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.
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