Germany Week 9 - First Week in Dresden!

Can it already be week 9 of my time here in Germany. Wow has it been cool. This week I moved to the beautiful city of Dresden. For all of you who don't know, Dresden sits tucked away near the borders of the Czech Republic and Poland in the east most part of Germany. It is a city populated by roughly 500,000 people and the city itself resides within the state of Saxony(Sachsen in German). This week involved moving to this awesome city to be greeted by my host family, our tutor Falko, and our GIZ representative. It felt like a very warm welcome. Although, it literally did not feel so warm, the temperature had dropped nearly 15 degrees(Fahrenheit) after leaving Cologne. Adventures this week include making dinner a few different times with friends, many meals with a wonderful host family, trips to the University and to Ikea, exploring the city, Stammtisch(regular's table of people) with host dad, having a super awesome BBQ on Saturday with everyone, and then going out later to meet a German PPPler and her friend to go to an Irish pub, it was an excitement-filled week, and I hope that I have many more like it!

And a very special thanks to my host family for being so welcoming. I really enjoy how I feel so included in everything. It will make my 10 months(nearly) here in Germany an absolutely wonderful one!

 

Germany Week 8 - Last Week in Cologne

Cheers to a last week here in Cologne. Had to say many goodbyes these past few days but I am still confident that the friends I have made here will still be lifelong friends to come. This week on Monday we visited St. Ursula's Church, where the bones of 11,000(or so) people are arranged in artistic patterns upon the wall. Very incredible to see. Throughout the week we had to present our final group projects at the CDC. I was able to spend more time with my CDC class and the wonderful people I've had the privilege of staying with here in Cologne. Friday was an International Dinner, saw many people before they left for their new cities in Germany. Saturday was an awesome lunch at a Korean restaurant with PPPlers, a BBQ with my host family and roommates, and finishing out the night by hanging out near the Kölner Dom and enjoying the company of all of my wonderful friends. I will miss everyone in Cologne and I wish you all the best!!

Germany Week 7 - Munich Oktoberfest and Neuschwanstein Castle

Another fantastic week it has been in the world of Germany. This week kicked off a little slow as usual, with my editing day on Sunday or Monday then chilling for another day. Throughout the video is some everyday life footage here in Germany, this week is the supermarket! But moving on to the weekend is where things become very interesting. Dawn, Katherine and I tried out "Mitfahrgelegenheit" where you travel with other people that are going to the same destination so it's cheaper for everyone. We all had a blast at Oktoberfest in Munich with our Lederhosen (for men) and Dirndls (for women). I spent this weekend with Dawn, Sam, Katherine, Cort, Dan, and Zack, all PPPlers except for Dan who was a friend of Katherine's. On Sunday we visited the famous Neuschwanstein Castle which is what Disney modeled their logo from. We even dipped into Austria briefly. So over the course of my 2 months here in Germany after have never leaving the country before, in this stretch of time I have visited five other different countries. And I hope to add at least 5 more to that list by the end of this year, if not more! 

On September 30th I will be moving to Dresden for 9 1/2 months for my "permanent" placement. We shall see how the video situation will be from there, take a look for the week!

Germany Week 6 - Crazy Weekend

2 week countdown until my arrival to Dresden, but let's not forget the time here! Another fun filled week as week 6 of my stay here in Germany arrives. And oh so fast it has passed me again. We start off this wonderful week with dinner with friends, showings of class, and gearing up for the weekend. Friday night involved, you guessed it, RAVING IN THE FOREST. It was pretty awesome, the music was better this time, but SCHADE(German word I overuse meaning "Too bad"), it rained while we were there. Saturday, I and a few PPPlers went to hang out with the 29th year German PPPlers. We had tons of fun, drank, hung out, spoke German, went to a club, danced til 3 in the morning, and then the next day, we went to see them again for a BBQ. 

I'm also very excited to say that I will have a host family in Dresden. I cannot wait to meet them. They sound very nice and have recently wrote me back. Also having met my awesome tutor in Dresden, I have been reassured that he will help me, and I won't be on my own as I had originally thought. So here we go for the week!

Germany Week 5 - Paris Trip!

What a wonderful week it has been, the video is a tad later than usual due to my late night arrival from Paris this past Sunday. The week started off with a random marching band marching down my tiny little street, a delicious restaurant outing with David and Trez, and a PPPler Stammtisch at the Kölner Dom. The week went on with having dinner with good friends, and gearing up for the weekend to Paris! We did everything there from roam the city, see the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame, and much more. We ate a full 3 course meal at a fancy french Cafe. And ended out with a bang of partying at a club until 5 in the morning. We waited in line briefly at the Eiffel Tower and decided we were climbing to the second level of it by stairs. Wow, that was extremely tiring, but oh so worth it. The view of the city is vast and beautiful. Paris is a gorgeous city with an interesting culture, I recommend that everyone should go there once in their life.

Germany Week 4 - Partying, and Some MASSIVE Schnitzel

I can't believe it has already been a month since I arrived here in Germany. As I had said before, it seems the time flies and yet goes oh so slow all at the same time. This was quite an eventful week in Germany. This week's adventures include a couple different delicious cafes near where I live, a long day with friends, lots of improving of German, and a party to end out the week. Of course I have been meeting more great people as I have went on. To think that I will be in Dresden in a month from today, wow that is a little scary. I still have not yet found out about my living situation, but I know it is sort of up in the air between an international dorm and a host family. I know I'd really like to have a host family, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. It's been a great week and I'm over my sickness, so here's what's going on!

 

Germany Week 3 - Concert Weekend and Gamescom 2013

Week 3 here in Germany, can't believe how the time flies! This week consisted of: living daily life, doing daily life things, waiting on the weekend, taking an awesome "field trip" to the Augustusburg Castle in Brühl, Germany, and going to Gamescom later that day! The weekend turned out to be quite an eventful one. During all of these different times, I always had good company. Saturday night, we went to a concert with a series of bands that were playing an outdoor show in celebration of Gamescom. The bands that played were Trümmer, Susanne Blech, Flo Mega and the Ruffcats, and Tocotronic. It was a really really odd combination of bands together, but was very fun. Susanne Blech was REALLY great, with their combination of fast paced electronica, good beats, and German rap, they performed a fantastic show. Ending out the night with friends going to a club to dance more was the right thing to do. I've always said, good company and good music is all I need for a great time.

P.S: I have switched around my video rendering settings, and they now look 100 times better than all of my previous videos. No more of that blurriness whenever the camera pans over, so you will be seeing this quality from now on, enjoy!