Notebooks that cost less that 7 dollars. Free toilets. Outback Steakhouse and really all other forms of chain restaurants that serve cheap American food. I miss lunch meat. I miss spaghetti-o's. I miss driving and not having to rely on the subway system. I really really miss Wal Mart and things of that nature - there is a separate little store for everything here and they're all privately owned and everything in them costs a fortune. We're talking 15 dollar day planners and things of that nature. I heard a rumor that there was a Staples in the area. I was so excited that I almost planned a trip there. I miss places like Eat-n-Park where I can get a meal for less than $7. They even give you free refills on coffee there! It's fantastic! Granted the coffee here tastes better, but it's over $2 a cup and it's just a tiny little cup, and that's all you get! No free refills. No free anything. Nothing is free in Germany. Not even bathrooms are free in Europe!
Ok well now that I got that out of my system I can tell you all about the week I had. It was a pretty good week, today is just kind of a bummer kind of day. I'm not normally like this actually. Anyways.
Wednesday last week was 11/11 which here in Cologne is a massive big holiday. It's the start of their Karneval season which comes to an end right before Ash Wednesday with a huge party from Thursday to Tuesday. The 11th is a giant party in preparation for the giant party in February. We all met downtown around 10 and it was already packed. Everyone is dressed up in silly costumes, and a lot of us wore our dirndls and stuff like that. 11/11 is a big drinking day, so I stocked up on beers and we went to Heumarkt which is jam packed with people. We hung out there for a little while, I'd say an hour and a half, then we walked to Zulpicherplatz to have some lunch. We ended up hanging out there and eating pizza and NOT drinking until about 2:30 or 3 PM when the others said that they wanted to go home. Which sucked in my opinion, because we really hadn't celebrated Karneval at all. So I met up with Nick and Andrew and their friend and hung out with them for a little while, about an hour or so. At this point I was kinda tired, but I didn't feel like going 40 minutes home for a nap, so we went to hang out at Nicks, and then we were gonna go back out around 7. Around 7 no one wanted to go back out. Defeated and sad, I went home to Rath Heumar, which took an hour and a half. When I got home I was very sad that I didn't get to properly celebrate Karneval, so my host sister Yvonne told me she would take me out! 15 minutes later she's dressed as a scottish girl and we're ready to go! We met my host brother's girlfriend Marsha at Subway in Friesenplatz with her friend and the 4 of us went to a club nearby. We had a great time and we celebrated really late. Needless to say I didn't make it to my first class the next morning.
Thursday after class I came home early because I wanted to get ready to go to Paris on Friday morning. I got all the Paris stuff figured out, and woke up really early again on Friday morning. I really hadn't slept well in a couple of weeks, because I'd been doing lots of traveling. I met Lauren at the Hauptbahnhof at 7, and by 1 PM we were in Paris! We went to the Nord train station to meet up with Brittney, and the three of us made our way to the Etap hotel that we were staying at. None of us really knew anything about the hotel, and we were a little leary, but it ended up being great! It was really clean, and it was just the 3 of us in a room so we didn't have to worry about sharing it with 10 other people like in a hostel. The hotel was a tiny bit out of the way, but it wasn't bad at all when we took the metro. That first night we did walk everywhere though. We first walked up to the Eiffel tower and we got to it just in time to see it sparkle! It was gorgeous! After we hung out with the tower for a while we went and got some food, then walked to the Champs de Elysees or however you spell it. We saw a famous bridge on the way and the beginnings of some Christmas markets. We went in a Disney store and saw a huuuuuge Louis Vuitton. We walked up to the Arc de Triomphe and around it too. This doesn't sound like a lot, but by the time we were done it was almost 11 or something and we were exhausted! We took the metro back home and crashed.
