The first full week of classes went well, but as you will see the weekend was even more fun. It was a very busy three-day weekend for me in Germany! Between the castle ruins and waterfall on Friday morning, Lake Constance and live bar music on Saturday, and then biking and boat ride on Sunday I was ready for bed that night!
Aaron found a great place to read a book for a few minutes at the castle ruins!
Finding our way around the ruins bright and early!
The incredible waterfall at Bad Urach that we saw after the castle ruins on Friday morning!
Just visiting Switzerland for the day, you know, it’s casual.
Nick being braver than the rest of us at Lake Constance on Saturday!
Nick got some great German practice in on the ferry ride across Lake Constance!
The Valpo Pin overlooking Lake Constance from the small city of Meersburg, Germany.
Mackenzie and Jordan enjoying the view of Lake Constance from Meersburg!
The ever-majestic Lauren trying her hand at punting on the river in Tübingen.
Reid posing with the Valpo flag on the end of the punting boat in Tübingen.
Berlin. The Capital city of Germany. What a weird, quirky, classy, oddball, and altogether extraordinary place. We spend Friday-Wednesday here (a week ago, actually), and we certainly had a blast.
Before I go on about Berlin, I have some corrections to make to my last entry. I mentioned last time that my parents would represent a majority of the people reading this. As it turns out, I apparently have far more parents than I had previously assumed. Thank you to all for taking the time to read my musings. And thanks to Rachel and my family for continuing to be my biggest fans.
The first night gave us a chance for some culinary confusion. Hofbraühaus (“HOFF-broy-house”) is a Munich standard, so we let at the opportunity to eat there, despite being nearly 600 km away from Munich. With it a mere block away from our hostel, how could we say no to an early start to Oktoberfest? (Spoiler alert: we couldn’t.)
Walking westward as the sun was setting, we had fun with some photography in the Lustgarten on Museuminsel (Museum Island), between Berliner Dom (cathedral) and Altes Museum (Old Museum – a very creative name). Rick Steves says that the Berliner Dom “is a protestant assertion of strength,” adding that it “seems to proclaim ‘a mighty fortress is our God…and he speaks German!'” Nineteen of the seven of us had a splendid time.
Reid in front of the Berliner Dom, making good use of the iPhone’s Panorama function.
Nineteen out of seven of us had a splendid time on our first evening in Berlin.
We finished our excursion walking through the Brandenburger Tor, marveling that this was not something our parents could have done when they visited Germany 30 years ago. The gigantic gate was near the Berliner Mauer (Berlin Wall). Older readers may recall President Reagan challenging Gorbachev to “tear down this wall,” or perhaps remember news clips of people celebrating as the wall fell two years later. Younger readers and tech-savvy people can relive these moments on YouTube.
Contrasts began early on Saturday morning. Several more trains than we had initially expected were needed to get to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, where 50000 people were murdered during the Holocaust.
Aside: Germans today will deliberately say that the victims of the Holocaust were murdered, as opposed to having died or been killed. You can be killed in an accident, or can die of natural causes. Murder is entirely different.
I tried to imagine whether or not 50000 people would fit inside an area equal to that of the camp. This doesn’t reflect any piece of reality – I was simply trying to imagine the size of a 50000-person crowd. 50000 is one of those numbers that’s just big enough that it’s magnitude is difficult to understand. I’m not sure many people have interacted with 50000 of anything in any kind of tangible way.
As though to remind us that our laughter and joy from the previous day would not be appropriate in this sacred, broken place, it was windy and rainy. The sun kept to itself for most of the day, only revealing itself a few times in the afternoon. Yet in the midst of the clouds and dark memories, there was still hope. No matter how hard the wind blew, it could never erase the memories. The trees would sooner topple and the buildings would sooner be reduced to dust than the Holocaust be forgotten. Perhaps this is an ill-informed view of how civilizations rise and fall, but it certainly felt this way to me.
Statue in the building to mark the location of the Sachsenhausen furnaces.
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp
We need monuments like Sachsenhausen to help us remember the horrible things that people did (and can do) to people. None of us perpetrated the Holocaust. Very few people know anybody whom it directly affected. Nobody really owes anybody else an apology for the past, nor do we need to assign blame to anybody alive today. But we do need to remember that these things happened so that we can do everything to keep them from happening again.
