Deutschland

Last week my friend Natalie came to visit me from Rome. It was great to get a little taste of home while being so far away!

Low point in the week: Really missing my American peanut butter.

Highlight of the week: Discovered ‘Sainsbury’s  Lemon Curd’, a sweet, lemon, jelly-like spread. I ate it with shortbread cookies, ritz crackers, and straight out if the jar with a spoon.

This past weekend I went to Germany with Catie. It was a really great time! We left London on Friday morning and flew to Munich, where I had my first European foreign language encounters. Luckily, the ATMs and train ticket machines had language options so we knew what we were buying. However, pronouncing names (especially figuring out what sound “ß” makes), locating points on maps, and communicating with locals wasn’t so easy. The Munich City Center was a huge shopping complex in the middle of the city. I bought a German wool hat and ate weinerschnitzel for dinner. On our second day in Munich we took a trip to Dachau Concentration Camp. It was absolutely the most uncomfortable place I’ve ever been. I’ll never forget that experience. After Dachau we took an overnight bus to Berlin.

At first, I had doubts about Berlin. It was more difficult to travel through and didn’t seem to have the same energy as Munich. That afternoon we took a free walking tour and learned a lot about the city’s history and development. To my surprise, Berlin by night was much more exciting than Berlin by day. The city was hosting a Festival of Lights, and there were some very impressive displays throughout the streets. On our second day in Berlin, Catie and I visited the Reichstag (German parliament building). There is a huge dome on top of the building for visitors to get a birds-eye-view of Berlin. We could see the changing leaves in Tiergarten (huge park in the middle of Berlin) and the constant construction taking place. Overall, I would consider the Germany trip a complete success…even though I left my watch on the overnight bus.

I’m still not loving the study part of studying abroad. I feel guilty for neglecting my schoolwork, but it’s hard to think about studying when there’s an entire continent waiting to be explored. I do make it a point to keep up with my developing creativity course. This was my latest homework assignment: http://www.toondoo.com/cartoon/6717451

I’m leaving tomorrow morning for a 3-day guided tour of Paris, and I’m really looking forward to it! It’s a great feeling to be able to experience so many new things in such a short amount of time. If only my whole life could be like this…