Rothenburg/Trier and Italy to come next week

Dear blog followers,

I regret to inform you that this short week has flown by way too quickly, filled with unsuccessful calls to train companies, changing travel plans, and lots of electromagnetics studying. Therefore, I shall update my blog upon my return from Italy (we leave tonight and return Tuesday night).

Please look forward not only to pictures of the #1 medieval town in Germany (last weekend), but also snapshots of Pompeii, Cinque Terre, and Florence.

My father, however, did request a picture of me studying to prove that it actually happens here in Europe. I will leave you all with that in the meantime.

My sincerest apologies and best wishes,
Allie

Week[4]: Non-grumpy train tellers: They exist!

I had perhaps the greatest discovery of all time. There are, in fact, ticket tellers at the Metz train station that are not grumpy! GTL students have to visit the train station about once a week to grab tickets for different trips (France STILL doesn't let you reserve stuff online. It's a pain and someone should fix it ASAP. Anyway...) I stood in a ridiculously long line counting the euros on this sign to make sure they added up to 25 euros (you can check too if you want), distracting myself from the inevitable struggle awaiting at the end of my long wait. I'd once again ask the teller whether they spoke English (in French), they'd say no and get a grumpy look on their face, and then grudgingly get my tickets only because I wrote everything out so explicitly that they couldn't pretend they didn't understand.

Much to my surprise, this time was totally different! I greeted the teller with a 'Bonjour' and a smile as usual and asked the guy if he spoke English. He said only a little, but had no problems with me showing him the paper, and even seemed a little impressed that I was that organized. He looked me in the eye when he spoke, found my trains quickly, and said 'Voila' when he was done with a smile (my favorite French phrase now!). I wish taking pictures of random people in public wasn't such taboo, or else I'd have documented the experience. I'm pretty sure no GTL student is going to believe that he existed...

Week[4]: Awesome news

My last final is at 8am on Wednesday, August 3rd :) That means until Friday morning, I'm totally free. In Europe. Though my Eurail pass will have expired by then, so I can't go too crazy on the trains. I may just do a lot of exploring in Metz. Quick trips to Trier and Luxembourg may be options as well if I'm willing to spend a few euros to get there and back...

Weekend[3]: Fussen/Munich

Alright -- I'm finally caught up on weekend blogs after this (woohoo!). I went to Fussen and Munich (Germany) last weekend. I didn't expect to fall in love with Germany, but I ended up finding out that people there and their attitudes are AWESOME. The trains are incredibly efficient, the people don't glare at you if you're American, and they are hard workers. The language is also a LOT more recognizable than French, and they have English translations for nearly every tourist attraction (when we went through Paris, there was no English anywhere).

We started out in Fussen to see the famous castles there. Because we had the whole day (and there's pretty much nothing else to do in Fussen), we decided to walk to the castles. It was about a 40 min. walk and it was raining, but it was very pretty, so I don't regret skipping out on the bus.

There was some ridiculously blue water along the way that I had to take a picture of... Plus, I was admiring that great graffiti. The Europeans definitely know how to graffiti things well!

We saw Neuschwanstein and took a tour inside. This is the castle in Sleeping Beauty! (the cartoonist picked this one to draw for the movie. Surprisingly enough, they didn't have Disney back in the time of King Ludwig II). I couldn't take pictures of the inside, but the coolest part was the king's room; he had a forest theme on the walls and the ceiling was painted like the sky! There was also a secret door so the queen could sneak up whenever she (he?) wanted.




We saw a second castle, but it wasn't as famous. It is a lot prettier from the outside in my opinion, but it wasn't really technically a castle -- more of a summer home for the royal family.









I may have missed out on the BMW museum with the other Munich crew, but I did spot a gorgeous motorcycle on our walk!!!











When we got to Munich the next day, we pretty much had no idea what was worth seeing, so we took a free tour from New Europe. The guy was great; he entertaining, cute, and Australian, so you couldn't ask for much more (sorry, Jackie, I forgot to ask for his number at the end). This is the most famous beer garden in Munich (and therefore the world). It is also a tourist trap, so we basically went inside, took pictures, and left.











The ceiling is shaped so that you feel like you're inside of a barrel!












I had some amazing hot chocolate because it was so cold/rainy outside. Apparently it wasn't sweet enough so they gave me a huge packet of sugar with it. I love Germany.














