Additional Thoughts

Haha, I felt bad for talking about how beautiful the view was from the top of that hill near Olympic Park and then not having any pictures to show you all. So here are two from the top of the hill and the third is at BMW World which is right across the street from Olympic Park.
I also wanted to mention another "cultural" experience of the last week. It was St. Patrick's day this past Tuesday, and as I was in Europe, I had to venture out to see how they celebrate here. I didn't bring my camera, but it was a blast. They had a couple Irish bands playing typical & traditional Irish music while we drank Guinness draft (delicious). It was also my first time drinking a green beer (it tasted the same, but had to be done as it was St. Patrick's day).

Delving Deeper into German Culture

The past three days have been extremely busy, but also very rewarding and fun. Thursday I had one midterm and one German test and that night I prepared a presentation about Minnesota for a class of fifteen twelfth-graders at a local Gymnasium (high school for students heading to college). Friday I went to the school (Droste-Hülshoff Gymnasium) in a small village (pictured above) in the northeastern section of Freiburg. It was interesting and fun to inform 17-18 year old German students about a state that they probably had not given much if any thought to. Hearing their questions about politics, culture comparisons and beliefs about the US was also interesting. We also exchanged vacation hotspots in the US for some good ones in Germany.

Friday afternoon, one of my friends from the program organized a small group to play soccer. We went to a place nearby that wasn't the nicest field, but we weren't the best players either. Not long after we started, neighborhood kids (many of whom came from immigrant families) came up to field and asked to join our game. Some of the kids were only 10-12 but they were determined and played pretty well. Many of the students (from the US) were able to talk to the kids as we played. It was fun to hear their questions about the US; mostly questions about hip-hop, movies, tv shows and California, but fun none-the-less. They didn't know much English, so we were able to practice a lot of German. I really enjoyed this. Saturday I woke up at 5 am to catch a train to Munich! The main goal was to go to an FC Bayern game. And we did. The above picture was taken at half-time. FC Bayer played Karlsruhe SC, a team they were supposed to beat and did! The stadium and atmosphere were unbelievable. I have wanted to do this ever since I came to Munich 3 years ago. I loved it. Afterwards, one of my friends from IES met up with us and brought his friend who lives in Munich, Max. Max pointed out a great Bavarian restaurant (where it was so busy that our group split and had to sit next to other people, who I was able to chat with in German :) and afterwards, led us to a beer garten similar to Hofbrauhaus but lesser known and bigger :) The Paulaner Beer Garten is located near their brewery and when we came, they were having a big festival (see pic below). Most people were dressed in typical Bavarian clothes and were standing on the table-benches drinking beer by the "Maß" (one liter mugs). They had live music (which wasn't Bavarian but was still cool). We had a beer there and then headed off into the night. I ended up heading to the hostel that a couple other friends from our program were already at.
Sunday morning, my roommates woke up at 5:30 so that they could take a Bulgarian friend of theirs to the airport. I woke up too and stayed up. I ate breakfast, checked out and then headed off into Munich for some alone sightseeing. The weather was a little chilly, but over all beautiful. Our hostel was located about a mile south of Olympic Park where the 1972 Olympics were held. As I walked there, I found a park with some large hills (the largest in Munich, apparently) which I climbed and discovered one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen in Munich. I had a wonderful panorma of peaceful, Sunday morning Munich (sorry no pics on the blog, I had try to not make these too long). So I walked around and also over to BMW's headquarters and then headed back towards downtown in the Underground subway. Little did I know that my friends were trying to reach me while I was in the subway, trying to tell me that they bumped up our meeting time at the trainstation to go to Neuschwanstein (the fairly tale castle that Disney modeled theirs after). When I got the message it was too late, but I didn't mind too much, since I've been there before in beauftiful weather and now was able to head back to Freiburg earlier and prepare for our next official program trip to Luxembourg, Brussels and Paris. Overall, I am sooo glad we did this trip. It's been another great weekend.

Budapest, Hungary and Taking a Moment to Soak Everything In

The last two cities that we visited on this trip to Eastern Europe were Bratislava, Slovakia and Budapest, Hungary. We were only in Slovakia for half a day, but it was still enough time to get a glimpse at where this country has come from and where it hopes to go in the future. The top picture is the castle overlooking the entirety of Bratislava. From this point, I truly got a full picture of the city (and not in a camera kind of way). The castle and older part of the city were a standing legacy to the history of Bratislava throughout the centuries. Various styles of architecture were visible everywhere. Across the river, I could see the communist legacy of cement-block style apartments built in the latter half of the 20th century. Almost everywhere I could see was excitement about the Euro. In 2009 Slovakia joined the monetary union of the EU and thus was brought under its protective wing (extremely beneficial for the country right now, this cannot be understated). Posters marking this historic achievement were everywhere. It's hard to see, but even the castle amidst the scaffolding had a Euro 2009 poster with a 1 Euro coin.

Next we traveled to my favorite city from this trip, Budapest. In all reality, you would be hard-pressed to find a city with a more beautiful Parliamen (see Parliament). Regardless, Budapest had this and an amazing castle and cathedral opposite parliament across the river. We were able to take a boat cruise on the Danube at night, and the above picture is one from that trip. I wish it did more justice.



Once again I came away from the meetings aspect of this city believing entirely that what we learned would have taken at least twice as long in the classroom and would likely not have stuck in our memories nearly as well. From each speaker that discussed the politics and economics of Hungary, I gathered the dismal reality of their situation. Hungary faces an insurmountable challenge from the financial crisis. A challenge made more difficult even with loans from the IMF and EU due to the countries lack-luster political situation. On top of all this, the public is disheartened from corruption and ineffective government. Dismal enough yet? The country's economy is based on exports; mainly automobiles and parts...

