Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Neuschwanstein Castle: The most beautiful place in Germany


I think this past weekend I went to the most beautiful and amazing place I have ever seen: The Neuschwanstein Castle in Southwest Bavaria, Germany. This castle was constructed by King Ludwig the second in the late 1800’s however only 1/3 of it was completed due to the king’s death. The death of the king is also very interesting because it is an unsolved mystery. It is believed that his family murdered him, but every time someone attempts to look into his death his family puts a stop to it and mysteriously the few pieces of evidence they had from the night he died randomly disappeared or were destroyed in random fires. Very suspicious right? Anyways, along with the interesting history behind this castle it is honestly an amazing sight. It lies up on a forested hill that overlooks the Hohenschwangau Castle, multiple lakes, the Alps, and various villages. It also has a river that runs by it with multiple waterfalls. Also, another interesting fact about this castle is that it was the inspiration behind Walt Disney's castles. Honestly just thinking about it makes me smile because I loved our trip there so much and I am so happy that I can share it with everyone. 
I was in Munich this past weekend and a group of 5 of us decided that we really wanted to see this castle. The only bad thing was that it was a 2 hour train ride away, but we all figured that it was worth it. So Saturday morning we all woke up super early and headed to the train station. We wanted to figure out what was going to be the cheapest and fastest way to get there. We looked up prices for renting a car, prices for a train ticket, and the price of a tour. In the end the cheapest and fastest choice was to go with a tour group there. We were a little skeptical about this because tours are usually quite boring and we would rather do things on our own but we decided to risk it.
                                   (Train ride to the Neuschwanstein Castle)
So we got on a train for the 2 hour ride and headed to the castle. Once we arrived in the village we stopped at this little restaurant to get food and to use the restroom and then we were taken on a little tour of the village. First stop was at the Hohenschwangau Castle, which was King Ludwig’s family’s summer home. From there we went over to one of the various lakes to take pictures as well as to take in the beautiful sight. After this though it was time for us to take the hike up the hill to the castle. I don’t know how long or high up we went, but it definitely was a work out to get up there. However, if you have bad knees or something and cannot make the hike up there, there are horse-drawn carriages and buses that go up there. Once we made it to the top we went to various look out points to take in the beauty of the area and then we headed to the castle.
                                          (Us infront of the Hohenschwangau Castle)
(One of the lakes)

                                               (Views of the villages from a look out point)



                          (Different images of the Castle up close and personal)
Included in our tour was a ticket to go inside of the castle and the have a half hour tour. Unfortunately, you were not allowed to take pictures, however my friends and I could not help but be sneaky and snap a few shots even though they are of poor quality. The inside was beautiful! There was gold everywhere, very intricate woodwork, windows everywhere, murals and paintings everywhere, a chapel inside, etc. When inside we got to see the thrown room, the servants quarters, the king’s bedroom, his bathroom, his personal chapel, various hallways, a room that looked like plays were held there, and the kitchen. To me this didn’t seem like a lot of rooms to visit, but then I had to remember that the castle was not finished yet so therefore one could not really see what the rest of the castle was going to look like.





After we toured the inside our tour guide took us on another hike through the foothills around the castle. There were once again various look out points, but the coolest place we went to was a bridge that gave you the most beautiful sight of the castle. It was beyond breathtaking. Then, once we were done taking in this sight and taking pictures we started on our hike down. However instead of taking the paved path, she took us on a trail that went past the waterfalls and was all along the river. This was amazing as well. The water was so clear and the waterfalls were so pretty. At one point my friends and I stopped to play in the water. This was just the perfect ending to the perfect trip.

                                                  (Views from another look out point)

                                       (View from the bridge of the Neuschwanstein Castle)


                                   (Photos of the hike down along the river) 
When we finally made it back down to the village we loaded up on food and headed back to the train station. Once on the train my friends and I discussed that this was the best tour that we had gone on and we were so happy that we chose to go on it. If we had gone by ourselves we would have never seen or done everything that we had done in that day. It was cheap too. For the roundtrip train ride, the tour, and the ticket to go into the castle, and a tip for our tour guide we each spent about 50 euros. We also all agreed that this was the most fun and best thing that we have done in the past 4 weeks that we had been in Germany.
Therefore, for anyone who plans to go to Germany in the future I urge you to make the trip out to Southern Germany and visit the Neuschwanstein Castle. You definitely will not be disappointed at all.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Host Family Loving