After Sachsenhausen, we had quite possibly the least concentration camp-ish meal possible. It was several huge plates of all kinds of meats, each with enough food to comfortably split it between four people. It was fantastically filling, far beyond what any Sachsenhausen meal could have been for the people detained there.
Plate of meat for four at Zillemarkt. This plate was about 50cm (20in) long at its widest.
Following the meal, we went to Kaufhaus des Westens – KaDeWe, the largest department store in Europe. There were somewhere on the order of six stories of everything from jewelry and perfumes to clothing to toys to food and much more. Everything there seemed to have a markup. Even Lego kits seemed to cost more than they should in a typical store. This is a rather gutsy move for the store, particularly given the easily-referenced and well-defined prices of Lego kits. We looked for Ritter Sport chocolate bars to use as a standard price reference point, but couldn’t find any. Neither Nick nor I could tell if this was because the place was simply too large (which it was), or if it was because Ritter Sport is not classy enough chocolate for the normal clientele of KaDeWe (it very well might not be).
We didn’t stay very long at KaDeWe. There was simply too much to take in, and we had had a long day. The excess and materialism was simply too much for either of us, so we went home for some much needed rest. In an interesting symmetry to our morning and afternoon at Sachsenhausen, about 40 to 50 thousand people visit KaDeWe daily (per Wikipedia).
Sunday gave us a walking tour of the city. We covered some of the same route we had taken on Friday, but the added historical context was much appreciated. Berlin has had the interesting misfortune of being almost – but not quite – totally destroyed. There’s a mix of old buildings and new. The old ones embrace the grandeur of the emperors and kings of the past, the new ones celebrate rebirth and modernity, and everything in between serves as a reminder of the tumult of the 20th century. The juxtaposition of old and new, of destroyed sites and recent modern development, and even of former East and West – these are all things of which Berlin is very proud. Berlin is such a bizarre place because of all of these contrasts that define it, but these are the same contrasts that also make it the uniquely wonderful place that it is.
Almost as though an echo of Berlin, our group also let some of its contrasts show over the last few days – particularly with regards to travel style and planning. A great many of us are seasoned adventurers. We know how to deliberately get lost for the sake of new experiences, but we don’t stay lost for very long – there’s always a plan in place. Sure, we can recognize the fluidity of our short-term plans, but this doesn’t prevent us from living in the moment.
Other members of the group, well, don’t seem to be that great at traveling. The planning is there, but a combination of poor luck and incomplete follow-through has created some setbacks for them. Fornutely for them (and for the rest of us who live and work with them), it seems difficult to really upset their equilibria. If there is an edge over which they might be pushed, they sure seem to be far away from it.
We had the opportunity to do and see some more “touristy things,” or perhaps watch other tourists do touristy things. I try not to be an excessive travel hipster (just a little bit), but it can be fun and informative to watch tourists at popular sites. The crowds can sometimes be just as impressive as the thing at which they’re looking.
The “American Soldiers” at Checkpoint Charlie are neither Americans nor soldiers, and they barely speak English. A tour guide informed us that these men work as strippers after they’re done being soldiers. I did not investigate the veracity of this claim. I also do not know whether their alleged evening performance involves the removal of their fake uniforms. Hopefully not.
Nick and I had good fun exploring the history of engineering at the Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin. This wasn’t any specific exhibit – we just went around looking at planes, trains, and boats, all while considering the engineering that went into making them go (or the failures that made them stop going). We’re told that this museum also has cars, but we didn’t get a chance to check those out. Siemens was scattered everywhere in this museum. Having completed an internship at a Siemens plant in Cincinnati last summer, I had to get some pictures of Siemens artifacts that we came across.
Siemens and Halske Electric Locomotive (a world first) at Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin.
Werner von Siemens bust at Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin. This guy adorned my ID badge this past summer.
Nick stands in front of a steam locomotive at the Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin. Steam engines are basically giant heat transfer demonstrations, which appeals to us engineers.
A fancy-dancy thrust-reversing jet engine, modeled by the ever-patient Nicks Sondag.
The below video is an example of something neither of my parents would have been able to do when they studied in Germany 30 years ago. Doing this gave me chills, which doesn’t happen particularly often.
