A Little Adventure

Here we are! Nearing the end of May already, wow time is flying. I'm always thinking to myself: "This is going to be the longest two month wait of my life." Time is going fast, but wow does it seem to be going slow. In other news my life has lately consisted of these things (Of course in order): Being excited about going to Germany - talking with fellow CBYXers - working - listening to German music - as I have developed the saying with friends: "Deutsching it up" - sulking about the wait - working - more German music - nonstop German loving - AND AN ADVENTURE?!?! We shall get to the adventure soon. First I'd like to veer away from the title by making a list(to your and my benefit) of the things I'd like to bring with me to Germany, sort of like a final packing list:

Packing List

• 5-7 Band T-Shirts(Can't go anywhere without them)
•  3 pairs of Jeans
•  Studded Belt and Dress Belt
•  2-3 Dress Shirts
•  Lots of boxers and socks (apparently white socks are a bad idea?) 
•  2 Ties
•  3ish pairs of shoes
•  A jacket or 2
•  Winter Coat(damn the cold)
•  Laptop
•  Wireless Mouse
•  4GB+ USB drive
•  Passport
•  Music in some form
•  Lot's of Z's (Money)
•  Bank Information and Bank Card(s)
•  Digital Camera (VERY IMPORTANT FOR BLOG AND MEMORIES)
•  Transcripts 
•  Emergency Contact stuff
•  Excedrin(or whatever your preference for pain or headaches)
•  Tums(heartburn is painful)
•  Cold Medicine
•  Allergy Medicine
•  A consistent use of capslock

And that's all that I can think of, not too bad of a list if you ask me! Hmm, and most of these items that are on here I already have. So now, it's time for a list of things I need to get or GET DONE (apologies for the lists):

Stuff to get done List

• Open a bank account with Charles Schwab
• Put savings into said bank account
• Set up NKU scholarship disbursal to go directly to again said bank account
• Save money more efficiently(so awful at saving money)
• Prepare suitcase
• Get a set of official transcripts
• Finish up German CV
• Continue my practice of the German language
• PRACTICE DEUTSCH CONVERSATION
• Acquire each individual of the world as a Skype friend (more-so family and whoever else would like to talk)
• Get brakes on car fixed
• Let my phone company know that: "THIS RELATIONSHIP IS OVER, T-Mobile you are overbearing, expensive, and I don't need someone bringin' me down! Actually I just really don't need a smart phone in Europe, I'm fine going with a simple prepaid.
• Acquire all academically and unacademically(games and obnoxious music) necessary programs for laptop.
• To see all friends at least a couple more times before I depart to Deutschland

  

T-Minus 62 days until I'm on "Lufthansa One" and leaving the country for an entire year!

You guys deserve kittens for suffering through those lists. D'AWWWWW!!!

You guys must be antsy right now to hear about this adventure of mine after such serious dealings with the above said "REAL-LIFE" things. Well as it turns out, while it was not that eventful, I enjoyed it quite a lot. The whole adventure revolved around the idea that Tyler(childhood bestfriend) and I had to hang out with our South Korean friend Grace one more time (at least) before she left to go back to Korea in about 9 days. Tyler so graciously showed me his adaptation of "German Club Music" in the depths of his "Music Lair", amusing yes!

We went and retrieved our Korean friend from the Northern Kentucky University Dorms. Usually we make no plans so I imagine in Germany I'm going to be scorned quite often for not planning ahead, but I digress. Grace had of course had one of my most favorite beverages before: Bubble Tea. We set off to get Bubble Tea in Clifton, Ohio. Now, many of you might be asking, what in the world is Bubble Tea?!

Bubble Tea is a beautiful mixture of tea, milk, sugar, flavorings, and tapioca balls. Whoa, I said the first time I had ever tried this bizarre Thai creation. I have to be honest, this drink is not for everyone. It is served hot or cold with a straw with a large diameter. The tea, milk, and sugar exist as a normal drink. The "bubble" part comes from the tapioca balls that reside at the bottom half of the drink. I can only describe them and extremely gummy little black things that you can't quite completely chew up. They are black in color and I was honestly appalled the first time I tried it. I have found a love for it, the deliciousness of cold Almond Milk Tea with the interesting mix of tapioca balls eaten as one is drinking this strange thing. As I mentioned, the straw with the large diameter is actually used so that one can drink the tea while also sucking up the tapioca. Grace and I of course loved our bubble tea, but Tyler was less than impressed, spitting the tapioca balls out whenever he could. To each their own!

This adventure led us to getting lost for a brief time in eastern Cincinnati and then somehow finding our way to Eden Park. We had actually went to the most beautiful part of the park by chance. We came across this beautiful water tower from the 1800's (I think) and a place on the large hill that overlooked much of the Ohio river and most of Newport and Bellevue, KY.

 

And of course there had to be pictures with our good friend Grace (please excuse my terrible photo expressions)

And here is the Eden Park "Water tower." I've never seen a water tower that looked anything like this, but I didn't get to read much about it, that was all that I had found out. It's beautiful none the less:

And of course I have to show Grace and Tyler about to have a ninja fight!

ANDDDDD Tyler was about to get punched (as I recall I think he deserved it) :

What two great friends. As Tyler said, he hoped that the 3 of us stayed friends as we aged into our late years. I agree Tyler, that would be great.

