Less than 3 Weeks Left

Less than 3 weeks until I will be in the beautiful city of Cologne, Germany. I've whined for quite a while about how slow the time was going. Now, it seems as if time has flown, and I have to say, I'm ready to go. I am ready to start the adventure of a lifetime. And a shoutout to the 29th year PPPlers, I hope you guys had a fantastic year. Thank you for all the tips and help that you've given to us 30th year PPPlers. You all make us feel much better about taking this journey, although it seems that no amount of pep talks could 100% ready us for this adventure! I must say I have also much enjoyed speaking with many of my fellow PPPlers. You all are wonderful fantastic people, and I cannot wait to make this journey with you all! You all must know, none of you are safe from my videos, I will be that guy always taking pictures of everything(and everyone) along with video too! Be ready Germany, 30th year PPPlers on our way!

Less than 4 Weeks Left

I can start counting down the days now, wow it's getting so close! I've been talking with so many CBYXers and it's all getting pretty real. In 25 days I will be flying in to Frankfurt, Germany. I believe after a day or 2 of staying there, all of the CBYXers will be transported off to their respective language school cities. I will be in Cologne, Germany for language school and then for my other 9 month placement I will be somewhere in the state of Saxony.

I've also been practicing my video editing/filming and I have to say, I think even within a week I've improved a bit. It's very fun, so you can be sure I'll be making weekly videos right up until the very end. Here is this week's adventures!

For all other videos: www.youtube.com/adventuresingermany

Waidmanns Heil

The title "Waidmanns Heil" was an old saying by German hunters. It translates something like "Huntsman's Salute" or wishing luck on the hunt. I've chosen the above title today because the nature of what my brother and I were doing today. Although, we were not literally "hunting" anything, we went shooting (in various forms) like we do every so often.

Target shooting is a great way to let off stress or anger (done properly of course), so we chose to go shooting back at our normal spot down near the Licking River, the only other river besides the Nile that flows north. Not too interesting, but worth mentioning. My brother brought along his 60" (1.52m) Shakespeare recurve bow. I brought along my Marlin model 60 .22. I would've brought something of a larger caliber, but living somewhat near others, I didn't want to scare anyone with the noise. I will miss these fun little times with my brother. With only less than a month to go until Germany, time is precious.

He is a good shot, we were pretty far off from that target, and archery is VERY difficult.

 

Shot the piece of that fork off with my .22 about 50-60 feet off, not bad eh?

Drawing back the bow

Props to Tim for this photo, it makes me look SO much more epic than in reality

Gathering more material for this week's video, I'm going to see what sorts of adventures I can get into. Time left here in the U.S is short, but plenty of Germany to come! Bis dann!

This New Video Thing

Yesterday marked a very important start to a more than year long project I have been thinking about doing for the past month or 2. Yesterday, I decided I would start this "project." I want to do weekly videos showcasing my adventures in Germany(and the first ones here in America). I will still write in this blog, maybe not as frequently, but by God I still will! This will be a learning experience for both my audience and I. It's very exciting to be doing something like this. Being a Media Informatics major, I'm going to finally learn to do some video editing! Sony Vegas Pro is a bit challenging, but I'm sure I will get it soon. I hope to keep the videos around 10 minutes, this one is a bit longer because of introductions and whatnot. Hope you guys enjoy this journey along with me!

Oh yes, here is the Youtube Channel: Adventures in Germany, by Shawn Faller

In the first episode, introductions are made, my brother Tim and I have a Bubble Tea adventure, then with some spur of the moment footage at the end!

5 Weeks until Germany!!

Glühwein in June!

The title says it all. I couldn't help it, once I heard of this amazing sounding drink, and then reading up on it a bit, I decided: I will make my own homemade Glühwein. This drink is a seasonal German/Austrian drink that is usually seen around Christmas time at all Weihnachtsmarkts all over. I first encountered the drink when watching a video from one of the 29th PPPlers Samantha Montero. (Link to her channel: Awesome Youtube Channel). Glühwein can be made in an assortment of ways with many different ingredients, depending on what you like. I looked up Glühwein recipes and went off a mixture of the ones I liked the best, some of it was tailored to my likes and me just "winging" it. Here's what you'll need for it: This recipe uses 500 ml of Wine, scale up recipe if you want more, and disclaimer, some of these are strictly guesses, so it might need adjustment on your part.