As disheartening as the situation may be, I felt like Budapest and Hungary still have a lot to offer. The magnificent beauty of the central core of Budapest needs to be advertised more. The river corridor with parliament, the castle and other beautiful buildings are truly something to be proud of. Another thing the city had going for it while we were there was the exchange rate (thanks also in part to the crisis, but that helps tourism). Meals and souvenirs were significantly cheaper for us than for the students in my program that came the semester before us. Also heavily influencing my opinion was the weather. Much of what we experienced this trip was cold, gray, wet or a mixture of all three. Our last day in Budapest was magnificent. The sun was shining, the sky was a deep blue, and it wasn't cold :) See the third picture.

We also visited the Nazi extermination camps of Auschwitz/Birkenau. I didn't include those pictures mostly because of time, but I may put them up later. The feelings and impressions I came away from there with would also be too hard to put into words, nor could I do them justice.

Overall this trip was certainly my favorite. The sights, experiences and impressions will last a liftime, no doubt!

Just before I wrote this blog this evening, something striking hit me. I finished my work for the day and was listening to music (Band of Brothers Soundtrack) while looking up info on Omaha Beach and the French railway system (for a short trip when we have a break). I was doing this from my apartment in Freiburg, Germany where I am studying abroad for a semester, drinking a beer I bought in the Czech Republic, which was made in Bratislava. This is a once in a lifetime experience (Erfahrung). I had to smile and think, "This. Is. Amazing. How did I get so fortunate?"

Prague, Czech Republic

Ah, it's Friday and I have no classes :) We're so busy this semester that this is probably one of only three or four three-day weekends that  there is nothing official planned. Next week we begin midterms already! That's unbelievable. As for weather, it was in the 50's last week, but now we're part of a big storm system that's hitting Continental Europe with cold, wet weather. Last Monday, I was able to go to the local Ultimate Frisbee team's practice and walk back in shorts and a t-shirt.

Now for Prague, or Praha auf deutsch. This city was probably my favorite of the trip because the modernity of the city was so well integrated into the rich history of the area. The main castle and cathedral were situated on a hill and visible from almost anywhere in the city. Either the President of the Czech Republic or the Prime Minister that still lives within the walls of this city within a city. The other parts of the city were easy to reach from our hotel with the elaborate underground/tram/bus system. One night we went to the modern city center and found an Irish pub where we could watch three Champions League (European Soccer Championship) games. It was a blast. The environment was amazing. We had a group of Italians right beside us who were watching the AC Roma game and were shouting at the screen from time to time.

Our meetings in Prague focused on the rotating presidency of the European Union which is, until June, in the Czech Republic. Thus we were able to hear firsthand the difficulties and challenges faced by this smaller sized country in trying to forward an agenda in an international organization as complex and full of dissenting opinions as the EU. The Czech Rep. took on the presidency in January with a lot of goals, few of which will now be realized because of the attention needed for the economic crisis, Gaza conflict and Russian/Ukrainian gas dispute. 

The exchange rates in all of the countries that we visited on this trip (excluding Slovakia, since they have the Euro) have been in free fall for the past couple months because of speculation against the entire Eastern European area. This made for very cheap meals and cheaper souvenirs which was fun (especially when  I could take out 14,000 Forints in Hungary) however for the countries it is a sign of the times. Some items in stores and on menus were in both euros and the home currency and we could see how much the exchange rate had changed between when they had the menu or sticker printed compared to what it was that day. Overall though the Czech Republic is doing relatively well compared to its neighbors.

First Leg- Krakow Poland

Hello again everyone. Yesterday we got back from our Eastern European Trip. I am hoping to blog three times in total so that I can break up everything we did and not have to write one massive blog.



First, when we arrived in Krakow by bus from an airport about an hour and half away (it was cheaper to do that), I noticed that a giant 747 painted in the same scheme as Air Force One was parked on the official Krakow airport's tarmac. We soon figured out that NATO was having a summit that same weekend that we were there! We were not able to participate or observe anything, but it was neat to have something so important going on in the same city and it certainly shaped some of our discussion with our speakers.

The NATO summit was mainly dealing with the Patriot Missile defense system that the US and Poland want to install (or at least the former US administration did). While it is designed to deter Iran, everyone knows it's there for Russia too, and Russia is not happy. However, this dynamic of more direct US-Poland relations rather than Poland as a part of the EU seemed very common in this former Soviet-bloc country.

The city itself is very beautiful. It's unfortunate that it was so cold, but we had clear weather the last day we were there. Krakow is the royal capitol of Poland while Warsaw is the administrative capitol. With that in mind, many seem to agree that Krakow shows a lot more color and culture than Warsaw. One thing that really struck me was the blend of old and new. Many of the cities that we have been in have had their dilapidated buildings next to newer remodeled ones, but in Krakow it felt somehow more distinct. In the city center surrounded by the old wall, everything was old, but remodeled to be somewhat modern. Outside of the old part, I walked from a street where the buildings were very worn down and in need of repair across the street to a modern brand new mall that has to rival most malls in Europe for size.




Random aside: Some famous people that have spent time in Krakow include Nicolaus Copernicus as well as Pope John Paul II as bishop there. And now, as it is midnight, and I have been uploading pictures and catching up on things on my computer for the last three hours, I bid you adieu.