Saturday we woke up and went to the grocery store to get food for the day, since it's cheaper than eating in restaurants. Then we got on the metro and headed back to the Eiffel tower for day pictures. Lauren and Brittney sword fought with their baguettes and that was pretty funny. There was some sort of large protest gathering in front of some military building, so we decided to get out of there. We walked for about 20 minutes, then hopped on the bahn to Saint Michel. We stopped and got a coffee and then we went to the Notre Dame. It was really sweet! We didn't see the hunchback however, which was disappointing. We then made our way over to the Louvre and we walked around there for a couple hours and saw the Mona Lisa along with some other paintings that we learned about in Art History which was exciting. After a while our legs were tired so we found a bench and wound up sitting on it for an hour and a half til the Louvre closed! It was pretty rainy and miserable (as usual in Europe) so we went and found a place to eat. Afterwards we went and found Moulin Rouge, which was covered in scaffolding (like everything else in Europe including the Eiffel Tower). After Moulin Rouge we made our way back to the hotel to watch a movie and go to sleep. The next day we found the train and it took us 8 hours to get home which sucked. Either way though, Paris was cool! I enjoyed it a lot!
Monday we only had History class which was cool, then we all got to visit 1Live, a radio station here in Cologne. That was pretty cool, we were able to see a lot of the radio personalities and also watch people doing radio while listening to it! Yesterday was pretty low key, we ate pizza after class and that was it. Today I have to give a presentation. Not fun!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Vienna and Berlin
Hello!
So today is Tuesday. Let's recap the weekend!
Vienna was AMAZING! It was so gorgeous and it reminded me a lot of Prague. It's such a cute little town. Emi and Fabi who me and Brittney couch surfed with were so nice and a lot of fun to hang out with. They showed us around the city, and we saw Stephansplatz, the Rathaus, and some other cool parts of the Old Town. I love love loved the Old Town. It's one of the prettiest I've ever seen. It was pretty cold in Vienna though, so we spent a lot of Friday in a coffee shop. Saturday we got up and went walking through the shopping streets of Vienna. We wound up in a cool flea market and poked around for a while. From there we hopped on the Bahn to Schönbrunn Castle, where the royal family had their summer home. It was so pretty, although we didn't go in because it was expensive. Instead we walked around the gardens which were GIGANTIC, and we hiked up a hill to some gate thing, and there was a gorgeous view over the city. I really loved this castle. From the castle we walked over to the Danube Island, but it was cold, so we quickly walked away from there to the Prater, which is like a year round carnival or small amusement park. It was so cool because it was dark and cold and hardly any people were there. It was eerie walking around without masses of people like at Kennywood. It was free to go there, but the rides were expensive so I only rode one, called Ecstacy, which basically spun me and flipped my upside down in every way possible at very high speeds. It was a lot of fun! After we were done there we met up with Emi and she showed us a pub to go to. Instead we went and grabbed some food and mulled wine at a little cafe, and then we went to McDonalds. We ended up going home early that night and hanging out with our couch hosts some more. Sunday they helped us out with our German homework and we came home. I got home around 7 PM or so. I watched the FC Koeln game with my host family, they won and there was a streaker haha, and then we had spaghetti and I went to bed early.
I got up Monday morning around 5:15 and ran to catch a train to Berlin at 6:49. November 9th 2009 was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. There was a big celebration in Berlin, so we decided to go with our professor Laurel. We didn't realize how huge the celebration would actually be! Hillary Clinton was there, along with the British Prime Minister, the French President, Gorbachow, Angela Merkel, and a bunch of other people. There were 1000 dominos stacked along the former border of the Berlin wall from Potsdamer Platz, past the Brandenburg Gate, to the Reichstag. Each domino was decorated by different school classes or groups or people, etc. and they were all gorgeous and conveyed a great meaning. Also, there were several angels standing on top of different buildings watching over the city, probably a reference to "Himmel über Berlin", the story for which City of Angels was based. Within about 10 minutes of arriving in Berlin we met a girl from the Associated Press and gave her an interview. Then we basically just walked around! It was a great celebration. We had some more mulled wine in souvenir cups, and we browsed the Christmas market. Emily and I also walked through Parisienplatz where most of the festivities were taking place (Brandenburg Gate), but it got too crowded so we met up with the rest of the group. We met some people from NBC and they taped us singing and dancing and - SURPRISE - when we woke up this morning we realized we'd made national news with Tom Brokaw on NBC! I've never even made American national news in the US, let alone from Berlin!! How exciting! I'll post the link. Look for me right around the 3:20 mark after a clip of Hillary Clinton!!! I'm with a group of PCIC kids singing and dancing and I'm right up front on the left..you can't miss me!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33809427#33809427
Check it outtt!!! I'm so excited! How lucky am I to be thousands of miles away from home celebrating a historic event and wind up on the news! Definitely something I'll never forget. And I got to watch the dominos fall from right up front :-) It was freezing last night in Berlin and it was pouring down rain. We were drenched, so after the dominos came down we ran to Dunkin Donuts to try and dry off. We weren't very successful. We took the 00:32 train back to Cologne and we made it home after 7. It was nice because I had a couchette, which is basically a bunk, so I was able to get under the covers and sleep on the train. I went to starbucks in the Hauptbahnhof, and the straight to school. Then I decided I was tired and my socks and shoes were still soaked through as well as my pants and coat, so I came home early. And that's when I realized I was on the news! Thanks facebook!
