Germany/US Week 50 - Coming to a Close

My very final (half) week in Germany. Wow, what an incredible experience it has been. I spent my last few days saying goodbye to friends and experiencing what Dresden had to offer. On Tuesday, Trez and I were off to Frankfurt after saying goodbye to our host families. We met up with other PPPlers in Frankfurt, eating at Chipotle and drinking beers on the street just one last time. On Wednesday we flew to New York, arrive at 1 PM US Eastern Time. We settled in to our hostel and were off once again to Chipotle in New York, where the CBYX team had already said that they would take us. We walked about an hour instead to Taco Bell and enjoyed the glorious Americanized Mexican food. Thursday, we had a few different presentations from the German Consulate, German Ambassador to the US, and the former US Ambassador to Germany. They were all great talks and very enjoyable. Thursday we all hung out for the last time, exploring the city the night before I had a flight to catch. Friday, I flew from New York to Philadelphia, had a layover, and then from Philadelphia to Cincinnati. I met my parents at the airport, it was like a scene out of a movie. It was wonderful to see them and I have since seen many friends of mine that I also missed dearly. We had many adventures during the weekend, and that is when this year-long project comes to a close. You can expect to see videos from me in the future, but they will not be quite as frequent. I hope you all have enjoyed watching this year abroad, and I hope that you guys may decide to do something like it!

Germany Week 49 - Last Week in Germany

This week has been full of goodbyes and I can honestly say that it has been kind of sad. I have said by to so many good friends, ones that I will cherish for a lifetime. On Friday, Janne and I visited Königstein, a place we sort of ended up by chance. It is an epic fortress that sits on top of a "mountain." It was absolutely beautiful there. On Saturday, we went to the US Car Convention in Dresden. I saw so so many beautiful American cars. Muscle cars and boat cars are always my dream cars. On Sunday, they did a tour/drive through the city, which I filmed as much as possible. The full video will be below this paragraph. Later on in the day, we set up the grill, tables, and everything to prepare for the World Cup Finale, Germany vs. Argentina! So proud of Germany, they played great and won it all! It has been a wonderful time here, even still with all of the goodbyes.

Germany Week 48 - Baltic Sea

My 2nd to last full week Germany, oh how the time has dragged on and flown at the same time. On Monday was Germany vs. Algeria, and they won, moving on to the quarter finals, woot! Tuesday was a day spent in the middle of nowhere filling for an MDR news story. Later on was the USA vs. Belgium game, the USA sadly lost, still proud of you Tim Howard! On Friday, my host parents, Trez, Kelsey, and I left for the Baltic Sea at 5 in the morning. We were at the beach at about 10 and promptly had a beer at noon. We were able to see a public viewing of the Germany vs. France game, Germany winning again, putting them in the semifinals! The whole weekend was a lot of fun, and most likely my last trip before I head back to the US. Two more weekly videos to go guys!

Germany Week 47 - We've Made It

Week number 47 in Germany and the days are winding down. Every hour in Germany is becoming precious. The hourglass is finally starting to run out. Besides all that nonsense, this week was another chill one. Tuesday I went out to a field and made an image film, looks pretty decent I would say, plus there is an epic song to go with it. Thursday was the Germany vs. USA game, Germany won but the USA is still in the final 16! The weekend was relaxing, filled with lots of good food and drinks and friends too! Hope you guys enjoy this week's video.

Green Wheat Fields Forever

We were filming on June 24th for a client that wanted to make a short image film about the event. I decided since I was there, I would use my own little camera and material, and make my own image film!

Germany Week 46 - Let the World Cup Begin!

The World Cup 2014 has begin! This is honestly my first year ever watching anything from the World Cup. I am not a soccer fan, but I have to say it has been pretty fun so far. This week was not quite as exciting as my trip to Finland, but cool nonetheless. On Friday we had a birthday party for Trez. We had tons of good food and a lot of cool guests. Saturday, I visited a baseball game with a coworker and my host brother, it was cool to see it even know the actual players looked like 2nd graders playing. Later on in the day, Trez, his Munich friends, and I grilled out and watched the Germany vs. Ghana game. The match was pretty intense! Only 3 weeks left in Germany, boy am I counting the days!

