Program End

Well, I finished my last final today, I've turned in my insurance card and student meal card.  My program officially ends Saturday, but as you know I am sticking around for a while.  To have the opportunity to pack up and move to Germany for three months is something most students in America will never have the chance to do, for that I am grateful.  While I have some complaints about the program, I cannot ignore how amazing and very surreal this experience has been for me.  It has tested my patience and my ability to respond to change and adapt to that change.  In some ways, I have grown up a bit after being here and developed my own sense of who I am.  I am going to miss the people in my program and I hope we will all keep in touch, parting will be bittersweet, as we all want to go home, but at the same time, we all want to stay as well.

I will still keep you all in the loop on my trip, though, so no worries. We will have one more excursion tomorrow afternoon, to Schloss Thurn und Thaxis (castle of the very wealthy family in Regengsburg) and afterwards the Christkindlmarkt (Christmas market). Friday will be open, for us to pack and say our farewells to each other. I will leave early saturday morning to pick up Dad from the airport, at 8:00 am.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone when I return.

Dresden

The Frauenkirche

View from atop the Frauenkirche

Glühwein!

Altstadtplatz

I thought Prague was a beautiful city, but that was before I saw Dresden.  Dresden lies about 2 hours by train, north of Prague in the Bundesland Sachsen (federal state of Saxony).  Dresden of course was completely destroyed by allied bombing in World War II, but everything was rebuilt to how it looked exactly as before.  The entire Altstadt was just phenomenal.  While Dave and I were there, we saw preparations for the Christkindlmarkt (Christmas market), which opens today.  One place in particular had Glühwein (mulled wine), and Dave and I probably had about 10 cups or so the entire time we were there.  There is just no way to describe a city like Dresden, especially when it is covered in snow, so I have a few pictures for you to see, of course, they don't do it justice.

I have finals this week, it is really hard to believe that my program is almost over.  Looking back, I don't think I accomplished everything I wanted to.  My German skills have definitely improved, but not to the extent I would have liked.  Dad flies into Munich early next Saturday morning, and from there we are taking a trip of our own up into Lübeck in northern Germany, in the Bundesland Schleswig-Holstein, very close to Hamburg.  Afterwards we plan on renting a car in Stuttgart and traveling around to different ancestral cities in Baden-Würtemburg, in southwest Germany, in and around the Schwarzwald (black forest).  Lauren will fly into Munich on the 13th and from there we will use Munich as a central hub, visiting several places in Bavaria.  Our plane departs from Munich on the 19th of December.  So while my program comes to an end, I will still get to experience much of Germany with family.

Praha

This blog update will be a couple days in the making, as I am currently typing from Hostel Tyn in the Old City of Prague.  Just to let you readers know how ridiculous our day was, Prague is roughly four hours from Regensburg.  Dave, Erin, Elyse and I wake up very early to catch a train into Schwandorf (swan village) where we would have changed trains to get to Prague.  Our train left Regensburg at 6:20 AM.  We arrived in Prague at 2:50 PM.  You may be asking yourselves, what happened to those other four hours?  Funny story...and by funny, I mean it was very aggravating.  Our train from Regensburg into Schwandorf was only half an hour, and our connecting train to Prague was supposed to leave at 6:55 from Schwandorf.  Well...for some reason our train stopped in the middle of the track about a couple minutes from the Schwandorf Hauptbahnhof.  It was stopped for about 10 minutes and ended up reaching Schwandorf at exactly 6:56.  Our connecting train left without us...and because the others have a special type of Fahrkarte (train ticket) we ended up being stuck in Schwandorf for about four hours.  Despite this major inconvenience, we walked around Schwandorf for a couple hours seeing the Altstadt (old city) and the beginnings of a Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market).  We ended up having a lot of fun in a small town we had never heard of before and really made the most out of a bad situation.  Our next train arrived at 10:56 which would put us in Prague by 2:45, which unfortunately, is only a couple hours before sunset...

While Bavaria is beautiful by train, what with quaint little villages and architecture and whatnot, the Czech Republic is almost like a third-world country.  Everything everywhere was dirty and falling apart and just seemed very poor.  However, Prague is a different story.  The architecture is absolutely amazing and could be one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen.  Like I said previously, we only had a couple hours of daylight and most of it was spent getting from the train station to our hostel and checking in.  By the time we actually got everything situated and went to search for some food, it was already pitch black.  The cathedral at night is very strange; it is a black cathedral (very strange) and the towers are lit with orange lights at night.  It looked very Halloween-ish.  I will have more to follow on Prague, as we are going to Catholic mass at the Infant Jesus of Prague church followed by a tour of the city at 2:00 PM.  Afterwards, the girls are leaving for Regensburg while Dave and I head for Dresden.  

One funny thing we have come across, is that we have absolutely no idea how to say anything in Czech. Not "hello" or "thanks" or "please," nothing at all.  I was really hoping I would not have to show the international sign for hunger and rub my belly, groan and point at something.  Luckily, everyone speaks English!