Anyways, tomorrow is 11/11, a huge holiday in Cologne because it kicks off the season of Karneval which ends in a huuuuuge party the weekend before Ash Wednesday. 11/11 is just the first taste of the big party that'll happen in February or so. We don't have class tomorrow, and our only assigment is to wear a costume and take lots of pictures. And I'm sure we'll have a beer or two as well! Should be a blast! Talk to you soon!
Jess
So today is Tuesday. Let's recap the weekend!
Vienna was AMAZING! It was so gorgeous and it reminded me a lot of Prague. It's such a cute little town. Emi and Fabi who me and Brittney couch surfed with were so nice and a lot of fun to hang out with. They showed us around the city, and we saw Stephansplatz, the Rathaus, and some other cool parts of the Old Town. I love love loved the Old Town. It's one of the prettiest I've ever seen. It was pretty cold in Vienna though, so we spent a lot of Friday in a coffee shop. Saturday we got up and went walking through the shopping streets of Vienna. We wound up in a cool flea market and poked around for a while. From there we hopped on the Bahn to Schönbrunn Castle, where the royal family had their summer home. It was so pretty, although we didn't go in because it was expensive. Instead we walked around the gardens which were GIGANTIC, and we hiked up a hill to some gate thing, and there was a gorgeous view over the city. I really loved this castle. From the castle we walked over to the Danube Island, but it was cold, so we quickly walked away from there to the Prater, which is like a year round carnival or small amusement park. It was so cool because it was dark and cold and hardly any people were there. It was eerie walking around without masses of people like at Kennywood. It was free to go there, but the rides were expensive so I only rode one, called Ecstacy, which basically spun me and flipped my upside down in every way possible at very high speeds. It was a lot of fun! After we were done there we met up with Emi and she showed us a pub to go to. Instead we went and grabbed some food and mulled wine at a little cafe, and then we went to McDonalds. We ended up going home early that night and hanging out with our couch hosts some more. Sunday they helped us out with our German homework and we came home. I got home around 7 PM or so. I watched the FC Koeln game with my host family, they won and there was a streaker haha, and then we had spaghetti and I went to bed early.
I got up Monday morning around 5:15 and ran to catch a train to Berlin at 6:49. November 9th 2009 was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. There was a big celebration in Berlin, so we decided to go with our professor Laurel. We didn't realize how huge the celebration would actually be! Hillary Clinton was there, along with the British Prime Minister, the French President, Gorbachow, Angela Merkel, and a bunch of other people. There were 1000 dominos stacked along the former border of the Berlin wall from Potsdamer Platz, past the Brandenburg Gate, to the Reichstag. Each domino was decorated by different school classes or groups or people, etc. and they were all gorgeous and conveyed a great meaning. Also, there were several angels standing on top of different buildings watching over the city, probably a reference to "Himmel über Berlin", the story for which City of Angels was based. Within about 10 minutes of arriving in Berlin we met a girl from the Associated Press and gave her an interview. Then we basically just walked around! It was a great celebration. We had some more mulled wine in souvenir cups, and we browsed the Christmas market. Emily and I also walked through Parisienplatz where most of the festivities were taking place (Brandenburg Gate), but it got too crowded so we met up with the rest of the group. We met some people from NBC and they taped us singing and dancing and - SURPRISE - when we woke up this morning we realized we'd made national news with Tom Brokaw on NBC! I've never even made American national news in the US, let alone from Berlin!! How exciting! I'll post the link. Look for me right around the 3:20 mark after a clip of Hillary Clinton!!! I'm with a group of PCIC kids singing and dancing and I'm right up front on the left..you can't miss me!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33809427#33809427
Check it outtt!!! I'm so excited! How lucky am I to be thousands of miles away from home celebrating a historic event and wind up on the news! Definitely something I'll never forget. And I got to watch the dominos fall from right up front :-) It was freezing last night in Berlin and it was pouring down rain. We were drenched, so after the dominos came down we ran to Dunkin Donuts to try and dry off. We weren't very successful. We took the 00:32 train back to Cologne and we made it home after 7. It was nice because I had a couchette, which is basically a bunk, so I was able to get under the covers and sleep on the train. I went to starbucks in the Hauptbahnhof, and the straight to school. Then I decided I was tired and my socks and shoes were still soaked through as well as my pants and coat, so I came home early. And that's when I realized I was on the news! Thanks facebook!