• Red Wine(500 ml)
• Whole Allspice
• Whole Cloves
• Half an orange, cut in thin slices
• Very finely ground sugar
• Whole Cinnamon Sticks
• 3/4 cup Orange Juice

 

Pour the red wine in a pan, heating it up a bit with a low flame. (DO NOT let it boil) Cut the slices of orange and put 2-3 slices in with 4 of the cloves stuck in the skin of each of them.

Put the oranges in the wine making sure to submerge them, while keeping the low flame on. Half or third two cinnamon sticks and throw them in.

Throw in 2 whole allspice and pour in your 3/4 cup of orange juice. And lastly, evenly pour in about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of finely ground sugar. Stir this all as you go. Stir off and on for about 30 minutes with heat on low, again not letting it boil. Give it a taste, and add more sugar if necessary(which you honestly might have to).

Let it infuse for another 30 minutes, stirring it off and on as you go. Remove oranges/allspice/cinnamon sticks and spoon into cups, and enjoy! Oh and the oranges actually soak up all these flavors quite well so you could eat those if you like too!

Here are some pictures of how my Glühwein turned out, I must say,

 

Es war einfach der Hammer ;)

 All of the many ingredients cooking together

 Glühwein in it's completed form!

I honestly cannot wait until I can try some real Glühwein from a real Weihnachtsmarkt!! I am less than 6 weeks away from being in Germany for an entire year!! You could say I'm just a bit excited. And during Christmas time, I think being able to make my own homemade Glühwein might catch the interest of at least a couple Germans! Hope you guys enjoy, bis dann!

Hofbräuhaus, Amerika!

Guten Tag meine Damen und Herren! Today marks June 16th, better known for me as the month and a half mark to departing for Deutschland for a year! Today will be a short little photo extravaganza(you could hardly call it that) about the beautiful Bierhaus chain known as the "Hofbräuhaus!" (Pronounced like: "Hoffbroyhaus," not "Hoffbrowhaus"). It is a German Bierhaus, the chain was started in München, Deutschland(Munich, Germany) in 1589.

The Hofbräuhaus is known for its delicious beer, extreme quantities of it, and for being one of the only FOUR in the entire United States. I am lucky enough to live a 10 minute drive away from the Newport Hofbräuhaus. I have been there many times before, delicious beer cheese, pretzels, cooked pork, german potato salad and fried cabbage, würst of all kinds, all while enjoying the company of my family or wonderful German class AND listening to a small band playing accordian and small snare set. I was not dining there today, for I had to go there to buy my father a gift. He loves the Hofbräuhaus more than any place in the world, so what better gift than to buy him a gift card to there for father's day!! Happy Father's Day dad!!

Oh and by the way, I might've forgot to mention I found out some small little things about the upcoming CBYX program......... I WAS PLACED IN COLOGNE, GERMANY FOR MY LANGUAGE SCHOOL PLACEMENT FOR THE FIRST TWO MONTHS. So I'm a pretty excited creature, and I have been ALL weekend, what a lovely surprise on a Friday. And to my surprise again, I had not read the PDF file that was sent to us all the way through before I went bouncing around my house to tell everyone. I went back to show them and scrolled down a bit more and found out that, MY FINAL 9 MONTH PLACEMENT WILL BE IN THE BUNDESLAND(State) OF SACHSEN, GERMANY. Words cannot explain how excited I am. Oh, wow this is all getting too real. I'm ready for you Germany, what're you waiting for?!?!?!

Last American Adventure

You might be asking what the title means exactly, think of it not as the end, but rather the beginning of new adventures. During this past week I went on a camping trip to Red River Gorge with fellow PPPler Michael Douglas, my childhood best friend Tyler, awesome Korean exchange student Grace, and other awesome guy Logan. I had camped down there many times prior, but the only other of the group who had been there before was Logan. It was an exciting adventure, and one I will not forget. This is most likely my last big American adventure before I leave for Germany on July 31st. Don't worry guys, less writing and more pictures! Here we go!

