Days 7 & 8. Munich!

Recently Added! I found a picture of the whole group at Hofbrauhaus on Sunday. All the guys are studying in Munich.

Munich! This took forever

to create, and I've probably forgotten some things by now. Enjoy =]

Saturday morning we found a cute little shop and had breakfast. Airin and I ordered an English Breakfast... tea, toast and eggs. FYI: In Europe nothing is free! You have to pay for butter, marmalade, water, using public bathrooms... and so on. The shop also made truffles and other chocolates, so we bought some.

Here's me and a fish... in Marienplatz! The central district.

Christine, Airin, and I at a fountain. We wanted to run through it, but it was cold.

Cuckoo Clocks! A whole shop of them. I think cuckoo clocks are rather German...

It rained for a while..

In case you ever wanted to drink pug, butterfly, bambi, groundhog, or eagle....

There are many street performers.

There were a lot of bachelor/bachelorette festivities. What they do is dress up with their friends to a theme and then try to sell you silly things or just do something random. This cowboy and his friends were the rowdiest of the engaged folk that weekend. He asked to "tag" us. We let him. They were also rounding up random girls off the street with ropes... all in good fun!

We are tagged..

This is the most famous beer hall in Munich, and probably all of Germany. It's huge! We went on Saturday and Sunday. Erin and Dave took us on Saturday and then these two older German women sat with us. The place is set up in long benches, so you get to meet people. On Sunday we went before going to the train station. Some of Dave's friends from his school in Munich ate with us. I haven't been able to find the pictures we took with them, but I will eventually.

Turkey ragout from Hofbrauhaus. It cost almost 10 Euros.

But a liter of beer is cheaper! About 7 Euros. Mine is dark beer.

Here's a video from where I was sitting on Saturday. One of the German ladies tried to each us a beer song, but it was hopeless.

This is the gate to the entrance of Marienplatz. Once inside there are mostly shops, etc.

Christine and Airin skipping back to the hostel at sunset. It stopped raining!

Part of the high-end shopping in Marienplatz. We got tea there and it cost 5.10. Oh the pain of my wallet. Munich is the most expensive city in Germany, and we found that out pretty quickly.

This place is famous, but I forgot what it's called... help me out!

The Glockenspiel! It's gorgeous!

A quick view of central Marienplatz.

At certain times of day the Glockenspiel plays music and figurines in the tower move around. It's pretty neat.

Of course, I could say much more about Munich, but then I'll have no stories to tell when I get home!

Days 5 & 6. Field trip and Journey to Munich.

Thursday, we went on a field trip to a wastewater treatment plant. The tour guide didn't speak English so it took forever. He would give his explanation of everything in German, and then our professor would repeat the whole thing in English.

Waste digester that creates methane gas

Settlement tank with clean water!

After the tour, the manager of the plant bought us a really delicious lunch. Then we visited a neighborhood and learned about the above ground water management. It was a really pretty neighborhood. That house has solar panels on the roof!

Then the professor bought us milkshakes at a cafe and showed us more urban drainage planning in a movie theatre parking lot. It felt really random.

On Friday we just had lectures about water management. For lunch I had something very interesting, pictured below. There's a huge bowl of mushroom potato soup. And then there's a large German sweet roll that you dip in vanilla sauce. It was really good and tasted like dessert for lunch. I want to learn to bake that sweet roll.

After class, the 3 other girls in the program and I travelled to Munich by train. It took about 4 hours and we spent the whole time doing homework.

Airin and Erin

Christine and I on the train.

Once we got to Munich, Erin's boyfriend met us at the station. He is studying nano-engineering in Munich through the same program that hosts mine. We dropped our stuff off at the hostel and then went out to Marienplatz, the central district of Munich. We ended up in the Hard Rock Cafe, because most places were already closed. After that, Airin, Christine and I went to a dance club for a while and then went back to the hostel.

Day 4

I don't have any pictures today. =[

The only class we had was German. I already know all the numbers! I can understand cashiers when they tell me prices! It's so exciting. I hate the masc/fem nouns in German though because you have to memorize the form of the definite noun as well. Bah. But German is surprisingly similar to English.

After that we met this man from the Atlantic Academy, which informs the people of Kaiserslautern about the US and also helps out Americans on the military base with their questions. He bought us lunch at an Italian restaurant. The strangest thing is how enthusiastic he was about America, and straight up asked us who we voted for in the election (which was really awkward because you know how thats kind of taboo). They really like Obama here.

After that, he took us to a museum where we learned about the German emigration from the Palatinate to the US. When I asked the tour guide about my last name, he knew right off the top of his head what city the largest amount of Knechts came from. He said it's in this region, but I can't remember the city name. He said there were around 10,000 Knechts. Crazy.

After that I did a bit of window shopping. I got some souvenirs and some French chocolate at a cute teahouse.

Then I went with 2 of the guys and sat in a park under a tree for a bit, and then came back to the University for dinner.

Tomorrow we are going on a field trip to a waste water treatment plant. I visited one in the US with Ms. Hargrove, so it will be really interesting to compare them.

Day 3

Today we had a lesson/discussion in international relations between Germany and the US. We also had about 3 hours of German language class. Then we got a tour of the city and under the remains of one of the castles in the city center.

Fountain

You can drink the water.

Old old tapestry in the castle

Silliness at the fountain

Church with a crooked ceiling

Pretty part of the pedestrian district.

Church. with gargoyles!

Escape tunnels under the castle

Yes, that is a real skeleton. not kidding. from some unknown nobleman.

Day 2

First day of class. Learned about the University and info about the program, etc. Took a tour of campus and went to the top of the administration building. It had an awesome view of the whole city.

Here's a picture of us, the students, at the top.

Left to right: Brandon (U of Louisville), Ben (ND), Erin (U of L

ouisville), Christine (Queens U - Canada), Ben (RIT), Airin (RIT), and me.

We ate lunch at the Uni and had our first lesson in German language. Our German prof is this tiny lady and she acts everything out instead of telling us what the words mean in English. It's adorable.

It was a pretty rainy day, and none of us had umbrellas with us.

Later that evening, one of our professors took us to the same brewery we went to the day before. He bought us the Beer Tower. It was amazing. Some of our German "buddies" from the University came and hung out with us, too.

Beer is such a social thing here. And it costs the same as water or a soft drink. They don't even think about it as alcohol. The guy serving is one of the students here who's been hanging out with us.

Day 1

My first legal beer. The Radler.

First day was a lot of traveling. Met a really cool girl waiting in line at customs and we talked until we got to the bus station. Took a super fast train, and then took a slow train. The slow train ride was awesome because it's all scenic and you see all the towns in the hills of Germany. So pretty.

Arrived in Kaiserslautern and went to the guesthouse. I met two of the girls who had been there a couple days, and then everyone else got there later in the day. I walked around the town. There's a really awesome Pedestrian District. Went to a bakery and gelato shop. It was Sunday, so most stores were closed. Later, we went to a local brewery with the other students and our student guide, Melanie.

Welcome to K-town, Germany. This is my guesthouse.

Entrance

Stairs

Tour of house

Tour of room

Camera Cabinet

Street around the corner..

Pedestrian District... Tiffany I know you want something, haha. Just... tell me what =P

Construction out the window of the house

What I call the "CoMo Ball" because we have the same thing in a building at ND.

This town worships soccer. It's a host for the world cup.

Local Theatre

City Hall, with old castle remains in front of it

Bought some tasty bread

My first gelato

I was super tired all day but managed to stay up until about 9 pm.

Prologue

Still in the States

I leave in 3.5 days

Should probably start packing... tomorrow

TU Kaiserslautern