Finland Week 45 - I Could Live Here

This entire post is dedicated to Finland. That was the neatest trip that I have taken during my time here in Europe. I absolutely love it there! Monday was spent at the Finnish Artillery Museum and later on enjoying Finnish food. Tuesday was spent at the Finnish Armour(Tank) Museum and a surprise afterwards. We went to the shooting range where I shot a Finnish version of the famous M91/30 Mosin Nagant. I had a field day at both of those places. On Wednesday, Janne and I took a day trip to Helsinki where we saw the sights of Suomenlinna and of Helsinki Zoo. Both of those places are on their own separate islands! On Thursday Janne, Juha, and I went to the country of Estonia, where the weather was absolute garbage but the city was pretty (and cheap!). These 2 epic day trips left us exhausted on Friday, where we spent it exploring Hämeenlinna and watching "Shawshank Redemption" which Janne or his mother had never seen before. The trip was wrapped up on Saturday and I flew back home and finally got back to Dresden around midnight. It was an epic trip and I recommend EVERYONE to go to Finland! It's an absolutely beautiful country with awesome people.

Germany Week 44 - Poland & Finland, What An Adventure

Greetings from Finland! I am writing this from Hämeenlinna, Finland. What a wonderful place it is here, so beautiful. This week has been absolutely wild. On Wednesday, Trez, Janne, and I decided to hop on a train to Poland in order to get delicious pizza. We succeeded in our endeavors and also found the prettier things on the border. On Friday, Janne and I hopped on a plane from Berlin to go to Helsinki, the capital of Finland. We were met there by Janne's dad and were given a ride back to Janne's hometown of Hämeenlinna. We have done so many things here so far including: Seeing the beautiful lakes of Finland, eating at Tompere's best pizza restaurant, seeing the city, and partying the night away, literally. From Saturday to Sunday, I never actually witnessed anything resembling a dark night, it was quite the experience. Finland has been quite the experience.

Germany Week 43 - The Epicness Was Unsurpassed

What an epic week this last one has been. It was much busier than the usual weeks, even with a day off of work. On Wednesday, we filmed for a commercial and I used the material that my coworker gave me to make a "making of" video of our day there. On Thursday, we went to Zscheiplitz to eat some good food and celebrate "Männertag" (Man Day). The weather was absolutely awful during those two days. I headed back on Thursday and went to work the next day on Friday. Later that night was one of the most EPIC concerts that I have ever been to. Susanne Blech delivered and they honestly deserve world-wide fame! After a riveting concert, we hung out at the club that they played at, called "The Groovestation." On Sunday, we all had a big party together, celebrating the 10th year that my host mom and her friend's Kindergarten had been opened. It was an epic week, and with me leaving on Friday to go to Finland, I can't wait to see the adventures I'll have there!

On Set for a Commercial

This is a "making of" video for a commercial that the company I work for was working on. It is a commercial that will be ran in Kinospot, a channel in Germany. A coworker of mine used a Canon D800 to take this video (along with a tad bit of filming from myself) and allowed me to use the material. Hope you guys like it, this is my first making of a video like this!

Germany Week 42 - Berlin PPP Final Seminar

This wonderful week was spent in the beautiful, amazing city of Berlin, Germany. All PPPlers had to travel to Berlin for the week for our final seminar, our Abschlusseminar. On Tuesday Trez and I arrived there, explored around, and drank a beer. We made it to the hostel which was actually kind of neat. We met all the other PPPlers there and had our opening seminar shortly thereafter. Wednesday was full of seminars, telling about our experiences, talking amonst ourselves, seeing how we've grown, etc. Thursday was started off by going to the US Embassy near the Brandenburg Gate and meeting all of the other highschool PPPlers and scholarship receivers from different programs. Later on, we went to the Reichstag building (parliament building) and saw many important people such as representatives, congressmen, and the Bundestag President. Friday, we went back to the Reichstag to see a few speeches celebrating the 65th year of the Basic German Law. Even Angela Merkel was at this meeting, although I was a bit sad that she didn't speak. The last day the Cologne 6-pack ate together and we parted ways. Until Frankfurt to all of my fellow PPPlers!