One night last week, three of us (Aaron, Teddy, and myself) joined a guy from Aaron and Teddy’s floor for a game of pick-up soccer with some neighborhood teenagers. While they were significantly better than the three of us and at least pretended to not know English (and us not much German), we ended up playing well beyond the original 10 goals we first agreed to play to. It was a fun night!
Kellie, Nick, Lauren (pictured on the left), Kenneth (pictured on the right), and I went exploring on the trails near campus. A small pond, campground, awesome covered fire pit pavilion we plan to grill at later on, and a new restaurant to try out in the woods were some of our great finds! We also came across this little building/shack/tree stand on the hike so had to take the photo-op!
On a bit more of a somber note, our group toured the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp while on our Berlin trip this past week. Although we arrived and departed as a group, everyone walked around the camp by themselves. It was a very moving experience for me, because although I had been to the Holocaust Museum in Germany, actually visiting a concentration camp where people were murdered and not just viewing exhibits and photos at a museum had a much greater effect.
In the middle of our city tour of Berlin we stopped by a famous chocolate shop. Yes, that is actually a chocolate version of the Brandenburg Gate!
From a famous American university chapel to a world-famous cathedral. This photo was taken on a pew in the Cologne Cathedral during the free travel time after our group Berlin trip. I traveled to Potsdam and then Cologne, Germany with Nick and Maria. We all also met up with two of my German friends while in Cologne!
Also while in Cologne, Maria, Nick, my friend Marius, and I went on a gondola ride over the Rhine river. Nick is pictured here, snapping a photo of Cologne from up in the sky.
First a brief introduction. Not that it matters, as a majority of readers will likely be my parents, but we will proceed regardless.
I’m Kenneth Bouman. 4th-year (9th-semester) mechanical engineering major from Cincinnati, Ohio. Though I’ve crossed borders into Germany a total of five times, this is really only my second time here. I arrived with (most of) the rest of the group on 27 August, but unlike (most of) the rest of them, I’ll be staying for a full year.
The program I’m enrolled in is called Valparaiso International Engineering Program, or VIEP. If you’re enrolled at VU, they’ve bragged (and rightly so) about it in their ads, and you should totally know what it is. However, since even some of my engineering classmates still don’t know a thing about the program (or inexplicably haven’t heard about it) despite walking past several prominent posters that explain the big points, I’ll fill everybody in. VIEP takes engineering curriculum and adds foreign language. It also adds a year to your study plan, but considering that this year is split between studying abroad and an overseas internship, this extra year is easily worthwhile. There are impressive statistics that accompany the program, but you can look those up yourself if you’re really that interested.
We’ve been busy enough that I haven’t found time to properly formulate coherent thoughts that can give a blog entry a good flow. Instead, I’ll talk about several things that I’ve noticed.
Euros are incredibly well-designed. You can sort through different denominations of Kleingeld (change) and Scheins (bills) by touch alone, and the size of everything is more indicative of its worth than the US equivalents. All of our bills are the same size, while larger Scheins have greater value. Simple. You can read more about the coins if you’re really interested, but I’m just going to share one fact that I find interesting: the front of the coin (the “Common Side”) shows the denomination and some map-like image of Europe, but the reverse (the “National Side”) will be different depending on the country in which it was minted. This is a cool way for the countries to maintain some semblance of a self identity while still associating with the much larger entity of the European Union. The Scheins also have a bunch of security features which I find fascinating, but these don’t need to be discussed here or now.
The bills are different sizes, which among other things, facilitates transactions for people with visual impairments.
Infrastructure seems to be developed far beyond that which I’m used to from back home. Recycling is the big one in particular, but much more on that later. Or maybe not, come to think of it. Infrastructure, though interesting to me, is most certainly not interesting to many people.
City planning seems to be more relaxed. Houses don’t necessarily have places to park cars next to them. Some had stair climbs to get from the houses to the road, and these houses may or may not be accessible by car or have a road going to them. (Google Earth helped me confirm this). This may not be true everywhere, but it certainly seems to be the case in Reutlingen.
There are quite a few playgrounds around. Seems like a great place to be a kid. These playgrounds even look to be far more exciting than their US counterparts, though this could be my fresh optimism talking. We’ll see if this is still the case in a few weeks or months.
When walking from Stadtmitte (city center) toward the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) – a 300-meter (3 block) distance – there are a minimum of 5 mobile phone stores. This seems like kind of a lot for a country that I didn’t really imagine as very consumer-centric.