On Sunday morning, Mariel and I split off from Layla and Anthony to meet up with Andy, Senthuran, and Ahmed for a visit to Dachau. It was a perfect day to go because it was a Monday (meaning it should usually be closed), but it was also a holiday (Monday after Pentecost), so the concentration camp was open, yet very few people were there. It was incredibly moving, and by far the best thing I could've decided to do in Munich. I was originally not going to go, but I was so disappointed I hadn't gone to the BMW museum with the other group that I really wanted to hit this other hotspot (I had been told Dachau and BMW World are the two places you HAVE to see in Munich). It was really emotional to see what people had to go through; the museum was good at emphasizing how inhumane so many people acted during WWII and what kinds of things people had to go through. The most momentous part was the gas chambers. Dachau was mainly meant for "special prisoners" (people openly defying Germany or well-known figures), but there were still many many deaths during that time.
It was horrible to read the sick words above the chamber. 'Brausebad' means 'showers.' They actually told people that they were going to take showers. They even installed fake showerheads in the ceiling. Going through this part and the museum (which was in the old barracks), we passed by a few people from different countries. Each of us knew what the other was feeling, and it was gratifying to realize that despite our cultural (and especially linguistic) differences, we knew we were having the same experience/emotions. If you want to hear more about the concentration camp and everything I felt when I absorbed it all that morning, I'm happy to talk (email?) about it. It's tough to put in a blog everything I'd like to convey to people about it. I'm not much of a history person, but I could truly understand why it was so important to preserve this piece of history for us to experience.

Weekend[2]: Interlaken

My absolute favorite weekend so far (and probably the whole trip) was when we spent the 4-day weekend in Interlaken, Switzerland. It was so beautiful and even better than I could have imagined!

We saw a lot of beautiful landscapes...

...Lakes...

...Mountains...

...Chocolate....

...Famous hostels (ours)...

...New buddies from said hostel (back right)...

...Life-size chess boards...

...Dangerous cliffsides....

...Viscious cows...

...and best of all, canyoning. Andy and I decided to split off from the group and do the 'intense' canyoning. Apparently it's as good as it gets in Switzerland. Our guides were awesome, and very good at reassuring us beforehand:

Allie: "So, can you do canyoning other places in the world?"

Guide: "Not most places, except Austrialia. Definitely not the States. There are big insurance issues elsewhere with commerical canyoning. You definitely picked the best one."

and during:

Guide: "Alright. This is an easy jump. It's only about an 8m drop. Just don't land to close to the waterfall or you'll get pinned to the bottom. Don't go too far to the right either, though, because there's a huge rock there. So just land somewhere down there in the middle. Ready? 3...2...1... "

[You HAD to jump on 1]. I think I've been conditioned to do stuff on countdowns, now. I've tried it with homework -- it actually works!

In order to save 100 bucks on a video, I'm just going to direct you to the videos of a billion other people who did the same thing. Just imagine each of these people with a ponytail sticking out behind:

http://youtu.be/wTp1e-FUaV4

http://youtu.be/kl-zNIPtIHw

http://youtu.be/wTp1e-FUaV4

The wetsuits were amazingly comfortable, and the padding all over the suit definitely came in handy (though didn't help with our elbows on the corkscrew slide). If you ever go to Interlaken, DO THIS! The only thing I regret not doing is canyon-jumping, but we didn't have much time and it was a lot of money for a few minutes of adrenaline.

Week[3]: FR - no Guitar

This is just one extreme example of the ways in which we are underprivileged being here in France:













vs.




(What you all are seeing today)




I think Google should really take into consideration that there are American students studying abroad that need the Google guitar for an extra day as well to ensure that they are sufficiently distracted from studies.

Week[3]: Weather

Since Dad sent me a picture of the temp in MD, I figured I could spare a few moments from studying to point out that it is not hot here!




To note, this was taken at 7:30am my time, meaning it's 30 degrees warmer in MD even when it's 1:30am there!
2 Good things:
(1) I still get to wear jeans
(2) The absence of AC in the dorms hasn't been too bad... yet...

Week[3]: Hold-up in blogs

Hey all,

Just as a heads up, I have 3 tests this week so I won't be able to make an Interlaken blog that could fully give the place justice. I'll post one Friday night (afternoon for you), though, so look for one then!

-Allie

Headed to Interlaken!

Just wanted to let you all know that I'll be in Interlaken for 4 days (woot!). Feel free to email me with tidbits of advice / requests for wallpaper backgrounds :) I know I'll be taking my fair share of photos expressedly for that purpose. I'm thinking if I just take 365 pictures there, I'll be set to have a new background for the next year...