I think one of the best decisions I made with studying abroad was choosing to live with a host family. I don’t know how many times before I left I was told by friends that I was crazy for wanting to live with a family I did not know and I how I would have no freedom. I mean I myself was a little skeptical too because it is a complete gamble on what type of people you will end up with and what your experience will be like. However, I figured that I would feel more comfortable living with a family and I would learn/understand the culture more.
The process of applying for a host family was quite simple. I had to fill out a questionnaire, send in a photo, and then write a letter to my future family telling them about myself. From my answers, the program researches through the families they have and find the one that they think best fits with you. After waiting a good month or so I finally received an email with my host families name and then shortly after that an email from my host mom. In the email I was told that they had two daughters, Luise who is 20 and Philline who is 11. My host mom Nana, was an Art therapist and that Niko, my host dad, was an engineer. Lastly, that they lived in the suburbs of Berlin near a few different lakes and that they have a dog named Emmi. After reading this I became quite excited. They sounded like a really nice family and I could not wait to meet them.


When the day finally came that I was going to meet them I was extremely nervous. I was nervous about if they would like me, if I would fit in, if they were going to speak any English to me, what my house looked like, what the rules were going to be, etc. However, as soon as I met them all my fears and questions were erased and I instantly felt at home. It was the weirdest feeling to instantly just have all your nerves go away like that, but they were beyond welcoming and nice to me.
I live in a part of Berlin called Mexikoplatz, which is one of the high end suburbs. The house I am living in is 4 stories and I live in the basement in like my own little apartment. Then, I have a decent sized backyard with a tree house, trampoline, patio, etc. Its honestly so nice here and far from what I expected but in a good way.

My host sister, Luise, and I have have become best friends. I swear her and I have the same personality and we are almost inseparable. She told me that her and her family were just as nervous about meeting me as I was about meeting them, but that they all honestly love me. For some reason Luise and I always find ourselves talking about how we are so happy that we were we were paired together. Its also really nice because she always takes me out with her friends and they have been just as welcoming as my family has been. All her friends always talk to me on facebook and all invite me places. Everyone just wants to ensure that I am having a good time.

Then how I was nervous about having rules, I really do not have any. I do not know how many times that I have come in from the night at like 5 in the morning and my host parents always just laugh and tell me that they are happy that I am having a good time. They are also always pushing me to go out and explore. They understand that I am only here for a short amount of time and that they want me to see and do as much as possible. Its nice that they do this because I know so many people here that live in the dorms or apartments that just stay in rather than explore because they have no reason or push to leave. They just want to be lazy and sleep.
Lastly, I love how my family wants to include me in everything. They take me to family parties, they are always explaining the history of Berlin and Germany, they help me with my German, they cook for me, and most importantly they are always there for me and make sure that I am as comfortable and happy as I can be.
There is honestly so much that I could write and say about my host family experience, but the main thing I want the readers to get out of this is that it is an amazing experience. It pushes you out of your comfort zone, but it is such a rewarding experience. Everyone that I know here that is in a home stay here absolutely loves it and I know various people here as well that are jealous that they did not choose a homestay.

Sleep? Whats sleep?


If there is one thing that I have learned on this trip is that when you have the opportunity to sleep you take it. While you are abroad you are busy with school, homework, traveling, and enjoying the short amount of time that you have. Therefore, you usually, or at least I do, put all of these things before sleep. However I have come to find that the best time to catch up on your sleep is while traveling from place to place. Thus far I have fallen asleep on the platform waiting for the S-Bahn, on the S-bahn, in the car, on a bus, and on a train while traveling or waiting to travel from one place to another. My friends and I have found it funny though to take pictures of all of the times that we have fallen asleep in public places…




Yet, if you are going to fall asleep like this you must make sure that you have someone with you that is awake because people will steal your items. For example, one of my friends here was on his way home for the night and fell asleep on the s-bahn. When he woke up, his backpack, camera, and I-Phone were gone. The thing is too, is that you cannot even report this to the police because they will not do anything about it.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Weekend Excursion to Hamburg


