Author: Michael Boyaijan

Location: Reutlingen, Germany

Guten Tag reader, and welcome to my blog! For the past month, I have had the pleasure of studying abroad in Reutlingen, Germany. Throughout my time here I’ve seen many amazing places, made lots of friends, and already had numerous unforgettable experiences. Although there is so much to share, I have decided that the focus of my blog will be more financially-based. For many people, myself included, money plays a large role in whether one can afford to study abroad at all. Although Valpo gives out an estimation of what a student will spend studying abroad, expenses are different for each student. This semester, I will be reporting my personal budget and expenditures so that you, the reader, can get a real-feel for what it costs to study abroad in Reutlingen, Germany. Along with this, I will be explaining things I learn and mistakes that I make.

I started my semester with a budget of $3,133. Like I said before, expenses vary from person to person. Some people spend a lot of money, and some people don’t. At the same time, what people choose to spend their money on varies drastically. What I did not know is that Germany is primarily a cash-based society. Yes, credit and debit cards do exist here, but for everyday purchases (i.e., groceries, public transportation, etc.) Germans generally use cash. With that being said, here is tip #1: Open a bank account/get a credit card that has little to no foreign transaction fees. I have a Chase College account and every time I take out money from an ATM, I get charged a small fee. Additionally, the conversion rate from US dollars to euros varies. So far, I have paid for everything in cash. The amount of cash that I have taken out is $781.80. I have used that cash for groceries, trips, souvenirs, a guitar, and meals out. So far, of the $781.80, I have used $675, leaving me with $106.80 that will still be used. My current budget is now $2,458.

For the first month, we spent a lot of time going on group trips and excursions, rather than in class. As a business student at the ESB Business school here, my classes only recently began. Going forward, I expect to spend less money as I will be doing less travelling, and I will not be buying another guitar. I hope you find this post useful in your decision to study abroad! Tschüss!

Vlogger:  Nicholas Kwiecinski

Location: Reutlingen, Germany

Vlogger:  Nicholas Kwiecinski

Location: Reutlingen, Germany

Author: Devin Powell

Location: Reutlingen, Germany

Our next adventures took us to Leipzig, Wittenberg, Eisenach, and Wartburg Castle up north. This was a school trip rather than one of our own adventures, so things were a bit more planned. This region of German is often referred to as “Lutherland” due to the great reformer, Martin Luther, having made his stay in this area during the late 15^th and early 16^th centuries. Here, the reformation of the church began and Lutheranism began to form.

Leipzig Ferris Wheel: We happened to arrive in Leipzig during a very exciting time. The city was having a sort of Christmas fair downtown with an ice rink and traditional German food and their traditional drink, Glühwein (warm red wine with spices and herbs). The event was called Eistraum Auf dem Augustusplatz. You could purchase a Glühwein for 3 Euros but for an additional 3 Euros, you could also purchase the frosted mug that it came served in.

St. Nicholas Church (Nikolaikirche): This church is situated in the center of downtown Leipzig. It was constructed in the 15^th century in a Romanesque style design but was later converted to a more Goth church in the 16^th century. Johann Sebastian Bach was actually the music director of the Nikolaikirche during the 18^th century, and the church was also the center of peaceful protests and demonstrations during the 1980s and early 1990s against communism.

Johann Sebastian Bach: He was born between March 21 and March 31 1685. He was one of the most influential composers of his time, and today, his influence even lives on at Valparaiso through the Bach Institute. As a part of our program, we will be visiting the Marienkirche in Reutlingen to hear the St. John’s Passion, one of Bach’s works. According to the Bach-Were-Verzeichnis, Bach composed 1128 works in his 65 years of life. 23 of these works were lost or unfinished and are only known via other compositions or clues left by history.

Stadt und Pfarrkirche St. Marien zu Wittenberg (Town and Parish Church of St. Mary’s): This church was first mentioned in the year 1187. Martin Luther often preached at this church in downtown Wittenberg. Not pictured but just off-screen on the top right of the tower are sculptures of swine. These swine sculptures represented the Jewish people that were present in Wittenberg. They were often the lowest class of people and were not allowed in the churches. The town wanted to get rid of the tower some years back due to what the sculptures represented, but they ultimately decided against it stating that it was a part of history and would be merely hiding an ugly part rather than embracing the ignorance of it.

Lutherhaus (Luther House): This building was originally constructed in 1504 and was a part of the University of Wittenberg where Martin Luther and his wife, Katharina von Bora, lived. When Luther wrote his 95 Theses, he lived here and may have even written them in his bedroom that is highlighted by the fancy looking window adornment to the right of the tower in the photo. He and his wife even taught here during the period.   