You know how “there’s a Starbucks or a Walmart on every corner” in the US? It seems as though the German analogue might be a Kebob place on every corner. The closest one to our dorms, Campus Kebap, is about a block away.
Smoking seems fairly prevalent, but I could be biased by the fact that my room is situated immediately next to the two-seat smoking balcony for my floor. You get carded at grocery stores if you look like you’re under 18, much as one does in the US with alcohol. Interestingly enough, alcohol doesn’t have nearly the same taboo factor here as it does in the US. It’s perfectly acceptable to be seen in public with open containers of it, and none of us have needed (or likely will need) identification to purchase it.
My group is great. As usual, more on them later. For now, here are their names in alphabetical order: Aaron, Adam, Brittany, Jessica, Jordan, Kellie, Kelsey, Kenneth, Lauren, Nick, Mackenzie, Maria, Micah, Reid, Ryan, and Teddy. We’re spread pretty evenly across three apartments for international students. My experience of meeting more english-speaking non-germans in the dorm echoes what I’ve heard from the rest of the Valpo cohort. Carter Hanson, our director, lives with his wife Michelle and daughters Sophie and Elsa in a nearby apartment building. Classes are all in one room (but at different times, fortunately), which is about a 10-minute walk from the dorms. It takes about 20 minutes to walk into town, but the bus can get you there in less time.
By the way, the ‘eu’ in “Reutlingen” makes an “oy” sound, and rhymes with “boy” or “Freud”. If you’ve been pronouncing Freud incorrectly this whole time, now’s a great time to fix that.
As you may guess from these disjointed observations, they’ve been keeping us very busy. We’ve had two cursory days of classes so far, and are already preparing for a group trip to Berlin beginning tomorrow morning. Though there has been time to relax – to climb a nearby mountain and spend an afternoon at the pool, among other things of course – the whirlwind of stimuli has left room for barely anything else. I would hope that before too long, everybody will be able to settle into something of a routine, but in the meantime, we are a bunch of fulfilled yet busy travelers.
The day we arrived, Thursday, August 27th, was a very tiring one during our meeting with Professor Hansen in his family’s apartment. Regardless of being exhausted all managed to put on a smiling face for our group picture!
One day after arriving (most of our jet-lag gone by this point), we took a tour of the city of Reutlingen, which will be our home for the next slightly over 3 ½ months. Although much of the city is newer than many other German cities, the cathedral luckily survived the bombings and fire during the last few centuries. This photo was taken on a later night with the moon in the background; the photo alone can’t show how picturesque it was!
Also during that tour of Reutlingen, we went through the world’s narrowest street, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
The tour of Tübingen, Germany was arguably more beautiful than that of Reutlingen, between the cathedral, river, castle, and flowers scattered throughout the city.
Earlier today we started off early (9am, so very early for college students) with a hike to the top of a “mountain” visible from our dorm rooms. The views from the top were spectacular, and we all cannot wait for the leaves to start changing color in the fall to go up there again!
So it’s officially been a week since we started our travels here! Still so beautiful, as you can see from the cover photo! Plus, this week has been super fun. And that’s not just because we only 3 classes instead of 5 or anything… wink wink. Surprisingly, I ENJOY class. I never thought I would say that. It’s all extremely discussion based where we talk about the different ethical decisions we will have to make and the different dilemmas we will be presented with as engineers.
Anyways, enough talk about class! We were very fortunate to go on two engineering tours this week. We rode the train from Reutlingen to Stuttgart, and got to see the Bahnprojekt. (On a side note, Professor H pointed out to us that the railroad ties were made out of concrete, not wood like in America! Check it out!)
To continue, the goal of the project is to create a sort of ‘round-a-bout’ to help the trains go in and out of the Stuttgart train station faster. Also, the whole rail system will be moved underground and additional high-speed trains will be added. In total, the project could cost up to 10 billion euros. Such a HUGE project, all to add additional space to the growing city of Stuttgart. There was a model of what the station would look like and it was really quite an amazing project. There was four main tracks within the station, all underground though. There were many entrances to the underground station from a park surrounding the main station building. They hope to have the project completed by December 2021.
