Yes I know, I pretty much suck when it comes to keeping up with my blog, but I have been pretty busy. Since my friend Jon decided that he doesn't want to spend any of his time in his room except to sleep, we have been very busy going on excursions. These excursions are definitely lots of fun, but I admit that they are definitely one of the main causes of my poor work ethic. I know for a fact that I have had no motivation to do any work since I stepped off the plane on February 17th and things have not changed at all. But it's easy to sympathize though because who really wants to do work or sit in a room reading long articles about political theory when Switzerland and France are only 30 minutes away and all of Europe awaits? I know I want to do as much as I can while I'm here and I have been able to do just that.
Since I last wrote, I have been to Baden-Baden, Munich, and Colmar, France. My best friend Katlyn arrived in Munich, so since we had a four day weekend, we all decided to head to Munich. I have to say that I loved it! We went cheap and took the regional trains to get there and that involved a number of changes and a very long day. We left around 9:50 and arrived in Munich at 5:15. Once we found our hostel the first place we went was the Hofbrauhaus. It was very German, but very touristy and we loved it. We had a great time and really took in true Bavarian culture.
We all just crashed that night because we were so exhausted from traveling all day. We were all in one room and had our own bathroom, which was great because it allowed us to have our own schedule and not worry about holding anyone else up or having to fight for a shower. That first day we just did a lot of walking and saw a lot of the city. A group of us went to Dachau and it was really interesting. Thinking about the things that went on there just shivers up my spine and even though it wasn't the most uplifting place, it was still a place I wanted to go to and I'm glad that I got to see it. That night we went back to the Hofbrauhaus and had another fun night.
The next day we took a day trip to Neuschwanstein, which is the castle Walt Disney based Cinderella's castle off of. It was so cool! The area was just gorgeous and since we had a long time between when we arrived and when our tour was, we explored the area and found a beautiful stream to sit by. The tour was only 30 minutes, but it was interesting. I went on the English tour and I hadn't been around that many Americans in a while. They ended up being pretty obnoxious tourists to be honest.
The trip back from Neuschwanstein was extremely interesting. On our last train to get back to Munich, the three girls (Katie, Liz, and I) ended up sitting across the aisle from a drunk man who decided he would ask us if he was going in the right direction. We told him numerous times that he was going in the right direction and Katie even got up and found a map to show him. He continued to want to talk to us and it was just uncomfortable. All the while, there was a man sitting in the corner looking right at me the entire time. He just stared and eventually got up to try to "help" us while we were dealing with the drunk guy. He then turned to me and asked me if I was Chinese and when I said no he just sat back down. He continued to stare and he got back up and asked me if I was Japanese and then when I said no, he said, "May I be curious? Where are you from?" Katie just shot back and said, "She's from America." It was obvious that he didn't accept that response and when he tried to ask again Katie just put him in his place and said, "I already told you, she's from America." He finally sat back down, but continued to stare the whole ride. Then if things weren't bad enough, Jake finally came over to sit by us to see if that would help the situation and then the drunk guy started talkign to him too. When it was his stop, he stood up, held out his hand, Jake takes it to shake (even though it was extremely gross) and then the man comes closer to Jake and literally just rested his cheek on Jake's face. The guy stayed that way for about 10seconds, which was 10 seconds too long, and then he shook my hand, Katie's hand, and Liz's hand. Since we hadn't actually reached his stop yet, he tried to open the door of the still moving train. Once he got off, we used Mitch's hand sanitizer, Jake rubbed it on his face, and we all just talked about how horrifying that whole situation was. Oh it was bad, but we sure laugh about it now.
On Sunday most everyone left to go back early, but Todd agreed to hang back with me until I had to meet Katlyn. We went to the Olypmic Park and English Gardens, which were very pretty, but it was really hot that day and we were lugging our backpacks around. We met up with Katlyn and headed back on the long train ride home. We finally got back to Freiburg arond 10pm and I had to go home and prepare my presentation for the next day.
While Katlyn was here, we went to Baden-Baden, which was a nice city about an hour and a half away. We just walked around and even went into the casino. You had to be 21 to gamble and to enter the nice part of the casino, you had to be dressed a certain way. To play the slots however, you could wear whatever, but they put you in the basement. It was still a nice basement, but it was still the basement. I had troubles having people tell me where to go because no one believed me at first when I said I was 21. Eventually we got down there and I finally got to play on slot machines. It was a blast!
For our Pentecost Break we all went to Salzburg, Austria. Our goal was to find the Sound of Music sites, sing, and frolic. We did a pretty great job finding a number of the sites and we definitely did some singing. We even went to the hill where they did some of the filming, but of course when we got there it was raining, extremely windy, and cold. We couldn't see much because it was so cloudy and we were just huddled under umbrellas hoping it would lighten up, which it never did. It was fun though, just no singing and frolicking.
Also while we were in Salzburg, Jon, Todd, and Mitch all decided to get the traditional Austrian hat called a Tirolerhut. They were quite the sight and they got a number of looks from Austrians. I did love seeing them in it and they were always easy to find in a crowd. I definitely think that was one of the greatest things they could have bought. Liz and I tried to buy something Austrian for girls and we got some scarves to put on our heads. Sadly they were too slippery (silk/polyester) and so they wouldn't stay on our heads at all.
Once we were back from Salzburg, we took it pretty easy and went to Colmar, France on the Friday before Katlyn left. Colmar was a nice little French city and we spent about 3 hours there and saw most of it. It was just a nice way to spend the day and we got to explore some place new. The boys (Todd and Jon) decided to wear their Austrian hats, along with brown polos, brown shorts, and knee high socks to look more "German." They definitely got a lot of looks then and I always smiled whenever I looked at them. It was a great time!
This weekend I am going to Berlin and I'm as excited as ever. I love Berlin and I can't wait for my friends to see one of my favorite places in the world. After we return I need to buckle down and really do work. I have only 48 days left and I have two presentations, a 5-6page paper, a 6-8 page, and then a 12-15 page paper to write (all in German). I am not looking forward to this at all. We still are going to try to go to Prague as well and there are a few more day trips we want to take. I know I'll be really busy, but I think it will be great! I love it here!!