Germany Week 41 - Hands-on Experience

Week number 41 in Germany was a bit quieter than usual, but still epic nonetheless! There wasn't much going on but I did get to work on different projects for a client. It was really interesting and my first experiences really! I finished up my volunteer week at the Vogelstation and enjoyed myself there. As I'm writing this, I just got back from my final seminars in Berlin and I am exhausted. I hope you all enjoy the video, and stay tuned for the week in Berlin!

Germany Week 40 - Winding Down

Week 40 in Germany, this is the last ten week mark of my time here in Germany. That 50th week will be spent in the US! This week was started off on May 5th, Cinco de Mayo. Honestly, I really wouldn't ever celebrate that day in the US, but it gave us an excuse to go to a Mexican restaurant here in Dresden. On Wednesday, more time was spent at the Vogelstation. Saturday was an Arts & Crafts type festival in the Kunsthofpassage. It was pretty neat and we got to try a few different international beers. On Sunday, we went up to a restaurant on a hill that overlooks Dresden in the east. We had some delicious dessert there, and I'd really like to go back for a full meal sometime! I'm really ancy to go home at this point, only 9 more weeks!

Germany Week 39 - Party Now, Get a Visitor Later

During this week the 9 month mark in Germany was hit. I'll say it again and again, how the time flies! Coming here 9 months ago, I was scared, excited, nervous, and I had no idea what to expect of the world around me. I'm glad that I made the decision to come here. I'm also glad that I made the decision to keep a video blog for the entire year. I love going back to my videos sometimes and remembering what I did. This week was another week spent at the Vogelstation, and then one of the best times I've had partying later on that night. We went out to my host family's cabin and partied the night away. On Friday, the wonderful PPPler Tyra graced me with her presence. She got to see the sights in Dresden and we all enjoyed ourselves together. Everyone, you're still welcome to Dresden anytime!

Germany Week 38 - Work, Work, Work

This was my chill week after my long trip to Bratislava and Vienna. I definitely needed this break and the downtime. This video is not as action filled, therefore I have attempted to make up for it with my own sense of humor, applause please. Lots of footage from my work last week will be included. Throughout this week I have, chilled out, chilled out, and chilled out. Okay, I'm done with the ridiculousness. I played baseball with my host brothers, my favorite sport of all. We had an awesome grill-out, and my host dad sacrificed his dryness in order to cook us delicious food in the pouring rain. More delicious food was had on the weekend. Of course you guys get to see at least some of it. With the holiday on Thursday and another day off coming up this Friday, I'm sure to get into something this week!

Germany Week 37 - Bratislava/Vienna

Only about 12 weeks to go now and I will be back home in good old Covington, Kentucky. While I do miss home a lot, my adventures continue on. And of course the videos do too! This whole week's video was dedicated to our trip to Bratislava and Vienna. It was Trez, Janne, Kelsey, and I that went on this trip over our Easter break. It was nothing short of epic. During work before I left on my trip, we spent every day filming for an advertisement. You guys will be able to see that in next week's video because I didn't want to omit the footage that I had from our 4 day trip. I really didn't know what to expect from Bratislava, I was honestly a bit afraid to go there. I barely knew what it was or where it was, and much less about its culture, its people, and its cuisine. I was thoroughly surprised. In the 24 hours that I spent there, I came to love that beautiful city. I hadn't realized how rich its history and beauty was. It seems that although I spent only a day in Bratislava, it has about as much footage as Vienna did! The food was quite enjoyable and Slovakia is home to many different castles. We had bought bus tickets from Bratislava to Vienna. We saw an advertisement for Twin-City Liners. It was a high speed boat that ran between Bratislava and Vienna. We quickly decided that that was what we were going to do. We hopped on the ship on Saturday afternoon and off we went!