Anyways, tomorrow is 11/11, a huge holiday in Cologne because it kicks off the season of Karneval which ends in a huuuuuge party the weekend before Ash Wednesday. 11/11 is just the first taste of the big party that'll happen in February or so. We don't have class tomorrow, and our only assigment is to wear a costume and take lots of pictures. And I'm sure we'll have a beer or two as well! Should be a blast! Talk to you soon!
Jess
Friday, November 6, 2009
November
Guten Tag!
So I just got to Vienna and I figured I'd write a blog before sightseeing! We didn't have much going on this week so I pretty much took it easy. Went to school, did homework, and maybe hung out after class a little bit. Wednesday we did get to go to a building that was the Gestapo headquarters in Cologne. Now it's a museum dedicated to the Nazi era. It's really crazy! We did our tour in German, and our tour guide literally spoke the fastest German ever, so we could hardly understand him but it was still cool. In the basement they still have the prison cells where they kept, tortured, and murdered their prisoners. It was really eerie. The prisoners had written things on the wall that you can still read now. It was very...well you can imagine.
That's really the only excursion I had this week. I hung out with my host family a little and did a bunch of homework. Today the others are going to Ford, but we skipped out on that so Brittney and I could come to Vienna! We're couchsurfing with Emi and Fabian who live on Langergasse in the center of Vienna. The location is great and they have two cute little kitties! Since we had an early flight and didn't get much sleep, Brittney is taking a nap and I am blogging. After that we'll go and do some touring around the old town, and tomorrow we'll go see some palaces and stuff! Monday most of our group is going with our Professor, Laurel, to Berlin for the 20th anniversary celebration of the wall coming down! I'm so excited, what a cool experience! I'm sure I'll have much more to blog about on Tuesday when I get back! And next weekend we'll be in Paris!
Talk to you soon!
Jess
So I just got to Vienna and I figured I'd write a blog before sightseeing! We didn't have much going on this week so I pretty much took it easy. Went to school, did homework, and maybe hung out after class a little bit. Wednesday we did get to go to a building that was the Gestapo headquarters in Cologne. Now it's a museum dedicated to the Nazi era. It's really crazy! We did our tour in German, and our tour guide literally spoke the fastest German ever, so we could hardly understand him but it was still cool. In the basement they still have the prison cells where they kept, tortured, and murdered their prisoners. It was really eerie. The prisoners had written things on the wall that you can still read now. It was very...well you can imagine.
That's really the only excursion I had this week. I hung out with my host family a little and did a bunch of homework. Today the others are going to Ford, but we skipped out on that so Brittney and I could come to Vienna! We're couchsurfing with Emi and Fabian who live on Langergasse in the center of Vienna. The location is great and they have two cute little kitties! Since we had an early flight and didn't get much sleep, Brittney is taking a nap and I am blogging. After that we'll go and do some touring around the old town, and tomorrow we'll go see some palaces and stuff! Monday most of our group is going with our Professor, Laurel, to Berlin for the 20th anniversary celebration of the wall coming down! I'm so excited, what a cool experience! I'm sure I'll have much more to blog about on Tuesday when I get back! And next weekend we'll be in Paris!
Talk to you soon!
Jess
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