After a less than thrilling two hour drive, we arrived near our location only to be in the rain. I was not pleased at this sight, but luckily the rain didn't last long. We drove around the scenic route 715, about 10 miles from the road I liked to camp along. Within this stretch of road is a quarter mile long tunnel through the side of a mountain called Nada Tunnel, carved out entirely by dynamite. It is a one lane road, so traffic has to figure it out for themselves. As one leaves the tunnel they are greeted with the sight of beautiful sandstone cliffs, hills, and small mountains. The road follows along the "Red River" and then goes into a windy incline to the top of the ridges. Along this road is this beautiful spot here: When it rains, it creates this little natural waterfall. And I found my brother and I's initials when we were here 3 months ago.

Tyler looking at the waterfall

Tyler and I climbing up to the top of that waterfall, about 60 feet up

Moss Writings

Tyler was pointing at me to get him his shorts from the car(mind you I was about 200 feet away, with a large creek and the entire area in front of the waterfall to climb around), he wanted to get a shower in that waterfall, sigh Tyler, we don't have time for this, he's quite a trip.

We set up our campsite about 400 feet off a long gravel road called Chimney Top Rock. This road goes up a long high sandstone ridge; spanning in some places only about 100-150 feet across. At the top is a lookout area in which one can see much of the Daniel Boone National Forest. We managed quite a nice campsite, and I must say, with Michael having no camping experience, he was really good with our shelter. Check this out:

From left to right: Tyler, Logan, Grace, and Michael

Oh ya, that's right, we were SET!

 

 

The night was a long one, many of us couldn't sleep, some with the fear of bears, psh, no bears in Red River Gorge if you ask me. I awoke to an interesting sight at the top of the tent. A LARGE wolf spider the size of a coffee plate at the top of our mesh tent, thank God it was on the outside, I still had to contain myself, as everyone was asleep. The spider and I later became friends, had a few drinks together, played some games, and had to go our separate ways, you shall be missed dear spider. (What's wrong with me)

We went up to visit Chimney Top Rock, pictures never quite do it justice:

Grace and Tyler up at Chimney Top

Logan at Chimney Top

 

 

Michael, Me, Grace, and Logan after our night of camping

The land was vast!

We moved on to go to a trail I loved to hike, and had done so as a kid growing up. The Natural Bridge trail is one that almost everyone who knows the Red River Gorge is familiar with. A 1/2 mile hike up to a natural sandstone bridge, formed by an ocean that was once here 60 million years ago, when the entirety of Kentucky was submerged under water.

 

 

 

Spot at Natural Bridge trail where if you were too fat, you literally could not fit through, it did not leave that much room.

I wasn't kidding about it being narrow, crazy though!

Walking out onto Natural Bridge, no railings, so don't lean too far!

A view of Devil's Gulch from on the "Natural Bridge"

An island of rock I must get to someday

On "Devil's Gulch"

Red River from atop Devil's Gulch

Seeing Natural Bridge from Devil's Gulch

We hiked a different path down from Natural Bridge and came across more beautiful and interesting things.

The trail passed this natural cave, it was much larger than it looks currently

Michael with a spiderweb being weighed down by water droplets.

Thank you Mr. Michael Douglas for your great photos, Ohne dich, dieses Blogpost könnte sein. Danke schön!!!

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. And if it is my last American adventure for a while, I'd be okay with that. I came to know all of them well, and we enjoyed our time together. Natural beauty covers this world. Seek out this beauty, preserve it as we preserve our friendship and our love for others. I cannot wait to make these lifelong friendships with my other fellow PPPlers and many others. We have quite a year ahead of us. 54 days until we depart for Deutschland. And to my friends, thank you for being part of my life, and thank you everyone else for always supporting me. Life has shown me bliss I have never seen, and I hope it lasts. Until next time, my friends.