Outside the station, the construction is already started. There was a path and park around the construction, so we walked along it and could see the site. Unfortunately, Monday was a holiday so there was no work being done. The project is quite a process, as they must have pipes and pumps for the ground water, they must put up steel walls while digging, and they must test the dirt. If the dirt is toxic, then they must add bacteria which will take a few years to cleanse the area, which sets the project back a couple of years. I never realized exactly how much work must go into such a project!
After we walked along the paths, we came to some old ruins of an old palace which had been moved to this location. Continuing a little further, we entered a beautiful park. There was a fountain, a pond, and so many flowers! There was a little garden and café. Such a lovely place. This part of the country is so beautiful, I keep going on walks because I can’t get enough of it!
Now onto Tuesday, we had class and then we had free time. Of course us girls went shopping (no dad, I didn’t buy anything! OK.. maybe one thing. I’m a girl. It’s what we do!) while the boys went to a knife shop. After, we all met up and ate dinner and then got one euro gelato! It was delicious!
On Mittwoch (Wednesday), our lives were changed forever.
Just kidding.
But our views on faucets certainly changed! We visited the small city of Schiltach, Germany, (about 3,000 inhabitants) for a tour of Hansgrohe. This green company produces beautiful, extremely high quality mixers and faucets for tubs, showers, sinks, and kitchen sinks. The company itself was very sharp; around every corner there was a little drink station so if you needed a coffee, water, or cola you could take a break and have one! We took so many coffee breaks during the tour, I definitely felt pampered.
The company is very family oriented, the chances that the current employees are following in their parents footsteps are very high! The pay here is even better in the cities because the town is so small, the company wants to keep their valuable employees there instead of losing them to the city. Everybody we met that was working was so friendly and happy, they really seemed to love their job.
You’re probably wondering what was so amazing. Well, the faucets were incredible! We went through the show room and we saw one of their new products in the making: a clear faucet which has air in it to create a visual vortex. Simply stunning. Also, they had waterfall faucets and rain shower shower heads. I really wanted to take a shower right then and there. Additionally, they have shower heads where you can click between the different shower head effects. My favorite was the one where the water spun as if to give a massage! How nice, I don’t think I would ever leave the shower. Once we had a presentation, we got to test the different shower heads. Hansgrohe has created a shower head with air to help preserve water. With the air effect, it feels as if you are using more water than you actually are. The cool part was when we turned the lights off and shined a light onto the shower heads. You could see the air in between the drops. It looked awesome!
After we spent awhile messing with the different designs of shower heads, we got a walking tour of the actual factory. There was a huge orange robot to help with different stages such as polishing. We have a similar orange robot in our engineering building! Only much smaller.
Overall, the tour was great. I not only loved seeing the company respect for its employees but I also loved seeing the employees and their families’ loyalty to the company. It’s not something you always see now-a-days. They even gave us a gift for visiting! A towel and flip-flops, so thoughtful.
Since yesterday, we have all been looking at the different types of faucets around the campus. Mostly all of them are Hansgrohe. It’s like a little game, who can find a faucet that is NOT Hansgrohe brand.
It has been a nice relaxing day, reading & writing our papers. Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day! We are going to Munich!!!! I am so excited, but not so excited to wake up at 6 AM. Since high school, I think I forgot how to do that. Oh well, it will well be worth it!
WOW! Has it already been 5 days since we first started our departure from America?!
Even though we have been here in Reutlingen, Germany, for four days, our sleep schedules are still off. We are tired and then when it is bedtime.. wide awake! Of course we are not as tired as the first day.. staying up for 30+ hours is much trickier than it sounds. We were lucky enough to have Dean Johnson here the first day we arrived. He gave us a tour of campus and of the town. After, we went downtown for dinner. I do not think any of us expected what we saw. As Professor H and Josh (our “tour guide/translator”) were running ahead of us trying to make our dinner reservations, we were all in awe. Stopping, taking pictures, posing. Sometimes even in the middle of the road! The roads are so small here compared to USA that I didn’t even realize we were in the middle of them (oops!). However, we have been much better with being aware of our surroundings since that first day (don’t worry mom and dad!). The city, for lack of a better word, is so cute! There is a long road which no cars are allowed down. Located along this road are many shops and cafes. The buildings are all different colors, and all the roofs are very triangular and pointy. Such a fun town to walk around.