We arrived in Vienna about an hour and a half later. The sights that we saw along the way were absolutely gorgeous, and the ship that we took was extremely fast for being such a large boat. We arrived in the Donau canal in Vienna and hopped on one of the local U-Bahns to our apartment. The city of Vienna is huge. One cannot simply walk the entirety of Vienna. During our time there, we went out to several bars and clubs, ate some local food(and some not local food). One of those foods included 2 pieces of schnitzel the size of both my hands and a bowl of fries. Needless to say, that was a filling meal. We saw the many sites in Vienna including Hofburg Schloss(Castle), the Rathaus(Courthouse), and Schloss Schönbrunn. The city of Vienna is rich with culture, internationality, music, and history. Within the 2 1/2 days that we had in Vienna, we had barely scratched the surface of seeing what it was all about. Nevertheless, we enjoyed ourselves to the fullest! We arrived back at the Hauptbahnhof in Dresden on Monday night. Monday, April 21st was my 21st birthday. That's right, biggest American birthday that there is. To my surprise, Falk, my host dad, was waiting for all of us to give us a ride home. The whole host family was there and set out a nice dinner, cakes, and presents just for me. That was so sweet of them and I was not expecting it at all. We ate and drank and were merry together. It was a great week!

Germany Week 36 - Everyday is an Experience

This week was quite an enjoyable one, of course Wednesday was again at the Vogelstation. I absolutely loved my work there on that day, feeding a baby bird and baby raccoon and going to the airport, it was an awesome day. On Friday we were actually filming at the office where I work at. That was quite convenient. I was actually the boom operator which meant that I actually got to do something, yay! On the weekend I was visited by a PPPler and friend, Nancy. We explored the city of Dresden, even I was able to see more of it than I had before. We enjoyed ourselves at a club later on on Saturday night. It was a fantastic week.

Germany Week 35 - Shaping Lives

This week was again spent in Meissen Porcelain Manufaktur. Well, of course not the entire week! We were again in a separate part where they were doing clay mock-ups of the various body parts of a 2.8 meter high porcelain woman that they are working on. Porcelain dries much too fast for it to be sculpted from scratch in such a large scale. I was also able to do the audio work at a place we filmed with my company. It was neat to actually be able to contribute this time! On Friday, I had heard about a famous bridge in Dresden with a couple bars right down on the water next to it. Trez, Janne, and I decided we would go there to visit it. It was very pretty down there and the bar/restaurant was pretty cool. We had a few visitors to Dresden this past weekend, Michael, Scott, and Allison. We hung out on Saturday and had a nice walk around the city and went to a bar later. It was cool to have visitors in Dresden, and again, anyone that wants to visit us is welcome!

Germany Week 34 - The Soft Side of Roughness

This week was started off with another awesome trip with the camera crew to Meissen Porcelain. This time, as you can see from the main picture of the video, we were filming an American artist named Jen Ray. She is very talented, although she said that sculpting porcelain was something that she has picked up within the last few years. This overall project will be explained more in the video, just know that it is going to be an amazing of lavish, garnished porcelain tools and weapons with what Jen said: "have a romantic side to them." The day was filled with this interesting project. I'm sure that we will be going back there many times to film its progress. No news really from the Vogelstation, most of it was spent hacking up weeds... long, thorned vine weeds. Skipping to Saturday which was having a beer with Trez, Kelsey, and Kerstin at Freiburger. It was more of a chilled out weekend, only 3 more weeks until my birthday and our grand trip across the country of Austria, and mostly within Vienna!

 

Germany Week 33 - The Finer Things of Life

This week was not quite as packed with events every single day to pass the time. The days that were filled with those things though, wow did I see a lot! On Wednesday was a day spent at the Vogelstation, caring for animals and a little baby rabbit, it was all quite enjoyable that day. Thursday and Friday were spent at the factory of the oldest and finest porcelain makers in all of Europe, in Meissen. The whole camera crew was treated to wonderful meals at the restaurant they have there. It was probably a couple of the nicest meals that I have ever had. Meissen Porcelain is truly a thing of beauty, completely unmatched by anything that I have ever seen. Saturday was a weekend day spent relaxing, going to a burger restaurant, watching movies, and drinking wine together. It was a great week, and hope to see more of them!