Pictures will be added to this blog update after I return, I am sure everyone will want to see what Prague looks like covered in snow, as it is absolutely beautiful!!!

TSV 1860 München vs. FC Augsburg

State of the art Allianz Arena-home of FC Bayern and 1860 München. When FC Bayern plays, the stadium is lit up in red.

Free kick-awarded after a foul

not at this point, but at one point, one of the forwards got a break, took the ball towards the net and almost scored.  A man behind us yelled, "Lauf meine Junge! Lauf!!!" (Run my boy! Run!)

Fan section

Agony of defeat

I was lucky enough last night to attend a Fußball (soccer) game last night in Munich.  The German Bundesliga (federal soccer league) has three different tiers, Bundesliga I, II and III.  Bundesliga I is the the league of the highest paid, best soccer players in Germany.  These teams compete against each other for their own domestic cup, the Deutsche Pokal, but they also compete in the Champions League, which is known as UEFA (Union of European Football Associations).  The UEFA cup takes each team that qualifies for the cup and pits them against other teams all across Europe to see who is the best football team in Europe.  Last May, the final was between Manchester United and Chelsea, two English teams, to my dismay, Manchester United was the victor in penalty kicks (one-on-one, kicker and keeper, decided after 120 minutes of a tied match).  The Bundesliga II is the league right under Bundesliga I.  They are not quite good enough to be competing against the better teams in Bundesliga I.  There are two huge teams in Munich, FC Bayern München and TSV 1860 München.  FC Bayern München is heralded as the best team in German football and frequently make it very far into the UEFA cup.  TSV 1860 München is Bundesliga II, but they still draw quite a following.  Many Münchners consider them to be the "real" team of Bavaria.  While FC Bayern draws a crowd at each home match of at least 80-90,000 people, 1860 draws a still formidable crowd of roughly 20-25,000.  Last night I was able to attend an 1860 match.  Tickets were 26 Euros and I had one of the best seats I have ever had at any sporting event, ever (most FC Bayern tickets must be reserved up to two years in advance and cost upwards of 200 Euros).  The match was TSV 1860 Münich against their local rivals FC Augsburg.  It was a really thrilling match, just being able to actually be there in person and see the type of fan support...it was really amazing.  Unfortunately, the match ended 1-0 with FC Augsburg as the victors, with an early goal scored in the first 15 minutes.  While it was a sad ending, this was definitely one of the highlights of my entire trip, I might even go see another game on the 30th with Dave.  If you have any questions about the sport or the Bundesliga, ask, as I will most likely be able to answer you.

Londontown

I arrived back in Munich on Friday evening after a week long hiatus in London with my sister.  It was a really fun trip and London is a beautiful city, but I am glad to be back in Regensburg, I am a lot more comfortable here (how does that work?).  London is just a huge city and very expensive.  But I suppose I can give you all a play by play of my week in London.  I called Lauren when I got through UK Border/Passport Control (which is a bit ridiculous) and I took the Underground to Covent Garden where she met me outside the station.  We went back to her place and later went to a pub in Covent Garden called The Porter House.  I ended up sleeping on the floor that night, slightly uncomfortable...but Sunday we were able to go to Camden Market and the British Museum, later we saw fireworks with her Parliament friend.  Monday we walked around London, seeing a few parks and randomly running into Buckingham Palace at the exact time changing of the guard was happening, so that was pretty interesting to see.  That night I was able to hang out with Chad Bruce and some of his friends.  Chad is my roommate at Transy and he is on study abroad in London this semester.  So Chad, several of his friends and I went to a few clubs that night, it was a good time, and nice to see another familiar face.  The next day (Tuesday) Lauren had class, so I went around to a few different museums like the Natural History Museum, which I am glad I went to, as they had a photography exhibit of BBC's "Wildlife" Magazine-the best photography of 2008.  It was a fantastic exhibit.  I also went to the National Gallery.  Of course, that night was election night-but this is not a political blog, so I will not go into it much-we went somewhere at LSE (London School of Economics and Political Science) and watched the  election coverage on CNN.  What a great night.  Lauren had class on Wednesday as well, so I went out on my own again to see a few more art exhibits, including an Andy Warhol and Robin Rohde exhibit, then to the Tate Modern, Globe Theater and St. Paul's Cathedral.  I was unfortunately unable to go inside St. Paul's as it was blocked off for some reason.  Thursday Lauren and I went out to Kensington Palace and Gardens and walked around for a bit, she left early to go to class, but I walked around some more, and then went up to Regent's Park in hopes of randomly running into my friend Ashley Humphrey (also goes to Transy and on study abroad at Regent's College in London).  Of course I did not find her, but did see much of the college.  I ended up going down to Leicester Square to buy tickets for "Spamalot" in the West End at the Palace Theater, and later went to the National Portrait Gallery for an Annie Leibovitz photography exhibit, which was really impressive.  Lauren and I saw "Spamalot" at 8:00 pm, and it was absolutely hilarious.  I called Ashley and we met in Picadilly Circus to go to a pub.  I was glad that I was able to see her too.  I left the next morning (Friday) at 12:30 and didn't get back to Regensburg till about 5:30 pm.  I had a really good trip, but I am glad to be back.