The following day we got a walking tour of the city and downtown. Southern Germany is absolutely beautiful. There are many parks to walk through and within the parks there are darling little cafes to eat at. There is even a golf course at one of the parks but you stand up and play so it’s similar to pool! One of the parks has a life size chess board with pieces; I promise I will play a game of chess on that before I leave. On the walk, we also saw a stunning view of the town. Every building has a red roof, and in the distance we could see Marienkurche (St. Mary’s Church downtown). The church’s oldest parts date back to the 12th century, but unfortunately the interior was destroyed in a fire and has since then been restored. While on our walk through downtown Reutlingen, we got to walk down the narrowest Straße (street) in the world! The street is in the Guiness book of world records, how neat for us to see!
While on our walk, we got our first “engineering” tour. We walked by an old mill, and an extremely friendly old man generously welcomed us into his shop and showed us around. It was an old water powered mill from the 1700s, still working today! I really love how the town supports local shops like this one. The man’s English was nearly perfect too, so we really got a good grasp on what was happening and how everything worked. Everybody really enjoyed the little detour.
On Sonntag (Sunday), nothing is open except some places to eat. All the grocery stores and clothing stores are closed. Quite different than America. The eight of us went to Penny Mart on Samstag (Saturday) to get food so we could cook dinner Sonntag. When Keith offered to cook us stir fry, we were all quite nervous. The dinner turned out DELICIOUS, much to our surprise. Ha ha, just kidding, we all knew you’d do a great job, Keith! Thank you! It was really a fun time for all of us to gather in the same dorm and eat together. It’s really been a fun few days of bonding and getting to know everyone. I can tell the next few weeks are going to be a blast!
On a side note, all the natives here have been extremely patient and friendly with us. Some speak English, some do not! It is always a fun interaction with everyone because they keep speaking German with us and we keep speaking English with them. Some ask where we are from, and when we say Chicago they get excited. They are all so patient with us too, especially since there are 9 of us who do not speak the language. We all travel in a heard. The ladies in the bakery are especially fun to speak with. We point to what we would like and they get it for us. They laugh, we laugh. We don’t know what we are saying to each other. One thing I’ve learned is that laughter is the same in all languages.
Hello all! Welp…it is time. Time for us here in Germany to make our ways back home. I know I speak for all of us in saying that it was an amazing time! But I figured I would give a little list of what I personally missed most (besides friends, family, and just good ol’ valpo). So here is a little top 3 things I missed from the U.S. while I was abroad!
3. Root Beer
Yes you read that correctly, root beer. Throughout my travels in Germany and in Europe in general, I can honestly say I NEVER came across a restaurant or store that sold root beer. Also another great American drink is Cream Soda. Both of these beverages along with Dr. Pepper were Missing in Action. So if you have a sugar addiction for any of these drinks, then you will be going through tough withdrawls. I can honestly say that I am excited to go to Red Robbin and get bottom-less root beer floats! Whos with me??
2. Jimmy’s Cafe
I really should have just said the classic American breakfast, but I knew I would get more peoples attention with Jimmy’s. German breakfast customs tend to differ with the different regions of Germany you travel to, however for example when our group visited Berlin, we received a complementary breakfast platter that included bread, cold cut meats and a vegetable platter with assorted cheeses as well. I miss waking up to the smell of fresh bacon with biscuits and gravy and chocolate chip pancakes. I tried explaining what biscuits and gravy was to a German, and lets just say it didn’t go so well. This number 2 is also coming from a breakfast lover. There may be other things obviously that you may miss more when or if you come abroad, but for a kid that grew up on his mother making amazing breakfast food, my heart is broken. Also quick shout out to my mom because she is the best cook and best mom in the world! Happy late mothers day again!
1. MEXICAN FOOD
Notice how Mexican food is in caps. Yeah I cannot stress that enough. I can also say for everyone in our group that this would be most everyone’s numero uno. Authentic Mexican food is a little tough to come by in the United States however in Germany, it is non-existant. The closest thing to Mexican food our group came in contact with was Chipotle in Frankfurt, Germany which is an hour and 45 minute train ride away from where we live. There are 2 Mexican food restaurants where we live, but I did not go to them, but from what I heard from friends who did go, the restaurants were not all that special. I think it is safe to say that the first thing I want to eat when I get home is some complementary chips and salsa then stuff myself with my burrito after I was already full from eating 2 trays of chips and salsa. I truly feel bad for my roomate and other Valpo students who have been here for longer and are staying longer than us because I could not make it. Props to you guys, you da real MVP.