Schloßkirche (All Saint’s Church/Castle Church) and Church Doors: The Schloßkirche is the most famous of the churches in Wittenberg. This church is the very one where Martin Luther hung his 95 Theses. The doorway pictured on the right is the same doorway where they were nailed to the doors in 1517. A fire in 1760 destroyed some of the church and burned the original wooden door. Since then, a new bronze door has been constructed and every single line of Luther’s theses are chiseled into it to commemorate the Protestant Reformation. Luther is also buried here.

Wartburg Castle (Eisenach): Built around 1067 in the Middle Ages, Wartburg Castle housed St. Elisabeth of Hungary. It’s most legendary fact, however, is that this castle is where Luther translated the Bible from Latin into German allowing ordinary people to read the Bible and therefore interpret it in varying ways. This is also where Luther fled to hide from persecution after calling for a change in the church.

Vlogger: Nicholas Kwiecinski

Location: Reutlingen, Germany

Author: Devin Powell

Location: Reutlingen, Germany

After we finished exploring Berlin and all of its historical context, we decided to make use of our German Rail Flexipass—this pass allowed us 10 days of free travel anywhere in Germany and select cities outside of the country—and head on over to Köln to see the largest cathedral in Germany. We booked an AirBnB for two nights and explored the city with no set plans.

The morning of our third day in Cologne, we made our way to the train station to see what adventures awaited us in Brussels, Belgium. I’m not sure how many of you know, but Brussels is actually the “capital” of the European Union (I’ll explain my use of quotation marks later on, don’t worry). Belgium has three official languages—French, Dutch, and German—so everywhere you turned a new culture was washing over you.

Köln Cathedral (Cologne Cathedral): This massive structure was first constructed in the year 1248 after the “Old Cathedral” was burned down on April 30 of the same year. A little over two centuries later, the cathedral remained unfinished and the project was halted in 1473 due to the lack of monetary funds and support from the people. Gradually, the construction resumed throughout the years but is still receiving repairs to this day due to the 14 hits it took during the Second World War. None of these bombs collapsed the building, but damage was certainly done. UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) added it to the World Heritage List of important sites in 1996, making this building a protected historical monument.

Köln Triangle: Imagine a platform that is so high above the rest of the city that you can see 360 degrees of Cologne. Well, that’s exactly what we did. For only 3 Euros we were able to go to the top of this sky deck to see the city. The glass had etchings that you could align with the real monuments with small facts about what you were viewing giving a bit of history and thrill to the experience.

Köln Cathedral (A Closer Look): Here lie those who once preached at this very cathedral or who were nobility of the town during the old ages. This is a small cemetery on one side of the Cathedral that faces the Lower Rhine River.

Köln Lovelocks Bridge (Hohenzollern Bridge): This bridge has become notorious (much like the Lovelock Bridge in France) for people hanging locks on the bridge that symbolize their love. Some of the locks were even dated back to the 60s or early 70s! Some of the locks weren’t your regular locks either. There were owl locks, camel locks, locks the size of someone’s head, car locks—you name it, they were there. The bridge was constructed in 1907 and finished in 1911 and has been standing ever since. Out of the seven bridges that cross the Rhine, Cologne’s bridge is the most famous.

Now let’s head on over to Brussels, Belgium!

Royal Palace of Brussels (Palais Royal de Bruxelles): In case you were wondering, we got to Brussels rather late, so some of the pictures will be a little darker than others for our first day exploring the city. This was one of the first sites that caught our attention. This right here is the Royal Palace of Brussels of the King and Queen of Belgium. Now the King and Queen don’t actually reside here but live in another palace on the outskirts of Brussels instead. The palace here is smaller in floor space than the Buckingham Palace, but it is 50% longer.

Metal Ball Fountain (La Fontaine de Pol Bury): Since Belgium does not have any lakes, rivers, or beaches, they supplement with fountains that litter the country. Brussels alone has 20 or so fountains throughout the city. Pol Bury was a Belgian architect who designed this 21 steel cylinders based fountain in downtown Brussels in 1995.

Parc du Cinquantenaire (Park of the Fiftieth Anniversary): This is the main park in downtown Brussels which was created in 1880 in order to commemorate Belgian’s independence. The centerpiece (pictured above), was created in 1905. The piece shows a woman charioteer who is raising the national flag of Belgium.

Atomium: This is the Atomium. It was originally created in 1958 for the Brussel World’s Fair. The inside is a sort of retro designed museum telling the history of the structure and also giving a 360 degree view of Brussels from the top sphere. Only 6 of the 9 spheres are accessible to the public, but the top sphere was actually closed off when we went.

Manneken Pis (The Peeing Boy): This is one of Brussels most famous fountains and is what they’re actually pretty notorious for. Statues depicting the boy and sculptures made out of chocolate lined the streets leading up to the renowned statue. The original was erected in either 1619 and has now been replaced by a copy in 1965. The original still exists, however. You can find it in the Museum of the City of Brussels. The statue is meant to symbolize the humor and independence of the people of Brussels. It only stands at a height of 2 feet making some of the chocolate statues bigger than the actual piece!