Last weekend I traveled to the city of Hamburg, which is in the Northern part of Germany and it is know for its Harbor. Before going there, I heard multiple good things about it and many people said it was one of the most beautiful cities in Germany, but I really was not that impressed. However, that may have been because once again I had a hassle arriving there, I swear I don’t have good luck traveling, and because there was a planned schedule of events so I felt limited to the things I could see and do.
The Fubis program organized this trip and we were going to be there from Saturday to Sunday. To travel there we were taking a bus and we were meeting at the main campus at 8:30 a.m. Now, I have no idea how to get to the main campus because our classes are not on campus and I only went there once. Therefore, I knew I needed to leave early to ensure that I found where I was suppose to go and arrived on time. However, I soon realized that walking and figuring out where I am is definitely not my thing. I ended up walking the completely wrong way and got lost. Time kept going by and I still found myself in an unknown place so I called my friend who was going and he attempted to give me directions. After walking for a good half hour I finally found my way to an U-Bahn and it was 8:30 at this time. Thus, my friend told me to take the U-Bahn to the Dahlem Dorf station and the bus would pick me up from there because there was another student that they were going to pick up there. So right when I made it there I saw the bus arriving and I was soo happy. My friend was waving at me from the window, but then he got a confused look on his face. As I was looking at the bus, it did not stop, but instead it kept going. I was soo confused and then I saw one of my friends, who was actually the other kid, running after it. Yet, they did not stop for him either. So we met up and I called my friend and he informed us they were running too late so they refused to stop even though they told us they were going to pick us up. I was going to call the actual lady, but my phone ran out of money on it therefore I couldn’t. We were both quite mad and didn’t know what to do, but seeing as we both had already paid for the trip we figured we might as well figure out a way to get there. So him and I went to the train station to go see about buying tickets there. When we arrived we were informed that it was going to cost us 73 euros, which is roughly 100 American dollars. We were not thrilled with this but we went ahead with it. We were told that we had 5 minutes to catch the train so we had to rush and when we made it down to the platform we looked up at the stairs and then another one of our friends walked down and we go did you miss the bus too? And she said yeah they said they were going to pick me up at Dahlem Dorf, but left with out me. Weird that this happened to 3 people right?
Anyways, us three boarded the train and actually had quite a fun train ride. It was way more comfortable than the bus, it was faster, and we had food and drinks provided for us. Once we arrived all we knew was the name of the hostel so we started asking people on how to get there and we started exploring. After about a half hour we found it and we were quite pleased to hear that we were the first to arrive. Because of this, we were allowed to check in, pick our rooms first, and go up to them and freshen up. Probably after being there fore 20 minutes or so the rest of the group arrived, however unlike us they were not allowed to check in and go to their rooms.
Once everyone dropped off their luggage we headed downtown for some free time and a tour of the city. While we were walking though, the three of us who missed the bus had to check in with the leaders and they were so rude to us. They basically told us that they saw us, but did not stop because they did not recognize us as participants of the program and then laughed that we had to pay so much money to get there. We were not happy about this, but there really was nothing we could do about it.
On our free time we only had time to eat so we did not get to do much. Then we went on a tour and that was kind of boring. At first we went to some cool places like the town hall, which was the center, but other than that we just walked through canals, which don’t get me wrong were pretty but there was nothing special about it, and then we ended on the harbor. After our tour we went back to our hostel, took a nap, and then prepared to go out for the evening.




One thing I can say is that they definitely had a good nightlife there. We spent most of our night on a street that we decided was a mixture of Bourbon Street and the Las Vegas strip. That night I did not end up coming back to our room until 5:30, which I definitely regretted in the morning when I had to be up at 8:15 in the morning but it was well worth it.



            Once we woke up and checked out we were off to a boat tour of the harbor. At first we were all excited about this because a boat tour sounds really cool. However, we soon realized this tour was going to be nothing like we expected. It was cold and rainy, therefore that instantly made it bad. Then, we thought that we would see some cool, interesting buildings, but it was literally 2 hours of machinery and ships. I mean it was nice and pretty being on the water, but other than that nothing special.



            After the tour ended we had a little bit of free time for food so we went on a search for hamburgers because we really wanted to be able to say that we ate hamburgers in Hamburg, however we never ended up finding them. Once we finished eating we then went to an emigration museum, which was also alright but it was nothing special. This was the last thing we did there. My over all opinion was that everything was alright, but nothing really popped in this city that made me say I want/need to come back here.