Now for a little personal tribute to the trip and on my experiences. I have seen things that I never thought in my life I would ever see. I have traveld to 9 different countries, lived in a foreign country for 4 months, and learned about German history in Germany. I will forever be greatful for the Valpo Reutlingen program because of what they have done for our entire group. This experience is something I will remember for the rest of my life. More importantly, this trip for all of us, has been a waking up moment. This trip helped us become more independent. All we had starting out was each other and we ended it with friends I never thought I would have met. I also, most importantly learned who are important in my life. Although I have had an amazing time here in Germany, it is time to come home. Thanks everyone for reading and I hope I at least sort of convinced you to travel to Germany. It was an amazing experience and I just want to thank everyone for reading again and everyone who I met here in Germany and also a BIG shout out to the faculty and staff over here for making our stay here amazing! Well everyone, see you tomorrow and thanks again for supporting this blog! Till then this is Austin P signing off for the last time!
Hey everyone! Finals are upon us… so brace yourself for long nights, short coffee breaks, and plenty of tears. I left you guys off last time on a total cliffhanger trying to figure out what my number 1 travel destination in Germany is! Well, the time has come. My number 1 destination in Germany is, you guesed it.
1. Berlin
Berlin- Brandenburg Gate
Now I know there are some people out there that disagree with me who have been to Germany and that is fine, however from my experiences, time spent there, and interactions with the people of Berlin, this was a no brainer. Our group spent 5 days in Berlin, and it was still no where near enough time to do everything there. You could spend a year of your life visitng every museum in Berlin and that probably still would not be enough. From the original settlers of Berlin to World War I, WWII, East and West Berlin, The Wall, anything you could imagine, Berlin has a museum for it. This was also where I had some of the best food on our trip as well. There was a specific restaurant that specializes in Berlin dishes and it was fantastic! Unfortunately I do not recall the name of it, I just know the taste of the delicious food our group devoured. The number of monuments in Berlin are astronomical. From the Brandenburg Gate to Victory Circle to Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, there is something always to be seen in Berlin. This is why I chose Berlin as the number one destination to visit. The amount of things one can do there is endless, and tie that in with great food, and friendly people and you got a number 1 city.
Some places outside of Germany I would recomend visiting are:
Stockholm, Sweden
ABBA The Museum
Stockholm was home to my favorite museum, The ABBA Museum. Also some great fish and chips as well. I would recomend going in the summer months of June and July however because it can still be quite cold in the spring months.
Florence, Italy
Beautiful Florence
Florence was amazing and I know I speak for myself and everyone else in our group when I say I want to visit again. Florence is a great place for a weekend excursion to get a way for a while and take in the beautiful sights. The only thing you have to watch out for is that some restaurants may charge you a sitting fee. Yes they charge you money just to sit down so make sure you have enough cash before going and purchasing your apple juice and PB and J.
Rome, Italy
Colosseum
Rome was a lot of fun and I wish we could have stayed longer! Plenty of things to do and see! From walking through the Roman Forum or taking a quick hop up to Vadican City, there is plenty to do! Be prepared to bring your walking shoes however. Our group walked 29 miles in just the 2 days we were there. Needless to say, I lost 22 lbs by just drinking Slim Fast and visitng Rome in 2 days. But in all reality, it was an amazing place with history all around you!
I could go on and on, however if you come to Europe, don’t just take my advice, take your own! Find what you want to see most and do it! Make it your trip!
In only 4 days I will be coming back home to Valpo with the rest of the R-95 group and starting our summer breaks! This semester went by fast, but that just means we had fun doing it!
Tune in Monday where I give a sending off post since it will be my last. Until then people, good luck on finals and believe in yourself! Till later everybody, this is Austin P signing off!
