Munich

We've finally completed my first, Jenn's second, and the longest leg of our journey.  The flight from Charlotte to Munich was just over eight hours long, and there are a lot of nice things to say about Lufthansa (mostly having to do with the frequent food/beverage service and the extensive movie selection).  Those nice things being said, we're pretty thrilled (in a mellow, exhausted kind of way), to be off a plane for a little while.

And if we have to spend two hours anywhere, shouldn't it be somewhere with brezels?  I say yes.

From what I saw when I checked in yesterday, this next flight looks to be not at all full - really, really hoping that's the case, so that we can both take a bunch of seats and crash for a while.  That would be lovely.

Next Stop: Lisbon!

Epic Fail on the Pretzels. 1/6/10

And the Paris Airport in general. Not impressed. Not at all.

I just made it through security! 1/6/10

That's my update. Everything seems to be more or less on schedule. I got extra passport stamps from Egypt, which I was a big fan of. Also, here you undergo a mandatory pat down (awkward), but don't have to remove your shoes.

They did make me check my carry-on, due to additional security in France. I'm going to be a little upset if it doesn't make it, as it has everything but my passport and wallet, my netbook, my iPod, my brother's Sony Reader, and my toothbrush.

And now I need everyone to hope really, really hard for me. I have carried 20 Euro in my wallet since I left Germany, so that if ever I was in a position to buy real pretzels again, I would be prepared to take advantage of the opportunity. The Paris airport may be that opportunity. Think positive thoughts!

Oktoberfest! 10/7/07

It was 3:00 in the morning and my alarm was ringing. I'm not going to lie, it's really hard to get out of a warm bed that early in order to sit on a train for five hours. But I did. When I got to the train station, about half of the group was already there (one girl was already completely wasted from the party she had just left) and we had to wait outside because the train station doors didn't open until 4:00. It was fun. And cold.

Most of us were able to sleep on the train (well, except for the drunk girl, who was busy throwing up, and the three guys who decided to start drinking then) and the ride went pretty quickly. We got to Münich around 10:00 and headed to Oktoberfest, which was set just outside of the city. I slipped and fell on a tomato. It was pretty classic.

Oktoberfest is a lot like a state fair or a carnival. Except for the 12 or 14 giant buildings dedicated to beer, they have the same rides and games and all that fun stuff. So our group picked a tent and got in line to wait. Well, someone bumped me really hard and then said 'Sorry.' It took me a second, but I finally figured out that Sorry is not actually German, so I turned around and started talking to the girl behind me.

She seemed pretty nice, and at one point commented on my RA sweatshirt, saying that she too was an RA. We were in line for another half hour or so, and after a while it was really warm, so I took off my sweatshirt, and I was wearing an Alpha Gam shirt under it. Turns out that this girl is an Alpha Gam too. After we commented on how small the world was, she said that she hadn't been as active with Alpha Gam lately because she had a position in her Community Service Fraternity. APO. Which I'm also in. And we both went to the National Convention in Louisville last January. It was way cool.

Anyway, we finally got into the building, only to find that there was (predictably) no where to sit and an incredible amount of smoke everywhere. So Ericka, Nick, Alex and I decided not to stay too long. It was really cool to be there, but we wanted to see the rest of Oktoberfest and Münich as well.

Between Oktoberfest and exploring Münich, we probably walked around for around eight hours. It's a really nice city - pretty clean and things were easy to find. The food was really good too, and they had giant pretzels (I was soo happy). But we couldn't leave Münich until 8:30 because of our group tickets. So we went to see Ratatouille in German. It was so much fun, and movies for kids are right about at my German level. Well... they're still ahead of me, but these were some pretty expressive rats, so we had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

Overall, Münich was really fun. The five hour ride home with all the loud drunk people, not so much, but it averaged out to be a really good day. Walking around with Ericka, Nick and Alex was great, and it will be so much fun to go to Barcelona with them. Quite smashing. And I don't just mean all the beer bottles that broke on the train.

Exchange Rates:
$1= €.70
€1= $1.41

Four Days In - August 15, 2007

Guten tag. I arrived safely in Marburg, Germany, and today is my fourth day. Each weekday, I attend a Speak and Write class, where I attempt to learn some of the German language. I think it's going pretty well. I can now go into a store, say hello, find what I need, pay, and say goodbye. Simple questions will come shortly, I'm sure.

Marburg is absolutely beautiful. It's a city on the side of a hill, so after I've been here for a little while longer, I'm sure that I'll be pretty legitimately buff. So far, my biggest culture shocks have been:
1) The letters on a keyboard are not in the same order that they are in on a US keyboard. That sounds like a little thing, but as I sit here typing and looking at the keyboard for a few seconds to find the next letter, it's an interesting experience.
2) There are bakeries everywhere. It's awesome. I have pretzels all the time. I don't think that I truly appreciated pretzels in the US, but a freshly baked pretzel is very tasty.
3) And because all good points need to come in three's, I'll mention the alphabet. So today, I went grocery shopping and I was shocked to find English Alphabet soup. We know that it is English because we spent quite a long time looking for the ß (We figured that it would be difficult to attach an umlaud, so that was really the only distinguishing letter). It was quite exciting, nonetheless.

My dad wanted me to include the dollar to euro exchange rate each time I write a blog, so today's exchange rate is 1 Euro = 1.35 U.S. dollars (One dollar = 73 cents in euros). Not too bad. I note that a month ago, when Amanda Ingenito got here and was exchanging her money, the dollar was at a relative low, against the Euro, so she lost at least $40.

So, my soon-to-be loyal readers, I will keep finding out new things about Germany and writing to you about them. I did find out, just for Troy and Jes, that my room, the Speak and Write, and the student Mensa make an approximately isoceles triangle.

Tschüss!