Meissen, Home of the Finest Porcelain in All of Europe

This post especially goes out to my Grandma who I know who really enjoy these pictures!

Here is a look at the famous Meissen Porcelain. Meissen Manufaktur was started in 1710, they were the 2nd manufacturers in all of the world to manufacture porcelain. The Chinese were the first, and the Germans, the second. I was there with the film crew from my internship to film the Meissen porcelain painters. Their master painters are some of the best porcelain painters in all of Europe. It was a great honor to be able to see and watch them work.

 

Germany Week 32 - Prague Round 2

A bit of a filming break was taken early in the week, I do apologize for that. Though this weekend is still packed with videos from the 5 star fish restaurant "Kastenmeier's" that I went to with the film crew to film a presentation over Meißen Porcelain. And for the weekend, as the title might suggest, I went to Prague for the 2nd time, ROUND 2 IN PRAGUE! I went with Trez and Mike, both PPPlers. We met Janne there, that poor soul had already been there for 5 days on his own. Luckily he survived. The weekend was filled with mistakes, mishaps, dangerous Czech trains, beautiful sights, beautiful architecture, a pub crawl, and much more. Prague is a really neat city, I appreciate its beauty and would recommend anyone to go there at least once. Twice is enough for me I do believe!

Germany Week 31 - 5th Dimension Birthday Parties

Spring-time may finally be coming around. This week's video of week 31 here in Germany showcases a step-up from my usual video editing/creating, I would really love to keep improving as much as possible.This week included birthdays of what seems to be the "Dresden 30th PPP host family." On Tuesday Falk's birthday was celebrated and Kerstin's also on Saturday and a bit of Sunday. Throughout this week are many funny clips, a little bit with food, some with birds, a little conversation from the Germans, and all the extra stuff that goes along with it! Leave feedback and tell me what you guys think!

Germany Week 30 - Reasons to Cheer Up

30 Weeks here in Germany. Wow has it gone by fast, very stereotypical saying, but still it seems that way! For the first few days of the week I was pretty homesick and just kind of sad overall. My first day at the Vogelstation/Bird Rescue/Care Center on Wednesday cheered me right up. I had an absolutely great time interacting with all the birds, animals really just make me happy in general. After cheering up, I was once again excited to be here in Germany and I will make the best of these last 4 1/2 months here. Of course during this week was lots of delicious food, a rave that I was unlucky enough to have no film of, and just fun times. I've done something that I though my non-German speaking viewers would like. Of course I don't mean that insultingly, I just wanted to mention that from now on I will be putting in English subtitles for the German spoken in my video. I will try and subtitle it all but honestly I cannot always understand, and sometimes my subtitles may be incorrect, just bear with me and I will do my best. Hope you guys enjoy this week, 7 months in Germany already!

Biography of the Life of Shawn Faller (By Tyler Lindsay)

Meet Shawn Faller. An American from Covington, KY. After recently changing nationalities due to inner self conflict spawned from a subconscious disapproval of an ever growing insecurity of his "hick-like" upbringing. Shawn, began speaking in German. This ability was spontaneous and as remarkable as it was, it was later found that it was merely a symptom of his ever-growing resentment towards a westernized lifestyle, you see, Shawn wasn't just an ordinary Shawn. He was..."Shawn the lawn Don" or other names he acquired through popularity such as "long john Shawn" or "shah-bah-mowmylawnple-shawn"(Indian/Hindustani).
This particular man was known for his notorious lawn care service in Kentucky.
There he became a well known king pin to all that was mowing, shearing or possibly even hedging. His ruthless weed whacking skills and cunning ability to control a vast number of Latinos, all illegal immigrants from "El' Paso" Mexico soon backfired during a small shoot out in Covington, KY. This would later be known as "the little Alamo" some witnesses say the battle was that of a territorial conflict between Shawn the lawn Don himself and local rival "Timothy Jones" a ten year old boy from the area, advertising with his convenient low prices at ten dollars a lawn to end the monopoly that Shawn and his Mexican alias had conceived over time. A record total of 462 people were brutally slain as causalities in the rapid cross fire between Shawn's legion and young Jones. After four days, the battle ended. The victor by default was Jones, having killed Shawn's entire small army while still managing to mow sixty seven lawns in the process. In his staggering humiliation, Shawn fled to Germany, a country he had already grown found of, to avoid his ridicule in the world of gardening. The whereabouts of Shawn faller these days are unknown. However one thing is for certain. Covington, KY will forever remember the legacy that is "Shawn the lawn Don"
Written by: Tyler Lindsay