Hello everyone. I hope everything is quite well back in Valpo or wherever you are reading this post. Sorry for the long gap between posts. I got a little lazy I admit it. However I did have a great spring break traveling to 6 different countries and 9 cities in our 2 week spring break. It was tough, but beyond worth it! The semester is coming to an end! Let the lack of motivation and cramming begin! For R-95 however, besides getting ready for finals, we have to start preparing to pack our things back up and head home. Our days are limited here in Germany and that got me reflecting on what some of my favorite places were in Germany. So without further adieu I’ll give a quick list of my top 3 places in Germany that I have visited:
3. Leipzig
My reasoning for choosing Leipzig can basically be summed up in one word: music. Anyone who has visited Europe knows that in the bigger cities there always seem to be street performers with accordions, violins, or any other instrument they can find. However in Leipzig it was not just the street performers who were excellent, but also because of the musical history that surrounds the city. Musical powerhouse names such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Gustav Mahler, Richard Wagner, and many others have made their way through this city. Any music lover would have a field day here with the amount of museums dedicated to various artists and churches where Bach or Wagner worked and composed. Two of the most famous, for example, are the St Thomas Kirche and St Nikolai Kirche where Bach performed his great works centeries ago.
St Thomas Kirche
However, Leipzig is not just for your classical music lover. Leipzig was also where the battle of nations took place in 1813. The combined forces of Austria, Germany, and Sweden helped push Napoleon out of Germany after his retreat from Russia. Today you can visit the monument and museum. This would be a great thing to do for half a day in my opinion. The monument itself lies about an hour and a half walk from the city center and is near some other museums.
Battle of Nations Monument
More recently, Leipzig is also a location of many protests within East Germany during communist control. Leipzig is a place where people with all different interests can come together and find something interesting to do. Overall, Leipzig was very interesting to experience. The city was safe and fairly nice to English speakers if you are not fluent in German. I highly recomend giving Leipzig a visit.
2. Bremen/Munich
I should just be honest with you, Bremen, Munich, and the number 1 are all really tied for number 1, but I thought that would be nasty to have a three way tie. After much thought, sweating, and blood letting, Bremen and Munich rank number 2 on my list!
Bremen is a place that I would love to visit again. At first glance, Bremen is not a megga city with a population over 1 million, but let me tell you, with the amount of things to do there, it sure does seem like it. From visiting the UNESCO World Heritage Rathaus in the old town center, climbing up the spires in the St Peter’s Cathedral that originaly dates back 500 plus years, visiting the old windmill, walking along the River Weser, eating at Rathskeller restaurant which houses the largest selection of wine in Germany, or just walking down the shopping district and finding a nice cafe to sip some great coffee. Along with the numerous things to do, Bremen was also home to the friendliest people I have ever met in Germany.
Rathaus in Bremen
Whether you are lost in the middle of the night with 100 dollar bills tapped to you while handcuffed, someone will make sure to point you in the direction of a bank, place to stay, and a mental institution because you are crazy if you tape 100 dollar bills to yourself while handcuffed. In all seriousness though, Bremen has some of the most down to earth and overall general nice people. They will go out of their way to say hello to you, ask to offer help if you look lost, give you suggestions on places to see, eat, or visit. People from Bremen are proud of their city and they rightly should be. Bremen comes in 2nd place because of the ability to see most everything in the city in about 2 days visit, but is tremendously increased because of the people. They really made the experience special there for us.
Munich on the other hand, is just a wee bit bigger than Bremen. By a wee bit I mean its more than double the size of Bremen. With a population of over 1 million and during Oktoberfest up to 3 million, you can always find something to do in Munich. Munich is truly the city where it is totaly normal to see a man in lederhosen eating a pretzel and drinking a mass of beer (1 liter mug). Home to some great sites, cool museums, and great food! When you imagine Germany, you are most likely thinking of Munich. From the famous glockenspiel to Oktoberfest to the original Hofbrauhaus, Munich is home to many Bavarian traditions that are cool to take in.
Marienplatz in Munich
Now, the time you have all been waiting for. THE number one place (in my opinion) to visit in Germany. Well you are about to find out. After this long article post, you will walk away knowing a great place to visit. Knowing what to see and just a couple of things to do. The time is now, the city you have all been waiting for. The place is……………….Going to be given to you in the next blog post because this one is pretty long already.
Thank you all for reading! Let me just say though, every place I have been to in Germany has been fabulous and I highly recomend traveling outside of my recomendations. Anywhere you go you will find some sort of history to discover. I challenge everyone to come visit Germany and make your own top 3 list! Find out my number 1 city and possibly a list of my favorite cities outside of Germany to visit next week. Thanks again for reading and I will see you all sooner than we both know!