Domspatzen Gymnasium

Hey everyone, I had a pretty interesting day today. Our Ausflug (excursion) kept us in Regensburg again today, but that's okay, as it is pretty rainy and nasty...big surprise. Anyway, we had an appointment to meet with several classes at the Domspatzen Gymnasium (Cathedral Sparrows school).  This was a boarding school-of sorts-that is dedicated to the cathedral men's choir.  Boys go here (either their- or their parents choice) and study many subjects like a normal school, but also focus perfecting their vocal chords for choir.  My host brother, Mario, is a member of this school.  Today they had us split up into groups of 3 and go to several classes and talk to everyone, in english, as many of them had no experience speaking english to an American before.  My first group today were boys about to graduate in a couple years.  Mario was actually in one of the classes I went to today, too.  They asked us several questions related to America in general and much about the upcoming election.  Then they also asked what our impressions of Germany and Regensburg were so far.  This was a pretty good group and they seemed to really appreciate talking to us, and their english was very good.  The second group was a class full of 6th graders, and many of them had only had one of two years of english, but their teacher still talked to us in english and asked us to respond in English.  Many of these kids may have never seen an American and they asked some pretty silly questions (with one exception) like, "what do you not like about America?" or "where is Kentucky?"  Then their teacher asked the class if they had heard much about the election in America, and nearly all of them knew of Barack Obama, few of them knew about McCain.  Only one knew of Sarah Palin.  This one kid that asked us also started talking about the economy, and then actually asked us, and I am not joking at all, "so, what is the sub-prime mortgage crisis?"  I was completely blown away.  This kid is in 6th grade, having maybe two years of english and he was wondering about sub-prime mortgage loans.  Their teacher was absolutely hysterical, as he had absolutely no idea what a sub-prime mortgage loan was.  I tried to explain the economic crisis as well as I could, but I don't think they understood it.  Their teacher later said that they probably understood very basic points of what we were saying, but didn't pick up much.

Afterwards we sat in on a choir practice for some very young boys, and I was absolutely amazed by the things they had to learn.  They had to learn latin for singing, in 5th/6th grade!

It was a really interesting afternoon, followed by lunch in a little Chinese buffet.  I tried sushi for the first time, but wasn't really impressed.  So I have the rest of the afternoon off, better get some studying done.  I am really looking forward to fall break, I leave on Saturday to visit Lauren (my sister) in London for a week.  So we will be able to watch the election together.  I will also be able to see 007 in London and be there for Guy Fawkes day.  Till then...

Berchtesgaden

The first snow covered Alps I have seen

If you zoom into this picture, you can see Hitler's Eagles Next on top of the mountain.

We didn't have much of an excursion this past wednesday, which is why I haven't updated this week.  We did go to the altes Rathaus, which is like the city hall that was built 500 years ago.  It still had the original doors and much of the original woodwork on the inside, as well as the torture chamber in the cellar.  All the torture instruments were the original pieces and nothing had been changed, it was somewhat creepy.  But to get to my main point, yesterday Dave and I had our own excursion, again.  Elyse and Erin were planning on going with us, but they backed out at the last minute, so it was just Dave and I.  We went to the little town of Berchtesgaden, which is in the southernmost point of Germany.  It was a long trip down, as we had to switch trains in Munich and in Salzburg, making it about 5 hours in one direction, so we only had about 2-3 hours total in Berchtesgaden, which was not enough at all.  I definitely want to take Dad and Lauren back there this winter, and maybe spend the full day.  During the tourist season, Berchtesgaden is crawling with people, but yesterday there weren't very many, except for a bus of Chinese/Japanese/Korean tourists (I couldn't really tell).  But anyways, there isn't just a great deal to do in Berchtesgaden if you do not do a tourist activity.  However, Dave and I did not have enough time to do any of those things, so instead we found a hiking trail (5K) that led to Königssee (Kings Lake), and this hike was well worth it.  Berchtesgaden is situated in the lowest point in Bavaria, directly in the Bavarian Alps.  In the Zweiten Weltkrieg (WWII), Hitler had his famous "Eagle's Nest" built in Berchtesgaden-A mountain vacation house on top of one of the large mountains in the area.  This house was accessible by a golden elevator dug into the mountain below it.  There was one point while we were there that I could see the house, but it was very far away.  There are tours of it, so I hope to be able to go back this winter.  Like I said there wasn't a great deal we could do yesterday as we were under time constraints.  We missed the train in Salzburg by about 10 minutes and ended up having to wait another hour for the next one, which put us back in Regensburg after midnight.  This was pretty annoying as none of the buses run after midnight, so I had to take a taxi home.  The trip was pretty cloudy as well, but the clouds opened up a few times to make for some nice pictures.