Of all things that Grace wanted in America. OF ALL THINGS. She says, "Can we go to KFC?" 
YES, OF COURSE WE CAN YOU STRANGE LITTLE KOREAN. And off to the KFC to eat what was mediocre to me, but hey, she liked it, and her happiness was what counted at the time! Back to the dorms at NKU to finish out our night hanging out and talking for hours. Of course Grace accidentally mentioned that she had never had Reese Cups before, we HAD to walk over to Kroger to get some supplies and the beloved Reese's. Turns out it was too sweet for her taste. But after talking with her about American and Korean Stereotypes, new things in Korea, things that will be missed, my stay in Germany, I was quite pleased at how well I had gotten to known her in one day. The day concluded with intense discussions about Greek Mythology, the building of the Pyramids, and the like.


The day was fantastic and I can't wait to see Grace just one more time. Next week on Wednesday we are planning a camping trip to Red River Gorge. I wanted to take Tyler and Grace since they had never been before. It is very beautiful there, and I encourage anyone who has the chance, VISIT IT ONE DAY!


The next post will most likely be about our camping trip (pictures included of course). Until then, I shall keep working, keep listening to German music, keep "Deutsching it up", keep checking things off my list, and keep getting ready for this wonderful experience that 74 CBYXers and I are going to experience.

Are you ready? I AM!!!

Maifest 2013

Well hello everyone! My name is Shawn Faller, I am 20 years old, and a sophomore at Northern Kentucky University currently. I've never done one of these blogs, so bear with me! I have been chosen to be 1 out of 75 students from all over the United States to be picked for the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals Program. This program sends students to live in Germany for a year to work, study, and grow as young adults. I am very excited to be able to represent Northern Kentucky University and the United States as a young ambassador. I am really looking forward to meeting the other 74 candidates chosen. I have gotten to know many of them already, they're all great people! So here it is. This blog will be dedicated to my year-long stay in Germany. I love to read a current CBYXer's blog, her name is Taylor, she's an awesome happy-go-lucky kind of girl that seems to make the best of things. She inspired me to write one of these because I have found her's to be very interesting, informative, and helpful. Not to mention it made me even more excited to go to Germany! So, here we go!

Now, where does it all begin you might ask?! I have recently finished my 2nd year of college, and this week my best friend Cassaundra was in town for the weekend. She has been a long since childhood friend along with Amanda. What better time to be up here than for Covington, KY's own Maifest 2013!!! There are very strong roots in German heritage where I have grown up. Every year in an area of town commonly referred to as Mainstrasse (Mainstraße for us German speakers), Covington holds Maifest and our own version of Oktoberfest. The scale of our festivals is much smaller than that of Oktoberfest's, but I have to say we still put on quite a show! This year I had come up with a great idea. I wanted to take pictures of all things "Maifest," and show the Germans how we do it. (and maybe pick up a few tips along the way)

Cassaundra(left) and Amanda(right), bestest friends!!!

Happy Dad at Maifest

Here is a few pictures of the Maifest that I felt I had to show the Germans. It's a German festival with some American twists, a gem of Covington

Maifest 2013

Willkommen! Covingtonhaus

The Crawdad Man

This man is an icon of Maifest and Oktoberfest. As early as I can remember as a child, my family and uncle ALWAYS had to stop by and pick up a large order of spicy Cajun Craw-fish to go. I can say that this Louisiana style of cooking is unrivaled by anyone in town. We don't often get to eat real Cajun style food, so this booth is a must. This man will live on.

I remember talking with Cassaundra about how I really didn't know if Germans actually did this kind of thing. These almonds are roasted, and coated with cinnamon and sugar, they are quite delicious. She said jokingly, "Sounds like more of an American things, take something healthy and coat it with sugar." It was a good laugh, so here's a reminder to myself when I meet my German host families, "Sugary delicious German almonds?!" Oh, how I can only hope.

Covington Clocktower at Sunset

The Radisson

Wertheim's Restaurant is a German icon of Mainstraße. The picture doesn't quite do it justice.

Eine Königin unter den Bieren

My dad used to have one of these beautiful wood carvings from this man. He is quite an artist. He comes from Africa and has been at Maifest for over 20 years. He hand-carves wooden statues of animals and paints them. Beautiful work by such a humble man.

Chez Nora, Jazz Cafe

If there's something that hasn't been deep fried in America, then something isn't right! Oh, how we love our deep fried food. As unhealthy as it is, I wouldn't give it up for the world. And right next door we have the Strasse Haus.

This IS part of Kentucky culture, truly. I am not a fan of college basketball, but wow do the fans go crazy. University of Kentucky is EXTREMELY popular here in Covington, and these nifty little birdhouses could only mean just that.

The above German band was not playing the "oh so typical" German polka. The music they played was mostly American style with this German twist on it. The song that stuck out most was, OF COURSE, Free Bird. Could not believe they were playing this, must say it was interesting, but it seems music is forever universal.

I have decided to name him "The Strudel Man." Of course because he served me Apful Strudel(it was SOOOO good). I was able to take this picture after talking with him about what exactly I was doing. He was quite excited to be in a photo showing the Germans our version of a German festival. We spoke afterwords, he talked much about Bavaria(Bayern) and how I absolutely had to go and see it. Strangely enough we began to hold up the line (accidentally). And an older couple overheard us talking about my "going-away" to Germany and began telling me about how they were there this past summer. It made me quite proud to see many more German cultured people than I expected. This man and that couple were awesome.

The Maifest is definitely a "must see." It is a great place with lots of people from all over, many more cultures than one might think. The multitude of delicious foods, people, and interesting sites makes this scene quite unique. I cannot wait to be able to look back on this first post and show my German host family. And on a current note, I can't wait to meet all you CBYXer's! We are going to have the adventure of a lifetime. So here it goes, 73 days until I'm on a plane to Germany. To me, a new world called Germany.