Published with the help of Shawn Faller, Facebook, and the many Latinos that fought for Shawn Faller on that fateful day

Germany Week 29 - Definitely Two Bags

This week was one of those weeks that again, didn't start until Thursday. I can at least say that Monday - Thursday I worked on footage at work, cleaning it up and editing it. It was a theatrical performance of the equivalent of a German "Mardi Gras." Glad that is finished with. A fellow PPPler, Zack, came to visit us in Dresden for a day. We had an awesome day with him, exploring the city, eating at that rollercoaster restaurant, and finishing out the night at The Dubliner. On Friday I visited a bird rescue and care center where I will be doing my volunteer work these next couple months. I absolutely love it there so far. On Saturday, Trez, Janne, and I hopped on a train to Zittau. It is a city very close to where the borders of Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic meet each other. After that we walked over to Poland for just a little while. Was definitely not a prettier part of Poland, but I still want to go to Wroclaw to see Poland's real beauty. That will be coming up in a later video, you guys can count on that!

Germany Week 28 - Real Work

What a fun filled week it was. I actually was able to do more real work for the company that I work at. That would include editing the best of our film for the city of Dresden so that they can make a tourism commercial. On Wednesday I went out with the film crew all day. I have to say, it was quite long, but I felt like within that day, I gained a lot of experience. We were filming in a museum that was closed and reserved for 50 guests and a few speakers. It was definitely neat to see how it all works! Friday was a dinner at a chinese buffet with my host family, Trez, and Kelsey. On Saturday we went to Jena for Falk's mother's birthday. We had an awesome lunch and an awesome layout of cakes and desserts. It was an excellent week, and I can't wait to see the next weeks to come!

Germany Week 27 - Sächsische Schweiz im Winter

As I had said before, we have passed the halfway mark of 6 months in Germany. During this week there was lots of fun to be had, and I have already experienced a lot during my internship. To get the full story of the internship, you'll just have to give the video a watch! Other things outside of working include eating more delicious food that Kelsey cooked, spending lots of time with the host family, and a beautiful hike in the Sächsische Schweiz. My host family, Trez, Kelsey, and myself have really bonded a lot these last couple weeks, especially over this past weekend, and I think we will continue to become closer as the year goes on!

Germany Week 26 - Puttin' On the Ritz

Seems like just yesterday I was scared, timid, and extremely worried about starting my university phase of the program. This time it would be almost completely unguided and I would simply have to figure things out for myself. This week I spent finishing up my last classes at the Technical University of Dresden. The weeks really seem to fly anymore, even when I don't do anything too exciting. Within the video you will see good food (always right?), an attempt at breaking a world record, and a wonderful performance of one of my brother's favorite songs, Puttin' on the Ritz by Taco. This week I am starting work at a private film and TV production company, I can't wait to see the different kinds of work that I will be doing there!

Germany Week 25 - PPP/CBYX Midyear Seminar in Frankfurt

What a fun week this one was! This week was the 30th year PPP/CBYX Midyear Seminar. That meant that us 71 participants were all going to be in Frankfurt for 5 days. We had many seminars, did lots of fun things, and enjoyed one another's company. Monday was mostly just our arrival and of course talking with all of the other wonderful PPPlers. Tuesday included a feedback seminar, a lunch at a nice restaurant, and then a concert at the Opera House later on that night. Wednesday was a trip by bus to the state of Thüringen to learn about the history of the border between east and west Germany. Which was of course followed up later that night by an awesome Karaoke club. Thursday was super formal day, where we all got dressed up to go to formal seminars for hours. We all needed a bit of a break after that and went out to a bar! Don't mix beer and sangria, it doesn't feel nice the day after. Overall, I had a great experience in Frankfurt, and I can't wait to see how much more Germany will shape my personality, and myself as a person.