            However, tomorrow me and 10 other people are road tripping to Munich. Unlike the other trip though, we planned this whole thing and by planning I mean booked a hostel and car and other than that we are just going to explore and see what random things we come upon. So im very excited to see what kind of things we get ourselves into!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Beach Time in Berlin!


So yesterday was one of the first nice days we’ve had in Berlin. The weather for the most part has only been in the 60’s, cloudy, and rainy. However yesterday it was in the high 70’s and sunny and because of this, a group of us from the Fubis program wanted to celebrate finally being able to experience a summer day, so what did we do? We went to the beach!
            A group of 20 or so of us went to a beach on the Wannsee. When one looks at it they would think that it is a lake, but in all actuality it is a huge river. I do not understand how or why, but it is. Also, the Wannsee is known for what is called the Wannsee Conference, which is when the plan for the Holocaust was presented and approved. The house this was all done in still remains there and is now a museum and a Holocaust Memorial. Lastly, another interesting fact about the Wannsee is that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie own a house on it, which can be seen below.

            Anyways our trip to the beach was amazing. We didn’t end up going until around 4 because people had class and we were kind of sad because by the time we got there there was an overcast, but we didn’t let this stop us. All of us just wanted to be in our bathing suits and have a good time. We were all excited once we walked out onto the beach though because out in the middle was a water slide. Once we saw that we all ran into the water and swam out to it and went on it multiple times. It honestly was so much fun!

 After we had our fun on the water slide we started exploring the beach and we came to realize that a short distance down there was a nude beach. All of us girls were highly curious about it because you always hear stories about nude beaches in Europe and so we thought we would check it out. So a group of us went down there and all I can say is nude beaches are definitely not my thing. Haha. However, it was still very interesting to experience one.
Once, we got back from the nude beach though, we all started up a football game on the beach. That also was so much fun. Everyone was just enjoying the sun and each other’s company. We all thought it was so nice to finally be taking part in something that we all always do back home in the summer and to just relax. It honestly was such a fun day and one I think all of us will remember.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

German Pride


I always heard stories about how soccer is loved by the Europeans, but I never fully understood this until this past week. Right now the Euro 2012 Soccer Tournament is being held in Poland and Ukraine, which is a final soccer tournament that occurs every 4 years. The tournament features 16 nations out of 51 that qualified between August 2010 and November 2011. The winner of this tournament gains automatic entry into the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.
One of the 16 teams in this tournament is none other than GERMANY and because of this it is pure madness here in Berlin. I do not think I have ever seen a country with more pride in themselves than I have seen here. It is honestly an amazing site. Almost every car has at least one German flag on it and a lot of cars also have flag coverings on their side door mirrors. Then, when it is game day, everyone is wearing black, yellow, and red, which are the German flag colors.

To watch the German games they have put up a huge screen in front of the Brandenburg Gate so that a mass amount of people can gather here, watch, and celebrate the wins. However, if you do not make it to the Brandenburg Gate to watch I can ensure you that every bar, café, beer garden and restaurant has multiple TV’s set up so people can gather there and watch.

That is exactly what my host sister, her friends, and I did yesterday. We went to a local café, sat outside, and watched the game. Everyone their was representing Germany whether by wearing a jersey, a scarf, sporting a flag, or just simply having black, red, and yellow painted on their face. I personally am not that big of a fan of soccer, but just being in an environment where everyone is so proud of their team and is into the game you cant help but to get into it as well… especially when we win, which is exactly what happened last night. We ended up defeated the Netherlands 2-1, which is now our second win and we are undefeated. I love every time that we score because instantly everyone is jumping out of their seats cheering, high fiving, hugging, kissing, you name it. Everyone is just so happy. Then when we win it is even crazier. People are just running down the streets yelling about it, people are setting off fireworks, people are throwing others up in the air, and then everyone just parties the night away no matter what day it is. When we won yesterday I rode on the back of my friends moped thing holding the German flag and let it blow in the wind. I don’t know, I cannot even really explain it. It is just such a fun, exciting environment.

The next game is on Sunday and my friends and I all have made plans for game, which is crazy because we never makes plans beforehand…. That is how you really know how important and fun these games are. You have to drop everything you do and support your team…. Go Germany!!!!