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.