Germany Week 24 - The Border of Poland

This week was sort of another lazy week for me here in Germany. At the time I hadn't been filming that much, truly because nothing too exciting was happening. The week included some cooking and neat pictures, but mostly encompassed the trip that Trez, Janne, and I took to Görlitz, Germany. It is a city that lies right one the border between Germany and Poland. The food there in Poland was absolutely excellent, and I cannot stress how surprising it is to simply walk over the border, and having the ways of life and living completely changed. The language instantly changes, the people change, the scenery changes, everything. Going on this trip opened my eyes a bit more. I can't wait to take a weekend trip to Poland!

Germany Week 23 - A Nice Break

This week started out on Wednesday yet again because of all the video work that I had to do! On Wednesday was a brief start off with Trez, Janne and I having a few drinks together and going to a club. Friday was an awesome party at my host family's house, having about 12 guests over was great. I was able to also make American pizza for my host family, which they actually liked! That was very exciting. Sunday was a trip to Weixdorf with my host family, Trez, and Kelsey, where we had a wonderful meal at a restaurant and a nice hike by Moritzburg Schloss. Can't wait to see what Frankfurt will be like next week!

Germany Week 22 (Part 2) - From Berlin to London

Straight from Berlin was a bus ride to London on New Year's Day. It was a very long bus ride, 17 hours from Berlin to London. Needless to say, the next day, Victoria and I were exhausted. Haley, Victoria, and I were spending the last of our time off in London for 3 days! The first day was spent getting Fish and Chips for the first time ever. It was quite good. We went to explore the city a bit, and then went back to rest for the next 2 full days that we had in London. We spent that next day at the Tower of London to start out. We saw the armory that they had there, it was originally all built as a fortress in the late 11th century. Now kept there are also the crown jewels of England. That was also very neat to see. We explored the city further after that. The next day was a day-trip to Stonehenge and the Roman City of "Bath." It was amazing to see such marvels of history all within one day. Haley, Victoria, and I had a wonderful week long trip together and I cannot wait for the next one!

Germany Week 22 - New Years in Berlin

Week 22 in Germany began only one day after my return from Zscheiplitz and my Christmas break. Less than 24 hours after I returned to Dresden, I was on a bus to Berlin! I planned to meet Haley and Victoria, who are PPPlers that live in Munich. We had a hotel right in the middle of the city. It was literally 200 feet from the Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station). We even had extra visitors, Sam and Ryan, other PPPlers that stayed with us. They have both been seen before! We did lots of things in the city, such as sight seeing, going to the GDR museum, and even meeting up with at least 8 other PPPlers who were also in the city for New Years! I have seen beautiful Berlin, its wall, its Cathedral, and its historical marks. I was even able to bring back a piece of the Berlin wall with me to take home. The trip in Berlin was finished by drinking in front of the Parliament building (not too much) and celebrating the new year! I absolutely loved my time there, and Berlin will be seeing me again in these next coming months!

Germany Week 21 - Christmas in Zscheiplitz

This week here in Germany was my first Christmas away from my family in the US. I was wonderful and lucky enough to be able to have Christmas with my host family. I went to a church service at the Frauenkirche becuase my host dad was singing in the choir. It was a lovely service, ages since I had actually gone to church/mass. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner, Trez joined in with us. We gave out gifts and had lots of fun. We went early the next morning to Zscheiplitz and had a large Christmas day lunch, mountains of food I tell you! But that is what happens in Zscheiplitz during special occasions. We enjoyed our relaxation very much, and enjoyed 3 or 4 meals a day. There is of course trails to walk along, so that is what one does when in Zscheiplitz. We eat and then we walk, and then we eat again. It was still Christmas with family. I very much enjoyed it!